Chapter 14 Addison #2
Ava thought about it for a moment. “Your feelings are totally valid, but, Adds, Dean is not Noah. They seem pretty fucking opposite if you ask me. The biggest difference is that you and Dean share a love for horses. He also left his cush lifestyle to run his own practice. So if anyone will support you in running your own business, I’d say it’s that guy.
There’s something there, and who cares what he said a week ago?
Y'all didn’t have earth-shattering sex a week ago.
Stop overthinking and analyzing it all, and go with the flow.
If it’s right, it’ll happen. It doesn’t have to be him or your business.
And please don’t start planning your breakup and the potential fallout when you haven’t even started dating yet. ”
I bumped her back with my shoulder. “When did you get to be so smart, little sis?” I smirked.
She smiled and put the finishing touches on the charcuterie board. “I just want you to be happy, and I can tell that Dean makes you happy.”
Ava took the board to the back patio that overlooked the vineyard and set it on a table while I went to the bar to grab a couple of bottles of wine and four glasses before the guys arrived.
Like a couple of models from a GQ ad, the Adler brothers strode into the bar area where we were waiting for them. Ava leaned over. “Damn, you didn’t tell me that his brother was hot too,” she whispered so only I could hear.
“Down, girl. He’s Harper’s,” I whispered back.
“Do they have another brother? A cousin perhaps?” she joked.
Before I could respond, they were directly in front of us. I smiled at them both, giving each of them a hug, and then turned my attention to my sister. “Dean, Archer, this is my little sister, Ava.”
Ava scoffed while extending her hand to Dean. “Little sister? Nice, Adds. I’m only two years younger than you. ‘Little sister’ makes me sound like a child.”
Dean chuckled at my sister and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Ava.”
Archer stepped in and shook hands with my sister before we made our way outside to the table we had set up. Archer looked at the setup. “Wow, this looks great. Thanks for inviting us over, Addison.”
I smiled. “No problem. We love hosting people out here.
Glad y'all could make it.” Dean quickly made his way around the table to pull out my chair, and Archer pulled out a chair for my sister, like the gentlemen they were.
After we were all seated, I poured us all a glass of a fantastic red blend that my dad had curated.
As we were sipping our wine, my mom made her way out from her office and stopped over at the table to say hello. Both brothers quickly stood up to shake her hand. “Hello, I’m Laurel. These two’s mother. I’m glad you both could come over and see the place.”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. James. Your property is beautiful, and the wine is fantastic.” Dean smiled at my mom.
“Please, call me Laurel, and thank you. I’ll be sure to tell my husband. Dr. Adler, I want to thank you for taking such good care of Cash last night. I know that it meant a lot to Addison, and it did to our whole family as well.” My mom put her hand on his arm.
Dean smiled warmly at her. “Just doing my job. Walker caught it early, and Addison was the one who knew what to do immediately until I got there.”
“If you and Archer don’t have plans for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I insist that you join us. We’ll have more than enough food, and I would love it if you both came,” my mom said, catching us all off guard, but then again, that was what Laurel Adler always did—she included everyone.
Dean glanced in my direction as if asking for my permission, so I nodded in response. He brought his dark gaze back to my mother. “That’s very generous of you. We would love to join you. Please let us know what we can bring.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s all taken care of, just bring yourselves. It’s kind of a whole-day thing, so be at the house around eleven a.m.” She smiled at Dean and then looked down at me, winking. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at her meddling.
She gave both Adler brothers a hug before leaning down and kissing me and Ava on the cheek. “I’ll see you all tomorrow. Have fun.” She spun on her heel and headed out the door.
As Archer and Dean settled back into their seats, I looked over at Ava, who had the biggest smirk on her face, clearly enjoying every minute of this.
After the shock of the Thanksgiving invitation wore off, the conversation flowed easily. We were all laughing at the stories that Dean shared about the clinic and farm calls when Ava then decided to tell a tale…about me.
“Our parents used to keep horses in that barn back by the house when we were growing up. So, one night when Adds was, like, fifteen, she wanted to take one of the horses out to the hills to see some comet that was supposed to fly over that night. I told her that it was a bad idea—you never knew what was roaming around out there at night. She didn’t care, said it would be fine.
Our parents told her no, our brothers told her no.
But once Adds wants to do something, she does it. ”
I took a big sip of my wine because I knew this story and where it was going. “Do we have to tell this story?” I groaned, interrupting Ava.
“Yes. Yes, we do.” She smirked. “Anyway, as I was saying, she was stubborn and waited until everyone was asleep before sneaking out of the house to the barn. I don’t entirely know what happened out there, since I was asleep, but all I know is that the whole house woke up to our horse Gunner galloping by the house, whinnying his head off as he made his way back to the barn.
We all ran outside to see what the hell was going on, and sure enough, here comes little miss stubborn-ass making her way from the hills covered from head to toe in mud. It was the best walk of shame.”
Archer’s head fell back in laughter, as did Dean’s.
“Our parents chewed her ass out, and she was grounded from riding for weeks,” Ava said, laughing.
I rolled my eyes. “What? I wanted to see the comet. Unfortunately, a snake scared the shit out of Gunner, and I wasn’t prepared for him to rear up, knock me off of him, and then take off back to the barn, ratting me out.”
Ava pointed her finger at me. “See! I told you! You never know what’s roaming out there at night. Should have just listened to your wise sister.” She sipped her wine, her brows raised at me.
