Page 29 of Compelling Urges

“You’re bleeding pretty badly, Bodhi. You might even need stitches.” She knelt and leaned over him to assess the damage to his calf, and Bodhi could feel the unwelcome heat of her body as she moved way too close to him for comfort. Her boobs were in danger of spilling out, and he realized her bikini bottom was barely more than a string that left her entire butt exposed. He might have enjoyed seeing something like this on Ivy—privately—but not in public onthiswoman.

“I’ll be fine.” He had no idea if he’d actually be fine—he just wanted her to get the fuck away from him. Bodhi sat up and collided with her upper body, causing him to have to grab her so she didn’t land in his lap. The last thing he wanted was for her to face-plant on his junk.

Just then Bodhi heard a much more welcome voice on his other side. “Are we interrupting something?” asked Cooper with a tiny bit of an edge to his voice. “Who’s your friend, Bodhi?”

Bodhi’s head whipped around to see not just Cooper, but also Ivy standing there. His outlook on life suddenly improved immeasurably. “Hey!” he cried happily as he jumped to his feet and then grimaced with the pain.

Looking down, Ivy exclaimed, “Bodhi! You’re bleeding all over the place. Did a shark bite you or something?” She was only half kidding as she slanted her eyes toward Tabitha.

Bodhi looked down at his leg finally and assessed the gash that started just below his knee. He had to agree with Tabitha that it might benefit from a few stitches—a couple of butterfly bandages at the very least and some antibiotic ointment. “I guess I ought to hit the drugstore and fix this up.” He looked at Cooper and added, “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t go out and surf with you now. Some asshole newb got in my way and lost his board. He’s lucky I didn’t run over him and kill the jerk by accident. The board flipped into me, and I caught the fin with my leg. Too bad I wasn’t wearing my long wetsuit. It may have protected me from getting sliced open.”

“Or it would have sliced through the wetsuit and your leg,” observed Ivy.

“Yeah, maybe,” agree Bodhi. He looked curiously at Ivy and asked, “It’s great to see you, but why are you here? I was just planning to surf with Cooper a while and then head home.” He was sorry to realize that Tabitha had also stood up and was inching toward him as though to take his arm. He stepped closer to his friends before she could latch on.

“We thought it would be fun to take you out to dinner after this somewhere in La Jolla, so I was just going to relax until you guys were done. We brought you clothes to change into, but now I think we need to get you fixed up before going anywhere.” She eyed Tabitha and then raised an eyebrow at Bodhi.

“I’m free tonight,” Tabitha piped up in a chirpy voice that grated on Bodhi’s ears. She batted her eyelashes at him as he stared at her. She turned to Cooper and said, “Hi, I’m Tabitha!” Squinting at him for a moment she asked, “Wait, don’t I know you?” Then she gasped and frowned, “I remember you. You’re that lawyer. I thought we had something going on, and then you never called me!”

Bodhi turned his attention to his friends and saw Cooper’s jaw clench and Ivy’s eyes look sad. Without any further thought, he grabbed Ivy and gave her a long, passionate kiss. As he kissed Ivy, he reached out to Cooper and grabbed his arm, drawing him closer to them. He quit kissing Ivy and immediately locked lips with Cooper. He felt Cooper’s body stiffen and then relax into the kiss, but when he pulled back, Cooper’s slack-jawed expression was one of total disbelief.

After blinking for a beat, Cooper whispered, “PDA on a public beach? Really?”

Bodhi winked at Cooper and then turned to Tabitha asking casually, “Are you into orgies?”

Tabitha’s face turned fifty shades of red and she cleared her throat. Then nothing came out. She was apparently speechless. Bodhi’s ears liked that idea.

“Yeah, it’s okay, we don’t really share anyway. Just thought I’d be polite,” he added with a smirk and a small shrug. Turning to Ivy and Cooper, he said, “Let’s hit the drugstore and then go grab some takeout. I’d rathereatat home.” He winked at Ivy. “If you know what I mean.”

Screwing up her courage, Tabitha said in a shaky voice, “Um… maybe I could…”

“No, you couldn’t,” Ivy stated in a no-nonsense voice. “They’re both mine. Let’s go, guys.” She waited for Bodhi to grab his board and latched onto his free hand, intending to lead the two men away from Tabitha.

Before walking away, Bodhi politely thanked Tabitha for trying to help him. Once they were out of earshot he chuckled. “Ivy, I love it that you got all cavewoman possessive about your men.”

“Ugh. How could you stand that… person—with her fake tan and her fake boobs and her fake hair? And that bikini she must have made out of dental floss?Look at me! Look at me! What a prize.”

“Hey, I had nothing to do with it. She glommed onto me. I think she’s another fortune hunter. Too bad I’m not as rich as all of these women seem to think I am.”

“Oh, I think they see more than your wallet,” observed Cooper with a smile. He seemed to be relaxing now that they were away from Tabitha’s clutches. He hadn’t wanted to think of Bodhi out on his own picking up random women.

“And you too, Cooper,” Ivy went on peevishly as if Bodhi hadn’t said a thing. “You went out with her? She obviously recognized you.” She gave a tiny shudder.

“I may have hooked up with her once back in my lonely, single days before you stole my heart and made me a monogamous man. What was her name? Tammy? Tally?” He looked at Bodhi.

“Something like that.” Bodhi shrugged. “And who says you’re monogamous? I think the word ‘polyamorous’ fits better. Anyway, she’s probably okay—just looking for some fun. I’m sorry I bled all over her bedspread. She was nice enough to try to help me, and I think I shocked her.” He laughed. “I met her earlier today and I’d already forgotten her.”

They found Bodhi’s car and got him cleaned up enough to drive, agreeing to meet over at the closest drugstore. Ivy called in an order for their food so they could get it on the way home.

Chapter 23

Back at home, they patched up Bodhi’s leg with butterfly bandages and then sat down to a delicious dinner. Several times Cooper asked if he could drive Bodhi to the ER to have his leg stitched up properly, but each time, Bodhi brushed him off, saying, “It’s just a big scratch,” or “I’ll be fine.” Eventually Cooper gave up.

Ivyasked, “So, Bodhi, if we hadn’t shown up, what were you planning to do with Miss Fakey-Fake?”

“I wasn’t planning on doing anything with her. I just needed to sit down for a minute, and she was watching me and dragged me over to her dry blanket. I’m not interested in hooking up, you know,” he eyed Ivy seriously. “I have all I can handle and more than enough to enjoy right here with the two of you.” He paused. “That is, unless you’re tired of having me in bed with you. I don’t want to mess up your engagement. I also don’t want to be booted out, so I’m in a rather precarious position with you right now.”

“So, are you looking for some kind of commitment from us?” she asked.

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