One of the Guys Read online

  One of the Guys

  Shiloh Walker

  She waited until he put the bar down and sat up before she moved. She didn’t make a sound, she knew she hadn’t, but his head turned and for a brief moment there was a fiery heat burning in the depths of his gaze. Then he blinked and when he looked at her, his expression was shuttered.

  That blank look cracked as she lowered her hands to the robe’s belt. She didn’t say anything at first, just opened the robe and stood there as he looked at her. He stared at her breasts and she shuddered a little when he licked his lips. His big hands clenched into fists and under the thin cotton shorts, she could see the swelling of his cock. His gaze moved down her body. Jaynie had to fight not to jerk the robe closed when his gaze fastened on her sex. A muscle jerked in his jaw and Jaynie felt an answering throb deep inside.

  He wanted her. The relief that flooded her was unreal. It didn’t matter that he was probably just reacting to the physical stimulus of a woman standing naked in front of him. It was a basic, honest human reaction—a man wanting a woman. That was all she needed, to know that she hadn’t totally failed and that she could react. Men could want her and she could feel heat—she hadn’t frozen up.

  “I need you to touch me.”

  COPYRIGHT

  Published by Shiloh Walker

  One of The Guys © Shiloh Walker

  Initial Publication 2008

  Second Publication 2016

  Cover © Shiloh Walker

  Cover Design, Fonts from PicMonkey & Fotor

  Cover Image © Artem Furman via Bigstock Images

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you did not legally obtain a copy of this book, then you should purchase your own copy.

  Please note that if you purchased this from an auction site or blog, it’s stolen property. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Your support is what makes it possible for authors to continue to provide the stories you enjoy.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  ONE OF THE GUYS

  Shiloh Walker

  Complete and utter humiliation—that was what Jayne felt as she stood in the doorway watching her fiancé playing out his ménage fantasies with his best friend and the cute neighbor from across the street. Bad enough that the cute and sexy neighbor is the woman her fiancé clearly wants her to be, but now she finds the man she loves in bed with the woman. To add fuel to the flame, he later tells her that she couldn’t be a real woman if she tried.

  Humiliated and hurt, she’s hiding out at her best friend’s house and ends up coming across her friend’s older brother Brian. Brian…hot, sexy…also her partner from work. The last thing she needs is another complication, but she can’t think about that right now.

  The heat in his eyes, the desire she can see on his face—that is something she does need and she offers him one night, no strings.

  But one night of no strings turned into something neither of them could have counted on. Brian’s take-charge attitude in the bedroom and his oh, sexy, smile are getting to her.

  Friends all their lives, they’ve played together, now they work together. Faced with the most important question of all, Jaynie has to figure out…can they work together?

  Dedication

  For my family, always

  To all the loyal readers who supported me over the years.

  To my agent Elaine Spender of The Knight Agency.

  To the group at Inscribe Digital.

  PROLOGUE

  “Now that is one nice-looking ass.”

  With a smirk, Dean Albridge eyed his girlfriend as she stood on the other side of the room talking to a friend. Even though the apartment was packed with college students, Jaynie stood out. He’d had no trouble pointing his fiancée out to Landon.

  She’d actually made half an attempt to look decent, and, though he couldn’t call the plain white shorts and red tank top party attire, at least she wasn’t wearing the worn-out tees and shorts she preferred to wear when she wasn’t working.

  Next to him, Landon Mouser cupped his hands and pantomimed squeezing said ass. “So you think she’ll go for it?” Landon asked. He looked as if he was about ready to drool just thinking about it.

  Dean smiled, confident. “Yeah. She will. Jaynie will do pretty much anything I ask her.” It was one of her nicer attributes, well, aside from her ass. And her hair, shit, he loved that hair. And her tits—okay, all of her physical attributes. He just wished she wouldn’t spend so much time dressing like the tomboy she’d been when they had hooked up.

  Licking his lips in anticipation, he put his beer down and glanced at Landon. “Give me a few.”

  Landon, still focused on Jaynie’s ass, just nodded.

  “Exactly how drunk are you?” Jaynie asked and then she shook her head. “Never mind. Don’t answer that. Give me the keys. I’m ready to go home and you definitely need to go home.”

  Dean grabbed her wrist and jerked her up against him, bending down to kiss her. “Not drunk, baby. Come on, live a little.”

  Live a little?

  She rolled her eyes as he bent over and pressed his mouth to her neck. “I do live a little. Where in hell is this coming from anyway?”

  He palmed her ass and rubbed up against her. Even though his touch was enough to have her skin humming, Jaynie wasn’t about to do a bump and grind while they were surrounded by people.

  By no means was she shy, but she preferred to keep certain things private and sex was one of them. Shoving her hands between them, she forced a little bit of air between them. “Not here, baby. Come on, let’s go home.” She leaned and whispered in his ear, adding a promise that under normal circumstances would have Dean all but panting behind her as she led him away.

  Not this time. He caught her face in his hands and once more pressed his mouth to hers. “We can go upstairs, find an empty room…then you can do that. To both of us.”

