Clueless (Reckless Hearts #2)

Chapter 1

ONE

LAUREN

A sigh leaves my lips for the umpteenth time that hour as I scroll through my plethora of text messages and social media notifications, nursing the fruity cocktail in front of me.

As much as I have loved attending my brother’s wedding this evening, it was yet another reminder that I can never shake this…

empty feeling inside of me—a feeling only highlighted when I’m near my siblings, let alone their partners.

At least Daddy dearest died before the wedding. I haven’t had to deal with any of his narcissistic, abusive words. I’m sure he is rolling in his grave over Aiden being genuinely, truly happy.

I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

Tonight was supposed to be a good night.

It was a good night. Rory looked absolutely beautiful in her wedding gown, and I shed more than a few tears over the fact that I finally get to call someone my sister.

I’ve already called Casey my brother for years now.

The night was magical, and I couldn’t be happier for my siblings or their children.

They’re happy.

I just wish I knew how to be happy, too.

The sound of a chair sliding out beside me forces me out of my thoughts entirely, and I look up into the eyes of a man that has to be in his forties. He looks down at the chair before looking back at me. “Is this seat taken?”

I shake my head. “Go ahead.”

Though, I don’t not notice how the bar is pretty much empty, and he’s choosing to sit directly next to me.

A part of my mind is screaming stranger danger, but the other part of my mind is focusing on just how much my feet hurt from these heels, and I don’t want to run away unless I absolutely have to.

He speaks again. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. What brings you to this shithole?”

I look around the bar, questioning where the hell this “shithole” is that he’s referring to.

This is the nicest bar I’ve been to in a long time.

The real question is—why the fuck is it so empty if it’s this nice?

Turning back to him, I raised a pointed brow.

“Dare I say, we have different definitions of shitholes.”

He barks out a laugh, and somehow, it fills me with a sense of butterflies. “Really now?”

I smile as I pull my drink closer to me, pleased with myself. As much as I wish I had the whole “man-hating” gene in me, I do indeed take far more pride in making a man who looks like a pit bull laugh. “Yeah. This place is very nice. I keep wondering why it’s empty.”

He smirks down at me. “It’s about to close.”

My mouth goes into the shape of an O. “Should I leave?”

The man shakes his head before signaling to the bartender. “Nah. You still have some time. This rounds on me, okay?”

I look down into the bottom of my drink, confused, until I realize that it’s definitely empty.

When the fuck did I drink all of it?

Should I even have another one, if that’s the case?

With my mood tonight, I refuse to even let myself psychoanalyze that. “Sure. Okay. But the bartender hands it to me first.”

He looks back at me and raises an eyebrow questioningly.

I shrug. “What? I don’t know you. You could roofie me.”

The bartender whose name tag says Steven laughs, though he follows it with a cough, trying to hide it. I bite back my own tipsy laugh. The man beside me only shakes his head. “Tequila sunrise for me tonight, please. And the lady will have…”

I stare at my drink, contemplating. “Actually, I’ll have the same. Gold tequila though, please.”

Steven knocks on the counter in response to both of us before he gets to work.

I play around with the straw in my drink, musing as to how to even start a conversation with this man that happens to look like a Greek God, but he beats me to it.

“So, you never answered my question. What brings you here? You’ve been here awhile. ”

I raise an eyebrow. “Been watching me?”

“Can’t help but notice and admire beauty when it comes in.”

That gets a snort out of me. “Cheesy. Just looking to escape, though. I just moved here from Nashville, and my brother got married tonight.”

He pauses. “So, you came to a bar? Is there no alcohol at your brother’s wedding?”

“Oh, there is. But you can only be around so many lovey-dovey people before you want to gouge your eyes out.”

The man whistles. “Harsh.”

“But truthful. I love both of my brother’s partners. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve just been in an odd place lately, I guess.”

Steven comes back then, setting the drinks on the bar top. His voice is deep and masculine as he speaks, pausing our conversation. “Order up, Boss. Should I head out?”

I swivel my head to the man next to me, shocked. He nods to Steven. “Yeah, man. Be safe. Lock up behind you, if you don’t mind.”

Steven nods before leaving the bar area entirely, but my gaze is still on the man next to me. He chuckles. “Yes, ma’am?”

“You own this place?”

“I do.”

“Wha…but…” I pause. “Huh?”

He laughs again before nodding to the drink in front of me. “You sure you can handle drinking another one?”

My face immediately drops as I grab it. Prick. “I’m fine, thank you. You’re just an enigma; I don’t know how to read you.”

As I go to take a sip of my drink, I’m frozen solid when he leans down and whispers in my ear. His beard tickles my exposed skin, forcing goose bumps across my flesh instantly. “Such a fancy word for such a little girl.”

Fuck. Me.

I know without a doubt in my mind that any other girl would have thrown her drink in his face and stormed out. And yet…I think I need to change my panties.

I clear my throat, trying to regain my composure. It doesn’t work, but I happen to be a very good bullshitter. “What’s your name?”

“Sean.”

“Alright, Sean,” I say. “Why are you really letting me stay in your bar?”

“Do you want the truthful answer or the bullshit answer?”

I pin him with a stare as my answer to that question.

He smirks as he sips his drink. “You looked lonely and miserable, and misery loves company.”

I blink. Ouch.

That’s what I get for wanting the truth.

He speaks again. “Like I said, little girl—misery loves company. I had a rough day, too. Don’t read into it more than you should.”

Like a puppet on strings, my overthinking zips away in an instant.

Fucking daddy issues.

I hate it here.

I take a big sip of my drink as I ask my next question. “Why was your day miserable?” Sean looks like he’s weighing his options, and I say my next thought before he can bullshit me. “Let’s make a deal. We say the complete and utter truth whenever we’re talking to each other.”

