Page 78 of Surprisingly Us

My refrigerator is full. Practically overflowing yet in an organized way that would makeThe Home Editproud.

Maybe this is still a dream. I grab out the ingredients to make a breakfast smoothie. Because they’re all there. All my favorites. But how?

Rhys.

That’s when I see the box.

Sitting next to the wall by my two-seater dining table is the box I use for completed tutus. And it’s full.

CHAPTER 22

Rhys

I’ve just sat down on a lounger on the deck when Ramsey appears at the sliding door, a disapproving expression on his face.

“What?” I arch my brow beneath my sunglasses. “I’m fully clothed.” I motion to the shorts and polo shirt I’m wearing. The same ones I was wearing last night when I went over to Lettie’s apartment.

I’ll shower and change later, but right now all I want to do is smoke and clear my head.

I inhale, then blow a puff of smoke into the balmy morning air. Seeking the satisfaction that this one cigarette usually gives me, I take another drag.

I’m waiting for that sense of calm to rush over me.

It doesn’t.

“You slept at Colette’s last night,” he says, dropping his phone onto the side table before taking a seat on the lounger next to mine.

I wrap my lips around the paper and let my head fall back against the lounger. “Yeah.”

His glare deepens while Mo saunters out onto the deck, his body slipping through the small opening Ramsey left between the sliding doors.

“Nothing happened,” I say, before Ramsey can berate me for corrupting Lettie. For being a foolish man who can’t keep his dick in his pants.

That’s not entirely true. Something happened. But it’s not what he thinks.

I’d awoken to a sound coming from Lettie’s bedroom. It sounded like a moan, but could have just as easily been a yawn or that satisfied groan she makes when she’s stretching. It’s what I’d assumed until I heard the thump and rushed in to check on her. She’d barely gotten her pants up before I opened the door.

I should have knocked, but in my sleep-dazed state I’d thought Lettie had hurt herself and took immediate action. Turns out, there was no emergency.

Just an unidentified buzzing sound that continued even when Lettie turned her phone alarm off.

And when I found Lettie’s vibrator, still buzzing under her bed, I was shocked, not because she has one and uses it, but because I’d never anticipated her to use it when I was on the other side of the door. I never imagined she would be comfortable getting herself off when someone else was around. And the mortified look on her face told me exactly that.

Which means there’s no way Lettie had known I was still out in the living room, curled up on her couch with Mo snuggled in next to me, while Maxine batted at my face because I was in her spot. Of course, once I vacated, Maxine lost interest in it, and went to lie on the sun-soaked rug instead.

And fuck, the moment I felt the wetness on her vibrator, still fresh from being inside her pussy, my brain short-circuited. I wanted to rub my thumb over it, then lick it. I imagine even the tiniest taste would have been so fucking good.

Now I’m thinking about her fucking herself with it. Pressing that vibrator inside her hot, wet cunt. Damn. I want to see it. But fuck, there’s no way I can go there with Lettie. She’s perfect and sweet, and she deserves more than anything I can give her.

Ramsey clears his throat, interrupting my runaway thoughts. “Something happened. You’ve got a guilty look on your face.”

“Nothing. I swear.” I take another drag but it tastes bitter, so I give up and put it out on the ashtray next to me. “When I texted you about the groceries, she was already asleep. I stayed up late making tutus, then slept on the couch.”

“You mentioned the tutus. What are they for?”

“Lettie makes them for the children’s hospital. It’s some dream with a dancer thing where she makes tutus, then hands them out.”

Ramsey’s smile widens. “I don’t know what you did in a previous life to deserve this, but the fact that you’re even friends with a woman like that, practically a saint, is beyond my comprehension. And she’s willing to play along with this fake relationship? Honestly, none of this makes sense.”

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