by Mia Ashlinn
“Fine,” Katie-Anne snapped. “Destiny said,
“Destiny good to you.
You aura not dark now.
You not sad.
You not lonely.
They came.
They saved.
You happy.
You united.
You loved.
For you special day, I give advice.
Expect unexpected.
Two always better than one.
Be happy, friend.
You deserve it.
-Destiny Isgood”
The door to the cockpit flew open, unveiling an irate Cade. “Very sound advice, darlin’. You should listen to Destiny and expect the unexpected.”
Jaycee shrieked, unbuckling herself and rushing Cade. She jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, and pressed tiny, smacking kisses all over his handsome face.
He chuckled, despite his outrage. “You are so spanked, Jaycee Elizabeth.”
“Mmmm,” Jaycee murmured against his skin. “Later, honey.”
Cade growled. “Honey?” He whipped around, still holding Jaycee close, and gently pushed her against the wall by the cockpit door. “That isn’t what you called me earlier.”
Jaycee grinned innocently, batting her eyelashes at him. “I love you, Cade McCoy.”
“That’s Cade Blakemore to you,” he retorted, his anger still palpable.
Jaycee whooped delightedly, squeezing Cade. “Hell yeah!”
Cade pulled back and ground out, “You are still in trouble. Let’s tally up your numbers. One. You called your hubbies-to-be bastards. Two. You aren’t going to fuck us for a long time.” Cade snorted incredulously. “I’m not even touching that one. Three. You called us assholes. Four. You plan to make us pay and pay well. Five. More name calling. We were dumbasses this time. Six. You’re going to kick us in the balls. Seven. You’re going to cut off our balls and throw them in the trash. Eight. You called us motherfuckers. Nine. You despise us. Ten. You accused us of sucking. Did I get them all?”
Jaycee shook her head, playing with Cade’s strawberry-colored hair. “You left out my plans for lunch. I think Ball Soup sounds yummy.”
“That’s right.” Cade nuzzled her neck affectionately. “You’re up to eleven, darlin’.”
“No,” Shannon cried. “It’s at least twelve. She called you stupid motherfuckers, not just motherfuckers. I think that calls for three more.”
“We have arrived at our destination,” Livy stated over the intercom. “It is now 2:10 pm. On behalf of the crew, we thank you for flying with us today. We wish you safe travels.”
Shannon, Katie-Anne, and Sarah unbuckled and stood. Each woman moved around the cabin, gathering their personal belongings.
Katie-Anne bent over and picked up her purse. “Sounds fair to me, Cade.”
“Fine,” Cade acquiesced. “I’ll mention fifteen to Gray, but I make no guarantees. He’ll think you deserve more than that.”
“You do that, Mr. Blakemore.” Jaycee sighed, repeating Cade’s new last name. “Blakemore.”
Cade kissed Jaycee, groaning into her mouth.
Katie-Anne elbowed Shannon, murmuring, “Let’s leave them be for a minute. Gray wants in, and I want the hell out before they…Yeah, you know.”
Shannon followed Katie-Anne to the exit, needling her as they went. “Cat got your tongue? What do you think they’re going to be doing in here? Hug? Kiss? Lick? Suck? Fuck?”
Katie-Anne stomped down the steps. “They are virgins, damn it.”
“Keep telling yourself that, my friend.”
Gray brushed past them, hauling ass up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. “Cade Blakemore! Jaycee Dalton! I know what you two are doing. We do not have time for this.” His voice faded away as he stormed into the plane.
Shannon snickered. “Her number keeps increasing.”
Katie-Anne sped up, leaving Shannon in the dust. She made it halfway to the awaiting car before shouting over her shoulder. “Shut up.”
A roar from inside the plane rent through the air. “Goddamn it, Cade! We are not playing pilot, copilot, and flight attendant right now.”
“From the sound of it, so does Cade’s,” Shannon remarked to herself. She whistled, skipping over to the Lexus waiting on the tarmac. This weekend had the potential to change all their lives, and Shannon couldn’t wait for it to begin.
She ducked into the luxurious car and yelled, “Smoky Mountains, ready or not, here we come!”
