Caleb got out his phone and texted a short message. “You leavin’ right now?” he asked.
Ash nodded, slid his Stetson onto his head and headed for the door. Caleb finished texting and sent the message. They heard the truck motor start up and the squeal of tires as Ash gunned it down the driveway.
“He shoulda been a NASCAR driver instead of a jet jockey,” Simon muttered in disgust.
“He just likes anything fast,” Caleb reminded him.
“Um…can I get dressed?” Kylie asked, suddenly feeling naked now that Ash wasn’t covering her back like a blanket.
“Whaddaya think?” Caleb asked Simon. “Should we let her?”
They both turned to stare down at her. She’d never been the object of such intense scrutiny before and was starting to feel just a bit uncomfortable. Until she noticed the almost pained expressions on their faces as they rubbed their chests with the heels of their hands as though trying to ease a tightness there.
“I’d much rather keep you naked,” Caleb murmured, his eyes darkening with some deep emotion she didn’t recognize. “You’re almost too beautiful to cover up.”
Oh, yeah, she could get used to these men. No one had ever called her beautiful before. And they actually seemed to mean it.
“But we want you to be comfortable, darlin’. We have a lot to talk about when Ash gets back with lunch. Or dinner. Or whatever this is.” Simon opened the top drawer of what they’d told her was her dresser, and withdrew a pair of khaki shorts and a knit top. He didn’t pull out any underwear. “No bra or panties for now,” he said as he sat on the bed next to her. “At least not until we can buy you some really sexy ones that we’ll let you wear only because we’ll enjoy taking them off of you.” His grin was wicked. “That’s the only reason you’ll be allowed to wear clothes at all, darlin’,” he teased. “So we can look forward to taking them off.”
“Well, then, I guess I’d better let my hair grow really long so I can cover up all the naughty parts,” Kylie teased right back. She slid a sideways glance at Caleb. “Wouldn’t want to risk being hauled off to the hoosegow for public indecency. I’ve heard the local sheriff is a real bad-ass.”
“Oh, he is,” Caleb agreed, bending to give her a quick kiss. “And he has a special place for anyone flouting the public decency statutes. His own”…kiss… “private”…kiss…“dungeon.”
Dungeon! Holy shit! “You’re kidding, right?” She turned to look at Simon. “Tell me he’s kidding.”
Simon just laughed and held the shorts so she could put her legs through them, while Caleb pulled her knit top over her head. Simon carried her downstairs and sat her at the kitchen table. By the time Ash returned with the food, his brothers had gotten a cold beer for everyone and they all lit into the mouth-watering meal of ribs, brisket, pulled pork, chicken, slaw, fries and corn bread.
Kylie fitted her lips around a tender, meaty rib and her eyes closed in bliss. She actually groaned. “Oh, my God. I’ve never tasted anything this good in my life.”
“Yeah,” Ash agreed around a bite of grilled chicken. “People drive over fifty miles for the pleasure of eatin’ Katie’s barbecue. It’s the best.”
Conversation dried up as they devoted themselves strictly to eating and licking their fingers. As Kylie dropped her last bone onto the humongous pile, she tore open a hand wipe and cleaned her fingers and mouth. Then she flung herself back in her chair and groaned again. “Thank God these shorts have an elastic waist band,” she said, stretching it away from her waist before placing her hand over the gentle curve of her belly. “Otherwise they’d be bursting at the seams.”
“Now that’s something I’d pay good money to see,” Ash remarked, waggling his eyebrows.
Caleb leaned forward in his chair, his expression serious. “Sugar, we need to talk to you.”
Uh-oh. Her stomach lurched as old memories resurfaced. “Am I in trouble?”
Ash frowned. “No, baby. Why would you think that?”
She waved her hand dismissively, “Nothing, just—“”she shook her head. “Nothing.”
“It’s obviously something,” Simon insisted. “And we insist on honesty in this house, darlin’, so tell us what it was. Please,” he added and that’s what won her over.
