by Mia Ashlinn
“Damn it. I’m sorry.”
Pecking a kiss to the tip of her nose, Landon told her, “I’m not trying to make you feel bad.”
“I know but that makes it worse.” And, for her, it did. She hated that she’d kept this from him, that she’d kept it from Shane, too.
“Do you want me to pretend to be pissed?”
“Could you?” she asked hopefully.
Landon shook his head slowly from side to side. “No, kitten, I can’t. But I’m sure we could come up with a way to punish you.” As soon as he finished speaking, he rolled over onto his back and pulled her on top of him. Thrusting his hips upwards, he rubbed his dick against her crotch. The sweats she wore didn’t give her much protection from the rough material of his jeans or the hard ridge of his erection. Her cunt warmed up, flooding with her juices, and she moaned. “I’m sure we could invent lots of ways to punish you.”
“I have no doubt you could,” she retorted with a husky chuckle. “In fact, I have complete faith in you two.”
Landon smiled with a cocky smile that told her he could do just that. Then he went quiet. And so did she. Finally, she asked, “So, where do we go from here?”
Landon cleared his throat. “According to Shane, we have a hot date tonight.”
“What,” she screeched as she scrambled off of him and off of the bed, nearly falling into the floor. “Tonight? I have stuff to do to get ready.”
“Um, okay?” he asked as he sat up swiftly.
“Well, I promised to be the real me, so I have to go. I have to get ready.”
Eyeing her curiously with a hint of caution, he told her, “Then go.”
“I am,” she replied. Scuttling around the room, she picked up her shoes and other belongings before returning to him. She dropped a quick kiss to his lips but he, apparently, wanted more.
Capturing a fistful of hair, he gently held her in place as he deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding sweetly with hers. When she managed to pull away, she was panting. “See you tonight.” Not wanting to give him another chance to distract her, she turned and jogged out of the room. I’ll put on my shoes outside.
Bolting out of the apartment, she heard him call out, “I love you,” but she had shut the door before she could respond. Sorry, Landon. I have places to go, people to see, and things to do.
Chapter 20
Lounging back against the red vinyl seat cushion in her favorite corner booth, Katie-Anne scanned the small crowd in Lou’s Café. With the early hour, only a select few dedicated diners had arrived to eat lunch which was exactly what Katie-Anne had wanted. Since the place was nearly empty, she and the girls would have a lot of privacy if they ended up really needing it.
When they get here. Damn it. Restless, Katie-Anne glanced at her watch for the fourth time in five minutes. Her impatience for the arrival of her closest girlfriends seemed to be getting the best of her, and she groaned in frustration. Come on, come one, come on. Where are you girls?
No sooner had the question had crossed her mind than the front door to the retro diner flew open and revealed Jaycee, Shannon, Sarah, and Ella. A thump followed behind the four women’s grand entrance when the steel glass door noisily struck the back of the booth beside it.
Her friends seemed oblivious to their ruckus as they made their way toward her, winding around one table after another on their path to her spot on the far end of the café. Their chatters and giggles overpowered every sound in the room around them. The soft, steady murmurs coming from a couple of the half-filled tables, the sizzle of food cooking on the grill in the back, and the soft, rhythmic beat of the jukebox was no contest against their loud, lively discussion.
When they were close enough for her to put together their entire conversation, rather than bits and pieces, Katie-Anne chuckled. Baby names.
“You want me to name the babies what?” Jaycee asked, her question sounding more like an exclamation than an inquiry, as she plopped down into the booth and scooted down for the rest of the girls to join them.
“I dig the celebrity names,” Ella announced as she sat down next to Jaycee. “Zuma Nesta Rock and Sparrow James Midnight are my favorite boy names, and Harlow Winter Kate and Apple Blythe Alison are my favorite girl’s’. Wow, I must have a thing for threes.”—she paused to wink wickedly at Katie-Anne— “Then again, we already knew that.”—halting again, she giggled— “Man I hope I’m like my mama and have a gaggle of girls. I would have such fun naming the whole lot of them.”
“What about your brother, Tate?” Sarah asked with her trademark sweetness.
