“Next week.” Zoey grinned.

“Are you counting down the days?” V still couldn’t believe the bomb her best friend had dropped on her a couple of months ago. After a particularly stressful day, they’d both resorted to a few too many drinks and Zoey’s mouth had gotten away from her. According to her friend, she was happily enjoying a threesome with Gage Matthews and her fiancé, Kaleb. Or rather she had been before Gage set out on the road again. Being a long haul truck driver, Gage was usually gone more than he was home.

“Maybe,” Zoey’s smile lit up her entire face. The woman was something else.

V shouldn’t have been surprised by the news that Zoey was currently the focus of both men’s attention considering the history that Gage and Kaleb had. It wasn’t a secret that the two of them had a penchant for threesomes. Those rumors had come and gone a long time ago. They’d ceased to exist once Kaleb and Gage openly admitted to their trysts years ago.

V was well aware of the stories. There were plenty to go around, and they all involved one or more of the Walker brothers. It seemed each of the brothers had their own kinks, and they all somehow involved ménages in some way. Kaleb and Gage, Sawyer and Greyson, Zane and Beau... They were best friends who were notorious for their threesomes with willing women and not a single one of them denied it.

V knew Braydon and Brendon had had their fair share of rumors, but those two were a little different. Not that she had asked either of them, but from everything she had heard, neither had ever been with a girl unless the other was present. She wasn’t sure whether it was true or not, and she didn’t intend to ask.

The only two V didn’t know much about were Travis and Ethan. People didn’t talk about Travis Walker, and she didn’t know if it were because they didn’t know about his sexual preferences or if they just chose not to poke the bear so to speak. As for Ethan, he was too quiet, and no one actually knew much about him. She knew he’d had a couple of relationships, but they usually were short lived and never discussed.

In fact, the tales that were spun through the years were so common that V hadn’t even considered what might be happening behind closed doors where her best friend was concerned. Never would she have imagined sweet little Zoey Stranford in a threesome. To have heard from her best friend’s mouth had been shocking. It was even more surprising that there weren’t any rumors going around about the trio. V was also surprised that there weren’t any other rumors circulating.

Like ones including her and Zane.

And Beau.

V hadn’t told a soul about the encounter she’d had with Zane and his best friend, nor did she intend to. The first time that it happened, V had been a little out of sorts. Being pinned beneath Zane Walker was a unique form of sensual pleasure, but being sandwiched between both Beau and Zane was almost more than she could handle. It’d changed her. Indefinitely.

Not that Zoey knew that, but V got the impression her friend had picked up on something. Especially considering the way Beau came to her side after Zane’s attack. It had been unexpected, to say the least.

“Are y’all planning a reunion?” V pushed Zoey for more information. It’s what she did. And yes, her best friend pushed back just as hard, and she knew at some point, her friend was going to insist that she talk about things better kept to herself.

Zoey’s face turned pink, visible even in the dim lights of the bar, and her grin said more than words ever could.

V laughed. “You’re looking forward to being the cream filling in that little sandwich, aren’t you?”

Zoey didn’t answer, but she laughed, and then turned her attention to the door, and V’s eyes followed.

Holy shit.

V didn’t know what it was about the sight of all that masculinity as the Walker brothers piled in one after the other, but it gave her goose bumps to see it. There were four of them walking their way.

Women of all ages swooned over the Walker brothers, but V couldn’t necessarily blame them. Every one of them was over six feet tall, packed with muscle and wildly charming. On the days they were decked out in jeans and cowboy hats, like today, V was pretty sure they left women fainting in their path. She almost expected to see it now.

“What’s up ladies?” Braydon greeted the two of them with a seductive, crooked smile as he grabbed a chair and pulled it over to the end of the booth she and Zoey were sitting in.

Braydon and Brendon were identical twins and even at twenty nine years old, it was still difficult to tell them apart. The easiest way was when Braydon spoke to one of his brothers. He referred to each of them as “Bubba”, but aside from that V hadn’t figured out another easy way to decipher between the two.

