by Jan Springer
A tremor of unease ripped through her at her next thought. The Durango Gang was notorious for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Until now, she’d thought those types of men were ruthless. But the tender, possessive and thoughtful ways Logan, and the other two, for that matter, had treated her threw the idea of them being ruthless right out the window.
“Maybe you should tell me their descriptions? Just in case?” she spoke, daring to keep him here a moment longer. For all she knew, she could have just slept with three ruthless bank robbers. Maybe even killers?
A shot of adrenaline zipped through her at the thought she may have experienced the most exquisite sex in her life with outlaws. Another idea rocked her. What if they decided she was a loose end that needed to be tied up? That they had no choice but to kill her? Maybe she should tell the sheriff the potential robbers were in her home? That two were outside, maybe even waiting to ambush him and that one was hiding in her very own bathroom?
* * * *
Logan couldn’t make out what Teyla and the intruder were saying, no matter how hard he listened.
Damn her! Why had she shut the door? She could have at least left it open a crack. Was she, at this moment, turning him in? Had the others been caught? What was happening out there?
It had grown quiet out there. Too quiet. His uneasiness slipped up several notches. Were the hell had everyone gone? From his vantage point, he eyed the bathroom window and tried to see past the frilly white lace curtains. He couldn’t see a thing. Disappointment rocked him.
His gaze dropped to the bathroom floor, to the shattered glass and where he’d left his jeans. Had the intruder been able to see the glass and his pants when Teyla had stepped out into the bedroom? Or before that when he’d inadvertently left the door slightly ajar? Hopefully, if he saw, he thought she had a customer in here with her. Unless whoever was out there knew about Spencer and Cassidy. Shit, where the hell was she? Where were Cassidy and Spencer, damn their hides?
Another thought shot through him. Maybe the newcomer was another customer? Logan did not like the gut-twisting way he was feeling at thinking another customer had shown up. Maybe she was servicing him right now? Maybe she’d taken him upstairs into one of her other bedrooms? His grip on the neck of the wine bottle tightened to the point where his wrist and fingers actually hurt. He loosened his grip and forced his breaths to slow down. Tried to not imagine her with strange men.
She better not be with another guy. Man, he’d known her for such a short time and he was already dictating who she could or could not see? Not good, my man. Not good at all.
Maybe he should just go out there and see what was going on? Take what belonged to him and smash the bottle over the bastard’s head. Better yet, get his gun and shoot the fucker, ask questions later.
He should never have agreed to Teyla’s request that he keep his weapons in the kitchen. Hell, the intruder would probably find his stash and use it on him.
The bathroom door burst inward totally catching him off guard. But he reacted quickly, lifting the bottle, and he just about brought it down on Teyla’s pretty head.
“Fuck, woman,” he whispered when he realized who had entered.
The look of surprise and shock on her face had him holding back another string of curses.
“He’s gone. But I don’t know where your friends are. I hope they’re okay.”
Logan stepped around the broken glass and raced to the bathroom window just in time to see a man hop into a black car and drive away. No signs of his partners.
“They’re big boys. They can take care of themselves.” Yeah, he was worried, but if something had happened to them, surely this guy wouldn’t leave just like he had.
“Who was he?” Another customer, he asked silently.
“He’s the law around here.”
Great. Just great.
“Does he drop by often?” he asked a little too gruffly as he swept his jeans off the floor and hurriedly stepped into them. The last thing they needed was the law visiting her on a damned regular basis. He wanted to ask her if she serviced him, too, but he bit back that bitter question as he noticed she was hesitating in answering.
She averted her gaze and worried her bottom lip. Okay, not a good sign when she did those things and didn’t answer his question. Up until this guy had shown up, she’d been very cooperative. That her attitude had suddenly changed irritated him, and he grabbed her arm a bit too roughly. Immense guilt slammed through him at the look of surprise and fear slashing across her face.
“I didn’t tell him anything,” she snapped and tried to pull her arm from his grasp. Anger flared in her pretty eyes and he cursed himself for scaring her and forced himself to calm down.
