Pots and pans clanked as the kitchen staff shouted orders to one another. Jess, Cait, and Kel stood to one side, in a huddle, discussing the audacity of the men who dared to show their faces at their pub again.

“In the ladies’ room?” Kel asked Jess after she’d told them where Griff had cornered her. “Well, that’s too much! I’ll tell the man he’s overstepped his bounds!”

“No!” Jess argued. “I’m not a little kid anymore, Kel. I can take care of myself. I did manage to get out of there with my panties still on, you know.”

Cait laughed as she cut her eyes to look at their Aunt Cathy who was coming into the kitchen, looking for something. When she saw her three nieces, she came straight to them. “We need to talk girls.”

Their rotund aunt’s cheeks were red which meant she’d been embarrassed. The girls’ ire was up already. If any of the men had anything to do with what was wrong with their aunt, then the men had it coming to them in spades.

“Did anyone speak to you in an improper manner, Aunt Cathy?” Cait asked her.

When she nodded, Kel grew furious. “Tell me who and I’ll deal with him!”

“Well, my darling nieces, my demeanor is off as I’ve heard some… Well, some news that quite frankly I don’t understand,” Cathy said as she fanned herself. At fifty-one, Cathy wasn’t exactly inexperienced in the ways of love, but she’d been married to the girls’ uncle for twenty-five years. She wasn’t used to hearing sexual things about any of her family.

Jess’ hand went to her hip as she asked, “What did you hear and who did you hear it from?”

“Your men,” Cathy said.

Kel’s hand went up as she said, “They are not our men! But what did the asses say?”

“They said that you three asked them to get cabs and take you to hotel rooms for the night to fornicate like animals!” Cathy blurted out, making the entire kitchen go silent.

Kel looked around as everyone was staring at them with gaping mouths. “No! No, that wasn’t how things went! And you all get back to work, we have hungry customers out there. Mind your business!”

Jess’s cheeks were scarlet as she asked her aunt, “Did they actually say those exact words, Aunt Cathy?”

“No, no they didn’t mention the part about fornicating like animals. That’s my personal spin on it. But they did say you all were coming on to them,” Cathy explained.

“We did,” Cait confessed. “We had our reasons, though.”

“Well, reasons or not,” Cathy told them as she shook her finger at them all. “You should never toy with people. You all were raised better than that. Now, I want you all to give those men at least ten minutes of your time. I want you all to explain why you did what you did to them.”

“No,” Kel said, stubbornly.

“You will, or I’ll tell your grandmother what you’ve done, and we all know how long that sermon will be,” Cathy threatened.

“Damn,” Cait muttered under her breath. “That woman will give us all brand new Bibles with the sections, she’ll make us read out loud to her, paperclipped so we can find them quickly.”

“And then we’ll have to attend Mass with her for a solid week, every dang morning,” Jess added as she kicked the floor with her black non-slip shoe.

Kel stuffed her hands in her apron pockets as she griped, “And go to confession every evening. It’ll cost less of our time to let the guys talk to us for ten minutes.”

“That it will,” Cathy said as she huffed, knowing she’d won the battle. “You all are officially on a fifteen-minute break, my darlings. Make it count.” She herded her nieces up and pushed them all out of the kitchen. “Get to cleaning up your messes, girls.”

Kel saw the smiles on the men’s faces as they left the sanctity of the kitchen. “There they are. And look at those shit-eating grins they’re all wearing.”

“I’m just going to let Griff talk, but I’m not going to say a word about why we ran out on them,” Jess said.

“Come on, girls,” Cait said. “Let’s toy with them some more. They want to come this far for us and their stupid bet. Let’s act as if we’ve all had a change of heart. We can blame it on Aunt Cathy.”

Kel turned around to look at her sisters with an evil grin on her lips. “Tell your man you’ll accept a daytime date tomorrow if he cares to make amends. At least we can all get a free meal and maybe some flowers and candies out of the bastards.”

“I’m going to tell Griff the date needs to be something pretty spectacular,” Jess said as she made her way to the table where the men were waiting for them.

