Read Sarasota Bride Online

Authors: Talyn Scott

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Erotica, #Romantic Erotica, #Suspense

Sarasota Bride (12 page)

BOOK: Sarasota Bride
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“And Libby agreed with whatever Trey wanted to keep Mr. Bailey out of prison?” Payton couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I don’t understand what she was thinking.”

“She was lost, trying to protect her dad,” Avery explained quietly. “So Trey never had any intention of marrying her?”

“No,” Drake replied, “though I know they love each other.” He nodded to the file. “Trey has signed over the firehouse property to Libby, Noah, and Payton. He’s also set aside a significant amount of money for Libby to live comfortably. Hopefully, she’ll accept it.”


“She’ll take the firehouse property because it was ours from the beginning. But if I know Libby, she would starve before she took Trey’s guilt money.” She looked among the three. “When is Trey coming back from France? I want to have a few words with him, face to face.”

“He’s there indefinitely,” Drake explained. “He’s working on the new hotel project in Dylan’s stead and he’s meeting with a specialist for advanced physical therapy. If these treatments don’t work he’ll have to endure a spinal fusion.”

“He can’t do that with the shape his kidneys are in,” Avery argued.

“Yeah, the whole situation is iffy.” Drake shook his head. “I just wish he would have stuck around and tried to work things out with Libby. Her heart is breaking, so is his.”

 

Chapter Fourteen

One month later:

“Haven’t we experienced enough bad luck?” Payton asked, peeking through the door. “You can’t stay away this one night? You’re not supposed to see me before the wedding.”

Dylan leaned against the door. “I’m gonna huff and puff, and blow this fucking door down,” he growled, narrowing his eyes on what he could see of her bare legs. “So either you step back or let us in.”

Payton stepped back, and before Avery or Dylan could enter the loft apartment, Libby barreled by them. “She’s here for only one night and you two couldn’t stay away? I’m going downstairs.”

“Is it something we said?” Avery teased as she started down the steps.

“If I want to hear moaning and groaning, I’ll watch porn,” she shot over her shoulder.

Like perfect gentlemen, they watched over Libby until she safely let herself in the back door leading to her office — not that any of the guards surrounding the firehouse would allow anything to happen to her.

“She and Trey need to get their shit together. At least, Libby should have taken his cash settlement.”

“I know, Dylan.” Payton stood on her toes, kissing his jaw. If he had any idea what Libby had told her this morning, he’d be on the phone to Trey right now, insisting his ass leave France. But she didn’t break her promises and was forced to keep her mouth shut. Dylan cupped her beneath her bottom, lifting her high as he walked over the threshold.

Avery reached between them and planted a soul-searching kiss on her, his tongue wrapping around hers as Dylan nibbled her throat. When he came up for air, he grabbed one of her dangling feet. “Cold feet?”

“No!” She jumped in Dylan’s arms, but he easily steadied her. “Ticklish feet. Stop it.”

“Mmm, make me.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You smell like beer.”

“Bachelor party.”

She swatted Avery. “You didn’t tell me you were having a bachelor party!”

“Seriously, Julian owns a sex club,” Dylan taunted. “Do you really think any Easton man finally settling into matrimony wouldn’t get a good send off?”

“Did you say suck off?” She growled.

Avery laughed. “I swear your face is turning green, Payton.”

“I didn’t have a bachelorette party,” she huffed.

“Oh, we wouldn’t have stood for that,” Dylan said sternly, smacking her ass. “Your eyes were made for your men and your men only.”

“Precisely.” She cupped her throat, her nerves twisting in her stomach, but she still managed to glare at them. “Where were
your
eyes tonight?”

“Are you going to be sick?” Avery dropped his smile in a wash of concern. “Settle down.”

“Yeah, honey.” Dylan kissed her forehead. “We only had a drink with the Easton men and excused ourselves. They can party until their dicks fall off.”

Avery nodded. “They knew we wanted no part of that, so we left. Look at the clock.”

She did. It was only ten. “Okay…okay, so, uh, Libby and I were going to watch a movie.”

“Are you kicking us out?” Dylan asked, lowering her gently to the floor.

Heat rolled up her throat, making her sweat. “No, I figured you could join us.” Avery cupped her elbows, pulling her closer, but she pushed him away. “Go use my toothbrush. I don’t like that smell.”

“The beer,” Avery replied, “you suddenly don’t like the smell of beer.”

“I guess not.”

