Flawless Surrender (The Surrender Trilogy, #2)(20)

“I’m sorry for that, Zoey, if I had known that he would try to…” Tanner stopped and Zoey jerked her gaze back to him.

“Try to what? Seduce me? Do you honestly think that I’m that easy, Tanner? Just because I flirted with you one drunk night at Robin’s? Well, I’m not. I’ve had plenty of experience fending off lonely cowboys trying to get into my bed. I can handle Dalton.”

The timer on the stove buzzed and she hurried into the kitchen to pull the bread from the oven. The scent of cinnamon and sugar perfumed the air, and she sighed with pleasure at the golden brown loaf as she put it on the counter.

“You made bread?” Tanner sounded so surprised that she laughed.

“Yes, and chili too. I’m going to grab my purse, and shoes. I want to get back here in time to sneak in an afternoon nap before dinner.” Without letting him respond, she headed down the hallway toward her room. There was no way she would ever be able to admit how much of a lie her rant was. She wanted both Keegan cowboys, and the idea of one of them staking a claim on her made her pu-ssy wet and her tits swell.

She knew that it was wrong, but an idea tickled the back of her brain all the same. Dalton lived in the apartment over the garage, which meant that if she made her way into his bed one night, there was no way Tanner would ever know. For a brief moment she considered the same could be said in reverse if she found herself in Tanner’s bed, but she nixed that idea quickly. Tanner wasn’t interested. He had made that clear. If she wanted to ride a Keegan cowboy, it would have to be Dalton.



*****



“So, have you slept with him yet?”

Zoey choked on the gum she was chewing and Rachel handed her a glass of water. “I’ve only been there one night, Rach! Are you serious?"

Rachel grinned, her brown eyes twinkling. “It took me less than two hours to get naked, so I have a warped frame of reference.”

“Yeah, well your men brought you here with the express intent of getting you naked. Tanner doesn’t see me as anything more than a younger sister he’s responsible for.”

“Ha! That’s rich!” Rachel laughed loudly, and Zoey glared at her best friend. “You need to open your eyes, woman. That man is hopelessly in lust with you. He looks at you like a steak cooked to perfection on a starving man’s plate. I swear I was looking for burn marks on your ass earlier when you guys got here because the hot look in his eyes as he watched you walk away from the truck should have left scars.”

“Shut up,” Zoey grumbled.

Rachel was seated in a padded rocking chair with Juliet suckling at her breast happily. Zoey couldn’t help the surge of jealousy that went through her. It was easy for Rachel to say things like that because she was happily married to four men. No such luck for her best friend. Zoey had a feeling she was destined to a life of being the best friend, and not a wife.

“Does that hurt?” she asked as her curiosity finally got the best of her.

Rachel smiled down at her daughter, “It did at first, but not really anymore. Maybe I got used to it, I don’t know. I like being able to breast feed her. It’s our alone time without all of the daddies involved.”

“But I fed her with a bottle, and I know the guys do too.”

Rachel snorted, “Oh yeah, believe me I pump too. Breast milk freezes, and sometimes mommy needs time away from being the milk cow.”

Tanner’s voice drifted through the front door and Zoey sighed. “I guess that means our visit is over. The Master is calling me.”

“You know you can come over any time. Mom might be here, but that doesn’t have to stop you from visiting.” Rachel gave her a concerned look.

“I know. Wait, where is your mom?”

“Napping. She took Jules for me last night so I could have a whole night of sleep.”

Zoey laughed at the blissful look on Rachel’s face, “You mean to tell me that with four men in the house you’re still the one to get up every night with the baby?”

“Of course. They love Juliet to pieces, but they all sleep like freaking rocks. They wouldn’t wake up if the house was burning down.”

“Zoey? We need to go.” Both women turned as Tanner stepped into the living room. When his eyes landed on Rachel whose boob was unashamedly out for her daughter's feeding, he actually flushed and shuffled awkwardly. “Sorry, Rachel, uh Zoey, we better get going.”

“It’s okay, Tanner, it’s just a boob,” Zoey said with a laugh as she waved to Rachel, “I’ll call you later this week.”

“Sounds good, don’t let the job get you down, Zoey. Not when so many other things in your life are looking up,” Rachel responded. When Zoey snorted in disagreement Tanner gave her a frown and a questioning look.

There was no way Zoey was going to touch that subject with a ten foot pole so she ignored it and stepped past Tanner onto the front porch. Mack Thompson was standing at the foot of the steps, and Zoey gave him a grin.

“Hey, Mack, I haven’t seen you for a while. Where have you been hiding?” she asked the enormous man.

Mack was six foot five and built like a locomotive. He had muscles on top of muscles that should have looked intimidating with the red bandana tied over his blonde curls. Instead, he looked almost angelic when he smiled because his two deep dimples appeared and his crystal clear blue eyes sparkled.