by Marla Monroe
“What about the electrical plugs? There needs to be at least one more if not two more added. Is the one that was there up to code?” Rollan asked.
“Yep. I’m planning on adding another one on the opposite wall of the vanity area, one on the wall where we want the towel warmer and another one in the john itself. I also checked the heating and cooling vents. It won’t be nearly as much trouble to add a second one close to the tub as I thought it would,” Thorne said.
Rollan nodded toward the pitcher of tea next to Thorne. The other man passed it to him. They’d been able to read each other’s gestures and expressions since high school. It made things a hell of a lot easier as they got older.
“Still planning on making two walk-in closets?” Rollan asked his friend.
“Yeah. You and I can share one, but a woman is going to need one all by herself. That extra storage closet made it large enough that we can do the custom shelving and all like we wanted to.”
“Do you think there’s any hope that we’ll find a woman willing to be our woman? I mean, lots of them want to fuck around with two men. It’s like their greatest fantasy or something, but actually settling down and committing to a ménage relationship is asking a hell of a lot, Thorne,” he said.
Thorne sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Yes. I do think we can find one. I told you the research I did on Riverbend stated that there were several ménage families living here. As soon as we get things to the point we can take a break, we need to go into town and just look around, see what there is to see. I know I’ve seen some threesomes already, but without spending time, I guess it could have been something different. Hell, I’m pretty damn sure there are even some BDSM couples here from the collars I’ve seen on some of the women.”
Rollan frowned and shrugged. “Can’t blame me for being cautious. We’ve already had our faces slapped once. I don’t much care to repeat that anytime soon. Hell, never would be too soon.”
“Give it some time. I want to get to know the bombshell I picked up today. Sierra has the prettiest eyes and enough curves to throw the best Indy car driver off the track.” Thorne stared at his tea glass, apparently lost in thought over the woman.
Rollan figured that he’d meet her soon enough. If he took to her like Thorne had, maybe he’d feel more inclined to test the waters with her. He knew that if Thorne was taken by her, then chances were he would be, too. It never failed that if one of them fell for a girl, the other was right behind him.
“You said they must live near us. Wonder if she’s over on the east where we’ve seen all the cattle or if she’s whoever has the messed up fence line on the south?” Rollan mused.
“Not sure. She may be a ranch removed from us even. I get the feeling that she’s pretty much alone on the ranch though. Just a gut feeling that sort of has me worried about her.”
That piqued Rollan’s interest. Why would a woman be working a ranch all alone? That didn’t make a lot of sense to him. Even if you had a few ranch hands, it took more than one person to make one work. It was one of the reasons they’d decided to partner up on one. It helped to share the duties and the letdowns, because there would be letdowns.
The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to meet this woman of Thorne’s and find out for sure if she were all alone or not. His stomach jumped like a kangaroo as it hit him that he was interested in someone he’d never met before.
Hell, I’ve always fallen for the same girls Thorne did. I think my head is just jumping ahead of the game and getting that denial out of the way. Otherwise, I’m losing my mind.
“How do you plan to find out exactly where she lives?” Rollan finally interrupted his friend’s monologue about Sierra’s virtues.
“As soon as we have enough completed here to take an afternoon break, I thought we’d do a little driving, and if that doesn’t help, we’ll run into Riverbend and have coffee and pie at the diner,” Thorne told him with a grin.
“In other words, you want to listen in on gossip and give them a little more for their grist mills,” he said with a shake of his head.
“Nothing wrong with exchanging information. If you want to know something, ask, Rollan. The worst they can do is tell us to fuck off or just shrug and ignore us. No skin off our noses.” Thorne picked up his nearly empty plate and scraped it into their garbage before rinsing it and setting it in the dishwasher.
Thorne wasn’t so sure about that but wasn’t going to argue with him. The woman had to be extra special since they’d already discussed their plans and had agreed to hold off looking for their woman until they had the ranch in better shape. They’d barely even scratched the surface, and his partner had already found the little filly he wanted.
Figures.
“Maybe once the guys from the machine shop leave on Saturday, we could go into town to eat dinner,” he suggested. “We can listen to the gossip and see what we can see.”
Thorne’s face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. Yep, the man was already in over his head. It would take a sledgehammer to knock some sense into him now. Maybe checking her out would unearth something that he hadn’t realized he didn’t like about her, or it could tighten the grip she already seemed to have on his dick.
Either way, he had a feeling it would be plenty entertaining before it was over with. He just prayed they survived the fallout, because there would be a fallout when a woman was involved.
Chapter Four
By the time Saturday rolled around, Sierra was a nervous wreck. She hadn’t heard from Dexter or received an envelope full of papers in the mail. The wait was killing her and making it hard as hell to concentrate on getting things done. Though they had three ranch hands who did the majority of the hard work, she still had the grunt work and the paperwork to handle every day. She was sure he was dragging it out to unnerve her. He’d had those damn papers ready before she’d even shown up.
Once she’d finished her chores and eaten a light lunch, she and Sedona cooked a casserole that would pretty much serve as a complete meal and two apple pies. She thought they were going overboard, but her sister was insistent that they follow tradition despite it having been years since anyone else had followed it.
