by Vanessa Vale
“Who would do—” I cut off my own question because I knew the answer. I whipped my head up and looked at Liam. Gone was the look of a lover, the heated gaze and even the playful gleam I’d seen all weekend. Before me wasn’t Liam, my lover, but Sheriff Hogan. “Tommy.”
He gave a slight nod. “That’s what I think.”
I closed my eyes and thought about my brother. Not the cute boy I remembered, but the fuck-up I knew now. Turning, I paced the small room. There wasn’t much space to walk around as a table and chairs were in the middle where we ate our meals during our breaks.
I rubbed my hands over my face, and wanted to scream in frustration. “When I get my hands on him, I’m going to—”
“You don’t want to finish that sentence in front of the sheriff.”
I turned to face him and knew, but I wanted to ask anyway. “Is that who you are right now, the sheriff?”
He sighed. “I have to bring you to the station for questioning.”
I froze. “Me? I didn’t do this.” I put my hand to my chest. “I was with you all weekend!”
It wasn’t like I didn’t have a good alibi, being in bed with the sheriff himself.
“Of course, you didn’t,” he replied quickly. “I was with you at the pawnshop on Saturday, know your brother’s desperate.”
I was mad and hurt by Tommy. Again. This time, he’d gone too far. He might steal money, hock things that I needed or wanted to keep because they were sentimental, but messing with my job like that? It was my livelihood. Our livelihood since it kept our house. He might not live in it much anymore, but he definitely came to it. I might not see him, but he used the old washer and dryer, ate the food in the fridge. Food I bought with money earned working the job he’d just fucked with.
“That’s the only reason why you believe me?” I asked, suddenly riled. “That I was in bed with you all weekend and that you were there as I cleaned up Tommy’s mess?”
Liam’s jaw clenched. “Lash out at me all you want, but you know that’s not what I meant. I believe in you. Know this wasn’t you.”
He reached out, stroked a knuckle down my cheek. The gentle gesture soothed me and made me feel guilty.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“You have to come with me, baby. Barbara’s pulling someone in from a different floor to cover for you.”
I felt my cheeks heat with shame at having my family problems exposed to my boss. I’d kept Tommy and my home life separate from work. I showed up on time, did my job, got paid and chipped away at the bills. Except for now. Glancing at the clock on the wall, I saw I would only get four hours pay today.
“Does Barbara think I did it? That I helped Tommy? I work in a hospital and handle drugs as part of my job. They could fire me over this.”
I wasn’t angry any longer. I was freaked out. This was the only hospital in the county. There were only a handful of doctors in town. While nursing was an in-demand job, there were only so many positions in a town the size of Raines. I didn’t want to commute the long way to Bozeman or even Helena. God, this was a mess!
“I have to call Dr. Metzger,” I added.
“Now’s not the time,” Liam said in his calm voice.
“She probably wants to fire me for this!” I hissed, not wanting to shout, for who knew who was walking down the hall.
Liam looked grim. “Dr. Metzger doesn’t want you back until this is resolved. She doesn’t think you did it, but it was your code. I’m guessing you didn’t share it with Tommy.”
“I don’t even see Tommy. But the code’s my mother’s birthday, the same code I use for unlocking my phone, my ATM pin.”
Liam offered a small sigh, and I rolled my eyes. A bit of shame at my irresponsibility burned my gut.
“I know, I should come up with something harder, but who would want in my phone? And getting into my bank account? I have less than two hundred dollars in there. Until now, I didn’t think it mattered about the alarm at the doctor’s office.”
My stomach dropped and tears burned the back of my eyes. I might be cleared of the break in, surely Liam would vouch I wasn’t involved, but Tommy was. I had no doubt. He would always be my brother, and there would always be another chance of him doing something just like this. I wasn’t a reliable employee. Dr. Metzger couldn’t trust me with alarm codes or anything now. I didn’t know how big the mess was, but her business was built on trust and I’d ruined that. No doubt everyone in town knew of the break in by now.
