Chapter 7

seven

A dam took a long pull off his longneck as he watched Mick work in the kitchen. As usual, he was humming while he cooked. Adam had never met another human being alive who liked to cook as much as Mick. It was a turn on to watch him move around the kitchen. Tonight, he was suspicious of his mood.

“So, what was going on when I got home?”

Mick glanced over his shoulder, then back to his work.

“We were talking.”

“Talking?”

“Yep.”

Irritation inched along his spine. He knew Mick answered in those short answers when he was trying to avoid the subject. Sometimes it was cute, but right now, it was getting on his last damned nerve.

“About what?”

Mick didn’t answer, which had his suspicion soaring. Dammit. What the hell had those two been brewing? Mick liked to muddy the waters. Adam walked over to the stove.

“Vincent McGrath.”

Mick rolled his eyes. “Don’t real name me.”

“Well, I want an answer. What were the two of you doing?”

“Nothing, talking. I was getting to know her. I find her hot, but I also want to know her. Just like you do.”

That much was true. “Did you find out anything interesting?”

He nodded. “She used to be a child star.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Under a different name. She didn’t really want to talk about it. Or it felt like that to me, so I let it be.”

“And now she’s Serenity Jones.”

“I think she changed her name for a lot of reasons, but one of them has to do with her mother. Not sure what happened, but she was emancipated when she was sixteen.”

He settled back against the counter. “Interesting.”

“I saw her heading to the beach when the rain started and followed her down. She’s working on a book and wanted some shots of the storm.”

“Seems like you were really chatty.”

He glanced over at him. “Jealous?”

“No.” Not really. “Just seems that you were talking to her a long time.”

“You were jealous,” Mick said as he set down the tongs. He stepped in front of Adam. Cupping his face, Mick leaned forward and brushed his mouth over Adam’s.

“No reason to be jealous, since I told her about us.”

“What?”

Mick smiled. “I thought I would let her know we’re interested.”

Anger surged. Always trying to push things too fast. “Dammit, Mick.”

Mick sighed and moved away. Adam immediately felt guilty. Between the two of them, Mick was the dreamer. Adam was the pragmatist. That was why they made a great couple. It also meant that they always irritated each other.

“No worries,” Mick said, as he salted the water and turned the burner on.

Adam sighed. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“I laid it out there. She knows, and I told her we wouldn’t pressure her.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why did you do that? Not your style. To tell her we would let her make the decision.”

“Are you saying I’m pushy?”

“Yes.”

Mick smiled at him, that little one that barely showed his dimples. Every. Damn. Time. All he had to do was smile at Adam, and Mick could talk him into anything.

“Ultimately, it will be her decision. We can’t force her into a threesome. We aren’t those kinds of guys. So, I thought it was best she knew we were interested in her. Being upfront also allows us to maintain a friendly relationship with her.”

“How so?”

“If we sprung it on her later, she would say that is the only reason we wanted to be friends.”

“But, we do want to be friends outside of that.”

“Exactly. Still, she didn’t freak out. She seemed intrigued.”

“And that’s your plan? Just throw it out there?”

“I said we wouldn’t push, but we can entice.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but there was a knock at the door.

“Hey,” Serenity said through the screen door. She was smiling and dammit, it had the same effect on him that Mick’s smile did. She pulled off her hood to reveal her hair. She’d brushed out her hair and left it in soft curls around her shoulders. He wanted to feel it on his flesh as she kissed her way down to his cock.

Damn.

“Sure, come in.”

She pushed open the screen and took off her shoes, setting them beside both his and Mick’s. Holding up the bottle of wine, she walked over to them.

“One of my favorite cabs.”

He took it from her and looked at it. It was indeed a very good wine.

“Wow, that’s…” Adam said, trailing off when she got close enough for him to smell the rain on her.

“What?” she asked.

“Well, almost too nice for the likes of us.”

She laughed. “No way. I am so happy you’re living here after the last couple.”

He set the wine on the counter and went to grab the wine cork.

“What was wrong with them?”

“They were in the middle of a divorce.”

“That happens,” Mick said.

She shook her head. “For three years. They both refused to move out. It was horrible.”

“But you didn’t move out?”

“I love my house. I refused to give in. I knew someday someone would move in I liked. And they did.”

“How do you know that?” Adam asked.

“Mick is cooking for me and he made me coffee earlier. He is a prince among men. Plus, the only interaction I had with my last neighbors was from their attorneys.”