They were usually attached at the hip, and, according to the rumors, many of the women in town said they gave a whole new meaning to the old jingle from that gum commercial, double your pleasure, double your fun. Considering the twins were notorious for their trail of heartbreak, the women they left behind were always known to have experienced a taste of them both at the same time. That’s the way they did things and although V had no idea why, she didn’t question it.

Of course, there was Kaleb, who V knew probably better than most of the other brothers, except for Zane, but that was thanks to Zoey’s friendship with him throughout their life. V had made it a point not to get too close to anyone, including Zoey’s friends, and she sometimes wondered exactly what she had missed out on. Kaleb was a good guy. Better than most actually.

When Zane’s hulking body folded into the booth beside her, V was forced to move over. She glared at him, but was unable to be angry with him. Having him close was beginning to be a familiar thing, even though he’d been away for several months. Despite her better judgment, V wasn’t crazy enough to push him away. Although she should. She really should.

His arm came to rest on the back of the booth, barely grazing the tops of her shoulders and V had to suppress the shiver that raced down her spine. That’s what happened when he touched her, even in the slightest, most innocent of ways. When he leveled those blazing blue-gray eyes on her, V met his stare head on. If she weren’t mistaken, there was an odd twinkle in the heated way he was looking at her. God she had missed him.

The instant that thought plowed through her brain V jerked her eyes away. She was the reason he’d been gone for so long, and she’d be smart to remember that.

“How’re you?” Zoey asked Braydon, breaking V from her weighted thoughts.

V focused on the looks passing back and forth between everyone at the table. The way the twins smiled at Zoey was so benevolent that V would have probably mistaken her for family if she didn’t know better. The way the twins had stepped up to protect Zoey all those years ago when her loser of a husband had up and gotten some girl pregnant, V was pretty sure that’s how they saw her anyway. Like a little sister.

But there was nothing sisterly about the way Kaleb pulled Zoey against him when he dropped into the seat beside her. For two people who lived together, no one would’ve known it by the way they acted when they saw one another. It was like they hadn’t seen each other for months, not hours. The amatory way Kaleb embraced Zoey, pulling her against his side and kissing her forehead made V turn away. She felt as though she were intruding on a private moment.

For a brief, irrational second, her brain wandered down an unfamiliar trail, wondering whether she ever would have that sort of love in her life. She was pretty sure she knew the answer to that, and it was a monumental, resounding no. The most she had to look forward to was an affair with Zane Walker. One that was based on extraordinary sex and nothing more.

Brendon returned to the table a minute later with four beers, handing one to each off his brothers and keeping one for himself. Then he grabbed a chair and flipped it around the way Braydon had, and dropped into it.

Watching the twins together was still a spectacle as far as V was concerned. If a man could be described as beautiful, the twins would hold that honor. It was hard to think that two rough and tumble cowboys could be anything but rugged, but there was so much charisma and grace with the twins, V understood exactly why women flocked to them when they walked in a room.

Tearing her gaze away from them when Braydon sent her a knowing wink, V found herself looking over at Zane. Now, this guy was rugged in every sense of the word. With a day’s worth of stubble on his strong jaw, and his black Stetson low on his forehead, hiding his beautiful eyes, he exuded that mysterious charm he was known for. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling. The man was delicious.

“You’re beautiful when you smile,” Zane whispered in her ear, low enough that only she could hear. Another chill raced down her spine at the words. She couldn’t even say thank you, she was so taken aback. Zane wasn’t quite as much of a player like most of the Walker brothers, but he did have his fair share of women in his past. As far as she knew, there was never anything serious though.

“How’s the bachelorette party planning going?” Braydon’s question shook V back to the present.

“It’s coming along nicely.” V returned his conspiratorial wink. She and the twins were devising a plan to have the bachelor and bachelorette parties in Vegas, although she was getting a considerable amount of resistance from Zoey, but she knew it was only for Kaleb’s benefit. “How’s the bachelor party coming?”