“The woman who can devour twenty Diablo chicken wings and four longnecks before I…”

Her pasta decided to make a second appearance, and Payton bolted for the bathroom, nearly slamming into the corner in her haste. She kicked the door shut behind her, grabbed the toilet, and held on for dear life.

“Payton!” Avery called, rapping on the door as she heaved.

Finally, she caught her breath. “Don’t come in here!” She gagged, finishing, until she started dry heaving. It took a few good tries before she managed to get ahold of herself enough to wash her face and hands.

“Payton,” Dylan said calmly, his deep voice penetrating the door. “We’re coming in.” The doorknob started jiggling.

“No,” she growled, grabbing the knob and looking in the mirror. Oh, she was a freaking mess! Her eyelids were heavy and swollen, her nose a red beacon. She squinted, spying puke in her hair. “Yuck.”

Payton loved them, wanted to be with Avery and Dylan for the rest of her life, so how could she be so nervous about getting married?

“Let go of the door, honey.” Dylan kept his lets-be-reasonable voice going. “I don’t want to hurt you, when I open it.”

“Do you always have to be overbearing?” she rasped, cupping her hand with running water and rinsing out her mouth.

She heard Dylan sigh. “Payton, I believe you know the answer to that. I’m coming in.”

“You can’t see me this way.”

“Maybe we should just go back to the party then,” Avery said angrily. “Obviously, she doesn’t want us here.”

“I know you’re playing me.” Still, her head went into a weird mental frenzy at his words, howling with jealousy. Payton yanked open the door and pointed her finger in their general direction. “I will rip your dicks off if either of you even think of going back to that fucking party!” Then she lost her train of thought when another wave of nausea racketed her body. She whirled to the toilet, her back arching on its own volition, and let it go.

Dylan reached Payton first, standing over her from behind and pulling her hair from the line of fire. “She’s dry-heaving,” he said to Avery.

“I’ll get her a glass of water.” He shot out of the bathroom.

When she stopped, Dylan pulled a couple of drawers open, searching. Swiftly, he gathered her hair back in a loose ponytail, getting the heavy length off her neck. Then he wet a washcloth with cold water and cleaned her face. “Talk to me,” he said calmly. “You don’t feel like you have a fever.”

“I didn’t…feel sick until I smelled that beer.”

“Is it bothering you now?”

Avery came back, offering her the water and she inhaled. “Not really, maybe puking…fixed it.”

“Hmmm.” Dylan soaked another washcloth as she gulped the water Avery brought her. He stepped into the corridor and then she heard him moving in her bedroom.

“Slow down,” Avery chided gently. “Sips not gulps, you want to keep that down and your stomach’s obviously churning. I can actually hear it.”

She stopped drinking and sat the glass on the bathroom counter. “I won’t push it.”

“Here, let’s get you cleaned up.” He pulled her shirt over her head. “Hey, isn’t that my Coachella shirt?”

“It’s comfy.”

He smiled, unsnapping her shorts and sliding them down her legs. “You mean comforting. I knew you’d have a hard time sleeping away from us tonight.”

“Maybe.” She reached for her toothbrush while he unsnapped her bra. “But it is a comfy shirt, nice and soft.”

“So are these.” He stood behind her, gathering her breasts in his hands as she brushed her teeth. His forehead creased. “I thought we planned this wedding around your period.”

Dylan stuck his head in the door, staring at their reflection in the mirror. “We did plan it around her period. I want none of her grouchy shit on our honeymoon.”

“She’s bloated.” Avery gently released her breasts, gave Dylan an unreadable look, and removed her panties.

“I’m bloated?” She gaped, looking from her breasts to her stomach. “Oh, I’ll never fit in my wedding dress.”

“That’s an easy fix. We’ll find you one you’ll fit in,” Dylan said, pressing his phone to his ear and walking away.

“Tomorrow’s my wedding day!”

“A flash of cash will buy an emergency seamstress or a new dress quickly.” Avery flipped on the shower, adjusting the temperature. When satisfied, he tugged her along. “In you go.”

Her head started pounding and acid flew up her throat. “I know I sound like a big baby,” she said as Avery reached into the shower and gently soaped her body. He took no liberties with her nudity, only looking concerned as he washed her. “But I don’t want you to leave me.”

He lifted her chin with his finger. “Did you really think we had any intention of leaving you in this shape?”

“I don’t know what I’m thinking, except I hope this stops before the wedding.”

