Their Bride (Marriage Lottery Series Standalone)

by Stasia Black

  What if she told them and they decided they didn’t want her anymore?

  No. They wouldn’t do that. They l—

  … They really like you.

  They liked having sex with her anyway. That she felt confident about. Well, she was pretty sure, anyway. Ever since the expedition to go out after the twins, when Logan had come back to them and started directing things in the bedroom again, the sex had been off the charts. At least it had been for her.

  But would good sex be enough long term? If she was… broken? Didn’t every man want to pass on his legacy? God, it was more important than ever these days. Cam had talked about it once. Something about warrior babies…

  Her heart beat a mile a minute as her panic ramped up with every new worry.

  She couldn’t lose them. She couldn’t.

  She couldn’t be left behind.

  Not again.

  Oh God, not again.

  She skirted around the house to head in the back door. She didn’t know who was home, but she couldn’t handle seeing anyone right now. She needed to calm down first. If she just sat for a little while on the back swing, maybe she could get her shit together.

  She couldn’t let them see her like this. She had to be perfect. Cecily had been perfect. If she could just be per—

  “Vanessa? Are you all right?”

  Vanessa’s hand flew to her chest in surprise at Ross’s voice. He was sitting on the back step, coils of rope piled around him on the porch.

  “God, you scared me,” Vanessa said, letting out a skittish high-pitched laugh. “What are you doing out here?” It was probably around six o’clock, so the sun was lower in the sky, but it was still hot enough to have her cotton dress damp with perspiration just from the walk home.

  “Oh.” Ross’s face was a little pink but Vanessa swore his cheeks reddened even more at her question. “It’s stupid.”

  Well that had her curious. And curious was good because it was distracting her from her panic. She took a deep breath and then went to sit down beside him on the step.

  “I highly doubt it’s stupid. Tell me.”

  He glanced furtively at her. After all they’d shared, the fact that he could still be embarrassed around her was pretty dang adorable. “Well, I know it’s dumb, but I always wanted to be an Eagle Scout.”

  Vanessa scrunched her brow. “Like… Boy Scouts?”

  Ross’s hand went to the back of his neck. “Yeah. Dumb, right?”

  “No, not at all. So what’s this? Practice for something? What did they call them? Patches?”

  “Merit badges. You have to master a dozen knots to be an Eagle Scout.”

  Vanessa glanced around them. She didn’t know one knot from another, but there were definitely more than twelve.

  Ross smiled. “Yeah, I was always sort of an overachiever. I’m trying for forty.”

  Vanessa’s heart melted.

  It wasn’t just Cam who was special. Every single one of her husbands was such an amazing puzzle, each one presenting never-ending facets to discover.

  And just like that, the panic came back.

  Because again, compared to them, she felt like an uninteresting, ugly, half-plucked sparrow.

  Sex.

  That was her one trump card.

  They couldn’t get it anywhere else, so, as long as she kept things interesting in the bedroom…

  Vanessa’s eyes flicked around to all the ropes and intricate knots as sudden inspiration struck.

  “Ross,” she lowered her voice and trailed a finger down his thigh, “you’re so good with that rope and those knots. You wouldn’t like to try... maybe tying me up?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  RIORDAN

  Riordan ripped his gloves off and threw them in his bag, wiping his forearm across his forehead for the millionth time and flinching.

  Jesus fucking Christ, he was going to kill whoever’d stolen his hat.

  Eight fucking hours in the Texas heat picking fucking corn without a hat and he was sure he was roasted worst than a damn Thanksgiving turkey. He was Scotch-Irish for fuck’s sake. He got a sunburn if he walked from the front door to the mailbox and back.

  He’d taken a nap during lunch and when he’d woken up, the damn baseball cap was gone. It was an orange UT cap which wasn’t as unique as you’d think considering they were twenty minutes outside what used to be Austin. Plenty of guys had them. And some son of a bitch had stolen his.

