Rescued by Love(16)

She’d gotten her tattoo shortly after her grandmother had passed away.

“I mean, really,” Siena said, bringing Addy’s attention back to the party. “Sure, Cash saved me when my car had careened off the highway in the middle of a snowstorm, but he was so serious!” Lizzie grabbed Siena’s wrist and concentrated on writing something on the inside of it with a gold Sharpie as Siena finished telling her story. “He ushered me up to his truck to wait for the rescue crew and got mad when I didn’t want to stay put.”

Lizzie moved from Siena to Trish, turned her wrist over, and scrawled something on it.

“What are you doing?” Trish held her wrist down by the fire and gasped with delight. “Lizzie! I love that!”

“Bridal tattoos!” Lizzie grabbed Gabriella’s arm next. They all gathered around to check out her artwork. “Well, not really tattoos, but gold sparkly ink. Ours say ‘Bride Tribe,’ and Trish’s says ‘Bride’!”

Everyone cheered as Lizzie worked her way around the group.

“Cash obviously didn’t know you,” Sally said to Siena. The girls all murmured in agreement.

“Obviously not,” Siena agreed. “But he was relentless in his pursuit of me, and he was such a gentleman. It was as refreshing as it was frustrating. Because I’m a model, I was constantly bombarded with guys who saw me as nothing but a pretty face and hot body. You can imagine how well that went over with me. I wasn’t exactly a pretty little flower there for the taking. And Cash got the harsh end of my bad experiences. I wasn’t used to letting anyone take care of me the way he wanted to.”

At least I’m not alone in my need for independence.

“Poor Cash. Sounds like he and Boone both had their hands full. I was so pissed at Boone when we finally met face-to-face, I think I was sporting fangs and claws.” Trish turned toward the wind so her hair flew out behind her instead of whipping across her face. “But boy did I misjudge him. He is everything I could ever hope for and more. Passionate, thoughtful, and as loyal as the men I grew up with, which is a big deal, because you all know how the Ryder men are.”

A day ago Addy thought she could tell the difference between a smooth-talking guy and an honest one, but now she wasn’t so sure. She had Jake in a mental box marked OFF-LIMITS PLAYER, and now he wasn’t just trying to climb out of it, but he wanted to crash down the sides and obliterate the damn box in one fell swoop.

“What changed that made you get past your claws and fangs?” Addy asked Trish.

Gabriella turned an inquisitive look to Addy.

“Stop it, Gab. Just because you caught us in the shower together doesn’t mean I’m looking for more. He’s just a friend with benefits, tiding me over for my long, lonely weeks in the mountains.” Addy tried to drown the acidic taste of that fib with wine.

“Caught you in the shower together?” Lizzie and Trish said in unison.

She’d spoken so fast, her reveal hadn’t registered. She mumbled a curse for feeding the grapevine and guzzled more wine.

“Uh-huh. I sure did.” Gabriella laughed. “If there are two people alive who can stockpile sex to tide them over, it would be you and Jake.”

“I’d say. Shower sex is hot,” Siena said.

“We didn’t have shower sex,” Addy snapped a little too harshly.

“Well, why not?” Siena asked.

Trish held her hands up. “Wait. This is my brother. Please don’t answer that.”

“If Jake’s set his sights on you”—Lizzie leaned closer to Addy, wobbling a little—“there’s no way he’ll ever let go. Nope. Ryder guys aren’t made that way. Blue asked me out for a year. A year!” She waved the pen at Addy and Addy took it from her hand so she didn’t end up with gold ink on her face. “I fell so hard I’m surprised I didn’t break.”

Lizzie laughed so much she snorted, sending them all into fits of laughter. Except Addy, who couldn’t imagine any man pursuing a woman for a year without giving up. But Jake propositioned me for months. Months. Not days. Not weeks. Months. Their feelings didn’t come out of nowhere. They’d been simmering for a long time. She thought about Blue and Lizzie. Could she ever love and be loved like that? Would it be smothering? She looked at her friends, who were busy chatting about their adoring men. None of them appeared to feel smothered. They seemed truly happy. Not for the first time, she wondered what held Sally back from getting involved with Gage. Did she have trouble feeling something for him because she’d lost her husband? Or maybe because she’d loved him so deeply? Addy’s thoughts turned inward. She didn’t have an excuse as to why she’d never connected emotionally with a man before Jake, and she found that frustrating. She’d wanted to feel more, hoped for it, but it had never happened. She’d always remained totally in control. But Jake obliterated that hold over her emotions. How did he manage to make her feel so flustered?

