Garters & Groomsmen (Wedding Season Series) Read online

  They both deflate a little, their defensive postures changing to more relaxed ones. Neither says a word, they just start walking with me.

  Colt gets the door and they wait for me to enter. Playing at being gentlemen now. I wasn’t a fool. Both of these men were dangerous to my heart. They were bad boys in the bedroom, gentlemen in public, and heartbreakers everywhere else.

  I stride to the tasting bar and say, “We’re with the Bloom and Clayton wedding, and I’m going to need you to double the size of your pours for me.”

  “Well,” the server says. “I can’t really—”

  “We’re both her exes and she’s stuck with us for the weekend.” Colton drops a few twenties on the counter. “You can.”

  The woman grabs three wine glasses and nods. “Sure. What the hell.”

  Over the next forty-five minutes, the three of us try six different wines, and by the time we leave, we’re laughing instead of tense. They both touch me tentatively, soft brushes of fingers over mine, gentle nudges of elbows. We don’t argue, or dwell on our history. Instead, we joke and play together. All three of us. It’s like the moment I told them how crazy they were acting, they understood.

  “Ready to get going?” Sean asks, taking my arm gently.

  “Sure. Maybe this time we’ll run into my aunt and she’ll finally figure out what happened between us.”

  “I don’t want her to until we figure it all out first.”

  Colton tucks a lock of hair behind my ear and shakes his head. “Is there anything to figure out?”

  I don’t answer because I can’t. I walk with them to the waiting SUV and slide into the middle seat. When Sean takes his place at my left side and Colt at my right, I shiver with longing for them both. “Maybe there is more to figure out than we want to admit.”

  The men stay silent as the engine starts. The driver pulls onto the road and the last thing I want is to have to go through another tasting. I think it’s time to clear the air with these two.

  “How many wineries are we supposed to visit?” I ask, leaning against Colt with each sway of the car.

  “There are six on this list.”

  I don’t know if I can stomach five more of these visits. “How about this…we go rogue.”

  Sean narrows his eyes and grins. “Rogue?”

  “Yeah. Let’s hit up a distillery, grab some lunch. We don’t have to do what Karen laid out for us. How will she know?”

  They both nod and grin before I tell the driver to take us to the closest distillery.

  The day goes by with us falling into an easier, more friendly rhythm. All three of us laugh together, joke and tease, get to know each other again. Or, in the case of the guys, for the first time. But every time Colt touches me, I see that flash of jealousy in Sean’s eyes. And when Sean puts an arm around me to nestle me into his side, Colt narrows his eyes.

  We take a picnic lunch out to a hillside and eat in companionable silence, taking time to appreciate the quiet of the rows and rows of grapes that make up the tapestry of the landscape. But when Colt takes my hand to help me up and tension crackles between us, I feel a change in Sean’s energy.

  I back away from Colt and stand between the two men. “You know, maybe we should talk. Work out our issues.”

  Colt chuckles. “I’m pretty sure we worked those out last night.” He crosses his arms over his chest and looks completely unaffected.

  My cheeks burn, and from the look on Sean’s face, he wasn’t expecting that.

  His entire body stiffens. “Again? You chose this guy over me again?”

  What? “Excuse me?” I ask.

  “He’s the reason you rejected my proposal five years ago. He’s the other guy you we’re seeing.”

  “Wait, you were dating us both? At the same time?” Colt’s voice holds absolute shock. “I mean, we weren’t exclusive, but I thought…fuck, I thought we had something special. I stopped seeing anyone else as soon as I realized what we had.”

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  I don’t want to hash this out in such a beautiful place with them, ruining the memory we were making, but it looks like that’s exactly what is happening. “I never thought I’d be the kind of girl who fell for two men at the same time. Not in a million years. I was so focused on horses, on riding and finishing school, I shouldn’t have had time for one man, let alone two.”

  “But somehow you managed,” Sean said, not a trace of disdain in his voice.

  “I fell in love with both of you. And when you each wanted to move things forward, I had to step back. I couldn’t choose. I’d rather be alone than choose between you.”