“Oh, come on, Sis. When Mom then Dad died, some of the people in Riverbend brought food out to us. They only knew us from coming into town to shop. There are some good people left in the world, even if you don’t believe it anymore.”
Sedona shamed her with that comment, but it was so true. Sierra had pretty much lost faith in humanity. Every way she turned, someone was thwarting her efforts to keep her family together with a roof over their heads and food to eat. Things had been desperate at times, but they’d made it through them. Now, with the last of her family about to move away to college, she saw a chance to do something for herself, and Dexter was about to ruin that chance.
Maybe she should just let the bank have the house and remaining land. It would free her of being at his mercy and whoring herself out to him. But then the only inheritance the others would have to start their own lives after college would be gone with nothing to show for it. It wasn’t fair. They’d worked so hard—she’d worked so hard to hold on to it all these years. Maybe Buddy had jumped ship and made his own way, but it would be much harder for Bethany and Sedona to do that after college.
No, as much as she hated the idea and dreaded the reality of it, she was well and truly fucked. Dexter would get his way no matter what. Hadn’t she seen that already?
Once it’s over with, I’m going to expose him for the bastard that he is and leave the state to start over. He can pick up the pieces this time.
“Looks like everything’s done,” Sedona said, a note of pride in her voice. “Let’s load it up and take it over.”
“I need a shower first. It’s just four. They’re going to be pretty busy until near dark anyway. An hour or so won’t hurt anything.” She didn’t want to admit that she was nervous of going to their ranch.
The last few nights sh
e’d dreamed of Thorne and his callused hands and broad shoulders. Those full lips just begged her to bite them just as his ass made her want to dig her nails into it while he fucked her like a wild man. Sometimes her fantasies scared her at the strength of her need, but none had ever seemed so real or been centered on someone specific. Nor had she ever considered two men in her bed until now. A shadowy figure always seemed to be watching, hanging back for the right time to reveal himself. It bothered her on a whole new level.
“I’ll grab one, too. You go ahead while I tidy up in here. The water should be warm again by the time I finish.” Sierra smiled at her sister. She was so proud of the woman she was becoming.
“Be finished in a flash.” She raced toward the stairs and up to her room to strip out of her clothes.
She had to force herself not to think about Thorne or the shadow man while she soaped up and rinsed off. It was too tempting to imagine them bathing her and doing other, naughtier things to her as well. She really had to get hold of her hormones before they drove over there. It wouldn’t be a good thing for her to appear interested in the man when she was about to be another man’s plaything.
* * * *
Rollan stretched as Brody and Lamar pulled up to the gate. He had just opened it for them when Lamar had called to say that they were a mile down the road. He left it open and hopped on the three-wheeler to ride back to the house where Thorne waited with coffee.
He noticed before he’d pulled off that there was a woman sitting between the two men. Thorne had said that they had a ménage relationship. He really hadn’t believed it, but with her sitting there between the two big men, he realized Thorne might be right. He’d see how the dynamics between them worked before he’d believe it.
When he pulled up to the house with their truck right behind him, Thorne stepped out on the front porch to meet them. His smile appeared even more relaxed and open than it had been in years. This place was good for Thorne. Hell, it was good for him if he’d let himself admit it.
“Hi, Caitlyn. Welcome to Rolling Thunder Ranch,” Thorne said as he stepped off the porch to shake the two men’s hands. “Hi, Brody, Lamar. Thanks for driving out.”
“Glad to do it. I’m surprised at how much work you’ve managed to get done in such a short time,” Brody said.
Thorne turned to Rollan with a smile. “This is my partner, Rollan Metcalf.”
Rollan smiled at the three people, noticing how both men had a hand somewhere on the pretty woman between them. He held out his hand and shook their hands, tipping his hat at Caitlyn.
“Ma’am,” he said.
“Come on inside, and we’ll have some coffee while we show you what we’re wanting to do,” Throne said.
Rollan continued into the kitchen to pour the coffee while Thorne pulled out their plans on the coffee table to show them. He called out to find out how everyone took their coffee, then carried a tray holding five mugs and the cream.
“This looks great,” Lamar was saying. “That part won’t be a problem at all. What do you think, Brody?”
Brody shook his head. “Nope, no problem. We can set it up and have it done within a week as long as we don’t have another big job at the same time.”
“So Rolling Thunder will be arched over the drive, and the initials R and T on the new gate they’ll build is also your brand, right?” Caitlyn asked.
“That’s right,” Thorne said. “I wanted to order some branding irons from you guys, too.”
“Not a problem. How many do you want? Do you have them drawn up?” Lamar asked.
“Right here. You can take all of this with you. I have copies. We’ve registered the brand and already have the paperwork on it. I think we’d like to start out with two. Depending on how soon we build up the herd, we’ll probably add two more this time next year,” Thorne told them.
