Sweet Summer Sunset

by Delores Fossen

  “I need to talk to you,” Piper insisted, and she took Eden by the arm, leading her away from the crowd.

  Piper didn’t stop until they were on the back side of the arena. Obviously, the girl wanted some privacy, and she more or less got it. There were a couple of smokers a few yards away, but they seemed engrossed in their own conversation.

  “I lied to Nico,” Piper said, her voice definitely rattled. “Well, I sort of lied.”

  Eden snapped toward Piper so fast that she swiped her hair against the green sugar fluff. “About what?”

  Piper lifted her shoulder and then took her time answering. She didn’t even start with the explanation though until she’d huffed. “Nico saw me crying right after I got to the cabin, and I told him that I was upset because I’d broken up with my boyfriend, Jax. I am upset about that,” Piper added in a grumble.

  Piper was fidgeting now, running the fingers of her free hand down the side of her jeans and then picking at some nonexistent lint on the front of her shirt.

  “So, why were you crying?” Eden pressed.

  Despite the urgency in Eden’s tone, it still took Piper several snail-crawling moments to speak. “Like I said, I was upset. Jax hurt me when he broke up with me. He wouldn’t return my calls or texts, and I’d had enough of begging him to talk to me. The day I got to the cabin, I left him a voice mail and told him never to get in touch with me again.”

  Okay, Eden was starting to see the picture here. Nico had seen Piper crying, and even though she’d told him about the breakup, the girl had probably held back, maybe fudging the truth about exactly how upset she really was. And she’d likely done that so Nico wouldn’t go after Jax.

  Eden tossed her cotton candy in a trash can and did the same to Piper’s so she could put her arm around the girl. “I’m sorry.”

  Piper attempted another shrug. “I should have known not to go for Jax. He has badass written on him. I mean, it’s actually on him. He has a tat.”

  Eden didn’t point out that if you had to advertise it, then you were likely a badass wannabe. Still, a wannabe could break a heart just as fast as the real deal could.

  When Eden pulled back from the hug, she saw Piper blinking back tears. “Want to have a girls’ night out? We could binge on ice cream, watch movies and trash Jax and his tat? Heck, we can trash other things about him, too.”

  That didn’t help put an end to the tears, and Piper certainly didn’t jump on the idea. Maybe teenage girls no longer did that sort of thing to cheer themselves up. Too bad Eden couldn’t recommend what had finally gotten her out of her down and out mood over her own breakup. Nico was her cure, but clearly Piper didn’t see her foster brother as helpful for her own situation or the girl wouldn’t have lied to him.

  “What can I do to help?” Eden came out and asked because it was squeezing at her own heart to see those tears.

  More snails crawled long distances before Piper said anything. Then, her words came out in a rushing flood. “I had sex with Jax, and I might be pregnant.”

  Eden felt as if six Mack trucks had just slammed into her. Oh crap. And she just kept mentally repeating that. She had no experience with this, not even on her blog, and this was going to be bad. Beyond bad. It might give Rayelle a heart attack, and Nico would...

  Eden couldn’t even finish that because she had no idea what Nico would do. However, she was betting there might be a butt-whipping or at least some very mean threats in Jax’s near future.

  “I haven’t taken a test yet,” Piper went on, “but Dotty is over two weeks late. That’s what I call my period,” she added in an uncomfortable mumble.

  Eden was experiencing some extreme discomfort, too. And panic. Yes, that was the main thing. But she tried to tamp all that down so she could help Piper. It was obvious the girl was feeling mountains more panic and fear than Eden was.

  “With Dotty being late, that’s why I pushed so hard to come here,” Piper explained. “I knew I’d have to tell Nico and Aunt Rayelle, but I just didn’t know how. God, I just didn’t know how.”

  And with that, Piper threw herself back into Eden’s arms, and the tears turned to sobs.

