Sarasota Bride (8 page)

Chapter Nine

“I guess you feel better knowing Avery and Dylan had nothing to do with Helen Savon’s death,” Noah said to Payton, his hands busy folding clothes.

Payton curled her arm around his pillow, bringing it to her chest. “I realized that before Michael and Marla set fire to Dylan’s estate.” They talked about this yesterday, but not in great detail since neither Avery nor Dylan would give them a moment of privacy. “Say what’s on your mind, Noah. We’ve never really had to work like this to hold a conversation, and I don’t like this…Whatever this is between us.”


His smile was suddenly all dimples. “I spoke with Stellan Hudson yesterday.”

Payton raised a wary eyebrow. “Were your clothes on?”

“Yes.”

“Were his?”

“Uh huh.” He sat next to her, gently brushing her hair from her face. “I’m in for bass and backup solos if I want it.”

She shot up and threw one arm around his neck, hugging him as tightly as she could without irritating her shoulder. “If you want it, what do you mean by that?”

Kissing her cheek, he eased back and looked down at her. “I hate to leave Libby and you with this firehouse when I’ve committed for the long haul. On top of that, I hate to leave my little family here.” He rubbed her knee, looking under those long blonde lashes at her. He was so gorgeous. Long tan body and golden boy looks, Payton saw the ocean on a summer day every time she looked in his blue eyes. And although he turned her on more times than not, they needed to draw the line on the winding road their relationship recently followed. Permanently. “More than anything, I’m still confused about us. I know that I love you, but…”


Payton placed a finger over his lips. “If you don’t take this chance, Noah, you’ll look back one day with so much regret that your heart will ache too much to love anyone, much less me.”

Closing his eyes, he leaned his forehead on hers. “But there’s an us somewhere.”

“Yes, there is,” she agreed, bringing up her hand to trace the dimple in his cheek. They’d talked about some of this yesterday, neither of them knowing how to tackle what their relationship had involved into, but Noah needed to follow his real dream of music and Payton wasn’t selfish enough to hold him back. “We knitted each other together when the world, or mainly our parents, ripped us wide open. But we need a common ground. These mixed signals between familial love and passion have to stop. Today. You need a clear head and so do I.”

“And if it doesn’t work out between you, Avery, and Dylan, what then?” he asked, but Noah didn’t sound hopeful. He sounded worried.

“I’m a big girl.” She stood up to find her purse. “If things don’t work out, I’ll be devastated for a while. Anyone would be, but I can hold my own.”

“Funny, that’s exactly what Noah and Avery said about you.”

“You discussed me with them?” And they hadn’t come to blows?

He followed her into the hallway. “Yeah, the day after your accident.”

“And?”

“It wasn’t what I thought it would be.” He threaded his fingers through his blonde mass. “In fact, they offered to step aside if you wanted me.”


They offered to give her up? “You’re kidding.”

“You look scared.”

An uncomfortable panic stirred her stomach. “I thought they would always fight to keep me.”

“They love you, Pay. They love you so much that they’re willing to give you up, if it’ll make you happier.”

She rubbed her stomach. “This week I’ve found out life is a lot shorter than I thought it was.”

“Talk
.”

“I’m okay.” Oh, she’d talked about
it
in length. Avery and Dylan had brought in a psychiatrist for her.

He followed Payton to her bedroom. “You were in a terrible ordeal. That Marla bitch tried to kill you three and then Michael. You are steady on the outside.” He opened her purse for her, when her hands started to shake. “But I want to know what’s going on inside that gorgeous head of yours.”

“I killed a woman.” She reached in and found her pain pills. “That’s what’s going on inside my head.”

“The authorities said she burned to death, Pay.”

She marched into the kitchen to get some water. “After I rendered her unconscious, she couldn’t get out of harm’s way.”

“And what would have happened if you hadn’t knocked her out?” He opened the bottle for her and handed her a pill. “You wouldn’t be standing here. Avery and Dylan would be ashes, literally. Have you forgotten they were tied in the back of a truck, waiting for flames to touch the gas tank? Waiting as death slowly neared them?”

She nearly choked on her pill, but she got it down. “I didn’t say what I did was wrong. I said I killed a woman.” It was so hard, so damn hard to clear her mind.

