Chapter 14
14
KINGSTON
I woke to a soft, warm body pressed against me and even though I hadn’t slept for shit, and it felt as if a two-ton anvil was on my chest, I smiled. Claire lay on her side, one hand raised slightly to hold my own—something we’d both done in our sleep and hadn’t even noticed. Her naked back lay against my front and every inch of her curves molded to my body.
This wasn’t a bad way to wake up to be honest.
In fact, it was something I wanted to continue doing. Just like I wanted to continue running my hand up her thigh and then over her stomach to between her legs.
Claire awoke with a gasp, my fingers playing with her clit and then between her folds. “Good morning,” she moaned, rocking into me .
“Good morning.” I licked at her neck and bit down gently, loving the way she squirmed in my hold. She arched her back, pressing her ass firmly against my rock-hard erection and it was everything I could do not to slide into her right then and there. Instead, I held myself back, slowly bringing her to climax as she lay in my arms, the rising sun barely breaking through the blinds. And when her inner folds clamped around my fingers, I continued to move, loving the way she gasped my name.
As she writhed, I took the condom I’d left on the nightstand before and quickly sheathed myself before lifting her leg and sliding deep inside her. We both moaned and the movement, the feeling of her wet heat, was nearly too much to comprehend as I began to rock in and out of her.
“So. Full.”
“I love this,” I moaned and nearly froze, realizing what I’d said. But she hadn’t seemed to hear as she moved against me, so I let those words slip by as I continued to move, each one of us nearing the peak.
I hadn’t said I love you —but this . And while that was a difference, it was the closest I’d ever been to saying the true words. And as I nearly came to terms with what that meant, my orgasm finally shook me, my balls tightening, my release hard and fast. Claire’s pussy pulsated around my dick, her hand reaching between her legs to press the V of her fingers around where we were connected, elongating the orgasm for both of us.
And when we could finally catch our breath, the words I’d whispered were long gone and merely a memory.
“I really like waking up that way. Just saying.”
Laughing, I kissed her shoulder, not wanting to pull out of her, but knowing I’d need to deal with the condom. “Same.” Another kiss. “What time do you have to work?”
“Most of the morning. I’m behind since I’m waiting on a distributor, but I’ll make it work.”
I nodded, though she could only feel the action. “I have a last minute install this morning, then I can come pick you up for the dinner. Does that work?”
She looked over her shoulder at me, our bodies still connected at the hips, and smiled. “That does. I’m glad we’re doing this.”
I looked between us and smirked.
“I meant dinner with the group, but yes, this was nice too.”
I growled, pulling out of her so I could pin her back to the bed and slid between her legs. “Nice? You call that nice ?”
“What? I meant that in a good way.”
“Hmph.” So in answer, I continued to make a feast of her, knowing that we were running late, but I didn’t care. And when her thighs clamped around my neck and I finally had my fill of her taste if only for the moment, I figured this was anything but nice .
It was damn near perfection.
“Cabin party take two!” Phoebe announced as she popped the cork on the sparkling wine.
“Hey, I liked take one. Just saying.” I sipped my beer as Claire laughed at me from across the room.
“Really?” she asked, her face blushing.
“Really.” I couldn’t keep my gaze off her, even as Lexington sighed dramatically next to me.
“And another one bites the dust,” my cousin murmured under his breath.
I scowled at him as everyone else poured their drinks and milled about at the dinner. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t see it, do you? The fact that you’re clearly in love with Claire and now there’s one fewer of us single guys out in the world. The Montgomerys and their ilk are dropping like flies, and I refuse to be one of them.” Lex raised his chin as he spoke, just as Crew walked to our side of the room.
“Is he still complaining that people are being saddled up in some cattle drive of relationships?” the other man asked, and I shook my head at the both of them.
“You’re ridiculous. First, there’s nothing wrong with being in a relationship. Second, Claire and I…well… We’re not there. We’re not like the others.” As she was on the opposite side of the room in deep discussion with Daisy and Hugh, I still kept my voice relatively low. I didn’t want to hurt her by saying the wrong damn thing when I didn’t even know what the hell I wanted—never mind what the hell I felt.
Lex grunted. “Whatever you say. Though with the way you two are spending so much time together? It doesn’t seem very unsure to me.”
“Hey, you know better than to ask a Montgomery about their feelings. Either they’re at the point in life where they never shut up about it and force you to think about your own, our they cage themselves in and pretend feelings don’t exist. You know the laws. There is no in between with you lot.”
