We tell my family goodbye, and I can’t help but smile as Riggs and Maddox shake hands with each of my brothers, including Chance. They’re still a bit distant, the drama not forgotten or fully forgiven, but they’re getting better. At least Riggs didn’t crush his knuckles hard enough to make them pop this time.
The ‘special handshake’ with Kyle is getting ridiculous, though. It’s some weird bro-combo of a shake, a twist of their hands, a knuckle bump, a fist bump on top then bottom, and three high-fives. I swear they add another move every few weeks. I again compliment Luna and Samantha on their glows, though Luna claims hers is mostly a result of the cheese tray they commandeered from a passing waiter during cocktail hour. Dani, Riley, and Grace all seem as ready to go as we are, exhausted at the late hour and vowing to sleep in tomorrow. Dani is an early riser and her version of late willprobably be all of six a.m. Grace? She’ll sleep past noon for sure. And Riley? She’ll probably stay awake with Cameron when they get home, celebrating their recent vows again because they’ve been accepting congratulations all evening.
But my favorite moment of the night happens as we’re leaving, when I spot Janey and Cole hiding in a quiet, dimly lit corner. He’s softly swaying with Emmett in his arms, and at first, I think he’s dancing the baby to sleep before their drive home, but Emmett always falls asleep in the car anyway. That’s when I realize Cole is dancing with his wife, who has her cheek pressed to Emmett’s back.
The moment of tenderness from the least tender of all my brothers is a surprise, and as I glance from them to the rest of my family, who are gathering purses, tuxedo jackets, and auction prizes with smiles on their faces, I’m struck by a sense of peace.
Despite the picture-perfect image our family has always projected, we’ve had some seriously rough patches. But right now? We’re all in a good place, and I couldn’t be more relieved. We made it. And so did I.
On the long drive home, we laugh over the craziest of the bidding wars and wonder what the funds will ultimately be used for. The foundation has several causes they support routinely, but Mom always manages to develop a soft spot for something new each year and her help comes whether through the foundation or from her and Dad’s private bank account.
As we walk into the house, I head straight to the back door while Maddox adjusts the yard’s dimly glowing lights and the hot tub’s jets. If I pause along the way, Iwill be detoured to a bedroom, and I really would like to soak. At least for a few minutes.
Outside, I pause to take my shoes off, but Riggs immediately kneels down to help undo the buckles on the strappy heels and Maddox comes up behind me. “Allow me,” he says, his voice low and full of emotion. “You deserve it.”
He slides the zipper at my back down slowly, the humid night air caressing my skin as his fingers dance along my spine. I step out of my heels and then out of the dress, standing in only lacy panties.
“What about you two?” I tease, pulling on both of their bowties. Riggs unties his immediately, long done with the thing, but Maddox shakes his head, telling me no. “Excuse me?”
Maddox’s lips quirk in amusement. “You said you wanted a nice, long soak. Get in. We’ll wait for you.”
I freeze, not expecting that and not having a response prepared. But in the end, I decide to play along with Maddox’s game. Riggs looks like he’s still considering climbing in with me, but he eventually, albeit reluctantly, follows Maddox’s plan too.
I wait for them to sit on lounge chairs and then slowly… teasingly… tauntingly step into the water, moaning at the delicious feeling of the bubbles licking at my bare skin. Once I’m submerged, I take a big inhale, letting my nipples lift above the surface for a tempting moment.
“Fuck me.” Riggs’s growl is accompanied by a rough stroke of his dick through his slacks.
I lick my lips, hiding my grin. Under the water, I slip my panties off and then hold them up, water pouring from the thin fabric. “Oops, forgot to take these off.” Ithrow them at Maddox and they slap wetly across his face.
The answering heat on his face isn’t anger and after he swipes at the water droplets on his chin, he slides the finger into his mouth, sucking at it like he’s drinking up every bit of my essence that he can get. His eyes stay locked on me the entire time.
“How’s the hot tub, Princess? Helping you relax?” he taunts.
Asshole knows I’m not relaxed. The water on my skin, their eyes on my body, the bulges in their slacks? I’m more tense now than I was when we got home.
“Riggs?” I say, not because I need his attention when it’s already locked on me, but because I’m intentionally excluding Maddox. For the moment.
Maddox’s brow lifts, telling me he knows what I’m doing, and I make a show of swinging my eyes dismissively from him to Riggs. He looks ready to rip me out of the water and set me on his cock.
Perfect.
“Could I use your shirt?” He knows I’m playing too, but needs no explanation to go along with my new game so he’s holding his shirt out in seconds. I slowly climb back out of the hot tub and water streams down my naked body as I walk toward Riggs. Standing right in front of him, so close I can smell his cologne, I look up at him with innocent eyes.
“You’re playing with fire,” he warns. Is he the fire? Is Maddox? Am I?
“It’s a good thing I’m wet then, huh?” I turn, giving him my back and slipping my arms into his shirt. It sticks to my skin, going translucent in places and doing a poor job of hiding anything. “Thanks. I didn’t want toget chilled,” I explain as I lie down in the lounger he vacated. “You don’t mind sharing, do you?”
“You know I don’t.”
I laugh, not meaning sharingme. I meant the lounger. But he has a point.
I open my legs, putting a foot on the ground on either side of the chair to make space for him. But he doesn’t sit. No, he lays with me, his face above my pussy, his arms resting over my thighs, and his legs stretched out behind him. His intention is clear.
Riggs licks a torturously slow line up one inner thigh then the other, his thumbs teasing along the creases where they join my body, before he places a kiss right onto my mound. I expect his next move to be lower, around my clit, but instead his eyes lift to mine. They’re filled with dark plans I can’t wait to experience. He glances at Maddox, who is sitting beside us, hungry to be included. Riggs’s voice is gravel when he tells us both, “Watch me work.”
Oh, fuck. I thought I had taken control from Maddox and was now directing tonight’s games. But it’s Riggs. He’s controlling us both.
He wore his hair back tonight and its gathered at the nape of his neck, so I can see everything as he devours me—his large hands planted on my inner thighs to hold me wide open, his tongue snaking out to thrash my clit, and his eyes still on mine, making sure I obey him. There’s no gradual build-up now. It’s too late for that, for all of us.
