by Cari Quinn
She went hot from her hairline to her toes. “I’m not sure you’re supposed to smell my pussy from that far away.”
He chuckled. “When it smells as good as yours, hell yes, you are.” He nipped her lobe. “But just me and Drake. Anyone else tries to sniff, kick ’em in the nuts with your cowboy boots.”
She had to laugh. “I’m not Dress-Me-Up Barbie, you know. Go put on your own clothes.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Grinning, he saluted and went to retrieve his shirt.
Drake came back out of the bathroom as she was pulling on her cowboy boots. She wasn’t doing it because Colt suggested it, of course. They just went with this outfit is all.
A whistle made her look up to find Drake staring at her, grinning. “Damn, you’re a pretty sight.”
“Isn’t she?” Colt tipped his head toward Drake. “Plus no bra and no panties, man.”
“Shit.” He clutched his heart. “So what time can we come over tonight?”
For a second, she thought he was serious. Apparently so did Colt, because he frowned. And that frown sliced right through her.
See, he was being responsible. More responsible than she and Drake were, anyway. Because she wanted to tell them to come by anytime. That she’d be waiting naked in bed with a chilled bottle of champagne and the rest of the condoms she wasn’t giving back to them, because she was selfish enough to not want them to use them right away with someone else.
Selfish and silly and totally unfair.
“He’s kidding,” Colt said into the silence that descended.
She nodded and went into the bathroom before she could ask them to reconsider. That would be nuts.
After she took care of business, she took a super-fast glance in the mirror before she brushed her teeth. Her hair was wild, but with the Texas humidity, that wasn’t a big surprise. This time she was rocking the just-fucked look, and she really wasn’t in a hurry to tame it into her usual style. So she fluffed the waves with her pic, sprayed a little hairspray and called it good.
As for the dress, she didn’t even check herself out in it because if she did, she probably wouldn’t leave the house wearing it.
Chicken. You can bang two hot dudes—at once—but you can’t wear a revealing sundress?
Yeah, she’d save the self-analysis until later, after she faced whatever was to come at the Bennett farm.
When they pulled up a short while later, at first she thought they’d somehow made it out scot-free. Hers and Colt’s trucks were the only ones still parked in the communal area beyond where the family usually parked, but no one was roaming around them as if they were checking out a crime scene. Everything seemed quiet.
Until she climbed out of the backseat of the SUV—where she’d insisted on sitting—and saw Wade’s truck parked out back. Which meant they still hadn’t left for their honeymoon yet, and she knew for a fact that Charli had said they wanted to get an early start so they could spend a day in the city before their flight to Aruba.
Fuckity fuck fuck.
Colt got out, just as wary, but with a defiant edge she had to admit she liked on him. He took a few steps and swore. “Would you look at that?” He walked forward a bit farther up the drive, bent over, then stood with his key fob held high in his hand. “Right in plain sight.”
“Figures,” Paige said, smiling faintly. She still didn’t regret last night, even if his keys hadn’t been as lost as they’d thought.
Maybe it had been fate.
“Another problem solved.” Drake circled the truck and reached for her arm, giving it a friendly rub. “See? Quiet as church ’round here—”
The front screen door slammed open. “Colton Bennett, you better have a damn fine reason for giving your mama a scare last night.”
“Oh my God,” Paige whispered, stepping back. In a minute, she’d take off running up the dusty country road in her spit-shined cowboy boots.
That shrill voice belonged to Geraldine Trent, Mrs. Bennett’s best friend and town busybody. She also just happened to write The Sentinel’s gossip column.
Spots danced in front of her eyes. She was going to faint dead away, right here.
It wasn’t that she was ashamed of what they’d done. Far from it. All three of them were consenting adults, and what went on in her bedroom was their own business. But she just hadn’t thought she’d have to discuss it with half the town quite so soon.
She wasn’t even able to walk right again yet, for pity’s sake. That and the scruff burn between her thighs was a persistent reminder she could be very naughty when she wanted to be. And she liked it.
