But even though he was speaking to Whitney, his eyes were hooked onto me.
Lizzie came back with a cooler full of all the drinks we specified. The beer loosened up my body as well as my tongue, and soon the guys and I were talking as if nothing had changed. It brought back a lot of memories. I quickly found why I had fantasized about them all the time as a teenager. Why I was always masturbating to them and wishing they would kiss me. They were true gentleman with just a spark of wolfish nature. Not enough to make them seem like dogs, but enough to make you know you were wanted. I threw back my first beer without a second thought and was sipping on my second one as a flushed feeling of euphoria tumbled over my body.
The bubbles were popping against my skin, and the water felt like it was getting hotter.
I was relaxed. Loose. Unaware of worries that still plagued my subconscious mind.
It almost made me wonder what would’ve happened had I stayed, found a law school in the state and stuck by their sides. Would one of them have taken me in? Would I have ended up as part of the O’Conner clan? I never would’ve met Michael, and that would’ve been a good thing. But would I have ended up with one of them?
The thought ran through my mind all night as our party grew loud.
“You look wonderful in that suit,” Caleb said quietly.
“You haven’t seen me in it,” I said with a giggle.
“I have. You got out to go to the bathroom, and I couldn't take my eyes off you.”
“Now you know how I felt on all those fishing trips we took,” I said.
His eyes darkened as I clamped my mouth shut. What in the world had I admitted to?
“Katie? Want another beer?” Andrew asked.
“Nope. Two’s my limit now,” I said.
“This mornin’, you didn’t drink beer,” Andrew said. “You sure you don’t want another?”
“I’m sure. Have to keep myself under control,” I said.
“You know we got your back, right?” Andrew asked. “If you get rowdy, we got ya.”
“Doesn’t mean I should be,” I said. “But thank you. That means a lot.”
“You’re important. You should know someone’s lookin’ out for you.”
The comments kept coming all night long. Flirting and bantering. Drinking and laughing. It was more fun than I’d had in years, and it came as no shock to me that the brothers would be at the center of it all. Things felt natural with them. Fluid and familiar. I found myself floating around to each of them, feeling their hands somewhere along my body before I floated over to another. It was the first time I’d felt any other man’s hands on my body but Michael’s, and I found myself enjoying their attention and their light touches and the caresses of their fingertips.
But I could tell Whitney wasn’t happy one bit.
And I knew I’d hear about it in the morning.
CHAPTER 5
ANDREW
Holy fuck.
The hot tub party got fuckin’ nuts. Girls in bikinis slinging back beers and bottles of wine. It was fuckin’ paradise. And, the best part was Katie.
Man, she looked fuckin hot. Hotter than I’d ever seen her. Her blonde hair had been piled high onto her head, leaving her long luscious neck exposed. What I wouldn’t have given to run my tongue along it’s curve.
Her breasts were high and full and I’d wondered how the weight of them would feel in my hands. It was all I could do to keep myself from running my fingers along the generous curve of her hip when she’d come to sit with me. Dammit, I was in trouble.
She was relaxing and enjoying her time, though I could tell her friend Whitney was a little on the irritated side about her opening up some beers. What was the issue? Katie slung them back all the time in high school with us. Her tolerance was through the roof. And even if Katie did get rowdy, what country girl in daisy dukes and boots didn’t?
In all honesty, I didn’t like Whitney. She seemed to be too controlling of Katie. The way she was looking at her in the hot tub when Katie was drinking those beers didn’t sit right with me. It was like she was shaming Katie for getting back to her roots.
That rubbed me the wrong way, and once Whitney started draping herself over all the guys, that was the last straw for me.
But I wasn’t going to tell Katie that.
Work hard, play hard was my mantra.
And Katie deserved to fucking party it up.
We all helped the girls stumble to Katie’s suite. Figured they’d all want to crash together. When I woke up early that morning with a pounding head and a desperate need for water, I knew the girls would wake up in much the same condition.
After popping some medicine and chugging two bottles of water, I made my way to their suite. It was my damn day off, and I was going to make the best of it. Katie was in town with two friends, and they were celebrating Katie not marrying some asshole she met in the city.
That was an occasion I wanted to celebrate, too.
I stole some food from the kitchen and made my way to their room. I set out juice and water as well as a full bottle of Tylenol for them to have when they woke up. I started frying up some bacon and sizzling some sausage, boiling some grits and scrambling some cheesy eggs. Katie ate the shit out of cheesy eggs. It was always her go-to breakfast want. Their suite was filled with the sweet sounds and smells of breakfast as I heard them stirring, stretching, and bitching about their heads.
They were pretty drunk the night before. Wyatt had to carry Lizzie to the damn elevator, and Katie was draped around my shoulder. Whitney was volleying herself between Dylan and Caleb, which made for a lot of giggling fits as we rode up to their room. The night had been fun, but this morning, the consequences reared their ugly heads.
The girls were hungover as fuck and begging for their lives.
“Lord help me, I’m dying,” Lizzie said.
“Shut up. Your voice hurts,” Whitney said.
“There’s a man in our kitchen,” Lizzie said. “The fuck’s that?”
“It’s Andrew,” Katie said.
I turned my head at the sound of her voice as she came shuffling out of her room. She looked like hell. Hair matted to her face and her eyes all red and puffy. Leaning against the doorway like she was still half-drunk. Whitney groaned as she peeled herself out of bed as Lizzie flopped down at the kitchen table, and Katie closed her eyes while she held her head.
“Got some Tylenol on the table. Come sit on down. Breakfast is ready,” I said.
“God bless you for all this,” Lizzie said.
“Yeah. Thanks,” Whitney said.
But all Katie did was stumble to the table and plop down heavily into a chair.
The girls passed around Tylenol and juice as I put food on their plates. I wasn’t a cook like Dylan, but I learned my way around a kitchen. Living as a single man will force that on anyone, especially if he doesn’t want to eat garbage the rest of his life. Whitney and Lizzie dug in, stuffing their mouths and moaning at the delicious food on their plates.
But Katie sat there, her eyes closed and her head still in her hands.
I washed up the dishes as Lizzie and Whitney talked. They were trying to get Katie to engage, but she kept shutting them up. Man. She must’ve felt worse than she looked, and my heart went out to her.
I wish I could’ve taken her pain away from her.
“I think I’m gonna go take a shower,” Lizzie said. “Whitney. Wanna help?”
“With you taking a shower?” Whitney asked.
“Just come on,” Lizzie said. “Get better at reading signals, city girl.”
Lizzie tossed me a wink as she dragged Whitney back into a bedroom, then the door shut with a slam as Katie groaned.
“Anythin’ I can get you?” I asked. “Coffee? More Tylenol? A morphine drip?”
“Death? Death sounds good,” Katie said.
“Not on your life, pretty lady.”
“Haven’t been called that in a long time.”
“Which tells me you made the right choice. Any man at your side should remind you how beautiful you are on a daily basis,” I said.
“I’m sorry,” she said with a sigh.
“For what?”
“For whatever embarrassing thing I did last night.”