Her fingers were at her nipples. She rolled them under her fingertips, trying to resist the urges building inside her. They were waiting outside to question her, to interrogate her and yet all she could do then was think, fantasize, and crave the touch of the one man she’d longed to have.
Pushing her head under the water, she stood on her tiptoes and pretended Gabe was there with her, staring at her like he always did, with that brooding lust, a man’s desire. Her free hand slid down her side. She reached between her legs with probing fingers. Her ragged breath caught in her lungs. She longed to act, to react to what she’d seen.
With her fingers lingering at her pussy, she gripped the bar until she could’ve sworn her knuckles popped. What would it be like? What if he came to her then, stepped into that shower, and just whispered the most absurd sexual remarks at her ear. What would he say? What would he want her to say in return?
She thrust her fingers inside her cunt, loving the fantasy, the thought of his body towering over hers. He’d watch her respond to him, look on as she loved him.
And then….
“Are you okay in here?”
She jerked at the sound of Curt’s voice. The transparent shower curtain gave everything away.
He stood on the other side of the room, a beast of a man, a solid man, a man who was more than ready to take away her longing and soothe that burning lust.
“I…”
Curt’s hands went to his shirt and he loosened the buttons. She tried to force an inviting smile, a smile that would welcome and encourage him.
At the same time, Curt wasn’t who she wanted right then. He wasn’t who she needed. He was familiar and while familiar was good, wonderful even, she didn’t need the comfortable and common. She wanted the wild and reckless.
“I’m almost done,” she rasped, holding her hands in front of her breasts.
Curt shot her a wink. “Next time.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “Definitely next time.”
“I left some towels on the chair. Jims said this was your room before—”
“It was,” she quickly told him, wishing he’d either join her or leave, and preferring the latter since she’d been fantasizing about another man.
“I’m okay with this, Heather,” Curt said, seemingly more understanding of something she didn’t quite understand. “I’ll wait outside.”
“Curt?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m still crazy about you.”
“Of course you are,” he said, grinning. “But those fingers weren’t working for me just now and we both know it.”
* * * *
Maybe a lesser man wouldn’t have sought out the source of Heather’s fantasies. Then again, Curt wasn’t the lesser man. He held a place in Heather’s heart. It was just different between them now. And Gabe had always been there.
He didn’t think Gabe had ever acted on his feelings, but he’d known about him long before they’d met. Heather had always talked about Gabe and that extra light seemingly burned brighter in her eyes whenever she mentioned him.
Gabe faced him as he approached. “Everything okay in there?”
Curt chuckled. “You might say that.”
“Don’t rub it in.” He turned back to the fence, propped his boot on a rusty strong wire and draped his arms over the top board. “I can only imagine.”
“No, I don’t think you can,” Curt said, standing at his side admiring the horses as they galloped across the open field.
“Care to share?”
“One of these days, I’ll hit you up with that same question.”
“And until then?” Gabe asked, frowning.
“Until then, there’s a lady waiting on you in her room. And as for me rubbing it in? Don’t you do it, either.”
Gabe couldn’t hide his smile, though Curt had to give him an A for effort.
Gabe stared at him for a few moments before he asked, “What exactly happened in there?”
Curt sighed. “I walked in on her in the shower.”
“Purposefully, I presume.”
“Absolutely, which is why this stings all the more.”
“And?”
“She was clearly fantasizing about you.”
“Fantasizing how?”
“Want me to spell it out for you?”
Gabe chuckled, pulled his shades from his shirt pocket and put them on.
“Hiding your eyes here won’t help,” Curt said, making light of the situation.
“So you won’t tell me?”
“She was fucking herself. Okay?” He looked off in the distance and wondered if he would later regret this. Was this the turning point in his relationship with Heather? “And I’m standing here asking myself if this is the kind of thing that I should keep to myself or share with a buddy? Ya know?”
Gabe turned to him then. “I’ve never kissed her. Never fucked her. Never so much as laid one inappropriate hand on her…so if you’re standing there wondering if this is a life-changing moment, a moment you’ll never be able to come back from, don’t. You were secure enough in your relationship with Heather to let me in and for that I’m grateful.”
“And that’s just it. None of us have an outright relationship with Heather and yet I walk in and see her with her fingers…” He blew out a hard breath and pushed down on his rigid cock. “Ah damn. That was just fucking hot. And now I’m going nuts here.”
“You’re not the only one.” Gabe slapped him on the back. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it,” Curt muttered. “I was ready to join her, but the look on her face told me everything I needed to know. She was fantasizing about you.
“She wanted and needed you, and while I could’ve easily taken advantage of that very moment, that’s not how we need to play this out. If Heather chooses one or all of us, she needs to choose and we need to let her.”
Chapter Six
“Mr. Reynolds?”
“Yes?” Gabe had made a beeline from the fence to the house. As soon as he entered, he scanned the room, and headed down the hall to the bedroom. Now this jerk was standing in front of him, apparently determined to detain him.
“I’m Detective Brice. I have some questions for you if you don’t mind.”
