Chapter 5
NICKIE
“Why? You got something to hide?” The guy with the dark eyes crossed his arms and quirked a brow. Rudy, Que said his name was—he didn’t look much like a Rudy if you asked me. More like a Butch or Diesel. Something as testosterone-filled as he was.
I’d be lyin’ if I said I didn’t watch the tightening of his muscles and clenching of his jaw as he did it, though.
I’d also be lyin’ if I said I wasn’t watching him for much longer than he realized.
At first, it was to figure out what he was doing outside.
After I saw the way his face went blank like he was somewhere else entirely—not even flinching against the cold while I was shivering in my sneakers—it was more out of curiosity.
“Me? ?Course not.” I pointed from myself to the grumpy beast of a man in front of me. “But there’s nothing wrong with keeping some things between us, now is there?”
I grabbed on to his thumb and tugged until he was following me away from Granny’s window and closer to the back door. He let me ?cause there was no chance in hell I was moving him on my own.
“Yeah? What kind of things?”
“The kind a groom knows better than to tell his bride.” I dropped my fingers to the waistband of his onesie thing, and he snatched up my wrist.
My eyes flicked to where his nails were digging into my skin, then back to his face. That distant look was still there but so was something else. Annoyance maybe? Never seen that one before. Not when my hands were in a guy’s pants.
I leaned in, cupped a palm against my mouth, and whispered, “I won’t tell if you won’t?”
I batted my lashes a few times, like I always did when Granny told me there was no dessert before dinner. It didn’t take more than a little tearing up before she was sneaking some sweets into my hand and warning me not to tell my mother.
I wasn’t a brat. I just didn’t like being told no.
Rudy eyed me for a moment, the cold finally getting to him and causing the little hairs on his arm to stand on end. But he didn’t loosen his grip. “You think I’m the sort of guy to cheat on his fiancée?”
I lifted a single shoulder. “I think all guys are. You tellin’ me if I dropped to my knees right now and offered to lick ya like a lollipop, you’d turn me down?”
“I’m telling you if you tried it, you wouldn’t be licking shit with a busted lip.”
“Now that ain’t very nice, Mr. Broody.” I feigned shock. Truth was, a little blood never bothered me none. Neither did a little pain.
“Don’t call me that,” he grunted, and shoved my arm back against my chest. Reaching out and tugging me closer again when my foot slipped and I nearly busted my ass on a patch of ice.
“Aw! So ya do care!” I grinned and jumped up to lock my wrists around his neck and my legs around his waist. His arms shot out at his sides like he was afraid to touch me.
I didn’t let go, though. Instead, I clung to him like a human-sized starfish.
Squeezing tighter with each step he took towards the door until we were standing back inside the cabin.
My hair tumbling free from the rubber band I’d found in one of the drawers in the kitchen, and working its way inside Rudy’s mouth when he sucked in an annoyed breath.
He blew it back out again. “One of you assholes wanna get off your asses and lend me a hand?”
“What’s wrong, Rue-Rue? Can’t handle one itty-bitty girl all on your own?
” This came from Que. I recognized his voice as he stepped up behind me, and then he was pulling me free and setting me on my feet again.
The rest of the guys were all watching us from where they were sprawled out on Granny’s sofas or tucked up into the corners of the room.
“That isn’t a girl. She’s a succubus or something,” Rudy grunted. “She tried seducing me out there.”
“A suck-you-what?” called out one of the guys.
“I got something you can suck right here, darlin’,” added another.
Que tsked his tongue, grabbing me by the hand and twirling me around to face him. “You’re barking up the wrong tree, Red.” He smirked. “The big guy hasn’t been with a woman since his fiancée…” His smile dropped and his glare flicked behind me like he was saying something he shouldn’t.
“Since his fiancée what?” I pressed.
Que shook his head, his grin firmly back in place like it had never left to begin with. “Since his fiancée agreed to spend the rest of her life chained to that giant ball of fun.”
I narrowed my eyes, my left hand making its way to my mouth as I chewed on the tip of my nail, the polish I’d taken from Granny’s vanity nearly gone by now. “How about a man?”
“What?” Rudy hissed from behind me.
I spun around to look him in the eye while gesturing a thumb over a shoulder. “He said you haven’t been with a woman since your fiancée. Not that you haven’t been with anyone, so…”
“So?” Rudy repeated.
“So have you? Been with a man?” I could feel myself practically bouncing on my heels. This was better than any of Granny’s tv dramas.
“What? No.” Rudy appeared taken aback. But not in the offended kinda way. More like in the hitting a little too close to home kinda way.
“I don’t believe you,” I sang out, as I twirled myself around the living room and back into the kitchen.
Those cookies weren’t gonna eat themselves, now were they? I glanced down at the half-empty plate that had been piled high a few moments ago. Or maybe they would…