Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
LEIF
L aurel’s lips were soft and hungry on mine, her moans driving me crazy as she writhed underneath me. Electricity raced down my spine, turning my cock to stone as I devoured her mouth, unable to get enough.
Need unlike anything I’d ever felt coursed through my veins, but first, I wanted to taste her again. I needed to hear her screaming my name. But when I broke the kiss to start making my way south, she caught my shoulders. Panting, she shook her head.
“I need you, Leif. Now.”
My dick twitched, already leaking pre-cum as I reached for a condom. As I was rolling it on, a strange banging started up and my heart pounded. Shit. Not now. Whatever that is, not right now.
Laurel was looking at me through hooded eyes, desire shining in them like an erotic beacon. She needed me. She’d said so. I couldn’t ? —
BANG! BANG! BANG!
I woke up with a start, sweaty and heart hammering in my chest. The banging sound was somebody beating down the front door of my high-rise apartment. The rest had just been a beautiful dream. Groaning, I rolled out of my bed, my cock still rock hard and throbbing.
“Who the fuck is it?” I called as I twisted my sheet around my hips to hide my boner from whoever was out there.
“It’s me,” Jack yelled from the other side of the front door, his voice faint because of the distance but loud enough that I could make out what he was saying. “Are you still sleeping, you lazy bitch?”
“Not anymore!” I strode out of my bedroom, crossing the apartment to my front door and unlocking it. “Come in already. I’m just going to grab a quick shower. Give me ten minutes. And make me a coffee too.”
He grunted as he walked in. “You’re lucky I’m feeling generous this morning. I’ll make your damn coffee. Just hurry up. I thought you wanted to hit the road at eight thirty. It’s almost nine.”
“I overslept.” I didn’t care to tell him why. “I’m all packed, though. We can leave just as soon as I’ve showered.”
He muttered to himself on his way to my kitchen, thankfully either not noticing or not caring about the sheet around my waist or the tent underneath it. As I strode into my bathroom, I stripped down, dropping the sheet before I reached into my shower to open the faucet.
Waiting for the water to heat up, I rubbed my palms over my face. Remnants of my dream clung to my mind and threatened to bring the hard-on back again. The closer we’d gotten to Thanksgiving, the more difficult it had been to stop thinking about Laurel. Last night hadn’t been the first sexy dream of her either.
I hadn’t been this hung up on a girl since high school. Since Laurel, actually.
As soon as the first plume of steam appeared in my shower, I hopped in and washed all the important bits, eager to get to Austin as soon as possible. Laurel had gotten there yesterday and the wait was almost over.
Jack had my coffee waiting in a travel mug when I arrived back in my kitchen, and he grinned when he saw me walking out of my bedroom, dressed and ready, my duffel already hanging over my shoulder and my carry-on rolling behind me.
“Someone’s excited to get home,” he joked. “You do realize that if you’d just set an alarm, we could’ve been at the airfield already, right?”
“I needed my beauty rest,” I muttered, grabbing my thermos as I strode past him on my way to my door. “And I did set an alarm. I simply slept through it. Besides, you got here ten minutes ago. It’s not like we’d have been there by now.”
“Sure, but we would’ve been ten minutes closer,” he said, sauntering out of my apartment after me. “How about a thank you for the coffee? I slaved over it while you were washing your dick.”
“The machine does everything for you,” I said. “All you had to do was put the damn cup in the slot. And leave my dick out of it.”
He laughed. “I would have, but it looked like you had a pretty good dream. Laurel?”
“Fuck off.” I sighed as I hit the button to call the express elevator that would take us down to the parking level. “Did you tell Mom what time we’d be getting in?”
“Yep. She’s insisting on picking us up from the airstrip. I told her we’d have cars waiting for us, but apparently, they’re giving us a ride and it’s not negotiable.”
I finally felt a smile creeping onto my lips. “It’s fine. Just have the company deliver the cars to her house so we’ve got wheels if we need them.”
“Or we could just rent ‘em when we get there. There’s a Lambo I want to take a look at. It’s neon orange, which either does or doesn’t add to its appeal. I’m not sure yet.”
“You want to rent a Lamborghini?” I asked, scoffing down laughter as the elevator doors slid open in front of us. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Because I can?”
I thought about it for a beat. It was a good enough answer, I supposed. Jack and I had done incredibly well for ourselves since we’d arrived in Denver, and if he wanted to rent a Lambo, I wouldn’t stop him.
We’d busted our asses for years to get to where we were, barely sleeping and working practically around the clock while we were trying to make a name for our firm. Thanks to that—and a little bit of luck—we were part of the big leagues now, wealthier than either of us had ever imagined getting. If he wanted to spoil himself, then he had every right to.
“Just don’t drive like an asshole and break your neck. Other than that, it’s your money.”
“Exactly, and I like to use it on pretty toys. Like the jet that’s taking us home. Did you ever think we’d be going back to Austin for the holidays on a private jet? I mean, how awesome is that?”
