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“When it comes to pie though, I love pumpkin. The only problem is you can’t find it anywhere until October rolls around. Luckily, my birthday falls in October so it’s usually what I have instead of cake. I just get a big one from Sam's and live off it for a week.”
“When in October?” Vinyl asked. “Mines on the sixth.”
“I’m on the fifth,” she told her birthday buddy with a grin. “Want some of my pie?”
The words had already left her lips by the time she realized what she’d said.
“That’s what she said,” Tanner deadpanned, breaking the silence.
Elena tried not to laugh but failed. The look on all their faces was too funny for her to keep a straight face. A second later, the men joined her.
They were just calming down when the curtain covering the large front window of her house shifted, letting her know for certain they had an audience.
“Is someone watching us?” Pax asked, obviously having caught the movement too.
“Just the roomies making sure I get in okay,” she said, reaching for the door.
“Let us,” Pax said, stopping her.
Tanner slid out and opened her door to help her down. He was joined quickly by Pax and Vinyl. The men surrounded her, Pax claiming her free hand as they walked as a group towards the front porch.
“Would Friday work?”
“Would Friday work for what?” Elena asked, wondering if she’d drifted off and missed something again. It had happened once or twice during dinner when one of the men had reached for something and flashed her some forearm. She didn’t know why, but a strong set of arms always made her heart beat a little faster.
“To come out to the compound.”
Chapter Seventeen
?Vinyl could tell Elena was nervous. He’d watched her enough tonight to get a pretty good read on what was going through her head now. It also didn’t hurt that their little goddess wore her heart on her sleeve.
“Watch the third step,” she warned Pax as they walked ahead. “It’s a little iffy.”
Tanner crouched next to Vinyl where he’d stopped at the area that she’d called attention to. He didn’t have to put his foot down to know the wood had rotted. The rest of the porch wasn’t in much better shape. From what he could see, the only thing holding it up, were the colorful Christmas lights wrapped around it.
“We can fix this,” he said, not feeling guilty in the slightest about the lie. There was no ‘fixing’ this porch. The whole thing needed to be replaced, but he had a feeling she’d put up a fuss if he shared that. “It’s just a little bit of rotting wood.”
“A little bit?” Tanner mumbled, shooting him a look.
“Just go with it,” Vinyl instructed under his breath before giving Elena an easy smile. “We can work on it Saturday… when we bring you home.”
“Bring me home?” she repeated, her brows shooting up.
Vinyl bit his cheek to keep from smiling at the glimpse of fire in her eyes. One minute she looked like she was about to crawl out of her skin and the next, she was shooting daggers at him with those pretty brown eyes. The contradiction was going to keep him on his toes.
“We were hoping you’d stay the entire evening at the compound,” Pax said, holding up a hand when she began to protest, “in one of the empty cabins we keep for guests to crash in.”
Tanner nodded. “It’s safer than trying to navigate those back roads late at night.”
“Especially if you want to visit the clubhouse,” Vinyl continued. “We’ve got a full bar but if you drink, you have to stay over. It’s one of Ms. Taffy’s rules.”
“Oh,” she breathed out on a gust of air. She looked at all of them for a second before nodding. “Well, I guess that makes sense but still. Shouldn’t you run it by everyone first?”
Tanner chuckled and shook his head. “Nobody will have a problem with you staying over, sweetheart. The most anyone will do is wonder why you’re not bunking with us.”
Elena’s eyes grew big.
“We go at your pace, baby doll. You’re the one in charge.” Pax tugged her close using the hand he was still holding. “Although I hope it won’t be long before you’re staying in our cabin.”
