Page 92 of The Forever Rule

I’m sure I can scrounge something. You’re welcome to come over.

And so I had arrived at her door, my stomach in knots for some reason, and she had just smiled up at me. And of course, my lips had brushed against hers, and then the door had closed, and suddenly I had been on my knees in front of her, eating my way through our appetizers.

She had come on my face, and both of us had been drained by the time that we finally got to her version of girl dinner. We had been sitting in her kitchen, me in just my slacks, her in my button-down shirt and panties—the hottest fucking thing I had ever seen—when my brother’s idea popped into my head.

“I’m being forced to take a vacation next weekend.”

Blakely had blinked up at me. “Oh? Do you not take them?”

I had shaken my head. “Never. Which is probably anissue. But I’m heading up to Cage Lake.” I paused, trying to collect my thoughts as I popped a grape into my mouth.

Blakely smiled, her fingers playing with an Oreo. “You do work an insane number of hours. Of course, all of you guys do. You should go up to this infamous family town where you guys are kings.”

I snorted, shaking my head. “Not even in the slightest. But you should come with me. See what the town’s really like.”

She had frozen, ever so slightly, and stared at me. “You want me to come with you? That’s an overnight trip, Aston Cage.”

I had just stared at her, my eyes narrowing. “It is. A little scary, isn’t it?”

“We haven’t exactly discussed what this is between us.” She gestured between the two of us. “I am not quite sure if I should be flattered you want to take me to your town with your name slapped on it or be scared.”

I frowned right back at her. “I don’t know what it is between us. Rushing into labels and wanting to figure out exactly where I am, ended up pushing me into an engagement I wasn’t ready for.”

Something flashed over her face, just an instant, but she blinked it away so quickly, I couldn’t tell what it was. “That makes sense. I don’t want to push you. But I also want to see the mountains.”

My chest had warmed at that, and I knew. “I have a place up there. In fact, we all do in some way or another.” I paused. “At least the brothers I grew up with. Hell, Iwonder if any of the new ones want something up there? I have no idea how that’s going to work.”

“I don’t even want to go into the ins and outs of that will. Just seeing Isabelle’s eyes go blank when she tries to go through the paperwork makes me want to run away.”

“I don’t blame her. I still don’t know what the hell my father was thinking.” I had waved that off. “Sorry. As for this weekend. Come with me. We’ll do what we’re doing now.”

“Eating practically naked in my kitchen?”

“We can do that. Or we could eat completely naked.”

“I don’t think that’s sanitary.”

“Touché. And as for what we are to each other. I don’t know. But I’m exclusive.” I blurted out that last part, wondering why the hell it felt as if I were a teenager trying to figure out the rules.

Her teeth had bitten into her lip, and I had swallowed hard at the sight. “Me too. And I don’t know what this is or where it’s going, if it’s going anywhere. Everything’s changing so quickly, and I’m just going to go with the flow. Which is very unlike me.”

“Two peas in a pod there. So you’ll go with me?”

“What time will we be leaving?”

“Well, we may have to ask your boss if you could leave early on Friday.”

She cringed. “Okay, that’s awkward.”

“No, it’s not. We’re allowed to work remotely. Just take that day. The boss isn’t going to care.” I had made sure that wouldn’t happen.

And when Blakely had finally said yes, I had reachedover the table to grip the back of her neck and pulled her into a deeper kiss. She had moaned into me, and we had indeed gotten naked in her kitchen. However, the laughter that had burst from her as we had both cleaned up after had made the hard tile underneath my ass worth it.

So now, we were winding our way up through the mountains, and I was feeling awkward and yet, the most relaxed I had in a while. Didn’t know what that meant. Maybe it was the fact that we were going back to Cage Lake.

Cage Lake was situated between two large peaks. There was tons of hiking, fishing, with a large tributary that was practically a full river, carving one side of the town boundaries, and the lake on the north side.

“Okay, after this ridge, we’re going to hit Cage Street.”

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