Conception (The Wellingtons, #4) Read online

  We christen my shower.

  A couple of times.

  As I’m putting the finishing touches of my mascara on, I spot Knox through the reflection of my vanity and regret agreeing to spend an evening at Mickey’s. How can one man make a plain white T look so damn appealing?

  I swirl around on my stool. “If I’d known you were going to wear that, I wouldn’t have suggesting going out tonight,” Knox growls.

  Apparently, we’re on the same wavelength.

  I look at the mauve towel tucked between my boobs. “When I was fifteen, Sunny taught me that it’s makeup before clothes. I think if I wore this to Mickey’s, I’d get arrested,” I say, standing and walking towards him.

  As soon as I’m close enough, he grabs the edge of my towel. “I’m pretty sure if you wore that Mickey’s, I’d be the one getting arrested.”

  My hands slide up his arms, slowing grazing sturdy muscles from hard work, not just the gym. “Even though you’re a city guy, I’m pretty sure you could take every one of them in the bar.”

  His brilliant eyes darken. “I work hard for what I want, Amelia. No matter what it is. No matter how hard. And when I get it, it’s mine.”

  The brand is too delicious to question. “I have no doubt that’s the truth. But you know, Knox, not every woman enjoys being considered a possession.”

  As his lips descend towards mine, I wrench out of his arms and head towards my closet. I pause as I’m about to walk into it. Knox’s gaze sears into me, but I pretend it has no affect.

  “Lucky for you, I’m not one of them.”

  A slow, knowing grin brings his dimples into view. “Pretty sure you’ve already let me stake my claim, Melia.”

  “You have two months until said claim expires. Better make the most of it.”

  When Knox pushes off the doorjamb and stalks towards me, I know what’s about to happen.

  We christen my closet.

  Twice.

  We break free of Mickey’s only after I’ve promised Sunny a girls-only slumber party for the following Friday. Sam, naturally, demands nighties and pillows, and Sunny, of course, indulges him.

  “I like Sam and all, but I’m not against a little ass kickin’ if he shows up at your sleepover,” Knox quips, his fingers toying with mine as we walk along the lakeshore.

  “It’s sweet you’re jealous,” I tease. “He’s harmless. When we were kids, Sam often tried joining in. My parents? No way would they let him. Sunny’s? They didn’t mind. Especially since Sam usually ended up with painted nails. It’s simply not fair how mascara makes his eyelashes appear a mile long.”

  He chuckles. “I’d say that shocks me, but with your group, nothing really does.”

  “I can’t believe I stayed away from them for so long. The past few years have been…difficult, and my much-needed therapy was right here all along.”

  Knox squeezes my hand. “You’re a part of that, too, you know.”

  “I was.” I sigh. “I know I still am. Coming back here… It’s like I never left. Still, I can’t help but regret everything I missed during the years I stayed away. I just… I couldn’t come back here, yet it may have been the best thing I could have done. Not that I can change it now.”

  “You know you can talk to me. About anything. Anytime. My mom may not always agree, but I’m a pretty damn good listener.”

  I’m not ready. I don’t know why, but I’m just not. So I force a grin onto my face and like any good woman, turn it around on him. “Yeah, well, I could say the same about you. It’s been nearly six weeks and I feel like I’m still learning who you are. So, who are you? I’ve had glimpses of sweet you, growly you, respectful you, manhandling you. Not that I’m complaining of course.” I bump his shoulder with mine in a playful manner. “I like all those versions of you. But when I think back on it, Clay kind of made you sound like a stick in the mud.”

  Knox runs his free hand through rumpled hair that’s grown since I met him. It gives him more of a boyish, devil-may-care look, and I absolutely adore it. “I don’t really know, Amelia. I mean, I’m only twenty-two. So I guess I’m still trying to figure that out.”

  “Makes sense to me. I guess I’m still in the same boat,” I tell him, toying with my bottom lip. I still haven’t told him all the details about that fateful night when my parents died, and he hasn’t asked. The more I get to know him, the more I let him in, the more I believe he’s the one person I could confide in and he’d understand.

