Rough, Raw, and Ready (Rough Riders #5)(73)

“Anyway, New Year’s Eve we planned to go out with Justin’s best friend Logan and Logan’s girlfriend, Tiffany. We’d rented a suite in downtown Denver, the whole shebang.

Long story short: Tiffany threw a hissy fit and ditched us. Justin didn’t want Logan to spend New Year’s alone so we headed back to the hotel.”


“You, Justin and Logan.”


“Yep.” Keely drained the contents of her glass and refilled it. “We’re having a good time, drinking, bullshitting, listening to music, the usual. Logan tossed off some comment about how he and Justin both would be kissing me at midnight. I said something like


‘why wait’ and the next thing I knew, Logan and I were kissing. Full body, with him-on-top-of-me type of kissing.”


“Justin didn’t mind?”


“No. In fact he was really into seeing me get it on with his best friend.”


Chassie swallowed hard at the conversational direction. “Were you into it?”


“With two hot, horny cowboys eatin’ me up like I was fulfilling their ultimate fantasy? Hell yes. It was a raunchy, wild night of pure sexual debauchery. The next morning we laughed and teased each other like normal. I thought everything was fine.”


“It wasn’t?”


“At first it was. The next day Justin went skiing with Jack-off. Then he went back on the road and didn’t return to Colorado until the Denver Stock Show. When I saw him in person I knew something was up. He admitted he’d had fun in the threesome with his buddy, but afterward he realized I was not the type of girl guys like him married. I was too free, too easy, great for wild sex but nothin’ more. It stunned me because I’d never pegged Justin as that type of judgmental guy.

“I suspected he’d told Jack-off the down and dirty details about our private New Year’s bash. And Jack-off, being the self-serving, self-righteous prick, convinced him to break up with me. Initially I was so livid I thought about tracking Jack-off down in Chicago to rip him a new one. But as a couple days passed, I put the blame back where it belonged.”


Please don’t say on yourself, Keely. Please don’t say it.

“Justin is to blame. His hang-ups aren’t my issue. I’m comfortable with who I am.”


Chassie exhaled with relief.

“Maybe his repressed brother filled his head with bullshit, but Justin entertained enough doubts about me to let his opinion be swayed. Hard as it was to swallow, I realized I don’t wanna be involved with a man who doesn’t know his own mind.”


“Smart.” She studied Keely’s face. “So have you been mopin’ around over Justin like a lovesick calf?”


Keely grinned. “Hell no. I’ve been dating Logan.”


Chassie laughed, then clapped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry. For a minute there, I forgot why I’m here.”


“It’s okay.” Keely poured more rum in Chassie’s cup. “Enough about me. I wanna hear all about you and that hot-as-sin husband of yours. How are things going after a year of wedded bliss?”


Chassie tipped the cup, watching the thick liquid stick to the waxy sides as she pondered her answer. “Honestly? It’s kind of…confusing right now.”


“That’s cryptic, Chass. What gives?”


Where should she start? When Edgard sauntered up the driveway? When she caught her husband kissing another man? After she watched them having sex? After all three of them started f*cking on a regular basis? “Trevor’s dad had a heart attack.”


“Shit. I had no idea.”


“Yeah, well, neither did he. No one in his family told him until a week after it happened.”


Keely whistled. “Double shit. Must seem like everyone is keeping family stuff from you guys. Is Trevor’s dad okay?”


“I guess,” she hedged. “Trevor’s checked in a couple of times, but he’s really distracted when he calls. I don’t want to press him. He’ll tell me when he comes home.”


“You’re doing everything at the ranch by yourself?”


“No. I have help. Good help, as it turns out.”


“Who?”


“Trevor’s former ropin’ partner. Edgard Mancuso. Know him?”


Chassie heard the expression “bug-eyed” but she’d never seen it on a person until Keely.

“Holy shit. Know him? I’ve lusted after him almost as long as I have Trevor. Edgard Mancuso. The hot Brazilian? Dark hair and golden eyes? With the ripped body, luminous smile and slow, sexy accent? Knows how to rope and ride like nobody’s business? That Edgard Mancuso?”


“Yep.”


“How’d you manage that?”


“It gets better.” Chassie knocked back the booze in her cup. “I’m sleepin’ with him.”


“What!”


Two goggle-eyed expressions from the usually unflappable Keely in one day. Not bad. “You heard me. I’m sleepin’ with him. And Trevor.”


“Omigod. Every detail. Right now.”


“This stays between us, right?”