Worth the Risk (Carolina Rebels 5)

“That was an exception because it was for Jackson.”

Raelynn nods. “Will you miss your family when they leave tomorrow?”

“Do I look like I want to talk about my family?” I glide my fingers over her body as she washes herself. Suds move either around my fingers or over them.

“No, you look like you want to eat me up and have sex with me, which is why I asked about your family.”

I grin. “You can read me pretty well. I’m ready for them to leave if only so I can have my house back to normal and you to myself.”

She lifts her arms to wash her hair and my gaze naturally drops to her breasts, which rise a bit at the action. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“Yes,” I answer immediately. My hands move to her breasts as if magnetically drawn there. Raelynn laughs and I half listen as she recounts what’s apparently wrong with her car. Before she can get to what her favor may be, I offer a solution. “Do you want us to go look for another car then? We can go Monday. I can buy it and you can drive it as long as you live here.”

My hands are swatted away, which causes my eyes to lift to hers. She doesn’t look too happy with me.

“No. I don’t need you to ride in on your white horse, Elias,” she says with a huff. “I know you do these things because you care, but I still need to make decisions on my own and for myself. I still need to pay for things on my own. Otherwise, even though you don’t intend it, you take my power and make me feel helpless. What I was going to ask you is if you’ll help me look for a car. I can afford car payments; you are not buying me a car.”

I understand what she’s saying, I guess, but... “Are you sure? I don’t mind, and you do use your car to do a lot of things for me.”

“I’m sure, Elias. I would just like for you to help me find a car and make sure I’m not taken advantage of.” She adds a little smile.

“If that’s what you want me to do, then consider it done.”

Her arms are suddenly around my neck as she lifts as high as she can on her tiptoes and she kisses me. “Thank you. We should get out of here.”

I frown. “Without having any fun? You’re wet and naked against my wet and naked body. Why would we miss out on that opportunity, Raelynn?”

“Elias,” she says with a sigh. That’s all I need to hear to know absolutely nothing is happening in this shower. Her sigh says it all.

That’s perfectly okay, but I need one thing at least. I dip my head and allow my lips to caress hers, slowly and lightly at first and then harder and deeper as my tongue slips inside her mouth. A kiss is all I want. One simple kiss. She’s tense at first, possibly thinking that I’m ignoring what my sighed name obviously meant, but I keep my hands on her waist and my body as still as possible to show I don’t want to move things further. Raelynn slowly relaxes as she grips my arms and begins to lean into to me.

That’s when I pull away. “We need to open our own presents anyway.”

She sighs again, but there’s the tiniest of smiles on her face. Her arms fall from around my neck, she swivels to turn off the water, and then we’re stepping out of the shower. Soon, after a quick trip downstairs, saying goodnight to my family, and peeking in on Bree to find her awake, I carry presents into my room and place them on my bed before going back for Bree.

She reaches for Raelynn, who now sits on the bed and shakes her head. “What if I still have Jackson’s germs on me?”

I roll my eyes. “Then you need to learn how to shower better. You should be fine, and she wants you.”

Bree sits in her lap a moment later. “I missed you too, ladybug,” Raelynn whispers to her.

“Okay, stop the love fest. We have presents to exchange. Do you want to go first?”

“You first.”

For a moment, I watch her. Bree leans back against her chest, her tiny fingers clutching Raelynn’s, her little feet crossed at the ankles, and Raelynn has her head bent, smiling down at my princess who smiles up at her. The two of them together are too much.

I grab a random present addressed to me from both Raelynn and Jackson. I open the assortment of gifts, all of which I love, and thank her for them. Bree has fallen asleep with her head tilted off to the side when it’s Raelynn’s turn. My presents for her are all centered around ways she can treat herself. That’s something she doesn’t do nearly enough, so I’m helping her out.

“A present from Jackson?” she questions, her throat clogging immediately.

“Yeah. Maybe we should wait until morning, so he can be here for this.”

She hasn’t even opened it yet and she’s already crying. “So he can see me be a mess?”

“Yep.”

“When did he get me this?”