Sexual Expression [Contemporary Cowboys 2] (Siren Publishing LoveEdge)
Page 1
Contemporary Cowboys 2
Sexual Expression
Coco Baldini is no stranger to the underworld and its dirty dealings. Her father’s enemies have been circling small town Erwin, Tennessee, threatening the Baldini sisters. Even with a dangerous past, Coco aligns herself with a family embedded in illegal activity. When the family matriarch and her sons are killed, a question rolls to the fore. Were the senseless killings the work of Baldini’s enemies or were the Blaziers’ adversaries closer to home?
Brandon Blazier can’t keep Coco safe. Expected to take the reins to a lucrative arms business, Brandon releases Coco as his submissive and places some distance between them. In the meantime, Kurt and Liam Blazier make their intentions for Coco known.
The Blazier brothers are then forced to evaluate the dangers surrounding them. Will they put material gains behind them and embrace the woman they love or will they continue their mother’s hazardous legacy? Soon, the Blazier brothers must decide between love and an ongoing treacherous war.
Genre: BDSM, Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 39,968 words
SEXUAL EXPRESSION
Contemporary Cowboys 2
Natalie Acres
SIREN LOVEEDGE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Siren LoveEdge
SEXUAL EXPRESSION
Copyright © 2014 by Natalie Acres
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-915-4
First E-book Publication: June 2014
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
For the East Tennessee cowboys responsible for inspiring several of the Contemporary Cowboy novellas
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
About the Author
SEXUAL EXPRESSION
Contemporary Cowboys 2
NATALIE ACRES
Copyright © 2014
Chapter One
“Death comes to each and every one of us. No one knows the time or the place, the day or year. No one can predict if an accidental death will approach or health issues will claim the lives of those we love.” The priest turned his attention to the Blazier family seated on the folding chairs directly in front of four closed caskets, placed back-to-back. “But as we’ve seen here today and in the weeks leading up to this sad occasion, death arrives in its own time. It comes with a vengeance and attacks the families least expecting its shadowed face.”
Coco bowed her head and said a prayer for the Blazier family, admitting then, if only to herself, that she was praying for herself, too. She’d known the Blazier boys for most of her life and had spent the last four years with them on a regular, almost daily, basis. Her last name might have been Baldini, but today her name was Blazier, too.
“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” The priest continued the memorial rituals, but Coco had already slipped away from the present, reverting to the past she wouldn’t soon forget, to the days leading up to a murderous occasion, a terrifying event.
As much as she tried, she couldn’t forget the gut-wrenching sounds of repetitive gunfire, machine guns spitting out ammunition so fast she couldn’t tell where the guns had been fired. She still remembered Momma Blazier sitting in her bed, patting her pistol and pleading with Coco, “Run! Now! Don’t look back!”
Terrified, Coco had listened to her. She had gone into hiding and Momma Blazier had died in her bed, forty-eight bullets had been pumped into her body as if she’d been used for target practice. Later when the smoke cleared, the police discovered four bodies total. Two of those dead were Geraldine Blazier’s twin boys. Only eighteen years old, they were too young to even understand what had happened, why their family had been targeted for a rage killing, merciless slaughters that even adults couldn’t quite comprehend.
She shook off the unbearable memories, realizing the Blazier family had their own enemies, faced their own dangerous challenges in business. These deaths weren’t because of her father or because of some debt owed to the wrong people. A debt that hadn’t been paid, a fine no one would ever be able to settle because the tally was unknown, the amount owed was far more than the average person could even imagine.
Beside her, Brandon clutched her left hand. His shoulders sagged as he held on for dear life. She squeezed his hand in return, aware of another Blazier reaching for her, too. Liam, the quietest of the original eleven sons, had
seldom shown his emotions and perhaps wouldn’t show them much again. He leaned against her, his long slender digits stretching and searching before he entwined their fingers and released a burdened sigh.
