Diane (The Town of Pearl 6)

Lucas chuckled. She glanced at him. At the black shoulder-length hair, the blue eyes, and the button-down shirt with the chain to his dog tags showing. The man was sexy and mouthwatering.

“Because you love lingerie. You love ordering unique styles from across the country and even in Europe. You love it and it interests you, so it interests us.”

“You’re confusing me. Why would I interest you?”

She felt Mark’s thumb and pointer caress her shoulder.

“Because you’re gorgeous,” Drake whispered from across the table. With all three men staring at her and one touching her while the third was so close he could touch her, too, she was losing her control to remain unaffected.

“We want to get to know you, Diane. We’ve been hiding our feelings for long enough,” Mark told her.

She was flustered, annoyed, embarrassed, and mostly scared. They were too much, too intimidating and she thought about getting up and leaving. She didn’t want to make a scene. Yet, hadn’t this moment been something she was waiting for? Something she even fantasized about because of her attraction to them. It was her insecurities, her lack of self-confidence that made her timid here instead of assertive. Then she felt a hand on her legs that were crossed under the table, as well as Mark’s hand squeezing her shoulder.

“Slow down, don’t freak out. Just breathe and take your time,” Lucas whispered.

Drake and Lucas were not the calm ones. Mark, yes, he was calm, but having Luke whisper in her ear and tell her to relax and stay calm was just not even normal.

She turned to look at him.

“I don’t know what type of game you’re playing with me. Stop messing with me and let me leave. This was a mistake,” she whispered.

Mark leaned forward and looked at Lucas, then Drake, and then back to her. “Baby, the last thing we want to do is mess with you. Maybe we’re explaining this wrong,” he said.

She was about to stand up when Marty returned with their drinks.

Marty placed her hand on Lucas’s shoulder. “I know how you like your meat nice and rare, Lucas. Al’s pulling the burger off the grill now.” She held his gaze and ran the top of her pen down her bodice, as she looked his body over.

Diane felt her anger rise as she saw Marty squeezed Lucas’s muscular arm. Lucas didn’t even pull away. She gave him a dirty look as Marty walked away. She wouldn’t be some fling for them.

“Well, on that note, I think I’m going to get my salad to go. Perhaps you can ask Marty if she’s willing to play your games.” She started to stand when Lucas stopped her.

“Don’t go,” he whispered, with those damn blue eyes of his that seemed so lost and sad, yet powerful. It was the closest look she had ever gotten of Lucas, and a rush of heat flowed through her causing her to just stare in awe at the man. He looked down at her lips, and then inhaled as if he were enjoying her perfume. At least she hoped that he was.

Just then Marty returned carrying the food. Diane leaned back in her seat, her heart racing, a thousand crazy thoughts going through her head as Marty continued to flirt. Finally Mark spoke.

“Marty, honey, we have something personal to discuss with Diane here. So if you don’t mind, we could use a bit of privacy,” Mark told her, shocking Marty as well as Diane who felt her face flush.

“We’ll wave you over if we need you,” Lucas added, and Drake turned his back on Marty to look at Diane.

Marty walked away.

“Now, Diane, I think we’re making you really nervous and so we’re going to pull back a little and slow things down a bit, okay?” Mark said, drawing her attention back toward him. But that didn’t stop Lucas from c

aressing her shoulder while he used his other hand to take a fry and pop it into his mouth. She locked gazes with Mark and those überbold brown eyes.

“We’ve been admiring you from afar. We’ve been taking our time, trying to get enough nerve up to ask you out.”

“We’re not real social types, Diane. We like our privacy, and we don’t like crowds,” Lucas added.

Lucas continued to caress her skin just like Mark and it was unnerving, to say the least. “We want to take you out on a date, get to know you better, and let you get to know us.”

“How did you go from buying lingerie for me to going out on a date to getting to know me? Seems kind of fast, don’t you think?” she asked, stalling to come up with an excuse. This whole thing seemed so weird. It was as if she made them as nervous as they made her. But how the heck could that be when they were huge-ass retired military men? She couldn’t help but think that these men had ulterior motives.

She didn’t trust easily. Besides, they didn’t tell Marty that they were interested in Diane, just that they wanted to discuss something personal. That could still lead one to believe that Diane would only be this week’s flavor. As much as she wanted this little spur-of-the-moment lunch to be more, she had to face reality.

Mark reached up and held her chin between his fingers. He stared at her lips and she imagined him kissing her. She liked him despite this odd series of events.

“We’ve watched you from afar for so long. Right now I’d like nothing more than to kiss these soft lips of yours and finally taste you. But I can see the fear and the confusion. You’ve probably never thought about us in this way, have you?” he asked.