Going For Gold: Providence Gold Series Book Four

by Moore, Mary B.

  “How about a threesome?” Ariana suggested, just as the noise in the bar dimmed slightly.

  “Now, puddin’, you know you’re more than enough for me. Why would I want to share you with another woman?” Parker’s deep voice asked, making us all jump.

  I’ll give her credit, even with her cheeks hot enough to fry eggs on and shaking slightly, Ariana responded calmly, “Well, you’re not enough of a man for me, so I guess we could ask another one of those to join us, couldn’t we?”

  I wanted to be her when I grew up. To have that quick wit and be able to answer without her voice shaking, she was like the vixen and wit version of James Bond.

  I didn’t get to hear what Parker said back to her, though, because I was picked out of my chair by familiar hands and then ended up sitting in Levi’s lap.

  “I think it’s pertinent to point out at this point that four of us here are her brothers, and two are as good as brothers,” he said over my shoulder, nodding at Madix and Rich who’d also joined us. “Any talk of threesomes or sex between or involving the two of you is punishable by a cactus being shoved up your ass.”

  Turning her glare onto her brother, Ariana snapped, “Kari’s here by the way. She says she’ll call you.”

  Groaning, he leaned his head in between my shoulder blades as Tate asked, “Kari, as in your ex?”

  Leaning forward so quickly that I almost face planted in the umbrella city, Levi growled, “Let’s get this straightened out before you upset Lottie – and let me make it clear, I will not be happy if that happens. Kari was my girlfriend when I was seven years old. Not yesterday, not a week ago, fifteen years ago, seeing as how I turned twenty-two three weeks ago and every last one of you celebrated it with me. On that very day, she texted me asking me if I could call her about a question she had about renovating an old barn. I said I’d do my best but I didn’t have much to do with my house being made, aside from helping the guy draw that shit out. She tried calling me that night but I was celebrating, so I rang her back the next day and she didn’t answer. In all honesty, I’d even forgotten that it’d happened.”

  Everyone stayed quiet for a couple of minutes after it, but always the curious one, Dahlia was the one to break it. “Why did you guys break up?”

  Sighing, he nodded at Luna whose eyes had lit up at the question. “Tate told him that chicks had cooties, and if he kissed one he’d end up with tits. He was going to break up with her, but by the time he saw her at recess she was already going out with Danny Brockowicz.”

  “The guy with the sinus problem?” Ariana asked, wrinkling her nose up. “Gross.”

  Leaning around my shoulder, Levi pointed out, “It’s not like he could help that, the poor bastard had to live with nickname Boogerwicz for years. And I think it was allergies that caused it, not his sinuses.”

  Just then, the woman herself strolled up to the table, her lips twisting slightly when she saw me sitting on Levi’s lap.

  Obviously it didn’t really mean much to her, though, because she walked around the table until she was behind us, and leaned in to hug him from behind.

  “I thought I saw you come in. I’ve been waiting for you to call me.”

  Tightening the arm that he had around my waist, he pulled me back against his chest. “I’ve been busy. Have you met Charlotte?”

  Giving me one of those quick to mouth and quicker to floor type of smiles - the ones that disappear as soon as they’ve happened - she turned back to him gracing him with a genuine smile.

  “I really need your help with that barn as soon as possible. The purchase is due for completion next week and I want to get the building started immediately, but I don’t know where to start.”

  “Like I told you, I didn’t have much to do with mine aside from deciding on the layout. You should speak to your architect and the team overseeing the renovations.”

  Beau appeared back at the table with a tray full of drinks for the men and said sweetly, “You should ask Rich for his number, he loves dirty wrecks.” Leaving us with no doubt about the amount of shade she was throwing his way.

  Catching Lily’s eye as she watched her best friend walk back to the bar, I mouthed, “Awkward.”

  Not missing a beat, she whispered back, “No shit.”

  The feet of Rich’s chair screeching across the floor as he stood up from the table made me flinch slightly, but after that I was so caught up watching him walk around the bar and then lifting her over his shoulder, that I didn’t even care that Kari was still trying to convince Levi to help her.

  Whoa, that was a hot move. Not only did he do that, but he strode out of the bar with her, ignoring her smacking his ass and whatever she was saying to him.

  Turning back to face me from where she’d been watching them, too, Ariana fanned herself. “Now that was hot. I didn’t think Rico Suave had it in him.”

  “If that’s what it takes, baby, I’ll throw you over my shoulder right now,” Parker told her, his voice a low growl.

  Not wanting to show how much he was rattling her, she patted him on the cheek and said sweetly, “And I’ll kick you in the balls right now, baby.” Standing up, she called across the table, “Yo, Kari. Parker here likes high maintenance wrecks, too. He’s all yours.”

  As she finished, she turned to walk away but Parker caught her and pulled her down onto his lap.

  “Not interested, Corey,” he muttered to Kari, and then started whispering furiously into Ariana’s ear.

  How had this gone from a drink with the girls to drama central in the space of ten minutes? Admittedly, we’d discussed anal and fisting, but where had all the drama come from?

