Lots of Naughty & A Little Nice - Leigh Lennon Page 0,31

with. He’d never share he wants my naked body next to him in front of others. It’s not him.

“Well, it looks like you’re busy, so we’ll get out of your hair.” Ave’s tone dips as if she’s breathless at the idea. “Let’s go, Whit.”

“Wait, Ave,” I command, and she stops. Whitney takes this as her chance to get away.

She watches her sister jet out of the door. “Did you do that to give Whit a chance to escape my wrath?”

Her humor slips through, and I see a little bit of a smile on her tired and swollen face.

“It was one reason, yes. I gotta give your sister some props.” I let out a nervous laugh, and it cracks through the air. “But I can’t stand to see you like this.” My body yearns to be closer to her, to pull her in my arms or over my shoulder and take her upstairs to share a shower with Ro and me.

“If it were any other time in my life, I would have woken up between you two,” she confesses.

Her admission does it, and I stalk to her, stopping just inches shy of where she’s standing.

“But you didn’t want us with you today?”

“Hell, Knox.” A tear floats down her perfect face. “I want you with me. And I know Whitney sees it, too. But I can’t risk it.”

And I instantly feel like the selfish one. “I know, and I respect you, but don’t push us away, please. Please don’t.”

She purses her lips together, arching both eyebrows. “It’s not like I stand a chance when it comes to you two, especially as you’re joining forces with my bossy AF sister.”

“Hey, little toy maker, she came to us. We had nothing to do with any of this.” We’ve just arrived back to even ground together, and I love this side of Ave. “Oh, by the way, your sister saw me in my boxers.”

She cocks her head to the side. “Of course she did.” Letting out a small chuckle, she turns toward the door when my hand reaches for hers. I spin her around, bringing her back to me. I drop a kiss on the top of her head as Ro just had.

“I’ll see you later, Ave.”

Her fingers reach for the spot my lips just touched, and she’s dazed. “Yeah, see you later, Robin Hood.”

And with that, she turns on her heel and is out of my space, but with the small remainder of her perfume invading the air, part of her is still present in our house.

12

Avery

My sister’s car is gone by the time I cross the guys’ front yard and am ready to unleash holy hell on her. My phone sits on the antique table in the entryway of my foyer, and it unsurprisingly has a text from my sister. I find it’s appropriate I changed her contact name.

Pain in my ass: Be mad at me. I’m okay with that. But you’ve always needed a push in the right direction.

She’s not wrong. My mom threw me in the deep end when I’d learned to swim because I didn’t trust myself to do it on my own, but my mother knew. However, I’m not going to admit to my little sister that she’s right.

My morning has gone to shit, and I don’t know how I’ll forget what both men do to my body. I want to forget, I need to forget—for the sake of my sister, whose final custody hearing is right before Christmas.

My sketching pad sits on the same antique piece, and in my frustration, I grab it, running upstairs to my home office and my sketching table. I still haven’t worked on the pieces my boss had returned to me, not liking the trendiness of the clothes. I start browsing through my previous line, and an idea hits.

In my thoughts, I want to inspire kids. My designs have always been in clothes, but my art skills have been unused. I’ve never thought to start a whole new line, beginning with the doll. I remember what Ro said a couple of weeks ago, about how the three of us love our jobs, and they are our passion. And it’s then I think of what I want for Whitney in life. I want her living her dreams as the three of us are.

The ideas are endless as I research different occupations. The designs come to me easily, the colors flying off the pages to match a person’s love for their job. I’m focused, so