A Couple is Three: The Beginning (book 1 & 2 Completed)

Chapter 34 - Explanations

Samantha's eyes popped open. She couldn't believe that Chad had just kissed her knuckles like that. She could have sworn that she felt his tongue licking in between two of her knuckles. To make matters worse, she was pretty sure that he winked as he was doing it. Yet at the same time, she almost expected nothing less than something like this from him. She remembered how he had blown her a kiss from the ring after he competed in his bareback competition at her first rodeo.

"It's nice to meet you, too." She gently tried to pull her hand out of his, but he was not letting go.

Lily started to chuckle. "Smooth move, Chad," she said as she tried to hip check him.

Still holding onto Samantha's hand, he sidestepped Lily's check draggin Samantha with him until she was between himself and Lily. He turned to face Lily as she moved to get around Samantha. With a broad smile and a wink, he reached out to poke Lily's side. "You know me so well, Lily."

Samantha stood still, a little bewildered at the rapport between Chad and Lily. It was almost family like, but she knew that none of the three older brothers, whom she still hadn't met, were  named Chad.

She tried once again to remove her hand, but Chad still would not let go. Suddenly, from behind her, she heard the beautiful sound of a voice that melted her insides. At the same moment she felt a hand touch the small of her back and a corresponding heat brush up against her back.

"Smooth move is right," Josh joked as he slid his arm around Samantha's shoulders, pulling her close.

Jake chuckled. He slid his hand that was on Samantha's lower back around her waist as he stepped in tight to where Josh had pulled her. "Probably still using the same old, tired pick-up lines that never seem to work for him." He looked over Samantha's head to Josh and raised his eyebrow. He jerked his head slightly trying to let Josh know that Chad still hadn't let go of Samantha's hand.

Josh nodded his head in understanding. He turned back to face Chad and stared at him.

Chad looked at his two friends with a knowing smirk. He continued to hold onto Samantha's hand wanting to see how the two of them would react. He hadn't missed the looks that they had given him when he had first talked to Samantha at the previous rodeo and it had made him curious.

He had wanted to ask them what was going on between them and Samantha, but there just hadn't been enough time that day. He had heard from some of the other competitors briefly how they had both kissed her after their rides the two previous days, but public opinion was split among the competitors. Most of them, having known Jake and Josh for many years, believed that the kisses had just been an act to help keep other girls away. A few competitors had even boasted that they had heard Samantha politely put-down some of the more aggressive ladies. Others figured that maybe Samantha was actually dating one of the two of them and pretending with the other for the same reason that she was pretending for both.

Chad wasn't sure which story he believed or even if either story was a possibility, but he had a suspicion that something was going on. "Were you two just practising?" He decided to ignore the fact that Josh was staring hard at his hand holding Samantha's to push the issue.

Josh looked shrewdly at Chad as he tried to figure out what Chad was up to. "Yes, we were."

Chad looked a little puzzled. "Did they change the format this year?"

Jake lost his smile as he looked down to see that Chad was still holding onto Samantha's hand. Her left hand, he could feel, was holding onto the back of his thigh. He looked up at Chad, the merriment gone from his eyes, "Yes, they did. We compete tomorrow and the next day. So we shall see riders from both pools."