“I don’t know. Am I?”
I reach for her bra, slip it on her, and struggle like an idiot to fasten the stupid hooks. “Yeah. You are.”
“Not even a blow job?”
I reach around her and grab her slip of a dress off the hook. I carefully arrange it over her head to drop it down over her body.
“No, the quality of yours ruined me. Nobody else swallows my cum like it’s Dom Perignon.”
Her eyes roll as I work her arms through the straps. “Not even a kiss?”
“Nobody has the smart mouth that you do. Makes me a lot less interested in kissing them.”
The dress cascades down over her body.
“What about my panties?”
“Oh, yeah. You won’t be needing those anymore.” I swipe them off the ground and toss them in the garbage with all the paper towels.
We regard each other for a beat. She always has a look of wonder on her face when I do or say something playful. It pisses me off and thrills me all at once. It’s like no one has even attempted to make this woman laugh.
“Aren’t you going to ask me if I’ve been with anyone else?”
“No.”
Her brows draw together. “Why not?”
I reach for her hand and tug her along with me toward the door. “Because I don’t care.”
“Okay, well, I haven’t.”
I turn the lock and smirk at her over my shoulder. “I know.”
She stomps her foot in faux outrage. “How do you know? Maybe I’ve had so much sex.”
“Nah,” I say, as we head into the darkened hallway, “Cadillac Ranch” filtering to my ears from the dance floor. “There’d be no point since I’m the only one who can make you come.”
28
Winter
Winter: I’ve never seen a more beautiful, vibrant bride in my life. I love you, Summer. Congratulations.
Summer: Is this your way of explaining why I saw you sneaking out, holding a certain bull rider’s hand?
Winter: I just needed a break. I’ll be back!
Summer: Are you crazy? Don’t come back. Take Theo and go be happy. Make some more cute babies. Rhett says he’ll kick his ass if he’s not good to you.
Theo’s hand is warm and strong. It swallows mine. He doesn’t grip me hard, but I feel the callouses of his palms. I feel his thumb rubbing against me.
The fact I only recently made amends with my sister and now want to duck out of her wedding to get more dick seems bad . . . but is it?
At the end of the hallway, I see a flash of her spinning on the dance floor and get the distinct impression that she wouldn’t miss me if I left.
Leaving with Theo and spending a leisurely night with his hands on me sounds like a dream. Waking up with him sounds like a dream too.
But my dreams have a way of crashing down around me, which is what happens when we hit the end of the walkway.
We run into my dad.
He steps across the mouth of the hall, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.
And my stomach drops. I’m a goddamn adult. His opinion shouldn’t mean shit to me after the absentee role he’s played in my life.
But it does.
Because I’ve seen how he is with Summer. And it hurts. Because I’m his too. I’ve been here all along, and he pretends I haven’t.
“Care to explain yourself, Silva?” His voice is cool and accusatory.
But the one Theo responds with is pure ice, one I’ve never heard him use with anyone. “Not to you I don’t.”
“Are you fucking kidding me, boy? You’ve had my daughter back there for far too long to be giving me that kind of attitude. And the baby? Clearly, you have some things to tell me.”
Theo straightens, taking an incremental step in front of me, shielding me with his body. He chuckles, but it’s not his usual warm laughter that makes my tummy flip.
This is more like a growl.
“Actually, Kip, I do have a few things to tell you. First, refer to my daughter again as the baby, like she doesn’t have a name, and I’ll fucking lay you out. Second, I’ll be at your office on Monday morning. Bring Geoff. I don’t want to fire you at your daughter’s wedding. It would be in poor taste. Lastly, if you think you deserve to stake some sort of claim on this woman as your daughter, you have some serious soul-searching to do. The girl on the dance floor?” He points over Kip’s shoulder at Summer, who is watching us now. “That’s your daughter. This woman here? She’s Dr. Hamilton until you tuck that scaly fucking tail between your legs and come make amends with her.”
