And Dove was there, all flushed, and her hair was a mess, too. They should be in each other’s arms, steadying each other and laughing about how amazing life was that they found each other. Having sex. Great sex. Butt sex or no butt sex would be fine with Johnson right about now.
“Hi.” She leaned on the open door.
Even in her pajamas—maybe especially in her pajamas—she was the girl of his dreams.
“You okay?” He wanted to kiss her right on the lips.
“Huh? Me? Yes. That screaming—it wasn’t me.” She shuffled her feet and looked down at her toes.
He wanted to suck each and every toenail that was painted red. He nodded.
“Congratulations are in order.” Her eyes were sad.
“Yes, I guess they are.” He couldn’t make the word married come off his tongue. “Pretty sudden though, huh?”
“That’s one way to describe it.” She lifted an eyebrow as if she was mad at him. Dove, who had married her neighbor right after having sex with Johnson, was mad at him. He started to get angry as it occurred to him maybe she’d been secretly married before he’d even had sex with her. He pushed away from the doorframe and took a step backward into the hallway.
Duke opened the bedroom door, and past it, Johnson could see a smiling woman strapped to a bed like she was Fifty Shades of Ready to Be Screwed.
“Got her all set. She won’t get free this time.” The bedroom door clicked shut at the same moment Johnson made eye contact with Duke.
The jovial guy immediately switched into protection mode and strode to the front door.
“Haven’t you done enough, asshole?” And he pulled the door from Dove’s hands and slammed it in his face.
Johnson stood in the hallway, cursing himself for hating that she was with him. And no, he answered mentally. No, Johnson felt like he hadn’t done enough, asshole, to be honest
Dove punched the throw pillow on the sitting room couch. “Damn him.”
Duke rolled his eyes. “He cannot take a hint.”
“I saw her going into his hotel room. I saw him hugging her downstairs. Seriously? All these feelings I have for him are one way. Fuck him. Fuck her. Fuck the world.”
Dove slid down the side if the couch and sat on the floor.
Duke left her, returned with the bedspread off his bed, and wrapped her in it before sitting next to her.
“I’m sorry he was here at this venue. I mean, what are the odds?”
She wiped away her tears. “Yeah. The odds are pretty crazy, I bet.”
“We can leave in the morning, if you want.”
Dove nodded. She did want to leave. She wanted to go on her Twitter and be the most tempting woman in the fake world. She wanted to be not sad again, like back before she knew how much it hurt to get the guy and then lose him. “Your sister okay?”
“Yeah. She used to have the worst nightmares. When we were kids, she made our nights like a scene out of a horror movie. She’d walk into my room and just start screaming bloody murder. It took all of us to calm her down. She likes the SleepSom because she thinks she doesn’t wake up at night. She doesn’t remember it. It’s complicated.” He kicked his legs out and crossed them at the ankle.
“You didn’t think this was important information to share before I spent the night with her?” Dove shook her head.
“Well, I was kind of hoping you’d stay in my room with me.” Duke shrugged and smiled.
“Right.” Dove snorted.
“Yeah. Right?” He turned away from her and gave a forced laugh.
Before she could question it, room service was at the door with plates full of sausage. He put them on the dining table in the sitting room.
“Have you ever been in love, Duke?” Dove pushed herself off the floor and sat in one of the chairs.
He laughed again, this time nervously. He filled her plate with sausage before adding sausage to his own. “Yeah.”
“Tell me about it. I need to take my mind off of him.” Dove unwrapped the linen napkin full of silverware and cut into the meat.
He didn’t; instead, he drummed his fingers against the table. “I’d rather not.”
“Seriously. Tell me about her.” Dove put a slice of meat into her mouth.
He looked at his plate but didn’t eat anything. “She’s amazing. Like, hilarious and unfiltered and comfortable. She’s got a great rack, but she has no idea she’s fucking gorgeous, and I mean, I see her as a person not just a hole to screw. I liked her before I loved her.” He futzed with his silverware. And then he mumbled something that sounded a lot like, “love her.”
