by Mandy Harbin
Surrounded By Pleasure
Copyright © October 2011, Mandy Harbin
Cover art by For the Muse Designs © October 2011
Amira Press
Charlotte, NC28227
www.amirapress.com
ISBN: 978-1-937394-11-0
No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including but not limited to printing, file sharing, and e-mail, without prior written permission from Amira Press.
Dedication
To my husband for not only all your invaluable advice on my books but for picking up the slack with the laundry so I can write. Thanks for all the clean panties. I’ll mate the socks later.
Prologue
Josh panted as he and Mikaela lay sprawled across their bed, their naked bodies tied together in a sweaty heap of arms and legs. God, he’d never get used to making love to his wife.
“Damn, kitten.” He nuzzled her hair as she was draped across his chest, eliciting a purr out of her. She’d taken to this new life better than he could’ve hoped for. She’d not only embraced him as her mate, with so much love and trust it humbled him, but she’d also connected to his family as if she’d always been a part of their lives. Josh was grateful every day for the love they’d found, and he knew how rare it was for someone like him. How dangerous—considering he came from a family of mountain lion shifters whose instinct to mate with any available woman had deadly fucking consequences. Yeah, he was the luckiest man alive for many reasons, not to mention his little kitten was a hellcat in the sack. “Next time, I get to tie you up.”
“Mmm, I think that can be arranged.”
He chuckled when she used her teeth to tug the bindings loose at his wrists. Once he was freed, he pulled her to him, kissed her neck, and caressed her arms.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said.
Uh-oh. He loved her dearly, but that didn’t sound good. “Yes?” he prompted, giving her one last kiss before pulling away to stare into her beautiful blue eyes.
“You know how we’ve talked about finding a way to help your brothers with the whole mating issue?” She waved her hand like she was downplaying the “issue,” as she’d called it, and Josh knew instantly his little kitten was exercising her legal muscle to craft her words accordingly. He hid his smile. She should really know better than to try to draw him in like that. But he guessed it was too ingrained in her to shut that off.
“Of course. I take it you have an idea.”
Her face lit up like the brightest star in the sky on the clearest of nights. So, why did he get a sinking feeling?
“Yes. Now I don’t think you’ll like this, but I think it’s worth a shot. I mean, we have to do something. I think we have a duty to help your brothers find potential mates. We’re mated, so we know it’s possible. But we can’t just decide their fates, you know? It’s not like we can bring a bunch of unmated women out here and let them have it. It’d be mass hysteria with a little too much killing and not enough loving. We need to be practical about it. We need to make sure—”
“Mikaela, kitten, spit it out.”
So she did.
And she was right. . . . . He didn’t like it.
Chapter One
Two weeks later
“Shit!” Krista Owens spilled her coffee on the transcript of the Lancaster deposition. She quickly scraped the offending liquid into her wastebasket and started wiping off the documentation. She so didn’t need this.
Even though she’d been working at this firm for almost a year, she was still the newbie around here. The only reason she’d gotten this job fresh out of law school was because she’d interned here during the summer before starting her third year of schooling and had made an impression on the now junior partner—and newly married—Mikaela Woods.
As Krista wiped frantically at the paperwork and made a mental note to have her assistant make another copy before anyone found out, the sound of a throat clearing jolted her out of her musing. She popped her head up and locked her eyes on the very person she’d just been thinking about.
“Mikaela.” Great. No covering up this little mess. She leaned back into her chair and guiltily held up the ruined document. For being a decent lawyer, Krista was such a horrible liar.
“That’s coffee abuse, you know,” Mikaela said with a smile as she entered the office and moved to sit down in front of Krista’s desk.
Krista chuckled nervously. She liked Mikaela, but she was kind of like one of the bosses around here, and Krista felt as if she still had a lot to prove. The long hours and no days off? Yeah, they were getting to her. But she knew the score. She had to prove herself if she expected to make it. “I’m really sorry. I’ll have Renee run off another copy.”
“No reason to apologize to me. Now if you’d spilled my coffee, well, that’d be a different story.”
Krista smiled and quickly tossed the file behind her onto her computer desk so that it was out of sight. And right atop a mountain of other work she’d yet to finish.
“How are things working out around here for you?”
Uh-oh. Krista’s hands started shaking. Please don’t fire me. Please don’t fire me. Please don’t fire me. “W-Why do you ask?”
“Well, I’ve been watching you, and you’ve been working on a lot of cases. How do you have any time for yourself?”
Krista laughed manically and then quickly stifled it. “Oh, I, um, I just take on what’s assigned to me.”
“So, Bill gave you all this work?” Mikaela shook her head. “I should’ve known,” she mumbled, looking away. “That man is a tyrant.” Then she took a deep breath and looked into Krista’s eyes. “You need to learn to say no. It won’t kill you.” And then she laughed, which caused Krista to frown in a vain attempt to follow Mikaela’s sudden mood changes. “And here I was going to ask if you wanted to help me out. Now I feel bad for not checking with you before talking to Bill.”
“I’ll help.” She said it out of reflex, and Mikaela’s eyes narrowed. Krista straightened in her seat. “I mean, what do you need help with?”
