Rolling nausea swept through her system as she realized what was happening. Aidan was trapped in the barn, and it was on fire. Terror threatened to swamp her. She didn’t know if he was dead already. He could be dead, and she’d been lying in bed. And where was Lucas? Lucas had gone looking for Aidan. Had he found Dwight?
She clamped her free hand over her mouth to stop the scream that threatened to escape. They couldn’t be dead. They couldn’t. Her mind wouldn’t wrap around the idea. They were alive, and they were in that barn. They were waiting for her.
They were her men, and by god, no son of a bitch was taking them from her.
Lexi forced herself to walk to the front door. Dwight would see her if she charged out the back. She had no doubt he was better with a rifle than she was with a handgun. After all, he had a lot of practice killing people. She hadn’t even gotten into a fistfight before.
She had to do this.
She’d never in her life felt so alone or small as she did as she crept out the front door and around the small ranch house. Her heart pounded in her chest. She wasn’t brave. She sure as hell wasn’t fearless. She was afraid of everything, but she couldn’t afford that now. She was way more afraid of losing Lucas and Aidan than she was of getting herself killed.
She reached the edge of the house. Now she could smell the smoke. How long had they been trapped in there? She was sure Lucas was in there, too. Otherwise, he would be fighting like hell. Lucas was a fighter. Aidan had already proven how hard he could fight.
It was her turn.
Tears blurred the world around her as she held the gun up in a two-handed stance. Immediately her arms ached from the weight, but she wasn’t about to fail now. As quietly as she could, she walked out into the open. Dwight still had his back to her.
“Are you going to move out of my way, or are you going to force me to shoot you?” She asked the question in a clear, calm voice that belied the horror she felt.
Dwight’s back stiffened and his hand tightened around the rifle. He turned slowly, one hand up. “You don’t want to shoot me, girl. I can’t do what you ask.”
Wrong answer. She pulled the trigger.
The gun exploded, sending jolts of shock up her arm. The kickback set her on her ass and, once more, she wished she’d put on underwear. It was the theme of her life lately. Her lack of proper panties didn’t stop her from jumping up. Dwight was on the ground. Lexi approached quickly, gun at the ready. His body twitched in the dirt. She kicked the rifle away. Blood streamed from the wound in his chest. A thin line seeped from his mouth. He was obviously in pain, and he wasn’t dead yet.
And she didn’t have time for him. He’d made his decision the minute he’d set that barn on fire. She shot him again, right in the chest. Again the recoil hurt, but she was ready this time. She stayed on her feet and immediately turned to the barn.
“Aidan!” She screamed his name, praying he called back.
Heat poured from the barn, threatening to scorch her skin. She pulled at the barn door, but something held it closed. A lock. It was a combination lock. She had no idea what number Aidan would use.
She stepped back and aimed for the lock. After this was done, if she never saw another gun again, it would be too soon. She spread her legs wide to handle the kickback better and fired. The lock exploded. She set the gun down and pulled open the barn door.
Heat blasted from the open doors. The sides and the back of the barn were fully ablaze. Smoke was everywhere.
“What the fuck?”
Lexi turned and saw Bo staring down at Dwight’s body. Ike sat beside him, his chest heaving as though the dog had been running.
“Help me, Bo. They’re in here. We have to get them out.” Lexi yelled before she ran into the barn. She could barely see through the smoke. It billowed out of the open doors. She could make out the rack. Someone was on the slab. Aidan.
She raced across the floor. Her eyes were adjusting and the smoke was clearing now that it had a place to go. Aidan was tied down. His wrists were bloody from where he’d tried to pull himself free. There was a rag in his mouth. She pulled it out. God, she couldn’t breathe. Aidan was so still.
Please. Please. Please. Let him be alive.
“I have Lucas,” Bo yelled over the crackling of the fire.
She looked over, and Bo was pulling Lucas across the floor. He wasn’t conscious. She couldn’t tell if he was dead. His head rolled back as Bo dragged him by the shoulders. “Get him out of here!”
“I’ll be right back.” Bo dragged Lucas’s body outside.
She could feel Ike beside her. He whined up at her as though begging her to free his master.
Aidan coughed. It was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard. “Lexi?”
She started working the ropes that bound Aidan. “I’m here. We have to get out.”
He shook his head. “No, angel. You have to run. Get Lucas out if you can, but Dwight’s going to kill us all. You have to run.”
She tugged and managed to pull his right hand free.
Bo was suddenly back in the barn. He pulled a knife out of his boot and started sawing through the ropes on Aidan’s right foot. “Dwight won’t be killing anyone, brother. Your girl took him out. Remind me not to piss her off. And your damn dog must have known something was up. He barked right outside my window until I got my ass up.”
She crawled onto the table to get to Aidan’s left hand. Her lungs were burning. A piece of the roof fell beside her. They didn’t have much time.
