Page 99 of Gather the Storm

I was scrambling for a response when the door flew open. “Hey, doll, we’re all heading down to the riv… er.” Otis stopped in his tracks, taking in the scene.

And I could admit, it didn’t look good, especially since I’d now made out with all three of the guys who’d confessed to killing Blake.

“Hear that?” Jace asked me. “It’s time to go tubing. You should put your tits away.”

My face burned. “You’re an asshole, Jace Kane.”

I was torn between anger, humiliation, and the residual lust humming through my body like a live wire.

He laughed and headed for the door. “Tell me something I don’t know, princess.”

Chapter 51

Daisy

Iwas still mortified when I got to the river. I’d apologized to Otis even though I wasn’t entirely sure what I was apologizing for.

Wanting to fuck Jace even though Otis and I had made out?

Wanting to fuck Jace even though Wolf had spent last night eating my pussy?

Or just wanting to fuck Jace even though he was a fucking douchebag?

I was pretty sure someone would be coming for my feminist card any second now.

Anyway, Otis had been unsurprisingly cool about it, saying it was my body, my choice, and even though he hoped to get there first — and bythere, I was pretty sure he meant my still-wet cunt — it was my decision.

Since it was Otis, I believed him, and I was grateful all over again that there were no guessing games with him, that he always meant what he said and I didn’t have to read between the lines because there was nothing there.

Still, I was pretty pissed at myself. I should have known better than to let my guard down with Jace. Now he knew that I wanted him — or that I’d wanted him in that moment anyway — and I was almost positive that knowledge was going to come back to haunt me.

At the river, everyone stood around in groups, a bunch of big tattooed guys and almost as many tattooed women, all of them lining up to wade into the river.

It was a perfect day for tubing, and I had a faint memory of going with my mom as a kid. Ruth must have been too little, because I didn’t remember her being there. It was no surprise I didn’t remember my dad. There was no way my dad would do something as undignified as tubing.

“Hey there, sunshine,” Wolf said. “Where’d you get off to?”

I didn’t know if I blushed because of what had happened with Jace or because Wolf had stripped to his boxer briefs, and Wolf in boxer briefs? Well, let’s just say they left very little to the imagination, his big dick clearly outlined in the tight dark blue fabric.

The sculpted chest and muscular legs didn’t hurt either.

“I ran to the bathroom so I wouldn’t have to pee in the river,” I said.

He laughed and the sound of it, warm and affectionate, dissipated my shame over what had happened with Jace. “You wouldn’t be the first.”

Wolf was just sonice. So beautiful and talented and sexy and nice.

He looked me over. “You want to go in that? Your clothes will get wet.”

“It’s okay.” I’d already given the Blades a show when Jace had forced me to strip off my shirt. I wasn’t ready to give them more, even though lots of the women had stripped to their underwear and bras or changed into bikinis. I hadn’t been giventhe tubing memo before we’d left the house, so clothes it was. “It’s warm. They’ll dry.”

“Your call.” He handed me an inner tube, slipped on a zippered nylon backpack I hadn’t noticed lying on the ground, and took my free hand. “Come on, sunshine, you’re with me.”

I exhaled my relief. Jace would have made a big deal of my desire to keep my clothes on, would have goaded me into stripping to my underwear, or better yet, going butt naked.

I liked that Wolf didn’t push, that he let me be myself.

I kicked off my shoes at the riverbank and let Wolf lead me into the water. All around us, the Blades were whooping and shouting, laughing and splashing each other as they got on their inner tubes and bobbed downriver.

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