Page 26

K ENDALL

Even though I was out late last night, my Monday doesn’t drag. It’s kind of hard to sleep through the day when you’re responsible for sixteen five-year-olds. But even so, there’s no way I could sleep through the day with my body still tingling from last night's car sex.

Nash had my body contorted in ways I didn’t think I could bend just so he could lick me to orgasm. Not that I’m complaining. Nor am I complaining about the bruise and leather rash on my right knee from rubbing against the car door while I rode us both to oblivion.

What I am complaining about, however, is the bite mark on my neck.

It didn’t happen from our sexcapades in his Range Rover either.

Which meant the mark was there when I said my goodbyes at the Whiskey Buckle.

Which also explains the mischievous grin Rowan gave me when her eyes were fixated on my neck.

Come to think of it, Nash’s eyes spent a few minutes on my neck when he was flirting with me at the bar. He could have at least warned me about it. Payback’s a bitch. I look forward to rewarding him with a matching mark. Or two.

Maybe three since he left marks on my thighs as well, not that anyone else will see those.

I hope he gets me naked again before the red markings go away.

He’ll either go all caveman on me and pin me down and add more markings to my body, or he’ll look at me with remorse and promise to take it easy next time.

I pray it isn’t the latter.

Paisley is the last to get picked up, and I not-so-secretly hope it’s because Nash has the afternoon off and wants to see me. Not that we’ll be able to do anything about our animalistic lust at school or with his daughter attached to his hip.

I feel his presence behind me. Paisley looks up and bounces to her feet. “Daddy!”

I keep my back to him and pick up the puzzle pieces as I hear Paisley cover Nash’s face in kisses. God, it’s adorable how much they love each other.

“How was your day, Sweet Pea?”

“We made turkey hands and wrote on our leaves for our thankful tree.”

“I can’t wait to see them. First, go pick up.”

When she comes back over to the puzzle, I let her finish putting everything away and go over to Nash.

He tucks his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and dips his chin. “Nice scarf,” he says with a knowing grin.

“Apparently a vampire attempted to suck my blood last night. I couldn’t scare the kids with the mark he left behind.”

“Are you sure it was blood he was sucking, Gravy?”

Oh, lordy. I squeeze my thighs together and drop my gaze to the front of his jeans. “Easy there, Nash Potato, or you’re going to find yourself in a precarious situation with no...gravy to soften the...blow.”

He furrows his brows together and I don’t even care that what I said doesn’t make sense. There’s sexual innuendo in there somewhere.

Nash’s brows soften, then his glorious mouth breaks out into a smile. My insides quiver into a pool of liquid lust, then congeals when I see a flash of pink attach itself to Nash’s leg. He scoops up his daughter and tugs on her ponytail, pointing that delicious smile at her.

I shouldn’t be jealous of his daughter. I’m not. I wish all children received love and attention like Nash gives Paisley. But I wouldn’t mind being on the receiving end of such affection either.

Not that I’m looking for anything more than sex with Nash. One day, though, when my heart is ready to love again, I hope to be as cherished as Riley is by Walker. Or Mindy is by Darius. Or even be the reason a room lights up like Paisley is to Nash.

“Say thank you to Miss Wentworth,” he tells Paisley.

“Thank you, Miss Wentworth.” She holds out her arms for a hug. Nash doesn’t release her, so I step into their space as she stretches to me.

I curl one arm around her and Nash snakes his free arm around my waist, tugging me in tighter so I’m brushing against hardness. He squeezes my ass, then releases me as soon as Paisley drops her arm.

“Behave yourself,” I say to Nash, then drop my gaze to Paisley.

“I’m always a good girl. Right, Daddy?”

“You are, Sweet Pea.” He drops his voice an octave and adds, “And I bet Miss Wentworth is a good girl too.”

Fuck. Me. Now.

This man does not play fair.

He reaches down and tosses Paisley’s backpack over his free shoulder and takes his phone from his pocket as he walks out the door.

Rude. Couldn’t even say goodbye before leaving. At least the quick brushoff helps alleviate some of the pressure between my legs.

My phone lights up on my desk and I pick it up, reading the message from Nash.

NASH POTATO: 9:00. Bring the gravy.

I WENT TO NASH’S HOUSE twice this week. Monday and Wednesday night. Thursday was Thanksgiving and I assumed he was busy with his parents. We didn’t discuss it. We didn’t discuss much, just how many orgasms I would get and in which positions we wanted to fuck.

On Thursday, my mom, sister, and I spent the day as we usually do.

Baking two pies—because we can never agree on one—while we watched the parade. And you can never have too much pie. We went for a walk while the turkey cooked in the oven, then played music and danced around the kitchen while we made the rest of the fixings.

It was small and quaint, just how we like it.

A few years ago, Riley and I had the hair-brained idea to set our parents up on a date. It was a major flop. Her father wasn’t—and never will be—over the death of his wife. Not even two decades could diminish his love and boat loads of depression.

On the flip side, my mother is happily single, not ever wanting a repeat of my deadbeat dad. He’d been an okay husband and father—from what I can remember—until Dani was born. Having a child with special needs was too much for him, and he blamed Dani for causing a rift in his marriage.

Mom didn’t waste any more time with him.

Choosing her daughters over her husband was a no brainer.

I’ve thanked my mom countless times over the years, especially since I became an adult, for sacrificing her life and happiness for us.

To which she continuously scoffs and says it’s her mission and her pride and joy to live her life for her daughters.

She’s self-sacrificing and not in a martyr way. She’s never once begrudged Dani for the constant care she needs. I love and respect her more than any other human on the planet.

