Three Ways to Wicked (16 page)

“Sweetheart, my sister isn’t going to take one look at us and know we’ve been fucking like horny rabbits for the last four days.”

She squinted at Ty. “You don’t know your sister at all, do you?”

Ty exhaled heavily before reaching for one of the beers. “You’re getting worked up over nothing. Bailey’s going to be so focused on you, she won’t be paying any attention to me and Gibb.”

“
Exactly.
” She tossed up her hands. “I have the worst poker face in existence. It’ll be a miracle if I don’t get nervous and blab something incredibly incriminating.”

“Like what? How you can’t get enough of our huge cocks?”

She jabbed a finger in Ty’s sternum when he took a gulp of his beer, forcing him to choke on his swallow. Served him right for being so flippant. And obnoxiously correct. “I do have some restraint. Unlike
some
of us around here.” She gave him a pointed look.

“See? You’ve got nothing to stress over then.”

Damn. She’d walked right into that one. “Look, I know you probably think I’m being ridiculous. But I’m honestly not sure how to go about any of this. Bailey’s going to ask me about my week. What am I supposed to tell her?”

“The truth.” Gibb massaged her nape reassuringly. “That you’ve been writing. Knowing Bailey, it’ll thrill her that you’ve gotten your groove back.”

It will.
Some of the tension eased from Kayla, and she leaned her head against the solidness of Gibb’s shoulder. “I’ll have to omit the part you guys played in that. And I hope to God she won’t want to read the chapter I recently finished.”

Gibb cocked an eyebrow. “That good?”

“Let’s just say it’s the reason for my change of heart about anal sex.”

Ty clunked his beer down. “I want to read it.”

“No way. I’m not going to risk a repeat like the standing sixty-nine scene, you horny bastard.”

Ty’s smirk was too sexy for words. “Don’t seem to recall you complaining.”

“Only because all the blood rushing to my head made it impossible.”

His gaze twinkling devilishly, Ty rimmed the lip of his bottle with his tongue. The raunchy gesture flipped her tummy inside out and brought a gush of wetness to her pussy. Looking to hide the traitorous stiffening of her nipples, she strategically stacked her arms in front of her. “So help me, if you do that in front of Bailey, I
will
murder you.”

“So long as you make it dramatic and torturous.”

“But of course.”

Offering her a wink, Ty slammed a swallow of his beer.

The doorbell rang, making Kayla jump. “Oh God, it’s Bail. She’s early.” On the bright side, at least Bailey apparently didn’t have a key. Or if she did, she hadn’t brought it with her.

Gibb pressed a kiss to Kayla’s temple. “Deep breaths, baby.”

“Right.” Taking his sage advice, she sucked in a fortifying lungful of oxygen and fizzled it out slowly.
I can do this.
After shooting Gibb and Ty a tentative and probably desperate-as-hell look, she hustled toward the main stairway. She paused on the lower landing and smoothed a shaky hand through her hair before swinging the door open. The sight of Bailey standing on the other side of the threshold armed with a bottle of margarita mix, two pints of Jose Cuervo and a shit-eating grin kicked Kayla’s smile up several notches. “I don’t think that’s enough tequila for the two of us.”

“Gurl, this is just my portion. The cabana boys are riding over on their mule later with yours.”

“Greedy bitch.”

Bailey leaned in for a kiss before skipping up the stairs. She strolled into the kitchen and speared Ty and Gibb with her narrow-eyed suspicion while she thunked her bottles of booze onto the center island. The only thing missing to complete the scene was the theme song to
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
playing in the background.

“Hey, sis.” Ty dropped a kiss on Bailey’s furrowed brow before inspecting the tequila. “What, no worm? Shit, and here I coulda used it for bait.”

Bailey freed the pint from Ty’s grasp and settled it back in place with an even more menacing
whop
than she’d used a second ago. “Don’t you have someplace you need to be?”

Ty adopted a vacant look and stared past his sister’s head as if he were trying to remember. She smacked him in the shoulder before pointedly turning him toward the glass slider. Looking like a kicked puppy, Ty moped outside and down the steps. Bailey transferred her attention to Gibb.

