Just Her Luck (58 page)

“Want me to warm you up?” he offered.

I laughed and rolled my eyes, a complement of snorts and grunts from everyone else ensuing to accompany my reaction.

He grinned, unfazed.

“Soooo…” Dave, the tall, thin blonde man asked carefully, not staring at my face-
my facial piercing in particular
- anymore.

Maybe he thinks it looks like a disco ball too.

I smiled, amused by the thought.

“You guys all went and did like your mama and daddies, huh?” he continued as he gestured at all of us.

I remembered him vaguely from the party, but he didn’t strike me as much of a talker.

“Yup.” It was Ephraim who spoke up.

I tensed and fiddled with my shirt, my mouth tightening, mind on alert.

I couldn’t tell if Dave’s comment was meant as a casual observance, more curiosity than anything, or if he was going somewhere with it, so I immediately went on the defense.

Ephraim’s hand tightened on my shoulder at the same exact moment Sawyer sat up a little straighter and Bowen squeezed my knee comfortingly.

They must have sensed my unease.

“What’s it to you, Dave O?” Thatcher quipped, “Thinkin’ she’d take pity on you and adopt a runt?”

Everyone laughed at that and Dave blushed, turning a very embarrassed pink.

“Aw, be nice, Thatch, he can’t help it if his mama didn’t feed him none,” the man sitting next to him teased, laughing when Dave pushed him, knocking him onto his side.

“Don’t talk about my mama, Gunny,” Dave warned, getting another guffaw out of
Gunny
.

Gunny grinned and sat up, looking over at me, his greying hair the only thing to hint at his age.

He had a youthfulness about him that masked the fact that he was probably
at least
in his forties.

“I heard a lot about ya, Miss Genny,” Gunny looked over, grinning at me, “Ephraim talks about ya nonstop. Can hardly get him to shut up when someone asks him how his birthday present is doin’.”

I blushed hard, ready to crawl into a hole and die.

Oh, my god!

I guess my hopes that everyone would just forget about
that
whole thing were truly hopeless.

His birthday present!

Ugh!

I cringed.

How embarrassing!

They call me his birthday present?!

I will forever be dubbed ‘E’s birthday whore- oh, yay.

Is that how all the workers and friends see me?

The woman who screwed Ephraim senseless over a loud speaker? His present?

“Shut up, Gunny. No one cares what an old fart thinks. No one listens to what a man who gossips like a god damned old biddy has to say, so shut it.” Reeve gave Gunny a warning look.

Surprised, I looked at Reeve thankfully.

He held my gaze for a moment, a strange openness in his expression when our eyes made contact, but then, just as quickly, he looked away.

That’s twice he’s defended me.

Maybe he’s had some silly sauce himself.

Is there really any other explanation?

Huh, never thought he’d defend me like that, but he did.

I also never thought I’d ever feel any reason to be grateful to him or thank him, but I do and I did, acting accordingly.

Normally, it would have been Sawyer who stepped in to diffuse a situation, but Sawyer’s other side, my lion man, is still in residence and he’s so lost in thought at the moment, he wasn’t even paying attention.

“I was only teasin’, guys,” Gunny apologized, eyes widening at the affronted looks on all of their faces.

He held his hands up, a gesture of surrender. “Y’all look like you wanna skin me alive. My apologies, fellas.
Geesh.
When did y’all get so sensitive?”

“We gonna get this shit back on or what?” Eustice demanded around a mouthful of my potato salad, a half-eaten sandwich dangling precariously from the hand holding the bowl as he walked in.

Chewing happily, he swallowed his bite of food before he continued, “I got some chumps to make change off of.”

“That was for tomorrow.” I frowned at Eustice, nodding towards the bowl.

Ten had just come inside, wanting to finish off his cigar before he came back in.

He grimaced when he saw Eustice digging into the potato salad with a large spoon, glancing meaningfully at Bowen.

Eustice grinned wider, noticing Ten’s reaction, and scooped up another bite right out of the bowl.

Bo’s face bunched up when he saw his cousin, crinkling in disgust.

Bo and his food germ thing. He doesn’t do well with double dippers.

Unless it’s me he’s sharing food with, then he doesn’t seem to care or be particularly bothered by it.

I tried to work that out once, but it makes no sense to me whatsoever, no matter how you slice it, other than I’m his lady and we slobber all over each other anyways.

No ‘food sharing’ germs, but we can all share ‘porking germs’?

I tried to get him to explain it to me, but all he would say was a gruff ‘it’s different’.

Ooookkkkkaaaaayyy. Alrighty then.

If that makes any sense…

Whuh, oh,
I thought when I saw Bo’s face.

It’s all tightened up and borderline pissy, Eustice carrying on in the midst of it.

Eustice, you’re going to be wearing that potato salad in a minute if you keep irking my sexy conqueror.

I decided to go ahead and do a little damage control, Vieve style.

“Eustice, go put some of that into a bowl! Don’t eat out of the container! What’s gotten into you?” I didn’t realize how motherly my voice sounded until I’d said it.

My poor Bo looks like he’s going to have an aneurism.

I caressed his knuckles, my thumb stroking over his.

I’m going to have to make more potato salad later, just for him, cousin taint free.

Eustice grinned and headed back into the kitchen, saluting me with his sandwich on his way.

“Yes, ma’am!” A minute passed and then, “Hey, you got any milk in this hovel?!!”