For the first time in my life, my father appears to be at a loss for words.
For the first time in my life, someone has come to my defense.
“Now get out of my way, Kip. I want to go home and be with my girls.”
Home. My girls.
My heart plunges into my stomach. It floats and flips, rolling around in every warm, mushy feeling I’ve never felt.
I wish I knew what to say to my dad, but I don’t. And for once, I decide leaning on someone else to take care of me might be okay.
I give my dad my best icy glare as I pass by him.
And I have another first because my icy exterior isn’t reflecting the way I’m feeling inside.
With Theo, I feel the same way I feel with Vivi—in love. But it’s too soon. Too fast. I’m still too raw. So, I set the terrifying thought aside and leave it for later when I’m thinking more clearly. When my legs aren’t still shaking from the way I just fell apart for him.
“Dr. Hamilton, huh?” I murmur as we clear the doors and head into the gravel parking lot.
Theo pulls me up to him and slings an arm over my shoulder as he leads us to his truck. All swagger and confidence. All protective and loyal. His mouth drops to my ear and he whispers, “Dr. Hamilton in the streets, filthy slut in the sheets.”
And I laugh.
No one can make me laugh the way Theo Dale Silva does.
“You’re being quiet. Did I go too far? It takes a lot to make me mad. But when I get there? I blow a gasket.”
The drive back to our houses is short, but he’s right. I haven’t been talking. The only sound in the truck’s cab has been the muted sound of country music filtering from the radio. Because I’ve been thinking.
Overthinking.
“You didn’t go too far. You . . .” I shake my head as I stare out the window at the darkened side streets of Chestnut Springs. “You were what I’ve always needed and never had.”
When I glance over at him, he seems pensive. His brows have lowered in concentration, like he’s really turning my statement over.
And while he does, I blurt out the other thing I’ve been thinking about. “I don’t want you to stay next door anymore.”
“What?” He looks gutted.
“No.” I hold a hand up. “I’ve been wording this a million different ways in my head for the past ten minutes. Trying not to sound too bold, but also not wanting to come off indifferent, while worrying about seeming needy. What I meant to say is, I want you to stay with us.”
“You do?”
I straighten, rolling my shoulders back as I suck in a centering breath. It’s important I’m as honest with Theo as he is with me. “Yes. I’ve grown to hate you being next door when I wish you were next to me. We should try this thing out.”
“Winter.” The cheeky grin I’ve come to love graces his beautiful face. The one that comes right before some punchy little remark. The one that makes me smile before he’s even said a thing. “Do you like me?”
I bark out a laugh in the quiet truck and then stare down at my hands, twisting my fingers together. “I think I more than like you.”
“Because I’m your baby daddy?”
“No.” I meet his eyes at the final red light before we pull up to the house. “Because you make me like myself . . . and you’re the only one who ever has.” I glance away, because staring at him feels like too much. Too heavy.
Butterflies flutter in my stomach as I stress about how he might respond to my vulnerability. But in typical Theo fashion, he does the exact right thing at the exact right time.
He takes my hand and rubs circles with his thumb until we pull up in front of my house. When he hops out, I stay seated. He never responded to staying with me.
Maybe with his mom here, he’d rather be more subtle.
He said he wanted to get messy with me, but it’s possible he forgot what a huge mess I really am.
But when he tugs my door open and says, “Let’s go, Tink,” I know the only reason he didn’t respond is because he didn’t need to. I should know. He’s told me enough times.
I get the sense he’ll give me everything if I want it. I just need the nervous voice inside my head to shut the hell up. She sabotages me.
And I don’t want to sabotage this relationship.
As Theo lifts me out of the truck like I’m a princess and walks me up the front steps to our daughter, I realize that I really, really want this.
He doesn’t treat me like a child or placate me. He doesn’t play stupid, passive-aggressive mind games or gaslight me into agreeing with him the way Rob always did.