Lindsey's Wolves (5 page)

As soon as they came through the door Alejandro wrapped his arm around Lindsey’s middle and pulled her close. The intimacy reassured her where his intentions lay. Formalities aside, the man was interested.

“You have a beautiful home.” He peered around the large open family-room space that greeted its guests in earth tones of browns, oranges, and reds.

“Thank you. We’ve been making some changes lately and are loving the results.”

“Don’t listen to a word she says, man,” came Justin’s voice as he rounded the corner from the kitchen. “‘We’ is highly overstated. Kara did all the work. Trev and I can’t take an ounce of credit. But she’s right about one thing—the final effect is gorgeous, as is the woman occupying the space.” Justin pulled Kara in for a quick kiss on the lips before returning his attention to Alejandro and continuing. “I’m Justin, by the way. Welcome.”

Alejandro took the outstretched hand before him and flawlessly completed the American greeting. Was it Lindsey’s imagination, or did he physically stiffen before relaxing his grip around her waist?

“Alejandro. Or Alex. Whatever’s more comfortable for you.”

“Well, let’s get out of the doorway. Sit everyone.” Justin swung his arm wide in a sweeping gesture to encompass the newly renovated living space. “Kara wanted this space to be ideal for guests and I believe she’s outdone herself.”

“Indeed, she has. I don’t know what it was like before, but it’s lovely, Kara. You’ve done a great job.” Alejandro never ceased to say just the right thing. A true gentleman. He aimed Lindsey to an overstuffed beige couch and sat them both down with a grace that not just any man could have achieved, forcing her efficiently to be pressed into his side, and never removing his arm from around her waist. It should have been disconcerting, this possessive man sucking her in, but it was oddly comforting instead.

“Don’t listen to him,” Kara said. “I did very little to this room. It was wonderful when I got here.”

“I’m sure you added just the right touches to turn a house into a home,” Alejandro added. His gaze wandered to Justin. “So you operate a dairy farm here? I assume you know my aunt and uncle? Clay and Stacy Thompson?”

Was it her imagination, or did Alejandro watch Justin with particular attention?

“Yes, of course. Kara told us earlier about you coming to live with your family. How are you enjoying it here so far?”

“Love it. It just keeps getting better in fact.” Lindsey squirmed when he turned his pointed gaze her way.

“So, what did you do in Spain, Alex?” Kara didn’t hesitate to grasp the nickname he’d offered.

“My family owns a vineyard, actually. I’ve been knee-deep in grapes and wine since I was born. The switch to milk has been such a pleasure.” Alex, as Lindsey was beginning to think of him, laughed. “Well, at least the process is not as complicated, and I never come home at the end of the day completely stained purple.”

Everyone chuckled. Lindsey warmed to an even greater extent. They liked him. She wasn’t crazy. The man was a god.

“I hear voices. Why didn’t anyone tell me we had company?” Lindsey glanced behind her as Trevor padded into the room, feet bare, jeans hanging low on his hips. Between him and Justin, it was no wonder Kara’s face nearly glowed these days. How could she go wrong?

Alejandro stood and reached for Trevor’s hand in greeting. A chill made its way through Lindsey’s body when he removed his warm arm from around her. It seemed he had practically been holding her grounded. Or was it that he was keeping her from reality?

In any case, she was acutely aware that although he was now standing, his huge muscular thigh was pressing into her side. Somehow he managed to smoothly move through life without really ever loosing contact. And she loved it.

“Alejandro,” her suave date declared again. “Pleasure meeting you all. Lindsey has been telling me about you.”

“That’s frightening. And you stopped by anyway?” Trevor joked. “Welcome.”

“Ha, ha, Trev.” Kara glared at him from her spot across from them.

Undaunted, he still made his way to her side and plopped down along her left, pinning her between himself and Justin. It seemed claustrophobic to Lindsey, but Kara looked side to side at each of her men with glazed eyes. Even after several months the newness hadn’t worn out. Would it?

When Alex sat back down, he placed his hand on Lindsey’s knee and squeezed. She nearly shot off the couch. Her skirt was short enough and tight enough that sitting had forced it up rather high. His palm was so large, it nearly encompassed her entire bare thigh, sending her sexual awareness into overdrive.