“I know I shouldn’t keep thinking about him, but—“
“Your father,” Caleb grimaced. “He’s still in your head, isn’t he?”
“Even more since I met you guys. Because the way you make me feel when I’m with you is everything he considered the worst possible sin. He was constantly ranting about the sins of the flesh being the direct pathway to Hell. That’s capital H Hell, and not little h hell. And even though I know now how full of shit he was, I’ve never felt these feelings before. I never knew I could feel feelings like this. So I’m having a hard time dealing with the dichotomy. I thought I had gotten past this—I mean, after ten years of deprogramming and psychotherapy, you’d think I’d have a handle on this by now.” She gave a self-deprecating little laugh and shook her head. “Obviously I’m still a work in progress.”
“We’ll help you with that,” Caleb assured her. “Remember we talked about a safe word for you?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
“Okay, your safe words are green, yellow, and red. Just think of a traffic light. If you’re fine, you’re at green. If you’re uncomfortable or uncertain, or you need for us to slow down and discuss what we’re doin’, you’re at yellow. If you have reached your absolute limit and can’t handle anymore, you’re at red. Just say ‘red’ and we’ll stop and talk you through it. Clear?”
Another nod.
“Where are you right now?”
“Green.”
“Good girl.” The pride in his voice made her feel oddly happy that she had pleased him.
“Will you promise us one thing?” Caleb asked.
“Of course.”
“Whenever you question anything we want to do to you, will you promise to use your safe word and talk with us about it? The only way we can overcome any barriers your father might still be tryin’ to erect inside your mind is to get it out in the open. I guarantee you his twisted viewpoint won’t stand up to the light of day.”
“Okay.” That was easy.
“Now.” Caleb was suddenly all business. “Have you ever heard of BDSM?”
“BD—no.” She shook her head. “I don’t believe so.”
“The letters stand for Bondage, Domination/submission, Sado-Masochism.”
Holy shit! “Umm…”
Simon chuckled. “Trust me, darlin’, it sounds worse than it is. We’re gonna give you some homework. Some websites for you to visit that will help explain what all that means. But for starters, we are Dominants, or Doms, and you, my sweet, are a tasty little sub or submissive. We want to dominate you. That doesn’t mean we want to control, or abuse, or, as in your father’s case, terrorize you. It means we want you to give us the power to do things to you that we know will give you pleasure. Because givin’ you pleasure is what gives us pleasure.
“As your trust in us grows, we will push your limits and ask that you submit to things that you might question, but our ultimate goal will never change. It will always be to give you the most amazin’ sexual pleasure we can. Our duty as your Doms is to protect you, love you, and cherish you. As a submissive, your duty is to obey. That’s it in a nutshell. Obey. Because obedience means pleasure. You trust us enough to turn your power over to us, knowin’ that we will use it to give you everything you need.”
“But…sadism?” She couldn’t keep the horror from her voice. “Masochism?”
“Oh, baby, you never have to worry about that.” Ash leaned across the table and took both her hands in his. “A very small percentage of the BDSM community enjoys the givin’ and receivin’ of real pain. We have no interest in that. That is a hard limit for us as, I suspect, it is for you, too. Hard limits are things you absolutely will not do under any circumstances. And that is something we wi
ll always honor. After you’re done with your homework, we’ll discuss some of the things you read. You can tell us what sorts of activities appeal to you. Or disgust you completely. Those would be your hard limits. But nothing is carved in stone. We will revisit the list often. As your trust in us grows over time, you may find yourself wanting to try things you initially vetoed.”
Simon leaned toward her. “Did you like what we did to you this afternoon?”
God, yes! She shivered. “I loved it. Everything you did to me was”…she shook her head, groping for words…“amazing.”
The brothers looked at each other. “Our girl loves orgasms,” Simon mused.
“Which would make orgasm denial a suitable form of punishment,” Caleb murmured.
“Wait. Punishment?” Kylie’s eyes widened in horror.
“Should the need ever arise,” Caleb continued soothingly. “Which, of course, I hope will be quite often.”
