Sophie Oak: Small Town Siren

“I found everything I could ask for, Chris.” Sam’s grin told Jack he was in trouble. “I really appreciate the heads-up.”

From across the room, Abby smiled curiously. Jack’s insides clenched. Damn, but that was one fine-looking woman. Maybe he could handle it if she was just gorgeous and had a banging body, but her smile was so warm he wanted to bask in it. She was soft and sweet and everything feminine.

“Heads-up?” Abby gave the group a little laugh.

Sam’s grins could be infectious, Jack knew. They’d met as teens, and Jack sometimes wondered if he’d ever smiled before he met Sam Fleetwood. Sometimes it felt like they were two halves of a whole person—Jack the serious half, while Sam was all about the light. It put Jack in the position of older brother, though the two were only three months apart in age. Jack often found himself acting as the protective one. He’d been forced into the position again when Abby Moore had sauntered her hot ass back into town after a twenty-year absence.

“I was looking for some beer, sweetheart.” Sam winked.

“You’re always looking for some beer.” Her lips curled up, and she shook her head with an affectionate giggle as she turned her attention back to the game.

Jack felt Sam sink onto the couch next to him and a cold beer was pressed into his hand. Abby started talking to the town’s football coach. Jack knocked back a long drink as he gave his partner a pitying look. Jack wasn’t going to let himself fall for Abby. He was in control of his emotions. He wasn’t falling for a woman after four dinners, three football games, and that one time Sam convinced him to see a movie then picked her up along the way. Nope, he was keeping her at a distance. Jack wasn’t going to fall for a woman who couldn’t accept them as they were. Jack knew that what he and Sam were was so counter to what the world accepted that they would never settle down with one woman. He’d accepted it. He just wished Sam could.

They needed to head into Dallas, Jack decided. There was a club in Dallas that catered to men like him and Sam. They needed a good weekend of indulgent sex to get their heads straight. Maybe they should just start planning to go to Dallas once a month. It would be kind of like setting an appointment to change the oil in their cars, routine maintenance. If they got regular, rocking-good sex, maybe Sam would forget Abby.

Jack’s eyes went straight to the redhead like a moth to the flame. There weren’t many women like Abby. She was smart and funny. Her take on the world challenged him. He’d learned more about politics from her in the few weeks he’d known her than he had in years of browsing through the papers. Abby was a nurse and very devoted to helping the people around her. In addition to working at a hospital, she volunteered at a homeless shelter and had raised a daughter. She’d also been married for ten years, and just two years ago had lost her husband to cancer.

Jack sighed. He didn’t care what the town gossips said. She was a lovely, respectable woman. She would be shocked by what he and Sam wanted to do to her. She would run screaming the other way if she had a hint of how badly he wanted her trapped between him and the man he loved like a brother. Jack felt his eyes glaze over as he thought about it. She would be small in between their big bodies. Sam would immediately go for that sweet pussy of hers. He couldn’t help it. Sam loved to eat pussy. Jack would be free to tease her lips with the hard head of his dick. He would tell her exactly what he wanted and how deep he wanted her to take him. He would explain, and she would comply. She would do everything he asked her because she would learn to trust him. He would take damn good care of her in and out of their bed.

She would never have to change a tire again or deal with a crooked plumber the way she had last week. The trailer she was staying in was falling apart around her. Jack wanted nothing more than to get her the hell out of there. She deserved a beautiful house with lots of space. He hated the fact that she had been trying to fix a step on her own. He’d been driving by when he saw her bent over with a hammer in her hand. He’d stopped and almost silently finished the work for her. She’d graciously fixed him an iced tea and thanked him kindly, but Jack knew there would be more work like that. He just wished it was his job to do it for her.

That was the kind of relationship Jack wanted deep down. He wanted a woman he and Sam could take care of. In Jack’s brain, it all worked out. He was bigger and stronger, so he should be the one to take care of the heavy lifting. He should make life easy for her because she would make it worth living for him. In exchange, she would take care of them. She would tell them when they weren’t properly dressed for an event and force them into suits and ties occasionally. She would watch their beer intake. She would fuss over them.

She would also suck his cock. That was a given. Sex was a big part of what he wanted from Abby. He wanted nothing more than to come in from a hard day’s work and sink his dick into some warm, wet place on Abby’s body. If there was a spanking involved, then that just made the day better. Jack liked to be in charge. The thought of dominating Abby made his cock strain against the fly of his jeans.

He came out of his little daydream and shifted, hoping no one noticed his raging hard-on. No such luck. Sam was trying hard not to laugh out loud at him. He had a knowing look in his eyes. Sam glanced tellingly at Abby and back to Jack.

You know you want her , his eyes said silently.

Jack took a long, cold swig of beer and stared mulishly at the TV screen. He didn’t even know the score. That woman had ruined the football season for him. All he could think about was sex when she was around.

“Your turn.” Sam pointed to his empty beer.

“That was fast.”

“I was thirsty,” Sam drawled. “Still am. Beer’s in the garage.”

Jack sighed and stood up. Hell, he was almost empty, too. Abby was driving them both to drink. “I’ll be right back.”

Sam pulled on his shirt sleeve as he walked by. Jack leaned over. Sam whispered low enough that Jack strained to hear him, but the message was clear. “Check out the box marked books.”

Jack picked up the pace, eager to see exactly why Sam was so interested in a box of books. He opened the door to the garage and quickly found the box Sam had talked about. Abby had left a good number of her boxes in Christa’s garage since her mom’s single-wide left no space for storage. Jack knew Abby was just in town to help her mother recover from a broken hip and to help Christa in the café. Once those things were done, she intended to decide where she would live, and it wouldn’t be Willow Fork. Abby’s stay here was temporary.

Jack’s jaw dropped when he opened the box.

He looked briefly through it, but there was no question in his mind now.

Abby Moore had just sealed her fate. She might not know it, but she was staying in Willow Fork on a permanent basis. She would be staying with him and Sam. Jack took a long moment to think. He wasn’t a man to act immediately. He was a man who appreciated a plan. Sam might not like it, but he was taking over this courtship.

Jack smiled, but if Abby could have seen it, she might have run. Jack felt his heart rate speed up in anticipation. He’d met his mate, and he had no intention of letting her go now.

“Well, look at that. Your friends are here.” Christa grinned as she rang up a customer. “And they’re sitting in your section. I wonder what that means.”

“Maybe it means they’re hungry.” Abby stared as Jack Barnes and Sam Fleetwood slid into a booth. Sure enough, it was in her section. Abby glanced around Christa’s Café. This late in the afternoon there wasn’t a lot of traffic. She counted two people at the counter and another small group in the section Christa was working. It would be hours before the dinner rush. By then, she and Christa would be back at her place, their long shifts over for the day.