Page 70 of The Triple Threat

Bronte rolled her eyes and turned to her brother. “If you do, don’t ask him.”

“No,” Shaw replied. “It’s about something else.”

“What is it?” What’s wrong?” Carter frowned and placed a hand on Shaw’s shoulder.

“You not noticed how Mom and Dad barely speak to each other?” he asked, turning to his sister.

Bronte shook her head slowly, but when she flopped back down onto her seat with the color draining from her face, it was obvious that it wasn’t news to her.

“I got up to get a drink real late last night and Dad was sleeping on the sofa.”

Ellie immediately rounded the table and nudged Carter out of the way so she could take his place behind Bronte and wrap her arms around her friend.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Bronte said, looking up at Ellie. “Right? They probably just had an argument. Or maybe Mom had enough of him snoring. Don’t tell me you haven’t heard him.”

Shaw looked like he was about to say something but then gave Bronte a huge smile instead. “Yeah, that’s probably it.”

I grabbed my beer and took a long drink. Shit, it didn’t bear thinking about Jim and Darcy not being happy. Both sets of parents had been a constant my whole life along with my own and being without Mom had changed the dynamic. Losing Jim or Darcy as well was a hard thought to get my head around.

“Hey, guess what?” Austen came barreling in from outside, breaking the tense atmosphere. “Dad said yes to me having a beer, and they all want to play Sardines.”

Carter scrubbed a hand down his face and groaned. “Fuck my life.” He bent to speak to Shaw. “You sure you’re okay?”

Shaw nodded. “Bronte’s probably right.”

“Hey guys,” Melinda’s slightly drunk voice sounded out as she entered the den where we were, stopping any further discussion about the Jackson’s marriage. “I vote Ellie is the sardine.”

“Yeah, Ellie Belly you go first,” Henry replied coming up behind Melinda.

I figured it was my queue to duck out and pretend I needed to make a call to Tom or Sam Williams to check on the ranch. When I looked over at Pop though, his eyes were shining with a laughter and a joy I hadn’t seen from him in a while. He had an arm around each of my aunts and he looked happy. Not the ‘I just got laid’ happy that I’d been used to seeing from him recently, but instead a real unadulterated contentment beamed out.

“Okay,” Ellie said reluctantly. “I’ll go hide. No cheating, Dad, I know what you’re like. And I can hide outside or inside, no boundaries.”

As Henry argued his innocence, Ellie sashayed out of the room and when she paused at the door to scratch the left cheek of her butt, my phone call was forgotten. I was searching first, and I was going to find her and hope to God no one else guessed where we were.

Waiting to be found was boring. I knew what they were all like, they’d be distracted with wine, Jack D and gossip. That was why I’d taken my Kindle with me and was reading the book I’d been losing myself in. The sex in it was pretty hot, well at least I’d thought it had been until I’d had sex with Hunter – now that was totally what I’d call boiling point.

I let out a sigh thinking about it and how since that night I’d been desperate for more. Not even my vibrator, under the covers to muffle the noise, had been enough. It appeared that only Hunter Meredith – that still cracked me up – Delaney’s dick would ever be big or good enough for me ever again. The size still astounded me, that and the fact that it actually fit. Sheesh, the phrase baby’s arm had never been truer.

The thought of Hunter sticking his penis that was way mightier than the sword inside of me, had me feeling all hot and bothered. The pear wine had me relaxed enough to consider slipping my hand inside my jeans and panties, but the sound of footsteps soon put a stop to that idea. I closed my Kindle and held my breath while they moved around and opened up the cupboard opposite my hiding place. A few seconds later everything went quiet and I was convinced I’d got away with it. Just as I let out my breath, the lid lifted from the wicker basket I was hiding in and I was blinded by Hunter’s smile.

“I knew this was where you’d be.” He grinned at me and lifted a leg up.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting in. I found you, so I have to hide with you, or have you forgotten the rules?”

“N-No.” My heart began to hammer at the thought of being alone with him, in the summerhouse, in the old wicker basket that my mom kept all our old dress up clothes in. “You won’t fit.”

“Well, you chose it, Ellie, so you’ll have to suffer the consequences.”

“How did you know I’d be here?” I asked.

He shrugged and then lowered himself down. “It’s where you always hid when we were kids.” His hand reached for the lid. “Comfy. Okay, let’s wait.”

He wriggled around beside me, groaning a little as he did, and I didn’t want to consider the reason why. His body was pretty much plastered to mine, his long leg between mine and one arm over my stomach.

“Lift your head,” he said as he wriggled his butt.