Boots and Roses (5 page)

Now she was arranging flowers for that man’s wedding.

She smiled. The promise of her date with Cory and Jack was so tantalizing that even thinking about her ex couldn’t put a damper on it. Her belly tightened and a soft throbbing ache developed between her legs. Jack and Cory had stirred up a tempest inside her, and there appeared to be only one way to exorcise it.

Jack stopped by the sheriff’s office early Thursday morning and checked the schedule. As he’d expected, he was off Friday night.

Deputy Mitch Cramer stepped up beside Jack and tapped the schedule posted on the wall. “Wanna fill in for me tomorrow night?”

“No.”

“Damn, Jack.” Cramer stepped back, a frown denting his forehead. “You could have at least hesitated a little. You’re usually good in a pinch.”

A smile lifted the corners of Jack’s lips. “Got plans.”

Cramer’s frown deepened. “Plans, huh?” Then his brows rose and he gave a bark of laughter. “That’s right. Last night was the Cowboy Auction. Who got the winning bid? Some old lady from the Garden Club?” He laughed again. “What was it like to be viewed like a horse at the livestock sale?”

Jack didn’t bother to answer. He settled his cowboy hat on his head, left the sheriff’s station and drove his truck to the edge of town. Two miles out, he turned onto Shady Lane and drove beneath the wrought-iron arches of Shady Grove Cemetery. Jack parked beside a vintage Crown Victoria, beneath the hundred-year-old white oak tree.

For a long moment, he sat staring across the neat row of headstones. At first, he didn’t see anyone else. Then Mr. Weinfelt straightened and wiped a shaking hand across his eyes as he stared down at a grave. After a few more minutes, the old man looked toward where Jack had parked. He bent one last time, then stood as straight as his hunched figure could and shuffled toward Jack.

Jack climbed from the truck and met Mr. Weinfelt at the front of his car, removing his hat from his head out of respect for the ninety-three-year-old. “Mornin’, Mr. Weinfelt.”

“Mornin’, Jack.” The older man held out his hand.

Jack clasped the man’s hand and shook it, the older man’s parchment skin cool to his touch. “Bring Ms. Nora her daisies?”

Mr. Weinfelt nodded toward the sun halfway up the eastern sky. “Nora loved sunny days and daisies. Couldn’t disappoint her.” He held out his other hand with a single daisy in it. “Thought you might like this one for Stacy.”

Jack took the daisy and smiled at Mr. Wienfelt, his heart squeezing in his chest. “Sure Nora won’t mind?”

“She always liked little Stacy.” He smiled and climbed into his Crown Victoria, driving away in a puff of dust.

Jack plunked his cowboy hat on his head and wove through the headstones, until he reached hers. “Hi, Stacy.” He squatted beside the marker and laid the single daisy at the base of the granite. “Remember how you always got jealous when I looked at another girl? Well, I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinkin’ lately and I know you’d want me to be happy, no matter what. You always had such a big heart and, if you could, you’d tell me it was time to move on.” He scraped his hat off and twirled it slowly between his fingers. “Hope you don’t mind, but me and Cory kinda like Ms. Bunny Leigh from the flower shop, and we’d like to date her.” He paused, closed his eyes and listened for a sound, a sign, anything that he could construe as a response.

Nothing stirred, not a breeze, bird or insect made a sound. Even the traffic on the highway seemed to have disappeared. Who was he trying to kid? Stacy had been dead for three years. She couldn’t hear him all the way up there in heaven. He kissed his fingertips and touched the name engraved on the stone. “I’ll always love you, sweetheart. But I have room in my heart to love again. I just know it.”

Jack pushed to his feet, settled his cowboy hat on his head and stared across the central Texas horizon—the rolling hills, the huge, pale blue sky and the soft green pastures stretching away from the cemetery. Stacy had loved the Texas sunshine, just like Nora Wienfelt. The warmth of the sun on his back felt like a caress. Almost as if Stacy was smiling down at him, touching his back with a soft hand, urging him to find another love to fill the lonely hours.

As he walked toward the truck, the soft coo of a dove sounded from the big oak tree. Jack tipped his hat back and looked up in time to see a gray dove take off, its wings spread in flight.

The bird dipped low over his head and winged away into the brightness of the morning sunshine.

