Marie giggled. “You just see to it that you’re dressed as we discussed.” She opened the boot. “Get to it, you don’t have a lot of time.”
Maverick peered over his shoulder. At least the parking garage was empty. He sure as hell wouldn’t want to be arrested for indecent exposure. When the doors of the lift closed behind Marie, they’d done most of their dressing and Wade slammed the boot shut. He handed Maverick an ankle-length jacket.
“We’re going to look silly wearing these in the heat.” Despite his complaint, Wade pulled the coat on then plopped his Stetson on his head. “Let’s go.”
Beads of sweat formed on Maverick’s brow and it had less to do with the temperature and more with him feeling as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. “If Marie takes us for a ride, I’ll kill her. I don’t care who her daddy is.”
“We’ll fight for the honor,” Wade grumbled while they waited for the lift to arrive. The muscle in his lower jaw worked overtime and Maverick swore he could hear Wade’s teeth grinding together.
“If she just wants one of us…”
Wade glared at him. “We’ve been through this. It wouldn’t change our friendship.” He lifted his hand in a gesture of helplessness. “Then may the best man win.”
“Right.” The bell announcing the arrival of the claustrophobic enclosure sounded and the acid in Maverick’s stomach erupted. The bile boiled over and burned the back of his throat. Heaven help him, but this was the one time he prayed he would emerge the winner. The lift started crawling upwards and Maverick leaned against the wall. He was so not ready for this.
The door to her apartment swung open and Adrian waited for the inevitable scolding to come. When the door banged shut, she turned.
“Damn, Adrian, how many times must we go over this? One day you’re going to get yourself killed by leaving the door unlocked like that.” Marie slid the large paper bag onto the counter and glanced around the room.
“I could hear you coming several blocks away. One day you’re going to take out that pillar in the garage with your reckless driving.”
Marie threw her hands in the air. “All right, so we’re quits.” She plopped onto one of the couches. “Aren’t we having some wine today?”
“You know, for a senior executive, you have appalling manners.” Adrian softened her words with a smile and fished two glasses from a cupboard before putting the bucket with the bottle on the coffee table, pouring them each a glass. “I thought you were hungry?”
“Thanks.” Marie drained half the contents in one go.
“You’re not driving home today are you?”
“No, Mom, I’ll stay over if you stop nagging.”
Adrian sat opposite Marie and sipped on her wine. “Good. Now what’s on your mind? Something has your G-sting strung around your ears, so out with it.”
Marie gulped some more wine and refilled her glass. “How’d you feel about an assignment in the US?”
“Come on, this can’t be what has you all tied up? You know I don’t care what location I work in. As long as I can take good pictures, I’m happy. I just don’t want to return to the farm again.”
Marie nodded. “The farm job was a stupid idea and I told the manager he was wasting money.”
“So it’s off?”
“Yes. But we’re opening a branch in Texas and we want you to head our advertising department.”
Adrian’s jaw dropped. What was Marie thinking? She knew nothing about managing an advertising business. Her fear of screwing up again outweighed the instant excitement at the possibility of finding Maverick and Wade. “I think you’ve already had too much wine. Since when does a photographer know anything about being an executive? Do you really want to ruin your company?”
Marie shrugged. “You run your own business, don’t you? You can do math and know when an expense is unnecessary. You know what photos work and how to portray your subjects so they stand out in a crowd.”
“True.” She sipped at the wine again, tempted to drain the contents. “It still doesn’t make me manager material.” She frowned. “Why Texas?”
“It’s where the cowboys are and cowboys need saddles.”
Logical, but it didn’t explain why they wanted her to go. “Okay, but don’t you export there in any case?”
Marie jumped from the chair and strode to the window. “Dammit, Adrian, do you want the job or not?”
“Why me?”
“So you can find your cowboys again for one, and secondly, I honestly believe you are the right one for the job.”
