Giving In (Surrender Trilogy)(90)

Joss and Kylie both chuckled.

“He made this big deal out of me tying him to the bed when we make love. So I’d know he couldn’t hurt me. So I’d know I was safe. Okay, so the reason he dumped me, or at least the reason he gave me for dumping me, was because he was afraid of hurting me. So if I tie him to the bed while he’s asleep and he has a nightmare, voila! He can’t touch me,” she said smugly.

“You’re a fucking genius,” Chessy said in admiration.

“I’ll drink to that,” Joss said.

“Uh, maybe we should let up on the alcohol,” Chessy advised.

“Yeah, I have to sober up now,” Kylie said.

“How come?” Joss asked.

Kylie pushed herself upward again, holding herself up with one hand so she didn’t keel over onto Chessy.

“Because when I sober up, I’m going over to his house. If he thinks he can just dump me for my own good and make me miserable in the process, he’s got another think coming!”

“Uh, ladies? Not to interrupt what has to be scintillating conversation, but do you realize what time it is, that you’ve been drinking for the last several hours and that you’re all lying on the floor?”

Heads turned in the direction of Dash’s voice. Joss sent him a dazzling smile.

“Hello, darling,” she said in a dreamy voice. “Have you come to take me to bed?”

Dash chuckled. “Since I don’t imagine any of you are going to make it to bed unless I carry you, I think it’s safe to say I have come to take you to bed.”

Kylie scowled. “I can’t go to bed now. I have a seduction to plan. Hey, Dash. You’re a guy.”

“I hope to fuck so,” Dash said in amusement.

She pointed a finger at him. “So if a woman throws herself at you—naked—you’re not going to say no, right?”

Dash chuckled. “I think that depends on which woman throws herself at me.”

“Damn straight,” Joss said. “I’ll kick someone’s ass if they ever throw themselves at you!”

“Calm down, honey. It’s not going to happen. Now, are you girls done for the night? Kylie, perhaps you should get some rest so, uh, your seduction plan doesn’t go awry. You may also want to revisit the issue when you’re sober. You may decide that was the alcohol talking.”

Kylie made a face. “What a downer you are, Dash.”

“Sorry, sweetheart.”

Joss sighed. “Are y’all ready for bed? Chessy, you and Kylie can share the guest bed. It’s a queen so y’all will have plenty of room.”

Chessy said glumly, “I spend so many nights alone these days that having someone in bed with me will be a novelty. Even if it is just Kylie.”

Dash leaned over Kylie and slid his arms underneath her body. He hoisted her up, and her stomach lurched. Oh God, please, please don’t let her puke all over Dash. There was only so much humiliation she could take.

“I’ll get Kylie settled in. I think she’s a little more shitfaced than the two of you are,” he said to Joss. “I’ll be back to get the rest of you once I get Kylie to bed.”

Joss waved her hand in the air like she didn’t have a care in the world. And why would she? She had a wonderful husband who loved her to pieces.

If she didn’t love Joss so much it would be so easy to hate her.

Dash walked into the guest bedroom and deposited Kylie onto the bed. Then he went into the bathroom and returned with a plastic basin that he set on the floor beside the bed.

“If you need to puke, just lean over the bed,” he said gently. “You might have trouble getting to the bathroom in time.”

“You’re the best, Dash,” she murmured. “Joss is such a lucky bitch.”

Dash’s chuckle was the last thing she heard before it was lights-out and she was out cold.





THIRTY


KYLIE’S head felt like someone had hit her with a sledgehammer. Her mouth was dry and the mere thought of alcohol made her want to vomit.

At the time it had seemed like a good idea. Now? Not so much.

Dash had let them all sleep in and when they got up and stumbled into the kitchen looking like death warmed over, Dash served them breakfast and some foul-tasting concoction he swore would cure a hangover.

He so lied.

She slowly got out of her car, glancing over again for the reassurance that Jensen was here because his car was. Lucky for her, she still had a key, so she didn’t have to worry about his doing what she had done and not answering the door.

It was Saturday. No work. And it was early enough that Jensen could still be in bed.

That thought considerably cheered her. It would certainly make her planned seduction easier to pull off.