“He doesn’t count,” Ella replied, laughingly. “He got lucky in the name department. Besides, one gay man among four sisters? He’s lucky he still has a dick to fuck his boyfriends with.”
Sarah shook her head. “Sorry I asked,” she grumbled then dropped down beside Ella.
“I like the pretty, whimsical names that celebrities choose,” Shannon said. Joining them, she rattled off a list of names. “Flynn, Beckett, Luca, Aviana, Piper, Suri, Gia, Poppy, and Willow. Just to name a few.”
“Damn, you sound like you’ve been studying baby names,” Ella said, awestruck, as she passed around menus. “That is an extensive list. Do you have something share with us?”
Shannon blushed, her pale freckled face turning red as a tomato. Snatching one of the menus away from Ella, she ducked behind it. “I know not what you speak of,” she muttered.
“Aw,” Sarah said wistfully. “You have.”
Jaycee jumped on the possibility of Shannon having babies. “Are you pregnant?” she asked hopefully, bouncing up and down in her chair. “That would be so damn perfect.”
You have no idea just how perfect. Glancing away, Katie-Anne reminded herself why she hadn’t told them yet. I have to talk to the men first. Then I am spilling the beans to my friends. She took a slow, hissing breath then blurted out what she’d actually come here to say. “I’m TL Jacobsen!”
“Whoa, baby,” Ella said, peering over the top of the menu she’d just been reading. When Katie-Anne didn’t respond, she smiled and placed her menu on the table. Cocking her head to the side and crossing her arms, she observed Katie-Anne with a perceptive gaze. “What did you just say?”
“I’m the artist, TL Jacobsen,” Katie-Anne repeated, “and I married Shane and Landon when we went to Tennessee for Jaycee’s wedding last November.”
Damn, that felt good. Deflating in her seat, Katie-Anne exhaled. She let her nerves drain away and enjoyed the relaxation of owning up to the truth—once and for all. Then she realized that no one was talking—no comments or questions. No nothing. And no one was moving. They were barely breathing. Are they going into shock?
Shifting her eyes in a straight line from Jaycee to Ella to Sarah then swinging her gaze to a still hidden Shannon, she examined one friend after another. Unable to figure out why there was no response or reaction from any of them, she asked, “Hello? Is anyone going to say anything?”
“Woohoo,” Shannon yelled as she flung down the menu and started doing the happy dance. “I was right! She’s TL.”
Jaycee glowered at Shannon. “Well, so was I,” she countered. “So don’t go taking all of the credit.”
“Me too,” Sarah piped up.
“Me three,” Ella exclaimed. Then, with a grin, she mumbled, “or four or whatever.”
“Now wait a damn minute,” Katie-Anne snapped. “You knew? And you didn’t say a word? I am calling bullshit on each and every one of you, my dears.”
“You can call what you want,” Jaycee replied, “but we all knew. We just didn’t say anything to you.” Wrapping a long blonde curl around her index finger, she gave Katie-Anne a condescending smirk. “It wasn’t that hard. We just didn’t see the signs until after my wedding. The dress that TL”—she winked theatrically—“designed was too perfect for someone who didn’t know me personally.”
“I could have told him every detail about you,” Katie-Anne commented. “Designers are good like tha
t.”
“That would have worked if I hadn’t snooped around the inside of my dress,” Jaycee reasoned. “You know how I am. I get all twitchy and went searching.”
Fuck. She must have found my friendly addition. Every present she’d given her friends since high school had a special token from Katie-Anne. She’d always hidden them in odd places so they would be difficult to find. But apparently she hadn’t been as sneaky as she’d thought or her friends were more devious than she’d anticipated. She didn’t know for sure. Which came first—the chicken or the egg?
Katie-Anne cursed, not from surprise, merely from irritation. “You found the sketch?”
The picture was one she’d drawn in geometry class as a teenager. After being called the three peas in a pod for years, she’d doodled an image of one with their initials in it to keep her boredom at bay while learning about the pesky proofs she’d hated so much. And it had stuck. The girls had shirts and temporary tattoos made up and flashed them around town, which perpetuated the nickname. And we loved it.