Chapter 17
Shannon marveled at the exquisite dining venue where Gray, Cade, and Jaycee were holding their wedding rehearsal dinner. Who would have thought a barn could be turned into this? The arched center aisle, high, sloped rafters, and massive, hand-hewn beams gave the oak building a rustic, old-fashioned feel. However, the myriad of lit candles strewn throughout the hall, the massive wrought iron chandelier, and open kitchen made her feel right at home.
“Can you believe this place?” she asked as she sipped her apple cider, cringing at the too-sweet taste of the locals’ favorite drink. Gross. Who would want to drink this mud-colored concoction?
“No,” Katie-Anne declared, biting off a teeny portion of the hors d’oeuvre in her hand and chewing it daintily. Her friend didn’t sound excited. She didn’t look it, either.
Katie-Anne’s gaze roamed the room, watching everyone and no one. She looked bored out of her mind but would never admit to it. Heaven forbid she acted out at a classy function.
“Deke always had good taste,” Sarah commented pensively, her voice filled with longing and unrequited love. She fiddled with her china cup, staring down into her drink with dull, achingly sad eyes.
Shannon wanted to cry for her newfound friend. Been there, done that, bought a thong. Hell, she still hadn’t made the plane out of the hellhole. Getting through security was a bitch. Stupid Drew. He just had to be a pain-in-the-ass security guard with a God complex.
Biting back a growl, Shannon scanned the room, in search of her men. They’d arrived only a few minutes before with all the other men in tow, except Deke and Adam, who were trapped in a meeting.
She was thoroughly intrigued at the prospect of officially meeting the infamous Adam Stanton. Years of rumors had built him up to be the perfect specimen of man.
The sinfully sexy, filthy rich, übertalented man was supposedly the full package, and she wanted to see if he could live up to the hype. Somehow, she didn’t believe he had a snowball’s chance in hell of living up to his notoriety, but she rooted for him anyway.
Across the room, Drew and Jared stood chatting with their sister and her two fiancés. Her heart soared, and she couldn’t take her eyes off them. She watched the way their eyes crinkled when they smiled, the way their delectable mouths enunciated each word carefully, the way they moved and breathed. Damn, she loved everything about them.
Jared glanced up at her, meeting her eyes from across the room, his sky-blue eyes darker than normal. Promises were made, vows were said, and they were done without a word spoken aloud, only his eyes and hers, connecting and conversing.
His eyes said, “I love you, princess. I missed holding you. God, I want to ravish you.”
Hers responded, begging and pleading, “I love you, too. I missed you so much. I want you. My body needs you. It craves yours. I can’t take much more. Please.”
“Patience,” he mouthed, smirking at her.
For some irrational reason, Jared’s self-possessed attitude torqued her a little. But more than that, it provoked her sensual side—a lot. In the carnal moment, all that ran through her mind was pushing Mr. Patience and his brothers until they reached their breaking points. She wanted to see them snap, and she wanted to experience the dominant passion that came along with it.
However, this wasn’t like yesterday when she’d topped from bottom for the wrong reasons. Drew had been right. She had been trying to be their boss. Well, not anymore. Tonight was purely for her pleasure and theirs, because Shannon did
n’t give a fuck about being the dominant one. No, I want to surrender to them, and I will do whatever it takes to get them to dominate me.
Drew had told her that she could tease them, taunt them, challenge them, and talk dirty to them—as long as it was because she wanted to or they wanted her to. He might live to eat his words because tonight she would do all of the above and more. And come morning, I will probably do it again and again and again. Fuck that, I will spend the rest of my life teasing, taunting, challenging, and talking dirty to the Dalton triplets. Hopefully, they will spend theirs dominating me.
Shannon wondered if Drew’s little lesson hadn’t backfired on him. Other than the part where he’d talk to her like an animal, she’d been turned on by his dominance. Being told what to do and how to act was fucking hot. And being punished was hotter. Those three boys were in for a wild ride when it came to her and getting into trouble. Well, if they don’t like it, they are creative men. They can…come up with something to do with me.
Shannon jumped when two sizable hands encircled her waist and a smooth, deep voice whispered, “You’re next,” into her ear.