“As a family friend and your mother’s closest confidant, I am compelled to speak on her behalf. She would want you boys to go out and right these wrongs that have been brought against your family.” Priest Bowlin stopped abruptly and looked quite shaken as if he couldn’t believe he’d said such a thing. He fumbled with his notes, and paused with his head bowed. “She would want…” He stopped again and cleared his throat, dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief and acknowledged a newcomer in the distance, a man now standing by a massive oak tree, ten feet or so from where the family members were seated.
As if he’d lost his train of thought indefinitely, the priest glared at the stranger. He only finished after each of the Blazier brothers had turned to see who or what had distracted him. “Your mother, Geraldine Blazier, would want you to remember those who live by the sword, die by its blade. An eye for an eye, she would likely say.”
Brandon peered over his shoulder a final time and Coco looked, too. The stranger responsible for rattling the priest was gone.
Brandon dropped her hand and rested his fists on his knees, staring straight ahead. Liam only gripped her fingers tighter. She felt his pain and harbored it as her own as she acknowledged the sorrow in his eyes, the grief that had taken his heart and twisted it into bits.
“Your mother would seek revenge, boys.” Priest Bowlin then looked at Coco spot on. “Geraldine Blazier was your friend and confidant, too. She died protecting you but do not carry that guilt. Do not own it. If you hadn’t been by her bedside, one of her boys would’ve been and she would’ve done the exact same for any of them. She loved you, Miss Baldini.” Then, in an act that would’ve been deemed inappropriate in some situations, he scanned the Blazier men’s faces and said, “And she wanted each of you to love and protect Miss Baldini as well.”
He then shook each of their hands and went back to stand beside the coffins. Once there, he said, “We lay to rest Geraldine Blazier, sixty-five years old. We lay to rest Geraldine’s sons—Nate Blazier, thirty-five years old and Geraldine’s twin boys, Juan and Jahn Blazier, eighteen years old. May they rest in peace.”
A harp was then played and a woman sang a howling song. Coco couldn’t think of any other way to describe it. She hadn’t picked the music or recommended the vocalist. In fact, she hadn’t been a part of the arrangements at all and had been surprised when the Blaziers had saved her a seat with the family. After their mother and brothers had been killed, they seemed to shut down and everything had happened quickly. Right before the local police and detectives had arrived to investigate the murders, Brandon had sent her home. He’d asked her to stay there until one of them returned for her.
They hadn’t come. They hadn’t sent for her. They’d even turned her away at the gate when she’d gone to see them.
Four weeks had passed and arrangements had been put on hold until Dallas and Dante returned from their business trip overseas. She had grieved their mother and brothers without them, crying on her sisters’ shoulders night after night and wondering what she had done wrong, why they hadn’t wanted her near when their hearts were broken, their lives had been torn apart.
As the memorial service was brought to a close, the Blazier brothers filtered through the crowd, thanking their friends and neighbors for their support. Coco stood next to Momma Blazier’s casket. In a voice so low she was certain no one would hear her, she said, “You were a mother to me, Momma Blazier. You took me in and taught me how to be strong for my sisters, but how can I be strong now when you aren’t around? How can I be an example to them when I no longer have you to show me how to lead?” A sob broke free and she tried to stop the cry from escaping her lips as much as the tears streaming from her eyes.
She turned away and hurried down the hillside behind the cemetery, hoping no one had noticed her leave. Behind her, Kurt Blazier called out to her, “Coco? Wait!”
Afraid he would only call out in a louder voice, Coco stopped abruptly. She couldn’t face him. Somewhere deep inside, she realized the older Blazier sons weren’t so sure of their enemy, weren’t entirely positive the attack on their home had been related to their business. They had to have known there was another possibility, one they might have acknowledged right after their mother’s and brothers’ deaths.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to make a scene.”
Kurt grabbed her right arm and hauled her forward, wrapping those large muscular arms around her and holding her so close, she could’ve sworn her body was breaking in half. “Don’t go,” he whispered at her ear. “Don’t go back to your place. Come home with us. Ride back with me.”
“I don’t want to be a reminder of what you’ve lost.”
