My Cone and Only Read online

  I forced myself to turn away from her. “Mia? You need anything?”

  Mia lifted her glass of bourbon as she finished setting the table. “I’m set.”

  “Andie was just telling us about all the work you’ve been doing on her house.” Josh’s gaze stayed on the onion he was slicing, but he sounded noticeably sour.

  “Yeah, I’ve been working over there almost every day for the last couple of weeks.” As I pulled open the fridge, I shot Andie a questioning look.

  She rolled her eyes. “Josh is sulking because I didn’t immediately go running to him for help when I had a problem.”

  “I’m not sulking,” he replied in a tone that was definitely sulky. “I’m just wondering why you didn’t even tell me about it.” I could tell he was hurt, and I couldn’t say I blamed him.

  “You didn’t tell him about the HOA letter?” I said as I set Andie’s Shiner Bock next to her. I’d just assumed she had, but that was what I got for assuming.

  “I didn’t tell anyone about it.” She shrugged as she scraped sliced cabbage into a big ceramic bowl. “I didn’t even tell Birdie until today when she called.”

  “You told Wyatt.” Josh shot me a glance I couldn’t read. “I guess that explains why I haven’t heard from you lately.”

  Well, shit. I didn’t like where this was going. Josh sounded like he might be getting suspicious already, and once he and Andie started sniping at each other, there was no telling what she might let slip in order to get a rise out of him.

  “Did she tell you it’s my dad that’s behind the whole thing?” I said, hoping to distract them.

  “No.” Josh quit sulking and stared at me in surprise. “Are you serious?”

  Birdie looked over from the stove with a frown. “Is that true?”

  She’d always tried to keep her feelings to herself when it came to the subject of my dad, but I’d inferred a long time ago that she wasn’t his biggest fan.

  I dropped my gaze and nodded at my beer. “That’s why Andie called me. Because the whole thing was my dad’s doing.”

  “Why would he do something like that?” Mia asked.

  She’d only moved here last year, so she wasn’t familiar with my dad or what he was like. I assumed she’d probably been told some stuff by Josh or Andie by now, but she hadn’t seen George King in action firsthand.

  I shrugged and took a swig of beer. “He’s involved in some new real estate venture that’s buying up properties on the cheap in order to build condos.”

  “They’ve bought a bunch of properties in my neighborhood,” Andie said. “It’s not like he was targeting me specifically.”

  I couldn’t believe she was trying to defend my dad after what he’d done to her, and I shot her a frown. “No, he’s just indiscriminately bullying people into giving up their houses for less than market value so he can profit off their misfortune.”

  “Lucky for me, I had Wyatt on my side.” Andie gave my arm a squeeze. “He’s taking care of everything.”

  “That is lucky.” Birdie flashed me a grateful look as she turned back to the stove.

  “Are you sure it’s all handled?” Josh glanced up from his cutting board and his eyes narrowed when he saw Andie’s hand on me.

  I shifted away from her. “Yeah, I’ve got it covered. Don’t worry.” I walked to the other side of the kitchen and pretended an interest in Birdie’s chicken-frying to put more distance between me and Andie.

  “Do you need help with any of the work on the house?” Josh asked.

  “I’m good with a hammer,” Mia volunteered. “I’m happy to come hammer things if that would help.”

  Andie threw her a smile. “I appreciate the offer, but Wyatt’s got it under control. You should see the project plan he made for me.”

  I struggled to hide my flush of pride at Andie’s compliment. “We’re actually pretty close to done. I promised the HOA guy that all the requested maintenance would be completed by the end of the month, and we’re on track to make that with a couple of days to spare.”

  “Wyatt talked him into waiving all the fines if we got the work done in thirty days,” Andie added, beaming at me.

  Josh’s gaze met mine with a solemn nod. “Thanks for looking out for Andie, man. Seriously.”

  “Always,” I replied earnestly, despite the guilt twisting in my gut. I might be a low-down dirty dog who was defiling his little sister behind his back, but I could at least keep my promise to protect her from everyone other than me. Looking for a distraction, I bent down to peer into the oven. “Are those rolls I smell?”

