by Becca Van
Their investments had paid off. They still had the life insurance money from their parents’ deaths but hadn’t needed to touch a cent of it. They’d all grown up on this ranch and learned how to take care of the animals and which cattle to breed. Cattle prices had skyrocketed and now they were rich, but they’d all been so lonely. That was until Niki had come into their lives. Bit by bit she was chasing away the cold emptiness that had invaded his heart after he’d served in the Marines and their parents had been killed.
Rig had pined for a woman to complete them but hadn’t thought they’d ever meet the woman meant to be theirs, and while he was ecstatically happy that they had, they were going to have to take things slow with Niki. She’d been abused in more ways than one and didn’t need him or his brothers rushing her into something she wasn’t ready for.
Rig pushed his thoughts aside as he lowered Niki onto the bed. Hes had rushed ahead to pull the covers back and now Brent, who’d followed him down the hall, helped him to remove her shoes.
“Should we take her jeans, sweater, and socks off?” Rig asked. He wanted her to be as comfortable as possible, but he didn’t want to make her think they were creeps by taking her clothes off while she wasn’t aware.
“Just her socks,” Brent said.
After her socks were off, Niki sighed, rolled onto her side, and curled up into the fetal position. Since she was wearing her clothes still and he didn’t want her getting overheated, he left the quilt down at the end of the bed and tugged the sheet up.
Hes had flicked the en-suite bathroom light on before pulling the door almost all the way closed. That way if Niki woke up during the night, she’d be able to find her way to the facilities if she needed them without walking around in the dark and hurting herself.
“Let’s leave her to sleep,” Brent said, nodding toward the door.
Rig didn’t want to leave, but he also didn’t want Niki screaming with fear at finding him in her bedroom. So, with a sigh of reluctance, he followed his brothers out of the room, then switched the hall light on as he walked to the kitchen.
Rig hoped that Niki slept the night through because she had dark marks beneath her eyes and looked as if she hadn’t been sleeping properly for months.
What he wished for most of all, though, was for her to give him and his brothers a chance to be with her. He wanted to show her that he and his brothers would never hurt her. He wanted to show her that their touch could bring her pleasure and hopefully wipe all the pain she’d endured from her mind.
Even though he knew his last thought would never happen, he longed to be able to hold her in his arms while she slept and wake up with her first thing in the morning. He wanted to shower her with laughter, happiness, and most of all, love.
Chapter Nine
Niki whimpered when Vinnie walked into her bedroom. She’d huddled near the head of her bed when she’d heard the key in the lock and had prayed that it was Rosita, but she’d known deep in her gut that it wasn’t the housekeeper at her door. She’d rather face her father’s fist than look into those malevolent, lascivious brown eyes.
When he closed and locked the door behind her, she began to tremble and pant. Perspiration sheened her skin and rolled down between her breasts as her fight-or-flight response kicked in. There was no way out, and she was either going to have to try and fight him off or run. The door was locked and she’d seen him pocket the key. Even if she screamed until she was hoarse, no one could help her. Rosita wouldn’t be able to break the door down, and her father didn’t care about her one way or the other.
This was it.
This time he was going to rape her, and there was nothing she could do but fight.
Maybe, if she was lucky, she could knee him in the balls and he wouldn’t be able to perform.
Niki sucked in a calming breath, attempting to slow her heartbeat and her panting as she tried to come up with a way to incapacitate the bastard intent on raping her.
He smirked as he slowly stalked toward the bed. Niki wished she had a weapon, but all she had were the pillows and the quilt. They wouldn’t do any damage at all. Nonetheless, she had a brain and while her hands and legs were free, she’d do everything she could to maim him. She curled her fingers, ready and waiting. Her nails weren’t overly long, but they weren’t too short either. Surely, she could do some major damage to his face with those.
Niki tensed her muscles in preparation to fight. The closer Vinny got, the more she trembled, but she was determined to escape with her innocence intact. When he sat on the edge of the bed, she scooted across to the other side of the mattress, but before she could get to her feet, he clutched her ankle.
Niki kicked out with her free leg, her heel connecting with his chin. Vinnie grunted with anger and punched her in the ribs. She drew in a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs, twisting and writhing, trying to get away from him. Vinnie surged to his feet and threw himself on top of her, pinning her to the mattress. She curled her fingers into a tight fist and swung at his face, but before she could hit him, he caught her wrist in his hand and pulled her arm up above her head. Then he grasped her other wrist, lifted her arm, tethered both of her wrists in one hand, and pressed them hard into the mattress. She was trapped, but she wasn’t giving up. She bucked and bowed, all the while screaming for help.
Tears streamed down her face as he squeezed her breast so hard she was sure bruises had already formed. She froze for an instant when she felt his hand between her legs, cupping her mound, and then he ripped her boy shorts off.
Niki screamed for all her worth.