“Yep,” Jaycee responded with an arrogance that annoyed Katie-Anne. “I found mine hiding behind the blue silk that you had sewn in my dress as the something blue.”
“And I found mine in the satin fabric nestled in the bottom of the wooden jewelry box you gave me with my birthday earrings,” Shannon added.
Well, shit.
Nodding, Ella said, “Sarah and I weren’t so cloak-and-dagger, conspiracy theorist. We found out by accident when we overheard you talking to Deke and Adam about a couple of paintings they wanted done for The Edge and their B&B in Luscious.”
“Yeah, Katie-Anne, you really should be careful about lying things around, too” Sarah suggested. “I saw a couple of unfinished sketches by TL Jacobsen in the trunk of your car on the day of Shannon’s kidnapping.”
Well, double-dog horse shit. They caught me. They caught me real good. The only thing that confused Katie-Anne was why they didn’t say anything to her and why they didn’t confront her. It didn’t make sense. They talked about everything. They shared everything. So why would they remain silent about something of this magnitude?
“Why?” Katie-Anne croaked. “Why didn’t you guys come to me and ask me? Did you just not care?” The last question came out, ripped from her chest, without her permission. But she couldn’t take it back. And, frankly, she probably wouldn’t have if she could. She wanted to know why they didn’t want to know more, why they didn’t want the details. I’m sure they have their reason, just as I had one for keeping it from them.
Sarah reached across the table at an odd angle and gently clasped one of Katie-Anne’s hands in her smaller ones. “We understood that you wanted this to be a secret, and we figured that you had a darn good reason to keep it from everyone. So we made a pact to let you come to us.”
“Let me tell you,” Shannon said, elbowing Katie-Anne playfully. “It sucked to not say anything once we figured it out. I think that proves our unconditional love and undying devotion to you. My big mouth stayed shut—and it was all for you, my friend.”
“No shit,” Jaycee teased. “That was a fucking miracle.”
Shannon growled. “Bite me, bitch.”
Wiggling her eyebrows, Jaycee quipped, “Oh baby. Your place or mine?”
“How about the bathroom?” Shannon shot back. “I don’t think either of our men would be up for girl-on-girl action between the two of us.”
Jaycee wrinkled her nose. “Ew, probably not.”
Katie-Anne laughed and shook her head. “You freaks.”
“You’re just jealous,” Ella remarked then blew her a bawdy kiss. “But, baby, I can fix that. They can take the women’s bathroom, and we’ll walk on the wild side—the men’s room.”
“I guess that leaves me as the watchdog,” Sarah joked, getting in on the naughty bantering. “Goodness knows that I am not going in either restroom with any of you.”
“Spoilsport,” Shannon razzed.
Snickering, Sarah rolled her eyes. “Someone has to be with the four of you.”
“She has a good point there,” Ella commented as she returned her attention to the menu, her eyes gliding from left to right as she scanned the food items listed on it. “We need a designated do-gooder willing to keep us out of trouble.”
“I can do that,” Sarah said enthusiastically with a confident smile.
“Now wait a damn minute, Katie-Anne Marie Blakemore or Jacobs or Tolliver or whatever your last name is.” An unexpected frown appeared on Shannon’s face, her expression growing serious and a deep look of contemplation settling over her.
Uh-oh. I’m in for it now.
But, instead of jumping on Katie-Anne as she’d expected, Shannon turned on Jaycee. “Is that what you were talking about at my birthday party? Did you know that she was married and not tell me?”
Jaycee nodded sheepishly, a blush creeping into her cheeks. “I saw their marriage license on Landon’s desk when I went to pick up my car from his auto shop.”
Unable to hold back her shock, Katie-Anne interrogated Jaycee. “Landon had it lying around? Where everyone could see? On his desk? Really?”
When Katie-Anne spoke, she seemed to remind Shannon of her presence and her minor deception. Rounding on her, Shannon scowled. “I can’t believe this shit. You got married without us?” she inquired, the insult evident in her every word.
Oops. That might look kind of bad for me. “Um, well—” Katie-Anne said, ready to defend herself, but was cut off by Sarah.
