by Diane Leyne
“This is good. Dreaming of Blake and not Owen.”
“And last night, I dreamed about them both. Blake and Quin, not Owen.”
“Even better, hot, slutty dreams. See, you are ready to move on. You are lusting after Doc and you are hot for another man, too. Quin’s only around for a few months. Have fun with him if you want, but there’s no reason you can’t date both of them. Hell, there’s no reason you can have them both in the sack.”
“Ellie, no. That’s just not me.”
“Did you not just tell me about your slutty dreams where you were banging them both at the same time?”
“Yes, but that was just a dream. I could never be with both of them, let alone at the same time, not in real life.”
“You’ve lived like a nun for the past two years. Time to have some fun, girlfriend. Test-drive them both. Keep one and throw the other one back when you are done. Or…” Her voice became teasing. “Maybe keep them both. Jess landed both Murphy and Cole. Maybe you can have both Quin and Blake.”
“Yeah, but Murphy and Cole were old friends who’ve always shared. Quin and Blake are strangers.”
“Hey, sister. Your game. Your rules. Now I have to get back to the pool room. I see another sucker to hustle. Us teachers earn crap and I’ve got my eye on a new pair of Jimmy Choos!”
Jules laughed and watched Ellie sashay back to the pool room and then saw her body language change as she approached the overconfident cowboy who had just won three games in a row and was looking for another sucker to play. She watched him assess Ellie as easy pickings. He had a lot to learn about people.
She sighed and headed over to the bar to see if Trace needed help. He was fine, so she grabbed herself a Diet Coke and sipped it as she surveyed the room from behind the bar. Quin was talking quietly to Blake.
She frowned. The men were in an alcove near the door to the hallway that lead to the bathrooms, and were out of sight of everyone in the bar but her. They weren’t talking like strangers. Their expressions were intense but not antagonistic. Then Blake punched Quin in the arm in that way guys had with their good friends, and then they split up. Blake headed out back toward the washrooms and Quin headed back to the main room.
Maybe they’d met up by accident, one going in and one going out, but there was something about their expressions that seemed…odd? Out of place?
Hell, maybe she was imagining things. Quin had become part of the place seemingly effortlessly. It was like he’d been here forever and not just three nights. It seemed like whenever there was a crowd, he was in the center, drinking his beer quietly, occasionally interjecting a comment, but being very much part of the group. He had just that kind of a magnetic personality.
Yes, that was a good way to describe him. She’d been able to tell when he came in without even seeing him. It was almost like telepathy, or maybe it was magnetism. It was like there was a change in the air when he was nearby. Her skin prickled and she had goose bumps, the hair on her arms stood up and she felt her panties dampen. Damn that man.
Damn him, too, for showing up Owen. No, that was the wrong way to phrase it. He didn’t actually do anything around Owen. He was always unfailingly polite, even deferential to his new bosses, but somehow, standing beside him, Owen seemed somehow less, which didn’t even make sense. But when Quin was around, she didn’t even notice Owen anymore and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
She also wasn’t sure how she felt knowing that Blake liked her as more than a friend. Sure, she’d thought about him and even fantasized a bit, but she’d always believed that he wasn’t interested in her. He was safe to fantasize about when Owen kept rejecting her. Safe. But he wasn’t safe anymore, not if Ellie was right. Had he let her put him in the friend zone while he pined for her the way she pined for Owen? And he had listened to her ramble on time and again. He was a good man. Maybe she’d never let herself think of him as more than a friend because he hid his feelings for her. And he probably did that because of her feelings for Owen and now she was getting a headache trying to think about it. All she knew is that she liked Doc. A lot.
He was nice, very nice indeed, but that didn’t blind her to the fact that he was damned hot. He may not be built large like Quin or Owen, but he was strong. He had to be, considering his patients often outweighed him by a thousand pounds or more. He was all lean muscle, though, with no body fat, damn him.
Jules looked up as Blake returned to the bar from the bathroom. Gulping down her drink, she strode over to intercept him before she could change her mind.
“Hey, Blake.”
“Hey, Jules.”
* * * *
Blake felt like he’d fallen down the rabbit hole as Jules pulled his head down for a kiss. A real kiss with tongue. He thought he might hyperventilate. He reached out to pull her close, but she’d already pulled back.
“Well. Well, well, well.” Dammit, you silver-tongued devil.
Jules smiled, one of those brilliant smiles that she rarely gave where her eyes crinkled up so much that you could barely see the brilliant blue of her irises. He felt his stomach do a flip-flop and hope surge within him.
“You are an idiot, Blake Horatio Adams!”
“Yes, ma’am. May I ask why?”
“You may.”
He waited, but she didn’t say anything. Then he realized what she was waiting for and laughed before adding dutifully, “How have I been an idiot?”
“Ellie told me that you liked me.”
“I do. You’ve always known that.”
“Yes, but you’ve always just been my friend. You never gave me the slightest indication that you were interested in more.”
“I did, at first, but you didn’t notice. And you made it abundantly clear you only had eyes for Owen. I decided I’d rather have you in my life as a friend than not at all.”
“Damn. Ellie was right. I owe her five bucks.”
