Moonshine For Three (4 page)

Robert throws his head back. He roars, and I grab on and keep riding him good and hard, until there's nothing left of that roar but a breathless whimper, and that's when I lose it. As deep as I can, as hard as I can, I keep moving as long as I can until the world's spinning too fast and even one more thrust will send all three of us up in flames.

I shudder to a stop. Robert slumps over Alice. He and Alice kiss as much as they can when they're this out of breath. He's still kissing her when he puts his weight on one arm and reaches back with his other. He finds my hand on his hip. Clasps our fingers together. For a while, this is all we are: still, silent, as joined as three people can be.

Eventually, I withdraw from Robert. He pulls out of Alice. We separate, and then collapse together on the narrow mattress with Alice in the middle.

Robert wipes sweat from his forehead. "How ‘bout that moonshine?"

Alice responds with a breathy laugh. She's trying—but not really—to organize her hair. "I could use a drink." She looks at me. "Paul?"

I nod. "Please."

Robert picks up the bottle and glasses off the deck. The three of us sit up on the bed, and Alice pours us each a glass.

Robert raises his, and his hand's still shaking a bit. "To every reason I married this beautiful woman."

Alice giggles and blushes.

"I'll drink to that." I lift my glass. "Cheers."

The first swallow makes my eyes water.

We don't speak. We just sip the powerful booze, and enjoy the boat's steady rocking.

While we drink, the air's changing. We're naked and spent, piled on a bed that's as disheveled as we are, but that don't change why we came down below decks to begin with.

I roll the last of the moonshine around in my mouth, because it burns just like the stuff we used to make in his daddy's old barn. Never thought back then I'd be one of those guys who chased down the boys who made this booze and sold it.

Robert lies back on the pillows. Alice cuddles up beside him, her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest.

"I was right, wasn't I?" she whispers.

Robert turns his head. "About what?"

She nods toward me before resting her head on his shoulder again. "You still love him."

My heart jumps. Robert's eyes dart toward me. Then he touches her face and kisses her tenderly.

"I love you, baby," he whispers, and I've never heard the man sound scared like that. "You know I do."

"I know." She pushes a strand of hair off his forehead. "But you've never stopped loving him." She glances at me, and turns back to him as she whispers, "Have you?"

Robert looks at me. Then her. Then me again. He closes his eyes and scrubs a hand over his face and through that slicked hair that's not so perfect and styled now. After a moment, he rests his hand on her stomach.

I lay my hand over his. "Nothing's changed, Robbie. You ought to know that."

He chews his lip. "‘cept you're a cop, now."

"I am," I say with a slow nod. "But this boat's out of my jurisdiction. Nothing I can do, even if I wanted to."

His eyebrows slide upward. "Then why are you here?"

I swallow. "Needed to know if it was really you."

"It's really me," he says with a faint smile.

"So it is." I keep my voice hushed even though the bulkheads ought to keep prying ears at bay. "Listen, there's a bounty on your head."

Robert laughs. "There's a bounty on every bootlegger's head."

"This is a big one, Robert," I say. "Long Island's trying to crack down on the gambling ships and keep the liquor from moving. Everybody in California knows you're running more booze, to more people, than anyone else on the west coast."

Alice puts a hand on his arm. Robert glances at her, then turns to me. "So, what?"

"So the higher ups, all the way back to Washington, they want you shut down."

Alice scoffs. "If they shut him down, someone else'll just move in on our territory."

"And they'll shut them down too." I look Robert in the eye. "By
any
means necessary. Minute you set foot on California soil, there's a hundred men who want to bring you in."

Robert swallows. "You one of them?"

I exhale. "No. I came out here because we had word you were running one of these gambling ships." I nod toward Alice. "Rumor had it, you two were involved, so they sent me looking for her to see if she'd lead me to you."

Alice pales, tightening her grasp on his arm.

"No one knows for sure you're here, Robbie," I say. "Far as they know, you could be on any one of these boats. Or up in Oregon, maybe even down in Mexico. But if you're out here, you've got to come to shore sometime, and they want to know where to be waiting for you when you do."

"Once they know I'm here." He raises his eyebrows. "Which means once you report back."

I run my thumb back and forth along his hand. "I don't have to tell them anything."

"Everyone in that casino saw us head below decks," he says.

I shrug. "Do they know I knew it was you?"

He and Alice exchange looks.

"I don't know," he says. "Do they?"

"They don't have to." I watch my thumb still moving on his hand. "I didn't just come out here for them, Robbie. I needed to know…"

"You needed to know what?" he asks.

I make myself look him in the eye. "Like I said, I needed to know if it was really you. And I guess I wanted to know if you were still the Robbie I knew."

"Am I?" he asks, almost whispering.

"It would appear that way." I glance at our hands. "So now what?"

He looks back at me, but doesn't speak. That suave, pauper-turned-prince from the casino deck is the kid I knew way back when. Cocky, but uncertain. Yeah, it's really him, and no, not a damned thing has changed. Not in all the years since he walked away, and I let him. Only thing different, besides the law and the liquor, is the woman lying between us.

Robert turns his hand over underneath mine, and leans in to kiss his wife's cheek as our fingers clasp together. "So what do I do, then? I can't have both of you."

"Robbie." Alice's lips twist into a smirk, and when he looks at her, she says, "You're runnin' liquor down the coast and raking in money from three off-shore casinos while the feds and Long Island PD are go crazy because they can't get near you." She traces his lower lip with her thumb. "Since when are you a man who follows the rules?"

"Very true, darling." He laughs softly and reaches for the bottle. "Rules be damned. Another illegal drink, Paul?"

I grin and hold out my glass. "Don't mind if I do."

~*~

THE END

About the Author

Lauren Gallagher is an abnormal romance writer who has recently been exiled from the glittering utopia of Omaha, Nebraska, to an undisclosed location in South America. Along with her husband, a harem of concubines, and a phosphorescent porcupine, she remains, as always, in hiding from the Polynesian Mafia. For the moment, she seems to have eluded her nemesis, M/M romance author L.A. Witt, but figures L.A. will eventually become bored with the wilds of Spain and come looking for her. And when that time comes, Lauren will be ready. Assuming L.A. doesn’t have her hands full keeping track of Lori A. Witt and Ann Gallagher, which she probably will.

Website:
www.gallagherwitt.com

Blog: gallagherwitt.blogspot.com

Twitter: @GallagherWitt

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