She dashed off and disappeared into the bedroom, leaving him alone to run both hands through his hair in frustration.
There were many women he had no business making out with. Close relatives, of course. His buddies’ wives, no duh. That Black Widow broad who’d axe-murdered all her husbands, nope, not touching that one. Last but not least, Claire McKinley. Yup, his brother’s ex-fiancée-as-of-this-morning was definitely not someone he should be locking lips with.
Disgusted and annoyed at his lack of willpower, he ordered his erection to retreat, then stalked back to the living room so he could spend the evening with the person he wanted to be making out with.
Chapter Five
“Show of hands—who thinks Dylan’s brother is a grade-A douchebag?” Seth Masterson promptly raised his own hand, and was joined by Cash McCoy, Jackson Ramsey and Ryan Evans, who all wore identical looks of condemnation.
“See, it’s settled,” Seth announced before taking a deep drag of his cigarette.
No sooner did he exhale a cloud of smoke into the late-morning air than a pretty blonde burst onto the café’s patio like a tornado.
“Uh-uh, no way,” Shelby Garrett said in a stern voice. “No smoking!”
Dylan grinned as Seth’s gray eyes flashed with indignation. Their resident badass had been warned several times to not even think about lighting up in Shelby’s place of business or else, and the woman clearly hadn’t been bluffing—she swiped the cigarette right out of Seth’s fingers and proceeded to drop it directly into his coffee mug.
“Aw, that’s cruel, Shel,” Seth grumbled. “Now what am I going to drink?”
“Oh, is there something wrong with your coffee?” she asked sweetly. “Go ahead and drink it right along with that nasty butt, seeing as you were determined to put those toxins in your body anyway.”
As the other men laughed and applauded, Shelby settled in the chair next to Ryan’s and glanced at Dylan. “Okay, finish your story. I just had to show my new part-timer how to take down a cake order.”
For the tenth time that morning, Dylan had to wonder what Shelby was even doing here. Not that he was complaining or anything. The wife of a former SEAL, Shelby was not only gorgeous, but so easy to talk to, and she was a California girl to the core. The moment she’d learned that the guys were incorporating surfing into their Sunday workout, she’d invited herself along and had been joining them bright and early on the beach every week.
Not much surfing to be done today, though. The water had been too calm, not a decent wave in sight, so eventually Shelby went for a walk while the men finished their workout, and then the six of them had headed over to the Coronado bakery/café Shelby owned.
Dylan had been in the process of telling everyone about yesterday’s wedding fiasco before Shelby had hurried inside to assist her employee, and now he quickly wrapped up the tale. Omitting, of course, the unexpected kiss Claire had planted on him—that was one can of worms he had zero intention of opening.
“So she’s staying with you and Aidan now?” Shelby raised her coffee to her lips, her blue eyes watching him over the rim of her mug.
“Yeah, for a few days,” he said.
“That was cool of you, rescuing her like that,” Cash told him. The dark-haired SEAL reached for the plate of banana muffins Shelby had brought out, grabbed one, and proceeded to shove the whole thing into his mouth.
“Such manners,” Jackson remarked in that southern drawl of his. “Jen must be so proud of you.”
“Trust me, Jen has no complaints about the way I eat.” Cash’s blue eyes twinkled. “Food, of course. The way I eat food.”
“What I want to know,” Seth said, “is whether you and Aidan have—cover your ears, Shelby—fucked her yet.”
The blonde rolled her eyes. “God, you are such a sleaze.”
Seth blinked innocently. “Hey, I was just voicing what everyone else was thinking.”
“Uh, I wasn’t thinking that at all,” Ryan spoke up.
“Me neither,” Cash piped up.
“Didn’t even cross my mind,” Jackson confessed.
“Oh, come on, you were too. I mean, you all met her when she came to visit, right? She’s a stone-cold fox.”
“Claire and my brother were just here for a night,” Dylan reminded his former roommate. “You were the only one who met her.”
“Ah, right. Well, shit, you guys missed out.” Seth offered the other men his trademark scoundrel smirk. “She’s sexy as hell—great tits, curves in all the right places. Oh, and she’s a redhead. Every redhead I’ve ever—cover your ears, Shelby—fucked has been phenomenal in bed.”
This time the eye-roll came from Ryan. “Dude, do you kiss your wife with that mouth?”
“Yup, and she loves it.”