Most Wanted (Triple Diamond Book 3)

by Gemma Snow

  “Who is that?” she asked, indicating the man as subtly as she could.

  Cole narrowed his eyes.

  “I think that’s Sammy’s brother, but I don’t know for sure. I haven’t seen him actually talk to anyone.”

  That’s odd. I didn’t know Sam had a brother.

  Before she think any further on it, the door opened and Lily Hollis stepped in. She glanced around the room and spotted Ev and, for a moment, Ev actually felt nervous. Nervous? Why the hell would I feel nervous? This woman whom she had known barely an hour was perfectly allowed to keep her own business, and it didn’t matter at all that Ev had accidentally walked in on her…

  Getting fucked hard and fast against the wall?

  Psh, it wasn’t as though Ev’s sex life was lacking for anything. Still, Lily’s eyes were imploring, even across the room, so Ev grabbed her jacket and slipped through the crowd to join Lily outside. Lily Hollis was really beautiful, even dressed in all her layers of puffy winter attire, her long brown hair tucked into loose braids under an equally puffy hat.

  “Do you mind going for a walk?” Lily asked. “I think I should clear some things up.”

  Ev didn’t hesitate. Ever since she’d met this woman, she’d wondered if she was missing part of the puzzle, and her curiosity won out in an instant.

  Lily led them a short way from the house, until they came to a clearing at the top of the hill. There was a small bench overlooking the purple-gray valley below, and they settled before the peaceful vista.

  “I’m not cheating on Dec.”

  Well, that’s a bold way to start.

  Lily laughed, clearly coming to the same conclusion. “I’m just…I’m sure that was your first thought, so I wanted to clear things up.”

  Which, of course, only makes them murkier.

  “So?” Ev wracked her brain for some kind of explanation, but she couldn’t find a single one that would fit into the scenes she had witnessed this afternoon.

  “The man you saw me with,” Lily began, “that’s Micah, Micah Ellison. See, I have sort of an unusual relationship.”

  Then Ev realized there was only one explanation and…shit. Because she’d just been using that as the last strong pillar in her defenses and now she had one hell of a wrench in the works.

  “You’re dating both of them,” she said quietly. “And they know.”

  Lily smiled. “They definitely know. Dec and Micah have been friends a very long time and we stumbled for a while, but now we’re really happy.” She turned to face Ev, and her expression held no secrets or hidden agendas, only warmth and understanding. “I see now that I jumped to conclusions about your relationship with the two men you came here with,” she said. “Just thought I’d let you know why.”

  Ev was silent a long moment. This is crazy. People don’t do this. People don’t date two straight men at the same time.

  And yet, the expression on Lily’s face now, contentment and ease, and the joy she’d seen in Dec McCormick’s eyes when he had first caught sight of Lily on the path, those were raw emotions, ones that couldn’t be faked. And lord only knew she saw enough of the depravity of humans all the time. Maybe just this one time, thinking outside the box didn’t have to be a terrible thing.

  For someone else.

  “How?” It was the only question that could sum up the madness of the whole idea succinctly.

  “It’s simpler than you think,” Lily said, shrugging. “My sister Maddy, who owns this place, she beat me to the punch. When I saw how happy she was with her husbands, I don’t know, I fought it for a while. It’s not an easy thing to wrap your head around, but Maddy was really happy and I figured if that was what it took, well, damn, I wasn’t gonna judge.”

  They stared out at the vista, low, thick clouds rolling through the valley. It was definitely going to snow, and soon. The wedding itself was scheduled for the day after next, so she hoped it held off until then.

  “I’m not advocating for this,” Lily said quietly. “I understand you’re dating Quinn and he’s hot. Damn, woman, good for you. But it seemed like you should know there’s more than one way to skin a cat.”

  Ev winced but smiled through it. “Not a sexy image,” she replied. “And I’m not… Quinn and I are happy.”

  They were. She was. And yet… Yeah, always an and yet.

  Instead of focusing on that, she changed the subject. “You’re pretty good at reading people, Lily,” she said. “Most people don’t see past the mask and I’ve worked hard to keep it that way.”

