Tap (Men of Lovibond 1)

She puts her hand to her face to cover it. “I feel sort of stupid thinking back on the texts I sent to Ollie about you. You knew I liked you. Shit, that I wanted you to kiss me.”

I grasp her hand and take it from her face. “And reading those words thrilled me beyond anything you can imagine. It’s why I came back that night. To kiss you. I felt exactly the same as you, Wren, but wasn’t sure I could follow through on what I wanted.”

“A whole month. And half of it happened after we met. After we had almost sex. That’s a pretty big deception. And it makes me wonder what other lies you’ve told.”

Okay. Fair enough. “I have lied to you but only when it was required to keep Stout’s secret. Everything else is the truth. I swear that to you.”

“Why was he so adamant to keep me from knowing about the DUI?”

“He was ashamed but mostly he didn’t want to disappoint you. And I think he was afraid you’d hear the words substance abuse and freak out thinking he was some kind of addict like your birth parents.”

“Ollie obviously didn’t give you permission to tell me this.” I hate all the deceit. Not only in the text messages, but in all the things I’ve withheld from Stout and Lawrence. That is not me.

“No, and I’d be very grateful if you didn’t mention it, no matter how mad you are at him or me.” I don’t want to lie to Stout, even by omission, but I don’t need him to have grievance with me right now. Not while Wren and I are so new.

Prior to meeting the Thorns, Lawrence was treated like shit, and that’s probably why she seems to hold people at arm’s length until she trusts them. I want her trust. I want her in my life, but I value Stout’s friendship and our work relationship as well. As much as I don’t like asking her to keep anything from her brother, I need to work on us now.

She’s quiet for a moment, and I adore that she isn’t simply throwing me out on my ass for deceiving her. This could be it, and fuck if I don’t hate putting us both in this position. But it could cause trouble later. And I want to start things with a clean slate.

Finally, she looks up at me with her beautiful blue eyes, and I think I see forgiveness and understanding in her expression. Her eyebrows rise, and a small smile graces her lips. “You could have kept this from me. I would have likely never found out unless something slipped.”

“I couldn’t chance you finding out a year from now and it causing trouble with us.”

She twists to look at me. “A year from now, huh?”

“Maybe. It could happen.”

Wren moves over me, one knee on each side of my hips. She sucks my earlobe into her mouth and gently bites it. “Just for that, you’re about to get the best morning sex ever.”

I'm scared as hell to want this woman. But here I am, wanting her in the bluntest of ways. Her mouth and hands are all over me. My cock inside her. “Something tells me I’m going to enjoy the fuck out of this.”

* * *

Wren looks hot as hell in her swimsuit. How the hell am I going to keep my eyes off her? Good thing I’m wearing dark shades.

I’ve hopped from one deception to another. I hate that. I wish Stout could be open-minded about Wren and me.

I’m ready to tell him everything but Wren insists it’s a good idea to keep things on the down-low for now. I guess she’s right. No need to stir a stink if things don’t work out for us. But I’m really hoping they do. I plan on giving it my all. That’s how much I like her.

Stout elbows me as we follow Wren and Kelsey to the beach. “Damn, look at that ass on Kelsey. I’d love to sink my teeth into it.”

Wren stops and turns, giving Stout the evil eye. “Shut up, jerk face. She could hear you.”

“She’s not going to hear me.”

“I did, you big dummy.”

We find a spot on the beach and the girls help us set up our stuff. “Not very crowded today,” Stout says.

“It’s getting late in the summer for vacationers. I’m already seeing a decline in tourists coming into the shop.” I hadn’t considered Wren’s boutique being seasonal because of vacationers but it makes sense.

She peers at me over her glasses. “Maybe I can make some more trips to Birmingham since things are slowing down.” Yes. I would like that very much.

“I enjoy Tybee more when it’s not crowded.” Kelsey flips the top on the cooler. “Still hot as hell though. Who wants a brewski?”

“Me,” we say in a trio.