  Colt takes my hand and runs his thumb over my knuckles. “What if you didn’t have to?”

  6

  Chloe

  * * *

  I think my brain is malfunctioning. “Did you just say I don’t have to choose?”

  “Look, I can’t speak for Sean, but I know losing you was one of the worst things in my life.” Colt turns to face me and he cups my cheek with one rough, calloused palm. “If I have to share you to get you back, even if it’s just one night, that’s what I’ll do. You can have me. Any way you want me.”

  There’s such openness, such vulnerability in his voice, I can’t bring myself to look away. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes.”

  One night. With both of them. I’d fantasized about this more than once. “Sean?” I reach behind me and grip his thigh.

  Sean’s fingers slide across mine and he squeezes my hand. “One night together, if it means I can have you.”

  Colt leans in, his lips a breath away from mine. My chest tightens as possibility washes over me.

  “Look, if you guys are going to have a threesome, can you wait until you’re not in the back of my car? I just had this thing detailed.” The driver’s voice brings us all back to earth.

  I settle back in my seat, breaking contact with both of them. Embarrassment floods me, but there’s also excitement. Can I do this with them? More importantly, will I be able to look at them the same way if we do this?

  Sean murmurs my name, calling my attention to him. Those deep blue eyes of his hold nothing but sincere longing. He threads our fingers again and I know what I have to do. Closure. I’ll live out this fantasy, have the two men I never got over, and then maybe I’ll be able to move on.

  “Take us back to the hotel,” I say.

  The driver nods but doesn’t speak. He’s a smart man. Tension crackles between me and my two men for the entire ride back to the hotel. I don’t have a clue how this will work. Whose room will we use? God, am I really about to have a threesome? My body burns with desire, and I realize, yes. Yes, I’m going to be with them both today. This will be an experience none of us will forget.

  The whole way back to the B&B Colt’s fingers play along my back, running up and down between my shoulder blades while Sean rubs small circles on the inside of my knee with his thumb.

  Not a single car is parked outside our hotel when we pull up, and that only adds to the butterflies in my belly. Sean gets out, then takes my hand to help me from the car. I almost argue that I’m a grown ass woman who can do it myself, but remember the shoes I’m wearing and take his offer.

  “Are we really doing this?” Colt asks.

  I look at them both and nod. “We might need more than one night.”

  “I have no problem there.”

  Sean tugs me a little closer to his broad chest. “Whatever you need, bunny.”

  We take the stairs up to my room, the freshly cleaned space seeming so perfect in such a surreal moment. Sean releases me and I stride to the little kitchenette, hands shaking with nervous anticipation. I fill a glass with cold water from the tap then down the liquid in one long gulp.

  “You okay, darlin’?” Colt’s rough voice sends warmth over me, spreading and then all collecting in my core.

  “I don’t know how to do this.”

  He shrugs. “Neither do I.”

  “Me ne
ither,” Sean adds. “But I think it needs to start something like this.” He takes three steps toward me and pulls me into his hold. His lips crash to mine, soft, hungry, the brush of his bearded jaw against me only serving to add to my arousal.

  I melt into the kiss, and there’s nothing behind it that says he’s staking his claim or proving I chose him. Sean’s hands tangle in my hair, pulling a moan from me. He swallows the sound in his mouth, his tongue presses inside, he devours me. I think it’s not possible to be kissed so soundly and be able to take any more sensation right now, but then there’s Colt. His large palms slide around my waist. His big body presses against my back and those lips of his that I’ve dreamed about since the day we met are dropping soft kisses to my shoulder, my neck, my earlobe.

  This is a dream. It has to be. It feels too good and all they’re doing is kissing me.

  Sean breaks our kiss and rests his forehead on mine. “We’re here for you. What do you want?”

  “I…” my voice breaks when Colt runs his hands up my torso and cups my breasts, fingertips dragging over my sensitive, aching nipples. “God, I want you to fuck me.”

