Until Forever [Merricks, Montana 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More)

by McKinlay Thomson

  “Adam, please,” he said. “I know you care, but you don’t understand. I really like him and won’t just walk away if we have a chance to be happy together.”

  He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Troy might think that he wasn’t the settling down type, but Cody was determined to prove that they could have more than a few nights together and have a chance at a real happy relationship.

  Cody wasn’t high maintenance, and he didn’t want to encroach on all of Troy’s time. He liked to do his own thing as much as the next guy. He wasn’t one of those submissive that wanted to rely on their master for everything and wanted to keep that aspect of their relationship in the bedroom.

  “Well,” Adam said, “I will be here to pick up the pieces of your broken heart when Troy rips it apart for the final time.”

  “That’s a bit dramatic,” Cody said. “I’ve got to get back to work.”

  Cody walked back behind the counter and looked at the next receipt. Adam was just being a drama queen. Yes, Troy had his issues, but Cody was sure they could work through them. If he ever stopped canceling their dates.

  A small thought niggled in the back of his mind, and he cursed Adam for putting it there. Was Troy trying to get rid of him and was just too much of a coward to tell him? He needed to check his phone and see if Troy had canceled on him again.

  Maybe Troy was going to break his heart after all. Damn, Cody silently swore. He finished off his latest order and ran to check his phone. Please, don’t cancel on me again.

  Maybe taking the job in Seattle was a good thing. He could leave before he was in too deep and totally lost his heart to Troy. Only problem was Cody was pretty sure he already had.

  * * * *

  Samantha McDonald, or Sam as she was known to most, moved around her small and cozy clothing boutique, Natural Woman, tidying racks and generally wasting time. It had been another slow day, and she was bored out of her ever-loving mind.

  That was the only problem with owning a small business in a tiny town. While she did get the majority of the town’s women shopping in her store, the small number of women and their negligible need for clothes made her profits low and her day drag.

  Not that she would give it up for the world. She loved her little boutique and loved that she stocked fashionable clothes for women with curves. It was hard for a larger lady to find clothes that not only fit but looked good as well. She was determined to change that, even if it was only ever in Merricks.

  Sam had moved to Merricks almost eight years back from her small hometown of Ashley Heights, which was just outside of Aberdeen in North Carolina. Hers was the usual story. She had followed a boy with dreams of a future together and family, but things had gone south, and when he’d moved on, Sam had stayed and gotten on with her life.

  She had nothing back in North Carolina to go home for, anyway. Her grandmother, who had raised her, had passed away two summers ago, and her parents were god knows where and had been since she was little.

  Sam had worked hard over the last few years to get to where she was today and loved to be in control of her life and future. She would never go back to working for someone else, and luckily her business was doing well enough that she wouldn’t have to.

  She had worked in the diner when she’d first come to town until she had saved enough money to get a small business loan, and she hadn’t looked back. Not that Ethel and her husbands, Frank and John, were bad bosses. It was just that she loved the freedom and responsibility that went with owning her own business.

  Sam looked up as the bell above the shop door jangled. She smiled at her best friend, Emily, and walked over to greet her.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Sam asked, smiling at her friend.

  Emily owned and ran the town’s bakery, Half-Baked, and was finally dating the owner of the local BDSM club, Silk Ties, Wolf MacBain and his work partner, Hawk Mayer. It had been a long road to happiness for the trio, but they had finally managed to overcome their issues and were now living together. It meant that Sam didn’t get to see her friend as much, but Sam had plenty to occupy her time.

  “I came to invite you for dinner tomorrow night,” Emily said. “Wolf and Hawk have a meeting at the club, and I’m staying home. I thought it was a good opportunity to have the girls over and catch up.”

  “Sound good,” she replied. “Speaking of Wolf and Hawk, where are they? It’s not like you to be out and about without one of them tagging along.”

