Jodi Redford - The Naughty List

Rolling onto her side, she stared at the list she’d created on her laptop. She started to hit the delete button, but the mocking voice paid a return visit to her head.

Goody-goody two shoes. That’s all you’ll ever be.

Gritting her teeth, Lacey hit save. Just to prove that her inner tormenter had her pegged all wrong, she sent a copy of the file to her work email so she could add to the list tomorrow.

“That’s right. Who’s the damn goody-goody now?” A spark of triumph banishing her earlier glumness, she logged off and returned the laptop to her dresser before flicking off the lights. As she climbed back into bed, one certainty flashed through her mind.

Tomorrow would be the first day of a new and naughty Lacey.

Bram pulled into his parking space outside the Dockside mere seconds before Ry’s Ford F-250 slid to a stop in the adjacent slot. Surprisingly, Lacey wasn’t there yet. Usually she beat them to the clock every morning. Then again, she’d had a rough day yesterday. The reminder of the role Olivia played in it made Bram see red all over again.

He knew part of the reason Olivia had been such an insensitive bitch was because she’d always been jealous of the tight friendship he and Lacey shared. One night when she’d gotten stupid drunk, Olivia had slurred accusations about Lacey lusting after him. God, if only Olivia knew the truth. The only one guilty of a major case of lust was him. For Lacey.

Sometimes he wondered if he hadn’t made a huge mistake agreeing to the pact with Ry about keeping their distance. With the bombshell Lacey dropped yesterday about dating again, this more than qualified as one of those times. How could he stand by and not do everything in his power to convince her to make him one of her eligible candidates?

There’d been more than one occasion when he’d debated the wisdom of him and Ry not just pouring their hearts out to Lacey and letting her decide if she could see herself with one of them. Yeah, it’d kill him if she picked Ry. But eventually one day he’d get over her, right?

Sure, maybe in my next lifetime. Blowing out a heavy breath, he cracked open the door of his Subaru Outback. An arctic blast buffeted the side of the vehicle, making the door rattle in his grip. Concerned the gust might decide to take off with part of his car, he clambered out and slammed the door shut. He reached the Dockside’s entrance just as Ry did. Bram wedged his key in the lock and pushed the door open. He let Ry take care of hitting the lights in the main section of the restaurant and went to check things in the kitchen. The astringent smell of disinfectant and industrial-grade floor cleaner announced that the janitorial crew had been through and worked their magic. A note was taped to the cooler door. More than likely the supply list from Kevin, the head chef.

Bram strode to the cooler and grabbed the note. He’d give it to Lacey so she could add the items onto their weekly shopping list.

The reminder of Lacey brought his thoughts spinning back around to her adamancy about dating again. Yeah, wanting to keep her safely out of reach of some faceless dude certainly made him a selfish bastard. She deserved to find her happily ever after.

He wished to hell it would be with him.

His fist tightening on Kevin’s note, Bram stalked toward the office he shared with Ry. The lights were already on and Ry was busy clearing some boxes of ornaments off his desk. Bram tossed the list on top of a stack of unopened mail and stared at the back of Ry’s head. “We can’t let her do it.”

“What choice do we have?”

It came as no surprise to Bram that Ry knew precisely who and what he’d been referring to. When it came to Lacey, they’d always been of the same mind. Well, mostly. “We can damn well tell her how we feel.”

Ry pivoted toward him, his eyes hot and his features haggard. He looked like shit. Probably hadn’t slept an iota last night. That made two of them. Ry slammed his arms over his chest. “Brilliant idea, Colton. I’m sure she’d love having to choose between her two best friends. Assuming she’d want either one of our asses.”

“True, but what if she ends up dating another dickwad like Dan? Are we supposed to stand by and let her get hurt all over again?”

Ry glared at him, obviously pissed by the question. “You damn well know I’d cut off my own arm before letting that happen.”

“There’s an easier, less drastic option than that.”

“We’re not making her choose.” Ry bit off each word with deadly precision.

In the back of his mind, he knew Ry was right. It wouldn’t be fair to foist that kind of decision on Lacey. And he valued her friendship too much to risk losing it. Still, the idea of watching her with another guy—someone who wasn’t him—made him sick inside. “It’s killing me, man.”

“I know.”

He stared Ry down, knowing full well that the anguished frustration in his best friend’s eyes was a match to his own. “So what do we do?”

“We support Lacey. Be there for her.” Ry sat down in his chair and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s what we’ve always done and will keep on doing.”

Having no argument for that, Bram cleared a path to his own desk and powered up his computer. He slid Ry another look. “For what it’s worth, if she did choose you, I’d be okay with it.”

Ry cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”

Despite the heaviness in his heart, Bram grinned. “Well, first I’d wipe the floor with your ass, but yeah, eventually I’d come to grips with it.”

Ry was quiet for a moment. He gazed at his keyboard, his dark eyebrows slashed low. “Guess if I had to step aside for anyone, I’d prefer it to be you.” He fiddled with his mouse. “But don’t go getting any ideas. Our traps are staying shut, understood?”

“Fuck, you’re a stubborn asshole.” Grumbling, Bram clicked on his email icon. He nearly groaned when he saw the number of new messages waiting for him. “How is it humanly possible to get two hundred new emails overnight?”

Ry grunted. “Bet you twenty bucks half of them are from internet porn sites.”

Bram chuckled. “Nah. I use my personal webmail for that shit.” He turned his head in time to catch Ry rolling his eyes. Returning his focus to the screen, Bram scanned down the column. “Ah damn. Maybe I spoke too soon. There’s one here called The Naughty List.” He moved the cursor to the delete button. Just as he was about to click it, he noticed who the sender was. “Wait, nope. It’s from Lacey.”

