Wright with Benefits Read online

  No, it was this moment. When, against all odds, his power was out.

  The laughter bubbled up from the deep recesses of my chest before bursting out of my mouth. It was a hysterical madness that couldn’t be contained. Tears came to my eyes as the compounded effect of this terrible day hit me full force.

  “Annie?” Jordan asked.

  But I was already leaning forward on my knees, trying to suck in air as I hiccupped around my laughter.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Everything,” I gasped out. “This day. Just think, we came here to escape a flood, and your power is cut. It just feels too good.”

  “I think you’ve lost it.”

  Slowly, my laughter subsided, and I swiped at my eyes. “Maybe I have.”

  The anger was gone. That end of my rope feeling subsided, and in its place was relief. Because the day was almost over, and if it wasn’t tempting fate, I’d wonder, What else could possibly go wrong?

  Jordan used his phone as a flashlight to find a stash of candles. He lit a few of them, positioning them around the living room. The space glowed soft, ambient light. I dropped my purse on the island next to the case of wine and took in the vaulted ceiling with the enormous royal fireplace, nearly big enough to walk into. The couch and chairs matched without being too matchy, making the room feel open and inviting. The back of the house was all glass, looking out over a pool and the golf course beyond. It was a marvel, and he’d clearly spared no expense. Not surprising considering the family business.

  “Here you go,” Jordan said, appearing again a minute later. He held out a set of clothes.

  I raised my brows. “What’s this?”

  “You look cold.” He pushed the clothes into my hands and walked away without looking back. “Bathroom is the first door on the left.”

  I stared after him in confusion. This wasn’t the Jordan of three years ago, who couldn’t get me out of my clothes fast enough. Now he was offering me sweats and not even paying attention as he started a fire in the fireplace.

  Huh. Maybe this wasn’t as bad a decision as I’d thought.

  I ducked into the bathroom and stripped out of my ridiculous heels and dress. He’d left me gray sweatpants, a plain blue T-shirt, a black pullover with the Wright Construction logo on it, and a pair of wool socks. I hadn’t realized how cold I was until I pulled it all on. Even though it was way oversized and I had to roll the pants four times before they fit me, I was finally warm, which was all that mattered.

  When I came back out of the bathroom, the fire was slow going, just a gentle flame in the enormous fireplace. Jordan had set up what was essentially a pillow fort on the floor in front of the fire. A dozen blankets and pillows littered the space with a few bottles of wine and glasses next to the fort, like a picnic.

  “You’ve been busy.”

  “It’s cold,” he admitted, glancing back at me. His eyes scanned me in my oversized sweats, and something possessive flickered through that gaze. As if the sight of me in his clothes did it for him just as much as my skimpy clothing. He quickly looked away. “I contacted the power company. I guess a line was cut in our area, and they’re working on it. They didn’t give me an ETA on when everything would be working again.”

  “Idiots,” I grumbled.

  “Do you think you could watch this while I change?” he asked.

  “Sure. I was a Girl Scout. I can manage a fire.”

  “Thanks,” he said gratefully and then disappeared around the corner.

  I craned my neck, wondering which room was his, but the place was too big. I lost him around the bend, and really, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like I had any plans to see his room.

  I expertly tended to the fire while he was gone until it was burning nice and hot by his return.

  His eyes rounded. “You really were a Girl Scout.”

  “I was,” I said, admiring him in casual clothes.

  He wasn’t exactly the sweats and T-shirt type. I’d mostly only seen him in suits. Otherwise I’d seen him in swim trunks and his birthday suit. This was a different Jordan. Careful. Cautious. He was trying not to scare me away.

  I realized then that I didn’t really want that careful, cautious fear between us. I’d been hurt by what had happened, but I was to blame for that, too. What had I been expecting out of a one-night stand? I’d been stupid enough to fall too hard and too fast. He’d been smart enough not to…and I’d seen what I’d wanted to see. Everything that had happened afterward was miscommunication and hurt feelings that we let linger.