“Ellie should mind her own business.”
“Do you want to go out, Blake?”
“Ellie is a wonderful woman and I will send her flowers as a thank-you gift.”
He reached out to pull Jules into his arms, but she pulled away.
“Hey, down boy. Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m still finding my sea legs. I just realized that I spent years pining over a man who has no feelings for me and probably never will. I have decided it’s time for me to stop waiting around and hoping he’ll see me as a woman and start dating. But I’m not ready to get into an exclusive relationship. Hell, I’m not even sure I’m ready for a relationship, never mind an exclusive one.
“I want to go out and have fun. I want to feel like a desirable woman again. I want to have hot sex and a good time, but I don’t know that I’m ready to jump into something more. And, Blake, first, I have to tell you that I’m having lunch with Quin tomorrow, but if you are interested, I’d like to take you to dinner tomorrow night.”
“I accept.” No way was he giving her time to change her mind. “What time will you pick me up?”
“Excuse me?”
“You asked me out. I expect you to come to my door and pick me up. And take me somewhere nice. I’m easy, but not cheap. You’re going to have to woo me properly after keeping me in the friend zone for two years. You owe me. Big.”
He wondered if he’d gone too far when she didn’t respond right away, but then she grinned and the sun came out again. When he grinned back, she stuck out her tongue and then changed her expression to one of mock severity.
“Wear a suit and be ready at seven,” she commanded. “I’ll make reservations, and no dawdling. I hate to be kept waiting.” She was so cute, playing at being a Domme.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She reached up and grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled his head down for another kiss. This one was hard and fast and closed mouthed, but it was great all the same. He watched her turn and walk back into the bar, her hips swaying. Then she paused, turned back to him, and winked back, and soon she was swallowed up
by the Saturday night crowd. He turned and walked back into the men’s room and locked himself in a stall.
His cock was hard and aching and he needed to get a little relief before returning to the bar. He let himself fantasize about their date a bit as he rubbed one out. Okay, Christmas hadn’t come early. But maybe, just maybe, it was on the horizon. He’d been worried at how she was going to finish that speech. But if it was just Quin, well he could deal with Quin as a rival, especially if he, Blake, was allowed to get naked with her.
He didn’t have the tools to fight against her idealized version of first love with Owen, but Quin was one of his oldest friends. He didn’t have to worry. Quin would step aside.
* * * *
“What the hell do you mean you won’t step aside?” Blake’s voice rang with disbelief.
Quin smirked at his friend and took another swallow of his beer. They were hanging out in the kitchen of Blake’s apartment. He lived in a cosy one bedroom over his veterinary clinic. Quin was lounging in one of the matched wooden chairs in the small kitchen. He had parked two blocks away and walked the rest of the way, making sure no one was watching, not that there were many people up on this quiet residential street at 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning.
“I asked her out. She said yes. Why would I cancel?”
“Because you know that I’ve loved her for two damned years and we’re finally going on a date.”
“Which only happened because I got her mind of that idiot she was pining over.”
“So what? And besides, you are only having lunch with her. She’s taking me to dinner.”
“Do you really want to be rebound guy?”
“Rebound guy?”
“Yes, Blake. Rebound guy. The guy she turns to in order to get over the guy who broke her heart, the guy who helps her heal and then watches as she moves on to the guy she really wants.”
“Are you saying you want to be rebound guy?”
“Rebound guy always gets lots of hot sex!”
Quin hadn’t known that Blake could move that fast, but one moment he was leaning back in the chair and the next he was flat on his back, still in sitting position, and Blake was straddling him, his arm raised to punch his best friend in the face.
“Hey, there, buddy. You don’t want to do that.”
“Yes, I do, Quin. You just said you want to have sex with my girl!”
“She’s not your girl yet, Blake. And besides, you and I have shared women in the past. Why is this time so different?”
“Because it wouldn’t be sharing. It would be dating her and sleeping with her separately.”
“And that’s different how?”
“Because we’d be asking her to choose between us. I can’t lose her, I can’t.”
“Who says she’s going to pick me?”
He watched as Blake stood up and then reached down and helped him up before straightening the chair and getting Quin another beer. Quin took a long swallow as Blake sat down opposite him and took a long drink of his own beer. They drank companionably for a few minutes before Blake spoke again.
“I’ve known her for two years and she never had eyes for anyone but Owen fucking Firth until you came along. Of course, she’d prefer you. Don’t break her heart, Deck.”
“Why do you think I’d do that?”
“Because you are getting close to her as a way to case the Double S. You said so yourself. You told me that you told Owen and he approved of your plan.”
“Hell, Blake. You know me better than that. Of course I told him that. I needed some excuse for spending time with her. And the fact that I can use the time with her to case the place is just a bonus. I need to get out there and I need a good excuse. But I could wait a week until I start working at the Double S. This just lets me do it earlier. It’s not like I couldn’t do what I have to do without her.”
“Then don’t use her.”
