Undenied (Unspoken #3)(13)

“Then you better get going,” she said.

He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “Any chance I’ll see you again?” He cursed himself the instant it came out of his mouth. He sounded…needy.

She leaned up on one elbow as he retreated off the bed. The low beam from the bathroom bathed her in just enough light that he could see her soft, tousled body. Her hair streamed over her shoulders, and she clutched the sheet over her br**sts with her free hand.

“The wedding is early and I could be persuaded to skip the reception if you were interested in meeting me back here around nine.”

“I’ll be here,” he said as he finished pulling on his jeans.

* * *

He thought about her the whole day. His entire shift was operated on half a brain. Thank goodness it was like ninety percent of all the other days in small town Texas. Mostly boring. A few traffic stops and one domestic disturbance call that turned out to be a false alarm.

By the end of the day, he was a walking dick. He was hard-pressed to even remember the episode from twelve years ago, and he felt like a dumbass for all the angst it had caused him. He and Payton may have both been inexperienced virgins then, but she’d freaking rocked his world last night.

Quitting time came none too soon, but then he realized he’d have to face several more hours of twiddling his thumbs before he headed to Beaumont. He also needed to remember his own damn condoms this time. Thank goodness one of them had been prepared because he’d left his brain behind last night when he’d gone to her hotel.

As he was leaving the station, his cell phone rang. He looked down at the LCD and saw Jeremy’s name. Ah shit. Saturday night. They always got together over at Jeremy’s on the weekends.

Well, he could go over for a little while, pass the time until he headed for the hotel. He’d enlist Gracie’s help if he had to in order to avoid an interrogation about where he was going.

He flipped open the phone. “Hey, man.”

“Hey, you coming over or what? We have beer and a fight ordered.”

“Everyone going to be there?” Wes asked.

“Yeah, the whole gang.”

“Cool. Let me stop off by the house and I’ll be over. Need me to bring anything?”

“Nah, we got it. See you in a few.”

Wes closed the phone and turned into his driveway. He’d shower and change so he could leave straight from Jeremy’s later on.

Twenty minutes later, he left his house again and drove the two miles to Jeremy’s. When he pulled in, he saw Luke’s and Jake’s trucks already parked in the drive.

He walked in the front door without knocking and immediately heard talking and laughing. He sauntered into the living room to see Jake, Luke and Jeremy sprawled in their seats.

“Hey, what’s up,” Luke called.

“Where are the ladies?” Wes asked.

“Kitchen,” Jake said, pointing around his beer.

“Ah well, not that I don’t like y’all or anything, but I’d much rather go say hi to the women first.”

Jeremy chuckled. “Gee, and we wonder why he has them all wrapped around his little finger.”

Wes grinned and walked on to the kitchen where he saw the three women standing around the bar chitchatting. He wrapped an arm around Ellie first and kissed her noisily on the lips. “Hey, gorgeous.”

“Wes!” Her pretty face lit up even as a hint of a blush colored her cheeks.

He turned to Michelle next and picked her up to kiss her. “How’s the munchkin doing?”

“He’s fine,” she said with a smile. “Sleeping right now.”

Finally he turned to Gracie, who winked at him just as he bent down to kiss her.

“You look like a man who got laid last night,” she murmured so only he heard.

“And what does a man who got laid look like, smart ass?” he asked in her ear as he hugged her.

“That shit-eating grin is a dead giveaway.”

He pulled away, and she grinned mischievously at him. “I will find out later. Count on it.”

“Find out what?” Michelle demanded.

“Nothing,” he muttered, giving Gracie a hard look.

She smiled innocently back at him and mouthed “later”.

Later came much sooner than he expected, but then Gracie was determined if nothing else. She cornered him in the kitchen when he’d volunteered to make a beer run.

“Okay, so spill it,” she said as he rummaged in the fridge for the beer.

He gathered the cans in his arms, backed out of the fridge and nudged the door closed with his elbow.

“Demanding wench, aren’t you?”

She grinned. “I just know a juicy story when I see one.”

“I slept with her,” he said simply.

“I’m assuming we’re talking about the chick you said you couldn’t get it up for?”

He laughed. “You’re such a bitch.”

“And you love me for it.”

“True. Very true. Yes, I slept with Payton.”

“Oh, do share. I guess your impotence issue didn’t last too terribly long.”

He winced. “Could you not use that word? It sounds so…medical. I don’t have impotence.”

She shook with laughter, her auburn curls doing a jig on her shoulders. “All right, so your dick suddenly started cooperating with you. That better?”