Night Hack: A forced proximity alpha hero hacker romantic suspense (Nightshade Book 4)

Chapter 24

Jana

“Holy shit!”Devolin mumbled after Brycen, Dalton, Shane, Theo, and Cade had left the house.

“That was—” what sounded like Morgan started.

“Hot, with an h-a-w-t, hot,” Aspen supplied as I tried to regain my footing after the toe-curling kiss Brycen had delivered before his departure.

Emberlyn simply giggled, and when I turned around, heat suffusing my face, the wide-eyed looks from all three women had me grinning like I was the cat who’d gotten the canary right before we all dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Lemon drop numero dos had just been decimated and Devolin promptly got to her feet, rushing for the kitchen island with her empty pitcher, readying to mix another batch for all of us.

“Don’t stop on my account,” she called as she began to pour the vodka, spilling over the measuring cup she was using. If she kept it up, we’d all be hurting come morning.

Emberlyn’s excited nod urged me to continue, and the enthralled look from Aspen—not to mention the alcohol coursing through my veins—had me spilling about the hot office interlude Brycen and I had indulged in the day before, albeit, with some censorship. There were just some things that were best kept between a couple.

“You oughta put that in a book, Aspen,” Devolin stated as she collapsed in her seat after having refilled everyone’s glass.

The other woman grinned. “What makes you think I haven’t already?”

“Bitch, I’ve read you, and you have not written anything similar to that in the one office romance you published,” Devolin stated, both Morgan and Emberlyn met each other’s gazes, then busted a gut laughing.

My brows furrowed as I bit my lip. “What are you guys going on about?” I asked, entirely confused.

“Ever hear of Penny Sexton?” Emberlyn asked, excitement making me edgy as she bounced on the edge of her seat.

“Well, yeah, who hasn’t?” I shrugged, meeting each pair of eyes in the room until my gaze froze on Aspen, whose grin widened as she lifted her hand, wiggling her fingers in a hey there manner.

Proffering her hand to me, she giggled and proceeded to blow my mind. “Penny Sexton,” she said, lifting her martini glass in a cheers gesture.

What?

“Oh, Lord,” Morgan said as she collapsed into the back of the couch with hilarity. “Look at her!”

My head spun, and I was pretty sure it had more to do with the bomb these women had dropped on me than the alcohol I’d ingested so far.

“Is she gonna faint?” Morgan asked the room.

Breathe, must catch breath. Don’t make a scene just because book royalty is sitting across the room from you, Jana.

Before anyone could say anything else, I had managed to compose myself enough to ever so eloquently say, “You’re shitting me, right?”

The woman in question graced me with a warm smile, which evolved into a Cheshire grin. “Nope, but you now have a new best friend who’s going to want to pick your brain about that 9-1-1 gig of yours. And if you just so happen to provide me with some juicy, hanky-panky tidbits, you can damn well bet your sexy ass I’ll be adding my own flair to that too.”

“Oh shit, Dev, looks like you’re not the only one who’s being written about now,” Emberlyn announced to the room at large.

Huh?Then I remembered reading the few sample chapters of Penny Sexton’s latest romantic suspense, which was scheduled to release next month—something about a hacker.

Taking a healthy gulp of my drink—okay, I may have drained the entire bottom half of my glass—I looked at Devolin, shook my head with subtle disbelief still present, and stated, “Not sure Brycen would be on par with Aspen writing about us, and I can’t imagine a man like Dalton would have been okay with that.”

Devolin smirked as Aspen giggled. “I didn’t write their story, silly! I merely modeled a few characters after them—their jobs mostly. And if a few bits of D’s growliness made it into the book, it would only make the read that much better. The grumpy-sunshine trope is all the rage these days. Everyone loves a man with a sexy growl every now and again. Add to that an alpha domineering quality, and bam! Total hotness.”

“Although…” Devolin paused to take a sip of her drink. “You know that scene when Jaxon bound Shelly with her clothes, leaving her at his mercy, then shamelessly fucked her when anyone could have walked in on them?”

My brows rose to my hairline at the hot picture my mind made up. “That’s no scene I’ve read yet,” I mumbled.

