Her Billionaires_ Boxed Set(70)

“Stalking me? Isn’t that Dylan’s specialty?” He flinched and winced, then arched one eyebrow and took a deep breath. Target hit. So why didn’t she feel victorious? Instead, her stomach roiled and nausea crept in. Why did he and Dylan have to ruin this? Her one refuge—food and Josie, together—and now what had been the beginning of sorting through threads entangled between the three of them had turned into even more enmeshment, confusion, and hurt.

“No—we—uh—” He gave up, not making eye contact. Eyelids fluttered shut and he splayed his palms on the grooved table top, his right index finger worrying someone’s carved name. Jane. Who had Jane been? Could have been Madge’s mother, for all they knew.

Or one of Mike and Dylan’s lovers.

Using his arms as leverage, he slowly stood, back curling and shoulders flaring, leaning in toward her. When his face tipped up his eyes locked with hers.

“Whatever you think right now, you’re wrong. And when you’re ready to talk, we’ll be there.” One hand reached for her, steady and firm, the touch like tissue paper against a rose petal. An apologetic smile twitched in his lips and the skin beneath his eyes softened.

“We won’t come after you, Laura.” He glanced over at Dylan, who was laughing at Josie, who had removed the warlock waitress’s balls and was teabagging in front of an audience of golfers and hungover college boys. Mike rolled his eyes. “OK, I won’t. Can’t guarantee what Dylan will do.”

“He and Josie seem to have hit it off.”

“Is she twelve inside?”

That made Laura laugh. Bingo. His thumb stroked the underside of her cheekbone and she went liquid, all muscles melting and everything warm became wet. Mike leaned in and softly kissed her temple.

“When you’re ready.”



Was Mike seriously kissing Laura right now? Right now, as Dylan was stuck with her friend, who was mouthing the very balls thousands of people had manhandled for the past decade? The very balls Jill had grabbed and stuck on the warlock in what now felt like another life?

Cool.

Whatever it took to thaw everything, to get Laura to believe that they wanted her, that they wanted a we that no one else really understood. Hell, they didn’t even understand it. Who could blame Laura for feeling conflicted and fearful and—

Oof. This Josie chick just whomped him in his very real balls with those very fake balls.

“Hey! You paying attention there, Thor’s sidekick?”

Thor’s what? “My name is Dylan. Who is Thor?”

She laughed, rubbing the plastic testicles against her cheek, like stroking a kitten. “Like I don’t know your name. You and Mike are all Laura talks about.”

“Really?” So they call Mike ‘Thor’?

She shot him a look. “Really? Like you don’t know. You aren’t exactly conventional. I haven’t seen Laura eat that much food in one sitting since Ryan left her. Some wicked show you two got going on.”

Show? “We didn’t mean to—”

Placing one long finger with an even longer fingernail against his lips she shook her head slowly. The rest of her fingernails looked like peacock tails. “You don’t get to speak right now. In fact, I hope Mike there doesn’t try to talk too much.”

Dylan snorted. “No worries,” he said. Except it sounded like “mo uhwees” with her finger pressing against his mouth. “He’s a quiet giant.”

She made a face like she was impressed. “Then you might have a shot. Too bad you guys set her up. The last thing Laura needs is to feel manipulated.” She glowered. “Why am I telling you this?”

Whack. She smacked him with the rubber balls. “Ow!”

“You deserved it.” She was right; he did. They did. His stomach rumbled and he checked the wall clock. Pushing 5 a.m. Shit—he started a new shift in two hours. Whatever they needed to do to get Laura to believe that they wanted her—wanted more—and that this wasn’t some pervy plot, they needed to do it fast.

Turning on the charm, he shot Josie a warm grin, his arm going up around the back edge of the booth, the gesture intimate and inviting. “You’re her best friend. What would you tell some amazing guy—”

“Guys.” She turned it into two syllables. Geye —ZUH. Which made it all sound rather pervy.

He kept going. “Guys. OK. What would you tell us to do to get her to explore this with us?”

“Explore? That sounds so...eww. Would you say that to someone if you were just in a one-on-one relationship? ‘I want to explore this. Explore you. Explore your hoo-haw’ —”