Chapter Twenty
Silas
“So I was thinkin’ of goin’ into town tomorrow to look for a new suit for the weddin’ next weekend. Would you wanna go with me?”
Posey sits across from me, drinking her coffee and eating breakfast, before we head into work. Since it’s Friday, and we don’t have to be there early for yoga, I’m tempted as hell to lift her up on this table and devour her.
But after being later than usual yesterday, we can’t risk being late today.
“Yeah, I was thinkin’ of gettin’ a new dress too. Maybe we could match.” She smirks.
“Won’t that make us more obvious?”
She shrugs. “Or a coincidence. We’re roommates who went together. Nothin’ strange about that.”
I love that she’s so willing to go along with keeping us a secret for now. Although she hates lying to her family, it won’t be for long. I have a job interview next Tuesday, and if all goes well, I could start in the next few weeks.
“Am I allowed to wear my cowboy hat?” I waggle my brows. “Since I know it’s your kryptonite.”
Her eyes widen with realization. “I knew you only wore that to tease me!”
When she flicks a piece of toast at me, I bark out a laugh.
“I thought that was obvious.”
“Your fan club sure enjoyed it.”
“Did you see the comments on the video someone posted yesterday?”
“No, I stopped lookin’ after they kept postin’ sexual memes about wantin’ to climb you like a tree.”
I snort, smirking over the rim of my tumbler as I sip my coffee.
“Apparently someone recorded you and me interactin’ and zoomed in every time we touched each other. They made an edit of us.”
“Wait, really?”
“And now they’re all makin’ assumptions about us.”
“Great…” she deadpans. “So much for being subtle. Hopefully my parents don’t see it.”
I’m one hundred percent prepared to quit if I need to. Of course I need this job, but it’d only be a temporary setback. After finally getting her back, I’m not letting anything or anyone get in our way.
Standing, I grab her chin and dip down until our lips meet. “It’ll be okay. Stop worryin’.”
“Easier said than done.”
“If it helps, my mom and sisters are ecstatic to see you on Sunday. But prepare to get bombarded.”
Although we’re keeping our relationship a secret from her family, mine already had their suspicions so I told them with the understanding it couldn’t go public.
“I’m excited to go.” She smiles up at me when I move between her legs. “It’ll be a nice break from my siblings sharin’ humilatin’ stuff about me. Now I get to hear all about you.”
“Oh no…they’re under strict orders not to embarrass me.”
“Well, that’s no fun.” She pouts, yanking on my belt buckle to drag me closer. When her fingers play with my jeans zipper, I pull back.
“Uh uh…we gotta go.” If I give Ian one more reason to get pissed at me, he’ll rat us out before we’re ready.
She gets to her feet and slides her hands underneath my shirt, taunting me with her nails dragging over my chest.
“Fine…but then I get to put this image in your head all day.”
I furrow my brows and wrap a loose strand behind her ear. “What image?”
“The one of me…in the shower…with my vibrator…and lots of soap.”
I growl, wrapping a hand around her neck and yanking her closer. “That’s cruel.”
Her flirty gaze lowers to my groin where my cock strains against my shorts.
“And now we can go!” She giggles and moves to walk past me.
Quickly grabbing her arm, I pull her back to me and crash my mouth down on hers. Swiping my tongue with hers, I deepen the kiss until she’s ravaged and breathless.
“Alright, now we can go.” I wink at how flustered she is. “I’m not the only one who gets to suffer with blue balls all day.”
As promised, I found Posey in the shower with her toy after work and used it on her until she was a weeping mess. Getting her off and hearing her cry out my name were enough to make me cum all over her.
We spent the night in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn, watching Golden Girls, and teasing each other as much as possible. Posey’s giggle is infectious when she lets her guard down, and by the end of the evening, my stomach hurt from laughing so much.
I wake up in Posey’s bed and tighten my hold on her, groaning into her neck as I arch my hips. I’ve always loved cuddling, so it helps that she does too.
When she feels my morning wood, she wiggles her ass against me, and slides one of my hands down between her thighs.
“Mm…” I moan, unable to resist giving her what she wants.
I suck on the soft skin below her ear and rub over her panties.
Before I can slide my fingers inside, something hits my foot at the edge of the bed.
“What was—” Leaning up, I see it. “Oh fuck. What the hell?”
As I scramble to get as far away as possible, he moves toward me.
“Stop freakin’ out.” Posey pulls him into her arms and nuzzles him. “It’s just Teddy.”
