Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Blythe

N erves danced beneath my skin like a million ants crawling all over me. I spun around in front of the bathroom mirror, taking my outfit in from all angles. Like the seven others I’d tried on before, it didn’t feel right.

“Damn it,” I grumbled, reaching for the hem of the dress and yanking it up over my head, leaving me in only my panties and bra.

Rhodes came sauntering into the bathroom, dressed in his usual jeans, cotton tee, and motorcycle boots like it was just any other day. I caught his smirk in the mirror before spinning around and stomping back to the massive closet we now shared, flipping through hangers frantically, like I didn’t already know exactly what I had.

“What was wrong with that one?”

“It was too casual,” I muttered.

He stepped into the doorway of the closet. “Baby, it’s just dinner. It’s meant to be casual.”

I spun around and planted my hands on my hips, shooting him a look that never failed to send my kids running off to do whatever I’d ordered. “It’s family dinner,” I stressed.

His brow furrowed as he leaned his shoulder against the frame and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re actin’ like you don’t already know them. We practically grew up together, Blythe. You’re just as much family in their eyes as I am. Hell, probably more so, given what day it is.”

I knew I wasn’t acting rationally, but I couldn’t seem to get my bearings. I’d never been worried about impressing Elliott’s family. They’d been different. Less affectionate and more formal, so I never got too close to any of them. Rhodes’s family was different. When we were together as kids, they’d taken me into the fold. I was an honorary Bradbury. I knew they still cared about me, that I was important to them, but this felt different. I wasn’t having a casual dinner with them as Sunny’s best friend. I was having dinner with them tonight as Rhodes’s girlfriend. The woman he’d be spending the rest of his life with. The woman who was bringing three children to the table with her. This wasn’t casual for me. I intended to make a statement tonight. And that statement was that I was here for good. This was it. I wasn’t thinking rings or wedding bells, mainly because I didn’t need any of that to be happy with Rhodes. But still, I wasn’t going anywhere ever again. “I don’t want them to think I’m not taking this seriously.”

He pushed off the door jamb and moved closer, reaching out to caress my upper arms. “Baby, they aren’t comin’ here tonight with any expectations other than eating good food and bein’ in good company.”

“Shit... the roast!” I blurted, making a move for the open closet door. The last thing I needed when I was this damn nervous was to burn the main entrée.

Rhodes grabbed my arm before I could bolt out of the closet, using my own momentum to whip me around. “I already took it out. Everything’s fine.”

My chest heaved on a sigh of relief. That was one box checked. Now if I could find something to wear...

Rhodes dragged his hand down my arms and rested his palms on my hips as his amber eyes skated up and down my barely-clothed body. “You know, I think I have just the cure for your nerves,” he rumbled as he slowly backed me deeper into the closet.

Goosebumps spread across my skin at the feral expression on his face, my core clenching and my nipples tightening beneath my bra. “Oh?” My tongue darted out to swipe across my bottom lip. “And what would that be?”

His grin was positively devilish as he toyed with the strings at my hips, pulling the material tighter and tighter, until it was at risk of snapping. “Droppin’ down to my knees and fuckin’ you with my tongue till you come all over my face.”

My pussy spasmed, silently begging for exactly that. My chest wobbled on a shaky inhale as I cast a glance over his shoulder. “The kids,” I said in a weak attempt at an objection.

“They’re all downstairs, currently occupied with things that’ll keep them down there for at least another ten minutes. I already locked the door, and if I can’t make you come in ten minutes, I’m fallin’ down on the job as your man.” He leaned forward, dragging his nose along the side of mine. “What do you say, Angel? You gonna let me have my dessert before dinner? Because my mouth is already watering for you.”

I blinked up at him through the fan of my eyelashes, a wicked grin stretching across my face as I placed my hands on his shoulders and applied pressure. “Get on your knees for me like a good boy and I’ll give you your reward.”

The sound he made was positively primitive as he lowered to the floor in front of me. His expression turned ravenous as he yanked my panties down my hips, tapping one ankle, then the other, in silent command for me to step out of them. As soon as I did, he scooped up the scrap of silk and lace and stuffed it into his back pocket, and I knew without a doubt that I was never getting those panties back.

His nose bumped against my clit as he leaned forward and inhaled deeply, pulling the scent of my arousal into his lungs and drawing a gasp from my chest.

He grabbed my right leg and hiked my thigh over his shoulder, opening me up to him and letting out a pleased hum at what he saw. “Already dripping for me.” His eyes traveled up my body and latched onto mine. Does having me on my knees turn you on, Blythe?”

“More than you could possibly imagine—” My words cut off with a sharp cry when his tongue darted out and slid through my wet, swollen folds, from my entrance to my clit.

Rhodes’s growl vibrated against my core, shooting sparks of electricity through my body. “Your taste is the only thing I’ve ever craved,” he grunted before spearing his tongue inside me. “Could spend the rest of my life feastin’ on only you and live the very best life a man could live.”

“Rhodes,” I panted and my fingers tangled in his hair, holding him in place as my hips began to circle, chasing after his tongue. I grew more desperate for my release by the second, every muscle and fiber in my body stringing tighter. I rode his face with abandon, my moans and whimpers growing louder and more frantic as he alternated between fucking me with his tongue and sucking on my clit.

