Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Addison
Ridge
If you’re wondering if I got an apology from Rhett this morning, the answer to that would be no.
Me
Let’s cut him a little slack, okay?
Ridge
I’m going to cut you a little slack for saying that, LOL.
Me
Now that you explained everything to me and the source of his anger, I have a soft spot for him.
Ridge
No. Nooo. And hell no.
Me
I can’t help it … I’m weak.
Ridge
He can be an asshole to me, but to be one in your presence is where he fucked up.
Me
But I get why he is one, and all I want to do is give him a hug.
Ridge
What am I going to do with you?
You’re a good person, Addison. No wonder you work with kids all day—you’re going to make them into the best people.
Me
3
Take him out to lunch. Shower him in love. I bet the apology will fall right out of him.
You know he’s been self-reflecting all night. That’s what he does, Ridge. He thinks, and then he overthinks.
Ridge
Regardless, I’m pissed.
Me
What will put you in a better mood?
Ridge
You.
Me
Then, come see me during my lunch break.
Ridge
Done.
Me
Eating my breakfast burrito as I type this. I love you … you’re amazing.
Ridge
I couldn’t come see my girl and not bring her something to eat.
Me
You’re just so sweet.
Ridge
I need to see you again.
Me
You just saw me. ;)
Ridge
It wasn’t enough.
Me
Tonight?
Ridge
I have a thing with the guys and the Westons. Let’s hope I don’t murder my brother while we’re out. Alcohol and anger don’t mix well.
Me
You’d better not, mister.
Ridge
Only because you asked nicely …
Me
Tomorrow night then?
Ridge
Perfect.
Two more evenings of being kid-free before I get my Daisy back.
Me
I know you’ve missed her.
Ridge
For sure, but I’ve also enjoyed the break and spending time with you.
Not tomorrow, but the following night, I have dinner with Jana. I asked her to meet me. It’s time that we talk.
Me
You mean, THE talk?
Ridge
Yeah …
Me
Whoaaaaaa.
Ridge
It needs to happen. The sooner I tell her, the better we’ll all feel.
Me
Or the worse we’ll all feel.
Ridge
You’re supposed to be the positive one.
Me
The sky is suddenly feeling a little cloudy.
Ridge
Stop it. I love you. It’s going to be fine.
The only thing I could do to get my brain off Ridge’s upcoming chat with Jana was to bury myself in him. To concentrate on the moment, which would hopefully stop my mind from drifting every time it started. So, that was what I did over dinner when he took me to the most delicious Indian restaurant and in his car during the drive to his house and when we stripped off our clothes in his bedroom and walked naked across his patio to get into the hot tub.
We sat on the same side, but where he faced the view of the Hollywood Hills, I positioned my body toward him, draping my legs across his lap, the jet blowing water against my side, my hands keeping me grounded so I wouldn’t sink.
“I’m so relaxed,” I moaned.
He brushed his fingers over the top of my hair. “That’s all I wanted, baby.”
“You never told me how last night went with the guys.” I smiled. “Did Rhett behave?”
“Behave? I’m not sure he knows how to do that. But his mood seemed to be slightly better, although the constant booze that we fed him helped.”
“Did you have a good time?”
He was leaning his head against the edge of the stone and lifted it to nod. “Half business, half bullshit. That’s how it is whenever we hang with the Westons. Aside from me and Brady—because he’s working in Bangkok—all the partners are looking for new properties to either develop or renovate. We’re expanding so fast, but the need is there, therefore, it has to happen. That’s the discussion that took up a lot of the night since the Westons want to put restaurants in all our future hotels.”
“With your partners working on-site, that’s got to be tough to be away from home for so long.”
He rubbed the bottoms of my feet. “If Jana didn’t spend a majority of her time on the road, I’d have to do it too.”
“I can’t even imagine you being away from Daisy.”
He exhaled. “I can’t either.” He stole a glance at the view and gradually looked back at me. “Rowan and Cooper are traveling together, bringing Rayner with them. But when she starts school, it’s going to be an entirely different story. One of them will have to stay back with her, and, hell, I don’t know how that’s going to go.” He massaged his palm across my thigh. “Enough about work. Let’s talk about you.”
I laughed. “What about me?”
“I want to hear how school was today.”
I lifted my hand out of the water and waved it at him. “Enough about work.”
He chuckled. “Fair.” He was now holding the bottom of my chin. “What am I going to do with you this summer?”
“This summer?”
“You’re off, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“It would be a crime if we didn’t go somewhere during your downtime.”
I hadn’t put much thought into my summer plans. I was just already really looking forward to the break. As much as I loved my job, by the end of the school year, I needed the summer to rejuvenate.
“The only thing I have on the schedule,” I said, “is to go visit my sister for a week—although she’ll probably have to work the whole time I’m there.”
“Dallas isn’t the beach.”
“No,” I huffed. “It’s certainly not. And in the summer, it’s extra hot, extra spicy, and extra miserable. Sigh.”
“Tell me somewhere you want to go. Somewhere you’ve always wanted to go.”
“ Hmm .” I rested my cheek on the stone that edged the tub, inches from Ridge’s head. “Hawaii?”
“Done.”
“Done?” My eyebrows were so high. “You say that like it’s the easiest thing in the world.”