While Thorne explained what they were looking for and the other projects they wanted to work toward, Rollan watched how their guests interacted with each other. The first thing he noticed was that they didn’t even seem to notice if the other one was touching Caitlyn or not. Then he noticed how relaxed around them she was. She didn’t shy away from their touch despite his and Thorn’s presence. She touched them just as much.
He hadn’t really thought that the three-way relationship he and Thorne wanted and talked so much about would actually work or be accepted anywhere. Seeing them perfectly at ease about their lifestyle gave him hope that maybe they really could make it work for them as well. The tight band that had been slowly choking him eased a bit.
For the next thirty minutes, they continued to discuss the things he and Thorne wanted to do around the ranch. They discussed prices on the pieces they needed as soon as possible, like the branding irons as well as the horses they were going to train.
The conversation turned to Riverbend and the people who lived there. Both Brody and Lamar agreed that Sagebrush wasn’t nearly as friendly as Riverbend. They suggested to only venture there when they needed something quick. However, nothing was said about their lifestyle or any of the other different-appearing lifestyles he’d noticed when he’d ventured into the town. He didn’t bring them up and was glad that Thorne had already told him about the threesome so that he hadn’t acted surprised or curious around them.
“You’ve got some amazing ideas, guys. I can’t wait to see them put to use. I never would have thought of some of this, but now that you’ve got it on paper, it seems like the perfect plan,” Brody said with a grin.
“We’ll get started on the irons and the gate immediately. As you’re ready for the rest, let us know, and we’ll give you a schedule,” Lamar said.
Rollan liked them. He could see why Thorne did. They were both articulate and friendly at the same time. It made him feel like they were talking more about their home and less about a business. To Rollan, this was first and foremost his home. He wanted it to be comfortable and stylish without appearing snobby. Thorne had insisted on the ranch’s name being displayed over the gate and the gate being larger and more intimidating just to let people know they were serious about their profession. Rollan knew his partner was right. Future buyers for their cutting horses were going to expect a classy operation. The gate would go a long way to secure that feeling for the buyer before they’d even driven through it.
“No, we’ve still got a lot of work here in the house, but getting the ranch side of it up and going is important so that we have revenue coming in to work with,” Thorne was telling them.
“Well, the house is coming along well. I remember the last time we were out here for the estate sale how the front porch was falling down. It looks brand new,” Caitlyn said. “And the drive is so much smoother, and you can actually see something besides weeds.”
Thorne laughed. “That was the first thing Rollan insisted that we clean up. Right, man?”
Rollan smiled. “If we were going to get anyone to help us or deliver things, we needed for them to be able to find us.”
“Well you’ve done an amazing amount of work in a short period of time. I can’t wait until you finish the house so I can come and see it,” Caitlyn said.
“We’ll make sure to let you know,” his partner told her.
“We’d better head home,” Brody said, getting to his feet.
“Thanks for the coffee,” Lamar told them. “We’ll get right on the irons and let you know when they are ready.”
He and Thorne followed them outside and waved them off as they left. If half the folks in Riverbend were as nice as them, Rollan was sure he would enjoy living there. He wasn’t nearly as social as his partner, but it would be nice to feel comfortable when he was in town.
“They’re good people,” Thorne said as they watched the truck leave a trail of dust as it drove down the drive.
“I liked them. It’s obvious that they’re perfectly at ease with people knowing about their ménage relationship. It didn’t seem to bother them to show affection, either,” he pointed out.
“I told you that the town seems to be fairly accepting of different types of relationships. I’ve seen some threesomes, and I think even a foursome, every time I’ve been there to pick something up. No one seems to stare, so it must be an open-minded community.” Thorne opened the screen door and held it open for Rollan to follow him back inside.
“Did you need to finish something up in the barn before we figure out dinner?” Rollan asked.
“Naw, didn’t leave anything out. I knew they would be here about this time.” Thorne walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “Any preferences on what to eat?”
Rollan winced. It wasn’t like they cooked much. Usually it was sandwiches or soup and sandwiches since they could open a can and warm the soup up. One of the things they’d hoped to do was hire someone to cook and handle the bookwork, but that would be later in the year. He sure hoped they were able to find someone before they made themselves sick.
“Oh, did you see the mail I left on the coffee table?” Thorne stuck his head over the top of the fridge door.
“No. I’ll look at it later. Why?” he asked.
“They delivered a big envelope that belongs to that lady I helped the other day. I thought we might take it to her after dinner.”
Rollan wasn’t sure if he liked that idea or not. He still wasn’t sure if they needed to start courting anyone until they finished getting the ranch up and going. They didn’t have a lot of time on their hands right now. Wooing a woman meant spending a good bit of time with a woman.
“Yeah, sure.” He didn’t elaborate in hopes that the other man wouldn’t start talking about her again.
“You’ll like her…” There was a knock at the front door that cut Thorne off in mid-sentence.
He couldn’t say he wasn’t glad. Instead, he jumped at the excuse and started walking toward the door.
“I’ll get it,” he said. He could feel Thorne following right behind him.
Rollan opened the front door then the screen. Two pretty women stood there with dishes in their hands. Without thinking or even speaking, he and Thorne reached for their containers at the same time.
