“Genetics,” Jed told him. “Brainiac stuff.”
She knew Jed was doing one of the wildlife degrees, and that he’d spent part of the summer tagging bears and moose.
Did she care enough about Zane to ask what he’s majoring in?
Yes, she decided. “What about you?”
“The goal is to go pro with hockey, but my fallback is coach, so Phys Ed with a teaching track.”
Emmy was actually impressed. She’d expected some kind of artsy basket-weaving degree, because she’d already figured out he was in school for the hockey and not the education.
She finally sat up, and then suppressed a groan because she was deliciously sore.
Rather than dressing in front of them, she grabbed her clothes and went to the en suite bathroom, used the toilet, finger-combed her hair, put it into a ponytail, and then dressed.
The men had put their clothes on when she came out, and she thumbed her phone on, asked Zane for his number, and texted him so he’d have her number. She took a few minutes to add him to her contacts, and then texted Rhea she was headed down, and let the men walk her downstairs and out the door.
Both women climbed into the SUV well after two in the morning, makeup trashed, hair in tangled ponytails, and absolutely no regrets.
Delaney waited until both seat belts clicked and then slowly drove away. “Wish I’d had a vibrator. Felt like I was listening to live porn in surround sound.”
Emmy grinned. “Glad I could provide entertainment.”
Delaney added, “Bonus points for getting yourself behind a locked door, though. I feel like my little girl is growing up.”
Emmy shook her head and muttered an affectionate, “Smartass.”
She looked at Rhea. “You get Lucas’s number?”
“I did, but it can’t go anywhere. Never works with humans, right? Might be good to have lunch together some, maybe hook up a few more times.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figure with Zane and Jed.”
Rhea laughed. “You said you wanted to fuck Zane. Do youalwaysget what you want?”
Emmy shook her head. “No, unfortunately.”
Because she wanted her parents to accept her for who she is. To stop fucking judging her for wanting to have fun in college.
And to hand her damned trust fund over.
There weren’t many cars on the road, so it didn’t take as long as usual to get home. The three women had great fun looking for wildlife and pointing it out before the others saw it. They spotted a red fox, several moose, a snowy owl perched on a branch, and the big prize of the night — a lynx slinking across the road barely a hundred yards in front of them.
And then a half mile later, they rounded a corner and Delaney had to floor the brakes to keep from hitting an enormous moose in the middle of the road, steam rising from his nostrils.
“Fuck, he’s majestic,” Rhea said.
“Yeah, but I prefer to return coterie vehicles without moose-sized dents,” Delaney said.
When the moose didn’t move, Delaney rolled her window down and stuck her head out. The huge animal’s nostrils flared, and he meandered off.
Emmy and Rhea debated what to cook for themselves before they went to sleep, and landed on the chicken nuggets Spence makes and freezes. He buys whole chickens, batters the meat, deep fries it, and then freezes it. Six minutes in the air fryer and they’re yummy.
When they arrived at the coterie house, Emmy froze when she climbed out of the SUV, because another vehicle had pulled in behind them, and Zander was climbing out of the back seat.
Fuck.
Their gazes met, and those crystal-clear blue eyes pinned her in place. Her heart kicked up, though whether from arousal or the sudden need to defend herself, she couldn’t say.
