All three other men groaned.
“Dude, she knows how well you doubly penetrate her daughter. It’s not the same. Women are weird about stuff like this. They don’t talk the way we do,” James explained.
Yeah, he didn’t understand that part. “I don’t understand that. We’re involved. Jesse and I have been dancing around her since she showed up in this town. We’re totally dating. I’ve cooked for her. I’ve made her lunch twice this week. Everyone knows where we were going with that. It’s not a big deal. But we haven’t. You know, the both of us. Not yet. She’s never done that. It takes time.”
What the hell was he doing standing around here gossiping about his damn sex life? It was right on the tip of his stupid tongue to tell them how happy he was that he and Jesse would be her first. And that she was an anal goddess. Most women shrunk away from it. Not his Gemma. She rose to the challenge. She’d fucked the fingers in her ass, begging for more. God, he wanted to fuck her ass. She really was a damn goddess.
“Preparation phase,” Trev said with a hazy grin. “I miss that.”
Bo laughed. “He’s gotten misty-eyed over everything since our wife got pregnant.” The two men slid each other a long, meaningful look. They shared a family. It was more than mere friendship. It wasn’t two buds sharing a six-pack and meaningless women as they partied their way across the US. They were building a life.
That was what Jesse wanted. He wanted a family. He wanted a home with Jesse and Cade and Gemma. Gemma would be the center of the whole fucking world. She was a woman he could trust with the title. But Cade wasn’t a man to be trusted. The thought of a kid depending on him made his stomach turn. And his heart flop a little. A baby who reminded him of his mom or dad. A baby with his name.
His family was gone. His sister dead. His foster mom dead.
But what if he could start over again? What if he could be better this time?
“I swear, you’re as hormonal as Beth,” James said, laughing.
Trev laughed with him. Cade had never met a man as comfortable in his own skin as Trev McNamara. The way Cade heard it, the man had gotten there the hard way, but the happiness Trev had now made Cade think it had probably been worth it.
“You just wait,” Trev said. “Wait until Hope gets pregnant and our kids run around like wild men all over the G. You’ll get sentimental, too.”
“Yeah,” James said, his voice a little emotional. “I likely will. I remember how good it was for me and my brother. It was our little kingdom. I’ve never known freedom the way I did when Noah and I were young. It would have been even better if we’d had more brothers and sisters.”
A home. A real home. A home where Gemma yelled at them when they did dumb shit and welcomed them into her arms at the end of the day. A home she would make the nicest in Bliss because Gemma didn’t do things halfway. If she loved a man, she would be fierce, and she would never fall out of it. She would love that man or men until the day she died if she let herself. And if she had children, she would protect them with everything she had.
Like his mom. And his sister. And his foster mom.
How many amazing women would he be blessed with only to watch them die? How many chances did the universe give?
“Cade?”
Bo’s voice startled him out of his thoughts. “Sorry.”
Bo smiled that sunny smile of his. “No problem. I was just asking if you could take a look at Beth’s car. It’s acting up again. Not that she drives it much.”
Beth liked to cycle. She’d been known to ride her bike from the G into town, her torso encased in a brilliant yellow reflective shirt. He and Jesse knew cars better than anyone in Bliss. It was their natural place. “Sure.”
James flashed a grin. “Come out on Sunday and bring Gemma with you. We’ll have a nice dinner. The girls seem to like the hell out of Gemma. We can try to convince the women we’re good boys.”
Yep, Gemma was getting him in trouble. “I’ll let Jesse know. And thanks for the tip. Ty’s watching her. I better go and collect her.”
The other men nodded and waved him on his way.
He took a deep breath. The idea of sitting around a dinner table with friends and their wives, as he and Jesse showed off their girl didn’t scare him the way it should. And that did scare him. He didn’t want to need her the way he did. She was starting to get her claws in and they went deep.
What the hell was he going to do? Stay or go? Fight or flight?
If it came to a fight, he would like to take out Lawyer Asshole. That might make him feel better.
The door to Stella’s opened and Hope Glen-Bennett nearly knocked him over.
He braced himself, his hands out to steady her. “Whoa, there.”
Her eyes were wide with panic. “I have to find Caleb. He’s not answering his cell phone, but he forgets it from time to time.”
Caleb? Caleb was the town doctor. If Hope needed Caleb, someone was in trouble. Fuck. Beth was pregnant. Trev and Bo had just talked about their child, their eyes misting at the thought of a future, and now she was in trouble. This was why a man should think twice before getting involved. It could all go wrong in the blink of an eye.
Hope pushed at him, turning toward the clinic. “I have to go. You need to get in there. It’s Gemma.”
Hope pushed past him and started sprinting.
Nausea swept across him as he looked at the door. Gemma? She hadn’t said Gemma. He’d heard her wrong. But what if he hadn’t? What if Gemma was in trouble and he was standing out here like a dumb asshole?
Adrenaline took over. He didn’t even feel himself move. One minute he was standing outside the diner, and then next he was in the middle of chaos.
There was a crowd in the middle of Stella’s, like the world had shifted and there was a gravity well that was situated right in front of the bar seats. At least ten people crowded around in a circle. It was like an arena, and he feared Gemma was the gladiator in the center.
“What’s she allergic to?” Ty’s voice rose above the crowd. Strong and loud, he was ordering people around in a way he wouldn’t do in anything but his professional life. Ty always sounded so strange when he was working. He lost the immature, devil-may-care lilt to his voice, and a cool competence took over.
Cade pushed through the crowd, elbowing the audience aside. Gawkers. He pressed forward, needing to see the truth. It wasn’t Gemma.
Ty was on his knees on the floor, his head down. Asshole Lawyer stood above him, his shirt still perfectly pressed as though he would walk into court any moment. He wore a frown, but other than that, Cade couldn’t tell the fucker was affected at all.
His eyes caught on the body on the floor under Ty’s hands. A mess of bloated flesh lay there right in the middle of Stella’s. Red, swollen skin. Wearing the clothes Gemma had tossed on right before she’d run from him. Cade felt like his feet were planted in concrete.
This isn’t happening. Dream. This is a dream. You’ll be in the river soon. You always end up there.
He needed to wake up in Gemma’s bed and realize this was all a nightmare.
Asshole Lawyer’s nasally voice cut through Cade’s brain. “Strawberries. She’s allergic to strawberries. Even a little could kill her. She used my fork. I didn’t see it until she’d already done it. Who uses someone else’s fork? Oh my god. Tell me you can save her. She looks so horrible.”
The fucker winced as he looked down at her, like she was a plague he didn’t want to catch. Cade’s whole soul wanted to be with her. Bad or good. He would go with her. He wanted to hold her, but he was afraid. She looked so fragile.
Ty’s hands were working, lifting her up. “Where’s her purse? If her allergy is this bad, she should have an EpiPen. I need it.”