Chapter 12
TWELVE
Rhett
Sixteen Years Ago
“ Y ou’re shivering.” My hand left Lainey’s thigh to turn on the heat in my car. “Don’t worry, it’ll be warm in here in a minute.”
She rubbed her bare arms. “I don’t know why I’m so cold.”
I held the back of her neck, hoping the feel of my skin would speed up the process even more, and I turned at the light. “Probably because it’s freezing outside.”
“But you’re not cold.”
I laughed. “I’m never cold.”
“You grew up in LA. How is that even possible? The minute it dips below seventy, most people don’t even know what to do with themselves. And then there’s you, a sauna twenty-four hours a day, twelve months a year.”
“What can I say, baby? I’m just hot.” I winked at her.
“Yes, you are.” She giggled.
I gave her a sly smile and focused back on the road. “Which comes in handy, considering you’re always chilly.”
She lifted her phone from where it had been resting on her lap. “Pen won’t stop texting. She’s at the party already.” She took a deep, loud breath. “She wants to know when we’re coming.”
“After dinner”—I quickly looked at her again—“as long as you’re good with that.”
I heard her nails typing a reply.
“Let’s see how long it takes her to tell me that’s too late and we need to get there now—yep, I was right, that text just came in.”
“Damn, she’s fast.”
“You have no idea.” She groaned. “She said we can eat at the party.”
The party was at Travis’s house, a guy on the soccer team who had a New Year’s rager every year, and since this was our last year of high school, it was bound to be the biggest one he’d ever held. All of my football dudes were going to be there. And because I knew how Penelope rolled, the lacrosse team would be there as well.
Besides the fun we were going to have, it was bound to be an interesting night.
When Lainey and I had been deciding what we wanted to do for New Year’s Eve, I’d wanted to make sure that if we ended up at a party, we’d at least have some alone time together. Because once we got there—if we decided to go to Travis’s—I knew that would be impossible. So, I’d ended up making us a reservation for dinner.
But my girl was consumed with guilt whenever Penelope gave her shit, like she was doing now. Lainey would become so torn, and I didn’t want her to feel that way or put her in that position.
“I can turn around and drive us to the party. I swear I don’t mind.”
Her hand went to my forearm, the one that was still behind her head, and she squeezed. “That’s not what I want. I just don’t know what to say to her. She’s not taking no for—” Her phone was ringing. “It’s her. Of course.”
“Are you going to answer it?”
“I don’t have a choice.” She held the phone to her ear. “Hi, Pen.”
I couldn’t hear what Penelope was saying. I could only hear that Lainey could barely get a word in besides, “Mmhmm,” and, “Okay.”
After a couple rounds of responses like that, she held the phone out to me. “She wants to talk to you.”
“Me?”
She waited for me to release her neck, and she set the phone in my hand. “Good luck.”
I put her cell up to my ear. “Pen?—”
“Lover boy.”
I chuckled. “Yeah?”
“It’s completely ridiculous that you’re not here yet, and since you’re the one driving tonight, I’m blaming you. What could you possibly be doing to my sister right now that’s making her not want to come here until later? Ahhh , wait, I know … you’re going down on her, aren’t you?”
Jesus Christ.
Nothing appropriate ever came out of her mouth.
“Pen—”
“Rhett, you’re so dirty. Where do I find a hunk like you, huh? A guy who’s all about pleasing me. You don’t know any, do you? Aside from yourself, of course.” Her laugh sounded evil. “One day. Sigh.”
I glanced at Lainey, who was staring out the passenger window. “Listen?—”
“No, you listen. I want your ass here now. Got it?”
“I heard you loud and clear, Penelope.”
“See you soon, lover boy.”
I placed the phone in Lainey’s lap. “She’s a tough one.”
“I know this.”
My hand stayed on her leg and rubbed up and down her thigh. “I promise, whatever you want to do, I’m cool with. I don’t want you to feel like you’re in the middle. We can do dinner any night?—”
“Pen is getting what she wants, and that’s us going to the party. So what if we don’t get there for a couple of hours? We’ll have all night with her. That’s more than enough.”
I slowed for the red light. “True.”
She turned toward me. “And the funny thing is, once we get there, she’ll either be too fucked up to even care or she’ll be off with some guy and she won’t see us for the rest of the night.”
I nodded. “Also probably true.”
“So, all of this nagging is sorta for nothing.” She played with the back of my hair. “She just needs to control every situation and loves to get her way. Most of the time, I don’t mind. But sometimes, it drives me batshit crazy.”
“Like right now.”
She sighed. “Like right now.”
“That’s what happens when you have siblings. Mine are no different. It’s our parents’ fault for not stopping after one kid. I guess in your case, they couldn’t exactly stop.”
“What if I want the control?” Her voice was soft, like she was weighing the possibility. “What if I want to get my way?”
“The only person who’s preventing that is you, Lainey.”
She went quiet for a minute. “You’re right.” Her hand looped through more of my hair and stilled. “Will you pull over?”
“Now?” My brows rose high.
“Yes.”
I glanced at her as I made another turn. “We’re still about ten minutes from the restaurant. Are you all right?”