  Emily had been kidnapped by a crazy Domme from the club, who had a crush on Wolf and wanted Emily out of the picture. Ever since, Emily’s men had been extra protective and, in Sam’s opinion, completely overbearing. Emily didn’t seem to mind, though, and used the time together to her advantage.

  “They were downstairs at the club,” Emily said. “I was upstairs at home and bored, so I thought I’d pop into town and see you.”

  “You escaped?” Sam asked, surprised. It wasn’t like Emily to play the rebel. “You are going to get your butt spanked. They will freak when they find you gone.”

  “I left a note,” Emily said. “Besides, it was my day off at the bakery. I didn’t want to spend it hanging around the apartment while they worked. Turns out I need new underthings.”

  “Well,” Sam replied, “you better get over there and have a look. It won’t be long before one of them comes in here after you.”

  “They need to lighten up,” Emily told her. “It has been weeks, and Savannah is in jail where she belongs. I’m fine and have no lingering effects from my ordeal, as Wolf likes to call it.”

  Sam followed Emily to the lingerie section and watched as her friend browsed over the selections.

  “You would look good in blue,” Sam said and passed Emily a gorgeous sapphire-blue panty-and-bra set. “They won’t care. Wolf and Hawk set the rules and you have broken them. Those men take their punishment very seriously.”

  “Yes, Mistress Samantha,” Emily replied. “Doesn’t my bottom know it. We aren’t at the club now, woman.”

  Sam was a new Domme at Silk Ties, but all her female friends were submissive. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, and it didn’t bother her friends to have a Dominant hanging around.

  “Brat,” Sam said, smiling. “Don’t blame me tonight when you can’t sit down.”

  “You know, you’re right,” Emily told her. “The blue does look good. I think I’ll take it.”

  Sam laughed with her friend, and they moved over to the counter. Once Emily had paid for her lingerie, they stood around and talked nonsense until, just as expected, Hawk strode into the shop.

  “Sam,” Hawk said in greeting, “how are you?”

  “Fine thanks,” she replied. “You?”

  “I seem to be missing my woman,” Hawk said. “I gave her strict instructions to stay inside the apartment, but when I returned, she was gone.”

  “I left a note,” Emily told him.

  Sam almost groaned. Emily was all but egging Hawk on to punish her. She’d known what she was doing and the consequences when she left the apartment. Emily was anything but naive of her men’s ways.

  “What has gotten into you lately?” Hawk asked Emily. “You have been pushing the boundaries for days. Wolf is fit to be tied.”

  “Nothing,” Emily answered. “I understand that you are worried about me, but the threat is gone, and Merricks is a safe place. A woman should be able to move about the town without waiting for her man to take her.”

  Emily had made some good points. Merricks men were protective of their women, and as a result, the whole town looked after them. It didn’t matter who you belonged to. The town’s men would risk life and limb to help a woman in trouble.

  Sam could relate to Emily’s wants as a fellow woman wanting the freedom to move about the town without an escort. Which, as a woman with no man to call her own, she did.

  But Hawk was Emily’s Dom, and he had given her specific instructions. That meant that no matter how safe Emily thought the town was,
she should have obeyed and stayed put. Sam could also relate to Hawk.

  “We will need to discuss this later,” Hawk said, “but the fact of the matter is, you blatantly disregarded Wolf’s and my order to stay inside. Your bottom will pay the price for your disobedience.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Emily replied demurely.

  Sam gave a very unladylike snort and coughed behind her hand to cover it up.

  “You totally got played,” she told Hawk. “You realize that, don’t you?”

  “Of course,” Hawk answered. “Emily has trouble asking for what she needs and often rebels to get her point across.”

  “Isn’t that topping from the bottom?” Sam asked. Something no respectable Dom would allow to pass.

  “Yes,” Hawk replied. “The brat certainly tries and is rightly punished for her efforts.”

  Sam couldn’t help but envy the love that Emily and Hawk so obviously shared. Even behind the banter and the promise of punishment, Emily was practically beaming with happiness.

