The Wright Brother

by K. A. Linde

  I hadn’t really known what to expect, walking into this. When I’d seen her at church, I couldn’t help myself. Landon had said she was going to be here for only a few days. What would he care about me going on a date with his ex? It wasn’t like we were going to get married or anything. No, I’d definitely sworn that off after Vanessa.

  But, if this was a quick trip for her, then it wouldn’t be any different than hooking up with someone I met when I was away on business. We happened to meet in Lubbock and not when she was in Austin.

  Emery’s phone buzzed noisily while we waited in line at Torchy’s. Her laugh was effortless, and I enjoyed the flush that followed. Whoever had just messaged her certainly made my night easier.

  I raised my eyebrows as she shoved her phone into the back pocket of her jeans. “What was that about?”

  “Heidi,” she said, as if that explained it.

  Heidi. Right. They had been together at the wedding. I liked Heidi. She was a bossy, hard-working, and energetic woman and an HR nightmare. Not for me, mind you, since I didn’t mix business with pleasure, but half of the men on my staff were head over heels for her.

  “Heidi’s great. I don’t know what we would do without her. Though you’d never guess that from talking to her about it. How long have you known each other?”

  We scooted forward in line, and she edged closer to me. I was glad that I’d gone for casual. I did enough fancy dinners to know when a girl was into it. As soon as she’d said that she didn’t carry a purse, I knew a fifty-dollar steak wasn’t going to do the trick. Plus, even though this never happened, I really did prefer this. Tacos were my favorite.

  “That sounds like Heidi. Always the hard worker who acts as if she couldn’t care less,” she said, flipping her hair off her shoulder. “We’ve been best friends basically forever.”

  “Well, she’s lucky then.”

  She shook her head and nudged me. “Nah, I’m the lucky one. She keeps me on the straight and narrow.” She mischievously grinned up at me. “Well…mostly.”

  I decided right then and there that I liked that look and would do a whole lot to make her keep looking at me like that.

  “No one wants to be too straight and narrow.” I leaned down and whispered into her ear, “I color outside of the lines.”

  She burst out laughing as we reached the front of the line, and I held out my hand so that she could order first. I left her to fill up her drink and then grinned at the woman behind the counter.

  A few minutes later, we had our tacos in a bag, and I hefted them up to eye-level. “Ready?”

  She tilted her head in confusion. “Tacos on the go?”

  “We have places to be,” I told her.

  Her eyes flickered between me and the bag of tacos. I couldn’t read what was going on behind those eyes. Is she enjoying this, or am I going too far? I did have things planned for the night, but they could change if she wasn’t interested. She looked adventurous, and I wanted to see if I was right.

  “All right,” she said after a minute, “lead the way.”

  We moved back out to my truck, and I passed her the bag of tacos after she hoisted herself up into the passenger seat. I didn’t always drive my truck either, but where we were going, it was always better to have four-wheel drive.

  I sped us out of town, and Emery handed me my tacos. She suspiciously eyed me while we ate.

  “Where the hell are you taking me?” she asked halfway through her second taco.

  “You haven’t guessed?”

  She seemed to consider it. “I mean…I know what’s out this way, but I have no idea why you would be taking me into the middle of nowhere on a first date.”

  “Lubbock, by definition, is the middle of nowhere.”

  “That is a fair point,” she agreed.

  Her leg was bouncing in place, and I could see she was curious but trying not to be.

  “You don’t like surprises?”

  She shrugged and then grimaced. Then, she shook her head. “I mean…sometimes. Like, surprise, my sister is pregnant, that’s awesome. But I’m kind of horrible at this waiting thing. I was that kid who would sneak into my mom’s closet and peek at my Christmas presents. I called Oklahoma before they announced scholarship letters and convinced the person in administration to tell me whether or not I’d made it.”

  I couldn’t help it; I laughed. She sounded just like me. If someone had planned something like this for me, I would be losing my mind, having to know what was going on.