“Hell, Blake. I’m not. I–I’m attracted to her. From the moment I met her, I wanted to throw her down, spank her ass until it was bright pink, and then fuck her to heaven and back.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Hell, I think I was half in love with her before I ever met her. You’ve done nothing but talk about her for two years. I have a confession to make, buddy, and please don’t try to hit me again. I came to town a week early so I could get to meet this paragon that you loved. I figured she couldn’t be anywhere near the angel you described, but she is. She’s beautiful and kind and smart and smokin’ hot. And I find myself moving the rest of the way. I’m falling hard, Blake. She’s one in a million.”
“Then we have a problem.”
Quin took another swallow of beer. He hated seeing his best friend like this. Hell, he wished he could be the bigger man and walk away from Jules, but he couldn’t, he just couldn’t. He swallowed down the rest of the beer and then took a deep breath. There was a potential solution, but Blake was willing to consider it.
“You know, Blake, there might be a solution.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, why does she have to choose between us?”
“You aren’t seriously suggesting a ménage?”
“Why not?”
“Well, I mean…” Quin could see Blake was thinking hard. “I know we’ve done ménages for years, but Jules has never given any indication that she would want one.”
“Hell, Blake. She’s never given the indication that she wanted anyone but Owen, but what happened today? First I ask her out and she says yes and then she asks you out. Two dates with two different men on the same day. I’m not saying she’s got one in mind right now, but I’m asking you to consider that she may be open to the idea. Hell, she lives in the ménage capital of west Texas. You told me yourself that ménages were common in Satisfaction.”
“Yes, I know, Quin. But…” Blake went quiet and Quin let him think. He knew when to keep his mouth shut and when to push and now was the time to let Blake work it through himself. Quin got up and grabbed another beer from the fridge.
“It could work. I mean, if she was willing. We’ve shared before. But it was meaningless sex. We always wanted to make the lady happy, but neither of us ever considered it more than a roll in the hay.”
Quin shrugged. “Murphy, Cole, and Jess are making it work. And did you know that his ranch is called the Double S because it stands for the Smith brothers, his two grandfathers who lived there with his grandmother, in a ménage relationship? In the eyes of the law, she was married to the older brother, because in those days, a woman had to be married, but in fact, she was wife to both of them. They were together almost fifty years.”
“You’ve been asking about ménages? You’ve been planning for us to have a threesome with Jules?”
“Not planning, exactly. It was Murphy who brought it up. He wanted to make sure that if I came to work at the ranch I wouldn’t be shocked or rude about their arrangement. I’d never really thought about ménage being a long-term relationship option, but I’m willing to give it a try if you are.”
“And if Jules is.”
“And if Jules is. Of course, we may be putting the cart before the horse.”
“What do you mean, Quin?”
“Hell, she may test-drive us both and decide we don’t do it for her in the sack. Maybe we are both destined to be rebound men.”
“Firstly, who’s putting the cart before the horse now? You’ve convinced me. I’ll date her and you can date her, too, and if, and only if, the opportunity arrives, we feel out to see if she’s open to taking on both of us.”
“And what if she’s not a submissive? She did take the initiative and ask you out.”
“Yes, and she played the Domme while doing it, the key word being played. It was all she could do to keep a straight face while giving me orders. It was so cute. You should have seen her trying to look stern.”
“I wish I had.” Quin sighed. “Nothing is more adorable than a sweet kitten of a sub trying to roar like a lion.”
“I love her, Quin. I have known her for two years and I’m absolutely sure she’s a submissive sexually, but if she isn’t, I’ll manage. I love her enough to love her for who she is.”
“Wow. You do have it bad. But you’ve known her for two years. I was thinking the same thing after only a few days.”
“I told you she was special.”
“That you did. There’s just one other thing…” Quin paused, trying to word his response carefully.
“What’s that?” Blake’s tone was justifiably wary.
“I said it before when I told you I was coming to do a job in Satisfaction and I’ll say it again. No one can know that we know each other. No one. Not even Jules.”
“Why not? Tell me why we have to start off by lying to her?”
“What if she spills to Firth? It’ll blow my plan out of the water if he gets tipped off. And you agreed to do this, Blake. Don’t change your mind now. There’s a lot invested in my little jaunt to Satisfaction. And it’s important. You know that.”
“Damn it, Quin. You’re right. I’m not going to blow things for you, but my plan for trying to get Jules to see me as more than a friend just got that much more difficult. I’ve been waiting for so long.”
“I know and it did indeed, Blake, but when did either of us back down from a challenge, especially when the payoff is something as fine as Jules?”
Solemnly they clinked bottles and resumed drinking in silence, both lost in their thoughts. Quin wasn’t sure what Blake was thinking about, but he was worried about what would happen when Jules found out he’d been using her as cover to scout out the lay of the land, or rather that he was planning on using her. He could try to keep it quiet, but at some point, it would come out. He could only hope that she was in love with him at that point and willing to forgive him when she found out that he’d been keeping secrets.
This meant he had to make the next week count.
Chapter 4
Jules sat in the booth at Candy’s, ready to leave. Not ready to leave. Ready to leave. Hell. It was eleven thirty on Sunday morning. Quin had asked her to meet him here for lunch at noon. No, not asked. He’d ordered her to meet him here. She hadn’t even had a chance to answer as he turned and strode away without waiting to hear what she thought.