Bourbon Harmony (Bourbon Canyon #5)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Rhys

Warm water pounded against my chest. It could be a thousand degrees and I wouldn’t notice. June was on her knees in the shower and my dick was in her mouth. Her lips were stretched from my cock, and fuuuuck . What a sight.

I wanted to fuck her again, but we’d decided on a shower before we went to bed and did things that would ensure we needed a shower again.

“June, I’m going to fucking explode.” I pressed a hand against the shower wall.

She increased the suction and my eyes rolled back in my head.

“You’re a wicked girl, you know that?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she hummed, goddamn hummed, when I didn’t think I could take it anymore.

My climax crashed into me. Lightning raced down my spine, drew my balls up tight, and then shot out into her willing mouth. She didn’t flinch or pull away.

A shower experience so much different than the ones I’d given myself in the last few years. She didn’t let up, sucking and licking. I shook until I thought my knees might give out.

I cupped her face. “You’re going to kill me.”

She released me with a pop. I slumped against the wall but helped her to her feet. I planted my lips on hers.

She raked her fingertips down my chest. “I didn’t kill you,” she murmured against my mouth.

“It’s a miracle I’m standing.” I rinsed us both and shut the water off. She retrieved towels from the other side of the curtain, her rounded ass on display.

I traced my hand over a hip, scattering water droplets from her warm, wet skin. My girls were safe, I wasn’t keeping June a secret from my ex, and I had the whole night with June.

She handed me a towel. Her gaze dropped down to my half-hard erection, and she arched a brow.

“It doesn’t seem to know the meaning of tired around you,” I explained. It’d always been that way with her.

She grinned as she dried off. I did the same, then we hung our towels up and I lifted her again, tossing her over my shoulder, her ass in the air.

Her yelp dissolved into a laugh. “You can’t keep doing that.”

When we were younger, I’d asked her if she minded that I randomly lifted her. She said it made her feel safe.

Had that changed? “I’ll stop if you want.”

“No. I just meant that you don’t have an eighteen-year-old’s indestructible back anymore. ”

“I’ll do more stretches.” My body would hold out for the next month.

The image of me sweeping her off her feet in my forties rose in my mind. In my fifties. I’d keep trying in my sixties and seventies and beyond.

The swell of emotion behind my sternum almost made me drop her. Instead, I held her tighter. I didn’t even have the next month with her. Two weeks.

In the bedroom, I pulled the covers back and gently lowered her to the mattress. She scooted in and I crawled in behind her.

When we were settled, my arm around her and her cheek against my chest, we were quiet for a few moments.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” she finally said. “So familiar but so different.”

“Yeah.” The truth of her words humbled me. She was June. My June. But we’d lived almost half our lives apart. Our bodies were different. Our personalities had matured and changed. I’d never been a happy-go-lucky kid, but after my dad got sick, a lot of humor had left. I’d gone from worrying about how I could spend my life with June without dragging her down to supporting both me and Wren and getting Dad the care he needed. Sometimes, I felt like I faked the good times with the girls because I was too worried about how they were doing. Were they happy? Was I enough for them? Could I be doing more?

June was still the girl who was always creating tunes and lyrics when she wasn’t around one of her guitars. She probably still got rowdy with her sisters too, but there was steel lining her back that hadn’t been there before.

“I really am sorry if I caused a rift between you and Kirstin. You two seem to have a good... thing... going on.”

“Thing?” I asked wryly. “You don’t want to call it co-parenting?”

“Doesn’t seem to fit your situation.”

I stared at the dark ceiling. The rain outside had lightened up. “Any rift between me and Kirstin wasn’t caused by you. You were having a meal with a friend and his family.”

“Are we friends, Rhys?”

“I’m your muse. Besides, I’m friends with your brothers, but I don’t fuck them.”

She giggled and poked at my chest. “I know, but I knew it was a possibility and I got complacent. I didn’t think about how sitting right next to you would look.”

“Don’t blame yourself. Kirstin was probably worried because she was so far away. She might be dealing with the guilt that comes with her decision to pursue the career she loves.”

“It’s really hard to leave important people behind.” She traced circles on my stomach with her thumb while the rest of her fingers were splayed across my skin. “It’s lonely, and you’re almost driven more because you don’t want your absence to be for no reason. I can’t imagine what it’s like with kids.”