“And if you had to do it all over again, you wouldn’t hesitate, Pay,” he reminded gently. His eyes darting to the door, when Libby walked through.

“I know I would,” she whispered, but something had changed inside of her. And what Payton thought she wanted had also changed. “But it doesn’t make the end result any easier for me to accept.”


He kissed her cheek, keeping his lips away from her mouth. “Will you promise me that you’ll stick with the therapy?”

“If you promise me you’ll accept Stellan Hudson’s offer.”

A rumble left his chest. “Tough girl, aren’t you? I’ll accept his offer.”

Libby squealed, making both of them jump. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly, her smile stretching from ear to ear. “I’m practicing my groupie scream.”

Payton leaned into him. “You’d better get used to it Noah.” She tried not to worry about how his lifestyle would deviate even further after he went on the road. Payton and Libby wanted him to turn from his dick-wandering ways, and the possibilities of him doing that now were basically nonexistent. “But not too used to it, okay?”

“I hear you.”

“Get out your phone, Noah,” Libby said, her smile still stretching wide. He complied and she held up four checks. “First, last, and deposit from our first four renters. Take a picture so we can mark the day our firehouse brought in income.”

“Libby you’ve really pulled your weight and more around here,” Payton said proudly. “Thank you.”

Noah snapped the picture, but Payton knew it would be blurry. Libby was practically jumping up and down, funny how Payton and Noah couldn’t muster up the same enthusiasm. The road they’d started on together had forked off in so many directions, Payton wasn’t sure she wanted to continue. She seemed to be meandering today. Avery and Dylan had begged her not to leave. Right now, she’d rather be in the middle of their gigantic bed waiting for them to return from work. She just felt…tired.

Libby’s face fell a little. “You look like you need to rest.”

“I wanted to check on that last apartment,” Payton said, recalling the bathroom issues. “I know it passed inspection, but there’s a couple of cracked tiles around the faucet. The renter won’t appreciate it, and mold will setup when the water trickles into the wall.”

“That’s been fixed,” Libby explained.

“Well, I know you didn’t do it,” Payton said to her, then she looked up at Noah. “And you hate tiling.”

“Apparently, it only took a day for the gas lines to be fixed,” Noah said quietly. “The Easton Company sent one of its many crews to finish up the place.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry, Pay,” he said, holding out placating hands. “They didn’t change or add anything, only followed all the plans found in Libby’s office.”

“They did…everything?”

Libby sat the checks on the counter. “Payton, there wasn’t much left to do apart from some painting and repairing faulty wiring.”

“And plumbing,” Noah added with a shake of his head.

“Well, I guess there wasn’t much left to do as far as an experienced crew was concerned,” Libby amended. “Still, you two have tackled the worst of this place over the past months.” She shrugged self-deprecating. “We know I’m more administrative.”

Payton chided, “If it weren’t for your connections, we wouldn’t have garnered any outside interests from the beginning.”

Libby’s smile fell. “Some outside interests are better than others.”

Payton reached out and clasped Libby’s hand. “I’m still not buying this.” She ran her thumb over Libby’s engagement ring. “And neither is Dylan or Avery.”

“I told you Trey and I shared a past.”

Noah looked as skeptical as Payton felt. “So you never stopped loving him, though you’ve never stayed in contact with him until recently?”

“I’m sure I mentioned him and you forgot.” Her blue eyes drifted into the past, but she immediately snapped herself out of it. “Anyway, I’m tired of explaining myself.” Libby perked up. “Trey is taking me to an event tonight, so let’s get on with planning the galleria opening. We need a theme and a menu.”

Noah snorted. “We can’t use Stephen’s catering business like we’d planned, so our budget has skyrocketed right there.”

Avery and Dylan had sworn that Payton would see her firehouse open soon. But still… “Trey and Drake are suddenly backing off from expanding the hotel, from constructing their high-grossing golf course?” Dylan had explained he would take it to the board, that he needed more time to wrap it up for her. So this sudden turnaround, though wholly welcome, left a strange taste in Payton’s mouth, and she felt Noah stiffen next to her, as if he, too, sensed it. What exactly was going on?

“Trey, uh, promised the land around the firehouse as my wedding gift.”