When he looked at her then she could’ve sworn she was staring into a sea of frothy green, the tears in his eyes looked like large overlapping bubbles pooling over his pupils as he fought for restraint, some semblance of control. He moved his lips, but the words ceased to exist. Finally, he whispered, “Why would you think you belong anywhere else? This is over now. The investigation, the danger, it’s all over. You belong with us.”
“Oh Kurt,” she whimpered, looping her arms around his thick neck. She sighed, feeling weeks of burdens diminish as she held on to him. “I missed being there with all of you.”
“I know you did.”
Was that regret in his voice? Had Brandon made the choice to keep her away or had his brothers had an active role in shutting her out?
A few minutes passed before he released her. When he finally stepped away, he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “We think the danger has passed.” He didn’t look at her as he spoke then. Instead, he focused on the rolling hills behind them. “We hope so anyway. Either way, I’ll keep you safe. If I have to stay with you twenty-four hours a day, I’ll make sure you’re always protected.”
Part of her wanted to tell him she didn’t expect it. Another part longed to ask questions, find out if they’d first sent her home because they thought her father’s enemies were somehow responsible or was it because they wanted time to themselves to process what they’d lost? She wanted to understand their reasons.
Shaking off her longing for answers, she said, “I’ll need to go home and pick up a few things. Maybe I should meet you at your place.”
“No,” he said, placing his hand at the small of her back and guiding her uphill to the graveside. “I’ll follow you home.”
They topped the ridge and naturally parted, thanks to those waiting to speak to them. Kurt shook hands with members of their community, those who were waiting to express their condolences.
“Your mother was well loved,” someone said. “She will be missed,” another neighbor said.
“Coco?”
She turned, recognizing her sister Brianna’s voice. “Thank you for coming.” They embraced and then Coco hugged Jax, Tyler, and Flint, Brianna’s boyfriends. “It was so thoughtful.”
“Of course we would be here for you.” Brianna gripped her wrist. “Anything you need, ask and it’s yours.”
Coco searched the crowd, noticing how many recognizable faces were there. “Mr. Sellers from the Feed and Seed was here. Did you see him?”
“Yes,” Brianna replied. “He said this day would be remembered as the day the entire community cried.”
Coco sniffed, uncertain if she could hold back the tears threatening to come forward again. “I loved them.”
“I know you did, honey,” Brianna said, grabbing her and hugging her once more. “And they loved you, too.”
Coco admired her sister for a moment, taking a minute to at least approve of the glow in her cheeks. At one time, she’d been so hard on Brianna, condemning her choices and her love for three men. Wishing she could take it all back now, she turned to Brianna’s fellows and said, “I don’t know what you’re doing up the
re at Circle J, but keep doing it. I’ve never seen my sister happier.”
“We’ll try our best,” Jax said. “We sure love her.”
A mixed sob and chuckle fell from her lips and she used a tissue to dab the corners of her eyes. “As if I couldn’t tell.”
“Ah, honey,” Brianna said, digging in her clutch purse and handing over more tissues. “You’re well loved, too.”
“She’s right,” Tyler said in a tight voice. “I’ve noticed three fellas here who can’t seem to keep their eyes off you.”
“They’re just worried.” Coco thought of something to ask Jax then. “Have you spoken to Kane lately?” Kane Cartwell, her mother’s first cousin, had been instrumental in helping Coco and her sisters keep their father’s enemies at bay.
“No, why?”
“When Kane and Peyton visited a few months ago, Kane said he’d keep you abreast of new information, if he talked to our father or if he knew anything from the Feds.”
“I haven’t spoken to him since he left here three months ago. I really don’t think he’ll contact me if there’s a problem. He seems pretty hell bent on handling things himself.”
She quickly searched the area around her to make sure no one was standing close enough to hear. “Brianna, is there any chance this was related to us?”
“You mean you think Dad’s enemies might have been behind what happened at the Blaziers?”
Coco nodded rapidly. “Is it possible?”
“Anything is possible,” Tyler pointed out. “Then again, you have to consider what your boys do for a living.”