“Top left! And if you get a drink, don’t you dare swig outta that carton! You’ll give poor Bowen a heart attack! And don’t drink it all either!”

I could hear the gorilla man nurse laughing evilly from all the way over here.

“I’ll know it was you if you do!” I added lastly.

His response was a loud snort.

“Greedy little pig!” I muttered, scowling towards the kitchen.

Done huffing at the bottomless pit that he is, I settled back into my man meat seat, aka Sawyer, jerking when I saw all eyes fixed on me.

Dave and Gunny were sporting shit eating grins.

“Oh, she sounds just like Mama Harrison, Dave O, don’t she?”

“Sure does. You’re gonna fit right in here, missy. I can already tell.”

“I already said that!
Like ages ago!”
Thatcher put in.

Poker In The Rear

I took a swig of my soda and rearranged Thatcher’s cards, putting them at the most optimal position for him.

He kissed my neck and stole my soda from me, chugging the rest of it down.

“You can’t let her play your cards for ya anymore,” Eustice grumbled, folding.

Thatcher squeezed my waist and grinned, taking a swig of his beer.

Beer and soda, what a combo.

Blech.

“It’s your own faults,” I told them, giggling, “You should have listened to me when I said to go back and go about your business, let me do my thing, but you just wouldn’t listen.”

I shook my head sadly and gave Thatcher a quick kiss, placing his cards on the table.

“Read ‘em and weep, boys!” I crowed, “A full house!”

All the men at the table groaned, and I laughed, raking in
our
dough.

The corner of Reeve’s mouth kicked up as he took a swig of his beer and shook his head at Eustice.

It’s nice to see them all letting loose a little, especially after earlier.

They work hard all week and they deserve to have a little fun.

At least they didn’t let the ugliness of a little bit ago ruin the night.

“My turn, Thatch, go take your shower.” Sawyer picked me up and set me in his lap, giving my rump a good squeeze under the cover of the table where no one could see.

I turned my head and he gave me a big, loud kiss, ignoring the bitching from the other players.

“Count me out, fellas.” Sawyer tossed his cards onto the table and got up, me in his arms, and headed for the house.

I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck, shaking my head at him.

“Where do you think you’re goin’ with Genny?” Ephraim protested, not ready to quit playing yet.

“Dave and Gunny were bitchin’ they wanted to smoke more cigars earlier, now they can,” Sawyer said happily, heading into the house.

“Why you wanna put another nail in your coffin, anyways?” Ephraim grumbled at the two men, making me smile.

I shut the sliding door closed when we reached it, getting a kiss in thanks.

He didn’t say anything else as we made our way to his room.

He had the bed turned down, a lovely dark brown comforter that matched his beautiful chocolate eyes on the big bed, fifty million-
okay, four or five
- thick fluffy pillows with matching cases all lined up at the headboard.

He carefully plopped me down in the middle of it and backed up, shucking almost everything he had on off quickly, leaving just his black snug fitting boxer briefs and grabbing up the controls to the T.V.

Two clicks of his remote and he snuggled up with me, pulling the blankets up to our waists, tucking me up tight against him.

A few minutes passed and surprisingly, he didn’t try to jump my bones.

“What are you up to?” I smiled at him from over my shoulder, enjoying his warmth.

Who doesn’t love a good cuddle?

He put one of my favorite sci-fi shows on, and I gave a happy whoop.

Smiling at me softly, he laughed.

“Is this on cable? God, I haven’t seen these ones in years. I didn’t know they’d started playing them again.”

His eyes lit up at the pleased as punch look on my face.

I rolled over so I was completely facing him, shucking off my own my pants and bra, nothing on now but my panties and a t-shirt, propping myself up on my elbows.

A hot man and my fav show, how awesome is that?

I gave him a big, smacking kiss.

“No,” he chuckled, tracing my collar bones. “I bought them. You like it? I was gonna surprise you with them when it’s my night, but I thought I’d just spoil you now. I want to relax and hold you. Just feel you against me. Would that be alright?”

I caressed his face, trying to erase the hard lines that graced his supremely masculine features.

His normally congenial, almost serene expression is nowhere in sight, full of turmoil.

“Hmmm…” I pretended to think about it.

Leaning down, I kissed him sweetly, affectionately, smiling against his lips

His answering smile was like pure sunshine after a hard rain.

“That would be more than alright,” I murmured.

He chuckled a little, content, closing his eyes for a moment, letting out a weary sigh.

I rested my head on his chest, caressing all that male perfection,
everywhere,
brushing the light dusting of blonde curls.

I just can’t get enough of him.

Mmmm.

I started humming ‘I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts’, circling his nipples until he laughed, pulling back to nip at his chin.

His grin was exactly what I’d been looking for and I ran my hands through his scalp, loving the silky mass of gold.

“Feeling better?” I whispered, kissing his forehead, smiling when he started to drift off, his eyes closing slowly in bliss.

I continued to run my fingers through his hair, caressing and massaging his head until I thought he’d fallen asleep.

He gripped my wrist in his unbreakable grip, gentle despite all of the strength I knew those guns he sported possessed, and I eyed his impressive biceps.

He noticed and flexed.

I grinned, leaning forward to lick one.

Yummy.

“I need to tell you something,” he said sheepishly, glancing at the enormous jar of condoms I’d put in his room.

I’d set it right on his nightstand, same as everyone else’s, sticking out like a giant, condom-filled eye sore, right there in plain view.