Chapter 27
Rhett
Devon let us help her.
-From Rhett’s Most Important Things notebook, September 3rd
“Where do you think you’re going?” I ask Devon, as she sits up in bed.
“I have to face the day at some point.” She smiles over her shoulder at me, the bare skin of it peeking out through the wide neck of my Banjo’s BBQ t-shirt. I packed it when she wasn’t looking, and she hugged it to her chest when she found it last night thanking me for letting her borrow it. But it’s hers now, whether she realizes it or not.
“The sun isn’t even facing the day yet.” I hook my arm around her waist and pull her back into my chest. She smiles, but it’s strained.
“I won’t feel better until I have done something about this.” She exhales a weighted breath.
I grab her watch from its place on the nightstand. “Devon. It’s three thirty in the morning.”
She pulls her knees up tight to her chest. “I can’t sleep.” She’s tossed and turned all night, stress rolling off her in a wave. “I am sorry I woke you,” she runs her slender fingers across my chest. “I’ll go for a run, and you can stay here and sleep.”
I scoff, “That’s not happening.”
“I need to at least try to clear my head.”
My hand snakes over her hip and between her legs, where I let my thumb strokes small circles on her clit through her panties. A relieved moan escapes her lips. “I could help you clear your head. Would you like that?” I whisper in her ear.
She nods emphatically. “Yes, please.”
“Wait right here.”
“Where are you going?” she complains when I release her.
Devon’s bedroom has a sliding glass door that leads to the backyard that’s covered with heavy curtains. “I want to see you,” I say, pulling the cord to draw them open and let the bright moonlight fill the room.
“Okay,” she whispers, knees still pulled tightly into her chest.
“Shirt off. Knees wide,” I instruct. Her eyes sparkle in the moonlight at the command in my voice, and she’s quick to do both.
I kneel on the bed between her spread thighs, taking in every smooth inch of her toned body in the bright moonlight. “You are stunning.”
Her shy smile is a direct contrast to the way she’s exposed before me.
She points her toes when my hands go to one of her long legs, drawing it up into a point and resting it on my shoulder. Her other leg folds in on instinct. “Keep it open for me,” I say lifting her leg from my shoulder just enough to place a kiss on the arch of her foot. She opens the other wider than it was before.
I indulge in kisses all the way down her beautiful leg. The inside of her ankle. Licking around her toned calf, tasting and kissing. Every inch of this woman deserves to be worshiped. When I glance over at her she’s watching me, a little stunned and she mewls as I lavish kisses on the tender spot behind her knee. Her thighs are just soft enough that I can sink my teeth in, sucking and biting on the tender flesh there.
“That’s going to leave a mark,” she gasps, her hips starting to roll with desire.
I suck harder, finishing with a firm nip of my teeth. “I hope so.”
When I reach her center, she’s already wet for me, and I lick up the slickness gathered there. She cries out at the contact and swiftly claps a hand over her mouth.
I pull back from her just long enough to say, “Don’t you dare hide the sounds of your pleasure from me.” She obeys, throwing her head back into the pillows, moaning and gasping. I work her there, licking and sucking her clit, plunging one finger, then two, then three inside of her. On the third she makes the most delicious sound I’ve heard from her lips yet.
I glance up to see her head thrown back, eyes closed, a subtle smile pulled across her lips. The stress and fear from the day, of what’s happened and what’s to come, everything that’s kept her up all night, melts off her. She’s here, with me, soaking in her pleasure and nothing else.
Her fingers twine into my hair, pulling tighter and tighter as she gets closer to her release. I bring my other hand close to her lips, presenting one finger. “Get it good and wet,” I tell her, and she’s on it in an instant, sucking hard, running her tongue up and down, reminding me of how she felt with her lips around my cock. Her cheeks pull tight as she gathers more saliva before releasing it, dripping wet all the way to the knuckle.
I pick up the pace with my fingers inside her and tongue at her clit as I bring my finger down to circle around her back entrance. She clenches around my three fingers, tightening up at the first contact with the other, then relaxes, letting me sink the finger in, slowly one knuckle at a time. The sounds she makes are a damn symphony. It only takes a few thrusts with that added stimulation to bring her to completion, and I lick up every drop of wetness as she rides it out.
