by Tony Ramagos
She spotted the fire chief a few feet away and headed straight for him. Making her presence known on scene was her first order of business, especially since the fire wasn’t even out yet and he hadn’t been the one to call her in. She also needed to apologize for not getting with him after she’d hit town this morning. She’d tried but had been told by the secretary at the firehouse that he’d gone home for a few hours of much-needed rest.
He must have spotted her out of the corner of his eye because he turned a truly remarkable set of bright greens toward her and his lips kicked into a smile that was as friendly and inviting as it was exhausted. Apparently, the few hours of much-needed rest he’d gotten hadn’t been enough to handle another scene like this tonight.
“Tamara Royce. I heard you’d made it to town.”
Tamara returned his smile and gave him a nod in greeting. “Chief Whitaker. My apologies for not catching up with you before now.”
He waved that away. “Save them. I’m as glad to see you tonight as I was to hear Seth Barlow had gone over my head and called McGregor about the fire at the Den.”
Well, at least she now knew he hadn’t gotten his boxers, or whatever his preferred form of underwear might be, in a wad as some chiefs did when a resident of their town overstepped their bounds as Seth had done. Then again, did the residents of Pleasure believe the Barlows had to adhere to any bounds? Given their stellar reputations, she highly doubted it.
She turned her head toward the burning structure, noting in her peripheral vision that all three brothers had stopped some distance away. Their gazes were on her, but they were keeping their distance, keeping their word, and letting her do her job. She supposed it was true what they said about wonders never ceasing.
“I haven’t written up the official paperwork, but the fire at the Den was arson,” she told Whitaker.
“Yeah, I was pretty positive that would be your finding. Can’t say I’m not thinking you’ll come to the same conclusion about this one.”
She steadied her clipboard on one folded arm, took the pen attached to a string between her fingers, and asked, “What can you tell me about it?”
He couldn’t tell her much. No one had been home when it had started. At least, that was the statement he’d gotten from Nathan and Guy Johnson. Nathan had been the one to call it in after discovering it when they’d pulled into the drive. They’d confessed to spending a part of the night outside of town, though they hadn’t revealed exactly where.
The fire had burned too hot and too fast for the fire department to do much of anything beyond keeping it from spreading to the houses on either side by the time they’d arrived. The house to the right was vacant property, and the house to the left belonged to an elderly couple who hadn’t been home.
“It’s going to be morning by the time you can really do anything here. I tried to tell Conroy to leave you to your business.” He glanced toward Seth, Colt, and Darryl, and the corners of his lips twitched. “Can’t say I’m not surprised they didn’t insist on it.”
Tamara felt her cheeks flame hot enough to rival the fire consuming the structure in front of them. “You and me both,” she heard herself say before she could stop the words from spilling.
That got her a soft chuckle as Whitaker shuffled his feet and moved in closer.
Tamara saw all three brothers stiffen as if preparing to attack. She swallowed the laugh that bubbled in her throat, knowing Whitaker wasn’t trying to make a move on her and thinking all three brothers were baboons for even suspecting he would. Sure, Whitaker was pretty damn cute. She’d always thought so. But, hell, Pleasure, Tennessee certainly had an overabundance of cowboys with rugged good looks and muscled bodies beneath their Stetsons fit enough to make any woman drool.
Clay Whitaker—with his sun-streaked curls peeking from beneath his fire chief helmet, Jolly Rancher green eyes, and a body so toned his uniform of black slacks and a white button-down shirt strained to hide it—was no exception. But he wasn’t one of the three particular cowboys in Pleasure that made her mouth water, her pussy wet, and had succeeded in destroying her inhibitions in the less than twenty-four hours she’d been in this town.
“There’s been some talk around town about Nathan and Guy,” he told her, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial tone. “Word has it they’ve been spending time with a lady friend who is otherwise already attached.”
“Uh-oh.” Tamara gave him her full attention. “I don’t suppose you know who?”
