by Kaliana Cole
Emma blinked. “You have lost me, Pete.”
“Let’s just say that they will be a little busy to be beating the young bucks away from you. The last thing Ty would want is for you to be there without one of them by your side.
“I think you would enjoy it, though. If you are curious enough, I would be more than happy to escort you, Em. It might be kind of fun to rub his nose in the old and decrepit bit.” A smile creased his lined face, the rogue in him shining through. “It has been a while since I’ve been out and about with a pretty, young thing on my arm. What do you say, Em, come dancin’ with me?”
Em thought it through. Friday was two nights away. She really should be writing while the story was hot, but she was intrigued. What could have the Whelans too busy to keep an eye on her? If they were playing depraved games in one of the back rooms they had told her about, it would be a good chance to quash this thing before it went any further.
A smile curled her lips. “I would love to, Pete.”
“You’ve made my day, girl. Now bend over this bin and show me where you want the new bottom.” He laughed at the suspicious look she shot him. “Oh, I might have a peek, Em, but I don’t touch what ain’t mine. Those boys have got too damn big to be risking bodily harm at their hands. Might just be worth it, though.” He gave her a wink as he extended the tape measure down into the bin.
Em laughed wryly and reached down. If the worst thing that happened today was Pete taking a harmless look at her ass, it was looking up.
* * * *
Five chapters in two days; it was a record for her. Emma was damn pleased with herself as she dressed for her night out at the Kat. She was meeting Pete in town at eight. He had offered to pick her up, but Em liked the independence of having her own vehicle. And the excuse not to drink.
Beth had assured her it was casual wear only on Friday nights, so she pulled on a pair of sinfully low-cut jeans that cupped her rounded ass like a second skin, and a deeply V’d crossover top that framed her cleavage but stopped short of slutty. Cowboy boots, French perfume, and a chunky pendant necklace topped it off.
She debated on the matching charm bracelet. With a shrug she slipped it on. It would give her something to fidget with besides the pendant; men always thought you were drawing attention to your breasts when you did that. Although she was going there with Pete, there was only one person she was dressing to impress. Perhaps three, if she dared to be totally honest with herself.
Arming the security system, she exited into the adjoining garage. The black BMW coupe beeped happily at her approach. Em loved the zippy little car. She rarely had cause to drive it, the big pickup being more practical, but tonight there was no snow on the horizon and she felt like a little luxury.
Pete was waiting under the portico in front of the entrance to the Kinky Kat. He looked half his age in dress jeans, freshly pressed shirt, and a clean cowboy hat. Em gave him an appreciative smile as she looked him over. “You scrub up pretty well for a decrepit old man, Pete.”
“And you, love, are going to get me shot. I bet those boys have never seen you looking as fine as this.” He gestured for her to do a turn for him. Em complied with a smile. “Damn, girl, you should have to get a special license to wear those jeans. There is gonna be men tripping over themselves all night trying to get a second look at that ass.”
Emma blushed at his remarks, but he laughed and offered his arm, escorting her through the infamous red doors. The gentle throb of upbeat country music met her ears as she stepped through. The club took her by surprise; it was clean, airy, and projected a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
Beth gave her a wave and a wink from where she perched on a barstool between her doting husbands. Emma could feel eyes boring into her from every direction. She was pleased and more than a little relieved when Pete showed her to a table for two against the wall.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when the PA system crackled to life announcing that ladies’ hour had just commenced, advertising half-price cocktails for the next hour. While Em had not planned on having anything to drink, she knew that one would be fine. She allowed Pete to get her a piña colada.
She glanced around but could see no sign of the Whelans. The band was getting ready to start on the corner stage at the far end of the sparsely populated dance floor, and she could see Callum and Connor drifting in her direction, but no Ty.
The Keenans were definitely heading straight for her, but Pete had also spotted their approach. He sat in the seat opposite before either of the proprietors of the establishment could claim the position.
