BareBottomGirl (24 page)

“George’s detective friend is here,” Liam called from down
the hall of the big house. A moment later, Greer heard the crunch of gravel
outside and Liam’s stride on the wooden floors. He dropped a kiss on her cheek.

“If you’ll get the door, I’ll bring some iced tea and snacks
out,” Greer replied, deftly arranging a tray. Chas nabbed it before she could
pick it up.

“I got this.” He grinned at her and followed Liam out the
door.

As Greer wiped the counter, she glanced out the window over the
sink. Rich walked next to Liam. Shorter and broader, he was fairly nondescript.
Greer supposed that was a good quality for a private detective to possess.
After folding the dishrag over the edge of the sink, she joined them.

They gathered in chairs near the pool, drinks in hand. Greer
hoped Rich’s research backed her up. Liam sat next to her. He was tense. Greer
couldn’t blame him. What they would hear could be the key that set him and Chas
free. Her gaze switched to Wyatt. Most important of all, it would keep Wyatt in
an atmosphere where people loved him, where he wasn’t an afterthought or an
object to be manipulated. She hooked her arm around Liam’s elbow and squeezed.

Her dad introduced Rich to everyone. They talked some about
Liam’s addition to the Children’s Museum, then Rich got down to business.

“It really took very little time at all,” Rich said with a
smile lighting his tanned face. “Once I determined they’d both gone to UK, I
cross-referenced activities and it was right there in front of me. Both
belonged to the same sorority. Sure, they weren’t together the entire time, but
they overlapped by a year, so I made a couple more phone calls.”

“So we can show they would have known each other?” Chas
verified.

“Better than that. Julie was Samantha Marlowe’s big sister,
so they have more than just a passing acquaintance.”

Liam and Chas both nodded. Greer knew the two of them had
belonged to fraternities in college. Greer had been so attached to Markus and
her circle of longtime friends, she’d never gotten involved in that aspect of
college life.

“About the only thing closer would be actual siblings,” Chas
remarked. Greer’s dad clapped Chas on the back.

“This is very good news. I suspect we can make the
harassment suit disappear before it gets off the ground.”

Liam grinned. “Then let’s celebrate. I don’t know about the
rest of you, but I could do with a cold beer, a big burger, and great music.”

The brunt of the evening crowd had yet to arrive, and it
wasn’t late enough yet for the band to have started. As Greer glanced that way
she saw the musicians moving around and setting up. For right now, the patio
area was filled with just the hum of conversations and the buzz of insects in
the nearby trees. Greer had always loved the restaurant’s laid-back atmosphere.

She lifted her gaze to the river. Even on a Sunday, there
was a barge moving downstream, piled high with coal. From this distance, it
looked like it moved at no more than a crawl, but Greer knew firsthand how
deceptive that was.

She pulled her gaze from the river to focus on Liam. “Your
mom’s gotten a booster seat for Wyatt,” he said.

She shook her head. “Right, sorry.”

“You all right?”

She nodded.

Conversation stayed pretty general until the waitress had
distributed drinks. Greer set a handful of colored pipe cleaners in front of
Wyatt and showed him how to bend them. As soon as he was occupied with the
activity, she turned her attention to the conversation.

“Who’s playing?” she asked.

“The Pranksters,” Chas replied. “Local guys. They’ve got a
pretty solid following around the area. Classic rock. You’ll like them.”

Wyatt tugged on her shirt. Greer glanced at him.

“I’na see the boats,” he whispered.

Greer glanced at the riverfront and swallowed. She pressed
her lips together. She could do this. As she pushed back her chair, Liam
frowned.

“I can take him,” he murmured.

“No. It’s okay. I’ve got this.” She smiled at everyone
around the table. “Wyatt and I are going to walk by the boats.” When her mother
started to rise, Greer waved her back. “We’re good.”

They moved to the side where the creek branched off from the
river. It was a busy time with plenty of boaters starting to come in after a
day on the river. While a lot of them were headed farther upstream to marinas
located along the creek, a fair number were beginning to fill the slots to get
boatside service from the restaurant. Already, there were spots where boats
were tied two and three deep.

This was one of the busiest spots along the river between
the traffic going up and down the creek and boats jockeying to dock. All of it was
made more complicated by another barge lumbering past and sending a wake out
that rocked the boats from side to side.