I bit back a retort and nodded my agreement instead. The tension I’d been feeling since I’d been so rudely awakened from my dream was finally subsiding. “It is pretty fucking awesome.”
The only thing that would’ve made it more awesome was if we had been able to take our mom somewhere with us on our personal jet, but we’d offered and she’d refused. Story of our lives.
All she’d said was she and Phil had already made plans for us for Thanksgiving and that their plans didn’t involve us taking them for a quick spin on the plane. I sighed, tossing my things into the back of Jack’s Range Rover when we reached the parking garage.
He seemed to be lost in thought too, not saying much as he drove us to the airfield and stopped beside the jet. These last few years, we’d had to do some traveling for work, and when we’d gained a major client in Las Vegas, we’d decided to buy ourselves a plane. Although we’d used it plenty, every time we boarded, I still marveled at the built-in bar, the recliners, and the fancy walnut finishings.
This time, however, I barely even noticed any of it. Mostly because this was the first time we were taking the jet to Austin —to our mother . She was going to see her boys disembarking from a private plane while she still lived in the same house we’d grown up in.
She still drove the same beat-up station wagon, still woke up at four every morning to go to work at the little bakery she owned, and she was still on her feet all day, every day until she closed up shop. Jack and I were so much wealthier now than we had been, but our mom had refused anything more than a minuscule amount of help from us.
Phil, who she had married a couple years ago, owned a hardware store in town. While they were both proud of us, they claimed they didn’t want or need any more than they had. They enjoyed their lives exactly as it was, a quiet simple life without any expensive bells and whistles.
As we hit cruising altitude, Jack got up to mix himself a drink. He glanced at me as he stood behind the bar. “You want a whiskey?”
“It’s not even ten yet.”
“Yeah, I know, but the guilt is setting in. Judging by the look on your face, I’m assuming it’s the same for you. So let’s just have a drink.”
I exhaled a deep breath through my nose and nodded. “We shouldn’t feel guilty. Mom has told us over and over again that they don’t need any help and they have everything they need.”
“I know, but it kills me that she’s still working so hard when she could be a lady of leisure if she’d just let us support her.”
“Last time I tried talking to her about retirement, she told me that was for old people and then asked me if I think she’s old. When I mentioned slowing down at the bakery, she said she’d hire help if she wanted it. She’s not interested in being a lady of leisure.”
“Sure, but why not? I don’t get it. At all. I even offered to buy her a penthouse, complete with a rooftop pool and an herb garden, but she wasn’t interested.”
I shrugged. “Mom likes our house. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to shower her with money and gifts too, but ultimately, I do understand why she doesn’t want to move. Dad built that house.”
“Yeah, twenty years ago,” Jack said. “A penthouse apartment with a pool, man. The house can’t compare to that.”
“Yet, it does. I think she would argue that the penthouse can’t compare to the house where she raised her children. I don’t know, but I do kind of get it.”
“Would you be able to live like that?” he countered. “In a little house in the suburbs with your spouse, going to book clubs, and bake sales, and cookouts at your church?”
“Totally,” I replied, laughing at the dumbstruck expression on his face. “I’m serious. When I get older, I could definitely see myself living that way.”
“Whatever, bro.” Jack scoffed down laughter, shaking his head as he stuck my drink into my hand. “Here. Have some alcohol and just keep sitting down until the urge passes.”
I laughed. “Thanks, I will, but I’m serious, man. Mom is happy living exactly the way she is. I could be too. You can’t tell me you’ve never thought about it.”
“I’ve never thought about it,” he said, looking me straight in the eye without even so much as a hint of uncertainty. “Now stop talking crazy and drink. We’re going to be there soon. This might be the last few hours of peace you’ll get this weekend.”
When we finally landed, Mom and Phil were there to greet us. Our mom looked great, a wide smile on her face. She was wearing jeans and a cheerful, holiday-printed cardigan. I grinned, pushing my sunglasses onto my face as I jogged over to her.
“It’s great to see you, Mom.” I wrapped my arms around her thin frame, lifting her off her feet and spinning her in a quick circle, loving the sound of the easy laughter that bubbled out of her. “God, I missed you.”
“It’s great to see you, too, babies,” she said happily, squeezing me the way only she could before I set her down to greet my brother.
Extending my hand toward Phil, I shook with him, glad to see that he looked happy and relaxed too. With his salt-and-pepper hair and smiling blue eyes, he looked a lot like I imagined my dad might’ve if he’d survived. It seemed my mom had a type. But moreover, I was always relieved to see them looking so good.
“Hi, Phil,” I said, pulling him to me for a quick hug before I released his hand. “I’m sorry for the chaos Jack is going to cause while we’re here. He’ll pay for any damages.”
My brother howled with laughter, punching me in the shoulder. I moved over so he could say hi to our stepfather too. A grin curved my lips when they embraced each other. Despite Jack’s hesitance to come home for the holiday, it looked like he was already turning into a kid again.
On our way home, there was lots of catching up and talk of putting up the Christmas tree together. My chest warmed and genuine joy spread through me. This really was going to be a great family holiday.
Now, when can I go see Laurel?