Happily Ever After: A Contemporary Romance Boxed Set

by Piper Rayne

  “I’m … not sure,” I say. The need to itch is driving me insane.

  “Your face looks swollen,” she says in alarm. “Should I call 9-1-1?” she asks, looking around, as if for advice.

  “No,” I protest. “I’m fine. Just … itchy.”

  “But if it spreads to your throat then it might swell and close up. I’ve been trained to treat anaphylaxis,” she says gravely. “We better get you to the first aid tent. They have epinephrine.”

  “But what about your contest?” I ask.

  “I’ll come back for my ribbon later.”

  “Oh, you won, that’s so awesome!”

  “Yeah,” she says as she practically drags me out of the tent.

  The more we walk, the itchier and hotter I feel. By the time we step up to the first aid tent, I’m fantasizing about climbing into a bucket of ice.

  Caleb and his brother Peter seem to be locked into an argument—both faces are red and tight.

  “…stupid thing to do,” Peter says.

  “Fuck off,” Caleb groans.

  “Excuse me,” Annika interrupts.

  Both heads snap in our direction.

  Caleb’s eyes go wide when he sees me, and then he’s rushing my way.

  14

  Caleb

  “Shit, what happened?” I say, my gaze flicking from Annika to Lori’s.

  “It started after…” Lori starts, but then pauses, probably because there are three pairs of eyes staring at her.

  “Let’s get her inside,” Peter commands.

  I hate him taking charge like this. Ever since Dad died, he’s become Captain Asshole. But he’s the future doctor. I’m just an EMT.

  All of us usher Lori to one of the exam tables set up at the back of the small tent. The volunteer fire department’s ambulance is parked in the grass outside in case we need it.

  Peter runs through the patient assessment drill. Yes, she can breathe okay, no, she didn’t get stung, no, this has never happened to her before. He dons a pair of gloves and uses his stethoscope to listen to her heart, then he inspects the hives on her legs, which in the space of five minutes have almost doubled in size.

  “Where on your body did you first notice it?” I ask.

  Peter may be in charge but I’m not just going to stand here.

  “On my knees.”

  Lori’s gaze locks with mine and the realization hits. The hay in the barn.

  Pete’s eyes scrunch together in curiosity. “Interesting. Run me through your recent activities.”

  Lori’s face blanches.

  “She needs Benadryl, like now, Pete,” I say.

  “I want to get to the bottom of this,” he says, turning to me. “What was she doing on her knees?”

  “It’s from hay.” I give Lori a reassuring look. “Right?” I ask her. “Didn’t you tell me you went to the petting zoo?”

  “Oh yeah,” Lori says, the alarm in her eyes quickly softening to relief. “I got on my knees to … pet some goats.”

  Pete glances from me to Lori. Next to me, Annika releases a soft snicker. I glare at her, but she gives me her classic scolding look.

  “And you’ve never been near hay before?” Pete asks.

  Lori shakes her head.

  Jeez, she looks miserable. I feel terrible.

  “Never been in a barn before,” she replies. “To a petting zoo, I mean.” Her face flushes pink but I think I’m the only one who notices.

  Peter pulls off his gloves. “I don’t think you need epinephrine, but an antihistamine should help calm your reaction.”

  I open the first aid box and punch out two little pink pills from the foil package and grab a bottle of water.

  Lori drops the pills onto her tongue and takes a long gulp from the bottle.

  Peter glances at his watch. “Keep her here for observation. Watch for any changes in her airway.”

  “I’m not a total moron,” I say, my jaw tight.

  He gives a snort. “See you at nine. Page me if you get more patients.”

  “I’m perfectly capable, Pete.” I try to keep my voice calm, but there’s no mistaking the edge in it.

  “I wish you’d start showing it,” he mutters, so low only I can hear it.

  Once he leaves, Annika gives us both a hard stare.

  “Look, it’s not going to take long for people to put this together. Pete’s oblivious but the rest of the town isn’t.” She huffs a giant sigh. “The barn? For real?”

