Chapter One #2
together to get the best prices and deals. They found they had far more power
in negotiations when they worked together. And when they sent in a shark in
heels and a business suit. That would be her. One of the blessings of her job was
getting to make friends all over the country. Miranda was a good one. “Well,
she had the chance a couple of months ago. She came up to teach my parents how
to use the new accounting software and my brothers tried to seduce her.”
Olivia couldn’t help it. She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t that
Tanner and Kade weren’t hot. They were gorgeous, but they were also way too
young for her. They were young bucks doing all kinds of things with the oats
they were supposed to sow. “I remember them as toddlers. I can’t. Same with all
the Harper boys.” She looked to Bobby. “You know you could have been a way more
protective fake boyfriend.”
He laughed. “Oh, I think most of the younger set has figured
me out. I tend to go to Hell on Wheels when I come home. Naturally my parents
think I’m at church functions or helping the sheriff with his Internet. It’s a
weirdly good place to pick up guys. Unless you’re with Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood,
and then she scares them off.”
“Do not.” Except she kind of did. She was starting to worry that
she wasn’t capable of love. She had grown up around so many beautiful,
beat-the-odds love stories, but she had never felt for anyone the way she did
Bobby. It might be that fate or the universe had screwed up, and she hadn’t
found a way to settle for less.
Not that they’d ever had a physical relationship.
She’d had them. He’d had them. But never together. Bobby
wasn’t one of those guys who needed to try sex with a girl to see if he was
truly gay. Nope. He’d always known.
Olivia had a couple of boyfriends over the years. In high
school she had dated a football player. She thought he was brave and crazy
about her since her family was still known as the town scandal. Then she
overheard him talking about how her parents were rich and he didn’t care that
his momma called Jack Barnes the devil. He wanted to cash in. Marrying Olivia
Barnes-Fleetwood was the ticket to an easy life, and he wanted it.
She dumped him before the championship game and the Willow
Fork Tigers lost. Then she was the child of the scandalous family who also cost
them the state title.
Then there was the college math major. They had a good time,
but when he left for his graduate work she hadn’t been heartbroken.
For a little while she thought she might try with a rancher
who had joined the collective a few years back. He was perfect on paper. They
had a lot in common. He knew about her parents and wasn’t worried about it. He
got along with Josh and Grim. Then she heard him talking about how hard it was
to work with a woman.
It was the last straw, and now she was done with all things
romantic and she was barely thirty.
“Oh, no. She’s thinking about all her other relationships
and coming to the conclusion that she should be a nun.” Gigi Dawson sank onto
the seat beside Miranda, who looked their friend’s way and nodded her
agreement. She wore a yellow cocktail dress that clung to her every curve. Her
glorious, naturally curly hair was in a halo around her head.
“I don’t have a look,” Olivia insisted.
“She does, and I’m pretty sure she is contemplating living
the rest of her life alone, concentrating only on business and being everyone’s
weird aunt,” Bobby agreed and then leaned forward. “I think we should find her
a hot, random dude to celebrate her brothers’ keeping up the family tradition
of two guys marrying one woman.”
Gigi’s eyes widened. “I mean from what I know her dads are
like all into each other, too, so they’re all married.”
“Ewww,” Olivia said, shaking her head. Gigi was always
amusing and loved to be a bit shocking, too. “Josh and Grim are brothers. I
know they’re not biological brothers and it’s not like my parents formally
adopted him, but they are brothers. My dads have a unique relationship.”
“You mean like Chloe’s dads have, and Aria’s dads and oh,
all of your nephews’ dads? Like every relationship in Bliss except the
billionaire dude and the scary guy who wears socks with his Birkenstocks.” Gigi
shrugged. “They are not unique. Just the originals. I like to tell your dad he
led the way when it came to two guys and a girl all getting it on together.
That’s usually when he pretends to not know who I am and mutters something
about my dad. Which should prove that he does know who I am.”
Gigi was a menace. “I’m only saying Josh and Grim consider
themselves brothers, and I do, too, and I do not appreciate you making me
wonder how careful they are when they sleep with their brand-new wife. So again
with the eww.”
Bobby shrugged. “Well, they are pretty together.” His
eyebrows rose. “Oh, and so are they. Hello, pretty boys.”
Every woman’s head turned as the two started walking by.