Whitaker shook his head. “No one’s been tossing around any names, but someone’s seen something, or it wouldn’t be going through the town grapevine.”
“Could be the husband,” Tamara speculated. “But if the fires are connected, that wouldn’t explain why he torched the Den last night.”
“Not unless the Johnsons tried to take this lady friend there,” Whitaker countered. “The Den holds its members to a strict code of conduct, secrecy being the biggest one of them.”
“I wasn’t aware you were a member.”
“I’m not, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what goes on inside those walls. Most folks around here don’t care, but when it comes to something like a woman running around on her man or men and the Den’s rules protecting it…”
“Could’ve been retaliation,” Tamara said, more to herself then him. “But if that were the case, it seems to me the arsonist would’ve hit this place first, don’t you think?”
“Not if he had easier access to the empty Den last night than he did this place.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Go back to what you were doing before Conroy called you, Royce. I’ll make sure my men don’t disturb whatever is left of this scene when they finally get this bitch put out.”
* * * *
Tamara was whipped. The image of her being shackled to the swing, her sexy body writhing and her tight ass clenching as Seth spanked her, came to mind, and Colt amended the thought. Tamara was exhausted.
She didn’t say a word the whole ride back to the house. She sat in the passenger’s seat with her head back against the headrest and her eyes closed. She might have even fallen asleep for a while, but he wasn’t sure. He knew she was awake when he pulled her car into the driveway because her head lifted and she let out a soft sigh.
“Stay there,” he told her when she saw he reach for the door handle. He hopped out and double-timed it to the passenger side of the car, knowing she wouldn’t listen for long. He was right. By the time he made it around, she’d already opened the door and was well on her way to climbing out of the car. “Stubborn woman,” he muttered as he reached for her.
“I appreciate you being a gentleman, Colt, but…eek!” She let out an undignified shriek as Colt scooped her off her feet and into his arms. “What are you doing?”
“Carrying you into the house.”
She made an exasperated sound. “I can walk, Colt.”
“Yeah, and you do it very well,” he agreed as he kicked the door closed and started toward the house. “As a matter of fact, I like watching you walk. You’ve got a really sexy sway to your hips that makes the muscles in your tight little ass flex. My dick gets hard watching you every time.”
The sound she made this time was close to a growl as she let her head fall to rest on his chest. “You’re impossible.”
“And you’re exhausted, sugar.”
“I am tired,” she admitted, “but I can still get myself into the house on my own two feet.”
“Not if I say you can’t.” He bounced her in his arms as he reached the front steps. “Imagine that. I reckon I already said you can’t, seeing as how your two feet, along with the rest of you, is in my arms.”
“Definitely impossible,” she muttered but finally relaxed in his embrace. “Where did Seth and Darryl go?”
His brothers had left the fire scene at the same time but had made it back to the house faster. Colt had seen Seth’s truck in the driveway, but there hadn’t been any sign of him or Darryl.
“I’m betting they’re already up here somewhere,” he told her as he climbed the stairs to the second floor. At the top, he found out he was right when he looked down the hallway, saw the door to Seth’s room standing open, and heard the faint sound of running water flittering from inside. “Sounds to me like they’re drawing you a bath.”
Her head came up at that, and her brows etched together as she looked from the doorway of Seth’s room to him and back again. “A bath?”
“You need one, sugar.”
Her brows winged up at that as she gave him her full attention. “Are you saying I stink?”
He barely swallowed the chuckle before it escaped. A smart man didn’t laugh at his woman when she asked him such a question. “I’m saying a nice, warm bath will help you sleep.”
She snorted and let her head fall to rest on the front of his shoulder again. “Good save, cowboy. I probably do stink, and I know I’m filthy. I spent the better part of the morning trampling through charred rubble and ashes. I tried to wash up earlier, but then…”
Then she’d headed out to the stables where she’d had sex with Darryl, returned to the house, where Colt had shown her the playroom, and he and Seth had elicited more sweet-smelling juices from her pussy.
