by Liz Crowe
“Yes, Cole. Friends. Let’s keep our relationship…on a different level. Because I think you need a friend more than you need a fuck buddy. You can trust me when I tell you I would gladly be that for you, too. But I don’t really think it’s good for you or for me.” He let go of Cole’s hands.
Cole lifted his glasses up, and Ryan was struck all over again by the angular structure of his face and the deep green of his eyes. “I want to see you,” Cole said. “So badly.”
“You can,” Ryan said, taking Cole’s hand and holding it to his own cheek. “Feel me, hear me—that’s what you do.”
Just when he was about to ruin everything by kissing the guy, his son shrieked, making both men jump to their feet. Ryan heard Jamie giggling like a maniac, lying on his back on the grass while Brutus nuzzled and licked him all over. He sighed and put an arm around Cole’s shoulders—a friendly arm—something to comfort a man who needed it.
“He’s a good kid. You’re lucky,” Cole said, keeping distance between them.
Ryan kept watching the boy, his miniature if you looked at photos of him at that age, only nearly two pant sizes too small. “Yeah, he’s pretty amazing, considering his mother was a meth addict by the time he was born.”
“Wow, that’s tough. Is he…okay? I mean, other than being kind of small?”
“How do you know he’s small?”
“Audrey told me.”
“Oh, right. Well, against all odds it seems, he’s normal, although he’ll never play forward on the basketball team. I mean, I’m nearly six-five, but his doc tells me he’ll only be about five-eight or so at most. But he’s healthy as a horse. Speaking of, I gotta feed him soon or he’ll turn into one of those gremlin things when they go bad, you know?”
Cole laughed and the sound made Ryan’s entire body prickle with something he refused to identify. He put a soft kiss against Cole’s cheek and stepped away, then turned at the last moment, allowed himself a long look at Cole’s firm jaw and firm military torso that hid a truly fractured soul. “Want to join us? IHOP? Death by pancakes?”
Cole tilted his head and held out a hand so Brutus could slide back under it. Just when Ryan was sure he’d say yes, he spoke. “No, thanks. You guys have a good time. And be sure and talk to Quinn, okay?” He turned and let the dog guide him back in without another word, leaving Ryan with his whirling, confounded thoughts.
He got Jamie strapped back into his seat and looked down on the console to see Lynette’s text. He stared at it so long, trying to process what it meant, that he jumped when Jamie kicked the back of his seat. “Hungry, Daddy! Pancakes! Now!”
He shut his eyes and visions of Lynette’s amazing, sexy perfection floated through his brain. Her lips, laugh, voice, all of it. That incredible way she rolled her hips and flexed around his cock. But even more, the moments when he’d watch her with his son.
Ryan ran a shaking hand down his face. Of all the split-second decisions he’d made—including fucking Jamie’s mother enough to create the small human currently beating his heels against Ryan’s seat—he was damn close to regretting the one he made last night, when he’d kissed Lynette for the first time. Not because it was a bad encounter, but because it was so right. And now, he had told Cole he wanted to ‘be friends’.
God, I have shitty timing.
“Hang on, son. Hang on. I promise, we are going straight there. Just give me a minute.” He tapped out a reply to her.
No. Thank you. I had a great time. And yes, you’re right. I promise to keep it all business from now on.
Chapter Seventeen
“Holy shit, yes! Oh my God…Ryan.” Lynette shuddered, digging her fingertips into his shoulders while he held her up against the wall of his pitch-black office. The smell of their lust combined with the usual brewery odors of malt and yeast made him groan and bury his nose in her neck. He licked the sweat he found there, loving her taste, feel and her words in his ear.
Three days after their first encounter, they’d hosted a beer dinner and kept their distance for the entire time, the chilly air between them almost visible. After she’d bid the last of the one hundred people goodbye, he’d escaped back to his office and tried to get his bearings. She’d looked like a million bucks in a sleek, simple green dress, that thick, amazing hair cascading around her shoulders. He’d nursed a near hard-on the entire two hours and it was pissing him off completely.