The possibilities had Adrian standing and pacing the room. “I don’t know if I want to see them again. What good can come of it? We’re still worlds apart and we can never have a normal relationship. If they forced me to choose between them, it would ruin their friendship, and I can’t live with that.” She tried unsuccessfully to slow her racing heart.
Nothing was stopping her from packing up and leaving. Besides Marie, nobody would miss her, and maybe there she could start over. Texas was a big place, and if she didn’t go looking for the men, chances were she could live there for years and not run into them.
“When do you need someone there?”
Marie turned from the window. “You’ll consider it?”
Adrian shrugged. “I need to have my mind examined, but, yes, I’m considering it.”
Marie went to the kitchen and placed her glass in the sink. “And if you run into Wade and Maverick again?”
“What are the chances?” Marie lifted her brows. “All right, I’ll humor you. I don’t know what I’ll do. They’ve probably forgotten all about the silly photographer who provided them with some sexual release for a couple of days.”
“Okay, whatever happens, the job is yours.”
“Marie, are you okay? You’re acting mighty strange.”
Marie delved into the paper bag on the cupboard. “I just want you to have the chance to finalize this matter with your bareback cowboys once and for all.” She walked to the stereo and flipped through Adrian’s CDs. Then she slipped a disc into the player and turned up the volume.
Adrian jumped as the sound of Joe Cocker flooded the room. “Damn, Marie, no need to play it so loud.” Adrian stopped her pacing and grabbed the bottle of wine. She might as well get drunk while she was being in a reckless mood. Tomorrow she’d be sober and this decision would terrify her all over again. She poured herself another glass then turned. “Marie?”
The glass slipped from her fingers and crashed to the floor. Her heart rate stumbled and she blinked to clear the apparition before her eyes. The picture remained the same.
Wade and Maverick stood inside the door, wearing long overcoats in the spring heat. With their hands holding their Stetsons in place they embodied all of the fantasies she’d had since she’d left the farm. Her knees buckled and she felt for the edge of the couch.
When Joe Cocker ordered them to leave their hats on, the pair slipped the coats from their shoulders, exposing the most beautiful sight Adrian had seen in months. Their chiseled torsos glistened with perspiration and the top buttons on their jeans were undone. Adrian swallowed convulsively.
Maverick strutted forward, swaying his hips in tune to the music. His jeans rode low on his hips as he tilted them in a mock sexual dance. Lord have mercy, but she wanted to grab him and explore every inch of his exposed chest with her hands and her tongue.
Wade also danced closer and Adrian’s heart contracted. He clearly didn’t have Maverick’s sense of rhythm, and he seemed as nervous as she was, but he looked so endearingly sexy that all she wanted to do was get up and kiss his discomfort away.
Adrian shook her head. They couldn’t be real. She was imagining them in her apartment because the music caused the memories she’d tried so hard to suppress, to bubble to the surface.
“Aren’t you going to invite us in, honey?” Wade asked.
Did you have to invite an apparition in or did it enter on its own? The men seemed so
real she swore she could touch them and feel their steady heartbeats under her palms.
“You’re not real,” she managed a whisper.
Maverick strutted forward, stopping only when his legs touched her knees. “Give me your hand, Adrian.”
His male and musk smell, tempered with something spicy, drifted up her nostrils. When his hand closed warmly over hers, reality kicked in. Wade and Maverick were in her apartment, not thousands of kilometers away in the USA. They hadn’t forgotten about her.
Maverick pulled her up from the couch and drew his mouth in a mock pout. “Shame on you. You’re not even glad to see us.”
“Marie?” Adrian squeaked.
“Yes, I knew about them and yes, that’s part of the reason I offered you the job. I’d rather you still worked for us than lose you as both employee and friend.” She headed toward the door. “I’ll leave you guys to sort out the details. There’s enough food to last you until tomorrow morning which is when I want an answer.”
The door clicked shut behind her and Adrian closed her gaping mouth.
