Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,84
going to make him feel like a king. The air was a lot chillier here, and I was back in my buttery soft leather coat, jeans, thick boots, and a dark cable knit sweater. I’d even pulled on a little knit cap, not only to protect my ears but also to keep my hair from getting windblown.
The car had seat warmers, and the soft kidskin leather gloves kept my hands warm. The only problem with them was I couldn’t wear my ring, so Jake had slid it onto a chain and tucked it around my neck. It nestled right between my breasts beneath the sweater.
“How much farther?”
“We’re not scheduled to be there for another hour,” Archie said, and I was impressed the wind didn’t steal his words. “I wanted to show you something before we got there, if that’s okay.”
“Anything you want.” I had no problems with delaying. I couldn’t make up my mind if I was excited or terrified or somewhere in between. I couldn’t even say why I wanted to do this. Yet, the night I explained it—or tried to—all four of them had understood and shifted our spring break plans to cut our time at the beach short.
He grinned. “Don’t tempt me when I know how sore you are.”
I groaned and tilted my head back. Who knew it was possible to have too much sex? I thought I’d strained my vagina or something. Telling Rachel on video chat had been hilarious. Her reaction still made me smile. She also suggested that I add more variety that didn’t insist on stretching me so much. It was cute, but I reminded her she had a secret boyfriend of her own, not to mention a girlfriend. And how did I know that second one? I’d caught sight of the bare leg out of the corner of her video camera as she’d scrambled out of bed.
The flushed look and over-bright eyes were another dead giveaway. Those and the hickeys on her throat. They got darker and more numerous about every five days. Fading just in time for her to see him again.
“I promise,” Rachel said, holding up her hand. “I’ll introduce you when you get back. But you have to promise to leash your boys.”
“I can’t guarantee it, they like you now. You’re going to be stuck with how overprotective they are. But if he isn’t treating you right, or she isn’t, trust me when I say I’ll be the one kicking their asses.”
“I love you too, now go away.” Rachel had winked before she’d ended the call.
But when I asked Jake later would he kick a guy’s ass if I told him it needed kicking but didn’t tell him why, he just looked at me like I was adorable. “Baby Girl, you want me to beat someone’s ass, all you gotta do is point. If you want their ass kicked, it needs to be kicked.”
Yeah, maybe that shouldn’t turn me on, but it so did.
We’d debated whether the guys should come with us, but everyone decided that it should just be Archie and me, at least for the first meeting.
“Honestly, Baby Girl, I kind of hate the thought of them,” Jake had confessed. “They knew about you, knew Maddy, and they left you there. That makes them assholes in my book.”
Coop had nodded grimly, but Ian’s reaction surprised me. “I get why you need to meet them and I want that for you. But I don’t like them, and I don’t want them anywhere near you. So the compromise is Archie goes because I know he’ll tear them apart if they try anything. Then you can make the call, Angel. This is your life. We just want you to be happy.”
Then again, if anyone—say, Archie’s asshole parents—treated them the way Maddy had treated me? Yeah, I’d be ready for blood too. Decision made, Archie and I had stayed at the hotel long enough to change into warmer clothes before heading down to the rented convertible. He followed a twisting road that bypassed a pair of great iron gates into an isolated section that looked so forlorn, with only a hint of green amidst the sparse foliage.
Winter still held a fierce grip on New England, even though a weak sun had warmed the day up to the upper fifties, low sixties. My cheeks burned a little, chilled from the drive, but as he took the long winding route through the sparse woods, the wind abated.