  “Tell Nico for me, Eden,” Piper said on the rise of one of those sobs. “I know this makes me a coward, but I just can’t do it. Please tell him.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  NICO STOOD IN the shower and let the scalding hot water spew over him. It wasn’t helping the dull ache in various parts of his body. Neither was the extra-strength ibuprofen he’d taken. Still, he stayed in the shower and hoped for a cure to the fist-sized bruise he had on his left ass cheek.

  BYB had done a number on him, but it had gotten him the publicity he’d wanted, along with two seconds of the adrenaline that his body often craved. Tonight though, the only craving he had was for a beer, whatever he could find to eat in the fridge and some sleep—even if that sleep would need to happen on his stomach.

  After he dried off, he pulled on just his boxers, not bothering with anything else since he’d be crashing soon. While he went to the kitchen, he checked his phone. And frowned. There were two texts from women who wanted to know if he could hook up with them tonight.

  Clearly, the town gossips were falling down on the job. If they had been in top form, both women would have known he was off the market at least for the next six weeks or so because of Rayelle and Piper’s visit. Unless his mind and body did a serious one-eighty, that hiatus would continue at least until he could figure out what the hell was wrong with him.

  He grabbed a beer from the fridge, opened it and had a long pull while he contemplated what was going on in his head. Of course, Piper had a lot to do with it. He didn’t want her to think that if sleeping around was good for her brother, it would be good for her, too.

  But Piper was only part of the reason for this hiatus. Brenda was in that mix, as well. He was still grieving for her, and that might not go away anytime soon. Heck, he wasn’t sure he wanted it to go away. The grief and memories were the only things he had left of her, and he didn’t mind hanging on to all the little pieces.

  And then there was Eden.

  Oh yeah. Definitely in the hiatus-reasoning mix now, and he honestly hadn’t seen that one coming. A week ago, she hadn’t been a sex interest but rather his best friend. One who was trying to get over a divorce from another friend. Now he was at odds with Damien and couldn’t put up enough clown blinders to stop him from seeing that his best friend had breasts. Breasts he wouldn’t mind touching. She had a mouth, too, and yes, he wanted to kiss her.

  He drank more of his beer and considered if there was a large enough rock in his yard that he could use to hit himself on the head. Obviously, he needed something to knock some sense into him.

  What’s the worst that could happen if you go for her? he heard a little voice in his head say. But he knew that little voice more often than not doled out BS rather than sound logic.

  Nico threw open the freezer, and while he was contemplating his extremely limited selection of dinner choices, there was a knock at the door. Followed by a real voice that gave him a pure shot of adrenaline and lust.

  Eden.

  “It’s just me,” she said.

  There was a whole bunch of irony in Eden’s greeting. Because for only a “just,” she was certainly occupying a lot of his thoughts and testosterone urgings.

  “I need to get my jeans on,” he called out to her.

  “Uh. Are you alone? Should I come back?”

  Shit. Now he heard the hurt in her voice, and even though it was a dumb idea, he went to the door, threw it open so that she could see he was alone. Of course, she could also see that he was nearly naked. Since he had no doubts that being half-dressed around Eden was a bad idea, he motioned for her to come in and then headed to his bedroom to grab some clothes.

  He located a pair of jeans, dragged them over his sore butt. �
�Help yourself to a beer if you want one,” Nico said in a loud enough voice for her to hear.

  It was a rote kind of comment. Something he’d said to her too many times to count over the years. But now it seemed a lot more than just an invitation for friends to share a beer together.

  Because it was.

  He seriously doubted this was just a “dropping by to say hi” visit. Nope. He’d seen that sparkle in Eden’s eyes at the rodeo. Specifically, the way she’d checked out the parts of him that his chaps hadn’t covered. And that meant she was likely here for sex. She wouldn’t be that obvious, though. Wouldn’t throw herself at him the way Silla did. However, the look she’d give him would make it clear as to what she wanted.

  Or not.

  Nico was still pulling on a T-shirt when he came back into the living room, but he had no trouble seeing that there wasn’t a sex-look on Eden’s face. Something was bothering her.