“Payton, when we planned the wedding around your period,” Avery asked as he slowly rubbed shower gel on her belly, “when
was
your last period?”

She wasn’t ready for what he was implying. “This is a simple case of nerves or the stomach flu,” she replied, washing her hair. “I never, ever forget my pills.”

“I know you’re responsible.”

“But we’re not,” Dylan said from the doorway, putting away his phone and handing Avery a bath towel.

“What do you mean, we’re not responsible?” He raised an eyebrow and tenderly dried Payton. She twisted a smaller towel around her spinning head and allowed Avery to lift her out of the shower. In her current shape, she didn’t trust herself not to fall on the wet tile.

Dylan stepped aside, so Avery could carry her to the bedroom. Carefully, he settled her in the center of the full-sized bed, which spared no room for two six-foot plus men. “I was cleaning out my glove box last week and found some papers. On the day Payton was released from the hospital, I must’ve stashed her medical release forms in there, along with her patient instructions.”

Payton felt as though she’d been drinking all night, the bed doing killer flips beneath her. “And?”

“The doctor had ordered antibiotics in your IV drip to prevent infection from your knife wound.”

“Antibiotics…I guess that’s understandable,” she replied, closing her eyes but the spinning only grew worse.

“Honey, certain antibiotics can interfere with oral contraception.”

She shot up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“By the time I found the papers, it was too late.” Placing his hands flat on the mattress and caging her, he whispered, “I didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily.”

“You really think I’m p-pregnant?” She fell back onto the pillows, with Dylan hovering over her. “Geez, it must be catching.”

Avery lowered the towel, studying her breasts again. “We’d better get a test.”

Dylan nodded, licking his lips hungrily as he, too, studied her breasts. “There’s a drugstore around the corner. I’ll be right back.”

“Don’t bother,” Payton offered. “Libby has a ton of them under the bathroom counter.” She threw her arm over her eyes. “Look behind the giant box of tampons.”


Libby
keeps a ton of pregnancy tests,” Dylan repeated curiously, though his legs took him to the bathroom. She heard him shuffling around under the sink.

“What’s catching?” Avery pried.

“Never mind.”

He pulled her arm away from her eyes. “Spill it.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight, but I’m not polishing off the night by breaking a promise.”

Dylan walked back in the bedroom, holding Avery’s Coachella shirt in one hand and a pregnancy test in the other. “This one is open, two out of four tests are missing.” He raised a flaxen brown at her. “I’m assuming you didn’t use these tests, but feel free to tell me I’m wrong.”

“Just read the freaking instructions,” she snapped, not meaning to be so rude, but Libby was going to kill her if they didn’t drop this.

Dylan’s eyes narrowed. “So, Libby’s got some explaining to do.”

“This is about us.” They were in hot pursuit, and Payton hadn’t a prayer in knocking them off the trail. “I want to get this over with.”

Dylan handed over the shirt, and she quickly tore it over her head. Gingerly, she made her way to the bathroom, wiggling her fingers for the test. “Which end do I pee on?”


“This one,” Dylan said, flipping the white stick around so she could see the window. “Two blue lines mean we’ve got ourselves another Easton.”

“Like an asset?” She almost laughed, but this whole thing wasn’t the least bit funny.

Avery nodded. “You’re our biggest and best asset, the love of our lives. But our baby,” he stalled out, closing his eyes and searching for words.

Dylan scrubbed his face with his hands. “Our baby, I like the sound of that. If you aren’t pregnant now,” he said, pointing to the stick, “I want to start trying. I like the thought of you carrying our baby.” He lowered on his knees, his mouth finding her stomach and kissing it through her shirt. “We’ll spoil you rotten.”

When he put it that way, maybe it wasn’t such a daunting thought to have a family so quickly. “You try to spoil me rotten now.”

Avery pegged her with a hard stare. “Stop stalling and pee on that damn stick.”

“Fine.” She shooed them away. “I’ll be right out.”

“No.” Dylan squeezed in the bathroom, resting one foot in the shower to allow Avery room.

“You can’t expect us to wait outside.” Avery stepped in the rest of the way and shut the door in case Libby reentered the loft. He turned on the sink to encourage her with the sound of running water.

With an exaggerated roll of her eyes, Payton waited impatiently until her body got the job done. With shaky hands, Dylan placed a paper towel on the counter and then the stick she’d used, treating it like a precious object. Avery unwrapped another one, handing it to her. “What?”

BOOK: Sarasota Bride
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