Kaleb (32 page)

A
half hour later they were pulling up at the restaurant, the valet rushing over
to open Zoey’s door while another came around to Kaleb’s. Without a second
glance, he tossed the keys to the man closest to him and took his ticket before
hurrying over to Zoey. When she slid her arm into his, he held her close as they
made their way inside.

Just
inside the door, Travis and Sawyer were talking, but stopped the second they
approached. Sawyer whistled, and Kaleb glared at him.

“Don’t
worry, I’m not whistling at you.” Sawyer laughed. “I’m wondering how in the
world you ended up with this beautiful woman on your arm.”

That
made two of them. Kaleb had wondered the same thing on more than one occasion,
but he wasn’t going to admit it.

“Do
we have a table yet?”

“Yeah.
The McCoy’s are here, but we’re still waiting on a couple of people.” Travis
said as he turned and led them through the restaurant to a room in the back.

The
table looked like it held about twenty people and there were already several
people seated, including two men who looked identical to one another.

“Luke,
Logan, I’d like you to meet my brothers.” Travis introduced as the two men
stood. “This is Sawyer, and this is Kaleb. The beautiful woman on his arm is
Zoey Stranford, our partner.”

Kaleb
felt Zoey tense, her hand clutching his arm more firmly, but she smiled and
shook the outstretched hands.

It
hadn’t been until Luke and Logan stood up that Kaleb realized they were
actually identical twins. So much so, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to
tell them apart.

“Nice to meet you.”
Logan said before turning to the woman beside him. “This is my wife, Samantha.”

“Please,
call me Sam. It’s so nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you.” Sam said,
shaking hands with all of them.

Then
it was Luke’s turn to introduce the two people beside him. “You’ve met Cole, and
this is our wife, Sierra.”

Our
?

“Oh,
hush. Don’t freak them out.” Sierra laughed. “It’s illegal for me to be married
to two men, but if it were possible, I’d definitely have done it by now.”

After
the brief introductions, everyone took a seat; Kaleb and Zoey sitting across
from Sam, Sierra and Luke while the others were gathered toward the ends of the
table.

“Who
else are we waiting for?” Travis asked as the waiter stopped by, pouring wine
and placing baskets of bread in front of them.

“Alex
and Ashleigh should be here momentarily.” Luke offered.

“And
Tag Murphy, our attorney and a friend will also be joining us.”

Kaleb
glanced at Travis, but his brother merely brushed him off with a look.
Attorney?

♀♂

Zoey
couldn’t believe how relaxed the atmosphere was. As soon as she sat down,
Sierra leaned toward her and commented on her boots, followed by Sam laughing
at Sierra.

“The
woman has a thing for boots.” Sam said, “So, I’m warning you. If you like them,
hide them.”

From
that point on, the three women laughed and talked and as soon as Ashleigh
joined them, they’d barely even noticed the men were there. When Zoey found out
exactly who Ashleigh was, she’d damn near choked on her wine. Ashton Leigh.
The erotic romance writer.
And she was sitting next to her, acting
as though they’d been best friends since day one.

She
wasn’t sure what she expected at this dinner, but this certainly hadn’t been
it. By the time the meal was served, the table had erupted in separate
conversations and the wine flowed freely – well, for everyone except Sierra,
Zoey noticed. And she was definitely grateful for the liquid courage,
especially when the conversation between the women took the immediate turn that
it did.

“So,
I take it you don’t need any more firsthand knowledge of what it’s like to be
in a threesome, Ashleigh?”

Ashleigh
laughed, and then glanced over at Zoey. “They like to give me shit all the
time. You see,
I’m the
only one of them not in a
ménage relationship, nor have I ever been.”

Zoey
gathered that Cole, Luke and Sierra were in a three way relationship, but she
hadn’t realized Sam was until the intensely sexy Tag had shown up and planted a
scorching hot kiss on her mouth like her husband wasn’t sitting right next to
her. When Logan glanced over at them, it wasn’t anger Zoey saw in his eyes. She
saw the same heat and longing she’d seen in Kaleb's, and it was clear he
approved.

“What
about you, Zoey?” Sam asked, and Zoey blushed crimson.

“Ignore
her.” Ashleigh chuckled. “She’s like that. Sam thinks it’s normal for every
woman to be with two men at the same time.”

“I
don’t think it’s normal.” Sam said defensively, her beautiful green eyes
dancing with humor. “I just think it’s a shame if they haven’t.”

When
Zoey finally found her voice, she realized she might’ve had one too many
glasses of wine if what came out of her mouth was any indication. “Well, I’d
have to agree. I’m definitely a different woman now.”

“Oh my God!”
Sierra squealed, causing the rest of the table to quiet and stare down at them,
making Zoey’s face heat again. “Sorry, ignore us. Go on about your business.”
Sierra shooed them off with one dainty hand.

Instead
of ignoring them, Luke leaned over, putting his arm around Sierra and gently
rubbing her flat stomach.

“Oh, my God!”
Ashleigh squealed, followed by Sam.

Sierra
simply smiled, and the beautiful woman actually glowed.

“How
far along are you?” Sam questioned; her attention, as well as the rest of the table,
entirely focused on Sierra and Luke.

“Eleven
weeks.” Sierra beamed.

Zoey
glanced over at Cole noticing how extremely proud the man looked, and the
question that immediately came to mind was the same one that came spewing from
Sam’s mouth.

“Who
is the father?”

Surprisingly,
not one of the three looked embarrassed, nor did they respond the way Zoey
expected.