  A little repulsed, Jaynie turned her face aside. “Both of you? I don’t think so.”

  Finally it seemed as if her sincerity penetrated Dean’s thick skull and he lifted his head and glared at her. “I don’t see what the big deal is. You read about this shit all the time.”

  “Yeah, and that’s fiction. I read fiction for entertainment. It doesn’t mean I want to do a three-way. For that matter, it doesn’t mean I want to get bitten by a vamp and hunt down some psycho that kills kids.” Jackass—he would find a way to bring her reading choices into this. “Look, Dean, I’m not interested in have a ménage with some drinking buddy.”

  He bent close once more and she planted her hands against his shoulders, this time pushing him as hard as she could. It was hard enough to make him stumble back a step or two and she took advantage of that to lengthen the distance between them. “I’m done,” she said, her voice rising. “Give me the keys so I can leave. You can find your own way home.”

  Dean’s lip curled in an ugly sneer. “You find your own way home, baby.” He looked her over from head to toe, an odd smile on his face. “You came here wanting to party, Jaynie. Remember that.”

  Then he turned and disappeared into the writhing mass of bodies. Jaynie was surrounded by noise, by bodies, by people she either didn’t know well—or at all. Her gut twisted into a series of nasty knots as she searched for a familiar face, half desperate to get home.

&n
bsp; She felt as if she wanted to scream or hit something. What the hell—she was in the mood to do both.

  But first, she had to get out of there.

  After fifteen minutes of trying to find the classmate she’d been talking to earlier, Jaynie gave up and searched for a phone. All she needed to do was get hold of Katie. Katie would come and get her.

  Except Katie either didn’t have her phone with her or she wasn’t answering. Finding a semi-empty spot in the hallway, she leaned back against the wall and folded her arms against her middle.

  She should have stayed at the small apartment she shared with Dean and just studied. But noooooo. When Dean had come in and pulled her away from her books, she’d been a little relieved. Finals were still a ways off, but Jaynie was determined to get “A”s in all of her courses, which meant nearly nonstop studying. On top of the class load she had this semester, it was killing her.

  But what she wouldn’t give to be back in the apartment, curled up on the chair with her books and a glass of wine spread around her.

  Well, she could at least have one of those things. The frat boys throwing the party were more into beer or the harder stuff, but she’d seen some empty chardonnay bottles earlier. Surely there was some left.

  After hiding in the hallway for ten minutes, she finally headed toward the kitchen. Halfway there, she discovered that there was at least a little bit of wine left. She ended up wearing some of it on her shirt as a pretty, petite blonde crashed into her.

  “Sorry!”

  Her shirt drenched and clinging to her, Jaynie forced a very fake smile. Through her teeth, she said, “No problem.” Not that she needed to bother. The girl was already gone.

  “Jaynie.”

  Dean’s voice was the last thing she wanted to hear just then. Plucking her damp shirt away from her chest, she didn’t look at him. “I’m going home, Dean. Just leave me the hell alone or you’ll regret it when you wake up bald tomorrow.”

  A warm hand curved over her shoulder, he bent and pressed his lips to her brow. “Come on, baby. I’m trying to apologize here. Won’t you look at me?”

  She did, and she saw that he had a glass of wine in his hand. Not quite ready to forgive him for being such a jerk, she didn’t grab the wine. She wanted to, though. Instead, she looked at his face and said, “I’m tired. It’s been a long-ass day and I want to go home.”

  He dipped his head. Jaynie averted her face so that he ended up kissing her cheek but he didn’t seem to mind. Dean wrapped an arm around her waist and gently pulled her closer. “I know, Jaynie. I’m sorry. Come on, let’s go sit down for a while so I can sober up and then I’ll drive you home.” He pushed the wine glass into her hand and said, “This is for you.”

  Jaynie almost pushed it away. Almost pushed him away. But then he nuzzled her neck and murmured, “I’m sorry, darling.”

  And like a moron, she forgave him.

  They ended up on a small section of couch, Dean in the corner with Jaynie on his lap while she drank the wine. He stroked her back up and down, watching her through heavy-lidded eyes. She almost told him he was wasting his time, looking at her like that. She was still pissed at him.

  She opened her mouth to tell him but then forgot what she was going to say. She took another drink of wine and then looked back at Dean. Only she saw two of him.

  Her gut churned and little black dots danced in front of her eyes.

  “Oh shit,” she mumbled. “My head.” She pressed a hand to her head and then somebody walking past the couch tripped. And for the second time, Jaynie ended up wearing a drink.

  This time it was an ice-cold margarita, so cold that, for a minute her mind cleared and she realized she was nauseated. Seriously nauseated. “Oh shit,” she said again. Her tongue felt thick, her throat felt weird and her belly was roiling.

  Her reflexes slowed, she pushed at Dean’s hand, lurched to her feet and stumbled away. Bathroom. Needed to get to the bathroom.

  Behind her, Dean grinned and pushed up off the couch. He met the gaze of somebody standing near the couch and as one, they fell into step behind Jaynie.