“More, baby,” I pleaded, feeling like I was standing on the edge of the abyss, desperately waiting to be pushed over into nothingness. “ Please .”

Just like that, he plunged two fingers as deep inside me as they could go and curled them forward, stroking against that spot inside me that had me seeing stars. When his lips surrounded my clit and sucked, I went off. Stars burst in front of my eyes, and I tipped right over the edge, my mouth open on a silent scream as wave after wave washed over me.

Just before the one knee I still had holding me up could give out, Rhodes stood to his full height and held me up. Something told me he would always be there to catch me before I could fall. And I would try my hardest to do the very same for him.

He smiled rakishly, licking my arousal off his lips. “Three minutes,” he said triumphantly. “Looks like we have a few more minutes to spare.”

I reached down and made quick work of popping the button on his jeans and yanking down the zipper. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and bit down as I slipped my hand inside his boxer briefs and fisted his cock.

“Then I guess you better hurry up and fuck me before the clock runs out.”

Rhodes hoisted me up by the backs of my knees, wrapping my legs around his waist and walking me back until my back hit the wall. My nails dug into his shoulders and I cried out as he drove his cock into me from the root in one quick, brutal thrust.

“ Fuck ,” he barked out, pausing long enough for us both to adjust. Me to being so full and him to being squeezed to death by my pussy. He braced one arm beneath my ass to keep me in place while he lifted the other hand and collared his fingers around my throat, applying the lightest, most delicious pressure as his thumb tilted my chin up so I could drown in his eyes.

“Gonna spend the rest of my life fuckin’ you like this,” he grunted, his hips slamming against me as he powered in and out of me, his cock driving at an almost brutal pace. “I’ll wake up and fuck you like this. Go to bed at night and do it all over again. I’ll gladly leave this earth with my cock buried so deep inside you I don’t know where I end and you begin. There won’t be a day that comes I don’t tell you I love you. But this...” He slammed into me again, the base of his shaft rubbing against my swollen clit as he circled his hips, reaching a place inside me no one ever had before.

“Baby,” I said on a whine, the pressure building so high it almost scared me.

“This is how I’ll show you. Every. Fuckin’. Day .” He punctuated each of those words with a thrust, and on the last one, something inside me detonated.

He followed after me a moment later, burying himself deep and pressing against me as he groaned into my neck while emptying himself inside me.

When we both finally managed to catch our breath, he pulled back to look down at me, brushing the hair back from my forehead with the hand that I’d been wearing as a necklace.

I smiled at him and leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. “I can’t think of a better way to spend ten minutes.”

Then we both burst into laughter.

Koda let out a happy bark at the sound of the doorbell, like she already knew who was standing on the front porch.

My heart did a little skip as I smoothed the front of my dress for the millionth time. Rhodes had been right. He’d managed to make me forget all about my nerves, but now that the time had come, they were back with a vengeance.

“I’ll get it!” Avett shouted, skidding around the stairs on his socked feet. Before he could make it, though, Rhodes was there, placing a hand on the top of his head to stop him.

“Sorry, buddy. You have a few more years before you’re the one who can answer the door.”

“But—”

He gave his head a formal shake. “No ‘buts’, buddy. It’s not about you bein’ little or grown. It’s about safety. I take your safety very seriously. Yours and your mom’s and sisters’. Far as I’m concerned, it’s my responsibility, so until your momma and I say it’s time, you wait for one us to answer the door.” Rhodes held his hand out to my son. “Understood?”

Avett took his hand, his face growing serious as he shook it. “Understood.”

Rhodes grinned and ruffled his hair again. When he murmured “Good man,” Avett’s chest swelled so big it was a wonder it didn’t pop.

With that handled—and so brilliantly—he moved past me, pausing long enough to press a kiss to my lips and whisper, “Most beautiful woman in the whole world.” Then he passed by to let his family into our home.

Our home .

The second he twisted the knob, the door burst open so fast I thought for a second it was going to take Rhodes to the ground. He managed to keep his feet under him, but I barely had time to feel relief before three familiar faces came rushing at me like they hadn’t seen me in decades.

“You’re finally here!” Gypsy cried, throwing her arms wide and wrapping them around my neck as soon as she collided with me. Sunny was next, followed by their youngest sister, Holly. The three of them wrapped me in an embrace full of so much love it nearly choked me.

“Hi,” I croaked, doing my best to get my arms around the three of them. Over their shoulders, I saw Marco, Raylan, Raleigh, and Aaron come through the door and lifted my hand in a wave. They chuckled and returned it.

“I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that you’re back with my brother,” Sunny said tearfully. “My bestie is finally going to become my sister!”

“Yeah. Now that you’re back we finally have a shot at not being outnumbered by testosterone.”

I giggled just as Gypsy reached up and cupped my cheeks in both hands. Her eyes shone with happy tears.

“I’m so glad you’re finally home, sweetheart.” She cast a look at her oldest brother and smiled. “It’s been far too long. For the both of you.”