Page 60 of Eternally Devoted

“I left a robe out there for you. Fortunately for you both, I have a few bathrobes, so I put one in there for you, and Sterling took the other with him to the bathroom.”

Getting out of these damp, dirty clothes sounds incredible, so I strip down in her garage and slide into the pink terry cloth robe adorned with butterflies, and head inside. Juniper’s lips twitch as she fights a giggle at the sight of me in a small pink robe.

“You’re right, though, way better, even though I look like a clown.” I cinch the tie at my waist and send her a cautioning glance. “Excuse me, Juniper Sky, but please respect the tie,” I say, making a show of knotting the tie around my waist. “Don’t try to see what’s under here,” I tease, making her laugh as she drops spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet. “Whatcha making?”

Pointing her spoon toward the oven, she says, “I’ve got sandwiches toasting, and then I’m making thumbprint cookies.”

My stomach rumbles. “What is a thumbprint cookie?”

“Sugar cookie with jam in the middle.” She lifts a jar of her jam from the counter, showing me the label. “Blues and Berries,” she reads off the label. “It’s not a popular one for me, which is so sad, because it’s so yummy. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries. It’s so good.”

“I bet,” I say, moving around her to the fridge where I pull it open and grab a bottle of cold water. “You have some water? We’re all pretty dehydrated.”

She winces, shaking her head. “I just washed up and got to making you guys food.”

I glare at her, untwisting the lid, then bring it to her lips. Slipping my other hand to the back of her head, my big fingers tangling in her soft blonde hair, I press the bottle to her mouth as she tips her head back and begins to drink. When she’s done, I can’t help myself. “My good girl.”

She licks her lips as we hold eye contact, and in the distance the sound of the shower stops. “But Sterling called me a bad girl,” she breathes, her voice husky and alluring.

“You can be his bad girl and my good girl,” I tell her, reaching past her to pinch a piece of cookie dough from the bowl. I drop it into my mouth and moan, making her grin.

“You like it?”

My brows flatten. “Of course.”

She rocks to her toes, kissing my chin as she waves her spoon toward the hall. “Go, shower. I have plans for us and none of them involve you being stinky and dirty in my robe.”

“Fine,” I scoff playfully, my nerves spiking as I head down the hall toward Juniper’s bedroom.

The hallway walls are littered with old, framed photos of the Ellington women at various stages of their lives. I pause to take in a photo of Juniper in a silk dress, her hair pinned in curls atop her head, a big sparkly necklace around her neck. She’s smiling, braces on her teeth, her hand uncomfortably resting on some kid’s chest. He’s got a flower pinned to a rented suit jacket and she’s got one on her wrist. In the corner of the photo, in gold letters, it readsA Dream to Remember, Bluebell High Prom 2010.

I find myself smiling at the photo of Juni, so young and innocent. She still feels that way, despite her transgressions. I think that’s what drew me to Juniper the first time I laid eyes on her. She’s so wholesome and kind. For Christ’s sake, she makes jam. Aside from a kindergarten teacher, it doesn’t get more wholesome than that.

Minus the whole murder thing.

Hearing rumbling from Juniper’s room, I continue on and slowly push inside, trying not to invade Sterl’s privacy. I find him standing at the side of her bed, his body covered in a bright purple bathrobe that quite honestly looks like Barbie clothing shoved onto the Hulk. Along the shoulder blades, in groovy yellow lettering, flowers all around, the robe readsGIRL POWER.

“Girl power,” I announce, startling Sterling.

He turns, a framed photo in his hands. He lowers it to the night table again and nods toward the shower. “Fuck, that felt good.”

My eyes drift to the photo and I know he watches me.

It’s a photo of us. Me and him. And beneath it, the frame reads, “My loves.”

“Yeah,” I breathe the word, trying to stay cool. I never doubted Juniper when she told me that she feels for me what she does for Sterl. Still, seeing proof after ages of yearning and wondering, it fucks me up a little. “I like that photo of us.” It feels like I just asked him to go steady as I anxiously await his response. He glances back at the photo then his eyes come to mine, stormy and beautiful.

“It’s my favorite.” He slips past me, toward the door leading to the hall, but braces his arm on the doorframe and pauses. “It wasn’t just the friction.” With a smile, he heads down the hall, leaving me in my butterfly robe, heart racing, a goofy smile on my lips.

After the best smelling shower in the prettiest damn bathroom ever, I head down the hall, ruffling my fingers through my hair, proud that I only showered.

The temptation to jerk off for the second time today was definitely there. But Sterling’s subtle admission left me in an emotional dog paddle, grinning as I metaphorically swim circles around his words, basking in them.

He gave me a heart boner, damn it.

When I see Juniper feeding Sterling a bite of her jam cookies, her full lips pulled up in a genuine smile, her breasts pressedagainst her apron, she gives me anactualboner, which I adjust from the shadows in the hallway like a creep. She dusts crumbs from the corner of his lips, leaning in to casually kiss him. Seeing them has my body on fire, despite the fact the moment is not tawdry but quiet and tender.

Their kiss breaks, and she twists to face me, as if she heard me. “How was it?” She beams, approaching me, bringing a warm cookie with her. She feeds me a bite and kisses my lips the very same way she did to Sterl, then feeds her fingers through mine, guiding me to the kitchen bar.

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