  “They are, and you can go on and get them out for me, honey.” Birdie stepped aside to let me open the oven door. “This chicken is just about ready.”

  “Hot damn,” I said. “I’m so hungry my belly thinks my throat’s been cut.”

  Andie tossed the coleslaw while I carried the rolls to the table and Birdie dished up the last of the fried chicken. Mia handed Birdie a glass of bourbon as we all sat down. Birdie took her traditional place at the head of the table with Josh next to her. Instead of sitting across from her brother like she usually did, Andie sat next to him, leaving me and Mia to sit across from them.

  I dared a glance across the table at Andie, and she gave me a quick smile that made my heart leap into my throat. Goddamn, she really had me bewitched. If Josh didn’t notice, it would be a miracle.

  As the food got passed around and the conversation turned to more mundane topics that didn’t involve me, I relaxed and tried to have a good time. While I was biting into my second piece of chicken, I felt something nudge my foot under the table. Glancing up, I saw Andie smirking at me. She ran her bare foot across my ankle and then up my shin.

  I reached for my beer, steeling my expression as her foot traveled higher, up my inner thigh and into my lap.

  “You told me you’d had a long day,” Mia said, addressing me. “What made it long?”

  Every eye at the table turned on me just as Andie’s toes settled against my dick.

  I wiped my mouth before dropping my napkin into my lap, covering up Andie’s groping foot. “I was over at Manny’s house all day painting the nursery with Tanner and Ryan.” I tried to keep the strain out of my voice as Andie’s foot twitched in my lap. “I swear it took three times as long with their help as it would have if I’d done it by myself.”

  “When’s the new baby due?” Birdie asked, smearing butter on one of her homemade dinner rolls.

  Andie’s toes nudged my dick again, and I clamped my hand down on her foot. “In a little over a month.” I shot a glare across the table.

  She smiled sweetly. “I’ll bet Isabella’s excited to be a big sister.”

  I summoned a sweet smile of my own. “Hey, did you ask Birdie about those old letters we found at the house?”

  Birdie reached for her bourbon. “What letters?”

  As soon as everyone’s attention was focused on Andie, I pushed her foot out of my lap and adjusted myself so I could cross my legs, cutting off her access.

  “Wyatt found a bundle of old letters underneath the floorboards in the front bedroom,” Andie said. “They were all addressed to Meemaw.”

  “Imagine that.” Birdie shook her head as she sipped her drink. “That was her bedroom when she was a girl. She could have hidden them there and forgotten all about them.”

  “What kind of letters?” Mia asked.

  Andie’s eyes met mine, and I remembered how I’d found her crying over them—and what that had led to next. I could only assume she was thinking of the same thing.

  “Love letters,” she said, blushing a little. “Pretty spicy ones, actually.”

  “Whoa.” Josh shuddered as he scooped coleslaw onto his fork. “I don’t think I’d want to read something like that about Meemaw.”

  Birdie smiled as she helped herself to another drumstick. “From your grandfather, I assume?”

  Andie bit her lip. “No, actually.”

  Birdie glanced up in surprise. “Real
ly?”

  “There was no name or return address on the envelopes.” Andie paused with an uneasy glance at Birdie. “But the letters were all signed with the initials ‘HB.’”

  “Were they dated?” Birdie asked, frowning.

  Andie nodded. “Meemaw would have been nineteen.”

  Josh’s head swung toward Andie. “I thought she and Pawpaw started dating when they were both sixteen?”

  “That’s what I thought too,” Andie said. “But there’s no mention of him at all. Whoever this HB person was, she seemed to be having some kind of secret affair with him the year before she and Pawpaw got married.”

  “Well, isn’t that something? Who’d have guessed?” Birdie gave an amused shake of her head as she bit into her drumstick.

  I watched Andie and Josh exchange a look.

  “You’re not upset?” Josh asked Birdie.

