Men Times Three (13 page)

She lost the conviction in the words when Deke turned back onto the road to the Friendly Inn and she caught a glimpse of a car similar to Jack's. “It's so gloomy this morning,” she said, “is that car grey or silver?”

“Looks blue to me,” he said. “Why?”

“It seems familiar, but the color's wrong.” Still, it unsettled her to know that Jack had been driving when they'd spoken. She hadn't thought to ask where he was, and normally he'd be at his desk at this time of day.

M
arnie hugged her first mug of coffee to her chest and leaned against the kitchen table, prepared to be reasonable. She started with a simple question for Kylie. “You seriously think we can make a go of a business together?”

“It's worth a shot. I've never done anything like it and I'd like to try.”

“But the inn is in bad shape. I'm afraid we'd find ourselves in a hole so deep we'll never get out. I've already got a business partner that's a pain in the neck. I don't need another one.” She hated being difficult but she had to be straight about this. “In business, there's no room for guessing games and innuendo. We need to be straight with each other.”

“You think because I haven't run an inn before that I'll make a lousy partner?” Kylie slammed the carafe back onto the warming plate.

“Now you're insulted and that's not my intent. I don't know how you'll be to work with. But running a business is harder than you think. People always think there's no boss to answer to.”

“Right.”

“Wrong. Every guest who walks through that door and signs in is the boss. You need to think of nothing but their comfort, their needs, their pleasure. And you have to think ahead of them.” The inn was shaping up inside and she could see how Kylie's inexperienced eye could want to make it homey and welcoming. “Going into a business shouldn't be an emotional decision. There's a lot to consider.” And the people you had to work with and around was a big part of the decision. “I just don't know you well enough to trust that we could make a go of this.”

“If your partner in the club is so hard to deal with, why not dissolve the partnership and give this a try?”

“Giving it a try won't pay my bills. The club's about to take off.” She heard Dennis's whine about how long she'd been saying those words. “I just need a little more time with it.” If Mike the DJ didn't leave because they couldn't afford to give him a raise. And if they could find a loan, and if Dennis would actually handle his side of things and—

“What if you left the inn to Holly and me? Would that work?”

“No, it wouldn't.” She needed the money, plain and simple. “Unless you pay me my third. Do you have that kind of money? Because Holly doesn't.”

“Of course not. My mom lived well and put me through school, but when she died I cleared off her car loan and paid for the funeral. I can afford to put in a year here, but after that, the inn will have to support me or be sold.”

“If the inn was a success, would you want to live here?”

But Kylie didn't need to answer, because the glow in her eyes said it all. She wanted the place, wanted it bad. “I don't know.”

Holly walked in. “Morning, ladies. I got up early and went to give Deke that tip I mentioned last night.” She poured herself a coffee. She took a sip while her gaze bounced from one to the other. “I see you've started the discussion without me. Let me guess, Marnie still wants to cut and run and Kylie wants to give running the inn a whirl.”

“If Marnie wasn't so stubborn—”

“If Kylie would listen to reason—”

“Does anyone want my opinion?”

Finally she'd get Holly's support and it would be two against one. “Of course,” Marnie said. “Kylie, this doesn't mean we'll go our separate ways. We'll still get to the family bonding—”

“I want to stay,” Holly said.

“—Just because we won't be working together doesn't mean we won't play together.” She froze. “Like hell you do!”

“I want to stay,” Holly repeated in a firm voice Marnie hadn't heard before.

“Why?” she asked, when she already knew. “It's Deke, isn't it? I thought this was all about sex and fun and good times.”

Holly hid her mouth behind her mug. “This isn't about Deke at all.”

“If it's not Deke, then why?” She thought back to the moment Holly arrived. “I knew you were hiding something. You looked so relieved to be here when you climbed out of the car, but then you smoothed your expression when I answered the door. What's really going on with you?” She focused on Holly and tried to see the truth behind her eyes.

Holly shrugged. “I think we can give this a summer. You can be here on your days off.”