  Sam wanted that for herself. She wanted that desperate, can’t-live-without-them, die-from-a-broken-heart-if-they-ever-left love. Only problem was the town of Merricks was filled with strong, dominant men, and she wanted a submissive.

  None of the men in town had caught her eye. Oh, they were certainly good-looking—they seemed to breed tall, hot men in these parts of Montana—but none made her heart thump and feminine parts tingle.

  Sam thought she might have found the man of her dreams at Silk Ties, the town’s BDSM club. She had been attending classes to learn more about being a dominant, and that was where she’d met Josh.

  She was instantly attracted, and she could tell he was, too. Things went downhill when they discovered they were both dominant, and neither of them were switches. They had still tried to have a relationship and had talked about sharing a submissive between them, but something had felt wrong, so Sam had called it quits.

  It didn’t help that Josh kept pushing for her to give over and be his submissive. It wasn’t something that she could do. She wasn’t submissive and wouldn’t change just because he wanted her to.

  So she was still yet to find a submissive all her own. She played a lot with the single men and woman at the club, but none sparked her interest enough to want a relationship with them beyond the club. Therefore, she remained single and wishing she had what her friends did.

  “Did you get what you need?” Hawk asked Emily.

  “Yes,” Emily replied, “but I fear by bottom will be too sore to model my new lingerie for you.”

  Sam wanted to snort again at her friend’s words.

  “Don’t pout, baby,” Hawk said. “Ready to go home?”

  “Yes,” Emily replied and then turned to Sam. “See you tonight?”

  Sam smiled at her friend. She was looking forward to dinner with her girlfriends. She didn’t get out much and loved spending time with the slightly crazy women. She wanted to find out what antics they had been up to lately.

  “Sure,” she answered. “Did you need me to bring anything?”

  “Nope. Just yourself.”

  Sam watched her friend and her lover walk from her boutique before she went back to straightening the racks. Hopefully the day didn’t move too slowly. Sam had a new dress she was dying to try out, and dinner tonight was the perfect chance to wear it.

  Sam chuckled to herself as she moved around the store. Emily would be eating dinner standing up tonight for her little stunt. She may not have been in any danger, but she had disobeyed her Doms.

  Sam sighed for the third time in as many minutes. She would find her special someone. She just needed to be patient. Good things came to those who waited. God, she hoped that were true.

  Sam looked up as the bell on the door jingled again, and two ladies she didn’t know walked into her store. Time to get back to work and stop worrying about her love life.

  Same plastered a smile on her face and went to greet her customers.

  Chapter Two

  Cody straightened his shirt and swept his shaggy light brown hair behind his ears. He jumped out of his old Honda Civic and slowly made his way toward Troy’s front door.

  Troy lived in a single-fronted, two-bedroom clapboard he had bought and spent the last few years renovating. It was spacious, well lit, and modern, despite its period charm.

  Cody was so excited he was practically vibrating. When he had seen the message on his phone telling him to come over to Troy’s for dinner that night, he had danced around the break room and cheered.

  He had spent the rest of his shift in a daze and planning what he was going to wear that night. Not that he had much of a choice. Most of his clothes consisted of T-shirts and jeans. He had a few dress shirts and a couple of jackets, and that was it.

  When he had finally clocked out, he had raced home and groomed himself within an inch of his life. He had shaved, plucked, and waxed all his excess body hair, cleaned and cut his nails, and almost scrubbed himself raw in the shower. He wanted to look and feel good tonight, so he slapped on his favorite aftershave and put on his best pair of jeans and his blue-checkered shirt and even styled his mop of hair.

  Cody had even gone as far as to grab his lube, stretch himself out, and pop in his large purple plug. Troy had given it to him shortly after they had started seeing each other.

  Cody had snorted when he first was asked to use it between visits, thinking that Troy must be full off himself, but once he had gotten a look at the enormous cock that Troy had between his legs, Cody had gone home and done as he was asked.

