One Last Time (Loveless Brothers 5)

“Ever come in a rooftop hot tub before?” I ask, pinching even harder, the fabric skipping between my fingers. I’m afraid of hurting her, but she just sighs.

“Not yet,” she whispers, and I push away the fabric of her swimsuit until her nipples are out, pink and puckered.

I stroke, roll, pinch. She rides me through two layers of fabric so hard I’m afraid that I’ll come first, and this is a communal hot tub.

“Tell me you miss this,” I growl, low and breathless. “Tell me —”

“I miss this so fucking much,” she whispers. “I miss being with you like —”

The rooftop door opens and she pulls back with a gasp, bolt upright. Tugs her suit back into place as I grab her hips, keep her steady.

“ — And white is so cute, though, especially for a baby,” Ava’s voice says.

“You have to be fucking kidding me,” Delilah mutters.

They come into view: two women and two men, though in the dark at this distance, I can’t tell them apart.

“You don’t think it’s kind of girly?” Olivia asks, stepping out onto the patio. “Ooooh! That’s so cold!”

“Told you to wear your flip flops, babe,” says Michael, her husband.

“It’s not girly, it’s white,” Ava says, and then waves. “Hey, guys! Delilah, isn’t white totally neutral? Like it’s the absence of color?”

“Technically, it’s the reflection of all colors,” she says. Still straddling my lap, still breathing harder than normal. “Black is the absorption of color.”

“I’m just saying, white is kind of feminine,” Olivia says, carefully making her way toward us. “So I don’t know if I should…”

“Go,” I tell Delilah, voice low. “Now. Go.”

She pushes backward, stands. Hops up on the lip of the tub and swings her feet over.

“Bad timing,” she says to her sisters, casual as you please. “We were just heading out, we’ve been in too long.”

“Oh, boo,” Ava pouts.Chapter Forty-OneDelilah“Sorry!” I say brightly, lunging for the robes and towels we brought out. “We’ve been here a while, and you know, you’re not supposed to stay in a hot tub for too long…”

I grab a towel, wrap it around myself, glance back at Seth. He’s giving me an urgent look that I’m pretty sure translates to I don’t want your family to see my dick, and I grab the other towel, move back to the hot tub.

“Well, I’m not even supposed to be in the hot tub because of the baby,” Olivia says. She’s started emphasizing the baby whenever she says it, and it’s not my favorite linguistic tic of hers. “I’m just going to dangle my feet in and keep an eye on Michael, haha!”

Seth glances their way, then in one smooth motion, he turns his back and spins over the side of the hot tub, feet hitting the ground at the exact same time he grabs the towel. It’s around his waist in a flash, and no one but me notices that he’s pitching a circus-sized tent.

Then his eyes meet mine, and he winks. I scrunch my toes against the concrete floor as we grab our robes, pull them on.

“You don’t even want to stay to hang out?” Ava says, holding something. “I brought the canned wine!”

“Ugh,” Olivia says, not quietly enough.

I’m already putting on my flip flops, belting my robe.

“What? It’s good,” Ava tells her sister.

“Nah, I gotta go get ready for dinner with Vera and Dad,” I say, walking. “And, you know, my hair, it’s —”

I just sort of wave my hands in the air and hope it’s explanation enough.

“Seth could stay,” she offers. “I feel like I’ve barely gotten to hang out with you.”

That gets me, and I pause for a split second. Seth practically runs into me, his hand on my lower back.

Ava wants to hang out with Seth? Someone in my family wants to hang out with my Ford-driving, townhouse-owning, middle-class boyfriend?

“I gotta help her,” Seth says, and makes the same hand motion I did.

“Have fun, guys,” Thad says, his arm around Ava, guiding her to the hot tub. “C’mon, babe.”

Then I’m inside and the door shuts behind us and as soon as we’re out of sight Seth spins me. Grabs the lapels of my fluffy white robe, pulls me in with a force that takes my breath away, crushes my mouth with his.

It can be easy to forget how powerful he is. I know he’s tall, broad, and has muscles I want to lick, but I rarely see how well he can use it. Yesterday, with the suitcases, maybe. A few weeks ago when he pulled himself up onto a tree branch to retrieve a projectile for Rusty.

Or now, when I’m the object of his power unleashed. He walks me backward, guiding my feet with his, not letting me go for a second

Finally I pull away. Grab his hand. He laces his fingers through mine and powerwalks through the halls of the building.