A Redo (The Sterling Shore Series #6) (9 page)

“They change things up most of the time. Tomorrow you’ll find something totally different.”

A balloon pelts Wren suddenly, splattering up on me just barely, and Wren sucks in a breath while stepping back.

“Brin! I know that was you!” he calls out, mocking an angry tone that is betrayed by his grin. I laugh without meaning to.

“She’s vicious,” Rye whispers as he wiggles in behind a car hood, holding a balloon in his hand like it’s a gun.

“Where’s your stash?” Wren asks, pulling his shirt over his head despite the cool air. It is frigging colder with a wet shirt on.

His body… I wish he’d stop making me look at it. He wasn’t supposed to be shirtless again, damn it!

Rye motions toward his apparent stash. I look up just in time to see Brin on all fours, waving me over from behind another car hood. Eyeing both guys to make sure they’re otherwise distracted, I discreetly making my way over to her.

She pulls me down with her, motioning to a crate packed full of balloons.

“How many does he have left?” she asks, her body and hair completely dry.

“I don’t know,” I say through my soft laughter.

“You here for the Christmas stuff?”

“Yeah. And now I think my heart is going to pound out of my chest.”

It’s sad that this is giving me an adrenaline rush.

She looks at me with a broad smile on her face. “Great, isn’t it?”

I work hard not to laugh, and then I do something stupid; I grab a water balloon.

She wiggles with excitement before peeking out from behind her shelter, gauging the landscape. “Oh shit!” she screams just as we suddenly get hit with a massive attack, one balloon after another splattering against the hood and spraying onto us.

I throw the first balloon, giggling like an idiot the whole time. It hits the ground nowhere near anyone, but a thrill still shoots through me. After grabbing another one, I look around the side to see Wren hammering us with balloons right beside Rye, who is just as intent on emptying the arsenal.

I throw two balloons as hard as I can. One hits Wren right in the face, and I squeal in excitement when he’s forced to cough.

“Seriously? This is how you want to play?” he asks, a smile in his voice.

The adrenaline burns through me, setting me on fire as I laugh and help out Brin, who is a frigging water-balloon-launching machine. Before I know it, we’re out of balloons, and the guys are, too.

Naively, I assume that means the war is over… Until Brin takes off running, screaming and leaving me behind. Wren suddenly grabs me, and I laugh while trying to wiggle free from his grip.

“Got her!” Rye exclaims proudly from beside the house.

“I’ve got Allie.”

“Wren, stop. Please. I’m laughing so hard it hurts,” I beg.

He just continues carrying me toward the back of the house, and I try not to revel in the way it feels to be pressed up against him—again. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Rye opens the back gate to a patio behind his house, and Wren walks us in.

“Password,” Rye demands to a sulking Brin who has her arms crossed over her chest.

Wren stands me up on my feet, grinning at me while I playfully shove him.

“Fine. It’s your birthday,” Brin concedes on a long, dramatic breath.

Brin rolls her eyes, biting back a grin, and Rye goes to type in a password on the door lock. When the door opens, Wren shoves me to the front of the line.

“What’s going on?” I ask, stumbling toward the door.

“You joined her, so you walk through the house first,” Wren says unapologetically.

“No!” Brin squeals, leaping up.

“Ha! I knew you did more than change the password. Where are the traps?” Rye demands.

“I think we’ll come back later for the stuff,” Wren says through his chuckles, tugging my hand in his after just putting me on the frontline to be sacrificed.

Rye and Brin argue for a second, and then… silence.

“Are they dead?” I worry when we’re outside of the gate.

“Nah. They’re having sex by now. That’s why I got us out of there.”

I know my eyes have to be bugging out of my head. “Seriously?”

“Foreplay,” he explains—at least, he
thinks
he’s explaining.

He laughs while guiding me back to the car, where he points to the two shirts in the back seat. I climb into the passenger seat, and he gets in on the driver’s side.

“You always bring extra clothes?” I muse as he pulls a shirt over his head.

Thank God I don’t have to keep staring at his naked chest and abs.

“I was planning on fixing your sink today. Figured I’d need a spare or two. Grab one and change into it. It’ll do until Raya can loan you something else. We’re going there next.”

He wants to fix my sink? Why does that make me smile?

“I can’t just borrow a shirt from Raya. I’ve only met her once. And where am I going to change into your shirt?”

He pulls away from the curb after securing his shirt into place. “Change in here. And Raya won’t care.”

I roll my eyes before returning my gaze to the tempting, warm, dry shirt in the back seat.

“I can’t change in front of you.”

His easy grin kicks up, and he slants his eyes toward me. “After what you did to me this morning, I would think changing in front of me would be the least embarrassing.”

My face burns red, and he chuckles, mocking me all the more. So much for not mentioning it. At least it’s slowly getting less embarrassing. Well, sort of.

***

WREN

Blue balls are not an urban legend. I learned that today. They are very fucking real, and very fucking painful.

I still can’t stop thinking about her calling out my name when that look spread across her face—pure ecstasy. She was biting her lip, moaning, writhing, and shuddering against me, and I just about embarrassed myself by going off with her.

Fortunately, she woke up and freaked out, which took the edge off. Unfortunately, I’ve been left in the most pain of my life.

Thank God for cold showers. It’s the only thing that made my dick go down. But it hurts. It hurts so damn bad.

“Don’t look,” she says, leaning over and grabbing my shirt out of the back seat.

Obviously the second her shirt comes off, I look. Damn. I can’t believe I don’t remember anything about that night with her. It’s really pissing me off.

Her soft, very round, perky, large breasts are encased by a pink bra—one with a lacy trim. It makes me curious if she’s the type to match her underwear.

