by Becca Van
Slick Rock 1
Slick Rock Cowboys
Tara Rustle has just spent her twenty-third birthday alone, just like her last six birthdays. She arrives home from work to find her home burning to the ground. This event is the crux of Tara's grief for the mother she lost six years previously and the loneliness she has endured, and she snaps.
Tara wakes up in the arms of two sexy, masculine men, Clay and Johnny Morten, in the town of Slick Rock, Colorado, with no memory. She feels comfortable with the two men, so when they offer her a job cooking for them on their ranch, she accepts their offer. Little does she know the two men were once her childhood neighbors.
Tara's memory returns. Clay and Johnny set about seducing the one woman they have lusted after for years. Everything seems to be progressing nicely, until an old flame of Johnny and Clay's turns up. Celia is insane and threatens Tara's life.
Will Clay and Johnny get to Tara in time to save her from a crazy ex-lover? Or will Celia win and end Tara's life?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 34,601 words
SLICK ROCK COWBOYS
Slick Rock 1
Becca Van
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
SLICK ROCK COWBOYS
Copyright © 2011 by Becca Van
E-book ISBN: 1-61926-011-5
First E-book Publication: November 2011
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
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DEDICATION
I would to thank all the staff of Siren-BookStrand for the opportunity to work with them. A special thanks to Diana, Erin, Kristen, and Lena for all the help in making my dreams come true. I couldn’t have done it without you.
SLICK ROCK COWBOYS
Slick Rock 1
BECCA VAN
Copyright © 2011
Chapter One
Tara got off the bus after a long, hard day. Her feet were aching and so was her lower back after spending eight hours on her feet behind the counter of the delicatessen in her local supermarket. It didn’t pay much, but at least it was a job. Tara turned the corner of her street and froze in her tracks. She saw fire trucks, flashing lights, and smelled the stench of smoke in the air. She gave a cry of alarm and began to run. She didn’t even register that her flat slip-on shoes flew from her feet in her panic.
Tara Rustle stood outside in the street, staring at her apartment building. Flames erupted from the windows of the building, and glass and fire exploded out, making her jump as the whooshing and roaring of the fire reached her ears. She was thankful she was too far away to get hurt from the flying shards of glass. She remembered all the good times she and her mom had after they had moved from the small rural town of Slick Rock to Denver, Colorado. Her mind drifted back over that morning and the previous years of her life as she stood watching her life and what little of her mom’s life she had kept go up in flames and smoke.
Tara had woken that morning to realize it was her birthday and gave a sigh of resignation knowing she would be spending her twenty-third birthday alone. Not that this birthday was any different from the last five, but she was sick and tired of being lonely. Sure, she had lots of acquaintances and even went out every now and then with some of the girls from work, but she didn’t have any true best friends. Not anymore, anyway. She had left her only true friends behind at the tender age of fifteen.
When her dad had up and left her and her mom, Tara’s mom had sold their ranch in Slick Rock, Colorado, and moved them both to Denver. Tara had felt as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest, broken in two, at having to leave her two best friends, Clay and Johnny Morten, behind. They had been neighbors ever since she could remember, and she had followed those two boys around like a lost puppy. Most of the time they tolerated her presence and had treated her like a kid sister, but as they had been quite a few years older than her, by the time she had left they were spending less and less time with her.
Clay had been twenty years old and Johnny eighteen. They had been chasing girls and had girls chasing them, much to Tara’s dismay. Tara had had a crush on the two boys ever since she was twelve years old, and the day she had wandered over to the Double M Ranch and found the two young men in the barn sharing a woman was the day Tara had felt her heart break in two. They had never even known she was there. She had crept into the barn and seen them with that slutty Chantal from the diner. Tara had gone over to tell her friends she was leaving Slick Rock in less than a week, but she never got the chance. In fact, she had never seen those two boys again.