  To make it worse, that bastard Sandoval had gotten promoted to Shift Supervisor even though Riordan worked twice as hard. Riordan had put in for the position, but noooo, he was only nineteen, he had to put in his time first.

  It didn’t matter that he was smarter than half the bastards working these fields. Or that he’d always done passably well in school all those years. None of it fucking mattered.

  There was no more career path or getting ahead. No pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The truth was there were a thousand bastards fighting for every job.

  And no way for a man to stand out and make a name for himself.

  Not in a nowhere, shit little town like this.

  You should have gotten out when you had the chance.

  His jaw tensed as he stomped down the street toward his house. It wasn’t the first time he’d had the thought.

  Vanessa was awesome. More than that. She was amazing. Being with her made Riordan feel— Well, it was really, really good when he was with her.

  But days like this?

  It was hard not to think about the what ifs.

  What if he hadn’t stolen the lotto box and it had just gone off like normal? Odds were, his name wouldn’t have been called. Or what if he’d just hightailed it way before it even got to that point? Why hadn’t he taken off six months ago? Or hell, a year ago?

  What the fuck had been tying him to this town? Because it had been so important to his mother that he got that fucking laughingstock piece of paper claiming he’d ‘graduated’?

  Yeah. Fat lot of good that so-called education was doing him while he spent all day shucking fucking corn. And as good as his time with Vanessa was, he always had to share her. He barely ever got to spend any time with her, just the two of them.

  And sure, she liked him. But would she really notice if he wasn’t there? He was just part of the group. He wasn’t a Logan. Jesus, even Michael found ways to connect with her that Riordan couldn’t—

  He shook his head. He could have been halfway to California by now. Having adventure. Seeing if he really had what it took to be the sort of man that could make his mark on the world.

  Sweat rolled into his eyes and he wiped his head, wincing again from his sunburn.

  He finally got home and stalked around to the back porch. They kept a barrel of water back there. He was so hot, he might just dump the whole damn thing on his head. Steam from his sunburn would probably be enough to fucking cook supper.

  But as soon as he kicked open the gate to the back yard, he heard a cry.

  A female cry.

  What the—

  He started running, tossing his bag to the side. He sprinted around the side of the house and shoved the gate to the back fence open.

  And then he came to a stop so suddenly he almost fell over.

  Jesus fucking Christ.

  Not ten feet away, Vanessa was strung up from the beams of the roof on the back porch by rope artfully knotted all around her body. And Ross, he was fucking her and she was groaning like it was the best goddamned thing she’d ever—

  Riordan’s cock stiffened even as his stomach bottomed out.

  Because here was his fucking twin, managing yet again to do what Riordan never could. Stand out. Shine brighter. Make Riordan the spare. Unnecessary. Extraneous. Superfluous. See, he’d paid attention in fucking English. Not that all his vocabulary or the fact that he’d read every history book cover to cover would ever matter for fucking shit.

  Not when Ross or Cam or Logan was in the room.

  He was just
about to spin around and get the hell out of there when Vanessa looked his way and their gazes locked.

  “Riordan,” she called. “Come join us.”

  Ross paused, looking his direction and jealousy burned through Riordan’s gut.

  “Yeah. No thanks.” Riordan didn’t bother hiding his bitterness as he waved at the elaborate rope harness. She was strung up by both her wrists and her legs—not just her ankles, no, that would have been too simple. Instead, Ross had done some crazy, complicated pattern looping the rope around her bent legs like she was a macramé bowl, spreading them open so her pussy was on dripping display when Ross pulled out to turn Riordan’s way.

  Riordan took a step back. “I don’t need to butt in on my brother’s Eagle Scout project fuck. Y’all have fun now.”

  He spun, ready to get the hell out of there when Vanessa’s snapped retort had him stopping.

  “Don’t you dare walk away from me, Riordan Washington.”

  He turned around only to find her imperiously glaring at him. An impressive feat considering she was still strung up like something in the butcher’s poultry case.

