Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Liza took a sip of her wine as Keeley perused the menu. For two weeks straight, she, Rafe, and Gio had basically locked themselves in the haunted mansion, existing exclusively on sex, takeout, sex, sleep, sex, and—occasionally—some work.
Gio had set up a workshop in one of the outbuildings behind the mansion. And while he spent a few hours there every day, he found countless excuses to come into the house to steal kisses from her. Not that she was complaining.
She’d broken away from the guys tonight, simply because she couldn’t keep coming up with excuses not to go out with Liza, who was getting very suspicious.
Prior to Keeley’s new job with Baros Corporation, it wasn’t unusual for her and Liza to get together two or three times a week, either for dinner—as they both lived alone and had no one to eat with—or to go clubbing.
Liza leaned back, not bothering to look at the menu. Instead, she was more intent on studying Keeley. “You’ve got a just-been-fucked glow.”
Keeley laughed. “You can’t tell that by looking at someone.”
“Of course, you can. God, you practically reek of good sex. So let’s have it.”
“Liza.”
Liza narrowed her eyes. “If it’s JT, I swear to sweet Jesus—”
“It’s not JT.”
“Ah,” Liza said, as if Keeley had fallen into her trap. “So there is somebody.” She tapped her chin as if thinking, though Keeley could tell it was all for show. “Rafe or Gio. Which one?” Liza asked point-blank.
Keeley sighed. So much for being discreet. Liza had seen their dirty dance on the floor at Eclectic, and she knew Keeley was spending all her time with the guys, under the guise of “working late” on the inn project.
“You’re being ridiculous,” Keeley said. “Now are we going to order or not?”
“Gio seems to be the obvious answer,” Liza continued, ignoring Keeley completely. “He’s a shameless flirt, and I’ve noticed the way he looks at you.”
Keeley stopped trying to play coy. “He looks at me?”
Liza nodded. “Oh yeah. You came back from college all grown up and hot. Gio noticed, but he pretended not to. Probably because of Kayden. So it could be Gio,” she mused.
Keeley worked hard to school her features, determined not to give Liza the tiniest thread to tug.
“And while Rafe would normally be the wild card, with his Tin Man exterior, quiet and somber and repressed as fuck, the two of you have been spending a lot of time together. And I bet the guy is a serious freak in the bedroom.”
Keeley mentally cursed as she felt her cheeks heat. She prayed she wasn’t blushing because Liza would definitely notice. But damn if her friend hadn’t hit the nail on the head.
Keeley picked up her wineglass and tried to hide behind it. “Are we finished with this game?” she asked, feigning boredom.
“We will be. As soon as you tell me which one.” Liza wasn’t going to let this go.
She probably should have asked the guys what she was supposed to say about them.
So far, since that first and only date in public at Alpen Rose, the three of them had limited their time together to the mansion.
She didn’t think they’d done that on purpose, didn’t think they were trying to hide what was going on.
The truth was, none of them was willing to be too far away from a bed—or at the very least, a flat surface—in private.
Her mind drifted back to this morning, when Gio had tossed her onto the kitchen table, declaring to Rafe that breakfast was served, before going down on her. An hour later, hot and sweaty and basking in the afterglow of amazing sex, they plowed through a mountain of pancakes.
Liza’s gaze narrowed and she leaned forward. “Ho. Ly. Shit. You’re sleeping with both of them, aren’t you?”
Liza didn’t exactly possess an inside voice, and a few heads of people sitting near them twisted in their direction.
Keeley lowered her voice, murmuring, “A little louder, Liza. They didn’t hear you in Jersey.”
“Are you being for real right now?” Liza pressed, unrepentant but mercifully quieter.
“It just happened.” Which was a lame explanation, but Keeley wasn’t sure how else to describe it.
“It just happened,” Liza repeated. “When? How?”
Keeley shrugged. “We got stuck at Divine the night of Penny’s party. There was that big storm, remember?”
Liza nodded.
“We were talking, waiting for it to pass. When it did, they walked me to my car. I’d been bitching about the lack of good good-night kisses in my life.”
“A valid complaint. I really think they should add kissing to the high school curriculum. Fuck new math. The world has bigger problems to solve.”
Keeley grinned. This was why she loved Liza so much. She was funny and irreverent and always had her back. “Yeah, well, you know Gio. He took it as a challenge. So he gave me a kiss, and it was a good kiss. But he said it didn’t mean anything.”
“Apparently he lied.”
Keeley wasn’t sure if he had at that point. “Maybe, maybe not. After that, I started working for Rafe. Suddenly, he and Gio are learning more about me, about my life. And the next thing I know…they’re crashing my dates.”
Liza tilted her head. “I thought we found that annoying.”