This was too much to take in. Suddenly all her dreams and fantasies were within reach. But only if the men felt the same. What if Marie had talked them into this and they didn’t really want to be here?
“Stop it. I can see your mind working overtime trying to avoid the truth.” Wade sat on the couch and drew her into his arms. “Damn, I’ve missed you.” He hugged her tight but didn’t attempt to kiss her.
“What are you doing here? I thought you’d be in the USA by now.”
Wade stroked her hair. “We tried to leave. We really did, but a blonde, blue-eyed witch refused to let us go.”
Hope blossomed in her chest and her throat constricted, making speech impossible so she nodded. She was too afraid she’d wake up and find this was just a dream.
His hand stilled on her hair. “I need you in my life like I need oxygen to breathe. Knowing you’re not there at the end of the day took all the fun out of living.”
Maverick moved the ice bucket out of the way and perched on the coffee table. “I love everything about you. The way your eyes light up when you smile, the way you wipe the hair from your face when the breeze teases it out of the clips holding it, the way you pull your shoulders back to increase your height when you’re agitated. But most of all, I love you and I don’t want to live another day without you in my life.” Maverick inhaled deeply after his long speech.
Wade lifted her chin to seek her eyes. “We know it’s not fair to expect you to up and leave everything you know behind and follow us to America. It’s a big move and we’ve racked our brains to find a solution, but couldn’t. We couldn’t return to the States without you and with Marie refusing to give us your address or telephone number, we had no way to contact you. Only when Maverick’s dad pulled some strings with the Groundhog Saddle Company did Marie admit she planned to open a branch in America. We simply convinced them Texas was the best place to do so and that you’d make an excellent permanent addition to the company. The board agreed—hence Marie’s offer.”
Adrian snapped her mouth closed. They went through all that trouble to be with her? Maybe they did love her. It still didn’t solve her problem of loving the both of them. “I don’t know if a relationship between three people can ever work.”
Wade sighed. “Neither do we, but we’re willing to give it a try. We don’t want just sex, we want the whole package—lock, stock and barrel with lots of loving and probably lots of arguments as well.” Uncertainty shone in his eyes. “We love you, Adrian. If you can’t love both of us, one of us will stand aside as long as you are still in our lives.”
Adrian disentangled herself from Wade’s embrace, then strode to the kitchen. She needed time to think. “I’ll put the percolator on.”
Loving the men she could handle, but packing up her whole life and starting over in another country…? The thought scared the daylights out of her. The cupboard door banged as she retrieved the ground coffee beans and prepared the brew on automatic pilot. They’d offered her a chance to see if things could work out between them. It was what she’d longed for the past couple of months, but she hadn’t really thought it through—hadn’t needed to as it hadn’t even been a possibility. Now the cowboys were in her living room, waiting for her answer. Happiness fizzed through her veins. She’d never been a coward and she wouldn’t start being one now. Time to give her boys their answer.
When the water started filtering through the machine, Adrian leaned against the kitchen frame. “You guys sure you’d be able to handle me on the long term?”
“Hell yeah!” they chorused.
“Then I would be honored to accompany you to the USA as I am sick of moping around because I love two men so much it hurts.”
They slowly got to their feet and Maverick hooked his thumb in the loop on his jeans. “You love us both? Enough to work this out?”
She nodded. “I thought I’d lost my mind because I couldn’t stop thinking about you both. Every time I told myself I had to make up my mind which one of you I loved, it felt like my heart was being torn to pieces. If I couldn’t have you both, I’d rather have neither of you. I love you too much.”
* * * *
Three weeks later, Adrian sipped her coffee in the departures lounge at OR Tambo airport. Passengers scurried to have their baggage checked in and said goodbye to their loved ones.