  She didn’t make it to the hallway and the elusive bathroom. She didn’t remember how far she made it because shortly after she shoved away from the couch, Jaynie’s memory of that night was little more than a surreal blur.

  But Brian Lasher wasn’t likely to ever forget.

  The last thing he’d felt like doing was hitting some frat party when he needed to be home studying for the boards. Eight years of schooling were hopefully about ready to pay off and he could start working at the clinic back home.

  He was going blind over study notes and mock board exams and his first instinct when a friend called him about the party has been a fat no. But he’d said yes.

  He still wasn’t sure why.

  Right now, though, he was damn glad he had. He stared at Jaynie Holmes and swore. He’d seen her a few minutes ago sitting on Dean the Dick’s lap and she’d looked fine.

  Now? Well, Brian’s patients weren’t going to be the two-legged kind, but he knew what a drugged woman looked like. Her pupils were huge and her eyes were so glassy, he doubted she saw him. Doubted she recognized him when he closed his arms over her upper arms and shook her.

  He called her name but the music was so loud, he barely heard himself. She swayed on her feet and cursing, Brian caught her and lifted her in his arms.

  Dean caught up with him on his way out the door.

  “Hey, Brian. Where in hell are you going?”

  He barely glanced at Dean. “To the hospital. She’s been drugged.”

  Dean laughed. “No, she hasn’t. She had a few too many glasses of wine. Said she wanted to go the bathroom before I take her home.” He moved to take Jaynie and Brian tightened his arms protectively.

  He could see her eyes, wide and dark in her pale face, and she shivered, rubbing her cheek against his chest. “She isn’t drunk. She’s drugged. If you can’t tell the difference, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.”

  Without sparing Dean another glance, he headed for his car.

  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Look for Other Titles by Shiloh

  About the Author

  CHAPTER ONE

  Sick with humiliation.

  Suddenly, the phrase made perfect sense to Jaynie Holmes. Bile churned in the back of her throat and she wasn’t sure if she would make it through the next sixty seconds without puking, but she couldn’t tear herself away.

  It was Dean Albridge, her supposed fiancé, and Landon Mouser, a friend of Dean’s that she’d always hated, and they were busy doing the dirty with Kit Austin. Kit Austin. Kit Austin. All three of them.

  Pretty, perfect and blonde, Kit had moved in across the street from them two months back. She had immediately starting putting the moves on Dean, but Jaynie hadn’t worried about it.

  After all, Dean loved her. They’d been together since high school, they were planning a wedding—sort of, and he’d never messed around on her. Jaynie trusted him. Jaynie loved him.

  Yeah, she knew that Dean had threesome fantasies. After all, that’s what had gotten them into a couple of fights in college, but since that night—her brain automatically shied away from the night back in college when somebody had slipped her a roofie. Although she hadn’t been hurt, she’d never gotten past the fear she’d felt when she woke up in the ER.

  It seemed as though that night had scared Dean as much as it scared her and he’d never mentioned his ménage fantasies again. She thought maybe he’d outgrown them. But now, staring at her bed while Dean and Landon tag-teamed Kit, she thought, Obviously not.

  Jaynie felt like a damn fool.

  Kit squealed—a kittenish little sound tha
t suited her nickname—and arched up against Dean’s tanned, muscled chest. Landon reached around from his position behind Kit and grabbed her too-perfect tits, squeezing.

  Jaynie couldn’t take another second. She dropped the pizza box she was holding and reached over to flip on the light. Part of her just wanted to run away and hide, but her pride demanded a little more. Scalping the bitch, and the two pricks, would have suited her fine but she wasn’t sure she could trust herself not to kill somebody.

  “Am I interrupting something?” she asked, smiling brittlely as the threesome looked her way.

  Kit gasped and her eyes widened dramatically. Jaynie saw through it, though. The deceptive little bitch had been planning this. She’d been hot for Dean since day one. Fine, he’s all yours, sugar, Jaynie thought, misery and rage swamping her.

  Landon hardly reacted at all. He flicked Jaynie a look but kept right on pumping away in Kit’s ass, his hips slapping against her, muttering under his breath and grunting—sounds that reminded Jaynie of a pig rooting for food.

  Jaynie stood there, her face flushed with anger. Bone tired from an early emergency, Jaynie had been looking forward to a long hot soak and a glass of wine. When Brian had offered to cover the rest of her shift for her, she’d been so grateful she could have kissed him.

  Exhausted, she’d wanted nothing more than to cuddle against Dean, eat some pizza and get to bed early. But now that weariness was forgotten, burned away in the heat of anger.

  The scrubs she had on were clean but no amount of washing could get rid of the bloodstains. Her feet were bare. The clothes didn’t matter though. Even in worn, messy clothes and bare feet, her hair tangled, she was still an amazingly beautiful woman. And always, Jaynie was completely unaware of how she looked, her face flushed with emotion and her green eyes glittering.

  Dean gaped at her and snapped his jaw closed. Jaynie could all but see the wheels spinning in his head as he scrambled for something to say. Through clenched teeth, she snapped, “Save it, pal.”