Wild and Free (The Wilder Brothers)

I offered her my arm and guided her around to her side of the car. I opened her door and she got in, then I closed it for her and jogged around to my side. She allowed me the touch of her hand while we drove in silence, her eyes flickering along the passing sidewalks and pedestrians of Charleston. I drove us all the way out to the water before I pulled into a restaurant all of the locals knew well.

“Diamond Buckets? How in the world did you get us into a place like this?”

“I have my secrets,” I said, grinning.

“The wait list for this place is, like, seven months.”

“Are you going to grill me about this all night? Or are you going to come and enjoy the food?”

“Can’t I do both?”

I smiled and shook my head as I got out of the car. I walked around and offered her my hand, helping her step out from the low-riding car. I would’ve put the top down for our ride, but I didn’t want the rough winds whipping her hair around so she couldn’t enjoy the pleasant ride out to the shoreline.

I laced her arm with mine and we started into the restaurant. The hostess recognized me instantly and led us out onto the balcony. It was a beautiful place that sat out over the ocean, and the salted breeze filled my nostrils with a relaxing scent. Sweet teas were automatically set in front of us along with an iced tray of oysters, and I reached for Jessica’s chair before sliding her around to my side.

“Wow. What muscles,” she said coyly.

“Here. I want you to try one of these.”

“I’ve never had an oyster before.”

“They’re good. But you don’t chew them. You swallow them whole.”

“Just open my throat and go?”

I held one to her lips as she grinned at me.

“Something tells me you’ll be a professional at this,” I said.

“I don’t know whether to be aroused or offended.”

“Always go with aroused. It’s much more fun that way.”

She parted those pink lips of hers and I inched the oyster into her mouth. She did exactly what I told her not to do once before I watched her swallow it down. She grimaced, then it faded into one of pleasant shock. I smiled at her as she reached for another one, then she ran her finger underneath it before holding it to my lips.

“It’s only fair,” she said.

“Trust me, sometimes I enjoy playing fair.”

It slipped down my throat effortlessly, and the two of us continued feeding one another until the oysters were finished. Her beautiful blonde hair accented the ease of her smile, and the way her blue eyes twinkled reminded me of the ocean water lapping against the legs of the balcony. The waitress came by and picked up our empty plates, then we promptly gave our orders.

“I’ll have the crab legs and a steamed lobster tail with a side of macaroni and cheese with honey butter biscuits,” I said.

“And I’m going to have the steamed shrimp bucket, but instead of the potatoes at the bottom, you can just leave those out and bring me some honey butter biscuits as well,” Jessica said.

“Anything else?” our waitress asked.

“Keep the sweet tea comin’,” I said, smiling.

“So, how goes work?” she asked.

“It goes. We keep running into hiccups with this mansion, and it keeps costing us more money than it’s almost worth. It’s making my brothers very upset.”

“How many do you have again?”

“Five others. Well, four. But our cousin grew up with us, so he’s basically a brother as well.”

“Does he help you guys with the mansions and stuff?”