Opulent Match [Ménage.com 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (3 page)

“Are you two Cooper and Brody Jackson?”

Brody looked up to find a stranger standing at their table. It was only then that he realized the diner had gone quiet and everyone’s attention was on this man who radiated authority. He was definitely law enforcement, and the way he carried himself screamed federal agent. Brody shot a quick look at his brother, whose body was now tense on high alert. Looking over at the counter, he noticed that Deputy Thornton made no pretense of not paying attention. Cooper was way more adept at handling these types of situations, so Brody leaned back against the booth and crossed his arms.

“Depends on who’s asking,” Cooper said, keeping his hands in plain sight on the table.

“I’m Agent Monroe with the ATF. We need your help.”

* * * *

“So what do you plan on doing tomorrow?”

Cyn looked up from her hot chocolate and stared at Elliott. It wasn’t the first time she’d studied him like a bug underneath a microscope. Why couldn’t she be attracted to him like she was to Cooper and Brody? Life would be so simple to just be attracted to one man. Oh, wait a second—he liked to share with his brother Mitch, didn’t he? She knew they were one of the first sets of men to sign up for their dating website.

“I’m heading over to Elise’s house. She’s excited about her first holiday dinner.”

“I heard through the grapevine that Cooper and Brody are spending Thanksgiving with them also. Are you up for that?”

Cyn gave a long, dramatic sigh, knowing it would make Elliott laugh. She heard some clinking and looked over to the other side of the garage. Mitch was working on a car that was suspended in the air. He hadn’t bothered with a uniform, but instead wore a black T-shirt and worn jeans. He was covered in grease, and didn’t seem to be paying them one lick of attention. She wondered if he was able to tune everyone out because of the time he spent in jail.

“Why are you staring at Mitch? If you think he’s going to go for your crazy scheme to make Cooper and Brody jealous, you’re wrong. Mitch doesn’t like to interfere in anyone’s business.”

“I figured that out. What I can’t imagine is how in the world you talked him into signing up for a ménage dating service,” Cyn said, licking some whipped cream off of her lips.

“I didn’t talk him into it. I just did it.”

Cyn stared at Elliott as if he’d lost his mind. “And he doesn’t know? Are you insane?”

“Probably,” Elliott answered, with that cocky smirk of his. “Speaking of intruding in other people’s lives, I’m not having any part in deceiving Cooper and Brody. Don’t get me wrong, I love our friendship, but I’ve always considered myself an honest man. Personally, I think you should give them a chance.”

“They had their chance,” Cyn snapped, then immediately regretted taking such an attitude with him. “I’m sorry, Elliott. You have been a good friend since I’ve been here. It was wrong of me to even ask you to go along with making Cooper and Brody think we were a couple.”

The phone rang and Cyn waved her hand, letting Elliott know she understood his need to answer it. Something caught her eye at the garage door and she turned to see who it was. Sam, the owner of the diner, came through the open space and walked over to speak with Mitch. It must be his car that Mitch was working on. Sam caught sight of her and gave a nod of acknowledgement. She knew what he must be thinking, with her standing against the counter in her designer dress and silk scarf tied around her neck. No one said it, but they all presumed she was a rich socialite who was killing time visiting a friend in their small town. Elise had made it known that she was a fellow author, but Cyn’s last name overshadowed anything else.

“If you keep standing there with your hand on your hip and your chin tilted up to the sky, they’ll continue to think exactly that.”

Cyn looked over at Elliott in surprise. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

“Because when you raise your eyebrow like that and pout your lip, it’s your way of putting up your defenses. I’ve seen it numerous times when you felt someone was judging you. You should know by now that we’re not like that in Triple.” Elliott wrote something down on a piece of paper, and Cyn assumed it was from his phone call. “Back to our conversation, there are no hard feelings about you asking me to be your smoke screen against Cooper and Brody, but I’m going to have to decline. Although, if you find you can’t handle spending the day with them and need an escape, you are more than welcome to come to our parents’ ranch.”

“Thanks, Elliott,” Cyn said, already shaking her head at his offer, “but Elise is like a sister to me. If I have to put up with Cooper and Brody for a day to spend the holiday with her, I’ll suffer through it.”

“Cooper and Brody? They won’t be here for Thanksgiving.”

Cyn turned to see Sam walking toward them with his checkbook in hand. The sixty-some-year-old man was still wearing his apron and his hands showed old burns from the life of a cook. As he walked up to the counter, Cyn stepped back to make room for him.

“What do you mean, Sam?” Cyn asked, sharing a questioning look with Elliott.

“I overheard them tell Elise that they had to head out of town for a few days.” Sam grabbed a pen that was on the counter and started to fill out his check. As if he hadn’t just delivered a surprise to Cyn, Sam asked Elliott what the cost of his service was and then wrote in the appropriate amount. When he finished, he tore the check out and handed it to Elliott. Closing the black leather book, Sam turned to her. “Must be something to do with that fellow that stopped into the diner yesterday. They were just finishing up their lunch, if you want to catch them before they leave.”

“Thanks, Sam,” Cyn replied.

She shared another look with Elliott, debating if she should actually leave the garage and go speak with them. Should she find out why they were leaving town? Cyn hoped that their parents were all right. Had something happened back in Indiana? Was it really any of her business? She’d certainly made it known that their lives were just that—their lives. She didn’t want to be a part of them. But she couldn’t help the nagging sense that something was really wrong and couldn’t prevent the need to find out if she could help. She knew that her feelings were screwed up, which didn’t help her with making a decision on what to do.

“Cyn, go talk to them,” Elliott urged.