  “What happened?” he immediately asked. He went to her, ready to give her a hug, an ear or whatever the heck else she needed. “Did Damien say something else stupid?”

  Eden shook her head and opened her mouth, but her phone dinged before she could say anything. Because he was watching every little twitch of her face and body language, he saw her relax. He also saw the message on her phone screen.

  A message from Piper.

  Squee!!!!!!! Piper had texted.

  Dotty came. No need for you to do that favor for me. Thanks bunches though.

  The rest of the screen was filled with happy face emojis.

  “Dotty?” he questioned.

  Eden blinked. “Uh, her friend.”

  Nico had never heard Piper mention anyone by that name, but it was obvious that she was thrilled about the visit. That’s good because she’d been moping about her breakup ever since she got to Coldwater.

  “What favor did she want you to do?” Nico asked, and he went to the counter to retrieve his beer and to get Eden one from the fridge.

  She waved it off, took the beer and had a long drink of it. The kind of drink a person would take if they were dying of thirst. Eden drank it so fast that her eyes were watering a little when she lowered the bottle.

  “I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she said. “I mean, after that fall from the bull.”

  He stared at her a moment, wondering why the heck she’d just lied to him. He didn’t doubt that she was worried about his bruises and such, but if that’s all there was to it, she would have just called or texted, and she wouldn’t have waited the six or so hours since his ride. No. There was more to this visit than that, and Nico was pretty sure he knew what was going on.

  “The blinders I’m trying to use on you aren’t working.” He was surprised at the relief he felt when he got out that confession.

  Eden, however, seemed to feel no such relief. “God,” she grumbled. A moment later, she said, “Jesus.”

  And Nico didn’t think she was praying.

  He helped her out with the ball of frustration, doubt and heat that she was obviously dealing with. All right, it was just as much help for himself, he admitted, as he leaned in and kissed her.

  Oh man. It was good. He knew that right from the start. Even though he hadn’t had a lot of practice with her mouth, none was needed. Eden tasted like a hyped-up mix of Christmas, birthdays and summer. All the things he liked.

  She made a sound of surprise, a little eep that got trapped in their mouths, but that was her only hesitation. She wrapped her arms around him and went in for the melt of her body against his. That was yet another of “all the things” he liked.

  Since he was still partly sane, he knew this had high potential for being a mistake, but there was that feeling of relief again. As if a too-tight cork had finally been let out of a bottle.

  Eden seemed to be experiencing some relief, too, because she really got into the kiss. No pulling back when he deepened it and went French. She just gobbled up everything he was doling out. Which, of course, led him to a big concern.

  She wasn’t going to stop at just some kisses or slides of her body against his—which she was doing.

  Nope.

  This could lead straight to the bed. Along with the consideration that his bruised butt might not be able to do justice to this moment, there was also the problem of how this would play out after some satisfying orgasms. And Nico was certain they would be very, very satisfying.

  He pulled back, setting their beers on the counter before he met her gaze. Though he wasn’t sure she could actually see him clearly through her lust-glazed eyes. “Second thoughts?” he asked.

  “Oh, I had those days ago. I’m well past that now.”

  He wasn’t sure if that meant she was on to third and fourth thoughts or no thoughts at all. He decided it was the last one, and she proved it with another body slide. Her breasts—yes, the very ones he’d been dreaming about touching and tasting—brushed against his chest. Nico knew he was wearing a T-shirt, but it suddenly felt as if there was nothing between her bare skin and his.

  Because of that, he kicked things up a notch by sliding his hand under her top, shoving down the cups of her bra, and he got busy with the touching. Her nipple tightened when he pinched it with just enough pressure to give her a nip and pleasure at the same time.

  “I’m counting on you to be very good at this,” she muttered.

  At least that’s what he thought she said. Hard to decipher every word when they were still Frenching. But if it was good she was after, he could indeed give her that. For once, he wasn’t ashamed of all the practice he’d had and could put it to good use.