  A tug of my hand got my attention onto Lily who was leaning in so she could whisper something to me. “What you want to do is not make a bucket list of things that are possible to do sexually, but things you really want to do. There are different types of sex - some hardcore, some not so hardcore. It all depends on the people involved,” she told me, and then paused as she waited for me to digest this sage wisdom. When I nodded, she continued, “Think of all the stuff you think is hot, then put it into action. Have some ass spanking, hair pulling, hot sex with Levi. Then keep having it, and enjoy the hell out of every second.”

  I doubted that she could have heard what Lily was saying, but Dahlia leaned in and whispered, “There’s a book that has four hundred and ten sexual positions. Get overnight shipping on it and get to work.” Pulling back she winked at both of us, “You’re welcome.”

  We pulled our phones out at the same time and started typing on the screen. The book actually existed, and it had over a thousand five star reviews, too.

  For curiosity’s sake I looked at the four one star ones and started laughing when I saw that one of them was from a guy who was upset that a woman didn’t come with the book. Another one was from a woman who said she’d injured herself trying position number eleven, and the last two were from reviewers who said their copies had been printed back to front causing a lot of confusion between them and their partners.

  With a quick glance at Lily, we both nodded and hit the one-click ordering button.

  It wasn’t until I was finished that I noticed Levi’s movements underneath where I was sitting on him, like I was cutting off the circulation to his legs. As I moved to stand up so that the poor guy wouldn’t lose a limb, he caught me around the waist and pulled me closer to him.

  Putting his mouth right beside my ear, he rumbled, “Best not to do that right now, baby.”

  On his next twitch, the real reason for his issue became obvious when his erection pressed against me. I hadn’t been aware of Kari leaving us while I’d been looking at the book, or the fact that he could see what I was ordering over my shoulder. I’d been so fixated with the book and reviews, it hadn’t occurred to me to check what he was doing. I sure as shit knew now, though.

  Cheeks flaming, I glanced over my shoulder at him, blushing even harder when he winked at me.

  “So why did you guys decide to
join us?” Luna asked the men, looking at the various non-alcoholic beverages on the table. “I thought it was going to be just us?”

  I felt more than heard Levi’s growl, but it was Madix who answered the question. “The man who attacked Charlotte was seen not far from her apartment tonight looking like he was trying to find a way around the back of the building. When the authorities investigated it, though, he disappeared again.”

  It had to be said: I obviously didn’t have a lot of time for Eric after finding him having sex with Amber. Any feelings that could be considered remotely positive – and I was including not giving a shit about the man as being positive – withered after he attacked me. But now, the anger and hatred for him were almost smothering me. And I had my parents to thank for this shit.

  This twenty-one shit was a real pain in the ass, but I didn’t have the same worries that I had before about it being the year I was killed off.

  Now it was a period of growth, and I was counting the days until I turned twenty-two.

  Chapter Twelve

  Levi

  The list of things currently giving me a pain in the ass was longer than Santa’s good list. So far, off the top of my head I had:

  - Eric and everything associated with him

  - Kari

  - Rich and Beau

  - Archer and Bonnie

  - Parker and Ariana

  - Not being able to hear Charlotte’s voice

  - Work

  - The adult side of being an adult, i.e. having to act responsibly and not just being able to strangle Eric

  - My family

  That was a good start, but like the chunk of ice that the Titanic hit, it was only the tip of the iceberg.

  When we’d gotten the call about the sighting of Eric, we’d moved quickly to get to where they all were. In all honesty, I think part of it was being hopeful that we’d come across him first and get to deal with him ourselves, but that was more of an unspoken thing.

  Then I’d had to put up with various dramas, including Kari, instead of being able to focus on Lottie. It’s like someone had put up a notice that the Oscar awards this year were open to the public, so everyone was trying to be the lucky winner.

  The most frustrating part was that I could only fix one of the problems tonight, that’s all I had the power to do, but I’d definitely done that.

  While Lily and Dahlia were whispering to Lottie, I’d taken the opportunity to tell Kari that I knew what she was doing and that there wasn’t a chance in hell of it happening. I’d sweetened that with the addition of telling her parents what she got up to last year with someone who was now spending eight years in prison – not that she’d been involved in his crimes, that I was aware of at least. No, Kari had been enjoying the money of the man who’d conned five women out of their savings, and when she’d been questioned over his whereabouts she’d omitted to tell the authorities that he was handcuffed to her bed at that exact moment.

  How did I know this? Her former maid was the wife of one of the men who worked for our company and was now employed by my family, after losing her job for telling the police that she’d seen him on the premises one night when she was questioned by them. Apparently Kari hadn’t much liked her rich lover being incarcerated and had terminated Fiona’s employment.

  Somehow, she’d managed to talk her way out of being charged for hiding a criminal, and her parents were none the wiser about the situation. Probably for the best considering her father’s position as the CEO of their family owned investment company who boasted some well-known clients.

  Putting my list of issues aside – Charlotte had enough problems going on and had been hurt enough in the past. I wasn’t going to add to that or let someone who had absolutely no importance in my life do it either. So, easy come, easy go, and that was one thing crossed off the list.

