Boots and Roses: Ugly Stick Saloon, Book 5 Page 10

  He pulled free and collapsed on the rug beside her, his fingers finding her clit, stroking.

  “You don’t have to.” She squirmed, pressing into his hand.

  Jack shook his head. “I like watching your face tense and your body come alive when we get you there.”

  “Makes us hard all over again.” Cory nudged her bottom with the proof of his desire.

  “You two are insatiable.” Bunny gasped as Jack’s finger found the spot and took her the rest of the way there. The pleasure so intense it was almost painful. Bunny grabbed his hand and stopped him, reveling in her pulsing release.

  At last she fell back against the rug and lay spent, drained, and for the first time in her life completely satisfied. “That was so much better than my vibrator.”

  Jack and Cory laughed and pressed up against her.

  After a few minutes, Cory lifted her and carried her into the bedroom. The three of them touched and fondled until they’d regained strength and the party began again.

  Somewhere around two in the morning, Bunny slipped out of the bed, tiptoed across the living room and out onto the front porch where she quickly dressed. Then she pulled her cell phone from her purse with the intention of calling Mona.

  No service.

  “Going somewhere?” A gravelly, deep voice rumbled from the doorway.

  Bunny stifled a scream and spun toward the sound.

  Cory, dressed only in a pair of jeans, leaned against the doorframe, looking rumpled, sleepy and sexy as hell.

  Her pulse increased, heat building in her body. “Oh, it’s you.”

  A slow smile slid across his lips. “Expecting someone else?”

  “No.” She stared down at the phone. “Can’t get a call through anyway.”

  Cory held out his hand. “Come back to bed.”

  Bunny clutched her purse to her chest. “It’s after midnight. Our date is officially over.”

  “It doesn’t have to be.”

  She swayed toward him, wanting to go back to bed with him and Jack, but the thought of waking up with these two men was too much. She’d want it to last even longer and longer still. Best to end it now, before they did.

  “I have a wedding to work in a few hours.”

  “Screw the wedding.” He reached for her again.

  Bunny backed away. “I can’t. It’s my business.”

  “We’ll get you there on time.”

  Bunny shook her head. “I need to go.” She stared across at him, her eyes stinging, on the verge of tears. “Please.”

  Cory remained leaning on the doorframe a few moments longer, his blue eyes dark in the shadows. Finally, he straightened and nodded. “Okay. Let me get my keys.”

  He was back in less than a minute, wearing his boots and a T-shirt and carrying his keys.

  “Jack?” Bunny started to ask.

  “Asleep.”

  “Good.” She climbed into Cory’s convertible and settled back against the leather seat, closing her eyes.

  The ride sped by and in too short a time, Cory pulled in front of her shop and switched off the engine.

  When he started to reach for the door handle, she laid a hand on his arm. “You don’t have to walk me up.”

  “The hell I don’t.”

  “Please.” She leaned across the seat and kissed him. “I can make it on my own.”

  He captured her face in his hands and stared hard into her eyes. “I know you can make it on your own. It’s one of the things I love most about you. You’re independence and self-reliance.”

  “Then let me go. I’ll be okay.”

  He stared a little longer and finally let go. “What should I tell Jack?”

  She smiled and slid toward her door. “Tell him he was great and thanks.”

  Bunny hurried out of the convertible and up the stairs to her apartment without looking back, afraid that if she did, she’d lose her nerve and beg Cory to take her back to his place. When she’d let herself in and closed the door behind her, she leaned her back on the panel and listened. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d hoped Cory would follow her and ask her to come back with him.

  Face it, girl—the date was just a date.

  Bunny slid down the door and settled on the floor, letting the tears that had been burning in her eyes all the way back to town slide down her cheeks.

  In the few hours she’d spent with Cory and Jack, she’d learned more about making love than in the entire time she’d been married. And damn it, she didn’t want it to end.

  Chapter Eight

  “That’s the last of the arrangements,” Charli said, carrying a small vase, which she set in the middle of the last empty table.

