Awakening Veronica [Divine Creek Ranch 17] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  Veronica saw Grace glance her way as she peeled an avocado and said, “That online chat this afternoon was brutal.”

  It’d gone fast and furious as expected, and of course BookAddictedWhore had shown up, only the chat had been in a moderation-free chat room. Since Veronica was the guest, she couldn’t count on moderation when the questions had gone from personal to downright confrontational.

  Veronica shrugged. “It’s par for the course, I guess.” She looked up in time to catch Grace shake her head negatively but she said nothing else. “I let them think I laugh it off. What can I do? If I fight back, they would just start a flame war, or portray me as an author behaving badly. BookAddictedWhore will eventually lose interest in me and take her minions along with her to find someone else to pick on.”

  With a sigh, Grace said, “I hope so.”

  “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that new, unfamiliar user who showed up today?”

  Grace bit her lip in a lame attempt to hide a smile. “There were so many. Which one do you mean?”

  “Duct Tape Dom?”

  Veronica very clearly heard a gigglesnort but Grace looked innocent. “Oh, I liked him! He was nice to you! I wish he’d come back on a regular basis.”

  Smiling, Veronica nudged Grace and said, “I do, too. Who is he?”

  Grace blushed and said, “I know not of whom you speak. He seems like a nice…Dom.”

  “All right. Keep your secrets.”

  “It looked like you had quite a few readers who were new to your books show up for that chat. I was glad that they kind of balanced BookAddictedWhore and those other troll’s nonsense.”

  “It’s a good thing. I was beginning to feel like I bring out the worst in people.”

  “Trust me, it’s not you, Veronica. It’s something wrong with them and they see an easy target in you.”

  “Like I said, I’m sure BookAddictedWhore will eventually lose interest in me since I won’t engage with her when she does that. Until then, I just focus on the nice readers.”

  “Yeah, when they can get a word in edgewise.”

  Veronica shrugged nonchalantly and changed the subject. “That’s life online. I should finish writing sometime soon.”

  “Good! Then you and I can get some shopping done. I’ve never had such a hard time getting another woman to go shopping with me.”

  “I’m sorry, I just—”

  Grace put up a hand. “Don’t apologize. I know exactly how it is when you’re writing. My guys know to clear the decks and get whatever needs done, done. I don’t know if I could do it without them.”

  Veronica noted the dreamy quality in Grace’s expression and wondered what that was like. In her writing world, she sometimes went without eating, and regularly without sleeping, when she was in the zone. Hank and Travis hadn’t judged the fact that she’d told them she needed to work, not sleep, after they’d left Saturday night, which she’d appreciated. Brent had always snored his way through the night hours leaving her to work in peace with her headphones on.

  She thought back to Hank and Travis’s one simple instruction to text them when she went to sleep and when she woke up. It was a simple thing, yet she’d somehow felt anchored by the request. They didn’t try to control when she worked, they only wanted to know when she was resting. And the texts had definitely kept them on her mind.

  “You’re thinking about them, aren’t you?”

  Veronica looked up to find Grace watching her with a knowing smile on her face.

  “Maybe, a little.”

  She could fantasize about what it would be like with Hank and Travis but she always came back to the same roadblock. Hank held a public office, Travis might be leaving, and she had a lease in Montana and a recalcitrant ex-boyfriend to deal with, if the growing string of text messages and e-mails she’d been receiving on a daily basis were any indicator.

  The doorbell rang and Grace smiled up at her. “Why don’t you go see who that is?”

  A heat wave swamped her body as anticipation made her nerves jump. Her hands were even shaking as she answered the door. On the doorstep stood Travis and Hank, looking like sin in denim and cowboy boots. This time, Hank was hatless, revealing his sexy silver sideburns and temples while Travis wore a wheat-colored straw cowboy hat.

  She stood back and gasped as they both crowded in around her, pinning her to the door. Travis took off his hat and said, “Hello, Nika.” He kissed her brow and then lowered his lips to hers. “Been thinking about you all day.”