Yup, it had to be a sign. With a lighter heart, Jack climbed into his truck and headed to town. After he and Cory talked through the details, they’d start courting Bunny. And with Stacy’s blessing, they couldn’t lose.

“So it’s agreed?” Cory leaned back in the booth at PJ’s Diner at ten past eleven o’clock that morning. “The date is set. It’ll be the both of us, and we’ll behave like gentlemen. No expectations of anything afterward?”

Jack sighed. “I had hoped for more. I hadn’t realized just how obsessed I was with her until I counted the number of bud vases in my closets. Do you realize I’ve been in that flower shop once a week for six months? I have twenty-six vases taking up room at the house.”

“Take them back to Bunny. She could use them for your next twenty-six purchases.”

“I can’t do that. Then she’ll know I wasn’t buying them for my mother.”

Cory shook his head. Jack had a heart as big as his shoe size. “Well, don’t think I’m going to let you win her over all to yourself. I’ve been delivering flowers for her for the past three months, even though I don’t need the money.”

“You know? We’re pretty darned pathetic if you ask me. Why the hell have we been beatin’ around the bush when we could have fessed up and been datin’ her all along?”

“I didn’t want to commit to anything until I finished my undergrad degree. And with med school looming, I’m still straddlin’ the fence. She put her ex through dental school. I wouldn’t blame her if she ran screaming from a relationship with me, because I’m going to be gone to school in Dallas all week, every week for four years.”

“Yeah, you got it rough.” Jack’s lips quirked upward on the sides. “Which should make her decision easy. She’ll choose me.”

“Over my dead body. I thought of dating her first.”

“I’ve been courtin’ her in my own way for six months.”

“Buying flowers for your mother?” Cory snorted. “Look, buddy, we’ve already agreed to
share
Bunny. Stick to the plan. We need to get her used to the idea of having both of us. Which means we need to let her see us separately, get to know each of us individually, and then ease her into the idea of both of us.”

“I’ll take lunch today, since I’m working the night shift,” Jack jumped in.

“Okay. Which means I gotta coax an invite to the Temptation Garden Club meeting tonight.” Cory let out a long breath. “Joy.” He pushed back from the table. “Between now and then, I need to get back to my computer. The stock market is supposed to be falling today. I want to get in on some good stock sales.” He planned on doing just that…after he stopped in the flower shop to see Bunny.

“Yeah. I need to check on some construction supplies for the house.” Jack tossed bills on the table and stood. “Guess I’ll see you later.”

Cory pushed through the door and turned left.

“Hey, isn’t your truck parked over there?” Jack pointed to the right.

With a sigh, Cory realized he wasn’t going to get by with a lie. “I thought I’d stop by and see Bunny first.”

“Not before me, you aren’t.” Jack let go of the door and stepped out smartly, heading straight for the Sweet Temptations Flower Shop.

Cory tore out after him, running to catch up and overtake the big cop. By the time they reached the shop, they were sprinting to the finish line.

Chapter Four

The bell in the front of the shop rang, startling Bunny out of her naughty dreams. “I’ll be with you in a minute,” she called out.

She shoved a long-stemmed, pink rose into the middle of an elaborate centerpiece and gave the arrangement a brief once-over before stepping through the door to the shop.

“Good morning, beautiful,” two deep voices said in unison, albeit in a rush.

Bunny jerked to a stop, her heart leaping into her throat as she stared at the two men at the root of her wicked thoughts. She blinked twice, afraid her overactive imagination had conjured them. “What are you doing here?”

Cory stepped forward and took her hand, drawing her into his arms. “We wanted to make sure you weren’t thinkin’ of backin’ out on our date.” He held her in his strong embrace, pressed tightly against his hips, his thick ridge nudging her belly. He bent and touched his lips to hers in a feather-light kiss. “Did you miss us?”

Her pulse pounded and heat suffused her cheeks. Even if she’d wanted to lie and tell him no, her face would have told him the truth. And his arms were so strong, so muscular…

“Hey, move over and let me in on some of that.” Jack nudged Cory’s shoulder.

Cory growled, the sound more playful than angry. “If you weren’t my friend…”

“Yeah, yeah…” Jack wedged himself between Cory and Bunny, sliding his hands down her arms over her hips to the backs of her thighs. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stay around last night to give you a taste of what we had in mind. From what Audrey said, Cory dished out a sample of his own. I’m up for sharin’ but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to show you the better deal you’ll get from me.” He lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Bunny squealed, unprepared for his actions. No one had ever come on to her like this in broad daylight. In her flower shop, no less. Her heart skittered and she clung to his shoulders, too shocked and titillated to utter a protest.

