Page 109 of All Too Well
Caspian and Rose rush off, but the spot they picked to start at clearly doesn’t have any. Ainsley and I head over a few rows and start filling our cartons.
“We have to let Rose win,” Ainsley says, and I smile.
“Why?”
“Because you fuckers never let me win, and I know what it feels like to always be defeated.”
Her statement stuns me. While she says it with a laugh and probably meant it as a joke, I hate that we did that to her.
“We should’ve let you win.”
She shakes her head. “I didn’t mean it like that, I swear. I’m just fine. In fact, I’m winning all the time now.”
I take a step toward her, very aware that her brother and my daughter can easily see us, but this is important.
“We were cruel.”
She shrugs. “You were teenage boys and I was ... irritating.”
“Still.”
“Lachlan, seriously, I just meant that sometimes girls need a win and Rose will be happy. It’s a good thing. Please don’t let that offhand comment ruin today. So far it’s been damn near perfect and ...” Her hand rests on my chest, and I wonder whether she can feel it pounding at her nearness. “If we were staying together tonight, you’d so be getting a blow job.”
“Really?”
“A long one,” she says with a grin and then takes a slow bite from the strawberry in her hand.
What I wouldn’t give to be that piece of fruit right now.
“Maybe you should sneak over to my hotel tonight. I can convince Caspian to keep Rose in his room.”
She runs her tongue over her seductive, sweet lips. “Maybe I will.”
Ainsley is like a siren, and I’m going to answer her call, even if it’s the worst idea in the world.
twenty-three
Ainsley
“You know that the Admiral will go ballistic if he finds out you’re in town,” I tell my brother as he vehemently refuses to come with me back home.
“He can fuck right off.”
I laugh once. “I dare you to say that to him.”
We’re standing outside of Lachlan’s truck, Lachlan behind the wheel and Rose asleep in the back passenger area. Rose is totally exhausted. We walked, ate, went on the rides, and then took her to the animal auction and rodeo at the end.
She absolutely loved it. Now she needs to sleep, and I need to get as much as I can done for my father.
Caspian leans on the quarter panel, refusing to budge on anything. “What are you going there for anyway?”
“To help clean out some of Mom’s things.”
It was a big ask for my father to even consider this. Honestly, I was shocked when he called me the day after his surprise visit to ask me to do it. He’s lived in the fantasy of her coming back to him, even though she moved to Florida and is dating someone.
Not that I’ve ever hinted at that last part. I think he’d lose his shit.
“Wow.” Caspian’s eyes widen.