Dove swallowed. He was talking present tense. And she couldn’t think of any girl who had been hanging around Duke. Though for a guy with his door open whose penis she’d tried to pierce, he was pretty mysterious about his love life. Dove considered his ripped, muscled chest. He managed to dedicate time to maintaining that without going on and on about protein shakes and grilled chicken every minute of the damn day.
“So why aren’t you with her? I mean, like, you’re disgusting but smart when you want to be. And a little hot. And a lot hot when you want to be.” Dove thought of his skimming her shape in the Bamshell’s. It’d been sexy. And obviously not his first time.
“I bet sex with you is insane…” she ruminated out loud. “I bet you’re down for anything. I mean, you eat such horrible things, and you’re totally okay with man porn on your TV.” She took another bite of sausage.
He peeked up at her from under his lashes before looking away. “It’s not a good time to tell her. It’s never going to be a good time to tell her.” He still hadn’t eaten a bite of his sausage.
“Do you feel okay? I mean I’ve never seen you with a piece of spiced meat you didn’t immediate wrap your lips around. You didn’t even drink nearly as much as I did.” Dove wiped her mouth with the napkin.
“Yeah. That’s me—I love meat.” Duke got uncharacteristically quiet as they finished their too early in the morning meal and threw the plates and utensils under the cloche that had covered their treats previously.
Dove picked up the blanket off the floor. “Can I sleep in your bed? I hate hotel couches. I feel like that’s where people try the freakier sex positions. God knows what’s on this fabric.”
“Of course.” Duke took the blanket from her, and she opened the bedroom door where the porn was thankfully off. She climbed into bed and Duke climbed in on the other side, pulling the blanket over them.
Dove flipped to face him. There was just a glimmer of light on his face from the moon; the drapes weren’t pulled neatly closed.
“You should tell her Duke. You’re really special.” Dove tilted her head up and gave him a quick, chaste kiss on his mouth. “Good night.”
Duke licked his lips and yup, she’d left a hint of sausage taste there. He snaked his arm under her pillow so he could almost pretend he was holding her.
His dick was hard as a rock and his heart was as soft as pudding for this girl.
She was taking deep, unhurried breaths when he quietly did as she’d told him. “I love you, Dove Glitch.”
When Beth shook him awake in the morning, Johnson wanted to slap her. He never would. “It’s time. You have to get dressed. Put up with the farce of being a nice guy for one more day.”
His head felt like it was eating his neck. Ugh. What the hell did I drink? Pretty much everything, if he remembered correctly.
He stumbled out of bed and hid his morning erection from Beth’s prying eyes. She leaned closer to the mirror by the TV and applied more eyeliner. He dressed silently until he got to the bow tie. It was one of those things he just wasn’t good at. Beth put down her lipstick and walked closer. She pulled the lavender tie from his hand slowly while maintaining eye contact.
“I have pain killers with me.” She slipped the silk around his neck. “If you need them. And I’m guessing you do. There’s Gatorade in the mini fridge.”
“Beth.”
“What? I g
et it. You hate me. I’m an asshole for pretending we were engaged. You like that little shit, Dove. Message received.” Despite her harsh words, she fastened his tie gently.
“Why did you pretend?” Johnson wanted to know what the whole thing was all about.
“It’s just a lot of my girlfriends are moving on to the next step. And a lot of them are here. I just wanted to have what I’ve dreamed of for a few hours.” She straightened the tie and stepped backward before nodding. “You’re all set.”
“I’m the exact opposite of what you want, Beth.” He pocketed his hotel key and wallet. He had no intention of drinking today. Or staying past the ceremony. As soon as his job as tuxedo placeholder was over, he was leaving. He did take the pain killers she held out to him and grabbed the drink from the fridge to swallow the pills. “Thanks for this.” He motioned to the hangover remedy.