“I’ll, uh, join Ty.” He grabbed his beer and made fast tracks for the exit.

Kayla released a sigh. Compared to the charade ahead of her, they were getting off easy.

Bailey snatched the blender on the counter and began rummaging in the cupboards for glasses. “Man, am I glad this week is almost over. With Darla on maternity leave, I’ve been shouldering her accounts on top of my regular load. It’s been a royal pain in the keister.”

Kayla had no idea how her best friend could get any pleasure from her data-entry job. She’d been stunned speechless when Bailey turned down Finn Harper’s offer to manage his art gallery and instead took the position at Lynx Data Systems three years ago. Art had always been Bailey’s passion. Maybe she wouldn’t be rolling in the money as Finn’s manager, but God knows she’d be happier.

While Bailey tossed the fixings for the margaritas into the blender, Kayla filled a bowl with tortilla chips and grabbed the leftover salsa and queso dip from the fridge. Licking a droplet of salsa juice from her finger, Kayla snuck a glance toward the lower deck and spotted Ty and Gibb parked on a pair of beach chairs outside the pool house. They looked so damn lickable and inviting, it was killing her not to rush down there and drag them off to bed.

“Did my numbnuts brother happen to mention if they’ve gotten roofers lined up yet?”

Kayla gave a guilty jump at the mention of Ty. “They’re still waiting on the adjuster.”

“Jeez Louise. What’s taking the dude so long?”

“Apparently the insurance company is backlogged with claims. They promised Ty and Gibb they’re next on the list though.” Hoping to sidetrack Bailey away from any further talk of the guys and potential things for her to grumble over, Kayla nudged the container of chips in her best friend’s direction. “I’m really looking forward to this weekend and catching up with the entire gang.”

Occasionally Dane was able to make the trip to Detroit with Bailey, but it’d been ages since Kayla had seen Finn, Reese, Cooper and the others. Besides, it’d be a perfect opportunity to pick Finn’s brain on the artist hero she was creating for the sequel to
Lust in Technicolor
.

“Plan on it being a late night Saturday. According to Coops, he’s wiped out the Publix
and
Brandywine’s entire stash of liquor.” Bailey shuddered delicately. “
Oye
, thank the Lord of Hangovers that Venetian Week only comes once a year.” She dunked a wedge of lime into her drink before snapping her fingers excitedly. “Oh hey, I almost forgot to tell you that Reese is carrying your latest in the bookstore. I nearly spilled the beans to her too. Luckily she got sidelined with a customer before I could stick my foot in my mouth.” Her expression turning crafty, Bailey copped a squat on the nearby barstool. “You really should come clean about your alter ego. I know Reese would love to set up an in-store book signing for you.”

Kayla pretended a sudden interest in stirring the queso dip. It wasn’t the first time Bailey had gently prodded her to come out of the nom de plume closet. Just like those other times, the prospect made Kayla queasy. “I’ll think about it.”

“You’re already outed to your mom. What difference does it make telling the entire world?”

The phantom memory of the last ugly blowout with her mother flashed through Kayla’s mind.

“Do you have any idea the stain you’re leaving on your father’s legacy? You should be ashamed of yourself.”

The sting of her mother’s words leaving poisoned pinpricks beneath Kayla’s skin, she averted her gaze from Bailey’s. “It’s complicated.”

Fortunately Bailey intuited Kayla’s discomfort with the topic and switched gears to a lighter subject. They spent a few minutes noshing on the chips and dips while she filled Kayla in on the local gossip of Wicked Shores. When their conversation veered in the direction of Bailey’s engagement, the odd pensiveness she’d displayed during their lunch at the Rusty Anchor reappeared. Despite Kayla pressing her on it, Bailey waved a hand dismissively. “Pre-wedding jitters. I’m going to be a stupid basket case for the next several months. It’ll be a miracle if Dane still wants to be shackled with me by the time we get around to actually saying I do to each other.”

“Have you two set a date?”