Brent, who was sitting in the living room with his brothers, was on his feet at Niki’s first scream. His heart flipped and thundered hard and fast as adrenaline surged through his system. He was aware of his brothers at his heels, but he didn’t stop or slow until he was in the master bedroom, standing at the side of the bed. Niki was crying and pleading. “No! No, no, no. Don’t touch me, you creep. Stop!” She opened her mouth, drew in a deep breath, and screamed so loudly his ears hurt. His heart broke when he heard the pain and terror as she writhed and bucked, fighting her imaginary attacker. He sat on the edge of the bed and began talking to her. “You’re safe, Niki. Wake up, baby. No one will ever hurt you again.” She responded with a sob. He couldn’t stand not touching her, holding her, but he didn’t want to scare the shit out of her either. He rubbed a hand up and down her thigh, hoping his gentle touch and the sound of his voice would be enough to bring her out of her nightmare.
Hes and Rig stared on with worried expressions, but when she screamed again it was loud enough to rattle the window. Hoping he didn’t frighten her, he lifted her into his arms, wrapped them around her, and shushed her, then began to rock back and forth. Hes and Rig both climbed up onto the mattress, smoothing their hands over her head and arm. She bucked against him, banging her head on his shoulder, but when she curled her fingers into claws as if she was trying to gouge someone’s eyes out, he spoke louder. “Niki, wake up. Now!”
She gave a last sob and took a shuddery breath before slumping against him. And then she started crying. She wept so hard her small body trembled against his. He didn’t try to stop her from bawling, just held her until she was spent.
“I’m sorry.” She gulped in a breath. “I didn’t mean to wake you all.”
“You didn’t wake us, sugar.” Rig threaded his fingers with hers, lifted her hand to his mouth, and kissed the back of it. “You’ve only been asleep for a few hours.”
“Oh.” She sighed, wiped the tears from her face and eyes, and sniffed.
Hes got up from the bed and hurried toward the adjacent bathroom. When he came back moments later, he had a wad of tissues in his hand, which he passed to Niki.
“Thanks.” She patted her cheeks dry before blowing her nose.
“Do you want to talk about your nightmare, honey?” Hes asked.
She shook her head, then lifted her gaze to his. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, but it
didn’t detract from her beauty. When she licked her lips, his heart raced and his cock twitched as it began to engorge. Brent hoped she couldn’t feel how hard his dick was becoming. As she stared into his eyes, she lifted her hand to his face and cupped his cheek. When she started caressing his skin with the tips of her fingers, shivers of heat pierced his belly. He lowered his gaze to her lips, then met her eyes again.
“Will you please kiss me?” she asked uncertainly. “I want you to kiss and touch me. I can still feel his hands on me, in me.” Goose bumps pebbled her skin and a shudder ripped through her.
“Are you cold, honey?” Hes asked. His brother was sitting on one side of him, and Rig had scooched across to sit on their other side.
“No.” She shivered again. “I feel as if my skin is crawling. He…he would have r-raped me. If I hadn’t escaped when I had…” She shook her head, then locked eyes with him again. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I don’t want to feel so unclean, so dirty.” Niki met each of their gazes before staring into his eyes again. “I want you to make love to me. Please? Please, make me forget.”
“Baby, I would love nothing more to make love with you.” He held her face between his hands and tried to keep from panting. He was so fucking hard his dick was aching. “I’ve already told you we’re all attracted to you. We want a relationship with you, but don’t want you coming to us under duress or because of any other reason. We want you to make love with us because you want to.”
“I do want that,” she said. “I’m attracted to all three of you and have been from the moment I met you all.”
“If we do make love to you, then you’ll be ours, Niki,” Rig said.
She frowned as if she didn’t understand what Rig meant.
“You’ll belong to us, honey,” Hes said. “And I don’t mean like a possession. If we make love with you, then you’ll be our girlfriend.”
“If you agree to have a relationship with us, baby, it will be exclusive. There will be no other men for you and no other women for us. We want to build something with a solid foundation. We want the whole nine yards. So, think very carefully about what you want.” Brent paused to take a breath. “Can you see yourself living here with us for the rest of your life? Having our children and growing old with us?”
Niki nodded, but a frown still marred her face. She might think she knew what she wanted, but Brent wasn’t so sure. They hadn’t known each other long enough. She’d never had the chance to live a normal life and was just starting to spread her wings. Was he being unfair asking her to be theirs when he didn’t think she’d ever had a boyfriend? Had she even had sex before? Sex she’d consented to? Or had she been repeatedly forced to do things she didn’t want to do?
She slipped from his lap and began pacing. Every now and then she stopped to glance their way, then started pacing again. Expressions flitted across her face, but he couldn’t work out what they all were. Brent would have loved to be a mind reader to know what she was thinking, but since that wasn’t possible, he waited patiently for her to consider what they’d said.
She came and stood in front of them. “Do you think I’m weak? That I don’t know my own mind?”
“No. Why would you ask such a thing?” Brent stood and his brothers did the same. “You and your sister are some of the strongest women I know. Many would have buckled and given up long ago. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you and Kat to be kept under lock and key. To never leave a house when you wanted. To not go to school, nor have any friends. Instead of giving up you held fast, plotting and planning until you could escape. You amaze me, Niki. Even most men wouldn’t have endured what you both did without losing their minds. So, no, I don’t think you’re weak or don’t know your own mind.”