“Which is never.” She couldn't leave the club to Dennis. A band of pressure formed across her forehead as she turned and walked out, too stunned to talk about it anymore.

But she wasn't stunned; she was hurt. Betrayed by her own flesh and blood. Her cousin. The one family member she'd always counted as a best friend.

 

Holly turned to Kylie. “She's stressed. Worried about a lot of things that have nothing to do with the inn.”

“I think it's me. She hates the idea of sharing her inheritance with a stranger and I can't say as I blame her.”

“That may be a part of it, but she'll come around. Marnie's got a good heart and loves family. It's that club. Her partner's such an ass and she's desperate to be rid of him.”

“Why are you willing to stay? Don't you have a job and a life in Seattle?”

“I have a new job I don't like much. A new apartment I think is fine, but my ex is a pain. The time I spend here will give him time to believe we're over.”

“But you're divorced.”

“To the world we are, but to Jack, I'm not so sure. I may have messed up badly by continuing to sleep with him.”

Kylie's understanding nod eased her mind. “My mom did that with a long-term guy once. Big mistake. We had to move in the middle of the night because he started coming around drunk and demanding to move back in.”

“So she couldn't convince him to move on?”

“Not after she caved in and slept with him a couple of times. Some men think it's the way back into your life.” She shrugged. “I guess some women think so, too. Sex messes up a lot of people.” She dug out the cleaning supplies and looked at her.

“You take the back bedrooms and I'll tackle Grandad's suite today.”

“Good luck with that.” Kylie turned to leave. “No, wait. I'd like to do his suite. If that's okay.”

“Sure. No problem.”

Holly found Marnie on the veranda, painting the chairs they'd discovered in the basement. “The red looks great. Kylie was right about the color. It warms the veranda and makes it cheery.”

Marnie sighed and wiped the back of her hand across her nose. “I hate to admit it, but she's been right about a lot of things around here. She has an eye,” she admitted.

“I like her.”

Marnie made a face that soon dissolved into a begrudging grin. “So do I. She's got a lot of guts to take her place here with us and demand to be heard. I guess she's a Dawson even if her mother did try to hide behind a different name.”

“It's not that I want to disappoint you, but being here has opened my eyes to a couple of things.”

“Like Deke?”

“Yes, but actually, it's more than him. I was so wrong to continue seeing Jack. I should have moved on right away, but I held on out of fear.”

“Of being alone?”

“No, if I were afraid to be alone, I'd have stayed married. I was afraid of the possibilities. It's a big world outside of a difficult marriage to a controlling man. I took small steps away from him, but now I'm ready to run into the future and part of that run is this place. I'm full of what ifs and wants and excitement for a different future from anything I ever imagined.”

Marnie's face went from sympathetic to surprised to delighted. “You're ready to fly?”

“Headlong into the future. I want to quit my job, give up my new apartment and give this place a shot. I want to learn if this thing with Deke has the power to hold me, if I can handle the pressure of running a business.”

“And when it fails?”

“You can't be sure it will. But if we fail here, it won't be because we didn't try.”

Her cousin nodded and set her red-tinted brush down onto the paint tray. “Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all?”

“Something like that.” She couldn't tell Marnie about the conversation with Jack and about seeing that car that looked so much like his. Marnie would tell TJ and word would get back to Deke right away. This was her problem and no one else's.

In the spirit of moving headlong into her future, she kept her thoughts about Jack's whereabouts to herself. If she got any inkling that he was going to cause a scene or otherwise interfere with her life, she'd deal with it then.

For now, Marnie had enough to think about. “Are you going to the city soon? You might want to take a couple days away from here for perspective.”

“You call dealing with Dennis getting perspective?” She snorted.

“Sure.”

She nodded. “I'll finish these chairs, then give the jackass a call.”

“What about TJ?”

She laughed. “He'll wait. The problem is, can I?”