“I’m calling Tommy.”
I went over to my locker, opened it and pulled my cell from my purse. There was a voicemail. I listened to my brother’s voice, then hit the button to repeat it, set the phone on speaker so Liam could hear.
“I’m sorry, sis,” Tommy said through the phone, his voice unusually tense. “I’m in trouble. I need to pay them back or they’re going to fucking hurt me. Why weren’t there any fucking drugs in the doctor’s office? I could be in the clear now. Find me ten grand, Jilly. I know you’re putting money in a savings account for an emergency fund. This is an emergency! Shit, I’ve got to go.”
The message ended and I looked up at Liam. His jaw was clenched and he ran his hand over the back of his neck. This wasn’t just my brother losing money at the casino. Clearly, he’d gotten in over his head with some bad people.
Ten thousand dollars? I didn’t know what to think. How could Tommy lose that much money? He’d implicated himself in the break in. The sheriff heard it, knew he did it and why.
“That emergency fund?” I said, rolling my eyes. “Like I said, it has about two hundred dollars in it.”
Even if I withdrew that money, it wasn’t going to help Tommy. I might not be fired yet, but the voicemail proved I would be because Tommy wasn’t going anywhere. He’d always be my brother and always turn to me to clean up his messes. To save him. He was clearly desperate. If he’d broken into the doctor’s office and found nothing, that meant he was more frantic than ever. What would he do next?
I was out a job, there was no question. Which meant, I couldn’t pay the mortgage and all my bills.
10
PORTER
* * *
“Hungry?” I asked as we came in my house through the garage.
Liam had called me, given me an update on the clusterfuck. Fortunately, I wasn’t due in court today and had been able to hand off my meetings to someone else in the office or have them postponed so I could get Jill from the sheriff department. They’d questioned her, asking her about her brother and who she thought they were from the voicemail her brother had left on her phone. Tommy mentioned they when he said he owed ten grand. Of course, Jill had no fucking clue who he was talking about.
I’d been thrilled to collect her when Liam was done with her, to bring her here and take care of her. She was subdued now; the questioning hadn’t been fun. She hadn’t said a word on the ride from the station. Since she didn’t have to go back to the hospital for the remainder of her shift, I drove her to my house.
No way in hell was I taking her to hers with her brother out of control. And I wasn’t leaving her alone no matter what she said.
She wanted Tommy to be more than the fucking deadbeat he was. Hell, I wanted Tommy to be more than a fucking deadbeat for Jill. She deserved a family that loved her and took care of her. She had Liam and I now, and by extension, our extended families, but it wasn’t the same.
Tommy was all the family she had left. The Dukes were a big group. My parents lived in Arizona now but we were still close. Auntie Duke and Uncle Duke—such ridiculous names since we were all Dukes—lived in town along with my four cousins. I couldn’t imagine no weekly family dinners. No game nights. No summer picnics or even that one year we’d formed a bowling team. That had been interesting. Someone always had my back.
Tommy definitely didn’t have Jill’s. The opposite, in fact. He was using her, treating her like shit and now, most likely, made her lose her job. Even her reputation around town. I was pissed for
her. So was Liam.
While he stayed at the station and tried to track down the fucker, I brought Jill home. Home was my house. Hopefully, soon enough, it would be our house. Liam’s, too. He’d moved back to the family ranch when his dad died last year, but it wasn’t permanent. We’d agreed once we claimed Jill we’d live here, or buy a new place for all three of us. He and I would have our own bedrooms, but we’d share Jill. She’d spend the night in our beds, taking turns or however we worked it out. Sometimes, like over the weekend, we’d fuck her while the other watched. Other times, one-on-one. And soon, at the same time. So far, the only time we’d really touched her together was when we finger fucked her pussy in the SUV. Soon though, soon, we’d take her at the same time, make her ours in all ways. One of us would claim her pussy, the other her ass.