She just wasn’t necessarily ready to fess up to the world about it just yet.
“Geraldine, everything’s fine.” Colt’s voice was smooth as maple syrup and twice as sugary as he crossed the lawn to grip her flapping arms. She’d shot down the steps like a manic bird. “Just spent the evening with some friends. No cause for concern, I promise.”
“Yes, well, you could’ve told your mama that, mister.” She poked a bony finger into his chest.
“Yes, ma’am, you’re right. I should’ve called Ma to let her know everything was okay. I just had a few last night and Drake drove us home.”
She stared at him. “You went home?”
Paige groaned under her breath, seeing the problem. Too bad Colt didn’t.
“Yes, we did.”
“And you came back wearing the same clothes you wore at the wedding?” She glanced over her shoulder at Drake and Paige. “How come…she’s in different clothes then?”
The hesitation before “she’s” surely had to do with Mrs. Trent’s tendency to call her “the Yank”, at least when she thought Paige wasn’t listening.
“We swung by Paige’s to take her out for breakfast before work. You know how she is, all work and no play,” Drake said with an easy smile, crossing the lawn to stand with Colt. On the way there he seemed to realize that left Paige on her own and he hesitated, halfway between them both.
That was just fine. She probably should’ve stayed to herself to begin with. Then none of them would be in this sticky mess.
She started to speak up to try to deflect the heat from the men when the front door opened once again. This time, Wade and Charli were the ones who darkened the step, and Paige lost her voice completely.
As hard as it was, she intended to tell Charli the truth. Just not right now. She refused to take Colt and Drake down with her, at least as far as Mrs. Trent was concerned.
“Charli,” Paige said, rushing across the lawn and up the steps to give her friend a quick hug. She hung on longer than she might’ve normally, because she was half convinced this might be their last hug ever. “Y’all haven’t left yet?”
“We were going to.” There was something in Charli’s voice, a thread of uncertainty as she pulled back to look up at Paige. There were more than a few inches height difference between them, and right now, with Charli dressed in a floaty white dress that made her look angelic, Paige felt like a ginormous wanton woman. “But then Mrs. Bennett saw the truck, and she got a little nervous, considering. So then we got a little nervous…and well, we’re still here.” She pursed her lips. “Then I noticed your truck was still here, Paige, so I called you too.”
“What did y’all think? That I’d wandered off to drown my sorrows because of the wedding?” Colt asked.
“We didn’t know what to think, so we stuck around for a few more hours.”
“I didn’t get a call,” Paige began, then she smacked her head. “I turned my phone off for the wedding. Totally forgot to put it back on.”
“You?” Charli laughed unsteadily. “You live on your phone. I’ve never seen you go ten minutes without checking the thing.”
Yeah, well, apparently having two well-hung studs in my bed supersedes who just tagged me on Facebook.
Paige’s already shaky smile faltered even more. “Must’ve had a bit too much to drink.”
“Must’ve.” Charli grabbed her arm. “We’re
going inside,” she said to her new husband, who nodded, appearing as perplexed as Paige felt.
Charli tugged her inside and up the stairs, past Mr. and Mrs. Bennett. They also passed Hollie, who was shoveling in oatmeal and making her usual snarky comments. The last thing Paige heard before the bathroom door shut behind her and Charli was Hollie’s remark that her big brother had probably sneaked off for a “not-so-secret booty call.”
Yeah, she wasn’t touching that one.
Charli pushed Paige’s butt into the sink and pulled herself up to her full five-feet-nothing height. “Talk to me, amiga.”
Oh God. She knew. She had to know. But how? The evidence was pretty damning, she’d give her that, but still, there had to be another possibility. Surely people didn’t immediately leap right on “tawdry threesome” as the sole reason for two men and a woman to abscond together into the night.
Paige groaned inwardly. Abscond into the night? Dear lawd, she needed to stop watching soap operas.
