Monroe, Marla - Her Biker Boyfriends [The Dirty Dozen 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (9 page)

“What if she’s just in this for a good time?” Ranger asked.

“We convince her otherwise.”

“She only went with us that night to have the experience. I’m surprised she wanted to see us again.”

“I think she likes us more than we think.” Drew leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “Give her a chance, Ranger. Don’t be negative.”

“I just don’t see this working. I know we agreed it was what we wanted, but I honestly don’t believe she will want a ménage relationship. At least not with me.”

“It’s working for the others. It can work for us with the right woman. I think she is the right one, Ranger. You’ve got to quit thinking that you’re unlovable. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“I think I scared her last night.”

“I don’t think so. I think you surprised her. She was all into you, man. Let it go for now. See how things progress.” Drew stood up and stretched.

Ranger hoped Drew was right, but it all seemed too easy to him. Nothing ever went exactly according to plan. It was one of the first things he had learned in life. It was reiterated in the army. That’s why they always had a plan B. What was their plan B for Carly?

* * * *

Carly quickly dried off and pulled on a pair of jeans and T-shirt. She brushed out her hair then looked at herself in the mirror. She winced. She didn’t have on makeup, but decided not to take the time. They had been waiting on her for a good twenty minutes already. Might as well let them see her void of the goo now instead of later.

She thought back to the little electric jolt she had felt with Ranger earlier. It had startled her. She put it down to static electricity, but the heater wasn’t on and she hadn’t had on anything that should have caused it. With a sigh, she shoved it in the back of her mind before bounding down the stairs.

The men were waiting on her in the living room talking. They grew quiet when she stepped off the stairs.

“There you are. Ready to roll?” Drew stood up and grabbed her hand.

“I’m ready. Sorry it took me so long.”

“
Naw
, that wasn’t long. We were talking about where to ride.” Drew kissed her on the cheek and pulled her toward the kitchen door.

She smiled back at Ranger, who had gotten up and was following them. He had an odd look on his face for a second, but then it changed. She thought he had looked thoughtful before he slipped back into the intense expression that normally played over his face.

“You can ride with Ranger for the first part of the ride. We’ll stop at some point and grab something to drink. I’ll get you then.” He waggled his eyebrows, and she laughed.

He was so different from Ranger. She enjoyed being around him because he was so easy to get along with and laid-back. She liked being around Ranger, too. The difference was that he kept her on edge with a thin veil of sexuality that gave her goose bumps. Hell, who was she kidding? He could get her wet with one of his devilish smiles.

She waited until he had the bike ready before she climbed on back and wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t waste time holding on to his sides. She went for the gold and plastered herself against him. She loved the hardness of his abs and the width of his shoulders. It didn’t seem to bother him, because he pulled out ahead of Drew and took off toward the interstate.

“You okay back there?” he asked over the headset.

“Great.”

She held on as they maneuvered around traffic for the next forty-five minutes. Then they took an exit off the interstate and finally pulled into a truck stop parking lot. Ranger held the bike steady as she got off. When she pulled off the helmet, Drew was there to take it.

“How are you doing?”

“Fine. I’m a little thirsty, though.”

“That’s why we stopped, to get something to drink.” They waited for Ranger to pull off his helmet and follow them inside.

“I’m going to run to the bathroom while we’re here.” Carly slipped off toward the restrooms that were in the back.

She quickly finished and washed her hands. When she emerged from the bathroom, the guys were standing there waiting on her.

“What would you like to drink? You ran off so fast, we didn’t get a chance to ask you.” Drew wrapped an arm around her waist.

“Oh, sorry. Water would be great.” She followed them over to the coolers and accepted a bottled water from Ranger.

After Drew paid, they all walked outside to drink them. Ranger ran his bottled water across his forehead, leaving a shiny trail there. Carly had the sudden desire to lick it dry. She almost walked over and grabbed him by the shoulders to pull him down to her level. Instead, she gulped her water and nearly choked.

“Hey, easy there.” Drew patted her on the back. “Don’t choke.”

Why was she so aroused by Ranger today? Drew’s kisses made her hot and wet, but Ranger’s looks sent her blood boiling. It had to be the way he’d taken her the night before. It had been hard and fast. She had loved it. She knew he thought he’d hurt her at first, but she’d made sure he knew that he hadn’t.

“You about ready, baby?” Drew handed her the helmet and pulled on his.

She smiled and waited for him to mount up before she climbed on behind him. Looking over toward Ranger, she caught him staring at her. She stared back. She hoped he liked her as much as she liked him and Drew. It would really suck if he wasn’t all that into her.

They rode for another hour or so before pulling off the interstate once more. This time, they found a pizza place and pulled in there for an early lunch.

“Hope this is okay with you.” Drew waited while she climbed off.

“Sounds good to me. I can never get enough of it.”

