by Marla Monroe
“Sure you don’t need any help with that?” Lamar had looked up from the magazine and was watching her.
“Thanks, but I’ve got it. There’s only two today. Nothing like yesterday.”
“Anything big?”
“Nope, all small. Lucked out today.” She grinned then winced. Her face was still sore, even after four days.
He nodded and went back to reading. She stood up and carried her labels to the wrapping table and began pulling together the items she would be shipping out. Once she had them packaged up and labeled, Caitlyn walked over to Lamar and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
“All finished, Caity?”
“Ready to go to the post office.”
“We’ll grab lunch and then head over to the shop. Anything you want to grab to take with you?”
“I’ve got my book. I’ll be fine.”
Lamar handed her the magazine before grabbing the box holding the items to be mailed. He checked the area before nodding that it was okay for her to leave the store. He waited while she locked up and then they hurried to the truck. Every time she had made this walk in the last few days, her heart sped up and the palms of her hands grew sweaty. So far, nothing more had happened.
They drove to the post office and quickly mailed the packages. Then Lamar drove them to the diner. Caitlyn wasn’t really hungry but figured she needed to eat something. Finally, she settled on a ham and cheese sandwich. Lamar ordered the lunch special of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
Mattie, the diner’s owner, delivered them herself.
“Hey, Lamar, Caity. How are you two doing? How’s Brody?”
“We’re all fine. How are Nate and Bruce?”
“They’re fine. Bruce said there was someone he didn’t recognize filling up at the gas station when he drove in to work today. He called the sheriff and let him know the details.”
“Tell him I said thanks, Mattie. Can’t be too careful nowadays.”
“Caitlyn, do you need anything?” Mattie squeezed her shoulder.
“No, thanks, Mattie. I’m fine. The guys pretty much take care of everything.”
“They better. They don’t want the town coming down on them for neglecting you.”
Caitlyn started to laugh, but saw that Mattie was serious. That realization caught her off guard. Not only did the people of Riverbend accept the unusual lifestyles of the citizens living there, they supported the people living there and looked out for each other. It was a sobering thought.
They finished their meal, and after getting a hamburger and fries to go for Brody, they headed toward the shop. Lamar was silent the entire ride there. She held the take-out bag in her lap along with her book. When they pulled up outside their place of business, Lamar had her stay in the truck until he could come around and help her down.
“You handle the food and your stuff. I’ll get all the doors.”
She let him help her down from the truck and then hurried over to the door where Brody held it open for them to come in.
“Any trouble?” he asked as she handed him his hamburger.
“None. Didn’t even see a tail. Bruce saw someone new in town and called Tidwell to tell him about it. Figured we should call and find out the details on what to be watching for.”
Brody nodded and took a bite out of his burger.
“I’m going to go sit in the office and read.” Caitlyn accepted the quick kiss from Lamar and the pat on the ass from Brody.
She closed the door behind her and sank into the barely comfortable office chair. After squirming around for a few seconds, she finally accepted that it wasn’t going to get any better and opened her book. The story finally sucked her in and she forgot all about the uncomfortable chair.
Several hours later, Brody opened the office door, startling her into losing her place in the book. She nearly jumped out of the chair and scowled at him.
“Sorry. I’ll knock next time to let you know I’m coming in. I was just getting Lamar and me some water. Do you want a bottle?”
“Sure, thanks. What time is it?” She grabbed her purse to check her phone.
“Nearly four. We’ve got another two hours of work to get done before we can call it a night. Are you okay with that?”
“Sure.”
Someone knocked on the outside door. Brody stiffened and stepped between her and the office window looking out over the shop. She peered around him and watched Lamar walk across the floor to answer the door. He stood to one side of the door. She couldn’t hear him but saw his mouth move. Then he opened the door and the sheriff and another man entered the shop.
Brody relaxed in front of her and headed for the door. Caitlyn wasn’t going to be left out of the loop. She followed behind him as he walked over to where the three men were talking.
“Sheriff. What do you have?” Brody wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kept her close to his side.
“I wanted to fill you in on what I’ve found out.” He turned toward her and smiled. “Ma’am. I’d like you to meet one of my deputies, Jace Vincent. You might see him around some. I have him keeping an eye on you when you’re in the area.”
She smiled and nodded toward the other man. He nodded back. She was surprised when Lamar moved closer to her and Brody tightened his hold. They were staking their claim of her. It amused her to think that they felt the need to do it.
“So what do you have for us, Sheriff?” Lamar repeated Brody’s question.
“So far, there are two companies that have bid on the government project that you have. One is Holston’s and the other is Azzali Steele. If I had to guess, I would put my money on Azzali. They have mafia connections and have a large number of government contracts to their name. Most of them are in the San Antonio region.”
“I’ve never heard of the mafia being in Texas before.” Lamar shook his head.
The sheriff shrugged. “They haven’t really done anything to put them in the spotlight until now. I’m thinking the slowed economy is hurting them like it’s hurting all of us.”
“You’re probably right. How do we handle this?” Brody asked.