“I didn’t ask that question, Teyla.”
“I said he’s the law. He doesn’t need an invitation. He drops by whenever he feels like it.”
Whenever he feels like it? Irritation snapped through him like a live wire.
Chill, Logan. Chill. The guys said she didn’t sleep with him. He needed to relax and remember that.
The jovial sounds of his friends’ voices outside made Logan realize they probably didn’t have a clue they’d just had a visitor.
“Get dressed. Wear something pretty. I need to talk to the others,” he told her and ignored the pout on her mouth. A mouth he wanted to kiss and make love to.
Damn, but he sure did have it bad for her, didn’t he?
He didn’t miss the pink flush in her cheeks or the sultry sparkle in her eyes. Maybe she wanted another ménage?
Oh, shit. He needed to get away from her before he took her up against the bathroom wall or before he fell head over heels in love with the woman. He left the bathroom and rushed through the bedroom into the kitchen. Thankfully, the saddlebag had been out of immediate eyeshot and it appeared his jacket had been, too. He grabbed his jacket, donned it, and relief swept through him as he felt the familiar heaviness of the gun in the pocket. Despite the relief, his heart hammered insanely against his chest as he realized exactly how dangerous the situation had been. The law had come calling and the boys had been absent. Not to mention he’d been so fucking jealous, he’d almost turned on her.
Fuck, he was crazy. That cop could come back. Could have caught him literally with his pants down. Put a bullet into him.
He swore softly and headed outside.
* * * *
Tugging her robe around her, Teyla took a shuddering breath and gazed at herself in the mirror. Sizzling shimmers scampered up and down her back. She looked…well, she looked erotic.
Her hair was a gorgeous mess, her mouth looked plump and red from kissing and her eyes seemed so bright, someone might think she had a fever. Opening her robe, she gazed at her nude body. It even looked different. Voluptuous. Her breasts appeared huge, felt swollen. Her nipples were pert and red from their touches. And the area between her thighs and her ass throbbed intensely with a need she’d not felt before.
She wanted to be taken by Logan again. Wanted to experience another ménage. But these men could be dangerous if what the sheriff had said was true. The exorbitant amount of money they were paying her for her services proved to her they were into something illegal. And Logan’s uneasy reaction when she’d told him the law had been here pretty much confirmed he was part of that Durango gang.
Oh, crap. Wasn’t that just her rotten luck? Falling for a guy who was a desperado. A guy, who, if caught by the law, would swing by the neck until he was dead. These days, despite a self-appointed sheriff, there really wasn’t any sort of legal justice. It was vigilantism all the way around. Posses grabbed their suspects and dished out the punishment as they saw fit. Robbers and killers were treated alike. Hanged by the neck until dead. Which left her with the question what should she do now?
Up until now, they hadn’t given her a reason to be afraid of them. They’d been quite pleasurable. Kind. Studs. If they’d wanted to harm her, they would have done that, wouldn’t they? And her instincts wou
ld have told her to beware.
Besides, her friend, Dr. Elizabeth, had said they could be trusted in that note she’d sent with Logan. It was her handwriting, and her perfume splashing from the note, so there wasn’t any doubt about who had written it. And her friend wouldn’t have joked about sizes if she’d been under pressure to write out a note for Teyla.
Oh, for Pete’s sake, if they were dangerous to her, they would have rode in and taken her against her will, and not gone to all this trouble of coming with notes and paying her. Logan wouldn’t have been so damned nice to her and everything.
No, he wasn’t a danger. She wasn’t a judge on why he would run with the Durango Gang if he was with them at all. Besides, what they did was none of her business.
Right?
Right, she firmly told herself.
Besides, she was just doing her job. Being a pleasure girl. No one could judge her for doing her job, and who was she to judge them?
Wear something pretty, Logan had said. Exactly what did he mean by that? Pretty like in a dress she’d wear to a cocktail party? Obviously that wasn’t happening, since she didn’t attend parties. Or did he want her to dress sexy like she wanted to get fucked by three men again? Oh, God, she had to be too stupid to live to actually be entertaining thoughts of more sex with potential outlaws. Teyla rolled her eyes and headed back into her bedroom.