  The first time Troy and Cody had sex, he was more than glad he had done it. Cody had felt like a pole had been shoved up his backside, and he had had trouble sitting for a week. He could only imagine what it would have felt like if he hadn’t prepared himself.

  Cody wasn’t very experienced when it came to sex and had to admit that to Troy their first time. He had slept only with one woman and two men in college, and none of them had been all that mind blowing.

  He hadn’t been dominant enough for his collage girlfriend, Jane, and she had broken up with him after they had sex only twice. As for the two guys, they had both been clumsy, awkward experiences of two men fumbling their way through their first sexual encounters.

  Cody reached the front door and raised his hand to knock. He didn’t have to wait long for Troy to open the door and motion for him to enter.

  “Hey,” Troy said, his deep voice as smooth as fine whiskey.

  “Hello,” Cody replied. “I brought a couple of beers to go with dinner.”

  Cody ducked his head as he walked past the sexy, taller man. His cock went instantly hard as he smelled Troy’s aftershave, and his cheeks went red with embarrassment.

  He wasn’t sure why he was embarrassed. Troy was fucking hot, and Cody was often hard in his presence. At six foot five and two hundred and sixty-four pounds, the man was a tank. His hard muscles rippled under his shirt as he walked, and his ass was a hard as a damned rock.

  But Cody was drawn to more than just his big body and hard, firm abs. At thirty-four to Cody’s twenty-eight, Troy was ruggedly handsome with close-cropped dark brown hair and chocolate-colored eyes that Cody noticed had little gold flecks in them. Troy always sported stubble and had springy hairs covering his wide chest.

  Even after all that, Cody’s favorite part of his lover’s body was his hands. Troy was a mechanic and worked all day with his hands, leaving them rough and callused. They felt amazing running over his naked skin and rasping his sensitive nipples. Cody shivered just at the thought.

  He made his way into the kitchen and deposited the beer on the bench. Something in the oven smelled good and made his tummy rumble. He hadn’t eaten much at work, too excited about seeing Troy. Now here he was, and he was starving.

  “How was work?” Troy asked, following him into the kitchen.

  “Busy,” Cody replied. “The usual. You?”

  Cody looked at Troy as he pulled a tray from the oven and p
laced it on top of the stove. Troy lifted off the foil covering, and Cody’s mouth watered at the sight of the lasagna.

  “Nah,” Troy answered. “It’s been slow at the shop.”

  “Troy,” he said, “there is something I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Cody watched as Troy cut up the lasagna and placed one large piece on each plate. He carried them over to the table and sat. It was then that Cody noticed the nicely set table, which already held a prepared green salad. Cody was touched that Troy had gone to such effort for him, and his heart melted a little more.

  “You can tell me while we eat, babe,” Troy told him. “I’m starved.”

  “It can wait,” Cody replied and moved to join him.

  They both tucked into their meals, and Cody groaned. Troy was a really good cook, even if it was just lasagna, and Cody had to hold himself back from wolfing it down.

  “Don’t groan like that, babe,” Troy said. “It does things to me, and I’m trying to eat.”

  “It tastes amazing,” Cody told him. “I think I might need seconds.”

  “Don’t sound so surprised,” Troy replied. “My mom taught me how to cook before I moved out of home. She said I couldn’t rely on girlfriends or takeout to stay alive.”

  Cody chuckled. His mom was a good cook too. Cody was just never interested in learning. She was also old-fashioned and thought a woman’s place was at home and that Cody needed a wife to cook and clean for him.

  He had no intention of getting a wife, not if Troy stayed on the scene. Not that Cody had told his mom that he was interested in men as well as women. He wasn’t sure how she would take it. Cody didn’t like to think of himself as in the closet, but he wasn’t fully out of it yet either.

  His dad would have kittens if he found out his only son was bi. It was hard thing for Cody to accept. He had such a loving and close relationship with his parents, but the thought that one wouldn’t accept a huge part of him was hard to take.

  “I haven’t learnt to cook,” Cody said. “You will have to keep feeding me.”