by Tara Rose
Wes actually put his hand over her mouth, which forced up a fit of giggles from Summer. “We’re going to get kicked out of here,” he said, glancing around. But his voice was full of humor, and Summer didn’t care if they did get kicked out right now. She’d give them both anything they wanted for the rest of this night. They were so much fun, and they didn’t laugh at her or chide her for getting excited over things like bowling a strike.
She smiled at Dalton. “Thank you.”
He shook his head. “It was nothing. Wes could have showed you the same thing.”
The men exchanged a glance that spoke volumes. They were both so competitive, but that one tiny comment had told her how much Dalton actually did respect Wes, and she was so grateful he’d said it. This would be a lot more fun with them showing courtesy and respect toward one another.
“You’re a good bowler, Dalton.” Wes stuck out his hand and Dalton shook it. “I’m sorry you had to quit the team all those years ago. We went on to the state championships that year.”
“I know you did. And you’re good, too, Wes. I mean that.”
“What happened, Dalton?” asked Summer. “I mean with your mom?”
Wes started to get up to take his turn, but Summer placed a hand on his arm and gazed into his eyes. “Wait. Please?”
Wes cut his gaze toward Dalton for a second, and then he took his seat again and gave Summer’s hand a squeeze. “Not sure Dalton wants to talk about it, Summer.”
“No, it’s okay.” Dalton scooted closer to her on the bench and took her other hand. “We kept it pretty quiet at the time, but there’s no reason for me not to talk about it now.” He glanced to their right, but there was still one empty lane between them and the nearest bowlers.
Summer followed his gaze. “They’re not paying attention to us anymore.”
“My mom took a bad fall on the property that year. The circumstances surrounding it were never really clear. It…it took a while before we found her, and when we did, it was apparent she had a bad head injury.”
“Dalton, I’m so sorry.” Summer remembered how frightened she’d been when Gran had fallen, and she’d been no more than a few feet away when it had occurred. She couldn’t imagine not having known about it and then finding Gran like that some time later.
He gazed at her with so much tenderness that Summer’s heart fluttered a few times. “Thank you. I am, too. You would have liked her the way she used to be. She was full of life, like you are.”
No one except Gran had ever told her that she was full of life, or anything close to that, so Summer wasn’t sure how to react. Instead she asked another question. “What happened after you found her?”
“She was in the hospital here for a while, and then we had her transferred to St. Mary’s in Grand Junction. My uncle knows a neurosurgeon there, and it was far enough away that we could keep it out of the local papers but close enough that we could visit her often.”
“How long was she there?”
“She was in their long-term rehab facility for about a year, where she improved as much as she was ever going to, and then we had her brought home to Shady Pines so that she was closer. By then, any local gossip had died down, and we’ve simply kept it to ourselves. That’s what we Metcalfs do, after all.” Dalton’s tone was full of bitterness and sarcasm. “We keep family things to ourselves.”
“I shouldn’t have asked.”
He shook his head. “No, don’t say that. If we both expect this kind of commitment from you, it’s only right that you be able to ask questions about our personal lives without fear of reprisal.”
“Thank you. I won’t say a word to anyone about your mom. Promise.”
He surprised the hell out of her by kissing her on the lips. It was soft and didn’t linger, but it sent desire racing through her body just the same. “Thank you,” he whispered.
“I guess it’s my turn to roll,” said Wes.
Summer waited until he walked up to the line and then she whispered to Dalton. “Is he upset about something?”
Dalton shook his head. “Wes’s family is so clean-cut and drama-free that I don’t think he knows how to deal with scandal and lies.”
Summer wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but she didn’t have time to ask. Wes bowled a split, and they both watched as he nailed it on the second roll. When he returned to his seat, Dalton rose to take his turn and Summer high-fived Wes. “You’re really good.”
He smiled at her, and his warm brown eyes were filled with light once again. Summer’s pulse raced as she gazed into his handsome face. “Thanks, Summer. You are too, you know. For being so out of practice and all.”
Dalton was taking his time lining up his shot, so Summer decided to take advantage of the few seconds alone with Wes. “You never talk much about your family. All I know is that they own Pacos Farms, the alpaca ranch.”
“That’s what we do. It’s been in my family for one hundred years.”
“How did you end up in IT? Did you do that kind of work for the family business?”
Wes shook his head. “We already have people who do that. I’ve always played around with computers. I’m a gamer from way back.”
“Did you do any work on the ranch while growing up?”
“Sure. We all did. And sometimes I still do, you know? It’s wonderful being out there in the fresh air and working your body. Would you like to see it sometime? The ranch, that is.”
Summer giggled and leaned close to whisper in his ear. “I’d like to see your body, too, Wes. But yes, I’d love to see the ranch.”
The look he gave her was pure molten lust, and it was all Summer could do not to push him down against the molded plastic bench and climb on top of him.
“Hey, no one was watching?” Dalton gazed down at them with an expression of mock anger on his face.
Summer glanced at the score sheet projected above them on the wall. “You missed another split? I’m sorry.”
“It’s your fault for distracting me before.”
“Oh, I see how it is. You’re going to blame me when you have a bad frame.”
