by Morgan Henry
Derek.
Logan.
One-night stand.
She sat up, pulling the covers around her still naked body. She was alone in the bed, but there was a smiling Logan bearing coffee standing beside it.
She blinked at him.
He chuckled. “I wish we could have let you sleep, but I know you’re supposed to be supervising the cleanup and offered to work the store today.”
“Fuck!” Mary started to scramble out of bed.
“Easy there!” Logan put a hand out to steady her and swiveled the mug out of harm’s way. “First of all, I think that’s the first curse word I’ve heard out of you. Second, there’s plenty of time. It’s only eight, there’s breakfast ready, and the shower’s all yours, okay?”
“Oh. Okay. Really?” That last work came out a little squeaky.
“Yeah. It’s all fine. Come out to the kitchen when you’re ready. We’ll take you back to Allan and Zander’s, well, and Karen’s, after we eat.”
Logan set the coffee cup on the bedside table. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. Mary was grateful he didn’t kiss her lips. She wasn’t sure how bad her morning breath was.
Taking her coffee, which happened to be fixed exactly the way she liked it, into the bath, she found her overnight bag on the counter.
Wow. What a bathroom. She hadn’t really looked too hard at it last night.
Walk-in shower with more than two heads, sunken tub, towel warmer, dual-sink gigantic vanity, and a makeup table with a little seat. It was all done in blues and grays with frosted glass accents. No other decor bits though. Not a knick-knack in sight.
She quickly showered, finding some interesting sore spots as she cleaned up. Likely from lack of use, she thought cynically. She put on her jeans and shirt from yesterday. Her dress was on a hangar on the back of the door, and she rolled it up and put it in the bag. It wouldn’t really wrinkle, and it was easier to carry that way.
Finishing the last of her coffee she headed to the kitchen. She exited the bedroom to find a large living room that bled into a dining area. Opposite the dining table was the kitchen, where she could see Logan and Derek over the breakfast bar that was set for three.
“I heard you like pancakes.” Derek flipped several over on the griddle. “We’ve got sausage, too.”
“More coffee?” asked Logan, gesturing with the pot.
“Yes please.” Mary surrendered her cup and sat at the bar. Now what? They had gotten up early and cooked. Was this normal one-night stand behavior? She didn’t know.
Okay, just pretend it’s all fine. All normal. No problem.
“This is a gorgeous home. Love the windows.” Mary gestured to the large expanse of windows opposite the kitchen that looked over the bay. There was a deck, too.
“We love it here. It was a lot of money to renovate this place the way we wanted it, but it was worth it. The basement’s nice too. We’ll show you it before we go.” Logan set her cup down in front of her, full again, and he slid the cream beside it.
“Watching the weather roll in over the bay out the windows is pretty amazing. Makes you feel small and at the mercy of the elements sometimes.” Derek looked critically at the bottom of the current batch of pancakes. “I think these are done.”
He expertly loaded a plate with them, added a couple of sausages, and slid the plate in front of Mary. There was syrup already on the breakfast bar.
She looked at her plate and then at the men.
“Go ahead. We’re on seconds already.” Logan pointed out the two plates near the griddle that were obviously used already. “We wanted to let you sleep.”
Derek was pouring more batter on the griddle, so she went ahead.
Breakfast carb heaven.
Crispy outside, fluffy inside, and real maple syrup. Oh yeah.
This was going straight to her ass.
“Awesome pancakes.” Mary finally remembered her manners. “I appreciate the room service of the coffee, too.”
“No problem, sunshine. I like seeing you enjoy them.” Derek leaned over the counter. “Logan got a little kiss this morning. Don’t I get one too?”
“Oh, ah, yeah.” Mary leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.
He raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t say anything more. Instead, he turned and checked on the next batch.
They finished off the batter, talking about the wedding and cleanup to come. Mary was grateful they were all able to act normally. Maybe this could be okay. Just the one night to deal with her horniness then all back to the way it was before.
“We better head out. You ready?” asked Derek.
“My bag’s just there.” She pointed, and Logan grabbed it.
They headed back to Allan, Zander, and Karen’s home, where Mary was eager to get the cleanup over with.
But first, Mary had to say goodbye to a teary Karen.
“Thank you so much,” her sister said in a watery hug. “This was the best way ever to get married. I know Allan and Zander did a lot, but they told me all the things you and Hanna did too.”
“It’s okay,” Mary assured her. “We’re sisters again, and that’s what we do for each other.”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean I can’t be grateful that you’re my sister. When I get back, we need to have a girl night.”
After Mary agreed, the three left on their mini-honeymoon.
Cleanup was over in a couple of hours. The company that catered and the one that had done the tent and decorating looked after most of it. Mary just had to supervise, put the gifts away, and lock up the house.
“All done,” Mary informed Derek and Logan. “You’re released from duty. Go do whatever you do on Sundays.” She tried to keep it light and happy.
“Not quite,” Derek said. “We’ll take you to the store.”
“It’s barely a ten-minute walk.”
Logan snaked his arm around her waist. “But we tired you out last night, sunshine,” he said in her ear.
