Double Dare

by Jeanne St. James

  But oh, yuck! Quinn quickly looked at Logan. He was just lying beside her with a dumb smile on his face, taking this intrusion all in stride. Acting like Ty's suggestion wasn't weird… Oh. Ty had been joking. This had to be a long-standing joke between them.

  She felt like such a dope for being jealous.

  A male voice from outside the room yelled out, “Honey?”

  Ty smirked. “So you did bring breakfast, I see.”

  Paige smacked him lightly on the foot. “Don't even try it. He's mine. You pull him over to the dark side, and I'll never get him back.”

  “The dark side as in men? Or the dark side as in a black man. You know the saying—”

  Paige held out her hand, stopping his words. “I know. I know.” She turned her head and yelled, “Con, honey, don't bother coming in here—Never mind.”

  Connor Morgan—because who else could it be?—pushed the bedroom door open wider and took in the sight of his woman sitting on a bed with her brother and another couple quite well, Quinn thought.

  Paige shrugged, leaned over, and said in a loud, dramatic whisper, “I think I'm finally figuring out I need to tell him the opposite of what I really want him to do, and then he'll actually do what I wanted in the first place.” She gave Connor a big, syrupy smile.

  “Like I didn't hear that.” The tall, blond man with the Aussie accent moved over to Paige and placed a hand over her shoulder, squeezing fondly. “You know I try to do everything to please you.”

  “And what about last night?”

  “Hey, I'm not that flexible. Sorry.”

  Ty's interest perked up. “I can help you train to be more flexible.”

  Paige yelled out a sharp “no!”

  Ty laughed. “She thinks I'm going to pull you over to the dark side.”

  “Well, if I were going over, you wouldn't be a bad choice.” Connor laughed and sat behind Paige, pulling her into his arms. “Sorry, Logan. No offense.”

  Logan gave a half shrug. “None taken.”

  The bed was getting slightly crowded. Quinn wondered who was going to join them next.

  “But,” Connor continued. “I think I'll stick with this little one.” Paige leaned back against his chest and looked up at him lovingly. Almost with puppy-dog eyes.

  For God's sake, did she look at Ty or Logan with that expression? Quinn clenched her fists tightly around the sheet.

  Connor's vibrant blue eyes caught her. He released Paige long enough to extend his hand. Quinn carefully released one hand from her death grip on the sheet and shook his. His grasp was firm as he pumped her hand up and down.

  “Hi, I'm Connor Morgan.”

  Logan finally sat up, the sheet pooling around his lap. “Sorry, I should have done introductions.”

  Paige did a delicate snort. “Yeah, like this is a formal setting. Puh-leeze. Connor, that's Quinn—”

  “Shorty! Let me do it, damn it.”

  Paige held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay.”

  “Connor, this is Quinn Preston. She's our—”

  “Friend,” Quinn quickly interrupted, not having any idea what description, what label, Logan might put on her. This whole situation was embarrassing enough.

  “She speaks!” Paige squealed and then laughed.

  Quinn pressed her lips together. She had only met Paige a few times before, and each time she had liked her, but today she was getting on Quinn's nerves. It could have been because Quinn was naked under the sheets along with two other men while Paige and Connor sat there having idle conversation.

  That would be reason enough in her book.

  Maybe Paige saw the discomfort on Quinn's face, or maybe it was the sudden flush of heat crawling up Quinn's neck, but she quickly cleared her throat and got down to business. “Well, the reason we stopped by was—”

  “We wanted you two, er, three, to be the first to know—”

  “We're engaged!” Paige squealed loudly and shoved her left hand under their noses, flashing the huge diamond on her ring finger.

  There were moments of hand shaking and good-natured shoulder bumps between the guys, and Logan and Ty took turns hugging Paige.

  Maybe she was supposed to hug Paige too. But instead Quinn just mumbled out a “congratulations.” Without warning, Connor pulled her up into a smothering hug while Quinn struggled to keep the sheet over her naked breasts.

  Quinn let out a muffled “oof.”

  “If you want to cop a feel, come over here and give me a hug,” Logan said to Connor.

  “Oh no, brother. He's mine. Hands off.”

