“Fine,” she said.
“Shake on it.”
The four of us shook hands, and after waiting for a few minutes, we were handed ropes and told to line up at the starting line.
“We got this,” Maddox said as he tied our ankles and I tied our thighs. “Just pretend we’re out in the field and our lives depend on it.” He moved up to our knees to tie us together there, too.
“Our lives don’t depend on it, but our manhood just might.”
Maddox stood and held out his fist.
I bumped it with my own. “Game on.”
32
Olivia
“We’re going to lose,” I said as Addison and I tied our legs together. “They’re trained professionals. You and I trained in a classroom.”
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
“And what is that?” I didn’t believe she had a good plan.
Addison pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it to the ground, leaving her in a white cami. She adjusted her breasts in her bra and pinched her nipples. Then, she rolled up her shorts, so they were basically underwear. She looked at me. “What are you doing? Start fixing your clothes, so you look sexy.”
I stared at her. “This is never going to work. Men are not that dumb.”
She snorted. “They are controlled by their dicks.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say about your husband.”
“If the shoe fits. Besides I love him and his dick. And if it helps us win, then who am I to complain?”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Okay, but I think we’re going to look like fools.”
I had picked a summer dress with buttons in the front to wear, so I unbuttoned all four buttons and adjusted my own boobs. Mine weren’t as big as Addison’s, but I gave myself as much cleavage as I could manage.
Once that was done, I had to figure out how to show off my bottom half a little more.
“Tie the hem across your upper legs. If the guys ask, say you want to keep it out of the way.”
I pulled the bottom of my dress to my side and tied it. “How’s that?”
She gave me a thumbs-up. “Perfect.”
I turned to see what the guys thought, but Addison pulled my arm. “Don’t look yet. We have to wait to get their attention right before the race starts.” She peeked over my shoulder. “They have their heads together and are talking. They won’t be prepared for us.”
“I still don’t think they’ll be affected.”
Addison sighed. “Ye of little faith. Just look their way right before we hear go and give Tommy a look that says you’re going to fuck his brains out later.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t think I can manage a sexy look.”
“You can if you believe it. Think sexy thoughts. And then think how fun it’ll be to watch that big man paint your toenails.”
“I really do want to see that. Okay, I will give it my all.” Even though I thought this was a ridiculous plan.
Someone clapped their hands, and we all turned our attention to the man.
He cupped his mouth. “Okay, folks, we have six couples up here, ready to run the next race. One of them is our good friend, the sheriff. I’m not saying you should let him win, but if you beat him, you might want to watch your speedometer when you’re driving through town.”
Maddox waved at the crowd as they laughed.
“Is everyone ready?” the man asked.
We all nodded, and someone whistled. “Let’s do this.”
The man smiled. “All right. On your mark…”
“Good luck, Maddox,” Addison shouted as we both turned to look at the guys.
She put her arms around me and pushed her chest into mine. I showed off my sexiest smile and rubbed my chest against hers.
“Get set…”
Maddox’s mouth dropped open, and Tommy’s eyes rounded to the size of the moon.
Addison blew a kiss, and I gave a finger wave despite the fact that I probably looked like I was trying way too hard.
“Go!”
“Middle, outside, middle, outside,” Addison and I chanted as we took off to the finish line. We continued calling out our legs until we reached it.
I felt like we’d had good speed, but we had more walked than run.
“Olivia, look.”
Addison and I almost fell as we turned around to face the direction we had come, only to see Tommy and Maddox crossing the finish line.
“Holy shit, we did it,” I said.
Addison threaded her fingers with mine, and we jumped up and down. “It worked.”
I laughed with joy. I couldn’t believe we had actually beaten two Navy SEALs.
When we were finished celebrating, we untied our legs and straightened our clothes. A man who looked vaguely familiar came over and handed Addison her shirt that she’d thrown in the grass.
“That was great, Addison.”
“Thanks, Pete.” She took her shirt and pulled it over her head. “Olivia, do you remember Pete from my wedding?”
That was where I recognized him from. “Hello. How are you?” I said to be polite.
“I’m great.” He held up his phone. “I recorded the whole thing. You should have seen the guys’ faces.”
“Send me a copy?”
“I would love to.” Pete looked up and over our shoulders. “Uh-oh. I’d better go. Congrats on winning,” he said and took off.
Addison and I schooled our faces and turned around.
“You dirty cheat,” Maddox said, putting his hands on his hips.
“Why, Maddox, whatever do you mean?” Addison said innocently.
He leaned down to her. “If we weren’t in a school field full of people, I’d take you over my knee right now and spank you.”
She bit her bottom lip. “Promise?”
“Woman, I’m this close to choking you.”
“As long as your penis is inside me, you can choke me all you want.”
Maddox threw up his hands and walked away.
Addison laughed. “Whoops. I think I made him mad.” She ran after her husband. “Maddox, wait.”
He stopped, and when Addison approached, he put his arm around her.
