Page 9 of Love Me

“My braids are not stupid.”

“Good. Now let’s get this one done so we can hit the road. Where’s your momma?”

I turn her back around and get started brushing through her thick, dark-blonde hair and separating it into three pieces, the natural highlights popping as I cross over the strands.

“She’s getting dressed. She had chocolate all over her. I think she got messy downstairs, ’cause she had it allllllllll over her.”

I laugh while finishing up the last wrap of elastic on the end of Charlie’s hair.

“Okay, munchkin, grab your shoes, put them on please, and I’ll be right back so we can hit the road.”

“Tell her to hurry! I want to see Pappy!”

Leaving Charlie in the kitchen, I walk through the little apartment until I reach Hannah’s room. The door is open, so I creep up to it, my socks on the floor quieting each of my steps. Hannah and I have been jump-scaring each other our entire lives, and neither of us gets sick of seeing the other rattled.

As I move into the doorway, I stop in my tracks. Mission aborted. Hannah is standing in front of her full-length mirror in nothing but a strappy thong and matching bra. The breath leaves my lungs as my eyes take in her flawless body. I reach upand brace my hands against the top of the door frame, my nails digging into the wood to hold myself back from crawling across the damn floor with my tongue lolling out of my mouth and begging at her feet to worship her body like she deserves.

My eyes roam up her toned legs and stop at the swell of her perfect ass. I stand there shocked as hell, staring straight at her curves like a man seeing water after wandering a barren desert. I bite my bottom lip to hold back the groan that wants to break free. Fuck if I don’t want to squeeze that ass between my palms, feel her smooth skin under my rough, calloused hands. I’m desperate to bend her over the bed and bury my face between her legs, devouring her pussy from behind. God, she’s so damn sexy. My cock rapidly hardens behind my jeans, throbbing against the zipper, reminding me how desperate I am to feel her sheathed tightly around me.

My eyes trail over her body, taking in the floral tattoo that hugs her right hip, dipping into her trim waist and rising higher before disappearing under her breast. My eyes glance in the mirror, finding hers already on mine, a shit-eating grin plastered to her pretty face.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” she teases, having no idea the effect she just had on me.

“Don’t tempt me, beauty. You are fine as hell.”

“Shut up, bear. Now quit staring at my ass and let me get dressed. Seriously, you know it’s time for you to go out and get laid if you’re ogling me of all people.”

If she only fucking knew. Her half naked body just went into my permanent spank bank to imagine while I beat off later. No one has ever, nor could they ever, compare to her.

Walking into my parents’ house, I’m tense, and although my irritation has simmered, I know that spending a meal with my siblings is not what I need right now when I should be taking Hannah back home and explaining everything that I learned. I wasn’t about to tell her before we left and no doubt ruin the night. Even if I know it’s all bullshit and that I’m finding every excuse I can to not break her heart.

Hannah and I haven’t kept things from each other before, so keeping this is causing me a foreign type of pain in my chest that makes me constantly uncomfortable. I’m irritable, grouchy, and two seconds away from losing my shit. Maybe I should have taken out my anger on Levi’s face.

“Hello, my darlings!” my mom yells from the kitchen as the three of us arrive, the house quieter than normal given all the cars in the driveway.

“Hey, Mom,” I say as I lean in and kiss her head before moving to the fridge to pull out a cold beer.

“Hi, Momma Amy. You need anything?”

“Hi, Mimi! Can I go find Pappy?”

“Hi, my sweet Miss Charlotte. Yes, he’s in the living room watching the hockey game.”

“The Kraken are playing?”

“Yes! Go give them good luck!”

“I’m going to go join them. Let’s see if we keep up this winning streak.”

Hannah follows Charlie to go see my dad, and I head downstairs to find my siblings. The boys and I work together at our family-owned-and-operated distillery. I love them all, butwe spend way too much damn time together, and there are no boundaries in our lives. We’ve all got unfiltered access to each other, and a group chat that’s constantly going off—basically, we’re all nosey as shit.

“Hey, fuckers.”

“What up little brother?”

“Fuck off, Sawyer,” I say as I flip him off, putting my hand directly into his face. He smacks it out of the way, and I keep walking, taking long pulls from my beer and heading toward my sister.

“Hey, sweet sister. How are you?”

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