How her life had changed since she’d waited for Maverick and Wade at the same airport months ago. Then she’d been a photographer struggling to rescue her flailing career and reputation and now…now she was waiting for the announcement that would call her flight to the USA. Marie had arranged all the visas and permits beforehand and when Adrian had given the go-ahead, it had been short work to finalize the details. Her passport contained a work visa for two years and her new address was filled out on the boarding form. Wade’s ranch would serve as a temporary base of operations for the Groundhog Saddle Company until Marie could secure a better location when she joined them in a couple of months.
“What are you smiling at, gorgeous?” Wade’s voice interrupted her musings. He rounded the table then planted a kiss on her cheek.
“I was thinking about the ranch.”
Maverick made a disappointed face. “And here I thought it was the memory of last night causing your satisfied expression.”
Adrian blushed and Wade grinned. He pointed to her mug. “Have you finished your coffee? We have to go.”
She nodded and rose, gathering her handbag and carry-on luggage. “I’m ready.”
A short while later, she watched the earth disappear from beneath the plane. Once above the clouds, Adrian looked at the men beside her. In less than forty-eight hours, she’d begin her new life as a Texas belle with the two men who’d stolen her heart. Until then, she’d be content watching and loving her bareback cowboys.
Also available from Totally Bound Publishing:
Brent’s Law
Ylette Pearson
Excerpt
Chapter One
Samantha Owen stared at the petite blonde woman seated opposite her. The woman sounded sincere enough, but something kept tinkering at the back of her mind. As an attorney, she’d learnt to heed those warnings and now the bells chimed like those on top of the church.
“Amber, are you sure you’ve told me everything? I don’t want any surprises during our meeting this afternoon.”
The blonde woman flicked her Barbie-doll hair over her shoulder and pouted. “I told you. The two-timing scum needs to pay. It’s not as if he can’t afford it, as you well know. He’s just being spiteful.”
Heavens, was she ever so young and arrogant? Samantha suppressed a sigh. Sometimes she wondered if her reputation of always being ethical and fair in divorce cases wasn’t too much of a burden to bear. Clients like Amber Russell would tempt the patience of a saint. Refusing the more than generous settlement offer the other party had made, reeked of spite on her side, not her estranged husban
d’s.
“Fine, but you know I will withdraw as your attorney if they spring any surprises on us today.”
“Whatever.”
Normally Samantha couldn’t care less about her client’s indifference, but she’d had a long day, with this particular client sauntering in from the streets of Sandton too many times during the past week. Right now, she’d rather be at home, barefoot and cooking for a bunch of students who only wanted their next warm meal from her.
She glanced at her watch. If the attorney for the defendant stayed true to form, he and his client should arrive within the next three minutes. Although Rob Bentley appeared flustered and absentminded, Samantha had quickly learnt that it was all a façade. The attorney had a razor-sharp mind that could sift through the muck in any divorce case to find the core of the dispute. It was always a pleasure to deal with him on the opposing side.
“Let’s move to the conference table, shall we?”
After gathering her documents, she walked around the large mahogany desk toward the round wooden table in the corner. She’d purposely placed the conference table far from the wall-to-wall windows so the view over the city couldn’t distract them. She chose the chairs facing the window for herself and her client, leaving her opponents looking at a painting of two wolves at loggerheads.
A discreet knock sounded on the outer door and Samantha flattened her palms over her tight fitting pencil skirt then buttoned her jacket. With a final glance at her client fiddling with her iPad, she reached for the door.
“Good afternoon, Rob, Mister Russell.”
She shook hands with the attorney and waved him toward the conference table. “Please have a seat.” Then she craned her neck to greet her client’s husband and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. Vivid blue eyes stared straight through her and jet-black hair curled over the collar in his neck. The corners of his mouth tilted upwards as the same blue eyes glided like a caress over the length of her body. Like he’d just unwrapped a new present, he took his time inspecting her gray jacket, white silk blouse, pencil skirt, stockings and lastly her two-inch heels. His tongue moistened his lower lip as he focused on the traitorous tips of her breasts jutting through the thin material of her jacket. Under his scrutiny, they puckered to an almost painful hardness.
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