I let out the breath I’d been holding. “I was worried he was really angry with her.”
“Don’t tell her, but he was actually proud of you two for thinking on your feet like that. But that was after he got over his bruised ego.”
“What do you think?” I asked him.
Tommy grinned. “I thought it was sneaky. But clever. It sure made it difficult for the two of us to walk to the finish line with hard-ons.”
I put my hand in front of my mouth to cover my smile that refused to stay hidden. “I honestly didn’t think it would work.”
“You two were all but making out. Obviously, it worked.”
“We weren’t even close to making out.”
He put his finger over my lips. “Shh…don’t ruin it for me.”
I pushed his hand away. “Addison’s right. Men are controlled by their dicks.”
“Duh.”
I chuckled. “It’s really hard to insult you when you agree with everything I say.”
He put his arm around me and guided us toward Addison and Maddox. “Now, why would you want to insult me?”
I smiled. “I didn’t say I wanted to. I just thought it was something that needed to be done since I won and you lost.”
When we reached our friends, they had their arms around each other, and Addison was resting her chin on Maddox’s chest.
She turned our way and laid her head over his heart. “Maddox was just telling me that he can’t wait to paint our nails.”
He snorted. “Yeah, something like that.”
Addison laughed. “This is going to be so much fun.” She looked up at her husband again. “I promise it won’t kill you. I’ll even let you pick out the color.”
“Oh, really?” he asked sarcastically. “Did you hear that, Tommy? We get to pick
out the color.”
Tommy laughed. “I personally can’t wait. After Olivia sees how good I am, she’ll never ask me to do it for her again.”
“Don’t you mean, I will ask you to do it again?”
He held up the big, meaty hand that wasn’t around me. “Not with these things.” He leaned close to my ear. “They might be excellent at getting you off”—he straightened and finished the rest of his sentence, so everyone could hear—“but they are going to be shit when it comes to your nails.”
I still couldn’t wait to see how he’d do.
33
Tommy
“Are you ready for some flag football?” Maddox asked me. “Is the knee going to be okay?”
I frowned. He was asking a legit question, but I didn’t like being viewed as weak. “Not a problem.”
He slapped his hand on my shoulder. “Good.”
We headed over to the field where the game was going to take place. Olivia and Addison were already waiting there for us.
“Hey, ladies,” I said.
Olivia smiled when she saw me, her face lighting up, and I couldn’t help but grin back. I was feeling pretty fucking special.
“Addison told me about Maddox playing in high school. What about you?” she asked me.
“Sure did. I played pretty much every sport I could, growing up.” And even though I’d made varsity my senior year, I was never going to get a scholarship or an NFL contract, which was why I’d set my sights on the military. “What about you?” I asked.
She laughed as if I’d told the best joke in the world. “My mom tried to put me in dance class when I was little. I have two left feet. After that, I think my parents knew not to push me toward anything that required any kind of coordination.”
“I think you’re plenty coordinated.”
She blushed. “Tommy.”
I laughed and leaned closer. “That wasn’t a sexual innuendo, Liv. I was just stating a fact. When you walk, you’re all graceful and shit. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that?”
Her cheeks got redder. “No.”
“Too bad.” Because it was the truth. I didn’t know if it was because she was confident or what, but she moved through the world like she was on a runway or a red carpet. It was sexy as hell. “Also, you and Addison just beat Maddox and me in a three-legged race. That takes coordination.”
“I guess you’re right.”
I kissed her temple and stood up straight, losing my smile at the sight before me. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“What?”
When I didn’t respond, Olivia stood on her tiptoes. “What?”
I stepped behind her and picked her up just enough for her to see what I was seeing.
“What in the world?” she said.
I set her down, and by this time, Maddox and Addison were wondering what we were looking at.
“See those two? They’re like an STD that won’t go away. Annoying as fuck and always showing up when you think you’re in the clear.”
Olivia snorted.
“Who are they?” Maddox asked.
“Remember I told you about the troublemakers at the airport?”
Maddox chuckled. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. That’s Tweedledee and Tweedledum. What the fuck are they doing all the way out here?”
Frank shifted in our direction, and I ducked behind Maddox.
“Fuck. I hope he didn’t see us. The last thing we need is trouble from them.” I looked at Olivia. “Or Olivia getting into a fight with them.”
She put her hands on her hips. “He called his sister a whore and me a bitch. I had every right to be mad.”
I squeezed her side. “You sure did, sweetheart, but this guy is never going to change who he is. It’s a lost cause, trying to argue with him.” I stood and looked for Frank and Franny.
“They walked away,” Addison said.
“Oh, thank God.”
“Personally, I’d love to watch Olivia take him down,” she said with a glint in her eye.
“See? Someone appreciates me,” Olivia said.
“I appreciate you plenty. I just don’t think Maddox would appreciate having to break up a fight and hauling your ass to jail.”
“It’s all good, Liv; I’d get you out,” Addison said.