  Lori looks at her hands.

  “So what if people know,” I say with a shrug. “We’re just having fun.”

  She lifts an eyebrow. “If this blows up, it’ll be bad for the business, and we can’t have that right now. You know that.”

  “This has nothing to do with the business!” I say.

  Annika gives me a look. “Plus, Lori doesn’t need her name dragged through the mud.”

  “So, I’m the mud? Gee, thanks.”

  Her eyes soften. “I care about both of you, okay? I don’t want to have to be the one to pick up the pieces when this whole thing blows up.”

  “What thing?” I ask.

  “Whatever shenanigans you two are pulling.” She puts her hands on her hips.

  “We have a solid agreement,” I say, crossing my arms.

  Lori’s head snaps up.

  “We’re just hanging out for the summer, and when it ends, we’ll go back to being friends.”

  Annika’s left eyebrow arches up. “Seriously?”

  “What? We’re good with it, right Lori?”

  Lori’s gaze flicks from Annika to me. “Yeah. Just for the summer.”

  Annika groans. “So, I have to watch you make googly eyes at each other for six more weeks?”

  “No googly eyes,” I say.

  “Yeah, that’s officially off the list,” Lori adds, biting back a smile.

  Annika shakes her head. “Okay, but don’t come crying to me when it goes south. I want no part of it.”

  “Got it,” I say.

  “No crying. Promise,” Lori says.

  Annika sighs, then scrutinizes both of us with a hard look. “I can already hear the tongues wagging. Your official story is that petting zoo one, okay?”

  She spins on her toes and marches out of the tent.

  “I’ll bet you didn’t know that getting hives would give you a front row seat to the Morgan Family Feud show,” I say, slumping next to her on the bed.

  “It’s pretty fascinating, actually,” she says. “I don’t have any siblings to fight with.”

  “Ha,” I say. “Want a few of mine? I’d be happy to offload Pete right now.” The minute I say it, I regret it. “Actually, no, that’s not true. I just wish he’d stop trying to be my dad.”

  “Annika told me he passed away. I’m sorry, Caleb.”

  “Thanks,” I say.

  A long silence stretches between us.

  “I wonder if Pete feels like he needs to take over,” Lori finally says.

  “But he doesn’t,” I protest, my hackles springing to life.

  “But he must feel some kind of responsibility, as the oldest?”

  I shrug. “He’s always been so focused. Like he couldn’t wait to leave all of us behind.”

  “Maybe he’s just driven.”

  “Yeah, both him and Wyatt are.” I’m not sure why I say this. I hadn’t meant to go any deeper into my nutty family’s dynamics.

  “The swimmer,” Lori says.

  “Growing up, he and Pete were always really close, almost like twins.”

  She frowns. “Were?”

  Crap. I hadn’t meant to open that box. “We’re all still really close, but it’s different now that some of us are out of the house.” I almost laugh at how far this is from the truth.

  She nods, but I can tell my answer didn’t satisfy her. I can’t explain what happened between Wyatt and Pete. It’s too messy.

  “You and Annika seem really close,” she says.

  A tight feeling grips my st
omach. “Yeah, we’re only two years apart, so it’s always been that way,” I say.

  “I wish I had a sister,” she says.

  I smile. “Fifty percent of the time, she drives me crazy. But a hundred percent of the time, I can’t imagine my life without her.”

  “You say the sweetest things,” she says, resting her head on my shoulder.

  I slide my arm around her in a soft embrace. “Despite all of our differences, I love my family.”

  “You’re lucky.”

  “It doesn’t mean I want to hang around here for the rest of my life though.”

  She questions me with her eyes. “Sounds like you have big plans.”

  “Not big, really, just…mine.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I inhale a deep breath. “Growing up with so many people in such a small space, nothing is ever really yours. I never had my own room. Everything I had was handed down: my clothes, shoes, lunchbox, my bike, skates. And we were all funneled to do the same things, have the same goals. Things like working at White Cloud. Playing hockey. Going to college.”