Yep, obviously she was too stupid to live because that’s exactly what she wanted.
* * * *
“You two were what?” Logan exploded. He couldn’t believe his ears.
“Fixing the door to her greenhouse out behind the barn. We tended to the horses and then took a walk out back, saw some work needed doing, and did it,” Spencer said, eying Logan as if he had two heads for even asking him to repeat what he’d just said.
Holy crap! They hadn’t been here more than a few hours, and they were already domesticated.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Cassidy asked as he came up behind Spencer, a frown of concern ripping across his face.
“Cop was here.”
Well, that certainly took the air out of both men’s sails, didn’t it? He took immense satisfaction in their sudden sobering looks as both men went for their guns. Their relaxed gazes snapped to the look of the hunted and Logan instantly felt better.
This was the way they were supposed to be. All three of them. On guard, ready to protect each other and cover each other’s backs, not fixing up a rundown farm. But wasn’t that exactly what he’d wanted to do when he’d sat up on that hillside gazing down at Teyla’s rundown farm nestled snugly in the valley? Yeah, he had felt exactly that way. Damned domesticated.
Hanging out with Teyla made them forget the fact they were fugitives. Wanted men. And he knew they’d die shooting to prevent themselves from getting hanged by the neck, compliments of a vigilante law.
“What the hell happened?” they both asked at the same time and crowded in around Logan. Their guns were now drawn, their backs against each other as if expecting shots to be fired at any second.
Good, he’d spooked them. This was the way they needed to be. Alert. Ready for trouble.
Not working a freaking farm and fucking the cutest woman he’d come across in one hell of a long time.
“He’s gone. Teyla got rid of him. She says he won’t be back, but as we know, any type of law is unpredictable.”
Both men seemed to relax, but the familiar tension remained. It sparkled between the three of them, reminding them of the close call.
“You sure she handled it okay?” As in can we stay longer? That was pretty much the message Logan was reading from Cassidy’s question and the eager look on both men’s faces as they awaited his answer.
“It needs to be all three of us together or just me.” Which, if he really thought about it, was what she’d originally agreed to. “She’s never done this before. I don’t want us scaring her off.”
Cassidy frowned. “I thought—” His words were cut off by a sharp jab to his ribs, compliments of Spencer, who of course wanted some one on one with Teyla.
“Logan set it up this time. If that’s what the lady says, that’s the way it will be. You know the rules. Always listen to the lady’s wishes. Now, let’s get washed up and get started on supper.” Spencer muttered his disappointment beneath his breath, turned, and strode toward the red water pump fifty yards away. Cassidy stayed, his intense gaze fixed on Logan. The guy was studying Logan as if he was some curious insect or something.
“What gives with the chick? Last night you said she was in agreement with us three doing her. That also meant some one on one, right? Who changed their mind? Her? Or you? Are you sweet on her?”
Who wouldn’t be?
“She’s tired. I don’t want to push her.” Damned if he was going to admit he wanted the woman within his sight all the time. Hell, who was he kidding? He wanted her first. Then he would share her.
“It’s what ladies do. They change their minds.”
“Uh-huh, if you say so, Logan. We’ll keep our hands off. Just don’t get too involved. You know the rules,” he warned.
Too late, my man. He wanted to tell Cassidy exactly that, but he kept his big mouth shut. They’d leave sometime tomorrow as planned, and once he was out of here and away from her, he’d forget her and they would rejoin the Durango Gang and could continue on with their crusade.
“Just keep your eyes open for anything suspicious,” he told Cassidy and headed back to the farm. He could hardly wait to see her again.
Oh, man, he was so fucked.
Chapter Nine
Teyla tensed when she heard Logan’s heavy footsteps come up the stairs and across the wooden veranda. She’d put on the sexiest dress she owned. She’d worn it only once, to a fundraiser local farmers were throwing to raise cash for a couple who was about to lose their farm due to foreclosure. Max, bless his soul, had volunteered her services in the kissing booth the farmers had set up at the fair. Her husband insisted she looked sexy and had brought the dress home for her.
