I stepped off the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief that the hallway was empty. I was not in the mood to see people right now, even strangers. I was still trying to wrap my head around how my world had just completely spun off its axis in the last couple hours. I really didn't feel like having to play nice.
The room was top of the line, but I barely registered it. I didn't care about the room. I walked through the small sitting area into the bedroom and set my laptop bag next to the bed. I kicked off my shoes and started to strip down. I needed a shower. Maybe that could help erase the last few hours.
I cranked the hot water up as much as I could stand and stepped inside. I closed my eyes as I moved under the spray and tried not to think about what had happened. Of course, the memories came anyway.
I knew I had a stupid grin on my face, but I couldn't help it. My real estate agent had called just as I was leaving the office and wanted to know if I'd come by and see a house he thought was perfect for me. I'd told Lara I needed to work a couple hours over and now I was glad I had. It was going to be so much better to surprise her. I hadn't made an official offer, but this was the place. I could feel it in my bones. Six acres along a lake. An absolutely massive house with a beautiful interior. I could see us spending the rest of our lives in that house, raising children and growing old with Lara.
I'd made one more stop on the way home to pick up daisies, her favorites, and a bottle of wine to celebrate. When I didn't see her in the living room, I set the wine on the kitchen counter and the flowers next to it, then headed back toward the bedroom. My stomach tightened in anticipation. Sometimes, when I worked late, she'd head to bed in some sexy lingerie and wait for me to get home.
I opened the door and all of my dreams shattered.
Lara was wearing sexy lingerie all right. A tight black corset that pushed her generous breasts up, but didn't cover the perky nipples. No panties, but garter belts that attached to sheer black thigh-high stockings. Her dark red hair was fanned out around her head and her features were contorted in pleasure. Between her legs was a shapely blonde I recognized as Cassandra, a twenty-something lawyer who lived two floors below us. Neither one of them appeared to have noticed me as Cassandra continued to go down on my girlfriend.
“Right there, baby. Yes, please. More. Lick me. Hard.”
I couldn't do anything but stare as Lara came with a cry I'd thought was reserved for me alone. We'd both had lovers before we'd met, but we never talked about them. We'd said it was only going to be us.
“Oh shit!”
Cassandra's exclamation broke through my shock.
“Rylan.”
Guilt lifted the tone of Lara's voice as she scrambled for her robe, but not half as guilty as I thought she should sound. I didn't even look at Cassandra as she grabbed her clothes and left the bedroom.
“What the fuck, Lara?” The words didn't come out as angry as I intended, but at least they didn't sound hurt. I was still pretty numb at the moment and I wanted to stay that way.
“Rylan, I'm so sorry.” She climbed off the bed and walked toward me.
I shook my head and took a step back. “Talk, don't touch.”
Her jade eyes glittered with tears and I felt a flare of anger. How dare she act upset? Like she was the one who caught me cheating? And like this! This wasn't like I’d seen her out to dinner with another man or kissing him. I'd fucking walked in on her getting eaten out by another woman.
“You know I'd been with men and women before I met you,” she began and I could see her fingers tremble as she lifted them to her lips. “Then you and I were so good together and… well, you're such a great guy. I thought you were the one.”
I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
“You're a great guy, Rylan, and that's what makes this so hard.”
“No,” I snapped. The anger was coming now and I struggled to reign it in. “You don't get to act like you're some victim, Lara. Not after this.”
“It just happened,” she said, tears spilling over. “I've been fighting against my attraction to Cassandra for months and then today, I was dressed up, waiting for you to come home and she knocked on the door–”
“What the fuck?” I cut her off. “I don't want to hear the rest. And do you really think it makes me feel better to know you've been attracted to her all this time?”
Her chin lifted and her mouth tightened in a defense I could see coming. “I can't help it,” she said. “It's how I am.” She softened and her eyes glistened again. “I care about you, Rylan, but if I can't love you like that, then I can't love any man. I'd always thought of myself as straight woman who'd experimented, maybe bisexual, but I can't deny it anymore.” She gave me that sad look she used when she wanted me to see her way. “I'm a lesbian. There's nothing I can do about it.”
