Page 31 of Love Among Vines

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

RETT

“And in first place we have Jade straddling a unicorn,” Tom’s Australian accent announced.

“Tom?” Cindy called out.

Rett shook his head. It had been a couple years since the last ABB event. Normally the men would have participated too, but apparently they hadn’t been invited.

“Followed directly by the feisty Gemma, charging into battle astride a large pink flamingo. They’re neck and neck, ladies and gents,” Tom continued.

Jade was only feet from the dock, but Gemma was right behind her. With a final push, the unicorn bumped into the dock to a chorus of cheers.

“That’s my girl,” Rett said. He reached down and plucked Jade from the raft. She swayed on her feet and he put an arm around her to steady her.

“Damn it!” Gemma called from behind her. “I was so close.”

“Second time today you were close,” Damian said from the end of the dock.

“What the hell are you doing here, Jones?” There was vitriol in Gemma’s voice.

The sniping at each other was starting early, apparently.

Tom cleared his throat. “Damian joined poker night. Don’t worry, I took a lot of his money.”

“You were amazing,” Rett said to Jade. He swooped down and gave her a kiss. “Here.” He handed over a sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants. “Thought you might be cold.”

There was a strange sense of pride in his chest. She had looked so confident, so capable gliding over the surface of the lake. Now they just needed to channel that energy to the rest of her life.

“Thank you. I thought you guys were here to murder us.” Jade took the pants and climbed into them. She rolled the waistband three times, but the legs were still too long.

Rett chuckled.

“Here.” Damian had dropped down onto one knee and reached toward Gemma. She slapped his hand away and paddled toward the shore. He laughed.

“Come on,” he said, rising to his feet. “You can’t take it personally. It’s just work.”

“Maybe to you,” Gemma said. “But that’s my client’s life. His livelihood. And you think you’re immune to all the rules.”

“I can’t help that someone presented me with evidence in the middle of court.”

“And I can’t help my foot smashing into your balls the second I get out of this goddamn flamingo.”

“They hooked up once,” Rett whispered in Jade’s ear. “It didn’t end well.”

“How did you guys know we were down here?” she asked.

“Cindy texted Tom. You know, in case all of you disappeared.”

“Nice. I should probably stop Gemma from murdering Damian.”

Jade bustled off to the end of the dock, flip-flops smacking off the wood. She must have given up on the torture devices. She pulled Gemma to shore.

“Don’t murder him now,” Jade said. “You can murder him later. In court. With words.”

Gemma shot daggers down the dock.

Cindy and Elena arrived, cackling in the darkness.

“I hate you.” Elena slapped Cindy’s llama. “I’m freezing.”

Jade tugged the sweatshirt off and helped Elena clamber onto the dock. “Here.”

“Oh, bless you.” Still shivering, Elena tugged it on.

Tom pulled Cindy up and dipped her, greeting her with a head-turner of a kiss.

“Care for a ride back?” Rett asked the crowd. He really needed to check on his dough and go over the accounts before bed.

“Not if he’s going to be in the car,” Gemma said.

Damian threw his hands up. “I drove myself. I’ll see you later this week.” He backed away like he was expecting her to backhand him with her paddle. Knowing Gemma, it was possible.

“You can ride in the bed if you promise not to tell Scooter,” Rett announced.

Five minutes later, Rett and Tom were in the cab of the truck while Jade, Cindy, Elena, and Gemma sprawled in the bed.

He glanced in the rearview mirror. Jade was turned toward him, but her face was tipped up to the stars.

The wind tangled her hair, and she looked like a goddess embracing the power of the moon.

Something flickered in his guts, and he tore his eyes away from the rearview. They only had two weeks. He couldn’t get involved. But part of him wanted to.

“Thanks for dropping me off. Here.” Jade wriggled out of the borrowed sweatpants and folded them neatly on the dashboard. She was still wearing Cindy’s bikini.

They were sitting outside her cottage. Margie had left a light on, but Steven the raccoon was nowhere to be seen.

“No problem.”

For a moment, they just stared at each other. The memory of their tryst in the truck mere hours before was on his mind. If Scooter hadn’t interrupted, Rett probably would have lost control and taken her right there.

He wanted her in his bed more than he’d ever wanted another woman.

Maybe it was just all this buildup. Or maybe it was the dimple in her right cheek, the softness in her eyes.

As satisfying as it would be to trail his hands down those beautiful curves and find out what she tasted like, she deserved their first time to be special, meaningful, reminiscent of what she could have if she opened herself to relationships again.

Sex was worlds different when you connected on more than a surface level.

It was part of fixing her up, and he couldn’t let his selfish impulses derail it. She deserved better.

“See you tomorrow?” he asked. The reception for paint and sip had been very enthusiastic.

She nodded. “I’ll come early to set up.”

“Did I tell you we sold out?”

She balked. “Already?”

He nodded. Almost all the tickets were bought by his friends and fellow business owners in town, but she didn’t need to know that.

Her face went pale. “Well. I’d better make sure it doesn’t turn out to be a disaster, then.”

He leaned in. “It won’t be.”

“What if it’s just stick figures?”

“Then I’ll pour more wine until people don’t notice.”

“That sounds uneth?—”

She was silenced by Rett crushing his mouth to hers. Penny grumbled and jumped to the back seat again.

Jade released her seatbelt and crawled on her knees over to him. He pulled her on top of him and yanked on the bikini string until it released. Her warm, soft breasts tumbled into his hands, and her nipples hardened in response.

She arched her back and tipped her head up, providing an unimpeded view of the curve of her neck and a moonlight-dappled collarbone.

She was so beautiful. His hands trailed down and cupped her ass. Everything in him was screaming to take her here, now. Date be damned.

His hand slid forward to her bikini bottoms. He had one finger inside the waistband when she drew back.

“It’s not Friday,” she chastised.

Son of a bitch. He knew he was going to pay for that suggestion.

“You’re the one who insisted,” she said with a devilish smile. She slid off him and re-strung the bikini around her neck.

“Maybe there’s some wiggle room in this verbal contract.” He reached for her.

She shook her head. “You’re the one who set the terms. I would hate for you to go against your convictions at the first sign of temptation. I’m going to go paint. Night,” she said. With that, she hopped out of the truck without a backward glance.

He sat for a moment and watched her close the door to the cottage behind her.

He was in trouble.