Under an Endless Moon: Chapter 13

Was he serious? It had to be a joke. An offhanded offer that he would never see through. But he actually made the right that would lead us into the woods on the southern side of Moonlit Ridge.

“Where are we going?” I demanded.

Because staying with Otto?

It was hard enough loving him the way I did on a daily basis. Interacting with him and acting like he didn’t affect me. But I always had the reprieve of going home. Staying at his house, even if it was only for a night or two, sounded like torture.

Sublime, beautiful torture.

But still torture.

That smirk played all over his delicious mouth as he glanced between me and the road, the man so ridiculously hot, slung back in the seat of his truck.

It truly was unfair.

“Thought we already discussed that?” he said in that grumbly, low voice that rolled through me like a tease.

A total tease because I’d always imagined that voice saying dirty, dirty things to me. It was never going to happen, but a girl could dream.

“I wouldn’t call it a discussion if you’re the only one who came to the decision.”

“Fine, I can take you back to your house if you’d prefer.” He acted like he was going to flip a U-turn in the middle of the road.

My hand flew out to grab him by the arm. “You will not.”

“Then I guess this discussion is settled then.”

“I’ve obviously been cramping River’s style enough. I don’t want to be cramping yours, too.”

Otto scowled, his thick brow curling in disbelief. “You know I don’t bring women back to my place.”

“In case you missed it, Otto, I am a woman.”

That piercing blue gaze swept over me. I would have gotten all flustered by it except he said, “You don’t count.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Flattered.”

He laughed that sexy sound that flooded through me like a wash of warmth. Like I was being hugged by the sound and his scent. The man was mayhem to my senses.

“Don’t get your britches in a twist. You know my only exception is this family,” he defended.

“Britches? Now who’s eighty?” I tossed back.

He reached over and squeezed my thigh. I almost came out of my skin. Not the way I’d done when Tanner had done it.

No.

This was out of the riot of desire that smacked through my body. I tried to inhale, but it was unsteady.

One second later, that hand was back on the wheel as he maneuvered up the winding road that led to his cabin tucked deep in the forest.

Baby sister.

Baby sister.

I did my best to remind myself that was what he thought of me. That this didn’t mean anything.

I sobered a little as I stared over at him. At the vicious strength of his profile. The line of his nose and brow. His lips that were forever curled with his grin. “I don’t want to be in your way, Otto.”

Intensity filled his expression when he swept his attention toward me. “You’re my favorite fuckin’ person in the world, Raven. What makes you think I wouldn’t want you at my house?”

Tingles scattered.

It was moments like these when I became a fool who believed.

A fool who thought he might actually see me the way I wanted him to.

But I knew better than that.

Two minutes later, Otto made the right onto the dirt lane that dipped down the side of a ridge and then rose back on the other side. His house sat on the upper portion of it.

I called it a cabin since it was completely surrounded by soaring pines and a swath of leafy oaks, though his place was as modern as they came.

A tall rectangle made of metal and glass. The bottom floor was a huge garage where he kept his motorcycles and restored cars and trucks, and the upper floor was the living area. A balcony ran along the sides, overlooking the break in the trees that gave a view to the southern part of the lake low in the distance.

I was sure there wasn’t a more beautiful view in all of Moonlit Ridge.

He tapped into his app and turned off the security system, then pushed the button to open the garage. The big metal door slowly wound up, and he eased his truck inside and parked it next to the motorcycle he normally rode.

There were at least four more scattered inside, along with two cars and three more trucks.

He called them his babies. His only loves. The only things he could truly give his heart to.

Was it wrong I was a little jealous?

He glanced over at me as he pressed the button to drop the garage door behind us, and he was grinning that grin when he said, “Welcome home, darlin’.”

My heart sped an extra beat.

“I won’t be in your hair for long. I just need to find a place of my own, and I’ll be on my way.”

It was too bad Charleigh’s apartment that was directly above Moonflower had already been leased once she’d moved out. It would have been perfect.

But I was sure there would be a place that would be equally as perfect. I didn’t need much. Just a place that I could call my own.

Excitement blazed through me at the thought.

I’d felt this coming for a while now. The need to…do something. Make a change. Like Otto had said, walking in on Charleigh and River wasn’t that big of a deal.

But it’d made me feel…like an intrusion.

A burden.

In their way.

And also, really freaking embarrassed and wishing for a way to purge the vision from my mind.

I was going to use it as the motivation I needed to take the jump.

Concern played through Otto’s severe features, though I could tell he was trying to maintain the lightness he normally wore. “You can stay for as long as you need.”

