Read Rough Ride Online

Authors: Keri Ford

Tags: #Romance, #Erotica

Rough Ride (3 page)

BOOK: Rough Ride
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She groaned. And now she knew why. Or not really why. “I kissed Lane Iverson.”

“Whoa.”

“Nice work.” Flora held up a high five, but Gretchen didn’t return it. Flora’s hand lowered, as did her smile. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh is right.” For months the Iverson Triplets, as everybody called them, had been living out of her trailer park. And for months, Gretchen had watched out her window to watch Lane, the youngest of the triplets, come and go as often as possible. It was crazy-girl behavior, but she just couldn’t help herself. She’d never met a man like him. So silent and strong. Rough on the outside and dedicated to his brothers and what they needed. She didn’t talk to him much, but just in the times they’d seen each other, she knew.

Quick places. At the diner in passing. Or, if she happened to be outside cutting grass, he’d stop and weed-eat for her. Not much more had been said other than ‘thanks’ or ‘excuse me’. Really, she shouldn’t know so much about him, but it couldn’t be helped. He was often with his brothers and when the group of those guys got together, it was impossible to miss them or their interactions.

Tonya sat back. “Huh. I can’t believe he’s a bad kisser.”

“What?” Gretchen shook her head. Lord no. His kiss was all consuming. Needy and just, wow. When he kissed her, short as it was, it was gripping. The only thing bad about it was the stopping part. “I never said that.”

Flora glanced across the table. “Was he not, you know…interested?”

Heat flamed through Gretchen. Oh, yes. Yes, he had been interested. Every long, firm inch of him interested. “He says he’s not staying in town.” Then she repeated the whole sordid tale of how he was leaving.

“Dream boat just got a little more dreamy.” Flora popped a slice of fruit in her mouth. “Kisses good, sexy. Isn’t planning on sticking around, double sexy. I’m not sure what you’re waiting for. Wonder if the other brothers are planning the same?”

“Flora!” Tonya laughed.

“What? There’s three of them. Three of us. I vote we sample.” She emptied her glass and poured another. “What’s the problem, Gretchen?”

Gretchen shrugged. “I’ve never done this kind of thing before. I don’t even know what I was thinking with Lane anyway.” She had seen what she wanted and that had been the end of any rational thought. “I haven’t really even kissed anyone since Paul.”

Silence fell around the table. Not again, she shouldn’t be surprised, but used to the habit. Gretchen waved her hands around. “I killed the chat.”

“No.” Flora looked to Tonya.

Tonya’s face was set in a familiar way with soft eyes and lips twisted in not quite a smile, but not a frown either. “We just…I know it was hard for you when he died. It was years ago, but if you’re not ready to move on, then you shouldn’t yet.”

Gretchen looked into her wine. The ruby color swirled. A slice of strawberry and peach floated along the top. She was ready to move on. At least, she was tired of being lonely. Especially at night. She’d known Paul only a month before they married. It was crazy. People told her she was nuts and she believed them, but didn’t care. Hell, when Paul touched her, she felt crazy. Six weeks after the wedding, Paul walked into a convenience store seconds before a hold up. He never walked back out.

She hadn’t felt crazy again. Not until seeing Lane.

She looked up from her wine to her friends. “But I think I am ready. I’ve just…I’ve never dated just to be dating. And since Lane isn’t staying around, that’s what this would be. Any guy I started dating, I always had hopes it would end in happily ever after. When you’re younger, that’s what you do. You date and if you’re both happy, you moved to the next step.”

Flora reached across the table and patted her hand. “Aw, sweetie, what you do is buy the biggest box of condoms you can find and have yourself a damn fine time, as often as you can.”

“Hear, hear!” Tonya saluted the plan.

Gretchen looked between them both, her cheeks burning with fire. “Just sex. That’s it.”

“That’s what most of us do.”

She slouched against the hard plastic patio furniture. Smartly speaking, it was the way to go. Getting herself to go along with it, that was a different matter all together. It just felt so, like…using. Just sex. No feelings or attachment. She blanched. Like animals. “I’m not sure I can do that.”

“Then don’t.” Flora sat back. “Don’t. If you don’t think you can, then don’t. But if you’re lonely at night and just want to fill an emptiness, do it.”