“Hold on! I got it!” Morgan got up and ran for her purse. “It’s time we properly indoctrinated Jana to the clan.” She came back with her Kindle in hand as she hurriedly tapped at the screen, then handed it to me. “Read this. I’ve already cued up Chapter Seventeen for you.”

Taking it from her, I looked at the screen, only to see it’s the one and only book I haven’t yet read of Penny’s—aka Aspen’s—simply because it hadn’t been published yet.

“Go for it,” Aspen encouraged, the others sitting back with their drinks, not saying a word, but silently urging me to go on. “I’ll send you the entire manuscript after I get home tonight, then you can tell me what you think.”

Five minutes later, I closed my eyes, trying to avoid from squirming in my seat, thanks to what I’d just read, then cleared my throat as I handed the Kindle back to Morgan. But that’s as far as I got before I broke.

“Dalton is a naughty, naughty man!” I giggled.

“Blame her,” Devolin pointed to Aspen. “She wrote it, and my man desperately had to ensure a certain degree of quality assurance. Unbeknownst to me, the bugger was reading the book whenever I wasn’t. I can’t help that he read ahead of where I was, then surprised me with that?—”

“How come I’m only hearing about this now?” Aspen pouted. “You’ve had the book for like two months!”

“Oh, my God!” Morgan jumped up, covering her mouth. “It was you!” Devolin blushed. “Last month’s family barbecue! In the barn?”

“You got an audio?” Aspen blurted, Emberlyn beside herself with giggles.

Morgan nodded. “Heard a lot before I got my ass out of there. At first, I thought it was Paxton and his wife—my brother-in-law—because they have this fucked-up habit of sometimes running off with one another for some alone time. Alyssa said they did it because it kept things spicy.” She drank up the remainder of her drink, then set her empty martini glass on the coffee table. “All I can say is that it sounded like someone was getting it good and proper. Hell, what I heard had me so riled up, it’s why I rushed Theo out of there just so we could go home and get it on, especially knowing his parents had the baby. I just assumed it was them.”

The room broke out in giggles, me included.

“I fail to see how I caused a problem in all of this.” Aspen attempted a demure sip, but faltered. Instead, she sputtered the final drink from her glass as a fit of giggles hit her. I handed her one of the cocktail napkins next to the charcuterie board as she nodded her thanks, while she proceeded to mop at her chin and the front of her shirt.

Plucking an olive off the tray and shoving it into my mouth, I added, “Sounds to me like everyone had a really great night.” Everyone else broke into cheers, taking turns high-fiving Devolin.

I’d never truly felt at home with other groups of women before. Except for my two best girls—Reina and Jess—I hadn’t realized what I’d been missing until now. The link to these ladies went beyond sharing men who were friends and worked with one another. We were kindred spirits in so many ways that these women—even those I’d only met tonight—had brought me into the fold and made me one of them.

Brycen had brought so much more with him into our relationship than I could have ever imagined: family, friendship, a sense of belonging, safety—and love. To say I loved Brycen would have been jumping the proverbial gun a little, but I knew I was falling, and so long as I didn’t get in my way, I knew it would inevitably happen. And I planned to embrace it with all that I was when it eventually became reality.

Brycen

“Fuck me,” Cade mumbled under his breath, a small miracle I even heard him over the music as I brought up the rear to our group of men. Tate and Rex had both been keeping an eye on the house, but both men were absent from their vehicles when we arrived, which had me worried.

“Your wife did it again, D, and your girl is fitting right in.” Theo laughed as he clapped me on the shoulder, making room after I’d brought up the rear of our group.

My apprehension was quick to subside when we cleared the front entrance, and I found the two men on watch duty grinning at us.

Genuine’s “Pony” blared from someone’s phone plugged into the docking station that sat on the living room’s side table, while a tremendous amount of giggling ensued. The five of us men settled in for the show.

Aspen, Emberlyn, and Morgan surrounded red-faced and sputtering Devolin and Jana as the three standing women bumped and ground to the best of their ability. Their moves were clumsy, most likely due to the empty martini glasses and God only knew how many times the half-empty pitcher that sat on the coffee table had been refilled.

