Page 33 of The Rogue (Four Corners Ranch #11)

She avoided him the next two days, and she felt bad about it. It was also a real feat considering they were staying in the

same house.

She couldn’t avoid packing anymore, though. Which meant thinking about something she had also been deliberately avoiding.

She went to her lingerie drawer and opened it. She had bought quite a few things for the honeymoon. She didn’t know why. It

wasn’t like they had been super into lingerie in their regular old sex life.

But because of that she hadn’t really bought it with him in mind. It had been more about what she thought a honeymoon was

supposed to be. So when she looked at all the pieces now it was with a different view.

She remembered the way that Justice had looked at her when she was wearing the bikini.

When she was wearing the dress. He liked her in clothing that was a little bit more daring.

What would he think of something like this?

She held up a black bodysuit that had felt completely out of character when she had added it to her online shopping cart.

But she had wanted to be the kind of woman who could wear it.

Right in the moment when she picked it. She thought, wouldn’t that be great.

To just strut out in something that daring.

Designed to showcase all of your most private areas, rather than conceal them.

Thinking about wearing it in front of Justice made her mouth dry. And it made her heart beat faster. Made that space between

her thighs feel aching and swollen.

That kiss had been the single most erotic experience of her life. And maybe it should’ve been weird that it had come from

her best friend, but weird had never even crossed her mind when his mouth had touched hers. It had been right.

Like his was the mouth she’d been meant to kiss from the beginning.

She had just been too afraid to do it.

Giving herself permission to think of him that way was revelatory.

It had also been why she had to avoid him, because it was her own rules that she was following by not touching him here in

the house, but they were very hard rules to follow. She wondered if he thought it was hard.

They were leaving tomorrow. It couldn’t be that risky to send him a text about it.

Would that count as sexting? She’d never even considered such a thing.

She opened up the text box quickly . Are you thinking about tomorrow?

He never texted. He never did. So he wasn’t going to...

She saw three little dots appear. Then disappear. Then reappear.

I haven’t been thinking about anything else.

I had to avoid you because otherwise I doubt I could’ve kept my hands off of you.

Don’t say that.

Why?

Because I’m close enough that I can be back there in two minutes and make us both forget what we’re waiting for.

I want to be in the bridal suite. In the bed I was supposed to share with him.

That’s naughty , he said.

Is it? Or is it just petty?

I don’t care. I think it’s hot either way.

Her midsection bloomed with heat. It felt so strange and so freeing to be talking to him like this. To Justice. To just say

whatever she wanted.

You’re so hot. I can’t wait to touch you.

Damn. You’re getting me hard.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, her breath coming in short bursts. I’m packing for the trip. I have a lot of lingerie.

I can’t wait.

If there was one thing Justice King had no prior experience with, it was pleasure deferred. Except perhaps when it came to

Rue. But he had never let himself really sit in that. In the last few days, it was all he had done. Let himself turn over

every moment that he hadn’t allowed himself to examine at the time. Let himself think about when he put his hands on her thighs

at her bachelorette party.

Shit. She had been about to marry Asher. She would’ve married him. And he would never have gotten to taste her.

The things he wanted to do to her... It was why he had avoided her last night after she had sent him those texts. They

had been so bold for her. At least, bold for the Rue that he knew. Maybe she liked dirty texts. Maybe it was in her wheelhouse.

He didn’t think so, though.

And now it was finally time to leave. The place was three hours away, and he was hoping that if they showed up they could

get an early check-in. Because he...

He stopped, standing still right where he was in the middle of the barn out on King’s Crest. He was desperate for her.

He was trying to tell himself that it was all right playing by these rules.

Maybe that’s what she was doing too. She was right, though. It made sense. They made sense. They had known each other forever. He didn’t like that it was all about him doing something for her, when he felt like the reality was he was getting a fantasy in return.

Maybe this is the real thing you can give yourself. The real thing you were denied.

That insidious thought came up out of nowhere and gripped him by the gut.

But maybe if their lives had been different, maybe if he had a different family, something functional, it would have been

different. He would’ve met her. They would have been friends, but maybe they wouldn’t have needed each other the way that they did when they were kids. Maybe their relationship could’ve grown into something different organically.

Maybe there was a version of himself that didn’t get left underground for days. That didn’t get lied to, tricked by the people

that he trusted most. Maybe that version of him would’ve wanted a wife. Children. Would have known how to share himself. Share

his life.

Maybe if he were different he could have had that.

Just thinking about that made him feel like he’d been stabbed. So maybe that was the gift. Maybe that was what he got. A moment.

Like it was his honeymoon.

That was kind of sad. But, he was kind of sad. That was the truth of it. He let out a breath and went toward his truck, heading

back to his house. Rue was sitting out front with a little pink suitcase next to her. He had thrown his own black duffel bag

in the back. He had a couple sweaters, a couple pairs of jeans, one nicer outfit in case they wanted to go out to dinner at

the resort and about five boxes of condoms. He had priorities.