God, that sounded tempting. Just someone to be there. Someone to cuddle with and hug her tight for a few hours. All for fun and pretend. Was that what ‘just dating’ was about? Pretending it was something more when it never really was? It wasn’t that she looked at Lane and saw wedding invitations. As just sex, she already knew the ending. And breakups usually sucked bad for someone. Oh my God. Wedding invitations.
Another life
. “He’s married.”

Flora choked on her wine and Tonya out and out spit hers across the patio.

Gretchen just stared at them. A cold chill wrapped around her. Good Lord, was he married? He never wore a ring. The edges of her nerves frayed and left her stomach more than a little sick. “He’s married. Has to be. That’s what he meant by ‘another life’.”

Tonya shook her head. “No. I don’t believe it.”

Flora shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe? I don’t know enough about him.”

Gretchen got a little more sick. All this time she’d been lusting and dreaming over a married man?

Tonya was still shaking her head. “No, I don’t buy it. Not for a bit. If he was married, he would have at least visited home once in the last seven months they’d been here. Those boys are loaded, it wasn’t like he couldn’t afford the trip. Or couldn’t afford to bring them with him here. Family is the whole reason they’re here. Their youngest brother Grant wants them all together. So no, Lane can’t be married.”

Gretchen was torn. Too torn. “But what if he is?”

“I promise you, he’s not. I see the man every day, talk to his brothers often and none of them have ever mentioned it. I’ll find out for sure, but I would give you the keys to my diner if he turned out to be married.”

Of all of them, Tonya would know. And she was right. The whole reason they were here was because of family. It would make sense that he would have brought them here. She wouldn’t write it off until she knew for sure, but the knots in her stomach were loosening fast. “What if Lane won’t go for just having sex anyway?”

Tonya laughed, clutching her stomach.

Flora bent over, gasped for air. “That’s hilarious.”

Gretchen found a small laugh bubbling up her throat too and pushed off the last of her worries. “It’s a legitimate question! If he just wanted sex, wouldn’t we be doing it right now?”

“Bless your heart.” Flora shook her head and sat up. “He’s a man. Of course he’ll go for it. And by the looks of those handprints that were gripping your ass, I’d say this one most certainly would take whatever bone you toss him…or offer you whatever bones you’d like.” Her brows pumped.

“Oh, my God.” Tonya pointed. “You just said
bone
like that. You’re wasted already.”

“Probably.” Flora groaned. “I had to snake
two
men’s public bathroom toilets today.”

“Ew.”

Flora nodded. “That’s why I made this pitcher of wine as soon as I got home.”

“And thought of us while snaking shit out of pipes. I’m touched.” Tonya shook her head.

“No.” Flora laughed. “I drank a quarter of that first pitcher before I thought to call either of you.”

Gretchen finished off the last of her glass, thinking of the night ahead and what it would include. Just her. And that’s it. She’d laugh here. They’d have a good time. She might even sleep here depending on when they finished off this pitcher. Then it’d just be her.

Alone.

Again.

The walls of her chest crumbled a little at the thought. She couldn’t stop replaying those precious few seconds where Lane had been her whole world. The heat from his body. The swipe of his tongue. Pressure of his lips. A hard-day’s work of outdoors and sweat coming from his neck. She shook and relived it all over again. Down to the point where he’d pushed her away. You know, she’d always been pretty damn good at pretending. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Flora and Tonya echoed.

“Okay, I’ll do it.” She nodded, feeling a little more courage with each passing second. “Or we’ll do it. Me and Lane. I just have to talk him into it.”

“Then you’ll be doing it by tomorrow evening, I can guarantee it.” Tonya nodded then drained the last of her glass too.

 

Chapter
Three

Lane stuffed in the last bite of his cheeseburger and polished off his tea. No matter what Gretchen said about the food, he wasn’t giving up the cheeseburgers at this diner any time soon. Two thick slices of fatty meat crammed with cheese, grilled onions and jalapeños, smashed between two buns until grease dripped from the bread was the only way to a eat burger. Except for the few occasions Tonya would add a spoon of gravy in there. Now that was a damn good burger. And the thick-cut, salty fries that were crunchy on the outside and soft in the center? Oh, man. This was a meal to live for.

Tonya came by and put the tiny tray holding his change and receipt down on the table. “Thanks and hope you enjoyed it.”