Shit. I really don’t need to be thinking about pink lacy underwear on her right now. My balls ache enough as it is, and my dick is growing just because I can see the top swells of her tits.

“You’re looking,” she hisses, slapping me on the arm while I laugh and turn my eyes back to the road.

She drops the shirt into place, and I grin, silently letting her know my peripheral works just fine.

“Ass,” she mumbles, but she can’t help but smile.

My shirt swallows her, but she looks comfortable and at ease in it. Not to mention, much too sexy.

“Your shirt smells good,” she says when I catch her inhaling against the collar.

She can’t say shit like that. It makes me want to push her down and pick up right where her dream left off. I’m dying to know what she was dreaming.

Before I know it, we’ve reached Uncle Paul’s, and my fucking dick is hard again. I really don’t need this to be happening right now.

Allie’s jaw drops when we roll up to the massive gates that lead to the ungodly Colton Estate. If she’s impressed with this place, then she’s going to love the house we’re going to tonight—even though I’ve soured the memories of it with my stupid fucking wedding. Maybe having Angel there will help me enjoy that home again.

“This is seriously where Kade and Raya live?” she asks in a rasp whisper.

“No,” I say, chuckling. “This is where Kade’s dad lives. Kade won’t own anything this flashy, but Kade and Raya are staying with them while they’re in town because his mom is planning their wedding. Her mother is planning the food portion, because she’s not really into the whole wedding scene.”

“Ah. Okay. So… Wow.”

Laughing, I pull through the gate once the man opens it, and we head toward the front, parking beside one of the elaborate fountains.

She sits still in her seat, acting as though she’s too scared to get out, and I make my way to her door to open it.

“Uh-uh,” she says while shaking her head. “I’m not going in there wearing your shirt while my hair is wet and destroyed.”

She looks sexy as hell in my opinion.

“If you don’t come in, they’ll come out and get you. Come on. No one is going to care what you’re wearing.”

She glares at me, looking pretty damn cute, and climbs out of the car. Her eyes go up the tall home, taking in the intricate designs all over the structure. It’s meant for royalty. Of course, in Sterling Shore, Paul Colton is royalty.

“He work from home, too?” she asks dryly, and I can’t help but laugh.

I wait until we’re inside, ushered in by Henry—the newest butler—before answering her.

“Nah. He owns Colton Fashion.”

She tries to plant her feet in the ground, but I tug her hand in mine, forcing her to move or lose her arm.

“You can’t seriously mean
that
Colton,” she hisses while stumbling, following me against her will when I keep tugging. “I can’t be here looking like this in front of a fashion god. It’s—”

“Wren,” Uncle Paul says, grinning when he sees the struggling girl at my side, “I thought you were here. And I take it you abducted someone?”

Allie stops struggling while her cheeks beam a glowing red. “This is Allie Thrash. Angel’s mom.”

Allie tries smoothing her wet hair into place, and Uncle Paul grins while closing the distance between them and extending his hand toward her.

“I take it you’ve been to see Rye and Brin already?” he muses, which earns a grin from Allie as she quickly shakes his hand and releases it.

“Yeah. Got sucked in.”

He laughs while nodding. “We drove by earlier while they were filling up water balloons on either side of the house. Margaret decided we’d keep driving instead of stopping.”

“Wise,” Allie says under her breath.

“They’re definitely entertaining. We were going over there to talk to Rye and thank him for getting his father out of the house more. I’ve always respected Rygan, but he got a bad hand. Rygan came over earlier to talk to me, which is good. He’s coming to the Christmas party this weekend because Rye asked him to. It’s really great to hear.”

Allie looks a little out of the loop, so I make a mental note to explain what I can later.

“See?” I ask, smiling. “Everyone knows you went to see Rye and Brin if you show up looking like you just went to war.”

She grins while blushing deeper, seeming shy now.

“Raya and Kade are in the middle of, well, a bit of drama right now,” Uncle Paul says with that enigmatic grin just before we hear yelling.

Allie quickly gets closer to my side when the sounds get louder, and she wraps both of her arms around one of mine just as Kade walks in with Raya over his shoulder.

“Kade Colton, don’t you dare! It’s December! You
cannot
just toss me in the pool!” Raya yells, pounding on his back ineffectively while hanging upside down.

Her hair flops against him while he smiles like a smug bastard. He continues moving toward the pool that is just through the glass doors on our right, leaving the doors open as he stomps through.

“When you cool down, come and find me,” he says as he starts to toss her, but the crafty girl grabs his shirt, forcing him forward when he loses his balance, and they both topple into the heated pool.

Water splashes high as a yelp and a squeal echo through the house.

“Damn. What happened?” I ask while snickering.

“Raya wants to elope now, but Kade refuses to let her get married without a wedding that she’ll love for the rest of her life. Yep. Margaret has driven her so crazy that Raya wants to sneak away and elope.”

My laughter rolls out, and Allie eyes me curiously, clearly amused. Shaking my head, I try to remember the task at hand. We have a lot to do.

“Mom said you had her Christmas cards.”

He walks over to the side table, pulls back the drawer, and retrieves several stacks of cards.

“My secretary mixed them up with mine when she picked them up from the store. Apparently Melanie put ours and hers all under her name when she had them ordered without realizing that would cause confusion. You heading over there now?”

“Tag’s place first. He asked me to stop by and check out a new deal he’s signing. I’m a silent partner in the business with him, and he wants to make sure I’m good with all his notes before we sign on the dotted line. Then we’re heading back to Rye’s to reattempt our original mission, then to Mom’s.”