“Are you worried about work?” Ryder asked.
“What about it?”
“I mean if anyone found out about us and Annie. I don’t think that’d go over well.”
“No. It wouldn’t. But I’m not worried about it, yet. We’ve both got great records, and we do our jobs well. No one’s questioning that. It’s still new. It’ll be a while before anyone starts talking.”
“I hope so,” Ryder agreed.
The rest of the afternoon dragged on and Ryder was glad when it was time to call it quits. He almost suggested to Andrew that they drop in on Annie for dinner, but they’d agreed to take it slow, and ambushing her two days in a row at her diner wasn’t giving her much space. So, he went home alone and made himself a frozen pizza instead.
Sitting down at his kitchen table, he pulled open the notebook he’d been working in. The notes were a combination business plan and Annie plan. He hadn’t needed to use the Annie plan so far because she’d been more receptive to the idea than he’d ever imagined, but he’d been prepared to fight for her, even if it meant one-on-one dates with each of them or needing to eat at her diner every day. He’d spend the next ten years wooing her if that’s what it took. Fortunately, she’d been a team player from the beginning.
The business plan, however, he was planning to introduce at dinner the following night. Gage, Tyler, and Sara would need to be a part of it as well. He didn’t want to rush Annie or Andrew, but he was sold on the idea that this was the right life for him, and he wanted to make a safe space for the three of them as quickly as possible. He jotted a few more notes, things he thought up while watching traffic on the Interstate, before digging into his dinner.
Chapter 9
Annie sat at the counter on Payton’s favorite stool, and watched Jack flip her grilled cheese. She was hungry, and they weren’t busy, so she’d put in an order for her own dinner. She’d been hoping that Andrew might stop in, maybe even both of them, but they hadn’t, and she tried not to let that disappoint her. She’d asked them to take it slow, and it would be sending mixed signals if she also wanted them to be here every day.
Still, tomorrow night seemed too far away. She wondered if they were in danger somewhere. Their jobs both attracted and horrified her. It was long, lonely work, but was honorable work, and they were honorable men. Still, she didn’t like the idea that they were often the first responders to crime scenes or accidents. What if there was a fire, a school shooting, or a bank robbery? There were just so many things that could go wrong.
“You okay, Annie?” Jack asked as he put the sandwich in front of her. He’d given her a sliced apple and a couple of carrot sticks, too. She hadn’t asked for it, but it was probably a good idea to eat something other than cheese and carbohydrates.
“Yeah. I’m okay. Thanks.”
“That far off look you have got anything to do with those two cops that keep coming around?”
“It’s dangerous work, that’s all.”
“They seem like they know what they’re doing,” Jack said, turning back to the grill. “In more ways than one.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t take offense, boss. It’s just obvious they care about you is all. I think it’s great. You spend too much time here, and you smile a lot more when they are around.”
“You think so?” Annie asked. She hadn’t realized she’d been so obvious. “I must be pretty transparent. You haven’t been working here that long.”
“I like to think I pay more attention than most people. This is a good job, the best I’ve had in a while. I’m not looking to lose it.”
Wanting to turn the conversation away from Ryder and Andrew, she asked, “Where did you come from, Jack? I can’t believe I never asked you that, but I don’t think I ever did. You didn’t grow up here.”
“No, I didn’t grow up here,” Jack answered. “I came up from Colorado. Ran into some trouble outside of Denver to tell you the truth. Decided to find someplace quieter for a while.”
“I thought it might be something like that. Is it the kind of trouble that’s going to come knocking on my door one day?”
“No, ma’am. I wouldn’t put you in harm’s way. I just never had much education is all. My dad moved me around a lot as a kid, alcoholic, couldn’t keep a job. I quit school early. Made a lot of bad choices in my younger years. I’ve had my fair share of addictions along the way, too, but I’m going on a year and a half sober now. I’m getting too old to behave like I have.”
“Takes guts to say it out loud,” Annie said.
“I’m working on that, too. I’m in a recovery program. That’s how come I asked for every Thursday night off.”
“Good. Keep going. You can have Thursday’s as long as you like. I’m proud of you for trying to be a better person. A lot of people would just get consumed by something like that, but you’re one of the best cooks I’ve had. You’re always on time. You don’t complain…Tell you the truth, I was going to wait one more week, but I’ve been planning to give you a raise.”
“I’d sure appreciate that.”
Annie nodded before taking a bite out of her sandwich. He really could cook. He deserved it. “I’ve been thinking about making some upgrades around here, too. What do you think? What would you change if it were your place?”
Jack seemed to think about that for a moment before answering. “Well everyone likes your pie so much, I think we’d sell a few whole pies every day, especially around the holidays, if you had a display case for them, or even just a sign that told people the prices.”
“I think so, too. And I think those booths are starting to look pretty tired.”