“I wonder how long it’ll take for them to clue in we’re here,” Shane said just as Jana started making imaginary money rain for the twerking triplets, Devolin sticking her fingers in her mouth to cat call whistle at the women before the two toppled over one another on the couch, another fit of giggles taking over.

“I don’t know, but it seems like they might be hurting come tomorrow,” Tate stated, shaking his head with a smirk. “We’ve been standing here for nearly ten minutes, and they still haven’t noticed.”

Next thing we knew, Aspen turned around and paused mid-twerk before a grin split her face right before she rushed for Cade, throwing herself, sure the man would catch her—which he did—right before she laid a sloppy kiss on him.

“I have a feeling you’re partly behind all of this,” Cade rumbled against his fiancée’s neck.

“I plead the Fifth, handsome. Now take me home so I can show you my moves,” she demanded, making Tate and Rex crack up.

Next up, Theo located his wife’s purse, grabbed it, then made his way to her, spinning her around, then threw her over his shoulder, smacking her ass as he made for the door. “Later, everybody. Seems I’ve got a date with a hellion.”

“Keep out of barns,” Emberlyn called out as Shane bent to kiss her giggling mouth. Theo barely paused in his retreat, but I didn’t miss the blush on Dalton’s face as both men’s gazes connected for a split second.

I wonder what that was about.

When Shane and Ember bid us goodbye, Tate and Rex took their leave as Dalton headed for the phone on the docking station, bringing the music to a silent halt.

“Aw! Just when it was our turn to bust a move,” Devolin grumped unconvincingly, thanks to the smirk on her face. She tried to get up to greet her husband, but toppled over backward onto the couch, this inducing another fit of giggles between Jana and herself.

Dalton simply shook his head, grin firmly in place, as I approached and took a knee in front of a collapsed Jana.

Swiping the strands of hair that covered her face, I smiled. “You’re cute when you’re drunk,” I said.

“And you’re hot,” she blurted, then a look of excitement crossed her eyes, and she hurriedly sat up. “Aspen is writing a book about us,” she announced. “We were working out a scene. That’s why we were dancing.” Her brows furrowed like she struggled to remember the night’s events. “I think.” Then her lips made an O. “Oh! And Dalton fucked Devolin in the barn!”

“Christ,” Dalton mumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked to his wife, but Jana kept on going before he could say anything.

“It’s Aspen’s fault, honestly. She really shouldn’t write such steamy books, although…” She paused, then grinned at me. “I think I have her sold on writing a scene just like what we did yesterday. You know, when you made me turn around, then you?—”

And we’re done here. I covered Jana’s mouth before she went into far too much detail about yesterday’s foray in my home office in front of our friends, although I was pretty sure I was too late for that in any case.

“Let’s get you home, sweetheart,” I said, then pulled my hand from her mouth, ensuring her silence by pressing my mouth to hers in a brief kiss.

“Mmm,” she whispered against my lips. “Please take me home, Brycen. My ladies and I have had a rather illuminating night, and I’m aching to have you fuck?—”

On a chuckle, joined by both Dalton and Devolin’s laughs, I slapped my hand over Jana’s mouth again, and shook my head to silence her once more. “Tell me in the car, now let’s get out of here.”

She grabbed my hand and let me pull her up to her feet and toward the front door. “Talk Monday,” I said as Jana looked back to Devolin, who demanded, “Call me tomorrow. I want to know what you think. Love you, babe!”

“You too, Dev,” she called out before I shut the front door and hurried us to the car.

“Think about what?” I asked her as soon as I buckled myself into the driver’s seat.

“Aspen’s latest book.” I spotted the hungry gaze on her face, thanks to the illuminated dashboard, just as her hand came to land on my upper thigh, slowly moving toward my crotch.

“Christ,” I cursed. “Baby, hold that thought. We’re about five minutes from home.”

She sighed, sounding so bereft. “If you say so, but I was hoping to have a snack on the way.” Her eyes met mine.

“Jesus, woman,” I breathed, understanding her meaning. “Not tonight, baby. The first time I get that hot mouth of yours around my cock, I want to be fully in the moment, not trying to avoid curbs and oncoming traffic while I hurry us home.”

And hurry us home I damn well fucking did.