a reason to live(31)

“It wasn’t the cock that scarred me for life,” Max answered with a sigh. “It was the strip poker. I still can’t look at Randy King without wanting to deck him.”

“I’m missin’ something,” Gregor said. “Why do you want to punch Randy King for a hen night poker party?”

“Because,” Max grit out. “It was a co-ed poker night. Maxine invited men to play.”

Shane’s conversation with Maxine ran through his head and he stood, knocking his stool over.

“What?” Max asked.

“Maxine didn’t just want to talk,” he bit out. “She invited me to play poker tonight.”

There was a moment of silence, and then birds took flight when a thundering shout rocked Last Call and Max and Shane came flying out.

***

“As you can see, ladies, the Passion Princess line of lingerie is the highest quality, guaranteed to raise your man’s blood pressure,” Martha said as Mia and I stood in front of them.

I was wearing a lavender, laced, mesh teddy with diamond strapped criss-cross details. The amount of see-through fabric covering only my breasts, stomach, and woman’s parts was negligible. And the criss-cross ties on the side holding the front and back together were sexy but uncomfortable. I liked to sleep in the nude, not that this outfit was meant for anything but being stripped off the moment a man saw it.

Mia, on the other hand, was decked out in dominatrix leather. The barely-there halter covered fifty percent of her boobs and the matching leather shorts highlighted her firm ass. She was also sporting a riding crop, which she found amusing and used on my butt.

“Doesn’t the leather chafe?” an older woman asked.

“Actually, if feels soft against my skin,” Mia replied.

“Seems like it would stick,” the woman mumbled.

“Don’t forget about the easy access, Gail. The crotch has snaps so you can get down to business quickly,” Maxine pointed out.

If you asked me when I came to Trails End if I could see myself modeling skimpy lingerie in the near future, I would have thought you were nuts.

“You don’t find this the least bit odd, do you?” I mumbled to Mia.

“I did a year ago, then I saw how much Maxine enjoyed helping women appreciate their sexuality.”

I looked at Maxine and wondered about her own. She was an attractive woman, one who looked ten years younger than her sixty some odd years, then thought about how she looked at Gregor.

“What about Maxine’s sex life,” I whispered to Mia.

“I think she and vibrators are intimately involved,” she whispered back.

“But what if she had the chance to, you know, find her sexuality with a red-blooded man?”

“She’s never indicated she was looking.”

“But what if she were? Would you and Max be okay with that?”

Mia looked at Maxine and shrugged. “I wouldn’t care, but Max is protective.”

“Shouldn’t she be allowed to enjoy what’s left of her life?”

Mia looked at me for a moment, then grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side. “Okay, spill. I can tell by the way you’re acting you know something.”

“Gregor,” I whispered.

“What about him?”

“Your mother-in-law has the hots for him, but she won’t go after what she wants because of Max.”

“What?” Mia whisper-shouted with eyes the size of saucers.

“Yeah. I caught her making googly eyes at him yesterday and confronted her about it. Then I encouraged Gregor to ask her out, and he said flat out he couldn’t because of Max.”

“Oh. My. God.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll have to think about this for a while. I’m not sure what Max would think, to be honest.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Martha asked.

Mia looked over her shoulder then back at me and whispered, “We’ll talk later.”

I nodded and we both turned to head back to the party when the front door flew open and Max and Shane rushed in. They looked like wild animals standing in the entry, and we froze in place, shocked silent.

“Fuck,” Max hissed when he saw his wife’s appearance, and Shane followed with an equally deep growl of, “Me.”

“What are you doing here?” Mia asked.

Max came unstuck, looked around at the crowd, then crooked his finger at his wife. Shane, on the other hand, stayed glued in place, his jaw ticking as he scanned me from head to toe. That’s when I remembered what I was wearing.

“I’ll just,” I mumbled, pointing toward my bedroom.

“Good idea,” Shane choked out.

I turned, took two steps, and heard him suck air into his lungs. That’s when I remembered my ass was on display, and I took off running for the bedroom. The door slammed behind me as I headed for my bag, but it opened again, and I spun around as Shane came stalking in.