  “Thanks, Charli,” Bunny said from her perch at the top of the bridal arch. “I’ll be done with this in just a minute, then we can leave.”

  “Not staying for the event?” Mona asked, her tongue pressing against the inside of her cheek.

  “Hell, no.” Bunny smiled. “After Ray blasted me at the garden party, I think he’d be appalled if I dared to invite myself.”

  “I’d love to see Ray’s face if you sat in the front row.” Mona giggled. “Jerk-face would have puppies.”

  “Shh, Mona. Jerk—Ray will be here any minute. I want to be out of here when he arrives. The wedding starts in less than two hours.”

  “Poor Chrissy has to spend the rest of her life having sex with him.” Mona’s eyes narrowed. “Speaking of sex…”

  “I’m not talking about last night. I told you all I’m going to tell you.”

  “That good, huh?” Charli piped in. “Back when Connor was playing dirty tricks on me, he had a couple of his buddies join the fun. I’ll bet those two were in on it. Might not have seen their faces, but those chests…”

  Bunny glared down at Charli.

  Charli raised her hands. “What? You said there wasn’t going to be any more dates with Cory and Jack.”

  “You could at least wait a few days before you start adding them to your list of sex partners in front of me.”

  “Yeah, Charli. Have a little respect for the lonely spinster.” Mona grinned.

  Bunny flung a rose bud at Mona. “You’re not helping.” She tucked the last spray of roses and baby’s breath into the arch and climbed down from the stepladder. “There. Now we can leave.”

  Tired from her late night with the guys and wanting to see them again more than she could tell anyone, Bunny was ready to go back to her little, lonely apartment and wallow in a half gallon of rocky road ice cream. Alone.

  They loaded her van with the stepladder and the supplies she’d used to create the fairytale wedding for Ray and Chrissy and went back into the chapel for one last glance.

  Mona hooked her elbow and squeezed her arm. “They don’t deserve what you did for them.”

  “I don’t harbor ill feelings toward them. Maybe this is all working out for the best. Ray and I didn’t click as a couple. It’s just too bad we wasted so many years of our lives trying to make it work.”

  “It’s too bad you spent so many years of your life getting him through dental school only for him to ditch you as soon as he finished.” Charli tugged her arm. “Come on. I’m sure Kendall will be ready to close the shop and call it a day.”

  “She’s an angel for volunteering to help out.” Bunny smiled and turned toward the exit. “I’m glad I did Ray’s wedding. It proves to me once and for all I was never in love with him in the first place. I think I was in love with the idea of being in love and being married.”

  “Now that you know what love is?” Mona waggled her brows. “Come on, you have to tell us something. We’ve been good all day.”

  “Really, Bunny. What are friends for but to share all the intimate details of each other’s sex lives?” Charli waited for a few seconds, then rolled her eyes. “Forget it, Mona. She’s not talking.”

  Bunny cast Charli a thankful look and patted Mona’s arm. “I’m not ready. Maybe someday.”

  “They were tha
t good.” Mona sighed. “I knew it.”

  Oh yes, Jack and Cory had been so good it would be a long time before Bunny went on another date with any man. How could anyone measure up to what her two “dates” had done for her?

  Hell, she’d have been better off not going out on that date. She’d been happily lonely, content to give her vibrator the occasional workout.

  Now she couldn’t even touch the cold, hard tool without thinking of how warm, thick and velvety smooth Jack and Cory had been in her hands and mouth, and…

  Bunny climbed into the van with its bright pink swirling letters declaring it as the property of the Sweet Temptations Flower Shop.

  “Another wedding.” Mona slid into the middle seat and sighed. “I gotta quit helping you with these. It’s too darned depressing. Always the florist, never the bride.”

  Charli chuckled, climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the door. “Always giving the flowers, never getting them? God, I’m glad Connor has a romantic streak in him.”

  A smile curved Bunny’s lips. “You liked that arrangement of daisies he had me deliver to you at the Ugly Stick?”

  Charli’s eyes narrowed. “Your idea, or his?”

