MenageaDare (10 page)

“Oh wow, that’s wonderful. They deserve happiness.”

“Everyone does, Evelyn,” Jaxon said. “So do you and
Remington.”

Remy’s hand came to the handle of the phone, resting gently
over hers. “You okay, sugar? You’re shaking.”

“Evelyn, you don’t have to be afraid. I tend to come on
strong when I want something. It’s my nature and if I offended you, please
forgive me. Come down soon.”

“We will,” she said and the call ended with a quiet click.
“That was weird.”

“Was that who I think it was?” Remy asked.

“Jaxon Wynter, yes,” she said, taking note of the goose
bumps that peppered her arms. “Remy, you know how Morgan linked Ransom Hunter
to one of Dare’s investors in her readings with you?”

“Yes, of course.”

“I think that man is Jaxon Wynter.”

“If you’re right, I suspect he has a good reason to keep his
pen name to himself.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Eve stated, thinking back on
their first attempt to travel to Dare. “You know, we never should’ve tried to
come here looking for Ransom Hunter back in October. Maybe that’s why we got
stuck at an airport in Denver.”

“You think Jaxon Wynter had a hand in creating a delay on
the tarmac?”

“I don’t know about that. But our reasons were wrong
regardless, at least mine were. I was selfish and yet you’re still here with
me, Remy. I’m so glad.”

“I love you, Eve. You’re the sweetest person I know.” Remy’s
arms came around her, holding her tight. “Don’t forget that. We’ve no idea if
you’re right about Jaxon anyway. Let’s just worry about meeting him for lunch,
okay?”

“Okay. I love you too, Remy,” she said with all her heart,
loving the feel of Remy’s arms around her. She felt safe, free. “We have five
minutes. I can make the most of those minutes, if you’d like.”

“There’s nothing I want more, but if your mouth goes
anywhere near my cock, I’m going to call down to the lobby and say to hell with
lunch.”

“You can’t do that. Jaxon needs our help keeping Avery
distracted.”

Remy kissed her soundly on the mouth and let her go. “What’s
going on with her?”

“There’s a surprise party for her tonight and Hazard’s
proposing.”

“Got it,” he said. “Should I dress up or go casual for
lunch?”

“Casual, we’re going to a barbeque place.”

Remy went to the closet, pulled out a pair of worn black
jeans, his Crocs and a tee shirt. He didn’t bother with a jacket or his boxer
shorts. He got dressed in a hurry, headed to a dresser for socks, slipped them
on and stepped into his shoes.

“Ready?” he asked, holding his hand out. Rushing up to him,
she welcomed the rightness of Remy’s fingers wrapping around hers.

“Yes, let’s go,” she stated.

Remy didn’t free her right away. He tugged her forward,
touched his thumb and forefinger to her chin and kissed her, settling her in a
way nothing else could. His taste, delicious with a hint of mint toothpaste,
was perfect.

At last, he stepped back and tugged her toward the door. Eve
grabbed her small purse with her cell phone, room key and wallet on the way,
slinging the narrow strap over her shoulder.

A little bit hungry and needing to curb her appetite some,
she dug into her purse, found two small York Peppermint Patties, opened them up
and popped them into her mouth. Mint and chocolate burst in her mouth, perfect.

At the door, Remy handed his metallic wallet over to Eve for
safekeeping and they headed out to the hallway, pausing for him to lock things
up with an actual key. Taking it from him, she put it in her clutch purse with
his wallet and they were off.

As had become his habit, he walked on her right side so he
could place his left hand at the small of her waist. It was nice, protective,
making her feel as if she fit him perfectly.

A guest stepped out of his hotel room shortly before they
reached the elevators. The man, wearing a pair of swim shorts, swim shoes, a
tee shirt and carrying a beach towel, smiled. He was handsome and looked
vaguely familiar, although Eve couldn’t say why.

“Going for a swim?” Eve asked pleasantly.

“Spending time in the Jacuzzi down in the spa first,” the
nondescript thirty-something man answered. “There’s a small indoor pool on the
basement level. During the day, kids tend to congregate there, but don’t let
that intimidate you.”

“I like kids,” Remy said.

“Me too,” the man agreed. “Have you all just arrived?”

“Yes, first time here,” she answered.

“You’ll love it. My husband and I come here once a year on
our anniversary. If you enjoy spa experiences, I’m told the chocolate massage
therapy is to die for.”