Griff got up and met her halfway, taking her hand and kissing it. Ethan kept his seat, making Kel come all the way to him. Phoenix tried to wait but found he couldn’t and got up just as Cait got to him. He picked her up in his strong arms and kissed her. Then carried her off to a secluded booth.

Running his hand through her auburn ponytail, Phoenix whispered, “I’m sorry, Cait. Whatever it was that I did to make you feel uncomfortable, I’m sorry. I’ll be a gentleman tonight.”

Cait’s heart melted as he looked at her with puppy dog eyes. “Well, it’s not all your fault. Maybe my sisters and I were kind of wrong to get our panties in a bunch about you three. Aunt Cathy talked some sense into us.”

“Can I make it up to you?” Phoenix asked her as he ran his hand over her cheek.

With a smile, Cait said, “You can take me on a real date tomorrow. But only in the daytime. I can’t trust you at night. Not yet.”

“Nor can I trust myself to keep my hands off you at night,” he said then kissed her with a sweet kiss. “I’ll make it a very special day for you, Cait. A date you’ll never forget.”

She sighed and leaned in for another kiss. “Good. Now, how about one more kiss before I have to get back to work?”

“I’d love to oblige you with one,” he said then planted another kiss on her delicious lips.

Jess found herself pinned against the back wall as Griff leaned his body on hers. “Baby, you look like you have something you’d like to say to me,” Griff said as he played with her long ponytail.

Her body was quivering with him all over her, but she swallowed and shook her head to clear her brain. “We’ve talked, my sisters and I. We’ve decided that we can accept dates from you guys. But daytime dates. And I expect something out of the ordinary. If you still want to see me, then you’ll agree to it.”

She shuddered as his lips brushed the area just behind her ear. “K.”

Placing her hands on his chest, she pushed him back a bit. “What time should I expect you, tomorrow?”

Griffin held out his hand. “Give me your cell.” She did as he’d asked and he called his number. “Now we have each other’s numbers, and I’ll call you in the morning to let you know what time I’ll come for you.”

“My father will be waiting to meet you, Griff,” Jess told him, trying to intimidate him a bit.

“Great, I’d love to meet the man who raised such a spunky woman.” He kissed her then, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, involuntarily.

Meanwhile, Kel took a seat across the table from Ethan as she eyed him, warily. “So, you think that you can tell our aunt some lies and get us where you want us, do you?” she said with a smirk.

“Lies? We told no lies, love. So, why the teasing last night?” he asked her as he leaned forward and took her hand which laid on the table top. His thumb stroked her palm, making her stomach go tight, and heat flood her entire body. Warmth pooled in her nether regions and Kel knew things would be harder for her than she was used to handling.

“Why the rush to go to a hotel?” Kel volleyed back.

“I do recall that you were in every bit as much of a rush as I was. Your body told me as much. Your soft skin was begging for my touch,” he said with a husky voice that made her ears ache to hear more.

“Did it ever occur to you that I might’ve been testing your character, Ethan? I told you about my heartbreak and gave you the opportunity to do the right thing, and you didn’t do it,” Kel said. “So, I’m willing to give you one more shot.”

“You are?” he asked as he moved his hand up her arm in a slow and deliberate motion. “And what kind of a shot are we talkin’ ‘bout here?”

“You can take me on a legitimate date. One in the light of day. One where you can show me you’re a gentleman and not some fly by night rogue who wishes to give me a toss in the hay then you fly away, like a thief in the night, taking my heart to a new low.”

His eyes lit up as his lips curled into a smile. “I’m in your heart?”

Kel wasn’t happy with how her words had betrayed her. “You could be. If you play your cards right.”

“Then I’ll play them right, my love. Your heart is right where I long to be. You’ve kind of broken into mine as well.”

Pulling her hand to make her stand up, he pulled her to him and then down on his lap. His mouth took hers and found it wanting as she kissed him back and wrapped her arms around him.

She’d be putty in his hands after he showed her a bit of gentlemanly behavior. Kel would be easy to get into bed, of that Ethan was sure.