I shook my head. “First, you’re starting to pick up Hugh’s British sayings.”
“I got it from Doctor Who , thank you very much,” Crew said with a raised brow, his British accent dreadful.
“Second,” I continued, ignoring him. “Your theory on Montgomery feelings isn’t true.”
“Eh, maybe it is.” Lex shrugged at my glare. “But seriously, man. You two look good together. Why fight it?”
“So says the man not in a serious relationship.”
Crew and Lex gave each other a look that spoke volumes before Crew finally spoke. “And yet it seems you are.”
“It’s literally only been a few weeks. And we are at a party with family and friends. How about you just give me a break?” I asked, continuing to keep my voice low. There weren’t that many fucking people in this room, and I didn’t need everybody staring at me as I fumbled my way through whatever the hell I was doing with Claire.
“Okay, that’s reasonable. I’m not an asshole. But I can be one if I need to.” Crew winked before he went off to go annoy Phoebe and Kane. At least that’s what I thought he was doing.
Since we hadn’t been able to have a full event at the cabin, we were all here now, and trying to enjoy ourselves. Though like I had told Claire that morning, I had had a damn good time without the rest of them.
But I knew that we were all in the midst of our busy seasons, and this had been thrown together at the last minute. However, Claire and Aria were laughing in a corner, with Hugh standing near, with Daisy in his arms. We were all here, including Aria’s friend Travis.
He had the bottle of champagne in his hands, wiggling his brows at Aria.
“Dare me?”
Aria rolled her eyes. “No. Because it’s bubbles, and it’ll come through your nose again. We’re not twenty.”
“You’re no fun.” He still drank out of the bottle, and I met Crew’s gaze. He just gave a slight shake of his head, and we didn’t say anything. I wasn’t part of that friendship, and I didn’t know Travis well. But Aria knew what she was doing, and I couldn’t be the asshole big brother all the time.
But I had a feeling if her actual brothers could see the way that Travis acted around her? Then I didn’t think that they would be able to stand by. Not that I was doing a good job of it.
“Okay, we have appetizers, and dips. Mostly just things to dip. We have things to dip with, and dip for the dip. I think I’ve said dip enough times.” Phoebe shook her head and reached for her water.
“And that’s enough alcohol for me.”
“One drink in, lame.”
“You good, man?” Kane asked at Travis’s words. Travis held up both hands, nearly dropping the half full champagne bottle.
“Yeah. I’m good. But I really wish we could have been at the cabin. With snow all around us. Would’ve been a really fucking good view. But this is nice. Whose house is this again? ”
Aria gave a pained smile.
“We’re at Crew’s.”
“Oh yeah. But you’re not a Montgomery, right? Who are you here with?” he asked, swaying a bit.
He shook it off and grinned a little too widely.
“It’s my house, so I guess you’re all here with me.”
“Hey there, can’t believe you’re just leaving me on read,” Lexington said, as he wrapped his arm around Crew’s shoulders. “And we’re not even going to talk about last night.” He fluttered his eyelashes, and Crew flipped him off.
“You’re fucking weird, man. But I love you.”
“Oh. That’s cool. Love is love. But I don’t like dick.” Travis took another swig out of the bottle, and Aria gave us all a pained expression.
“Travis, stop being an asshole.”
“You know I can’t stop, babe.”
I had no idea what Aria saw in that man, and I really didn’t know what I was supposed to say in this moment, other than wanting to rip that bottle out of the man’s hands and shake him until he figured out what the hell was going on.
Claire came up to my side, and I wrapped my arm around her.
“Okay, what dip are we going with?” I said, trying to ease the tension in the room .
“I made a quick and dirty spinach and artichoke dip. How about that?”
“I’m in.” I kissed the top of her head, and ignored Crew and Lexington’s looks, before we went back to eating.
“Did you hear that Livvy’s friend tried to set her up on a date?” Daisy asked, and I shook my head. We were all lounging around the living room, Travis having calmed down once he’d had some water. He had made sure that Aria had a plate of food, and was smiling gently at her, as they were in the middle of a conversation with Crew. It was like night and day with that guy, and I did not understand him.
“Wait, with Livvy?” I asked pulling myself back to the conversation.
“With Livvy. She backed out of it, and I don’t even know what her friend was thinking. But it was like a surprise blind date. Some guy just showed up.”
“Oh my God. Is the guy okay?” Claire asked, and I frowned, looking at her, while Daisy burst out into laughter, Hugh just grinning into his drink. “What? I assume she kicked him in the balls?”