She picked up her little suitcase, and started to walk toward the truck. He put it in Park and got out, moving to her and taking the bag from her. Their fingertips brushed, and his whole body went rock hard.

Her face turned pink.

“I hope you’ve got all the stuff in here that you promised me,” he said.

She looked down, then back up. How weird, to have an interaction with Rue that was uncertain.

It was almost exhilarating.

“I brought some things,” she said, holding her hands primly as she lifted herself up in the truck and sat.

“Tell me about it.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said.

“We have a long drive ahead. I wouldn’t mind something fun to think about.”

He rounded to the driver’s side and got in, closing the door, leaving them well ensconced in the tight space.

“Did you tell anybody about this?” he asked.

“No!”

“I didn’t mean about our plans, I meant that we were going.”

She shook her head. “No. I mean, I mentioned to Bix that I would be gone for a while.”

“I told Denver, because I needed him to be prepared for the fact I was taking the time off. He guessed.”

“He what?”

“He guessed. He knows what we’re doing.”

“Oh,” she said, frowning.

“It’s okay. He certainly is not going to expect it to have any long-lasting ramifications. It’s not like Denver has any long

connections in his life.”

“That’s sort of sad.”

“He’ll be glad to know you think so.”

“That must make you mad, though. That he guessed.”

“Less him than anyone else. Mostly just because he never gave me a hard time about you. Denver is the kind of guy who has

his own secrets, so he certainly doesn’t pry overly much when it comes to other people’s.”

“Right.”

“Tell me about it,” he said.

“It’s embarrassing,” she said.

“You were talking a big game over text last night.”

“I’ve never done anything like that before,” she said.

“It wasn’t that daring.”

She sniffed. “That’s mean. It was the most daring thing I’ve ever done.”

“You would’ve had to send me nudes for it to be real daring.”

“No,” she said. “I am not sending pictures of my naked body to go flying through the ether to hopefully land on your phone.”

“Do pictures often get stuck out there in the air?”

“If any did, they would be pictures of my boobs.”

“That feels a little narcissistic.” He looked at her sideways, and caught the toothy, menacing smile she was giving him.

“Don’t threaten me,” he said.

“You’re acting like a man who wants to be bitten,” she said.

“I’m not opposed to biting.” He let that sit for a second, because it brought up some things that they needed to discuss. The kinds of things he’d never had occasion to think about with his best friend before. He cleared his throat. “On that topic, do you have any... hard nos.”

“What... what?”

“Things you won’t do”

“I... I mean, I feel like there are probably some things, but I would have to google them, and they would take me to corners

of the internet I don’t want to be on.”

He gripped the steering wheel a little bit tighter. “There was nothing that you did with him that you didn’t like.”

“I don’t know that I want to talk about him.”

“He’s the only man you’ve been with, right?”

“Yes,” she said, looking ahead.

“So he’s your reference point. Comparison is going to be natural.”

“You already sound smug.”

“Oh, I am not worried.”

“I am. What if it’s me? What if I can’t...?”

“Go ahead. You don’t need to be embarrassed. I’m your best friend. And if I’m going to get naked with you, then I need to

know everything. I need to know the things you’ve held back before. I need to know the things you’re afraid would hold you

back with me.”

“You know my parents were just overwrought. All the time. It was like they loved and hated each other so much they couldn’t stand it.

They loved sex with each other so much they would shut themselves away in the middle of the day, but somehow at the same time they also loved to have sex with other people.

So they could fight? I never understood how they could act like they wanted each other so badly, but then also be with other people.

I never understood how they could be such a registered mess all the time with each other.

I never wanted to be that way. I wanted my life to be different.

But I think I gave myself a complex about passion.

Because I could only ever look at it as this two-edged sword.

And if you wanted one edge of the sword you had to take the other one.

I get that that isn’t really true. At least I think I do.

But it made me feel like I always wanted to be present during sex.

I can never lose myself. I was always halfway in a spreadsheet and I just got used to thinking about other things.

It seemed like it was easier to just not worry about my own orgasm because that created pressure between us and I didn’t want pressure.

I didn’t want to be work. And I also didn’t know how not to be. ”

“Sex with a beautiful woman’s not work,” he said.

“You haven’t had sex with me yet.”

“I’m aware of that. But believe me, if it takes me an hour to get you to come, it won’t be work. If it takes me two hours

it won’t be work.”

“Who has sex for an hour?”

“Well, now I’m going to take that as a challenge.”

He could definitely fill an hour exploring her body.

He started to drive a little bit faster.

“It’s supposed to be a really nice place,” she said. “There’s a spa and an indoor pool, but all the windows are glass so we

could look out at the view. I got us the honeymoon suite.”

“Is there early check-in?”

“I don’t know if the room will be ready.”

“I’m going to need it to be ready.”

“It’s the middle of the day.”

“I’m not opposed to sex in the middle of the day.”

“I’m not... overly familiar with that as a concept,” she said.

“You gotta understand something, Rue. You’re playing with me now. And I do things a little different.”