Before the Sunset (Cottonwood Cove, #4)(25)

“You do realize this is all getting a little complicated,” Cage said once Reese was out of earshot.

“No, it’s not. It’s fine. I’ll have to set some boundaries. I’m not going to stand by and allow him to shit on my turf.”

“Your turf?” Cage raised a brow.

“Yeah. He thinks we’re dating, and he’s trying to move in on my girl.”

“Isn’t that the goal?” Hugh asked, keeping his voice low.

“I’m not sure about that.” Cage barked out a laugh.

“It is the goal. But not like this. He can’t just walk in and disrespect me. He’s going to have to work a lot harder than that.”

“Let me get this straight.” Cage pulled the door open, and I followed them out to the front porch. “You’re fake dating your best friend so that she can get her ex back. But now that he’s interested, you have a problem with it?”

“I have a problem with the way he’s doing it. Plus, this is supposed to improve my image. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I allowed him to move in on my woman right in front of me? Not a fucking chance.”

“I don’t think you have the same goal as Reese. You don’t want her to get back with him at all,” my oldest brother said with his brow raised.

“That doesn’t make you a fucking rocket scientist. Newsflash. I don’t like the guy.” I shook my head.

“I know you don’t, brother.” Hugh clapped me on the shoulder. “You haven’t been yourself since she left for London. Maybe things have changed between you two.”

“Oh, I haven’t been the same? I wonder why. Let me see… My costar tried to poison the world against me. My best friend got her heart broken by a pussy-hating-narcissist. Could that be the reason that I’m a little on edge? I haven’t been laid in almost a year, and I just want to protect my best friend from getting hurt again. Is that not enough?”

Hugh nodded. “All right. We’ve got your back. You know that.”

“Well, I’m not as easily swayed as the big teddy bear over here. I’m not buying it. No one is that good of an actor.” Cage smirked.

“I hope your dick shrivels up and falls off on the walk home,” I said over my laughter because dick threats made me laugh every time.

“Chewy, are you outside?” Reese shouted from inside the house.

“Yep,” I called back.

“I think I need to take a lover, and I may need your help with that,” she said as she stepped out onto the porch before she proceeded to hiccup no less than six times in a row.

Like I said. Drunk Reese was always a good time.

“My point has been made. Nothing about this is normal,” Cage said under his breath so only Hugh and I could hear him. Reese laughed hysterically, either that my brothers had just heard her confession or that she couldn’t control the noises coming from her mouth. She had a bottle of water in her hand and unscrewed the top and took a long pull.

“See ya,” I said, saluting them as they walked down the driveway.

Reese was shouting her goodbyes as I locked the door and turned to face her.

“You sure you want to go dancing? You seem a little drunk. That bastard better not have been driving you around if he was drinking.”

“He didn’t drink. He was on call. And I’m fine. I want to go dancing with you, Finn Reynolds. I can’t even remember the last time I went dancing.”

I turned toward her and zipped up her coat, glancing down at her bare legs that were covered up to just below her knees with her white cowboy boots. I led her down from the porch, and we walked toward Garrity’s, the bar my family owned, which was only a three-block walk from my house.

“Tell me what happened,” I said as her hand found mine. We’d always been affectionate with one another. It was just the way we were when we were together.

“He’s sleeping with her,” she spewed, not hiding her disgust.

“Did you really think the guy was going to go a year without sex and then get a girlfriend and not sleep with her?”

“Well, I haven’t slept with anyone.”

“Because you’ve never had good sex, so you don’t know what you’re missing.”

She came to a stop and faced me. “You’re right. That’s why I need to take a lover. Carl thinks we’re both having good freaking sex. He basically called me a boring lover. I’m the one who kept trying to do new things. He didn’t think his,” she paused and held up her pointer and middle fingers and completely over-accentuated the air quotes, “’future wife and mother of his children should be curious about sex.’ Well, guess what, Chew?”

“What?” I smirked.

“I’m curious. I wanted to find a profession that challenged and excited me. And I want to get drunk on a Tuesday night just because I can and then go dancing at Garrity’s with my best friend. And the biggest shocker of all…” she said, raising a brow and waiting for me to beg for it.

“Yes?”

“I’m curious about sex. About all the orgasms. About trying anything other than boring old missionary with a few heavy grunts that is nothing to write home about. So, maybe Carl’s right. Maybe we will become better people while we’re apart, and when we find our way back to one another, we’ll be better for it.”