not to return to Charlotte after college to work for the family’s company. Instead, Taylor had set her sights on New York after accepting a position with a major bank as a wealth and asset manager. Taylor was also married to a wonderful and handsome man named Dominic Saxon and the two were expecting their first child in a few weeks. Taylor and Dominic made Washington, D.C., their primary home, although they traveled quite a bit.
“You guys know how I feel about the two of you trying to mother me. I wish you wouldn’t do it,” she said, and immediately saw the guilt on their faces. Although she knew they only wanted what was the best for her, they were breaking a promise they had made on her twenty-first birthday, which was to let her live her life, regardless of the mistakes she would make along the way. They had pretty much kept that promise...until now.
“I know taking care of three babies won’t be easy,” she said. “But I’m determined to do it. Thanks to you, Taylor, I have enough money not to work for the next eight months or longer if I have to. The modeling agency knows my plans and is giving me the time I need. Besides, it’s not like me and the kids won’t come back for frequent visits. And I promised not to leave before your baby arrives, Taylor, so the two of you can relax. I don’t plan to sneak off during the night.”
She saw the reluctant smiles that touched their faces. Then Vanessa spoke and said, “I’m going to miss my nephew and nieces. I’ve gotten so attached to them.”
“Then I expect that you’ll come visit us often. Since Cameron purchased that house next door to mine, it sure makes things convenient.”
Vanessa laughed and shook her head. “Yes, it does.”
Cheyenne then stared at her other sister and figured something else was on Taylor’s mind. Typically, Taylor was the one known to stay out of everyone else’s business, mainly because she had this thing about anyone getting into hers. But lately, and seemingly with a lot of frequency, Taylor tended to ask questions that no one, not even their mother or male cousins or Vanessa—who sometimes acted as if it was her God-given right to know everything—would dare ask. Cheyenne had a feeling what was on Taylor’s mind and it wouldn’t be the first time during the past ten months that she had asked.
“Okay, go ahead and ask me, Taylor.”
Taylor frowned while absently rubbing her stomach. “Why? So you can tell me it’s none of my business again?”
“Umm, go ahead and ask. I might surprise you this time.”
She saw the doubtful look on Taylor’s face, but she knew Taylor wouldn’t be able to resist. “Okay, I want to know who fathered my two beautiful nieces and my very handsome nephew.”
Cheyenne closed her eyes briefly and could see the face of the man just as clearly as if he was standing right there in front of her. His facial features were embedded deep into her memory and would always stay there. And she had a feeling her son would be a constant reminder of him. Although her daughters had inherited a lot of Cheyenne’s mother’s Native American ancestry—exotic features like high cheekbones and an abundance of thick straight-looking black hair—her son favored his father. She had thought that very thing the moment he had been placed in her arms. He had his father’s dark eyes with the slanted eyebrows and the full nose and what already appeared to be a stubborn chin. But what she noticed immediately was the shape of her son’s mouth. It definitely belonged to his father. She, of all people, should know after the countless times during that one single night she had plastered hers to it. There had been no doubt in her mind on that particular night, just as there weren’t any now, that Quade had to have been the most handsome man she’d ever met. And his maturity had set him apart. He hadn’t played any games with her, but she had with him...at least at first.
She had lied to him about her age, stating she was twenty-eight instead of twenty-three. She’d feared that, had she been truthful, he would have walked away from her that night and there was no way she could let him do that. She had been attracted to him in a way she had never been to anyone else and she had wanted to explore what such a deep attraction meant.
“Cheyenne?”
Her eyes snapped open to find her two sisters staring at her. “Okay, his name is Quade and I met him on a beach in Egypt. It was a one-night fling.” She saw the latter statement didn’t seem to shock her sisters, possibly because they may have done the same thing at some time during their lifetime.
“And what’s this Quade’s last name,” Vanessa asked, staring at her over her glass of cranberry juice.
Cheyenne hunched her shoulders. “Don’t know. We were more interested in getting into each other’s bodies than we were last names.”
Neither of her sisters said anything at first and then Taylor asked, “And you’re sure he wasn’t married?”
Cheyenne inhaled deeply. “He said he wasn’t, but I wasn’t completely truthful about everything with him, so he might have fibbed a little about one or two things with me. However, I believe he was telling the truth about not being married.”
Vanessa raised a brow. “And just what did you lie about?” she asked.
Cheyenne moved away from the refrigerator and crossed the kitchen to the cabinet over the sink to pull out her teapot. “My age,” she said, turning back around to face her sisters, wanting to see their expressions when she answered. “I told him I was twenty-eight instead of twenty-three.” She saw the tightening of both of their features.
“And you think he believed it?” Taylor asked.
“Yes, on that particular night I’d gone for a walk on the beach after a long day of doing a photo shoot. My makeup was still on, which probably made me look a little older.”
Vanessa snorted and rolled her eyes. “Or he figured you were ripe for the picking and didn’t even care.”
Cheyenne laughed softly and said, “If he figured that, then he was absolutely right. I saw him and wanted him just as much as he wanted me.”
She couldn’t help but remember that night. Every single detail was burned into her memory. Never in her life had she desired a man as much as she had him, and on first sight. Her attraction had been immediate, her surrender had been ultimate and the ten hours that followed had been breathtaking, absolutely the best hours she had spent in any man’s bed. And although her experience was limited compared to some women, with those she could compare the difference was beyond measure. Quade had made her beg, scream and become a captive to passion of the most intense kind. She had literally been at his mercy the entire night.
“Cheyenne?”
It was only then that she realized that one of her sisters had been trying to get her attention. “What?”
“I know I asked you this before; it was during the time you were in your seventh or eighth month, and I inquired whether or not you felt you should try and find this guy and you said no. Have you changed your mind about that?” Vanessa asked.
“No,” Cheyenne said, shaking her head. “It was a one-night stand and he didn’t expect anything out of it, except what he got...what we both got that night—extreme pleasure. I don’t blame him for getting me pregnant. He used a condom each time. I saw it. I guess one must have malfunctioned.”
Taylor chuckled. “I think that’s an understatement, don’t you? Must have been one hell of a night to produce triplets.”
“It
