Authors: Kortny Alexander
“Dammit, Dillon.” Dalton was losing this fight and he knew it. They needed to calm down before they woke Summer up. “I think we need to lower our voices before we wake Summer up.”
“Too late for that.”
All three of the men turned at the sound of Summer’s voice. She stood silently propped against the doorframe, glowering at the three of them.
* * * *
At first, Summer was not sure what had pulled her from her deep sleep. It probably was a deep sleep at some point, but the low rumble coming from downstairs had floated up the stairs, through her closed door, and underneath her covers and shoved her awake. She rolled over and sat up. The two warm bodies were missing from her bed.
“What the hell is going on?” she mumbled to herself as she crawled out of the warm bed and shuffled to the bathroom.
When Summer opened the bathroom door and padded back towards her dresser, she heard the crash of dishes. Her feet moved before she realized she was running. Summer yanked her bedroom door open and ran as fast as her feet could carry her. She almost slid past the kitchen when she jerked to a stop. Summer quickly realized that the yelling was coming from all three brothers. She stood unnoticed in the entrance to the kitchen. What she saw and heard left her speechless. Summer had never seen Dillon so upset. This was a completely different side of him. What the hell had she walked in on?
Watching how hostile they were with each other, Summer was afraid to move forward and attempt to break the argument up. After she had stood there for a few long moments, everything became clear.
Shit, shit, shit!
Summer knew what was going on. She was the center of an argument that seemed to have divided the brothers.
Both Denver and Dillon started towards her, anger and possessiveness in their eyes. Dillon spoke first.
“Sorry we woke you, baby.” Dillon pressed his lips to her forehead and pulled her into a warm hug.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, smiled up at him, and then shut her eyes momentarily at the feel of Denver’s hand stroking her hair. When she stepped back, she kissed Dillon gently on the lips and then turned to Denver.
“Sorry, wildfire. Guess our conversation got kinda heated.” Denver kissed her on the cheek.
Both men watched her reactions intensely while intentionally blocking her view of Dalton. She moved, pushing between them, causing the men to part so she could see Dalton. His eyes were full of regret, loneliness, and quite possibly defeat. It was as if he wanted to be a part of their trio. After what she had overheard, she wasn’t sure if Dalton knew what he wanted.
“I have one question for the three of you. I want an honest answer,” she said as she moved to the middle of the room. As she did so, she eyed her lace panties lying on the counter by a glass of orange juice.
Holy hell!
She had a very clear idea of what had started the argument.
“What is your question, Summer?”
She was surprised that it was Dalton who had spoken first. A smirk touched her lips and just as quickly it was gone. “Was this heated argument about me?” She knew the answer, but she still wanted to hear it from the men.
A round of hushed curses filled the room. That was answer enough.
Summer turned to Denver and Dillon. She needed to nip this in the bud right now. She would not be the cause of these brothers fighting any more than necessary. She’d leave before she allowed that to happen. First, she had to have a talk with the most difficult male in the room.
“Can the two of you leave us alone for a while? Dalton and I need to have a talk.”
Scowling at his brother, Denver looked Summer in her eyes. “Are you sure about this?”
Taking a slow turn around the room, getting an eyeful of each man present, Summer came back to Denver and smiled sweetly. “You two go to work.” She walked up to Dillon and kissed him on the lips again. “Dalton would never hurt me physically.”
She knew that was the truth but her feelings, her heart, he could trample over and not look back. But she needed to have it out with him. She walked over to Denver next and kissed him on the lips as well. “I need to talk to Dalton and I don’t want you two around. If I need you I know where to find you.”
Dillon cleared his throat and smirked at Summer. “Don’t you wanna go up to your room and put some pants on?”
Summer looked down. She was in such a rush to get to the kitchen that she had not bothered to worry about what she was wearing. She had on an oversized green T-shirt that stopped mid-thigh. Summer shrugged her shoulders and placed her hands on her hips.
“I’m not leaving the kitchen and I’m not putting on pants. What I have on is fine. He’s seen me in less. Now please leave us alone. We will talk later, I promise.”
Chapter 18
“Who’s Stacey?”
“Shit.” Dalton should have known she had been standing at the door much longer than they had realized. Clearly, Summer wasn’t holding back. She was not going to ease into this conversation at all.
“Have a seat, Summer.” He motioned to one of the bar stools.
Summer climbed up onto the oversized island counter. She eyed Dalton as he went to the refrigerator.
He grinned at her choice of seating. “Are you hungry?” He poured her a glass of apple juice. He knew it was her favorite.
She shook her head no in response to his question. “Thanks.” She accepted the juice and took a few sips. Summer gently placed the glass on the counter beside her and waited. He was stalling. He didn’t want to discuss one of the biggest mistakes of his life, but Summer looked as if she could wait him out. Considering she was the oldest of four sisters, he knew she had an abundant amount of patience. She’d put up with all of his mood swings. If Summer was anything like him, and he was positive she was, waiting a person out was as easy as breathing.
After Dalton placed the apple juice carton back inside of the refrigerator, he folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the opposite counter facing Summer. Damned if he wanted to get into this conversation with her, but from the way she was patiently waiting, he couldn’t deny her even if he wanted to. After a few deep breaths, he began.
“Stacey was a woman we were all involved with at one point. It didn’t take long before Dillon and Denver realized she was not what they wanted. They liked her enough but they didn’t love her, weren’t fascinated by her like I was. At least I thought I was.”
