Chapter 85
ROWAN
The drive back feels like the longest goddamn hour of my life.
Bella’s in the back seat, legs crossed, pretending to scroll her phone, but every few minutes she glances up in the rearview mirror, right at me.
Like she knows exactly what she’s doing.
Like she’s waiting for me to snap first.
Reggie’s got one hand on the wheel, the other flexing against his thigh, jaw tight enough to crack. He hasn’t said a word since the store, which means he’s thinking. Calculating.
By the time we pull into the drive, the air between us is molten.
Bella hops out first, her little pink sundress swaying, a stack of books hugged to her chest. She knows we’re following, carry the rest of her haul.
Knows what’s coming.
Inside, she kicks her shoes off and drops the books on the table. “Alright,” she says softly, looking between us. “Which one?”
I run a finger along the spines until I find the one she teased earlier—the one about the MMC eating her out against a bookshelf.
“This one,” I tell her.
She takes it from me and rests her elbows on the kitchen island and opens up the book.
Reggie grabs a chair and sits down, spreading his legs, silent and dominant as sin, watching her every move.
“Read,” he orders.
Bella swallows, opening to the first page. Her voice trembles on the first few words, but then she finds her rhythm, and it’s hypnotic. I could listen to her British accent all fuckin’ day.
And every few sentences, she glances at us. Seeing when one of us will snap.
When she reaches the part where the hero pins the heroine to the wall, I step behind her and sweep her hair to the side.
“Keep reading,” I whisper, pressing my mouth to her neck.
She shivers but obeys, her voice cracking as she reads about his hands, his mouth, the way he looks at her like he wants to devour her whole.
I trail my fingers down her spine, over the hem of her dress, tugging it up inch by inch until the fabric pools around her hips.
Her voice falters.
“Rowan…”
“Keep reading, precious.”
Reggie shifts in his chair, eyes dark and heavy on her. “Who told you to stop reading?”
Her lips part, but no sound comes out.
“Answer me, Bella.”
Her voice catches on a breath. “No one did.”
She breathes in sharply and keeps going.
When she hits the line about his tongue sliding between her thighs, I drop to my knees behind her.
Reggie’s voice cuts through the quiet. “Not yet, Rowan. She hasn’t earned her reward yet.”
Her book trembles in her hands as I hook my fingers under her panties and drag them down, slow enough to make her gasp.
She braces herself against the counter, still trying to read.
The sound of her voice unravels as I taste her.
I glance up at Reggie, and he’s watching like a man at war with himself, his fist tight in his lap, breathing hard.
Pressing kisses against her sensitive skin, she breathes out Reggie’s name.
“Please.”
I bite the inside of her thigh.
“Why are you begging my brother when I’m the one between your legs?”
She trembles around me.
Then he’s up, behind her, gripping her chin, and forcing her to look at him.
“Read,” he murmurs, dark amusement threading his tone.
She shakes her head, dazed. “I?I can’t.”
“That’s fine.” He leans in, lips brushing her ear. “We’ll improvise.”
I smile against her skin. “Our own version.”
And then it’s chaos, his hand tangled in her hair, my mouth still between her thighs, her voice breaking apart into helpless, breathless sounds that have nothing to do with the book anymore.
The story’s ours now.
Written in gasps and trembling limbs.
Every page is a sin.