  She dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “Heavens, no. It’s got nothing to do with me. It’s nice to know Mom got to sow a few wild oats before she settled down.”

  “So you don’t have any idea who HB could be?” Andie asked her.

  “No earthly idea. What a fun mystery! I’d love to see the letters. Maybe we can find a clue in them.”

  “I’ll bring them with me next time I come over,” Andie promised.

  “There’s no rush. They’ve kept all this time. They can certainly keep awhile longer.” Birdie smiled. “Now, who wants another roll?”

  After we’d eaten as much as we could stuff in our faces, we all pitched in to clear the table and do the dishes for Birdie.

  “Anyone up for a game of Trivial Pursuit?” she asked as she presided over the cleanup from the comfort of her recliner.

  “Me!” Andie and Mia shouted in unison.

  “I’ll get it.” Leaving Josh and Mia to finish the last of the dishes, I headed for the spare room closet where Birdie kept the board games.

  “I’ve got to pee,” Andie announced and followed me into the back of the house.

  As soon as we were out of sight, she grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into Birdie’s spare room. Laying her palms on my chest, Andie pushed me up against the wall.

  The heat from her hands spiked straight through me, and her eyes seemed to throw off sparks in the dim light. She tilted her head up, her lips teasing against mine as she pressed her pelvis into me.

  I stifled a groan as my cock swelled in response to her.

  “I missed you today,” she murmured in a low voice that shivered in my belly.

  My hips rocked into her of their own volition. Panicked alarm bells rang in my head, warning me that we could be caught at any second, but I was too aroused to heed them. Not when Andie’s succulent lips were mere millimeters from mine.

  I couldn’t stop myself from kissing her. I might die by her brother’s hand tonight, but at least I’d die happy.

  Andie’s mouth was hot and demanding, her tongue greedy as it tangled with mine. My hands slid over her hips and around to her ass, pulling her harder against me. She clawed at me, her fingers fumbling at my waist and scrabbling at the elastic band of my boxer briefs.

  Sanity finally punctured my aroused stupor, and I grabbed both her wrists, yanking them away from my pants. “Jesus, Andie.”

  Her lips pursed in a pout, her expression a mix of longing and frustration.

  “We can’t do this,” I said with more pleading in my voice than conviction.

  “Fine.” She stepped back, and the loss of her body heat left me unbalanced.

  As I reached down to adjust myself, her gaze followed the movement hungrily. Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip.

  “Stop looking at me like that.”

  Her eyes jumped to mine, widening with pretend innocence. “Like what?”

  “Like you want to eat me alive.”

  She laughed softly and started toward me again.

  I tensed like I was about to be attacked, my hand shooting out to ward her off. “Behave.”

  Her palm pressed against mine and moved it easily aside. I was too weak to resist her, and she damn well knew it.

  Resigned to my fate, I let my eyes fall closed as she leaned toward me. Her lips grazed my cheek in a chaste, light kiss. I felt her withdraw and heard her soft step moving toward the door. By the time I opened my eyes, she was gone.

  I took a moment to calm my beating heart and will my dick to settle the fuck down. Then I took a second moment. And a third. Only then did I retrieve the Trivial Pursuit game from the closet.

  Andie was still in the bathroom when I rejoined the others. Josh and Mia were too busy making heart eyes at each other to pay me any mind as I sat on the couch and started setting up the board.

  Birdie set her drink down and leaned forward in her recliner to help. “How shall we divide up the teams?”

  “Boys against girls,” Andie suggested, coming back into the room. She grinned at me as she dropped onto the opposite couch and reached for a box of cards.

  “No way.” Josh shook his head as he wandered in from the kitchen.

  Birdie’s copy of the game was the original edition that came out in the eighties, so her age gave her an advantage over the rest of us. Mia was basically a genius who had more knowledge of science, history, and literature in her pinky toe than I’d ever learned in my whole life. And Andie was some kind of freakish trivia savant whose mind was packed with so many random facts that any team with her on it was almost guaranteed to win.

  Mia sat down next to Andie, looking smug. “Boys against girls sounds good to me.”

