Page 35 of Loving at 40

Jenna stills for only the pulse of a heartbeat before jumping off me. My own heart races. My chest rises and falls with sexual excitement and sudden disappointment.

“Shit,” Jenna mutters, swiping at her hair and adjusting the fallen robe. Her eyes meet mine only briefly—an apology in them—before she focuses on her child. Rosie might need to be called the interloper, not warrior or princess.

“Okay, baby, let’s head to the bathroom first.”

I tip my head upward to see Rosie standing in the doorway, sucking her thumb. Sleepy and a little stinky even from here, I recognize what’s happened. She peed the bed.

And although it might be wrong to think it, even that feels a little perfect.

“I’ll get fresh sheets,” I groan, rubbing two hands down my face before adjusting myself in my jeans once more and rolling off the couch.

+ + +

At night, we go dancing. Well, the women dance, and the men, minus Logan, grumble. He’s out there with his wife, yukking it up as he tries to follow the calls. Noah had to back out at the last minute, and Zack keeps a sharp eye on his pregnant fiancée, who moves despite carrying a watermelon on the front of her. Anna and Jenna are actually pretty good at following instructions, and I fight the pull to keep my eyes on her swaying hips and her tight ass in those short shorts exposing those long, lush legs. She’s giving Daisy Duke some competition.

“It’s good to see Anna smile,” Zack says to no one in particular. Mason simply nods and lifts his beer to his lips. Despite being the man who suggested we have an adults-only evening, he's been exceptionally quiet tonight. I half expected him to be out there on the dance floor, hitting on women to the left, to the left, to the right, to the right, as the song calls out the steps.

“How is she doing?” I feel like a schmuck asking about my own sister, and my thoughts immediately race back to my lunch with Calvin and Bryce. They wanted to know where I’d been and why I wasn’t there for their father. Distrust was written all over their faces, and I’d put it there. I could make the wrong person believe in me, and my family . . . they didn’t have faith in me.

“Some days are good. Some aren’t,” Zack speaks. He’s been living next door for the past year, Anna’s first year without Ben. Mason lived in my apartment for the months Ben was the sickest, and I could accuse him of leaving when Anna needed him most—which was after Ben was gone. However, what did I know? “She’s found an unbiased friend in River.”

My head tips, wondering what Zack means.

“All of us are constant reminders of what she had before. River’s new, and when Anna goes out with her, she feels like she has a friend that’s only hers, even if she is my soon-to-be wife.”

I guess I get that. We all watch the girls for another few minutes. Anna laughing. Jenna following the dance calls like a pro. Autumn and Logan kind of doing their own thing.

“How is your venture going?”

For the next half hour, I listen to Zack and Mason discuss their new passion—Four Points. It’s a joint venture between the four best friends capitalizing on each of their specialties: design, construction, landscape, and legal.

“How do you feel about landscaping?” Mason eventually asks me, reaching out for my shoulder and pressing at me.

I shrug him off. He’s such a wanker. “I don’t,” I admit. I’ve never owned a home. After living in a place for two years pretending I was someone I wasn’t, I now have a dump I use for sleeping and eating. I’d kill an innocent houseplant if I had one.

Zack laughs, dangling a beer bottle from his fingertips. “I told you Archer was a no.”

“A no to what?” I ask.

“With Ben’s death, we need a new fourth.”

“I’m surprised you’d let anyone into the sacred realm.” I wiggle my fingers, lowering my voice as I mention the tight friendship these men have had for twenty years. I had the same things with the guys in the force until I had to act like I didn’t know anyone. I’d been a loner for too long, forgetting how to interact with people. I’ve been working on it in therapy.

“We aren’t just letting anyone in,” Mason stresses. “We want someone close to us.”

I’m a little surprised he’s even asking me as I’ve been more out than in with my family over the years. “Yeah, I don’t think it’s for me.” Working on someone’s lawn isn’t how I see my future. I need to get back on track and be assigned another investigation. My fist falls against my thigh. I need my leg to heal.

With that thought, I glance up to find a man sidled up behind Jenna. His hands are on her hips. He’s moving her side to side with the sway of his own. Her ass bumps into his front, and his palm coasts up under her arm. Her head twists to the side, and he leans into her neck. Her eyes meet mine across the distance.

Before I know it, I’m out of my seat faster than one can say landscaping. This man will not touch what belongs in only my yard.

Jenna looks at me, all dance-crazed, a little seductive, and possibly tipsy. The girls were going at it pretty hard when we first arrived, doing some crazy named shots called blowjobs and lollipops. It didn’t take a genius to know who named those, but it took a freaking saint to watch Jenna open wide to rim the shot glass, then tip her head with hands behind her back and swallow.

Handsy-Dancer gives me a chin tip as I near Jenna and him and returns his attention to Jenna’s lush body. She freezes in place. Her eyes lock on mine, and I hold out my hand.

“Babe.” The word says it all. Step away from this guy and come with me.

Only Handsy-Dancer shifts his body, blocking me with his back as he moves Jenna before him. “Get your own slice of perfection,” he mutters, giving me another chin tip over his shoulder and a tight grin.