  So, what’s holding me back?

  “And as for Clay, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When we’re back home, his head’s so far up his girlfriend’s ass he can’t possibly know what’s going on in my life.”

  “Oh, right. Maria. The girl he plans on proposing to?”

  Knox scoffs. “Apparently. Twenty years old and he’s already ready to settle down? Sounds crazy to me.”

  “I mean, I’m not planning on settling down for a good long while, but who’s to say she isn’t his one? If he loves her enough to truly know, who are we to judge?”

  He just grunts, and I know that nothing I say will convince him.

  “What about you? What about your future?”

  He stops so abruptly that I nearly stumble into his back. And when he doesn’t meet my eyes, I realize he totally misunderstood my question. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry at how damn uncomfortable he looks. If I were to think we’ve made progress towards something beyond the summer, that one look lets me know I’d be sorely mistaken. Better to get used to that now rather than hope the rest of the summer. I probably just dodged a huge bullet straight to my heart come September.

  “Oh my god, Knox. Not our future. Yours!” I push his shoulder back and place my hand on my hips. “You should see the look on your face right now. You’re white as a ghost, and since you’ve become some kind of Greek deity in this Tennessee sun, that’s saying something.”

  A little color returns to his cheeks. He stalks towards me with a devilish gleam in his eyes, and I squeal, racing across the sand, doing my best to keep away from him. “A Greek god, you say?”

  “Something like that!” I shout.

  All I hear is answering silence. I pause my retreat and see that Knox is no longer following me. Instead, he’s stripping underneath the nearly full moon, showing off all his naked glory. I scan the shore, hoping we’re alone. That body is for my eyes only.

  It doesn’t escape my notice that he’s using his body to ignore my question. I don’t mind. Okay, I’m lying to myself if I say that. I know we’re just a fling, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. And friends talk. So, even though my mouth waters at the way the moon highlights the hard planes of his chest, I vow that we’re talking tonight, not screwing.

  Doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy the show first though.

  Knox inches into the water then turns towards me, revealing all his naked glory. “You gonna just let me do this by myself or are you comin’ in?” he hollers.

  I cross my arms over my chest. “It’s dark as hell and you don’t know what’s in that water.”

  “Probably no ball-choppin’ serial killer.”

  I snort and shake my head. “Not doin’ it.”

  “Hmm… What was it Sunny told me a few weeks ago? You can never turn down a—”

  “Don’t you—” I interrupt.

  “Dare!” we say in unison.

  I’m not sure if he can see my glare in the dark, but it’s burning through him right now.

  “You’re such an ass,” I mutter, which only causes him to snicker.

  “You love it,” he teases, and the insinuation sends my heart aflutter.

  I’m getting in too deep. Too fast.

  I quickly regain my composure and drop my clothes in a small pile beside his. “You wish. After this, you’ll be lucky to get any!”

  “Come on, babe. The water’s still warm.”

  He’s not wrong.

  “Now.”

  Why didn’t anyone ever te
ll me mono-syllabic beckoning could be so sexy?

  “No. I’ll go skinny-dipping, but I draw the line at having sex in a lake.”

  He laughs. “Come here, Amelia. No funny business. I just want you close to me. Promise.”

  I arch an eyebrow. “You’re tellin’ me that I’m naked in the dark and you won’t touch me? I don’t know if I should be impressed or insulted.”

  “Never said I wouldn’t touch you. But, babe, between rehabin’ the house and bangin’ you more times than I can count, I’m beat. I just wanna talk.”

  I sigh. We’re so on the same page.

  “Well, since you explained so eloquently…” I trail off as I glide towards him.

  As soon as I’m within arm’s reach, Knox pulls me into his broad chest. “Much better.”

  Indeed.

  His fingers trail along the curve of my spine, eliciting a shiver even though the water’s comfortably warm. “I like being here with you.”

