You, Me, and Forever (Blushing)

We’d made out for so long on the canoe that I was certain my dick would need medical attention if we continued; it was hard as steel.

I’d carried her from the dock to my house.

I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing, but I wanted this.

Wanted her.

Once we were inside, I set her on the kitchen counter and stepped back. “Fuck. What are you doing to me?”

Her gaze searched mine. “Does this mean you like kissing me as much as I like kissing you?”

I moved forward, taking her hand in mine and placing it over my throbbing erection. “Yeah. I definitely like kissing you. And that’s saying a lot, because I’ve never been big on kissing. I usually get right down to business.”

It was the truth.

But something was different with this girl.

Even from our first night, I’d been cautious with her.

Knowing immediately just how special she was.

“Maybe you like the fact that we’re friends,” she said as I moved to stand between her legs. “Friends who occasionally make out.”

I nodded. I was fairly certain that wasn’t the case. But I wouldn’t say that, because I didn’t want to scare her off by telling her how attracted to her I was.

“Sure. I think it should be our new friendship rule: ‘We make out whenever we want to.’”

“I can get on board with that,” she whispered as her fingers moved along the scruff of my jaw. “You’re only here for a few more weeks, right?”

She was so focused on the timeline. I wasn’t wired that way. But that was probably because I wasn’t a guy who looked for long-term relationships. So, how long I was staying had never been a factor. I traveled a lot. It wasn’t an issue for me.

“Correct.” I nipped at her bottom lip.

“I should probably get going—we’ve got a flight to catch in the morning.” Her gaze searched mine, and I saw the conflict there.

She wanted this.

But she was scared.

And all it did was make me want to comfort her.

“Don’t go.” I buried my face in her neck before pulling back. “No sex, I promise. Just stay with me. And I’ll take you home in the morning to pack a bag. It’ll be practice for our trip.”

She smiled as she thought it over. “Friends have sleepovers. And I did sleep really well the one night I spent here.”

“Because I gave you multiple orgasms, so you were relaxed.”

“Good point. But we weren’t friends then,” she said. “You thought I was a diamond dealer from Chicago. We know more now.”

I scooped her up, and her legs wrapped around my waist. “We definitely know more now.”

I carried her down the hall to my room. She asked to borrow a tee and walked to the bathroom. When she came back, her hair was falling around her shoulders, and her small frame was drowning beneath my white cotton shirt. I didn’t miss the way her hard peaks poked through the fabric, and I tried not to stare.

I’d been with women who wore ridiculously sexy lingerie, yet Montana Kingsley wearing my oversize shirt was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

She jogged over to the bed, and I chuckled as I made my way to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and took off my clothes, stripping down to my black boxer briefs. I gripped the counter of the vanity and stared in the mirror.

What the fuck are you doing?

I flipped off the lights, made my way to the room, and slid into the bed beside her. Her body heat was impossible to miss, and I tugged her closer.

“You’re a little hot tamale,” I teased.

“Well, this bed is pretty cozy,” she whispered. “Thank you for having my back tonight, Myles.”

“I’ve got you.” I wrapped my arms around her as her cheek settled against my chest.

“I know you do. And it means a lot to me.”

Those words hit me hard. I wasn’t used to my actions meaning anything to the people in my life. Sure, I loved my family, particularly my mother and my brother. I worked hard and was proud of the business I’d continued to build.

But this girl, she was big on the feelings. And hurting her wasn’t an option.

So I kissed the top of her head and hugged her tighter.

And I let sleep take us both.

“It’s such a bougie way to travel,” Montana said early the next morning. “Wow. No worrying about your luggage being lost. No worrying about security finding a water bottle in your carry-on and getting tasered and dragged to airport prison.” She held up her phone and took a selfie of us on the plane, just before we took off. “Vi and Blakely are going to die that I’m on this plane right now.”

I chuckled as Whitney, our flight attendant, came by to let us know she’d be bringing breakfast as soon as we were up in the air.

“Do you get taken to airport prison often?” I raised a brow as Walker, our private pilot, came over the speaker and told us to prepare for takeoff. Montana turned her phone off and tucked it in her purse.