“Damn, girl. That is very distracting.” Bo cut through both ropes in the time it took her to work through the first of hers. He avoided another board that fell. He was perfectly calm, given the situation. He took that wicked knife and slashed through the rest of his brother’s ropes. “I’m trying to rescue my brother. You don’t need to be flashing your cootchie. It’s awfully pretty, though.”
She huffed and jumped down from the table.
“You little prick, that’s your sister-in-law.” Aidan’s hands were shaky, but he rolled off the table. His knees struck the floor.
“Yeah, hurt me later, brother.” Bo took the left side, Lexi the right, and they got Aidan to his feet.
She nearly fell as they made it out of the barn. Aidan slumped down, but Bo took his weight, leaving her to drag air into her lungs. She coughed, her lungs aching as she saw Lucas on the grass. He was so still. She raced to him, running her hands across his body, praying for any sign of life.
“Didn’t work out how I wanted it to,” Lucas muttered between parched lips. “My horniness got me in trouble today.”
She laughed through the tears falling from her eyes. She put her head to his chest, reveling in the sound of his heartbeat. “Let this be a lesson to you, Lucas Cameron.”
“You take care of that asshole, Dwight?”
Lexi nodded. “He’s gone, babe.”
His hand found her hair. “That’s my girl.”
“Our girl.” Aidan was suddenly at her back. His face was haggard, and his voice sounded three kinds of ruined, but he was alive. She sat up, and Aidan leaned into her. “Our girl saved us. We’ll never hear the end of it now. And she did it all without any underwear.”
Lucas gave her a tired thumbs-up.
In the distance they heard a siren sounding.
Here came the cavalry.
There was the sudden sound of gunfire. Lexi jerked up.
Bo stood over Dwight, Ike at his side. He shrugged. “You’ve seen those movies. Bad guy always comes back. This one ain’t coming back. You know, I never did like that son of a bitch. You think anyone would notice if I shot him a couple hundred more times?”
“Don’t you dare,” she threatened.
She wrapped her arms around her men. Nothing in the world mattered but the fact that they were alive and well.
Two hands started to find their way under her T-shirt.
“Hey,” Lexi protested.
They both snickered.
“It’s
my comfort object,” Lucas said.
“It’s my security blanket,” Aidan added.
They were together, and this time it was forever. Lexi felt her heart swell. She had everything she needed.
But she was going to start putting on panties first thing in the morning.
Chapter Twenty
Six months later
“You’re doing what?” Lexi asked as Dani jumped up and down in pure excitement.
Julian smiled as he sat down at the wide outdoor dining table that graced the Barnes-Fleetwood Ranch’s backyard. It was a glorious day, and almost everyone she loved was enjoying a barbecue and celebrating the fact that Lexi had finished her first book. It was a romance, and she hadn’t sold it yet. She did have an agent though. She’d been signed by a woman named Lara Anderson who repped a couple of Lexi’s favorite authors. She’d met Amber Rose the other day and still couldn’t quite believe it. They’d had lunch together and the woman had been so kind, giving her advice and tips, telling her stories of how her own career had begun.
It was a start. A slow one, but her family insisted on celebrating every little thing.
This was the first time they’d all been together in weeks. She missed this group since she’d moved fully to Deer Run. The last time they’d been together had been for Sean Taggart’s wedding in Dallas.
It looked like even the wild security crew was starting to settle down.
“Danielle is opening a spa.” Julian looked odd in his terribly expensive shirt and slacks, with a hot dog in his hands.
“You’re opening a spa in Willow Fork?” Willow Fork barely had a beauty parlor, much less a spa. Of course, it was practically a metropolis compared to Deer Run. “I don’t think Willow Fork is a spa friendly place. They look down on women wearing bikinis much less getting rubdowns and waxing their hoo haws.”
“It’s a destination spa.” Dani’s face was lit with enthusiasm. “It’s an old ranch that shut down years ago. We’re renovating and building it into something special. There will be horseback riding and hiking and facials and massages. We’re going to have entertainment for kids so we can get families out there. I thought maybe writers could use it for a retreat or something. I’m excited about it. It’s a project for a class.”
She had to shake her head. The rich really were different. Most people would think of a college project as a paper analyzing different business practices. Not Dani Lodge-Taylor. Nope. When she did her business project, she opened a multimillion-dollar spa. “Well, I’ll be there for the opening.”
“You’ll love it,” Dani promised. “It was a good thing I came up with the idea since it turns out Julian owns a huge tract of land in Willow Fork. Did he ever mention he bought the land so he could shut down a development and keep my sister from profiting off the sale of our family home?”
She’d met Dani’s sister. It was probably a good thing.
Julian shook his head. “Yes, I actually meant to keep that secret, but my wife turned out to be a bit nosy.”
“I didn’t tell her,” Finn said, sitting down next to Julian. “She was pissed at me, too.”