“They were suing you?”

She chuckled. “No, they were each trying to get dirt on the other one for their divorce. If I thought it would work, I would have made up stuff. After observing them, I realized they just wanted to ruin each other’s lives. It would have just drawn out the entire thing.”

Adam concentrated on opening the wine and not the joy she brought to the kitchen. It wasn’t something he could put his finger on, but she made everything somehow lighter.

“Did you get any good shots while you were taking your life for granted?” Mick asked.

“Yes, I did. And there were a lot of people on the beach.”

“Haoles.”

“No, most of those people were locals. We rarely get waves like that on this beach. The photos are going to be stunning.”

“So modest,” Mick said.

“One thing I learned early in life is there is no room for false modesty. I’m a much better photographer than I was an actress.”

“Yeah, Mick told me about that.”

She made a face and shook her head. “It’s nothing that big. Other than it gave me the ability to pursue my love of photography. I definitely didn’t have any skills other than singing and acting; and, as I said, I wasn’t that good at the latter.”

“But singing.”

“I’m okay. Nothing to write home about.” She glanced at the stovetop. “That smells good.”

“Mick has his mother’s love of cooking and thankfully the ability.”

“I can cook. But alone…”

Adam nodded. “Why bother. Yeah, Mick cooks like this so we can have leftovers if the other one is gone on a job.”

“You two are crazy,” Mick said with no heat. “I love to cook.”

“I like to bake. I don’t do it often, but when I do, I go to town.”

“If you want to toss any of that over in our direction, we will gladly take it off your hands,” Mick said. “I am not the best baker.”

Adam snorted.

“What?” Serenity asked.

“It takes patience. Mick doesn’t have much of that.”

“You usually don’t complain about that.”

The change in Mick’s tone told Adam he was talking about something else. Adam just smiled, then turned to pull down the wine glasses.

“So, how about we leave him in the kitchen and drink some of this wine in the living room?” Adam asked.

“Sure,” Serenity said.

The vibe she was giving off was that she was open to the idea of sex with them. He needed to get to know her better, and besides, getting time alone with Serenity was not a bad thing.

By the end of the night, Serenity’s hormones were singing. She knew that neither of the guys had picked up on it. Maybe she was a better actress than she thought.

Also, she had drunk a lot, so that had smoothed out her nerves a bit. She wasn’t a heavy drinker anymore, so just a few glasses went to her head.

“Take this,” Mick said as he handed her a container with leftover pasta. “We’re out a lot this coming week on jobs, so it will just go to waste here.”

“Thank you. I need to hit the farmers market and Foodland, but I got distracted today.”

His mouth curved. “Yeah.”

“Mick,” Adam said, the warning easy to hear in his voice.

“What?”

She glanced at Adam and knew then that they had talked about it already.

“You promised you wouldn’t pressure me.”

“I’m not pressuring you. I’m just agreeing,” Mick said.

She looked at Adam, who rolled his eyes. “Mick is just a flirt. It has nothing to do with anything else. It’s his father in him.”

“I just don’t want you to think I’m teasing you. I am not someone who easily gets involved with men in general, so this would be unprecedented.”

“No worries. I’ll control him.”

Before she knew what Adam was going to do, he leaned forward and brushed his mouth over hers. “Thank you for sharing a meal with us.”

“Yes, thank you,” Mick said, giving her an easy kiss. “We really enjoyed having you.”

“Thank you. It’s nice to eat with other people. I eat alone a lot and I like it, but conversation is good sometimes too.” She slipped on her sandals. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” they said in almost stereo precision. She walked down the stairs and then hurried along the path to her house. She unlocked her door then glanced over her shoulder. The guys were standing there watching her.

She waved to let them know she was okay, then she stepped into her house. She shut the door and slipped off her sandals. After putting the pasta in her fridge, she poured a glass of water and thought about her new neighbors.

They were both super sweet. Oh, Adam tried to play the stoic Alpha, but she suspected he had a soft center. She saw it tonight when he talked to Mick. And Mick. She smiled. He was the biggest flirt, but again, she suspected there was more to his personality.

It had been so long since anyone had worried about her. She’d been on her own for over ten years, and even before that, her mother didn’t truly care about her. She cared about the money Kayleigh Rose could make. But the guys, they had watched out for her. The path from their house to hers was just a few yards. They stood there looking out for her. A smile curved her lips and warmth filled her.

It was nice to have someone who cared about you.