“Don’t encourage her,” Maddox said. “Tommy’s right. There are plenty of people who still don’t like me around here. And you know how rumors fly.”
Addison put her hand on her husband’s arm. “My poor baby.”
Maddox scowled.
“But Maddox is right,” she said. “When the former sheriff resigned and left town, there were rumors that he was killed by the mob and that he ran away to elope. Neither of which is true.”
“Don’t worry, Maddox; I won’t get in a fight. I know those two aren’t worth it,” Olivia told him.
“Attention, everyone,” a man with a bullhorn said from the middle of the football field. “It’s time for the annual flag football game.”
The crowd cheered and laughed.
“Since this game is free and we don’t make any money off it, I’m going to let you all pick your teams. You can start gathering on each side of me in a minute. But try to keep the numbers fair. If one side is larger than the other, I’ll move some of you over. But until then, I think you are mature enough to handle it.”
I held my fist out to Maddox. “I think we can win, no matter who is on our team.”
He bumped my fist as Olivia snickered.
“What’s so funny?”
“You thought you two were going to win last time, and…”
I grinned. “But this time, you’re going to be cheering me on. Right?”
“I suppose.” She smiled back at me.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
I groaned, and the four of us turned to see Frank and Franny standing only a few feet away.
I’d gotten too comfortable these last few months of being a civilian. Always check your six.
Since Olivia promised no fighting, I nodded. “Hello.” I was going to keep this short and civil.
“Shit, there’s two of you,” Frank said, looking at Maddox.
I raised an eyebrow. Sure, we were both tall and muscular, but that was where the similarities ended. Maddox was blond with green eyes. I was dark-haired with brown eyes. But I supposed to Frank’s not-even-six feet—if I guessed correctly—we did stand out to him.
“What are you two doing here?” Franny asked.
“Visiting friends,” I said.
“Yeah? We’re visiting our cousins. You know the Donaldsons?” Frank asked.
I looked over at Addison, who was shaking her head ever so slightly in a way that told me the Donaldsons were bad news. “Can’t say that I do.”
“All right, folks, it’s time to pick your teams.”
Thank God for small favors.
“Sorry to cut the conversation short, but we gotta go and play.”
As Maddox and I headed over to one side of the field, I heard Franny tell her brother, “Go play against them.”
“Good idea, sis.”
I looked at Maddox and rolled my eyes. Flag football or not, Frank was going to get his ass handed to him.
A couple of other guys followed Frank, and Maddox leaned over to me. “Those are the two Donaldson boys. They don’t know how to stay out of trouble. My deputies are always picking them up for something. Usually minor and always misdemeanors, but it’s like they can’t not break the law. If Frank is anything like his cousins, I can see why he picked a fight with you at the airport.”
I shook my head. “Must be a family thing.”
The announcer lifted the bullhorn in the air. “Since this is a make-no-money game, we also don’t have uniforms. If you’re new here, we do shirts versus skins. This is your chance to vote which team is which, folks.”
I leaned over to Maddox. “I suddenly feel like a piece of meat.”
He chuckl
ed.
Bullhorn pointed to the opposite team. “Everyone in favor of this team being skins?”
There was a good amount of cheering.
Bullhorn waved his hands in a manner that signaled for everyone to be quiet. He pointed to our team. “Now, everyone in favor of this side being skins?”
The cheering before was nothing compared to what it was this time. Addison put her fingers between her lips and whistled.
“Your wife is trouble,” I said in Maddox’s ear.
He grinned. “Don’t I know it.” He nodded toward his wife. “Olivia’s not much better.”
I followed his gaze to see her cupping her hands, and she whooped to the crowd.
“This team it is. Take off your shirts, fellas.” He eyed the two women on our team. “Ladies, you are free to leave your shirts on. Just don’t forget they’re your teammates, men.”
“We got it,” one of the women yelled.
They stripped off their shirts to show they had sports bras underneath.
“Smart,” I said.
“They play every year and come prepared,” Maddox said. “We’re lucky to have them,” he said loudly enough for our whole team to hear.
“Thanks, Maddox,” the woman said. “Now, strip.”
Maddox and I laughed as we yanked off our tees and threw them at Olivia and Addison.
“Let’s kick some ass,” I said.
About an hour later, we did just that. I watched Frank walk off the field with his head down. I hoped that it was finally the last time I saw him and his sister.
34
Olivia
I sighed with contentment when baby Thane fell asleep on my chest as I lay on Addison’s couch, watching a Disney movie. It almost made me want to have one of my own. Addison and Spencer were cuddled up on the recliner, and I had a wistful feeling I was missing something in my life. I had always thought I was married to my job and wouldn’t have time for a family. I’d had no idea I was harboring a secret longing for maybe having one of my own someday.
It was my last night in Brook Creek, and I was feeling a little melancholy. That was probably where these unusual thoughts were stemming from. I was going to miss hanging out with Addison and Maddox. And I was really going to miss being around Tommy.
Take Me in the Dark (Take Me #2) Page 14
