Men Times Three

by Edwards, Bonnie

  “Yes. It has. I’m quite taken with Deke. He’s even shown me his home’s foundation. He’s planning a future and I’m pretty sure I want to be part of it.”

  Kylie wanted to cheer at the news. If Deke and Holly decided to live together or even marry, then she was that much closer to keeping the inn in the family. “So you’d stay permanently?”

  Holly held up her hands. “Patience, cousin. We’re a long way from permanent commitment. I’ve been married and it’s nothing to rush into.” She looked from one to the other. “So what’s this about?”

  Marnie gave Holly a measured look. “Just be sure of Deke. And let the rest of the family meet him first. You married Jack way too fast.”

  “I learn from my mistakes. No worries. Stop avoiding the issue. You two look like you were sharing a heart to heart and I want in. Now, what’s going on here?”

  “Eli and Kylie are planning on sex tonight.”

  Kylie rolled her eyes and Holly patted her shoulder in commiseration. “Welcome to the family, girly. You can’t hide a damn thing.”

  Kylie surprised herself by realizing she wanted to share her thoughts on Eli. “I’m not hiding, I’m wondering aloud.” She shifted over to let Holly get at the faucet.

  “Thanks, I’m parched.”

  “This is difficult for me. I’ve spent most of my life only confiding in my mom. We were a team. Us against the world.” She felt rueful with her next admission. “Mostly it was us against men. She held some bitterness toward my father and her own.”

  “Our fathers tried to reach out.”

  Kylie shook her head. “Maybe if they’d waited for the bitterness to ease a little, but forcing my mom too early just made her more stubborn.”

  They nodded in tandem. “Push and you get pushed back,” Holly said softly.

  “I learned to keep my thoughts to myself and work out my problems on my own. Going to my mother just brought on bitter rants and I didn’t want to live that way. I’ve tried to be open, but just look at what I said to Eli at first glance!” She’d been unforgivably rude to condemn him the way she had.

  “He’s not nearly as bullheaded as Deke,” Holly offered. “Eli’s watched you all week. He sees every move you make, and every word you utter, he hears. He’s as tuned to you as TJ is to Marnie.”

  “And Deke is to you,” Kylie agreed, amazed that they’d seen the building tension between her and Eli when they were so involved in their own lives and decisions. No one knew which way Marnie’s mind was going and no one dared ask.

  She understood sexual attraction, she understood the idea of opposites attracting, but this thing with Eli was stronger than anything she’d ever felt. Why sleeping with him had become inevitable was beyond her ability to understand.

  “Eli’s so wrong for me.” He was a wanderer and would never settle. He would never pick family over wanderlust. “I want a man who wants a family and roots.”

  “You think Eli doesn’t want those things?” Holly leaned against the counter and watched her closely.

  “He walked away from his roots.” And kept walking away. “If it weren’t for the need to earn money, he wouldn’t ever come back.”

  “Nonsense,” Marnie blurted. “He could work anywhere in the world, but as soon as TJ calls him, he comes home.”

  “All I want is to stay put with a man who’s happy to stay put with me,” Kylie insisted.

  “Here, at the inn,” Marnie clarified with a clouded expression.

  “Yes, here. For the rest of my life.” Her eyes danced to Holly’s for agreement, but Holly’s gaze was locked on Marnie.

  Marnie nodded. “I understand how important this is to you. To prove it, I’ll create a Web site for the inn. Just a page or two, nothing fancy, but it’s the least I can do.”

  A small concession Kylie was thrilled to take. “Thank you! I’ve been hoping to get one done, but I’m lousy at knowing what to say and how to say it. I had no idea you had the skills.”

  Marnie shrugged. “Don’t get excited. This will be very basic. And it doesn’t mean I’m staying.”

  After Eli caught up to TJ at the cabin he asked, “Any word from Chuck on Holly’s ex?”

  “Chuck hasn’t seen or heard about him hanging around. Yesterday, Marnie called his work and he picked up, so we figure it’s over and done. And Holly doesn’t know we even checked on him, so don’t say anything.”

