by Vanessa Vale
It was every woman’s choice to decide what she wanted to do with her life. Babies, no babies. Job, no job. Climb Mt. Everest, work in a circus. I was more career-minded, but that was because I’d been driven my whole to get out of the system, to make something of myself. I’d been on my own for my entire life and I’d known I was the only one who could make it happen.
“Foster care made me want to be self-sufficient, to never rely on anyone else again,” I admitted.
The looks on both their faces wasn’t pity, not understanding, but perhaps sympathy.
“My parents died in a car accident,” Kady told me. “I have my half-sister, Beth, who I grew up with, but she’s a drug addict and not…reliable.”
“My mother sold me out to an oil and gas company for campaign financing. She’s a senator.”
I stared at both of them, processed their—yes, soap opera—stories. I handed Penny my mug so she could finish it. “You totally win.”
All three of us burst into laughter. We had sadness and hardships in our lives, but it had brought us here. No, Aiden Steele had brought us together.
“So, our dad. He was a man whore, wasn’t he?” I asked as I caught my breath.
We laughed some more until we cried. Aiden Steele had left five women pregnant. I had to wonder how many others he’d been with who hadn’t gotten pregnant. Total man whore.
I was wiping tears from my eyes as Sutton came into the room, saw the three of us and stopped just inside the doorway. Kady bit her lip to try to stop laughing, wiped her eyes.
“Ladies,” he said cautiously.
My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, the deep rumble of the one word. Tall, dark and brooding. That was Sutton. And while he didn’t look…happy, he looked happy to see me. His eyes raked down my body—not very exciting since I was in the same clothes from the day before—with blatant perusal and interest. I had no doubt he could see the way my nipples got hard in response. Just seeing him, hearing him, being near him had my body coming awake for him better than any amount of caffeine.
I wanted to touch him, kiss him. Hell, I wanted to climb him like a monkey. I understood why Penny’d gone off with Boone. If Sutton tugged me into the pantry, I’d certainly lose my panties. And I wasn’t even wearing any.
He wasn’t moving any closer, most likely scared of three giggling women—which was ridiculous since Sutton looked like the kind of guy who ate nails for breakfast—so I walked over to him, curled my fingers in his shirt and went up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
He tasted of mint, as if he’d just brushed his teeth. I recognized his scent, some kind of spicy soap and all dark, virile male. “Hi,” I whispered.
“Morning,” he replied.
“Want some coffee?” I asked, but I really, really wanted to take his hand and drag him to whatever room Penny and Boone found convenient for their quickies. It might be bold of me to take control, but I had no doubt he’d take over once we got there and the door was closed.
“No, I’m good.” He ran his hand over the back of his neck. “I’ll let you get back to whatever you ladies were talking about.”
I didn’t want him to go and I tightened my grip, keeping him from stepping back. His one dark brow winged up at that.
“Need something, baby?” he said, his voice taking on that dark edge that made me hot.
I nodded, feeling myself slip into the headspace where Sutton would take care of me. Strange, since the conversation Penny, Kady and I were just having was about how I needed to be in control of my life, of my career. Two seconds in Sutton’s arms and I melted.
“Boone likes the office for sexy times, but you two can go upstairs,” Penny offered. I’d barely met her, but I recognized the playful tone of her voice.
Sutton’s face went hard. Shuttered.
“Cord and Riley like the front porch,” Kady added quickly.
Sutton’s gaze flicked to hers and the corner of his mouth tipped up.
“You need me to take care of you?” Sutton asked, his dark eyes shifting between mine and my lips.
“I just want a kiss,” I replied.
He smiled then, the hard edges from a second ago disappearing. He lowered his head, brushed his mouth over mine, flicked my bottom lip with his tongue, then lifted his head. “Better?”
“For now,” I said, letting go of his shirt, then smoothing out the wrinkles. I wanted to make sure he knew a kiss alone wasn’t going to do it for me.
“For now,” he agreed and I saw the dark promise in his eyes. “Ladies.”