  If Jordan was making an effort, then maybe it was time for me to put the past behind us. We didn’t have to be anything more than this. Someone who could be here for the other when they were in a bad place.

  “Thanks for helping me today,” I said finally.

  He sank into the cushions next to me. “You don’t have to thank me.”

  “Yeah, I do. You didn’t have to help, and you did. So, thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He nodded as if seeing the olive branch for what it was. Something passing between us that settled the past. After three long years, we were finally back on even footing.

  7

  Annie

  We lapsed into silence. Jordan looked through the bottles of red in front of us. He’d put the white in a wine cooler, which I shouldn’t have been surprised that he had. He selected a bottle and expertly uncorked it.

  “You’re good at that,” I told him as he tossed me the cork. I lined it up on the fireplace.

  “Lots of practice. I’ve drunk my way through Napa a few times.”

  “Fancy.”

  “And France.”

  “Of course you have.”

  I’d never been anywhere. Not really. I was fourteen before I ever even left the state, and it was for a cheerleading competition in Oklahoma City that I thought was the coolest thing ever. Sutton and I went to New York City after high school graduation, and that was my first time on an airplane. I should have been terrified, and I’d promised myself that I’d travel more…but of course, you had to have money to travel. And I’d never really had money. My family wasn’t impoverished, but my parents had other priorities—volunteering, charity, church. Our money went to those less fortunate than us, which I appreciated and understood. But I still wanted to see Europe one day…to get out of Lubbock one day. As much as I loved it—and I did really love it here—there was a whole wide world out there.

  Jordan poured us each a tasting glass. He held it aloft between us. “To free wine and good company.”

  I laughed and clinked my glass against his. “Cheers.”

  We each took a sip of the wine. My eyes rounded to saucers.

  “Whoa,” I gasped. The wine was delicious. Fragrant and light with notes of cherry and something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. “What is that last taste?”

  Jordan picked up the bottle and read the back label. “Cherries and plums.”

  “Plums!” I said with a nod. “So good. I could drink this whole bottle.”

  He laughed and poured me another drink as he uncorked a second bottle. I inappropriately guzzled the wine like it was water. It was too good to waste a single drop. We moved on to the next bottle and the next and the next after that. Tasting alone likely would have gotten me tipsy, but any of the ones that I loved, Jordan would pour us both extra. Which meant that even though we hadn’t finished a single bottle, it was possible that we’d gone through three or four. The “tasting” was pretty deceptive.

  “This one,” I gasped. “This is the one!”

  “I don’t think we can even judge anymore,” he said, taking another sip of the wine I was insisting was the best. “I don’t even know what this tastes like.”

  “Delicious. Here, let me line them up in order.”

  Jordan had put stoppers in most of them, which was good because my hands were clumsy and I nearly knocked over two of them.

  “Whoops,” I muttered before arranging the bottles in some order. “Wait, is this the chocolate one?”

  “No, that’s this one.”

  “Okay. Put that down there.”

  “Annie, this is incoherent,” he said with a laugh.

  “Shut it, Wright. This is the order. It is.”

  His laugh continued, and he scooted in closer to examine the labels. “You didn’t even like this one!”

  I tried to keep the label in focus as it doubled in front of me. “I did, too!”

  “No way. You said it was sour.”

  “You don’t know anything.” I pushed him lightly. But all it did was put myself off-balance. “Oh God!”

  He chuckled harder, reaching out and grabbing me to keep me steady. “Maybe you’re done.”

  “We still have a few bottles to open. What about the white?”

  He shook his head. “No way. We can do the white another day.”

  “Jordan,” I groaned. “We can do it. I believe in us.”

  The electricity had come back on at some point, but we’d left the fire and candles going instead of turning on any lights. I’d lost the sweatshirt and socks when I got too warm. The wine heating me up from the inside out.