Dalton admired the way Summer had drawn her knees up, pulling her T-shirt over them completely. He had her full attention. He continued on.
“I was blind to everything around me when it came to Stacey. She was beautiful and smart. When I asked her to move in, she quit her job and devoted all of her time to me. That wasn’t what I intended for her to do, but I said nothing. I thought it was great, but my brothers kept trying to get me to open my eyes to what she was doing. I didn’t, couldn’t.”
He had to pause at the thoughts flooding his memory. Anger was starting to brew, but he needed to calm himself in order to get through this. For the way he had treated her, Summer deserved an explanation.
“Although my brothers and I had hoped to meet a woman and have a relationship like our fathers had with our mother, it didn’t always turn out that way. Sometimes people don’t click. But it didn’t matter to me. I wanted Stacey even if my brothers had warned me that she was bad news. If that wasn’t enough, I should have really paid attention to the fact that none of my parents liked her.”
Dalton huffed again as he shoved his hands into his jean pockets. He truly hated this. But watching Summer sitting quietly on the counter listening to him, no sign of judgment in her eyes, it gave him the courage to continue on.
“Once a week, our mom would come to the house and straighten up and make a grocery list for us whether we wanted her to or not. Stacey didn’t do much of anything whether it was helping out on the ranch or inside of the house. That day my mother overheard Stacey on the telephone with a friend of hers bragging how she was about to ‘reel me in for the kill.’ From what my mother had overheard, Stacey was going to lie and say she was pregnant in order to get me to marry her. She swooned on the phone over how she’d be ‘rolling in the dough.’”
He shoved his fingers through his hair and stared at Summer. She just sat with her arms wrapped around her cloth-covered knees, eyes somber as she patiently waited for him to continue. He could see her eyes begin to water.
“She did not love me. I regretted not listening to my brothers. But what I didn’t do was have a big showdown with her. She realized her mistake when I came home and told her our relationship was over. My brothers and I packed her shit up and dropped her off at her parents’ house, since that’s where she had been living before she moved in here with us. I thought I loved her, but I didn’t. It still hurt my heart. I was trying to make something happen, have what my parents have. And out of the three of us, I was the only one who couldn’t see the truth. I couldn’t see her for what she truly was.”
Dalton closed his eyes and shook his head at the stupidity of it all.
“Dalton.”
His name was uttered so softly it surprised him. When he looked up, Summer had moved, her legs were hanging down over the edge of the counter, slightly parted. Her hands were at her sides.
“I’m not Stacey.” Her first tear fell, but she didn’t break eye contact with him.
Ah, God, he hated to see her cry. All of the pain and foolish feelings that he had kept bottled up for so long rushed to the surface. He finally realized that harboring all of those ill feelings towards Stacey had kept him from seeing something pure. The most pure thing in his life was sitting in front of him, crying for him for what he had gone through with another woman.
His brothers were already in love with her. He saw it in their eyes. Shit, they wanted to fight him because of her. There wasn’t a woman on earth who had caused them to behave like that. Dalton knew that their reactions towards him were out of protection for her. Protective and possessive. He would not have expected anything less when it was for a woman they loved.
He loved her. He realized it, recognized it now. He loved Summer just as his brothers did. And she loved them. Loved him. Even though he didn’t deserve it.
“Dalton, I’m not Stacey.”
Her silent tears would be the death of him. He walked towards her, stepping between her thighs. Gently wiping the tears from her face with the pad of his thumb, he cupped her chin with the other hand so that their eyes were level with each other. “I know that now.”
He hugged her to him and stroked her hair. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Summer.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to pull away from her, but her legs were faster than he was.
Summer locked her legs around Dalton’s waist. She was not about to let him go—not now. “Don’t make me let you go, Dalton,” she mumbled into his chest.
Dalton hugged her tighter and gave a deep chuckle. “I’m not that stupid, Summer. I’m not letting you go.” He pulled back but didn’t step out of their embrace and watched her watching him. What a dumbass he had been.
Summer gently covered his lips with hers. He was surprised to hear the relieved sigh coming from his mouth. His entire body relaxed as she pulled him closer to her once again. He was hers, dammit. All three of them belonged to her.
She knew it. Dillon and Denver knew it. It just took him a little longer to realize it. He just had to let go of his past issues, see past the hurt someone else had dished out. Once Dalton was able to let those issues go he saw his future sitting in front of him.
Quickly, the kiss evolved from slow and gentle to hunger, desperation, and flat-out need. Dalton tore his lips from hers, bunched her shirt up on both sides of her body and yanked it up and over her head, tossing it to the floor. The stunned look on her face was more intoxicating than he had ever imagined.
“My God, you are beautiful.” He eyed her from head to toe. Her hair was still tousled from sleep, her cheeks were flushed, and the hazel-flecked stars in her eyes were damn near glowing. Her chest was heaving, her nipples stiff. When Dalton’s eyes reached her belly he couldn’t believe what he saw. “Where are your panties?”
Summer smirked and arched a brow. “Dalton.” She leaned close and brushed her lips against his. “Are we going to talk about my nonexistent panties or—”
Her words were cut off when Dalton pushed his tongue between her lips. Mutual moans erupted from both of them. Dalton swiped his tongue around, seeking, searching until he found what he was searching for. It was as if he couldn’t get enough of her. The taste of Summer was explosive, and he had to have more. He could feel her fingers clawing at him, trying to get him out of his shirt.