I’ve tried a handful of times to set her up on dates, but she says men will distract her from us. I love my mom, but I don’t understand how she can live without sex.

Unless she’s been sneaking it on the side. Ugh. I don’t want to think about that.

We go to bed Thursday night with full bellies, and in the morning, I stop at the store to pick up fixings for pumpkin cheesecake. It’s been our tradition since meeting Jackson to have a Friendsgiving.

Since he has a gorgeous penthouse, he hosted for five years up until Riley married his brother. Now Walker and Riley are hosting. I pick up Rowan on the way and we’re the first to arrive, as planned.

We like our girl time, baking and gossiping throughout the morning while Walker is at the stadium. Last year, Miles and Declan joined us while Jackson and Taylor invited two of their friends.

“Are you going to tell her?” Rowan asks when Riley goes upstairs to use the bathroom.

“Tell her what?” I rinse off the mixing bowl and hand it to Row to dry.

“Don’t be obtuse. You’ve slept with him again, haven’t you?”

“Slept? No.”

“Don’t think I didn’t notice that hickey Sunday night either. Real convenient for Nash to spill cranberry juice all over you.”

I bite my bottom lip and hand her a clean rubber scraper. “It wasn’t a hickey.”

“Please.”

“He bit me, Row.”

“Like a vampire?” She clutches her chest.

My dear best friend is so innocent. She would freak out if I told her how Nash tied me to the bed Wednesday night and shoved my underwear in my mouth to muffle my screams.

“Yeah. Like a vampire, except there was no blood. I don’t think he realizes how much he marks me when we’re in the heat of the moment. It’s not until the next time he sees me that he shows his concern about my bruises.”

The bite mark on my neck didn’t seem to bother him, but he was worried about my thighs, not that it stopped him from spanking my ass red Monday night, then soothing my ass tenderly Wednesday while he left a trail of bite marks inside my thighs and on my left boob.

“How many next times have there been?”

“Four total.”

“Kendall! You have to tell Riley. She’ll never forgive you for keeping this secret.”

“What secret? Do tell.” Riley rubs her hands together and takes a seat at the counter.

Rowan takes the dish rag from me and pushes me to the counter. “I don’t want this to be awkward for anyone, because we’re totally not making a big deal about it.”

“Awkward for who, and who is we ?”

I tug at the collar of my loose turtleneck sweater and Riley’s eyes go wide. Shit. I didn’t mean to show her the bite mark. I meant to give myself some air.

“Are you sleeping with Miles?”

“What? Miles? No. Why does everyone think he and I are fuck buddies?”

“You can’t deny the chemistry. I’ve been watching you two flirt since you first met.”

“Is there anyone Miles doesn’t flirt with?”

“Me,” Rowan says, leaning against the counter next to me. “I think he’s afraid of me. He’s polite and apologizes when he says something vulgar. I think I make him uncomfortable.”

“It’s because you’re so sweet, Row. Miles is a nice guy too or he wouldn’t apologize for making you uncomfortable.”

“Who says I am? Just because I don’t drop f-bombs on the regular and don’t sleep around doesn’t mean I’m a prude.” She folds her arms across her chest with a look of annoyance.

Interesting. I’ve never seen Rowan riled up like this.

“We know you’re not a prude,” Riley says. “On the flipside, let’s talk about the hickey on Kendall’s neck. We know she’s not a prude either, but she’s been at a stalemate since Walker and I met.”

“Not a stalemate. I slowed my extracurricular activities down is all.”

“Looks like they’re picking back up.” Riley points at my neck.

I fluff the turtleneck collar around the spot and let out a sigh. “Okay. Promise me you’re not going to make a big deal about this. Even better, promise me you won’t say anything to Walker.”

“Possibly on the first request, negative on the second.”

“I fucking hate your loyalty to your marriage.” I roll my eyes, not worried about offending Riley. She knows I’m kidding, especially after the shit Jason put me through.

“If you don’t spill soon, you’ll be forced to come clean in front of the object of my loyalty. He’ll be home in twenty minutes.”

“Fine.” I huff out an aggravated breath.

“I’m in a mutually agreed upon friends-with-benefits relation.

..situation. No strings on either end. We both want our privacy and neither of us is looking for a relationship.

We also don’t need the gossip mill talking about our mutually exclusive sexual, er, situation. ”

“By gossip mill, you mean...?”

“Anyone besides you two. I doubt he’s told anyone else about us. Which means, if word gets out, I know who the leak is.” I give Riley a pointed stare.

“Me?”

“Your husband.”

“You’ve met Walker. He’s the least gossipy person I know.”

“Until it comes to one of his friends.”

Riley’s eyes grow wide. “I knew it! You are sleeping with Miles.”

I slowly shake my head. “No. Never have. Probably never will.”

“Then who? Not Declan. He’s seven years younger than you. Not that you look thirty-two and not that there's anything wrong with it, but he doesn’t seem your type.”

“Who seems like her type?” Rowan asks.

“You know?”

“Only recently.”

Ending the game, I spit out, “Nash.”

Riley stills. She blinks. Blinks again. Then her jaw drops. “Nash Humphries? But he doesn’t even talk to anyone. He’s rarely around. Walker has been trying to get him out of his shell since the day they met. That's why he invited him over today.”

“Nash is coming to Friendsgiving?” My cheeks warm and moisture pools in my underwear. Only, it’s not what I think it is.

Fucking aunt flo.

“Honey, we’re home.”

Walker comes through the door with Nash and Paisley on his heels.