  “But you like those things, right?”

  “Yeah, most of them.” My math professor’s dark glare flashes through my mind. Despite studying every day for almost two hours, I failed every test. And then there’s English, a class I should have aced but again, our final grade is test-based, and I bombed all three of them.

  “I’m done being told what to do. I’m ready to make my own choices.”

  “Any idea what that’ll look like?” she asks, nuzzling closer.

  “I’m … thinking of quitting school,” I say.

  She gives me a concerned glance. “Wow, why?”

  “It’s expensive. And I don’t really know what I want to do.”

  “You don’t like your classes?”

  “Some of them. I like science and doing the experiments. I took an art class. I liked the metalwork we did.”

  “So, you like working with your hands,” she says. “You seem to like taking care of people,” she adds. “Are you interested in medicine?”

  I shake my head. “No, that’s Pete’s thing.”

  She scoffs. “It could be your thing too. The field of medicine is huge.”

  “Being a doctor is too serious. And there’s way too much school for that.”

  “Hmm, well, you could do something like a Physician’s Assistant. I think that’s only a year of school.”

  “I was thinking of just working as an EMT for a while.” I’m struck by how easy it is to talk to her. She’s not judging me like so many people feel compelled to do.

  “That’s a great idea,” she says.

  “And playing a lot of music.”

  “Ooo, a rock star,” she teases, leaning into me.

  “Speaking of rock stars,” I say, turning so I can see her better. “How are you feeling?”

  “It still itches, but it’s not as bad,” she says.

  The hives on her arms and neck look more pink than red now, but the ones on her knees are red and weepy. “I’m so sorry, Lori,” I say, wincing.

  She shrugs. “It’s fine.”

  “I hate that I did this to you.”

  She glances at me, surprised. “I was the one on my knees.”

  I relive her mouth sliding down my cock, then shake my head to clear it. “Goddamn.”

  “What?”

  “If you don’t quit it, I’m going to have to break my doctor-patient privilege.”

  She giggles. “I might like that.”

  “Cut it out!” I say, knocking her with my shoulder.

  “I don’t want to,” she says. “It’s way too fun, watching you get excited.”

  I lean over and give her a soft kiss—nothing too crazy—I know she doesn’t feel good. “I think maybe it’s time I kick you out of this tent.”

  “Didn’t you take some sort of oath? Sickness and health and all that?”

  “That’s a wedding vow, dude,” I say with a laugh. “The Hippocratic oath is to ‘do no further harm’.”

  She giggles again. “I think it would cause me further harm to walk around drugged.”

  “It’s only an antihistamine, not valium.”

  “Okay, okay,” she says, and slips to her feet. Her hand flies out and grabs me as she sways a little.

  “Whoa there.”

  She releases a slow breath. “Maybe I should head home.”

  “Sometimes that medicine can make people tired.”

  “I think it has more to with a certain someone keeping me up very late last night,” she says, giving me a look that could melt steel.

  I brush back a stray lock of hair and tuck it behind her ear. “I’m not going to apologize.”

  She covers her mouth to yawn again and it’s adorable watching her face scrunch up and her nose crinkle. “I wasn’t asking you to,” she finally says.

  Our eyes connect. I wipe the little bit of moisture leaking from her eyes with my thumbs, savoring the way she softens to my touch.

  “I’ll text Pete to cover me here so I can take you to camp.”

  She scratches at her wrist. “You don’t have to do that,” she says. “I can probably find a ride.”

  This night is going to be hellaciously uncomfortable for her and I hate being unable to help. “Nonsense. I’m taking you.”

  Her eyes fill with gratitude. “Okay. Thank you.”

  I send a message to Pete but don’t bother waiting for him to arrive. I don’t need any more of his attitude tonight.

  I’m not going to tax Lori’s balance with a ride on my bike, so text Annika that I’m borrowing her car.

