Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DARBY
I’m not gonna lie. I’m sore.
Yes, I’m still worn out and achy from all the work with the horse, but more than that, my pussy is worn out and achy from getting pummeled several times today by a dick the size of my forearm.
I mean, I’m not complaining, because Tucker knows what he’s doing, and I’m already addicted to him.
But I’m not in shape for that kind of workout.
“I want you all to know that it sucks that I always have to be the designated driver,” Harper announces as she pulls into a parking space near Lucky’s in Silver Springs. “I mean, of course I can’t drink, so it makes sense, but still.”
“Do you want us to pay you, like you’re an Uber?” Juliet asks with a smart-ass grin on her pretty face. “It might take some of the sting out of it.”
“You know, you might be on to something,” Harper replies, and then she and Ava walk down the sidewalk ahead of us as Juliet falls into step beside me.
“I haven’t seen you in a while,” Jules says.
This woman and I went to school together all our lives in Bitterroot Valley. I’ve known her forever, and when we were teenagers, we were friends.
But then she left, and our lives took drastically different paths. So it’s been great to have her back in the area, married to a man I know very well, and I get to see her often.
“I know, who knew the vet life was so busy?” I nudge her shoulder with mine. “How’s the restaurant?”
“Slammed, thank God. I had to hire another person for mornings.”
“Good for you. I need to come in soon. I miss the lasagna.”
“Come get it while it’s still on the menu. It’ll be changing for summer soon.”
“Good to know.”
We walk into Lucky’s, and since all the tables are taken, we decide to sit at the bar, where it makes an L shape, so we can still chat with each other.
“Hey, everyone,” Ivy says with a wide smile. “Welcome in. What can I get you?”
“I thought you were just covering because you’re short staffed,” I say to Ivy. The other woman, so freaking pretty with her thick red hair up in a high pony, shrugs.
“I am. Apparently, I need to light a fire under my father’s ass to hire someone. I haven’t had a day off in two months. Anyway, what will you guys have?”
Jules and I order beers, Ava a dirty martini, and Harper gets a water with a twist of lemon and rubs her belly bump.
“So, Darby—”
“Nope,” I interrupt Ava. “We’ll talk about Darby after you talk about that ring on your finger.”
Jules gasps.
Harper looks like she might toss her cookies.
“You’re engaged?” Jules demands.
“Yes.” Ava sniffs and lifts her chin. “I am.”
“Here’s the thing,” Juliet says, shaking her head slowly as she seems to take the news in. “Chad’s not a complete moron. He’s a good attorney, and he helped me out, but that doesn’t mean that I think he’s husband material for you.”
“He’s a good person,” Ava insists.
“Okay,” Harper says. “Name three things about him that set your soul on fire.”
Ava’s nose wrinkles in distaste. “Listen, not every romance sets your soul on fire.”
Does Tucker set my soul on fire?
I tap my fingertip on my lip, thinking about it. I mean, he sets something on fire, that’s for sure.
“I think if you’ve agreed to marry him, he should be someone you can’t see yourself living without. Not that you can’t, but that you don’t want to.” Jules says.
“Agreed. That.” I point to Jules.
Ava sighs. “You guys, I know he’s not your favorite. Hell, he’s not anyone’s favorite, but he’s good to me. He’s kind and has a sense of humor. And he has a great job.”
Harper yawns, making Ava glare at her.
“It’s the next step,” Ava says, shrugging one shoulder, and that makes my back go up.
“What does that mean?” I ask her.
“We’ve been together for a while. I’m not getting any younger.”
“You’re thirty,” I remind her.
“I don’t want to break up with him, so I’ll marry him.”
We all exchange looks.
“That’s so . . . romantic,” Jules says.
“Maybe romance is overrated,” Ava says, and I can see by the way her shoulders droop and her eyes fall to the bar that she’s sad. She shouldn’t be sad. “I’ve tried to find that, and it’s just not out there. Chad can give me security and companionship.”
“How’s the sex?” I ask her.
“It’s sex.” She lifts a shoulder.
“That’s pretty far from I want a man who will pull my hair and spank my ass,” Harper reminds her.
“He pulls my hair,” Ava says. “Okay, fine. Did he propose in the way I would have liked? Not really. I mean, I don’t need anything extravagant.
If he wanted to ask me in front of my family, I’m totally cool with that.
It could be really sweet. But he didn’t even get on one knee, and it was so quick, and well, he could have done better. ”
“I was there,” Harper says. “And respectfully, I don’t disagree. He should have done better, Aves.”
“I’m fine,” Ava insists. “Now, let’s talk about Darby and the fact that she’s doing the nasty with Tucker.”
Jules and Harper both gasp and turn to me, wide-eyed.
“Thanks for that,” I mumble to Ava, who just grins back at me, obviously pleased to have a change in the conversation.
“You and Tucker?” Jules asks and then tilts her head to the side. “Actually, I can see it. He’s hot, you’re hot, why not do it?”
“I mean, he’s our brother, so we don’t want to know the specifics,” Harper says, and then grins at me. “But you look happy.”
