Free The Sextet Presents… Turn Another Paige [A Toy Story] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Elizabeth Raines Page B

who am I trying to fool?
    Those wounds were still raw and bleeding and would probably not heal. The love she felt for these men wasn’t the type a person got over in a few weeks. It was to-the-bone, branded-on-the-heart love. If they rejected her, she’d never get over it.
    They followed her inside, but when she picked up the wine bottle, Jude snatched it out of her hands and set it right back down. “Nope. No drinking. We’re talking, and that’s that.”
    Mike nodded. “Sit your pretty little ass down on that couch, Paige. We’re going to have our say, and you’re damn well going to listen.”
    Walking to the couch at the pace of a man heading to the gallows, she made her way across the big room. Then she plopped down, put her hands on her knees, and arched an eyebrow. “What do you have to say?”
    “First,” Mike replied as he paced in front of the coffee table, “you are a rude and inconsiderate person. You left me high and dry at the bar.”
    “But you had Jillian—”
    He glared at her. “Jillian is a conniving little bitch who always wanted your job but didn’t have the skills to do it right. Leaving me with only her as a bartender was the shittiest thing you’ve ever done to me.”
    So that was it. This wasn’t about their relationship. This was about his anger at being her boss and her quitting with no notice. “Look, I’m sorry. I should have given you some warning that—”
    “Wouldn’t have mattered. I wouldn’t have accepted your resignation. You’re a good bartender. I need you at the restaurant.”
    She shook her head. Although the compliment was welcomed, it wasn’t what she wanted. “I can’t go back. I just can’t.”
    “Why? Because you’d have to work with me?” His voice quivered in a way that she’d never heard in a man as straightforward and cocksure as Mike. The air of vulnerability made her heart clench.
    While she wanted to shout yes , she didn’t. Perhaps by letting Mike rant, she’d discover what he really felt for her.
    He raked his fingers through his long, dark hair. “Look, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
    “It’s okay. I deserved it. I did leave you in a lurch. Sorry.”
    His bluster deflated like an emptying balloon. “Jillian’s a pain in the ass.”
    A hesitant smile formed on Paige’s lips. “Yeah, she’s that. She’s got a crush on you, you know.”
    “No shit, Sherlock. I swore if she touched my ass one more time…”
    “Still having to avoid her?”
    “No.” He didn’t expand on the answer, which left her wondering why.
    Had Jillian grown up a little and stopped throwing herself at Mike?
    Not likely.
    Had Mike fired her?
    Maybe.
    Jude stepped into the fray. “What have you been doing all this time?”
    “Writing,” she replied.
    “The sex toy article?”
    “A book.”
    Both men stared at her wide-eyed.
    She rolled her eyes. “You know I’ve always wanted to write a book.”
    “What’s it about?” Jude asked.
    She hesitated. Talking about the cathartic story she’d almost finished writing would take this discussion right to the bull’s-eye problem. Writing the book had brought back the old Paige, the one who wasn’t afraid to go after what she wanted. Now was a great time to exercise her rediscovered self-worth.
    “It’s about us,” she said.
    “Us?” Jude cocked his head. “What do you mean us? ”
    “I’m writing a romance about how the three of us found our ways into each other’s lives, and about how three people can have a relationship that makes them all better people.”
    “A romance?” Mike asked. “You mean you’re writing about our sex?”
    She nodded. “That, and about how…well, about why we’re all so…good together. Not just in bed.”
    Both men stared at her with an intensity that sent a shiver racing over her skin. She swore she saw desire there—raw passion that made heat flood her cunt. Instead of talking, what she wanted to do was grab them both, drag them to the bed, and renew their