“So it’s a competition?” I grunt.
“No.”
“See who has the bigger dick?”
He grins. “I already know I do.”
Dammit.
He does.
“I’m honestly not understanding what you’re saying right now,” I tell him, scrunching up my nose.
“Why is it so hard to understand? You want to fuck us both, do it. Why think about it any deeper than that?”
Men.
They’ll never understand.
Also, I’m not going to lie, it bothers me that he isn’t even a little worried about me sleeping with someone else. I mean, he’s right, what we’re doing here is just fun but the fact of the matter is I would have hoped he cared at least a little. I guess that answers any questions I have, but it also just makes me that much more confused.
“I’m not throwing myself around with two men, we can’t do this anymore,” I say, stepping out of his grips. “You’re meant to be looking after me and all that.”
He studies me. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
It isn’t.
“Your call. You know where to find me if you change your mind.”
He goes to walk away and, honestly, I want to kick him down the stairs for being so damned casual about it all. The least he could do is pretend like it bothers him that I don’t want to sleep with him anymore. Even Waylen put on a little bit of a jealous show. Lake is acting like the last three days was literally nothing more than fun for him.
Hell, maybe it’s me who’s stupid?
“So that’s it then?” I call when he reaches the bottom of the stairs.
He glances over his shoulder at me. “I don’t play games, Willa. If you want me, speak up and I’ll be there. If not, I’ll walk away. I’m not going to beg.”
I cross my arms, because I don’t really know what else to do. I’m stuck for words.
He grins. “You don’t like that I’m not throwing down.”
“What? No,” I mutter.
He turns and walks back up the stairs, stopping in front of me and my crossed arms. He leans in and brushes his lips across mine, making me shiver. “If you don’t like it, sweetheart, then as I said, you know where to find me.”
Then, he leaves.
God damn.
Tonight really did not go how I planned.
Not even close.
9
“We can’t be talkin’ about this anymore, Aaron. Don’t even mention Vic’s name around here again.”
I pause just before I reach the entrance to the main house. I was going up to see if we could get a night off and get taken into town for some fun, but pause when I hear voices trailing out. The mention of Vic has me taking a small step back and waiting. I want to hear what they’re talking about. Mostly I want to know why Aaron is part of it.
It sounds like Rhett’s voice I hear, and I’m curious to know more.
“Just need to know we’re covered when it comes to Vic. What happened could have blown up in all our faces.”
“What happened—” it’s definitely Rhett “—was something I didn’t want to have to clean up. Vic was causin’ problems, but you took it on yourself to make this go in a direction I didn’t need it goin’.”
“I had no choice. His family are sure something went down here, and I don’t see them letting that go anytime soon. How do you hope to deal with them?”
“I’ll deal with them. There is no proof that anything out of the ordinary went on that day. As far as anyone knows, he slipped. There is no proof otherwise, and no matter what they do, they won’t find anything else out.”
“If they did enough digging, they could link him back to me.”
“You’ve been a good asset to us, Aaron, but we can’t have this shit floating around the ranch any longer. I’m steppin’ away from this world, and you know it. It’ll ruin everything I’ve built here. You need to make sure nobody talks.”
Wait? They know Aaron? Since when? For how long? How is that possible?
“I’ll do what I can, but I think you need to be careful. If anyone finds out he didn’t slip, we’re all goin’ down.”
“Nobody will find out shit because nobody knows shit. I can’t have any more of this hangin’ around. This retreat is everything to me, you hear me? I helped you out, but it ends here.”
A rat?
What the hell sort of operation are they running here?
How does Rhett know Aaron?
God, so many questions.
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t come back on you, you have my word,” Aaron says.
“Appreciate that.”
I do a quick backward step, hitting the top of the steps again just as they walk outside. I casually make it look like I’m just walking in now. My heart is racing, and I’m just grateful they can’t see it pounding against my ribcage.
“Morning, gents,” I say, giving them a chipper wave.