Chapter 4 #2
My toe caught on the edge of the rug, sending me stumbling forward.
Or at least I blamed the rug and not me being so caught off guard by the dirty visions his sultry voice and words created that I forgot how to walk.
My palm slapped against the wall, keeping me upright before I fell face-first to the floor.
West’s deep chuckle filled the small living room. I glared at the sexy bastard, but he just smirked in return and leaned back in the chair like he was enjoying teasing me.
“That’s not what I was getting at,” I rasped, throat dry as those visions of them together continued to play out in my mind.
“Wasn’t it?” he asked, arching a dark brow.
“Fishing,” I blurted, shoving off the wall to stand up on my own.
That cocky smirk fell, taking his dimples with it. “What?”
“That’s what I need from Langston. My idea is that when clients book online, they’ll also have to choose from a drop-down box on their experience level. That would help Langston when he’s preparing for the group, or I assumed it would.”
West rubbed at his jaw, studying me. “It would. I can’t tell you how many times he’s come home ranting about not having the right gear for the experience level of the person he took out. That’s good thinking, Juno—if the person booking self-selects their experience level correctly, of course.”
I nodded and tucked a piece of dark hair behind my ear. “That’s why I need Langston’s help, so no one has to guess where they land on a 1-10 scale. The drop-down will be specific, and I can make it very clear why this information needs to be accurate to ensure a great outing for everyone.”
Excitement about the program thrummed through me.
Hurrying over to my laptop, I swiped it off the couch and perched on the arm of the chair West occupied.
The laptop wobbled on my knee when I opened the screen.
Holding it with one hand and typing with the other, I didn’t expect West’s move until his arm curled around my waist and tugged.
A loud, surprised squeak escaped my lips as I toppled onto his lap. Eyes wide, I twisted around and blinked at the grinning man.
“This seemed easier for you,” he said. The arm around my waist tightened when I shifted to get up. “You wanted to show me the changes, right?”
I looked at my laptop, my gaze slowly sliding lower to where my ass sat on his thighs.
Heart hammering, breaths suddenly shallow, simmering heat pumped through my veins, making sweat slick along the back of my neck.
I wet my lips and tried to swallow to relieve my desert-dry mouth.
I took a deep breath to calm my crazy hormones and erratic pulse, then quickly realized that was a huge mistake when West’s masculine scent filled my lungs, ramping up the steady throb between my thighs.
With a single finger, he shifted my hair to one side in a gentle caress and pitched forward, resting his chin on my shoulder.
“Everything okay?” His words whispered along my neck, causing goose bumps to rise in their wake.
Not trusting my voice, I nodded, jerking my focus back to the laptop. I gazed at the screen, working to get my rapid breathing under control.
This was insane. I had never reacted to a man like this, in such a physical, demanding way. It had to be more than me simply needing an orgasm or two; I felt the vibrating energy between us deep in my very being rather than just in my needy core.
“Juno,” West whispered. “You’re safe with me.”
“I know that,” I answered softly. “I know I am with you.”
“And him too.”
My lips parted to deny his statement about his asshole friend, but no words came out.
I knew he was right. Even though Langston and I butted heads and drove each other up the wall with his overbearing attitude and me pushing back, not daring to allow another man to have a foothold over my life, he was safe.
I was safe with everyone in our community despite the dangers and mystery encompassing Anchor Bay.
But the comprehensive safety I felt when West and Langston were around went deeper than with the others.
If they were close, I knew without a doubt that one or both had an eye on me, which I cherished—even though I pretended to hate it to piss Langston off.
Like that embarrassing night at Dave’s a few weeks back when he literally manhandled me out of the bar. I was drunk as hell, and he went and tossed me over his shoulder, completely ignoring my demands to be put down. I hated it and loved it in equal measure.
Damn, this was confusing.
How could I hate everything about the controlling man but be borderline obsessed with it too? I craved his focused attention and overprotective demands. Which was dangerous.
Both he and West were. Case in point: how I was now relaxed back against the sexy man, his arm snug around my waist, and I liked it, knew I would miss it the second the moment was over.
This was all too dangerous. I would not open myself up to be hurt again by another man, allow myself to lose the parts of me I was just finding again. I’d just found my freedom to be unapologetically me and needed to cling to it with everything I had to keep the forward progress moving.
“West,” I sighed, sitting up straight to put some much-needed distance between us. Closing the laptop, I held it to my chest like a shield. “I can’t—”
Both our heads snapped toward the front door when it flung open so hard it slammed against the wall and bounced off, almost hitting the person walking in like they owned the place.
Finley took one step into my cabin, mouth open, no doubt about to call out my name before her gaze landed on us.
Motionless, eyes wide, she gaped for a solid five awkward seconds before clearing her throat and kicking the door closed behind her.
“Am I interrupting something?” she asked, waggling her brows. Striding across the living room, she fell onto the couch, grabbed my popcorn bowl, and began tossing pieces into her mouth.