  “Sure thing. I’m glad he’s given up.”

  TJ made a point of looking back to the building where the women stood together in the kitchen window. From here the conversation looked animated and happy. Kylie especially, and Eli warmed just seeing her smile. Tonight, that smile would be all for him. “Don’t tell me you want to move into my guest room and leave the inn? Because that’s not the way it looked to me when I saw you through the window with Kylie.”

  “I don’t know what’s going on with her. Sometimes she really bites my ass and other times—”

  “She’s hot as blazes?”

  “Yeah. Like that. You wouldn’t think a woman who could tick me off as fast as Kylie can would also turn me on.” He looked to the sky. “Clouds are moving in.” He found his shirt and slipped it on.

  “Just be careful,” his brother warned. “Kylie’s putting her all into this place. It’s like she wants it more than her next breath.”

  Eli looked at her through the window, her smiling mouth, her happy expression as she chatted with her cousins. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” He’d give her this place on a platter if he could. “Let’s get these cabins built.” For her.

  Sam Whitaker stepped up and waited for his chance to ask TJ a question. “We don’t have enough screw jacks for all the corners.”

  Eli nodded to the boy and finished tucking in his shirt while TJ answered him. “We don’t use them on the corners. It’s only for vertical logs. They shrink with time.”

  Sam’s confusion brought out TJ’s patient side. He loved to teach a willing student. “Logs don’t shrink much in diameter so the walls themselves will stay level. It’s the uprights that need to be jacked, and that’s only once a year or so.”

  “So, it’s just the supports for the roof over the front stoop?”

  “Right,” TJ agreed. “You got it.”

  The boy nodded his understanding and went back to work. “I’m glad Holly found that kid at the gas station, he’s got a good head on his shoulders.”

  “Seems so,” Eli agreed. “He keeps his nose clean and his eyes open.”

  “And he’d rather ask a question than make a mistake by thinking he knows it all.”

  Eli rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, Teeje, you make it easy to ask. Some bosses aren’t so willing to teach.”

  TJ cut him a surprised glance. “Thanks. Sam’s okay. He’s still working the gas pumps in the evenings, trying to save for college. I’ll give him as much work as I can through the summer.”

  Deke suddenly rounded the corner of the inn, looking well ridden and worn out. He grinned as he walked up. “Back to work?” Eli handed him his shirt. “Thanks.”

  “I was just telling Eli that Jack seems to have given up,” TJ said.

  Deke nodded and looked over his shoulder at the women in the window. “There’s nothing for him here. The pecker head lost and he knows it.” When he faced them again, his expression went cocky.

  “If he does show up anywhere near here,” Eli said, “Chuck will hear about it. One look at him and Jack will run back to the city with his tail between his legs.” The cop was a bodybuilder and, since his nose had been broken in high school, had a face that could stop a truck. He’d perfected his scowl back when he and Eli played football together.

  Deke grinned. “Good, I’m glad Chuck’s on it. But for the first time in a week, I’m hopeful Holly really did get through to that loser. Maybe he won’t be back.”

  TJ nodded. “Now can we get to work? We’re burning daylight. And I think Eli’s got a big night planned.”

  Eli landed a halfhear
ted punch to his asshole brother’s shoulder.

  Holly spent the late afternoon running errands, free of Deke’s watchful eye. Free of worry that Jack might pounce. Relieved that she’d cleared the air with Deke, she found herself humming as she wandered the grocery store and picked up brochures at the tourist kiosk on the edge of town. Marnie would want to check out all the other recreational Web sites in the area.

  She’d either want to have the same look and feel or go with something different.

  She scrunched her nose and hoped her cousin didn’t want to use photos from the hunter green room. There was a deer head on the wall of that room and Kylie had done nothing more than dust it and brush the fur. Poor thing. But since the inn was surrounded by forest and built of logs, it only seemed right to have one room with a hunting theme. Still, she didn’t have to like it.