He sat down next to her and placed an arm across her shoulder. “Well, I can’t blame myself.”
Summer laughed and moved his arm off her body, then rose to take her turn. She whirled around at the sound of a wolf whistle. Both men were laughing, and she had no idea which one of them had done it. “Oh, ha-ha. You guys are both acting like you’re still in high school. You know that, right?”
Wes narrowed his eyes. “And you know you’re only adding to your punishment, right?”
A shiver ran down her spine. “I know it, Sir.” She turned around and shook her hips more than usual as she picked up her ball and walked to the line. She could hear them snickering and whispering, but she ignored it as she took aim and rolled.
* * * *
They bowled two games, and Summer lost to each of them, but the score on her second game was higher than the first. Dalton won the first game and Wes won the second, and they briefly discussed bowling a third game, but all three were hungry and they decided to change clothes and go to The Black Whip instead.
While Summer was changing clothes, she received a text message from Rowena saying she and Van were at Nash’s house, and the guys were poring over old documents they’d found in Nash’s basement. Tommy was there as well, and Rowena had told him about seeing Trace Coleman earlier that day in Sassy Brassy. That reminded Summer that she’d never told Wes and Dalton about that incident, so as soon as Dalton picked her up after she’d come home and changed clothes, she slid into the front seat and told him about the incident that morning in Sassy Brassy.
Dalton didn’t say anything for so long that Summer wondered if she’d made some kind of huge mistake in mentioning it. She watched the muscles in his jaw twitch, and it was obvious something was troubling him. They pulled into the main driveway of Pacos Farms and Summer’s attention was momentarily distracted as she gawked at the rolling hills, brick outbu
ildings, and alpaca stalls. She’d never been there, and so had no idea how large or beautiful it was.
“How much land does this take up?”
“I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask Wes.”
She turned in her seat to face him. “Dalton, are you upset with me?”
He looked surprised. “No, of course not.”
“Should I not have told you about seeing Trace Coleman in Sassy Brassy?”
Dalton smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. “I’m not upset that you did. Everything is fine.” He pulled into the circle of the main house, and Summer stared at the stucco beauty, completely at a loss for words. She’d never seen such a magnificent home up close. Wrought-iron railings lined the balconies, and rounded, striped awnings covered the windows. The landscaping was near-perfect, and just gazing at the home was like looking at a postcard. It didn’t seem real. What would it have been like to grow up in a home like this?
Dalton sent a text and then smiled at her again, but clearly something was still wrong. “He’ll be right out.”
She nodded, unable to think of something to say. When Wes emerged, he’d changed into Dockers and a button-down shirt, just as Dalton was now wearing. Both men looked very sexy, and as soon as Wes got into the backseat, she decided to say something. “Thank you for this day, both of you. You guys look really great, by the way. Very sexy.”
Wes’s smile was nothing short of brilliant. “Why thank you, Summer.” He craned his head over the console and gazed at her bare legs. “And, I must say, you look rather enticing yourself. Love the toenail polish color.”
She’d worn a summer dress because the evening was still warm, and had on her best sandals to show off her recent pedicure, which she’d won in a monthly drawing at the nail salon. “Thanks, Wes.”
“You do look really pretty, Summer,” said Dalton. “I like the way you’ve pulled back just one side of your hair.” He touched the clip that held it back away from her face on the left. “Is that abalone?”
“Yes. Gran gave it to me when I graduated from high school.”
“It’s pretty with your eyes. Brings out the green in them. Are you both ready to go?”
Summer felt so lost where Dalton was concerned. He seemed to have many secrets in his past, and he closed down too easily. She’d always found it difficult to think of what to say to people like that. Wes was more comfortable to talk to, but at times he appeared almost intimidated by Dalton. How would this ever work? And how had she landed in the middle of it so quickly?
Both men were handsome, charming, and beyond sexy. Why couldn’t they simply sit down, talk, and get it all out in the open so that there were no secrets between them? Then Summer would understand her role, and life would be great. Was that too much to ask? Was she simplifying this too much?
Chapter Eleven
Dalton wished that Summer had said something about seeing Trace Coleman earlier, but he wasn’t going to tell her that. And besides, even if he could talk to Nash or Tommy right now, it didn’t sound like he could add anything useful to the conversation. What had Nash found in his basement? Did it have anything to do with Bryce Metcalf, his paternal grandfather?
Dalton had grown up listening to Leland, his father, tell stories of how Bryce and Jeb Monroe, grandfather to Jason Monroe who was now on Van Whitney’s crew, were supposedly cheated out of stolen goods by Colson Stonecraft, Nash’s grandfather and Battista Mandanici, Carma’s great-uncle, back in the nineteen thirties, forties and fifties. There had always been rumors flying around the house, perpetuated first by his grandfather and then by his father, of money, jewelry, and even stocks that had been hidden in various homes around Passion Peak, so that the FBI could never catch up with the Mafia crooks that once owned most of this town.
