“I like spending time with you too, bad ass.” I gripped said ass and she laughed against my chest. “Play me some Janet on the harp when we get home?” I asked.
“Of course. I want to know what the deal is with you and your father though,” she said, poking her finger into my muscle.
“Deal.” I grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it.
…
EIGHTEEN
A giggle spilled over my lips as Evander and I stumbled into the house.
Drunk. Happy. Horny.
We wouldn’t get a chance to fuck again though because Apollo and Navy were accompanying us inside for dessert and wine.
In the kitchen, I pulled out two bottles. One red and one white.
“I already know what you want,” I said to Evander. I couldn’t help the way I looked at him. He was so damn fine. Every time I saw him, my body went haywire shooting off sparks and charging the air around us. It felt like magic. I kept waiting for the sensation to die down but it only burned brighter.
It felt like our melodies were intertwined. We started forming a song that was stuck in my head on a loop.
“You know exactly what I want,” Evander whispered against the shell of my ear. His warm whiskey-scented breath made my throat nearly close up.
How was it that with every touch, I wanted to shed my clothes? With every word, I wanted him to speak forever. With every laugh, I wanted to tell him all the jokes I knew just to hear that deep, smooth sound over and over.
“And you know I want to give it to you.” I poured a glass of Jameson and turned around to face him.
“Later,” he said patting my ass.
You’re just fucking him, Xari.
I had to remind myself of that multiple times when I was around him otherwise, we would start to feel real. We’d start to feel solid and I didn’t want to fool myself. Evander was supposed to be something fun to do while I waited for my dream job to open up. Once I got a seat as a principal harpist, I’d be on my way. My work at the Freeman’s house would be over.
A thick knot sank deep in my belly at the thought of leaving Frankie and Evander. They felt like family.
“White for me please,” Navy sighed, sitting at the island.
“Red,” Apollo said, sitting beside her. My gaze bounced between them and I couldn’t help smiling. They were so damn cute with their boring asses.
Well, maybe they weren’t boring. Maybe they just needed the right person to bring the wild side out of them. Hell, look at Evander. I thought he was the biggest stick in the mud until he showed me what he was hiding behind that buttoned-up personality and the title of senator.
I handed Apollo and Navy their glasses then poured myself a glass of Jameson with one of Evander’s fancy artisanal cubes of ice. “You like that expensive ass ice too?” It was more words than I’d ever heard Apollo speak at once. I was caught off guard a little.
I blinked a few times then nodded.
“I do. I have a flair for the finer things,” I told him, lifting the glass of whiskey to my lips.
“Spoiled is more like it,” Navy countered after her first taste of wine.
“Spoiled is exactly it,” Evander chuckled, hooking his arm around my waist.
“I’m fine as long as I get exactly what I want when I want it,” I said with a casual shrug.
“Lies.” The deep full-bodied laugh rumbling in Evander’s chest made me throb. I placed my hand over his heart to capture some of the vibrations. I wanted them to absorb into my blood.
I wanted to absorb every part of him.
“Whatever, Evander. You know nothing.” I wiped a drop of whiskey from his bottom lip with my thumb then licked it away.
“It seems like he knows quite a bit,” Navy pointed out. I didn’t realize until that moment how entangled Evander and I had become. His arm around my waist, my hand on his chest, wiping and then licking the fucking whiskey from his bottom lip…
“You see what I’m seeing, right?” Apollo quizzed, looking at Navy.
“There’s nothing to see,” Evander’s arm dropped from my waist and I missed it. I kept my mouth shut because if Evander and I weren’t in a relationship, there was no need to let anyone in on what was happening between us.
I knew my sister wasn’t stupid. She knew I was fucking my boss but I refused to admit it. Apollo knew too. Evander followed suit and doubled down on the just-friends lie we were floating. Nobody needed to know if it wasn’t serious.
Then why did I have the nagging feeling to lay claim to him and tell both Apollo and Navy that he belonged to me? The possessive swell came out of nowhere. It hovered over me the entire time Evander and I hung out with Navy and Apollo.
Whenever I got the chance to slide my fingers along the back of his hand, I took it. When he spoke to me, I leaned in to grasp his words. I even rested my head on his shoulder for a brief moment when the Jameson hit too hard.
By the end of the night, I was ready to practically shove my sister out the front door and climb Evander like a tree. A tree I could fuck.
“I’m cutting you off,” Evander said once we were alone.
“Cutting me off from what exactly?” I snapped. I prayed he didn’t say he was putting me on dick punishment because I couldn’t handle that shit. I would protest.
“Whiskey. You’re drunk as fuck.”
“I am not,” I pouted, poking my lips out.
Okay…maybe I was.
“Xari, you don’t think I know you by now?” He shot me a look that made my panties melt down my legs.
“You only know what I let you know,” I said, swaying to the side. I was definitely drunk and at the cut-off point.
“I know you’re a brat.” He moved my glass out of reach and set it in the sink.
“So you can drink all you want to cover up the fact that you regret not following your heart but I have to stop because I’m a little tipsy.”
Fuck. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I pursed my lips together and blew out a puff of air through my nose.
“Wow, so you get drunk and the truth comes out, huh?” He shook his head then walked over to me. I smelled his heat. His cologne. His whiskey-and-regret laced words. “Let’s go, trouble.” He scooped me into his strong arms like I weighed nothing then carried me upstairs while I slurred out protests and whined.
“You promised me dick and I promised you I’d play Janet Jackson on Sunshine.”
“Yeah, I know. You’re not doing anything right now though. We’re going to lay here and I’m going to hold you until you fall asleep.” He laid me in his plush bed. My eyes found the ceiling and I stared at it, hoping the room would stop spinning while Evander gingerly undressed me.
“You might have been right about me being drunk,” I told him, stretching a finger into the air.
“Yeah, I know I was right.”
“You’re so fucking arrogant, Freeman.”
“I’m confident,” he countered, a smile hanging on his words. His smile made me smile. It was contagious. “You have the prettiest smile, Xari…” His big warm hand reached up and caressed my dimples.
“So do you. You’re just really fucking hot, Evander. Like, how are you a senator? How?” I lifted my head an inch and noticed I was only in my bra and panties. Damn, he moved fast.