“Seth’s got the best private bathroom in the house,” he told her as he reached the doorway of the room. “It’s got a huge garden tub, and it’s even got jets if you want them on.”
“Is it big enough for the four of us?”
Holy Mother of God! Colt hadn’t known a simple question to instantly transform his partially erect dick into a rod of steel, but that one damn sure did. “It is,” he told her slowly and stopped in the middle of Seth’s bedroom floor to gaze down at her. “Is that what you want, sugar?”
She lifted her head again and met his gaze. “It’s not exactly where we left off, but if it’s okay with you, Sir, I would like that very much.”
A low-throated growl rumbled from his lips before he could stop it. Not that he tried very hard. He was more interested at that moment in kissing her. Which was exactly what he did. He captured her luscious mouth in a hungry, possessive kiss that had her moaning as she wound her arms more tightly around his neck and fully surrendered.
Christ! Had a woman’s submission ever tasted so good? He knew it hadn’t because no other woman that had ever submitted to him had been Tamara. Until now.
Still kissing her, he opened one eye as he carried her closer to the bathroom. As he’d already guessed, Seth and Darryl were inside. Darryl was perched on the edge of the tub near the faucet, and Seth was leaning against the bathroom counter behind him. Both men looked his way as he stopped and reluctantly eased his mouth from Tamara’s.
“She needs to get cleaned up,” Seth told him with just enough firmness in his tone to tell Colt he was taking charge as he always did.
“She wants us in the tub with her,” Colt countered and shifted his gaze to Darryl. “All three of us.”
Darryl shook his head as he reached to turn off the faucet. “She’s too tired for anything more tonight.”
The top of Tamara’s head bumped Colt’s chin as she turned it toward Darryl. “Shouldn’t I be the judge of that?”
“You’ve had a long day, darlin’,” Darryl said with more compassion in his tone than Colt had ever heard. “Do you really think you’re up for a continuation of what wasn’t going on before the sheriff called tonight?”
Tamara angled her head, paused, and turned it toward Seth. “It looks,” she paused again and wiggled her thigh against Colt’s crotch, “and feels like the three of you are up for it. This whole ménage thing is all about giving the woman what she wants, isn’t it?”
Colt couldn’t argue her point and didn’t bother to try, but he half expected Darryl to, seeing as how he’d never cared to share his women, but it was Seth who spoke.
Seth’s gaze landed briefly on Colt’s. “Put her down.”
Colt adjusted his hold on her sultry body and eased her to stand on her on feet in front of him.
Seth moved in front of her, folded his arms over his chest, and gave her a stern look. “You are correct, although I will warn you to pick the times you use that on us wisely.” He stepped back far enough to give her space and told her, “Take off your clothes and get in the tub, pet.”
* * * *
Tamara knew what she was asking for, but hadn’t she been well on her way to getting something similar before Seth’s phone had rung earlier? Her body still quivered every time she thought back to the stables and the playroom. Having Darryl’s cock inside her had been the greatest feeling of her life…at least, prior to what she was sure she was about to experience. Her ass still burned from the smacks Seth had given it, her anus still puckering from the feel of the ginger deep inside her. She didn’t want that again, exactly. No, she wanted something different, something more. She wanted one of their cocks inside her forbidden hole instead.
Still, when Seth gave her the command to take off her clothes and get in the tub, she hesitated. It wouldn’t bode well to disobey this man for long. She knew that, and she would surely face the consequences soon. But he’d just done something she didn’t like, and the strong-willed woman inside her she refused to be tamed by these men wouldn’t allow her to let it go.
“I don’t like that endearment.”
“Tamara.”
Colt grumbled her name, and she heard the warning in his low tone. She saw Darryl frown and shake his head. Yeah, she’d just stepped into a pile of shit with Seth, but she was going to speak her mind. Her heart skipped a beat, and a sliver of fear raced down her spine when she saw a muscle jump in the strong line of Seth’s jaw. She tried to soften her statement by adding, “Master,” but doubted it did any good.
