The Triple Threat (Love In Dayton Valley Book 1) Read online

  My other big problem was afterward, when we’d had a bite to eat and then carried on shopping; then she’d been all cute and funny. She’d looked stunning in every one of the twelve dresses that she tried on – yeah that’s right, twelve. It had taken all my time not to say, damn it to my pride and ask her to the dance again, but there are only so many times a man can be rejected. That was why I kept it PG and didn’t jump on her every time she came out of a dressing room looking good enough to eat. Ellie didn’t quite see things the way that I did though, her heart wasn’t in it and every single dress was rejected.

  Unfortunately, no matter what my feelings about Ellie were, it was evident they weren’t reciprocated unless it came down to sex. I should have just accepted it and looked forward to the next time she needed an itch scratching. Problem was my head was telling me that, but my heart and my hormones were telling me something entirely different.

  Knowing we were all going to be sitting at the same table and playing happy extended families at the dance, and that I’d have to watch Ellie all night, I’d tried to cry off from going. I’d even sited the fact that we had another cow due to give birth. Pop had other ideas though and had made it clear we were going to the dance; me, him and my aunts. Tom and Sam were going to stay the night on the ranch, and we were going to go, drink and be damn merry.

  Without the possibility of getting out of it, I wasn’t sure whether I hoped Ellie would fail to get a dress and so bail, or whether I hoped she’d be there. My feelings fluctuated between what the best possible option could be.

  Now the time for wondering was over because we were walking up the steps to the Memorial Hall.

  “Ooh this is going to be so good,” Auntie L practically squealed as she clung to my arm. “I haven’t been to the pre-Christmas dance for years. Not since Ethan Monroe asked me when I was twenty-three and I turned him down.”

  I pulled us to a stop. “You haven’t been since then? And, how come you turned him down?”

  A shadow fell over Lynn-Ann’s face as she glanced over to where my pop was leading Auntie J inside.

  “Well, I liked him fine enough. He was handsome and strong and was real respectful to the ladies.” She sighed and went a little glassy eyed. “Problem was your Auntie J thought so too. Fact was, she was probably more stuck on him than I was.”

  “Woah,” I replied, taking a half step back. “That’s pretty sad, Auntie L. Surely she’d have understood if you wanted to go with him?”

  Auntie L shrugged and gave me a soft smile. “Who knows, honey. All I do know is I didn’t want to break her heart.”

  “And what happened to Ethan Monroe?” I asked, not recognizing the name around town.

  She swallowed and took a deep breath. “He left town a year later. Met a girl at his cousin Marlena’s wedding in Pasadena. I do believe they have four kids and twelve grand-babies.”

  I watched her carefully, noting the sadness in her eyes. Sadness and regret.

  “You wish you’d said yes? Thinking maybe they could have been your kids and grand-babies, Auntie L?”

  She smiled. “No point in wishing, honey. It didn’t happen and nothing I wish or hope for will change that. All I’ll say is make sure you aren’t Ethan Monroe in forty years’ time, honey.”

  I frowned unsure of what she meant. “What, be married with a ton of kids and grandkids?”

  “No, honey.” She reached up and placed a cool soft palm against my cheek. “Regret that you didn’t work harder to get the girl. The girl who you really wanted to take to the dance.”

  My stomach bottomed out and I felt my face heat up. “Not sure I get you,” I lied.

  Auntie L winked and laughed. “Hunter, you get me just fine. Before he left town, your Grandpa had a drink with Ethan at Stars & Stripes, and they got a little inebriated it seems.” Pausing she straightened the lapel of my suit jacket. “He told my daddy, in his drunken state, that while he loved his fiancée and was looking forward to their new life together, he’d always wonder what we might have been, if he’d just tried that little bit harder to get me to go to the dance with him.”

  “You think I should find myself a girl?” I asked, being intentionally dumb.

  “I think you should get yourself the girl,” she replied. “And you shouldn’t take no for an answer. Don’t be the man who grows old wondering what if.”