“There was a stranger in town today. A tag belonging to Tomas Azzali was spotted on a black Lincoln Town Car getting gas here in town this morning. So far, I haven’t been able to find that car anywhere in the area. Either they left Riverbend or they’ve found somewhere to lay low.”
Caitlyn shivered beneath Brody’s arm. “So there is a good possibility that the mafia is here and waiting on a chance to get me?”
“Shh, baby. No one’s going to get you.” Brody scowled at Tidwell.
“I’m going to have one of my men cruise by your house off and on all night tonight to see if they show up. In the meantime, stay together and stay out of the open as much as possible.”
“You’ll let us know if you learn anything else.”
The sheriff nodded and turned toward the outside door. Brody reached out and stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Sheriff, thanks. I’m a little tense about the entire situation.”
“Understood.”
He and the deputy left with Lamar locking the door behind them. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. Just the thought of them being in the area scared her. She trusted that the guys would keep her safe at the expense of their own safety. That worried her. She didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
“Do you want to go back to the office and read? We’ve still got another couple of hours.” Brody rubbed the pad of his thumb over her chin.
“I think I’ll sit out here and watch you. It’s really kind of interesting. You do a lot of different kind of things. I guess I figured you would just work on machines or something.”
“We pretty much deal with anything metal. We did some custom work for a biker gang not long ago. Probably one of the more interesting jobs we’ve had in a while.” Lamar winked at her.
“I bet there were biker babes to watch.” Caitlyn smirked at him.
“Well
, we were really too busy to do much window-shopping.”
“Uh-huh.” She shook her head and took a seat on a stool against one of the walls. “I happen to know for a fact that you are very good at multitasking.”
He had the grace to blush. She liked that she was able to get to him. Brody, on the other hand, wasn’t the least bit affected by her teasing. Instead, he returned to what he had been working on earlier.
Caitlyn remembered that Brody had planned to get water for them earlier. She stood up and hurried to the office, where she retrieved three bottles of water, her book, and her purse. She handed each of them a bottle and then returned to her place by the wall.
Two hours later, Brody called a halt to their work and the three of them locked up and headed back to the house. Relief poured over her when they finally walked in and locked the door behind them. She hadn’t realized just how stressed she had been until it lifted.
“I’ll cook after I’ve had a shower.” Brady walked across the room, heading toward the stairs.
“I’ll cook. You two have been cooking for me ever since I got here. I can cook.”
Lamar shrugged and looked at Brody. “Sure. If you want to.”
“Good. Go shower and I’ll take care of the meal tonight.”
She quickly prepared an easy meal that she hoped would fill them up. She liked to cook but usually there had been no one but her to cook for in the past. When Harold had been around, they often went out to eat. It would be easy to get back in the habit of cooking. Realizing where her mind was going, Caitlyn forced herself to think about her brother’s business and how surprised he and the others would be when they returned.
Brody and Lamar walked into the kitchen fresh from their showers by the looks of their still-damp hair. She directed them to the table and proceeded to bring the food over. Lamar jumped up to help her despite her assurance that she had it handled.
“It’s not much, but it should be filling. Next time I’ll plan something ahead of time.”
They assured her it was good and proceeded to clean their plates then ask for more. She ended up with no leftovers to put away. She decided that was as close to perfection as she could get.
The men insisted on handling the cleanup since she cooked, leaving her with nothing to do other than watch TV. Somewhere in the middle of a program, she fell asleep and woke up to Brody carrying her upstairs.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep like that.”
“We could all use an early night. Stress will wear you out like that.” Brody walked into the bedroom where Lamar was turning back the covers on the bed.
“Put me down, Brody. I need to take a bath first.”
“Want me to run your water for you?”
“Naw, I’ve got it. Just let me down.”
He let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor. Then he released her with a soft slap on the ass. She smiled at him over her shoulder before walking to the bathroom.
“Don’t spend the night in there. Hurry up and come to bed, Caity.”
“I won’t be long.” She closed the door and turned on the water to fill the tub.
As soon as she finished undressing, Caitlyn eased into the tub and quickly washed off. She was tempted to relax for a few minutes but decided she would rather spend the time in bed with Brody and Lamar. After drying off, she opened the bathroom door and hurried across the cool room to climb over Brody and scoot down under the covers between the two men.
“Damn, you’re cold.” Lamar wrapped himself around her despite his complaint.
“Make sure she’s warmed up before she touches me.” Brody scooted closer to the edge of the bed.
Caitlyn grinned and reached out and planted her cold feet on his thighs. He yelped then cursed.
“Come here, you little tease.” Brody pulled her out of Lamar’s arms and rolled her under him. “I’m thinking you’re feeling a little neglected, aren’t you, Caity.” He ran his tongue along her bottom lip before sucking it in and teasing it.
She opened her mouth as soon as he released her lip. He immediately captured her tongue and sucked on it. She moaned when he released it and pulled away.
“Did I hurt you, baby? How’s your cheek feel?”