“Yeah. The last two have pretty good holes in the middle, but I haven’t heard too many customers mention it. We’re full with a line every weekend for breakfast and sometimes at lunch on the weekdays. It’d be nice if we had a little more room and a better waiting area. If you let people get their own coffee and read a menu while they waited, they’d be more likely to stay and wait it out, I’d bet.”
It was a good suggestion. The diner didn’t have much space for waiting, but because of that, especially in the winter, people left when the line was too long. No one wanted to wait outside in the snow. People were more patient when they had a cup of coffee to hold them over.
“Yeah. I’ll think about that,” Annie agreed. “Making more space is harder, but we could put the menus out easy enough.”
“Those cops of yours the inspiration for the change?” Jack asked, coming full circle.
“No,” Annie said honestly. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, but they do have a way of being inspiring.”
The door opened and family of four walked in and took a seat at a booth in the corner. Annie got up to take their order.
Chapter 10
Sara Effese rolled over in bed and snuggled up against her husband, Gage. Placing a kiss on his spine, between his two broad shoulders, she molded herself to his body and wrapped her arms around him.
“Why does he get all the attention?” her other husband, Tyler whispered teasingly, as he curled himself around Sara’s back.
“Because he’s the one that’s grumpy in the morning,” Sara replied.
“I heard that,” Gage replied, and they all laughed.
The men weren’t legally her husbands, but about a month ago she’d started to think of them that way. The three of them had their own private ceremony with rings and promises, and that was good enough for her. There were no words to accurately describe their relationship anyway, and she’d come to terms with the fact that not everyone would understand it or like it. There were only two people in this world that she was worried about pleasing, and they were both sharing her bed.
“We should get up. There’s work to be done, and we’re having dinner guests this evening,” Sara said.
“We’ve got fifteen more minutes,” Gage protested.
Tyler rolled Sara back toward him before pinning her
under his naked body. “Gage is right. We have fifteen more minutes before we have to get up for work, and I intend to make good use of it.”
Sara wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer. She couldn’t get enough of these two. They fired her up instantly just by looking at her, and she knew that she could do the same to them. Tyler was already hard, and she could feel his erection rubbing against her.
“Fuck me, Ty,” she whispered, just because she knew he loved it when she demanded it from him.
He was inside her before she could even breathe, and it felt amazing. There was no hesitancy now, like they’d had early in their relationship. He just went to town on her, pushing her legs up, and drilling deep inside her. She was a vital part of their relationship now, and he knew just how she wanted it.
Gage rolled over, still wiping sleep from his eyes and watched. Sara turned her face toward him, and he brushed a loose hair back from her forehead.
The steady rhythm of Tyler’s cock drove her higher, and she gripped his shoulders, trying desperately to hang on. He leaned forward, putting more of his weight on her, and moved his hands so he could cup her ass as he fucked her. After months of having her ass played with, it now drove her crazy to be touched there. They’d trained her to go absolutely wild by giving her the most intense orgasms of her life while she was pressed between them. There was no part of her that didn’t belong to them now, and they used that to their every advantage.
“Come join us, Gage,” Tyler said, his voice hoarse with sleep and desire.
Tyler rolled onto his back, pulling Sara over on top of him. She never missed a beat, transitioning into cowgirl mode with ease. Gage moved over into his familiar place behind her.
Sara slowed her ride so Gage could properly prepare them both before he entered her. Tyler whispered in her ear as she relaxed against his chest, waiting, not so patiently, to be filled by both of her men. This was always her favorite part, the closeness and the fullness of taking both of their cocks together.
When Gage was fully seated, deep in her ass, Sara began to rock her hips, moving up and down on Tyler’s erection. It never took long like this. She was so wound up already.
Tyler’s breathing grew ragged, and she knew that he was ready. He was only waiting for her, wanting to push her over the edge before he’d let himself go.
Shifting her hips ever so slightly, so that his pelvis would rub right against her clit, she threw her head back and gave into it. Every muscle in her body tingled as the orgasm wracked through her. Tyler cried out with her, and they rocked to a stop, breathing heavily in a fog of bliss.
Gage, only a few strokes behind them, pulled Sara’s hips back into his and drove deep into her a few more times before coming with a hearty cry.
“You two sure beat an alarm clock,” Gage teased, when he’d recovered enough to catch his breath.
“If we hurry we can still shower together,” Tyler suggested.
“Last one in is a rotten egg,” Sara said, but she was in no hurry to get out of the bed. No one was moving very fast, but they all managed to get to the shower somehow.
This had been home for almost a year now, but Sara still marveled at the craftsmanship, especially in the bathroom. Gage had designed and installed it himself, and Sara still thought it was beautiful every time she used the oversized shower.
“Busy day ahead?” Tyler asked her as he ran a soapy washcloth over her breasts.
“Not too bad. I have two meetings in the morning with potential clients, and one after lunch. I’m hoping to duck out early so I’ll have extra time to make dinner,” Sara replied.
