Mr. Mochi’s nails click along the hardwood floor of my living room, adding to my annoyance.

“Mr. Mochi,” I snap at the little terrier, “Sit down.”

He cocks his head and looks at me, probably thinking I’m going to give him a treat.

Kaila appears in the doorway, a glass of lemonade in her hand.

“Where is he taking you?”

“Shooting.” I shrug. “Where, I don’t know.”

She pouts. “I can’t believe you have two guys, and I still have zero.”

“You have Mr. Mochi.”

At his name, the fluffy terrier finally sits. Kaila pouts.

“I’m talking about a boyfriend.”

“Don’t use that word. You know that’s not what either of these guys is.”

Kaila sits down on the very couch Frank and I got busy on.

“They’re better than nothing.”

At the sound of a car pulling into my little driveway, I turn back toward the window. Frank. My stomach flips, and he beeps the horn.

“Is that him?” Kaila leans forward in excitement. “I want to meet him!”

“That might be a little weird.”

She frowns. “Okay. When are you back? We should have a safety word. If you need me to call the police, text me to get your laundry.”

I loop my purse over my shoulder and slip my cellphone into my pocket.

“That’s actually a good idea, in general. I don’t think I’ll need it today, though. Frank is…”

Who is Frank? Some hot guy who’s wild in bed, who also happens to be Sean’s best friend. In my mind, that means I can trust him.

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” I promise, opening the front door.

“Text me when you want me to order the pizza!”

“Will do. Bye!”

Closing the door behind me, I scurry across the yard. Frank having honked his horn and not even come to the door says a lot about him. In other words, I really couldn’t have expected anything different.

“Hi,” I say, climbing in the passenger’s side.

“Hey.” He gives me a slow grin. “Whose car is that?” He nods at the one parked in front of his.

“That’s my friend Kaila’s. We’re hanging out later tonight.”

“She’s gonna sit in there all alone?”

I decide not to tell him she came over early because she was hoping to sneak a peek at him.

“Her place isn’t as nice as mine,” I claim. “The neighbors are really loud.”

“Ah. Ready to go?”

“Yeah.” I buckle up. “Where are we going again?”

“Shooting. There’s a sick spot up in the mountains I found the other day.”

We ride in silence for a while, Frank taking the quickest road out of the city like a native who knows each and every highway.

“What you did is cool,” he finally says. I warily glance over at him. “Sean is pissed,” he adds, smiling wider.

“You sound happy about that.”

Frank chuckles. “Yeah.”

“Aren’t you guys best friends? Why would you want to make him upset?”

Frank looks over at me. “You don’t get guys, do you?”

“Apparently not.”

We ride quietly for another minute or so. As weird as I sometimes find this guy, his presence is also pretty nice. He’s easy to be around.

“So, you don’t mind this?” I ask. “You having to prove yourself to me?”

“I know I’m going to win,” he simply says.

Of course.

Frank takes us to an area I’ve never visited, going down a gravel driveway and driving deeper into the woods. I roll the window down and let my hand catch the breeze.

“What is this place?” I ask.

“Don’t worry. We can shoot here.”

He didn’t answer my question at all, but I’m surprised to find I don’t care.

Pulling the car off the gravel road, Frank parks under some trees and pops the trunk. Out come a blanket, which he lays on the grass, and cases with several different guns in them. They all look freshly polished.

“Ever shot a gun before?”

“No,” I admit.

“Guess I’ll be your first.”

I guffaw. “I guess so.”

“Here. Let’s go over there.” He points to a clearing nearby, and I follow him over a fallen log and around a few trees to get to it.

Sitting down cross-legged, I watch as he scrapes some bark off a tree with a pocket knife.

“That’s our mark,” he says, coming back to join me.

“I’ll never hit that.”

“Don’t say that. You haven’t even started. Believe in yourself.”

I look at him in surprise. The statement, coming out of Frank’s mouth, is an oddly sweet one.

I scoot back a little bit, still feeling weird around the guns, and wait as Frank takes his first shot. The bam fills the woods, and some birds nearby take off.

“Did you hit it?” I ask.

“Pretty close. Your turn.”

I gulp as he hands the rifle over to me. He’s right at my shoulder, then, getting behind me to show me how to hold the gun and aim.

Ears rushing, I set my gaze on the whittled mark and pull the trigger. Adrenaline that I didn’t expect pumps through me as Frank gets up to inspect the tree.

“You hit it!”

“I did?” I gasp, unable to believe it.

“The tree, not the mark.”

“Hey!” I laugh. “You had me all excited.”

Time slides by as he continues to show me tricks. A half hour later, I’ve gotten two shots within a few inches of the mark.

“Does Sean ever do this with you?” I ask.

“No.” Frank scratches the back of his neck. My eyes fall on his bulging biceps. “He got enough of that in the service. It’s not like he was shooting at trees.”

An unusually serious look comes across his face. I nod, not even able to begin imagining the life of a sniper.

“This is fun,” Frank says.

“You sound surprised.”

“Aren’t you?” he counters.

“Touché…and, yes. I am.”

Frank lifts his chin, inspecting me in a hungry way.

“You’re more than just a pretty girl, Violet.”

“Very romantic,” I tease.

He drops his gaze. “Look, I’m not so good with words. Sean’s always giving me shit about it.”

“It’s fine.” I poke his shoulder. “Not everyone has to be a poet. You have other skills.”

“Yeah?”