“Punishments can be very pleasurable.” This from Ash.
“For whom?” she asked sarcastically.
His eyes twinkled. “Well,” he hedged. “Mostly for us. But I guarantee that we’ll make it amazin’ for you, too, baby. Can you trust us to do that?”
She didn’t even hesitate. “Yes.” It was the truth. She trusted these men with her body, her heart, her life. Actually, she trusted them with something far more important than all of those put together. Her very soul. The moment she’d seen Simon knocking on her car window, she had felt it. The connection between them had been powerful and instantaneous. How could it have happened so fast? It defied all logic, and yet, there it was. She looked from one man to the other. They were identical triplets, yet she could tell them apart. In addition to wearing his hair slightly longer than his brothers, Caleb, the oldest, had a small scar at the tip of his left eyebrow. And his ruggedly handsome face appeared more…careworn. A look that made her want to reach out and smooth the frown from between his black brows. Ash, born fifty-eight seconds after Caleb, had a perpetual twinkle in his eye whenever he looked at her. He had an air of quiet strength about him that drew her, calmed her. Simon, the youngest by more than two minutes, was the quickest to laugh. She found his teasing demeanor impossible to resist.
Without question, these were alpha males. Fit, muscular, with broad shoulders and chests, tapering down to narrow waists, powerful thighs and legs. She could hardly wait to see them naked. Omigod! Did I just think that? Where did that thought come from? These three men are about to turn my sex life upside down and I’m going to let them!
What sex life? You don’t have a sex life.
She wanted to laugh. I do now. And it’s going to be epic!
All three of them stood up. “C’mon, sugar.” Caleb pulled her chair back from the table. Ash bent down and picked her up. “You’ll be more comfortable in the recliner with your feet up.”
Ash set her down in the chair and Kylie pulled the lever that raised the foot rest. “How are your feet, darlin’?” Simon asked, opening up a notebook computer and tapping a few keys. “Are they still painful?”
“Just a little,” she confessed. Caleb approached with a glass of water and picked up the two prescription bottles from the side table. He tapped one pill from each bottle into his palm and held them out for her.
Simon waited for her to wash them down with the water before approaching her and handing her the notebook. “This is the first site we want you to explore,” he said. “We’ll be in and out while you’re readin’. If you have any questions, just ask, okay? We’ll hear you and we’ll be glad to answer. Don’t be too shy or embarrassed. There’s nothin’ embarrassin’ about any of this. It’s a natural and healthy way of life.”
Caleb handed her a sheet of paper with five websites printed on it. “Read as much as you think you can handle, sugar. We don’t want to overwhelm you.” His hand lifted to stroke her cheek.
She couldn’t help herself, she leaned into it and closed her eyes.
Simon bent over her on the other side of the recliner and pressed his forehead against hers. “You recognize it, don’t you?” he asked, his voice raspy as sandpaper. “The rightness of it.”
“Yes.” And she did, with a crushing sense of inevitability that brooked no argument.
“You’re connected to us. Not just me, but all of us.”
“Yes.” Her whisper was as hoarse as his. “I’ve never felt anything like this before.”
Simon just smiled. That eye-crinkling smile she found so hard to resist. “Neither have we, darlin’. Neither have we.”
He drew back to kiss the tip of her nose and straightened up. She realized Caleb’s hand was still cupping her cheek. And Ash was standing there just looking at her, his eyes hot and hard. Their erections were hard bulges in their jeans. Simon’s erection was right at her eye level until he stepped back and walked around the chair to join his brothers.
Kylie looked at the display on the screen. The home page of the website revealed a woman on her knees, a black scarf tied over her eyes, her arms cuffed behind her back. She was wearing a black lace corset that left her generous breasts bare, and black silk stockings. A man clad in leather pants but otherwise bare from the waist up, stood directly behind her, his left hand beneath her chin forcing her face upward. A large tattoo covered his left pec, swept up over his shoulder and down his left arm. It was all black, an abstract design full of sinuous curves and sharp points. The man was bending over the woman, looking down at her. Kylie could almost see his muscles flexing and rippling. His sculpted torso gleamed as if it had been oiled. He held a multi-strand whip of some sort in his right hand. The only spot of color in the entire photograph was the woman’s red lips, parted in ecstasy.