  “Don’t laugh at me,” she said, swatting at my sleeve. “I’m impatient.”

  “I don’t fault you. I am the same way.”

  “So…where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  Then, she slumped back down. “Ugh! Okay. I’ll wait.”

  Luckily, she didn’t have to wait for long. Before she knew it, we pulled into the small town of Ransom Canyon. It was only about twenty minutes outside of Lubbock and generally considered a sort of suburb of Lubbock. Not that Lubbock actually had suburbs. It was just one of the closest towns.

  “Ransom Canyon?” Emery asked, staring at the flat lake that took up the center of the canyon.

  Unknown to most people, west Texas had a series of canyons that studded the land, like holes in Swiss cheese. Palo Duro Canyon, an hour and a half north of town and just outside of Amarillo, was the second largest canyon, after the Grand Canyon, in the United States. It was one of the many things that made this side of Texas interesting if you knew where to look.

  “Have you seen their Christmas lights before?”

  “Nope. I’ve been here a million times before. We used to go to the lake as kids. I’ve spent many a summer weekends on boats here. But I didn’t know about the Christmas lights. When did they start to do that?”

  “A couple of years ago. They even have a radio station tuned in so that you can listen to Christmas music as you circle the neighborhood and the lake.”

  “Festive.” Her tone instantly changed. She had gone from skeptical to excited. She leaned forward in her seat, wondering where we were going to start first. “Are we going to see them all?”

  “Of course,” I told her. Even though I’d had something else in mind, I was not going to miss a minute of that smile.

  I switched the station over to AM radio and drove around town. It was a small area of only about a thousand people, but the people who had chosen to move out on the lake rather than live in town generally had considerable wealth. The mansions were decked out in Christmas lights, which had all likely been done by the same company. It was like the modern version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas when the two Whos were fighting over who had the best lights. That was the entire town.

  Our drive was punctuated by Emery’s oohs and aahs and the occasional, “Slow down; you’re going too fast.”

  I had to say, that was something I’d never heard before.

  Emery lit up brighter than any of the houses that we’d passed. Halfway through, she must have begun to relax around me because she started singing along with the Christmas music. She was a little off-key, but I found that it didn’t even matter. And, eventually, we were both belting out the chorus to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

  Emery was laughing so hard that a few tears rolled down her face. “Oh my God, if I had thought for one second in high school that I would be singing Mariah Carey with Jensen Wright on a real date, I think I would have dropped dead.”

  “Hey, don’t dis Mariah,” I said. “She’s an icon.”

  “She can’t even sing anymore!”

  “I’m going to pretend like you didn’t say that.”

  She snorted and then covered her face. “Oh my God, what is my life?”

  “Seems pretty awesome,” I said with a grin. “Even if you don’t like Mariah.”

  “I do like Mariah!” she cried. “Stop twisting my words, you!”

  “I’m not twisting anything.”

  Her smile was m
agnetic, and I just wanted to kiss her. I mean…I’d wanted to kiss her all night. But sitting there, in front of the last lit house, with Christmas music playing in the background and her smile radiating joy, there was nowhere else I’d rather be. That thought hit me so suddenly and I didn’t even know why.

  I put my truck into park, leaned over to her side of the car, and pushed my hand up into her dark hair. She froze, silhouetted by the light display behind her. Her eyes locked with mine, green meeting brown, and her eyes widened with surprise. She breathed out softly, and I could feel her pulse ratchet up at my touch.

  This was the girl who had pulled me across the room at Sutton’s wedding, like a magnet finding its pair. This was the tension that I’d felt when we first spoke. Here was the world of desire and lust that had clouded both of our minds ever since our first kiss.

  My face was only inches from hers. I wanted to take what was mine. I wanted to claim her mouth and then her body right here in the cab of my truck, like we were young, wild, and carefree.

  But, instead, I couldn’t seem to stop staring at her.

