Page 84 of When We Were Reckless
I watched him drive away, the dust kicking up from his tires as he followed the dirt lane that led out to the road before I returned my attention to Noah.
“I’m gonna make a video on Daddy Jude’s phone.”
I ruffled his dirty blond hair. It touched the collar of his T-shirt and was thick and wavy. Someday my nephew was going to be a heartbreaker. “Thanks, buddy. I can use that to figure out where I need to improve.”
He nodded. “Yeah. Your jumps were okay last time, but maybe you’ll do better today.”
I laughed. “I’ll try my best. Okay isn’t good enough, is it?”
“Nope. You need to be number one,” he said with all the confidence of a seven-year-old who’d already been indoctrinated into the McCallister way of life. There was no such thing as settling for second best. We had to be number fucking one.
“But you’ll get better.”
“Thanks, Noah,” I deadpanned. “I appreciate your confidence in me.”
He held out his hands. “That’s what I’m here for.”
Jude and I laughed. The kid was so fucking cute. A little comedian and a charmer.
Jude crossed his arms over his chest. “Show us what you got, Evel Knievel.”
I snorted at his old nickname for me. “Is this gonna be a daily thing? A show before dinner?”
He set up the beach chairs my mom had left leaning against a tree, then helped himself to a bottle of water from the cooler before he took a seat, lounging in the shade under the trees like he had all the time in the world. Which he didn’t. Jude was the CEO and co-founder of a disaster relief non-profit organization, so he worked a shitload of hours and had three kids and a wife to look after.
“Someone needs to watch your crazy ass.”
Someone was always there, watching my crazy ass. Pretty sure my mom had set up a rota like she used to do with chores when we were kids. At some point or other, every single member of my family had shown up to watch me ride.
Even Ridge had stopped by to talk about motorcycles. He was saving up for a Harley. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but Brody had already cautioned me to go along with it and not try to talk Ridge into a racing bike.
“That’s the last fucking thing he needs,” Brody had grumbled. “He’s gonna finish college in one piece if it’s the last thing I fucking do.”
As if Brody had the power to protect Ridge from every danger. As if a Harley was a ‘safe’ choice. But who was I to talk about playing it safe?
I shook off my fucked-up feelings about Alessia, and I gave my family what they came for. A show.
But even after I finished riding for the day, I was still keyed up. I needed to shove Alessia so far out of my head that she couldn’t mess with it anymore.
My sunshine girl could help me do that.
Three nights ago, I took her virginity. She’d been tight as a fist, and it had been exactly how I’d imagined. She’d milked an orgasm out of me that had seemed to go on and on, temporarily blinding me. It had beenthatgood.
Yesterday, we did it again. It had been just as good as the first time. Better, even, because I hadn’t been hurting her.
I couldn’t remember the last time anything had felt that fucking good. I wanted toliveinside her.
Not even my guilt over keeping this a secret from Mason was enough to stop me from wanting her.
But I guess I’d always liked playing with fire.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Quinn
“Change your shirt.”Mason tossed a T-shirt to Ridge, who caught it in one hand. But instead of going to the bathroom to change, he pulled off his ripped T-shirt right in front of everyone.
I couldn’t help but stare. Wow. Ridge’s muscles had muscles.