She took a deep breath. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t lie to Charli. The fact that her stomach was twisting and turning as if it was a wet dishrag gripped between two fists wasn’t going to change her mind.
“We slept together,” she blurted.
“Define we.”
“Me and Drake.” There was no missing the way Charli’s shoulders sagged with visible relief. Unfortunately, she wasn’t done yet. “And me and Colt too. I’m sorry. So sorry.”
Charli’s eyes bugged out. “Both of them? At once?”
“No, no, of course not. Not at once, once.” Her voice lowered. “Not like…DP.”
“DP? Dios mio, I haven’t had coffee yet.”
She knew she shouldn’t laugh. It wasn’t the time or place. But her nerves bubbled over and then she was snorting and clutching her belly, helpless to stop herself.
Then she glanced down and saw her tits almost spilling out and sobered up real fast.
“Sorry. I’m really sorry,” she said miserably, trying to discreetly tuck them back in. Too bad Double-D’s weren’t ever discreet about a damn thing. “I’m not making light of it. It’s very serious. I’ve been just worried sick about how you’ll react.”
“In between orgasms?” Charli asked drily, crossing her arms over her own much more demure rack.
“No, we didn’t…not today. Oh my God, this is so embarrassing.” She covered her face with her hands, needing to take a moment’s breather from that judgmental look on her best friend’s face. Or maybe she was just seeing things, her guilt taking over, but either way, she needed a moment.
“Was it good?” Charli asked after another minute passed.
Paige dropped her hands. “Is that a trick question?”
Charli surprised her by chuckling as she turned Paige to face the mirror. “I’m guessing so, judging by all of these.” She swept Paige’s hair back behind her shoulder and Paige gasped at the tiny bruises and red marks that lined her neck. A few dotted her cleavage too.
“Oh my God. I didn’t want to look at myself in this dress, and oh my God.” She tried to pull up her bodice to no avail. “I have to go home and change. Right now.”
“No, you don’t. You look hot in this sundress. Stop trying to hide yourself away behind shapeless sackcloths. Your body is banging, and you should show it off.”
“My clothes aren’t sackcloths.” Okay, maybe a few of them were. But she was hippy. That wasn’t her imagination. Besides, this dress really was too revealing for work.
“Since you didn’t decide to wear this, who suggested you should?”
She hesitated. “Colt.”
“Figured.” Charli nodded. “He loves curves. All men do, but that man has a finer appreciation for them than most. Still not sure why he married me.” Her laughter was slightly off-key.
“Stop it. You’re model-gorgeous. You know he loved you.”
“Water under the bridge, babe. He’s a single man now. He can do what—and who—he wants. As he’s been proving for the last three-plus years since we signed on the dotted line.”
She had no reason to prickle at Charli’s assessment of Colt as a manwhore. Hadn’t she called him that herself too many times to count? Sure, he’d shown her a different side to his personality last night, but it was probably just self-preservation talking, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he was that much of one, then what they’d done meant nothing. Less than. And one night or not, it had been a kind of turning point for her.
She couldn’t hide away from life anymore.
Dating might be messy and more trouble than it was worth more than half the time, but she couldn’t close herself into her apartment like a shut-in. She was too young. She hadn’t experienced enough yet.
But that was for later. Right now, she had some fences to mend.
Paige turned to face her best friend. “I’m sorry. I broke about sixteen friend codes, but if it’s any weight in my favor, I didn’t ever even look at him that way until he showed up half naked in my truck.”
That wasn’t entirely true, but it was mostly, and hell, she’d do anything to bring a real smile back to Charli’s face. Yesterday she’d married the love of her life. She shouldn’t be frowning today. Not even for a second.
“Half naked in your truck?” Charli held up a hand. “Nevermind. I don’t want to know.”
“I do,” Hollie called from the other side of the door. “Open up and give a sister the skinny. Skip the details though, okay? I’m running low on brain bleach.”
Rolling her eyes, Charli pulled open the door and hauled Hollie inside. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve been eavesdropping?”