Payton gritted her teeth. “Might I remind you this land was ours from the beginning? Trey and Drake manipulated…”

“I know what they did,” Libby cut her off, “but it’s all working out now. So on a day we should be celebrating and planning the future, why rehash the past?”

This wasn’t over by a long shot, but Payton knew better than to press Libby when her hackles were raised. “You’re right. Let’s plan our opening. What’s the budget, five or maybe ten dollars? We’ve had so many budget setbacks and delays on getting our renters in here, how are we supposed to throw a party worthy of this place?” She was surprised the electricity was still running.

Libby smiled again, a look of calculation filling her eyes. “I would say our budget could be limitless if we pick one of Gilda Easton’s charities and invite her to hold a fundraiser on our grounds.”

Chapter Ten

“Payton?” Avery called out. “Ready to go?”

“Bathroom!” she yelled, brushing her hair out. She should have been dressed by now. “Sorry, I took a pain pill and fell asleep,” she explained when he found her.

“Come here, sweetheart.” Avery wore a hand-stitched tuxedo, his black hair brushing the starched color of his white shirt. “I didn’t think you needed them anymore.”

She rolled her shoulder and felt nothing but tightness. “I guess I don’t.”

He bent his knees and met her eyes. “You know the dark road I went down years ago.” Drugs. Alcohol.

“I know.”

“Your therapist offered you a temporary prescription for your nerves.” He reached into his pocket. “I found it on the dresser. Why would you refuse the help?” Avery read her so well, asking this without any judgment, knowing the pain pills were helping her muddle through the day.

“I’ll flush the pain pills and take one those later to help me relax,” she reluctantly agreed. “Sleeping through the night, for once, sounds like a good idea.” But not by herself, she wanted them on either side of her, so why had she come back to the firehouse? Out of a sense of obligation or fear, she didn’t know which, but she needed to settle matters in her mind and with her men.

“We shouldn’t have agreed to put in an appearance at Julian’s birthday dinner.” Avery checked his watch. “You’re exhausted.”

“It’s a quiet gathering and Gilda still looked rattled yesterday.” Payton had grown attached to the old woman with a heart as big as her wallet. “I think it would do her good if we showed up.”

“We stay only through dinner and then you’re down for the night.” Avery changed the subject, “I talked to Noah downstairs. He said to tell you not to expect him home until the morning hours.” He brushed a gentle kiss across her lips, his black whiskers a little scruffy, yet she liked it when he didn’t trim closely. But the kiss reminded her that she needed to brush her teeth.

She grabbed her toothbrush and loaded it with paste. “He’s leaving tomorrow, going on tour with Stellan Hudson.”

“I heard. Hudson’s a big deal. Now, Noah will be too.” He watched as she scrubbed her teeth. “By the way, Noah asked Dylan and me to watch over you and Libby while he was away.”

She rinsed her mouth. “I don’t think anyone has to remind you of that.”

“Are you okay with his leaving?” he asked warily.

“I was confused, but now I’m not.” Turning and wrapping her hands around his waist, she gave him the kiss he deserved, full of tongue and promises. Her heart was so full of love for her men that it actually ached. Yes, something had definitely changed inside of her after the fire, something significant.

His lips left hers, his face still wary. “Are you sure you’re not in love with him?”

“Love him, yes. In love with him? No. But he’ll always be closer than a best friend and brother rolled into one. I’m so happy for his opportunity, and yet I’m sad our lives are going in opposite directions.” She felt tears burn her eyes, but she held them back. “That’s selfish, huh?”

“You couldn’t be selfish if you tried.” He cupped her face with tender hands.

When he looked at her that way, the world disappeared. “I love you, Avery Easton.”

“And I’ll love you forever.” He pressed his lips beneath her chin, kissing a line across her jaw.

She heard Dylan talking with Libby, and then the front door closing. Grabbing her makeup bag, she unzipped it. “Trey’s coming for Libby, you know.”

“Actually Trey is waiting downstairs,” he explained. “The flight up to your door would be too daunting for him tonight.”

“Why didn’t she just ride with us?”

He shrugged, putting his hand on hers. “Could you go natural tonight, no makeup?”

“And when I thought it wasn’t possible to love you more, you tell me I don’t need makeup.” She grinned. “Back to Trey and Libby.”

