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“I handled it,” I muttered under my breath.
“Yeah. Did you know she carries a switchblade in her purse? Badass, right?”
I rocked to the side when Shade hit my shoulder with his. “You good?” he asked. I nodded. “You pulled a knife on him?” Again, I dipped my chin while searching his intense gaze, wondering what he’d think of that. “Good girl.”
Well, there went my dry panties.
Trap shot me a smirk as if he saw the way my core clenched at Shade’s words. “I think she likes that.”
With a hum of agreement, Shade leaned closer, pressing his nose into my curly hair and inhaling. “Anything you don’t want?”
A waft of his crisp aftershave filled my nose, and his heat seared through his clothes and mine, causing my lids to flutter closed. “Is it…? Do you only”—I gestured between the three of us—“take part in group activities? If so, is there like a calendar of events?”
Trap tossed his head back, his laugh rumbling through the diner, while Shade just offered me a sly grin.
“No,” Trap said, still somewhat laughing. “That’s not why we do this, though it is a perk.”Perk indeed.“We’ll build to that, if that’s what you want.”
I chewed on my lower lip, wincing at a bite of pain. “I don’t want Gracie to know. She already likes you two, a lot, and I don’t want to confuse her about what this is between us.”
Temporary.
“She starts school soon, right?” Shade asked.
“Yes, on Monday.” Which was four days away. “She’s devastated that she can’t be at the ranch with Anne every day once school starts.”
“I need to get going. See you two later tonight.” Reaching across the table, Trap cupped my face, thumb brushing along my lower lip. “Text me if you want me to pick up anything on the way home.”
Home.
That had a nice ring to it.
Even if it would never be true.
TEN
SHADE
Ikept an eye on Georgia as I worked to fix a latch that broke last week. My movements paused as I twisted, leaning against the iron pipe gate to study her directly. A wide smile split her face as she hand-fed the goats grain from the bucket I’d loaded up for her the moment we arrived.
She radiated happiness. Not stressed or worried about Grace, which I took as a win.
I wasn’t a parent, though I hoped to be some day, so I couldn’t imagine the constant worry Georgia had as a mother. A damn good mother too. We still hadn’t gotten the full story of what triggered her to leave her husband and go to the FBI, but I had a feeling it was directly related to Grace. Georgia didn’t seem like the type to cut and run from anything unless it wasn’t her safety she was worried about.
The curve of the wrench bit into my palm as the bits and pieces she’d shared with Trap and me of her shit-ass marriage to that bastard of a man ran through my mind.
She never mentioned physical abuse, but that was only one type of torment. Neglect seemed to be what she’d sustained for the last few years, running only on the interactions with her employees as any type of connection. Which was fucking terrible. How someone could let a woman like Georgia sit alone at night and not worship every second they had with her was outrageous.
If she were mine, I’d never let her go to bed without my arms wrapped around her. Never let a day pass without reminding her why she was special and how I desperately needed her in my life.
In a way, I guess she was mine. Ours.
Before Georgia moved next door and changed my outlook on life, it felt like any relationship with another woman would lessen what Jessa and I had. But now with how Georgia made me feel, what she brought out in me, I knew nothing would change what I had, only alter my future.
Jessa, Trap, and I evolved into the happy trio we were until the end. We began as friends that morphed into more. It was natural for us three to be together since I couldn’t imagine my life without either of them.
This with Georgia, though, wasn’t a years-long gradual interest or deep friendship that morphed into something more.
The moment I saw her out the window when she first arrived, I wanted her. My dick had gone rock-hard, basically a homing rod yanking me out the door so I could get a better look. Now the friendship was there, too, though not as deep since we couldn’t know everything about her. Though what I had learned made me want Georgia even more.
