“Oh my God, do not start it like that.”
“Why not?” he asks.
“Because that’s not how you speak to him. You want to be as casual as possible.”
“Right.” He starts typing again. “Hey, dickwad—”
“Starting things off with an insult isn’t great either. Maybe something like . . . hey man.”
He smirks. “Ah, you’re a clever one, Penny Lawes.” He types again. “Hey man, Hornsby here.”
“Oh my God.” I rip the phone from his grasp and do the dirty work myself. “‘Hey man, wasn’t sure if you’re coming up to the cabin or not, but if you are, heads-up, Penny and I are a thing now.’ Annnd send,” I say while pressing the blue arrow. “There, done. Now we can go make out in the kitchen.”
“Yeah, we won’t be doing that. I don’t need Taters staring us down, which . . . babe”—he pins me with a glare—“if we’re going to have sex in this house, which I’m assuming we will, given the way you nearly gobbled my dick this morning—”
“Hey, I did not gobble it.” I push at his shoulder, causing him to laugh.
“But given your voracious appetite for sex, you need to be fucking quiet, which I know will be hard for you, but you can’t be screaming like you normally do. Taters will bring it up since our rooms are near each other.”
“Not scream? So I don’t have to fake it anymore?”
“Shut the fuck up with that shit. You’re not faking.”
“How do you know?” I lift a questioning brow.
“Because”—he leans in close to me—“when you come, I can feel your pussy clenching around me, and it’s one of the sexiest feelings I’ve ever felt.”
My cheeks heat while my body follows closely behind. “The sexiest?”
“Yes,” he says, his voice lowering.
I lean in even closer and bring my hand to the back of his head just as his phone beeps with a text message.
“That’s Pacey,” he says, pulling away. He lifts his phone and reads the text out loud. “‘Not sure I’m going to make it up there. Winnie’s not talking to me still, and she’s staying at her friend’s house. Just don’t hurt Penny, like I said.’”
“Winnie isn’t even staying with him? What the hell happened that it could be that bad?” I ask. “And why hasn’t she told me it was this serious?”
“I don’t know. Should I ask?”
I nod. “Yes. Ask him. Also . . .” I poke his chest. “Listen to my brother, and don’t hurt me.”
He presses a soft, lingering kiss to my lips. “Never.” And then he types back. “Dude, what happened? Also, I promise I won’t hurt her.”
His response is immediate, and we read it together.
Pacey: My shit to worry about. Have fun in Banff.
“I don’t like that answer,” I say. “I’ll text Winnie in a bit to see if there’s anything we can do.”
“Hey,” a voice shouts from inside the garage. We both turn to see Taters standing in the doorway with only a pair of shorts on, holding his arms out. “What the hell are you doing? I’ve been waiting here to greet you for fucking ever.”
Eli opens his car door and says, “Sorry, just texting Pacey.”
Taters nods in understanding. “Spoke to him this morning. Things aren’t great with Winnie. Not sure they’re going to make it up here.”
“What the hell happened?”
Taters moves to the back of the car and opens the trunk. He peeks past the seats and says, “Hey, Penny.”
“Hey, Silas,” I answer as I get out of the car.
“They got in a huge fight. It started with Pacey’s neediness to control the situation between you two.” Taters motions between us. “But then turned into so much more. Pacey has been withdrawn, apparently because he’s been trying to plan his proposal. He hasn’t wanted to give anything away. Winnie took it the wrong way, and now everything’s gone to shit.” Taters pulls our suitcases out of the back. “He actually made me bring the ring here because he didn’t want Winnie to see it.”
“He was going to propose?” I ask. “Why didn’t he say anything to me?”
“Probably because we had enough going on,” Eli says. “Fuck, that’s brutal. What’s he doing to get her back?”
“Working with her best friends right now and telling them what happened, asking them not to spill the beans. It will be a miracle if they come up here from the sounds of it.”