"You don't know that. Rosie did." She wasn't going to add that maybe she had too...or rather a second chance with Mr. Right here in the sticks.
"Blue Ridge isn't exactly crawling with gay men. I think I'm the only one who's ever even visited here."
"You haven't been downtown lately and visited the new shops, either. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at the number of gay men who've descended on our little town." Blue took a sip of her own coffee and smiled as the sugar and caffeine hit her system. "C'mon. Let me ply you with a piece of rum cake. Maybe that'll loosen your tongue to explain to me why you're here." She tugged his arm and led him back out through the living room to the front door.
"What did your man think of your tattoo pictures?"
"At first or just before he left?"
"Different reactions?"
"On the one hand, he was fascinated by them and on the other, he was pretty upset. Told me they shouldn't be hanging up for just anyone to see, especially that one." She pointed to the one that had sent Cort into a tailspin of reaction.
"Did you explain
that one
to him?"
"No. He wouldn't have listened. He didn't ask for one either. He just... He just didn't like how exposed I am in that shot."
"Such a prude. It's beautiful."
"That's what I said."
"I'm quite proud of it myself."
"As well you should be. However, I didn't tell him you were the one who took it. He might have punched you had he known when he opened the door, gay or not. Anyway, it's a moot point, just as you and Rosie trying to set us up is."
Neil shook his head. "Any man in your life other than him is not going to be a moot point. I may be gay, but I can tell when a man has it bad for a woman just as I can tell when one has it bad for another man. And--" He kissed the tip of her nose "--and, I've always been gay. You just helped me fully realize and accept it."
Blue groaned. "Oh that is so not a ringing endorsement for a woman. You haven't been telling people that, have you?"
"You know what I mean."
"Yes, I do, and you still can't go around saying things like that. It'll make me sound like a horrid lover."
"You're not, though."
"Maybe not, but if you tell them I helped you realize you were gay..." She left the rest of the words hanging in midair.
"Okay, okay. I get it." Neil grinned. "Your man seems a bit uptight. Was he that way when you were with him the first time around?"
"I don't think so. I think it's a front, at least with me. I don't know, though."
"But you hope to find out?"
"Yep. I do." She took his arm again and steered him out the door and in the direction of the large plantation house. "Now, stop changing the subject around to me and tell me what happened. Who broke your heart and sent you running up here?"
*
"Haven't you perfected that damn recipe yet?" Cort asked just before tilting the beer bottle up and taking a long swallow. It was good to be with Decker and Buck again. It was good to be with the women who had stolen his friends' hearts and weren't looking to latch onto his. It was good to be away from Blue. Good God, it was good to be away from her. She had him all twisted up in knots, and that just wasn't going to work for him. He was done obsessing about her.
The more he thought about it, the more he agreed with his first assessment of her. She was everything he wanted, at least the outside of her was. The image of her tight, curvy body, her expressive, soulful eyes, her hair that simply begged to be pulled, her tattoos...
Shit.
None of his lovers had ever had tattoos, and he wanted to see each and every one Blue had, up close and personal. He wanted to trace them with his fingers, with his tongue, cover them in his come and smear it into them.
But he couldn't. He didn't need to be wanting her anymore. The sparks might still be there between them, but all these years later, what she did and with whom was none of his business.
He didn't care.
Right? Right.
"Yet?"
Cort looked over at Rosie, who'd asked, then nodded. "He's been working on that recipe for more years than I've known him."
"It's the best burger I've ever had so whatever he's perfected, I know what he can do if he ever gets tired of roofing."
A bark of laughter sounded from the direction of the grill. "I'll happily take up the grill duties at the diner, but you know my conditions."
A look passed between the two lovers and Cort knew he had to ask. "What conditions?"
"New uniforms," they both answered at the same time.
On second thought, maybe he shouldn't have asked. "Something wrong with the current ones?"
"They keep her too covered up."
Rosie glowered at Decker, but Cort caught the glimmer in her eyes. They had a special chemistry. Cort couldn't deny the twist of envy filling his gut. He wanted to ignore it, but he couldn't do that either. He wanted what they shared.
Eventually.
At some point.
But not with Blue.
And if he chose to ignore the voice in his head screaming that he was a liar, well, that was his prerogative.
"I can't go around naked, Decker."
"I didn't say you had to be naked."
"Shorts showing my ass and halter tops are close enough."
"I didn't say you had to wear shorts that showed your ass."
"No, you said I should serve breakfast in my bra and panties."
"You need to do a better job of listening to me, woman. I said when you're in the kitchen with me, you should only be in your bra and panties." Decker winked, and Rosie stuck her tongue out at him.
"There's an open... Oh never mind. We're not changing uniforms."
"Then I'm not going to work for you."
The back-and-forth banter was quite telling for Cort. His buddy had it bad. He'd noticed the same thing about Buck and Caroline the night before. How his friends had gotten so damn lucky, he'd never know. He wouldn't deny his happiness for them, though. He couldn't think of two men more deserving for that kind of love.
"Good."
"Great."
"Fine."
"Fine." Rosie stood and went inside with Decker's gaze attached to her every move. It was few minutes before he turned his attention back to the task at hand.
The silence that ensued made Cort uncomfortable. He didn't like being left with his own thoughts for too long. He got crazy notions about settling down and opting for a steady, long-term relationship with just one woman and the wouldn't-it-be-nice scenarios. Nope. Nothing good ever came from those kinds of thoughts. He was better off if his mind or hands or preferably both were occupied with either eating, working, or working on eating a woman.
That particular train of thought led straight to mental images of Blue stretched out on a bed, a waist cincher wrapped tight around her middle, the curves of her hips and thighs framed to absolute perfection, and his mouth buried between her legs, his tongue inside her, and her moans filling the empty spaces around them.
