Rowdy (Marked Men #5)(31)
I fake-growled at her and stepped away from the girls. “Salem and I have history, is all. She used to matter a lot to me and now that she’s back we’re just trying to figure it out. The then and the now can be a little bit tricky.”
“Does she know you swore off ever getting serious about another girl because of her sister?”
“Yeah. I told her all about it this weekend; that’s why she’s been dodging me. She says she doesn’t really know what to think of it. Salem thought it was simple puppy love.”
“Even puppy love can have some nasty teeth.” Cora’s tone was matter-of-fact. It was something we shared, a tie that bound us together the others didn’t have. Cora’s first love had cheated on her, left her broken and soured on the idea of what love should look like as well, so I just nodded at her assessment.
“It sure can, but now I think I want to see what’s past the one. What the one after might look like. Salem was my best friend when I really needed someone and now she’s here and I want her to be an entirely different kind of friend.” I wiggled my eyebrows up and down, which made all the girls laugh. “The kind with benefits and missing clothes.”
“They do say friends make the best lovers.” Shaw sighed in a dreamy way. “You deserve someone that can make you happy, Rowdy.”
I never really thought I wasn’t happy, but now standing here in a room full of good women that loved difficult and complicated men I wasn’t so sure. Then I found myself in the middle of a hug between the three of them that just made my heart swell. These were good women that loved hard and loved completely and I was a very lucky guy to have them in my life.
“Well, this is quite the love fest.”
Salem’s voice held a mixture of humor and irritation. I met her midnight gaze over the top of the girls’ heads. She stood watching me and I could tell she was trying to decide if the sight of me being smothered in love by three beautiful women was hilarious or annoying. The other girls broke away and I took a step toward her. I saw awareness flare in her dark gaze and she took an automatic step back. I reached out a hand to grab her wrist because one more step back in her haste to get away from me and she was going to topple backward down the steps. I felt her pulse thunder out of control under her delicate skin.
“I was looking for you.” I let my voice drop a little lower and made sure she could tell I was checking her out as my gaze scanned her from head to toe.
She was back in her formfitting, supersexy garb that put every curve she had on display. Her hair had a bunch of big, loopy curls in it and her face was painted in that pretty retro way that made her look like a rock-and-roll dream. I still preferred her with no makeup and less camera-ready.
“You were?” She sounded sarcastic and smirked at me as she looked at the other three girls in the room.
I rolled my eyes at her purposely obtuse attitude and pulled her a little closer so that she was the only one that could hear me when I told her, “I want to take you to do something on Sunday when we’re both off.”
She blinked at me and her glossy mouth dropped open in silent denial. I could see the indecision flash in her eyes but I just smiled at her and told her, “Don’t worry. What I have in mind doesn’t have anything to do with a bed or you being na**d in it.”
She wrinkled her nose at me and shook her arm free. “Fine.” She always had been defiant. There was no way she was going to turn me down and look scared in front of the other girls.
I nodded in satisfaction. “Don’t dress like that, though.”
Her ebony eyebrows furrowed together and her cheek twitched at me. “Why?”
“You need to be able to get a little dirty. I’ll pick you up around noon. Grab the dog; he can come, too.”
I could see I had her curiosity piqued but I didn’t give her a chance to ask any more questions. I wanted to do something that took us both back in time, put us in a place where we remembered how to be around one another without all the baggage and weight of the past holding us down. I thought I had a perfect idea.
I smiled at Shaw again and slid past Salem to head down the stairs. I made sure to press into her space, to brush across her chest just so I could feel her quick intake of breath.
“Congratulations again, Shaw. This is going to be an awesome adventure for you and Rule. Remy needs a little playmate.”
Salem broke into a blindly pretty smile. “You’re pregnant?”
Shaw nodded. “We waited until we saw a doctor to know for sure and Rule wanted to tell Rome and his parents first.”
Salem tossed her head back and laughed. The sound was husky and rich. “I haven’t been in this city for very long but even I know adding more Archers to the population is bound to be a good time down the road. How exciting for the two of you.”
And just like that I was outnumbered by waves of estrogen once again and I couldn’t get away fast enough.
Rule was working on a client and bent intently over an intricate design of a Hindu god that spanned a burly man’s bicep. I lurked over his shoulder until he looked up at me, his pale blue eyes sharp and knowing.
“Other things on your mind, my ass.”
He chuckled at me and looked back down at what he was doing. “We had to be sure. It’s not like it was something we were planning on. Now that I know for sure, I’ll be able to focus more on the shop and the store.”