He looks up at me from under his lashes. Once again, my breath catches in my throat. Frank is such a perfect specimen of a man, it shouldn’t be allowed.

Leaning forward, he kisses me, hard. Fire swirls across our tongues and brings my temperature up. Frank’s greedy hands pull me forward. He falls against the forest floor, bringing me down on top of him.

I break the kiss. “Isn’t it rough down there?”

“I like it rough,” he boasts.

“I’ve noticed,” I laugh. “I can go get the blanket.”

“No,” he rumbles, hands gliding down my legs.

His fingers inch their way back up, pulling my shirt off and undoing my bra. It’s a perfect day, and the warm breeze and dappled sunlight feel perfect on my skin. The idea that someone else might come up here briefly crosses my mind, but it’s gone the second Frank presses his palm to my mound. Pleasure ripples through me, and I groan, pressing myself harder against his hand.

Frank’s fingers are frantic as they undo my jeans. Under my panties, his hand slips, flicking at my swollen parts right away. I sigh and arch my back to keep myself from falling over.

“Take those off,” he orders.

I’m up right away, shimmying out of my shoes, jeans, panties, and socks. Frank quickly sheds his own clothes, putting them under himself as a blanket.

“This is wild,” I say, climbing back on top of him.

“Yeah,” he gasps, pulling me back against his chest.

His teeth scrape along my neck as he twists my hair. Pain shoots through me, but there’s a pleasurable side to it, too. Frank balls my hair up, his other hand delving between my legs.

Hot cries leave me, Frank’s mouth and the woods around us gobbling them up. His throbbing dick pokes into my thigh, wanting its own turn.

His hand leaving my hair, Frank takes hold of my hips and guides them onto his length. His girth fills me, taking over each inch of my insides.

“That’s good,” he gasps.

Not waiting for me to ride him, he pushes me back and forth, commanding my body.

Sweet feelings fill me, and I give over, letting Frank do what he wants. Fighting would be pointless, and, besides, this feels too damn good. With my feet planted on the grass, I slide forward and back, rocking so hard my hair tumbles in front of my face and obscures my vision.

The pleasure deep in my core spirals and grows. With each rock, Frank grunts louder. Suddenly, without any warning, he lifts me off of him and flips me over. I’m flat on my stomach, stuck under Frank as he spreads my legs with his knee and pushes into me.

The new position gets him all the way into me, and I cry out. Slipping an arm under my stomach, he gets me to lean back some. Teeth bite into my shoulder, and my breasts bounce over the top of his arm as he drives mercilessly into me.

My body shakes, something about the reckless, unchecked situation bringing out a new and wilder part of me. I shout my pleasure into the woods as Frank pounds me again and again.

His hand holding me up finds my nipple and pinches hard. I cry out, but it’s just what I need. An orgasm rips through me, causing me to dig my nails into the dirt and call out Frank’s name.

Gasping against the back of my neck, he pulls out yet again. I’m flipped over, my back on his pile of clothes. Taking my legs, he lifts them up in the air, spreading me wide for his use.

When he enters me this time, it’s with a new level of roughness. My now-sensitive body tenses against him, but he doesn’t hold back. Keeping my legs up, Frank takes me hard. His length disappears all the way into me with each thrust, and his balls slap loudly against my skin.

I gasp for air, half wanting him to stop and half needing him to go on forever. The pain of the rough drilling is almost too much to handle, but it also makes the pleasure better.

Soon, all discomfort leaves me. Pure ecstasy fills me and I explode for a second time.

Grinning through the sweat sliding down his face, Frank lets loose. His thick release enters me, and I feel my body hungrily take it in.

“Damn,” Frank groans.

Slowly letting my legs down, he gently pulls out of me and sits on the ground.

I stay where I am, too spent to move an inch. The leaves above me dance in the breeze, and the birds call to each other, apparently not disturbed at all by the crazed screwing.

With a huff, Frank collapses onto his back next to me.

I giggle. “Isn’t that uncomfortable?”

“A little.” He winces and reaches under him to extract a stick. “This pervert just tried to poke me.”

I can’t stop my laughter. “You’re silly.”

He smiles, his eyes widening with realization. “Hey. Does this mean that I won the bet?”

“Um…” Having sex today wasn’t part of my plan. I’d meant to wait until one of the guys really did something big—proved himself in some way.

Now that I think about it, though, why wait? I’m in this for a baby. I need to be having sex as often as I can.

“No,” I answer.

His face falls. “Damn.”

“But you can keep trying.”

Frank nods.

“When you do get pregnant, how are you going to know who did it?”

I chew on my lip. “Um…well, there’s the estimated conception date…”

“But that’s just a guess?”

“Yeah.” I study his eyes. “That’s cool with you, right?”

He settles down on his back and puts an arm under his head. “Of course.”

Right. Of course. For some reason, I keep forgetting this is all about sex and competition for these guys. Neither one of them could give less of a shit about not being involved in my kid’s life.

Which is how I want it.

I just need to keep reminding myself of that.

We lay silently, the soft breeze calming my hot, sensitive skin. Frank’s style, it seems, is pretty consistent. Though fun, I’m not sure I would be able to get down with it on a regular basis.

But Sean is a different story. The way he held me, cared for each part of my body like it was a privilege to be with me…

I force the thought from my head.

Neither Sean nor Frank is a long-time thing. Once I get pregnant, we’re done with each other. Until then, I might as well enjoy watching them fight over me.