His voice was sexy as hell, and the feel of his strong arm around her waist made her want to melt back into him. But there was no way this could go anywhere.
Mary was not going to enter into another relationship so soon after leaving Bob and the rest of it. Or mostly leaving the rest of it.
That wasn’t the way things should be done. A person needed time to get over the last person, think thoroughly about what had gone wrong and why, and decide what to pursue in the future. There was no leaping madly into a wild ride with two sexy men.
“Last night was amazing,” Mary told them. And it had been. She had never, ever had screaming fabulous multi-orgasm sex before. And maybe never would again. “But we had said just one night. Remember? We can all be friends, and I hope I’ll see you around, but we’re not meant to be more.”
Derek stepped up to Mary. She was still pinned by Logan’s arm.
“I just don’t buy that you’re a one-night kind of woman.” He placed his finger gently on her lips when she opened them to talk. “I think you’re telling yourself you are, but really, at least some part of you recognizes that the three of us are a very good match. We want more, and I bet you do too. We’re not giving up easily, Mary.”
Mary gasped as Logan nipped her ear. “Get in the truck, Mary.”
She did, but she wasn’t sure what it meant.
Did it mean she was fine with them giving her a ride because there was nothing between them and she was just another person in town that they were kind to? Or did it mean she was capitulating with their desire to care for her and be in her life?
She was going with option one. There was no other way to look at it.
Logan helped her out of the truck in the alley behind Karen’s Kandies, and she grabbed her bag from him.
“Thanks for the ride, guys,” she said with her chin up and false courage firmly in place. “I’ll see you around town.”
She marched up to the back door and unlocked it, quickly keying in the security code on the alarm. She gave the
men a cheery wave, cringing at the serious looks on their faces, and closed the door again.
Safe.
Oh, but poor Sammy!
She rushed up to the apartment and was met by a lonely ball of fur that couldn’t get close enough to her.
Until she put out his canned food.
Mary spent the hour before she had to open the store cuddling Sammy and catching up on her other life.
She responded to a couple of emails from work, trying not to feel guilty that everyone in Hardwick Bay was under the impression she’d quit. Sure, Bob and her parents knew, but everyone who mattered, everyone in Hardwick Bay, didn’t have a clue.
She also had an email from Andrew about getting together regarding working with each other. That was promising. She had sent him a bunch of references, and he had clearly been checking up on her. She suggested they meet next week after Karen was back and the store schedule was back to normal.
Her mother had sent an email as well. Ugh. Yep, she knew Mary still hadn’t quit and was a little too happy about it.
I hope this means you will come to your senses and return to your career after this ridiculous fling in cottage country. We have always wanted the best for and from you and hate to see you wasting your time and talents. I know you have always been the sensible one of our daughters and will do the right thing. Relinquishing your responsibilities always seems attractive but never turns out well in the end.
Mary deleted it.
Then she pulled it out of the trash file.
Then she deleted it again. And emptied the trash file.
Then she felt guilty.
A little spark of anger flared in her. She was a grown woman, and her mother still thought she could run her life. Well, her mother had been running a lot of her life up until now. It really needed to end though.
On that note, Mary went downstairs.
Grabbing a chocolate, just one, from the fridge as she passed, she sucked on the delicious smokiness of the chili chocolate as she opened the store.
“Hi, Mary!” greeted her first customer.
Mary didn’t have a clue who it was, but she tried to pretend. “Hi there, what can I get you?”
“The wedding was great, wasn’t it?”
Oh, yes. Wedding guest… Lisa! “Yes it was, Lisa. I’m sorry, I’m still trying to sort everyone out.”
“I work at the clinic with Hanna, Cailynn, and Sharon. My husbands are Mike and Craig.”
That was right. Another of the ménage families. Mary smiled more openly now. “Thanks for the refresher.”
“I saw you dancing with Derek and Logan.” She fanned her face. “Hot. Mike caught me watching, and it revved him and Craig up too. Thanks!”
Oh no. There it was. Small towns and their gossip network. No one had seen them leave together, so maybe she could downplay it.
“They’re handsome all right. And good dancers.”
Lisa looked at her a little too intently. “Yeah. Well, I need some ice cream, and I can’t resist some jelly beans. Can you get me a tub of the chocolate?”
“No problem.”
It was like that most of the day.
People came in. A lot of them knew her name. And if she didn’t remember, they happily introduced themselves, telling her it was easier for them to remember the one new face than for her to remember the town. More than one mentioned how nice Derek and Logan were.
An older gentleman named Jerry came in with some fresh fish he had caught. He was disappointed Karen wasn’t there but seemed happy to meet Mary.
“Mary! So nice to meet you. You do look like Karen, don’t you? I should have seen. Well now, Karen always trades me some ice cream for fresh pickerel, but you wouldn’t know that. Here, you try the fish. No, I insist now. There’s nothing like fresh pickerel. Put a little coating on it. And you’ll love it. You eat it up tonight. It’s best when it’s fresh. You tell Karen I gave it to you, now, and she can give me some ice cream next week if she’s so inclined.”