Shit.
He couldn't, shouldn't, and refused to continue thinking about her in those terms. Again.
Still. His time with her was over. They had one night and not even a whole night at that, but it was done, over with. She was a client now. He was going to re-wire her rambling plantation house and then, with any real luck, he'd only see her rarely afterward.
"Cort?"
"Hmm?"
Decker laughed. "You drifted."
Shit. He had to stop doing that. "Yeah well, it's been a long day."
"I'd have thought the time zone difference wouldn't be affecting you."
"It's not."
"Jet lag should be gone," Decker went on as though Cort hadn't said anything.
"I don't get jet lag."
"Uh-huh. Did you sleep okay last night? It's different than sleeping in hotels or in cities. It's so quiet out here. Took a while for me to get used to it.
"Yeah, slept fine. I don't mind the quiet."
"Wanna talk about it, then? Whatever it is?"
"What the hell are we? A couple of women? No, I don't want to talk about it because there's nothing to talk about."
"Did you uh... Did you see the pictures?" Decker whispered from across the deck.
Cort snorted and shook his head. Just like a teenager to ask about the dirty pictures. Only Decker wasn't a teenage boy anymore. Perv. "Yes. And no, I'm not going to tell you anything about them except to say they weren't at all what I was expecting." He got up and took two steps before the voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Not leaving on my account, I hope?"
Blue. And...him. The guy from the porch. The guy with his arm around Blue's waist, holding her so tight against his body, holding her with such ease and familiarity that Cort wanted to punch him right in the nose and mess up his handsome face.
"Hey, Blue," Decker said from behind Cort's still-as-the-night body. "Rosie said you might be coming."
"Hey there. Yes, Rosie strong-armed me into making cake." Blue was still staring at Cort even as she spoke to the other man. “And I had to bring the plans for the house to Cort. I forgot to give them to him earlier.”
"Hi, Decker, I'm Neil, Blue's uh...friend. I don't usually miss a barbecue, and when I heard about your skills with a grill, I was intrigued."
"Hey, man, Any friend of Blue's is always welcome. So Rosie's told you guys she only wants me for my meat, huh?"
Blue finally broke eye contact to look at Decker. She winked at him over Cort's shoulder and laughed. "You could say that." Decker's bark of laughter was her reward, and the smile that lit up her face... Damn. Cort knew he'd been in trouble the second he'd laid eyes on her, but seeing her smile just now, hearing her sexy, Southern twang, seeing her body in a flowing skirt and denim jacket, with her long, black wavy hair all unruly and wild, he couldn't think about anything else except getting her naked.
And that just pissed him the fuck off.
He was supposed to be over her, not still wanting her, not still getting hard at the thought of her. But it was more than just the thought of her now; she was here, in front of him, living and breathing. Either way he looked at it, he was screwed.
"We need to talk." His uttered words were harsh, short. She turned her warm eyes back to him, all knowing, all willing.
"Of course." She turned to her companion. "Neil, I'll be right back."
The other man looked back and forth between Cort and Blue, then winked at her. "Oh I don't think so, B. I'll just make myself at home, grab a beer, sit, and...gab. It's been a while since I've had the chance to catch up with Rosie."
"Yeah, I just bet y'all have loads to talk about."
How could a laugh be so full of innocence and yet so naughty at the same time? Cort had no idea, but that's how he'd describe hers: freely offered and full-bodied, just like her. Something about that pissed him off even more.
Without another word to him, she stepped around him and the picnic table in the middle of the deck to the steps that led down to the ground. Cort followed closely, trying his damnedest to ignore everything about the smooth, sure way her body moved. He'd kill to see her walk in heels and nothing else, to see the easy sway of her hips as she balanced herself, as they thrust out her chest and tightened her legs and thighs and lifted her ass.
"Umph," he uttered when his step faltered, and he tripped over a set of roots.
"You okay back there?" she asked without slowing or stopping.
"Fine," came his clipped answer.
The small lit path leading into the woods only went so far and once they were beyond it a little ways, their only light was from the fading twilight sky. Blue seemed to know her way around, though. For that, he was grateful. She stopped a few inches in front of him and turned.
"You wanted to talk?"
No, he didn't want to talk. Not yet. Not now. He wanted to kiss the hell out of her for the next week and then maybe he'd be ready to talk. He curled his fingers at his sides to keep from reaching for her, but then she surprised him. She reached for him, pressed herself against his body, and pulled his mouth down to hers.
Lips and tongue, the kiss was all-consuming. If her tongue went any deeper down his throat, she'd be at his tonsils. She held on tight, and he could do nothing but wrap his arms around her, pull her up harder, and kiss her just as deeply, just as thoroughly as she kissed him.
She tasted of vanilla sweetness and rum. She felt right--of all terms to come to him--against him, in his hands. He wanted to stay attached to her mouth for the rest of the night, but he couldn't. He couldn't allow himself to get lost in her.
He yanked his lips away, pressed them to her temple, breathing deeply of her scents, of the mild, clean evening air. He nudged her back, holding her at arm's length. He'd rather turn her around, bend her over, lift that skirt and... "Why is he here?"
It took a few seconds before she answered. "Neil? He always comes for Rosie's food when he's in town."
"Who is he to you? I mean now. Who is he to you now? And why is he in town?"
"A friend."
"That's it? A friend?"
"What more do you want me to say? You asked, I answered. Why do you even care?"
He went on as though she hadn't even spoken. "Is he still your lover? Is he more than a friend? Do you sleep with him?" He'd decided earlier that it was none of his business, that he really didn't care, but damn if he could convince himself of that when faced with her and another man showing up together.
She tilted her head and gazed at him with a curious quizzical expression on her face. "Do you really want to know?"