He’d sat, staring at emails without seeing them until he figured she’d left. When her hand touched his shoulder like he somehow knew it would, he jumped up, grabbed her arms and pinned her against the wall. He shoved his tongue between her lips and yanked her skirt up without a word and she offered no protest. If anything, she ripped at his clothes with equal gusto.
“Come,” he commanded, whispering in her ear. He shifted her legs up higher around his waist, giving him an even better angle. She groaned when he pressed deep, giving her clit contact with his pubic bone. His own orgasm hovered, but he wrestled it back.
She looked up and let her hands drop to his shoulders, her breathing calmed. He tilted her face down and stared at her. “Just this once more, okay?” he croaked.
“Yeah,” she whispered, biting his earlobe and yanking his shirt up. She ran her hands up his chest, flicked her fingers across his nipples, making him shudder. “Handy, having condoms in your desk drawer. You do this a lot?”
He sighed and pulled her away from the wall, carrying her and kissing her neck until he found the desk. Keeping their bodies connected, he leaned over her. She dropped back to her elbows. “If I told you I brought them in today, just in case, what would you say?”
She bent one long leg up against his chest, drawing him in deeper. “Jesus, Red, you are like…some kind of addiction.” He closed his eyes, kept thrusting his hips and let her lean up to bite down on his nipple. He groaned when she tightened her inner muscles around his cock. “Gonna come,” he whispered. “Kiss me.”
She raised her lips to his. He tasted her while his vision dimmed and the orgasm roared up his spine and exploded across his brain. They stayed there, clinging to each other, their heartbeats calming.
“I’d say you were a liar,” she said, rearranging her dishevelled dress and hair.
“Huh?” He rubbed his face, still addled and buzzy from the orgasm.
“I’d say if you told me you brought those rubbers in today, just in case, I’d say you were lying.”
“Oh, well, I’m not,” he said, tugging the condom off and wrapping it in a tissue before flopping into a chair. He grabbed her hand so she couldn’t walk away and drew her down to his lap, kissing her nose, cheeks and lips. “Come home with me tonight.”
“No,” she said, snuggling into his embrace. “No more sleepovers. If we’re gonna fuck with some sort of regularity, that’s fine. But I have zero interest in anything more.”
He leaned back, narrowing his eyes at her. “Well, that’s different,” he said, putting his thumb over her lips.
“How’s that.” She bit his finger with a grin, then jumped up and found her shoes.
“A woman who just wants to fuck. Maybe I want you to sweep me off my feet, romance me, buy me flowers?” He smiled, but his gut was churning.
“Sorry, doll.” She patted his cheek. “I never promised romance.” She leaned down, giving him a lovely view of her lush breasts. “You don’t want that from me, remember? You have someone else in mind for sweeping-off-your-feet duty. Or had you forgotten about him?”
Something in her voice made him stand and grab her arms. “For your information, Cole and I have come to an understanding. We are friends and nothing more. Not even with any benefits.” He let go, his face hot with fury and something resembling embarrassment.
“Oh,” she said, lightly but with an undertone of something he wanted to latch on to.
“What are you doing December twentieth? Around four?” He leaned back on the desk where he’d just fucked the lovely woman now standing in front of him. “Got a nice dress?�
��
“I don’t know. And why?” She matched his pose.
“My brother’s getting married, and I would like for you to accompany me. As my—”
She breached the small distance between them and put her fingers over his lips. “Don’t say it.” She replaced her fingers with her lips briefly. “I’ll come with you to the wedding. But it’s not a date. Got it? Just friends. A favor because you can’t find anyone else.” Her eyes were hard.
“Fine, whatever.” He shrugged away from her. “Good luck tomorrow.”
She gave him an odd look. “Um, thanks. What for?”
“Your interview? Real marketing job with deep-pocketed auto company?” His chest hurt when he looked at her but he forced his voice to stay calm and noncommittal.
“Oh yeah, that. Thanks.” She turned, opened his office door and walked out without another word.
Ryan sat for nearly thirty minutes, trying like hell to square his thoughts about the woman—and the man— in his life. And honestly wondered how in the world he could ever be happy with either one of them given his own inability to decide, as his brother so eloquently put it, which goddamned team he batted for.