“It’s a rat, baby. In bed with us,” I say pointedly.
“At least he didn’t hide for three days again. No, he didn’t…he came right to his mama.” She speaks in a baby voice that Teddy clearly loves, and if I didn’t know any better, the bastard is gloating about it in front of me.
“Here, hold him.” She pushes him into my chest.
“Oh, hell no.” I jump out of bed. “I don’t do rats, Posey.”
“Would this be a bad time to tell you I’m gettin’ another one?”
“No…no way,” I argue, grabbing my sweats off the floor and aggressively putting them on.
“He needs a friend!” she whines, climbing out of bed with Teddy in her arms. “He’s lonely.”
“Then you be his friend. I—no…no more rats, please.”
“C’mon, what’s wrong with him? He’s so stinkin’ cute!” She squishes her face into his. “Just hold him.”
“Not gonna happen.” I shake my head and go out the door.
“Just one time!” She chases me down the hallway.
I can’t help laughing when we’re at a stalemate around the kitchen island. It’s so ridiculous, but I refuse to give in.
“Marjorie released him for a reason. She wants you to be his buddy.”
“Marjorie’s lucky I let her stay here.”
Posey scoffs. “You mean, you’re lucky she lets you stay here.”
Crossing my arms, I roll my eyes. “Let’s compromise.”
“Whaddya have in mind?”
“I will pet him while you hold him.”
She playfully narrows her eyes and whispers to Teddy, presumingly to ask if he’s okay with that, and then she nods. “Okay, deal. But you gotta pet him for one minute.”
“Thirty seconds,” I counter.
“Forty-five.”
“Forty.”
“Forty-two and a half.”
“Fine.”
She beams, then walks him over to me. “Be gentle rubbin’ over his head and down his back.”
I hope she realizes how strong my feelings are that I’m willing to do this to make her happy. If it were literally any other animal, it wouldn’t bother me so much, but I fucking hate rats.
“Alright…start countin’.”
And she does, except she counts them in Mississippi, so it takes nearly twice as long.
“There, now he thinks you’re besties,” she praises once I’m finally off the hook.
“How wonderful,” I deadpan. “I’m gonna go boil myself in the shower now.”
“So dramatic.”
Two hours later, Posey and I are downtown shopping for wedding attire. I’ve also been looking at home decor and furniture ideas since I still haven’t bought any, but I’ve not been eager about moving either.
“Any chance there’s space for two in there?” Posey smirks, scanning her eyes in the dressing room. “’Cause you in this shirt with the sleeves rolled up is makin’ my clit throb.”
“Jesus Christ,” I choke out a laugh at how unexpected her words were, but I’m not complaining.
I adore this side of Posey.
The not afraid to show affection, be clingy and needy, always wants me around side that I’ve never experienced before. Not even with my fiancée. It’s nice to be on the same level as someone with similar love languages and not worry if you’re being too much or not enough.
I tilt her chin, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “As soon as we get home, I’ll do whatever you want me to.”
She grins. “Deal.”
“Posey?”
A man’s voice calls out her name, and she quickly pushes me back in the room, then closes the door on me.
“Hey, Colt.”
Oh shit.
“Whaddya doin’ here?” he asks.
“Nothin’. Well, shoppin’.” She chuckles nervously. “Obviously.”
Wow, she sucks at this.
“Uh…what’re you doin’?” she asks.
“Findin’ somethin’ to wear for the weddin’. Whaddya think of this?”
I quickly change out of the shirt and back into my own so I can help her out. She’s panicking for no reason.
“That looks great,” Posey says. “Blue looks good on you.”
“Think so?”
“Oh yeah. You should go buy it. Like right now.”
I shake my head.
Opening the door, I step out with the shirt and slacks I’m going to buy and greet Colton with a nod. “Hey, man.”
“Oh hey.” His gaze pingpongs between Posey and me.
“She was helpin’ me find somethin’ to wear for the weddin’ too.”
“Oh, right. Cool.” Colton looks at Posey, and when I follow his gaze, I stifle a laugh at how guilty she looks.
“And she’s gonna help me find some things for my new place.”
“You found an apartment?” he asks.
“Yeah, on Grove. It’s a small one-bedroom, but it’ll do for now.”
“Nice. Lemme know if you need help movin’.”
“Thanks, I will.”
“Well…” Posey claps and speaks at hyper speed. “We should go. I need to find somethin’ to wear too and whatever else he needs. Kitchen and bathroom stuff. Ya know.”
