Page 67 of Toxic

Everyone nodded again.

I stared at them as though they’d all lost their minds. “I’m lost again,” I announced.

They all looked around and everyone ended up staring at Seek. She sighed. “Hush is going to kill me. Look. We all love andadore Toxic. But he’s done nothing but party and…” She paused and then shrugged. “Sleep around,” she continued, “since I’ve known him.”

“I figured,” I replied. “The sleeping around part anyway. The couple times I’ve gone places with him, women all but throw themselves at him.” I didn’t blame him for sleeping with other women. He was a gorgeous guy. Like he was going to turn down offers like that?

“Right,” Seek continued. “But he’s never made one his old lady.”

“That’s an interesting phrase,” I said, trying to distract them. I wasn’t ready for this conversation. Half of me thought it was too soon. He hadn’t even expressed interest in me like that. Other than sex. I knew he wanted that. Because I was a woman and nearby. But I doubted he liked me forme. And that was important.

“Nope,” Dani said, shaking a finger at me. “I’ll talk to you about that and any other biker questions you have later. For now, we’re talking about you and Toxic.”

I huffed out a breath. “Guys, there is no me and Toxic. He wants to sleep with me. Just like he apparently sleeps with most women.” I laughed to relieve some of the embarrassment. “And even if I did sleep with men I barely know, it’s not a good idea. There’s just too much going on with this company trying to steal my ranch.”

“That’s the thing though, Billie,” Seek said, ignoring the second half of my speech. “He hasn’t slept with another woman since he met you.”

“How would you know?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“The guys have been talking about it,” Jordan said with a laugh. “Not much happens with one of these guys without his brothers knowing about it. And of course, they can’t keep secrets from us, we have our methods.”

I took that in stride and said, “Well, yeah, but the ranch has been keeping him busy.”

They all looked at each other and seemed to come to some kind of decision.

“It’s not because of the ranch,” Seek told me. “It’s because of you.”

“She’s right, B,” Dani said. “Toxic doesn’t do anything out of obligation. Not that we’ve seen anyway.”

I frowned. “That can’t be right. What about the fact that he runs his family’s ranch up in Wyoming? Even if all he’s doing is the book work and the ordering and setting up cattle to be taken to auction,” I listed the items off on my fingers, “it’s still so much work. And that’s not even the majority of the logistics that have to be taken care of to run a ranch.”

“Wait,” Kit said, holding up her hand. “He runs it?”

“Are you sure his dad doesn’t?” Sloane asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” I shrugged. “He told me he runs that side of it and his cousin takes care of the physical stuff.”

They all looked at each other with shock written all over their faces. Then they started smiling like lunatics.

“What?” I asked, looking around at them.

“He’s already told you more about himself than us and we’ve known him for years,” Daisha told me.

“A lot of years for some of us,” Kit added.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, it does,” Jordan said with a laugh. “But you don’t know him that well yet so you don’t see the significance.”

“And despite Isla’s point,” Seek said, eyeing the assassin, “we don’t want you to just sleep with him. We’re hoping you’ll fall in love with him.”

“Jesus,” I choked out. “Why?” The question sounded more like a bullfrog croaking than anything.

“Because we love him and want him to be happy,” Sloane told me. “I’ve long suspected he’s just been filling his time with women and drinking because he’s been waiting.”

“For you,” Gwen added with a soft sigh.

I shook my head. “I doubt that. Look, I appreciate that you think I’m even good enough for your friend. That’s sweet. And trust me I’d…” Breaking off, I gathered the courage to tell this group something personal. “I’d love to be a part of this.” I waved at them. “A big family is something I’ve always wanted and never really had. You guys have made this huge extended family from each other and that really appeals to me. But I think you guys are wrong.”

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