Mike awakened to discover a naked bottom pressed against his bare stomach. It didn't make sense. How could the arm draped across his hip from behind belong to that butt? The woman would have to be a pretzel. And what was tickling his back? Nipples? He slit open a single eye and quickly closed it again. In a fraction of a second he'd seen naked parts of female anatomy everywhere.
"Looks like Prince Charming is finally awake," a heated voice said.
Mike opened his eyes to see a familiar face, an angry one.
"Don't bother. You probably don't know my name," she said as he stared at her. "I'm Bev Wells and these naked women in bed with you are my friends. You, however, are a damned intrusion in our lives. I don't trust you any farther than I can throw you."
"What did I ever do to you?" Mike whispered between clenched teeth.
His head hurt like hell, his mouth tasted like horse shit and, as the naked, little ass rubbed against his stomach, his cock started to grow, trying to cop a feel. He moved his hand, at first to stop the too-friendly infringement he was certain would be unwelcome, but once he touched the tightly muscled and perfect woman's bottom, he couldn't resist resting his hand there. Just for a while.
"You did this." The woman named Bev waved a piece of paper in the air with dramatic feminine flair he could do without so early in the morning.
Behind him, the nipples started to stir. The woman rubbed her big breasts into him, making his cock rock hard in spite of the bizarre circumstances. So hard, he was now buried against the crack of the tight bottom in front of him.
Mike tried to keep his cool.
Just when he started to relax, however, the woman in front of him moved and he nearly impaled her. The warm moisture of her soft nest was like a homing device.
Bev stepped closer. "You don't recognize this?"
With his cock about to take the plunge he couldn't see anything. "I've never seen it before in my life."
One of the naked women groaned and another gasped. What was the damned paper? Why weren't they more worried about being in varying states of nakedness in the same room together? How many were there? And how the hell could he stop his damned cock?!
"Your name is on here. And so is the name of one of the naked women in your bed."
"What's going on, Bev?" came a voice from beside the bed.
"He doesn't remember."
"Remember what?" a woman at his feet asked.
He moved a toe and connected with skin.
"Paula, stay out of it. You were so drunk last night, you probably wouldn't remember your own name. It's a frigging marriage certificate and this moron can't remember signing his name to it."
Suddenly, Mike was wide awake and sober as all hell. "My name is on there? A marriage certificate?" He reached out to grab it.
"Ah, ah, ah," she said, lifting it high above her head, away from his reach. "Give the man a cigar. It says Michael Kale right here." She lowered the paper and pointed at it to emphasize her point.
"Who did I marry?"
Bev scowled at him and didn't answer. "I don't think I'll tell you. Connie, do you want to tell him?"
The big-breasted woman behind him sat up and reached for the covers. "I want to kick him in the balls right now."
Connie? Connie Kettering? Please, don't let it be her! Mike was a dead cowboy if he so much as touched her. Nipples poking against his back definitely qualified as touching. God only knows what would happen if she was the one he'd married.
"That's a 'no' from Connie." Bev held up a single finger, like she about to take a count. "Kresley, do you think we should tell him?
The nice ass against his stomach moved a fraction nearer and he could feel the start of penetration--so unbelievably hot and tight. His breathing ratcheted and he started to sweat. No way did he want to be doing this in front of all of them. His cock, however, had no shame. Then as if he'd burned her, she jerked away, throwing the covers off for everyone to see Mr. Ready. "I think he'll rot in hell before I'll tell him."
Kresley? Kresley Hansen? He'd almost... Kresley?
Bev nodded and raised a second finger. "That's a definite no from Kresley. Paula?"
Mike had a finger he could raise, too.
Paula was too busy staring at his cock to answer. He reached for something to cover the damned thing. Nothing. Hands? Maybe, as a last resort.
"Paula?"
"I say whatever you guys say."
"Paula says no. That leaves the twins. Zandra, Zoe, what do you two say?"
But Mike was too busy still thinking about the naked butt. Kresley Hansen. Why did it have to be her? But it made perfect sense she'd be willing to fuck him in front of her friends.
"This is wrong. What kind of man doesn't remember his own wife?" A naked woman on the floor had stood to speak. "I vote no."
Mike had to look away, just in case she wasn't his wife. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another naked body stand. They were coming out of the woodwork. And speaking of wood... Mike attempted to cover himself with his hands and heard one of the women huff.
"Maybe he has amnesia. Connie, you did knock him down the stairs."
"I didn't push him. Zoe, you tripped him. I only patted him on the ass."
"Liar, liar! You've never touched a man's ass. You'd sooner sock them in the gut."