Something told him, he didn’t have a choice. “Now?” Gabe couldn’t believe this.
“It will only take a minute. The McCall brothers have answered most everything, but for paperwork purposes, and to sate my curiosity, a few minutes of your time?”
“Sure,” Gabe grumbled, following him to the living room and taking a seat on the sofa facing the hallway. To add insult to delay, as soon as he leaned back against the cushion, Justin and Curt passed the doorway, apparently headed to Heather’s room.
“Am I keeping you from something?”
“Nothing that won’t be there later,” Gabe said, more certain now than ever before.
Detective Brice narrowed his eyes. “How long have you known Miss Powers?”
“Four years or so,” Gabe replied, trying to overthrow that protective beast rising to the fore. “Why?” So much for the lame effort.
“In your own words, how would you sum her up?”
“How do you mean?”
“Personality-wise.”
“She’s kind and generous, definitely a free-spirit and adventurous.”
“Is she the kind of woman who would move to a place like this for an adventure?”
“What are you getting at Detective?”
“Answer the question.”
Gabe didn’t want to answer the damned question. “If you’re asking if she would come here of her own free will, probably, but then again, I don’t know what Heather would do. Heather’s parents wouldn’t let us date, so we remained friends at a distance.”
“How does a friendship like that work?”
“Email,” Gabe snapped.
“No physical contact?”
“We’ve been out of touch.”
“So you real
ly don’t know if she walked in here on her own or if—as her brother suggested—she might have been drugged and brought here.”
“I really don’t know.”
“Thank you, Mr. Reynolds. I see I’m getting about as far with you as I have with the others.” He offered his hand.
Gabe shook it and then turned to leave.
“Oh, Mr. Reynolds?”
“Yes?”
“If you’re going in there to check on Miss Powers, tell her we’ll be ready to interview her in about thirty minutes or so. I have to meet the coroner.”
“Coroner?”
“You didn’t hear?” He cocked his head. “Dons Vance is dead. Apparently he suffered a brutal beating.” He studied him with intense eyes. “Then he was stabbed to death.”
“I’ll be damned.”
“Careful. Around here, you might be. Karma, from what I hear, didn’t waste any time when it came to delivering payback.”
* * * *
The double doors flew back like a gust of strong tornado winds blew them wide open. And just like that, in walked Hurricane Gabe.
He never broke his stride and never paused to look around. In fact, he’d strolled right by her and hadn’t even realized it.
“Where is she?” His rigid body was nothing more than two hundred and ten pounds of hard muscle.
“Behind you,” Justin said, seemingly hesitant to say as much.
Heather trembled where she stood as Gabe slowly faced her. And as soon as he removed his sunglasses, she knew she was in trouble.
“I can explain,” she said, swallowing back a mix of angst and expectation. “I know what you’re thinking but it isn’t how it appears. I heard all the questions they were asking you and everyone else and—”
“Shut the doors,” he grated out in a barely audible voice.
Heather backed up a step and nudged them closed. She was afraid to take her eyes off him or perhaps she didn’t want to lose sight of him, didn’t want to risk looking away and then glancing back again only to find him softer, more approachable.
Fact of the matter was, he gave new meaning to tall, dark, and handsome. He was a beast, a renegade and a rogue. And in that moment, she saw his fear, acknowledged it with an equal amount of true regret. Every apology she owed them, all the heartache she’d caused them now gathered in the center of her chest and threatened to suffocate her.
She had made Gabe into the kind of man who walked the floors at night. She’d made him question whether or not he could protect her. At one time, perhaps, he’d even wondered if he could save her from herself or from those she’d invited into her life blindly, haphazardly.
How many times had he pleaded with her in his emails? Be safe. Choose your friends wisely. Be smart. For me.
Even though they’d never been intimate, she and Gabe had an incredible sensual and intimate long distance relationship. She’d told him her deepest desires, her darkest fantasies, her greatest fears, and so many other things she’d once guarded as secrets.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyes watering.
“Sorry?” A guttural grunt fell from his lips. He glanced at Justin and Curt before he studied her with fierce intensity again. “You’re sorry?” He took long strides across the room then, his mighty legs taking a lazy stroll, the kind of steps that made a woman shiver in her stilettos or tremor in her boots. “Sorry is what you say to Justin. Apologies are what you give Curt.” He kicked off his cowboy boots. Then, he unbuttoned his shirt, allowing it to open right down the front. “But me?” He unhooked his belt, released his snap. “I’m looking for an act of contrition.”
Heather was too aware of her bare skin underneath her favorite oversized T-shirt. Her nipples hardened. Her pussy clenched. She wanted, needed, a touch and a kiss, a slip of tongue between her lips, a finger or two between her damp folds.
“Don’t you see? This is what I do—research. I had to find out for myself.” Her voice quivered.
“Did you now?” He grabbed the top of a nearby ladder-back chair and dragged it to the wall. He immediately took a seat, his eyes hazy with a forbidden kind of lust, a darker longing, a more unsettled yearning.
He jerked his head back as if to summon her, but there was more to the beckoning that met the eye. He wanted her and he didn’t plan to wait to take her.