Tara’s mom had sold their run-down ranch, and since most of their stuff had been pawned off for food and bills, there had not been much to do in the way of packing. Tara and her mom had left their home three days later. They had ended up in Denver, Colorado, and two years later, Tara’s mom was dead. She had been struck by a car on her way home f
rom work one night. Tara had been in the process of cooking dinner, waiting for her mom to come home so she could serve it up, when there had been a knock on the door.
Tara had been so scared to find the law on her doorstep, and when they had asked to come inside, she knew, deep down, something had happened to her mom. Tara had been thankful her mom had paid a little each week for life insurance, which had been enough to cover the expenses for her mom’s funeral and all of the other incidentals that had been involved. Tara had never really had the time to grieve properly for her mom. She’d had to push everything to the back of her mind and search for a job to keep a roof over her head, food in her belly, and some clothes on her back.
As much as Tara loved Colorado, Denver had never felt like home to her. She missed her childhood home of Slick Rock. She wanted nothing more than to pack up and go back to her childhood roots. She had saved a little money each week, enough to live on for about a month if necessary, but nowhere near enough to move home from Denver to Slick Rock.
Tara had blown out the candle on the small cupcake she had bought the previous evening on her way home from work and had made a heartfelt wish. She was too old and cynical to believe wishes came true anymore, but her inner child would not let go of her childhood dreams. Tara had wiped the tears from her cheeks and eaten her small cake for breakfast then gone to shower and gotten ready for work.
* * * *
“Miss, are you all right? Did you have any family inside?” the officer asked in concern.
The sound of the police officer’s voice pulled her from her reverie. How long Tara had stood there staring in shock, she had no idea. It wasn’t until the young police officer walked over to her and asked her if she was all right that she finally came out of her stupor.
Tara stared in horror as a grumbling, roaring noise drew her attention back to her burning home. She was just in time to see her apartment building’s roof cave in, flames billowing high into the night sky. Then the whole building came tumbling down to the ground. .
“No. No family,” Tara replied in a croaky voice.
“Are you sure you’re all right? Can I call someone for you?”
“No. There’s no one,” Tara replied then turned around after one last look at her burning home and disappeared into the night.
* * * *
Tara jolted awake as the bus she was on slowed and then stopped with a hiss of air brakes. She rubbed her tired, sore eyes and hoped she didn’t look as bad as she felt. She had no idea where she was. She couldn’t remember getting on a bus. What the hell am I doing here? Tara picked up her purse and stood up. It was only then she realized her feet were cold and bare. Where the hell are my shoes? She rubbed her forehead as she tried to remember what she was doing, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember. She got off the bus, moved across the parking lot and through the small bus terminal.
Tara stood out on the sidewalk and stared about her. Some of the shops and the town looked familiar, but she couldn’t place where she had seen it before. She rubbed a hand across her eyes and took a few more steps. She was going to have to cross the street to get to the cafe on the other side for some much-needed food. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten.
Tara stood in the middle of the road as she waited for the traffic to clear. She felt so dizzy she thought she was going to throw up and pass out. She tried to clear the fog from her eyes but was not successful. She could hear a roaring sound in her ears, and a cold sweat popped out all over her body. She could feel herself falling, but couldn’t seem to do a thing about it. Darkness formed in front of her eyes, and her ears were ringing. She pitched forward and slid into unconsciousness.
Chapter Two
Johnny looked over to Clay as they finished loading their truck with some horse and cattle feed. Since it was lunchtime, they decided to drive on over to the diner for a meal instead of going home and having their usual sandwiches. Since their last housekeeper had left a month ago, the two brothers had had to put up with their own miserable cooking, and they were getting mighty tired of eating charcoal or half-raw food. They lived mostly on canned food and toasted sandwiches. Every time they tried to cook, the food almost always ended up in the trash and they would end up having toasted sandwiches, as usual. They really needed to get a housekeeper, or at least a cook, and fast.
“Clay, watch out,” Johnny yelled as he watched a bedraggled woman with bare feet fall into the middle of the road, right in front of their approaching truck.
Johnny reached for the dashboard to hold himself steady when Clay stomped on the brake pedal and brought the truck to a screeching halt in the middle of the road. He put the stick into neutral, pulled on the parking brake. Johnny heard Clay’s footsteps following behind him as they rushed to help the fallen woman.