I narrowed my eyes accusingly at my friend, which only made her damn smirk grow into a full-on smile.
“I was just showing West something on the laptop.”
Finley hummed a noncommittal response and leveled a pointed expression at the closed laptop pressed tight against my chest.
My eyes rolled to the ceiling as I held in a frustrated scream. “Did you need something, Fin?”
“Need something, no. But….” She tossed the bowl aside and dusted off her hands before sitting forward. She practically bounced on the couch with excitement. “I have the best fucking news, and I wanted to tell you first.”
Using the armrest instead of West’s hard thigh, I stood, though the arm around my waist tightened a fraction as if wanting to keep me there before slowly loosening, allowing me to escape.
I didn’t dare look back to see if he was as disappointed as I was at the loss of his touch.
Carefully setting the laptop on the coffee table, I perched on the couch arm, facing my friend.
“So, spill it. What is the best fucking news that I get to hear first? And I’m honored, by the way.
” Digging around in the bowl, I picked a few candy-coated chocolate pieces from the popcorn and tossed them all in my mouth.
A cheerful hum vibrated in my chest as they melted on my tongue. “Also, when did you stop knocking?”
“I only knock on cabins where I might walk in on something I can’t unsee, like a friend’s va-jay-jay or one of the guy’s hairy asses. Your cabin is safe from all that.” She cut her eyes to West and then back to me. “For now.”
I flipped her off at the same time West’s deep chuckle sounded behind me. Rolling my eyes, I used the other hand to flip him off behind my back.
I snapped my fingers, drawing her attention from the popcorn bowl. “Fin, what is this news?” Keeping that woman on track was difficult; she got distracted by, well, everything.
Brushing both palms along her black leggings that accentuated her long, lean legs, she shot me a megawatt smile. “I have a date.”
At the disbelieving scoff, we both turned to glare at West.
“Have something to say?” I snipped.
“I….” He shook his head, rubbing his good hand over his shaved hair. “Nothing, never mind. But the question is, does Dax know about this date of yours?”
Finley shrugged and picked up a discarded gaming magazine to flip through the pages. “Not sure. Like I said, I wanted Juno to be the first to know.”
West hummed. “And does this guy know he’s risking his life by taking you out?” he hedged, looking partly worried but also entertained.
“Oh, come on. You guys wouldn’t mess this up for me on purpose, would you?” she said with a dramatic pout, falling back against the couch with her lower lip stuck out. “It’s my first actual date in what feels like forever.”
“We wouldn’t, as in me or Langston,” West muttered under his breath. “Now, if someone else in our community might lose his head and plot this poor unknowing bastard’s murder? Yes, that is a concern I have.”
While they bickered back and forth about how Dax would react to Finley’s date, an idea hit me.
This thing building between me and West, tipping our friendship closer to the “more than friends” category, was terrifying.
Add in how my body reacted around him and Langston both, and I needed a distraction.
“Does this guy you’re going out with have a friend?” I blurted before I lost my nerve.
The cabin went silent. It was so quiet I swear I heard West’s blood pressure as it ticked higher and higher, a flush creeping up his neck and face, reddening his naturally tan skin.
“A friend?” Finley asked, drawing my attention from West. Her lips pulled into a wide, playful grin as her gaze bounced between the two of us. “I’m sure he does. A double date is a great idea. Are you sure?”
I blew out a raspberry, lips tingling with the vibration. “Honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve been on a first date, so that part sounds horrible, but I think I need the… after part.”
“You mean you need to get laid,” Finley laughed. “You don’t want a date; you just want the fun that comes with it.”
Muttering a string of curses, West shoved out of the chair, sending it careering backward a few inches, and stormed out the front door, slamming it shut behind him.
I blinked at the solid wood, shocked at his palpable frustration and that he’d left without even saying goodbye.
“He’ll be fine, Juno. He probably just needed to leave before he said something to mess up”—she gestured between me and the direction West vanished—“that.”
“What does that mean?”
“Come on,” she sighed. “We all know it’s only a matter of time before you three figure out you’re absolutely obsessed with each other and start bumping uglies.”
Picking up a piece of discarded popcorn, I threw it at her face. “Do you really want to talk about unspoken obsessions, Finley Jane?”
She swallowed hard and shook her head. “Had to toss out the middle name, did ya?”
“I’m just saying, I’ll stay out of your complicated mess if you stay out of mine. I don’t know what’s going on between me, West, and Langston. All I know is….” I blew out a breath.
“You’re scared of what it could be,” she whispered.
“And losing myself in it.”
“And what would happen if it didn’t work out?”
We sat in silence, both mourning relationships we wanted but knew could never happen. She and Dax, me and the two men who made me feel alive and all me.
“So,” I said with a clap to redirect our thoughts, “when and where is this double date?”
I was playing with fire, going on the date with West—and undoubtedly Langston, soon—in the know.
Only time would tell if it was them, or me, or all of us who would get burned.