It wasn’t time to tell him just how much Dewayne wanted him in his life and why. I still needed to know that Tabby Falco hadn’t gotten those letters. I had to be sure she was unaware of Micah. Because as much as Dewayne believed his mother would never do this, I knew I had sent her letters. They had to have gone somewhere.

“Will Dewayne come back again one day to play?”

He wanted Dewayne to come back. It was in his hopeful expression. I was glad he had enjoyed his time with Dewayne. “Yes. Every Saturday morning Dewayne wants to hang out with you while I work.”

A bright smile lit up his face. “He does?”

I nodded, and Micah punched his fist into the air with a cheer and jumped down from the sofa. I watched as he ran off to his room. Our conversation was over now. Smiling, I stood up and went to fix myself a sandwich.

“You want lunch?” I asked him.

“Mac ’n’ cheese,” he called back.

“You’re gonna turn into mac ’n’ cheese,” I replied.

“Good! Then I’ll eat myself.”

Shaking my head, I laughed and fixed my son some mac ’n’ cheese.

DEWAYNE

If I went home tonight, I’d only think about shit. So I went out to Live Bay, where I knew I’d have friends. People to distract me. It was where some of us always showed up on weekends. Even my married-with-kids friends.

I sat back with a beer and watched as Krit Corbin sang while eye-fucking his girlfriend. It was like some strange turn in the universe. When Preston Drake had fallen in love with our best friend’s little sister, I’d thought he had lost his ever-loving mind. Now the Sea Breeze man whore and lead singer of Jackdown was completely f**ked over a girl. The world was going to shit.

“I love watching him watch her,” said Trisha, Krit’s older sister and Rock’s wife. Rock had also been one of my best friends since elementary school. Trisha had been a part of our lives since Rock had locked himself around her when we were seventeen. I had once made the mistake of asking if she had a magic pu**y. Rock had leveled my ass in one swing. I hadn’t even seen it coming.

I didn’t talk about Trisha’s pu**y again. Lesson learned.

“He’s f**king whipped,” I said before taking another swig of beer. I had a good thirty pounds of muscle on Krit, though I’d seen his ass go crazy once when he thought Blythe had left him. So I wasn’t talking about her pu**y in front of him. Dude would lose his shit, and I didn’t have that kind of energy.

“You’re so jaded,” said Trisha, who was sitting on her husband’s lap.

“Honest, sweetheart; I’m just brutally honest.”

Trisha rolled her eyes. “One day, Dewayne Falco, you will fall, and when you do I’m gonna enjoy the hell out of watching it.”

She was wrong about that, but I didn’t want to argue. I was trying not to smoke. If that shit did kill people, then I needed to save a few years. I had a nephew who needed me now. I hadn’t had that before. But motherfuck did I want a cigarette.

“We’re here! Sorry we’re late. Bliss was not in the mood to stay with a sitter tonight. Cage had to rock her to sleep first,” Eva York said as she sat her beautiful ass down on a stool beside me. She slapped my knee. “Hey, you,” she said with the smile that had been Cage York’s downfall. He’d taken one look at Eva, and the player once known as Cage York had transformed. Eva had that magic pu**y too. Only f**king explanation for that shit. Cage was a daddy now, and he was happy about it. You asked him about his baby girl and his face would go all soft and dreamy. Crazy shits. All of them.

I leaned over toward Eva and winked. “Just waiting on you to show up, sugar,” I told her in a low voice, just to piss Cage off. Dude was funny as shit when he went territorial on Eva’s hot ass.

“Fuck you, Dewayne,” Cage growled, and he pulled Eva onto his leg and nuzzled her neck as if they were horny and dating instead of married and parents.

“Amanda called and said she had the kids,” Eva said, giggling from Cage’s attention.

Trisha nodded. “Yep. Preston wanted the kids tonight, so we took them over there and came to hear Krit. I thought I might get to visit with Blythe, too, but he won’t let her out here. He’s keeping her back there with him. It’s why he keeps singing to someone offstage. He rarely takes his eyes off her.” The pleased sound in Trisha’s voice was hard to miss.

“I love that. They are adorable,” Eva said, looking up at the stage and at Krit Corbin singing to the woman no one could see offstage.

Cage slipped his hand over Eva’s stomach, and she laughed and tried to move away from his groping. He was getting a little carried away, which was normal.

“I’m all about watching, but I don’t know if that’s legal. Might wanna pour some cold water on him,” I said with a smirk.

Cage shot me an annoyed glare. “Jealous, Falco?”

I glanced over at the blonde who had been sending me flirty signals all night. She wasn’t dressed in much, and she had that look in her eyes. She was at the beach to party.

I crooked my finger at her, and that was all it took. She bounced her perky little ass over to me.

“Hey, sugar, you’re trying to get my attention pretty damn hard,” I said, sliding a hand around her waist. She snuggled up to me, and I could smell the beer on her breath. She was nice and lubed up. I cut my eyes at Cage. “New pu**y every damn night,” I whispered to him over the top of her head, then pulled her face to mine and took a taste.

“One day, Dewayne. One day,” Trisha said, but I ignored her taunting and enjoyed the willing young blonde in my arms. Her curves were nice, and her ass wasn’t as plump as I liked—I grabbed it with one of my hands—but she would do.

“How old are you?” I asked before taking a bite of her neck.

