Chapter 4
FOUR
Addison
“ Y ou’re coming inside … aren’t you?” Ridge asked.
Once I shifted into park, he was looking at me from the passenger seat of my car. The engine idling in his driveway, my finger now hovering over the button to turn off the ignition.
If that kiss in the restaurant hadn’t completely blown me away, I wouldn’t be here.
I wouldn’t be staring into his eyes.
I wouldn’t have been so turned on by the thought of what those lips were going to do to me that I’d agreed to something as foolish as going home with him. But here I was, sending all the wrong messages, going against all the promises I’d made myself.
Who am I right now?
I didn’t know, but I was just going to go with it until my gut started to tell me not to, and so far, during the drive to his mansion, it hadn’t whispered a word.
I hit the button, and the engine turned off. “Yes, I’m coming inside.”
I unbuckled my seat belt and followed him to the front door. His thumbprint pressed against the tablet on the side of the lock, which got us into the foyer, where I immediately glanced up to the ceiling. A height that seemed at least several stories tall. A grand black staircase wrapped around the back side of the entryway, a glass catwalk across the middle, and pendant lighting highlighted several pieces of art and sections of the stairs to make them focal points. As my stare lowered, I could see to the other side of the house, where the windows overlooked a pool, the water lit up a bright blue. This was probably only a tenth of his home, and I was already completely blown away.
Our eyes locked, and I asked, “What kind of job did you say you have that pays you so well?”
He was smiling, laughing even. “I didn’t say.” His hand went to my lower back. “Let’s get you a drink.” He led me into a big, beautiful kitchen, decorated in a dark emerald green with gold and black accents.
Whatever this man did, he did it very well.
“Wine? Beer? Alcohol? What’s your thing?”
“Rosé.” I didn’t know what to do with my hands, so I tucked them in the pockets of my sweatshirt. “But I’m guessing you don’t have any, so I’ll go with white.” I grabbed his arm as he went to take a step. “If you don’t have an open bottle, please don’t open one for me. I’ll honestly drink whatever.”
“How about I open a bottle of white for the both of us?”
“You drink white wine?”
Most of the guys I knew wouldn’t touch wine—red if it was a must, but never white.
“I do tonight.”
As he walked into the living room, where there was a wet bar along the side, I continued to look around, and that was when I noticed his daughter’s stuff. The stack of coloring books on the corner of the counter. The small pink chair next to the oversize sectional. The box of toys on the opposite wall of the wet bar. Her drawings taped to the fridge. The pink stuffed horse on the couch. The cookie jar by the stovetop with pink sprinkle cookies inside.
Details that were positively adorable.
“I picked up this bottle during my last trip to Napa. Let’s see if it’s any good,” he said, returning to the kitchen, where he unscrewed the top and poured some of the wine into two glasses. He handed me one and held up his. “To our first date.” The most seductive look came across his face, and it made me blush. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” I took a drink, the wine tart and crisp, just how I liked it. As I swallowed, I peeked at the staircase, wondering if I needed to keep my voice down. “Is your daughter here?”
He huffed. “No. She’s with her mom this week.”
“So, you have all the time and freedom to get in all kinds of trouble, just like you have tonight.” I winked.
“You call this trouble?” He grazed my waist, and it was enough pressure that it sent a spark right through me.
“What would you call it, then?”
“I’d call this tame. But remember, I haven’t touched you yet, Addy. When and if I do, that’s not the description I’d use.”
As though it was the most natural thing, he licked across his lips, and my mind went straight to the movement of his tongue.
“I’m not really the trouble-finding type of guy, if I’m being honest.” He set his wine down and lifted me onto the counter, placing me along the edge of the large island, and he stood in front of me. “You’re assuming I do this a lot, I’m guessing, and I don’t. Do I hook up with women? Sure. I’m certainly not celibate. But compared to my friends, I’m nothing like them. Don’t forget, my ex is on the road more often than she’s not, so I have my daughter about three weeks a month.”
I was surprised by how easily he had lifted me, how light I’d felt in his arms even though he only held me for a few seconds. And I was just as shocked that when his hands left me, when one returned to his glass and the other flattened on the counter beside me, I missed them.
Because they felt so much better on me than off me.
“That must be a hard balance for her and your daughter—I know, if I were a mom, I’d want to be with my little one every night.”
He nodded. “My ex has a great job, and she loves it. She’s a celebrity makeup artist. She wouldn’t make the same kind of money if she was stationed just in LA. It’s hard for her, for sure, but it works for us, and they FaceTime several times a day, so even though she’s gone, they see each other constantly.”
“That’s a cool gig.”
“You know how your sister has these wild stories from the emergency department? You should hear the shit my ex tells me about celebrities.” He gripped the back of his neck. “She sees and hears some of the craziest stuff.”
“I’m impressed you even listen to her stories.”
He laughed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
I kicked my legs into the air. “From my experience, men aren’t the best listeners, and as far as retaining, forget about it. In one ear and out the other.”
He laughed even harder. “Damn, you’re tough.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Quiz me,” he demanded.
“On what?”
“On anything you’ve told me tonight. I’ll prove to you I was listening.” He wiped his lips even though nothing was there.
The thing was, I hadn’t really told him much about myself. I’d done that intentionally. I didn’t want to get in too deep—yet I was at his house, sitting on his counter, and he was standing between my legs. So, my entire plan had gone to hell.