  “Why not? You don’t need me.” He waved at Ross. “There’s nothing I can give you that Ross can’t. Or Logan or Cam. Fuck, even Michael now.” He huffed out a bitter laugh. “Give it a week. If I left you wouldn’t even notice I was gone.”

  “How can you—” she cried out, and Riordan was taken aback at the anguished emotion in her voice.

  She took a deep breath like she was trying to get herself under control. “Would you come closer so I’m not yelling halfway across the yard? I want to tell you something.”

  Riordan’s jaw set and he stared at the ground in front of him. He didn’t want to listen to what she had to say. She’d try to say he was important to her, that every person was a special snowflake in their own way, yada, yada, yada. She’d just try to say the shit people always said, but she couldn’t understand.

  She didn’t know what it was like to live in someone else’s shadow her whole life. And now that shadow was bigger than ever because it wasn’t just his brother anymore.

  When he didn’t move, after several seconds, Vanessa took a deep breath and continued anyway.

  “I have a half-sister. And my father loved her more than me.”

  Riordan’s head jerked in her direction and their gazes locked.

  What? She had a sis—

  “Everyone always says that parents don’t pick favorites. That parents always love their children equally. But it’s not true. My father loved her more.”

  Ross took a step forward and put a hand on her waist. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

  Vanessa didn’t move her gaze from Riordan as she answered Ross’s assertion. “It was true. Still is, I’m sure, wherever he is.”

  “Vanessa, no,” Ross tried again, but Vanessa cut him off.

  “He left us when I was three to start another family. He had another daughter, just a few years younger than me. He lived with them in the same town as me. I spent my whole life watching him go to her soccer games. Her band performances. Her dance recitals.”

  Her voice was unflinching. “And when Xterminate hit and neither me or Cecily got sick, he made the ultimate choice. He took her and ran. He left me behind, all alone, during the Death Riots while he took her to safety.”

  “Oh Jesus, Vanessa,” Riordan said, hurrying forward up the stairs of the porch. He was an asshole. A young, petty, stupid asshole.

  He’d let himself get so wrapped up in his own shit. His mother paid more attention to Ross, sure. And yeah, he’d been a solid B student while Ross had been their sixth grade Valedictorian, something both their parents had gone on and on about endlessly. But Jesus, it was nothing to what Vanessa had gone through.

  “I’m so sorry.” He went up to her, needing to touch her, to hold her.

  But there she was, her legs spread, pussy glistening. His cock had already been stiff but as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, he couldn’t help his hard-on becoming like granite. He tried to hold his hips back from her as he hugged her and quickly let her go.

  She must have misunderstood the quick embrace, though.

  “Don’t you dare think you aren’t special to me. You. You’re brash. Adventurous. You do everything balls to the wall. I love that.”

  He scoffed, shaking his head as he looked down. Even though she understood better than he could have imagined, it didn’t just magically change everything. “I work in the fields every day.”

  “For now!” Vanessa exclaimed. “That’s the other thing I l—” she cut off abruptly and looked down, “the other thing I like so much about you. You’re never satisfied.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Riordan swallowed hard. It was hard to hear the same failings his mother always harped on coming out of her mouth. “Mom always told me I should learn to be satisfied with what I had instead of having my head in the clouds.”

  “No, it’s a good thing not to be satisfied,” Vanessa said. “It means you’ll never stop fighting for what you want. You’ll never give up. You’ll never settle for mediocre. Don’t you get it, Riordan? You’re bound for an extraordinary life. And I feel so honored that I get to be a part of it.”

  Riordan blinked hard. “You really—” His voice came out a little choked and he had to swallow hard before continuing. “You really believe all that? About me?”

  “Of course I do,” she said, like he was crazy to think anything different.

  Riordan just stared at her.

  She really did.

