Page 47 of Reckless Rebel

He laughs now. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed,” He walks towards me and my eyes focus on the low set fitting of his gray joggers and the light dusting of hair on his stomach. His fingers reach out to tip my chin back until I am looking at him, “You’re the only one lucky enough to have spent the night in my bed, Riles.” My entire body flushes under his statement.

I feel that dangerous sizzle buzz beneath my skin, the one that keeps appearing anytime I am around him, I’ve tried to ignore it, pretend it doesn’t exist, but apparently my body isn’t getting the memo. I can’t be thinking the thoughts that start entering my mind, not with him, not after what I did with my boyfriend last night, or is it ex boyfriend? My mind is spiralling, I’m too hungover for this.

I huff in exasperation at both his ego and his nearness, “I honestly don't understand how you get so many girls with an ego the size of the god damn sun.” My words sound breathless even to me, and I know he picks up on it.

He smiles wickedly, “It’s because you haven't had sex with me yet.”

The word ‘yet’ lingers between us until someone clears their throat, “Well this is an interesting development.”

Both our heads snap towards the voice and I am met with a tall, dark, and handsome frame leaning against the doorway. He has a fun playful swagger about him, even just from his stance, and he is staring at Jace with a teasing grin.

Jace smiles when he spots him and heads over to him immediately, “Logan, what are you doing here man?” He offers him a fist bump which he returns without pause, like it’s their usual greeting, and then turns back to me and offers a little flick of his head.

I move over to them slowly as the guy, Logan, rolls his eyes, “You’re kidding right, it’s a full family affair downstairs, you’d think you were going off to war and not just on vacation.” He turns to me and nods with a smile, “Riley, right? Nice to finally meet you.” He holds his hand out for me to shake and I walk forward to take it with a smile, but remain silent.

His eyes trail over me, and I swear he is checking me out, a fact he confirms when he adds, “Damn, Conrad, I thought I had good taste, but yours clearly rivals it.” I blush even harder than before as he stares at me.

Jace smacks the back of his head. “Cut it out and go find your boyfriend.” I am filled with wonder at the thought that he might have a boyfriend, he must play for both teams. I know he knows what I am thinking by the look on his face.

Logan winks at me and then turns to Jace. “Lincoln is not my boyfriend.”

“Who said I was talking about Linc?” Jace challenges, raising his eyebrows at him and Logan smiles wider. “Touche.”

“Tell Elle, we still need five more minutes and then we’ll be down.” Jace replies, moving to stand closer to me again.

Logan looks between the two of us and smiles like he has found something. What, I’m not sure, but he just nods, “Sounds good, I’ll let her know.”

Jace waits until he leaves before he turns to me again. “I’ll apologize in advance for the hard and fast lesson you are about to get in regards to my family, but really there is no way out, so suck it up now,” he says it jokingly, but I can hear the nerves in his voice, like he is scared of what I’ll think of them.

“Sounds great.” I smile, ignoring my hangover, “I can’t wait to meet them all.”

He looks at me before nodding slowly and letting his gaze trace over me before he clears his throat. “Erm bathroom is through there if you want to freshen up, I did get some clothes from Elle that should fit if you want to change, but you don’t have to, I just want you to be comfortable.”

He doesn't linger, just pulls on a shirt and heads out of the room and leaves me alone with my thoughts. The need to snoop through his room and try and uncover more about him is strong, but I’m aware of how little time I actually have and I really do want to shower so I head to the bathroom. There is a pile of clothes on the counter that must be the ones he got from Elle, but when I pick them up I see they are all new with tags. I mean if his room and this bathroom are anything to go by, then I can only imagine what the rest of the house is like. Sienna said they are like rich rich, so they must be used to the kind of wealth where you can just give new clothes to someone.

I shake my head and strip off last night's clothes, again examining myself in the mirror. The last time I was in a bathroom I lost my virginity to my boyfriend, who I am pretty sure isn’t my boyfriend anymore, and I’m not sure how to feel. Am I sad, hurt, filled with regret, or is that relief inside of me? I can’t even tell anymore. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind from finding out about Jace to my relationship with Rick. Now I’ve got a breakup to deal with, and a vacation with the playboy I can’t stop thinking about even when I knew I shouldn’t be. How fun.

It takes me a minute to figure out how to get the shower on, but once I step under the spray, it is incredible. I feel like I could stand under it all day and it would wash away all my problems, but given that’s not an option, I look around until I find a body wash on the shelf and pour it out. I am immediately assaulted with the same scent I woke up to, both masculine and spicy, and utterly addictive and I lather my whole body with it.

Once I’m showered and dressed in the clothes provided, I take one last look in the mirror and then head out to try and find Jace, a task which seems impossible almost immediately when I realize how big this house actually is. It takes three separate hallways before I find myself at the center of a large staircase, and I make my way down in the hopes I am going the right way. I bypass an office with the door open and can hear a man talking business, clearly on the phone to someone, another room with a man, woman, and another girl all talking happily to one another, and then finally I come across someone I recognize, Lincoln if I am remembering rightly.

He is typing away on his phone, but looks up before I can even make a sound, “Riley,” He nods his head at me and I feel scrutinized under his gaze.

“Lincoln?” I guess cautiously and all he does is offer another nod of his head, “Erm have you seen Jace anywhere?”

He grunts, “Kitchen.” While nodding his head down the open space hallway we are standing in, “Down at the end.”

I nod back in return and make my way in the direction he said without saying anything else. As I draw closer to the kitchen I can hear the familiar sound of his husky voice as he playfully argues with someone.

“She is not my girlfriend!” He claims, and I find myself freezing on the threshold of the doors which are slightly ajar, and I can see him pouring juice into two cups.

“Why not? She’s really pretty, like a princess.” The little girl who introduced herself as Cassie responds to him and I smile.

Jace shrugs, “I know that I’m not blind, but she is just my friend, and she has a boyfriend.” The word friend cuts deeper than it usually does, but the way he speaks to her like she is an adult rather than a child warms my heart.

“I think you’d be a better boyfriend,” she claims innocently and he laughs.

“You have to say that because I am your favorite,” se teases, but she starts shaking her head.

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