The Butterfly Effect (Boggy Creek Valley 1)

“Are you a Navy SEAL?” the brunette asked, suddenly very interested in Aiden as she leaned forward, making her breasts instantly appear bigger. I wanted to roll my eyes. Instead, I glanced at Bree who stared at the woman with a disbelieving look on her face. I couldn’t help but smile as I wondered if Bree would get her way with Hunter. From the way my brother was staring at her, I knew at least one of us was going to get lucky tonight, and odds were in my best friend’s favor.

Bishop groaned. “O’Hara, you need to leave. You’re going to ruin it for the rest of us.”

The entire table laughed, and when I didn’t, Bree caught my eye. I quickly smiled, then wiped away the small amount of sweat that had started to build on my forehead. Aiden needed to move his leg. Or I needed to go home and pull out that vibrator I’d bought on a whim. The one that promised to make your toes curl and experience an out-of-body pleasure like no other.

Yeah, I needed my vibrator. I had birthed an eight-pound child, for God’s sake. No sex in over a year. No orgasms in Lord knows how long. And now Aiden sat next to me, his body against mine, and all I could think about was coming and, truth be told, I didn’t want my orgasm to come from a battery-operated boyfriend. I wanted it from Aiden.

A soft whimper slipped from my lips, but thankfully no one heard it, and if Aiden had, he showed no signs of it.

Shit. This was going to be a long night.

“I was a SEAL. No longer,” Aiden replied. Then he looked at me. “And to answer your question, no. I tried to avoid them. But I wasn’t innocent either.”

Bishop held up his beer bottle and pointed it at Aiden. “Dude, I bet you’ve had more pussy in the last few years than all of us combined since we started having sex.”

“Excuse me, but there are ladies at the table,” I said as I glanced at Bishop with a disgusted look.

He smiled and said, “You like it when I talk dirty.”

I lifted my hand and shot him the finger.

Aiden looked at Hunter, and something passed between them.

“Kyle, heard you got put in for that promotion,” Hunter said, turning the conversation to something else.

The woman with dark blonde hair next to Kyle looked up at him. “What do you do?”

“I’m a police officer here in Boggy Creek.”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh, my two sisters—” she pointed to the brunette and the other blonde—“and I are only here for the week. We wanted to find a place we could go hiking and enjoy the outdoors. Maybe you could, um, give us some suggestions on where to go.”

One of the sisters was currently deep in a conversation with Adam, and now Bishop was working his best moves on the other blonde in the group.

“Nice diversion,” I said to Aiden. “Do you and Hunter know how to communicate telepathically now?” I watched Aiden take another long drink as he finished off the bottle of beer. He lifted his hand and the waitress came over.

“Another one of these and a whiskey, three fingers.”

She nodded and asked, “Any certain brand?”

Aiden shook his head.

The waitress turned to me. I held up my full beer. “I’m good, thanks.”

When she walked away, Aiden let out a long breath. “Hunter knows me well enough to know that I don’t like talking about what I do.” He flinched, but tried to hide it. “What I used to do.”

I tried to move my leg and failed once again. It was like his thigh was glued to mine.

The corner of Aiden’s mouth twitched with what looked to be a smile. Was he doing that on purpose?

The waitress brought back Aiden’s beer and the whiskey in record time. I watched him drink the whiskey in two sips. Then he turned back to me. “You sure you don’t want a whiskey to celebrate?”

“I’m sure. My sister is keeping Ben overnight, but I still need to watch what I drink. The last thing I want is a hangover, plus I drove here.”

Aiden nodded.

The DJ started playing a song, and Bree jumped up. “Oh my gosh! It’s BLACKPINK! Willa, dance floor, now!”

Before I had a chance to even react, Bree had us both up and on the dance floor. I wasn’t going to argue. I was a huge BLACKPINK fan. This song, “Crazy Over You,” was one of my favorites, and I hadn’t danced in so long.

“Now dance sexy because that man is staring at you,” Bree said as she moved her hips like she was a professional dancer. It didn’t take long for me to catch on. The beat of the song settled in like an old friend, and I could feel my body moving sensually with the rhythm of the music. It felt good to simply let myself be free.