I sit up, resting my hands on her inner thighs and watch as a contented smile pulls her lips into a wide curve. “That worked,” she whispers. “There isn’t a thought in my head.”
§
Leaving Devon this morning was a behemoth task, but she needs my help more than she needs my physical presence today. I went into Turbine to get coffee and review the plans for the Peach Ridge cabinets, having learned my lesson about getting coffee any other place in town. The plans are pristine, as usual, and the design is simple and modern. I should be able to knock them out quickly, but I have one stop to make first before I pick up the lumber.
“I don’t think she’s available,” the woman working the front desk at Trina Boatswain’s office says, looking over her shoulder to where Trina is very clearly sitting in her office.
“I’m going back anyway,” I say, walking past her.
“Well, that’s not really how it— Um, she told me not to let—” she calls after me, sounding very concerned.
“I’ll tell her you did your best to keep me out,” I say, walking through the office. At least eight or ten employees work in one main room at individual desks, and they all turn to watch me as I walk by and push open Trina’s door.
“Rhett,” she coos, “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I didn’t catch her name, but the woman at the front desk did her best to protect your schedule.”
“Oh, it’s no worry,” she waves a hand tipped with long red nails in dismissal. “Have a seat. Do you need anything? Coffee? Tea.”
“I’m good. Won’t be here long,” I take a calming breath and maintain my standing position. Devon would probably not be pleased to know I’m here. Part of her plan is to not engage with Trina, and being a member of Devon’s Kick Ass Team, as Sadie dubbed us after a few espresso martinis, I shouldn’t either. But I need to take care of this before I can fully remove myself from the situation.
“I won’t be able to complete the Shephard project, Aurora House, or Double Palms,” I list all of her projects that I’ve been hired for. All three of them are GC’d by Alex, who I met through Devon. I’m certainly burning a bridge with him and Trina, who I’ll never work with again anyway, by pulling out in the middle of three projects. But I’ve never liked the way Alex talked about Devon, and I’m not willing to be associated with someone who openly bad mouths any woman he works with, especially not Devon. I should have quit these projects weeks ago before any of this blog nonsense happened.
“That won’t work for us,” Trina says, sipping a cup of tea. “Why don’t you tell me what’s happening with you, and we’ll find a different solution?”
“I’m no longer able to complete the projects,” I reiterate.
“When can you complete them?” Her lips peel back into a stiff, plastic sort of smile. “I’m sure we’ll find a way to work around whatever your issue is.”
“I can’t ever finish these projects.” I’m itching to put her in her place, ask here where she gets off targeting Devon and trying to ruin her business, but I bite each harsh word back. “You’ll need to find a different carpenter.”
“The timelines on these projects are quite sensitive, Rhett,” she makes a point of repeating my name. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to back out.”
“I’m not asking permission.”
“This is highly unprofessional, Rhett,” she says my name again. “You understand that if you do this, you’ll never be able to work with me or Alex again?”
“I’m good with it,” I answer, glancing over my shoulder toward the door. Half of her staff are watching through the windowed walls of her office, mouths agape.
“We’re the most important leaders in the construction industry in Palm Springs,” she explains as patronizingly as anyone could. “You’re tanking your career if you do this.”
“Disagree with you there.” I laugh, shaking my head. “I can think of someone more important.”
Trina’s brows shoot up in surprise, finally catching on to the reason I’m walking away. She props her elbows on her desk, folding her hands underneath her chin. “You know I have no control over what some people choose to write, or what predatory young designers do on their projects.”
Devon doesn’t want me to fight this fight for her.It will only make things worse if I tell Trina what I think of everything she’s done to compromise Friday West. If anyone’s going to tell this snake of a woman off, it needs to be Devon.
“Looks like we’re done here,” I nod, backing toward the door. “I’ll give Alex a call this afternoon to wrap things up.”
“Rhett, you can’t be—” her shrill voice calls after me as I walk out of her office. The looks on the faces of her employees range from shock to delight. I wish I knew their names, so I could tell Devon the delighted faces are on her side.