  Josh and I exchanged a look of resignation, knowing we were about to get crushed.

  22

  Andie

  Wyatt lay sprawled on my bed, naked and breathtakingly beautiful with his skin glowing in the soft light of my bedside lamp. Expectant but relaxed. Waiting to see what I’d do.

  Kneeling between his legs, I dragged my gaze over his body. I could tell he was aching for me to touch him, but I knew he liked the feel of my eyes on him too. He was enjoying the anticipation, and I was enjoying it along with him.

  I splayed my fingers over his thighs and watched his chest hitch. As I ran my hands over his skin, I considered what I wanted to do to him.

  I’d figured out pretty fast that he liked pain with his pleasure. Inflicting pain wasn’t my kink, but I didn’t mind indulging him a little. There was only so far I was willing to take it, no matter how much he might get off on it. Finding creative ways to scratch his itch without veering out of my own comfort zone had proven to be an entertaining challenge.

  “Stay here,” I told him as I climbed off the bed. “Close your eyes.”

  His eyebrows lifted in excited curiosity. “Why?”

  “Because I told you to. Don’t make me get the blindfold.”

  His answering grin was flirty and eager, game for anything. “What if I want you to get the blindfold?”

  When we were alone like this, just the two of us, everything was perfect. The lie we’d been telling everyone didn’t bother me, because this private part of us, the way we were together, was only ours. This Wyatt—open, trusting, as tender as he was seductive—was the secret Wyatt that was mine and mine alone. And the person I could be when I was with him—unguarded, adventurous, unafraid to seek affection and let my needy side show—that secret version of me was his. She wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for him.

  Not bothering to hide my smile, I pulled open my bedside drawer and tossed a satin sleep mask onto his chest. “You better be wearing that when I get back.” I tried to sound bossy, because I knew he liked it that way when we played, but I couldn’t help the affection that leaked through, softening my tone.

  I grabbed my robe and fastened it as I ran downstairs. It was Monday night, and we’d just gotten out of the shower after washing the dirt of the workday off each other. The leftovers we’d brought back from Birdie’s last night waited for us in the fridge, but they could wait a little longer until we’d finished upstai
rs. I grabbed a pint of ice cream out of the freezer and snagged a spoon on my way out of the kitchen.

  When I got back to the bedroom, Wyatt was blindfolded and waiting as instructed. His head lifted off the pillow at the sound of my return, and his brow furrowed as I set the ice cream lid on the nightstand.

  He stayed still as I crawled back onto the bed, even though his body was vibrating with barely suppressed excitement. I nudged his legs apart so I could position myself between them again. Then I dug out some ice cream and touched the back of the spoon to his inner thigh.

  His body jerked in surprise at the cold contact. “What is that?”

  Instead of answering, I raised the spoon and dropped some ice cream onto his stomach.

  “What the fuck?” he yelped as the freezing cold custard slid over his skin. “Is that ice cream?”

  Laughing, I bent over him and licked it off his stomach. He shuddered helplessly as my tongue swept over his skin from his hip bone to his navel.

  When I’d finished and sat back again, he reached up to yank off his blindfold. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said when he saw the container in my hand.

  I licked the spoon clean in the most pornographic way possible, laughing again as his eyes rolled back.

  He shook his head when I dug the spoon into the ice cream. “Don’t.”

  I lifted my eyebrows and let my gaze fall pointedly on his erection.

  His eyes widened. “Don’t you dare!”

  “What?” I asked innocently as I carved out another spoonful of ice cream.

  “Do not put that ice cream on my dick!”

  My eyes met his. “You know the safe word.”

  I’d insisted we have one, for my own comfort as well as his. I needed to know he could always put the brakes on, so I’d never accidentally push him too far.

  Conflicting emotions warred in his expression as I held the spoon aloft. I lowered it slowly, giving him plenty of time to make up his mind.

  He squirmed as it came closer, his hands fisting in the comforter, but he didn’t say the magic word to stop me.

  Okay, then. Guess we were doing this.