  “We’ll get there, darlin’,” Colt growls. “But first we’ve got to get you ready, and we’ve got five years to make up for. I guarantee you no one was better than us.”

  I love how he says, us, like it’s a foregone conclusion that we work best as three. “No one,” I breathe.

  His hands leave my tits and I let out a short whine of protest, until he grips my zipper and drags it down. In one smooth movement, my dress is on the floor, my breasts are bared, and the cool air tightens my nipples to nearly painful peaks. Sean tugs his shirt over his head, his firmly muscled chest rippling with the movement. My mouth runs dry. I might die here. Happily fucked, with no regrets, because nothing could be better than this.

  “You’re both so sexy it’s actually unfair,” I say.

  Colt chuckles in my ear before turning me in his arms. “It’s my turn to taste your lips.”

  I don’t argue. I tilt my chin up and part my lips in invitation. His kiss is harder than Sean’s, less tender, but just as hungry. And when Sean’s mouth presses against the small of my back, I moan.

  He grips my ankle and his fingers trail up my leg, across my calf and my inner thigh. I buck at the brush of him across my underwear. “We don’t need these,” he says, his breath whispering over my skin. Then he tugs down the fabric covering my pussy and I’m completely exposed to them both.

  Colt drops his head down until he takes one of my nipples into his mouth. I cry out and buck at the same time because Sean’s long finger slides inside my already wet cunt. He presses forward, hitting that magical spot that makes me see stars. No one has found that place except him, and he clearly still remembers where it is.

  Then Colt slips his hand between us and starts rubbing tight circles on my clit. Yeah, I might die. My legs wobble as the pleasure builds and builds. I’m going to break into a thousand tiny pieces. Why didn’t we do this all those years ago?

  “Let go, bunny,” Sean murmurs. “Let go. We’ll catch you.”

  So I do. The orgasm is all consuming, toe-curling beauty. I grab onto Colt for support as I cry out unintelligible words of euphoria. Sean pulls his fingers out of me and gets to his feet, his warm body pressed against my back. My knees give out and I sag into both of them, letting them catch me just as they promised they would.

  I’m all golden sensation, eyes closed as they both run their palms over my skin, each of them layering kisses to my shoulders, my cheeks, my lips, and neck. Sean’s thick cock on the small of my back, steel hard and tempting behind the fly of his pants. He needs some attention after what he and Colt just did to me. I reach for him, sliding my palm over the bulge. The groan he releases strikes a chord inside my center, but when his teeth graze my shoulder everything tightens and heat pools between my thighs.

  “God, I want you,” Sean bites out.

  “Yes,” I whisper.

  Colt releases me and my eyes snap open at the loss of his touch. But he winks and pulls his shirt off. “Me too, darlin’.”

  We’re doing this. The three of us are going to have sex, and I can’t fucking wait.

  I run my hand over Colt’s tanned chest, loving the heat of his skin and the light golden spray of hair across his pecs. “You two are going to ruin me.”

  “That’s the idea,” he says, lips brushing my ear.

  A loud banging on the door has me nearly jumping out of my skin. Instead of releasing me, they both pull me close, as though protecting me from whoever is behind the door. Then the sound of Aunt Karen’s voice kills everything between the three of us. “Chloe? Are you in there? It’s almost time for the rehearsal.”

  7

  Sean

  * * *

  Watching the woman of my dreams walk into the garden with her long hair over one shoulder and her eyes cast down makes my heart swell. Chloe’s always been the one and I’m going to prove it to her. I adjust my aching erection and hope no one notices the effect she’s having on me, but I can’t help it. Memories from earlier fill my head. The sound of her coming, the feel of her walls clenching around my fingers, the fucking scent of her arousal still on my hand, all of those things combined into a beautiful type of torture.

  “You look uncomfortable,” she teases, coming up to me with a conspiratorial grin on her perfect lips.

  “I want to finish what we started before Karen came knocking.”

  She trails one finger over her collarbone and I wish I was the one touching her. “We will.”