Holy fuck! The intense sexuality depicted in the photograph dried up all the moisture in Kylie’s mouth as she stared at it. Her belly did a slow roll, leaking moisture between her legs. She licked her lips, trying to appear casual as she maneuvered the cursor over to the menu and selected What Is BDSM.
CHAPTER SIX
Somehow they had managed a sedate and orderly retreat from the living room, but by the time they got to the kitchen, the three men were practically stumbling over each other in unseemly haste.
“Jesus Christ!” Caleb exclaimed, somehow managing to stifle the urge to rub his cock through his jeans. “Did you see the expression on her face when she saw that photo? She was so damned turned on, I thought I was gonna come in my pants like some randy teenager!” He swept his hand downward to indicate his erection. “Look at me! I’ve never been so hard in all my life! It was all I could do not to grab her, bend her over the arm of the couch and fuck her senseless. God, she tests my control like no other woman we’ve ever known.”
“She’s definitely the one,” Ash agreed. “She’s perfect for us.” He’d succumbed to his need and was holding his cock in an iron grip through the fabric of his jeans, mentally reviewing approach patterns and landing procedures at various airports in an effort to get it to subside.
“She’s scared, though,” Simon pointed out. “This is a lot for her to take in. It’s a lot for anyone to take in, but considering her background, she must feel like she’s walking straight into Satan’s den.”
“Well, we’ll just have to use all our skills to make her feel cherished and valued. And to reassure her that she is the center of our universe.”
“But what if that’s not enough?” Simon persisted. “We have to be realistic here. She may never be able to fully accept the things we want to do to her. Are we prepared to forego our need to dominate in order to keep her? Can we do vanilla for the rest of our lives? And what if the very idea of taking all three of us at the same time is just too much for her? What if she can only handle one of us at a time? We’ve worked in tandem for so long. Are we prepared to take turns?”
Caleb and Ash just stared at him. The thought was sobering. All three erections deflated instantly.
“Simon’s right,” Caleb said. “We at least have to consider the possibi
lity. Maybe we’ll even hafta come up with a schedule or something to decide whose night it is.” The sour look on his face let them know what he thought of that idea.
Ash walked over to the refrigerator and picked up a container of orange juice from the door rack. Without thinking, he unscrewed the cap and lifted the carton to his lips to take a swig, but Caleb’s sharp, “Hey!” stopped the carton midway.
“Shit,” he said with a sheepish grin, “forgot we’re no longer livin’ like bachelors.” He got a glass down from the cupboard and filled it with juice. He tilted the carton toward them, but they both shook their heads. “Even though we sleep in separate bedrooms, we’ve always slept together when we’re with a woman and we’ve always worked as a team to make sure that she gets maximum pleasure. It’s just not gonna seem right goin’ solo…”
The brothers shared a look. Most of the subs they’d shared had been at various clubs in the cities where they’d been deployed. They had had one long-term relationship with Kim Loring, a woman who had lost both her Masters in a plane crash. A friend of theirs, Thorne Cahill, the owner of several BDSM clubs they frequented, had asked them to help her through her grief process and to give her a place where she would feel safe during her transition to new Doms. They had known she was not the right one for them, just as she had known. But she had been a good sub and a good woman. After nearly a year with the Rafferty triplets, she had been claimed by two friends of theirs, Deke Hanson and Michael Stark. Deke was NYPD and Michael was an investment broker and they loved Kim deeply. They all still kept in touch via Facebook and email.
“Let’s not borrow trouble,” Ash cautioned. “We don’t yet know what her answer will be. Maybe we’re worryin’ for nothing. Besides, our powers of persuasion are pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.”
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