Free Men Times Three by Bonnie Edwards Page A

laughed. If he walked out right now, this moment, he’d win.
    She’d lose.
    And that would make her nuts.
    â€œThink I’ll take a shower,” he said. “Just so you know where to find me.”
    He walked out, leaving the door open as he moved down the hall, fighting his raging hard-on all the way. The slam of the door made him grin.
    Soon, she’d come to him and plead. Maybe even beg.
    If the pressure in his balls didn’t kill him first.
    With a cock as hard as iron, he could barely slide his jeans off. There was only one thing to do if he wanted any sleep tonight. He didn’t need an appliance, not when he had the five sisters.
    He turned on the water in the shower stall and stepped in. Warm water sluiced down his body, washing away the grime of the day. He bent his head into the spray as he soaped up. When he got to his cock and balls, he nearly spewed immediately. An image of Marnie slid sexy and hot through his mind and he went back to her on her knees in front of him behind the registration counter. Except this time, the outcome was more in keeping with what he wanted. She smiled and gripped his cock with a firm hand then slid her mouth down, down, down until he felt the back of her soft throat. He groaned and increased his strokes as her mouth worked his shaft. She took his sac and squeezed until he shot deep into her wet, hot throat. He had to slam his hand on the cool tile to stay upright while he shot a full load into the pulsing jet of water. Shudders racked his body while he came.
    When he was done, he turned off the water and hoped to hell this was the last time he’d have to take care of himself. He was damned tired of coming alone.
    As he dried himself and walked through his dark room to climb into bed, he heard Marnie’s steady descent down the stairs.
    Naked, he walked to his door and opened it a crack to see what new torture she was bringing to the game. He could just make her out as she walked through his great room and into the kitchen. The fridge door opened and the light made her body glow. Straight square shoulders, fine trim waist, long legs. She wore the short robe again.
    She helped herself to a small glass of milk by the fridge light, drank it quickly then rinsed the glass and set it in the sink.
    He breathed deep into his lungs and held it while she drifted absently back up the stairs and down the hall to her room, apparently unaware of him watching. Apparently unaware, but probably fully aware, as he was of her.
    Then he headed back into the shower for round two.
    Â 
    The next morning, edgy and out of sorts, TJ stood in the checkout line at the hardware store. He’d left Marnie at the inn, deep in a phone conversation with some guy named Dennis. Something about her club. They were apparently in the midst of a staffing crisis and she’d been laying it on pretty thick that it was Dennis’s turn to step up and handle things in her absence.
    An unreliable partner. He wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy. The stress of covering for him, doubting his word, double-checking his work, putting out fires he’d made, all of it sucked. Working with family wasn’t ideal, not by a long shot, but having Deke home, even as broken as he was, was better than being on his own. Eli would settle down soon enough. A good woman would anchor him.
    As long as Eli met his woman on the Peninsula, everything TJ wanted for him and his brothers would come to pass. Full-on partnerships in O’Banion Construction. Homes and families would come along in time and their lives would build into something of lasting value.
    When his turn to cash out came, he slid two boxes of security lights on the counter at the front of the hardware store.
    â€œG’morning, Thomas John. Lighting up the night?” He was caught midthought by Alice, one of the local single women. She grinned, overbite gleaming in the fluorescent lights overhead.
    â€œThe Friendly Inn’s had