  She laughed lightly to try to defuse the tension. But it wasn’t possible, and it was a feeble effort.

  “Are you going to kiss me?” she whispered boldly.

  I didn’t need any further prodding. I crushed my lips against hers. It was like striking a match. Our lips moved against each other, desperate with the need to get closer, to have more. She opened her mouth for me, and I brushed my tongue against hers. The groan that emanated from deep in the back of her throat made my dick twitch. Our tongues volleyed for position. She was just as aching for attention as I was.

  I heard the click of her belt buckle, and soon, she was pushing her body closer, moving over the divide of my truck. My hands fell to her ass, and I effortlessly hoisted her up and into my seat. She squeaked in shock but didn’t break contact. Instead, she straddled me and let her hands wander across my chest.

  My hands never left her ass because, damn, did that woman have an ass. She was grinding up against me, and I moved into a full-blown hard-on at her ministrations. She must have realized what she was doing to me because, when she swiveled her hips in place, she moaned against the feel of my dick.

  In that moment, I didn’t give a shit that we were acting like teenagers, parked outside of a stranger’s house, bucking against each other for just an ounce of satisfaction. I was ready to strip her bare and fuck her until she forgot every word to every Christmas song and only remembered my name.

  That was, until she rocked back just a little too hard, and a loud honk erupted from the hood of the truck.

  Twelve

  Emery

  I broke away lightning fast, and my head whipped to the side. I stared out at the house we were parked in front of. All the lights were lit, and surely, anyone who was inside had a front-row view to what we had just been doing.

  “Fuck! I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “It’s fine. You should kiss me again,” Jensen said.

  He hadn’t moved his hands from my ass, and I couldn’t deny that I liked it.

  Fuck, I had just had the most amazing make-out session in my life and ruined it.

  Jensen nipped my lower lip, basically deciding for me. I leaned into his kiss again with a low moan.

  Forget common decency. I just wanted Jensen Wright. Right here. Right now.

  Then, I heard the sound of a door crashing open. I reared back and found an old woman rushing out of the front door in her nightgown. She had to be in her eighties with her white hair in curlers. She was shaking her fist at the truck as she wandered out into the frigid night.

  “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” My eyes widened in horror.

  No sweet talk from Jensen was going to change my mind this time. There was an old woman shaking her fist at us. Comically, I suddenly felt like I was in an old movie, and I was dying of humiliation.

  I scrambled off of Jensen’s lap and landed with a thud back into the passenger seat. I frantically waved my arms at Jensen. “Come on. We have to get out of here.”

  He laughed at me. There wasn’t an ounce of shame on his face.

  “Jensen,” I spat like a curse, “get your cute ass moving.”

  “All right, all right,” he said with a grin. He languidly adjusted his pants, which was a nice distraction from the woman approaching us from her front porch. “So long as you think my ass is cute.”

  I buried my face in my hands. Not only had we been caught making out by a woman, but I had also just admitted to checking out Jensen’s ass. I was out of my damn mind. That had to be the only explanation.

  Jensen put the truck into drive and pulled away without another word. He seemed to find the whole thing amusing. I thought he might have even found my own humiliation funnier than the woman rushing out at us. Just my luck.

  “I cannot believe that just happened.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” he said, slipping his hand across the seat and taking mine.

  I let out a groan. “What is your definition of wasn’t that bad?”

  “You don’t know that woman, and you’ll never have to see her again.”

  “Not with my luck!”

  Jensen reassuringly trailed his thumb down my knuckles. “Emery, look at me.”

  My gaze shifted to his from where I was bent over. “What?”

  “Don’t be embarrassed. I thought it was sexy as hell.”

  “Getting caught?” I asked.

  He tilted his head and arched an eyebrow. “The way you rode me,” he said in a husky deep voice.

