Going All In by Jess Dee Read Free Book Online

too.” Jay nodded.
    Julia closed her eyes. “I liked it.” She shouldn’t have, but she had. Altogether too much.
    “So did I,” Hunter said.
    “I think I just found a new favorite poker hand,” Jay laughed. “Three of a kind.”
    Julia blanched. Three of a kind worked for her too. Altogether too well. So how the hell did she step back over that invisible line now? Knowing her luck, she’d trip and fall the minute she tried.

Going All In

Chapter Four
    “C’mon, darl’, have another helping.”
    Julia eyed the dish her aunt offered her and finally gave in. So what if she was stuffed? Nobody made shrimp on the barbie like her dad and her Uncle Joe, and anyway it was Christmas. She was supposed to eat until her belly ached. Besides, if her mouth was full she wouldn’t be expected to talk. Good thing too, because if one more relative asked her when it was her turn, she would throw up. Right in the middle of the traditional family Chrissie lunch.
    It was her cousin Alec’s fault. If he hadn’t chosen today to announce his engagement, she wouldn’t be the subject of everyone’s curiosity. So what if she was a year older than Alec and thus expected to marry before him? Twenty-eight was hardly ancient. She wasn’t over-the-hill yet. She still had plenty of time to find the right man and settle down.
    Sure her family liked to pry, but they only asked about her nonexistent nuptials because they loved her and wanted her to be happy. In the Savage family’s opinion, happiness meant love and marriage. It meant children and tradition. It didn’t mean one woman sleeping with two men at the same time.
    She bit off a piece of shrimp and chewed it viciously.
    “So, Julia,” her great-aunt Edith said, “when are you going to give the family some good news? Isn’t it time you settled down and got married too?”
    Julia secretly blessed the shrimp, and pointed to her mouth, making it obvious she couldn’t answer. She kicked her sister under the table.
    Kim snorted softly.
    “Get them to change the freaking subject,” Julia ground out around her food.
    “Don’t look at me to save you,” Kim whispered. Her lips did not move. “You chose two instead of one. Even I can’t help you through this dilemma.”
    Julia swallowed and then shoved the remaining shrimp in her mouth, chewing it stiffly. She stood and proceeded to clear the table of empty dishes. Stretching over her sister, she murmured, “Sisters are supposed to stand up for one another—regardless of the circumstances.”
    Kim pushed back her chair and helped Julia take the plates to the kitchen. “Jules,” she said, once both of them had made sure no one else was in the room, “I love you dearly, but even I’m not brave enough to stand up to Aunt Edith.”
    “Hah!” Coward. “Just for that I’m going back in there and asking when you plan on having your next baby.”
    Kim’s jaw dropped. “You wouldn’t.”
    Julia shrugged and smiled innocently. “Try me.”
    Kim smiled right back, her evil big-sister smile. “Open your mouth and I’m taking my earrings back. And the jeans you borrowed from me last month.”
    Oh no. No way was she returning those jeans. “Fine,” she conceded, “but just wait ’til you ask me to babysit again.”
    “Cow,” Kim shot at her, and the two of them began to giggle.
    At least Kim was still talking to her. She’d been terrified her sister would crap on her for going ahead and sleeping with Jay and Hunter against her better advice.
    Embarrassed to tell anyone she was sleeping with two men, Julia would have kept it a secret, but Kim had taken one look at her face and guessed at the truth. Within ten minutes of seeing her today, Julia had explained the situation to her. What had started as a just-this-once deviation from her regular relationship with Jay and Hunter had somehow turned into a once-every-night-this-week-and-often-much-more-than-that plus once-every-morning-after-as-well deviation.
    So much for the