They’d waited for one another for far too long.
She eased forward then, taking small steps as she crept along the carpet. Standing before him, she couldn’t help but notice his trunk-like thighs. His jeans held that ironed-on look, the denim stretching with his erection.
Her mouth watered. Her knees knocked against one another. “Now what?”
“Now it’s time to make amends. It’s time to show me what you’re made of, vixen. So come on over here and take your seat. I want to watch you ride me.”
* * * *
Gabe had been a motherfucking mess. He’d gone to the Vance property to look for her and he’d feared the worst. For over four hours, he’d frantically searched, uncovering hidden wells and fighting with branches and shrubs until he could reveal what was hidden, what the Vance boys hadn’t wanted anyone to find.
He had been out of his mind with worry. One minute he cursed the very day he’d met her. He hadn’t meant it, of course. The next, he had plotted and planned for a reunion such as this.
Standing over him, Heather looked like a sex symbol, a woman who could’ve easily worked her strut across a catwalk but instead had somehow ended up in their lives, destroying everything he’d done to build up a wall around his heart, tearing it apart, piece by piece, for four excruciating years.
He tucked his hand in his pocket and retrieved a condom. Her eyes flickered in apparent surprise as he lifted the packet to his lips and ripped it open.
“Shocked cause I’m prepared?” He pulled his cock free of his boxers and stroked the hard flesh, never looking away from her pretty face as he handled himself with quick precision. “This is the first of many.” He rolled the rubber over his prick then and bracketed his arm around her waist at the same time.
“Wait,” she breathed, her eyes darting all over the doggone place.
“No, Heather. I think we’ve all waited long enough.” He grabbed the hem of her shirt and yanked it straight up, pulling it over her head, and ripping it away from her hair as he brought her forward, nuzzling her breasts.
Her soft locks shot down her back, and she swayed a bit as she inched closer, seemingly unaware of what was happening behind them. The stillness in the room didn’t last long.
“Sweet God,” Curt said, shaking his head.
“I hope we’re not sidelined,” Justin added.
Gabe was more amused by the comments when Heather froze. She blushed then and he couldn’t help but taunt her. “Something the matter, vixen?”
“What about…” She pressed her lips together and jerked her head to the side, indicating Justin and Curt.
“What about ‘em?” Gabe moistened his lips and lowered his head, latching onto a nipple. He curved his tongue around the hard point as he held her tighter, pulled her closer.
She wiggled like she wanted to break free, but he made up his mind then. Foreplay was for lovers who had the time to make love and fuck the day away.
At the moment, time wasn’t on their side.
He gave her a quick tug and brought her down to his lap, thrusting inside her with quick and deep strokes. “Damn, yes.”
A sultry sigh and then a few heavenly whimpers escaped her lips. She rested her hands on his shoulders, still at first, perhaps even timid.
“Don’t just sit there and pretend you don’t know what to do with me.” He clutched her hip and drove her down on his cock, pushing the weight of his shaft deep inside her channel.
“I don’t fuck around,” she informed him, her hot gaze meeting his.
“As of this moment, you fuck around a lot with the three men right here in this room.”
He’d made the decision to share
her. If she wanted them all, she could have them all, but by God, they’d watch him with her first. They’d watch and decide if this was the kind of thing they could tolerate, because as far as Gabe was concerned, Heather had been his woman since the day he set eyes on her.
He secured his forearm against her back, holding her steady as he pumped his hips away from the chair. He loved the slick heat from her pussy and wanted to really slide in there and feel her squeezing him as he drove his cock still deeper.
“What I’d give to fuck you bare,” he whispered, staring down at their connection.
Behind them, Justin and Curt observed. They watched with masculine lust in their eyes, the kind of longing that told Gabe plenty. Curt had fucked her in the past. Justin hadn’t been so lucky. He’d had it all wrong.
He cupped the back of her head and brought her mouth to his, kissing her lips with passion and sincerity, wanting to make promises and keep them, give her everything and spare her nothing. At the thought, he stood with her then, locking her legs around his hips and cradling her bottom as he walked to the bed.
“Gabe,” she crooned, her face twisting with uncertainty as he lowered her to the mattress, right beside Justin and Curt.
“Lie back,” he said, topping her then.
For a minute—but just a minute—Heather seemed uncertain. Fucking in front of others, particularly two former boyfriends, must’ve made her uncomfortable.
Gabe clasped her hand with his and dragged her right arm above her head, pouring into her then with every inch of control he possessed. He didn’t want to come yet, didn’t want to explode when she was stretched out before him like a beautiful goddess, a rebellious goddess, a woman who would forever own him—heart and soul, body and mind.
Justin took her other hand and laced her fingers then. She shivered with the contact and looked up at Gabe as if seeking his permission.
Gabe nipped at the fullness of her breast, his cock jutting forward as he established a good fucking rhythm. “There we go.” His voice was quiet, calm, but inside his nerve endings were burning, his heart was racing, his mind spinning.
Heap of Trouble [Trouble, Tennessee 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 6
