Chapter 15
Ford
The second Violet climbed out of the pool after our playful sparring, my pulse kicked hard.
She tugged at the ties of her damp dress, peeled it off, and handed it to my mom, who took it inside the house to toss into the dryer.
Which left Violet standing there in nothing but a black bikini that left too much skin showing and made it impossible for me to look anywhere else.
I dragged my gaze away and then right back again, because hell if I had that much self-control when she looked so sinful.
She twisted her hair, squeezing the extra moisture from the strands, while I tracked the droplets of water sliding down her skin, catching in the hollow of her throat and rolling along her stomach before disappearing into the edge of her bikini bottoms. I wanted to trace that same wet path with my tongue, all the way down to between her legs and settle there for a good long while.
I watched as she chatted with my sisters for a bit, my mother, too, and even played a few games of tag with the kids, her expression and reactions animated for their benefit, which they loved.
But after a while I could sense that she was feeling overwhelmed and might need a break from being around so many people.
People she’d had to lie to about our relationship.
I hadn’t realized just how curious my family would be around my supposed girlfriend.
That was my mistake, and I hated that I’d put her in that position.
Still, she’d handled it better than I could have hoped and they adored her already.
And me? I’d never seen Violet look so soft and so sweet, without the armor she usually wrapped around herself.
It was a side of her I wanted to draw out more often, a side that tugged at me in ways I couldn’t ignore.
Deciding to give Violet a reprieve, I came up beside her and slid an arm around her waist, pulling her close. She went still for a second, then let out a quiet breath and leaned into me, playing along.
“There you are,” I said lightly, brushing a droplet of water from her shoulder. “I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me.”
Violet tilted her head, her lips curving in that sly smile she used when she was deciding whether to play nice or cut me off at the knees. “Hard to forget the guy who threw me into the pool, despite my protests,” she said playfully.
Laney raised her brows, grinning like she was enjoying the show. “You two are cute. Didn’t think I’d ever see this attentive side to Ford, but I kind of love it.”
“Surprise, surprise,” I said, then added quickly, “Now if you’ll excuse us, I’m going to steal Violet away before she decides she’s had enough of my nosy family and bolts for the door.”
Laney laughed. “I’m not worried. She likes us. I can tell.”
“She’s got good taste,” I said with a cocky grin. “That’s how she ended up with me in the first place.”
Violet snort-laughed, her eyes glimmering with mirth as they met mine. “Oh my God, please take me away before I say something I can’t take back.”
I chuckled, enjoying our light, fun banter. “Too late. You’ve been saying things you can’t take back since the second we met.”
She couldn’t argue that truth, and instead rolled her eyes at me.
Laney shook her head, still smiling, and let us go without protest. I tightened my arm around Violet’s waist, steering her toward the quiet, empty house, grateful for the excuse to give her a respite from the chaos outside.
“What are we doing?” she asked, looking both relieved and confused by my decision to bring her inside.
“I just thought you looked like you could use a break from my family for a few minutes,” I said, stopping in the den and grinning at her. “So, here we are. A break.”
For a moment her expression shifted, gratitude flickering across her face, her cheeks flushing. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to that,” she murmured.
I tipped my head curiously. “Used to what?”
“You just…” she shrugged, her eyes darting away. “Seeing me and knowing what I need.”
While I tried to digest that statement, she took a closer look at the photos on the wall.
“I love that you all grew up in this house,” she said, changing the subject as she studied one certain picture a bit longer then glanced at me and made a face.
“What even is this photo? This suit looks terrible on you.”
I could hear the laughter in her voice and I groaned, completely agreeing with her. “Senior prom. I’ve been begging mom to take that one down for years, but she refuses. I think she leaves it up just to torture me.”
“Well, despite that dark blue velvet suit, you do look cute.” Violet looked at another photo, her teasing smile softening into something more thoughtful. “And look at you, so handsome in your military uniform. How long did you serve?”
“Eight years. I wanted to be like my father, but I realized pretty quickly I didn’t want it to be my whole career so… I ended up in security.”