  Nico lowered his head, ignoring the protest Eden made when his mouth left hers. The protest didn’t last because he kissed her nipple. She liked that. No doubts about it. She yanked him closer and let him feast on her.

  Yep, this was going to lead to the bed.

  At first Nico thought the roaring that he heard was the sound of his own heartbeat, but when Eden froze, he knew that it wasn’t. Crap. They had a visitor. One on a motorcycle, judging from the sound of it.

  Later, he’d maybe think the interruption was a good thing, that it would give Eden and him more time to decide if they should go through with this, but right now Nico definitely wasn’t seeing the benefits of anyone coming to his doorstep.

  “Excuse me a second,” he grumbled, but before he could walk, he had to give himself an adjustment. He slid his hand into his jeans to do that.

  “Oh my,” Eden practically moaned out. “That’s my fantasy.”

  He hadn’t forgotten that she’d said something about that when they’d been at the Gray Mare. A fantasy, huh? Well, he was glad it revved her up, but for him it had been a necessity.

  “Hold that thought,” he told her.

  Nico dropped a kiss on her still-moaning, sighing mouth, and he stormed across the room to give whoever was out there a very unfriendly greeting. Someone knocked, though, before he even threw open the door, and Nico got another hit of relief. It was some teenager he didn’t know. That meant it was likely just someone who was lost. Nico would give him quick directions and send him on his way.

  “Nico Laramie?” the guy immediately asked as he gave Nico the once-over. He had shaggy blond hair and hit right about six feet with a lanky build. The build was easy to see because of the muscle T-shirt he was wearing. He had a helmet tucked under his arm, and the porch lights revealed the motorcycle parked in Nico’s driveway.

  “Yeah, I’m Nico Laramie. Who are you?”

  “Jax Russo,” he said as if that would mean something to Nico. It didn’t. But judging from the speed that Eden came racing to the door, it likely meant something to her.

  “He’s Piper’s ex-boyfriend,” Eden supplied and then turned to Jax. “What are you doing here?” she said at the same moment Nico had been about to ask her how she’d known that was the ex-boyfrie
nd’s name. It didn’t matter, though. The only thing that mattered now was that he was the ex. And that he’d crushed Piper’s heart and made her cry.

  “What the hell do you want?” Nico snarled. He could do badass when called for, and this was definitely a situation where it did.

  “Uh, I came to see Piper. I asked around town to find out where she was, and some folks at the diner said she might be here or at a cabin you own. I thought I’d start with you, and if she wasn’t here, then you could give me the address of the cabin.”

  “You thought wrong,” Nico quickly informed him. “Piper’s very upset, and in turn, that makes me very upset, too.”

  Eden touched Nico’s arm, rubbed gently. Probably a gesture meant to soothe him so he’d throttle back, but Jax looked like a cocky turd who needed to be taken down a notch. Of course, Nico figured that’s because his big brother feelings for Piper were playing into this, but he wasn’t going to let this turd crush Piper again.

  “Uh, sorry about Piper and you being upset,” Jax said. “Especially Piper.” But he eyed Nico as if he were a rattler ready to strike. “All right. Maybe I’m sorrier about you right now.”

  Well, that at least meant the boy had some brains.

  “If Piper had wanted you to have the address of the cabin, she would have given it to you,” Nico pointed out.

  Jax didn’t deny that. He nodded, then gave a weary shake of his head. “I was a...jerk.” It seemed as if he’d been about to use a much harsher word but had decided not to add possible gasoline to Nico’s flammable temper. “And I need to tell her I’m sorry. She won’t talk to me. And, man, I’m worried. Really worried.”

  “Uh, I can call Piper,” Eden said. “I’ll let her know you were here, and if she wants to phone you back, she will.”

  Eden would have shut the door in Jax’s face if both Nico and he hadn’t caught on to it. Obviously, neither one of them felt they’d hashed out whatever needed to be hashed.