“Yes.”
“I’m going to have it recast once we tell our friends that I’m pregnant. I’m lucky it’s a Captive project, so I don’t have to deal with getting out of a contract.”
Aiden beams. “That makes me really happy.”
“It makes me happy too. I’m also really excited about our wedding. Can you believe in a few weeks, I’ll be Mrs. Arrington?”
He kisses me and runs his hand across my tummy. “And a mom.”
“Having grown up with little sisters, I’m not as worried about being a good mom as I am about being a good wife.”
He slides his hand down a little lower.
“Maybe we should work on that.”
Keatyn & Aiden’s home - Asher Vineyards, Sonoma County
ARIELA
It was a little awkward when Vanessa and I came back in the house but, fortunately, everyone went to bed soon after, leaving me alone with Riley.
“You should probably get to bed too,” I tell him.
“Help me to my room?” he asks, slurring slightly. The pain medication the doctor gave him is starting to kick in, and he seems a little loopy.
“Of course,” I reply, helping him off the couch and escorting him to his bedroom. I turn on the lamp and turn down his covers.
“You’re going to have to help me undress,” he says, giving me a lopsided grin and holding up his wrapped hand.
“Maybe I should ask your brother to come help you.”
He moves closer to me. “Come on, Ariela. It’s not like you haven’t done it before.”
“That’s true.” Okay, I can do this. I’ll help him get undressed and tuck him in. It’s the least I can do.
I grab the bottom of his cashmere V-neck, gently pulling it up over his head, then working it off his hand. “Do you want to sleep in the T-shirt you have on underneath?”
“Have I ever slept with a shirt on?” he says, laying his hand on my hip.
“No,” I laugh, loving how on the medication he seems so much more like the Riley I used to know. But when I slip off his T-shirt, I see that his body is not the same. What were long, lean muscles are now fuller and more defined. His four pack of abs has been replaced with a hard eight.
“You’re staring. Like what you see?” he slurs, but his eyes have a hungry look. It’s a look I remember well from our weekend parties at Eastbrooke. We’d get a little high, a little drunk, and then sneak off somewhere to have sex.
“It’s obvious you still work out,” I say, noncommittally, while fighting the urge to run my fingers across his new muscles. “Let’s get these pants off and get you into bed. You’re slurring a bit, so the medicine must be kicking in. Why don’t you sit on the bed first, so I can take your shoes off.”
He does as I ask, so I slip off his shoes and socks, bring him back to standing, and remove his slacks. All that’s left on him is a pair of boxer briefs that leave nothing to the imagination. And I’m trying really hard not to look.
“Okay, hop in bed.” I pull back the comforter, making it easy for him. And praying that he doesn’t say—
“I always sleep naked. You know that.”
Yes, I do know that. And that’s all I can think about.
“I think tonight it would be best to leave these underwear things on,” I stutter and motion to them with my hand. “If you would need something in the middle of the night, it would be hard for you to put them back on by yourself.”
“Are you afraid of what might happen if you take them off?”
“Riley, just a few hours ago, you hated me. The pain medicine is messing with you. I think you should just go to sleep now.”
“We had a lot of sex,” he states, his eyes playful.
“Yes. Yes, we did.” I gulp. Why did I agree to help him? “Please, Riley, just get in bed.”
He uses his good hand to push the boxers off his hip. Fortunately for me—or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, he can’t get the other side to cooperate and leaves them on.
“I’m tired,” he says, slipping under the sheet. “Will you lie down with me?”
“I, uh, I’m not sure that’s such a good—”
“Just lie down with me until I go to sleep,” he says, my heart feeling like it’s being squeezed.
I need to get back to my dorm, Riley.
Don’t leave until I go to sleep, kitty. I don’t like it when you leave.
“Okay,” I say, lying next to him. He puts his good hand on top of my thigh and closes his eyes.
“I love you, kitty,” he mutters.
Keatyn & Aiden’s home - Asher Vineyards, Sonoma County
DAWSON
“Well, that was the most exciting dinner party I've been to in a while,” Vanessa says entering my bedroom.
“It's about to get more exciting.” I push her up against the door. “First, I need you. Now.”
My lips crash into hers. I can barely maintain control, like that kind of fury that makes you see red.
Only this is a fury for her.
I pin her arms against the door, push up her dress, and slide my fingers roughly across her *.
Our lips never leave one another’s as I fuck her up against the door.