Greer could look at the noise and the laughter coming from
them now without more than a feeling of nostalgia. Markus and the times they’d
shared would always be a part of her, but it no longer engendered any feeling
of panic. She glanced up the slope to where the afternoon sun dappled the area
surrounding Liam and Chas while they sat talking to Rich and her parents. She
had two men who loved her. Together, the three of them formed a unit that felt
complete. Society might not view it as the norm, but it worked for the three of
them, and it worked for Wyatt.

His whimper and sudden duck behind her leg was the only warning
she had before Julie Carle’s taut, angry face was right there in front of her.
Where the hell had she come from? Before she could really even comprehend the
thought, Julie was yelling at her.

“This is all
your
fault! Do you have any idea how
mortified my family was to have the
police
at our door?” She leaned
around Greer. “Come with Mommy, Wyatt.”

“No.” He clutched his teddy bear with one little hand.

“Leave him alone,” Greer said at the same time.

Julie glared at her with blue eyes made even bluer by being
bloodshot. She was drunk. Greer stepped between Julie and Wyatt, but it was as
though every dictate of society had fallen from Julie. She shoved Greer out of
the way and made a grab for her son. With a shriek of fright, Wyatt jerked
away. His little sneakers caught in a crack in the sidewalk and he stumbled
backward.

Julie stood as though turned to stone, but made no effort to
grab him as his teddy bear flew up into the air and Wyatt went the opposite
direction, over the bank and into the water. Greer fought for balance and raced
forward, shoving Julie out of the way. All around them shouts had erupted, but
she heard it only as dim background noise. Focused solely on Wyatt, Greer didn’t
even hesitate and jumped in after him. She knew this river all too well. It
would be easy to get caught in a current or snagged on something underwater,
even easier to get pulled in between the boats bumping and jostling around the
dock.

The tepid river water closed over her head for a moment
before she surfaced, frantically looking for Wyatt. Holy hell! The choppy waves
were pushing him right in between two monstrous cruisers. She had to get to him
before he was crushed to death. For just an instant, the murky water, the smell
of fuel and the pull of the waves made her flash back to the last time she’d
been in these waters. The screams she heard now weren’t her own, though, and
the tightness in her chest eased.

Wyatt.

She opened her eyes and kicked strongly toward him. He was
thrashing and panicked and she knew she ran a risk of being pulled under by
him, even as small as he was. Just as she reached him, someone extended a boat
hook to her. She grabbed it with one arm as she snatched Wyatt toward her. He
clutched around her neck, choking her, while he coughed and gagged between
hysterical sobs.

“You’re choking me!” She released the boat hook so she had a
free hand to get him to loosen his hold. As she struggled to shift him to where
he was safe and she could maneuver, she opened her eyes to see the hull of a
boat pushing them toward the stone retaining wall. It would slam them and Wyatt’s
head against it if she didn’t do something.

Greer twisted at the last moment, feeling the scrape of the
stone against her back. She grunted in pain.

“Greer!” Liam’s hoarse growl from above her snapped her
eyelids open. “Grab hold!”

His arm was there, and like a lifeline, she snagged it. Her
gaze met his steady, determined stare, and the panic that had once again
threatened dissipated. As he pulled her up, other arms—Chas’—grasped Wyatt’s
rigid little body and peeled him away from her as Liam hauled her from the
river. Pandemonium encircled them, from boaters gawking on the decks of their
vessels to other bystanders. In the distance, sirens whined.

She lay back on the concrete, not really conscious of what
Liam was saying, her mind more able to take in what she saw. Chas expertly
checked over Wyatt. Someone draped a towel across his shivering shoulders,
while someone else thrust his beloved teddy bear back into his hand. A towel was
extended to her too. Liam took it and draped it over her.

What particularly drew her attention was the sight of her
father and Rich, both grim-faced, with a hysterical Julie Carle firmly grasped
between them. A dull buzz in her head kept getting louder. She was going to
faint. She twisted her head, looking at Liam. He stroked a wet lock of hair off
her forehead.

“Everything’s going to be all right,” he murmured. As quiet
as they were, his words still penetrated the fog of her waning consciousness
and the noise around them.

“I know.”

“Greer. Look at me.” Chas squatted in front of her. She
focused on him, seeing his frown. “Put your head between your knees, sweetie.
An ambulance will be here in just a couple minutes.”

“No hospital,” she mumbled.

His hand stroked her wet hair. “I’ll be with you the whole
time. Your shoulder’s bleeding and we need some x-rays.”

Greer sucked in a deep breath. This wasn’t like before. It
would be okay.