“Hey,” Cory grumbled. “A sample, buddy, not the full enchilada.”

“That’s right.” Jack walked with her toward the back of the shop. “You can stay here or join us.”

Cory followed.

Heat pulsed in waves over Bunny’s body as Jack stopped beside her workbench, next to the huge centerpiece she’d been arranging.

Jack nodded toward the display. “That for Ray and Chrissy’s wedding?”

Bunny nodded.

A grin spread over Jack’s face. “Then let’s make sure we give it the finishing touch.”

“What do you mean?” Bunny asked, her voice breathy, her pussy pressed against the bulge of Jack’s fly.

He nodded to Cory. “You wanna take the stool?”

“You bet.” Cory pulled out a stool and sat, then patted his thighs.

Jack settled Bunny in Cory’s lap, her back leaning against the blond’s chest.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Just say the word, and we’ll stop,” Jack reassured her. “We want to give you happy thoughts to think as you set up the flowers for your ex’s wedding.”

Cory spread his big hands over her thighs and parted them.

Bunny gasped. “I don’t know about this.”

“What’s to know?” Jack stepped between Cory’s and Bunny’s legs and gripped her chin in his palms. “All you have to do is feel.”

“Think of last night,” Cory whispered against her ear.

A wash of pure heat slid across her skin and centered at her core. With the warmth of Cory’s crotch beneath her bottom, the ridge of his cock nudging the crease of her ass, she could barely think.

“Want us to stop?” Cory whispered against her ear.

Here was her chance to put the brakes on.

Should I, or shouldn’t I? Oh, what the hell!

Bunny breathed in, then out, and shook her head. “No. Don’t stop.”

Cory’s fingers slid toward her center, making her skin tingle in anticipation.

Jack’s hands trailed down the length of her throat and across to push the thin straps of her sundress over her shoulders.

Her fear of being caught by customers soon disappeared when Cory found her entrance, pushing aside the thin silk of her thong panties. Bunny’s head fell back against Cory’s shoulder. “Do you two do this often?” she whispered.

Jack chuckled as he shoved her dress and bra aside to capture a nipple between his teeth. “Do what?” He rolled the nipple on his tongue and flicked it until it hardened.

Bunny gasped, her chest rising to give him more. “Share.”

Cory slid a long, work-roughened finger into her. “Jack and I have been friends for a couple years now.” He leaned into her neck and nibbled at her earlobe.

“We’ve shared once before.” Jack switched to the other breast, baring it before taking it fully into his mouth, sucking hard.

Cory slid another magic finger into her cunt. “Have you ever had more than one man at a time?”

Bunny’s pussy clenched around Cory’s fingers. “No,” she gasped.

Jack pulled free of her breast and stared into her eyes. “Does it bother you?”

Bunny moaned, “Yes!”

Cory’s fingers paused in mid-stroke.

When he and Jack started to back away, Bunny grabbed him. “It bothers me in a good way. Please…don’t stop.”

“Aren’t you afraid someone will come in?” Cory’s breath stirred the hairs around Bunny’s neck, sending delicious tingles across her skin.

“Yes!” She didn’t know if she was answering his question or responding to the way they made her feel. Who knew it could be this good to have two men?

“Does it make you even more excited?” Jack asked.

Bunny couldn’t think past the fingers in her pussy. Ray hadn’t believed in foreplay.

These men apparently invented it.

Bunny squirmed against Cory’s hardening cock. She wanted more. Jack pushed her bra and dress back in place.

“You’re stopping?” Bunny asked, her voice high-pitched.

Cory’s chuckle rumbled all the way through Bunny’s chest. “Jack won’t stop until you tell him, or you come.” The gorgeous stripper swirled his two fingers in her wet pussy, then dragged them up to her clit.

Bunny arched her back. “Oh, God. There.”

Jack dropped to his knees. “I’ll take it from here.”

“You got it.” Cory slid his hands to her thighs and held them wide.

With the tip of his finger, Jack stroked her from her pussy up to that nubbin of pulsating nerves.