“Ms. Duncan, so nice to see you here.” Connor’s voice was cultured and refined as gave Pete a look that said he knew exactly what the older man had done. “I do hope you will save a dance for me later. When your watchdog is not so vigilant, perhaps?”
Emma had met the brothers any number of times in the course of starting up the RDC. They were active members of the progress association and were involved in just about every community project going. They were also suave, sophisticated, and charming as hell. She had just heard a bit too much about their sexual proclivities to ever consider sampling their charms. They made the Whelans look like choirboys.
“Thank you, Connor, but I will give it a miss. Hello, Callum.”
Callum treated her to his best smile as he returned the greeting. The two moved on to the next table after some cryptic remarks asking Pete if he had brought her to see the band.
She gave him a puzzled look. “The band is local, but they haven’t played together for a while. It promises to be a good evening.” He was no more forthcoming than that.
Em sipped the fruity coconut concoction as she checked out the bar. It truly was just like any other. There were pool tables in the corner, a bistro through an archway opposite. Plenty of seating was available around the bar area and the dance floor was huge. There was just a black door with a discreet “members only” sign to remind her that all was not what it seemed.
Lights came on illuminating the corner stage as the first heavy thrum of a bass guitar came through the speakers. They were halfway through “Copperhead Road” before Em recognized the cocky grin on the singer. She choked inelegantly on her drink. “Fuck! I mean hell, that’s Colby.”
Pete chuckled at her correction of language. “You might want to bite your tongue while you take a look at who else is up there if you are worried about swearing in front of me, girl.”
“I’ll be…”
“You probably will be if they have anything to say about it.”
Emma ignored the older man’s crude humor as she stared at the bass player. Yep, it was Ty. There was no mistaking those shoulders, and Zach played guitar. She had no idea who was on the drums.
For the best part of an hour she sat spellbound as they went through one classic after another.
Colby clearly loved every second of being up on stage. He looked larger than life, playing up to the crowd and encouraging people out on to the dance floor. Zach wasn’t much different, joining in for choruses. Their voices were so smooth and flowing. She had never suspected either of them could hold such a singing voice. Ty just stood back and played, rhythm flowing from his body into his finger tips.
Beth came over, breathless from her most recent trip around the dance floor. “What do you think of your boys now?”
“They are amazing. I had no idea any of them could carry a tune.”
“I haven’t seen them play for years. They’re only up there now because Zach and Colb forfeited against the Marshalls.”
Emma raised her eyebrows in question. “Don’t ask” was Pete’s interjection. He looked over at Em. “What is it going to take to get you out on that floor? Not much point bringing you here if I can’t rub their noses in it, is there?”
“If they play me some Toby Keith, I’ll get out there.”
Beth gave her a wink. “I’ll see what I can do.”
They watched as Beth made her way through the crowded dance floor a
nd saw Ty lean down so he could hear her. Even from this distance she could see the wicked smile that lit up his face. This was not going to be good.
Beth came back giggling like a schoolgirl. “All done, but it’s going to cost you. He said, ‘Same price as usual, but we all get a dance, too.’ I take it you know what he means?”
“Oh, shit.”
“Should I have not said that would be fine then? A dance won’t kill you, girl. In case you haven’t realized, all three of those boys are keeper material.”
Emma winced. Beth did have to remind her of her drunken ramblings. She looked up on stage to see all the band conferring and had a feeling things had just been taken out of her hands. Zach turned with a grin, the first bars of “How Do You Like Me Now?” coming from his guitar.
“That’s your cue, Em. Time to put your money where your mouth is.” Pete stood and offered his hand.
Emma let him lead her on to the floor.
“This one’s for a friend of ours who should be mighty careful of where he puts his hands.” Colby’s voice came through loud and clear, bringing a chuckle from Pete as he twirled her to face him right in front of the stage.
