Chapter 18 #2
He’d never had sex that felt like a nearly religious experience.
Raising himself on his elbows, he used his hands to sweep stray strands of hair from her face as he gazed down at her and saw everything he was feeling reflected back at him in the gorgeous brown eyes that looked up at him with such wonder.
“I love you.” The words were out of his mouth before he took the time to question whether the time was right. Fuck that. The time had never been more right.
“Riley.” She blinked back tears. “I love you, too.”
Saying the words, hearing them back from her… Best moment of his life. Hands down. He leaned his forehead against hers, fighting his way through the emotional firestorm. “I’m really, really glad your grandmother’s house sprung a leak.”
She laughed even as she groaned from the deep thrusts of his cock.
Making love to her, without a condom, knowing she loved him… It would take a lot to top this.
Being in love, Riley soon discovered, was an all-consuming proposition. If he wasn’t working long days at the Wayfarer, he was with Nikki, helping her prep the kitchen for the renovations or spending hours making love to her, going without sleep so he could have more of her.
Mac had a dumpster delivered to Eastward Look, and they would start with demo tomorrow.
After a full week of burning the candle at both ends, he was thrilled to have another weekend to spend exclusively with her.
Unlike last weekend, which had happened spontaneously, this time, he packed a bag.
He was getting ready to leave his house and head to hers when Finn came in, bringing a blast of cold air with him.
“Oh, hey, look who it is,” Finn said, his tone dripping in sarcasm. “My former roommate and ex-brother.”
“Ha-ha, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Where’re you going, or do I need to ask?”
“You know where I’m going.”
“I hope you’re at least getting some if you’re spending every night there.”
“Don’t,” Riley said, unreasonably pissed at the crass comment. In the past, it would’ve rolled off his back, but not when Nikki was involved.
“Don’t what?” Finn went into the kitchen and popped open a beer. The house was an absolute disaster, but Riley couldn’t be bothered to take the time to deal with it. “Do what we do? If the rules are changing, you need to clue me in, bro.”
“This is different.”
Finn leaned against the counter, arms crossed, beer in hand, and gave him a good looking over. “Different how?” He took a swig of beer, downing half of it.
“Different in the sense that I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve got to go. Have a good weekend.”
“That’s it? You’re outta here? See you Monday at work?”
Riley zipped his coat and turned to his brother. “What do you want me to say, Finn? Whatever it is, just put it out there.”
“It’s just that we used to hang out and stuff after work, on the weekends, and now I never lay eyes on you except for when we’re working. I’m just checking as to whether you’re planning to be gone all weekend.”
“I am. Is that a problem?”
“No problem, but since Dad’s getting married and you’re shacking up with Nikki, maybe I should head home rather than hanging out by myself here.”
“What about the Wayfarer? Mac is counting on us to get it done in time. And besides, I thought you’d decided to stay.”
“Plans change, and I’m sure Mac can find someone to replace me.”
“I thought you were excited to be working on a project with the rest of the family.”
“I was.” Finn shrugged. “Things change. The offer from Clint is intriguing. I’d like to buy my own place at some point. Could happen a lot faster if I went back to work for him. And besides, how often have we talked about how we went to college to be engineers and are working as carpenters?”
That topic had come up a lot since they moved “temporarily” to Gansett and ended up staying when Mac offered them jobs.
At first, it had been about sticking close to their dad after the shocking end to their parents’ marriage.
But that excuse had gone away a long time ago, when their dad started seeing Chelsea.
“What’re we doing here, Ri?” Finn asked. “We came for a wedding and never left. Is this it? Did we choose this life, or did it choose us? I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. And Missy wants me to come home.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Finn. Do not make decisions based on what she wants.”
“Why not? She’s been part of my life for a long time, and people do grow up and change.”
“If you go back to her, you’re settling.”
Finn raised a brow. “And you’re such an expert on women and relationships now?”
“I only know what it was like when you were with her, and I’d hate to see you go backward after all this time.”
“The universe seems to be sending me all the signs I need that it’s time to go home. Maybe things with Missy will work out. Maybe they won’t, but I’ll never know if I don’t go home.”
“I don’t want you to go.”
Finn laughed. “You won’t even notice I’m gone.”
“That’s not true. I like working with you and having you here.”
“You’ve got better things to do than hang out with your brother these days. It’s all good. We don’t have to be joined at the hip for the rest of our lives. In fact, it’s probably long past time that we went our separate ways.”
Riley wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. Finn was probably right. They’d been lucky to stay in each other’s daily lives for this long. “Just think it all the way through before you do anything, will you?”
“Sure. I’ve got an entire weekend with nothing to do but think.”
An idea occurred to Riley. “Any interest in helping me gut a kitchen tomorrow?”