  Before I could respond, my aunt patted my cheek and reached up on her tippy toes to kiss it.

  “Now, come on before your pop and my sister drink the place dry.”

  Nodding I held my arm out for her and proudly let her into the hall, all the time thinking about what she’d said.

  The scene inside the ballroom of the Memorial building, was like something from a Christmas movie. Tall, white pine trees lined the edges of the room and strung across the ceiling were hundreds of fairy lights. On the stage, at the end of the Grand Ballroom was a snow scene with more white pines and fake snow with a real gingerbread house center stage. Miss Anderson owned the local cake shop, Cake Heaven, and she and Jennifer, my friend Alaska’s girl, had made the house themselves.

  “Wow,” Auntie J gasped. “Jennifer and Miss Anderson sure did themselves proud with that.”

  “I know,” Pop replied. “And I believe we all get a piece at the end of the night.”

  That made my thoughts immediately go to Ellie, because I knew how much she loved gingerbread. Then as if I’d summoned her, my eyes caught sight of the beautiful brunette who invaded my head, day and night.

  She looked stunning. More beautiful than any other woman I’d ever seen. Fucking spectacular in fact. She’d obviously found the perfect dress. It was floor length, deep violet in color, and the top half had a real deep v which I was pretty sure finished just above her navel. The silky fabric skimmed her hips into a full, flouncy skirt and with each step she made toward her mom, a long, tanned, leg was revealed with sparkly silver sandals on her feet.

  “Shit,” I groaned and scrubbed a hand down my face.

  “What’s up, son?” Pop asked as he snagged two glasses of champagne from a passing waitress and gave them to my aunts. “You seem a little concerned there.”

  He was grinning at me as my eyes moved back to fixate on Ellie.

  “She doesn’t make things easy for me, Pop,” I sighed.

  “No one said the best things in life were easy. I take it she’s still being stubborn as a pack mule about going on a date with you.”

  I nodded and ripped my gaze from her. “Yeah. She still says if it goes wrong then it’ll be awful for everyone and she doesn’t want to risk that.”

  “You think it’ll go wrong?” he asked, now taking two bottles of beer from a young kid who looked like he might choke in his shirt and tie. “Or are you serious about her.”

  I hesitated, but for no other reason than I was surprised that my response was right there on the tip of my tongue.

  “I’m serious about her,” I replied, looking him direct in the eye. “I can’t think about anything else but her. I don’t just want to date her, Pop. I want to be something to her. Only so many times I can ask though, without coming across as a fool.”

  He passed me a bottle of beer and then nodded over to where Ellie was talking to… damn Thor.

  “I suggest you go and make sure that the sun-bleached surfing look doesn’t suddenly become appealing to her.

  “Pop, she’s not interested. She’ll say no, again.”

  “Come on, son,” he replied, looking at me with fire in his eyes. “Since when did a Delaney give up on something they really wanted?”

  I didn’t need telling twice and started to make my way over to the girl of my dreams, but before I had even walked a couple of steps, damn Dylan had taken her hand and pulled her onto the empty dancefloor. What a dick! Didn’t he know that she’d hate dancing when no one else was?

  I was right. Ellie’s body was tense and her feet barely moving, as Dylan held her close and whispered something into her ear. I felt my blood star
t to boil, especially when she threw her head back and let out one of her deep belly laughs.

  “You see,” Pop said, coming up beside me. “What did your mom always tell you about tardiness and never catching the first worm.”

  “Ellie isn’t a worm, Pop.” I sighed. “But the douche holding her is.”

  Pop let out a laugh and slapped a hand on my shoulder. “Question is, what you going to do about it?”

  As Ellie let out another laugh, my insides bristled with annoyance once more. “Go and get her,” I growled.

  “That’s my boy.”

  Ellie

  As I laughed at his ‘not so funny’ joke, Dylan’s hand squeezed my waist and he gave me a smile that I guessed most girls would fall at his feet for. Problem was, I wasn’t most girls. I was a stupid girl who, the minute she’d seen Hunter Delaney walk in wearing a navy-blue suit with a white open necked shirt, looking more delicious than one of Miss Anderson’s chocolate cream pies, knew she’d made a huge mistake in saying no in the first place, and then not asking him herself. I was also the stupid girl who was too cowardly to go over to him and tell him so.