“ Hmm .” I did a mental scan of our entire evening together. “I ordered an extra ingredient in my ramen. What was it?”
“Cilantro.”
I took a drink of wine, floored that he’d gotten that one right. “I mentioned that I cheered. Was it in high school or college?”
“Both.” He placed his hand on my thigh. “Come on. You’re being too easy on me.”
“How many shifts have I worked at the strip club?”
“This would be the end of your third.” He moved in a little closer. “You want four to five kids. You’re from the Bay area. You came to LA for college and didn’t leave because you love the weather. Get you by the ocean with some sun, and you’re a happy girl. You want me to keep going?” His brows stayed high, and so did his grin.
Why was that smile so addictive? A perfect set of straight teeth and thick lips, surrounded by scruff that had felt so soft during our kiss.
“Show-off.” I sighed.
“I told you, I listen.”
“You’re running out of boxes to check off on the I’m-one-of-the-good-guys list.”
“It’s not intentional, it’s just who I am.”
I didn’t know why, but there was a tightness in the back of my throat. “I like that about you.”
“Yeah?”
I shrugged. “It’s refreshing to know my words are being heard since my past is filled with guys who are on the asshole list.”
And those assholes hadn’t heard anything I ever said. They didn’t bother to listen. And they had done very little to make me happy.
That was what I got for being attracted to the bad boys.
“It wasn’t always a strength, but it became important when I had my little girl. I want her to grow up knowing we’re not all the same. And when she’s old enough to date—God fucking help me—I want to be a good role model for what she looks for in a guy.”
A man who had reshaped himself to be the best example for his daughter.
There was literally nothing hotter.
My God.
I took a couple of deep breaths to cool myself down. “I get the sense you’re an amazing dad.”
He bit the side of his lip. “What makes you say that?”
I was around a lot of fathers. I knew the difference between amazing and emotionally absent. It took a lot more than just talking about your daughter—something he’d done very early on in the night—for me to form that opinion. It was something I could see in his eyes, by listening to the activities that he had her involved in and the way he joined her, how he’d described his priorities, how he had almost full custody, and how there were signs of his little one everywhere I looked.
“It’s just a hunch, combined with the way you look whenever you bring her up.”
He exhaled. “I talk about her too much, don’t I?”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “It doesn’t bother me at all—I actually love it.”
“Tell me, Addy, from the little that you know, what else do you love about me?” He paused, his stare narrowing. “There’s a reason you agreed to come home with me. I want to know what that reason is.”
I could feel the heat move across my cheeks. “The way you kissed me. That’s one.”
“You liked the way my mouth felt on yours.” His voice was deepening, almost becoming grittier.
“And the way you touched me.”
“I barely did that. I only touched your face”—his hand grazed my cheek—“and your waist.” He lowered and held the center of my side. “Are you wondering what else these fingers are capable of?”
As his thumb stroked my stomach, I sucked in a deep breath. “Along with a curiosity of what it would be like to be with an older man.”
That made him laugh. “Just how old do you think I am?”
“Early thirties, which is older than me, considering I’m only twenty-four. Most of the guys my age, at least the ones I’ve dated, are only into themselves. I want to experience something different. Because, I swear, if I see one more mirror selfie, I legit might scream.”
His laugh didn’t fade at all. “I’m thirty-one, and I assure you, you will never get one of those from me.” He was stroking my mouth with the pad of his finger. “So, experience turns you on.”
It hadn’t until our kiss. It hadn’t even been on my radar.
But now—now was a whole other story.
And I knew I shouldn’t even put my brain in either place, but I was too far deep to pull back at this point.
“The idea of it, yes,” I replied.
“You know, if I was going to send you any kind of selfie, I’d need to have your number.” With his other hand, he cupped the base of my neck.
“Numbers really complicate things.” I smiled.
His mouth wasn’t far from mine, but his head tilted. “Let me get this straight. You’d give me your body, but you wouldn’t give me your number?”
“You have to earn it.”
“Make it make sense, Addy.”
For the briefest of seconds, my mind went there—to my plate not just being full, but overflowing with everything I had going on in my life—and I started to spiral.
“I’m just trying to get through today, Ridge. I honestly can’t even think about tomorrow, or I’ll start stressing even more. And stress is what I’m trying to avoid. That’s why I’m here. I’m drowning in you instead of treading in all of that.”
His teeth grazed his lip. “You’re telling me you want an escape—is that what I’m hearing?”
I swirled some wine around in my mouth before I answered, “It’s been nice to shut it all off and get on this ride and see where it takes me.”
“What kind of ride are you looking for?” He gripped my ass and slid me to the very edge of the counter, so my legs were forced to straddle him. A move that made me even wetter. “Do you want it rough? Do you want it soft and slow? Or do you want it somewhere in between?”
My eyes closed as my neck tilted back, and his lips were instantly on my throat.
“Whatever is going to make me scream the loudest.”
“It sounds like you’re leaving that decision up to me.” He kissed the base of my neck just as I was swallowing and inched up to the center. “I can read your body, and I’m listening to what it’s telling me. There’s just one problem …” His hands lifted to my ribs, directly below my breasts, the tease enough to make me moan.
“What is it?”
“You’re wearing too many clothes.”