“Thank you, Otto. I truly appreciate it.”

“Like I’d leave my girl out on the street.” He reached over and tugged a lock of my hair like he was my big brother trying to annoy me before he tossed open his door. “Come on, let’s get upstairs.”

He and I got out of the truck, and I went directly for the interior stairs that led to his house above. I climbed the metal steps, my hand on the railing.

Otto’s presence swarmed me from behind.

We got to the top, and he reached around me and pushed open the door. When I stepped inside, I was hit with his overpowering aura.

Magnified a thousand times.

That patchouli scent mixed with what smelled like warm, cinnamon apples, as if there might have actually been a pie baking in the oven.

No man should smell that good.

The interior of Otto’s house was just as industrial as the exterior. Everything metal and black and sleek, though his furniture was oversized and comfortable.

The left side of the great room was the kitchen, and the living area was to the right.

A dining table sat on the far opposite side of the door, overlooking the gorgeous view through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Just left of the kitchen were three wide steps that led to a low loft where framed artwork was displayed on the walls and a few sculptures were positioned around a lounging couch.

Situated in the middle of the loft were double doors leading to the single bedroom beyond.

“Are you hungry?” he asked as he rounded me and tossed his keys to a bowl that sat on the entry table.

Right.

I hadn’t even had dinner yet, and it was just then I realized that I’d run out of my house without any of my things.

Just awesome.

But it was a whole lot better than showing my face when I’d screamed like I’d walked in on a murder scene rather than the very natural thing my brother and his fiancée were doing.

“Starving. And please tell me you have a bottle of wine. Okay, after today, make it two.”

He chuckled as he strode into the kitchen and headed for the liquor cabinet. “Not sure about the wine, but I have vodka.”

He waved a giant bottle at me.

I sighed as I tossed my purse onto the black granite island. “That will just have to do.”

“When did you get so fancy?” he asked with a quirk of his brow. “My vodka’s not good enough for you?”

A soft giggle rolled out as I headed deeper into the kitchen and opened the pantry where I knew he kept his mixers. I grabbed two bottles of ginger beer. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Otto. I’ve always been fancy. Have you even met me?”

Lifting the bottles overhead, I did a little shimmy.

Air huffed out of Otto’s nose as he pulled two crystal low-ball tumblers from a glass cabinet.

Talk about fancy.

“Guess I always did know you were a whole ton better than the rest of us.” He said it over the clinking of ice from the dispenser in the fridge.

I popped the caps off the bottles as he poured the vodka over ice.

“Better than the rest of you? I think not,” I said.

Moving to his side, I peeked up at him as I poured the ginger beer into the glasses.

Something dark passed through his features.

“We aren’t exactly good people,” he said, his thick, tatted throat bobbing as he swallowed. The owl wings that he’d had forever painted there seemed to flutter as he did.

I handed him a glass then took the other, and I whispered as I brought it to my lips, “No, you’re the best people.”

He stared at me for the longest time before he mumbled, “Think you might have the meaning backward.”

“No, Otto, I know the meaning just fine, just like I’ve always known with my brother. What you do is the most honorable thing I could imagine.”

That time, what passed through his expression was unmistakable.

Guilt.

Then he donned a smile that was far too casual for the conversation.

“I’m the last person you should think is a good guy. You could scrape me right out of the bottom of the barrel.”

That was Otto’s way. He acted like everything in his life was fun and games, as easy as they came, when I knew what was concealed underneath.

I knew what had sparked it in the first place.

I guessed we were a match that way. So many times, I reacted the same.

“Do you regret it?” I asked him.

“Sanctum?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He wavered, then said, “Have a million regrets in my life, Raven. But this? What we do? It’s not one of them.”

“Then I guess this is to knowing what is important to us.”

We were so close when I reached out and clinked my glass with his. So close as we both took a sip of our drinks. So close as he watched me like he wasn’t sure what to do with me standing in the middle of his kitchen.

I spilled half my drink on the floor when my phone suddenly started ringing from my purse, and Otto jumped back a step as if he’d been caught doing something salacious.

He cleared his throat as he roughed one of those giant paws through the longer pieces of his hair. “Why don’t you go into the bedroom and give your brother a call because you know he’s freaking out, and I’ll get this cleaned up and make us something to eat?”

I managed to shuck the moment into the secret spot inside me reserved for him.

“Do I have to?”

He stretched out one of those enormous hands and touched the little freckle I had to the side of my left lip. Heat spiraled through the middle of me. “Yeah, Raven, I think you do.”