  This time, Lily Hollis’ pretty smile was sad and Ev cocked her head, waiting patiently for Lily’s story. Sometimes patience, time, allowing someone the breath they needed to come to an answer all on their own—made or broke a case—or a relationship.

  “I lost my fiancé when I was a senior in college,” Lily said. “Cancer. I learned a thing or two about putting on a mask, Ev. And recently, about letting people see past it, too.”

  I let people see past my mask. I let Quinn and Lucas in.

  And isn’t that telling, Miss Behavioral Analyst?

  “Thank you for coming to find me,” Ev said, when the silence between them stretched like the empty gray sky through the valleys. “I… I don’t spend a lot of time with friends outside of work, and this is refreshing.”

  Lily gave her glove-covered hand a squeeze. “For me, too, Ev,” she said, her smile genuine and happy now. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Micah and Maddy and her husbands.”

  They made their way back to the mess hall and Ev felt both more at ease and more confused than she had in a long time. They’d been in this alien land for barely a day, and already her understanding of what was up and what was down was wildly muddled. One thing was certain, however. Lily Hollis was happy, which meant that some version of the insane, crazed fantasy that had been circling Ev’s mind for months was, if nothing else, possible. But as to what to do with the information, Ev didn’t have a goddamn clue.

  * * * *

  Quinn’s attention ping-ponged between the group of men sitting across from him and Lucas at the poker table. Most of the wedding party had found their way back to the cottages and rooms in the main house, and a couple of the locals had invited him and Lucas to play a few rounds in the back room of the mess hall. Since Ev had happily told them she’d spend the night with Sam and the others then turn in early, he and Lucas agreed. He’d folded on the first round of this new game and was now contenting himself with his beer and simply observing the world around him. Dec McCormick sat next to a large man who had introduced himself as Micah, also of the Black Reef Survival Camp, whom Quinn vaguely remembered from their workshop in Houston a few years back. Beside them were two of the Triple Diamond ranch managers and part-owners, Ryder Dean, who pretty much went open-call casting for country boy, and Christian Harlow, who wore his dark hair almost as long as Lucas did and, theylearned, rode a Harley.

  The men were relaxed and at ease and even though he didn’t have Ev’s BAU training, Quinn couldn’t help but think they were more than friends. He wasn’t getting a gay vibe from any of them, simply an intimacy he didn’t quite understand.

  It’s like how when Lucas and Ev and I hang out. And it turned out we weren’t just friends, either. At least, he and Ev weren’t. Though he’d seen Lucas’ bare ass more times than a man needed to if he lived to be two hundred, Quinn had never felt the inkling of an urge to experiment. And yet…

  So, feeling pleasantly buzzed on local beer and the knowledge that he could most sleep late tomorrow morning, he came right out and asked it.

  “So, we met Lily, but do you guys have girlfriends, too?”

  Lucas snorted and Quinn just shook his head. Lucas was forever on him about subtlety, but coming from a guy who eyebrow-waggled the panties off more women than most Washington politicians, the message fell a little flat.

  For a minute, the card room was quiet. Really quiet. Like, whoa did I just set off a bomb quiet?

  “Is no one else gon
na take this one?” Ryder asked, glancing around at the rest of the men. He made a dramatic show of sighing then turned back to face Quinn and Lucas.

  “In a sense, yeah, we have women in our lives. It’s just a little unconventional.”

  Lucas leaned forward, obvious enthusiasm in his eyes. “Lay it on us,” he said. Lucas had always been a sucker for scandal that wasn’t his own.

  “You met Lils?” Micah asked. They both nodded. “Well, she’s my girlfriend, too.”

  Too. As in also. As in with. Too, as in Dec and Micah both knew the score full well and weren’t just okay with it, but were willing to live their lives dating the same woman.

  “And Madison Hollis?” Quinn asked slowly, still not quite able to wrap his head around the concept.

  “Our wife,” Ryder said on a grin. “As of July fourth. It’s not legally binding, but we did a hand-fasting ceremony and we’re working through some of the legal rights. What matters is that she’s ours and we’re not letting her go.”