“Always do.” He lifted his stuff and blinked at what was left in the bottom of the black tray. A strip of condoms. He blinked again. A strip of condoms. He lifted his hand to flag her back down. “Uh, Tonya?”

She kept up that friendly-work smile of hers. “Something wrong with your check?”

He laughed and waved at the strip. “Just a little.”

She took the ticket from his hands. “Double-cheeseburger with a large fry and a drink.” She stared at him. “Did I miss something? I don’t remember you asking for dessert, but I have some deep fried peach pies in the back.”

He opened his mouth, but there were no words. The strip of condoms was right there. Finally something bounced around long enough to come out. He pointed at the tray. “Those are not mine.”

“Yes they are.” She smiled.

“Pretty sure I didn’t order that.”

She popped his shoulder with her round carrying waitress tray thing. “You sort of did.”

“I think I would recall asking for it.”

She chuckled and leaned over. “They’re to make sure you have something to get you started, but I would buy more. A lot more. I wanted to be on the safe side.”

He stared after her.

Tonya’s eyes widened and thank God, she must have gotten a clue. “Oh my God, you really are married.”


What?
No.”

Her eyes narrowed as she studied him. “So you’re not.”

Married? Fuck no. “No.”

She blew out a breath and smiled. “Thanks goodness or else this would be completely weird.”

And then she blinked and smiled at him. What in god’s name was her definition of ‘weird’?

She patted his arm. “It was just a question, you can breathe now.”

She was coming on to him. So much for sweet and shy small town girls. Not that Tonya wasn’t pretty. Some other time, some other place…somewhere when he hadn’t seen Gretchen first and wanted her, maybe. Who knew, but shit. He’d never even looked at Tonya that way. She’d never looked at him that way and he’d seen and talked to the woman nearly every day since he got to this town. He cleared his throat. “Tonya.”

But someone across the diner called her name. She picked the ticket holder up, shook the condoms out on the table and walked off with a smile. Sunlight beaming through the windows and flickered off the packages. He could just see streams of light bouncing and blinding half the people in the diner. Those were not his and he wasn’t taking them. Taking them would tell her he was interested, right? Not going there. And he wasn’t about to get caught here at this table with them. He slid out of the booth but his two brothers walked in the door and headed right for him with a wave of a hand.

Fuck that.

He grabbed the condoms off the table and stuffed them in his pocket. He’d sort this out later, but not with those two anywhere near hearing distance.

He stood, grabbing for his keys, but he wasn’t fast enough. Trent was at his side. “Taking an early and extended lunch break?”

Lane shook his head. “Yeah. Since I’m at work hours before you two show up, I can do that.”

Trent shook his fingers while hissing. He glanced to their other brother. “Ouch, that stung.”

Lane stepped around them. “Right. Stuff to do.”

“Always.” Jacob took the seat he’d been in. “With the way you work, I think we should just sit back and do nothing. You’re working hard enough for the three of us.”

“Somebody has to pick up the slack for you two lazy-asses.”

He pushed open the front door and got the hell out of there. And back to work. Where he was going to stay. Just him and work. Until after dark. With Tonya’s condoms in his pocket. A shudder raked through him, and not the good kind. More like the kind where he narrowly missed stepping on a rattlesnake curled up under a pile of leaves.

The day went well. He made a hell of a lot of progress on thinning out those woods to get a road going through. Tomorrow he’d have to get a small trailer to haul out what he’d cut. It was going to be a bitch of a day, but thankfully a steadily busy one. He dropped his small ice chest in the back of his truck where he’d have it tomorrow to fill with ice and water for another day in this hot, humid weather.

Just when he started to leave, it became his lucky day, because his brothers decided to be shitheads.

Trent caught him around the neck, pulled him down against his side sweaty side and scrubbed his head with his knuckles. “Let’s go get drunk.”

Lane, being the same height but thicker from actually working his ass off the last seven months when Trent mostly stood around, jerked his brother around with an easy twist of his arm. “Let’s not.”

“Damn it!” Trent squirmed and Lane released him. His brother rolled his shoulder. “When did you get stronger than me?”

Lane shook his head and yeah, smiled a little too. “When I started working and you started goofing off.”

BOOK: Rough Ride
9.9Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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