Mikaela sighed. “You know I’ve been working a lot from my husband’s estate, right? I’ve got several cases I need finalized over the next month, but I also need to be in Texas to oversee the purchase of the adjacent acreage his family is buying from a competitor that’s going out of business. The economy has been rough, but thankfully the Woods have invested well and are able to use this opportunity to expand their portfolio. I was going to see if you’d be interested in coming with me to help with my caseload while I orchestrate this deal.”
It was hard not to smile. Mikaela trusted her enough to ask her to help with her clients. This was an honor.
“You’re the only one here that isn’t married and could get away from home for a while without some spouse bitching,” Mikaela continued.
Or maybe it wasn’t an honor. She was just a pathetic loner. She never knew there’d be an award for being such a hermit. “I see.”
“Oh, that came out wrong. Of course I want your help, need your help. That’s just what I told Bill to get him to agree to let you loose for about a month.”
“Ah.” She was so lame. Maybe if she got out more, she’d actually learn to have a life and not take things so seriously. But it was hard. Her parents had sheltered her to the point that her naïveté was sometimes painful. Sure, she was book-smart, but put her in a casual environment with strangers and she clammed up. It was no wonder she’d never had a boyfriend. Well, one that hadn’t required batteries. Maybe if she was as pretty as Mikaela or as thin as her sister, Ariel, things would be different for her. But neither was the case. “Um, I’d love to help you, but I need to finish this before I can leave. When do
you need me?”
“Krista.” Mikaela’s tone was reproachful, and Krista tried hard to keep the heat of embarrassment from creeping up her neck and into her face. “I’m going to have a little word with Bill about your caseload. And I think you should plan on coming with me to the Woods estate. Think of it as a vacation. You’ll still have to work, but knowing how hard you’ve been working your ass off here, it’d be like a month at a resort.” She chuckled. “Only you’ll be in the middle of the woods.”
Woods she could do. And an almost vacation she could definitely do. This may be the only one she’d get for years because, regardless of what Mikaela thought about Krista’s workload, she knew she still had to pay her dues and work the insane hours when she came back. “Sure. I’d love to come.”
Mikaela stood, then smiled. “Good.” She turned to leave but hesitated at the door, then looked over her shoulder. “One more thing. When you get down there, tell everyone you’re in an open relationship.”
Krista frowned. Open relationship? She’d have to be in one first. “Why?”
Mikaela’s eyes got big, and she turned to face her fully, hand resting on the doorjamb. “Are you involved with someone?” Krista shook her head, and Mikaela looked as if she’d relaxed a little. Weird. “Let’s just say my brothers-in-law are all very hot, but none of them will give you the time of day if you’re single and clingy. Commitment issues.” She shrugged. “If they think you’re involved and happily in love but know your relationship is open sexually, you just might get lucky.”
Why was her face suddenly blazing hot? Oh right, immediate humiliation would do that, wouldn’t it? God, Krista had had no idea she looked that desperate. “I, um.”
“Sweetie, I didn’t mean . . . .” Mikaela stepped closer to her, seemingly reading Krista’s mortification. “I’m messing this up. I know we’re not best friends, but we both practically live up here. Well, I do when I’m in town because I miss Josh, and you’re always here. So I feel like we are friends, and I didn’t mean to imply that you weren’t capable of getting a man or to suggest that you even want one. I just think that since you’ll be staying in the same house with three available men who happen to be smokin’ hot it’s my duty as a fellow woman to give you the lowdown on the situation. I know if I were in your shoes, I’d want a heads-up on something like that. It’s easier to get lucky if you’re prepared.” Mikaela chuckled, then smiled softly. “Just give it some thought, okay? You only live once.”
When she turned to leave, Krista stood and looked out the small office window and at the cloudy sky, not sure if it was clouds or smog she was trying to see through as she thought over Mikaela’s parting words. Only living once? Yeah. Getting lucky? If only it were that easy.
* * * *
Toby Woods hauled scrap wood out of the thicket where the machinery wouldn’t reach. Damn, but he was exhausted. They’d been clearing this section of their property where it bordered the Caldwell Tree Farm since their offer to purchase that land had been accepted. The guys were excited about expanding, even more so about the possibility of hiring permanent help. Right now, they hired seasonal help as needed, but with the addition of that land, they’d have to expand their operation. Plus, his dad was looking into retiring. Toby knew Josh was looking forward to working more in the office and less in the field, but Toby figured if they hired enough people, all the brothers could take office duties and decrease the manual labor part for all of them.
Because this shit was getting old.
Not that Toby had much of a choice. It wasn’t like he could just waltz into town and fill out a job application at any ol’ place. He envied those snotty-ass kids he’d come across online who bitched about their fast-food jobs. At least they got to meet new people.
And fuck.
Jesus, it’d been too long since he’d felt the warmth of a woman’s thighs wrapped around his hips. He’d give anything to sink his hard cock into the depths of . . .
