The next evening had the three men going back to the pub where they were all set on finding out not only why the women had kept the fact they were related from them but also why none of them saw fit to tell them they worked at the pub their father was a part owner in.

The smell of fried foods hit them as they entered the very busy Flannigan’s Pub and Grill. Ethan was first to set his eyes on Kel who was taking an order at a table full of young men. She was laughing and joking with them. Being nice, chipper, and what he considered to be a bit too flirty.

He made no attempt to slow his role as he came up behind her. “Fancy seeing you here.”

She spun around and looked at him with a gaping mouth. “You as well. I thought you’d be long gone by now. And I’m working, so leave me be, Ethan Southern!”

“Is he bothering you?” one of the foolish men asked as he stood up from his place at the round table of six young men.

“Mind your business, boy!” Ethan growled at him. “This young woman and I have a history. Don’t we, love?”

She looked over her shoulder at the young man who’d come to her defense. “It’s okay, Charlie. I’ll turn in your order and bring your drinks right out.”

“You let me know if you need me to get rid of any riffraff, Kel,” Charlie said as he took his seat.

“Will do,” she said as she walked away with Ethan on her heels.

“You owe me…” that’s all he got out before she spun around.

Her face was red with anger. “Do not tell me what I owe you. Take a seat or take a hike, Ethan!”

Her eyes flashed red, and Ethan thought he’d better give her a moment to calm herself. “I’m going nowhere, my love. I’ll be right here until you find time to talk to me. And we will talk, you and I.”

With a huff, she walked away, leaving him staring after her.

Phoenix spotted his curvy redhead as she was behind the bar, cleaning glasses. “Cait!” he called out to her.

She ducked her head when she saw him and hightailed it to the back where he couldn’t go. Or so she thought. When he went right back into the kitchen, she was shocked. “You can’t be back here!”

He grabbed her by the wrist as he spoke between clenched teeth. “You and I are going to talk. You can pick where that’ll be.”

“I don’t have to talk to you, Phoenix. Just let me go.” Her eyes darted back and forth, and she looked a little afraid.

He thought it might be because she and her sisters had some kind of a deal going. “I want to know why you lied to me.”

“I never lied to you,” she said as she struggled to make him let her go. His hand was making waves of heat move through her as she’d dreamt about the man making hot love to her all night long. Him holding her the way he was had been a part of that riotous dream.

“You three are sisters, Cait!”

“How’d you find that out?” she asked him with a shocked expression.

“We have our ways. So, let’s talk about why you three skipped out on us all.”

She jerked her arm, and he let her go. “Just leave us all alone, Phoenix. None of us want to see any of you three ever again. Not ever!” Then she ran away from him, disappearing into the blackness of a hallway at the very back of the kitchen.

Jess saw Griffin before he’d found her. She left her station at the cash register, darting past one of her cousin co-workers. “Take over the register, Patsy.”

Patsy did as she was told as Jess ducked into the hallway that led to the restrooms, not noticing that Griffin had spotted her and was heading her way. When he walked into the ladies’ room right behind her, closing the door and grabbing her, she tried to scream, but his mouth on hers muffled it.

When she felt his lips on hers and his tongue moved into her mouth as he wrapped his arms around her and turned her around, so her back was up against the door, she melted into him and wrapped her legs around him.

His kiss was hard and demanding. Jess hated that she loved it so much. He pressed his hard cock against her soft core, grinding into her body, making her heat up and grow moist.

She was powerless to stop him. But when he went too far and moved one hand to unbutton her jeans, she pulled her mouth from his, remembering the damn bet. “No! No, Griff!”

“Why’d you all do it?” he asked her as he rested his forehead on hers. “Why didn’t you tell any of us that you three are sisters and that you all work here?”

“It’s not important. What is important is that we’re not going to be seeing any of you. Now let me go,” Jess said as she didn’t even bother to struggle to get away from him.

“What’s your game, Jess?” he asked her, making her furious.

The sisters had all agreed not to let the men know if they did come back for them, that they knew about their bet. So, Jess was left on her own to make something up. “I don’t think you’ll stick around and I don’t want to be another notch on your belt.”

