by Leah Brooke
“I’m rescinding the offer. I don’t know what got into me. I thought this was a town where a girl could find some fun. Obviously I was mistaken. Thanks again for the ride. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone.”
With a faint smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, Dillon nodded and moved to the door, turning at the threshold. “Sure thing. And if you’re looking for fun, be prepared. In Desire, you just might bite off more than you can chew. If your goal is to get the upper hand with a man, no amount of classes you take at the club is going to make any difference here. You might want to think about that. See you at six.”
He closed the door behind him before she got a chance to respond.
Damn it, she’d already told him that she no longer wanted to have dinner with him.
Hadn’t she?
To hell with it. If he was too hardheaded to listen, it wasn’t her fault.
She looked at her watch and winced. Now that Dillon had gone, it felt like all the energy had been sucked out of her. She only had a little over an hour and a half to get showered, dressed, and get out of here before he arrived. She lifted her bag to the bed, pleased to notice it didn’t hurt much at all. It took more energy than normal, but finally she got undressed and into her robe, comforted by the warm, fuzzy softness.
She reached for the covers before remembering that she’d have to set the alarm on her cell phone so she could be showered, dressed, and gone before Dillon came back. Grabbing her purse, she took it back with her to the bed and tossed it to the other side.
She pulled back the bedspread and carefully climbed between the cool, cotton sheets and curled into a comfortable position, hardly able to keep her eyes open. After unzipping the purse, she rummaged inside until she found her phone and pulled it out, cursing when her prescription bottles came out with it, rolled to the other side, and fell to the floor.
Not about to get out of her comfortable position to retrieve them, she set the alarm on her phone and laid it on the bed beside her next to her purse, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.
She’d just started to doze off when her cell phone rang. Cursing, she reached out for it without opening her eyes.
“H’lo?”
“Where the hell are you?”
With a groan, Alison rolled to her back, dropping the back of her other hand over her forehead. “It’s really none of your business, Danny. Don’t call me again.”
“Don’t hang up on me, bitch.”
Not bothering to open her eyes, she smiled. “You sound a little upset. What’s wrong? Afraid the judge, your second cousin twice removed or whatever the hell he is, is going to put you in jail where you belong?”
He laughed coldly. “No, bitch. I called to tell you that if you show up to testify against me, I’ve got friends who’ll say it was self-defense. You attacked me, bitch.”
Her eyes popped open, and she struggled into a sitting position. “Self-defense? Are you crazy? You’re a hell of a lot bigger than I am.”
“Not including your fat ass, of course.”
Alison grimaced, wondering why his insults still had the power to hurt her. “Of course.”
“They’ll say you came after me with a knife when you caught me cheating on you.”
“I didn’t give a shit. It’s not like it was the first time.”
“But who’s my best cousin Larry gonna believe, you or me? Don’t forget, I’ve got a witness. Tammy’s gonna say you came after me with a kitchen knife. You might be the one who ends up in jail.”
Alison sighed and fell back against the pillows. Her stomach tightening painfully at the thought of the kind of trouble Danny could cause. “Don’t call me again.”
She hung up before he could answer, jabbing her finger on the off button and tossing the phone aside, her weariness coming back with a vengeance.
Damn it. Trust Danny to come up with something like that. Maybe she should just walk away, refuse to testify, and get on with her life.
Hell, she couldn’t think about it now, not when she couldn’t even keep her eyes open.
As she started to fall asleep, she couldn’t help but think about Dillon and the kind of woman he and Ryder would fall for. Even if she couldn’t be that woman, she wanted to be like her.
Damn it, she would not let Danny continue to intimidate her.
Remembering the tenderness in Dillon’s beautiful blue eyes, she wished he was in the bed beside her so she could fall asleep cuddled against him. His strong arms wrapped around her would make everything else go away, and she could rest.
God, she was tired.
Tired of humiliation.
Tired of being afraid.
Tired of always being on guard.
Tired of hurting.
She hadn’t been able to relax for so long.
She shifted uncomfortably at the memory of Ryder’s mocking grin. She didn’t want to think about Ryder and his dislike of her. She wanted to think of Dillon.
He would be the kind of man a woman could depend on when she needed him. He wouldn’t be the kind of man who had to put a woman down because he felt threatened by her strength.
Why the hell did Dillon need to share her, and why the hell did it have to be with someone like Ryder, a man who could easily finish what Danny had already started and break her?
She needed something else.
She needed someone just like Dillon.
* * * *
Dillon looked over at Ryder as they pulled into the hotel parking lot, impatient to get back to Alison. “You’re awfully quiet.”
It hit him suddenly that Ryder had been more pensive than ever since they left the hotel earlier, not speaking unless absolutely necessary. Preoccupied with thoughts of Alison, Dillon hadn’t even noticed it until now.
Ryder parked the truck, and to Dillon’s surprise, left the engine running. “I’ll be at the club.”
With his hand on the door handle, Dillon paused and turned back, meeting Ryder’s gaze. His best friend’s carefully schooled features didn’t fool him for a minute. “Are you serious? I know you said you wouldn’t come with us, but I figured you were just pissed off. I thought you would have changed your mind. We’re both supposed to have dinner with her tonight. Don’t you dare screw this up.”