  “Even though I’m terrified of what creepy-crawlies come out in the dark, I suppose I like being here with you, too.”

  Knox’s hand grasps my chin, tilting it up our eyes meet. “No. I like being here with you. In Crystal Cove. I didn’t want to come here. Having met you, I can’t imagine not having come here.”

  “I guess we both found something we didn’t know we were looking for.”

  “Yeah.” His lips curve up, that dimple highlighted in the moonlight. “Guess so.”

  “I’m thrilled you’re here. I didn’t know what I expected from the summer; it certainly wasn’t you. Your mother may not know it, but she sent me the perfect distraction.”

  “She’d love you.”

  It takes me totally by surprise. I tear my eyes from his gaze, glancing up at the moon and then back at him. I’m not sure he even realizes what he said. Or, more likely, I’m reading too much into it.

  “Calm down, Amelia. I’m not asking you to come home with me after the summer,” he says, his tone teasing. Probably to put me at ease, yet it does the opposite.

  I plaster on a grin I’m not exactly feeling. “Duh. Trust me, I’m completely aware of—and on board with—our current arrangement. No meeting dear old mom for me.”

  He pushes back from me, creating a few inches of space between us. One hand takes hold of mine. If there were any time I wish I could read minds, it’d be this moment right now. He’s so hard to read. Does he feel more? Or is that just wishful thinking on my part? I want to scream.

  I should let it go. If he wants to be a closed book except for in the bedroom, I should take what I can get. But I can’t. Call me crazy, but I’d like to know a bit more about the guy who’s giving me the most mind-blowing orgasms night after night. So against my better judgment, the words spill out.

  “Look, I know I joke about us doing nothing but sleeping together—which is amazing and I’m not complaining at all—but if I’m going to have these fond memories to look back on, I want to know more about you. More of who you are. Not just the surface.” I blow out a breath, hoping I don’t send him running for the shore.

  His fingers tickle my bare belly. “You already know a lot about me that most people don’t. There’s not much more to tell.”

  I want to wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, but in this moment, distance is probably necessary. “I have a feeling there’s much more than meets the surface. I mean, what kinda city guy agrees to spend his last summer before graduation fixing up a house in the middle of nowhere?”

  Knox runs a large hand over the top of his head, his form perfectly illuminated in the moonlight. “The kind of guy who knows exactly what he wants for his future yet knows that that future is missing something.”

  I swallow hard. I don’t want to push, but I have to know. “What does that mean, exactly?”

  The sound of him gliding through the water towards me echoes in the still night. When he gets to me, he pulls me close. “I’m not sure, Amelia. But what I do know, is while I’m with you, I don’t want to think about it.”

  Touché.

  “Then we won’t,” I say. “We’ll stick to what we agreed on. Friendship. Sex. And lots of it.”

  I’m okay with that. I tell myself I’m okay with that. I will myself to be okay with that. Because the sooner I get it through my skull, the sooner I’ll be able to block him out of the deepest part of me. And I hope like hell he’s not already there.

  “Besides, I said I wanted to get to know you better,” he says, interrupting my thoughts.

  “You already know more about me than most people.” Ha. Two can play coy.

  He raises an eyebrow. “Pretty sure I haven’t even scratched the surface, babe.”

  “You’ve scratched plenty…”

  Just as Knox moves to close the distance between us, we’re illuminated from the shore. We both turn towards a vehicle’s blinding headlights. The contrast in the darkness makes it impossible to make out the two figures standing on the beach, seemingly waiting for us. My eyes widen when one of them bends down by our piles of clothes.

  “Um, Knox…” I begin, stopping when his fingers grip my hip.

  “It’s fine, baby.”

  I momentarily forget our visitors. It’s the first time he’s called me that. I want to relish in how possessed it makes me feel.

  “We received a few calls of loud noises coming from the lake. Everything okay out there?” a deep voice booms from the shore.

  A deep, familiar voice coming from a body standing way too close to my clothes.