  “Same here,” Hank added as Travis moved aside enough for Hank to get his kiss. The heat in his gaze was enough by itself to get her wet, imagining the way he’d taken care of her earlier.

  Grace came out and greeted both men. Hank’s phone rang while they were chatting and he excused himself to answer it. When he returned, Travis asked, “Who was that?”

  “Manager of my last election campaign. He wanted to talk strategy for the next election. He likes to get started early.”

  Veronica nodded and smiled. Divine seemed like a well-run town and she had a feeling Hank had a lot to do with that. She wondered how he coped with the public pressure to get the job done. Hank was a good man and it was obvious he had his campaign manager’s confidence for another term in office. A chilling thought occurred to her. If word got out that Hank was a Dom who was interested in a ménage, regardless of its duration, would he still get reelected?

  Hank called out to her as he and Travis followed Grace into the kitchen and got beers. She filed the thought, knowing she needed to be careful. The last thing she wanted to do was cost him an election.

  Shortly after, Seth brought Kate home and wished them all good-night, and Grace’s men came in from the horse barns with Rose Marie perched on Adam’s shoulders.

  When Veronica took her seat, she was surprised to find Hank and Travis immediately situated on either side of her, a fact that both excited her and made her nervous. Grandma Kate looked pleased with the seating arrangement and seemed to take every opportunity to ask Hank and Travis about themselves. The conversation flowed around the table during dinner and Veronica felt a little like she was in a dream world. Every time either man spoke to her or looked at her, she could feel the heat and need growing inside her.

  Judging by the way their gazes lingered on her, Hank and Travis must’ve been feeling it, too, because as the meal drew to a close and everyone rose from their seats, Hank took her plate and glass from her and helped to clear the table. When he returned, Grace and Kate were in his wake, bidding her good-night.

  Veronica smiled and hugged them both, and Kate said, “I think you’ve earned a nice evening off, sweet girl.”

  On the way back to the old foreman’s house in Travis’s truck, she gave it some thought and said, “I could afford to take the evening off, guys, if you’d like to stay and talk or…”

  “If we stay, we’ll be making love to you, Nika,” Hank said, brushing a lock of hair back over her shoulder. “Just like I told you this afternoon.”

  The reminder of that hot encounter only increased the heat blooming inside her. She looked up into his gray eyes and saw the truth there. She turned to Travis as he parked the truck outside the old foreman’s house and the desire in his eyes told her he felt the same way.

  He climbed from the truck and went around to the other door as Hank helped her out. “We won’t push you beyond where you want to go, Nika, but I want you. I know Hank wants you. Either stop us now or let us in.”

  Hank squeezed her hand and said, “We won’t stop you from working later if that’s what you need to do.”

  Work was the last thing on her mind as both powerful men closed in on either side of her, encompassing her with their heat. “Come inside with me.”

  Chapter Nine

  They walked through the dimly lit house, Hank leading her by the hand, Travis following behind her. Travis set to work, building a fire in the bedroom fireplace. Hank placed the black zippered bag he’d brought in wit
h him on the chair in the corner and then moved around the room, lighting the candles on the dresser and night table. Veronica had no idea what was in the bag but had a few guesses.

  Travis closed his arms around her from behind, tilting her chin to him so he could kiss her. His lips were warm, cajoling, unraveling her tightly wound emotions as Hank returned and caressed her bared throat before leaning down to lay a kiss on her there. Trembling in their embrace, she panted rapidly as Hank began unbuttoning the row of buttons that held her lightweight sweater closed in the front.

  Hank laid her sweater open and looked into her eyes as he gripped her jaw with gentle fingers, trapping her gaze with his. In a soft, but firm voice, Hank said, “Let Travis undress you, Nika, while I get ready.”

  Get ready?

  Travis chuckled as he kissed her shoulder and said, “You are a delight, Nika. The way you react is like food to a Dominant’s soul.”

  “It is?”