There was no way the sweet old man was leaving with the fish.
Mary had it for dinner, and he was right. It was unbelievable. There was no way that healthy fish like this should taste so damn good. She did share a little with Sammy, but she ate most of the huge fillet herself.
Gossip and fish.
Small towns.
Chapter 12
Derek poked his head into Logan’s shop. The smell of wood, varnish, and dust completely permeated the air.
Logan was wearing a mask as he sanded a piece of his furniture. He looked up, and Derek tapped his wrist. Logan nodded and held up three fingers.
Three minutes, my ass. He decided to hang around and hover so that Logan didn’t get so involved in his work he forgot they were to head to Allan, Zander, and Karen’s for Thanksgiving dinner.
They were picking up Mary along the way.
Not that she knew.
Over the past week, Mary had been friendly, cheery and adamant that she wasn’t ready for a relationship with the two of them.
Derek might have actually believed her if he hadn’t seen the lie in her body language. When Mary wasn’t telling the truth, there was a subtle tenseness at the corners of her eyes and she fiddled with her clothing in some way. She played with her belt or her purse strap or the hem of her shirt. Something on her clothing took a beating when she was lying.
He had seen her do it when she lied to Karen about some of the wedding planning and realized she was doing the same thing when he and Logan tried to get her to go out with them.
So they played dirty.
They got Karen involved.
She was completely on their side. Karen knew Mary was fooling herself when it came to the Murray brothers, and she was willing to help, as long as they didn’t hurt Mary.
Logan shut off the sander and removed his mask.
“That looks great. Who’s it for?” Derek gestured with his chin to the trestle table Logan had been sanding the top of.
“Client on the peninsula. No one we really know. They ordered it through McKay’s.”
McKay’s was the high-end furniture shop in Hardwick Bay. Logan had quite a few pieces in the store and took orders through them as well. McKay’s got a commission, and Logan got the commercial exposure without having to have his own storefront. He also did custom cabinetry through a local contractor.
They walked back to the house, and Logan hopped in the shower.
Derek wrapped up their contribution to dinner—an appetizer tray—and grabbed a bottle of wine to take as well.
They were heading into town when Karen’s text came. Mary was ready to be picked up, supposedly by Allan. With the extra family at the house, Karen had asked Mary not to bring her car. Or, at least, that was the excuse.
Logan pulled into the alley behind the shop, and Derek got out. He’d headed to the back door to the shop and apartment above when he stopped suddenly.
Mary’s little car was parked in its customary spot, but all four tires were flat. He walked over to look at the vehicle more closely.
They had been slashed.
What the hell?
Logan came up behind him, sensing something was wrong. “Son of a bitch!”
“Yep.” Derek took out his cell and called the police. “Go get Mary. I can wait here for the cops and take them to Karen’s.”
“Okay.” Logan walked over to the door and knocked.
Derek turned his back on them while he talked to the dispatcher. When he turned around, Mary was headed for him and the car, her back straight as a plank, unhappiness radiating from her.
Logan caught her by the arm. “Don’t touch anything, sunshine.”
She shook off his hand. “Fine.” She stopped a few feet away from her vehicle. “Damn it! This is supposed to be a happy little small town. What is with the vandalism?”
Derek wasn’t happy to hear the stress and anger in her voice. She had her arms folded across her chest, and her body practically vibrated with tension.
She didn’t relax, just stood, staring at the car.
“It’s cold. Where’s your jacket?” he asked.
He felt her tremble. Logan came up behind her, and Derek pulled Mary into his arms. Logan stepped up, and the two men engulfed her in warmth and support.
Finally Mary sagged. “It’s okay. Let me go.”
Derek did not want to let her go. But he managed to. He knew Mary wouldn’t be satisfied with hiding behind the two of them and letting them look after everything. She was strong and independent, and he knew she was perfectly capable of handling it all. He just didn’t want her to have to.
“It’s my car. I’ll stay. Just let me get my jacket.” She headed back to the door of the apartment.
Derek looked at Logan and shook his head. Logan nodded in agreement. Mary would be heading to Karen’s.
Logan followed her and disappeared behind the door. A few minutes later, Mary, with her jacket on, carrying one dish and Logan carrying another dish, came out the door. She looked at Derek, frowned, then relaxed her face.
“Logan convinced me to go and let you stay here and wait for the officer. Thank you,” she said.
Just a few minutes after they left, the police arrived. Derek didn’t know the officer, which wasn’t terribly surprising. The Ontario Provincial Police covered law enforcement for the entire peninsula. It was too expensive for each little town to maintain its own police force. There were quite a number of officers who were assigned to the large area, and there were always a supply of new recruits mixed in with the older officers that he knew. The young officer checked over the scene, took notes for his report, and snapped a few photos.
“It’s probably just vandalism. I’ll talk to the owner and generate a report for her insurance.” The officer snapped his notebook shut.
“Doesn’t it seem a bit suspicious that the car parked here was targeted when the store was destroyed a month ago?” Derek wasn’t sure if the officer knew of the break-in at Karen’s Kandies.
“Possibly. I’ll look into it.”