“Not the way Rafe and Gio do it. They sort of took over, claimed the dates, rather than just that shooting-intimidating-looks-from-afar tactic our brothers use. At the end of the first crashed date, Gio kissed me again. After the second, Rafe kissed me too.”
Keeley had replayed that first kiss from Rafe over a million times, and the memory still had the power to make her blush.
“Wow,” Liza said, staring at her too intently. “Must have been some really good kisses.”
“Soooo fucking good,” Keeley admitted. It was a relief to have someone to talk to about everything that had happened in the last month and a half.
“Get to the good part,” Liza urged.
“The day we helped Gio move into the mansion…I had a date with JT.”
Liza’s eyes narrowed. “I knew you were lying. You don’t get a manicure to do the laundry.”
“Yeah, well. Let’s just say…you were right about him. It ended badly, with me getting stranded at The Dolphin.”
Liza gasped. “Alone? Not good.”
“I know. I called Gio, and he and Rafe came to get me. They took me back to the mansion because my apartment key was locked in JT’s car.”
“Where was he?”
“Drunk tank.”
“Jesus,” Liza muttered. “Bet Gio was pissed.”
“And then some. I took the guest room, but it was cold. Super cold. Gio blamed the ghosts.”
Liza laughed but didn’t interrupt.
“I went in search of blankets but ended up in Gio’s bed. With him. And Rafe.”
“That feels like the SparkNotes version, but we’re to the good part finally, so I will allow it.” They’d bought a bottle of wine, so Liza lifted it out of the chiller and refilled both their glasses.
“I only had sex with Gio that night.”
“But Rafe was there?”
Keeley nodded. “They both like to watch. Anyway, the next night, they took me out on a real date. God, it was so romantic, and after that…” Keeley didn’t bother to fight her flushed cheeks. She couldn’t if she wanted to.
“So you’ve been shacking up with my cousin and his best friend for two weeks and this is the first I’m hearing of it?”
Keeley glanced at her nails, diva-style. “I’ve been busy,” she said shamelessly. “Very busy. And then tired. So, so tired.”
“Bitch.” Liza broke a chunk off her breadstick and threw it at Keeley, who just barely dodged it with a laugh.
They both took another sip of wine, and Keeley could see her friend trying to process everything she’d just learned.
She’d accepted Liza’s invitation to dinner this morning, then spent the entire afternoon trying to come up with an excuse to get out of it.
Simply because she hadn’t wanted to leave the guys.
Which just proved she was in way too deep.
In the end, Rafe had convinced her to go, telling her a few hours apart wouldn’t kill them. Then Gio—the irreverent, hilarious asshole—had piled on, adding his dick was sore and he needed a break.
Finally, Liza said, “What the fuck is it with Baltimore?”
Keeley frowned, completely confused by the question. “What?”
“Uncle Frank moves his family to Baltimore, then comes back to Philly a few years later after Aunt Moira died. Now all his kids are threesome people. That shit had to happen in Baltimore.”
Keeley laughed, until she realized Liza wasn’t.
“I’m being serious. Think about it,” Liza continued. “First, Layla hooks up with Finn and Miguel. Then, Tony and Rhys are moving Jess in with them, becoming an instant family with her and Jasper. Now Gio. All of them. Threesomes.”
“It’s not quite all of them. I mean, Luca and Joey are still single. But I have to admit, I hadn’t really thought about that,” Keeley replied, but Liza was on a roll.
“Then Aunt Rose and Uncle Tommy’s youngest, my cousin Erin, moves to Baltimore.
Boom. She’s living down there with two guys, Oliver and Gavin.
It’s gotta be Baltimore because nobody in my branch of the family is doing that.
We’re straight-up Philly. Bruno’s married to one wife.
Elio sleeps with his rink bunnies, one chick at a time. ”
“What about Aldo?” Keeley asked.
“He’s a workaholic who practically lives at the fire station. Who knows what his deal is.”
“You don’t think you’d be interested in trying a menage?” Keeley asked.
Liza scowled. “Hell no. I don’t want two of those things coming at me at the same time,” she admitted, gesturing in such a way that made it clear she was talking about dicks, not men.
Keeley laughed. “Don’t knock it until you try it.”
Liza rolled her eyes, grinning. “I’ll take your word for it.” Then she added, “So I’ll repeat again. What the fuck is going on in Baltimore?”
Keeley shrugged, enjoying this conversation and time with her friend more than she expected. “I have no idea. But I’m thinking I might like to visit there one day.”
Liza shuddered. “You’re taking that trip alone.”
The waiter returned to take their orders.
“Have you talked to Gianna today?” Liza asked her after the server walked away.