  She’d been wild with Deke and she still glowed from the sex but already looked forward to more. Emotionally, she was way beyond just having a good time with him and now he knew it.

  She grinned as she turned into the driveway that led to the inn. She stopped the truck and got out near the road to check on something she’d never noticed before.

  In the ditch beside the road was a carved, badly weathered sign. “The Friendly Inn.” She trailed her finger over the lettering carved by her grandfather’s hand. He’d made a mess of his relationship with his only daughter. But repairs had begun with Kylie and she couldn’t help but think his crazy will had created the chance. He’d always been a wily old codger.

  She tried lifting the sign but it was too heavy. She’d ask Deke to pick it up out of the ditch next time they drove by. Maybe it could be sanded and refinished. They could hang it up on a new post. The idea brought a fresh smile and she hopped back into Deke’s truck and rumbled down the drive to park in front of the inn.

  Inside she found a blueprint spread out on the kitchen table, with Kylie and the O’Banions standing over it. Kylie looked thoughtful, the men apprehensive.

  “And the fireplaces need to be here,” Kylie said and pointed to a spot on the paper.

  Eli bristled. “No way. These plans are perfect as they are. Your grandad agreed to them and that’s all there is to it.”

  Her cousin gave Eli a baleful glance. “Huh. I’m supposed to give a shit what that old bastard wanted?”

  “Kylie wants to change the cabins,” Eli told Holly while glaring at Kylie across the table. “The operative word there being, cabins. Not luxury palaces.”

  Kylie glared right back at him. “I’m asking for minor changes to individualize them.” She slammed her hands to her hips and turned to Holly for support. “The fireplaces are wedged into the corners. I thought that if we put them in the center of the cabins they could be open to more than one room.”

  Eli cleared his throat. “Cabins this size only have two rooms. The living area and one small bedroom with bath.”

  Intrigued, Holly moved to the table to stare down at the plans. “These cabins are tiny. Don’t we have anything large enough for families?” She did a quick mental inventory of the rooms upstairs. None of them had connecting doors, so people with children would either have to share or get a separate room.

  Kylie frowned. “Was this place supposed to be couples only?”

  They all looked from the plans to TJ. He shrugged. “Who knows what Jon was thinking? I doubt he ever planned to operate. He spent years just woodworking.”

  “He didn’t like people enough to want anyone to stay here.”

  “I hate that I’m related to him. What if I carry a gene for reclusive asshole-itis or something?” Kylie complained.

  Eli laughed and nodded. “I don’t know that you’re just a carrier, you—”

  Kylie glared so hard Eli bit off his words.

  Deke glanced Holly’s way and nodded toward the door. She sidled out to the hall with him while TJ slipped out the back door. No one else wanted to be caught in the crosshairs.

  “Marnie’s at TJ’s working on the Web site already,” Deke explained when they were out of the line of fire.

  “That was fast.”

  “She’s got to get back to the city. Her partner Dennis has been calling. I guess he wants an answer.”

  “Kylie and I want to know what she’s decided as well.” Holly had come around completely to the idea of running the inn for guests.

  “I want to know what you’ve decided,” Deke said, pulling her around to face him. His pupils dilated. Arousal? She didn’t think so. Fear?

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m ready, Holly.”

  “You’re always ready.” She slid her hand to his fly, but no erection greeted her. He lifted her hand away and kissed her palm. He bent his head, his lips brushing against her. Once, twice. When he looked at her again, she saw a glitter in his eyes.

  “I want to finish building my house. Make it a home with me, Holly. You wanted a family before. Make one now with me.”

  She shook her head. “So soon?” She’d married Jack in haste. “I made a rotten mistake the last time I married.”

  “I won’t push. We’ll take our time. I just want to know you feel the same way I do. That we have possibilities.”

  A smile lit her soul. “Major possibilities.” She gave him a nod that went on and on, until he palmed each side of her head and planted a deep kiss. “Love me, Deke.”

  “I will. Love me?”