I stared at her, unable to believe an intelligent woman could be so dumb. “You think that's what this is all about?” I waved my hand back and forth between her and the door. “I don't give a damn about what gender you want to fuck. You lied about it. You cheated on me, Lara. Just because you wanted Cassandra didn't mean you had to fuck her right then and there.”
Her pale skin flushed.
“In our bed!”
I began to pace, waiting for her to say something, anything. When she didn’t, I turned to her and continued, “When you first started thinking this, you should've told me.” I ran my hand through my hair. “You know what, it doesn't matter anymore. We're done.” I looked around. “I can't be here right now. Take the weekend, get your shit together and get out.”
“Rylan.” She reached out her hand and then dropped it. “I really am sorry.”
I sighed, suddenly exhausted. “Someday I might be ready to hear that, but it's not tonight.”
“Dammit!” I slapped my palm against the side of the shower. “Damn you, Lara. Why couldn't you have just told me?”
By the time I got out of the shower, I didn't exactly feel better, but I wasn't worse, so I accepted it.
Lara had been my only serious girlfriend. I'd dated girls on and off in high school and college, but I'd always been so busy with work that it never got beyond casual. By the time I was nineteen, I'd even gone away from casual dating to random hook-ups.
That’s how I'd met Janice, the CSU grad student who'd introduced me to a whole new way of playing during one extremely intense and exciting weekend. Then, at an S&M party, I'd seen Lara, another student at the college who I'd spoken to once or twice in passing.
My phone rang, pulling me out of my thoughts. I frowned. The only person who'd be calling me this late would be Lara and I really didn't want to talk to her again. I felt a wave of relief when I glanced at the screen. It wasn’t Lara.
“Hey, Suzette.” I kept my tone light. No need for her to know what was going on.
“Rylan!”
I couldn't help but smile. Suzette was six and a half years younger than me, my half-sister through our dad. For the first couple years of her life, I'd been with my mother, who'd gone to great lengths to keep me away from my father and his new family. She even changed my last name to her maiden name when she changed hers back. I found out later that she'd threatened to take my dad to court if he didn't agree to let my last name be changed from Dougall to Archer.
When I was twelve, my mom went off the deep end and the shit really hit the fan. Long story short, she ended up losing primary custody of me and I went to live with my father, step-mother, and half-sister. I'd known what changing my last name back would do to my mom, so I'd kept it, which hadn't made my father happy. That was the story of my life, constantly torn between my parents. My one bright spot, however, had always been Suzette. I adored my little sister.
“What are you doing this weekend?” She didn't bother with any small talk.
“Nothing,” I said and fell back on the bed.
“Since we have a three-day weekend, some friends and I are heading up to the cabin first thing in the morning. You and Lara should come too. I haven't seen you in forever.”
“Lara and I broke up,” I said, my voice as flat as if I’d been reporting the weather.
“Oh, Rylan, I'm so sorry. I know you really liked her.”
I didn't bother to correct her and say that I'd loved Lara, so much that I'd been planning on marrying her before I'd caught her fucking another woman. I wasn't going to get into all of the gory details with my little sister.
“You should come,” Suzette said. “Get your mind off things.”
“You want me to hang out with a bunch of teenagers?” I asked, trying to put a teasing note into my voice and failing.
“Okay, old man, so we're a few years younger than you, but everyone other than me is legally an adult.”
I smiled again. Suzette had graduated young from high school and had turned seventeen just last week, so I tended to forget her college friends were older than her.
“I don't know,” I said.
“Come with us,” she begged, that little girl pleading in her voice. “Once we're there, you can go do your own thing. Don't you think it'll be good to get out of the city for a while?”
“I'm already out of the city,” I said. “I'm in Denver.”
She let out a low whistle. “That must've been one hell of a break-up.”
“You have no idea,” I muttered.
“Then drive up and meet us. You'll have a car and can leave whenever you want.”