“Jake didn’t set his sights on me.” The words came unbidden, and all the girls looked at her with confusion in their eyes that mirrored the confusion inside her. “I want to clear that up. We just have a healthy sexual appetite. Jake and I click in that department. Let’s not make it into something it’s not.” Addy refilled her drink and downed a mouthful, wondering who she was trying to convince—them or herself.

“Speaking of healthy sexual appetites.” Sally’s cheeks flushed. “I might have spent some time on your Tumblr page.”

“And then with her battery-powered friend,” Lizzie chimed in.

Addy was glad for the change of subject and took another gulp of wine.

“No, I most certainly did not!” Sally took a drink, then said, just above a whisper, “I took a long, hot bath.”

“Same, same,” Lizzie said.

“Tumblr page?” Maggie asked. “What am I missing out on?”

Siena jumped in and told Maggie about Addy’s Cocks I Want to Rock social media habit, while Lizzie appeased Sally.

“There’s no shame in it, Sal,” Lizzie said. “Heck, I peeked at Addy’s Tumblr page and attacked Blue afterward. Of course, I can never do that again, because the man is about as jealous as a green-eyed lizard.”

“So is Cash, although he’d never admit it.” Siena went on to share a story about a lingerie magazine shoot she’d done and how Cash had hidden all the magazines from the guys at his firehouse. That sparked a long line of jealousy tales and seductive remedies.

Jealousy had no place where hookups were concerned, so Addy didn’t have much experience to add her two cents. Instead, she joined their discussion, offering her forte. “Distracting your man from jealousy with seduction. I like it! Especially since seducing a man is easy as one, two, three.”

The girls leaned in a little closer.

“Do share,” Siena begged. “Since having the twins, I feel like I’m losing my ability to go from mom to seductress.”

“Cash can’t keep his hands off of you,” Trish refuted.

“Still,” Siena said. “I need a refresher, and Gab said Addy’s got all the moves.”

“She did?”

Gabriella turned her hands palms to the sky.

Addy laughed. “Well, she’s right. There are so many ways to turn your man into a sex machine, and you can do most of them in public. The payoff will definitely come later.”

“Pun intended, I assume,” Maggie added.

“Always.” This was where Addy shined. She might not know much about deep-seated emotions, but she was a master at seduction. “Okay, so, you know how you take great care in picking out just the right lingerie before you go out? Like at Gab’s wedding. I bet you guys all wore sexy, lacy thongs or matching bras and panties.”

They all nodded.

“But what good did it do you?”

“Hey, speak for yourself,” Gabriella said. “I definitely got plenty of my man last night.”

“You were the bride. It’s expected. But that doesn’t even matter. It’s not about the sex. It’s about the buildup. The anticipation, breaking the rules.”

“Not that I have a boyfriend, but I’m not much of a rule breaker,” Sally admitted.

“Me either,” Lizzie said.

“Not real rules. Socially appropriate flirting rules. But no one will know you’re breaking them except you and your man. At Trish’s wedding, instead of dressing sexy and then hoping your man will notice, let him know, but don’t show him. Dress in a different room, and then throughout the day sidle up to him like this.” She rose to her feet and pulled Gabriella up with her. Gabriella swayed and Addy steadied her. “No more wine for you, Gabs. Watch, girls.”

Addy stepped behind Gabriella and brushed the front of her shoulder against the back of Gabriella’s arm while stroking her hand up Gabriella’s chest. She put her hand around Gabriella’s neck and whispered, “I’m wearing new lace panties.” Her hand slid down Gabriella’s chest, and she sauntered away slowly, swaying her hips and tossing one seductive glance over her shoulder.

“She’s good,” Lizzie whispered.

“Told you,” Gabriella said proudly.