The elevator dinged and the door opened. The three stepped
inside and Remy punched the lobby button. At the lobby, they got off, waving
bye to the other man.

It wasn’t until the door closed when Eve realized why the
man had looked familiar. She was pretty sure he was an actor on a popular
sitcom.

“I’m going to have to check out the spa,” Eve told Remy. “I
could use a mani-pedi, and maybe a facial.”

“Careful, sugar, I might be tempted to try a different
facial than you’ve in mind.”

Remy’s teasing was familiar, inducing a corresponding pang
of longing. “Remy! We are clearly not talking about the same thing.”

“I hear semen’s good for the skin, although yours is
perfect.” Remy’s hand left her waist to take hold of hers, his grip assuring
without being cloying. Bringing her around to face him, he smiled. “You look
pretty. Know that?”

“You’ve made me feel that way.” Going up on tiptoe, Eve
kissed him, lightly teasing the seam of his lips with her tongue.

“Eve! Remy,” Avery called out in a rush, disrupting their
kiss by plowing into the two of them and wrapping them both up in a bear hug
that would do the Maddox brothers proud.

“Whoa, Avery, careful with your knee. I need that part, know
what I’m saying?” Remy muttered, laughing when he and Eve drew apart.

“Sorry, Remy, god I’ve missed you guys,” Avery replied,
backing up to assess them as only a mother hen or best friend could. “It’s true
isn’t it? You and my best friend are a
thing
, a couple.”

“A couple, yes, a thing, no,” Eve pointed out, laughing
happily.

Avery waved her hand in the air expressively. “You guys
hungry?”

“Starving,” Remy answered, sounding distracted all of a
sudden. His hand tightened on Eve’s, a warning, an acknowledgment, she couldn’t
say, all she knew was that something was about to happen.

Turning her head, she discovered why her man had become
mute. Another man who wasn’t nearly as big as Remy but equally imposing came
strolling up to them as if everything he surveyed belonged to him. The cut of
his charcoal-gray slacks, pale-gray shirt and dark vest was impeccable,
probably expensive.

At once, Eve was certain the man with the straight,
shoulder-length white-blond and dyed black-streaked hair was Jaxon Wynter. To
say his hair was beautiful was an understatement—it was gorgeous, different.
The added touch of red bleeding down from his widow’s peak made him resemble a
vampire.

But it was more than his hair that caught Eve’s attention.
He was handsome as sin with a strong chin, a straight nose and a mouth that
made her pussy tingle. For a heartbeat she thought the Norse gods had sent him
to earth to play with mere mortals.

Wow, she wouldn’t mind playing with him. He had charisma in
spades. Everyone in the lobby stopped what they were doing to stare at him. It
didn’t matter if they were men or women, they all looked and Eve couldn’t do
anything more than stare back.

It was Avery’s frantic waving that broke the strange
force-field that seemed to take hold of Eve and Remy. Blinking rapidly, Eve
tried to speak but Remy shook his head, for a moment acting as if he’d seen a
ghost, which was really ironic considering his profession.

“Jax, come meet my friends,” Avery urged excitedly.

Something told Eve that if Jaxon Wynter didn’t want to rush
something, he wouldn’t. He was making a statement. His walk was as engaging as
the look he sent Eve and Remy.

Remy felt it too. She knew it by the tug of his hand on
hers, the intake of his breath that was utterly male and utterly taken by the
other man.

“Jax is one of the original investors in Dare,” Avery
confided. “He’s also top of the line in the town council. If you want to do a
ghost hunt here, you’ll need to win him over.”

Rushing forward, Avery grabbed his elbow with a familiarity
Eve envied. Jaxon turned his eyes to Avery, grinned at her and patted her hand.
A stab of jealousy pierced Eve’s heart, painfully, irrevocably. Whoa, she had
no right to be jealous.

Jaxon let go of Avery, stopping short of plowing over Eve
and Remy, seeming to purposefully breach their personal space.

“Jaxon Wynter,” he said, reaching out for Eve’s hand first.

Eve trembled. She wasn’t afraid of Jaxon. She was wickedly
turned-on by his presence. She hoped he couldn’t smell her arousal. How
embarrassing would that be? Worse, what kind of person did that make her if she
loved one man and lusted after another within seconds of meeting him?

Thankfully, Remy refused to let go of her. She needed him to
stand beside her right then because for reasons she didn’t quite understand, it
was very difficult for her to maintain eye contact with Jaxon. A sudden bout of
shyness causing her to flush hotly.