“You don’t like it when I call you pet?” he asked tightly.
She shook her head. “It’s my understanding that’s a name that men like you give to your submissives. Am I correct?”
He nodded once, and the muscle jumped again.
“I’m not the submissives you’ve had in the past, and I don’t like being thrown into the same category.”
Something moved through his eyes she couldn’t define. “All right,” he drawled. “What would prefer I call you?”
Shit! Tamara hadn’t thought that far in advance. The question caught her completely off guard.
“How about we stick with sugar, sweetheart, and darlin’, since those don’t seem to bother her?” Colt suggested.
“Love works better,” Darryl countered. “My love, our love…”
Seth pinned Darryl with a look that would’ve been comical if the conversation hadn’t been so serious. “Get in the tub, love?”
Darryl lifted a broad shoulder. “Why the hell not? It’s how we feel about her, isn’t it? I know I damn sure wouldn’t be willing to share her with you two if I wasn’t in love with her and knew I couldn’t have her any other way.”
Tamara’s heart didn’t just skip a beat at that announcement. It damn near stopped. Darryl loved her? And not just Darryl? His words had insinuated that Colt and Seth loved her, too.
Behind her, she felt Colt shift, felt his hand catch her hair and push it aside, and felt the warmth of his breath a nanosecond before his lips brushed her earlobe. “Does that work for you? Is it okay if we call you love?”
She leaned into him, more out of reflex than thought, wanting to feel more of his lips on her. “Yes,” she said softly and met Seth’s gaze. “Love works for me.”
Seth stared at her for a long moment, his eyes suddenly unreadable. Finally, he gave her a curt nod. “Then I’ll repeat my order. Take off your clothes and get in the tub, love.”
Hearing him say the four-letter word, listening as he complied with her wishes and Darryl’s suggestion, sent a wave of indescribable feelings washing through her. Should she thank him? She decided not. Should she reveal to him what she felt deep in her soul? She wasn’t yet ready to do that. Even after hearing that Da
rryl was in love with her and the certainty in his voice that Colt and Seth were, too, she wasn’t ready to bear that much of herself. Besides, none of them had come right out said they loved her. Had agreeing to them using that endearment for her been a mistake? Would they assume she now knew how they felt without further elaboration?
She ruthlessly shut off the questioning ping-ponging in her mind and took off her clothes, enjoying the way Colt’s breaths quickened softly behind her, the way Seth’s still unreadable gaze roamed freely over her body, and the way Darryl gave a low moan of sheer male appreciation.
“Is the water too hot?” Darryl asked when she stepped into the tub, pausing to give her body a moment to adjust to the temperature before she settled on her bottom and stretched out her legs.
“It’s perfect.” She scooted farther down into the tub until she could rest her nape on the side and closed her eyes. It was more than perfect, she decided as her mind settled into a peaceful state. It was a slice of Heaven. She heard movement and then felt the water sway around her as someone else climbed into the tub. She opened her eyes to find Darryl standing over her.
“Wow!” The word whispered from her lips as her gaze fell down the length of his naked body. Every inch of him was hard muscles and flat planes covered with smooth flesh that made her want to sink her teeth into him, especially when her gaze locked on the full erection jutting from between his legs. She’d felt his cock inside her and had wondered how it had managed to fit. She still didn’t have an answer as she took in his full length, mentally gauged his girth, and felt her head start to swim.
He chuckled softly and extended his hands. “Stand up, sweetheart. I can’t get you good and clean when most of you is submerged under the water.”
Movement to his right caught her attention as she put her hands in his and let him to pull her to her feet. Colt had removed his shirt, and his fingers were working to free the button and zipper of his jeans. He met her gaze as he pushed the denim down his narrow hips, revealing a pair of boxer briefs that barely managed to keep his cock contained, and then he yanked them down, too.