“Because it is. We have a hotel there—and if you ask Macon, he’ll say it’s the best resort in our entire fleet.” His hand moved to my side. “The hotel is on Kauai, but if you’ve never been, then we’ll need to go to at least one other island, maybe two.”
This sounded so dreamy.
So romantic.
I could already see the magic of the beach in my head.
Even though I wasn’t allowing myself to fast-forward to tomorrow, the result of his dinner with Jana meant I would hopefully soon get to spend lots of personal time with Daisy. And because of that, I had a question.
“Would Daisy be coming with us?” I asked.
With his free arm, he grabbed the other side of my waist and moved me onto his lap. “You mean to Hawaii?”
“Yes.” My legs straddled him; my arms crossed around his neck.
“No, the trip would be just us.”
After he kissed me, I said, “I hope you don’t think I had an agenda when I asked that question. I wasn’t inferring I wanted the trip to be with or without her. I was just curious—that’s all.”
“And that’s exactly how I took it. I know how much you care about her. I also know that if she came with us, the trip would be all about her—as it should be—and we need time alone as a couple.”
I took in his eyes first and then his lips. “Hawaii, a beach … Ridge, I’m dying right now.”
His hands slid up my sides, slowing when they neared the bottoms of my breasts. The slickness of the water and the smoothness of his skin was the most sensual combination. He cupped each one and grazed my nipples, back and forth, stroking the steam out of me. “Then, you’re going to be dying for a long time because I plan to show you every beach in the world.”
If I wasn’t so tuned in to him, I would have lost focus from how he was touching me. How he was building me toward begging.
“Every beach … stop,” I exhaled.
“What, you don’t believe me?” The brushing turned to a light pinching, and it was as though he’d lit a match, my entire body ablaze in fire. “I’m not a guy who would ever bullshit you, Addison.”
Pants were coming from my mouth. Quiet ones, but deep ones. “I know. I just can’t get over what I’m hearing.”
He took ahold of my bottom lip, sucking on it, gnawing on it before he pulled back. “We’re going to have an incredible life together.”
“We already do.”
He kissed my neck.
My throat.
Across each cheek.
His hands casually rotated to my back, leading me in even closer, his hard-on grinding into the front of my pussy. “I need you.” He used his tip to tap my clit. “I need to bury myself inside your cunt.”
He was taunting me.
Provoking me.
“Ridge,” I breathed as he returned to my titty, kneading the center, drawing out the pleasure. I reached for his dick, swiping the opposite side that was against me so all of it was getting friction. “What are you waiting for?”
“You.”
I was in a maze, lost, hitting walls, desperately searching for an out. That was what it felt like to sit here and wait for him to thrust into me.
Because there wasn’t just fire.
There were tingles.
There were internal screams.
There was a need so bad that it was even making my blood pound.
“Me?” I questioned.
“If you want this dick, Addison, then you need to take it. You need to put it inside your pussy. And you need to fuck me.”
An order I would gladly accept.
I rose on my knees to position his crown, and then I lowered all the way to his base.
“That’s it.” He kissed me, his lips rough and needy, his tongue as erotic as his cock.
“Fuck,” I cried out as the fullness and pressure registered within me. “Yes!”
“Does that feel good?”
His hands were moving all over me, creating sensations I hadn’t anticipated, each one bringing out a short yell or a moan, especially as he began to slip in between my ass cheeks.
An area he hadn’t explored.
“Incredible,” I exhaled.
“Take more, Addison. Take it harder. Take it faster.”
I adjusted my speed, bouncing over him, each dip sending the water splashing over the side of the hot tub. And every time that happened, his hand went closer to that forbidden hole.
“I want this,” he demanded.
“My ass?”
“I want to see if it’s as tight and wet as your pussy.”
My neck was leaned back, my chin almost resting on his nose, so every word he spoke hit my throat. I didn’t know how breath could feel like foreplay, but each syllable added to what I was feeling.
“Are you going to give me this?”
I looked at him, still moving, still rocking against him. “I’ve never done that before.”
“A virgin hole.” He rubbed my lips with his thumb. “I’ll be gentle with it.”
I believed he would.
Even if it would hurt.
Even if it would be something I ended up hating.
I’d do it for him.
“It’s yours.”
He arched his hips, slamming me with several pumps, dragging more screams out of me before he stood and carried me out of the tub, walking us across the patio and through the sliding glass doors of his living room.
The glass wasn’t even closed yet when I heard, “Ridge!”
The voice, a woman’s, was one I vaguely recognized. The pitch was loud enough to vibrate through me, the sound startling the shit out of me.
I didn’t know where it had come from since my back was to the living room and all I could see was the slider and pool and view of outside.
“Fuck,” Ridge groaned in response.
What the hell is happening right now?
I glanced over my shoulder. Jana was standing in front of the coffee table as if she’d been heading for the patio with a sleepy Daisy in her arms. Daisy’s eyes were opening, aimed directly at her father.
“Daddy?” She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyelids. “Mommy, are we at Daddy’s house?”
My heart didn’t just sink.
It dropped out of my body and fell onto the wooden floor beneath us.
Ridge didn’t move when he said, “Jana, take Daisy upstairs to her room right now.”
Daisy’s gaze shifted from her father to me. It took a moment and another gentle rub of her eyes before the recognition passed over her face.
When I saw it, emotion didn’t just tear apart my chest.
It completely shattered it.
Nooo.
“Miss Lark?” A second ticked by. “Why is my daddy carrying you?”