Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“You need to be careful, though,” Raya teased. “The walls in that old inn are paper thin, so everyone will hear it if you two newlyweds get down and dirty.”
“Oh, please.” Gabby rolled her eyes. “As if our straight-laced cousin would have wild sex. I’m sure it’s all perfectly mild and boring.”
Embry got up and shifted Dusty in his arms. “Shows what you know. Bryson’s an amazingly creative lover. I’d go so far as to call him innovative, bordering on avant-garde. He makes me come so hard that it’s like a twelve-pack of Coke blowing up in the back seat of a car on a hot summer’s day.”
With that, he made a series of exploding sounds and waved his hand around. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Then he added, “That’s part of the reason I married him. When you find a man with that kind of skill set, you lock that shit down.” He turned to me and said, “I know you’ve already made me come five times today, but I’m ready for round six if you are.”
My cousins looked stunned. I got up too and said, “Of course, baby.” I draped my arm over Embry’s shoulders as we walked away. Once we were out of earshot, I leaned in and whispered, “Thanks for that.”
“Happy to help. I hope I didn’t overdo it, but what they were saying really annoyed me.”
“They excel at that. Avant-garde, though?”
“I didn’t have any material prepared, so I had to wing it. Be glad I didn’t call our imaginary sex life wacky and thought-provoking. Those were the first words that came to mind, but I managed to push them aside.”
“Yikes.”
“Exactly.”
“The Coke thing though, that painted a picture.”
“Thank you.”
I asked, “Are we really leaving?”
“I think we have to after that. Let’s go say goodnight to Statler and Waldorf.” I thought it was hilarious that he referred to my grandfather and great uncle as the two old men from The Muppet Show. There was a definite resemblance.
We found them smoking cigars in my uncle’s home office. When I told them we were turning in, my grandfather said, “Already? It’s barely nine o’clock.”
To which Uncle Charles replied, “Leave them alone, Edmund. You remember what it was like to be a newlywed! These two have been waiting all day to tear each other’s clothes off.” My grandfather nodded knowingly.
Wow, really? There’d been way too much talk about my sex life in the last three minutes.
After that, we stopped off in the kitchen to thank the staff for dinner, and then we took Dusty for a quick walk. When we got to our room, we changed into sweats, and I built a fire in the rustic fireplace. There was a small sofa against one wall, and we dragged it in front of the hearth and settled in side-by-side.
I leaned back and stretched out my legs as I muttered, “This is the first time all day that I’ve felt truly relaxed.”
“Have you been having any fun at all since we’ve been here?”
“Sure. Hanging out with you has been great. And I’m glad I’ve gotten to spend some time with my grandfather and Uncle Charles.”
Embry said, “I’m a little sad that Fallon left this morning.”
“Are you?”
“I know he was being pretty awful, but I guess I was hoping you two might reconcile.”
“I’d be open to it, but I’m not the one carrying some sort of personal vendetta.” I changed the subject, because talking about my brother didn’t fit with my plan for a relaxing evening. “What do you think about going home after brunch tomorrow, instead of the day after Christmas like we’d planned?”
“Will that upset your family?”
“I think they’ll understand. We cut my birthday plans short and came here a day early, so it’s basically a trade-off.”
“I’m all for it, as long as you don’t think it’ll ruffle any feathers.”
“I’m willing to take that chance.” I turned to face him, as much as I could on that little loveseat, and said, “It sounds so good to me to be cozy at home for Christmas, just the three of us—you, me, and Dusty.” The dog was sitting on the floor between our feet, and he looked up and wagged his tail at the sound of his name. “I want to spend the day in pajamas, and cook for you, and give you your presents. I can’t wait to see your reaction when you open them.”
There was a lot of emotion in Embry’s voice when he whispered, “That sounds like a wonderful way to spend Christmas.”
“Then it’s a plan. We won’t take no for an answer, even if my grandfather tries to guilt us into staying.”
“We’ll bust out the ‘but it’s our honeymoon’ card if we have to. He can’t say no to that.”
I nodded, and both of us shifted a bit. Embry tucked his feet under him and leaned against me, and I put my arm around him. This felt so good. Instead of trying to analyze why that was, I just enjoyed it.