“Well, no. But you know, they’re always shouting in that line. Reminding you that if you have a water bottle, or you don’t pull out your laptop—there will be serious consequences.”

I laughed. “Whitney won’t be giving you any consequences. We’ve got a seven-hour flight, and you can relax.”

“Did you always have money? Growing up I mean?”

I nodded. “Yep. Both of my parents came from very affluent families, and financially I wanted for nothing. But keep in mind, that doesn’t mean that life is perfect.”

“Well, I get that. But I imagine it’s easier to deal with the hardships of life when you’re not wondering where your next meal is coming from.” Her voice was teasing, but I also didn’t miss the way her gaze locked with mine.

“Did you worry about your next meal when you were growing up?” I didn’t hide the concern from my voice. Thinking of a young Montana stressing over money at a young age didn’t sit well with me.

“Oh, no. I feel very fortunate for the life I’ve had. But my father and I lived paycheck to paycheck most of my childhood; however, with him being a chef, he could make fabulous meals on a shoestring budget. We didn’t go on fancy vacations or anything, but we always had fun. We’d play cards and board games and go out on the water in the kayak. We’d paint and read and just hang out together, you know? My childhood was a magical one.”

Wow. Not many people can say that. Me included.

“That’s pretty cool. I don’t think my family has ever played a board game. We’ve played tennis and golf, and we get ridiculously competitive. My mom, Samuel, and I would watch movies together occasionally. But we had a large staff, and my brother and I spent a lot of time together.”

“You and Samuel are close?”

“Very. My brother is the best. We’ve always been close. But he’s been working hard since we were young, chasing this approval from my father. It’s an exhausting task, but he’s finally made it.”

“He’s a surgeon?”

“He is. And a brilliant one. Though I question if he’s actually happy with the choices he’s made. He and I discuss other options for him often.” I paused when Whitney set our coffees down in front of us, along with a basket of muffins and a fruit platter.

“‘Other options’?”

“Yes. He’s working crazy hours, and after being so driven for so long to get here, I think he’s questioning if it was worth it. If this is the life he actually wants. I’d just like him to know that he has options. I’m proud of him regardless of what he chooses.”

“You’re a good brother, Myles. I’m sure he’s very proud of you.”

“I actually think he is. He encouraged me to drop out of medical school when I’d shared how miserable I was. My brother is the reason I can’t fully give up on my family. He desperately wants us to be united.” It was the truth. I was more than ready to dip out from the madness many times, but Samuel would join our dad in pushing hard for these constant reunions of sorts. Holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, funerals.

“He wants your family to stay close,” she said, tearing off a piece of the muffin and popping it in her mouth. “It seems doable, right?”

I chuckled at the honesty of the question.

“My father is a narcissist. He’s judgmental, which is annoying enough, but then his actions are never held up to a mirror. And that is a hard pill for me to swallow.”

“I get that. It’s sort of like people who live in glass houses and continue to throw stones.” She shrugged, and I had the sudden urge to kiss her. I’d slept with her in my arms for a second time, and I’d liked it. And here we were on this small plane, and I was taking her home with me.

We weren’t dating.noveldrama

We’d never had sex.

I wasn’t even sure what the fuck this was.

Yet, I want her here.

“Yes. And everyone allows him to get away with it. Because he’s brilliant and rich and people fear him a little bit.”

“Do you fear him?”

“I think I did as a kid. Feared what would happen if I made my own decisions. But it’s deeper than that.”

“How so?” she asked, completely invested in the conversation. I ran my hand over the back of my neck. I didn’t like sharing this much.

“I don’t know. And this is a very boring conversation. Let’s talk about that asshole ex of yours.”

Her gaze narrowed. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Jump out of the conversation the minute it goes deep. Tell me something that he did to stop you from making your own decisions. We’re friends—you can trust me.” Her words were so earnest they caught me off guard.

“Friends who make out.” I chuckled. “Listen, no one wants to hear about the rich dude’s baggage. I’ve had a good life. I’m not going to sit here and complain.”

“Myles, just because you have money doesn’t mean that your father can’t be an asshole. Now tell me something, because I shared my horror story about my mother with you.”

