Tri-Tip: Grade-A Beefcakes Series - Book 3 Page 12

  Want More?

  Read a sneak peek from Porterhouse, book four in the Grade-A Beefcakes series.

  It might be the dead of winter in Raines, Montana, but Liam and Porter will keep Jill nice and warm.

  * * *

  Remember: With a Vanessa Vale book, one cowboy is never enough. In this smokin’ hot series, each heroine gets an extra helping (or two) of Grade-A Beefcake.

  Porterhouse

  JILL

  * * *

  I could hear my cell ringing from the depths of my purse, but I wasn’t taking my hands off the steering wheel to search for it, no matter how eager I was to answer. Not with the snow on the road. The latest few inches were fresh and the plows had been through, but they didn’t use salt or scrape all the way down to the pavement, so the streets of Raines were a hard crust of white until the spring thaw. And that wasn’t for a few more months.

  A spot on the street was easy to find and I pulled in and shut off the engine. I’d been in newer models that allowed a cell phone to sync into the dashboard for hands free calling, but that wasn’t something available in my older model SUV. It ran, had heat—which was great since it was close to zero—and it was mine free and clear.

  I dug through my purse, found the cell. I thought it might be Porter telling me he was running late because he was coming from work in Clayton, but it was Parker Drew instead.

  “You’re going to talk to them, right?” she asked, not bothering with a warm up ‘hello’. “No chickening out.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes. Tonight’s the night.”

  “You sound a little panicked.”

  “I am a little panicked,” I admitted. “I mean, why shouldn’t I be? It’s not that often a guy gets told he’s not enough, and that a woman wants him and his best friend.”

  “Neither of them is going to think that,” she countered.

  The butterflies in my stomach were telling me otherwise. “I hope not, but it’s a possibility I could end up with neither of them.”

  “Porter’s a Duke and having two guys claim one woman is a Duke thing. I mean, look at me.”

  “You’ve got three,” I corrected. She was dating—a very bland term for what she had going—Porter’s cousin, Gus Duke, as well as two other guys, Kemp and Poe.

  “You’ve been up front with them all along. It’s not like anyone can get away with dating two men at the same time on the sly in a town the size of Raines without them hearing about it.”

  I was dating Porter Duke and Liam O’Malley, the new sheriff of Raines County. Right from the start, I’d told them I wanted to keep things casual. Not exclusive. Well, I was exclusively dating the two of them, but not together. I’d been interested in both of them from the very beginning, but had no idea how to tell them that. I still didn’t, but tonight I was doing it anyway.

  “I work too much to do anything but take it slow,” I told her.

  I had the hots for Porter and Liam, and I’d wanted to get to know both of them. They’d been receptive to fun, easy dates and the fact that I was going out with the other. Over the past few months, I’d been out with them, separately, to dinner, gone hiking, even bowling. Both were charming, smart, successful men—sexy, too—and I wanted both. These past few months had only confirmed that. Parker and her men proved that I could have both Porter and Liam, that my heart didn’t have to settle. And she wasn’t the only one. Ava, who ran the Seed and Feed, was engaged to Colton and Tucker Duke. Two men.

  “Honey, glaciers move faster than you do,” Parker added.

  I frowned at her words, although she couldn’t see me. We’d been friends growing up, but had lost touch over the years. She’d moved back to town a few months ago to be the temporary sheriff and we’d reconnected. The fact that she’d been Liam’s boss for a few months before he was elected into the position, and the fact that she was also dating a Duke herself, made her think she was an expert on my dating life.

  “It’s one thing to casually date two guys at once, but I draw the line at sleeping with them at the same time,” I replied.

  “Unless it literally is at the same time.”

  My body heated at the idea of being the filling of a Liam and Porter sandwich. I’d fantasized about it, touched myself and climaxed at the mental picture of being in bed with the two virile men. One dark, the other fair. Big hands meant big dicks and I squirmed in my seat hoping I’d get to confirm that with them. Hopefully tonight.

  “Exactly. So that’s why we’re meeting at Cassidy’s, to tell them that I want to be with them. Together. Enough with casual dating.”

  “Good, because there’s no doubt those two have blue balls.”

  “You’re worried about them? What about me? Have you seen them? I’ve been dating two hotties and haven’t gotten more than kissed.”

  “That’s your own making,” she countered. “If you’d talked to them about this weeks ago, there’s no doubt in my mind you’d have gotten both of them in your bed by now.”

  I made a funny whimper sound. A mixture of worry, horniness and agreement.

  Parker laughed. “Fix it. I’ve seen the way they look at you. They are into you. Seriously. Give your vibrator a break and go for the real thing. Times two.”

  Times two sounded fabulous. I’d never been with two guys before. My technique in bed was pretty much limited to missionary and a few other non-Kama Sutra positions. Taking on two dicks at once was well beyond my experience level. But I wanted to go for it anyway. With Porter Duke and Liam O’Malley. I wanted it all with them.

  With the engine off, it was getting cold fast, but thoughts of being with those two kept me warm. Kissing them had been thrilling enough. And that had been on the mouth. What could they do to other places on my body?

  My phone chimed and I looked at the screen. Another call. I didn’t recognize the number.

  “I’ve got to go,” I told Parker.