Chapter Eighteen
Ryan smiled down at Jamie, dressed in his suit, standing beside him and Quinn while they waited for Audrey to make her appearance at the back of the chapel. The little boy tugged on his trouser leg, whispering loud enough for the first three rows to hear. “Daddy. What are we waiting for? I’m hungry. You said there was cake. Can we have cake now? Is Santa coming? You said he might! Remember?”
The crowd tittered. Ryan patted his son’s head and leaned into Quinn’s ear. “Uh, is everything okay?” Quinn frowned at him, shot his cuffs and shrugged at the justice of the peace, who smiled. Stress oozed from his twin brother’s pores. “I’m gonna go check on things.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Quinn said, keeping his eyes trained to the back of the room. The rehearsal had gone off without a hitch, the dinner was fun and relaxed. Nothing indicated that Audrey was having second thoughts. But she did look more stressed around the edges than Ryan cared for, although he told Cole she looked ‘just fine’.
Ryan had been unable to tear his eyes from Cole’s date for that night. Jake was a solid wall of handsome muscle, charming to a fault to everyone and attentive to Cole in a way that made it crystal clear to Ryan their relationship had passed beyond the business partners stage. He’d shot Ryan a couple of funny looks, and Ryan mentally cursed for not insisting that Lynette come with him to that stupid event, too. She’d begged off, telling him going to a wedding was bad enough—she hated the damn things and was not about to drag out the agony by going to a rehearsal for it.
He let his eyes pass over the man in question, sitting near the back, dressed in an impeccable dark blue suit, his long brown hair held back with a small strip of leather. The guy met his eyes and nodded curtly before training his eyes to the front that was still devoid of a bride. Ryan spared a second of admiration for the elegant simplicity of the Michigan League room Audrey and Quinn had chosen. It was lit by about a million candles, with simple red roses tucked into holiday-style greenery arrangements along the strip of white that led up to where his brother stood nervously running a hand through his hair.
Ryan couldn’t fathom what sort of planning and detail had gone into such a simple-looking setup but he knew one thing—if Quinn’s fiancée did not appear soon at the back of the room, the guy was going to lose it. His son slipped his small hand into his uncle’s, making Quinn flinch then look down at his nephew, a smile playing around his lips. Quinn’s sons were there, too, providing a bit of moral support.
Ryan’s heart pounded when he snuck into the back room. He saw Audrey in Cole’s arms, her shoulders shaking. Cole lifted his face when Ryan shut the door behind him then motioned him closer.
“Shh, Audrey, listen, it’s going to be fine. Please. You love him. There’s no reason to be so upset. Since when do you break down like this? I mean, come on.” Ryan could tell that Cole was having a tough time keeping a rein on his own stress. The two of them were not helping each other at all.
Ryan made his way toward them, while Cole rubbed his sister’s back. Her sniffles sent a shaft of anxiety to Ryan’s brain. “What’s up in here?” he asked, keeping his voice light. “There are approximately a hundred and fifty people out there waiting to see you but one in particular who’s sweating through his tailor-made tuxedo. Because I’m the best man in the general vicinity, I was sent to determine the state of the bride’s condition.”
Audrey shrugged out of Cole’s embrace and turned toward the window where snow was covering the campus of the University of Michigan with a soft white blanket. Her shoulders and hands shook. Ryan stood next to Cole. “What’s up?” he whispered.
“I have no idea,” Cole said, looking helpless and pissed off in equal measure. The dog was whining and bumping against Cole’s leg, as if trying to get him to fix whatever was wrong with Audrey.
“Will you guys stop staring at me like I’m a circus side show?” Audrey demanded. Ryan took a breath and watched her pace. She was breathtakingly gorgeous in her classic cream-colored figure-hugging dress that left no doubt the woman was pregnant. But it worked for her. She looked lush, full, sexy, if about to shatter into a million pieces. “I mean, shit, you know what I mean.”
Cole sighed and sank into a chair. “Honey, what is it? Everything is fine. The reception is set. I know you must look great. I—”
She whirled around, her fancy updo starting to wilt, her eyes full of tears. “I don’t know. Don’t you get it? I’m a fucking basket case. I can’t even enjoy this day—my day—I cry at the drop of a hat and the thought of walking out there and doing this is making me want to claw my skin off.”