“Hot dog,” Sarah exclaimed, wiggling around in her seat. “I can finally tell the world that I have a sister!”
Katie-Anne chuckled. “Yes, we are officially able to announce our sisterhood.”
In no time flat, Sarah was out of the booth and tugging on Shannon’s shirt like a buoyant child. “Move,” she said. “Let her out. I want to hug my new sister in front of everyone! I got pretty darn tired of pretending that we were just friends.”
I did, too.
Without a word, Shannon slid out of her seat and stepped out of the way, letting Katie-Anne get out of the booth. As soon as she was free, Katie-Anne grabbed Sarah in a bear hug. The two of them danced around happily, capturing the attention of every eye in Lou’s Café.
Instead of being shy about her news, Katie-Anne turned to everyone and explained jubilantly, “I married Shane Jacobs and Landon Tolliver. So please excuse our celebration over here.”
A round of cheers came from the few people in Lou’s, but Katie-Anne barely noticed because her other three friends had joined in the hug-fest. And, in the end, all five girls wound up smooshing each other together. Yet they didn’t complain or whine. They didn’t do anything but giggle and chatter and do what best friends do—they shared in each other’s joy.
Chapter 21
When the girls calmed themselves and fell back into their respective seats in the booth, their waitress appeared. With an exuberant “congratulations” to Katie-Anne, she took their orders then bounded away with a spring in her step. “Be back in a few with your food,” she called out just as she vanished into the kitchen.
“So,” Shannon said. “I hate to be the nosy...”
“Oh no you don’t,” Jaycee interjected. “You love being a nosy bitch.”
Ella snickered. “Shit, we all do.”
“Fine. Whatever,” Shannon said dismissively. “I’m nosy. You’re nosy. We’re all nosy.” Rotating to the side, she faced Katie-Anne. “Why all of the secrets? I know there has to be more to the TL Jacobsen thing. And I cannot imagine that you just randomly decided to get married without a word to us or anyone else, for that matter.”
A tell-tale blush flooded Sarah’s face, and Katie-Anne knew that she was trying hard to not tell everyone that she knew and that she’d been there. Obviously, her face gave her away, so Katie-Anne admitted, “Technically, Sarah knew. She helped Landon and I plan the whole thing.”
“Wow,” Shannon murmured. “Really?”
“Yeah,”
Katie-Anne answered for both herself and Sarah, considering her sister-in-law seemed to be having an aneurysm at the table. “We needed someone to coordinate with Deke and Adam. See, Landon and I decided back in late October, early November that we wanted to get married, and we wanted to have kids. Since we knew that Shane would never agree to be with either of us, it made sense to start our lives together.”
Searching around her for something to do to distract her, Katie-Anne snagged a napkin out of the holder and started folding it Origami-style. “It wasn’t something we took lightly, but we were dying without each other, like we were dying without Shane. But we figured we would give it a shot with just the two of us. So Landon contacted Deke and Adam, and they worked out all the details with Sarah acting as our liaison. When we got to the resort, we snuck down to the chapel.”
Katie-Anne sighed as she realized that the napkin wasn’t really made to make an Origami crane. Giving up, she wadded up the half-folded piece of paper and tossed it aside. “When it came down to it, we couldn’t go through with the wedding, and we stopped in the middle of the ceremony. Only, Shane walked in—at the precisely wrong time and blew up. He stormed off, leaving us brokenhearted in the dust. After an hour or so, he showed back up and convinced us to marry him.”
Picking at the corner of the plastic menu Nikki had accidentally left behind, Katie-Anne recounted the part she wanted to forget. “The next morning we got up, and Shane didn’t remember most of the evening. He accused me and Landon of a lot of absurd things. While they were bickering, I snuck out of the room and—”
“Got caught on the walk of shame?” Jaycee supplied helpfully.
With a laugh, Katie-Anne nodded. “Yeah, my two best friends caught me on the walk of shame. After the day of the wedding, Shane, Landon, and I all went our separate ways—well, as best as we could. Hell, I even tried to give Shane his freedom with an annulment. Of course, stubborn Shane didn’t sign them. And, now, we have worked out most of the kinks, and we are happily married.”