  She really believed in him. She thought he’d have an extraordinary life. No one ever thought of him as anything other than Ross’s brother or one of those twins. But this woman, this goddess of a woman, she—

  He lunged forward, gripping the back of her head and pulling her in, kissing her deeper and harder than he ever had before.

  She kissed him back with just as much need and fervor.

  He thought his cock was hard before? He growled, half in lust, half in pain at how his jeans restricted his dick. He reached down to undo the button and zipper because it hurt too much not too.

  But when Vanessa looked down and saw what he was doing, her nostrils flared and her eyes went bright with desire. She pulled her head back from his lips.

  “Do you want to go on an adventure with me right now?” Her chest heaved up and down with her every word. Considering she was still strung up like a prize bird in a shop window, Riordan had an idea what kind of adventure she meant.

  And he was all fucking in.

  “Hell yeah I am, babe.” He shoved his jeans down his legs and kicked them off. Damn was he glad for the privacy fence around the back yard.

  When he looked back to Vanessa, she was glancing between him and Ross. Her gaze had gone suddenly shy, cheeks pink as she whispered, “If my hands were free, I’d pull it out myself. You see, I’ve been, um, preparing…” She glanced down.

  “What is it, honey,” Ross asked. “You can tell us anything.”

  She lifted her eyes, gaze meeting Riordan’s straight on. “I’ve been preparing to take two of you at once.”

  Holy shit, was she saying what he thought she was saying?

  “So if you, um,” her eyes flicked down and up again, “Well, there’s a plug I’ve been using to stretch and it’s…”

  Riordan knew his eyes were wide as they shot to Ross’s, who’s expression he was sure mirrored his. Total shock and lustful hunger at the thought of what Vanessa was offering.

  “Riordan, will you pull it out?” she asked, her delicate voice all breathy with need like it got when she was turned on. “And fill me up with you instead?”

  Chapter Twenty

  RIORDAN

  “Will you pull it out? And fill me up with you instead?”

  Well that was a request that no man in history would ever fucking say no to.

  Riordan’s cock bobbed heavily as he walked around Vanessa’s body. And holy fucking shit, she w
asn’t lying.

  There, nestled between her ass cheeks right at her anus, was the stopper of a small flesh-colored plug.

  “Jesus,” Riordan hissed. His hand dropped to massage her perfect ass, curving down to the plug. The rubber was so hard compared to her luscious, soft skin.

  “Pull it out,” Vanessa said. “Please. I want to know what it feels like to have you inside me there, Riordan. What it feels like to have one of my husbands take me there for the first time.”

  Riordan almost lost his shit at her words.

  He’d be her first.

  The first to take her ass.

  Something none of the rest of them would ever have. It would be his. His alone. Forever he’d be her first.

  He wedged his fingers around the rim of the plug and slowly started pulling it out.

  When she started making the sexiest fucking throaty groan Riordan had ever heard, he wanted to yank the damn thing out and shove his cock in without preamble.

  But no.

  He’d make this a first she remembered.

  He’d make it extraordinary.

  So he teased Vanessa with the plug as he pulled it out. Sometimes pushing it back in and giving several quick thrusts before continuing to remove it.

  And watching her ass expand and contract around the toy was. So. Fucking. Hot.

  Finally the plug came all the way free. Riordan’s hand shook as he took a step to set it on the porch railing. Because as cool as he was trying to play this, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.

  He was about to be treated to the fucking ultimate—what guy didn’t secretly dream about anal?

  Riordan had seen some porno magazines once where a guy was doing it to a chick and ever since… But Riordan never thought a good girl like Vanessa— Not in a thousand years…

  His hands were still shaking as he came back around to her backside. Ross had strung her up at the perfect height for fucking.

  Of course he had—the perfect height for Ross to fuck her was the perfect height for Riordan. And hey, at the moment, he wasn’t complaining. Vanessa might have just found the one activity in the world he didn’t mind sharing with his brother. Riordan smirked. As long as he got to claim the important first.