She shrugged. “You’re close enough to what I want.” She slipped her heels on. “I have to go help get the bride ready and get my hair done. I’ll see you for pictures.”
She went to walk out the door, and he grabbed her small purse. “You have your key? Don’t forget this.”
He would be gone later, and she would be locked out. It was so like Beth to leave her key.
“I’m not going to point out that we already act like a married couple.” She gestured to his tie before taking her purse from him and checking for her key.
When Beth moved to the side of the open door, Johnson saw Dove setting a room service tray down on the floor in the hallway.
She was still in her pajamas. He watched her eye the dressed-up Beth and felt it in his loins when she looked him up and down as well.
Tears clouded her eyes like she was in pain.
“Beth. The ring.”
Johnson pointed to Beth’s hand, where the fake sparkler was gaudily proclaiming a relationship that didn’t exist.
She looked from Dove to Johnson and then back again before yanking it off and tossing it hard at Dove.
The engagement ring bounced off Dove’s arm, and she grabbed it as she yelped in pain.
“Beth!” Johnson let the hotel door close behind him as he admonished her. She ignored him and stomped off.
“Are you okay? I’m sorry.” He held out a hand in Dove’s direction.
“What? This?” She pointed at her arm. “I’m fine. It’s fine. You’re fine.” Then she began blushing furiously. As if she were smitten with him. As if that were allowed.
“Good. Good. I wouldn’t want your husband to be worried I was bruising you.” He swallowed hard and realized he was talking too loud. Always too loud.
“My husband?” She seemed genuinely confused.
He knit his eyebrows together and stuck a finger in his collar of his shirt. After too long he replied, “Duke? Your husband?”
“Oh. No. No. No. Not him. No. You thought that? Of course. No. No Duke. No.”
Johnson narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. “Okay.”
Dove occupied herself with smoothing out her pajama bottoms. “No.”
She tangled her fingers together and stumbled a little. He caught her by her upper arms, stepping on the tray she’d put on the floor. When she was so close to him, so close to being against his body, he had the courage to ask her to clarify. “ ‘No’ what?”
She put her hands on his chest, and even though there were layers of formal fabric between them, the heat from her hands turned him into a sexual lightning rod.
Her lips were pink and her eyes were hopeful. “Duke’s not my husband. He told his family that. But it’s not true.”
“Oh. Oh. That’s… but I thought last night you said…” He remembered their conversation just before. “And you were clearly enjoying a threesome as well.”
“A threesome? What were you drinking last night?” Dove looked offended.
Duke came to the door like his nervous system was hooked up to Dove’s anger. “What the fuck do you want?” He had a ginormous erection tenting his lounge pants.
He was smiling at Johnson when they made eye contact.
“Impressive, right?”
Johnson shook his head. “I was talking to Dove about how you’re not married.”
Duke bit his lip and nodded. Dove stood between them, looking flustered and adorable.
Dove put her hands up like she was Chris Pratt in Jurassic World and these two handsome guys were hers to control. She took a second to let that thought marinate in her head. It was a very pretty one with red ribbons, champagne, and lots of stuffed teddy bears.
Then she spoke. “Please. Don’t fight. I think we had a misunderstanding.” She bent over and retrieved Beth’s ring.
Before she could stand up, the two men were at it. “Don’t you fucking look at my wife’s ass.” Duke grabbed a handful of one of her ass cheeks. She gasped.
“She’s not your legal spouse.” And then Johnson grabbed a handful of her other ass cheek.
She did the quick math. She had two boobs, so one a piece for each of them—that was cool. Two eyes, so that was fine; they could share those, too. Legs, arms, lungs, pussy lips. Everything her body came equipped with was in pairs. Ears. Damn she even had two hands. And then she did the math on her favorite hole. There was only one. Despite her no-no hole being pretty close to her lady cave, she really, really only liked that used as an exit. Before she could give the guys the bad news, they were pushing at each other with the hands that weren’t holding her butt.