“A lot of people in town want to hate her.”

Her damp hair brushed against my skin as she looked up at me. “You defend her, don’t you?”

“She’s their mother, and it’s a little fucked up that I could’ve left to go do the same and no one would’ve batted an eye. I’d get cheered on.”

“It is a decision though,” she said softly. “You have to choose between the ones you love and what you love to do. The selfishness bothered me, but I also thought that if I had kids... I dunno. That I’d do something differently.”

“She didn’t want...” I chomped on the inside of my cheek. The tendency to tell June everything had resurged with a vengeance. “She had kids because she knew they were important to me. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want the girls,” I rushed out. “At some level, she knew she’d have to decide between Montana and her job.”

June’s soft eyelashes brushed my chest as she blinked. “You’re a good dad, you know that?”

“I work hard to be, but why are you saying that?”

“You’ll never let the girls know how their mom felt about having kids or how she feels now.”

“Yeah.” I wanted them to see it was important to follow their dreams. If they didn’t want a quiet life in a small town at the base of the mountains, then they didn’t have to settle for it. Just because they were growing up in a fairly isolated area didn’t mean the world was closed to them.

“It’s okay though.”

“What is?” Did I want to know?

“To want Kirstin to be more involved when it comes to the girls.”

“She’s involved.”

“Okay.”

I frowned at the dark ceiling. Kirstin landed in Bourbon Canyon two or three times a year. Last year, she’d stayed with me... once. And she’d stayed with Wren... Last year had been a busy year. She’d launched an online store for prints and calendars and other merchandise and she’d needed to be in the field for long stretches of time to get a variety of images.

She left messages and called when she could, which wasn’t that often. The girls no longer asked as much as they used to about when their mom would call. They had also quit asking why she didn’t call very often.

But fieldwork made it difficult.

“Penny for your thoughts.” The outlines she drew on me turned to the familiar shapes of musical notes.

Had I been quiet that long? She must be worried I was upset with her about bringing Kirstin up. “I was wondering if you were going to help with chores in the morning.”

She laughed and rolled to her belly. “I think I’d better steer clear of your house until your ex moves out.”

I rolled her to her back and stretched out on top of her. Arousal floated through my veins and flowed down to my dick. “Then I’ll stay here tomorrow night too.” I trailed kisses down her belly. “By the way, you’ve only had one orgasm. I’m a few behind.”

“A few?”

I nudged her legs apart. “I’m not a boy anymore, June Bug.”

June

My body was deliciously sore when I woke up. I stretched and smiled to myself before the quiet of the cabin sank in. I looked at the other side of the bed. Empty .

Frowning, I sat up. The covers fell down. I was naked. Rhys had proven that he was indeed no longer a boy, and he knew how to use his experience.

Then he’d left.

My breath shortened and my chest rose and fell faster. He’d left me again and he wasn’t coming back.

I closed my eyes and sucked in a long breath. He was gone, but we were still in the same town. This wasn’t the day I’d left Bourbon Canyon for years.

That day was coming soon enough.

My throat tightened. I would return soon. Maybe before I kicked off my tour. There would be time between interviews and appearances and rehearsals.

Right?

I scrubbed the sleep out of my eyes. What Rhys and I were doing wasn’t like before. We weren’t committed to each other. We liked having sex together. The same, but different.

I got out of bed and dressed in shorts and a Grand Ole Opry T-shirt. I might’ve bought one or four when I played there. I twisted my hair up into a bun and shuffled to the bathroom.

Was Rhys having regrets? Did he think my job here was done and he’d go on his merry way? I wasn’t feeling too inclined to finish the upbeat song I was working on. I could write one about a girl who’d thought she’d turned the corner with an important guy in her life, only to wake up alone after a long night of hot sex.

Actually, that’d make a pretty good song.

I hummed, trying to catch a melody that would work. Lyrics piled into my brain. “ Just when I thought... ”

The front door opened and Rhys walked in. He was holding a basket piled high with muffins in one arm and he juggled two Stanley cups in the other hand. The mouthwatering smell of fresh coffee filled the air.