Bailey chased her salsa-loaded chip with a sip of her margarita. The worry continued to dwell in her eyes, but outwardly she displayed her typical airiness. “Definitely not any time this summer since it’s too friggin’ hot. Likely closer to fall.” She swiped her salt-dusted fingers on the leg of her jeans. “Which brings me to the most important question of the night. Will you be my maid of honor?”

A happy squeal popped from Kayla before she could rope it into submission.

Her grin nearly a carbon copy of Ty’s, Bailey raised an eyebrow. “Should I take that as a yes?”

“Absolutely, you goofball. Like there’s the slightest chance I’d say anything else.”

“Awesome.” Looking immensely more relaxed since the subject of her engagement had been broached, Bailey squeezed Kayla in a bone-crushing hug. “Now you have absolutely no excuse for taking another seven years to haul your ass down here.”

“I wouldn’t do that anyway.” Her heart couldn’t take that kind of absence from Ty and Gibb. With the flexibility of her job, it was certainly easier for her to make the trip to Florida than for them to come see her in Michigan.

Assuming they wanted to continue any kind of long-distance relationship with her. There’d been no talk of what their future held after their last week together was up. Maybe they didn’t view this as anything more than a fun, temporary fling.

Heart heavy, she silently acknowledged the facts—just because she was madly, hopelessly in love with Gibb and Ty didn’t mean they felt the same way about her.

Bailey said something, drawing Kayla away from her inner musings. Plastering on a smile, she rejoined Bailey in idle chitchat. But the silent countdown to her last days with Ty and Gibb ticked in Kayla’s head, marking off each second to when she’d have to let them go.

Possibly for good.

Chapter Fourteen

Friday afternoon Gibb and Ty surprised her by spontaneously closing shop early and hustling her into the passenger seat of the Bronco. While she yanked her safety belt into place, she blinked at Gibb. “What’s going on?”

“Insurance check is officially on its way, so we’re commemorating the historic occasion.”

“Ooh, that’s awesome! What a huge relief for you guys.” She shared a grin with Gibb as he backed out of the driveway. “How are we celebrating?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Don’t I at least get a hint?”

“Nope. It’s more fun this way.”

She twitched her nose at him. “Sure, for you two. In the meantime,
I’m
the one dying of curiosity.”

Ty leaned forward in the backseat and massaged her shoulders. “Think you’ll like what we have up our sleeves.” He offered a smoky chuckle. “Or at least I know Gibb and I will.”

“For the record, mysterious comments like that are
not
helping appease my nosiness. I’m probably going to suffer high anxiety issues now, wondering what depraved things you have in store for me.”

The dirty rat bastards refused to cave to her blatant attempt at making them feel guilty. To make matters worse and infinitely more intriguing, rather than head into the heart of Wicked Shores as she’d expected, Gibb took the double-laned county road leading toward the not-so-cosmopolitan city center of Castaway Cay. Despite her best attempt to weasel any further intel out of them, Gibb and Ty refused to give up the gig right until the moment they pulled into the nearly deserted parking lot of Paintball Adventures.

She gave the neon-splattered targets dotting the adjacent obstacle course a wary eye. “Uh, I don’t think I’m properly dressed for this.”

“No, you’re definitely not.” Gibb killed the engine and pocketed the keys. “But we’ll be correcting that oversight shortly.”

“Seriously, is it your and Ty’s primary goal in life to drive me crazy with curiosity?”

“Nope. It’s to drive you crazy with lust.” Ty shoved open his door and left his station in the backseat so he could help her outside. He pulled her in for a lingering kiss before patting her butt with a mischievous grin. “We succeeded yet?”

“Like you need more ego stroking from me in that department.”

“So long as you don’t stop stroking my fun parts.”

She rolled her lips to keep from laughing. “And deprive
myself
? Not a freakin’ chance.”

Gibb rounded the front of the Bronco and slid his arm around her waist. “Good thing you said that, because what we’ve got in store for you requires an excessive amount of touching.”

“Yep, we’re talking full-on body contact.” Ty backed up his statement with a lingering squeeze of her right butt cheek.