“They
are.” Sierra put her hand on Luke’s thigh and brushed her cheek against Cole’s
hand when he reached around Luke to touch her. It was the sweetest thing she’d
ever seen, and despite the fact that they both couldn’t be the birth father,
Zoey felt her heart swell at the way they all three treated it as though they
were. “But enough about me,” Sierra continued, her eyes zeroing in on Zoey once
more, “details, honey.”

Thankfully
the men at the table went about their own business, resuming the conversations
they’d been having earlier.

“I’m
the odd woman out again?” Ashleigh asked, pretending to be offended, but
looking totally at ease.

“Looks
like it.” Sam offered.

Dessert
came and went and Zoey found herself opening up more and more to these women
who were just as laid back and down to earth as those she was most familiar
with,
like the Walker brothers. It was refreshing after what
she had built up in her mind.

When
the topic turned to the resort, Ashleigh listened in, but Sierra and Sam were
front and center, offering their input at every turn, and the men were taking
their every word into consideration. As it turned out, Sam was in charge of managing
the project from a time and budget perspective because that was obviously her
expertise. And Sierra was in charge of design.

By
the end of the night, everyone understood their roles, including Zoey. She also
realized that when it came to the enormity of what this resort promised to be,
she was way out of her league.

♂♀

Kaleb
noticed that Zoey had been quiet since they left the restaurant and she also
wasn’t paying any attention to him on the drive home. She’d answered his
questions with the minimum required answer, but she never contributed any more
than that.

When
they pulled up to her house, and she moved to get out, he pulled her arm
gently, keeping her in place. “Stay there.”

Honestly,
he was surprised that she listened, so when he came around and opened her door,
offering a hand to help her out, he didn’t know what to say. Something was off,
and he didn’t know what.

He’d
heard part of the women’s conversation, but when they ventured to the topic of
sex – namely ménages – he’d figured it in his best interest not to listen.
After all, he wasn’t a saint, and he could only be tempted so much before he
lost control.

But
now, with Zoey acting as though she’d just lost her best friend, he knew
something else was bothering her. When he walked her to the door, he wondered
whether she would even invite him in.

She
didn’t.

He
came in anyway.

When
she disappeared to her bedroom, he decided to follow her. That’s when he saw
her angrily pulling off her clothes and throwing them around the room,
replacing them with her worn blue jean shorts and a skin tight t-shirt.

“Talk
to me, Zoey.” He felt like he’d been here before. Only this time, he was
clueless about what might be bothering her. Throughout dinner
,
 she’d
been talkative, both with him and the women around them. It
wasn’t until the end that she got quiet, but he hadn’t thought anything of it
at the time.

“There’s
nothing to talk about.” She said in a rush before trying to push past him.

Ok.
Enough’s
enough. He didn’t let her get by him. With
ease, he pulled on her arm, turning her until her back was against the wall and
she had nowhere to go. When she didn’t look at him, he lifted her chin until
their eyes met. The sadness he saw had his heart squeezing in his chest.

“Did
you not have a good time?”

“I
did. The girls were wonderful.” Zoey admitted unconvincingly, closing her eyes.

“Look
at me.” Gripping her chin more firmly, Kaleb realized he was getting angry. He
hated when she did this. When she ran away, hiding herself emotionally from him
and everyone else. And he realized why he hated it so much. That wasn’t the
Zoey he knew. The woman he knew would confront anyone head on, telling them
exactly what she thought and why, yet this woman, the one he saw before him
didn’t look like the confident, intriguing woman he’d grown to love.

“What?”
Zoey exclaimed, looking at him. “What the hell do you want me to say, Kaleb?
Dinner was fabulous! The people are great! I’m so happy this is going to work
out for all of you.”

“All
of
us
? You’re part of this, remember?” Kaleb didn’t understand.

“Am
I?”

Taking
a step back, Kaleb took his hands off of her. “What the hell are you talking
about?” Was she going back on their deal? Could she? She already signed the
legal documents, and the money for the land was being funded to the bank on
Monday morning.

“What
exactly am I going to contribute, Kaleb?
Other than the land?
Huh? I can’t compete with those people!”

“Compete?”
Kaleb barked, trying to wrap his mind around what the hell she was saying. “Who
the hell said anything about competing?”

“You
met those people tonight.” Zoey nearly screamed, her arms flailing at her
sides. “I pale in comparison to those women. I’m not some highly educated
project manager, and I’m not some big shot designer. I don’t have anything to
contribute, and you know it as well as I
do
.”

Reality
slapped him in the face, and Kaleb found himself flush against Zoey, pressing
her into the wall and tipping her chin until she had to look at him. She tried
to move away, but he secured her much smaller body with his until she stopped
moving. But when her tears started to fall, his heart cracked wide open.

“Zoey,”
Kaleb lowered his voice, trying to get her to listen to him, “no one is asking
you to be any of those things. And just for your information, Sierra isn’t a
big shot designer. She owns her own design company, but she’s just getting
started. In fact, she could probably learn a lot about business from you.”

It
was true. He had listened to Luke and Sierra talk about her company and some of
the things she was hoping to do in the future. At this point, she had a couple
of clients, but in no way was she a big shot. As for Sam, well, the woman was
an anomaly, Kaleb had to admit. She was successful in ways most people would
envy, but in talking to her briefly, she didn’t pretend to be any different
from the rest of them.

“Baby,
those women, and even those men pale in comparison to you.”

Zoey’s
eyes popped open, and she rolled them, making him smile.

“They
do. You’ve got the biggest heart of anyone I know. And I’ve never known you not
to accomplish what you set your mind on doing. They’re lucky to have you.
I’m
lucky to have you.” Staring into those ocean blue eyes, still shining with
unshed tears, Kaleb’s heart shot to his throat. “I love you, Zoey.”