Page 83 of Unbridled

Dayne dried his hands off and offered the towel to Heath next, then turned and leaned back against the counter. “Ouch. One’s enough for me. Where do you fit in?”

“They’re all older than me and are now spread out around the country. All are also married with kids.”

It was Dayne’s turn to grimace.

“They drank the Kool-Aid.”

“What flavor?”

“The one that makes people think you can’t be happy unless you’re in a traditional marriage and popping out mini-mes.”

“I wonder how many of them are truly happy,” Dayne murmured.

His parents had seemed very happy in their traditional marriage. For some reason that hadn’t rubbed off on their children. At least for Dylan and him. Their mother still might be holding out hope for Danica.

Not that their mother cared about tradition. She only wanted her children to be happy, no matter who it was with. Or how many. She hardly blinked an eye when she found out about Dylan being in a polyamorous relationship.

“My sisters? None. However, they hide it well. But then, I was once in their shoes, too. Only, I didn’t have kids so it was easier to extract myself from a situation gone ugly.”

“I actually meant anyone in that situation. Not only your sisters,” Dayne clarified.

“My guess? Few. It’s like you see on social media. Everyone puts on a fake front, pretending their lives are so damn perfect. The perfect marriage. The perfect children. Theperfectlife.” Heath fake gagged.

“Yeah, like we don’t see the truth behind the wooden smiles and dead eyes. Not to mention, being forced to share a profile with their spouse.”

“Their eyes scream, ‘Help me!’”

Dayne laughed.

Heath hung the kitchen towel up to dry, then stepped toe-to-toe with Dayne, grabbing his hips and pulling him closer until they were pressed together. “We didn’t fuck on the trail this morning.”

Dayne cupped the back of Heath’s head and stared into his heated dark-brown eyes. “I was tempted. We can make up for it. Since it’s the weekend, I don’t have any official duties to attend to except to say hello to guests when I see them. Maybe we can make use of my big shower since we both need one.”

Heath leaned in andmmm’d against Dayne’s lips. “I like the sound of that. Hot water. Hot man. Accidentally dropping the soap…”

Before they could lock lips, a pounding on the front door interrupted them. “Idon’tlike the sound ofthat.” Dayne sighed and skirted around Heath to answer the door.

On the other side stood their Head of Security, Cameron. Of course, he wore his resort-issued security uniform of a red polo shirt and black pants that fit his physique perfectly. The torso-hugging short-sleeved shirt had the Double D logo embroidered over his right breast and his job title on the left.

All the red shirts provided to Cam’s team had large block lettering across the back stating they were “security.”

His employee was as hot as Heath. Dark eyes, dark hair, beard. His left arm was almost fully tatted. During his interview, Cam mentioned he’d wanted a full sleeve his whole adult life but couldn’t get it until he retired from the Pennsylvania State Police. Apparently, they had rules about tattoos.

“Sorry to barge in. We have a minor incident.” His brow furrowed. “Is Dylan around?”

What, was he chopped liver? “He’s in his wing. What’s going on?”

“A guest brought a pet with her.”

This was anincident? “Not a service animal?”

“No. It’s a little dog. She insists she isn’t a guest, though. When the guard sitting at the gate checked with the front desk, he found that she doesn’t have a reservation. So, he won’t let her in until we confirm who she is.”

Good call. “Did you try calling Dylan? You know we have these modern forms of communication called cell phones.”

“I tried a couple times. I even texted. He didn’t answer. Which is why I’m standing here.”

Dayne’s eyes sliced over to Dylan’s door off the kitchen. His brother probably had the same idea as he did about some after breakfast fun.

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