“Uh, yeah.” Ryan glanced over at Cole, who mouthed “Get Quinn,” at him. He nodded and shot Lynette a text to get Quinn back here and bring Jamie, too. Within a few minutes of Audrey pacing in silence while Ryan and Cole stood shoulder to shoulder watching her, the door flew open.
“Audrey, what in the hell in going on?” He stepped back when she flew at him.
“Damn you, Shannon. I don’t want to be pregnant. I mean, I’m glad and I…shit.” She pounded on his chest a minute, then gripped his lapels and hid her face in his chest.
Quinn looked over her shaking shoulder at Ryan, who shrugged and tucked his hands in his pockets. Lynette lurked near the door, Jamie hanging on to her hand, his eyes wide at the outburst. He smiled, noting how amazing the lovely redhead looked in a simple shimmery gray dress.
“Shh, baby, listen. It’s this wedding. I knew we shouldn’t try to do all this crap. I hate it, and it’s made you insane,” Quinn soothed, his eyes wide and confused.
She yanked herself away from him. “I thought you wanted it. Why didn’t you tell me you hated it?” She stood, chest heaving, glaring at him, her face flushed red. “How can we possibly be married if we can’t even communicate about this?” She sank into a seat, face in her hands.
Quinn shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around, worry evident in every line of his face. She glanced up, her hair escaping its many clips. “We can’t even communicate about this?” Her last, repeated words were loud, and Jamie clapped his hands over his ears.
Quinn set his jaw, took Audrey’s arm and drew her up to her feet. His brother pulled the hysterical woman into his arms. “You’re right, my love.” He kissed her hair, tilted her face up and brushed her tears away with his thumbs. “I’m so sorry.” He put his forehead to hers.
Cole touched his arm, and they started to make their way out to give Quinn and Audrey some privacy. Ryan moved toward the door and heard words that made his heart clench with happiness for his brother and no small amount of jealousy that he couldn’t find the same kind of soul mate.
“Listen to me,” Quinn said when he and Cole passed them, paying no more attention to all the family in the room than he would a fly in the window. “Audrey Gail Traynor—I
love you. I want to be with you forever. With our family.” Quinn touched the swell of Audrey’s belly. “And I vow right here and now to never keep anything from you again. These last few weeks have been a nightmare—and now I know why. Because neither of us were being honest. I would have eloped with you—anywhere you wanted. But I thought you wanted all this.” He waved his hand around. “All I want is for you to be happy.”
She nodded and put her hand to Quinn’s cheek. Cole gripped Ryan’s arm. The dog whined. “I love you, too. And I’m sorry to make such a stupid scene at my own wedding.”
Quinn chuckled, kissed her forehead and held her close. “Are we back on here, sweetheart? Or do I tell all these people to hit the road?” Ryan asked.
She turned to him and Cole, wiped her eyes and smiled.
“You joining this family, or have you come to your senses and decided to bolt before it’s too late?” Ryan asked.
She grabbed her brother, tugging him close. “No, I think I’m all in, Ryan. Sorry.” She closed her eyes a split second.
“Audrey, are you sure you’re okay?”
“No, I’m not sure,” she said, her voice a high and thin. “I need to sit a minute.”
Quinn eased her into a chair. She blew out a breath. “Um, water?”
Lynette handed her a bottle. Jamie jumped on the dog. Cole frowned. “What the fuck is going on? I can tell something’s wrong. I hear it…Audrey, the baby…”
She leaned back, her eyes closed, holding the bottle to her flushed face. Cole crouched beside her and she grabbed his hand. “I’m good. Baby is fine. I just haven’t eaten today—too nervous. Feeling a little lightheaded.”
Quinn put a hand on her shoulder. “Anybody got a granola bar?”
“There are some over there.” She motioned toward a leather bag on the floor. Lynette grabbed one and handed it to her. “Thanks,” she said. Cole frowned and rose, backing away from Lynette so fast he stumbled over a chair. Brutus growled, grabbed his hand in his huge jaws, shaking off Jamie, who promptly burst into tears.