Ryder’s lip curled in a way that could never be mistaken for a smile and turned back to stare out the front window. “I don’t think that’s what she had in mind. Look, you want her, and she already made it clear she wants you. I can go fuck a woman in the club without you being there, you know? I think you should be able to go on a date without me. Three’s a crowd and all that.”
Dillon couldn’t help but laugh. “Since when the hell is three a crowd? Are you trying to say that you don’t want Alison? I know you better than that. You couldn’t keep your eyes off of her.”
Ryder turned to him then. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying. I don’t want her. Now get out of here. Zach and Law are in town, and tonight’s the auction. I want to get my choice of the girls before they get there.”
The playfulness in his tone didn’t fool Dillon for a minute. “Something’s up. You liked Alison a hell of a lot more than you’re letting on. She was probably just a little surprised to realize she’d be taking on both of us. Cut her a little slack. Everyone else, well, everyone but Boone and Chase, had the same problem. We do this as we mean to go on. We’re both attracted to her. Let’s get to know her better. Something’s off with her and it’s driving me crazy.”
Ryder sighed and stared out the front window again, and Dillon knew he did it to hide his expression. “What difference does it make? Hell, Dillon, I just met her. I don’t like or dislike her, but I’ve had naked subs in the club who didn’t come on as fast as she did. If I want easy, I’ll go to the club, which is where I’m going now if you ever get the hell out of the truck.”
Dillon wanted to knock some sense into his friend. “Damn it, Ryder. Alison’s not like that and you know it. She couldn’t even look at me
when she said it and couldn’t say it without blushing. She’s playing at bravado. She’s sweet, Ryder. Hell, even you should see that.”
Willing his cock to behave, Dillon leaned toward his friend. “Christ, she’s so responsive. It’s like she’s starving for attention. I barely touched her and she was ready to come. She kisses like an angel and has this way of melting against you—”
Ryder slammed the flat of his hand on the steering wheel and whirled on him. “I don’t want to hear about it! Go take your angel out to dinner and fuck her all night. Just leave me out of it.”
Dillon clenched his jaw in exasperation at his friend’s stubbornness. Alison had Ryder shaken, a phenomenon Dillon had never witnessed before.
“She really got to you, didn’t she? I don’t know why the hell you’re fighting it so much. Aren’t you a little tired of coming home to an empty house every night? Damn it, Ryder, I want a wife, a family. I thought you did, too.”
Ryder shook his head, smiling coldly. “And you think she’s the one? You just met her, Dillon.”
“So did you, and she’s already got you tied up in knots.”
Ryder clenched his jaw, a sure sign he wouldn’t be changing his mind. “Are you getting out or are you coming with me?”
Shaking his head, Dillon got out of the truck, knowing Ryder wouldn’t talk about what he didn’t want to talk about until he was damned good and ready.
Frustrated, Dillon blew out a breath. “Fine. Act like an ass. Have fun at the club.”
“I will.”
Dillon slammed the truck door and watched Ryder pull away, his brows going up at the squeal of tires.
No, Ryder wasn’t nearly as unaffected as he claimed, but he’d have to work that out on his own.
Not about to let his friend’s bad mood ruin his plans for the evening, he crossed the parking lot, turning to watch Ryder park the truck next door and get out, slamming the door behind him.
Mentally shrugging, he went inside and headed for Alison’s room, wishing he’d had the time to knock some sense into Ryder. They’d been best friends since first grade, but not until they started high school and met Reese Preston did they ever even hear about ménages.
A new idea that dealt with sex intrigued both of them at first, a curiosity that soon became an obsession.
Walking down the hallway toward Alison’s room, he smiled, remembering how fumbling they’d been and how competitive. Over time they’d learned how much pleasure a woman could get when she had the attention of two men and how eagerly she came back for more.
For two highly sexed young men, that kind of decadent power over women couldn’t be ignored, and they’d taken advantage of it at every opportunity.
They’d heard about the town of Desire from Reese, and when the club opened years earlier, they’d joined and moved here, full of excitement and anxious for change. They’d quit their jobs as mechanics and opened their own garage and lived the dream.
They did the work they loved best and, while living in a town like no other, somehow became a part of it and enjoyed all the pleasures to be found there.
They’d always been careful. They’d only taken women who knew the score, and they’d made sure the women walked away with smiles on their faces.
Life had been good.
Until their friends started finding women, amazing women, to spend the rest of their lives with.
Women who made them happier than Dillon had ever seen his friends before—women who’d brought the town back to life and reinforced the way of life the founding fathers of Desire had set in motion over a hundred years ago.
It started with Jesse Tyler, now Jesse Erickson, and hadn’t stopped since, each new marriage breathing life back into a town Dillon had come to love.
Seeing some of their friends and neighbors almost ecstatically in love with their new wives made Dillon begin to want more. He found himself watching them and wanting what they had.
Trips to the club had become more about talking with his married friends than competing with his single friends for the attention of the women there.
He’d also seen a change in Ryder, seen the way his best friend became fascinated by the relationships of those lucky enough to have found women who embraced their new lifestyles.