  “You're no fun, Shorty.”

  “Okay, here's some fun… I want you to give me away.”

  Paige's tumble of words had Logan leaning back against the headboard and just staring at her. Seconds ticked by, and Quinn wondered if he had even heard his sister.

  In fact, she started getting worried.

  So did Ty. “Lo?”

  Paige went on as if Logan wasn't weren't acting strangely. “And, Ty, we want you to be one of the groomsmen. If that's okay with you?”

  Ty gave her a small smile, still watching Logan with a concerned eye. “Yeah, I'd love that. Lo?” He reached behind Quinn to put a hand on Logan's upper arm; he gave him a slight nudge.

  Finally Logan seemed to snap out of his…whatever it was. And Quinn realized she had been holding her breath. She let it out and unclenched her fingers from her firm grip on the sheet.

  She leaned over to Logan and asked softly, “Are you okay?”

  Logan held her gaze for a moment, his unreadable but intense look causing the hairs on the back of her neck to rise. Then he broke the eye contact and looked at Paige.

  “I'd be honored to give you away, Shorty.” His voice had cracked a bit.

  Brother and sister stared at each other as if they were sharing a secret. Everyone in the room froze for a second, before Connor squeezed Paige's shoulders, breaking the spell.

  “Paige wanted that more than anything,” Connor said.

  “Are you getting married in a church?” Logan asked Paige.

  She just laughed in answer, causing Logan to groan in response. “Shorty, you know how I feel about churches.”

  Ty nudged him one more time before settling his arm around Quinn's bare shoulders. “We'll just get out your aluminum-foil hat to protect you from God's fury when you're at the church.”

  “No!” Paige's eyes became as big a platters. “Aluminum foil is forbidden as part of the wardrobe.”

  “Yeah, T. You think it's funny, but—”

  “But what? Don't you think the man upstairs has bigger things to worry about than your past?”

  Jeez. What had Logan done?

  Ty's fingertips traced circles over Quinn's shoulder, drawing a shiver from her. Her nipples hardened like two big goose bumps underneath the sheet, which instantly drew Connor's gaze.

  That didn't go unnoticed from Logan.

  “Okay, let's let the women have some girl talk as we men go into the kitchen and do some real men's work, like starting breakfast.”

  The three guys laughed in agreement, and Ty and Logan started to peel the sheet away to get up when Paige yelled for them to hold it. They did. She exclaimed she didn't want to see her brother's naked nether area, so she dug around in the dresser drawers and pulled out two pairs of boxer-briefs. She tossed one pair to Logan, who began to pull them on immediately, and went to toss the other pair to Ty, when she hesitated.

  “Forget it. You don't need these. I want to see what you've got.”

  With a grumble of fake exasperation, Connor snagged the pair of underwear from Paige's fingers and threw them at Ty. “Oh no. You are not showing her shit. If she sees what you have, I will never be able to live up to that. It's better she doesn't know there's anything bigger than what she's already getting.”

  “Oh, sweetie, I already know…but I love you anyway.”

  With some good-natured ribbing, all three men departed, leaving Quinn and Paige alone. />
  “You'll come too, Quinn?”

  Her soft question caught Quinn off guard. “Come?”

  “To our wedding.”

  She wants me to say yes, when it could be a year away?

  “Oh. I don't know. We'll see.” We'll see where we all are at that time.

  “The guys will need a date.”

  Now she was just trying to get on Quinn's good side. A date.

  Quinn shook her head. “They have each other.”

  Paige pursed her lips and hesitated a second before saying cautiously, “They do, but…now you're here.”

  Quinn narrowed her eyes. Just what did Paige think was going on? Besides what was obvious, of course.

  “I think you are mistaken in—”

  “Listen,” Paige interrupted. “I'm sorry for barging in on you guys. I had no idea. In fact, I never would have expected to find a woman in Logan's bed again.”

  “Why? I thought they—”

  “Did this with other women?” Paige frowned. “I don't know. I don't think so.” Her delicate eyebrows pinned together. “At least, I've never caught other women here. I mean, I'm not here all the time, but I do stop in quite often. I help with the books for the business.”