“No, but she almost kicked her friend in the balls. The guy had no clue what he was doing. I mean, they’re friends and all, and the poor blind date guy was a little rude, but Livvy handled herself.”
“We need to kick some ass?” I asked .
“You know that she won’t let us handle anything. But I am tired of being on the outside when it comes to finding that bastard ex of hers.”
“You know I could do it,” Hugh said, playing with the rim of his glass. “No one would be the wiser.”
“Just because you’re not a Montgomery doesn’t mean she won’t murder you like family.”
“I love how that made total sense. And I’m not taking the Montgomery name. I’ll get the tattoo, but I’m not taking the name.”
“Fine, but Montgomery is going to be my middle name.”
“Montgomery’s already your middle name.” As her mom was the Montgomery, and that meant Daisy’s last name was technically Knight.
“So you’re going to keep Daisy and Knight and your middle names and then take Hugh’s?” I asked, shaking my head. “That’s a mouthful.”
“I want the same last name as Lucy. Because whatever children that we decide to have later, they’re going to have that name too. So it’ll just make paperwork easier.”
“And, she gets to have the longest signature known to man,” Hugh said with a laugh, before kissing the top of her head.
“I hate the fact that it’s always that women change their names, and men never really have to. ”
“My dad did,” I said, speaking of Lincoln. “It made sense because the family they wanted to be connected to were the Montgomerys. But not everybody has to. Just like nobody has to get the tattoo.”
“And yet I am being folded into the cult,” Hugh said with a good-natured laugh.
“It’s okay. We’ll get you the pamphlet so you understand,” Daisy said with a twinkle in her eyes, and I glared at her over Claire’s head.
Daisy just wiggled her eyebrows, laughter dancing in her eyes, and I knew that she was going to harp on this.
“I mean, eventually Kane’s going to make Phoebe an honest woman, and then she’ll get the tattoo as well.”
“Did someone say my name?” Phoebe said from the other side of the room. Between the music and the ten people talking at once, it was actually pretty hard to hear. Thankfully.
“We’re just wondering when you’re getting your tattoo!” Daisy called out.
Kane scowled, but I saw the nervous energy. Well then. It seemed like maybe she’d be getting the tattoo sooner than we thought.
And it was only because I knew Kane so well that I could even tell that. He gave a shake of his head, and I put my finger to my lips, promising I would keep the secret.
Kane was going to propose to Phoebe. That meant Phoebe would be forever our family.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, because if Phoebe was part of it, Claire would be. But she was already with me. Why was I having such a fucking hard time with this? Why couldn’t I just live in the moment.
“Not to bring down the conversation, but have you heard anything from the hospital?” Hugh asked, as everyone else moved on to their conversations.
Claire squeezed my hand, as Daisy wiped away a tear. I had told most of the people in this room about not being able to donate yet, and the whys of it. It was fucking heartbreaking.
“No. No real news. I get updates from the family. The mom made a group chat with everybody. I mean, I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do other than just try to stay healthy.”
“That’s such a tough thing. I’m sorry, man.”
“How is Buckley doing?” Claire asked.
“He’s still sick.”
“I meant emotionally. I know that they were talking about going with a foundation for a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but just day to day. Maybe we can give him a little party to lift his spirits? If his family agrees.”
“Like make a video or something?” Daisy asked. “Or give him presents?”
“We can totally do that. Presents for the whole ward if we can,” Claire answered, a little excitement in her voice. I shifted, both of us moving forward on the couch.
“I can talk with the staff member I’ve been working with at the hospital, see if there’s something we could do last minute.”
“As for Buckley, I know we might not be able to get into the room, depending on his white blood cell count, but maybe we can just do something for his family.”
I looked down at Claire and kiss the top of her head. “You’re fucking amazing.”
“It’s nothing. I just hate the fact that there’s nothing you can do right now, so maybe there’s something I can do. I plan parties for a living. I can plan this. Do you think you can give my number to his mom, too? Just so I can test the waters.”
I brushed my thumb along her cheekbone, ignoring everyone else in the room.
“Let’s see if it works out. Maybe not something big. Maybe we can do something.”
“Anything. I’m there to help. Help all of you.”
I brushed a kiss to her lips, ignoring the hoots and hollering at the gesture, and then settled back into the couch, Claire in my arms, and figured that this felt right.
Even if it felt as if we were moving at the speed of a bullet train, it felt fucking right.
And why did that scare me?