Free Once Is Never Enough: Delta Heat, Book 5 by Delilah Devlin Page A

eyebrows.
    Mondo gave her a grin and turned his attention back to the action on the field. The ball had changed hands and the firefighters were steadily forging their way toward the goal line. Looked like he and his friends would be buying the beer.
    “So you comin’ over to Pansy’s later? We’re setting up the nursery. We need all those superior male minds to construct the crib.”
    “Anyone can read an instruction diagram.”
    “Odd thing is, you guys never do. There’s always some spare part left at the end.”
    “I think I’ll pass,” Mondo said, offering her an apologetic smile.
    Jenn gave him a steady glare. “Because you’re busy or because you’re avoiding Pansy’s next-door neighbor?”
    Mondo grimaced. “Will she be there?”
    “No clue. I know Pansy asked her over. She didn’t give her an answer yet.”
    Mondo glanced away. “Maybe she decided we were a bit too much.”
    “You mean, you’re scared she thinks you’re too much?”
    Mondo drew in a swift breath and speared her with a glare.
    Jenn snorted. “Honey, you didn’t give her anything she didn’t absolutely love.”
    “And you know this how?” he asked, although he’d already suspected from the way all the guys pussyfooted around him that he knew exactly how they knew.
    Jenn wrinkled her nose. “We’re all friends. Best buds. Do you think we wouldn’t watch you and Sunny to see how things went?”
    “What, so you could critique my performance?”
    Her lips twitched. “It was a definite A plus. But, no, that wasn’t the only reason. The girls wanted to watch in case something happened you might not understand.”
    “I’m not an inexperienced man, Jenn. I don’t need your advice.”
    “You’re an experienced Dom, but you’ve never fallen in love before. Not really.”
    Mondo lowered his eyebrows. “What the hell are you talking about?”
    Jenn inched closer on the seat, into his space, uninvited.
    His chest billowed, his chin shot up.
    So did hers. Very un-sublike behavior for her. With him, anyway. Jenn usually only challenged when she was looking for punishment from her Dom, Aiden.
    She tapped the end of one polished nail to his chest, right over his heart. “Don’t blow this. We’ll all be mad at you.”
    “All?”
    “All the girls. We like Sunny. We think she’d be a perfect fit. And Marti’s dying to…well, you know.”
    Mondo sat rigid. The women wanted him to fall in love with Sunny because Marti couldn’t wait for a new playmate. Just peachy. And all the talk about love… He shrugged. The women were reading more into what had only been one encounter. They had their happy relationships. They simply wanted to fix him and bring him into their mated fold.
    Jenn’s eyebrows straightened. Her expression eased. “We’re here for you, you know that, right? If you need anyone to talk to—”
    Mondo twisted his lips. “Butt out. That’s what you can do.”
    “Sure.” She patted his knee. “But you’re still coming to help with the nursery.” She got up before he had a chance to reply, gave him a swift kiss on his cheek and sauntered away. As she approached the women seated in a row beside the field in their lawn chairs, they all sat forward, waiting for the gossip.
    Mondo gave them all narrow stares, but they simply gave him blinding smiles and waves. They were impossible. The whole group was too incestuous. No one understood the concept of privacy anymore. Their closeness was something he’d treasured, but it was beginning to feel restrictive, like a noose tightening around his throat.
    He’d give the party a skip. They’d get the message then.
    Sunny probably wouldn’t even show. His shoulders slumped. He’d wanted to see her again. But on his terms. In an environment he could control. In his mind, he’d run through several scenarios, all of them with him instructing—no more deviating from his usual methods. No tender moments, except when she needed reassurance, but nothing that would draw