She would never be lonely or alone again. Like now, she had shit going on and she wouldn’t deal with it all by herself. No fucking way.
She just stood there, not sure what to do, so I pulled her in for a hug, leaned down and kissed the top of her head. She was so small, fragile. In this case, emotionally, although she was the strongest person I knew. I wanted to protect her from anything that didn’t put a smile on her face. I wanted to take care of her every need.
Starting with food. It was after noon and she had to be hungry. Stepping back, I helped her out of her heavy coat and hung it on a hook in the mud room.
“Not really,” she replied to my question about being hungry.
I kissed her forehead again. “All right, sweetness. Go take a bath and relax and I’ll make you at least a snack.”
Her sad eyes met mine and she nodded.
I nudged her into the family room and toward the master suite. “Go on. There’s nothing you can do right now but relax.”
There really wasn’t. Liam would deal with finding Tommy and also Dr. Metzger. From what he’d told me, she’d already filled out a police report. Nothing had been stolen since they hadn’t found the drugs it was assumed they were looking for. The office only needed glass replaced in one window and a thorough clean up. She’d be back to seeing patients soon enough. She didn’t mention that Jill was fired, but being smart, she was waiting to hear how the investigation went.
Tommy was as big a dick as ever, and Jill taking a bath and a nap wasn’t going to change that.
Five minutes later, I carried a plate with a ham and cheese sandwich and chips into the bedroom. Based on the sound of the running water, Jill had chosen a shower instead of a bath. It was the quiet sobs that had me swearing under my breath, ditching the snack and opening the bathroom door. Even with the glass shower enclosure fogged with steam, I could see her small form on the tile floor, curled up in a ball.
Quickly stripping, I joined her. Thankfully, she wasn’t in the bath because there was no way I could fit in the tub with her, but my shower stall was meant for two. It gave a huge guy like me plenty of space, but still left lots of room for another.
There, with the hot water raining down on her, her head leaning on her bent knees, she cried. Her dark hair clung to her back. My heart wrenched at the sight.
“Sweetness,” I said, scooping her up and settling on the bench seat with her in my lap.
She cried against my chest as I stroked my hand up and down her bare, wet back. My dick stirred by her hip, but I ignored it.
“What am I going to do?” she said, her words all gaspy and snuffly from her tears. “Dr. Metzger’s going to fire me for this.”
“You didn’t break into her office,” I countered.
“Tommy did. I can’t be trusted because of him.”
She was partially right. The doctor did have a moral obligation to offer a safe and trusting place for her patients. But she also had a moral obligation to recognize Jill was not Tommy, nor was she responsible for his actions.
I told Jill that.
“He’s my brother,” she replied.
I gave her a slight squeeze. “Tommy is twenty years old. A man. Should he be responsible for your actions?”
“Of course not,” she replied right away.
“What about me? You think I should be worried about being with you?”
She shifted so she could look up at me. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but the tears had stopped. “You should. You’re the DA. Shouldn’t you be worried?”
“If anyone has issue with the woman in my life, that’s their problem, not mine. They can go fuck themselves.”
That made her smile.
“There’s my girl.” I leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. “Let’s get you all washed up, then you can have that snack I made for you and a nap.”
“I’m not a little girl,” she grumbled, but without any real oomph behind it.
I looked down her body, took in the soft swells of her breasts with their plump pink tips, the curve of her hips, the fullness of her ass against my thighs. I remembered every single thing we did together over the weekend, thought of all the ways I’d yet to have her. “No, you’re not. And I’m seeing after my woman, not treating you like a child.”
I stood easily with her in my arms until we were back under the spray. I lowered her feet to the tile and grabbed the soap from the built-in shelf. I began to lather her soft skin and paid special attention to her breasts. While ample, they were so small in my big hands. Soft where I was hard. Smooth where I was rough. Gorgeous. Every single inch of her. “See, I’m not treating you like a child at all.”
