12
Well, shit.Joy could only think of one reason why Dane would have changed how he was behaving toward Walker recently.He must have felt at least as guilty as she did.
“No, I wouldn’t say we talked.”She cleared her throat.“I mean, our mouths were too busy for that and I don’t think either of us would have had adequate blood flow to our brains to carry on a discussion.”
“I knew it.”Walker nodded, neither angry nor surprised at her revelation.It kind of pissed her off that he seemed resigned.Didn’t he want her at all?Not even a little?
If she’d said the same to Clive, he would have made sure she knew who she belonged to.But maybe that’s why she loved Walker and Dane instead.There was no sense in denying it, not even to herself.Her feelings were stronger than ever, watching how they looked after their daughter and had crafted this entire new existence for themselves.She might not be in love with them yet…or was that again…but she knew now that her love for them would never fade or die if it hadn’t by now.
“The day we took my motorcycle on her maiden voyage…” So she owed it to Walker to be totally honest.“We, uh, made a pit stop.”
“And it involved fooling around, didn’t it?He’s guilty as fuck and terrible at hiding it.”
“It was only a kiss.A hell of one, but still.Are you upset?”Joy asked quietly.
“Nah.Weren’t you listening to me?”It soothed her ego a little to see his knuckles were white from clutching the steering wheel so tightly, even though they were going nowhere fast.“I figured it would happen sooner or later.To be honest, I assumed you two had snuck in a quickie.You wouldn’t be the first to get it on in the woods around Hot Rides or, for that matter, in the garage itself.”
“It’s kind of intense being around everyone here.The chemistry between them is off the charts.”Joy probably should shut her mouth, but she shifted in her seat thinking about how Quinn looked at Trevon and Devra when they were going about their business.Same for all of the trios, really.It was hot and made her long for someone to hunger for her that way just once in her life.
The thing was, the night she’d slept with Dane and Walker, and the day in the woods…well, it had seemed to her like they did crave her as badly as she did them.
Except she never would have been able to walk away.
Yet they had.
So she must have been mistaken.
Joy got out of the car and trudged toward their tiny home.Why did it have to be so damn cute and cozy, inviting her to stay longer than she should?She figured she’d need a couple of months of paychecks before she could go apartment hunting.Not one day more.Then she was moving out, on her own, and she’d do well to remember that.
Even when she was sleepy and her dreams seemed within reach.
She’d only made it a few steps along the short path from the parking area when Walker appeared by her side, with a steadying grip on her elbow.
“Not so fast…whydidn’tyou two get it on that day?”Walker grimaced.“Other than the fact that it had to have been freezing out there.If it had been me with you—”
“Then what?”Joy couldn’t stop the short, ironic laugh that burst from her chest as he opened their door and ushered her inside.“Don’t act like you would have gone for it when we both know you wouldn’t have.You can pretend to be macho and a player with other women—shit, maybe you are—but we both know that’s not how things are between us.You still see me as your bratty little sister or something.”
She clomped into the bathroom and began stripping off her day-old clothes, beginning with her shirt, which she whipped over her head and dropped to the pretty antique tile floor.She needed to wash herself clean of hospital smells and the irritation seeping out of her pores now before she could lie down in Dane’s bed.That and she had to get rid of the tingle of attraction she still felt for his best friend, who’d essentially brushed her off.Again.
When Walker appeared in the doorway, she squeaked and grabbed for the nearest towel.“What are you doing?”
“You don’t get to fling accusations like that then flounce away.”Walker stepped closer until he towered over her.Despite her discomfort around other men, she didn’t shy away or experience the slightest sliver of fear even when he was clearly agitated.
“I’ll do whatever the hell I like.But at this point, fine.I don’t give a fuck if you stand there.”She shrugged.That caused the edge of her towel to slip, revealing one of her currently enhanced breasts.Her rack looked pretty great these days, if she did say so herself.A win for bottle-feeding breast milk.
“Joy...”He squeezed past her in the tight space to turn on the faucet in the freestanding antique bathtub, her favorite extravagance in the tiny home.“First of all, you’re so tired you’re likely to fall asleep in there and drown.Dane would never forgive me.”
Joy glanced around.She wasn’t surprised to find that the guys didn’t stock any bubble bath she could at least use to obscure most of her body from him.It was probably because she was punchy with exhaustion that she thought it was a good idea, but she decided that if he was so damn indifferent and blasé about her anyway, she might as well push his previous claims and prove, once and for all, that she was right.
He was unaffected by her as a woman.Hell, maybe even repulsed.
She just wished she knew if it was because of what he’d obviously never been able to unsee from the night Clive had attacked her or because he still thought of her as a relative.Or simply because she wasn’t his type.
At least on the outside, she didn’t have a lot in common with the high-maintenance, sky-high-heel-wearing, ruby-red-lipped blondes he seemed to prefer.Deep down, she had believed they craved the same things.
Especially the one time he’d given in and shown her exactly how compatible they truly were.
So fuck him.She was getting in that bathtub, and if he didn’t care for her stretch marks or thick thighs, he would scurry away faster, leaving her to bask in the solitude and steam.