  “Call me tomorrow. I want all the dirty details!”

  She hung up and I switched over to the other call.

  “Hello?”

  “Jillian Murphy?” The man’s voice was deep and one I didn’t recognize.

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “This is Bob at the Jumping Jack Pawn Shop in Clayton.”

  All the eagerness I’d had all day for my date with Porter and Liam was gone. I stared out the front windshield at the piles of snow at the curb, the way the bright lights of the businesses on Main Street looked inviting, even in such cold weather and the way it was dark so early. Especially Cassidy’s restaurant where I’d hoped to get something to eat after a long day at work—with really handsome company.

  Now? Knowing what the guy was going to say? It was going to be hard to be excited about anything. Any mention of my brother, Tommy, these days was all bad and somehow involved another mess for me to clean up. My appetite for greasy cheeseburger and fries was gone.

  “Yes, hi.” It was rude that I didn’t sound very excited to talk to Bob, but I couldn’t help it.

  “I’m guessing you know why I’m calling,” he replied.

  I leaned back against the head rest, closed my eyes. “What did my brother pawn today?”

  I held my breath.

  “A TV and a rhinestone brooch shaped like a butterfly.”

  My mother’s pin.

  I gripped the steering wheel with my free hand, so tight that my knuckles were white. I envisioned it being Tommy’s neck.

  “While you might want a chance to get your TV back, I figured I’d give you a call about the brooch.”

  We’d done this once before. Last year, Tommy had taken my mother’s silver tea set in and pawned it. I’d discovered it missing two days later when I’d been cleaning. I’d confronted Tommy about what he’d done and raced to the pawn shop in the hopes of getting it back. Fortunately, there wasn’t a big rush for tea sets and Bob had still had it in a display case. He’d been kind and sold it back to me at the amount he’d given Tommy. I had it hidden away now in the linen closet behin
d the sheets. It wasn’t like he ever changed his.

  While my twenty-year-old brother still technically lived with me in the house we’d grown up in, I rarely saw him. He’d never had any ambition to go to college. Hell, he’d barely finished high school. He had zero work ethic and held a minimum wage job with a now-familiar irregularity. Most of his time was spent at the casino off the highway.

  “Thank you,” I told the pawn broker. I was thankful.

  My anger morphed into sadness. Yes, the brooch meant something to me. Besides the house and this ancient car, there wasn’t too much left that had belonged to my mother and held sentimental value. I’d had to sell quite a bit to pay for the funeral expenses and I loved that brooch.

  I cleared my throat, but couldn’t say anything yet.

  “I’ll sit it in the back,” he continued. “If you want to come in, you can have it for what I gave your brother. Fifty dollars.”

  Fifty dollars. Tommy was giving away one of the last pieces of our mother for a measly fifty dollars. To do what? Gamble it away at the casino. The money was probably already gone.

  “Yes, I’d love it if you’d hold it for me. I can come in tomorrow.” I didn’t have extra cash before payday, especially for something like this, but I could take it out of the food budget. It seemed it would be PB&J until next Friday.

  I thanked him and ended the call.

  Glancing out the window again, I saw Porter walking toward me down the sidewalk. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. Big, like block out the sun kind of big. Unlike his cousin who was similarly sized and went into the pro rodeo circuit, Porter had gotten a football scholarship to college. He might have left those linebacker days behind him when he graduated and went to law school, but he hadn’t lost the size.

  His dark hair peeked out from beneath his cowboy hat and even from a distance, I could see his dimple. He’d seen me and was smiling. At me.

  God, I really liked him. No, it was a touch more than that. I was falling for him. Hard. I had a feeling he was right there with me. In fact, he wanted more of a commitment than I’d been willing to give. Not that I was a wait-for-marriage kind of gal, because I wasn’t.

  Glancing in the rearview mirror, I saw Liam O’Malley coming down the sidewalk from the other direction. God, my heart clenched at the sight of him as well. Laid back and easygoing, the blond had a quick smile and a generous nature. He also had pale eyes that looked at me with such heat that it ruined my panties.

  But since I’d been dating both men, I refused to do more than kiss either of them, but when the chemistry was off the charts, it was soooo hard. It wouldn’t be fair to do more with either one and it would feel like cheating. I didn’t want to string them along, but I wanted both of them. And tonight, things had to change. No more dating. No more casual.

  The men stopped in front of my car, stood shoulder to shoulder and looked at me. I gulped. This was the first time I’d seen them together. They were big, strong guys and they both wanted me. Hopefully, after our little chat, they would continue to do so.

  This was it. Two men. I wanted both of them. At the same time. And it was time to tell them.

  * * *

  Read Porterhouse now!

  About the Author

  Vanessa Vale is the USA Today Bestselling author of over 50 books, sexy romance novels, including her popular Bridgewater historical romance series and hot contemporary romances featuring unapologetic bad boys who don't just fall in love, they fall hard. When she's not writing, Vanessa savors the insanity of raising two boys and figuring out how many meals she can make with a pressure cooker. While she's not as skilled at social media as her kids, she loves to interact with readers.

  www.vanessavaleauthor.com

  facebook.com/vanessavaleauthor

  instagram.com/vanessa_vale_author

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