“Randy,” Shannon scolded, twirling around with a smile wide enough to make her cheeks hurt. She sat her nasty-tasting drink down before placing her hands on his wide, muscular chest. “You are taking a lot for granted.”
“Uh-uh,” Randy denied, brushing his warm lips across her jaw line. “Our day is coming soon. It’s a certainty, baby doll. Just you wait.”
She shivered as the room fell away, and the people disappeared. Her hands creeped up his chest, sliding around his neck and entwining. “No, you wait.”
Dirty talk time. Lowering her voice, Shannon murmured with the sexiness only her men could help her tap into, “I am so horny, Romeo.”
“Good God, Shannon,” Randy groaned, his cock springing to life in his pants.
Hmm, I think I’ll up the ante. It’s time to tease.
Shannon laughed and hugged him, her face curved around the side of his neck. Inhaling the scent of his skin, she couldn’t resist tasting him. What started out as one lick turned into several then the licking turned into nibbling.
Randy had a soapy tang from his recent shower that should repel her but had the opposite effect. She hungered for more. Biting into his neck, she sucked the sensitive skin in her mouth while observing his gorgeous face.
Randy closed his eyes, ecstasy lining his too-fucking-gorgeous-for-his-or-her-own-good face, and groaned. “Fuck.”
She licked the skin she’d marked. “That’s the general idea.”
Katie-Anne cleared her throat and muttered, “Get a fucking room.”
Shannon rotated around, staying close to Randy, and faced Katie-Anne. Holding back a smile, she lectured her friend, “We have already had this discussion, Katie-Anne. A bedroom is a room for fucking.” Freeing her inner pervert, Shannon smiled naughtily. “Well, that isn’t entirely true. Technically, any room can be a fucking room. Ergo, I don’t need a fucking room. This will do.”
“You tease,” Randy groused grumpily. “I’ll show you a fucking room. Keep it up, baby doll, and I will bend you over a table and fuck you in front of our friends, family, and anyone else who wants to watch. I’m as horny as you are, and I have no self-control.”
“Mmmmm, look who’s teasing now.” Shannon pressed her ass back against the steely cock in his pants and swayed her hips side-to-side.
Sarah’s eyes grew wide, and she blushed, her milky skin pinkening. “Oh!”
“Smart-ass,” Katie-Anne huffed, ignoring the sensual byplay in front of her, and munched on yet another hors d’oeuvre.
Snatching the finger food from Katie-Anne’s hand, Shannon popped it into her mouth. She half mumbled, half hummed, and wiped a crumb from the corner of her lip. “I learned from the best.”
“Champagne anyone?” a ridiculously good-looking man inquired, keeping Katie-Anne from retaliating. The mysterious man with chestnut hair and crystal-clear blue eyes handed champagne flutes around, halting when he reached Sarah. He smiled charmingly at the younger woman. “Hello. I’m—”
Sarah’s eyes grew tenfold, her pupils dilating drastically, and she breathed, “Beautiful.”
Mr. Tall-Dark-And-Sinfully-Handsome chuckled sensually. Even his laugh sounded delicious, make-a-woman’s-panties-dripping-wet decadent. Good God. I have to stop staring before I start to drool. God knows that wouldn’t go over well with my men.
Sarah hyperventilated, her face the color of snow.
Shannon contemplated hunting down a paper bag for Sarah. She appeared to be ready to collapse in the middle of the rehearsal dinner. “Sarah, are you okay? Can I do anything to help?”
Nodding her head, Sarah’s caramel-colored hair fell over her face. She covered her lips with visibly trembling fingers. “Please tell me I didn’t just say that.”
The unknown man touched Sarah’s arm gently, comfortingly. “It’s all right, sweet pea. No need to be embarrassed.”
“Purple pickles, do you have to be so nice about this?” Sarah fussed, yanking her arm back. She ran her long fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her way and revealing her no-longer pale face. Her cheeks had turned rosy, as if she applied a red-hued blush to the apples of her cheeks. She looked far younger than her twenty-four years. “It would be so much easier if you were a jerk.”
“You are a very candid, young woman. I think I like that.” Mr. Naughty-And-Nice-Man lowered his head until level with Sarah’s face, murmuring to her, “I’m Adam, by the way. What’s your name?”