  Which led me to now, driving Charlotte home. We’d all decided shortly after she’d completed her online purchase that it was time to go home. I wasn’t sure if it was paranoia or fear, but it felt like we were being watched from the second we left the bar, so now I was scanning the road constantly in case something jumped out at us.

  Having someone stalk your girlfriend isn’t like how it happens in a horror movie. You don’t get the scary music, you don’t get to see the buildup to the big scene, it’s all an unknown. The tension is always there, and it builds up inside you. I can’t even count the amount of times I woke up at night to check the house, or jumped out of bed because I thought I’d heard something.

  It went without saying that my family weren’t strangers to shit like this – which was the understatement of the year – and if there’s one thing I learned from all of what we’d been through was that staying stagnant wasn’t the answer. Part of what the person wanted was fear, it made them feel powerful and fueled them. It also made you easy to find because you were predictable. No, the key to winning the war was to make it look like they weren’t affecting you. Obviously you needed to take the extra measures to ensure your safety, but being unpredictable kept them off balance.

  My middle name should have been unpredictable, so I was going to make sure that Lottie was safe, and that Eric had no power over her.

  Realizing that I wasn’t the only one who was on edge at that moment, I reached for Lottie’s hand.

  “Lot of drama tonight, huh?” The incredulous look she shot back at me made me chuckle. “The holidays bring out the best in us all. Speaking of which, Mom wanted to make sure you’re ok with chocolate pie instead of pumpkin pie on Thursday. We’re having pumpkin soup as a starter apparently, and none of us like pumpkin pie anyway.”

  I wasn’t expecting an answer immediately, I was just trying to fill the silence and distract her. I kept talking about the Thanksgiving preparations for the rest of the journey, warning her about the way we celebrated it which made her laugh.

  As we drove up toward my house, I realized that we weren’t being thrown around like we normally were because the potholes had finally been filled in. I’m not sure how anyone would fail to notice that their brain wasn’t being ricocheted around their skull, but that’s what had happened when we’d left earlier to get to Charlotte.

  I could feel one of those big sneezes building as I stopped the car in front of the house, and sure enough as soon as I cut the engine it came out of me.

  Not missing a beat, Lottie passed me a napkin from her purse and mouthed, “Bless you.”

  “Thanks, baby.”

  Because I didn’t need to use the napkin, I was about to drop it in the cup holder when I saw the writing on it and opened it up to see if it was important or if she’d written stuff down that she needed from the store. The things listed on it were clearly not things I could get at the store or ask Mom to pick up.

  No fisting

  No anal – butt plugs?

  Yes hair pulling, spanking, hot sex

  See positions in book

  Her door slammed shut at the same time as my low groan so she likely had no idea what she’d passed me. She would, though.

  Charlotte

  Even though I hadn’t been working since the incident with Eric, I still had a shower before I went to bed every night out of habit. Needing Levi to yell at his shower for me was slightly inconvenient, but his beat mine by a mile, so I’d waited until he’d yelled it from his bedroom, and hopped in.

  I hadn’t intended on getting my hair wet tonight, but a pair of strong arms wrapping around me unexpectedly made me jump forward under the spray even though I knew who they belonged to.

  Resting his bearded chin on my shoulder, he pulled my back tightly against his stomach, his cock nestling into my butt crack.

  “Thank you for the napkin you gave me in the car, baby,” he rumbled, plucking the sponge I’d been washing myself with out of my hand. Running it up my arm, he continued, “I agree, my hands are way too big for fisting.”

  What did he mean about fi… no!

  His arm held me in place when I tried to spin aroun
d to face him, which was probably a good thing because I was fairly certain that I’d chicken out and sprint out of the shower instead. I hadn’t wanted to leave the napkin behind for a stranger to find, so I’d thrown it in my purse to bin when we got home. When he’d sneezed, I’d grabbed the first one I could out of my bag, totally forgetting about that one.

  Closing my eyes, I prayed for death, anything that would kill me in the next two seconds. If this was what the fortune telling lady meant, I was all for it now.

  “Anal would also be a problem for me,” he added, running the sponge down the area in question making me gulp. “If you want to try butt plugs, though, I’m sure we can work up to it. Just to warn you, baby, I have issues with the kids even having their diapers changed, so I’m not sure how far into it I’ll be able to get. For you, I’m willing to try, though.”

  To hell with the butt plugs, I wanted to try dying.

  Dropping the sponge to the floor, he rinsed me off under the spray and then moved back against me.

  “Open your legs wider,” he instructed, cupping me between them as I did it. “Anything that you want to try, we’ll try. Within reason,” he added, reaching up and taking a handful of my hair, then gently pulling my head back. “You want to have hair pulling sex, I’m onboard with that. You want me to spank you, I’ll spank you. But I won’t ever hurt you, so if I say enough, it’s enough and I won’t do it harder.”

  It was hard to nod when my head was as far back as it was, but I still did it knowing that he’d feel the slight movement with his hand holding my hair.

  Tilting his head to the side, he ran his lips up the side of my neck. “Good, baby. Do you want to try something right now?”

  With his hard length pressed up against me, his finger skimming up my center, and all that was Levi surrounding me, all the embarrassment I’d felt minutes before was gone. In its place was someone who definitely wanted to try something right now.