Conception (The Wellingtons #4) - Tessa Teevan Page 0,40
hindsight, I realized it wasn’t so much a discussion as much as it was me telling Amelia how it is and her agreeing. I made a mental note to be explicitly clear one last time. Except I thought that might be overkill, so I decided to just play it as it came.
“Yeah, she’s clear.”
“So, again: Why are you here?”
“Because I told you I’d come back so we could smoke those cigars Dad brought us back from Peru. Remember earlier? You gave me shit because you were afraid they’d go stale.”
Clay nearly spit out the beer he’d just drunk. “You came back here to smoke a cigar? Damn, bro, you really are new to this.”
I rolled my eyes. “I told Amelia earlier that I always keep my promises. I’m not gonna prove myself a liar the very first night, jackass.”
He stood, chucking his beer bottle into the trash can and poured his own whisky, topping off mine in the process. “Then, by all means, let’s go out back and light up.”
I don’t know if it was the whisky, the semi still in my pants, or just the feeling of brotherly bonding that had me suddenly asking for his advice. “Can I ask you something?”
Clay, leaning back in his rocker, puffed his cigar then pointed at me. “Shoot.”
“So, uh…” I cleared my throat. “You know I don’t exactly have much experience when it comes to women.”
He laughed, and I pierced him with a glower that only made him laugh harder.
“I mean a variety of women. Things with Gwen were…easy. They just kinda happened in a natural progression. With Amelia, it’s different. I want it all, right fucking now. Like I’m crazed. Like I won’t ever be able to get enough of her, and all I’ve done is kiss her. That’s normal, right?”
“Fuck yeah, it’s normal. She’s new, she’s exciting, and she’s the first chick since Gwen you’ve wanted to fuck, so yeah. Especially since your time is going to be limited. It makes sense you want to jump straight into her Daisy Dukes.”
“I want to. Fuck me, I want to. But hell, I also don’t want to freak her out by moving too fast.”
“So don’t.” His words were so matter-of-fact that I had to lean forward and study him.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s simple, Knox. You’re crazed? You just gotta make sure she’s feeling the same way. So take a step back. Reel it in just a little bit, but at the same time, give just a little bit more at the end of every night. A taste, a tease, just enough to keep her wantin’ more.”
“That makes no sense. She’s not a damn fish.”
“Of course it wouldn’t make sense to you. You’ve never had to seduce a woman before.”
“And this is how you seduced Maria?”
His answering grin told me, yeah, he did just that. “And she’ll be wearing my ring by the end of the summer. Trust me on this. It’ll drive her insane and then, when you finally get into bed, you’ll explode.”
“Not sure that’s what I’m going for, buddy,” I told him.
“You know what I mean. Sure, you could’ve had her tonight. You could tomorrow. Give it a week? It’ll be better than anything you could’ve expected.”
“I’ve been with one woman my entire life. There’s no offense to Gwen, but I’m fairly sure my sex life can only go up from here, whether I wait a week or break the seal tomorrow.”
“I still can’t believe you haven’t been with anyone since her.”
Whether I’d heard this once in the past four months or one hundred times, it’s too fucking many. “I still can’t believe I fucking told you that.”
He held his drink up in a mock cheer. “Bourbon: Mother Nature’s truth serum.”
“Clay, what the hell have I been doing for the past three years?”
He started ticking things off on his fingers. “Work. School. Work. Golf. Work. Gym. School. Help Mom’s charities. Did I say work?”
“Exactly. I didn’t have time to go out and find anyone. Not that I didn’t want to. But we have plans for the business, and I’ve been working my ass off to make those dreams come true. Women will come later.”
“Or now, since Mom exiled you to this place. Gotta say I’m not surprised you’re already laser focused on the first girl you saw.”
I puffed my cigar before slowly releasing the aromatic smoke. “Think Mom still would’ve sent me here if she’d anticipated my meeting a woman on the first day, even knowing it could only be