“Well, we eat a lot of it because neither one of us really wants to cook most of the time.” Ranger steadied her when she nearly lost her balance getting off the bike.

“I don’t cook as much as I like to. It isn’t worth it for just me. I eat a lot of frozen dinners or go out and get something.” She headed toward the door with one of the guys on either side of her and Drew’s hand at her back.

When they walked in the door, a waitress hurried up to seat them. Carly noticed that there were only four or five people in the place. They were early.

“What can I get you guys to drink?”

They all ordered soft drinks and went ahead and ordered two medium pizzas. Carly hoped they planned to eat most of it. She doubted she could eat more than two pieces. Then again, they were big men. They probably ate a pizza apiece anyway.

“How long till you go back to work again?” Carly asked.

“We’re going to be rehabbing another office building in the same complex next week for about a month. Then we’ll take some time off,” Drew told her.

“I can’t imagine having so much free time. Still, you work long hours and six and seven days a week sometimes. I guess it all evens out.”

“We’re usually really busy in the spring and summer months, and then slow during the winter and fall months. The weather has a lot to do with it.” Ranger took a drink of his soft drink.

“I’m usually very busy during the school year and have to work to get people to come in during the summer. They all have somewhere they would rather be other than the dentist at that time of year.”

“I can imagine.” Drew chuckled.

“Do you work if you don’t have patients?” Ranger asked.

“Yeah, I either help the dentist, or I spend time calling up people trying to make appointments with them for their cleanings.” She wrinkled her nose. “That’s not my favorite thing to do. I prefer someone else do that part.”

“Could you go part-time if you wanted to?” Drew asked.

“Well, if I could pay my bills, I could.” She laughed. “Right now, though, it takes me working my forty hours to do that.”

“Do you take vacations when the dentist is gone, or whenever you want to?” Ranger asked.

She caught Drew watching the other man. What was going on with them?

“Um, well, I get two weeks. One week is during the summer when the dentist takes off, and the other week I take when I want to. We get several days off around Thanksgiving and Christmas as well.”

“We don’t work at all the week of Thanksgiving, or Christmas through New Year’s.” Drew took a drink.

She was about to ask them when they took vacations when the waitress interrupted them with their pizzas. They spent the next thirty minutes fighting over slices and eating. She actually managed three pieces, much to her dismay. They had egged her on with the third one. She should have stopped. She was going to get fatter than she already was.

“Why the frown?” Ranger asked her.

“Just thinking that if I ate like this every day I would be big as a house.”

“
Naw
, you look good like you are. Another few pounds wouldn’t hurt you.” Ranger took another bite of pizza.

“What is it with you women thinking that thin-as-a-rail bodies are sexy?” Drew asked around a mouthful of pizza.

“Come on. Don’t tell me you don’t look at women with tiny waists and small asses.”

“We don’t.” Ranger sat back in his chair and stared at her. “I like a round ass that I can squeeze and hold on to.”

“We like your body just fine, baby. You have perfect breasts and like Ranger said, you’ve got a hot ass.”

“If you say so. It’s just been my observation that men date thin women.”

“Maybe some men do,” Ranger said with a growl, “but we don’t.”

“Since I don’t have a thin body, I guess you don’t.” She paused and thought about that.

They had sought her out at the club and pursued her even after their first time together. Maybe they did like meat on their women. She smiled. Well, unless she was just easy and that was why they kept asking her out. She frowned then concentrated on her drink. She was second-guessing everything again. It was a bad habit she had developed during her dating years.

“I’m stuffed.” Ranger leaned back in his chair and stared at the last three slices of pizza on the table.

“Want to take it back with us or leave it?” Drew asked.

“I’m for leaving it. It’s only three pieces.”

“What do you say, Carly?” Drew ran a finger across her hand.

“It’s probably more trouble than it’s worth to fit a box in the saddle bags.”

“Good point,” Ranger agreed.

They finished their drinks and paid the waitress for the pizza before climbing back on the bikes. She switched to Ranger again for the ride back. She didn’t know if they would stop midway or not. She hoped she didn’t have to go to the bathroom. She would hate to make them stop.

As it was, they didn’t stop until they arrived back at the house. She squirmed until Ranger had the door unlocked and the security off. Then she ran upstairs to the bathroom, much to the guys’ amusement.

“Just because you have bladders the size of basketballs doesn’t give you the right to laugh at my tennis-ball one,” she called out as she raced to the bathroom.

She missed whatever they said in return because she closed the door. After relieving herself, she washed up and slowly descended the stairs. The men were standing in the living room talking about what to do about dinner.

“I’ll cook if you have something I can put together,” she offered.

“You don’t have to cook. We can put something together, we’re just arguing over what it will be.” Drew pulled her into his arms. He wrapped them around her from the back and rested his chin on her head.