I stopped in the middle of the living room. I’d have to end the song with the guy returning with muffins and coffee, looking rugged as sin with a trimmed beard, a frayed ball cap, and worn jeans that hugged his powerful legs. “I thought you left.”

He gave me a look like I’d accused him of going on a crime spree while I slept. “You’re on Nashville time, songbird.”

“I am not, and they’re only an hour ahead.”

“You’re not on ranch time, then.” The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Did you look at your phone? The one that has the time and the text I sent that said I was running home to do chores and I’d bring back coffee and something to eat?”

My cheeks warmed. “I wanted to wake up to you.” If I was blushing before, my face had to be beet red now. I hadn’t meant to blurt out something so intimate. “I wanted to wake up and know neither one of us had to leave right away.”

His brows drew together, and he went to the counter. I should help him with the coffee but embarrassment kept me rooted in place. He set the muffins down and one of the metal cups. The coffee smell was divine. My stomach grumbled.

He handed me the coffee. “I’m sorry.” His apology was weighted with the past. He’d been sorry then too, but he hadn’t apologized. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll make sure to stay in bed until you wake up.” He leaned against the counter, took a long sip from his coffee, and raked his gaze down my body. “But we’ve gotta go to bed earlier, sleepyhead. ”

Songbird. Sleepyhead. Smart-ass. June Bug was my favorite, but I preened no matter what he called me.

Songbird would be a good title. His little songbird wanted to soar...

I thrust a finger in the air. “I’ve gotta write that down.”

I rushed to the end table closest to the door. My guitar was propped on the wall by it. I scribbled the ideas that had gathered in my head. “Okay. Done.”

“The muse was in action?”

“The muse got a lot of action.” I sauntered toward him. “Stress baking?”

He tossed a muffin at me. “That’s not the only reason I bake. I threw them in and put the coffee on and ran outside to get some work done.”

“I have a coffeepot here.” I tore a piece off the muffin and popped it in my mouth. Sweetness burst over my tongue. Damn, these were good.

“Do you have the locally roasted beans sold at Mountain Perks?” When I shook my head and smirked, he shrugged. “You’re picky about bourbon; I’m picky about coffee.”

I swallowed and inspected the berries in my muffin. “Are these huckleberries?” Mama would make huckleberry muffins every year, but I’d been traveling so much I never got them fresh. She kept a batch frozen for me, but they weren’t as good as straight out of the oven.

“Autumn let her class pick them on her land last year. There was a bumper crop.”

I took another bite, chomping off half a muffin. “Then they’ll probably be sparse this year. I miss going to pick them.”

He handed me another muffin and took one for himself. We ate and drank coffee admittedly better than mine.

“How was Kirstin?” I set my cup down. Quit prodding, June!

But if his ex put her foot down about my presence in their kids’ lives, I would be ousted. I would respect her wishes around her kids, but I had no wish to learn that Rhys would side with her. He’d be right to do so, but also...

Didn’t he see that he was letting all the responsibility for his ex’s happiness fall on him? He’d done the same for Wren. The ranch had stressed his stepmom out, so he’d acquiesced and sold without even discussing alternate plans first.

Just like he’d left me sleeping on the cabin floor with only a note to show for five years together.

“She was still sleeping,” he said. “It’s one reason why I went so early.” He put his Stanley next to mine.

“What if she doesn’t—” I took a fortifying inhale. “What if she doesn’t want you and me to be a thing, even if it’s only for two weeks?”

“She doesn’t run this part of my life.” His resolute tone helped ease my tension. “ This isn’t affecting the kids, so she has no say.”

Were the kids the excuse he hid behind?

It wasn’t my business. Time for a subject change. I lifted my chin toward the coffee mugs. “I didn’t picture you as a Stanley guy.”

“The girls begged for them for Christmas but Wren got them each one before Thanksgiving. They used them for two weeks and then forgot all about them.” He shrugged. “They keep my coffee hot as fuck all day.” He crowded me against the island. “I’ve gotta get back to work.”

“No rest for the rancher?” I twined my arms around his neck. The echoes of the hurt from when I was eighteen faded away. I had him in this moment. We had two weeks to wake up together.

“I’ve got a couple more minutes.”

I batted my eyelashes. “Whatever are we going to do with them?”

He tugged my shorts down. “I have some ideas.”