Dalton had listened to these stories as a wide-eyed boy. As he got older and learned a few unpleasant things about the men on his father’s side of the family, he stopped listening. It was easier to pretend he didn’t have thieves and liars in his family tree than to acknowledge the very real possibility that at least part of the family fortunes of the Metcalfs, the Stonecrafts, and the Mandanicis had been illegally acquired. Add to that the fact that some of that wealth could still be hidden in walls and abandoned mine shafts, and you had the stuff of ghost stories and reality shows. Dalton wanted no part in any of it.
But if Trace Coleman was back in town, he knew something. He was looking for something, the same way he’d been doing three years ago when he’d tried to get inside Rowena’s house to investigate it. Dalton didn’t say anything to Summer, but he’d already known about that incident. His father was good friends with Jack Monroe, Jason’s father. That had never made any sense to Dalton in light of their alleged history together, but Leland Metcalf was not the kind of man that a young boy could ask such questions of without regretting his decision to do so. Consequently, Dalton had done a great deal more listening than speaking in his house while growing up.
Three years ago, he’d overheard a conversation between his father and Jack Monroe that had left him convinced the two men not only knew Trace Coleman, but were working with him to help find buried treasure that could no longer be traced to its original owners in and around Passion Peak.
But he hadn’t said anything to Tommy, Ron, or Nash. To implicate his own family meant scandal and ruin, so Dalton had kept quiet. He had a business to run, after all. But what would happen if the truth did come out one day? And how would he face his own father when it did? Would the town dredge up his mother’s fall as well? Would they discover just how closely the past and her more recent accident were related?
Dalton glanced to his right and admired Summer, so pretty and happy. She was bright, funny, and full of eagerness to learn about a Dom/sub relationship. She knew nothing of his family’s past, and Dalton wanted to keep it that way. She’d obviously had her share of shit as well, but why should he saddle her with his family’s sordid history? No. She didn’t deserve that, and he wasn’t going to let anything spoil her view of life.
* * * *
Wes inhaled Summer’s musky perfume as he leaned close and whispered in her ear. “Would you like to grab that table in the corner?” She nodded, flashing him a grateful look that sent his ego soaring. He placed one hand under her elbow and led her to the table, barely having time to pull out her chair before a server rushed over to take their drink order.
“Jack and Coke,” he said. “Summer? What would you like?”
“Oh, um…a margarita, please.”
He sat as close to her as possible without touching her. This was the first time all day he’d been alone with her longer than the times it had taken Dalton to bowl his turn, and he was going to make the most of it. “So, you’ve been here before, right?”
“Once.”
Wes had been inside The Black Whip before, but never with Dalton. The experience was somewhat different tonight than when he’d brought a date here or had come with his friends. Everyone knew Dalton, but it wasn’t only that the three had suddenly been surrounded by people trying to suck up to him. It was more like being in the presence of royalty, but not receiving any of the accolades for yourself. Wes didn’t feel quite like the hired help. More like a distant cousin of the king that everyone had forgotten existed. He doubted that Dalton had even noticed him and Summer walk away. “It’s a bit frou-frou for my taste, but I can see what ambiance he was going for.”
Summer nodded, glancing around. “It looks like a saloon in a movie, but an upscale one, you know? Not like in those old westerns where they all had dirty floors and rough characters.”
Wes grinned. “You mean the way they probably did look?” Dalton’s interior designer had made it look more like a Victorian brothel than a saloon. Wes always felt slightly pervy walking into the place, as though he should be hiding his face, just in case.
Dalton was still talking to the adoring crowd around him, so Wes picked up a menu. “Do you know what you’d like to eat?”
She
scanned hers. “Not really. Everything here is so expensive…”
Wes put down his menu and took hers, closed it, and then grabbed her hands. Her skin was so warm, and erotic images from the night before danced in his head. What was he doing here with this beautiful woman and Dalton Metcalf? How the hell was this supposed to work? “Summer, just for one night, forget about the price of everything, and let us show you a good time, okay? Please?”
He’d expected a smile, or perhaps even a blush, but instead her face filled with doubt and pain. What had happened to this girl? How could he reach her? He desperately wanted to get to know her better. Last night had been incredible…amazing…but Wes wanted to know the Summer Andrews that was here with him, right now, looking like she wanted to cry.
“That’s easy for you or Dalton to say.”
“Have we done something to upset you?”
She shook her head. “No, no. Not at all. I just feel like I don’t belong here.”
“Nonsense.” That just made him angry. Not at her, but at the very idea that anyone would feel intimidated by this silly, pretentious bar. “You have as much right to be here as anyone in this town does.”
Finally her gaze softened, and she gave his hands a squeeze. “Thank you, Wes.”
He shot his gaze toward Dalton, who was still talking to his admirers. “Summer,” Wes averted his gaze for just a second, trying to choose his words. “Look, I don’t know where all this is going with the three of us, okay? I really don’t. But I do know two things. I know that I like you. I like you a lot. And I know that I want to get to know the person inside you. Please give me a chance to do that.”
She stared at him for a few seconds as her pretty eyes filled with light and happiness, and then she shocked him by leaning over and kissing him, right on the lips. It wasn’t a chaste kiss, and if they’d been anywhere that wouldn’t have involved public exhibition, Wes would have pulled her onto the table top and fucked her silly.