  With my affairs settled, I lead Lori out of the tent. We walk through the dry meadow and sage, our hands clasped.

  “What about your future plans? You gonna set the world on fire?”

  She gives me a sarcastic sneer. “No.”

  “C’mon, smart girl like you—”

  “What makes you think I’m smart?” she asks.

  Her voice has a bite to it I’ve never heard. I watch her out of the corner of my eye, curious. “Hmmm, it may have been that crack about learning calculus, or that you knew how many pounds were in a half ton.”

  She scoffs. “Everyone knows that fact.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “You’re wrong there.”

  “I’m good at math, okay?”

  “Why are you so defensive about it? If I were good at math, I’d be shouting it from the rooftops.”

  “I highly doubt that.”

  “You obviously haven’t met my math teacher.”

  She gives me a look but I’m quick to laugh it off.

  “I’m going to study biology,” she finally says.

  “Cool, like animals?”

  “Maybe,” she says. “The other night, I thought I heard wolves howling.”

  “They’re one of the last packs in the lower forty-eight,” I say with a touch of pride.

  “That’s awesome.” She gazes wistfully at the distant mountains, then shrugs. “But I might go into pathogen research like my dad.”

  “Wow, like cures for cancer and stuff?”

  “Yeah.”

  We walk the length of cars to the end of the row where Annika parked.

  “Why aren’t we taking your bike?” she asks.

  “This is safer.”

  She gives me a look I can’t read—like I’ve said something profound. But I’m only doing what any normal person would.

  Right?

  We climb into Annika’s car and I wait until she’s buckled before I start the engine. I lower the windows and cruise down the gravel road. Once we’re up to speed on highway, the valley’s river-cooled air filters into the car, bathing my senses. We pass through town, then I turn up the road to the camp, crossing the river that’s wide and shallow here. I can’t hear the water over the sound of the engine, but its current flows through me all the same.

  I park the car outside the split rail fence bordering the camp and step o
ut of the car.

  “You don’t have to walk me all the way to my cabin,” she says, releasing another yawn. “I’m fine.”

  “As your doctor, I have to make sure you’re safe.”

  She laughs. “Okay, but just so we’re clear, the messy side of the cabin is your sister’s.”

  “Like you need to tell me. I grew up with her, remember?”

  I take her hand and she leads me down a narrow dirt road. “Is anyone here right now? I’m not sure you being alone is a good idea.”

  “The camp owner and director live here, so they’re around.”

  “Well, if you feel any worse, call me, okay?” I say, swinging her hand. “I’ll be faster than 9-1-1 tonight.”

  “Okay,” she says.

  We pass a bunch of camp buildings then turn right on a trail, which leads us through a grove of Aspen trees to a small wood cabin identical to several others we’ve passed.

  “Thank you for the escort,” she says sleepily as we step inside the simple one-room space set up with two single beds and two dressers.

  “Man, that stuff is really knocking me out,” she says then slumps onto the edge of her bed.

  I help her out of her shoes and pull back the covers. Her comforter is a periwinkle blue and the sheets have trains on them.

  “What’s with the trains? I thought girls liked flowers and stuff.”

  She frowns, then catches on when she sees the sheets. “Oh, they’re my little brother’s. The sheets from my bed at home are too big.”

  I picture Lori sitting cross-legged on the floor with a younger boy who looks a little bit like her, the two of them building a wooden train track.

  “You want to get undressed?”

  She gives me a look.

  “Hey, get your mind out of the gutter,” I tease. “I wasn’t trying to put the moves on you.”

  “Why not?” she asks, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

  I grip the sides of her face and give her a firm kiss. “Because you’re sick, now get in bed.”

  “So bossy,” she sighs.

  My cock twitches. “I think you like me that way.”

  A sly smile lights up her face.

  “Actually, I think I need to take off my shorts. They’re really uncomfortable.” She rolls to her back and I help her slide them off. I definitely don’t stare at her pale pink underwear and the way it frames her perfect thighs.