She moved on to another framed picture, this one of my parents on a recent trip to Hawaii, complete with flowered shirts and leis, before glancing at me again, the look in her eyes reserved now. “So, everyone seemed happy that you’d found someone. I feel bad for lying to them.”
The guilt in her voice surprised me. I would have expected indifference, not that note of regret I heard and I grimaced. “Yeah, I didn’t realize they’d be quite so enthusiastic. That’s on me. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s all right.” She waved it off, though the crease between her brows told me it wasn’t fine.
“Just makes me wonder…the way they talked, it’s like they expected you to settle down a long time ago.
Why haven’t you? I mean…” Violet gestured up and down at me.
“You’re a catch. Although if you tell anyone I said that, they’ll never find your body.
I know where they bury people out in the desert. ”
Her mock threat made me chuckle, but underneath, her question hit something more personal.
“I watched my mom practically raise us on her own while Dad was away on duty. It was brutal on her. Not only was she alone a lot and without a partner to help out, but I knew she constantly worried about him coming home after being deployed to some war torn country. It was stressful on her, being a military wife, and I didn’t want to ever put someone through that. ”
“You’re not in the military anymore,” Violet pointed out softly. “Working security is a risk, sure, but it’s not as dangerous as active military or being in a war zone.”
“True.” I hesitated, then shrugged. “Like I said before, I don’t want to be pushed into a relationship. If I’m with someone, I want it to happen naturally and be real. The kind of chemistry you can feel down to your bones.”
And damn if I wasn’t already feeling that with her.
The spark that never seemed to burn out no matter how much we sometimes clashed, the pull that made me notice every shift in her expression, every unguarded moment she tried to hide.
It was more than attraction, more than heat and that brat/dom dynamic.
It was the kind of undeniable connection I’d spent the last few years searching for.
Her laugh was soft, but didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Well, here’s hoping you find her soon. Because your family is going to be really annoyed with you when you break the news that we split up.”
“Annoyed with me?” I asked, arching a brow. “Who says they won’t be annoyed with you?”
“Because clearly they adore me,” she said without missing a beat, flashing me a cheeky grin. “Obviously, the breakup would be your fault, not mine.”
I grinned at her logic. “Unfortunately, there’s one big, massive flaw in your argument.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, drawing my gaze to her breasts nearly pushing out of her bikini top. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”
I lifted my eyes back to hers, my tone serious as I replied, “If I liked a woman enough to bring her home, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to let her go.”
She looked momentarily startled. For once, she didn’t have a comeback ready. And in that beat of silence I saw something vulnerable in her eyes. A longing that vanished much too quickly as she regained her composure.
Even knowing I was dealing with a woman who was skittish as hell when it came to trusting a man beyond something sexual, I stepped closer and decided to push, just a little more, and see what happened. “You know, I have found some pretty great chemistry, right here between us.”
Something akin to desire flickered across her features before she managed to hide it behind a roll of her eyes. “Please, Ford, you’re not that special,” she said, striving for a flippant tone. “Everyone thinks they’ve got chemistry with me.”
I should have let it go. Should have laughed it off the way she wanted, but all I could think about was how close she was, how the air between us practically crackled with everything she was trying to deny.
Then, it happened. One second we were staring each other down and the next I was closing the distance, my hands finding her face, her body tilting into mine.
No hesitation. No second thoughts. Just heat and inevitability as our mouths crashed together in a hot, deep kiss that felt like it had been waiting to happen all damn day.
It hit me like a jolt that I’d never kissed her before, that this was the first time I’d tasted her lips, and I couldn’t believe I’d deprived myself of this particular pleasure.
Violet gasped, the sound caught between shock and surrender, and then she melted into it, into me, as I kissed her.
I guided her arms up around my neck, then slid one hand into her hair and grabbed her ass with the other, pulling her flush against me until there wasn’t an inch of space left between us.
She clung to me, chest pressed tight to mine, her mouth hot and insistent as she tried to control the kiss, make it more fierce, to turn it into a battle of wills.