  Beside him, Christian pushed his dark hair out of his face, which somehow made him look more fierce than less. “Damn straight, she is,” he muttered, like he wasn’t discussing the woman he loved.

  “I knew it.” Lucas’ grin grew. “Lily kept hinting at something, I just couldn’t figure out what.”

  “It works for us,” Dec said, taking a long swig of beer. “I never thought it would, but it does. We almost lost Lily a few months ago, and it made us realize how much more important she was to us than doing things the way they’ve always been done, ya know?”

  Quinn got it. He did. In a that’s for other people sort of way. Because when his mind went to Ev, to her rare humor and the passion she threw into her job and the way she made his nightmares disappear, he felt a fierce possessiveness burning him right down to the soul. He couldn’t even begin to imagine sharing her with another man.

  Beside him, Lucas laughed at something one of the other men had said, and Quinn amended the statement. He’d been sharing her with Lucas, and Lucas with her, since the very beginning. It didn’t get tighter than their relationship. And yet, of course, he couldn’t share her with Lucas, not that he had any idea if that was even what she wanted.

  She has been off lately. Maybe all she needs is a change of pace.

  And before Quinn could get a goddamned grip on himself, his mind began to whirl with images of Ev and Lucas on the bed in their little cottage, of watching his two best friends taste and lick and suck, of feeling her wrap her plush lips around his cock while Lucas…

  “Well, good for you,” he said, not feeling even a little of the nonchalance that he threw into his voice. “Can’t be easy for you guys.”

  “Can’t be easy for you, either,” Micah replied. “I’ll be honest, I think more people are bothered by the whole interracial relationship element of this than the two-boyfriends part.” He indicated his dark skin, Native American, from the Blackfeet Nation, he had explained, and, when he laughed, it felt to Quinn like the whole room shook. Micah Ellison was one big dude. “How fucked up is that?”

  Quinn grimaced his agreement and lifted his beer up in solidarity. They’d experienced a few instances—raw as epithets hurled across the street, subtle as the looks they got from waiters—but Quinn didn’t give a good goddamn. Ev was his and as long as she was happy, no one else mattered.

  “So, like, do you guys ever…?” Lucas was about as subtle as a freight train when it came to getting information out of a man, and not a little bit drunk on local craft beer. “I mean, it’s fine if you do… I’m just curious.”

  The truth was, though, Quinn was pretty curious himself. He’d been an early supporter of gay rights and considered himself an ally in a business that could go very strongly in the other direction. Military, Bureau—they’d both surprised him before. But, though he supported the LGBT community, he didn’t have a gay bone in his body. Nor did he want a gay bone in his body. And if the idea now percolating dangerously close to his frontal lobe managed to stick, he needed to know the answer.

  “Nah.” Ryder dealt a new hand of cards. “I mean, listen, you’re gonna see another dude’s dick. It’s just a thing. But ya get over it.”

  This was so weird. Of all the things Quinn could have ever expected of coming out to Montana for his boss’s ranch wedding, it sure as Hades on ice wasn’t this. And yet you’re intrigued. You’re more intrigued than you want to admit to yourself.

  So instead of speaking or allowing his wandering thoughts to slam his brain any harder than they already were, Quinn leaned back in his chair and chugged the rest of his beer. Christian caught his eye and chuckled.

  “It’s a lot less complicated than it looks from the outside,” he explained. “I mean, all right, for us at least. But we were sharing women before Maddy, in bed. So the transition wasn’t that hard.”

  It was the word sharing and the dam broke in Quinn’s mind, more of those raw, carnal images, Ev bent over the couch, her ass high in the air, Lucas pounding her from behind with an iron grip on her hips, holding her in place. To him.

  Get your shit together, Langston. This isn’t going to work.

  Yeah, it’s just the two examples of it working that have me all confused.

  And ah, fuck, he was definitely confused. Even after the conversation turned away from their women, to universal male conversations of sports, to the comparison between Christian’s Harley and Quinn’s own vintage BMW bike that he rarely ever got to ride. Then, two by two, the other men bade good night and headed back to their women, likely to find creative and scintillating ways to stay warm in the blustering Montana mountains.