  “Yes. Your face is like an open book,” he said as he tilted her face again so she couldn’t watch Hank as he rifled around in the black bag. All she could see was Travis as he removed her eyeglasses, laid them aside, and kissed her.

  “What are you going to do with me?”

  “Nothing you won’t love, some things that may surprise you, and other things that push your boundaries a bit. Do you have a safeword picked out yet?” He watched her with brown eyes that were warm with desire and she could feel the hard shaft pressed against her ass.

  “We’re not just going to make love?”

  “No, Nika. We don’t ‘just make love.’ As nice as making love to you sounds, that’s not all we have planned for you tonight. We won’t hurt you, but we plan to begin as we mean to go on.”

  But what if beginning as I mean to go on leaves my heart broken in the end?

  Travis watched her and his brows drew together as he turned her to face him. “Why the sad face? You have nothing to fear from us. Hank isn’t getting out the whips and chains, Nika.”

  She shook her head, dispelling the thoughts, hoping she wasn’t dampening their desire to dominate her. “Nothing. I don’t want to disappoint you.”

  “Then trust us to take care of you. You heard what Hank said the other night about his kind of Dominance. Maybe we’re atypical and that’s why we’re doing this together with you. Neither of us is going to suddenly present you with a stern, harsh demeanor or withhold affection from you. We don’t flip a switch and turn into uber-Doms. Our play begins and ends with what we think that you need as our sub. We want to set the part of you that’s in bondage free, not the other way around. Did you imagine Hank was getting out the manacles and a cane?”

  “No. We haven’t talked about hard limits yet and I knew he wouldn’t do that.”

  “Let’s talk about that now. Off the top of your head, give me your hardest limits.”

  She bit her lip for a second. “I made a list in a document on my computer, in case you wanted it.”

  “You don’t need to go to your computer right now. Just tell us your biggest concerns.”

  “The really edgy stuff comes to mind first. Piercing, asphyxiation, knife and fire play, scat, golden showers, and really heavy pain play. I don’t have a high pain threshold. Also, anything that has to do with humiliation. No slapping or yelling…” The image of Brent, his face right up in hers, yelling at her until spittle formed in the corners of his mouth came to mind and she shuddered and shook her head.

  Travis instantly released her, but stayed near. “Okay, that was a big one, for you, going by how you just reacted. Absolutely no humiliation play is fine with us. What else?”

  Maybe it was his reassuring tone, or his protective stance and the serious look in his eyes but she blurted out. “I trust you with everything else if you understand that about me.”

  Hank moved about the bed quietly as he asked, “What about being restrained?”

  “As long as the restraints don’t cut into my skin and you don’t ever leave me alone while tied up, I actually find that to be a turn-on.”

  Travis drew her gaze back to him so she could no longer watch Hank. “We’re definitely exploring that then, Nika. Would you tell me about your anxiety at the wedding, yesterday?”

  She nodded. “Crowds. Tight places. I was really nervous yesterday because I knew if I had a panic attack there was no easy exit strategy. That fact heightened my anxiety. If I don’t keep a tight rein on it, it can spiral out of control. I carry a prescription for emergencies but I didn’t have it with me yesterday. I avoid using it unless I’m certain I can’t stall the anxiety in other ways. I dealt with it okay yesterday, and you were…”

  “We were what?” Travis asked with a grin.

  Veronica smiled. “You were an excellent distraction, although I got nervous for an entirely different reason. Crowds and social events like that are something I tend to avoid.”

  Hank said, “Thank you for being honest about it. I’ve had other friends who dealt with panic attacks. If you ever feel one coming on while we’re playing, or anywhere else for that matter, I want you to promise that you’ll tell us, either through your safeword or however you’re able to. I can’t stress how important that is to us. And if you’re ever taking your anxiety meds, we’d need to know that, too, before we play.”

  “I promise.”

  “That leads us to the next question. What’s your safeword?”

  “Marshmallow,” she said with a smile.