  “Sam!” I yell. “What are you doing here?”

  “Dammit, how’d you know it was me?”

  A third silhouette steps away from the car. A more petite one, and I roll my eyes. Why am I not surprised?

  “We closed up the bar and figured we’d take a dip in the lake sans clothes. We had no idea you two beat us here first. I thought you were going home because you were exhausted.”

  “Took a detour, Sunny,” Knox tells her. “Now, if you’ll be kind enough to let us get dressed, the lake’s all yours.”

  “You guys want some company? We could totally play naked chicken!” Sunny exclaims.

  And she’s not kidding.

  “Joe,” Knox growls in warning.

  Sunny’s giggles stop abruptly. “Okay, okay, we’re going!”

  “Have fun, kids!” Joe hollers.

  “Oh my god,” I mutter.

  We wait a few minutes to make sure they’re truly gone. I wouldn’t put it past Sunny to stick around to try to get a glimpse of Knox’s goods. Not that I can blame her. Fortunately, we get back to our clothes without incident and stumble back to my house, holding hands and laughing. I can’t remember a time I’ve felt so carefree.

  For the second time today, we find ourselves in my shower. As I reach for my shampoo, Knox scoops up the bottle and squirts product into his hands.

  “Turn.”

  I obey the one-word command and fall into bliss when Knox’s large hands work the shampoo into my hair. I’m putty in his hands, proven as he turns me and rinses my hair. It’s wash, rinse, repeat with my conditioner.

  “All clean,” he declares, and I’m too tired to make a joke.

  “Your turn.”

  Dark eyes soften and gaze down at me. “Amelia, you’re exhausted. I got this.”

  I grab the shampoo bottle from him. “Tit for tat, baby,” I tease.

  His lips twist into a grin, and he doesn’t protest, turning so his back’s to me. I have to raise on my tiptoes, and I’m still not tall enough to give as good of a head massage as he gave me.

  We spend the next few moments lathering each other up with soap and slowly rinsing off. Neither of us says a word, and with that, I’m content. The silence continues out of the shower, each of us rubbing the other with a towel before falling into bed, exhausted and satisfied.

  For some reason, that felt more intimate than what we did earlier. I’m not so sure that’s a good thing. Because I know it’s a great thing
.

  As I drift off, I replay our conversation at the lake and realize we’re two peas in a pod. I don’t want to talk about my past. Knox doesn’t want to talk about his future.

  All we have is the present. I already know it won’t be long enough.

  “RISE AND SHINE, SLEEPYHEAD.”

  Knox’s voice comes way too early in the morning for my taste. I slowly open one eye and find him sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down at me. He’s already dressed, in a loose pair of tan shorts, a black tank top, and a ballcap. I want to kiss every inch of golden skin weeks of summer sun has blessed him with.

  “No. Too early,” I groan, placing the pillow back over my head and rolling away from him.

  He pounces just like I knew he would. “Come on, Melia. The sun’s been up for hours.”

  “So,” I grumble, adjusting my body so his weight shifts, forcing him to sit on my ass. “We’ve been working nonstop at your place and I deserve a day to sleep in.”

  Knox snags the pillow from the top of my head and leans down, his lips hovering over my ear. “And I’m so damn grateful for your help. It would’ve taken me a lot longer to finish without it. Since all we have left to do is paint the porch, finish the bathroom, and give the place one nice deep clean, I figured we’d take the day off. Do a little exploring. We deserve it,” he says, a lone finger tracing the curve of my spine.

  I perk up even though I don’t want to. “Why didn’t you say that in the first place? I’m always up for you exploring.”

  He takes his fingers away and hops up from the bed.

  I groan. “I’ve been had!”

  “All we do is sleep and sleep together,” he says in a mock falsetto, echoing the words I stupidly uttered a couple of weeks ago.

  My returning glare only makes him laugh. “And I thought we both established there’s nothing wrong with that. Isn’t that what this summer’s all about?”