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Her eyes wide, she stared at the message. “Get thefuckout of here! That was less than five minutes!”
My heart was pounding, and hot energy poured into my system. It was a text from Noah at Slow River Ranch, inviting the kids to an overnight campthis weekend.Something about stepping up the camps over the summer break.This couldn’t be happening.
“Jesus, I want to stand up and cheer.”
I raised my eyes to Stef, feeling a sliver of mom guilt sneak in under the excitement. “I can’t dump the kids so I can go off and have sex.”
“Ooof! You are not spoiling this for yourself. No way. No how!”
“Stef—”
“Okay, listen. Don’t think of it like that. Reframe it. You offer the kids the chance to go. If they’re all super excited, that’s your sign that you have permission. If even one of them hesitates, deal’s off and you spend the weekend not riding Wolfe’s perfectly amazing cock.”
“Jesus. You haven’t even seen his cock. How do you know it’s amazing?”
Her eyes dancing, she tapped the side of her nose. “Bet you ten bucks.”
I let out a sigh, trying to get a handle on my feelings. “I have no idea how this would work, even if the kids are happy to go to the camp.”
“One problem at a time. Check with the kids first, and deal with the next step after that.”
“Wow, that’s actually really smart,” I teased.
“You don’t need to sound so surprised.” Poking me in the ribs, she said, “Go on. Ask them.”
Pushing to my feet, I headed towards the river’s edge. I felt a weird, twisting sort of apprehension, not sure if I wanted them to be super excited, or if I wanted to be able to use them as an excuse to chicken out.
The moment I mentioned it, Florian and Tiana whooped with excitement. My heart sank a little, though, at Ariel and Belle’s reactions. Ariel was watching me closely, her eyes narrowed, and Belle was frowning. “It’s not compulsory, so it’s up to you.”
“They ran out of paint last time. Do you think they would have got more?”
“I’d say so, baby.”
Her brow cleared, and she clapped her hands. “Then I want to go.”
Phew. “Ariel?”
“What will you do?”
Stef came up, throwing her arm around my shoulders. “She’ll hang out with me.”
My sister sagged in relief and the smile she sent me made my heart squeeze. “Then I want to go, too.”
Oh. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. “Great! Let’s go home and get organized, then.” Wow, my voice sounded so calm!
CHAPTER16
Esme
The sound of my heels clicking on the pavement echoed down the narrow street, in time with the beat of my thoughts—What the fuck? What the fuck? What the fuck? Seriously, who did I think I was, turning up at a sex club to offer myself to the boss? An outrageously hot billionaire who could have his pick of literally any woman on the planet. My steps slowed as I started freaking out. Really, I should turn around and go straight back home. This was dumb.
“He. Wants. To. Bang. You.”
That’s what Stef had been saying to me all afternoon. From the moment I’d got home from dropping the kids off at the ranch, she’d been relentless. It was like she had a sixth sense for my freak outs, no matter how hard I tried to hide them. “He wants to bang me. He wants to bang me…” I was much less convincing than Stef, but the words bolstered me enough to make me smooth my hands down the soft material of my blue birthday dress and push me forward again.
I’d had to park three blocks away from the club, because the streets were lined with cars. There was a big night happening somewhere. Turning into the even narrower alley that housed Wolfe’s club, I frowned. The big night wasn’t here, it seemed. There was no line of people waiting to be let in, and the enormous steel door was shut tight. Was it just not open yet? It was only nine o’clock and the last time we’d got here after eleven.
What the fuck was I supposed to do now? Just stand in the narrow alley for two hours? Stepping up to the door, I listened closely. That was the low, pulsing bass I’d heard when I was here last time. The club was open. Which meant there was a good chance Wolfe was in there, since I’d already gone to his house in Esperance to find it empty.