  “This wedding is never going to end.”

  “It’s only the rehearsal.”

  “My point exactly.”

  She threads her arm through the crook of mine and snuggles close. “I really missed you, you know?”

  “It took five years for you to figure that out?”

  “No.” Her posture stiffens. “No, I knew that from the moment I let you go. I just didn’t see how it could work.”

  I laugh. “I’m not sure how it’s going to work now.”

  “Well, one night is a lot different from forever.”

  Everything in me comes to a halt. That’s right. This isn’t me getting her back forever. This is us helping her live out her fantasy. Closure. A solid goodbye.

  “Yeah. It’s going to be a hell of a good time.” I swallow past the lump in my throat and lean down, whispering in her ear. “You’re never going to forget it, bunny.”

  “Well, you two seem cozy,” Georgia says as she approaches. The woman is wearing a white dress that hits her mid-thigh and her shoulders are bare to the setting sun. She’s pretty, but she doesn’t hold a candle to my Chloe.

  “We always come back to each other.” I slide my hand over Chloe’s waist until she’s molded to my side. “It just took us a while this time.”

  Georgia’s eyes sparkle with excitement. “Ohmigod, are you two back together?”

  “Just making the most of our weekend.” I offer the words, hating how lighthearted they are. I want to say yes. I want to tell Georgia I’m never letting her cousin go again. But I can’t. Five years has changed everything.

  “Where’s Colt?” Chloe asks, her question hitting me like ice water. That’s right. Colt is part of this equation, and if I don’t keep that in mind, I’m in for another heartbreak.

  “Not sure. I haven’t seen him since…earlier.”

  Her cheeks go red and Georgia doesn’t miss that. She cocks a brow. “What’s going on between you three?”

  “We’re just being friendly. You sandwiched her between us, you can’t expect us not to spend time embarrassing the shit out of her.”

  “Oh, look, there’s Colt.” Chloe nearly rips herself from my arms and dashes for her hero. Colt’s got his black stetson on his head. Paired with a dark blazer, a fucking rodeo belt buckle, dark wranglers and a pair of matching black boots, he’s playing up the cowboy tonight, and I know why. Chloe is a sucker for that very thing. S
he can’t resist a man who knows how to ride, rope, and run a ranch. At least, that’s what she told me when we were together.

  “Giddy up, Chloe,” Georgia murmurs. Then she casts me a pitying glance. “Sorry, Sean. Maybe you should’ve worn your hat?”

  “I’m good. Not worried about him at all.”

  Colt doesn’t hide his affection one bit. When Chloe reaches him, he takes her in his arms and drops a kiss on her lips right here in front of God and everybody.

  “Wow, if that’s how Colt shows his friendship, I see why Porter kept me away from him all this time.”

  I fight the urge to ball my hands into fists. I’ll get my turn with her, but now I can’t do it in front of everyone. The last thing Chloe needs is for her family to think she’s being shared by two men. That’s for us to know in private.

  “Excuse me, Georgia. I need to have a conversation with my bridesmaid.” I’m striding toward them with my heart pumping hard. I need to get this damn rehearsal over with so I can finally have Chloe all to myself. Well, that’s not exactly true. I’ll be sharing her, but something tells me seeing her between us both with be a sight I’ll never forget.

  Colt has her against him, a sly grin on his lips when I approach. “Nice of you to show up, Colt.”

  “I had a few things to see to before this rehearsal gets going.”

  “Like what?” Chloe asks.

  “Like what we’re going to be doing tonight.”

  The heat in Chloe’s eyes when she looks at me sends need straight to my dick. I harden almost instantly. “What’s that?” Her voice is heavy with arousal.

  “I may have reserved us a cabin on a friend’s property. Hope you brought your boots and spurs, cowgirl. We’re going to be taking a moonlight ride before we take this fantasy of yours and make it real.”

  That was a damn good idea. I wish I’d had it, but I’ve been too preoccupied. I’ve been thinking of her, and us, and what we could have. I’ve always loved watching her handle a horse.