  “All his.” Bunny raised her hand. “I suggested carnations. He said you preferred daisies because they made you smile.” Bunny’s heart twisted at the man’s sentiment. “You got a keeper in Connor.”

  Charli smiled. “I know. And he’s not so stuffy he won’t consider an occasional ménage.”

  Bunny cast a quick glance at Charli. “I didn’t know he was kinky like that.”

  “Oh, he’s quite the trickster. And there are more threesomes and moresomes than you think in these parts.”

  “Right. Look at the Gray Wolf twins and Libby,” Mona piped in.

  “And the three O’Briens and Isabella.” Charli laughed. “I bet she’s kept really busy.”

  “Nothing wrong with multiples in a relationship,” Mona said. “Wish I could find me one man, much less two.”

  Bunny shifted into drive and was just about to pull out of the church parking lot when Ray pulled up in a black Cadillac and blocked her way.

  He climbed out, dressed in a crisp white shirt and his black tuxedo trousers. “Everything ready?” he asked.

  Bunny climbed back out of her van and stood before Ray. “It is. Just as Chrissy wanted.”

  Ray sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “I’m just glad this will be over soon, and we won’t have to deal with each other anymore.”

  “Does this mean you’re going to shut me down after all?”

  “Don’t have to. I turned over my shares to the bank for a profit. They paid me ten grand for my half of the business.”

  Bunny’s heart sank. “Without talking to me?”

  “I’m a busy man. I don’t have time to fool with you and your stupid shop. The bank took care of it. Now you’ll have to answer to them. Seems to me they were looking at that location for possible expansion.” Ray smirked.

  Bunny bit down on her lip to keep from calling Ray a name.

  “Bastard,” Mona said behind her. “You never deserved Bunny, you rotten excuse of a coward.”

  Ray snorted. “I’m disappointed in what you’ve become.”

  “Careful, dentist.” Charli joined them, her fists clenching. “Or I’ll give you a little of what Bunny gave you the other night.”

  Ray pressed a hand to the bruise on his chin, glared at Charli, then faced Bunny again. “Your behavior the last couple days proves only one thing: you’ve become a first class slut.”

  “I warned him.” Charli slugged Ray in the nose.

  Ray squealed and clutched his broken nose, blood spurting out onto his white shirt. “Bitch!”

  “Better clean that up before Chrissy gets here.” Charli stood in front of him, her legs spread wide, daring him to do anything. “And never, ever fuck with my friends again.”

  Her lips twitching, Bunny grasped Charli’s arm and tugged her toward the van. “Come on, he’s not worth it.”

  Charli resisted for a second, then shrugged. “You’re right. He’s got little-dick syndrome.”

  The three women climbed into the van and left. A few minutes later, Bunny pulled up to the flower shop and parked in the alley beside it. “Thanks again, ladies. I couldn’t have done it without you. And I mean it.” She got out and hugged them both. “I don’t suppose you two would like to go out to dinner as a celebration?” Anything to keep from being alone. Especially tonight.

  Charli slung her purse over her shoulder. “I got a man waiting for me at home. And who knows what we’ll do tonight. All your teasing about Cory and Jack has me horny as hell. Gotta go scratch that itch.” She took off toward her truck without looking back.

  “What about you, Mona?”

  Mona heaved a sigh. “Sorry, I promised Molly O’Brien I’d do her hair this afternoon.”

  “After helping me all day?”

  Mona shrugged. “I know, I should have put her off, but she sounded desperate.”

  Bunny nodded. “I understand.”

  “Maybe Kendall will be free tonight,” Mona suggested.

  “Right.” Bunny doubted Kendall would be free when she had Ed to go home to. “You go on. I can unload myself.”

  “You’re sure?” Mona asked.

  “I’m sure.” She’d rather be alone to think about what had happened last night. Reliving every moment had been difficult throughout the day.

  Bunny carried the stepladder through the back door into her work area and hung it on hooks on the wall. “Hey, Kendall, I’m back,” she called out.

