Page 59 of Whiskey Kisses

“I know you got a million and one things to deal with right now, so I won’t bust your balls anymore about this, but if you don’t tell your mother about Evie, then I will,” he warns. “I don’t like keeping secrets from her.”

“All right, all right,” I say, taking my licks. I deserve everything he’s saying.

“Who else knows?” He squints suspiciously. “Besides Lucky?”

“The boys down here. They were at the wedding.”

“The wedding,” he echoes with a tired sigh. “Your mom’s gonna hate that she missed yourwedding, Tristan.”

“Trust me, I know.” I sag in my chair, feeling shittier than ever. I hate letting him down.

“You care about Evie though, huh?” Dad’s voice gentles as he pivots.

I nod, thinking about last night. The way I felt when I was inside her, how she held onto me like she didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to let go of her, either. She makes sense in a way I never expected, in a way I didn’t even know existed until we crossed the line.

“Then do right by her.”

“I’m trying, Dad. I’m trying.”

Evie crawls over to me,her hair tickling my thighs as she kisses and licks my tip. I clench the sheets, watching my dick disappear into her warm, wet mouth. Fuck, that’s hot.

“I’ve wanted to do this since that shower,” she murmurs, pulling back for just a second before she resumes sucking.

I jerk a little, my stomach tensing as I tangle my fingers in her hair. Knowing she’s been thinking about this, wanting it, is a major turn-on. And she’s good at it, too, swirling her tongue in long, slow circles, thengoing hard and fast, so deep I touch the back of her throat. She hums, teasing me, and?—

My phone vibrates with a call, startling me from the x-rated memory of what Evie and I were doing before we left the house today. Blinking, heart pounding, I fumble with the phone, dropping it. I’m so hard I can barely function.

I’m outside Target, waiting for Evie in the car. She said she needed a few things for the house, like sheets that fit, and I needed to stop screwing around and call my mother, so we decided to divide and conquer. I never did get around to dealing with Mom, though, because I started thinking about Evie and thenshit. I grab the phone right as it goes to voicemail.

It starts ringing again immediately, Maeve’s face lighting the screen.

“Hey, Mae,” I answer, sitting back.

“Took you long enough,” she teases.

“Says the girl who said she’d call back when she landed. Where’d you go? The Middle East?”

“Says the guy who was supposed to call me back days ago,” she shoots back.

“Yeah, sorry. Things have been a little hectic. So, how’s the West Coast?” I ask, envisioning her and her shitty boyfriend strolling across the Golden Gate Bridge or some shit.

“About that,” she hedges. “I took a little detour. I need your address.”

“My address?” I echo, confused. “Wait, you’rehere?”

“Just for a day,” she says. “I arranged a layover so I could see you before I went to Oakland.”

“Why?” I ask, keeping an absent eye on the store’s entrance.

“Because I miss you, idiot, and I’m not gonna see you for a while,” she says with a little laugh.

“Why not? You’re not staying out there, are you?” I ask, dismayed. We keep waiting for Maeve to outgrow Callum Barry, but so far it hasn’t happened. Why someone as smart as my sister would suffer that fool, I’ll never know.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it when I see you. But for now, I need your address because I’ve already left the airport—which is so tiny, by the way—and all I know is that you’re in Savannah,” she says.

Maeve keeps lookingbetween Evie and me, curiosity burning in her eyes. We’re in the kitchen, catching up and sipping beer while we wait for dinner to be delivered. Korean, naturally, because that’s the default when hanging with Maeve. Timmy and Finn are smoking out back with Malachi, who’s randomly decided to bring the fountain back to its former glory. I know it’s been a little boring these days, but sheesh.

Evie’s explaining how she came to inherit Aunt Myrtle’s estate when Maeve zeroes in on her hand and grabs it. “Is this a wedding ring?” she squeals, leaning down to look more closely.

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