He hadn’t gotten the last word out before she headed for the door. Throwing the rest of her hot chocolate in the garbage can by the door, she didn’t falter her stride as she pushed open the door and entered the chilly air. It was supposed to hit the midsixties today with clear skies, but the biting wind flew through her sweater, causing her to wrap her arms around herself. She was one of those people that hated coats, jackets, or anything that resembled an outer layer. Unfortunately, she paid the price for it on days like this. Looking across the street, she scanned the diner’s windows but couldn’t see Cooper or Brody. Not knowing why her heart suddenly started to race, she whipped her head back and forth, looking for their truck. She wouldn’t have found them if it hadn’t been for Brody waving his hand in the air at Willow as he entered his truck. They were parked on the side street, giving her a partial view of the front of their truck. Willow was walking the other way to her car.

Quickly looking both ways, Cyn made her way across the street, careful of any crevices where her high heels might get wedged. Brody was just about to close the door when she finally caught his eye. He stepped back out of the truck, motioning for Cooper to do the same. By the time she made it to them, both were standing on the sidewalk.

“What’s this about you guys not being at Elise’s tomorrow?” Cyn asked, keeping her voice light. While she wanted to make sure they were all right and that nothing had happened to their family, she also didn’t want them to mistake her curiosity for more than what it was.

“Why? Are you going to miss us?” Cooper smiled, folding his arms across his chest.

Those words brought back memories from the end of their summers, when they would have to go back to the start of a new school year. She also remembered that they hadn’t said them the day they left for boot camp. Who would have thought that the one phrase she dreaded every year was the one she wanted to hear most that fateful day? Cyn recalled the desperation she felt as they made love for the last time. Seeing him standing before her, dressed similarly to how he was back then with his denim and boots, made her wonder if the sex would be just as good.

Cooper was wearing a black button-down dress shirt tucked into his black jeans. When he shifted his arms, she caught a brief glimpse of black ink and his chest hair. Would it feel soft and silky or rough and harsh? Maybe she should have Elise ask them to be the models for their next cover. Mentally shaking her head at images of them posing naked, she tried to focus on the conversation.

“What?”

“I asked if you were going to miss us,” Cooper replied, giving her a questioning look.

“No,” Cyn answered immediately, not wanting them to get the wrong idea. She still wasn’t sure what the hell she was doing. She was confusing herself. “I just heard that you weren’t coming. Call it curiosity, but I just wanted to know why.”

“Curiosity, huh?”

Cooper closed the distance between them until not even an inch separated their bodies. She tilted her head to look up at him, and it didn’t even enter her mind to take a step back to provide them some distance. This was the first time since seeing them again that either one of them had been forward in a physical way. She found she craved their touch more than she had known. She felt his heat seep into hers, making her want to mold her body into his.

“Don’t worry,” Cyn said, doing her best to keep her voice light. “I’m like a cat. I have nine lives.”

Cooper reached out for the ends of her scarf and fingered the cream-colored fringe. With his other hand, he reached behind her and pulled the pin out of her well-placed bun before she could protest. She felt her black hair fall, knowing it reached to the middle of her back. She saw his green eyes darken, like they did when they were younger and he was aroused. The memory brought back what it felt like to be made love to and her pussy responded, leaking fluid into her satin panties.

“Silk, nine lives have nothing to do with this. It’s all about one action and its consequences. Let me explain how this is going to work,” Cooper whispered, his voice deep and gravelly. His fingers tangled in her hair, holding her in place. Her breath quickened at the sensuality of their position out in the middle of the street. What would people think? “One kiss will start a domino effect. We’ve waited this long and will continue to wait until you are ready. We won’t be the first to make a move though. You will have to kiss one of us if you want this to go further. But let me warn you, once your lips press against one of ours, all bets are off. You will belong to us and there will be no more running.”

Cyn stopped breathing as she stared into his eyes. He was dead serious. She couldn’t prevent herself from looking down at his lips. Would they taste the same as they did years ago? They were slightly parted, as if waiting for her to claim them. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more in this life than to do as he challenged. It was like telling a child that he or she couldn’t have a candy bar that sat right out in the open. It ended up being the one thing they couldn’t do without. She rose on her tiptoes, bringing her lips closer to his. It was so tempting that she felt the pull all the way inside her soul.

“Oops, sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” Elise’s voice rang out from behind her. “You three carry on. I’m just heading home.”

Cyn quickly pulled back, and Cooper’s hand slid out from beneath her hair. She immediately missed his touch. What the hell was wrong with her? Had she seriously been contemplating meeting their challenge? Slamming her walls back into place, Cyn put one hand on her hip. She ignored the fact that she was raising her eyebrow and pouting her lips like Elliott accused her of doing earlier.

“Elise, you’re not interrupting anything. I had just heard that Cooper and Brody weren’t coming to dinner tomorrow and wanted to know if anything was wrong.”

Cyn noticed that Brody was still leaning against the front of the truck, his broad chest covered by a green military T-shirt. Now that she thought about it, she realized that Brody hadn’t said one word to her, nor had he said anything when Cooper laid down his challenge. For some reason, that made her nervous.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Cooper answered, crossing his arms again and rolling back on his boots. “We just have to take care of something for work.”

Cyn saw that Brody shifted his eyes at Cooper’s remark, looking away from them. She brought her attention back to Cooper and studied his face. There was a small frown line near the corner of his mouth. She knew he only got that when he wasn’t telling the truth. Cyn had seen it a million times when they were teenagers and he told his parents they were late because the car had broken down. They were lying. Why?

“Really? On a holiday?” Cyn let her hand drop from her hip. This wasn’t the time for fake appearances.

“No rest for the weary,” Cooper said, holding up her hairpin.

Cyn slowly reached out and took it from his fingers. The naughty gleam was back in his eyes, erasing any previous signs of deceit. It really shouldn’t matter to her what they were doing. It didn’t affect her and it was their life, or so she kept repeating to herself.