  Paige shifted and pulled herself on the bed farther. Closer to Quinn. Quinn wasn't sure if she liked that. The other woman was getting a bit too comfortable on the bed for her liking. But Paige curled her legs underneath her. It didn't look like she planned on leaving the bedroom anytime soon. And Quinn wasn't either, since she was naked under the sheet. She slid farther beneath said sheet.

  Well, she might as well take advantage of this bonding—or whatever it was—and get some good info out of Logan's sister.

  “Why do you think that is? Why me? Why now?”

  Paige put up a hand to stop Quinn's questions and just shook her head. “I don't know the answers. You would have to talk to them. Logan, maybe. Don't know.” She tilted her head and studied Quinn for a moment. “Look, I love my brother, and Ty coming into his life was the best thing that ever happened to him. I don't want anything ruining that. I'm not saying you would, but Logan's happy now. He has a good relationship, a successful business, and”—she waved a hand around the room—“look at this place.”

  She was acting like this was something permanent. It wasn't. Quinn wanted to clarify that, but when she opened her mouth, Paige stopped her again.

  “Listen. His wife screwed him up for a while. She made him feel dirty and abnormal. He's not. He just wants to love someone who loves him back.”

  That last sounded very familiar to Quinn. She had said something similar to Logan when he had asked her about kids.

  “Logan's wife…” Quinn prodded after Paige hadn't said anything after a few moments.

  Paige just about spit on the floor. “That self-righteous bitch.”

  Quinn winced. “Ouch.”

  “Oh. She deserves the title, believe me. Logan…Logan had a relationship with an older man when he was a teenager.”

  “Okay.” That news did not surprise Quinn. Paige wanted to explain but acted a bit reluctant. She was curious as to why. “And?”

  “When my mother found out—Did Logan tell you she raised us by herself? He did? Okay, well… When Mom found out, she sent Logan to our uncle's place in Kentucky for the summer. She thought he was just experimenting, that he was hanging around with the wrong crowd. She believed he just needed a male figure in his life. Believe me, Logan was always all male, so it was all just bunk. But Mom thought he would grow out of it.” Paige took a deep breath.

  “He says he's not gay. He's bi.”

  Paige waved a hand. “Semantics. Samantha and Logan met in college. I think he married her to get back into my mom's good graces. Not sure. But when my mom spilled the beans about the summer he turned seventeen—whoa. Logan was suddenly a pariah. No matter that Logan was completely faithful to her. Samantha didn't care. All her little Catholic ass cared about was that he had sullied himself with another man. Totally unacceptable. She left so quick, the front door was still swinging when the annulment papers were signed.”

  “He was devastated.”

  “Yes. To put it mildly. He was condemned by her and her religious views. That's why the reaction to the church thing.”

  “Does he want you to be telling me all of this? Is he going to mind?”

  Paige shrugged. “I don't know. I'm sure he knows we're talking about something in here, and it's not crocheting.” Paige laughed at her own funny. She sobered quickly. “You seem to be accepting of the situation, with Logan and Ty.”

  “Well, honestly, it caught me off guard at first. But I'm an adult. I could have left.”

  “But you didn't want to.”

  No. She didn't want to. She didn't want to admit it out loud to Paige. Paige who was friends with Lana.

  Shit.

  If Paige says anything to Lana… If Lana finds out where I spent the last couple of weekends, what I've been doing…who I've been doing it with…

  Quinn released her bottom lip when she tasted blood. Damn. She hadn't even realized she'd been gnawing at it.

  If Lana finds out, everyone will know. As much as she loved her friend, Quinn knew Lana had loose lips. It was one of her endearing but exasperating faults.

  Quinn sat up quickly, the sheet slipping down, dangerously close to showing some nipple. “Paige, please, you can't tell anybody,” she begged as she pulled the edge of the cover up higher, trying to keep at least some semblance of modesty.

  Though she wondered why she bothered.

  Paige was giving her a surprised but disappointed look. “Why? Are you embarrassed to be with my brother?”

  “No. No! It's not like that.”

  “No? Then what is it like?”

  “It's the complexity of the issue, I guess.”

  “Complexity? Hmm. You mean screwing two men at once?”