  Jordan’s brown eyes were dark in the ambient light. I could see notes of amber around the irises and the heat hidden between us. The one that I’d been ignoring ever since I saw him at the Wine Boutique earlier that evening. And now, after hours of sipping wine in front of the fire, the space between us had diminished to nothing. His hands were still on my shoulders to keep me upright. His interest in me not hidden by his sweatpants. My tongue flicked out to taste the wine across my lips, my brain shutting down when it fought to wonder if this was a good idea.

  “We should get you to bed,” Jordan said. He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat.

  “Should we?” I whispered.

  My hand brushed across the hair falling over his forehead. He shivered at my touch. His grip tightened on my shoulder before sliding down to my waist.

  We moved at the same time. I couldn’t even say who started it. One minute, we were apart, and then suddenly, we were crushed together. His mouth fitted to mine. The taste of wine heady between us. His tongue opened my mouth to him, taking what he wanted from me. And I did nothing to stop it. Couldn’t deny even in my addled brain that I wanted this from Jordan Wright.

  One kiss.

  That was all it took.

  And I was his all over again.

  Jordan broke away breathlessly, going for the hem of my T-shirt. I helped him pull it over my head and stripped his off next. Our sweats followed. A haphazard, slightly drunken tugging of clothes and abandoning them on the outside of our pillow fort.

  There was no thinking. No wondering if this was the right decision. No second-guessing at all. There was only this moment where I couldn’t get close enough to him, couldn’t feel enough of his heated skin against mine, couldn’t taste enough of his potent lips.

  Our underwear disappeared just as quickly, and I reached out for the hardened length of him. Jordan groaned, pulling me back to his lips and kissing me savagely. Like he was on fire and all he wanted was me to stoke the flames. His hand moved lower, pressing against my clit until I squirmed underneath him.

  “Condom?” he gasped against my lips when he felt the slick wetness between my legs.

  “Birth control,” I said instead.

  I couldn’t fathom him walking away from this moment to go find a condom in his house. I suddenly needed him inside of me with a feeling that bordered on desperation. I couldn’t wait any longer.

  He pushed me back into the pillows. The light of the fire casting shadows across my body, trailing a map of the freckled constellations across my skin. His eyes roamed the heavens before settling back on my face. He leaned forward on his elbows and brought our lips back together.

  “I’ve wanted you for so long,” he admitted so softly that I almost didn’t hear him.

  I didn’t know what to say in return. If I would admit to wanting him, too. But then his cock settled in the apex of my thighs, grazing against the wetness of my pussy. I moaned, my eyes fluttered closed, and the world teetered on its axis.

  “Are you sure?” he asked just once. Always a gentleman.

  The head of his cock was nearly inside of me already.

  “Jordan,” I moaned his name, thrusting my hips upward to meet him.

  He didn’t need to be told twice.

  Nor did I need to say anything else when my body told him precisely what I wanted.

  He thrust deep inside of me. My body opening up for him and pleasure blooming through my core. Holy fuck!

  I’d forgotten. Three years without him was a long time. And even though my brain had made him more gorgeous in our absence…it had not exaggerated how good he felt. In fact, he felt even better. A point that I hadn’t thought was possible. But it was Jordan Wright; I never should have underestimated him.

  Our hips moved together seamlessly. A rhythm as synchronized as the waves beating against the beach.

  Our lips met again. I was drowning in him. Succumbing to the undertow. Letting him drag me under. I didn’t fight it. Didn’t want to. I was in a perfect state of bliss as my climax hit me full force.

  I cried out, tightening around him. He grunted. His fingers brushing my hair out of my face. I looked up to find him staring down at me with adoration in his expression. I was terrified of what would come out of his mouth, so I kissed him. And he came hard and fast inside of me.

  “Fuck,” he moaned against me, pumping into me twice more before stilling.

  “Fuck,” I repeated.

  He put his forehead against mine. “You’re magnificent.”

