Conception (The Wellingtons #4) - Tessa Teevan Page 0,63
be somewhere else, he’d have driven me himself. So that’s how my life’s been for the last ten years. Except this year, instead of going to work my dad for the summer, Mom bought me this place—as my first investment, as she calls it. She ordered me to spend the summer here fixing it up so I can rent it out in the future. Learning more responsibility while also having fun, she claimed. I grumbled the entire way here. Until I saw you.”
When I walk towards him, he flips around in the chair where I straddle his waist. My arms hook around his neck, and I meet his eyes. “So, instead of listening to your mom, you’ve let me distract you?”
“Pretty sure distraction’s what Mom was hopin’ for, babe.”
Jesus, is it wrong to ridiculously adore it when he calls me that?
“Then what do you say you take me to the bedroom so I can distract you some more?”
Knox is up and out of the chair in a flash, hoisting me up with him. My legs wrap around his waist, and I laugh as he tears through the house before depositing me onto a waterbed. The sensation of rolling water underneath me takes me by surprise.
He peers down at me with a devilish grin. “Ever fucked in a waterbed, Melia?” he asks, his voice a low, husky drawl. The way he lazily says my name shoots heat straight to my loins.
I rise, grabbing the material of his shirt and bunching it up into my fist. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never fucked before I met you. Definitely not in a waterbed. Think I’ll enjoy it? I don’t know. I’m not sure it’ll be all that good with the water sloshing around.” I’m teasing, and he knows it.
With a low growl, he rips off his shirt and launches himself at me. One hand fists my hair as hot breath finds my ear. “I’ll show you just how fucking good it can be.”
A short while later, I’m a convert. Waterbeds are a hell of a lot of fun.
“It’s dusty, smells like floor cleaner, and I’d much rather be in your bed.”
With one eyebrow raised, I eye Knox standing in the doorway of his kitchen. Shirtless. Gleaming with sweat. Sun-kissed skin stretching across muscles that shoots a few little quivers straight to my panties.
“I’m pretty sure all we do is spend time in my bed, Knox” I tease, because, well, it’s the truth.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“On the contrary. It’s turning out to be the best summer yet.” As soon as the words escape my lips, I regret them. I don’t want Knox to get the wrong idea. Not that it’d be the wrong idea, but I don’t want him to run off if he has any indication I’m starting to wish we didn’t have an expiration date.
He grins, apparently oblivious to the conflict brewing inside me. “Hafta say I agree. But you know what? You’re right. We need to adventure outside of your bed. What do you say we head to your place, christen the shower, then head to Mickey’s for burgers and beer? Or if you want, we can go out somewhere a bit nicer, like that Italian place the next town over?” he asks, rubbing a bit of grease off his hands. “We have plenty of time left to get this place in order. I need to order fixtures, a new toilet…” He trails off on a tangent about everything left to do.
When his mom told him she’d found him a fixer-upper, she wasn’t kidding. Not that today hasn’t been a blast. It’s been refreshing. Like every other day with him, I’m realizing what a great team we could make—which is unfortunate. He has plans for his future, ones that don’t include me, but I’ve genuinely enjoyed helping him rehab this place. Or the way I could see myself spending my life like this. By his side.
Except his place isn’t here. Neither is mine.
I shake the thought out of my head and focus on the joy of the day.
Maybe after Knox, photography isn’t the only thing I’ll pursue.
I stretch my arms wide with a yawn. “Mickey’s sounds perfect. Plus, Sunny was just complaining that I haven’t spent enough time with her this summer.”
Knox stops in his tracks. “Sunny, whose mouth is practically glued to Joe’s every time we’re around them? That Sunny?”
“Just the one,” I laugh. God, he fits in so well. Too well.