In what seemed like no time at all, paramedics were next to
her. Chas was giving them information, and she was being lifted onto a
stretcher. As he promised, Chas was right there with her. Nerves made her teeth
chatter. Someone covered her with a warm blanket.

“Wyatt?” she asked.

Chas squeezed her hand as they began moving toward the
ambulance’s flashing lights.

“Liam’s bringing him. We’re going to check him out too.”

The stretcher shifted and lifted, jostling her just a bit as
they rolled it inside the truck. Chas had released her hand and Greer’s
breathing started to speed up. The doors slammed shut. A young, uniformed man
wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her upper arm. Greer ignored his
reassuring smile, twisting her head and only relaxing when she looked once
again into Chas’ smiling blue eyes.

“Relax, sweetie. You got this, and I’m right here.” He held
her hand, his thumb stroking the back of it. Greer closed her eyes,
concentrating on his touch and keeping her breathing slow and steady.

Having one of St. Mark’s surgeons at her side certainly
speeded up the whole emergency room process. As he promised, Chas stayed with
her, only leaving her side when Liam entered the cubicle with Wyatt in his
arms. The little boy was already dressed in dry clothes, Teddy once more
clutched by a foot.

“Wyatt wanted to bring you his teddy bear,” Liam told her, a
smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Greer glanced at Wyatt. “Don’t you need it?”

Wyatt shook his head. “I have you. You can hold Teddy and
press his foot.”

Greer smiled at him. “In case I’m scared?”

Wyatt nodded just as Chas joined them. Greer looked at all
three of them. “I have my own heroes, Wyatt. You, Chas and your daddy.”

Chas smiled at her. “You’ll be happy to know, you don’t have
a concussion and other than the scrapes, your shoulder’s fine. What do you say
to getting busted out of here and going home?”

“Home with the three men I love is the best idea I’ve
heard.”

“That’s it, Chas,” Liam said, adjusting his camera. “Shift
your right hand just beneath her belly and keep that left one across her
breasts.”

As the camera clicked, Chas whispered in Greer’s ear, “If he
doesn’t hurry, he may end up snapping pictures of me fucking you instead of
posing with you.”

She giggled. Chas’ eyes drifted shut with pleasure at the
sound. Beneath his hand, he felt a movement inside her baby bump.

“Hmm…our daughter’s getting impatient too.”

“Chas!” Liam snapped. “Hold still.”

“I can’t do much about my twitching cock, dude. You have him
nestled in against her ass and you know how much he likes that particular
place.”

She giggled again. “Why do you guys always talk about your
dicks like they’re people?”

Liam lowered the camera and stared at her deadpan. “Because
we’re best friends. In fact, mine’s feeling a little lonely.”

“Then stop snapping pictures and join us,” Chas said with a
grin.

“Right here in the studio?” Greer asked.

“Well hell, he made this big bed in here for us to pose on.
We might as well see if it will work for other things too.” He let his hand
slide to the soft flesh of her pussy. As his fingers slipped along her moist,
puffy folds, he groaned. Liam had set the camera to one side and was hurriedly
shucking his clothes, his expression sexed up and ready to play. Greer purred.
There was no other way to describe it.

“Remind me to thank your parents again for taking Wyatt for
the weekend,” Liam murmured as he scooted across the bed. After cupping Chas’
jaw in his palm, he leaned down and kissed him deeply. Chas moaned, inserting a
finger deep inside Greer, mimicking the motions of his tongue in Liam’s mouth.

Greer scooted back. “Fuck him, Liam. I want pictures too. We
can both work on sculptures. Mine will be
Men in Love
.”

Chas grinned at her. “Anything for art. How do you want us
to pose?”

“A lot like he had us, except I want his right hand on your
cock.”

Liam laughed. “I’m so onboard with that, but you’d better
hurry, because I plan on having my dick in his ass in less than five minutes.”

As Greer snapped her pictures, Chas watched her. She’d
blossomed over the last six months, not only her pregnancy, but her
self-confidence with them and with Wyatt. Liam was happier too. After the
accident at the restaurant, Julie was out of Wyatt’s life. Free from that
tension, Liam laughed more. Since their wedding, he had shown a lot more
willingness to let himself go to the point he’d allow Chas to fuck him more
often, though he still preferred top, and that suited Chas just fine.

“Put the camera down,” Chas growled at Greer. “Liam has his
cock pushing up my ass, and I’d like to do the same to you.”

She tossed the compact digital onto the nearby table and
knelt in front of him. “Let me suck you first.”

Chas laughed. “I’ll never say no to that.”