He spun on his heel and left, offering me a super nice view of his ass in his jeans. Kady fanned herself with her hand. “That was hot. I’m really glad you two crossed paths again. He never mentioned you, at least to me. He’s been Mr. Grumpy Pants ever since I met him. I always wondered if it was because of his time in the military, the stuff he’d seen or done.”
I knew he’d served, been deployed; he’d told me that last summer, but nothing more. It was obvious with the way he carried himself, the close-cut hair. His…precision. The first night we’d spent together—after a steamy bout of sex—he’d had a nightmare after we’d finally fallen asleep. He’d thrashed, shouted, even grabbed my wrist as if I was part of his dream, as if I was hurting him. I’d finally been able to wake him, but he’d been so upset with himself, felt so much shame that I’d seen him that way, and even worse because he’d hurt me.
I’d had bruises from his harsh grasp, but it hadn’t been bad. I’d been more scared than anything. It obviously hadn’t been his first nightmare and I doubted now, his last. Was that why he liked to dominate in the bedroom? Did he need that control when other parts of his life were out of it? Was that why he’d been so obliging when he’d had Archer and Lee join us in the hotel, so I wouldn’t be alone with him?
“He killed for me.” Kady’s eyes looked toward the ceiling and pointed up. “He shot a man dead in the master bedroom.”
“I heard about this last night, but in the master bedroom?” I asked, leaning against the peninsula. I’d slept in there.
Kady hopped up onto the counter, smoothed down her dress. She didn’t seem freaked out that Sutton had killed someone, in this very house. “It’s a long story, but definitely the reason why he didn’t like the idea of taking you up there.”
“Spill,” Penny told her, going to the fridge and getting a bottle of orange juice, then a small cup from the cabinet. “She might know Sutton in the biblical sense, but that doesn’t mean much with the way we’re all hussies and drop our panties within two seconds of breathing in their pheromones.”
“So true. Okay, here goes.” Kady told me of her sister and her long-term drug abuse, marrying a man from rehab who only wanted access to Kady’s inheritance and his hiring of a hit man in order to get it. All that sounded like a twisted soap opera. It was the part where the guy had been in the house—this house—to kill Kady and Sutton had found him and shot him that had my interest. “I barely got a glimpse of Sutton after he’d done it because I’d been a little hysterical and Cord had carried me out of the house really fast, but Sutton was hard. Like, emotionally shut down. Calculating. Cool as a dang cucumber. He’s killed before that. You probably know better than me, but he’s quiet and a little scary looking. Hot, but scary.”
“Hot and scary,” I agreed.
“After that night, I never slept in this house again. Penny did for a few nights, but never stayed in the master bedroom.”
Penny shook her head.
“I might have to rethink where I sleep now, too,” I said. “It’s not like you can tell me something like that and then I’d be able to get a good night sleep, even if Lee and Archer were in bed with me. God, it gives me the creeps.”
“Sutton didn’t stay with you last night?” Penny asked, a little frown forming in her brow.
I shook my head. Was that why he left, because the bedroom was a reminder of what he’d done?
“Sutton’s a good man,” Kady clarified. “He saved me. He killed for me a
nd I’m not even his woman. What he’ll do for you…”
She let that sentence drop.
“I’m not…I mean, I don’t know if I’m his woman or not.”
Kady and Penny both laughed. “Oh, you’re his woman, all right. Lee’s, too, based on the way he looks at you. If Archer’s the same, then you’ve got yourself the trifecta of perfect men.”
Penny nodded enthusiastically.
“I want to work,” I said. “I’ve put too much into getting my nursing degree, I can’t just stop now. Be a homemaker. No offense, Penny, but that’s not me.”
Penny held up her hand in a stop gesture. “We might be sisters, but we don’t have to be alike. Your background made you want to kick ass and take names. My background made me want to find a family of my own. To make one, to have children I can shower with unconditional love I never knew.” Her hand went to her own belly.