“I have no answers yet.”

She loosened the sash on her robe and padded to her bedroom. “She’s wearing his ring, kind of sudden, don’t you think?”

“We’ve already discussed their engagement.” He followed her. “Trey and Libby are none of our business.”

“I don’t want to keep anything from you.” Dylan walked in, kissed her hello, and placed a garment bag on her bed. He was disarming in his tuxedo, his brilliant blue eyes zeroing in on her. His shirt was silky black to Avery’s white, his golden blonde hair a halo around his head. “I won’t speak for Avery. But, yes, I’m suspicious.”

“Dylan,” Avery warned. “We’ve had far too much drama, so what about enjoying the night?”

Payton cocked her head. “We can enjoy the night in a minute. Tell me why Trey is offering the property around the firehouse to Libby as a freaking wedding gift.”

Dylan unzipped the bag, pulling out a shimmering halter dress that would showcase every curve she liked, and all the ones she hated. But she’d wear it because they enjoyed her body precisely the way it was: full and curvy, perfect and imperfect. “Most of that property is yours anyway.” He removed it from the hanger, unzipping the back. “Someone screwed with the registered property lines.”

Payton laughed mirthlessly. “We know that - Libby’s fiancé. She gave me some song and dance about how they were young lovers torn away by social circumstances…precisely by her father. Then she,” Payton stopped, walking the line between wanting to share everything with the men she loved and wanting to stay loyal to Libby.

“Go ahead, sweetheart,” Avery prodded.

Payton pulled off her robe, slinging it on a chair. “She admitted that her father was a drunk, that the asshole beat Libby and her mother.”

Dylan helped her step into her dress, zipping Payton carefully. “I’d like to have a few minutes alone with him.”

“Someone beat you to it. Karma’s a bitch, apparently, he’s lost mostly everything.” Payton explained, recalling the Baileys had moved out of their manse and back into their old neighborhood.

“And all of this is recent, only months after you three invested in the firehouse?” Dylan asked curiously.

“Yes, we had no idea he’d taken out a mortgage on this place until recently.” Avery pulled shoes from the bottom of the bag, and she slid her feet into them. “He should have been upfront with Libby.” She grabbed a hairbrush, but Dylan took it from her, gently gliding it through her auburn chunks. “I’m surprised Mrs. Bailey stuck by him all these years. Even if I were afraid, I’d risk leaving than staying in an abusive relationship, that’s not living at all.”

“I don’t feel like I lived before you,” Dylan said solemnly, his eyes clearer than she’d ever seen them. Were the ghosts of his past put to rest? She wasn’t sure, but he seemed changed somehow, like Avery, like
her
.

“Nor do I,” Avery admitted, his fingers weaving through her hair, fluffing out the ends. Dylan slanted his mouth on hers for a deep kiss.

She didn’t know exactly how she’d changed, but there was no longer any doubt in her mind as to what she wanted from them. “I love you, Dylan Easton.”

“I love you, Payton Calloway,” Dylan breathed across her lips.

Her heart squeezed every time this gorgeous man said those words. Glancing around the room, at the first real place she’d spent away from home, she said, “I never thought I would marry before thirty.”

Dylan’s eyebrows plowed his forehead. “Don’t say that. You’re only twenty-one.”

She grinned. “My birthday is coming, though.”

“In six months, what’s this about?” Avery asked, grabbing her purse, pulling out her keys, and gently leading her from the bedroom. “I know you didn’t want to marry us soon, if ever, but you’re starting to scare me.”

“I said I didn’t think I would ever marry before thirty.” She followed him through the loft door, descending the stairs as Avery locked up. “What I meant to add was until I met you two.”

Dylan’s mouth dropped open, and he nearly slipped on the bottom step. “You want to marry us, for real?”

“I thought you
asked
for real or am I mistaken?”

“I asked for real,” Dylan’s voice of disbelief turned into pure reverence. All of the sudden, he had her in his arms, carrying her to a Mercedes sedan she’d never before seen. “I don’t want to lose you, Payton, and I pushed so hard on the marriage subject… I want to make sure you’re not doing anything you don’t want to do.”

Avery brought his face to her shoulder, kissing her as Dylan lowered her next to the Mercedes. “Even if it’s meeting us in the middle, don’t do it unless you totally, unequivocally want to marry us.”