  “I do.” This time, she’d do it right. Her family would love Deke, Marnie and Kylie would vouch for him. Jack was behind her, the mistake she’d learned from. She and Deke could move into their future, free and unfettered.

  Without baggage. “Let’s keep the camper, Deke, so we’ll always have to pack light.”

  “No baggage for us, babe.”

  Raised voices came from the kitchen and they took the cue to leave. They could share their news after the dust settled between Kylie and Eli.

  At the road, Holly asked him to pull over. She climbed out of his truck and walked to the ditch. “What are looking for?”

  “The old sign. I saw it earlier. It was too heavy for me, so I thought you could get it into the truck.” The only evidence that it had been there was a dead patch where it had lain for years. “Deke, it was here less than an hour ago. Who could have taken it?”

  She spun and searched both directions along the road. Dark still trees filled each side. “Why would someone steal it?”

  Eli leaned out his window. “Firewood? We’ll make a new one.”

  “But Grandad made it.”

  “He built an entire inn and all the furniture in it. Are you really going to miss one sign?”

  She shook her head. “Of course not. It’s just odd that it would be gone right after I found it.”

  19

  “Why’d you have to say that?” Kylie lashed out at Eli the moment they were alone in the kitchen. “You practically called me an ass!” And in front of his brothers, too. And Holly. They’d been so hot for each other earlier, she’d had high hopes their snarky ways were behind them.

  “Sorry, it slipped out.” But he didn’t look sorry at all. He looked edgy as he crept to the kitchen doorway and glanced out into the hall. He motioned for her to stand behind him and peek with him. She held her ground.

  He grabbed her hand and tugged. When she looked where he indicated, she saw Holly and Deke in midkiss in the hall. Arms wrapped around each other, bodies aligned, their posture was seriously intimate. Their murmured words and gentle kisses were more than sexy, they looked soul deep and yearning. “I didn’t think they’d ever leave.”

  Clearly, he didn’t see the kisses for what they were. Declarations. Touched and oddly embarrassed by the show of soul deep intimate feelings, she pulled Eli away from the doorway. By his expression, he was oblivious to Deke’s blatant display of his deepest feelings.

  “I don’t think they’re ever coming up for air,” he said.

  She pinched his arm. “Never mind them. You won’t distract me from
the cabin plans or what you said.”

  “We can argue again,” he let his gaze drift slowly down her body, “or not. Your choice.” After the expression of love she’d just seen, Eli’s sexual innuendo felt raw and shallow.

  She wanted more. She wanted the intimacy and the trust Holly had with Deke.

  “Don’t try to distract me with sex. It won’t work.”

  “Fine.” Eli stepped around her. With exaggerated care, he made certain not to brush so much as her arm as he left the kitchen. He sauntered in a fluidly powerful stride out to the log truck. Heat blossomed between her legs as she watched him move.

  The man was a spectacular pain in the ass.

  She went back to studying the floor plan. There was no reason to deny the change she wanted. It seemed simple.

  There must be a logical reason for Eli to argue against the change, but she’d been so fast to take offense she hadn’t given him a chance to explain.

  From the kitchen door she watched Eli climb onto the logs still left on the truck deck. He scampered across the pile of logs, obviously checking for something. Fear clutched her heart. By moving about so quickly, he was asking for a fall.

  Afraid to call out in case she spooked him and the logs tumbled, she sidled out the door.

  She blinked, aware of choking fear as she imagined the worst. She wanted him on solid ground, safe. Wanted him where she could touch him, talk with him, fight with him if necessary but safe on the ground.

  She approached the truck slowly, hoping that he’d see her.

  If he startled and jerked, the logs could shift, trapping his leg or worse.

  “Kylie,” he said on a wry note when he spied her slow steady pace. “What are you doing out here?” He sat on the log at the top of the pile. The sharp scent of cedar heightened her awareness. Her heart thudded so hard she felt the pulse in her ears.

  “I’m wondering what the hell you’re doing taking your life in your hands by climbing around on a pile of logs.” Looking hot and adorable and so manly she could barely stand it.