“Right, okay,” Colton drawls. “Have fun. See ya guys.”
“Yep, bye.”
As soon as he’s out of view, Posey turns toward me, her eyes wide and face flushed.
“You need to relax,” I tease. “He probably thinks you ate a gummy or somethin’.”
She blows out a breath, slamming her head against my chest. “I told you I can’t lie.”
“We didn’t.” I pull her back, cupping her face. “We’re just shoppin’.”
“You know what I mean. Lyin’ by omission.”
“I doubt he cares that much.”
After I check out, we walk to one of the boutiques so she can try on dresses and shoes. I had to glue my back to the wall to stop myself from touching her each time she showed me a new one.
“I’m thinkin’ this one. Whaddya think?”
When she opens the door, my jaw falls to the floor. “You cannot wear that in public.”
“You always say that.”
“Yeah, but I can see your nipples. And that slit? There’s no way you can wear panties underneath.”
She bites her lower lip before gliding her tongue over it. “Sounds like easy access to me.”
“Posey,” I growl. “I’ll be walkin’ around all night with a hard-on.”
“So?”
“So that might get awkward when I’m talkin’ to your family and my whole package is tented on display.”
“You can wear somethin’ that’ll equally turn me on and we can suffer together.”
“And what might that be?”
She holds my gaze and walks toward me, then lifts a finger to my chest. “A chain hangin’ from your neck with the letter P on it. I would probably lose my mind and go feral anytime I saw you wearin’ it.”
I’m surprised she wants me to wear one considering she’s always calling me a city boy and loves cowboy hats, but fuck it. If that’s what she wants, I’ll make it happen.
Tipping her chin, I inch closer to her mouth. Not quite touching, but if anyone walked in here and caught us, they’d definitely know we weren’t just friends.
“If that’s the case, then you better be ready for me next weekend.” I wink before pulling away.
We spend the rest of the day window shopping for apartment furniture and although I grab some kitchen and bathroom supplies, I don’t get much more than that.
On Sunday, we went to my mom’s and had brunch with my sisters, who took far too much joy embarrassing me every chance they got. Showing off old photos, telling stories from my middle and high school years, and overall, making me sound like a nerd and loser.
Posey loved all of it and joined in on teasing me. I couldn’t even be mad about it because seeing her get along with my family so well was a relief. She played with my nieces and nephews and by the end of the evening were already asking when I’d bring her back.
Aundrea didn’t talk or engage much, which made things awkward when I brought her to my family events. I don’t even think she knew all their names.
Monday started out like the rest of the week did—with Posey and I in the shower, my new favorite morning activity of making her come, followed by my favorite evening activity of making her come. On the couch, the kitchen island, her bed, my bed, or the back of my truck.
I loved finding new ways to get her off and teaching her how to finish while I coached her.
We went to goat yoga as usual on Tuesday and Thursday, me in my cowboy hat and her in too tight spandex that had me drooling all over the mat.
The job interview was a bust, but I have another one scheduled for next week that sounds much more up my alley. A building company looking for a project manager who can start right away with great benefits, consistent hours, opportunities for promotions, and optional overtime.
Tonight’s the wedding rehearsal for Landen and Ellie, which means the entire Hollis family is here along with Ellie’s.
They’re staying at the Willow Chalet. I’ve helped with cleaning, getting out chairs, and setting up the past few nights, and now I’m excited to see everyone.
It’s been years since I’ve seen their cousins.
“Are you ready?” Posey asks, entering the living room and looking far too tempting.
“Goddamn, why must you torture me?”
She’s in the prettiest pink dress and brown cowboy boots, hair down in long waves, and silver hoops in her ear.
Pulling her to my chest, I slant my mouth over hers. “You look breathtakin’, love. Any single guys at this thing? Hope not, ’cause I might be tempted to punch ’em if I catch ’em starin’ at you.”
“Well…there might be.” She shrugs playfully. “But they’re all related to me, so you don’t have anythin’ to worry about.”
“Good, even better.” I wink before stealing another kiss.
“We should go so we aren’t late.”
I only tagged along because I was told to, but I mostly sat and watched the rehearsal. Warren introduced me to everyone I hadn’t met yet and re-introduced me to the ones I had in previous years.
Posey and I decided to keep our distance since there’d be so many eyes on us otherwise. Plus, I wanted her to enjoy being with her family and catching up with them instead of worrying about me.
I’ll steal her back tomorrow night after the reception and make her mine for good.