“I’m confused,” I admit, just as Ivy walks up with two fresh beers and a new martini. “Ivy, you stay for this. I need boy advice.”
“I don’t know that I’m the best person for that, but I’m happy to try.” She salutes me and leans on the bar. “Reporting for duty.”
“He’s my boss, you guys.” I nibble my lip as they all stare at me. “He’s my boss.”
“We heard you,” Jules says. “Is there anything in your contract that forbids you from any fraternization with coworkers?”
“No.”
“Then that’s not a valid excuse. What else?” Ivy asks.
“Aside from the fact that I’m broken?” I take a swig from my bottle and clear my throat. “I . . . you guys, he’s seen everything there is to see, inside and out, and he hasn’t run away yet.”
Again, they’re quiet as they watch me.
“Did you expect him to?” Harper asks softly.
“Yes. Of course. I have scars, not just on my body but in my heart and soul, and it’s a lot to handle. I’m a lot to handle. I’m too much.”
“Oh, fuck that,” Ava says, shaking her head. “You’re not too much. If my brother, or anyone else for that matter, thinks that, they can go find less. Don’t get me wrong, I understand where you’re coming from, but Tucker has his own laundry list of issues.”
“I know,” I murmur.
“Ava’s right,” Ivy says softly. “You’re not too much at all. If he’s still interested, it means that he doesn’t think so either. And unless he says otherwise, you have to believe that he’s happy with you, just as you are.”
“Trust me, he’d tell you if he wasn’t,” Harper adds. “Tucker may be laid back and chill, but he’s not a pushover. He says it pretty much like it is.”
“Good. I want that. I don’t want him to continue something with me just because we’re working together and it would be uncomfortable for him if he cut it off.”
“That’s not how Tuck thinks,” Ava assures me. “Enjoy him. I saw the way he looked at you today, like you hung the freaking moon. Soak that shit up. It’s not common.”
The conversation shifts to lighter topics, and I drink my way through two more beers before I discover that I really need to use the restroom.
“Be back,” I say as I hop off my stool. “Where’s the bathroom?”
“Right back there,” Ava says, pointing back past the pool tables, and I head that way. “Wait! I need to pee too.”
“Me too,” I hear Harper say. “I always have to pee these days.”
“I’ll save seats,” Jules says.
With that decided, the three of us make our way back to the restrooms. I have to admit, now that my legs are moving, I’m a little stumbly.
And a lot numb.
My lips are tingly, my legs . . . I think I still have legs. Shit, do I still have legs?
“I guess I’m a cheap date now,” I say as I squat in the stall to pee. Ava smirks next to me.
“You had five beers, Darbs.”
“I had three.”
“No, sweetie, you had five,” Harper says. “Ivy just kept the drinks coming.”
“Thank God I don’t have to drive back,” I mutter and then flush the toilet and stagger my way to the sink to wash my hands.
I only miss the soap dispenser twice.
“So wasted,” Ava whispers next to me. “I don’t remember the last time I got this drunk.”
“I ’member mine,” I tell her as I dry my hands. “When my piece-of-shit dad died. I got so drunk.”
“As you should have,” Harper replies with a nod and opens the door for us to walk back out to the bar.
As we pass by the pool tables, someone calls out, “Fuck you, bitch.”
I stop and turn, frowning, and then when I see Peter the Creep, I roll my eyes.
“You wish,” I mutter and walk to the bar where I discover that Juliet’s already paid our tab. “Hey, you didn’t have to do that.”
“We’ll pay you cash,” Ava decides, and we all dig in our purses, but Jules shakes her head.
“Nope. This was on Brooks. He told me to do it.”
“You married a good one,” I tell her, patting her on the back. “You guys, I have to go home. Or to the cabin. Or wherever the hell I’m going tonight.”
“Tucker’s bed,” Ava decides. “There’s no way he lets you sleep in the cabin anymore. Besides, why would you want to? Have all the sex, friend.”
“I can’t just move in with him.” I shake my head, and that makes me dizzy. “Ugh, so drunk.”
“Let’s get you home,” Harper says. “And no throwing up in my car. I want you all to drink lots of water tomorrow.”
“She’s such a nurse,” I grumble to Jules, who just laughs.
Before long, Harper pulls up by the back door of the house, and I climb out of her car.
“I didn’t puke,” I say, as if that should be celebrated. “Woot! Thanks for the ride.”
I wave them off, and turn to go to the cabin because I don’t want to just assume that Tucker wants me in the house. But then I smell the smoke from the firepit, and I walk around the cabin to the back and see him sitting in his chair.
He turns to me and grins. “How are you doing, Duchess?”
“I’m so drunk.” I stumble to him and simply climb in his lap. “And so fucking horny, even though I’m sore because you have a huge cock.”
“Wow, okay, this is fun.” He laughs and hugs me to him. “Do you usually get horny when you drink?”
“Don’t usually get this drunk. Ivy’s fault.”
“Hmm.” He kisses my head, and his hands drift down my back to my ass, and then he yanks me against him, and there’s that monster cock, hugging my pussy perfectly. “Horny you say?”
“Absolutely.”
“I can help with that.”