Addison’s eyes rounded to the size of the plate she was holding. She stared at me; the only movement she made was when she blinked.
I bit my lip. “I’m sorry. Are you—”
She leaned close. “Was it hot? What did I look like? Did I look stupid?”
“Uh…” This was not the reaction I’d expected from her.
“I’ve always wanted to record Maddox and me having sex, but I’m worried that seeing myself will ruin it because I’ll be too busy judging my flaws and technique.”
It was my turn to stare at her.
“Come on, Olivia. Don’t leave me hanging.”
I tilted my head. “So, you’re not mad?”
“Not really. I should have known you wouldn’t listen to me. And next time, instead of telling Maddox to make sure the door is locked, I’m going to lock it myself.”
“Okay then…yes…it was hot. But also weird because you’re my friends.”
“I can understand that.”
“And there was one other thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I was jealous. I’ve never had sex like that,” I confessed.
“Never had sex like what?” a deep voice asked from the direction of the sliding doors.
Addison and I both jumped and then turned to see who had snuck into the house without us hearing a single thing.
Tommy and Maddox both stood there with a beer in their hands. I studied their faces to see if I could guess how much they’d heard. I also couldn’t tell which one of them had asked the question. They had surprisingly neutral expressions.
“How long have you been standing there?” I asked.
“How did we not hear you come in?” Addison asked.
The two men looked at each other and clinked their beer bottles together.
“Baby, I’ve told you, we’re SEALs,” Maddox said. He set his beer down on the counter, came up behind Addison, and wrapped his arms around her. “We’re stealthy, and we know how to get into secret places.” He pushed her brown hair off her shoulder and kissed her neck.
There was that feeling of envy again. It was time to go.
Addison laughed and tried to shake him off. “Maddox, I’m busy, talking to my friend.”
I grabbed the dish out of her hand and plopped it into the dishwasher. “That’s okay. I should go and get some sleep anyway.”
She put her head on her husband’s shoulder and looked at him. “You scared away my helper. Now, you have to finish doing the dishes with me.”
He released his wife and stepped back before turning to me. “Don’t go, Olivia. Addison needs your help.”
I shook my head with a laugh. “Too late,” I said as I went and picked up my purse and pulled out my keys.
“I’d better get going, too,” Tommy said. “Olivia and I are going to head out early in the morning.”
Since when? “We are?”
“Yep, we are.”
“Okay.” That was fine by me.
Tommy plucked my keys out of my hand and set them on the counter. “Olivia and I will pick up your SUV and her car tomorrow.”
I made a sound of protest. “Why’d you do that?”
“Because we’ve both been drinking.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”
9
Tommy
I directed Olivia out the door, and once it closed behind us, she said, “I can drive. I’m not drunk.”
“It doesn’t mean you’re under the legal limit, and you literally just left the county sheriff’s house. Besides, it’s a beautiful night, and we don’t have that far to walk.”
Now that the sun had set, the temperature was perfect—not too hot and not too cold.
“But what about getting up early? If we drove, we could be in bed sooner.”
I immediately pictured us in bed…together. But that wasn’t what she meant.
“I just said that to get us out of there. You looked uncomfortable around Maddison’s PDA.”
She glanced at me and smiled. “Thanks, but no, I wasn’t uncomfortable. Jealous maybe but not uncomfortable.” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Sorry. I might not be drunk, but the wine is bringing out the honesty in me tonight.”
“No apologies needed. I think everyone gets lonely sometimes.”
“Even you?”
“Sure, even me.” More so now that I didn’t have my career to keep me busy.
We walked a few minutes, just enjoying the night while I tried not to keep glancing at her. She was cute tonight, all relaxed after an evening with friends. The alcohol probably didn’t hurt either.
“I have a question,” Olivia said.
“Okay.”
“How long were you and Maddox standing there when you came in from the backyard? How much did you hear? Or I guess, how much did Maddox hear? I’m going to be so embarrassed if he knows that I saw him having sex.”
“Only for a few seconds.”
She put her hand to her chest. “Whew.”
“But it doesn’t matter. He already knows.”
Olivia smacked my arm, stopping me. She turned to face me. “How the hell does he know? Did he see me watching?” She slapped her cheeks. “Oh my God, I can never face him again.”
“He didn’t see you.”
She dropped her arms. “Oh, thank God.” Her eyes narrowed at me. “So then, how does he know?”
I brought my hands up in surrender. “I didn’t tell him.”
“Then, he doesn’t know.” She shook her head at me and started walking again.
“You do know he’s married, right? Addison tells him everything.”
She clenched her fists. “Shit. You’re right.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “I guess that means, tomorrow, I’m driving myself back to Des Moines and never coming back.”
I laughed at her. “It’s not that bad.” I lifted a shoulder. “Besides, I know Maddox, and he’s not going to care if you saw him.”
“You can’t possibly know that,” she said, her voice full of skepticism.
“The dude has had sex while I was in the same room on multiple occasions, and vice versa. He’s even had sex when I was in the same bed.”
Her eyes bugged out at me.
“Not with me. Christ. Not that there’s anything wrong