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my coffee. “All right. When I was thirteen years old, I came home early from school because I was sick. My mom was away on a vacation with her sister, and Daniel, our driver back then, picked me up. I got home and went to my room to lie down, but I found my father there instead. He was in my bedroom with our housekeeper, Wendy. The man missed sporting events and graduations because he was so fucking important in the medical world, but here he was on a random Tuesday, fucking the housekeeper in my bed.”

“You’re serious?” Her mouth gaped open, and I shrugged.

“I told you we shouldn’t talk about it.”

“Just because it’s shocking doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about it. I told you that my mother told my father he could put me up for adoption when I was four years old.” She sighed. “But yes, him having an affair and you witnessing it had to be traumatic. Was he horrified that you’d caught him?”

“That’s a hard no, HB.” I cleared my throat at the memory. “It was the first of many, actually. I’m fairly certain Wendy’s son, Caleb, is my half brother. She lives in the guesthouse on our property, and he was raised there. Like this is a perfectly normal thing to do. Keep your mistress living on the property and working at your home. This is the kind of shit I’m talking about.”

“What did they do when you caught them?” she asked, completely innocent to the twisted narcissist that is my father.

“Um, they continued doing it in that moment. He shouted at me to get out of the room. He then came out after and told me if I mentioned it to my mother, I would be very sorry.”

“What? What does that even mean?”

“Over the years, I learned that he was referencing a very hefty inheritance, which had very little to do with him, since it came from grandparents on both sides. But he was protecting himself, because if my mother were to have left him, it would have been a costly divorce. So he made sure I knew that somehow I’d suffer if I told. He also said I’d be responsible for destroying our family, which was clearly already destroyed, though I didn’t understand all that at the time.”

“You were just a kid. So what did you do?” she asked, moving closer and reaching for my hand.

“I caught them a few more times, because apparently once I was aware, it was impossible to miss. And he continued to threaten me. The weight of lying to my mother was a heavy one, and for years I struggled with what to do.” I cleared my throat, unsure why I was even telling her all of this. “And I told her on my sixteenth birthday. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. It was a huge relief once I actually said the words. Once I stopped carrying his secret.”

“What happened?” she whispered.

“She wasn’t surprised. She knew about it. She said that no marriage was perfect, and she cried because she knew the toll that keeping that secret must have had on me. My mother is an amazing woman, and I just don’t know why she’d settle for it, you know?”

The next thing I knew, she was unbuckling her seat belt and pushing up the armrest between us before climbing onto my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck.

“I’m sorry, Myles. That was a shitty thing to go through.” She pulled back. “And living in a mansion and having private planes and all the things that money can buy doesn’t change that.”

There was a goddamn tear coming down her cheek.

She was taking on my pain.

Pain that I didn’t even feel anymore. Maybe I’d been sad when I was a kid, but now all that sadness had turned into anger.

As an adult who’d gone through a few good years of therapy, the one thing that had surprised me was my pursuit of going to medical school. It hadn’t been something I’d dreamed of or even been drawn to. But my disdain for my father was complicated. And for a long time, I still craved his approval, which was why I had taken that path originally. But the day I walked away from medicine was a turning point for me and my father. I no longer cared what he thought of me, nor did I seek his approval. In fact, I welcomed his disappointment most of the time. And he couldn’t stand that. So in turn, he became meaner. Angrier. More hostile every time we were together. And I felt nothing for him at this point in my life.

I used the pad of my thumb to swipe away her tear and shook my head. “Don’t apologize for something you didn’t do.”

“I’m glad I’m coming with you. If there’s anything that I can do to make things better, you just say the word.”

“Is making the mile-high club an option?” I asked. She pinched me on the shoulder before sliding back onto her seat.

“I’m serious, Myles.”

“I am too.” I winked and her cheeks pinked. “We’re already friends who make out. Why not up the stakes? We can be friends who have sex in airplane bathrooms?”

Truth be told, I’d be willing to spend a whole week with my father if it meant I could spend twenty minutes in the airplane bathroom with Montana Kingsley.