“Can we not relive my stupid childhood decisions, please? If there wasn’t that snake, I totally would have gotten away with it.
” I took another sip of wine, almost choking on it as Dean surprised me by placing his hand on my thigh under the table.
I glanced over at him and the corners of his lips lifted slightly.
Archer chuckled. “All right, let’s relive some of this guy’s instead.” He motioned toward his brother.
“Seems stubbornness is something these two have in common, and they never quite want to listen to the younger sibling, who is obviously always right,” Archer began smugly. Dean rolled his eyes.
“Obviously.” Ava raised her glass toward Archer in cheers.
“I think Dean was maybe twelve or thirteen when he broke into our middle school. It was the beginning of the school year, and his science teacher, Mr. Hobbs, had a large snake in his classroom. The next day, he told the class that they would feed mice to the snake as part of an experiment or lesson. It was part of some bullshit they were learning. Anyway, Dean freaked out because even at a young age, Dean was all about the animals, even prey animals. He couldn’t imagine watching them get killed live, right in front of him.
He came home that day and told me about his plan to sneak into the school and free the mice.
I told him how bad of an idea it was, and that they would just get more if he were able to steal them. ” Archer paused, taking a sip of wine.
“So, the dumbass didn’t listen—shocker—and he broke into the school.”
Dean interrupted. “I didn’t technically break in. I found a window that was unlocked and climbed through it. That is a safety hazard on the school. Not my fault.”
Archer laughed. “Okay, so Dean climbed through a window. He got to the classroom and looked for the live mice to free. He looked everywhere and couldn’t find them.
For the hell of it, he opened the mini fridge near Mr. Hobb’s desk, and sure enough, there they were, the already dead mice in a bag in the fridge. ”
Ava and I both broke out in laughter.
“After all of that, the janitor finds him in the classroom, and the poor bastard still ends up getting suspended for a week for breaking and entering.” Archer kept laughing.
Dean scoffed. “Again, the window was already open. I was hardly breaking and entering.” This time, I reached out and squeezed his thigh under the table and smiled at him. He just shook his head as his brother continued to laugh at him.
“All right, enough roasting of me and Addison. I think Addison and I should share stories about all the dumb shit that you two did growing up.” He looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eye.
I nodded. “I think that’s a great idea.”
So that was precisely what we did. Dean and I roasted the shit out of our younger siblings. I didn’t think I had laughed that hard in my life. We were all doubled over at one point, barely able to breathe, swiping at the tears. The night turned out better than I could have imagined.
We ended up killing three bottles of wine and were feeling pretty good when we decided to clean up and call it a night. We all now had plans to be at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving tomorrow, and like any James holiday, there would be plenty of booze.
I stood up with the charcuterie board and headed toward the kitchen to clean up. Dean grabbed the empty bottles and followed closely behind, leaving our younger siblings at the table.
Once we were in the kitchen, Dean tossed the bottles into the trash and helped me clear the counter. I washed the board and put everything away. As I turned around to face him, he stepped toward me, putting a hand on either side of me, caging me in against the counter.
“I had a great time tonight. Thanks for inviting us. I think Archer had a blast too,” Dean said as he stared at my mouth. My breath hitched, and my heart rate picked up like it always did when he was this close. The man smelled intoxicating.
“I’m glad y'all came. I had fun, and I know that Ava did too,” I whispered before his mouth closed the distance and was on mine.
I opened for him as he deepened the kiss, our tongues exploring.
He moved his hands from the counter and lifted me onto it, spreading my legs apart as he stepped between them.
I ran my hands through his hair as we continued to devour each other.
Before anything got too intense, I put my hand on his chest and slightly pushed him back, breaking the kiss.
He groaned and looked at me through his hooded gaze as he rested his forehead against mine.
“As much as I want a repeat of last night, I have to make some pies for tomorrow. Plus, our siblings are right outside that door.” I sighed.
He nodded in understanding, his forehead still pressed against mine, and gave me one last chaste kiss before helping me down off the counter.
“Just so you know, I really am excited for you and Archer to join us for Thanksgiving tomorrow.” I smiled at him shyly.
“Yeah? Well, good, because I am too.” He linked our fingers together.
“All right, I’ll go grab Arch so we can get out of here and let you get home to bake.
If I don’t put some distance between us, I’ll throw those sexy-as-fuck boots over my shoulders and fuck you with my tongue in this kitchen right now. ”
God. Damn.
I had to squeeze my thighs together to dull the ache that was building from that comment.
Focus, Addison. Focus.
We made our way out of the kitchen and back toward the table where we’d left Ava and Archer. Archer had his phone held up in front of him and Ava, and they were talking to someone on the screen. As we approached, I realized they were FaceTiming Harper.
Archer noticed us approaching, and he turned his phone toward me and Dean. “Well, there they are. We were all wondering how long it takes to throw out some bottles and wipe down a board,” he said smugly.
Dean exhaled in exasperation, looking up at the ceiling, and I waved at Harper. I tried to mask the guilty look that was probably all over my face. “Hey, Harp!”
Harper smirked. “Hey, Addi, you feeling okay? You look a bit flushed.”
I could feel my cheeks heat. “I’m good. It’s just the wine,” I lied, which only caused everyone to laugh. They all knew I was full of shit.
Noah:
Was thinking I could fly you back here and we could talk. My parents and sister miss you.