The Life That Mattered (Life #1)(21)

“Roe!” I squealed. Running away from his naked body (and shampoo head) chasing me into the bedroom. “The bed! Nooo!” I protested while giggling as he pinned my clothed body to the mattress with his wet torso. “You’re going to get shampoo—ROE!” Wrinkling my nose, I arched my back when he rubbed suds along the side of my face, down to my neck. After he finished getting dirty with me in the cleanest way possible, leaving me naked on a mess of wet, soapy sheets, he sauntered back into the bathroom, shut the door, and started singing Sinatra’s “My Way.”

Weeks and then months passed, and it became impossible to remember what life was like before Ronin. It wasn’t that I lacked happiness before him. I had family and friends, a job I loved, and all the best horror movies on Netflix. Wood still got chopped and hot chocolate was consumed by the fire. All the same colors painted my story; they just weren’t as vibrant.

“He’s taking me skiing.” I frowned looking in the mirror at my soft pink bridesmaid dress while the seamstress pinned the bottom.

Lila snorted, sipping champagne, perched in a white velvet chair in the two-story library of the Porter mansion outside of Denver. “I’m jealous. Jealous that you’re going skiing while I’m drowning in wedding details. And jealous that he gets to watch you slide on your ass down the mountain. Do you see the jealousy on my face?” She circled her champagne flute in front of her face as she grinned. “Besides, there’s been snow on the ground for a month, and you’ve been dating him—or just screwing him, I’m not sure which—for three months. Three months! I can’t believe you’re just now going skiing with him. Graham’s already skied with him twice.”

“It gets worse, Lila.”

The seamstress slipped off my dress and handed me a plush white robe.

“Worse?” She cocked her head to the side.

My nose wrinkled as I stole her champagne and chugged the rest of it. “His parents are coming to Aspen … for the winter.”

“Oh … that puts a damper on your kinky time.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not talking about that. They’re staying with friends. His dad has an ex-teammate who owns a home in Aspen. A big home. Well … not Porter big, but big in comparison to Ronin’s condo and my cabin. My concern is that his parents both ski. His dad has Olympic gold medals for god’s sake. And their son is dating me!”

“Oh, so you are in fact dating. I wasn’t sure. It just seemed like a lot of sex. Kinky sex.”

“Shut up.” I smirked.

“I will not shut up. Not until you start locking your door to your house and to your lab. Four times in three months! I’ve walked in on the two of you four times! I know Ronin’s bare ass better than I know Graham’s. I know you call him Roe, but only in private. You moan it when his head’s between your legs … when he has you tied up. Seriously, I had no idea you were in to that kind of stuff.”

My cheeks bloomed with embarrassment. “That happened once.” (Twice. But what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.) “I joked about his new scarf that seemed a mile long and asked him what he planned to do with it. Tie me up? And so he did. It was a scarf. Not chains and whips. And I’m sorry you happened to walk in on us that time. We now double-check for locked doors.” Most of the time …

New romance was the best drug, and my addiction felt incurable.

“And you can’t say a word about it because you have no room to talk, Ms. Threesome.”

Her face turned a bit red too. We agreed to never discuss that weird night in Vancouver, but I had to make a tiny mention of it to keep her from judging me too harshly for a few unlocked doors and scarf play.

“Four.” She cleared her throat, ignoring my threesome reference. “I’ve walked in on you guys four times. But it’s fine. If I’m honest, I have some of those images tucked into my mind, and I pull them out to use when Graham feels obligated to have sex but not in the mood to do the whole seduction act.”

“You picture my naked boyfriend so you can get off?” I blinked hard several times.

Lila shrugged. “Only occasionally. You good with that?” She smirked. “I mean … you’ve actually had sex with my fiancé, so can a few innocent images of Ronin pounding into my BFF really be such a big deal?”

“Depends … am I still in the image, or do you cut me out and put yourself in the picture?”

“Nope. It’s all you, babe.”

On a slow nod, I returned a half grin. My breasts … she remembered our night in Vancouver. “Then I’ll allow it.” My partial grin faded. “Why the hell would Graham feel ‘obligated’ to have sex with you? What’s going on? Seriously, you haven’t even made it down the aisle yet.”

Lila waved me off. “It’s nothing. Ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s good. Amazing like it’s always been. But now that he’s fully committed to running for governor, he’s dealing with more stress. And sometimes I feel neglected, which turns into sympathy sex. And let’s just say … sympathy sex sucks.”

“Unless you’re imagining Ronin’s naked backside.”

Lila pressed her lips together, but they didn’t hide her grin. “Unless that.”

“Mmm. Yeah, well … I’m going to get dressed and head home. Wish me luck. I hope I don’t end up on crutches for your wedding.”