She let her inner cavegirl savor the moment for just a heartbeat before standing upright and pushing them both. The hand clutching Beth’s ring rested against Duke’s bare chest. He put his hand over hers and addressed Johnson.
“You have no clue how to treat her. So you can be happy she’s not mine all you want, but I would never tweet her that I’d be spending a weekend with my ex-girlfriend. Because if she was mine? Nothing would ever be more important than her. Nothing. You take this ring that tortured Dove yesterday and stuff it up your ass. And baby girl?” Now he looked into her eyes. “You remember that he may have all those good looks, but I’m hung like a horse and everything you do is okay with me. Even when you crap your pants.” Out of nowhere, Duke put his hands on either side of her face and gave her a full lip-to-lip kiss. And it turned out that Johnson was still holding her ass cheek.
She should have said more. She should have done more. Disgusting sausage neighbor was kissing her in front of her dream guy. But her heart had kind of jumpstarted when he touched his lips to hers, and she was seriously confused.
When he finally got the guts to kiss Dove, another guy was claiming territory of her left ass cheek. But he kissed her anyway. Damn it, there was a part of him that would just fucking live with Johnson being on the other side of Dove if she would just be his sometimes.
Oh, he had it so, so bad for her. He was very grateful that he’d brushed his teeth before he’d stumbled into the hallway to fight for her. Because this was their first kiss, and as much as sausage was the ruler of his world, it never tasted good as morning breath.
And when he pulled away, she looked stoned. And bewildered. She touched her lips with one hand and stared at him as if it was the first time they’d laid eyes on each other. She reached out and held his hand.
“Duke,” was all she said.
Johnson spun her right around, wrapped her in an embrace, dipped her, and kissed the lips he’d just claimed.
While Duke held her hand, which she squeezed, Johnson had his way with her mouth. And of course the fucker went full tongue and moaning.
The voice of Beth cracked through the hallway.
“You bitch! How dare you! This is disgusting.”
Johnson righted Dove and kept his arm around her. Duke just held her hand. That’s all she’d given him, and he was willing to take it.
Dove looked stunned and full-on embarrassed to be caught. She had nothing to say. And knowing her, she would just make it worse.
“What do you want, pube mouth?” Duke cou
ld at least handle Beth.
Beth stomped closer, flowing dress and perfect makeup, and Duke knew that Dove would complain later that she was wearing her pajamas and her hair was wild.
“Where’s my ring?”
Dove pulled her hand from Dukes and opened it, showing the ring that had been clasped inside.
“That’s mine!” Like an evil stepsister from Cinderella, she swooped in to grab it from her.
Duke stepped in between them before Beth could claim her jewelry. He would let Johnson have Dove so he could defend her. Because the evil shit Beth could spew would hurt Dove’s feelings.
Johnson and Dove disappeared into his hotel room and the door slammed shut. Duke crossed his arms in front of his chest, which was obviously appealing to Beth as her eyes lingered on his pecs and drifted to his abs.
“I want my ring.” Beth stomped her foot.
“You wanted my cock, too, once. Remember that? I’d sure as shit forgotten about that poor, slobbering version of a blow job you mouthed all over my crotch years ago.”
Beth’s face was as red as the bottom of a pair of caveman nuts dragging on asphalt.
“I remember you…Whiffle Baller.” He let the knowledge sink into her brain.
Beth slapped his chest hard. “No you don’t. You don’t have crap on me.”
The hotel room door behind him opened again. He expected Johnson to get involved, but it was Dove.
“No. Don’t you slap him! You don’t get to slap him.” Dove tossed the ring in her hand back at Beth, who caught it. “You leave him alone! Go do something else.” Dove pointed at the hallway.
Duke nearly laughed, she totally sucked at yelling at people. Then Johnson stepped into the open doorway.
“Is the woman from the threesome okay? She’s moaning.” Johnson shook his head at Beth as though she was the least of anyone’s concerns.