Just Her Luck (51 page)

“Do people really buy that crap?” I smirked.

He leaned down, until we were nose to nose, eye to eye, studying me quietly, intense emotions floating around in those shimmering green orbs.

Fuck it
, I thought, weaving my fingers through his hair, fingering the soft, thick, golden strands, caressing him possessively.

I didn’t tell
him
, but it’s not like he could really get me pregnant right now, anyways.

Uh, hopefully
.

I don’t know if I’m all that fired up for sudden mommy hood just yet.

We all just started dating and its’…

I mentally paused, mid thought.

Is it dating? What we’re doing?

What do you even call what we’re doing?

The reality of it all hit me again and I let it crash down on me, whizzing past me in flashbacks.

I’m dating four men.

I said it slowly in my head and let it play back, turning round and round on repeat.

I’m dating, sleeping with, and canoodling four men.

I bit my lip.

I thought about my situation with Thatcher, the whole no condom thing, then thought about how things went down with Bowen, Ephraim and even Sawyer.

I boo boo-ed those all up too,
I thought, fidgeting a little, glancing down to stare at Thatcher’s elbow.

Well, shit, Vieve
, it’s not like the situations were all that different. They all
did
have the same end result, did they not?

It takes two to tango
, Ruthie’s voice echoed in my head.

And I do so love a man who takes charge.

But yet…

I was just irritated that he’d taken it upon himself
- decided with a party of one-
instead of just asking me, conferring
- I dunno-
said
something.

Maybe it’s because it was completely intentional, because I know he didn’t just forget.

We could have discussed it, discussed this.

You shouldn’t be all that surprised
, I scolded myself.
I mean, come on, Vieve.
When does Thatch ever ask for anything? He just takes it or does what he wants and asks for forgiveness later.

And I
did
do the same thing with Ephraim, bare backing it, didn’t I?

My face scrunched up.

No, it was different.

It was a mutual agreement between ‘E’ and me.

We both
, together,
agreed to forgo the condom.

I glanced up at Thatcher uncertainly, trying to make sense of my jumbled up thoughts.

“Is it working?” He gave me a small, puzzled smile, hopefully, sounding uncertain, but he was trying to play it off.

“No.”

“Eh. I tried.” He shrugged.

He fell on top of me then, squashing me, laughing when I grunted in protest.

“Thatcher! Be serious!”

He pulled back, took one look at my face, and his laughter died.

“Hey,” he sat up, pulling me with him, cupping my face once he’d settled me in his lap. “I’m sorry. Really.”

His apology was completely sincere, not an ounce of a tease about him, but I still eyed him doubtful.

Watching me for a reaction, his eyes searched mine.

“I…” he started, swallowing hard, trying to put words together. “I probably went about this all wrong. No, I
know
I went about this all wrong.”

He let out a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, then released me to scrub at his face.

“God,” he sighed heavily, “I’m fucking everything up, aren’t I? I open my mouth, intending to say one thing, but then shit just spews out.”

I pulled his hands away and peeked up into his taut face, worry lines marring his exceedingly handsome visage.

How did I manage to land the bodacious hottie of the bunch too?
I thought to myself, smiling a little.

“I don’t think I’ll always be the gem of this little group of misfits we’ve got going on here, but if you
talk
to me
first
, and cut the ass hat-ishness down, open the hell up with me, be the sincere Thatcher I happen to lo… um, really like,” I pinched my fingers together and squinted at them, “just a wee bit, then I think we can, uh,” I nudged him, “let it slide.”

Watching him, I gave him an open once over, letting my inner vixen out to play, sending him a promising smile, “Just this one time.”

His head jerked up, his trademark roguish grin gone, replaced with a real, sweet, truly happy smile, his arms winding tightly around me.

“I promise. And don’t think I didn’t hear your little slip, sweetums.
I heard
. You almost admitted you love me.” He hugged me hard. “I’ll discuss things with you until your ears bleed, my love,” he promised, “You’ll know every little goings on with me, inside and out, you’ll probably be able to anticipate my next bowel…”

I slapped my hand over his mouth, making gagging noises.

“Let’s not get all crazy now, blondie. A girl likes
some
mystery to her cowboy. Let’s not go getting ahead of ourselves, hmmm?”

He grinned, nibbling at my hand.

“You love me,” his voice muffled, making me blush.

I yawned again suddenly, incapable of holding it back, fighting back heavy lids.

Happy as a clam now, he pulled my hand away, tugging me down to his chest, his chin resting on top of my head, snuggling me close.

He yawned too, his jaw cracking wide as he fought heavy lids as well.

“You’re comfy,” I sighed sleepily, his breathing steady and even as his chest rose and fell against my cheek.

“Mmmm…” he yawned again, “You too, love. You too.”

We both drifted off at the same time, cuddled up close, content in each other’s arms.

****

“Quit that you two,” Bowen’s voice boomed out of nowhere, startling me awake.

I jumped, peeling my face from Thatcher’s shirt, heart thumping wildly in my chest.

“Where’s the fire?” I mumbled, noticing it was just Bowen and slumping back against Thatch. “Oh. It’s just you…”

Bowen chortled, catching my attention again.

