29. Landon
Chapter 29
Landon
Warmth washed over my face, and I cracked open one eye. The tree line was awash in the golden rays of sunrise. Blinking against the bright light, I took in my surroundings. The lake just past the balcony rails glittered with beams of the early morning sun.
Something stirred against my chest, and for the first time since waking, I noticed the weight atop me and the faint scent of vanilla.
Olivia.
She was curled up in my lap, her dark hair fanned across my chest with a blanket wrapped around her. I’d snuck into my room last night and retrieved it while JD was sleeping. We sat out here and talked for a long time, her cradled in my lap with the blanket wrapped around us. We must’ve fallen asleep, exhausted from the day and our late night, ahem, activities.
Visions from last night came flooding into my mind. Olivia writhing beneath me as I brought her to climax with my tongue. Her on her knees in front of me, lips wrapped around my cock, and my fingers tangled in her hair. I’d never come so fast or so hard in my life. It was embarrassing, but fuck, I'd wanted her so bad, and she blew all my fantasies out of the water.
I knew it the second she woke up. She stiffened in my arms, and I gave her a moment to notice where she was before speaking.
“Good morning.”
Confused brown eyes lifted to my face and blinked up at me. The expression was so comically adorable I had to stifle a chuckle. She shifted in my lap, and her thigh brushed against my erection. It was morning, after all, and reliving what had happened last night in my head didn’t help the situation much. A flush rose to her cheeks, and she ducked her head.
“Mornin’,” she replied, her voice raspy from sleep. My dick strained against my shorts at the sound, throbbing almost painfully. It was inexplicably sexy. I didn’t want to admit what waking up with her in my arms did to me. It felt too good, too right , but a twinge of guilt speared through my chest. I’d just spent the night with my brother’s ex. Sure, we didn’t have sex, but we came close enough to it that he would never forgive me if he found out.
I didn’t want to care about what he thought, and last night, I convinced myself that was the case. But in the cold light of day, I had to face the reality that I’d betrayed him. Regardless of the lies he’d told and the mistakes he’d made, this would hurt him. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt my brother. It could send him into a tailspin, and I might lose him for good.
“I better get inside before Honey wakes up and realizes I’m missing. She’ll have the whole house looking for me.” Olivia offered me an apologetic smile. She untangled herself from the blanket and lifted off me. I wanted to reach for her, to draw her back into our little cocoon of safety, but she was right. It would be best if no one knew what had happened out here last night. If word got back to my brother that we'd spent the night together… I didn’t even want to think about what he’d do.
I nodded and watched as she opened the sliding door and tiptoed into her room. Without her warmth, the chill in the air drove me back into my room, where I collapsed on my bed to catch a few more hours of sleep.
When I awoke again, JD was no longer asleep in his bed. I stumbled out of my room and into the bathroom where I took a scalding hot shower to wake myself up. Once dressed, I went in search of my housemates and was drawn to the kitchen by the delicious aroma that wafted from the stove. People were scattered about, some eating on the deck while others sat at the kitchen island and table.
Olivia glanced over her shoulder from where she stood at the stove. She shot me a tentative grin before adding a pancake to the heaping stack next to the skillet.
“Grab a plate,” she instructed, and I did as I was told. There was bacon, eggs, shrimp and grits, and toast. I began filling my plate as she brought the stack of pancakes to the island. I plucked one from the top with my fork and plopped it onto my plate. They were fluffy and golden, just like you’d get from a restaurant.
“These look amazing.” I almost leaned in for a kiss. The impulse felt so natural, it caught me off guard. Instead, I cleared my throat and glanced around at the massive spread of food laid before us. “Did you make all of this?” Guilt washed over me at the thought of her spending the entire morning cooking for all of us while I slept in.
“No, I only made the pancakes. I just got up about a half hour ago. Honey, Wade, and Lucy took care of the rest.”
“Well, thank you for making these. Pancakes are my favorite.” A soft smile curved her lips.
“You’re welcome.”
I glanced up and saw JD and Wade eating outside at the small patio table. JD waved me over, and I excused myself. I slid into the empty seat next to him and immediately dug into my food. It was delicious, and just as I expected, the pancakes were perfect.
“Shoot, I didn’t realize there were more pancakes,” Wade said and pushed away from the table, taking his empty plate with him. Once he was gone and out of earshot, JD began his interrogation.
“So what happened to you last night?” I was mid-bite when he asked the question. I took a moment to chew and decide how to answer him. The best I could come up with was to be evasive.
“What do you mean?”
“I woke up in the middle of the night, and you were nowhere to be found.”
Shit, I hoped he hadn’t heard any of what happened just outside our door. Worse, I prayed he didn’t see any of it. That would be embarrassing.
“I couldn’t sleep. Went out onto the balcony to get some fresh air.”
“Mmm-hmm,” he replied with a flat look. “Did you happen to see anybody else while you were out there?”
I paused with my fork halfway to my mouth and looked up at him. He watched me with narrowed eyes. He knew something.
“Why do you ask?” I brought the food the rest of the way to my mouth and chewed as I tried to appear unaffected by his questions.
Just play it cool, man. He doesn’t know anything. That’s why he’s asking.
He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, studying me.
“Honey mentioned that Olivia wasn’t in their room this morning when she woke up to go to the bathroom. She assumed Olivia had simply gotten up early, but when she awoke again, Olivia was in her bed. Same as you.” We stared at each other in a silent face-off. Clearly, mine and Olivia’s absences from our rooms hadn’t gone unnoticed, and Honey and JD had already compared notes. There was no way I would tell JD about what had happened between us, but I also didn’t want to lie to him.
“There really isn’t anything I can tell you,” I said finally. It was the truth. I couldn’t tell him that Olivia and I had made out then gotten each other off with our mouths. I couldn’t admit that if I’d had a condom, things definitely would’ve gone even farther than that. It was a private moment between two consenting adults and nobody’s business.
He let out a defeated sigh and braced his elbows on the table. His gaze flicked toward the house nervously as though worried he would be overheard.
“Just be careful, okay. You and Olivia have a complicated history. If something is going on between you, your brother won’t be happy. It could cause issues between you two,” he warned as though I hadn’t been through this scenario in my head a thousand times already. “And I don’t want to see you get hurt if she decides not to stick around. Rumor has it, she’s considered selling the bakery and moving back to Atlanta since the moment she inherited it.” I always knew that was a possibility, but to hear it from someone else’s mouth made it all the more real. And the prospect of her leaving, something I’d once hoped for, now caused a pain to settle in my chest. Swallowing down the emotion suddenly clogging my throat, I pasted on a smirk.
“Shouldn’t you refrain from gossiping, Brother John ?” I asked with feigned reproach. He simply smirked at me and brought his coffee mug to his lips.
“We all fall short of the glory of God,” he said before taking a sip.