by Lori Ryan
Devlin’s eyes scanned the floor. Maggie and Ben were off in another corner, her arms entwined around his neck, fingers in his hair, with eyes only for him.
“So much for the bachelorette party,” Devlin said, crossing her arms and glaring at Max and Shawn.
Kayleigh Montgomery, another member of the party, marched toward the table. “What are you guys doing here?” Her white-blonde hair flowed behind her, blue eyes narrowed as she studied the men.
Fast on Kayleigh’s high-heels, Lily Sumner joined the growing group around the small table. Lily was Sally Sumner’s daughter and the boys’ cousin. Last Devlin heard, Sally was now dating Elle’s father and Maggie was pretty sure Lily had the hots for Shawn but was denying it with a vengeance.
Good God, the whole group sounded like an incestuous bunch of hill-billies, a bad soap opera gone horribly out of control. As much as Devlin loved Canyon Creek, there was no way she could ever live in a place where everyone knew your name, and all your business too.
“Did you see my cousin with Elle?” Lily asked, her cheeks flushed from dancing.
“You mean book boy?” Kayleigh said, her nickname referencing Emmett’s profession as a bestselling author.
“Yeah,” Lily nodded. “I guarantee you, he’ll sneak her out of here in the next half an hour.”
Devlin looked back to the dance floor. She had a feeling Ben and Emmett hadn’t been able to stay away tonight. Sometimes she wondered what that kind of love felt like. That all-consuming love that made you crazy with need and ready to fight to the death.
Max raised his hands. “Just for the record,” he stared at all the women, “I tried to talk them out of this brilliant idea.”
The all-too-innocent look on his face made Devlin wonder if that was true.
“So why are you here?” Lily asked, hands on hips as she glowered at Max and Shawn.
“Easy, tiger.” Kayleigh laughed, patting Lily’s shoulder. “Look, obviously these yahoos aren’t going anywhere,” she pointed a thumb toward frick and frack. “Let’s go dance.” She moved her hips to the beat of the music now thumping through the club. Her tight mini skirt rode higher, her top lower. Male eyes from every direction fell out of their heads, tongues wagging as they stared at Kayleigh, including Max.
“Holy shit,” he said.
Devlin elbowed him. He just laughed. Where had that jealous streak come from?
Lily picked up the headband with wiggling penises that Maggie had abandoned on the table and put it on her head. “Dance, dance, dance!” she shouted, grabbing Max’s hand. She jumped up and down, the lighted penises bouncing above her head.
“Lil, you have to take those things off before I’ll go out there,” Max said.
Devlin quirked a brow. “I think Max should have to wear them.”
“Oooo.” Lily rubbed her hands together.
“Yes! Yes!” Kayleigh and Lily chanted in unison while Devlin grinned.
“Absolutely.” Shawn smiled.
“No! Hell no,” Max said, holding up a hand, as if he could stop them. “Come on Shawn, help me out. Men stick together.”
Shawn shook his head. “Sorry, man but my vote is for the Dick Head to wear dicks on his head.”
Everyone burst into laughter, everyone except Max.
“Screw all of you,” he growled.
Shawn reached up and removed the head band from Lily’s head.
“Put on the dicks! Put on the dicks!” Kayleigh chanted as she clapped to the beat of the music. Soon they all joined in, cheering and chanting.
Other patrons stared at the circus unfolding in front of them.
Devlin wasn’t sure what got into her. One minute, she was strategizing how to get away from Max and all the temptation he brought with him, and the next, she was teasing him. She took the headband and slipped it onto her own head before tilting her head up to look at Max. “Come on, you big baby.”
Max snarled and let out a low growl. He leaned in close, whispering low against her ear. “I’m no baby. And if I remember correctly, you know damned well just how much of a grown-assed man I am.”
Devlin drew in a deep steadying breath.
Mistake.
Instead of calming her sexual appetite, another shiver of desire racked her body as Max’s rich, very male scent invaded her senses. Images of him as he lowered himself over her flashed through her mind. Memories that weren’t just images of their night together. These flashbacks were physical, visceral, affecting her as if he were running his fingertips across her skin even now.
“See, you do remember.” He chuckled as he slipped the headband off her head and placed it on his, nearly busting the plastic he was so huge. “Now, I believe the challenge was extended to me.” He touched the tip of his finger to his broad chest. “And as everyone here knows, I never turn down a challenge.”