  I smiled sleepily, sure that I looked thoroughly fucked, and then kissed him again. He pulled out of me, and I went to the bathroom to clean up. Then I collapsed down onto our pillow fort, snuggling close to the dying fire. I didn’t want reality to crash back into my life just yet. So, I let Jordan pull me tight against him. My back to his chest. He drew circles on my skin until sleep was tugging me under. He kissed my shoulder once, soft and gentle.

  I heard him whisper something behind me. Something that sounded a lot like, “I wish you were staying.” Those traitorous, vulnerable words that I’d uttered to him the last time we did this.

  But then I was asleep, and I was sure that I’d misheard.

  Part II

  Friends with Benefits

  8

  Jordan

  Annie was gone when I woke up.

  I rubbed my eyes and stared at the empty pillow fort, half-full bottles of wine, and ash-covered fireplace. Dawn had risen bright and blinding through the living room windows. The precise reason that I’d designed my bedroom facing the other direction. I grumbled under my breath and then pulled sweats and a shirt back on.

  I left the pillows strewn across the living room floor along with the bottles of wine and glasses.

  Her purse was gone from the island. I trudged to the front door and saw that her car was missing as well. She’d disappeared sometime in the middle of the night without even waking me up or saying good-bye. Damn, that was cold.

  I reached for my phone with a yawn and saw a dozen text messages from Julian, Hollin, and my mother but none from Annie. She’d really just ghosted.

  I wasn’t sure what I’d expected from her. We hadn’t even been on speaking terms until last night and then all of that had happened so fast. We probably wouldn’t have even had sex if we’d both been sober. I hadn’t planned for it, but I sure as fuck wouldn’t regret it. Despite all the animosity that lingered between us, it was incredibly easy to be with Annie. It was how we’d tumbled into bed the first night. And last night too.

  But if this was just another one-night stand, then fine. We’d done that once before and I was the one who left. It was only fair for her to get her chance.

  I cleaned up the house, replacing the pillows, wine, and glasses before taking a scalding shower and getting dressed for my meeting with Julian and Hollin. I was supposed to have met with Sophia last night and gotten her take on the winery purchase. She worked with all the wineries in the area and had insider information that I’d told them both I needed before making a decision.

  Obviously…there hadn’t been a meeting.

  Nothing I could do about it now.

  I grabbed a coffee from a local shop on the way to the winery and guzzled it before I arrived. I should have gotten a second. My mind was still fuzzy from the night before, and I hadn’t felt up to eating anything. Skipping my run had been bad enough.

  When I drove into what had once been West Texas Winery, nostalgia washed over me. The barn still looked ramshackle, as if at any point, the entire thing might collapse in on itself. The surrounding vineyards, in contrast, were well maintained and beautiful, even in the barren January morning. Farther down the property was the main processing building and cellars. I’d seen detailed pictures of the facilities, but this was the first time that I’d been on the property for an assessment. First time since Annie and I had been here three years ago.

  Julian and Hollin were standing in front of the barn with their arms crossed, looking up at it with broad smiles. I wasn’t sure that we saw the same thing when we looked at it.

  “You made it,” Julian said.

  He stepped away from Hollin and shook my hand. My brother was the main reason that I was here. Annie had hit it on the head when she said that I couldn’t say no to Julian. I’d been his protector my entire life.

  In the beginning, it had been in elementary school when other kids picked on him for siding with the less popular kids. He always had this charismatic way about him and love for those others saw as weaker. He could have handled it himself, but I scared the kids who’d picked on him, and it stopped. In high school, he was a star athlete, running circles around everyone else on the soccer pitch. Even away at college, I kept recruiters from taking advantage of his generous nature. All of that was easy. But it was our father who was the hardest thing to protect him from. Our parents had briefly split when we were younger, and our dad had started a parade of girlfriends. I took the brunt of it and kept Julian from as much of it as I could. And I tried to shield him from our father for the years of manipulative, narcissistic behavior that followed our parents getting back together. It had been a relief when we finally saw the worst of him and could cut ties after the divorce.