“I belong with you, both of you.” She looked at the outdoor area, picturing balloons, ice cream, and laughing children for the upcoming opening. “Not here. I mean, I’ll still work here…but the firehouse is not the sum of my life anymore.”

Dylan closed his eyes and brought her close, Avery sliding his body against hers without giving her his weight. “You really want to be our wife. I’m sorry. I just have to hear you say it again.”

“Yes, but how would I marry you both?”

“Oh, we’ve got it figured out, sweetheart,” Avery said quietly. “You don’t have to worry about anything. Trust us.”

“I trust you,” she whispered back, her face suddenly against Dylan’s chest, his scent invading her senses. “I trust both of you. But you need to feed me.”

He opened the back door, ushering her inside. “Get in your car, then.”

“This is my car?” She ran her hands over the leather, inhaling that glorious new car scent. Libby always had new cars, never Payton. “You’re kidding!”

“So you’re not arguing?” Avery said, shutting the door as he settled next to her. “You’re accepting our gift?”

“Have you
seen
my car?” She grabbed his hand, weaving her fingers through his. “It’s a piece of shit.” She teased, “Besides, you can afford to buy your future wife a new car.”

“Oh, thank God,” Dylan said from the front seat, pulling onto the back road leading to The Easton Hotel. “I thought you were going to give me big balls about this.”

“Nope, but I’m going to thank you nice and proper after dinner.”

Avery dropped his head back. “Don’t say that.” His opposite hand covered his straining bulge. “My dick doesn’t need to hear your teases.”

“I’m not teasing,” she protested. “I want some, more than some. I’m horny and it has been days.”

“You were injured.”

“Were,” she emphasized, staring at the ocean as they entered the backside of Dylan’s private parking garage. “I’m ready and willing.”

“I haven’t cleared it with your doctor,” Avery said, as Dylan pulled into a parking spot next to one of his many cars. She lifted her skirt and reminded him that she wasn’t wearing any underwear. “I like the view,” he said in a voice suddenly strained.

Payton slid her fingers beneath his hand and unzipped his pants, the expensive fabric gliding open, revealing black boxers. She tugged on the opening and his cock shot through, the turgid length mostly scarred yet beautifully covered in swirls of ink.

Dylan cut off the engine. “Why has it grown quiet back there?”

“No reason,” Avery said as he brushed Payton’s hair from her face. A groan left his body when she lapped the bumps and ridges of his scars, twirling her tongue low, where his dick met his balls. His head went back, his teeth clenching, but he kept those hazels trained on her. “Again.”

She could sense his pressure mounting, as one of his hands gripped the door, the other gripping the edge of the car seat. Payton wet his cock with her saliva, gliding her tongue across his length, and took him nearly halfway, hitting the back of her throat. But she didn’t gag, not at all. Instead, she relaxed her throat and breathed through her nose, relishing the low grunts and groans coming from her man.

Or was that Dylan?

“Fuck,” Dylan complained. “Watch her take you, A.”

“I see it.” He gripped the base of his cock when she pulled back on a hard suction, slurping at the end. “I
feel
it.”

She heard Dylan unzip his pants. Then he reached over the seat, lifting her dress higher to bare her ass. His fingers parted her from behind, gliding up and down her juicy lips, teasing. “I’m going to explode from watching her.”

Payton tongued Avery’s slit, lapping at the tangy fluid. He was close, the tension building in his legs. She pushed back on Dylan’s fingers, riding them, and wrapped her lips tightly around Avery’s dick, her head bobbing in time to Dylan’s strokes.

“That’s it…fuck yes,” Avery said, his breathing escalating, his cock becoming impossibly harder.

She could hear Dylan’s moans from the front of the car matching hers, the sounds of him jacking off stoking her impending orgasm the same way as his talented fingers. She smiled around Avery’s hot flesh, looking up at him. The strain in his face told her he was ready. She hummed her favorite song and he exploded in the next minute, his hips coming off the seat, though he kept his hand at the base of his cock to protect her from taking too much of him. She swallowed his thick load, some of it dripping down her chin because he was jetting so fast.

“Beautiful mouth,” Avery hissed, “made for sucking my cock.”