  As she walked through the back room lined with glass-fronted refrigerators, she took an automatic mental inventory of the flowers she stored there, noting the absence of roses. As she entered the front of the shop, Kendall was slinging her purse over her shoulder.

  “Oh, Bunny. I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “How was it today?”

  “Great.” Kendall handed her an envelope. “This was delivered to you. I have a date with Ed and can’t stay, but I sold every last one of your pink, white and red roses. Gotta go. Bye.” Kendall left through the front door, a big smile on her face.

  “Probably gonna get some tonight,” Bunny muttered, picturing her own small, empty bed upstairs. Then what Kendall had said about selling all her roses struck Bunny, and she ducked back into the workroom and let it sink in. “Holy smokes, she sure did.” She’d have to order fresh stock on Monday as soon as the market opened. Her work never ended. But it was her livelihood and it helped keep a roof over her head.

  Bunny wondered who the lucky girl was who’d gotten all those roses. With a sigh, she slid her finger in the back of the envelope and popped the flap open.

  Inside was a beautiful note card with a picture of roses on the front.

  Bunny’s heart bumped unsteadily and settled into a fast pace. She flipped the note card open and read,

  That which we call a rose

  By any other name would smell so sweet

  Come fair Bunny,

  Be thou the rose that brightens our garden?

  The flowing handwriting switched to strong, bold strokes. Bunny’s heart lightened as she read,

  I told Cory this was dumb, but whatever it takes to

  Woo the fair Bunny, I’ll go for.

  Comest upstairs, fair rose by another name.

  See? Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?

  Just remember, it’s what’s in our hearts that matters.

  Her pulse pounding, Bunny glanced up at the sound of footsteps in her apartment above the shop.

  Could it be? Would they really want to see her again? No strings, no auctions, no obligations?

  Her hands shook, the note card rattling against her fingers.

  A voice inside her head, shouted, Go! Go! Go!

  Bunny spun and raced out the back door and up the steps to the tiny suite of rooms above the shop. When she reached the top of the stairs, her hand paused on
the doorknob as she fought to catch her breath.

  Then she flung the door wide, the rich, sweet smell of roses filling her senses.

  Vases of roses lined every surface, and rose petals in every shade of red, white and pink carpeted her floor through the tiny living room into the bedroom.

  A heavy thud was followed by a muttered curse.

  Bunny grinned and slipped off her shoes, letting the velvet petals caress her toes as she closed the distance between the front door and the bedroom.

  Candles lined her dresser, threatening to set fire to the vases of roses crammed between them. But it wasn’t the candles that made her heart race. It was the two men wearing black tuxedos with no shirts beneath the jackets, lying across her bed, each with a single red rose clamped between his teeth.

  Jack spit out his rose. “I said we should be naked.” He jerked his head toward the other handsome man in the bed. “Cory said tuxes.”

  Cory grinned and twirled the rose stem between his fingers. “We compromised.”

  Jack flung out his arm. “Welcome home.”

  Her heart nearly bursting from her chest, Bunny whispered, “What are you doing here?”

  Cory blinked. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  She shook her head. “I only paid for one date.”

  Jack climbed off the bed and gripped her hand, dragging her over to the end of the bed. “We don’t want it to end at one date.”

  “But you don’t have to. You’re not obligated…”

  Cory leaped to his feet and pulled her into his arms. “I told you, we wanted you to win us. It was just the beginning of our quest to win your heart.”

  Bunny glanced at Jack.

  He nodded. “What he said. He’s much better with words.” Jack brushed the hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. “I only know what’s in my heart. You’re the gal for me.”

  “And me,” Cory added. “You’re the woman we want in our lives.”

  “So, what do you say?” Jack grinned.

  “It’s so sudden.” Bunny pressed a hand to her pounding chest. This couldn’t be happening. She pinched her arm and flinched. No. She wasn’t asleep. With a glance from Jack to Cory, she asked, “Both of you? You won’t be jealous?”

  “We both care about you,” Cory said.