  Travis’s barking laughter and the sparkle in his eyes as he slipped the sweater from her shoulders made a corresponding happy sensation bubble up inside her. She was afraid to give it a name but liked the way it felt.

  Travis said, “She has us nailed, doesn’t she, Hank?”

  “Speak for yourself, asshole. She’s going to think she can wrap us around her finger. You should’ve let her discover on her own that we aren’t uber-Doms who want her to kiss our feet.”

  The siren in her surfaced and Veronica turned back to gaze at Hank for a second and said, “Who’s to say that I would mind kissing your feet. I might like that. I should show you my list.”

  “I’ll make a note, sassy.” Hank growled and she heard a zipper being unzipped behind her. “You’re not naked yet.”

  Travis shook his head and drew her attention again. He liked being able to look in her eyes while she talked. “Let’s talk about health for a second. Hank and I both have clean bills of health, with paperwork to prove it. I don’t engage in casual sex and I use a condom every time. I’d love to be a dad but I want it to be a planned event and not a surprise, although I would step up if something happened.”

  Hank said, “We’re like-minded in that regard, Nika. When we say we want to take care of you, it extends to all facets of our relationship.”

  Her eyes widened. “Is this a relationship?”

  They spoke as one in reply. “It is, Nika.”

  “I’m on the pill. I was tested a couple of weeks ago when I discovered Brent was cheating. I’m clean, thank God.”

  Travis growled as he slid his warm hands into the low waistband of her yoga pants and eased them and her panties down her hips. “Damn, I’m going to enjoy showing you how real men take care of their woman, Nika. Spoiling you is going to be my pleasure.”

  “Our pleasure,” Hank chimed in. “It sounds like your hard limits agree with ours. In addition to your safe word, I’m going to give you a ‘slow word’ that you should use if you feel like you’re nearing the point of safewording, so we can back off a little rather than risking ending a scene on a negative note. Since you chose ‘marshmallow’ as your safeword, your slow word is ‘bonfire.’ Use it if you get a leg cramp, which can happen when restrained, or if a cuff is pinching and distracting you, or if you get scared for any reason and we’ll fix whatever the problem is and give you time to catch up with us. If you use ‘marshmallow,’ the scene will stop immediately and we’ll talk about what happened.”

  “Will it make you angry if I have to use th
e safeword?”

  Hank frowned. “Angry?”

  “If I say ‘marshmallow’ will it call a halt to the relationship completely?”

  Travis scoffed. “Jettisoning a relationship because of one isolated incident? Not likely, Nika. Think of your safeword as the emergency brake on a car rather than the ejection seat in a fighter jet.”

  Hank came to her and said, “We value your submission too much to do that, Nika. We’re mature men and we’d never throw away something so precious because of one bump in the road. It’s our job to watch you and make sure we never get to the point of you needing to safeword because of our actions during play.”

  Veronica smiled up at him, wanting to give him whatever he asked even more. He smiled back, those gray eyes of his warming her as if he’d wrapped her in a soft blanket as he kissed her.

  Travis steadied her while she slipped out of the pants and undies puddled at her feet. She was struck again by the contrast between what she’d always thought a Dom would be like, expecting her to strip and then undress him on command. They were a complete surprise to her. She realized that they were right. She’d expected a switch to flip at some point and for them to show her a harsh, stern…stereotypical Dom-side.

  “If we handle ourselves and our scenes properly, you shouldn’t need your safeword, ever. But don’t be afraid to use it if you need to. No matter how much in-depth research you’ve done, this is still all new to you,” Hank said as Travis released her to undress and Hank pulled her to him. His big body was completely bare and his cock was like a hot brand pressing against her belly as he squeezed her to him. He looked down at her and she lost herself in his shadowy gray eyes as he held her and she curled against his chest, feeling safe and cared for. He kissed the top of her head and whispered, “I love the way you smell, Nika.”

  Travis laid his clothing aside and came up behind her. “Nika, do you fantasize?”

  She chuckled and said, “I grew up being told that I lived in a fantasy world.”