As if that weren’t enough, he began to caress her skin with his fingers, the movement probably subtle enough no one but her noticed, but he was driving her mad with need. His damn pinky kept creeping precariously close to her damp panties, even brushing against the other thigh on occasion.

Whatever religious zealot had decided sex was not for pleasure was completely insane. The feelings Lindsey had were far from unpleasurable. Surely, God didn’t intend for her to be struck down since He was the one who’d made her this way in the first place.

Lindsey squeezed her legs together to keep from moaning, or worse yet, having an orgasm right here on her friend’s couch. She could feel the heat radiating from her center, up her torso, across her chest and neck to pinken her cheeks. Did anyone else notice?

She cleared her throat. “I think I’ll take you up on that glass of water, Kara. I’m parched.” She jumped up to dislodge Alejandro before he could succeed in causing her complete embarrassment. “And ice. Is it hot in here?”

Everyone chuckled. Was that funny? Why did it seem as though they were all staring at her as if she were the brunt of some clearly undefined ongoing prank?

Kara eased away from her men, her lips tucked between her teeth to hold back a full-out guffaw. “Let’s get that for you. I have plenty of ice. Alejandro, you need some too? Never mind, I’ll just bring you a glass.” To Lindsey she continued over her shoulder, “I even made cookies this afternoon. We can bring out a tray.”

Lindsey, immensely glad to escape the room and clear her head, practically ran after Kara toward the kitchen. How could she be so smitten so fast by this sexy Spaniard? How could she not, she rationalized when she glanced back to find him smiling at her from across the room.

As soon as they were out of hearing distance, she muttered, “What the hell is the matter with me? Did you see that?”

Kara grinned and turned from reaching into the cabinets, glasses in each hand. “Yes, sweetie. You’re in lust. It happens.”

“Not to me it doesn’t. Not like this. Not so fast. So…”

“What? Right?” She raised an eyebrow and Lindsey took up residence on a bar stool across the center island, reaching across for the tall glass of ice water.

Instead of drinking it, she held the glass against her forehead and began to roll it back and forth across her face and even down to her neck. “It’s happening so fast. These … feelings. You know better than anyone how difficult this is for me. Do you think I’m ready? Can I have an actual normal relationship, without clamming up and ruining it with my inability to fend off the demons of my past?”

“Leave those damn demons right where they are, in the past. You know intellectually that crazy church and crazier pastor brainwashed you into believing so many inaccuracies. Put it into practice. Let your heart decide for itself.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d sleep with him right now, tonight, like some kind of slut. That’s what my heart is telling me. Or maybe that’s my libido talking.”

“You’re not a slut, Lin. Just relax. Go with the feelings. When it’s right, it just is. And, honey, I can tell by looking this is just perfect.”

“I barely know him.” Lindsey moaned and laid her head on the counter. Maybe the granite surface would cool her burning cheeks. She doubted it would do anything for the burn between her thighs, but it was a start. “Pour that water over my head, would you?” she mumbled against the island.

Lindsey ignored her joke. “I knew immediately when I met Justin, and almost as fast with Trevor, and that was the next evening for heaven’s sake. My world spun on its axis so fast it seemed like a merry go round I would surely be flung off at any moment. But I wasn’t. Both men held on, and now I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”

Lin lifted her head a few inches and peered up at her friend. “It hasn’t eased up any? Your … desire for both of them?”

“Nope.”

“And they are okay with this? No hard feelings on their part? No fighting, arguing about who gets you first, or whatever?”

“Not a bit.” Kara bit her lip, but she didn’t laugh. “Mind you, they had been sharing women for many years before I came along. This wasn’t new to them. The only difference is they both fell in love this time, and naturally there won’t be any
more
women.”

“Aren’t you … tired?” She sat up, scrunching her face in a grimace as she stared at Kara.

This time a chuckle did escape. “Not like you mean.”

“Don’t take this wrong, but you look exhausted. Under your Wonder Woman exterior. I know you better.”

“Well … maybe a little, but not for the reasons you’re thinking.”

“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” Might as well pull the elephant all the way into the room.

Kara gasped. “You can tell?”