Kelsey does the distributing. I get a Pale Hazel while Wren ends up with an IPA. “You take this one since it’s your favorite. I’ll take the India Pale.”

“Thank you, Lucas. That’s sweet.”

Stout looks at us as we make the swap. “Well, that was just fucking beautiful. I think the two of you could bring world peace.”

“Shut up. I’m being a gentleman.” While you’re being a jackass.

“Dude, you pretend to be a gentleman when you’re after a piece of ass.” He points at Wren and Kelsey. “You ain’t gettin’ none from either of them.” I can’t help but gloat about our secret, thankful I am getting some of that. A very hot piece of that.

“All this bullshit about me being some kind of manwhore is getting old. I haven’t fucked around in a while.”

“What’s a while?” Stout asks.

Wren leans up and looks at me. She wants to hear my answer.

I met her almost five weeks ago. I guess it was probably a couple of weeks before that. “Going on two months.”

“Any particular reason?”

Wren is still looking at me, interested in my discussion with Stout. “There’s a very special reason.” I’m in danger of grinning at Wren, and blowing our secret, so I look away.

“Finally catch something?” Stout chuckles.

I’m certain I’ve caught a bad case of infatuation. “I’ve found someone.”

“You find lots of someones.”

“No. I’ve found one someone. And I really like her. I don’t want to mess things up.”

Stout slides his glasses down his nose for an unobstructed view. “You are shittin’ me.”

“I’m not.”

“Who is she?”

“I’m keeping that to myself until we decide to go public.”

Kelsey sighs. “Oh my God. A secret love affair. That is so romantic.”

Wren is wearing her sunglasses so I can’t see her eyes. I wish I could though. “That is very romantic, Lucas. She’s a lucky girl.”

“This beats any damn thing I’ve ever seen. Lucas Broussard is contemplating settling down.”

“I think I could for this girl.” I really do.

Lawrence Thorn

“I was going to ask you what you thought about me making a play for Lucas but I guess that’s a no-go since the good-looking Cajun is already in love.”

“I’m not sure he said he was in love.”

“Sure as hell sounded like it to me.”

Kelsey is one of my closest friends and I’ve not mentioned a word to her about my fling with Brou. I saw no reason to after Birmingham because nothing panned out. But now, we’ve made this agreement to try things. I’m dying to tell her what’s been happening between us.

I look at Brou sitting in his lounger on the beach. “He is very good-looking, isn’t he?”

“Hell, yeah. And that accent is almost enough to put me on my back.” She can forget getting on her back for him. He’s mine.

“I know the woman he’s talking about.”

“Lucky bitch, right?”

“Yes. I am.”

Kelsey slaps her hand along the top of the water, sending saltwater into my mouth and eyes. “Whudda fugue, Lawry? Spill it. How did this come about?”

“I met him when I went to Birmingham for the sneak attack on Ollie.”

She splashes me again. “That was a while ago, hooker. Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”

“We met and had this crazy, instant attraction. We both felt it but knew it might caus

e business trouble between him and Ollie. I was bummed but I understood and didn’t want to be the reason for a fallout.”

“Understandable but obviously it didn’t end there.”

“He came to Ollie’s apartment the next day and the attraction was freaking insane. We couldn’t fight the pull.” We were like a magnet and steel.

Kelsey growls. “You fucked that delicious bearded man and didn’t tell me?”

“We didn’t get that far. Ollie came in on us. Five minutes later and he would have probably caught us in the act.” I close my eyes and scrunch my nose as I suppress a squeal. “Gah, cockblocked by my own brother.”

“And yet the story still doesn’t end there.”

“I left and we didn’t talk or text all month. I decided he wasn’t into me but then, bam. He shows up out of the blue at the shop on Friday night.”

“When you were supposed to go out with Lee after closing?”

“Yeah. I canceled.”

“Of course you did.”

I bob up and down in the water wetting my shoulders so I can cool off. “We’ve been together every minute since he arrived.”