She had to admit she’d thinned since last wearing it several years ago, but the black, clingy halter top really enhanced her breasts, and the bottom half of the dress was a billowy, ankle-length ball gown.
That she stood in her kitchen wearing the dress, in her bare feet, peeling carrots for the men’s supper, was odd. But, hey, she was being paid big bucks to follow his orders, so if he wanted her wearing something pretty, then that’s what she would do. She just hoped Logan liked the dress.
Her heart fluttered as the screen door creaked open. She swallowed as his footsteps halted abruptly. When he didn’t come inside, she dared a look over her shoulder and her insides went all wobbly at the primal way he gazed at her. Like he was the predator and she was his for the taking. He let out a low whistle and nodded his head, “Nice. Very nice,” he said softly, his voice drenched with approval.
She swallowed and returned her attention to peeling the carrots, her heart pounding with wicked abandon as he let the screen door shut behind him. He sauntered behind her, and she inhaled softly as his hot palms nestled on her hips, his face nuzzling her neck, the sharp bristles of his shadow rubbing erotically against her skin.
“You look so delicious I could just eat you up,” he muttered. “Keep peeling those carrots. I want to watch.”
“First a foot fetish and now a peeling fetish?” she teased.
“Not a peeling fetish. A certain woman fetish.”
Her? Oh, my.
“A man of many tastes.” She grinned and kept peeling while he nuzzled her neck. She could definitely feel the hard bulge of his cock as he ground against her backside. It was an erotic rhythm. Sultry, full of promise that she would receive a hot evening of sex with him.
“How are the guys?”
Just mentioning them made her quiver as she remembered the wild sex in the living room. Oh, dear, her cheeks were warming up again. Not good.
She refocused her thoughts to what she’d noticed earlier wh
en she’d watched from the window as Logan had joined the other two in the yard. As Logan had talked with them, she’d noticed the two men’s easygoing stances become instantly tense and alert. Obviously they hadn’t known about the sheriff until they’d been told he’d been here.
“They’ll be in after washing up, I’m sure.” He leaned his lower half against her, pressing his cock against her ass much in the same way he’d done yesterday evening. She trembled as he sucked her left earlobe into his mouth.
“Whoa, there, big boy,” she breathed.
Gosh, the intoxicating way his tongue licked her flesh had her dropping the paring knife again. It clattered to the counter. She moaned, giving up control and melting into the erotic sensations sweeping through her. Leaning back against him, she thoroughly enjoying the way his hands tangled with hers and the seductive way he nibbled and sucked her lobe. Who knew a man’s mouth could feel so erotic.
Suddenly he let go and drew away, his breathing harsh and raspy, and that’s when she heard the other men stomping up the stairs.
Bummer.
“To be continued later,” he promised in a low voice, and stepped away from her, quickly taking a seat at the table.
Spencer and Cassidy were joking amiably as they entered. But when they saw her, Teyla read the fire flaring in their eyes. Saw their need for more sex. Her pussy creamed. She swallowed, forced herself to look away and return to her carrots.
“Good evening, gentlemen, are you hungry?” she called out, trying really hard to act normal and ignore the insistent flare of heat hugging her cheeks and body as she dropped the carrots into the boiling water.
“Ravenous,” Spencer chuckled.
“Starving,” Cassidy growled.
By the low tone of their voices, she knew they weren’t speaking about dinner but about her. Logan obviously picked up on it, too.
“Since you boys are in such a domestic mood, why don’t you both set the table?” he advised from his perch, obviously a bit irritated at the two of them being disturbed.
“Now that’s an idea,” Cassidy replied, and before she knew it, the two men were fighting over gathering the dinner plates from the nearby cupboard. Cassidy won and he moved with a grace she’d not seen in a man before. He reminded her of a cougar quietly stalking his prey. As if sensing her watching him, he glanced at her and winked before taking the plates and glasses back to the table.
