Page 175 of Wildest Dreams

Which, seeing as no-one mentioned it, they definitely fucking didn’t.

I pinch the bridge of my nose.

God save us both.

Connell squints, laughing and looking a little confused.

I mentally face-palm the shit out of myself while trying to simultaneously transmit to Aisling:baby, I love you, but you need to shut the fuck up, right now.

“Heard what?” Connell chuckles, but then he blinks a couple of times and his smile drops.

His wide eyes flash to mine, jaw steeled as his irises flicker.

“Heardwhat?” he repeats darkly, biceps flexing as he cracks his knuckles.

He looks about five seconds away from breaking my jaw, so that’s fucking awesome.

Because Connell may be cool with me dating his sister but he won’t be so cool with me banging her when he’s barely twenty feet away from us.

I wrap both of my palms over Ash’s sun-kissed shoulders, making Connell’s glower flare, and I breathe out the most convincing over-confident laugh that I can muster, trying to diffuse her slip-up.

“She’s kidding,” I tell him, casual as fuck, even though this is probably the most tense moment that I’ve had all goddamn year. My dimples are fucking twitching as I try to keep my easygoing smile in place.

Ash turns around to face me, eyes still wide, because she hasn’t yet realised that her brother had not, in fact, heard us fucking in the forest.

“Tanner,” she breathes out, panicking like crazy. “If they know,” she whispers, “then they must have heard–”

I pull my dimples tighter and grip the side of her neck. Hard.

“She’s kidding,” I reiterate, eyes staring pointedly into hers. I see the exact moment that she comes to her senses, her lips popping open as she breathes out a tinyohhhh.

If her brother wasn’t standing right behind her I would probably be chuckling right now, but seeing as he isright fucking thereI just press a small kiss to Ash’s cheek, a simple display ofyeah, this is how PG we’ve been keeping things, man.

I doubt that Connell buys it but, seeing as the alternative is to realise that I’ve been making love to his sister while we’ve all been staying at Larch Peak, Connell breathes out a deep sigh, rolling his shoulders back as he gives Aisling a nod.

His eyes slide to mine, not exactly pleased, but he gives me a nod too before clasping a hand over my shoulder.

I try not to wince as I meet his eyes, feeling a little guilty but hoping that he won’t hold it against me.

“We good?” I ask him, my voice deep and gravelly.

He nods. Thank fuck. “We’re good,” he says in agreement. Then he gives me a brief half smile, before squishing one of Aisling’s cheeks to make her giggle.

Then he rejoins the game and I breathe out a shaky exhale.

That wasn’t so bad.

Could’ve gone worse.

When he’s just out of earshot Winter, Caden’s pink-haired girlfriend, sidles up beside Aisling.

She whispers in her soft Kentucky twang, “Yikes, girl. That was close.”

A burst of laughter ripples out of both of them and then Aisling is burying her face in her hands, giggling her little tush off.

She peeks at me over her shoulder with her big bright eyes and I shake my head at her, amusement tugging at my mouth.

“Not funny,” I tell her, even though now I’m smiling too. And the second that she wraps her arms around my neck, in front of fucking everyone, I’m full-on grinning because she’s just made me the happiest guy in the world.

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