Love Under Two Outcasts [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  “Yeah.” Jesse’s one word sounded clipped even to his own ears. Nothing else mattered in that moment but that he get to his woman and break the men daring to touch her.

  Of course, Charlotta blew that plan right out of the water.

  “Jesse, Barry, come meet the Bears. Guys, these are my fiancés, Jesse and Barry Benedict.” She shook her head. “Okay, I guess I should give you their names—this is Cody Welsh, Spencer Ketchum, and Heath Lindsey. They were the bouncers that kept us safe at the Dollhouse. And this is Maizy, their wife.”

  The giants—or bears as Charlotta called them—shook their hands and told them how lucky they were to have Charlotta. That was something neither of them needed to be reminded of. Then Charlotta snuggled herself between them, and Jesse’s world turned right again.

  He let his gaze drift to the table and noted the way both his brothers-in-law smirked at them. Of course, they had Veronica ensconced between them, and since he could only see one hand for each man, he imagined they had the others clamped on her, holding her right where she was.

  “I have to run to the bathroom,” Maizy said. “I’ll be right back.”

  “See you soon, Maizy-locks,” Heath said. He bent down and gave his wife a kiss. Then he looked up at Jesse and grinned. Clearly that woman had managed to charm all three of those big bears.

  Hank got to his feet. “We have at least six more people joining us, because Cody mentioned they arrived with Patrick, Beck, and Lucy—and I see Presley Ann and her men headed this way. We might as well get more chairs.”

  Jesse thought they were already in danger of taking up more than their fair share of tables, but since two of their party were married to the owners of the place, he guessed it would be fine.

  Jesse nodded at Presley Ann, who waved them over. He wasn’t surprised that Veronica, Hank, and Travis knew the guys as well. He recalled clearly the way his brother-in-law had wanted to call the men—he searched his memory, because Hank had mentioned their names the day they’d had lunch at Rudy’s. Ah, yes, Jared and Kendry.

  Presley Anne gave him and Barry a big smile as they drew closer. “Kendry, Jared. This is Jesse and Barry Benedict. They’re Veronica’s brothers from Lusty. They’re the gentlemen I told you about, the ones who saved me and Whit at Rudy’s the other day.”

  “Thank you for your quick action.” Kendry shook his hand, and then Barry’s.

  “Presley Ann and Whit mean everything to us,” Jared said. His handshake was firm, the kind that spoke of inner strength and sincerity.

  “Anyone would have done the same. We’re both grateful to have been there.” Jesse wondered if there was going to be anyone else making a fuss over them about that incident. Neither he nor Barry thought what they’d done had been heroic. The friends got talking, and he stepped back, giving them room. Just then, Cody stepped closer and put his hand on Presley Ann’s shoulder. He heard Barry snicker and understood completely. They both watched to see if her men got as possessive as they’d been when the man had hugged Charlotta.

  The music took up every bit of air space, and Jesse couldn’t make out what all they said. But he smiled when Heath kissed her hand and then drew everyone’s attention to her engagement ring. Maizy returned, squealed, and hugged Presley Ann, and then three more people arrived. The woman was tall, dark-haired, and wearing a corset. Introductions were being made and the band began to play a song Jesse recognized—Jason Aldean’s “Burnin’ It Down.” He looked at Charlotta, wondering if she wanted to dance. But she was talking to Lucy and Maizy and seemed to be having a good time doing just that. When she looked his way he made a signal, silently asking her if she wanted a drink.

  “Yes, please,” she said.

  “Do the best we can. It’s pretty thick up there.”

  She pointed to her drink to let him know she had about a half glass left, and then winked.

  “Our woman looks sexy as hell,” Barry said.

  “She does, indeed. Come on, brother, let’s see if we can get close to the watering hole over there. I want to dance some more with her.”