“Then why question my decision?” she asked. “I’ve never felt this way about any man before, and here I find myself wanting to be with all three of you.”
Brent’s heart started pounding with hope.
“I trust you, and that’s something that doesn’t come easy for me for obvious reasons. There are only three people I’ve ever trusted, and that was my Mom, Kat, and Rosita.” She pressed a hand over the top of her left breast and her fist against her sternum between her breasts. “I ache here. There’s this yearning need that makes me want to know all of you. What your hopes and dreams are. What you were like as children. I want to hear all about your parents. What your favorite foods and colors are. When your birthdays are.”
“That’s—” Brent stopped when she held up her hand.
“I haven’t finished. That’s not the only place I ache.” Her cheeks turned pink and she lowered her gaze to the floor. When she raised her head again, her cheeks were a darker hue but there was determination in her gaze. “I want to know what it’s like to make love. To be touched with pleasure and not pain. I wasn’t raped, but it was so damn close.
“When I look at you all, I ache in places I’ve never felt before. I’m even…wet.”
Brent squeezed his eyes closed and started counting. He was so close to pulling her into his arms and ravishing her, but he needed to make sure that she wanted him and his brothers making love with her because of the fiery heat zapping between them and not because she was curious. He’d figured out that Niki was likely a virgin since she’d been a prisoner in her own home since she’d told her sister she hadn’t been raped. He’d never been with an innocent before and was worried he’d hurt her. However, a fierce possessiveness washed over him because no other man had touched her the way she should be touched. No other man had made love to her and given her so much pleasure she’d screamed.
He opened his eyes when he heard one of his brothers grunt. Hes and Rig were staring at her with so much hunger in their eyes, but when he looked at Niki, she had the same expression. Brent couldn’t hold back much longer. Not when he’d been dreaming about making love with her every fucking night. He’d needed to make sure she didn’t want to be with them for the wrong reasons. For instance, some sort of warped obligation for offering her one of their spare rooms and keeping her safe. He should have realized that Niki wasn’t like that. Even though she’d been locked away, she was as independent as any other modern woman and she knew her own mind. She wasn’t the type of person to let him and his brothers boss her around. If they got too overbearing, he could see her standing up to him and his brothers without a qualm.
There was nothing meek and mild about Niki at all.
Niki began speaking again. “The thought of walking away from this ranch and never seeing any of you again makes my chest ache.”
The silence that followed her last statement was loaded with sexual tension.
Brent was hardly breathing, worried that if he moved, he was going to snap. His brothers looked as if they were in the same boat. Hes had his hands curled into tight white-knuckled fists. Rig was grinding his teeth, the muscles in his jaw ticking, and his arms were crossed over his chest. He was gripping his biceps so hard his fingers were digging into his flesh.
When Niki’s shoulders slumped and she turned to walk away, Brent’s frozen state melted and he clasped her upper arm.
She slowly turned back to him and met his gaze.
“Are you sure, baby? Are you really sure this is what you want? Me, Hes, and Rig to be yours?”
“Yes,” she stated emphatically.
Brent didn’t give her time to change her mind. He swept her up into his arms, cradling her against his chest, and slanted his mouth over hers.
Niki moaned, her arm draped around Brent’s neck as she kissed him back. Her lips parted to his questing tongue, and her insides melted as they tangled together. She was breathing hard and fast, but it was the most amazing feeling. Her breasts were heavy and swollen, her nipples hard and aching. Her clit was throbbing as it engorged, and her pussy kept clenching with an empty need.
She whimpered when Brent broke the kiss and lowered her to her feet. She was so drunk from his kisses she swayed on her feet, but thankfully, he was
clasping her hips to keep her steady. When she caught movement in her periphery, she turned to her right. Hes locked gazes with her as he stepped closer, and then he cupped her face between his hands. He slowly lowered his head, and when she could no longer focus on him without seeing double, she closed her eyes. He snagged an arm around her waist, pulled her against him, and slammed his mouth over hers. She opened to him, groaning as his tongue glided along before twirling around hers. He tasted just as good as Brent, only different. Nonetheless, they were both delectable.
She cried out when she shifted closer, her hard nipples brushing against his chest even through their clothes. Her nipples were sensitive and throbbing so badly, she needed the ache to be taken away. With a silent plea, Niki arched her chest toward his and sighed into his mouth when he skimmed a hand up her side. He stopped with his hand on the outside of her breast, and she moaned in entreaty. She drew her lips from his, gasping in breath after breath, and her whole body spasmed when he cupped his hand around her soft flesh.
“I want more,” she rasped out. “I ache so badly. I can’t stand it.”
“We’ll give you what you need, sugar,” Rig said as he combed his fingers into her hair, turning her toward him. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
Niki didn’t know what she would have said to that if she’d been able to respond, but before she could think of something, Rig’s mouth was on hers.
He ravaged her mouth, delving into her depths with his tongue. Their tongues twined, rubbed, and swirled until she was so hot and her skin was so sensitive she couldn’t stand the feel of her own clothes against her flesh.