Devlin cocked her head and laughed. “Obviously, Dick Head.”
“That’s dicks, plural.” Max pointed to the two penises bouncing above his head.
“Max!” someone shouted behind them. “Max Sumner!”
Max turned and a flash of cameras lit the area.
“Ah, shit,” he groaned.
“Seems like Mr. NFL Player of the Year just got caught wearing dicks on his head.” Shawn laughed. “That shit will go viral in like…” He glanced down at his phone then lifted it to take his own shaming picture. “As soon as I can post this.”
“Don’t you dare,” Max warned.
“Done!” Shawn shouted as he held up his phone to show his picture already posted to social media.
“I’m going to kill you.” Max stepped toward Shawn. The two had been working together recently and seemed to be growing close, but Devlin wasn’t at all sure their friendship could tolerate penis pics online.
Sensing eminent homicide, she grabbed Max’s beefy arm and yanked him toward the dance floor. “Let’s go, Dick Head, before you really do kill him.”
Max shot Shawn a middle finger as they walked away. More flashes went off.
Devlin had never stopped to think of Max Sumner as a celebrity, but his illustrious career in the NFL mixed with his playboy ways had put him in the spotlight a lot. Being out of the country most of the year, the stories never reached Devlin. Until now.
Getting involved with Max lost even more appeal. Anonymity was not only part of her business, she’d made it part of her life. She had no interest in being at the center of attention.
“On second thought,” Devlin said, releasing his arm.
“Oh, hell no, shorty, if I go down, you’re going down with me.”
Devlin had never considered herself short but staring up at this hulk of a man she felt short now, and petite, and vulnerable. Whenever Devlin felt vulnerable, she turned to humor as a shield.
She quirked a brow. “You go down, Max?”
“You know I do. And so do you.”
She blushed, remembering the escapades. God, that was so unlike her to be shy.
“But I’m not eating you out with these things on my head.” Max pointed to the penises bobbing above his head as they walked down the steps toward the dance floor.
The thought of Max with his face buried between her legs brought a giddy thrill of excitement.
“Someone could get hurt.” He leaned closer. “But maybe later, if you’re lucky, I’ll go down.”
She bit her lips to hold in a moan.
He leaned in closer. “And so will you.”
Quadruple shit.
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About the Authors
Hi! it's Lori here. We could do the boring old bio stuff here—and we will—but, first, I want to tell you about the two of us.
Me and Kay, Kay and me, we're besties and buddies and soulmates and the mostest of everything. We occasionally have to do some serious marriage-counseling-type negotiations when we get into creative differences, but most of the time, writing with Kay is a BLAST! I love, love, love what we cr
eate when we get together. When we first started talking about writing books together, I didn't imagine it would be this great.
I'm so dang proud of the books and series we've put together. The heroes are steamy and sexy, the heroines strong and powerful...and, maybe, a little goofy, like me and Kay. We hope you love the people of Canyon Creek as much as we do. We hope you love coming back to the town and visiting again and again. We hope you want to stay there forever. We do.
Now, here's the regular bio stuff I promised, along with links to each of our websites where you can find the stuff we write separately, in case you can't get enough of us!
Lori Ryan is a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense. She lives with an extremely understanding husband, three wonderful children, and two mostly-behaved dogs in Austin, Texas. It’s a bit of a zoo, but she wouldn’t change a thing.
Lori published her first romance novel in April of 2013 and has loved every bit of the crazy adventure this career has taken her on since then. She is a hybrid author, publishing both independently and through SilverHart Publishing.
To see what Lori writes on her own, visit her website at www.loriryanromance.com.
In addition to being an author, Kay Manis is also a wife and mom. She lives with her husband and daughter in the Live Music Capital of the World, Austin, Texas. In January of 2012, after listening to Kay blather on and on about the millions of book ideas floating around in her head, her daughter finally reached her limit and said, “Just write it Mom!” They were the four most important words to Kay's new career and a catalyst for everything she's done since. In other words, she owes it all to her daughter! If you ask Kay, she'll tell you she can’t thank her daughter enough for her motivating words and belief that Kay could do more with her talents.
To see what Kay writes on her own, visit her website at www.kaymanis.com.