Emma had a ball. Pete was fun to dance with, his technique more about putting on a show for the younger men stuck up there on stage than any particular style. Emma found herself twirled and dipped, laughing at Pete’s antics. She was breathless by the time the song drew to a close.
He dipped her right in front of the stage as the song finished. “We will be back shortly, folks.” Recorded swing music replaced the band.
Em was raised from the dip to find three Whelans staring at her dance partner. Ty put his hand out and took her hand from Pete. “Your eyes were slipping a little low there at the end, old man.”
“I am only human, despite rumors to the contrary,” Pete assured him, smiling and looking pointedly at the possessive way Ty drew her in close.
“You lot enjoy yourselves. Em, I’m gonna be right over there holding up the bar if you need rescuing.” He gave her a smile and left her with the brothers.
“So did we earn our dance, Em?” Ty turned her so that she faced him, one of her small hands held loosely in his.
“You know you did. You are all really good.” She gave them all a slightly nervous smile. “So who gets first dance?”
Ty spoke up first. “I’ll take it.”
Emma was surprised. She expected him to want to be last. The other two jumped back up on stage.
Ty gathered her close as something slow and dreamy started up. Pressed against his hard body with the beat of the music around them, the gentle sway held Em enthralled. Ty kept his eyes on her, the heat in his gaze finding an echo in her pooling amber depths. His strength surrounded her. She felt cosseted, protected by the embrace of his heavy arms.
He leaned down slowly. She was waiting for him to kiss her, but he stopped with his breath caressing her ear. “What’s the song you have always wanted to slow dance to, Em? The one that makes your eyes close?”
She recalled swaying softly every time she heard Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown,” wishing she was held in a lover’s arms. Toby Keith’s cover made her want to do it naked. When she whispered it to him, she felt him grin against the soft skin of her cheek.
This time his lips grazed her sensitive earlobe as he bent with an evil grin. “You just make sure you tell Colb he owes me.” She felt a deliberate kiss on the shell of her ear before he gently removed her hands from where they had entwined around his neck.
She was surprised to see Zach standing before her. She hadn’t even realized the song had finished. A devilish gleam in his eye held her captive as he swept her into his arms. “You know the best thing about dancing, Em?” She shook her head, unable to do anything but return his smile. “It gives me an excuse to put my hands all over you and nobody thinks anything of it.”
To demonstrate he splayed his hand low on her back, the long, elegant fingers resting on the swell of her ass. He held her firmly but would not let her bring her body flush with his. “As much as I would love to have you rub that hot, little body all over me, I have to get back up on that stage. I can’t be doing that with a hard-on.”
The song was a Gary Allen, with just enough of a tempo to do more than slow dance. Em soon discovered it was fun to tease Zach, bumping into him accidently at about crotch level. He didn’t believe the innocent eyes she gave him for one second.
“That’s it, sweetheart, you keep teasing. Just remember that I probably know a few more tricks than you, and I have no compunctions about using them.”
He leaned in a touch until her nipples grazed against his chest with every movement and slid his hand just a little lower until he could cup her ass through the denim. Emma noticed he only did this when her rear was facing the stage. To tease his brothers, or to protect her from prying eyes?
By the time the song drew to a close she wouldn’t have cared if he had stripped her off and taken her right there in the middle of the dance floor. God, that man had some moves!
But it was the wicked eyes he held her spellbound with that affected her the greatest. They promised pleasures she couldn’t name, iniquitous thoughts and sinful dreams. A gray so stormy she swore she saw lightning crackle in their depths.
Colby’s laughing blue eyes were a reprieve until the music started up. She glanced around to see that Ty stood behind the microphone. Colby lowered his head until she could hear him over the cheers of the small crowd. “Ty doesn’t sing for just anyone, Em. He said to tell you that this one comes with interest.”
The slide of the steel guitar told her it was a bluesier version he was singing, but it was “Sundown.” Ty’s voice was sinfully deep, a slight vibrato causing goose bumps to erupt down her spine. Colby noticed the telltale shiver. “His voice goes right through you, huh?”