“You didn’t hurt me. I’m fine. I want you, Brody. I want to feel you and Lamar as deep as you can get.”
“We’ll take care of you. Just let us do all the work.” Brody rolled off of her before drawing her earlobe into his mouth.
She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of having her earlobe sucked. Then Lamar drew in her nipple to suck and tease as he massaged her other breast with his hand. They licked and caressed every inch of her body from her head to her toes before Brody settled himself between her legs. He looked deep into her eyes as he fisted his sheathed cock. Holding it steady, he slowly entered her wet pussy.
He pulled out and pushed forward again and again until his dick was deep inside her cunt. She savored the fullness along with the tiny bites of pain that Lamar’s teeth gave her as he bit each nipple. Each time they took her, Caitlyn felt the screws tighten just a little more on the bindings around her heart. She knew that leaving them would tear it apart.
Brody took her long and slow. Each stroke lifted her higher, each retreat rasped pleasure across her body. Nothing would ever be this good, no one would ever replace what they gave her.
Lamar twisted her nipple just right, and fire bloomed in her veins once again. The familiar burn that ignited all her cells centered in her cunt and lit up her clit so that every sensation was magnified ten times. She didn’t think she could go any higher, but each time, they proved her wrong.
Brody thrust into her body harder and faster now, racing toward completion, and Caitlyn was there waiting for him with open arms as they both tumbled head over heels into an ocean of pleasure that continued even as Lamar took Brody’s place.
He gave her no time to recover. Instead, he was balls deep inside her pussy in three strokes of his thick dick. Again the pressure grew, and again she fought it as it seemed to overwhelm her. Brody was there at her ear, filling her head with dirty little words that amped up her pleasure until she came, screaming their names.
She was barely aware of Lamar emptying his cum into the condom deep in her cunt. Exhaustion pulled her under even before she felt Lamar leave her body. This time there were no dreams.
Chapter Nineteen
Early Saturday morning, Brody finished up his coffee and waited for the other two to make it downstairs. He had little doubt that Lamar was delaying Caity with sex. He grinned. He’d done the same thing the morning before in the shower. He couldn’t get enough of being inside of her. It was the only time he felt like she was all of theirs, the only time he could pretend she wasn’t going anywhere.
They would work a half day at the shop and then spend the rest of the day over at Brian’s store finishing up orders still waiting to be mailed. They had gotten behind when the orders had suddenly tripled in number.
He walked over to the stairs and yelled at them to hurry up.
“Your breakfast is getting cold and I’m drinking all the coffee.”
A few minutes later the sound of footsteps on the stairs let him know they had heard him. When they walked into the kitchen with guilty looks on their faces he could only shake his head.
“Come on, you two. We need to get to work. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”
“Sorry, Brody. Lamar wouldn’t leave me alone to get dressed.”
“Don’t blame it on me, Caity. You’re the one who kept looking at my dick until it was hard as steel. I had to do something, or I’d never have gotten my zipper up.”
“Whatever, finish eating and let’s head out.” Brody poured coffee into two more cups and handed them to Lamar and Caitlyn.
They rushed through breakfast and hurried outside to the truck. Lamar drove, leaving Brody free to tease Caity on the drive in to the shop. By the time they arrived, she was disheveled and panting. He lov
ed seeing her that way, almost as much as he loved to watch her face when she came.
They climbed out of the truck and walked up to the door talking about the TV show they had watched the night before. Out of nowhere, the sound of squealing tires jerked them around to see a black van speed down the street in their direction. Even before it drew even with the shop, the door slid open and hooded men raised guns to pepper the front of the shop with them in the crosshairs.
Brody acted without thinking and shoved Caitlyn to the ground. Even as he dove over her, the sound of bullets popping all around him filled the air. Almost as fast as it started, it was over and the van sped away. The sound of sirens filled the suddenly too-quiet air around them.
He rolled off of Caitlyn and looked around for his brother. Lamar was pulling himself to a sitting position looking around. Brody grabbed Caitlyn by the arms and drew her up and into his arms.
“Fuck, baby. Are you okay?”
“I–I’m not sure. I think so.”
“Lamar, you all right?”
“Yeah. What about you?”
“I’m good.” He continued to hold Caity in his arms as a sheriff’s car pulled into his drive with lights flashing.
“Are you guys all right?” Deputy Jace Vincent called out through the open window of the car.
“We’re fine. Did you catch the bastards that tried to kill us?”
“Silas has them at the end of the road. They didn’t know the street had a dead end to it.”
“Thank God.” Caitlyn’s shivers were hard enough to sway him standing there.
“Go on inside and lock the door. Wait until one of us comes to take your statements. I need to go help Silas.”
Brody nodded at Lamar, and the other man unlocked the door. They hurried inside and Brody locked up behind them. He couldn’t believe the bastards had tried to kill them doing a drive-by.
Caitlyn clung to Lamar for a few seconds then threw herself at him. He caught her and wrapped his arms around her in a fierce hug. She finally pulled back and rubbed her face with both hands.