  Jesse didn’t mind having to wait in line, really. Everyone was in a party mood. The place was packed, the band was decent, and the beer was cold. He scanned the crowd, noting that people were dressed in anything from country bar jeans and tees to fancy party wear. It wasn’t just the women, either, who’d dressed up. Most of the guys at their table were in crisp jeans and collared shirts, but Ethan had worn dress pants, and Jesse had spotted a few gents in suits and ties.

  He scanned the bodies closest to the bar, gazing from right to left, and then jerked his attention back to the far left. Were his eyes playing tricks on him because he’d just thought of those losers earlier? He took a half a step closer and looked hard. Black shirts, ball caps, and toasting each other with a mug of beer. Well, fuck me.

  “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, they had to walk into this one.”

  “Why are you almost quoting Casablanca?” Barry asked him.

  “Check it out. Nine o’clock near the end of the bar. Who do you see?”

  “What, is this a game to pass—well, fuck me! No way. No fucking way those two assholes are here.”

  “It sure as hell looks like them.”

  “No, it doesn’t look like them, it is them. Remember the way Phil gives a quick sideways jerk of his head? Shit, what do we do?”

  Jesse had to fight the urge to lead with his fist. “We tell Hank—and Veronica. Let him handle this. They don’t know him to see him, but they know us. And if they see us, with this crowd between us…”

  “They’ll run, before Hank can nab them.”

  It took them precious minutes to make their way back to the table. Veronica, coming from the same direction as they had, but from a different angle than they had, just reached her husbands. Jesse and Barry got there a couple of steps later.

  “Sis, you’re not going to believe this!”

  Veronica turned and met his gaze. “Phil and Gord are here. Did you see them, too? I hoped I was wrong. Damn it, where is Kemp and his duct tape when I need him?”

  Hank laughed, and then put his hand on her shoulder. “You stay here with the girls and I’ll go check on it. I think I’d know them if I saw them, thanks to the info Deke Lawson sent us.”

  A scream split the air, and Jesse whipped his head toward the sound—which had come from the front of the bar. In the next instant, fists began to fly and Ethan leapt over the bar.

  “Oh, hell,” Jesse said. “Recognize the tactic, brother?”

  “Fuck, yeah. Bastards must have seen us after all.”

  A bunch of the men from their group headed toward the fracas. Jesse met his brother’s gaze, and then together, they waded into it, too.

  Chapter 26

  Oh my God. Charlotta blinked in shock when the bikers came in and then started talking to Presley Ann and her men.

  I wonder if there’s going to be another fist fight break out. True, the one they’d already witnessed tonight had been handled quickly and efficiently by the bouncers and the men at this table. Also true, they’d all gotten a free drink out of the deal. But Charlotta wasn’t used to the nightclub scene any more, and she thought one fight a night was more than enough, thank you very much. She wondered, for just a moment, how Phil and Gord Maxwell had been able to skirt being caught. She guessed Jesse was right when he suggested the fight had been their doing, giving them a chance to escape in the melee.

  Charlotta returned her attention to the newcomers. Jared introduced the new arrivals as friends of theirs, twin brothers Eric and Aaron, and their friend Dick, all from Abilene. Something about the twins reminded her of someone, and when she understood who, she gave a tiny twitch of surprise, wondering what the hell was going on.

  “What’s wrong, princess?” Barry whispered the question into her neck as he nuzzled her.

  Jesse moved his chair subtly closer. She caught the look of concern in his eyes. They both must have felt her body st
iffen in shock when she realized who one of those “friends” had to be. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just people watching.” Because she didn’t want to lie to them, she leaned in close. Looking at the faces around the table, most of them seemed to have figured out the same thing Charlotta had.

  She lowered her voice and said, “I think one of Jared’s friends is the father of Presley Ann’s baby.”

  Just then one of the bikers, Eric, asked Presley Ann to dance, an action which Charlotta thought proved her guess was right.

  “I wonder what the story is there?” Barry asked.

  “I couldn’t guess. I just hope that whatever’s going on, Presley Ann isn’t hurt in the process.” Charlotta looked from the young mother on the dance floor, to Camilla, who was also watching her, to Grace. “I’m with the rest of the ladies of Divine. I feel protective of her, too.”