Her hands settled on my chest and she looked up at me. I saw heat, eagerness. Surprise, as if I was able to arouse her, even after being so upset. With my touch, I could make her forget, at least for a little while. That was the goal. There was nothing we could do until we heard from Liam. I’d give her so much pleasure she couldn’t remember her own name.
My dick was fully hard now and pointed straight at her belly and when she looked down, she slid her hand around the base. Oh fuck, that felt good. My hips thrust on their own toward her, ready to sink into her tight pussy.
Quickly, before I forgot my own name or came in thick spurts all over her belly, I took hold of her wrist and moved it away. “This is all about you, sweetness. Turn around,” I murmured and she did so without comment.
Shit, her ass was gorgeous, all heart-shaped and I wanted to grab hold. So I did, then rubbed my hands along the full curves, ensuring every inch of it was clean.
“Porter.” My name was soft and breathless, no longer weepy.
“What, sweetness?”
“I like when you take a shower with me.”
One hand reached around her small body and cupped a breast, the other slid between her thighs, covering every nook and cranny with soap, but careful to rinse it all off before I slipped a finger into her.
“I like taking a shower with you, too.” She was hot and wet and she clenched down.
“Porter!” she repeated as the palm of my hand pressed against her clit.
Leaning forward, I nipped the spot where her shoulder met her neck. My dick was nestled against her back.
“All clean?” I asked, licking the water from her skin.
She nodded and her head fell back against my chest as I continued to play.
“Yes.”
“Good, then it’s time to get you all dirty again.”
I reached out and shut off the water, opened the door and grabbed a towel. When Jill stepped out, I carefully dried her by dropping down onto one knee on the thick bathmat so I was at a better height. Perhaps she caught on that I had every intention of doing this myself even though I knew she could do it herself because she said nothing. It was hard to miss when her tits rose and fell with her quick breathing, those gorgeous nipples hard little points. When I dried her pussy, she gasped, obviously sensitive to the soft rasp of the towel. I loved the way her clit was exposed for me to see and know it was a hard nub.
I stood, grabbed a second towel and dried myself with efficient and quick motions, tossed it onto the vanity before scooping Jill up and carrying her
to bed. With a rough tug, the blanket and top sheet were on the floor.
Jill laughed. “You’re eager,” she commented when I had her just where I wanted—naked and in the center of my bed. Her dark eyes were on my dick, which of course bobbed toward her as if it were responding to her words.
I didn’t wait, but moved so I was between her parted thighs and my mouth right over her center.
“Porter,” she said, realizing my intention.
Looking up her gorgeous, naked body, I met her gaze. Grinned. Oh yeah, I had her exactly where I wanted her. She was already wet for me, the scent of her pussy filling my nostrils. Her skin was warm and damp, dewy even. Lifting one leg, then the other over my shoulders, I cupped her ass, took in the wet folds already parted and ready for me. We’d been at her so much all weekend long, I had to wonder if some of our cum was still deep inside. For some reason, knowing she was marked by us made me feel like a fucking hero. Virile, like I wanted to pound my chest with my fists. My mouth watered in anticipation of tasting her. I loved her pussy and I could eat it for hours. Maybe I would.
We had all afternoon, and I was going to make the most of it. She came for me and Liam as we ate her out before. I loved that she was so responsive, so sensitive to what we did to her. It was like winning a gold medal when she writhed and screamed my name as she came.
“Don’t be shy, sweetness. Come as often as you want.”
11
JILL
* * *
I followed the scent of garlic and something Italian toward the kitchen. After three Porter-induced orgasms from just his mouth and fingers, I conked out when he climbed in bed beside me—fully clothed—and pulled me into his arms. I’d slept hard and didn’t even stir when he’d, at some point, climbed from the bed. My scrubs were all the clothes I had, so I put on one of Porter’s flannel shirts… my knee-high socks so my feet stayed warm, and nothing else. My hair was a wild mess since I’d never combed it out after the shower, then falling asleep with it wet. I was rolling up the sleeves when I entered the kitchen.
