The first annual Cedar Bluff Community Picnic. Something I’d somehow gotten roped into doing, even though Jasper threatened to quit if I did, but I’m so glad I gave in and organized it, kicking it off only a few months after the charity hockey game.
Seeing everyone from far and wide in Cedar Bluff come together and celebrate our little town healed a whole lot of pain for a lot of different people in town. Me included.
Trauma was weird like that. One minute I was fine, enjoying the peace after the big fallout from the charity hockey game when the whole thing came to a head. And the next, I was waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, strangled by a nightmare where Tanner and Rhea were killed right in front of my face on that slab of ice.
But this community picnic felt so damn good.
Healing.
Giving everyone a fresh start.
Even Samantha Pete, Cedar Bluff’s newest resident, laughed and had a fun time filling bags of popcorn alongside Frankie at the Hayes Construction booth.
“Hey, Sugar.”
Warm arms swallowed me as Tanner pulled me back against his chest from behind. I smiled against his arm, leaning my cheek against it as he settled beside the tree I was resting in the shade of. Together we sat there, the warm summer breeze drifting over our skin as we watched from the edge of the park.
“You okay?” Tanner asked gently.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “I am. I’m just soaking it all in.”
“You’re pretty incredible, you know that, right?” He said, kissing my temple and resting his hands on my hips as I ran my fingertip over the hem of his shorts.
“Why? Because of this picnic?” I scoffed. “It practically planned itself.”
He snorted, squeezing me until I squirmed and fell into a fit of giggles.
“Okay, okay!” I conceded. “It was pure torturous hell planning this thing, but look at them.”
“Who?” He kissed my temple, gazing out at everyone as if he were supposed to be looking for someone specific.
“Everyone.” I sighed happily. “They’re thriving. All of them!”
He chuckled, hugging me again. “Yeah, they are.”
“There you two are.” Rhea walked up to us, dripping wet from the dunk tank. I watched her tan skin glisten in the sunlight, drops of water running down between her breasts in her skintight tank top and biker shorts. “Are you two hiding from me or just everyone else?”
I groaned and pulled her down until she settled on her stomach with her head on my thigh. I brushed her long locks out of the braid she wore for the tank so it would dry, and she moaned, nuzzling into my thigh until her nose pressed far higher than it should have in public.
“Technically, I was hiding from everyone. And then Tanner found me.” I said as Tanner trailed his fingers over her arm lazily.
“And then you found us.” He added. “Some might say we’re obsessed with each other.”
“They do say that.” I joked, “All the time.”
“Well, I am.” Rhea closed her eyes, lacing her fingers with Tanner’s as she hugged my hips, pushing my dress up higher so she could rest her cheek on my bare thigh. “Very obsessed, actually.”
“Do you think that will ever…stop?” I asked curiously.
“What?” Tanner said.
“That feeling of—” I trailed off, trying to find the word I wanted to use. “Desperation.” I sighed, threading my fingers through her beautiful hair and leaning over to kiss hertemple. “The heart-stopping, stomach-twisting, palm sweating, hopelessness that fills my soul every time I’m away from you both.” Looking over my shoulder, I found Tanner’s clear blue eyes staring down at me. “I thought it would lessen with time, at least a little, but I’m still completely, uncontrollably feral for both of you.”
“Good,” he said, palming my cheek and holding it still as he kissed me gently, coaxing my lips until I gave in and melted into his touch. “I don’t want either of you to ever stop feeling that way about me. Because I feel like I’m going insane when we’re apart. Still to this day.”
“Same,” Rhea said, laying a tender, warm kiss on the inside of my thigh and getting a dirty groan out of me. “I can’t take a deep breath unless it’s the three of us, just like this. Even now, almost a year later.”
“Can you believe we’ve been together a year?” I asked wistfully, leaning back against Tanner’s big chest again. “It seems like just yesterday you two were fighting over me like a big juicy steak between two ravenous lions in the desert.” I joked and then yelped when Rhea’s teeth bit my thigh.