“You are! I knew it. Of course. We’ve been friends for years, and I’ve never seen this look on you, even after you decided to live this lifestyle. You’re positively glowing. It’s doing a good job of hiding the exhaustion. You need to slow down. Take it easier. What do you do all day anyway? I mean besides bake cookies and redecorate living spaces?” she teased.

“Hardy har har. Aren’t you the jokester. I actually work around here too, you know. At least as much as these apes let me. Now that I’m pregnant, they’re crowding in on me a bit more. Starting to demand I slow down.”

“Crowding in
more
? How is that possible? They are practically inside you as it is, pun intended.”

“Oh, just keep them rollin’, why don’t you.” Kara jumped when the back door suddenly opened, the screen squeaking on its hinges.

The man who entered looked like a near replica of Justin, same dark wavy hair hanging across his forehead, same dark eyes, same build. Did Justin have a twin? She didn’t remember ever being told that.

“Ryan. What a surprise,” Kara gushed. “Come in. Have you met my friend Lindsey?” She turned her gaze toward Lindsey as she spoke with a sweeping motion of her hand.

Whoever this Justin clone was, he had stopped only two feet into the room, frozen in space, his mouth slightly open as if about to speak, staring at Lindsey without blinking.

Time stood still for what seemed like minutes, but could have only been seconds. He was a replica of Justin, sure, but somehow even better. Smooth, sexy, muscular. His dark green T-shirt hugged his pecs to perfection and showed off his six-pack. He surely worked on the farm also. There was no other way for men to be as incredibly “cut” as the ones currently filling this testosterone-immersed house right now. Where did they grow these studs?

His deep chocolate eyes bore into her with the same intensity as Alejandro’s.
Alejandro
, the sexy god sitting in the other room who, two seconds ago, had hung the sun and the moon, and drove Lindsey to the kitchen in order to avoid jumping his bones right there in front of God and everyone. Lindsey cleared her throat. “I don’t believe we’ve met,” she managed to squeak out.

“Nope. I’d have remembered it. No doubt about that.” Ryan’s words were barely uttered between his still slightly parted lips. His gaze never left hers.

“Ryan?” Kara interjected.

If he heard her, he didn’t acknowledge it.

Lindsey held her breath, unable to break her gaze from his, mesmerized even more by his deep voice than she had been by his good looks. His words flowed over her skin in the same way Alejandro’s did, as if he too spoke another beautiful Latin language.

Her skin warmed, and her cheeks once again heated and flushed for the umpteenth time tonight. What the hell was wrong with her? If she didn’t know any better, she’d think she was in heat or something like some kind of animal. How could two people drive her so utterly mad with lust in such a short time? And one of them was
in the other room
. Her mind screamed the words as though through clenched teeth.

“
Ryan
.” Kara tried again to break the spell.

Finally, he glanced her way, but made no effort to move into the room farther.

“I think you have met. Didn’t you? Weren’t you with Justin the night we met? At Boot Scooters? In May?” No one spoke. “Lindsey was with me that night.” She looked up at the ceiling, trying to recall the details, a fact Lindsey only conjured from her peripheral vision. Her gaze was still locked on the mystery clone in the doorway. “Maybe you didn’t actually ‘meet’ now that I think about it, but she was with me. Ryan?”

“We didn’t meet, no. Are you sure she was with you?”

“I was,” Lindsey muttered. “What difference does it make?”
Why was everyone acting so weird?

The black hole she’d fallen into kept getting wider.

“Well,” Kara continued, ambling slowly over toward Ryan, “the bar was crowded. It was late, dark, loud.”

What the hell is Kara rambling about?

Kara directed all her energy toward Ryan. She tugged his arm and pulled him to the other side of the island where Lindsey still sat propped on a stool. She’d threaded her feet around two legs of the chair and now gripped them with all her might as if the pressure might cause reason to return to her otherwise upside-down existence. To no avail. The wooden stool legs dug into her shins, probably leaving an indentation, but the world still spun off its axis.

“Shouldn’t have made a difference,” Ryan whispered in Kara’s direction out of the side of his mouth. He didn’t take his gaze from Lindsey, and now leaned against the cool surface of the island, his face only a foot from hers.

If someone would please throw that glass of ice water over her sometime soon, she’d surely wake from this bizarre dream. Her legs began to tremble and even her fingers shook. She gripped the edge of the counter to steady herself.