“I think that’s a good plan,” Ember nods. “For your sake, not theirs. I don’t want to see you get hurt when you’ve suffered long enough. We all deserve the freedom that’s right at our fingertips.”
“Have to agree.” Fallon nods. “So, I’m guessing we learned nothing about Vic after all that?”
I laugh. “Nope, but I’m going to find out. Not because I want any involvement, but because I feel bad that he just died in a way that really could have been avoided, and I feel like there is a reason we were up there with him that day.”
“Do you think he double crossed them or something?” Ember asks, her eyes wide. “It’s a thing, after doing that time in prison, you learn a lot about people and why they do the things they do.”
“They’re running a retreat,” I say, scrunching up my lip, “why would they be messing with something like that?”
“Who knows what went on, there could be a good reason for it and because of the retreat they don’t want it coming back to them. They’ve had quite a lot of publicity since they opened, I’m certain they probably didn’t want anything bad coming to them,” Fallon goes on.
She makes a valid point.
“I guess we’ll have to become detectives.” I grin, rubbing my hands together.
Fallon nods. “I could use some entertainment.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ember frowns. “We don’t want to do anything that could end up with us back in prison.”
“We won’t,” I assure her. “We’ll just find out what we can, we won’t tell them about it.”
At least, we won’t tell them unless it’s bad enough that we have to.
We’ll deal with that when the time comes.
A knock on the door has us pausing our conversation. I get to my feet and walk over, opening it to see Lake. His eyes run down my body, over my small shorts and my tiny tank with nothing beneath it. “What’re you doin’ answerin’ the door looking like that?”
I bite my lip, hating that his expression turns me on so damned much.
I have to speak to him. I have to stop the sex. We have to go back to him just supervising me and all that other crap. I have to. But man, it’s hard when he’s looking at me the way he is right now.
“What can I do for you, River?”
His eyes flash. “Wanted to see you.”
God dammit.
“Can we ... Actually, can we talk?”
He looks me over once more, then nods.
I glance back at the girls, and they both give me a wide-eyed expression. I step out and close the door, walking over to the railing. Seconds later, Lake is behind me, his hard body pressing into me, his hands coming around and sliding beneath my shirt, sliding over my already hardening nipple. God dammit. I want him. I want him so bad.
I turn, putting a hand to his chest and carefully pushing him back.
“Look,” I begin. “Don’t get me wrong, this has been so much fun, but I can’t be getting involved with someone right now.”
“We’re fucking,” he murmurs, “not getting married.”
His hands go to my hips and pull me forward. I keep my hand on his chest. “You’re making this really hard.”
“We’re having fun, aren’t we?”
“We are, but I don’t want things to get messy. As soon as this retreat is over, I’m going to be out of here like a bat out of hell, and I don’t want to feel any guilt.”
“You won’t.”
He presses his lips to my neck and my skin prickles.
“There is also ... before I got here, Waylen and I, we ... and he now wants what you want and it’s complicated. I don’t want things to get complicated.”
Sometimes the truth will set you free.
In this case, it has Lake pulling back and looking down at me. “You fucked Waylen?”
“It was once, before we got here. I’m not ... It’s nothing but he made it clear tonight he wants to do exactly what we’re doing, and I can’t be caught up in that.”
“You want to fuck him again?”
I glance at him. “No, I mean ...”
“You’re attracted to him.”
It’s not a question.
“I’m more attracted to you, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t turned on when he approached me.”
He studies me. “You’ve had a good part of your life locked away, you are goin’ to feel things, I’m not goin’ to punish you for wondering what it’s like to be with other men. Doesn’t mean I’m ready to stop what I’m doing. May the best man win.”
I blink. “You can’t be serious?”
“We’re havin’ fun, he wants to have fun, why should there be a problem with that?”
“Um, because I’m not a slut!”
“You’re the only person thinkin’ you’re a slut, I promise you I’m not and I know he isn’t. If you want to explore that with him, go ahead. But know that I’m goin’ to make you forget his name, I can promise you that. It’ll be me who comes out on top.”