Bobby wasn’t wrong. They were hot. They wore suits, but it
looked more natural on one of them. The taller of the two had an elegance about
him. A male-model thing going. He was masculine but in a graceful way. The
other one was pure linebacker hotness. Male Model had hair as black as a
raven’s wing, while Linebacker’s was a deep brown with threads of red and blond
running through it. The best of both worlds.
“Oh, well, that’s quite nice,” Miranda said, and her hand
actually came up to make sure she wasn’t drooling.
“Where did they come from?” Gigi looked around like she was
offended she did not know who the hottest guys in the room were. “They can’t be
from our side. I would have noticed them.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never met them. Nicole invited a few
people from her old life. After her nasty ex died, a bunch of her friends came
looking for her,” Olivia explained. “Maybe they’re from her side. I think
they’re all from Oregon.”
“Perfect,” Miranda declared. “They’ll go back to Oregon, and
you won’t ever have to see them again.”
Bobby grinned. “It actually is kind of perfection.”
“Or they could be married or have girlfriends. And I would
bet they aren’t ménage partners,” Olivia pointed out. Although she had shaved
and let a makeup artist work on her for hours, and then there was the hair. She
looked good. Did she want to waste all that time and effort?
They were in a luxury hotel. She had a hard deadline to be
out of here tomorrow morning. She had to be at the airport by noon. There was a
narrow window to get her freak on, and that made it seem more possible. There
wouldn’t be any awkward exchange of phone numbers.
It wasn’t like other people weren’t hooking up. There was a
stall in the ladies’ bathroom that wasn’t being used for the purpose it was
created for. Not at all. Many of the single people were circling each other.
And Chloe Lodge was staring at Seth Taggart across the room
as he started to get ready to play a set. She explained earlier that Tom was
caught in New York working on a big project.
Tom was always working on a project. Chloe was alone more
than she was with him.
Did she want to end up being Chloe? Pining for something she
couldn’t have? Although Chloe could have Seth if she wanted him. She was pretty
sure Seth slept with every halfway attractive woman who said yes.
She loved Bobby, but it wasn’t romantic anymore. Her sorrow
was more about what could have been.
It might be time to enjoy the now.
Miranda put a hand on Gigi’s arm, her eyes wide. “She’s
thinking about it. She’s actually thinking about it.”
“No, I’m not.” She lied and found the best reason of all to
not make a complete idiot of herself at her brothers’ wedding. “Like I said
they’re probably married. Or maybe they’re together.”
Bobby stood and smoothed down his jacket. “Only one way to
find out.”
“What are you doing?” Olivia whispered as her bestie stood
up.
“I’m going to see if they’re available, though you’ll
probably have to pick one if they’re against the whole threesome thing,” Bobby
offered.
She thought about it. “Do not tell them my name. If they’re
interested, no names exchanged.”
He grinned. “We’re going the ‘dirty night we never speak of
again’ route. I like it.”
He strode toward them, and Olivia worried she made a
terrible mistake.
“He’s going to take them if they’re gay,” Gigi said with a
sigh.
“He is not. He has a boyfriend.” Olivia watched in horror as
Bobby walked up to the two men who were ordering from the open bar. “That’s why
he’s coming out. He wants to take Mark to Will’s wedding. And now I have to
tell my parents I’ve been lying to them for a couple of years.”
A good reason to get some stress relief in. She promised to
stick close to home while her brothers were on their honeymoon. She was usually
the one on the road, but she was going to take over Josh’s work in the office.
She was supposed to work with some lawyer her uncle was sending out to Willow
Fork next week. It would be boring.
Shouldn’t she have some fun?
It was only one night.
When they walked her way, she sat up and decided to make it
a memorable one.
* * * *
Garrett Pace tried not to look at the redhead who
seemed to be the bride’s sister. Wasn’t that usually the person who took the
maid of honor position? He wasn’t sure, but then it wasn’t like he’d been to a
bunch of weddings. They didn’t look alike, but she was the maid of honor. Maybe
they were nothing more than best friends. He felt bad that he missed the part
of the reception where they made toasts. He would like to have found out her
name, maybe gotten a chance to get an introduction.
“Did the call go okay?” His best friend sat down next to
him.
Keane Rollins had been around for most of his life. Keane
was the only person in the world he knew he could count on. He was rapidly
coming to trust his new bosses, but for so long it was only him and Keane.
Through the roughest times. Through the times he wasn’t sure they would come
out alive.
“It was an accounting error,” he replied. “I had a long talk
with them about being more careful, but I’m absolutely certain it wasn’t on