by Twyla Turner
THR3E
By Twyla Turner
©Copyright Twyla Turner
Cover Art: Africa Studio/Shutterstock.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
To my family and friends for your continued support and encouragement. And to my readers- your reviews, excitement for my stories and spreading the word about them; means more to me than you’ll ever know.
Other Books by Twyla Turner
The Struck Series
Star-Struck
Awe-Struck
Damaged Souls Series
Scarred
Open Wounds – Coming Soon
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Connect with Me
Chapter 1
“YES! Amber, I passed! I passed! I passed my clinicals! I’m officially an RN!” Simone screamed as she shut her laptop and jumped off of her bed after checking her final grades online.
Simone ran into her roommate and best friend’s room and leapt onto the bed Amber was currently occupying, jumping up and down. Her heavy braid that contained her thick jet black wavy hair smacked her back every time she came down from a huge bounce. And her large black horn-rimmed glasses slid down her nose, making her look more like an elementary school teacher or librarian than a fresh out of nursing school, RN.
“Oof, you’re killing me Simone!” Amber grunted as each bounce jarred her once relaxed body. “I don’t think I’ve seen this much enthusiasm out of you since…well, ever.” Amber tried to hide her smile.
“Oh, come on. Jump with me. I need to celebrate.” Simone pouted.
“Well jumping on a bed like a seven year old is not the way to celebrate a grown up accomplishment. We should go have some drinks. Get wasted!” Amber jumped up at the idea, starting to jump with Simone. Simone knew that if there was any reason to drink Amber would get excited.
“Eh, I don’t know about that. I’m fine celebrating right here, with maybe a movie and some popcorn.” Simone plopped down on the bed out of breath and panting. I really should start working out. Whew!
“Aw come on, Simone! You never go out. And I mean never go out. This is a huge moment for you. We should really celebrate it, like any normal person would. Especially before you go off to the wilds of Alaska to find your mother’s tribe, leaving me all alone.” Amber pouted her naturally full red lips at Simone.
“Oh you’re meeting me up there in about a week after your interview, so stop pouting.” Simone said, not falling for Amber’s ploy. “So how about we get some champagne and just drink here? I’d be willing to do that.” Simone bargained.
“How are you ever going to lose your virginity, if you don’t get out there to meet anyone?” Amber said rolling her eyes in exasperation.
“Even if I did go out, no guys would be interested anyway. I’m a nerd and fat. No guys ever pay attention to me, and I’m okay with that. I’m too busy with my career right now to focus on anything else.” Simone defended.
“Simone Dyani Staton! You are not a nerd and you are not fat! You just like to read and study more than most people and you have curves to die for. I’m a stick-figure, and I hate it. No boobs, no ass, no hips…a fucking carpenter’s dream…straight and flat as a board.” Amber said as she twisted and turned to look at her tall lean five-foot-nine frame.
“Oh yeah, then the world must be full of carpenters, because guys are constantly falling all over themselves to talk to you. Oh and not to mention the yearly flyers you get from the random people that pass them out for try-outs for America’s Next Top Model.” Simone smiled at Amber knowingly. The redhead was gorgeous and she knew it. Luckily for Simone she wasn’t a stuck up bitch about it.
“Shut up! I do not get one a year!” Amber blushed.
“Ha! I know you save them in your nightstand, on the off chance that you’ll finally give in and really try-out.” Simone knew she had her.
“Fine! I get a lot of them…and maybe just maybe, I keep them. But that still doesn’t change the fact that you need to meet someone. Hell, you don’t have to date them. Just have a booty-call and pop that damn cherry already! You just turned twenty-nine for Christ’s sake! That shit ain’t normal! Plus, there’s nothing like a guy that can lay some good pipe.” Amber said as she pulled on a pair of jeans over her slender hips. They were perfectly distressed and holey, which she’d done herself. Amber was a brilliant designer and seamstress. And had an interview for a seamstress position for an up and coming fashion house based out of Seattle.
“Gross, Amber! Besides you can’t miss what you’ve never had. I’m okay with being a spinster or old-maid. So love doesn’t come easily for me. Well, studying does. Understanding biology and science does. Getting my career in order does. I can live with that.” Simone said with a conviction that she wasn’t so sure she truly felt.
She thought that it would be nice to have someone. To be kissed passionately. For a man to look at her and fall head-over-heels. But that’s not the way her life worked. It never had, and she’d become mildly content with the way things had turned out. Mainly focusing on her career, since that was all she had.
Her dad, Carl Staton had died in the Gulf War when she was a little girl. And her mother Halona died of a brain aneurysm when Simone was eighteen, a few months before she was to leave for college. Her mother’s death had shocked and devastated her, and college was put to the wayside. Though her mother had been an RN, being a single parent, she hadn’t saved up a lot of money. So Simone had to fend for herself for the next four years, working multiple jobs to take care of herself. When she was finally ready, when her heartbreak had subsided enough to focus again on school, at twenty-three she went back to school, luckily everything was paid for because of her half Native American heritage.