He groaned as he dropped the log he’d been dragging into the brush pile before trekking back into the woods, doing his best to keep the briars from snagging his face and trying to put his mind back on his job and off what he couldn’t have. He needed to shift and run tonight. Maybe that’d help. He and his brothers hadn’t shifted as often lately because Josh had been busy with his new wife, and Toby just hadn’t felt like it. He knew he should’ve been happy for Josh that he’d found his mate—and deep down, he was happy for him—but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he might never have what Josh now had. Toby figured his brothers felt the same way. Tonight, he’d run as a mountain lion, hunt, and maybe even sleep in the woods. Maybe if he embraced his feral side, he could shake this weird depression.
Toby and his brothers were mountain lion shifters. So were their parents. His father had changed their mother when they’d bonded all those years ago, and after she’d died a few years back, his dad hadn’t found the need to take another mate. He could still be around available women without the overpowering need to take them just as if he were still mated. Josh was lucky things worked out with Mikaela when he’d taken her as his mate. Their youngest brother, Eric, hadn’t fared so well.
At times Toby hated this life, but he knew there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Knowledge was lacking since their father had been an orphan. Records had shown that Toby’s grandparents were in an accident when his father, Thomas, was a toddler. For all they knew, they were the only ones of their kind in existence.
And if they weren’t? Well, it wasn’t like they could go walking around asking people if they turned into big cats with feral instincts to mate.
He heard the static on his radio before he heard Josh’s voice. “Toby.”
Sighing because he was feeling sorry for himself yet again, he brought the radio up to his mouth. “Yeah?”
“We’re stopping early to meet in the den. You’ve got thirty minutes to shower and get there.”
“Ten-four.”
Toby holstered the radio and crept back out of the mass of limbs, briars, and trees, heading straight for his wheeler. Thirty minutes was just long enough to do a little washing and a little masturbating. Alone. Yeah, life sucked. Growling, he mounted the wheeler and hightailed it home, not stopping to talk to his dad, who’d been leaning against the pillar talking to Jeffery when he’d stalked by.
He rummaged around his room for a clean set of clothes, still feeling agitated, but as soon as he stepped into the shower, Toby immediately started to feel better. He wasn’t sure if it was the relaxation of the hot water sluicing off his stiff muscles or the knowledge he’d be taking the edge off his growing need. But as he soaped up, lingering on his cock as the steam of the shower engulfed him, he didn’t care what the reason was.
Bracing one hand on the tiled wall, he watched as he fisted the other over his erection. He knew just how to touch himself to end this quickly. No need to tease himself, prolonging his pleasure, because the gratification was shallow, meaningless. Oh, he needed it all right, but there was no use turning it into something it wasn’t. As he tightened his grip and worked his cock harder, brutally stroking it, the ecstasy was climbing higher, faster. He threw his head back and groaned as lightning licked his balls and he shot his load all over the shower floor.
Panting, he slumped against the wall and angled the showerhead to rinse the evidence of his jacking off. Then he quickly washed again, got out, dried off, and dressed methodically. Everything was routine around here.
Everything.
Toby got up, ate breakfast with his family, worked in the field, took a lunch break, worked his ass off some more, showered, masturbated, shared drinks with his family, ate dinner, went to bed. Same damn thing every day. Nothing ever changed for him. When Mikaela had shown up here, he’d hoped for a change in the monotony. Well, he’d certainly gotten that wish. He should’ve been more specific. He’d wanted to bed her, but Josh had practically pissed all over her, marking her as his the moment she’d stepped foot on this estate.
Toby hadn’t had a chance. None of his other brothers had either.
It was just as well, for Toby loved Mikaela, but not like Josh did. Those two were meant to be together. Toby figured that maybe when a man found his soul mate, he just knew.
At least he could hope.
As he neared the dining room, Toby heard some loud laughter and immediately smiled. That was Rob. He was always such a jokester, but lately he’d been in a funk, too. It was good to hear that sound coming from him again.
Toby opened the door, and his brothers looked at him. Jack was frowning; no shocker there. Jack was a sourpuss on his best day. Rob and Josh were smiling.
“What’d I miss?” he asked as he grabbed a glass for his scotch.
“Nada, brother,” Josh said, chuckling. “Jack’s just pissed he has to work in the Burnout Hole tomorrow.”
“Fuck you, Josh.”
“Not my type, man.”
Rob choked on his drink as he tried not to laugh again, and Toby didn’t even try to keep from chuckling.
The door swung up, and Toby turned to watch as his father joined them.
“Good evening, boys. I take it work was daunting as usual today.”
The guys all grunted and nodded. Then Josh sat his drink down and faced everyone. “I’ve got some news that might cheer you up. Mikaela’s bringing someone to help her with her lawyer stuff. She’ll be staying here about a month or so while Mikaela helps us finalize the purchase of Caldwell’s property.”
“She?” Toby mumbled, and he was pretty sure he heard his brothers ask, too.
“Yes. Her name is Krista Owens. She’s a young lawyer at Mikaela’s firm.”
Toby felt his hands tremble. He knew he shouldn’t get his hopes up, but he couldn’t stop his adrenaline from spiking.
“Dad and I have already talked about this,” Josh said, “and he’s given the go-ahead for her to be here. She’s not married—”