“Nineteen,” she breathed. She looked nineteen and she felt nineteen. I’d require an ID before I stuck my dick in her, but I believed her. That was enough for now.

“You good with that mouth?” I asked her, slipping my hand farther over her ass until my fingers touched her crotch. The whoosh of breath that came out of her told me she was ready.

“I can be good at anything you want me to be,” she said breathlessly.

I liked this one. “Then sit that sweet ass on my leg and let me visit with my friends,” I told her. As I reached for my beer she did exactly as I told her. She was like all of them, the beauties who came to the beach looking for a good time. A good time they could leave behind here in Sea Breeze once they went back to their lives. I was more than happy to give them a memory to take back with them.

I just had two rules. Never at my place. I didn’t f**k them at my place. And never overnight. We f**ked, and if it was good, we f**ked a couple of times. Then I left. It was over. I didn’t even need their names.

Relationships took too much thought. They took time. They took a shitload of stuff I didn’t want to give. Sure, I got why each of my friends had fallen under his woman’s spell. They each picked beauties with something more than a nice pair of tits. They had the whole package, and I was happy for them. I just didn’t f**king want to be them.

“You hear that, Dewayne? I expected a snide comment,” Rock said, breaking into my thoughts. My hand had made its way between the blonde’s legs, and I was busy working her up while I made her sit here.

“Jess is pregnant,” Trisha said with a look of pride.

Jess was Rock’s cousin, and once she’d been one sweet little piece of tail. Then she’d run off with a rock star’s brother. He’d fallen in love with her and taken her from her life here and changed everything for her. I wouldn’t admit it, but I was happy for her. She had a good heart, and I used to worry she was going to end up giving it to Krit, who would never be faithful to her. But he wasn’t owned by her, and I didn’t think he could be faithful—until he’d met Blythe.

“Jess as a momma,” I said, then laughed. That was hard to picture. The girl had the body of a f**king  p**n  star, and before Jason Stone had walked into her life, she’d used that body to bring men to their knees.

The girl in my lap let out a soft moan, and I remembered I had my hand up her skirt, playing around. I better get her out to the truck. That was as far as we were gonna make it. I wasn’t in the mood to go back to this one’s hotel room.

“Looks like I got to go put out a fire. I’ll see y’all later,” I said, standing up. I took the girl by the h*ps and moved her through the crowd.

“You wet, sugar?” I asked as I pushed her out the door and into the cool night air.

She nodded and looked up at me with hooded eyes. Problem was, I wasn’t in the mood to f**k. I hadn’t f**ked in two weeks. Not since I’d been informed that I had a nephew. It had screwed with my head, and I couldn’t focus on anything else. Not even the very willing woman in my arms. I’d worked her up, though, and I needed to fix that.

“My truck,” I told her, and led her back there and pushed her up against it, then slipped my hands back up the tiny skirt she was wearing and fingered her very wet and hot cunt while she bucked against my hand.

This should be turning me on. Having one so willing to take me. But it wasn’t. Not in the least. I felt like I was doing a job. Fuck this. I needed her to come so I could go home and get a shower.

“Come for me, sugar. Come all over my hand,” I said in her ear, knowing words could push a horny woman over the edge. Sure enough, that’s all it took. She trembled and cried out as she held on to my arms. When I was sure she was done, I pulled my hand out, then wiped it casually on her skirt. I didn’t want her scent on me. I needed the damn hand sanitizer in my truck.

She looked up at me with dreamy eyes. At least she’d gotten some pleasure out of it. I, however, was done for the night. “Go on back in, sugar. I’ll watch you from here to make sure you make it in safe.”

Her pleased smile slowly turned into a frown as she stared up at me. “What about you?”

What about me? I’d given her a f**king orgasm and let her come all over my damn hand. I was going home. That was all I had tonight. “I’m headed home. You head on back inside and find your friends,” I told her, then gave her a gentle push toward the door. She stumbled, then glanced back at me with a frustrated scowl.

“Didn’t promise you a f**k, babe. You were hot and bothered, and I gave you a release. I’m not interested in more. Go on along now,” I told her.

That seemed to be enough of a slap to her ego. Her back snapped straight, and she swung her head around and stalked off.

Good. Now I could go home and shower her off me.

SIENNA

I hadn’t told Micah about the Falcos tonight. I still needed to make sure Tabby Falco hadn’t received those letters. We had watched Star Wars: Episode III (which was my favorite) and eaten two bags of popcorn. When I’d tucked him into bed, he hadn’t even stirred. He’d had a long day.

After my long soak in the tub I crawled into bed. It was nice to be back in my bed. I had good memories of home. Before . . . before I’d lost Dustin. I didn’t let myself think about the bad. I didn’t let myself wonder why Dustin had gotten drunk and driven his car into a tree only hours after we had had sex in that exact same car. Whenever he’d driven me, he had been so careful. He was always taking care of me. Protecting me.

My phone started ringing. I reached over and grabbed it to see Dewayne’s name on the screen. Why would he be calling me at midnight on a Saturday?

“Hello?” I said, almost expecting this to be a pocket dial.

“Hey.” Dewayne’s deep voice came over the line, and my lady parts woke up with that one word. Crap! What was wrong with me? I hadn’t had sex in . . . well . . . since Dustin. And what I remembered from sex was not good. The pleasure I could bring myself in bed at night all alone wasn’t a feeling I’d ever experienced with Dustin.