But I refused to give her that out. I gripped my fingers in her hair and angled her head, slowing things down on purpose, making her feel every stroke of my tongue against hers.
This wasn’t a scene. This wasn’t dominance or brat play.
This was me kissing Violet because I wanted her, because I needed to know what it felt like when she stopped hiding behind the attitude and gave me something real.
I’d been starving for this without even realizing it, and now that I had her mouth beneath mine I couldn’t get enough.
Her taste wrecked me, sweet and sharp all at once, like her. And the little, needy noises she made in the back of her throat made my cock ache. Every time she tried to fight for control, I slowed her down, dragged her deeper, refusing to let her turn this into anything but the truth between us.
For me, the truth was simple and undeniable. Kissing Violet Corbin was the most addictive thing I’d ever done and I wasn’t about to give her up to anyone else.
“Oh my God, could you at least keep it PG?” Liza quipped.
Violet jumped away from me like someone had shocked her, her face pink with embarrassment. I wanted to reel her back in and keep her close to me where she belonged, but I wasn’t sure how she’d respond to that, and I didn’t want Liza to get suspicious if Violet resisted.
So, instead, I smirked at my sister and attempted to divert the attention off Violet. “Just because you don’t have time for sex anymore because of the baby doesn’t mean the rest of us have to live like monks.”
“Speaking of baby,” Liza said, holding up the one-year-old, Dylan, who was fussing. “I came in here to change his diaper. Unless you’d like to volunteer, as my sweet and helpful big brother?” she batted her lashes at me.
I quickly shook my head. “No, no, I think it’s a really important bonding activity between parent and child. We’ll get out of your way.” I took Violet’s hand and tugged her out of the den with me to the kitchen.
“Maybe you should get a room,” Liza called after us, humor in her tone.
Violet covered her mouth, eyes wide, looking torn between amusement and mortification. “I haven’t felt this busted since I was sixteen, sneaking out past curfew.”
I chuckled, easily imagining a young teenage Violet, full of rebellion and hell bent on breaking rules. “I have no doubt that you were trouble, even back then.”
I glanced out the glass slider to the patio.
Dusk was settling in, while the sounds of the kids’ playful screams and laughter could be heard out in the yard.
We’d been here a few hours, and normally I’d have stayed until the very end.
But Violet’s shoulders had that slight tension again, her smile just a touch too practiced, like she was preparing herself to face the masses again.
“Are you cutting the cake soon?” I called out to Liza, loud enough for her to hear me in the den.
My sister appeared, a much happier looking Dylan balanced on her hip. “Yes. It’s after six, and between the sun and playing in the pool, I think the kids are about at their limit.”
“Perfect.” I rested my hand on the small of Violet’s back, guiding her outside, my voice low enough for only her to hear. “We’ll stay for cake, then slip out. Sound good?”
She nodded, glancing up at me. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry, I really do like your family. I’m just not used to…all of this.” Her hand fluttered in the air, as though she couldn’t quite explain what this meant.
I leaned close. “We’ll go back to your place and put on a movie if you want and just relax.”
Violet shivered, her lashes lowering. After that heated kiss we’d just shared I dared to hope she was thinking of doing something other than relaxing and watching a movie.
We sang Happy Birthday to Kevin, cut the cake, and ate a piece while my nephew tore through his presents. Violet laughed at something my niece said, and for a moment it was too easy to picture her here, not as a temporary stand-in, but as part of this family.
When it was time to leave, I made my excuses for us. My sisters and especially my mom, looked genuinely disappointed, like they all hated to see Violet go. Guilt pricked at me. They liked her. Hell, they more than liked her. And I was lying to them.
I told myself they’d get over it once I explained we’d broken up, but the thought rang hollow. Because even as I led Violet out, another thought lodged in my mind and refused to budge. What if I didn’t have to? What if this could turn into something real?
For the first time in a long damn while, I found myself hoping. Hoping that maybe Violet—stubborn, sharp-tongued, impossible Violet—could be more than a beautiful lie I’d spun for my family’s sake.
That maybe, she could be mine.