“She sent you something called The Naughty List?” There was no mistaking the disbelief in Ry’s voice.

“Yeah. Looks like she forwarded it from her home email. Must be a dirty joke or something.”

“From Lacey?”

Bram mentally tracked back to the reaction she’d given to his joke a couple days ago about the two hunters and the porcupine. “Okay. Probably not.” No longer able to contain his curiosity, he opened the file attachment and waited for it to download. Once it did and he read the top line, he choked on a stunted cough.

“What?” Ry demanded. “Is it a dirty joke? No fucking way.”

“Uh, not exactly.” Blinking a few times, Bram continued to the next numbered line. What he saw there made his mouth go drier than the Sahara. “What. The. Fuck?”

The casters on Ry’s chair creaked as he pushed to his feet. “Obviously I’ve got to check out whatever it is.”

Bram spared him the briefest glance. “Yeah. You do.” By the time Ry reached his side, Bram had read down to number five. Shock might have numbed his brain, but his cock was hard as a damn baseball bat. After a few seconds of rapt silence, a colorful swear word sprang from Ry. Bram shot him a glance. “Which one are you on?”

“Three.”

“Oh yeah. That one’s good. But wait until you get to…” He broke off as he suddenly picked out his and Ry’s names down toward the bottom of the list. His pulse speeding up, he concentrated his attention on that particular bulleted line. It took three times of reading it over to convince himself his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. Once the reality seeped into his brain, his heart hammered so hard, he actually felt a little woozy. It was tempting to pinch himself and verify that he wasn’t dreaming. Or trapped in some alternate dimension. Beside him, Ry was frozen like a statue. It didn’t take much to figure out that he’d finished the entire list too. Bram swallowed. Hard. “She wants to have a threesome. With you and me.”

Ry’s jaw worked but no words immediately sprang free. He cleared his throat. “There is no fucking way Lacey sent this.”

“Dude, it’s from her personal email.”

“A hacker?”

He gave Ry a dry look. “One who’d know to add your and my names? Not to mention the sex club?”

Ry scowled. “How the hell does Lacey know about that?”

He shrugged. “Damned if I know.”

Ry combed his fingers through his hair, his hand unsteady. “I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.”

“Buddy, that makes two of us.” He returned his attention to the monitor. It was insane—the notion that the whole time he and Ry had been lusting after Lacey, she’d been engaged in some pretty raunchy thoughts herself. About them. Holy shit. Like a moth drawn to fire, he visually devoured the last line again. His cock thickened even more. “What are we going to do about it?”

Ry’s gaze jumped to him. “What do you mean what are we going to do about it? Nothing, goddamn it.”

“We’ve done it before. With that woman a few years ago at the club.” Just the reminder of the night in question made Bram’s cock bob against his fly. He’d participated in a few threesomes before that incident, and even one afterwards, but none of them came remotely close to rocking his world like that night. It wasn’t that he was secretly gay for Ry or anything. Hell, handling any cock other than his own wasn’t his idea of a good time, but there was no denying that sharing a woman with Ry had been mind blowing.

“That’s different. Neither of us was in love with that woman.”

“Yet it was still hot and amazing.”

A muscle ticked in Ry’s jaw. “Your point is?”

“Imagine what it would be like with Lacey, since we do love her. It’d be out of this fucking world.”

“She’s not someone to just play around with.”

Bram bit back a growl. “You think I don’t know that? I’m not suggesting anything that she obviously doesn’t already want.” He waved his hand toward the computer. Indecision warred in Ry’s eyes. Bram knew when to push his advantage. “Don’t you see what this means? It’s our shot at both of us being with her. She wouldn’t have to choose.”

“You honestly would be fine with Lacey fucking us both?”

Fine? The mental picture of being buried in Lacey’s pussy while Ry shafted her ass had Bram so damn hard, he was seconds away from coming in his pants. “Yes. Aren’t you?”

Tension bracketed Ry’s mouth. “I don’t know.”

Desperation clawed at Bram’s chest. He had to make Ry see reason. To believe this could work. He tapped his finger on the computer screen and read out loud, “I’d have someone blindfold me before tying me up and fucking me.”

The muscle twitching grew more pronounced in Ry’s jaw, and his nostrils flared. Bram knew he had his best friend by the short hairs. “Tell me you don’t want to be the one doing that to her.”

“Damn it. Of course I do.” The gruffness in Ry’s voice didn’t mask the underlying hunger in his tone.

“Then I think our mission is clear.” Bram gave a slow, triumphant smile. “This Christmas, we’re helping Lacey check off every item on her Naughty List.”

It wasn’t her alarm clock that snapped Lacey from a deep snooze, but rather the loud, obnoxious droning of her next-door neighbor’s snow blower. Groaning, she rolled onto her back and winced as tiny pinpricks of pain lanced her temples. Oh man. Having that extra half a glass of wine had been a huge mistake.

Cautiously pulling her hand away from her eyes, she peered toward the window, where she could make out flurries of snow whipping against the glass.

What time was it, anyway?

Careful not to wrench her neck, she glanced toward the alarm clock on the nightstand. And yelped when she read the display. Nine a.m.! Why didn’t the damn alarm go off? Not wasting time to investigate the cause, she jumped out of bed and scurried into the bathroom. She wasn’t one of those business owners who catered to the idea of rolling into work whenever she pleased. She believed in setting a good example for the employees. In return, she liked to think they respected her work ethics. Quickly disrobing, she hopped into the shower. And promptly got pelted in the head with the bottle of shampoo that insisted on falling out of the caddy.