Emma could only nod. Ty’s voice went right through her all right, straight to her womb. His voice alone flooded her panties with a new deluge. She clung to Colby, her solid anchor in a storm of sensual decadence that moved her as it would. She felt his hands at her waist, his hips pressed against her abdomen as he joined her in the sultry rhythm.
Even when he turned her so that his body cupped her back, the sinuous hip roll that moved her whole body continued. Her head rested back against his chest, lolling with the music. Her eyes closed gently, her lashes laying long and thick against her cheek. He splayed one big hand high, his thumb resting between her breasts, the other he laid lower, the very tips of his fingers flirting with indecency. His thigh pressed against her ass so that she rode it every time she moved her hips. Emma didn’t care.
* * * *
Colby couldn’t believe his luck. Never would he have believed the little spitfire possessed such a sensual side. This was a different woman in his arms from the one he had kissed the other night. Supple and lithe, her curvy, little body moved to the music as if her very blood pulsed with the throb of Ty’s bass.
He wanted to rip those taunting little jeans off her and thrust inside her, feel her sway around his cock with the same dreamy abandon. He lifted his gaze from the woman slowly gyrating against his body for all of two seconds, just long enough to be sure that Ty was seeing this.
By the color on his cheeks the man was doing well to remember the words, let alone what order they went in. He did notice that Ty gave him an extra final chorus to stretch the experience out. He owed Ty big time.
* * * *
The last chord had died out before Emma became aware of her surroundings. Colby still held her, though the placement of his hands had regained a modicum of decorum. She opened her eyes, her head resting back against the swell of his chest. Blue eyes looked down at her, but the laughter was gone. Searing heat blazed forth, magnified when she didn’t look away.
It was one of the Keenans coming to the stage and thanking the band for its time that pulled Emma from her dreamy state. Especially when Connor made some wise-ass comment about the girls of summer crying because the
Whelans had been taken off the market.
Emma was mortified when she realized the whole town would now think she was theirs. By the fury in Colby’s eyes, he was not happy with the situation either, but it was Zach that put a restraining hand on Ty’s shoulder when it swelled with impending violence.
Instruments were quickly stowed away, and Emma was herded out the door. She noticed Ty stop and talk briefly to Pete, but he was there opening the door to the big dual cab the boys were leading her to. She pulled him up short before he could follow her into the spacious cab. “I brought my car. I’m not leaving that in a car park all night.”
Ty put his hand out for the keys. “I’ll drive it.” His eyes asked for her trust. She fished the keys out of her pocket and handed them over.
“See you at home.”
He shut the door, leaving her in the cab behind Zach and Colby, and slapped the door to send them off. She was glad of the breathing space. They hadn’t asked her if she wanted to go with them, and if they had continued to touch her, thought wasn’t a viable option.
Did she want them? Hell yeah!
Was it an intelligent choice to make? Fuck no.
Did she really care at this moment?
Well that was the $64,000 question.
The lust in the truck was so thick you could taste it. She was even wetter than she had been the night Ty brought her to orgasm. Colby’s erection had felt huge against her back as she had danced mindlessly against him, and the way he fidgeted behind the wheel told her that it hadn’t subsided. The stormy glances Zach shot her over his shoulder said the hunger was riding him, too. Hard.
They drove a couple of miles out of town and bumped down a drive to pull up beside her zippy, little coupe. Ty must have given it a fair caning to get here before them. He came to the door and helped her down, his arm going around her as he ushered her towards the house.
He stopped at the door, calming her edginess. “All I want to do is collect my kiss, darlin’. Anything else is entirely up to you.” He raised his hand, the broad callused expanse cupping her face. “Live a little. Give us a chance to show you what you have been missing all these years. There is no pressure, Em. If you want me to give my word that none of us will make love to you tonight, no matter how much you beg, I will.”