  Quinn felt the heat of her blush. Her cheeks were burning. She couldn't meet Paige's eyes, even though the other woman was only stating facts; what she had said was true.

  But that didn't mean it wasn't uncomfortable to admit.

  “Quinn, you're lucky.”

  Quinn looked up in surprise. “What do you mean?”

  “You're lucky to have two guys like these, wanting you. I'm jealous.”

  “Why would you be jealous? You have Connor.”

  “You're right. I do, and I love him. A lot.” Paige's lips twitched. “But sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have the attention of two men…”

  “Does Connor have any big, beefy friends?”

  “Oh yeah. He certainly does!”

  They both laughed, feeling absolutely wicked.

  But Quinn sobered quickly. “So…can you keep this to yourself?”

  Paige looked down at the floor for a moment before meeting Quinn's eyes. The perky little brunette was gone, replaced with someone fiercely serious.

  “I don't have a problem with keeping a secret. I understand this isn't the norm and might not be received well in certain—oh hell—most circles. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, nor to jeopardize my brother's happiness. If he's happy with this arrangement, then so am I.”

  Quinn reached out tentatively and touched Paige's arm. “Thank you.”

  Maybe there might be a friendship in the future between her and Logan's sister. Just maybe.

  Chapter Thirteen

  As Quinn sat in the stuffy dining room at the Mandolin Bay Country Club Sunday night, she already regretted having to leave the farm early. She wished she was sitting at the large butcher-block table instead of here. She hated her parents' favorite hangout—the place to see and be seen by the wealthy. It was gaudy and ostentatious. Too much so for Quinn's taste.

  Even the waiters were snobs, she thought, as their waiter, Robert—no, that wasn't Robert like the normal American way of saying it. Ro-bear, as it was pronounced, insisted on draping her stiff, ultrawhite cloth napkin in her lap like it was too heavy for Q
uinn to do it herself.

  As soon as he sauntered away, Quinn threw the napkin back on the table.

  “Quinn, stop being so difficult,” her mother tsk-tsked.

  “You know I don't like being fussed over.” Well, at least not by snobby waiters dressed like penguins. She had reluctantly left two men an hour ago who she didn't mind fussing over her. In fact, she enjoyed it. Couldn't get enough of it.

  Quinn sighed.

  Her father sat silently across from her, nursing his Tanqueray and tonic, while her mother started on a diatribe of useless gossip and information that Quinn couldn't care less about. Her father was obviously blocking out her mother's rambling, clearly noticeable by his glassy-eyed, blank stare and the fact that his glass never touched the table. His elbow was getting quite a workout.

  As her mother had nothing important to talk about, and her father had absolutely nothing at all to discuss—not that he was allowed a chance—Quinn wondered why they had even wanted to get together for dinner.

  She got her answer when the one person she didn't want to see just happened to run into them during their main course. Quinn almost choked on her squab—she had ordered the most expensive entrée on the menu to make it worth her while—when Peter did a drive-by of their table. Only he didn't just strike and run. Unfortunately.

  Quinn hadn't seen her father move so fast in a long time. He was up and out of his chair, pumping Peter's hand enthusiastically, while her mother fussed with her primped hair and cooed as Peter kissed her knuckles with exaggeration. In exchange, he received air kisses on both cheeks.

  Quinn fought back her vomit. She looked down at her squab and suddenly saw it with new eyes. She saw it for the pigeon it really was. She covered her plate with her napkin and sucked down a mouthful of cabernet.

  Peter pulled out the empty chair next to her and plopped down, giving her a big grin. If he tried to kiss her hello, he was going to get a dead pigeon shoved up his nose. She didn't care what kind of scene that would make.

  “Imagine my surprise, running into you here.”

  Yes, she could just imagine. Her parents had settled back into their chairs, and her father was waving Ro-bear over, his glassy-eyed stare long gone.

  Quinn watched in disgust as Ro-bear brought over another place setting and poured Peter a glass of wine. Her cabernet. She curled her fingers against the urge to selfishly yank the bottle out of the waiter's pale fingers and scream: mine, mine, mine! If she had to sit with Peter for the rest of the ruined meal, she would need the remainder of the bottle. At least.