Simone’s mother had been full Tanana tribe, one of the numerous tribes of Alaska. And Black-American made up her other half on her father’s side. Both of her parents had been only children, so there were no aunts or uncles to go to. And her mother’s tribe hadn’t been pleased that Halona had left the reservation and they basically disowned her. So Simone had no one until she met Amber her freshman year at Washington State University.
Amber and her family took Simone in and treated her like one of their own. Being four years younger than Simone, Amber was like a little sister to her. Simone kept Amber on the straight and narrow, which Amber’s parents loved her for. And Amber infused life and impulsiveness (well as impulsive as Simone ever got) into her life.
Simone was going to miss Amber for the first week of her trip to Alaska, to find her mother’s tribe and family. They had been pretty much inseparable since they met. So she was nervous to head up there on her own, but she had been planning and saving for this trip for several years and had to be brave enough until Amber could meet up with her later. Having no family made her yearn to find her mother’s tribe.
“Okay. So how about this? We can at least go to my parents’ house to celebrate you passing nursing school. We could grab a bottle of champagne on the way. I’ll call them and my brother and sister to let them know. How about that?” Amber aske
d before adding, “Plus, they all want to see you before you go on your trip. Come on…you know you want to.” Amber coaxed, as she dragged Simone out the front door.
Chapter 2
Sunday afternoon, Jackson Cole pulled up to The Drake Lodge & Sled Tours, owned by his best and oldest friend and housemate, Xander Drake. Jackson also owned his own company, J.C. Lumber in Fairbanks, Alaska. But this week he was going to take a few days off to help Xander, who was short staffed this week because of a flu outbreak. And Xander had a young woman coming in from Washington. She was coming into town for a few weeks to find, meet and learn about the Tanana Tribe in the surrounding area.
Xander was taking out time for the girl’s first week here to show her the ropes of working with the dogsleds and show her the area. And Xander preferred to go out with more than one guide, but needed what was left of his staff to assist his other guests that were steadily coming in for the Northern Lights, which was at its busiest right now after the holidays. So Jackson had volunteered to help him as a secondary guide for the girl, since he also had plenty of experience with the dogsleds.
Jackson got out of his pickup truck and slammed the door. It was noon and still dark, being that time of year. The lack of sun in the winter and too much sun in the summer got under the skin of many from the lower forty-eight, but it was all he’d known his thirty-two years. He hoped this girl could adjust to it, because he wasn’t in the mood to tolerate a bunch of bitching and moaning.
As Jackson walked into the lodge, Xander looked up from talking to the front desk rep. “Hey, Jax! You here to grab some lunch?” Xander said before walking over and clapping his friend on the back.
“Yeah. And to bring you a couple fifths of whiskey from the house, just in case this girl is a brat. You know how the girls from the lower forty-eight can be.” Jackson raised one eyebrow as he pulled the bottles from the inside pockets of his coat, just thinking about the pampered girls. Life in Alaska could be rough, and took a lot of backbone.
“Aw come on dude! We haven’t even met her yet. We don’t know for sure how she’ll be. And having a fresh face around here wouldn’t hurt either.” Xander waggled his brows at Jackson.
Jackson shook his head at his friend. “A one track mind.”
“Hey man, we haven’t been with anyone in months. The last was Tracy. And she turned out to be one mean manipulative cheating bitch.” Xander shuddered.
They had always had an unusual relationship. Early on, they had realized that they more often than not had the same taste in women. And instead of fighting over them, they just chose to share them. The arrangement worked out well if the girl in question was okay with it. It wasn’t the strangest thing in the world in Alaska, considering the ratio of men to women. It was slim pickings, so they worked with what they got.
Jackson knew that it had been a while since they had been with anyone, but he was getting tired of things going nowhere with the women they dated. He wasn’t sure if Xander was ready for anything serious, considering his free spirit, but Jackson was ready. And the fact that he knew every single woman in a hundred mile radius only made him more depressed. He wanted none of them and whenever women from the lower forty-eight came to town they rarely stayed. So the prospects for his future, their future, looked bleak.
Tires crunching through the hard packed snow brought Jackson out of his reverie.
“That must be her. Mike went to pick her up from the airport. Oh and by the way, her name is Simone Staton.” Xander said as he started to make his way to the door.
Jackson followed him to the landing at the top of the stairs in front of the lodge. He could make out two people with bags making their way to the stairs. As Simone came into the soft lamp light Jackson caught his breath and sensed Xander’s reaction as well. She was bundled up like an Eskimo, not used to the cold of an Alaskan winter, but living his whole life there Jackson could see beauty even wrapped in a hat, scarf and puffy down coat.
She had beautiful downturned dark brown eyes, which could only be described as permanent bedroom eyes. She had a straight nose, broad high cheekbones and extra full lips and a wide mouth, that begged to be kissed. And her skin was a rich smooth toasted caramel color with tones of red underneath. Jackson wasn’t sure what her exact nationality was, but he knew from experience that Native American was in there somewhere without having been told beforehand, with those exotic looks.
