CHAPTER 16

I wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of me begging to be taken to his house and pleasured. Plus, I was a proper lady. Or at least I pretended to be at times. I could have dinner with him without humping his leg at the table. I had resolve and self-control. “Lead the way.”

He took my hand and pulled me after him into the diner. The place was packed for the dinner crowd, but Isaac managed to find a booth in the back for us. He sat down in the booth next to me and pressed into me. “So. This is dating.”

I laughed, despite myself. “I don’t like you very much.”

“I’ll grow on you.”

“Like a mold?”

He wrapped his arm around me and played with my hair. “If I have to. We really could’ve brought Hank, you know?”

I cut my eyes at him. “I thought we were going to your house to make burgers, if you know what I mean. I didn’t think he needed that trauma.”

“Make burgers?”

I elbowed him and ignored the blush forming on my face. “You suck and you’re having too much fun with this.”

A shadow fell over the table and I looked up to see Blake standing with a milkshake in his hand. He grinned, even as the blush on my face grew darker. My heart nearly quit working at the embarrassment of being in the same place as both of them.

“I saw you two come in and thought I might crash your date.”

Isaac nodded to the seat opposite us and grinned. “We were just talking about what we were going to order. I want a burger.”

I placed both hands on the tabletop and thought about what the consequences would be if I just ducked under the table and ran out of there. Seeing them so close together let me see more of their differences, but it was still almost uncanny how similar they were. My brain was struggling.

“Did Mallory tell you about work? She’s kind of amazing.” Blake smiled at me and took a sip of his shake before going on. “I know you’re severely underutilized in that role, but I’ll keep an eye out and see if anyone might need marketing work.”

“Same.” Isaac shrugged. “If I decide to open up the ranch for a weekend experience thing, I’ll hire you to do the marketing for it.”

I nodded and looked between the two of them. What was happening? I shifted in my seat and was saved from blurting out my thoughts by the waitress showing up.

“Blake, Isaac.” She looked at me, her kind eyes narrowing slightly as she tried to place me. “I don’t think I’ve met you before.”

“Mallory Russell. I’m new in town.” I sent her a kind smile, despite the turmoil banging around in my head.

“She’s Kara’s little sister.” Isaac tugged a lock of my hair and then stroked the side of my neck ever so gently, giving me goosebumps all over.

“And Kara let her little sister out with the two of you?” Grinning, the woman looked at me and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mallory. I’m Berna. Berna Jones. I run this place and have for about a hundred years. If these two give you any trouble, let me know.”

“You know we’re never any trouble, Berna.” Blake took another drink of his shake and winked at me. “Never the bad kind, anyway.”

“Lord. What do you three want? I can’t stay around this much testosterone for too long, or my body will think it’s interested in that again.”

I laughed and found myself grateful for Berna being there to break some of the tension I was feeling. We ordered, and then I couldn’t kick the giggles after Berna left. Everything just felt so outrageous.

“What’s so funny?”

I eyed Blake and then Isaac. “This. I feel like I’m on a date with the two of you.”

Isaac leaned into me and brushed his lips over my ear. “Berna seemed to think this much testosterone was tempting.”

I met Blake’s eyes and felt heat ripple through my body. I looked back at Isaac and sighed into him as he kissed me gently. Then, the drinks were being dropped off and Berna was making told-you-so noises. I sat back in my seat and tucked my hair behind my ears. What the fuck was happening?

I was a wreck. I was turned on; my body felt like it was running about a thousand degrees higher than it should’ve been. My heart was racing, and I had the curious feeling that something big was coming. I felt drunk, tipsy on the men at my table.

Berna was right about there being too much testosterone. It made it hard for a woman to process her thoughts very well. All I knew was that I’d been in Briar’s Point for less than a week and I already had a man kissing me like he’d been doing it for years. All while another watched and made eyes at me like he was in line for next.

“Um…” I looked between the two of them and raised my eyebrows. “What the fuck is going on?”

Blake chuckled and looked to his brother. “Isaac?”

Isaac took a long drink of his tea and then met my gaze. “Nothing that you don’t want. Except for the dates. I did kind of push that on you.”

“Nothing I don’t want? What do you mean?”

“We should probably have this conversation elsewhere.” Blake nodded to the table of people right behind us, and I noticed that the woman at the booth behind us was practically breaking her neck to get closer to us.

Isaac nodded. “We’ll talk tonight. For now, let’s enjoy our date. Let us get to know you better.”

I motioned between the three of us. “Our date?”

Blake stroked his beard and seemed to be lost in thought for a few seconds before meeting Isaac’s gaze. They seemed to communicate without words, and then Blake nodded and looked at me. “Only if you want it.”

A wash of shock rolled over me, but I was ashamed to admit that under the shock was a tidal wave of desire. I didn’t know what was going on with me, but what they seemed to be suggesting, what Blake had hinted at before on the phone, was that they would share. I didn’t know whether to be more flattered than I’d ever been in my life, or if I should let them know that I wasn’t a family-sized bucket of fried chicken to be passed back and forth.

I realized I’d been holding my breath and sucked in a huge gulp of air. I looked around the diner and then back at the oversized mountain men sitting with me. They were a walking, talking wet dream, and I was pretty sure my mind had conjured them, but I was a normal woman. A mom. I wasn’t someone who dated two men at the same time. I’d been a little wild before I’d had Hank but having sex with two brothers was not something I’d ever considered. Three brothers, if I counted the past.

I shifted again and squeezed my thighs together, searching for even the slightest bit of relief for my aching core. My body knew what it wanted. It liked the sound of both men pleasing me. It had no qualms.

Isaac rested his hand on my thigh under the table and leaned into me again. “Why don’t we go to my house and just talk? Would that help any?”

His warmth and the gentle way he handled me were exactly what I needed at that moment. When I nodded, he looked to Blake, and then Blake left the table, leaving us alone. Instantly, I worried I’d somehow given him the impression that I wanted Blake gone. I opened my mouth to protest, but Isaac’s smile cut me off.

“He’s just telling Berna we want our orders to go. Come on. We’ll meet him at the ranch.”