“I’m a teacher,” Kady told me. “There was an opening at the school in town and I took it. I took it before I found out I was pregnant, before I went off the pill, actually. I’m going to work until the baby’s born, which will be close to the end of the school year. I’ll have maternity leave, then summer break. We decided I’ll worry about returning for the next school year then.”
That made sense. It was hard to decide about something that was so different, so hard to comprehend. A baby? Insane.
“I don’t want kids now,” I said. “God, I want to be a nurse, be self-reliant. Be independent.” The idea of finding out I was pregnant made my armpits sweat. Made me want to make sure the guys had a huge box of condoms.
Lee came in the room, went over to the slow cookers, lifted the lid on each and peeked inside. Seemingly satisfied, he came over and pulled me into his arms. His fingers slid under my chin, tipped it up so I had to look at him. “Don’t think for one second that we’ll stifle your dreams. We want you just the way you are.” He cocked his head toward Kady and Penny. “These two might want to pop out a bunch of babies right away, but I’m a little selfish.”
“You men either have bionic hearing or you’re all eavesdropping,” Penny told Lee.
He didn’t deny it. They might’ve wanted to give us some room, but they sure liked to pop in. Check on us, grab us for sex. Kisses. Snooping.
Lee’s hand slid down my neck, lower still to cup my breast, ignoring Penny. I gasped at the blatant touch. “I’m not sharing these with a baby. Sharing them with Sutton and Archer’s enough. When it’s time, when you’re ready, you don’t have to give up your career for taking care of a baby.”
“Oh?” I swallowed, at a loss as to how to respond. This was the most serious I’d seen Lee, although he did have his hand on my boob. He’d taken on an air of Sutton-level intensity.
“Nope. I want to do that. Stay home with the kids. Be Mr. Mom.”
Kady made a little gasp of surprise, but I didn’t look her way. Neither did Lee. He was focused squarely on me. He was giving Sutton’s intensity a run for the money.
“You do?” I breathed. His thumb stroked over my nipple and I felt it all the way to my toes.
He nodded once, a rogue curl falling over his forehead. “I’ve only got a year or two left being pro. Retirement comes early in my profession.”
He wasn’t much more than thirty, but I could only imagine how hard it was on his body, being bucked and tossed around by a pissed-off bull.
“If I can herd some calves, I can ride herd on a bunch of kids,” he added with a sly grin. “I want to stay home and take care of all those babies you’re going to give us.”
“All those babies?” I sputtered, then half laughed, half smiled. “I can see you doing that.”
I could. He was so easy going, so playful that he’d make a great dad. A great stay-at-home one. But what he was saying meant long term. He didn’t want to stay home with any old batch of babies. He wanted to stay home with babies we made.
Leaning in, he kissed me. “Until then, we’ll just practice making those babies. Starting a little later.”
His thumb and forefinger plucked my nipple just before he released it entirely.
“Okay.” What else could I say, especially since Sutton wanted later as well? “Um, Lee?”
“Yeah, baby?” he asked.
I cleared my throat. “Definitely later.”
He certainly knew how to sweet talk his way into my pants…and he was doing a great job of working his way into my heart as well. My ovaries were ready to pop out some eggs for him to raise.
His gaze dropped to my lips. “Later. Archer’s here. It’s time to talk about what happened last night, and I don’t mean what we did on the coffee table.”
He winked and walked out, leaving me with Kady and Penny grilling me for the naughty details.
10
SUTTON
* * *
“You want to go with him, don’t you?” Cricket asked.
We were on the front porch and watching everyone leave, the SUVs and trucks kicking up dust as they went down the long driveway. Kady and Penny left with their men to go home, Archer on his own to head to Missoula. The sun was setting; we’d talked through the morning, at least what was left of it when Cricket had finally gotten up. After hearing how hard she pushed herself with working full-time and school, and how late we kept her up, she deserved to sleep in. It also filled me with ridiculous male pride to know that Archer, Lee and I had worn her out that much.