I cracked one eye open to glare at him for disturbing my sleep.

“Go, away, Bo. We don’t want none. You’re interrupting us. Can’t you see? Or do you need them glasses to see far now too,” Thatcher drawled, half awake, his accent thicker and more pronounced, deeper from sleep.

I think that’s what he was going for
, I observed, my other eye cracking open to watch Bowen, the grin on his face the embodiment of mischief.

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough, Blondie?” he teased Thatcher.

Thatcher groaned, flopping back onto the couch, rolling us over until I was on top, draping me over him like a blanket.

He situated me, moving me around until he was satisfied with his arrangement, rubbing my back comfortingly.

“Can’t have a moment alone with
my
woman. You’re always butting in. Go away.”

I smiled against his chest at the ‘my woman’, loving his possessive side.

“She was mine first,” Bowen laughed, walking past us to the hallway, giving me one of his sexy winks.

He’s so cute when he does that.

I found myself smiling from ear to ear, all bubbly from his playfulness.

I lifted my head slightly to watch him go, enjoying the view.

Not gonna lie, I love to watch him go.

“Hey! Hey! I’m the one skipping duties to play nurse maid with you, woman! The least you could do is appreciate!”

“Nurse maid?” I snorted, eyeing him critically.

Oh, yeah…
that’s
how I landed the bodacious hottie-
he’s nuts!

“Are you
always
going to be like this?” I queried.

“Pfft! Don’t pretend you don’t like it, my little
love muffin!”

He fluttered his lashes, doing his best impression of a flirtatious coquette.

He looked utterly ridiculous.

I burst out laughing, almost falling off the couch as I snorted and giggled all over him.

“See,” he sighed happily, “you
love me.”

The smug grin on his face he now sported looked like it was there to stay.

No matter how much I tried to smack it off of him.

If anything, it just got wider.

Is it wrong that it gives me a cheap thrill?

Oh, and a reason to openly hit him.

Heh. Heh.

Lion In A Hammock

“Escaping the melee?” Sawyer stilled the hammock I was currently swinging in, picking me up to plop us both back down to lay in it.

The hammock swung violently and I squeaked, gripping onto him for dear life.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you.” His grip tightened a little.

I made ridiculous noises, protesting loudly until I didn’t feel like I was going to fall out and flop on my face anymore.

“What brings you out here, Doc?” I asked when I felt it was safe.

The swing finally settled down, helping me relax, letting him swing us lazily with his foot while he started to pull at my piggy braids.

We’d just finished dinner, and gimp that I currently am, Barb had kicked me out of the kitchen.

Dinner was interesting enough, and add to that the fact that Reeve kept glancing over at me every so often, but there wasn’t any malice this time-
surprise, surprise
.

He just seemed, I dunno…
curious.

It was strange.

The usual dinner chatter had ensued and I was determined to prove to Reeve- senior grumpy ass, but mostly myself, that I wouldn’t be the cause of any problems between brothers, and I hadn’t.

They all seemed a little put off that I had been so quiet, repeatedly asking me if I was alright, but everything had run smoother when I didn’t butt in.

Of course, it was agonizing for me, but I’d proved to myself I could do it.

I won’t be doing that ever again,
holding back,
but it proved something to me that I knew that I could, so ha ha!

See? I have restraint!

Sawyer loosened my braids, taking out the ties, unraveling them slowly, letting my kinked up hair fan out around him in long waves, cascading over him.

“I came out here for you, brat.”

He tucked me under his arms and pulled me towards him to kiss my forehead.

“Yeah, but why?” I asked into the silence.

“Because I want to be with you, honey. I like spending time with you.”

I doodled on his chest, tracing his name over and over across him, concentrating on my task at hand.

I spanned my hand absently across his massive pecs, marveling at the sheer size of him.

He jiggled me.

“Is that so hard to believe?” he chuckled.

I didn’t answer, finding the pattern on his shirt
very
interesting all of the sudden.

“Hey?” he drew my chin, tilting my head up towards him, his soft brown eyes my undoing.

I got lost in a sea of melted chocolate, filled with warmth and caring, understanding.

Curse you, chocolaty, melty eyes!

“I don’t know
what
to think…” The reluctance in my voice said it all though and my lips pulled down, almost in a grimace.

He frowned, unhappy with where my thoughts were going.

“About what? About me? About us?”

“Well, no, I mean, yes…” I blew out a heavy breath, “I don’t know.”

He let go of my chin, and I rested it on his chest, closing my eyes when he cupped the back of my head and started massaging my scalp.

“Talk to me, Vieve,” he murmured softly, his warm hands working magic on my tensed up neck and pounding head.

“I just… I don’t know what to think. I mean, where do we go from here? Are we boyfriend and girlfriend? Are all of my guys my boyfriends too? Or are we lovers? What do you call a woman who’s falling for more than one man? Is that even legitimately possible? Am I just deluding myself? How will this all even work? I don’t want you all to fight over me, or for me to cause any discord among brothers…” My voice got higher and tighter, rising with my anxiety, my words spilling forth so fast, spitting out to so rapidly, I was having a hard time keeping up with myself.