Sarah gasped and shook her head, raw panic written on her face. She groaned, her panting morphing into wheezes, “No. No. No. This cannot be happening, dang it.” Turning on her heel, Sarah took off, tearing out of the room like a bat out of hell and heading to who knows where.
“I’m sorry,” Adam apologized, his own cheekbones coloring slightly. “I don’t exactly know what just happened here.”
Unexpectedly, Deke appeared from nowhere. He strolled up behind them with a magnetic smile and perfect teeth. “I do. Sassy thought my partner was sexy. I can’t fault her for that. She has excellent taste in men.”
Deke seemed off, his words stilted like they were being forced out against their will. He acted oddly, his narrowed eyes firmly locked on the door Sarah had exited from. He had said and done all the right things. But still, Shannon wondered if he played it cooler than he was.
Deke laid his hand on the small of Adam’s back. “Would you excuse us,” he requested, guiding Adam away without glancing back.
“I guess so,” Katie-Anne muttered. “I don’t think he was very happy with our sweet Sarah.”
Randy growled possessively. “I wouldn’t be, either, if she hit on my partner.”
Shannon elbowed him viciously. “You have got to be kidding me. You share me with your brothers.”
Grinding his teeth loud enough that she could hear them, Randy stated, “That is different, Shannon, and you know it.”
“Oh, really. How so?”
Randy dropped his hands from her waist before moving to her side and giving her a glimpse of his explosive face. He looked like a firecracker about to blow sky high. “It just is.”
If he wanted to be a firework show, fine. I’ll accept that challenge. She could be the damn lighter, igniting his arrogant ass. No one specified that I had to keep my challenges sexual anyway.
“No, it is not, mister,” Shannon snapped. “Either you are a jealous donkey or you’re not.”
Katie-Anne snickered, obviously remembering the derivative of that particular insult.
“Donkey,” Randy scoffed. “Are you telling me that you wouldn’t mind a woman hitting on us?”
“That’s different.” She ignored his smug expression and clarified, “You share. I don’t. I’m a selfish bitch like that.”
Having heard their heated debate, Jared and Drew made their way across the room and joined the small group. They crossed their sculpted arms identically over the
ir respective chests and glowered at her.
Why did she have to wind up falling for triplets? One Dalton brother was a handful, but three? She must be out of her ever-loving mind.
Katie-Anne quickly excused herself and scampered away. Smart girl. Things were heading to hell in a handbasket, and it was in everyone’s best interest to get out of Dodge.
“Sounds like you are being bitchy,” Drew criticized grimly with a deep frown.
She couldn’t tell if he genuinely meant his insult or if he was just being a bastard, lashing out at the person he loved most. She guessed it didn’t really matter, either way. There were some things a man didn’t say to a woman, and “bitch” was at the top of that list.
“Do you seriously want me to kick you in the balls?” she inquired as calmly as she could. “I can arrange that, if it’s what gets you off.”
Drew’s fists clenched, his skin tightening over the bones. He held himself back. She saw the self-restraint he exerted to keep from launching himself at her. “Do you seriously want your ass spanked?”
Yes, she did. Spank me, Drew, spank me real good.
She spun around and wiggled her ass at all of them, her fitted dress riding up. “Oh, baby. You can spank mine if I can spank yours.”
Jared turned his drink up, gulping down the liquid, his Adam’s apple bobbing with each swallow. He flung his glass onto the table, somehow managing to not break it. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
She shrugged, guessing that either way she answered would be bad for her health.
“Shut the fuck up, baby doll.” Randy reached for her, but she dodged him and twirled around.
I think I’ll seal the deal. It’s time to taunt them.
“I don’t hear any takers.” Shannon rubbed her lips with her index finger suggestively. “How about we make a deal. I will spank my own ass and you three can watch.” She licked the pad of her finger, savoring the salty flavor of her skin, then closed her eyes with a hum, “Mmmm. But no touching.”
Before she could deflect him, Drew picked her up and threw her over his shoulders, treating her with the same regard as a sack of potatoes, and made tracks for the door with Jared and Randy in tow. “We need to talk outside. Now.”