I’d slept hard. No nightmares. Perhaps fucking them away was the way to do it. But then I thought back to the night I’d met Cricket at the rodeo, got her into my hotel bed. After fucking her twice, we’d fallen asleep, but then the nightmare had come. I’d grabbed her, thinking she was an insurgent. She’d yelled, jostled me enough to rouse me only for me to discover I’d bruised her gorgeous skin. I could have done worse.
That was why I’d left her with Archer and Lee the night before. No fucking way would I hurt her again, even unintentionally. That was the perk behind claiming her with my two best friends. She wouldn’t be alone at night. She could be held, kept warm in the dead of winter, even fucked if she was needy. But it wasn’t going to be with me. I’d happily fill any of her needs out of bed and when there wasn’t any chance of me falling asleep.
“Yes, I want to go with Archer.” Leaning down, I kissed the top of her head. “Fuck, yes.”
As a group, we’d talked over lunch—Cricket and I along with Archer, Lee, Cord, Riley, Jamison and Boone. Kady and Penny, too. We’d listened to Cricket recount the details she knew. Names, locations, how she paid off her debt, how they’d come to her house, pretty much fucking kidnapped her, where they took her. That had taken over an hour, then Archer had needed the rest of the afternoon to work with the police who had jurisdiction to organize a take down. Night was best. The cover of darkness, surprise, and they knew where the fuck he’d be—the strip club.
I wrapped my arm about Cricket’s waist, pulled her into my side. She felt warm, soft and perfect in my hold. It felt…right. A wave of contentment washed over me. For a year, I’d wondered where she was. Hell, I’d wondered who she was. Kicked myself every day wishing I’d told her something so she’d have stuck around, at least given me her damned phone number.
But she was here. This was her land and she wasn’t going anywhere. It was up to me to keep from fucking this up. Over her head, I glanced at Lee, saw the same determination I felt.
The men who’d harassed Cricket were going to jail. No, they didn’t just harass her, they’d pretty much sex trafficked her, holding her against her will and threatened her if she didn’t perform lewd and inappropriate acts as well as the expectation of sexual performance for repayment of money that would most likely never end. Those were the fancy words Riley had used, the ones the local police would use on the arrest warrant.
Archer was headed to the Missoula area to meet up with them to see it done. While it wasn’t his jurisdiction, they were more than generous in having him participate in the takedown, if just from a support
standpoint.
It eased my mind knowing he’d be there, that he’d see the guys were in cuffs and off the streets. That neither was a threat to Cricket, or any other woman, ever again.
“If he were there, Sutton would just get himself arrested,” Lee said, which had Cricket turning her head to look up at him.
That was the damned truth. I’d be behind bars because instead of giving the asshole the right to remain silent and a right to an attorney, he’d be dead. The fucker wanted to exploit those who were weaker? Intimidate women? Force them to do sick shit? Yeah, he’d be in the back of my pickup like an elk during hunting season. I’d killed for Kady. I’d do it for Cricket without blinking an eye. I’d killed while deployed, the line blurry about who really was the enemy when sitting in a foreign desert. It also haunted me. But this wouldn’t haunt me. Keeping Cricket safe was my highest priority.
And Archer knew this and that was why I was standing on the porch and he was off to get shit done.
“Kady told me you killed the guy who broke into the house,” she said, her voice soft.
I stilled. Panic gripped my heart. It wasn’t a secret what had happened. Any one of the guys there that night would have done the same. I’d just gotten to him first. “I did. Do I scare you?”
“Because you were protecting my sister?” She tilted her head up, looked at me, studied me as if wondering if I were serious.
I nodded.
“Of course not. I’m proud of you.”
She was proud of me? I’d killed someone. I was scarred; not physically, but definitely mentally. “I’d do it for you.” I stroked my knuckles down her cheek.
“Again, that’s why we’re here and Archer’s going after the bad guys,” Lee said, circling right back around, making light of the situation, as was his nature. I was too serious. Again.
“He’ll call when they’re in custody,” I told her, giving her a reassuring squeeze.
“What should we do until then?” Lee asked, hooking an arm about Cricket’s waist and pulling her into him. He tickled her and she laughed, squirmed.