“Hello.” She spoke in a soft shy voice, looking anywhere but at him or Xander for that matter.
“Hello. Simone, right?” Jackson reached out to shake her hand and shivered at the contact, when she took his hand.
“Yes.” Her voice quivered.
“I’m Jackson Cole and this is Xander Drake, the owner of the lodge.” Jackson nudged Xander to bring him out of his stupor.
“Uh…oh, sorry. Hi, I’m Xander. It’s nice to meet you, Simone.” Xander finally remembering his manners, reached out to shake her hand as well. He took a little longer than was polite to release her hand.
“Here, let’s get inside before you freeze to death. I’m sure you’re not used to this frigid weather.” Jackson stepped aside to let her in.
“Thanks.” She said softly.
Hmm…she’s a quiet one.
Once inside Xander offered to take her coat, hat and scarf as Mike took her bags to her room. As she shrugged off her coat, unwrapped her scarf and took off her hat, she revealed more of her body, enclosed in a fitted flannel shirt and boot-cut jeans that hugged her hips, ass and thighs. Jackson had to swallow several times from the saliva that had pooled in his mouth.
She had an ass that made a man want to weep. Solid thighs, large hips, a waist that curved in dramatically in comparison to her lower half and perfect perky full little breasts. It was an hourglass shape, if the hourglass’s bottom half was quite a bit bigger. A body made for a man to hold on to, to gain leverage as he slammed into her again and again.
Jackson shook his head trying to get himself together, because things were getting a little uncomfortable in his jeans. He looked over at Xander, who was also staring and fidgeting. Simone just looked around the lobby of the lodge or the floor, anywhere but at them. Jackson realized that their silence and staring were making her uncomfortable.
“Uh, this is a really beautiful lodge.” Simone said softly, pushing up her glasses and tugging nervously on her long braid, as she bravely tried to look at them from under her long lashes.
Jackson knew that most girls did that kind of move to be coy and seductive. This girl didn’t have a seductive bone in her body, but it nearly brought him to his knees regardless.
“Thank you. I had it built about five years ago, when I got tired of working for this chump.” Xander piped in, finally finding his normally talkative and flirtatious personality. “But for once Jackson will work for me this week.” He jabbed Jackson in the ribs with his elbow.
“Don’t get used to it, Xan. And if you try to boss me around even once this week, you’re gonna find your ass tied to the back of my sled, being dragged across Fairbanks.” Jackson punched Xander in the arm.
Simone bit down on her lips to keep from laughing. “What will you be doing this week Jackson?” She said as she stared at his chin.
Wow! This girl can’t even make eye contact. God would I love to bring her out of her shell. Hmm…maybe by the end of her trip. Jackson mentally rubbed his hands together with glee.
“He’ll be coming along with us on your first dogsled tour. So you’ll have the both of us. I like having two guides on a novice run, one in the front and the other taking up the rear.” Xander said barely containing his smile.
Jackson picked up on the double entendre and mentally shook his head. Real subtle, Xander.
“Oh. Um…okay.” Simone said looking down at the floor.
“Let’s show you around and get you settled. I’m sure you’re tired from your trip and would like to get a little rest before we set out tomorrow.” Jackson said, taking over the dominant leader roll
, as usual.
“Yes. Thank you.”
~~~
OH MY GOD! Simone thought as she walked into her room after the tour Xander and Jackson took her on. Simone had never been around such rugged gorgeous men in her life. She’d had absolutely no idea what to do with herself or where to look, because if she looked, she’d never stop staring.
Jackson was all serious, dominant manly man. He was a giant. Simone figured he was somewhere around six-foot-five, considering he stood about a foot taller than her average five-foot-five height. And he was built with solid muscle. Chopping wood must do a body good. If there was any sun this time of year, the span of his shoulders alone would block out the light. His hair was unruly curls of chestnut that curled around his ears and collar of his red and black flannel, and flopped on his forehead, giving him a slightly boyish look. From the quick glances she was able to make when she felt brave enough, she saw that he had piercing gray eyes, a firm mouth, his bottom lip was plumper than the top and a square jawline that was so chiseled you could crack walnuts on it. The sexy five o’clock shadow came together with the overall look to make him appear like he’d just walked off of GQ’s Lumberjack Edition.
Xander was beautiful. Like what you’d think the archangel Gabriel would look like. He was also tall, not quite as tall as Jackson, but close. He was also a little more lean than his burly friend, like a swimmer, but no less formidable. And his features were light, like his flirty personality. His wheat blond hair was mostly straight, but waved just a little at the ends, to make him look like a shaggy surfer. He had hazel eyes that bordered on green, with crazy full kissable lips and dangerously sexy dimples that made the heart melt.
They were emphatically the most beautiful men Simone had ever had the pleasure of being in the company of. And she had no earthly idea how she was going to spend the next few days with them, let alone the next couple of weeks. Staying at the lodge, she’d be sure to see Xander all of the time, but if Jackson was his best friend, it was pretty likely that she’d run into him a lot as well.