"Leave Connie alone," Bev insisted with three fingers in the air. "I need a yes or no, Zoe."
"I have to vote no."
"Zandra and Zoe both vote no. It's unanimous, cowboy. None of us are going to spill the beans. You'll have to find out for yourself who you married."
Bev turned her back on him and started for the door. Suddenly, all of them were grabbing for blankets and sheets to cover their naked bodies as they made their way out of the room. He started to count. Six. Six naked women.
"Wait," he called.
Kresley Hansen pulled her knees up under her chin and hugged her legs as she listened to Connie rant.
"I wish one of us had gone to medical school to become a shrink. I think there must be some deep-seated psychological reason you married him. Maybe you're hiding from something. Maybe Mike Kale is a way to make your parents notice you."
"Maybe I was just drunk, plain and simple," Kresley said, trying to understand it herself.
"What are we going to do?" Bev asked. "Your parents are going to kill you. Isn't there bad blood between your family and Mike's?"
"All I know is the Kale name is never mentioned in our house, even though two of my brothers compete against the Kale's. Since my brother Steve, and Ray Kale are both on the pro circuit, it's hard not to notice the tension. It's all a big mystery. But they never tell me anything since I'm the baby of the family."
"Mike is the youngest of four boys, just like you're the youngest." Connie sounded like a detective. "This is like Romeo and Juliet. Except they loved each other. I can't figure what's between you and Mike."
Kresley really didn't have a clue why she'd married Mike, other than the fact he was the first boy she'd kissed. And I've never kissed anyone--ever--who kisses as good as he does. How pitiful was that? She was fifteen when she kissed him and hadn't found anyone who kissed better since.
"Connie, you're right. I need a shrink. Where's the Yellow Pages? This all started when we were fifteen."
Connie threw her hands into the air. "Don't you dare bring that up. You know I can't handle it."
Bev sat down next to Kresley on the bed and looped her arm over Kresley's shoulder. Paula's eyes were as big as saucers and it seemed like she wanted to cry. Poor Paula hated confrontations. Zandra and Zoe were in front of the mirror working on their make-up, oblivious to the emotional upheaval Kresley was experiencing.
"Remember when we were fifteen and the three of us were at a rodeo in Flagstaff?" Kresley asked.
Bev nodded. "I'll never forget it as long as I live."
"I'm sorry, Connie." Kresley didn't want to be the one bringing it up, but it was long past time someone did. "I know we made a pact not to talk about it."
Connie turned away, suddenly interested in the twins. Yeah, right. Connie hated to wear make-up. Kresley felt like a first-class jerk for making her friend think about that night.
"Before the evening went to hell in a hand-basket, remember how I sneaked into the tent where the older kids were playing spin the bottle to get my first kiss? It was Mike Kale I kissed. And we never talked about it because of what happened to Connie that night."
Everyone, even the twins, turned to stare expectantly at Connie. The twins and Paula hadn't been around back then--the night Connie was raped--and had no idea what had happened to their friend.
The last thing Kresley wanted was to upset Connie, but she needed to talk about why she'd always internally obsessed about Mike Kale. "Mike didn't know he'd kissed a fifteen-year-old. He'd have been livid. But I knew I'd kissed him and I don't think I ever got over it. And to make matters worse, I couldn't talk about it since..."
Connie's eyes started to glaze over. "We were stupid messing with the older crowd," she said before heading to the bathroom.
Kresley wished they could talk about what had happened that fateful night and get it out in the open. Not once in the following seven years had they discussed it.
Bev cleared her throat. "So who's going first? Which one of us is ready to make the man suffer for not remembering he married our Kresley?"
"I don't know if I want to do this," Kresley said. "We were all drunk but we still should've known better."
Bev nodded in agreement. "And Connie's idea of an old-fashioned shivaree was insane. All of us need to have our heads examined for going along with it--"
"I don't know," Zoe interrupted. "I think it'll make a great story to tell the grandkids. The night Grandpa went to bed with six naked women and woke up married to Grandma."
"This is all too much drama," Kresley insisted. "Besides, a shivaree is not naked women sharing my wedding bed. It's clanging pots and pans, or some such nonsense, in a noisy mock serenade while the married couple is trying to get frisky. You guys certainly made sure that didn't happen."
"Thinking of sex is what got you married in the first place," Bev said. "We were only trying to protect you. However, if you already have cold feet, you need to go first with him. I'll call and set it up." Bev reached for the phone and dialed Kresley's room.
"What took you so long to answer?" Bev snapped, uncharacteristically, into the phone.
