Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“If you need help, you come to me. I’ve always got your back.”
I swallow hard. Of course. Because he’s my best friend.
“Thanks, Ry. Now, what do you need me to do today?”
He doesn’t answer. If anything, he leans closer, and he looks like he’s going to kiss me, and my heart stutters to a stop. His chocolate eyes fall to my lips, and his hand slides back to my hair, but then there are footsteps coming closer, and Ryker drops his hand just as Gideon walks in the room, looking like he’s about to spontaneously combust.
“You okay, handsome?” I ask him, trying to calm my system down.
“I’m going to fucking throttle her ass,” he mutters, shaking his head, his face set in furious lines. Holy shit, Gideon is intense when he’s pissed. Or is he worried? “She’s a goddamn menace, and she’s going to get herself and someone else killed.”
He’s pacing, and Ry and I share a look.
“Gid, things are pretty well under control here. If you need to go—”
“In a couple of days.” Gideon pulls his hands down his face, looking rattled. “I want to go on that ride with you and Dusty around the ranch to make plans, and I want to make sure most of the work in the house is done. This is what I’m here for, and I won’t bail on you.”
These two have come a long way from that day when they came here as fifteen-year-old enemies, ready to tear each other apart.
They might not be related by blood, but they’re brothers in every way that counts.
“It’s your call,” Ryker says. “I’m not kicking you out.”
“Good.”
“What are we doing today?” I ask them both, and they grin at me, but it’s more of a sinister grin than a happy one. “What? I don’t like those looks. I’m not doing anything gross.”
“We’re peeling the wallpaper off the walls here in the kitchen,” Ry says.
“Ugh, that sucks.” I eye the faded walls. The paper has apples and ducks on it. I have no idea why Aunt Deb chose it. It’s . . . not pretty. And I think it’s from the 1980s. “Why not just paint over it?”
“Because that’s not the right way to do it,” Ry replies, and his lips tip up in his cocky grin as he reaches out to tap the end of my nose.
“And you can’t throw some of your many millions to the crew bustling around to get it off?” I prop my hands on my hips, already thinking about how sore my shoulders are going to be later.
“They’re busy getting the rest of the house finished,” Ryker says. “If we get this off the walls today, they can paint in here tomorrow, and then the crew is done.”
I heave out another sigh. “Fine. Let’s do it.”
Chapter Four
Ryker
I have a thing for my best friend.
Jesus Christ, she’s all I think about these days. The way she filled out those jeans the other day had my cock straining against my zipper. I wanted to strip her bare in that bedroom and push into her from behind and fuck her until she forgot her name.
This is Willow, and I’m suddenly so attracted to her, I can’t see straight.
And her hair is fucking silk, and I want to wrap it around my fingers while she’s on her knees—
Fucking hell.
When I heard Aiden tell her to fuck off, it ignited something primal in my chest. He’s just a kid, but I wanted to teach him a lesson for speaking to her that way. Instead, I made sure he went to the barn to cool off.
This is Willow. I keep saying that to myself, but it doesn’t seem to matter.
I can’t get enough of her.
Gideon had to go back to my office for another call with someone in DC, and I glance over to where Wills is on the top of a step stool, reaching high above her head. The motion makes her arch her back, pushes her tits out, and puts that perfect ass on display. The woman’s body was made for the leggings she’s wearing today.
I’m going to hell for lusting after my best friend.
“Hey. You don’t need to get the stuff up high. I’ll do it.”
“It’s fine,” she replies and catches her tongue in her teeth, stretching up to peel the paper, and the stool tips. Before she can let out a peep, I’m next to her, my arm wrapped around her middle, tugging her to me. “I wasn’t going to fall.”
“There’s a reason I call you Trouble. Because you’re always getting into it. I told you to work down lower.”
“You’re not the boss of me, Captain.”
My dick twitches at her calling me that.
Let’s be honest, my dick twitches whenever she’s nearby these days, full stop.
I press my lips to her ear, still holding her against me, and I can’t stop the grin that spreads when I feel her gasp. “You’re in my house, Wills. That makes me the boss of you.”