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“Says the woman who’s getting off constantly.” Melinda’s grumble made Jill laugh.
“Jealous much, sis?”
“Why would I be? Sex isn’t that important. I am a lean, mean, green-making machine.” Melinda toasted them with her bottle of soda. There was no drinking for the uber-controlled Mel. Judging from the news that Mel was expanding her frozen-yogurt business yet again, clearly she wasn’t kidding about having her mind on her money.
“Who says you can’t have fabulous orgasms and a successful business?” Alexa pumped her wine cooler in the air, spilling some down her jacket. “I, for one, have no complaints in either department.”
“Those James/Santangelo boys have got their shit handled.” Vic fist-bumped Lex. Since Lex’s boyfriend Dillon was Cory’s brother, it wasn’t difficult to imagine why they were mutually triumphant.
> “No one likes a braggart, Victoria,” Mel tossed back, making them all laugh.
“What about you, Jill?” Noelle kicked at Jill’s purple suede boot. “You complaining or explaining?”
“Neither,” Vic chimed in before Jill could speak. “She’s got some new secret man-friend. All I know is he has a tongue like a salamander on speed and a dick like a jackhammer. Otherwise, nada.”
“Do tell.” Lex leaned forward eagerly. “After that night at Triple Threat, I would’ve guessed it was that hunky friend of Dillon’s.”
Jill shot up from her blanket. Had she and Bryan been spotted leaving the club together? “Dillon has lots of hunky friends.” She played it off with an inebriated-sounding giggle. Hopefully no one would notice she’d yet to finish half of her wine cooler.
“He had one with him in particular that night. Brownish-blond hair, tall, big shoulders that probably don’t fit through most doorways. Total jock material.” She snapped her fingers and pointed at Vic and Mel. “His name’s Bryan. He’s your brother. Shit, I am so drunk.”
Jill would’ve laughed at Lex’s melodramatic slumping back on the grass if Vic hadn’t been looking her way in obvious suspicion. “Bryan. My brother. Right.”
“Oh, him.” Jill laughed again, unease creeping through her as she pointedly turned her attention back toward Lex. “I’ve known Bryan forever.”
“Yeah, and you’ve been macking on him that long,” Vic put in.
“Macking?” Mel shook her head. “That sounds vulgar.”
Jill toyed with the label of her wine cooler. “I was pretty damn pristine until recently.”
Her life had changed via rough sex involving sex toys and blindfolds. Now they were adding role-play into the mix, and she loved that, too. She loved everything about being with Bryan, from their whispered conversations during the movies to holding hands while they walked to feeling his mouth on hers. In one week, she’d given herself over entirely to something that had been brewing for so long she couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t felt that way.
She loved Bryan Townsend. Hook, line, and she was sunk. Utterly.
So what was she waiting for? Heck, what was he waiting for? After all of his talk about not going public, she’d assumed it was because he didn’t want anyone to know. But for all she knew, maybe he believed she didn’t want to go public.
Then reality kicked her hard in the chest. Bryan Townsend needing encouragement to make a move? In what century? This was the one guy who had no problem stating what he wanted and going after it. If he didn’t want them to go public, it was because he had his reasons.
And as much as they’d both talked about not wanting to hurt Vic, she suspected it was more than that. The ego boost of sleeping with a virgin had been too good for him to pass up, but that didn’t mean he saw her as competition for the kind of life he was accustomed to.
Vic crossed her arms over her chest. “Well?”
What could she say? The truth would betray Bryan’s trust. But a lie would betray Vic’s.
“Oh my god,” Vic said. “I can see it on your face.”
“Vic—”
“It’s too late. Don’t deny it.”
“I should’ve told you this before,” she said. “I wanted to, but I needed to make sure what was going on before I jumped the gun.”
“Sounds like she’s been jumping something else,” Lex offered with a grin. “If it’s that fine piece of man, you go, girl.”
Vic looped an arm around her drawn-up knees and lifted a brow. “Go on. Say it, Jill. Tell me you’ve been messing around with my brother even though you know full-well that he’s going to be gone in a week. Tell all of us how it’s going to be different with you, because he’s really not a player down to the bone.” Shaking her head, she tipped back her bottle.
Jill moistened her lips and struggled for a response. Vic was hurt and striking out. She got that. But how was she supposed to argue with the truth? She wanted to believe there was more to Bryan than his fickle reputation, but that didn’t change history.