He’d sure as hell seen the way Ryder looked at Alison this afternoon. His friend hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off of her, his gaze returning to her repeatedly when she wasn’t looking. Even more telling, instead of laughing off her rejection, he’d been hurt by it.
Ryder never cared enough about a woman to be hurt.
No matter what Ryder said, Dillon knew he wanted to be with Alison tonight, but it was probably better that he stayed away from her until he could come to grips with his attraction to her.
He hoped like hell that the activities at the club tonight and being around the other men could snap Ryder out of his broodiness.
Arriving at Alison’s door, he thought about his own growing need for a wife, a need that plagued him with loneliness. The desire to have a woman they could claim as their own grew steadily, a woman they could get to know intimately in more ways than just sex. Hell, he wasn’t a fucking kid anymore.
He wanted a woman who would respond to his authority, who would trust that he would never hurt her, a woman whose body and moods he could learn as intimately as his own.
Only now, this woman had a face and a name.
Alison.
Filled with anticipation, he knocked on the door to Alison’s room, determined to spend the time over dinner getting to know her better. His head tried to tell him to slow down, but his body wanted full steam ahead.
Although she tried to act the part, she didn’t have half the sophistication other women he’d known possessed. She was so fucking cute he wanted to take a bite out of her.
He couldn’t stop staring at her, from her dark, shining hair with bangs that accented her beautiful doe-brown eyes to a lush body that just begged to be taken. Her dimples showed each time she flashed that impish smile, so sweet and adorable it made his heart race.
And that ass. God help her when he finally got his hands on that ass.
He knocked again, frowning when he realized he’d heard nothing at all from inside. “Alison, it’s Dillon.”
After knocking again with no response, he clenched his jaw in irritation and started out. He’d almost reached the front door when he saw Ethan Sullivan, one of the owners of the hotel, in a conversation with the woman who’d been working at the front desk earlier.
Ethan grinned when he saw him and held up a finger in a gesture for Dillon to wait until he’d finished. Once done, he approached, still smiling.
“Hey, are you here to pick up that woman you dropped off earlier? I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her yet. Where’s Ryder?”
Irritated that Alison had apparently left the hotel to get out of having dinner with him, Dillon snapped. “Ryder’s at the club. I think I’ll join him. I came to pick up Alison for dinner, but she’s not here. Her truck broke down right outside of town and we towed her in. I was supposed to have dinner with her here.”
He shrugged to hide his disappointment. “I guess she left. You didn’t happen to see a woman leave here, did you?”
Ethan shook his head, his smile falling. “I didn’t, but I can look on the computer and see what time she opened the door last.”
Dillon blinked. “You can do that?”
Looking over his shoulder as he led Dillon to the front desk, Ethan grinned. “Lucas did it for us. Before we could only tell when a guest used the key card, but after all the meetings we’ve had about protecting the women, he designed this. He just installed it a couple of weeks ago. Not all of the rooms have it yet, but we make sure to put any single women who check in into one of the rooms that do. We can’t spy on them, but in the middle of the night, we’ll know if their door opened and can check the security cameras to see if they left or if someone broke in.”
Standing behind the
desk, he began tapping the keys of his computer and scowling. “Are you sure she’s not in there? This shows that her door hasn’t opened since she checked in. Hell, I’m going to have to call Lucas if this thing isn’t working right.”
A little prickling began at the back of Dillon’s neck. “Nothing of Lucas’s ever malfunctions. I’m going to go try again.”
Ethan looked a little worried himself as he fell into step beside him. “Are you sure she’s just not answering the door? Did you or Ryder piss her off or something?”
Dillon shrugged. “Or something. Look, if she doesn’t want to go to dinner, that’s fine, but I want to make sure she’s all right before I leave. She looked a little pale earlier and really tired, but I don’t know her well enough to be sure.”
Realizing his anger at that was totally unwarranted didn’t make it any less real.
Arriving at her room again, he banged on the door, this time hard enough to shake it on its hinges. “Alison, damn it, open this door.”
Ethan sighed and shook his head. “We don’t usually yell at our guests, or try to scare the hell out of them. Maybe you’d better let me handle this.”
Frustrated and pissed off at Alison’s apparent attempt to avoid seeing him, he folded his arms across his chest. “Fine. Hurry up, though. I want to get to the club while the night’s young.”
Damn it, how the hell did a woman he’d just met get to him so easily?
It was those damned doe eyes. And dimples. That damned attempt at sophistication she couldn’t pull off.
The way she melted under his hands.
Fuck, he had it bad already.
Raising a brow, Ethan said nothing and knocked on the door again, this time not quite as hard. “Miss Bennett, this is Ethan Sullivan, one of the owners of the hotel. Are you all right?”
Hearing a low groan from inside, Dillon lowered his arms, fear making his gut clench. “Did you hear that? Get out of the way.”
He stepped back, ready to kick the door down.
Ethan jumped in front of him. “No! Don’t you dare go kicking my doors in! Jesus, how can someone usually so calm and in control fly off the handle so fast? I expect this from Ryder, not you. I have the master key.”