“You should give me a chance, don’t you think?” he asked her then kissed her neck, making her moan.

Griffin could tell it was her sisters who were stopping her from doing what she wanted with him. Her hands plunged into his thick curls as she continued to moan with his attention to her neck. “Yes,” came her soft response.

“Is that a yes, you’ll give me a chance,” he whispered in her ear then gave her earlobe a nip.

“No,” she moaned. “It was a yes, that feels so good. But I can’t be doing this. Not with you, anyway.”

“Not with me?” he asked then looked her in the eyes. “But you can do this with someone else? Not while I’m around, you can’t. You see, I think you and I could be a bit more than just friends.”

“I know that,” she said as her eyes narrowed and she thought about what his plans for her really were. “But I don’t want anything from you, Griff. Except for you to leave me alone. I’m not a toy.”

“Who said you were?” he asked. “You’re sisters? Did they tell you that I’d treat you like an object? Did they say you should stay away from me because I’d just use you then dump you? Because that’s not what my plan for you is at all, baby. Not at all.”

But Jess knew what his plan was. It didn’t matter if he kept seeing her, she’d always know he was in it to win the damn bet. He wasn’t worried about hurting her to win it, either. “Let me go, Griff.”

“If I let you go, will you try to calm down and think rationally? Don’t let your sisters ruin this for us.”

She shook her head, trying so hard not to blurt out what she knew they were after. Somehow, she managed to hold her tongue. “Let me go.”

A knock at the door had them ending their little reunion as Griffin had no want to get thrown out of the pub. “I’ll let you go for now, but I’m not going anywhere. None of us are. You three will have to talk to us. Tonight!”

With that, he opened the door, finding a shocked older woman who he stomped passed. Jess watched him leave then fell back against the wall. How was she going to deal with him?

The night passed with the men sitting at a table none of the sisters would wait on. Instead, they left their Aunt Cathy to take care of the men who watched their every move.

Cathy had been told only a little about who the men were and why the sisters didn’t want to wait on them. They’d said the men had gone too far in their advances last night. Cathy was perplexed at why that would make her nieces so mad.

As she gave the guys another round of beers, she asked, “So, what actually happened last night between you all? My nieces are as mad as old wet hens over you three.”

“I have no idea,” Ethan answered. “We all got along great. Then the girls ran out on us after asking us all to call cabs. This is most likely more than they want you to know but I’m going to tell you anyway. They all had agreed to get hotel rooms with each of us.”

Cathy’s hand flew to cover her mouth. “No!”

Griffin jabbed Ethan in the ribs. “Too much info, Ethan!”

“Well, they did,” he went on.

Phoenix was in agreeance with Ethan. “The ladies must’ve gotten cold feet. And that’s okay. We just want to talk to them to get them all to understand we didn’t mean to make them feel forced. Shit! The truth is they were the ones who asked us, not the other way around.”

“Oh, my God!” Cathy mumbled in disbelief. “So, it was them who asked you three to get rooms and, and, oh Lordy, and fornicate with them?”

Griffin gave Phoenix and Ethan deep frowns as he said, “No! No, that’s not how it was at all. Look, we each want to get the chance to talk to the lady we came to like very much last night. We want an opportunity to let them know we meant them no harm. That’s all, really. Could you be a peach and let them know that, Cathy?”

“I can,” she said as she fanned herself. “You’re all so handsome and sweet. I think they must’ve misunderstood you guys or something. Let me go see if I can get to the bottom of what their problem is.”

And with her retreat, the men finally felt like they had a chance of smoothing things over with the girls. Phoenix leaned in to whisper, “Should we end the bet and confess?”

“God, no!” Both Ethan and Griffin said.

And with that, the men were going to continue with their bet. “We knew this might be hard,” Griffin reminded his friend.

“We’ll continue just like we planned. Unless you want out, Phoenix,” Ethan said.

Phoenix looked at the others and shook his head. “No, I’m still in. I just didn’t expect this kind of thing to happen. I thought they might play hard to get. But I never saw them getting mad at us. It’s just throwing me off my game is all. I’ll get back on the right track.”

They all clinked their mugs of frothy beer and stayed firm on their bet. Without a clue, as to what the women were aware of.