  Charlotta forced herself to take her eyes off the dancing couple, and focus on her friends. The men were to a one unapologetically protective of their women. Jack and Adam ensured that Grace had a dancing partner and a full glass of sangria. What a sweet giant of a man Adam Davis was! Quinten kept an eye, and an arm, around Camilla, but was able to share with them some pictures taken of the twins enjoying Christmas.

  Charlotta couldn’t help but notice when her dance with Eric was over, Presley Ann settled herself between her men—or that her men were both relieved, but still seemed to be a little on edge.

  Then Grace waved to the band. Following the gesture, she saw the lead guitarist give her a tiny salute in turn.

  “Well, ladies, I think it’s time to make our men sweat.”

  Charlotta grinned. “Oh, yeah. Let’s just go and do that little thing.” Her mind flashed back to their conversation tonight, before they’d left the Stinsons’ to come here, and the words shared with each of her men out on the dance floor. It was time to put old ghosts to rest and celebrate the best of what had been—and anticipate what was yet to come.

  So Charlotta didn’t just stand up. She held out her hands to her men. “Give me a hand, gentlemen?”

  When each did exactly as she asked, she did a slow, slithering, sideways move, her hips rolling from side to side as she stepped down onto the dance floor. They released her and she executed a pirouette and then joined the other women from their group, destination men-meltdown. She looked over her shoulder and saw that every man left behind had eyes wide and jaws hanging loose. Each man, she knew, had eyes only for his woman.

  The beat was pure sex as the band began their version of the song “Ready Set Roll,” made famous by Chase Rice. Charlotta executed a sleek turn on the dance floor, faced her men, her eyes going from one to the other.

  She opened herself to the music as she’d done every night at the Dollhouse. Only this time, it had everything to do with making the men she loved burn and nothing to do with work.

  This time, as she swayed and dipped, as she threw her pelvis out and thrust her breasts in perfect sync to the music, she was dancing only for the men she loved.

  She’d never offered this, and they’d never asked beyond that first playful suggestion the day she’d told them about her past. They’d never asked, because they’d known her heart, known the struggle she’d been waging. And when she focused on their faces, she saw pride, and understanding, and love—glorious, all-encompassing love for the woman she was, imperfections and all.

  She ended in a pose that had in the past guaranteed her good tips, and tonight earned her something far more valuable than money. The respect on the faces of her men was the best tip she’d ever earned. She smiled, headed toward them, and they met her halfway.

  “God, woman.” Jesse pulled her close. Barry snuggled up and kissed the top of her head.

  “That was one hell of a Christmas gift.”

  “I’m really glad that you got it—and liked it.”

  “Liked it? We love you. Liking your dance goes without saying.”

  She looked at each of them in turn. “I really want to dance with you both at least once. Like we do back in Lusty. All three of us, together at the same time.”

  “All right, baby,” Jesse said. “We’ll do that to the very next song.”

  People were already dancing to the band’s rendition of “Leave the Night On” by Sam Hunt. Charlotta let her body move to the music, a subtle kind of chair dance as she watched old friends and new moving to the catchy tune. Sometimes, one song would end and the band would segue into the next. But that didn’t happen this time as that last guitar riff echoed into silence. Instead, the lead singer stepped up to the microphone.

  “Our next selection is a special request for a very special woman. We give you Blake Shelton’s “Just South of Heaven.”

  Charlotta looked at her men, remembering Jesse’s words of much earlier. “You requested they play that. For me?”

  “Come on, baby. Dance with us. Be our center, here, on the dance floor, as you already are in our lives.”

  She felt the eyes of all their friends on them, but she didn’t care. She looped her arms around Jesse’s neck and sighed as Barry snuggled up to her back. Together they moved to the song and the sentiment. Halfway through, as if they’d done it a hundred times, the men eased back enough for Charlotta to turn, so that she could put her arms around Barry and feel Jesse’s heat on her back.

  “I love you both so very much. Thank you for loving me. For understanding me.”

