I was in trouble here, at least my brain was saying that. So, so much trouble and I wasn’t sure how to get out of it.
Or if I wanted to.
5
DASH
* * *
I saw the moment she tensed up. One minute she’d been carefree, giggling like we were all back in high school and headed off to a party somewhere. Then she grew still and wary, almost the moment the doors of my truck slammed shut.
“So,” Jackson said. “Where to, sweetheart?”
I winced at his easy drawl. Sure, she’d seemed happy enough to see us, but I’d gotten the impression that her excitement hadn’t necessarily been at the sight of us so much as it was the sight of anyone who could take her away. If a pizza delivery man rang the doorbell instead of us, she’d probably have gone off to help him with the rest of his run. She’d fled without even lacing up her boots or zipping her coat. Not even a hello.
Sure enough, she turned from Jackson to me and then looked down at her lap, fidgeting for a moment. Her hair was long and loose, wild and curly over her shoulders. I remembered how it felt, silky and soft and I wanted to touch it again. To get my fingers tangled, trapped. Her green eyes held a hint of wariness I fucking hated.
“Uh…what are you guys doing here?”
“You’re in my truck, Avery,” I replied.
She sighed. “Yeah.” That one word had tons of weight. She seemed so small between us. While she wasn’t a short woman, probably about five-seven, our size difference was obvious.
Jackson and I exchanged a look over her head and the meaning was clear. We had to tread carefully. Our girl was clearly conflicted at our sudden appearance on her doorstep. And while she was in my truck, I wanted her to want to be with us, not because she needed us to escape something bad. We’d protect her if need be—with our lives—but this wasn’t a life or death situation. No, this was just life and it seemed returning to Bridgewater didn’t give Avery a sense of home, especially if she was fleeing hers with anyone who came to the door.
I was the first to respond and I kept my voice even and calm. “We missed you yesterday morning. We’re here because we wanted to make sure you got home okay. While you might not think it after what we did together, we’re gentlemen.”
The stuff we’d done was far from gentlemanly and she’d seemed perfectly fine with that. What woman wanted to fuck all proper-like? Certainly not Avery.
She glanced up at me and I swore I saw a flicker of guilt as she tucked a long brown lock of hair behind her ear. She should have been wearing a hat and mittens, but she’d dashed out too quickly to grab them. Hell, if she’d been in Mexico for a while, I had to wonder if she even had any.
“Oh, yeah, I got home fine. Got on a flight to Missoula. But, uh, thanks for checking.”
I took a calming breath, breathed in the scent of coconuts. Shampoo?
“Why’d you run out on us like that?” I asked, calling her out.
Her head snapped up and her expression filled with alarm. I hadn’t meant to sound accusatory or even territorial. But we deserved to know. If she really had no interest in more than one night, then I wanted to know.
“What he means is—” Jackson cut in, “—we hope we didn’t do anything to scare you off. That you had just as good of time as we did. Did we offend you in some way?”
We had pushed her. A lot. She’d said she’d never been with two guys before and we’d given her quite an experience. The list of things two guys could do instead of one was long and we’d crossed off a lot, including anal play. Unprepared for sex, we hadn’t had lube or even a butt plug. We’d had to improvise with fingers and she certainly hadn’t minded. She’d liked it. At least we’d thought so by the way she’d come.
Surprisingly, her lips tilted up into the sexiest little grin I ever did see. “You didn’t offend me.”
Oh hell. Her voice was low, husky, and sexy as sin. My cock grew hard at the sound of it and I had to clear my throat for fear that my voice would come out as a growl. Her emotions were all over the place, but if we hadn’t offended her, then I could be blunt now. “We made you come. Hard. So many times I lost count.”
She nodded, and I saw her blush, hopefully remembering each and every time.
?
??Why’d you run, baby doll?”
She turned her pretty face up to mine. Her green eyes held heat and fire. “I didn’t run.”
I didn’t bother to argue, just remained quiet. She’d been busted and she knew it.
She sighed and relaxed into the truck’s bench seat. “Okay, maybe I ran.”