She had a point, and what else was I going to do all weekend? Sit around the hotel and watch pay-per-view? Half of it would be porn and the last thing I wanted to see right now were titles for lesbians going at it. Plus, we always kept extra clothes at the cabin, which meant I wouldn't need to spend the weekend in either my dirty clothes or a towel.
“All right,” I agreed. If nothing else, I could count on a bunch of college kids having beer which meant I could sleep and drink my way through the next couple days.
That sounded as good a plan as any.
Chapter 2
Cabin might not be the most accurate word for the place my dad owned in Vail, Colorado. It wasn't right in Vail, but further up in the mountains. Close enough to get to when we wanted something, but far enough away that we needed to use a car or snowmobile to get there. We owned several acres of woods, including a few private ski runs Dad had made when he'd first bought the place. As for the building itself, it was two stories with five bedrooms on each floor. There was also a kitchen and living room on the first floor. While the rooms weren't large, they were big enough that sharing wasn't a big deal. While we called it a cabin, it was actually a decent-sized house.
When I pulled up to the house, I was glad it was so big. Suzette had said she was bringing some friends, I'd thought one or two. She'd brought six. I recognized Matt, Suzette's boyfriend. I thought he was kind of a douche, but at least he wasn't a total jackass like the last one.
The petite brunette next to Suzette was Abby, her roommate. I'd met her once when I'd visited Suzette on campus. She was sweet and quiet, balancing my talkative and sometimes too-blunt sister.
“Rylan!” Suzette threw herself in my arms as soon as I got out of the car. I hugged her back, really glad to see her. Our parents weren't exactly affectionate, but Suzette more than made up for it.
“Hey, Suze.” I ruffled her hair. It was the same dark brown as mine, but our eyes were different colors. Hers were hazel like her mother's. Mine were blue-violet. Still, people told us we looked alike.
“I'm so glad you came.” She linked her arm through mine and pulled me across the snow toward the group of people who were still standing next to a pair of cars. “Inside for introductions!”
I smiled as everyone moved to obey. My sister may have been the youngest of the group, but it was clear who was the dominating force. Yet another thing we had in common.
“Where's your luggage?” she asked as she picked up her bag from the back of her car.
“Don't have any.” I patted my laptop. “This is pretty much all I walked out of the apartment with.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Wow. You weren't kidding. You wanna talk about it?”
“Absolutely not,” I said. “I don't want to think about it at all.”
To my surprise, she grinned at me. “I was hoping you'd say that.”
I gave her a puzzled look, but she didn't explain. I didn't ask. She'd share soon enough.
When we stepped into the living room, pounding the snow from our boots, the rest of the group was already there.
“Rylan, you know Matt and Abby.”
I nodded at them both and they nodded back.
“That's Don.” She pointed toward the other guy. He was easily three or four inches taller than me, which was saying something. But despite his bulk, the way he looked at Abby told me he was more of a teddy bear than a grizzly. “He's Abby's boyfriend. Pre-med.”
“Nice to meet you.” I raised my hand in greeting before the next person spoke.
“I'm Denise, Don's cousin.” She was taller than Suzette, putting her at nearly six feet, but where my sister was slender, Denise had some serious curves. Her light brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and the look in her dark eyes was one I'd seen many times before.
“And those two are Misty and Kristy,” Suzette said. “They're my and Abby’s suite-mates.”
Misty and Kristy looked enough alike to have been sisters. Identical strawberry blond curls and similar facial features. One's eyes were blue, the other's green, but close enough. As I looked at the winter coats covering what appeared to be petite figures, I couldn't help but wonder if they were similar in body build too.
“Suzette's told us all about her big brother.” One of the girls – the blue-eyed one was Misty, I thought – ran her eyes over me and I knew I wasn't mistaking the innuendo.
“Nice of you to join us,” Kristy said equally flirtatious.
“Let's get settled in,” Suzette said, a big grin on her face. “Matt and I are taking my room.”
She glanced at me and I shrugged. She was past the age of consent and her parents knew she was coming here with her boyfriend. They weren't stupid enough to think they wouldn't be sharing a room. If they didn't care, it wasn't any of my business.