This had to be hard on mild-mannered Bev who took her responsibility as a friend so seriously.
Bev covered the mouthpiece. "He says he was in the shower." She put her mouth back to the receiver. "We drew straws and Kresley is first. What are you doing tonight?" Bev listened in silence, while Kresley mentally squirmed.
"Pick her up before you go. You know the room number. You're in her room now. And don't go out the door next to the bed where we all went earlier. That one leads to the family suite. You don't want to risk one of Kresley's brothers thinking you defiled his little sister."
Bev listened in silence for a second time, tapping a perfectly French-manicured fingernail against her front teeth. When she dropped the receiver onto the phone, Kresley jumped.
"You're going to Brett and Alicia's wedding tonight with him, but he also wants to see all of us at lunchtime, if we can make it. The restaurant across from the rodeo."
"He wants to see us all?" Kresley moaned. "I don't know why we're even bothering. I'll probably just end up getting an annulment."
"Probably? I don't want to hear it." Connie came out of the bathroom, her face blotchy from crying. "I'm serious, Kresley. We've been friends since we were six. I've never seen you do a single impulsive thing--not once in your life. If you married him, even drunk, you wanted to marry him. We just have to figure out why. I'm sick and tired of you being as big a chicken as I am where romance is concerned. It's my fault."
"Let's get some breakfast," Bev suggested, probably trying to distract everyone from where the conversation was headed. "This is going to be a long day. It's safe to go back to your room, Kresley. He said he was on his way out. Everyone get dressed and we'll meet downstairs at the buffet."
Kresley walked to the elevator after leaving Connie at her room. The Hansens had a suite of penthouse rooms, mostly because the Vegas hotels catered to her big brother, professional bull rider Steve Hansen. In fact, Steve had just accepted a sponsorship from the hotel where they were staying.
Instead of going straight to her bedroom, Kresley decided to get a Coke from the well-stocked kitchenette.
"Do you want to tell me what was going on last night?"
Kresley turned from the fridge to see Steve standing in the doorway.
"What?"
"Your friends all have their own rooms. Why in the hell did they stay here last night? The giggling and bumping around kept me awake half the night. Not to mention I ran into two of them, naked as the day they were born, while I was raiding the refrigerator. I barely made it safely back to my room alive."
"The twins?"
"Who else but the twins?"
"You know their primary goal in life is to get you into bed with the two of them. Poor baby."
"You didn't answer my question," Steve demanded, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Why did they all have to sleep here?"
"They wanted to make sure my newlywed husband didn't take advantage of me in a drunken stupor. He couldn't keep his hands off of me, so Connie came...and then--"
"Husband?"
"I'm married."
"Like hell you are."
Kresley started to get angry. It took a while, but once she began to simmer...watch out. Her big brother was acting like a bully and she was impervious to his dominant-male theatrics. "I have the marriage license to prove it. Actually, I think Bev has it. She said she's going to keep it safe."
"I don't think this is funny. If you're married, you are in big trouble. Just who did you marry? Better yet, give me his measurements so I can fit him for a casket."
"Get over it," Kelsey said and headed toward her room.
"Don't walk away from me."
Kelsey gave him a talk-to-the-hand gesture and kept going. Once in her room, she locked the door behind her, just in case Steve wanted to continue their conversation.
"Am I going to make it out of here without popping your brother in the nose?"
Kelsey turned to see Mike come out of the bathroom with a towel around his trim, muscular waist. The thought of what the towel hid magnetized her gaze, until he made a defensive move with his hand, as if reminding her to mind her manners.
"I lied to protect you," she said. "I told him I was married. Otherwise, you'd already be a dead man."
His eyes narrowed with a skeptical expression. "Are you saying you didn't marry me? I can rule you out then?"
Kresley felt a flush of heat, completing the slow boil of anger her brother had started. "Please do. I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth."
"You've had hot pants since you were just a kid," he said, moving into her space.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You think I don't remember your tongue down my throat?"
Kelsey winced and tried not to take a step back.
"When I found out I nearly-- I kissed a fifteen-year-old...when I was twenty. Someone in your family needs to keep you on a leash."
Kelsey could feel her face heating up to a flaming red. He knew she'd kissed him so long ago?
Mike stared at her lips. "My friends have ribbed me for years. I tried to find the girl who kissed me, only to discover you were jail bait and I had wanted to--fuck it."
"I'm sure you did want to fuck. A couple of your friends raped Connie that night. And you were upset because a young girl with a crush kissed you? Get out of here! I hope my brother beats the shit out of you. Jerk."