  “You don’t have to thank us, princess.”

  “Loving you is the best thing we’ve ever done, baby.”

  Later, the countdown to midnight came, and the excitement as everyone called out the numbers touched them all. But Charlotta knew her happy new year had really begun months before, on the day she’d decided to let herself take a chance on the possibility of love under two outcasts.

  * * * *

  Charlotta awakened and inhaled deeply. She breathed in the scent of their bodies—hers and Jesse’s and Barry’s—and the sex they’d indulged in last night just after they’d finally returned home to Lusty. They’d ended up staying all of New Year’s Day in Divine, because of the unexpected drama that had unfolded.

  The phone had rung at the Stinson house in the wee hours of the morning. Presley Ann’s baby had been kidnapped, and every one of them, along with their friends, had been on tenterhooks, desperately keeping vigil and praying for a happy ending.

  Fortunately they got just exactly that, and it was a happy ending that had come much sooner than anyone had envisioned—and with an unexpected bonus.

  Phil and Gord Maxwell had been staying at the same no-tell motel as the kidnappers—a couple apparently assisted in their scheme by Presley Ann’s aunt and her cousin. The Maxwells had peered out the window and seen the police team descending, and believed the cops were after them.

  The fools had broken out the only window in the room and jumped through the broken glass—and had ended up landing in a patch of very nasty jumping cactus.

  Hank had even taken a copy of the footage shot by one of the deputy’s dash cams to share with everyone.

  The last report they’d had, the brothers Maxwell had been in the hospital in Divine, in the emergency department, crying for their mommy as the staff worked to remove the nasty spines from some rather delicate areas—and assessing whether or not Gord Maxwell really did have a broken dick.

  The day had ended well with all of them at the Divine Creek Ranch for a very nice afternoon celebration.

  Charlotta sighed. So many women that she knew were able to make their ménage marriages work. She had no doubt that she would, too. She hadn’t set out to find herself even one man, let alone two. But Charlotta was very, very glad she’d let herself be open to the possibilities.

  She sensed that she wasn’t the only one who’d awakened. Knowing that both of her men would hear her, she said, “I’ve been thinking.”

  “Should we be worried?” Jesse asked.

  Charlotta smiled, the Cheshire cat grin spreading wide. Her eyes still
closed, the heat of her lovers lying snuggled up on either side making her feel cherished, she figured that this was as close to a definition of heaven as she could ever get.

  “That depends. How do you feel about a Valentine’s Day wedding? It’s a Saturday this year. I know that Samantha, Preston, Taylor, and Charles Kendall have their anniversary on that day, but I don’t think they’ll mind sharing it with us.”

  “I think that would be a great way for us to never forget our anniversary, princess…um, not, of course, that we ever, ever would do such a thoughtless thing.”

  “Nice save, brother.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Jesse? What do you think about my idea?” It was hard to ask the question without laughing out loud.

  “That’s an entire month and a half away, baby. But as long as we can get you moved in here in the next couple of days, and you’re snuggled down between us every night, I think I might just be able to last that long.”

  “Oh, I should definitely start calling you slick.” Charlotta chuckled.

  “We’re going to fly up to Montana sometime in the next couple of weeks for a day or two.” Jesse’s tone turned serious. “Will you come with us?”

  Of course she knew the purpose of the visit would be two-fold. The guys wanted to introduce her to the rest of their family, take her around the places where they grew up. And they wanted to sit down and have a heart to heart talk with their mother.

  She knew they’d need her close by for that. People didn’t change, in her experience, unless they had a compelling reason to do so.

  Jesse and Barry weren’t the first of Norah Benedict’s children to leave Montana and close contact with the family ranch. They were just the latest.

  “If we can leave on a Sunday and be back before the following Wednesday, I can arrange my schedule and come with you.”

  “We don’t want to miss any of the equine therapy sessions either, so yes—we’ll plan it just that way.” Jesse sighed. “I don’t imagine Mother will be very…happy with the news of our impending nuptials.”