Power Drilled (Roommates, #8)(48)

Jackson took my hand and brought it to his lips. “You look stunning, Penny.”

Reid leaned over to kiss me on the cheek, but Jackson pushed him away. “Don’t mess up my date’s makeup.”

Reid rolled his eyes and dodged his brother to deliver his kiss. “Wish I could see you walk down the aisle,” he said as he pulled away.

That made me giggle. “I’m not the one getting married.”

He grinned. “You know what I mean.”

Then it was Hunter’s turn. He winked at me and then addressed Jackson. “I want her back here as soon as the wedding’s over in mint condition. She’d better not have your fingerprints all over her.”

I laughed, shaking my head. These men could make me smile. Make me laugh. Make me feel beautiful. And just… make me feel. Feel more things than I had in a really long time.



Claire and Matthew’s wedding was beautiful and lovely. I teared up more than I thought I would. The bride and groom just looked so happy together. As I stood at the front of the room, my gaze kept falling on Jackson sitting there in the crowd. He looked so handsome. And as far as I could tell, he couldn’t take his eyes off me. That made my whole body flush with warmth, not just my cheeks.

And the other thing that made me tear up was the fact that this would all end tomorrow. Sunday was the final day of their Ten-Day Turnaround. I didn’t know what would happen after that. Back to my tiny apartment and my job search. Back to long days and lonely nights. My thoughts sounded melodramatic even to myself, but it felt true anyway. The triplets had shown me that days could be filled with excitement, laughter, and action. I didn’t want that to end.

On the drive back to the house, Jackson held my hand every chance he could safely do so. When he pulled up in front of the house, he seemed strangely reluctant to leave the car.

At last, he sighed. “Who would’ve thought that my posing at my friend’s art class would lead to this.”

“That feels like it was months ago.”

“At least.”

He looked so melancholy that I searched for a way to cheer him up. “I guess that means that it’s been far too long since I’ve seen you naked.”

He gave a little laugh. “Well, there was the massage the other day.”

“Doesn’t count,” I said. “You were only half naked.”

“We’ll have to remedy that sometime,” he said, but he didn’t seem confident it would happen.

I thought about telling him that it was a small scar on his back that had led Naomi to find out about us, but I didn’t want to burden him with that. Besides, I’d believed her when she said she didn’t want to make trouble for us.

Jackson sighed. “Guess we’d better go inside.”

“I guess so.”

But he didn’t move. “We could just drive back to the reception, you know. Does Hunter really need a turn?”

I smiled but shook my head. “That’s not how it works. I can’t choose between you three. I wouldn’t want to. Does that make me a bad person?”

He squeezed my hand. “No.”

Then he climbed out of the SUV and came over to open my car door, possibly for the last time.

I enjoyed the reception. Hunter twirled me around the dance floor with the same skill as before but with slightly more decorum. My parents beamed every time we passed by them. So did Claire and Aunt Denise. Even Aunt Evelyn kept her eye on us as we moved around the room. But every time we took a break, we found an empty table or a secluded corner. I could talk to my family anytime, but my days of spending time one-on-one with Hunter were numbered.

But before too long, I was eager to go back and spend more time with Jackson and Reid. And every so often, I wished that we could all be here together. But there was no way my family was ready for that.

After I made the rounds, saying goodbye to family and friends, I surreptitiously loaded up a plate of food to take back to the others. Then I bit back a laugh as I saw Hunter slip a bottle of champagne under his suit jacket.

Jackson and Reid were the only ones at the house when we got back, but they were still hard at work. There was a surprise in the living room. Their realtor had come by with a van full of furniture to set up in the rooms that were finished. “It’ll save us time,” Reid explained. “Since ideally, we’d like to start showing the house on Monday.”

“That’s smart,” I said, smiling at them. But neither smiled back. There was a tension in the air that I couldn’t quite identify.

“There’s something else,” Jackson said.

“What?” I exchanged a look with Hunter. He didn’t know what was going on, either.

“You’ll see.” He walked to the back bedroom where we slept, except when we entered, the sleeping bags had been shoved to the side. In the center of the room was a magnificent king-size bed. The headboard looked good against the fresh coat of paint on the back wall, and the pillows, sheets, and blankets were all color coordinated.

“It looks nice,” I said, but my voice trembled slightly.

Reid noticed, and he reached over to give my hand a reassuring squeeze.

“This is part of the staging, too?”

“Yep,” Jackson said. “Not much room left for sleeping bags.” He looked me right in the eye.