That makes him pause. “What happens if we don’t?”

I giggle. “We punish the other.”

His eyebrows rise, and it’s only then I notice the gray hairs coming in at his temples. The sight makes me swallow roughly, and I turn back toward my drink. I am definitely starting to feel the alcohol.

He shrugs. “Deal. Day was miserable because my girl dumped me and my stepson. Well, our girl.”

My body goes still for a second. “Come again?”

It’s his turn to take big swallows of his drink. “To which part?”

“You and your stepson?”

His eyes are hooded as he looks down at me. “Yes.”

“How does that work?”

Sean shrugs again. “I share with him. He shares with me. She didn’t want to do it anymore. I’ll never force a woman into anything she doesn’t want to do, but I also will never risk my relationship with my stepson. So, we both let her go.”

“Huh…” I say, trying to wrap my head around what I’ve just been told. I’m in absolutely no place to judge, but that has got to be a new one.

He clears his throat. “You said we tell the truth.”

I swivel my head to him. “What? I’m not judging you or anything.”

He squints. “You’re not?”

I laugh. “Are you kidding? I just told you that my brother was polyamorous, and I’ve had my share of threesomes when I was in college. I have fully learned that you like what you like. I’m just…did you like, raise him, too, or…?”

His eyes widen. “Oh my God, no! No. His mom and I got married and divorced when he was nineteen, but she’s…

a pretty sore excuse for a mother, so he and I stayed in touch.

It was right when he joined the military.

So, he’s technically not even my stepson anymore.

I guess we’re just friends now, technically. ”

I hold my hands up in surrender. “Can’t blame a girl for thinking it. I didn’t know how taboo we were talking.” Silence envelopes us for setting before I ask another question. “Do you and him…?”

The blush on his face is the only answer I need, but he answers anyway. “We have. Not often. More so testing boundaries and sexualities. But we have.” He quickly steers the conversation away. “Threesomes in college, eh? How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-six. You?”

“Forty-five.”

“Experienced,” I muse before slapping a hand over my mouth. “I’m so sorry. It just slipped.”

Sean bellows a laugh that shakes his entire body as he responds. “Don’t worry about it. I thought the same about you.”

I blush. “You could say that.”

“What’s the wildest thing you’ve done?” he questions, standing up and going behind the bar to make another drink. I didn’t even realize he drank all of his. I pout as I look at my drink, still half-full.

“Just like that? Down to the dirty?”

“I’m a curious man.”

I laugh, shrugging. The likelihood of me seeing this man after tonight is little-to-none. Virginia Beach is a big city. What do I have to lose? “My college graduation party, my boyfriend at the time and his best friends shared me.”

Sean pauses. “And how many friends was that?”

I bite my lip. “A few.”

He raises a brow. “Airtight?”

My thighs clench as I think back to that night. I leave out the part about it being my birthday gift—and that Kyle was also receiving from said friends. The definition of a wild night. “Yup.”

My eyes jump up at the sound of Sean dropping a cocktail jigger. He curses and immediately goes to wiping up the mess.

I pause. “Should I take that as a compliment or an insult?”

His eyes are heavy when they hit me again. “Compliment. Fighting a boner here, little girl.”

Yup. Definitely need to change my panties.

My breath comes out heavy. “Keep calling me that and we’re going to have problems.”

I swear I hear what sounds like a growl come out of him, but he merely shakes his head. “You have another question?”

I smirk. “How did you know I did?”

“Because your response was also a question.”

My lips twitch. “Fair point. Yes, I do. When did you and your stepson start sharing women? How did that even happen? It didn’t start with his mom or anything, did it?”

“Ew, gross.” His nose wrinkles. “I hardly even wanted to have sex with just her.”

I raise an eyebrow, waiting.

He shrugs. “Around when I left the military, five or so years ago, he and I went to a bar and it just…happened. We were an exclusive throuple for a year or so. It was fantastic.” He stands up straighter, confident in his words.

“No one ever having to worry about being lonely. All needs, physical and emotional, taken care of. It just worked. And I’ve been alive long enough—seen enough—to know that when something is right, you don’t test it. ”

“That sounds nice. Not being lonely or longing.” The words slip out before I can shush them. I close my eyes briefly, knowing I’m likely making a fool of myself.

“It is.”

Opening my eyes again, I lock eyes with him, and he speaks again. “Are you lonely, little girl?”

I don’t even hesitate. “I’ve always been lonely.”

“Even with siblings?”

My shoulders lift in a shrug. “Brothers can’t erase an abusive dad who calls you names and forces you into isolation. Even if they tried to protect me.”

The air is silent for a second. Heavy. A part of me wants to apologize, but I’ve also worked very hard with my therapist in the last few years to accept the fact that my past is just that—my past. And if we’re being truthful with each other, then it’s just a part of me.

His voice is heavy when he responds. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

I move the topic back to sexy-land. It was far more enjoyable—even if the majority of the population would undoubtedly call me and the man before me every crude word in the book. “So, you’re experienced. But what’s something you haven’t done in a long time, that you want to do soon?”

His gaze penetrates my soul as he responds. “I haven’t fucked a woman one-on-one in a long time.”

Instantly, my mouth goes dry. I almost have to force my next words out. “Do you want to?”

“Very much so.”

Oh…my God.

Before I can respond, he asks his next question. “What’s something you want to do that you’ve never done? Coming from an experienced girl.”

I sit on it for a second, musing. My response comes out dry and filled with humor, knowing it’s something that will likely never happen. “Never done the whole glory-hole thing. Sounds hot, though. I’ve watched a lot of porn with it.”

Sean doesn’t laugh with me, though.

He smirks.