“No clue. It couldn’t be because of this.” Hollie held up the glass in her right hand. The empty glass. “Besides, would I do such a thing?”
“Hell yes, you would. Brat.” Charli grinned and pushed at Hollie’s shoulder. The other woman wore a hot-pink nightshirt that skimmed her thighs and read: Librarians do it between the covers.
“Can you blame me? This is some juicy shit.” Hollie flipped down the lid of the toilet and plunked herself on the seat, then waved for them to continue. “As you were. Don’t mind me.”
Paige bit her lip. “She’s his sister.”
“For the purposes of this discussion, pretend I’m not if it means I can listen to the hot threesome-action story.” Hollie scrunched up her nose. “Feel free to skip over the parts involving Colt and his…unit. When it comes to that bar of man chocolate, Drake, however, please do not skimp on the details. Any of them. Length, girth, thrusting power—”
“Hollie!” But Charli was laughing.
So was Paige. Colt’s little sister was insanely cute, owl glasses, straight-cut dark bangs, bowl cut and all. She wasn’t that young—in her early twenties, from Paige’s guess—but she had a youthful innocence about her and still lived at home with her parents. Her job at the local library and rockin’ little red sports car were kind of incongruous, but people were people, not checkmarks on some imaginary form.
Another good reminder when it came to Colt too. She really had to stop slotting him into some kind of role in her mind. He was more than just a ladies’ man. More than just a sexy thorn in her side.
He and Drake were both…more. Part of her wished she could let them be more in her life, but she couldn’t. Because of Charli and town propriety and hell, Colt hadn’t seemed interested in a repeat anyway when Drake had mentioned it. Drake certainly hadn’t pushed him on it either.
Better to let sleeping penises lie.
“I’m sorry,” she said again to Charli, not wanting that salient point to become muddied in the midst of all the hilarity and hot-sex hijinks taking place. “I never would want to put you in an awkward spot, even for a moment. Especially today. I don’t care what Mr. Mondell says. You have every right to feel hurt and to wonder if—”
“Oh yeah?” Charli’s brows snapped down over her fiery dark eyes. “What exactly does Drake say? By the way, calling him ‘Mr. Mondell’
after you’ve seen his junk—”
“And ridden it,” Hollie added eagerly.
“Is more than a little weird,” Charli finished.
“I know. It’s just a habit. I’m so used to calling him and Colt that, it sneaks out at odd times.”
And Colt doesn’t mind too much, since it makes him want to put me on my knees…
Nope, not going there again. Not in reality, and not in her mind.
Okay, maybe a few more times in her mind. She was no saint.
“Paige, what did Drake say?”
Paige shut her eyes and cursed her rampant open-mouth-insert-both-feet-and-an-armadillo nature. “It’s really not important.”
“Paige.”
“That you’re remarried now, to Colt’s brother.”
The silence that greeted her statement made her inch open one eye. Charli was nodding.
“Yes, I am, and it’s a good reminder to mind my own business. I’m leaving on my honeymoon today.”
“Yes. You are. But that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have your feelings. What I did violated—”
“Hang on a sec. You love Wade, right?” Hollie interjected. “You better, since you married him.”
“Of course I do. More than I’ve loved anyone, ever.” Charli sighed and nodded. “Yeah, she’s right. That answers everything, doesn’t it? I may still be friends with Colt, and still worry about him, but fact is, we’re in the past and he’s a free man. It’s only my ego talking. Bottom line, I know it was just a one-time thing and it’s never going to happen again.” Her smile made Paige smile back, reluctantly.
Charli was right. Of course she was right. Drake’s relationships tended to last a bit longer than Colt’s did, but neither of them were big on repeats. They probably weren’t looking to change that streak either.
“With those two, it wouldn’t,” Paige agreed quietly. “One time is one thing. More than that would make it different.”
“I know you never intended to hurt me, so it’s fine. All of this is fine.” Her best friend grinned. “I mean, a girl’s gotta live a little. Take the bull for a wild ride now and then.”