  And damn it, no matter what Quinn did, he couldn’t shake the urge to give Ev a warm-up just like it.

  Chapter Five

  Quinn Langston wasn’t a man who let people in easily. Lucas had learned that from day one, right about the time he’d learned Evangeline Monteiro was not a woman to take lightly. But he’d known them both for years and, more pressingly, for the most important years, and one glance at Quinn right now told Lucas his best friend had something on his mind.

  Or maybe you’re getting paranoid because you have something on your mind. Maybe all that talk about sharing lovers got to you, Vallejo, ever think about that?

  Thought about, ha. His full cock was straining against his jeans, wondering why he wasn’t back at the cottage right now, taking Ev from behind while Quinn filled her mouth. The fantasies of filling Ev, of claiming her however he could, however she’d let him, weren’t anything new. But the added and surprisingly easy element of Quinn was. After all, who wanted to fantasize about fucking the girl of his dreams with his best friend hanging around to watch? And yet they’d always been a unit, symbiotic and able to depend on one another without question. It only made sense Quinn would fit right into this too, dammit.

  “So, I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting that,” Lucas said, looking down at his beer as though it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Getting Quinn to open up about anything required a certain light touch.

  Quinn rolled his eyes. “You could say that again.” He stood and headed into the main mess hall. “I think I need something stronger to drink before that conversation makes sense. Want anything?”

  Lucas followed him to the small bar setup. In the grate, the blazing fire had burned down to embers, the sound drowned out by the blustering wind rattling the windows in their frames. Oh, yeah, Montana’s fucking cold. It made DC winters look like a day at the kiddy ice rink. Though, of course, when he’d moved east from Los Angeles, that first December he’d thought he’d died and gone to a frozen-over hell.

  You could always go back.

  “Make it a double,” Lucas said to Quinn, instead of replying to the insidious voice in his head, the one that kept reminding him of the job offer sitting in his inbox. He’d deal with it when he was back in Washington. Or maybe never.

  “Could you imagine sharing a woman with another man?” Quinn asked, sipping long at his drink and
, quite obviously to Lucas, covering his eyes. Though he did his damnedest to hide it, Quinn tended to give away everything with his eyes.

  “I don’t know,” Lucas answered, the lie getting a little caught in his teeth, sticky and weighted. “I guess it depends on the woman.” He shrugged. “And the man. I mean, I don’t think there’s anyone else I’d trust enough, other than you.”

  Quinn considered this then slowly placed the whiskey glass down on the bar counter. His hands were a little unsteady, courtesy of the many beers they’d shared over poker. Of course, that was the only sign Quinn gave of being nearly sloshed. And he was. If he had too much more, Lucas would be carrying him back to the cabin, not that he was feeling walk-the-white-line-sober right then either.

  “Yeah, man,” Quinn replied quietly. “It’d have to be you, too.”

  They fell into an awkward sort of silence and Lucas didn’t think it had anything to do with the admittedly erotic thoughts swirling in his mind—images, so many fucking goddamned images that he knew he had no right to but couldn’t seem to hold at bay.

  “Have you ever?” Quinn asked. “Been with another man in bed?”

  Lucas shook his head. “Two women once. I know everyone jokes about it, but if they hadn’t been into hooking up with each other, I honestly don’t know how I would have handled it. It’s a little overwhelming in the moment.”

  “Do you think she’d be overwhelmed?” Quinn’s voice sounded a little raw, like he’d spat the question out before he could stop himself. There it was. Lucas hadn’t been imagining anything about his friend’s behavior and he wasn’t even the behavioral analyst. Ten freaking points to Slytherin. But if Quinn wanted to ask something, he needed to ask it outright, no room for confusion. Because if he was about to ask what Lucas thought he was, there couldn’t be any room at all for confusion.

  “Who, Q?” he said quietly. In an instant, Quinn understood the rules of the game. Well, hey, it’s almost like we know each other or something.