She’d started six months ago as a teller at the local bank, but after only three months she’d been promoted to the loan department. She was now in charge of helping people get mortgages or home equity loans from her bank. She didn’t have a lot of education, and she still wasn’t making a ton of money, but her job was very important to her, and the promotion to loan officer had been a really big event for her. She was finally proud of herself, after so many years of having her self-esteem torn apart by her horrid ex-boyfriend.
“I’ll make sure the kitchen is clean when you get home,” Tyler offered. “And I can get things ready if you’re worried it’ll take too long.”
“Thank you, but I think I’ll have enough time. We can do it together. I just want everything to be perfect. The detectives were so good to us with the whole Jeremy situation. I feel like we owe them our lives, and I just think it’s wonderful that they’ve found a woman they want to be with.”
“I’m looking forward to it, too,” Tyler agreed.
When they were all clean and dressed for the day Sara kissed each of her men, and headed off to work. She liked to be early, and she paid a lot of attention to what she wore and how she behaved. In the grand scheme of life it was just a job, but it was her job, and she wanted to do it well.
She wanted to be seen as polite and professional, and she took pride in the fact that most of her customers really liked working with her. A lot of it was just paperwork, getting credit scores and appraisals, and measuring risk and incentive. But it made her feel good to be able to offer a young couple a good rate on their first home, or to help someone who’d made some financial mistakes in the past get back on track. If anyone knew about second chances it was she, and she wanted to make the most of her life now that she’d gotten a fresh start.
Chapter 11
Annie was nervous. She’d never met another trio as Andrew had called them, and it was little hard for her to believe that she’d ever meet anyone who could be accepting of a relationship involving two men and one woman.
Maybe it wasn’t as big of a deal as she was making it out to be though, she reasoned. Jack really hadn’t seemed too put off at the diner, and she was pretty sure that he had the relationship figured out, even if he hadn’t said so outright. Times were changing, and she imagined that he’d seen his fair share of crazy shit over the years. This was probably nothing compared with some other life situations, but it felt like a big deal to Annie.
She pulled yet another shirt over her head and turned around in the mirror. She’d been trying on outfits for nearly twenty minutes, but she was going to have to make a decision soon. Her men would be there to get her any minute, and she didn’t want to hold them up.
Just after she’d decided to wear the first outfit she’d tried on, Ryder came to the door and greeted her with a warm kiss that got her going more than she would have expected with all the nerves she was feeling.
“Don’t get me all riled up,” she complained. “I don’t want to look like a flushed mess when I meet these people.”
“I like it when you’re flushed,” he responded.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing the pie carrier from the counter and the ice cream out of the freezer before pulling the door shut behind her.
Andrew was waiting in the back seat of Ryder’s SUV, so she slid into the passenger seat and gave him a quick kiss around the console before buckling up.
It was a pretty quiet ride, everyone was lost in their own thoughts, so Annie jumped when Payton pointed to the for sale sign on a quaint little campground just off the highway exit where Sara, Gage, and Tyler lived. “See that?” he asked.
“Yeah. Looks like it closed down. My dad took me fishing at the pond there once,” Annie said. It had been a long time since she’d thought of that fishing trip. It was one of the few days that her father had stopped working at the diner long enough to hang out with her. They’d had a good relationship, but most of her earlier years were spent behind the counter of the diner she now ran.
“Catch anything?”
“I can’t remember,” Annie replied honestly, “but probably. It was stocked so full that you could have just reached in and pulled one out if you wanted.”
“The owners retired a couple weeks ago. I think it’s a lovely campground,” Ryder said. “It has a main house, eight guest cabins, camper spaces, and a couple of spots for t
ents, too.”
“What’s with the sudden interest in camping?” Andrew asked. Annie thought she detected real surprise in his voice. Ryder must not be much of an outdoorsman.
“I just think it’s a nice place is all,” Ryder replied.
No one pushed him on it, but Annie was pretty sure that wasn’t the end of that conversation at all.
A moment later they turned onto a long lane that rambled back to a large farmhouse, and Annie’s heart dropped into her stomach again. These were Payton and Andrew’s friends. What if they didn’t like her?
As if sensing her discomfort, Ryder squeezed her hand before opening his door and getting out of the car. Annie took a deep breath and did the same.
She needn’t have worried. Sara greeted all of them at the door as if she’d known them forever. The house smelled like Thanksgiving, and the trio that she’d been both so excited and so terrified to meet was just as welcoming as the smell.
Not twenty minutes later Annie was stuffing herself with a wonderful baked chicken dinner, while fully engrossed in the story of how Sara, Gage, Tyler had come to know her men. She’d always known that they were heroes, but to hear it from Sara’s point of view how Andrew and Payton had taken gun shots to save her from her stalker ex-boyfriend, put them in a whole new light.
“We were just doing our jobs, ma’am,” Andrew said politely, when Sara reiterated how they’d gone above and beyond the call of duty.
“Well,” Gage chimed in, “we’re thankful every day that you were there, and that we all came out of that mess alive.”
Blair, Samantha - Pioneers [Protectors 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5
