Lumberjack Weekend(Divine Creek Ranch 21)(9)

She’d watched several of her friends who were involved in ménages dance with their men together rather than only in pairs at the last New Year’s Eve bash. Looked simple enough. She grinned at Cassie and Jessica, who were gaping so widely their jaws should’ve been on the floor.

You said prove it, girls.

At a short but sturdy five feet two inches, she appreciated it when Josh and Lucas helped her down from the chair, and she shot glances at both of them.

Josh’s eyebrow was quirked, and his eyes were a little wide, and Lucas beamed like a kid who’d gotten a pony from Santa. They were more subtle than the girls, but even they looked surprised.

“Wait,” she said as she drew them to a stop at the edge of the dance floor. “What did you ask me?”



* * * *



Josh said, “I asked you if you wanted to fuck.”

Lucas Abbott braced to get socked in the jaw by the blonde beauty blinking in shock at his brother. A flush rose in her cheeks and confusion showed in the furrow of her brows as her gaze ping-ponged between him and Josh.

A healthy sense of self-preservation kicked in, and he kept his trap shut. Josh was the one who had given in to the challenge, so it was his gut she should punch.

Josh had the good grace to turn three different shades of red before he finally said, “I’m sorry, Violet. Our friends put us up to it. They bet we could say anything to a lady and get away with it. We’ll understand if you want to walk away…after you punch me in the mouth.”

She looked between the two of them and giggled, and Lucas let out the breath he’d been holding. Violet was a good-natured woman who didn’t rile easily, which was one of the things he loved about her. Had loved about her practically since the moment he’d met her the year before.

Keep that thought to yourself, moron. The L-word is likely to scare her off, especially in light of what she said as we walked up.

Her beautiful whiskey-brown eyes twinkled as she said, “I think we should kill two birds with one stone. Cassie and Jessica have been pestering me to get out and have more fun. Why don’t the three of us dance once and then leave together? I bet that’ll shut your friends and mine up for a while.”

Relieved she wasn’t mad, Lucas said, “If it’ll help you out, we’re game. Would you like to go get a cup of coffee somewhere? It’s kind of stuffy in here tonight anyway. Too much hot air.”

Her hand felt delicate in his as she tugged them toward the dance floor. “Sounds good. I’m feeling a little too warm myself. Then we can talk without having to yell over the music and noise.”

Before Lucas could say anything, Josh took the lead. “You got it.”

Lucas focused on her and ignored their buddies at the bar. He and Josh were damned lucky she was so easygoing. A lot of women would’ve been furious at discovering they were the object of a wager, especially one involving the use of the word “fuck” in a pickup line. Josh’s pride hadn’t let the chicken challenge go unanswered, and this time it’d worked in their favor.

Josh pulled her to him and led them in a slow, easy-to-follow rhythm, and Lucas wondered if that was all there was going to be to it until Violet turned. He’d been perfectly content feeling her curvaceous backside rubbing against him until he got to enjoy the sensation of her plush breasts pressed to his chest. Taking a chance, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Her cheeks were pretty pink as she looked up at him. The way she bit her full lower lip made him hunger for a taste of it, and he thought back to another conversation he’d overheard months before between her and a customer. He’d been in the storage space above her newly renovated office, working on the wiring, when a customer had approached her in the small bookshop portion of the Emporium.

His curiosity had been piqued when the lady had waved her closer, and in a quiet voice had said, “Violet, I’m looking for a book I read a while back. I loaned it out to a friend and never got it back.” The customer glanced around her as if she was afraid to be overheard.

Violet’s eyes twinkled, and she nodded. “What’s the title?”

“That’s the problem. I read it a long time ago, and I can’t remember the title, just the story line.” She went on to mention a couple of authors who might have written it and then said, “It’s a sci-fi erotic romance set partly on a space ship.”

“How many heroes?” Violet’s question had made him pause and smirk.

How did the author keep up with all the extra elbows and knees?

“Two.”

Lucas nodded and gave himself a thumbs-up as he watched Violet quiz her about the story, her eyes growing brighter as she nodded. The customer said, “They barely save her from a sexual predator on Earth and whisk her aboard their ship. She’s out cold, but they have to continue on their mission. When she awakens, it’s to find she’s not even in the Milky Way galaxy anymore.”