  I blushed at his words, but that got me to sit up. I shouldn’t be so embarrassed. We weren’t kids anymore. I was an adult…sort of. I wasn’t that great at adulting. I didn’t even really know what was considered adulting. But, if it involved riding Jensen like a bucking bronco, then I’d be on board with trying to be more of an adult.

  “You liked that?” I asked, finally finding my voice.

  “I’d like to do more than let you ride me in my truck,” he admitted.

  He took a left and then headed back up the canyon. His eyes slid to mine in the darkness, and the intensity of them shot heat straight between my thighs. I squeezed them together in anticipation.

  “I’d love to get you to make those moaning noises all night.”

  I choked on my own saliva at those words. My mouth dropped open.

  “I wouldn’t mind this either,” he said, untwining our hands to rub his thumb across my bottom lip.

  “Oh, dear God,” I whispered.

  My tongue darted out and caressed his thumb, and we both shivered.

  “Is that what you want?”

  “For you to fuck me?” I countered.

  He grinned, dimpling his cheeks and sending me swooning all over again. “I’d like nothing more than to fuck you, Emery.”

  My head nodded in agreement, as if without my body even realizing it. Because, hell yes, I wanted to get fucked by Jensen Wright.

  Normally, I wouldn’t talk about sex like that. It was Heidi who had messaged me at Torchy’s to ask if we were fucking already. I hadn’t thought for a split second that it was even a possibility that we were going to get hot and heavy. I had thought that maybe he’d kiss me on my doorstep when he dropped me off.

  I wasn’t naive. I’d gone through my one-night-stand phase in college. I’d meaninglessly dated a guy in college who I fucked every day until I realized I hated that he smoked. I’d dated my own PhD advisor for going on three years. We never commented on our sex life. We’d had long debates about seventeenth century monarchs, drunk French wine over philosophical commentaries, and made love in the dark under the covers on days when he didn’t have to teach in the morning. But none of those relationships or pseudo relationships had ever had a guy who wanted to talk about what he wanted to do to me. To count the ways that he wanted to fuck me and then follow through.

  Jensen Wright wanted to fuck me.

  He wanted to use my mouth and body all night.


  And I was perfectly fine with letting him.

  A couple of minutes later, we pulled up to a one-story cabin overlooking the canyon and the flat lake in the middle. It wasn’t as enormous as some of the ones inside the canyon walls, but it held its own. At least what I could see of it.

  “Whose house is this?” I asked as Jensen pulled into the driveway.

  He cut the engine, and he looked over at me, almost apologetically. “Mine.”

  “Oh,” I said as realization dawned on me.

  He had planned this. That much was clear. He had wanted to bring me back here for sex the whole time. Part of me wanted to be flattered, but I suddenly had a bad taste in my mouth, and I felt frozen in my seat.

  “I originally planned to bring you here,” he said. At my appalled face, he shook his head. “Not like that. I planned to use the fire pit and make s’mores. I have the supplies in the back. I figured it’d be about fifty degrees, and if the weather permitted, we could night hike. Hence the warm clothes…” He trailed off when I didn’t move.

  My brain was trying to catch up to his statement. I turned around and found a paper Sprouts bag in the back, and marshmallows were on the top. Okay, so I had overreacted. He hadn’t brought me out here just to fuck me. He wasn’t using me.

  God, why had I automatically thought the worst of him? I was sure it was latent prejudice against the Wright family. Not to mention, my not-so-stellar luck with guys.

  “We could still do that,” he offered. “Though it has dropped down to twenty with a wind chill of eleven. So…we might freeze.”

  “You turned the car off, so I’m already freezing,” I told him. My hands were shaking. I’d stupidly forgotten my gloves. I stuffed them into the pockets of my jacket.

  “Let’s get you inside and warm you up then.”

  I hopped out of the truck and followed him to the front door. He had the bag of groceries in his arm and unlocked the door with his other hand. He kicked the door open with his foot and let me in first. I still felt cautious after my suspicions returned to me. I had been having the best time with Jensen, and I didn’t want to think things like that.