  “Maybe you could come and visit,” Dylan said close to my ear. “We could go kayaking.”

  I nodded but what I really wanted to say was, ‘not a hope in hell’. I wasn’t sporty at all, and certainly wasn’t in any mind to take up a sport that involved water. An ice-cold Topo-Chico was about as close to water as I got, unless it was a paddle in the ocean on vacation.

  As the music to Kane Brown’s ‘Good as You’, kicked in, Dylan pulled me closer, but over his shoulder I saw Hunter walking toward us. His steely gaze was on us and his hand was raking through his hair. He looked amazing, like he was on a modelling shoot and pulling out all his best poses. When he had almost reached us, there was no doubt what he wanted, and I knew I was going to say yes.

  He must have been only three paces away when I was being pulled from Dylan’s arms and turned around to face Bronte. Bronte, who had dyed her hair into strands of blue, lilac and purple. It looked beautiful, she looked beautiful, as the long, silky waves fell over her shoulders and down her back.

  “Oh my God, when did you do that?”

  “Today. I wanted a change. I need a change.” She grinned and glanced over to where I knew Jefferson was standing talking to Carter and my dad.

  “It’s so pretty.” I turned back to Dylan. “Sorry, you remember Dylan, right?”

  “Of course, I do,” she replied with a gleam in her eye. “Hi again, Dylan. Sorry, but I kind of need to steal Ellie for a few.”

  Dylan took a step back. “No problem. I’ll go and find my aunt and uncle and I’ll see you in a while, Ellie.”

  As he moved away, Bronte nudged me. “Dylan, hey?”

  “He asked me to dance is all. Although it was highly embarrassing with just us on the floor.”

  I looked over my shoulder to see Hunter had also disappeared, and my heart sank.

  “So, what did you want me for?” I asked taking one of her blue tendrils between my fingers.

  “I need you to know I’m moving on from Jefferson.” Bronte beamed at me and straightened her back.

  “You want me to tell you I’m proud of you?” I asked, barely stopping the smile that twitched at my lips.

  “Well, I thought you’d be pleased,” she protested. “You’ve been on at me for weeks to forget him, so I have.”

  Her silver-sequined dress clung to the curve of her boobs as she thrust her hands to her hips.

  “I’m glad you’ve come to your senses,” I replied. “But it was kind of stupid in the first place.”

  Bronte’s eyes went wide as saucers and her pouty, pink glossed lips parted into a perfect ‘O’.

  “I’m not stupid,” she finally gasped.

  “I didn’t say you were,” I responded. “I said the idea of you and Jefferson was stupid. Because it was.”

  “Says you.”

  “Yes, says me,” I replied with a sigh. “Listen, Bronte, I don’t want to argue with you. I’m just glad you’re not going after Jefferson. I just think it would have caused too many ructions around the place.”

  As a waitress passed by me, I took a bottle of beer from the tray and downed a large swig. I had to speak to Hunter, I knew that in my heart of hearts, but I also needed a little bit of courage to admit to him that I’d been wrong.

  “So,” I said, my gaze back on Bronte. “Who’d you have your heart set on now, if it’s not Jefferson?”

  She wiggled her eyebrows. “Now, that’s a secret.” She put a finger to her lips and sashayed away.

  Every time I’d plucked up the courage to speak to Hunter, someone had beaten me to it; either Alaska or Carter had monopolized his time. Even Jason Miller the deputy sheriff, who Hunter thought was as dull as a mash potato sandwich, had been talking his ear off. I couldn’t get near him. It was almost time to sit down for dinner and I really wanted to speak to him before we did, but now he was talking to Belinda Jennings and she was getting much too close for my liking. What was worse, Hunter was damn well lapping it up.

  “You okay, honey?” Darcy asked, clutching a glass of champagne and swaying a little.