“You okay, Eve?” Remy whispered in her ear, completely in
tune with her. “Don’t be afraid. He can’t hurt you. I won’t let him.”

“I’m fine, Remy. It’s just, I don’t know how to interact
with him,” she admitted softly, feeling as if she were caught in quicksand and
if someone didn’t save her, she’d be lost.

Jaxon stepped forward fractionally, his hand still offered.
“As I said on the phone, my name’s Jaxon. It’s safe to take my hand, Remington
is right. I can’t hurt you, ever.”

It was Remy who ultimately lifted her hand for Jaxon to take
hold of, but then the most amazing thing happened. Jaxon captured both of their
hands in his, tightening his fingers in such a way that seemed to say
mine.

And in that moment, as Jaxon held their hands, everything
else in the lobby faded away. It was only the three of them, the world suddenly
revolving again, a sense of rightness saving Eve from the quicksand.

“Welcome to Dare, Remington and Evelyn,” Jaxon greeted, his
violet eyes, the same color as her dress, holding her gaze.

“Remy and I can’t wait to find out all Dare has to offer,”
she said, eyeing their hands even as he lifted them up and placed a kiss on the
back of her knuckles and then, wow, Remy’s.

A zap of intense awareness, purely sexual, electric, sizzled
deep in her core. Remy jolted, as if it affected him too.

“I only hope Dare lives up to its reputation, but do be
careful,” Jaxon said in a voice as rich as molasses. “As our motto says, if you
take a chance on Dare, you might decide to stay.”

“It feels as if it’s taken forever to get here,” Remy
commented. Eve looked back at her boyfriend, noticing he was as taken with
Jaxon as she was. “I hope it’s okay if Eve and I stay a little while.”

“You’re here now,” Jaxon said to Remy. “That’s all that
matters from now on.”

“Maybe we should go eat lunch?” Eve suggested. A brief
struggle over who’d let go of her hand first ensued, leaving her stunned.

“You want to let go of my woman, my man?” Remy challenged.
The deepness of his voice something she’d never heard before. It was different,
dark, evoking all sorts of erotic possibilities.

“No, not really, same goes for you, Remington,” Jaxon
stated. “Just don’t call me your man unless you mean it, understood?”

Turning a little toward Remy, she looked way up the length
of his body. He was staring as boldly at Jaxon, squaring his shoulders, making
a statement. Whatever was going on between the two, it was incredibly exciting,
intoxicating to the point that a buzz had taken hold of her.

She hadn’t had any alcohol since dinner with Remy the night before
and that had been a glass of wine. Even the wine hadn’t had this kind effect on
her equilibrium. It was a hum of awareness, a sense that now that she and Remy
were in Dare, they belonged here.

“Eve’s hungry,” Remy said to Jaxon. “We should remedy that.”

Eve grumbled, standing up for herself. “Hey, guys, I don’t
know what’s going on here, but can you let go? We’re supposed to go to lunch,
remember?”

“Sorry, sugar,” Remy apologized, freeing her hand only to
tuck his it at the small of her back, his fingers splayed.

“My apologies, Evelyn,” Jaxon offered, letting go of her.
“It is good that you’re both here. Avery’s getting suspicious of why Trevor’s
taking so long with the band and I was running out of ways to distract her.”

“Where’d Avery go, by the way?” Remy asked, seeming aware
that somewhere along the line they’d lost track of her.

“Something drew her attention to the revolving doors,” Jaxon
answered, his eyes on Remy, scanning him head to toe, bold as he pleased. Those
violet eyes were wicked, gorgeous and locked onto Remy. “She’ll be back in a
minute.”

Eve’s heart sped up. Watching their interaction was
fascinating. They were gorgeous as they took each other in and as much as she
loved Remy Sinclair, she felt a powerful attraction to Jaxon Wynter.

“Anyone ever tell you that you come on strong, Jaxon
Wynter?” Remy asked, breaking off the eye contact with Jaxon and shaking his
head, as if he too was stunned by what happened in the last couple of minutes.

“Yeah, many times but beating around the bush is a huge
waste of time,” Jaxon admitted.

“Then I hope you understand when I ask you to back off and
give us some breathing room,” Remy stated.

“How about we get to know one another over lunch?” Jaxon
asked then boldly leaned into Eve and Remy. “If I play my cards right, maybe
the three of us will have a lot to talk about later…in bed.”