Johnny got to the woman before Clay and knew his brother watched as he picked the slight female up into his arms, carried her off the road, and headed for the diner. Johnny froze in the doorway of the diner, staring down into the woman’s thin face, while Clay held the door open for him.
“Tara,” Johnny whispered, knowing his brother had heard him when he saw Clay move closer in his peripheral vision to look at the woman in his arms.
“Oh my God. It is Tara,” Clay confirmed as the brothers stared down at the woman who had haunted their dreams for the last eight years.
Johnny and Clay jumped as a car horn sounded, and Clay ran to the truck to get it out of the middle of the road. Johnny carried Tara into the diner and sat down carefully, pulling her onto his lap, making sure to support her slight body with his own. He looked up to see Clay rushing through the door of the diner then looked back down to the woman moaning in his arms. Tara was just coming around as Clay sat on the seat across from him. Maisie, the owner of the diner, brought out a clean washcloth, as well as some water and ice.
Johnny was wiping what looked like soot off of Tara’s face with the damp cloth, and then he brushed her blonde hair away from her face. She was rail thin and as pale as a ghost. It looked like the slightest breeze would push her over. She gave a low moan just before her eyes fluttered open.
Johnny stared into the green eyes which had taunted him and his brother when they were younger, and he watched as their woman began to come around. She was their woman, had been since she was fourteen years old. He and Johnny had just been waiting for her to grow up. Johnny and Clay had felt like perverts lusting after their young neighbor, and had begun having sex with any willing female just to keep control of themselves while they waited for her.
“Are you all right, sweetheart?” Johnny asked.
“Where am I? Who are you?” she asked with a frown, rubbing her hand over her forehead as if trying to bring her memory back.
“You’re in Slick Rock, Colorado. What happened to you? What’s your name?” Johnny asked as he watched Tara through narrowed eyes suspiciously. He wasn’t sure if she was faking, not wanting to be with them. She had never even said good-bye when she left Slick Rock. All the resentment and bitterness Johnny had been feeling over the years came to the surface. He had to clench his jaw to prevent himself from railing at her.
“Um, I…I can’t remember. Where’s my purse?” Tara asked, moving off the man’s lap to sit beside him as she looked around then out the window to the road.
“Here, why don’t you have a drink of water, honey? I’m Maisie, I own and run this here diner. These two men are Johnny and Clay Morten. They’ll take real good care of you.” Maisie sat down next to Clay and pushed the glass across the table.
“Thank you.”
“Can you remember how you got to Slick Rock? You didn’t have a purse on you when you passed out in the middle of the road,” Clay replied.
* * * *
Tara sat up in her seat and stared at the man next to her and the other one across the table from her. She felt as if she ought to know them, but how could that be? She didn’t even know where she was.
She looked at the handsome man sitting a
cross from her. Clay had collar-length black hair and light-green eyes and looked to be around thirty years old. She could tell he was tall, about six foot three at a guess, even though he was sitting down. He had a square jaw, a little sexy indentation in his chin, and high cheekbones. He wore only denim blue jeans and a T-shirt beneath his open flannel shirt. She could see his muscles rippling beneath his shirt as he moved. Her eyes slid away from his body over to his brother, Johnny. He was just as handsome, with similar familial features, except his hair was dark brown instead of black, and his eyes were hazel. She could see small flecks of gold mixed in with the brown and green. He was taller than his brother and a couple of years younger. He was slightly wider across the chest and shoulders than Clay, more muscular. Johnny seemed to be less intense than Clay, his body language more relaxed.
“Bus, I think. Yes, I came here on a bus. I’m sure I had my purse with me.”
“Excuse me, honey, I need to go and serve some customers. Clay, come on over and order your lunch,” Maisie ordered, rising to her feet and moving toward the counter, Clay at her heels.
Tara watched as Clay moved away to the counter of the diner with Maisie. She could see them talking but couldn’t hear what they said because they were too far away.
* * * *