“I’m all right. I just want you to pull over … I don’t want to go to the restaurant yet.” She pointed to a strip mall up ahead. “Go in there. Most of the stores look closed. Drive around the back.”
I had no idea why she was asking me to do this or where her head was at, but I drove into the entrance and slowly made my way around the building.
Her hand shot up again, aimed at a spot in the center of the parking lot, far from any lights and cars. “Park there.”
I backed in between the two lines and turned the car off.
She unclasped her seat belt, her body fully facing mine. “You must think I’m nuts for asking you to do this.”
“Nuts? No. Curious? Yes.” I pulled my hands off the steering wheel.
“Fair.” She set her phone on the floor in front of her. “I guess I just need to show you my idea, then.” She climbed over the armrests and straddled my lap. “I’m taking back control.” She wrapped her arms around my neck.
My dick was instantly hard, my hands rubbing up and down her sides. “You want to fuck me in the front seat of my car?”
If there were light back here, I was sure I’d see that her cheeks were exploding with redness.
There was a naughty side to Lainey, and she was open to just about everything. But she was extremely shy when it came to vocalizing what she wanted.
This was huge for her.
“Is that okay?” The timidness was clear in her voice.
“You never have to ask me if that’s okay.” I kissed the top of her chest. “I always want to fuck you, Lainey. It’s all I think about.” My lips moved to her throat. “What I dream about.” I pulled her face against mine. “I will never get enough of you.”
The second our mouths touched, she moaned.
Her hands were in my lap, unbuttoning my jeans and lowering my zipper, reaching inside to pull out my dick.
The way she rushed through each step showed me how badly she wanted me.
It was the hottest fucking thing ever.
When she had her legs spread around me, her dress lifted toward her waist, and I slipped my hand underneath. I didn’t bother trying to remove her panties or shift them to the side, where they’d get in the way or rub against us. I just ripped them off.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that.” She laughed.
“You’d better be careful where you bend over at the party, or someone is going to get quite the view.” I held her tighter. “A view that’s only mine.”
“Rhett—” Her voice cut off when I ran my finger over her pussy. “Yes!”
I didn’t dip it inside her; I just used my thumb to pet her back and forth, spreading the wetness already there.
And while I teased her, she pumped my dick, going as high as my tip and as low as my base.
“Lainey …” My moan told her how good she was doing and how she was making me feel.
With her dress tied around her neck in some complicated way, I didn’t attempt to take it off. I cupped her tit over the fabric instead and tugged at her hard nipple.
She panted, “I need you.”
It was like she was reading my thoughts.
She lifted up, steering my tip toward her pussy and sinking her body down the length of my shaft until I was fully inside her.
“I guess you do need me. You’re so fucking wet.”
And tight, squeezing me from the inside, pulsing around me.
I cranked the seat back and reclined a bit, giving her more room to move.
To fucking take.
Which she did, immediately riding me, wasting no time to buck her hips forward, rising and falling against me.
“Jesus, Lainey.” I swiped her clit and instantly heard her inhale, followed by an increase in speed. “That feels good, doesn’t it?”
“Yes!” Her hands were on my shoulders, her head leaning back toward the steering wheel, her whole throat exposed. “I want more!”
I could tell.
She was riding me like she wanted to come now.
Given that we were in my car—a position slightly cramped compared to what we were used to—and that we had a dinner reservation that wasn’t far from now, I assumed she wasn’t going to draw this out.
By the way she was taking me, working me, it wasn’t going to take long. A few more flicks of my thumb while she was in this position, and she would be fucking screaming.
Shit, I would be too.
I massaged her clit, and she tightened around me, dipping down even faster than before, clutching me from the inside.
“Fuck!” she gasped. “Ah!”
She was close. I could feel it.
And what that was doing to me was making my balls tingle. Especially as she swallowed my whole dick, her swivels adding pressure to each side, sucking all the way to my tip before she dropped again.
“Lainey!” A surge was moving through me. “You’re going to make me come.”
“I’m already there.”
I gripped her waist, not to guide her, but to hold on because what was about to shoot out of me was the most overwhelming intensity and it was building fast.
I fisted the back of her hair and led her lips to mine. “Fuck yes.” I tilted my hips upward. “Ride that fucking dick.”
A wave of wetness came through her pussy, covering me as I slid through. And just when I thought she couldn’t get any tighter, she began to narrow even more.
“Rhett!” She drew in air. “Yes! I’m coming!”
We moved together, our bodies slapping against each other, and while I ground her clit, I emptied myself inside her.
“Hell yeah.” My tone was gritty as I rode through each ripple.
Within a few more drives, our thrusts softened; they slowed, and they completely died out until there was only stillness and breaths between us.
I hugged my arms around her, my hands lifting until they were on her face. “You can tell me to pull over anytime you want, baby.”
She laughed. “You’re saying you won’t ever complain about it? Is that what I’m hearing?”
“That’s what you’re hearing.”
She smiled. “Good to know.”
I kissed her. “I loved it.”
“I know.”
“And I love you.”
“Same.” She pecked me. “Now, let’s go to dinner.”