 

Three days later TJ felt the ache of defeat. He'd tried like hell to get Marnie alone, but she was quick as a mink and either dashed away or had someone with her. The logs he'd traded for would soon be delivered, and once they got here, he'd be swamped with work.

Every night, he thought of her at the inn,
bonding
with her cousin, when what he wanted was her bonding with
him
. He'd never been so frustrated.

Celibacy was easier when there weren't any interesting women. But now that every sense he had went on high alert whenever Marnie was within view, his lack of sex was killing him. Slowly, painfully killing him. He wanted to tear the woods apart, tree by tree.

The kiss on the rock had been explosive. A tease of the worst kind. And now, nothing. Made him grind his teeth.

He'd been pushed to his limits before the kiss, but now, he was way past reasonable. Not only was she avoiding being alone with him, she was looking at him whenever they were in the same room.

She looked at him with desire.

With invitation.

With lust, not caring who was with them. Deke laughed so hard he could barely work and Holly and Kylie gave him sympathetic glances but quickly ducked their heads when he glared back.

He hated this game. It had been good fun and hot, silent foreplay when he'd thought it would last twenty-four hours, but this was ridiculous.
She
was making him ridiculous.

Didn't mean he could stop playing though, because as ridiculous as they were being, it would be worse to lose.

He stared at her bags on the floor by the front door and then raised his eyes to watch her descend the staircase.

She was dressed to kill. “You're leaving?”

“Yes.”

He tried not to track the way she moved, like a cat on the hunt, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited, hoping she'd pounce like the feline she was.

No go. She stopped at the foot of the stairs, one hand on the newel post. Her knuckles went white as she held on. Good, he wasn't the only one on alert. He eased away from the front counter and stood straight. She stiffened, ready to run back up if he moved closer. “Right now?”

“I've got to get back to head off a disaster.” She looked hot enough to sear. A short tight skirt, long legs that ended in stilettoes. She wore her hair down and the tips brushed just below her shoulders. A wide-belted green blazer topped off her outfit and put the city stamp all over her. She was high fashion, high maintenance and he could almost taste her.

“I had plans for this weekend.” He spoke softly so she wouldn't spook.

“Did you now?” Her knuckles tightened and he smiled his response. She loosened her grip.

“You know damn well I did. You've been staying here all week
bonding
with Kylie, when I wanted you at my place.”

“I've been happy here. Kylie and I have come to some agreement over the last couple of nights.”

“I don't give a rat's ass about—” He ground his back teeth to stop from giving her any ammunition.

The smile she gave him was pure come get it.

So he did.

In one step he had her in his arms, his mouth on hers, his hands cupping her ass and dragging her hips into his. He pressed his erection against her as he held her tight, felt the press of her pubic bone, the softness of her thighs. She sighed into his mouth and slipped her tongue along the length of his in a drag race they could both win if she'd only allow it.

He'd planned to get her into his bed come hell or high water and not let her out until they were both drained. From sundown Friday to sunrise Monday, he'd wanted to be buried in her, awash in Marnie.

Instead, he was kissing her good-bye.
Fuck!
Life went to shit sometimes.

He broke into a sweat as she coaxed him for more. He tore his mouth from hers. “Don't leave.” He held himself rigidly away from her.

“If I don't go, I'll lose everything. This time, my partner has messed up so bad I'm not sure I can fix it.”

“I had plans for this weekend.”

“You won't believe me, but so did I.”

He growled. Sounded like an asshole, but he couldn't help it. She was tearing him apart.

“It's not as bad as all that, is it? I'll be back as soon as I can. The bedrooms will be well on their way to done. We'll be ahead of schedule.”

“Which means you'll be gone permanently all that much sooner.”

She jerked. “Now, now, that sounds as if you—”

“Want you to stay?” No woman had ever frustrated him on so many levels all at once. He hadn't even slept with her yet and here he was…wanting. More than she offered, more than they'd shared, more than he'd ever wanted before.

She stepped back. “Maybe. Do you?”

“How could I want you to stay? We haven't done anything more than kiss.” What the hell did he want?