  “Yes, thanks, Darcy,” I replied, sweeping a quick gaze over to Hunter and Belinda. “How are you doing?”

  “Oh okay, I guess.” She sounded wistful, and I wondered whether her and Jim were still at outs, even though they’d seemed okay since they’d arrived.

  “You look lovely by the way.” And she did. She looked real pretty in a peach colored beaded gown.

  “Oh, thank you, honey,” Darcy paused to take a sip of her drink. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure,” I replied, not entirely certain it was wise. She was a little tight on champagne and I was worried what on earth she’d want to ask me that she couldn’t ask my mom.

  “Do you think I should have a butt lift?” She laid a soft hand on my arm. “Only my surgeon and Jim said it’s fine as it is, but I’m not sure. I wonder if it’s too saggy, you know.”

  Before I had chance to do anything, Darcy had grabbed my hands and slapped them onto her ass.

  “Squeeze,” she commanded. “Go on give it a real good squeeze.”

  Wincing and feeling more than a little nauseous, I flexed my fingers.

  “No,” she yelled, making me jump. “Do it properly. Squeeze it hard.”

  I did as I was commanded and had to agree for a woman in her later forties, she had a pretty tight ass.

  “I think they’re right, Darcy. There’s nothing wrong with your butt.”

  That brought a huge sigh from her as she dropped her head.

  “Your mom said the same.”

  “So, maybe if we all said it then there really is nothing wrong with your butt.”

  Darcy contemplated my words and then finished off her champagne. “Maybe you’re right, sweetheart.”

  “I really don’t know why you thought otherwise,” I replied.

  She gave me a sad smile and patted my arm. “Because I thought maybe it would make Jim attracted to me again.”

  Darcy then walked away and as she did, I caught Jim watching her. The way his eyes followed her; he certainly didn’t look like a man who wasn’t attracted to his wife. Then, what did I know? I’d pretty much ruined any chance I had with the man I wanted, just because I was stubborn.

  Talking of, Hunter was finally alone, and I knew it was my chance. So, with a deep breath and pushing my shoulders back, I walked toward him with purpose. When he started to walk toward me, my heart jumped. He still wanted this, and we were going to meet in the middle of the room, and it was going to be like a scene from a Nicholas Sparks book and we were going to… damn it.

  Hunter stopped in front of Belinda and then took her onto the dancefloor.

  My heart stopped for one, two, three beats, with a bang, bang, bang in the pit of my stomach taking up its rhythm. And, as Hunter pulled her close and placed one hand on the small of her back, I thought I migh
t puke.

  They danced close to each other, moving around the floor and when they had almost reached me, Hunter’s gaze drifted my way. A small smile tugged at his lips and he dropped his head to whisper something in Belinda’s ear, causing her to laugh.

  I recognized the move from when Dylan had danced with me earlier, only that time I’d been the one laughing. My merriment had been false and forced, but Belinda’s was perky like her tits, and real, unlike her tits. Hunter’s grin in my direction though, was not. I knew it wasn’t because it didn’t reach his eyes, eyes which kept skimming back to me.

  “Yeah, well two can play at that game, mister,” I muttered under my breath as I sought out Dylan.

  He was sitting at a table, talking animatedly to Delphine and Garth. I felt bad for using him, but in every war, there were casualties, and battle was about to commence.

  “Hey, Dylan,” I said as I went alongside him. “You want to dance?”

  He looked surprised, and I guessed it was because I hadn’t sought him out after Bronte had whisked me away. Nevertheless, he placed his glass down and stood up.

  “I’d love to. I think we have time for maybe a couple of dances, before dinner is served.”

  Smiling widely, I held out my hand for him. “I guess we do.”

  As soon as we got onto the dancefloor, I tried to lead us in the direction of Hunter and Belinda, but Dylan was pretty strong and resisted so that we moved away from then.

  “So,” he said. “You had any more thoughts about coming to visit me?”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.” I noticed Hunter watching me, so laughed real loud. “Hahahaha, I’m so busy.”