“Well, I’m not mad now. Now I’m excited. I just hired a manager. She used to run this resort in the Caribbean that catered to people in the lifestyle. Her name is Gaby, and she has two kids. She and her husband are from Texas. They thought it was time to come home. I am really excited about this project. It will bring jobs to the whole area.” Dani chatted on, but Lexi found her focus shifting.
Aidan and Lucas were standing together at the swing set. Olivia and Josh were sitting in swing seats, laughing as the men pushed them. They looked perfect standing together, talking as they entertained the kids.
“Hey.” Her mother curled an arm around her waist. Dani sat down with her husbands. They were arguing happily about budgets.
“Hi, Momma.” Love for her mother swelled in her heart. She let her head rest against her mom’s shoulder.
“I finished your book, baby girl,” her mom said. “I am so proud of you. It’s great. I love how much of your heart and soul you put in there.”
“Thanks. I’m happy with it.” It might never sell, but it did what it was supposed to do. It told her story. Oh, the names might have changed and the circumstances, but at the heart it was about the love she’d managed to find. It was about the peace she’d come to.
“One day I hope you’re ready to try again,” her mother said. “The best thing I ever did was have you kids.”
Strange, mentioning having kids never scared her anymore. No matter what happened, this time she would lean on her family. “I thought marrying Jack and Sam was the best thing to happen to you.”
“It was a great thing, but you kids, you were the expression of my soul. All three of you were the product of the love in my heart for the men in my life. I loved your father. It was a child’s love, but it was love. I love Jack and Sam with everything I have. I hope one day you want kids, Lexi, because those men love you. And those kids would be something to see.”
She didn’t doubt it. Not for a second. She looked down at the rings on her finger. Two thin wedding bands, connected. Lucas had put the first one on her finger when they had legally married. She hadn’t gotten her Vegas wedding. Nope. She’d been married right there in Deer Run and it had been beautiful. Aidan had placed the second on her and one on Lucas when they cemented their relationship at The Club. They were the O’Malleys. Lucas had legally changed his name. They were a family.
And she had no intention of it being just the three of them.
“We threw away the condoms last night, Momma.”
They had made love with nothing between them. She wasn’t sure how long it would take to get pregnant, but she was ready for it.
“I’m so glad, baby girl.”
She stood there with her mother, the warm spring breeze playing through her hair. They each watched their men. She hugged her mom and prayed she would be as good a mother as Abigail Barnes-Fleetwood had been.
Jack declared the burgers were ready, and everyone started to line up, chattering happily about their business deals and what the kids were doing.
She stood with her mom and watched it all. They were a wild, weird, crazy bunch.
And they were hers.
* * * *
The Texas Sirens’ series will continue summer 2018 with Siren in Waiting.
Author’s Note
I’m often asked by generous readers how they can help get the word out about a book they enjoyed. There are so many ways to help an author you like. Leave a review. If your e-reader allows you to lend a book to a friend, please share it. Go to Goodreads and connect with others. Recommend the books you love because stories are meant to be shared. Thank you so much for reading this book and for supporting all the authors you love!
One to Keep
Nights in Bliss, Colorado, Book 3
By Lexi Blake writing as Sophie Oak
Coming August 7, 2018
Click here to purchase.
Stefan Talbot likes order and control. He approaches his life with the same meticulous precision that he uses to put paint on his canvas. Nothing good comes from chaos, and that is why he has refused to allow himself to get close to Jennifer Waters. They are like fire and ice. Though she is younger, her talent as an artist is unquestionable. But she lives her life like she paints—with wild, passionate abandon. It is intoxicating and terrifying, and he can’t get her out of his head.
Jennifer ran from Bliss to put Stef behind her. She had come to the mountain town seeking a mentor but found much more than she bargained for. Cool and distant, Stef was like a marble statue and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t break through his shell. She moved to Dallas to start over, but nothing is going as planned. When the art gallery where she works is robbed and a precious painting is stolen, Jen is accused of the theft. Jen is thrilled when her bail is met, until she realizes her savior is Stef and he has a few conditions. First and foremost, she has to return to
Bliss.
Against the backdrop of the Winter Festival, Stef and Jen’s attraction catches fire. But the dark forces behind the robbery in Dallas have followed Jen home. A criminal syndicate believes she still has the stolen painting and they’ll kill to get their hands on it.
Siren in Waiting
Texas Sirens, Book 4
By Lexi Blake writing as Sophie Oak
Coming summer 2018
Bethany “Mouse” Hobbes spent her entire life waiting, especially for the love of Bo O’Malley. But for the first time in her life, she is ready to start living, with or without him. She has found her dream, restoring a rustic farmhouse on the outskirts of town.
Trev McNamara left Deer Run a high school hero and has returned, his pro football career in ruins. When Trev meets Mouse, he discovers a passion strong enough to overcome his past. But can she accept his dominant desires?
Bo O’Malley has lived his whole life in the shadow of his brother, never committing to anything or anyone. When the woman he secretly loved all his life begins an affair with the man who betrayed his trust, Bo will do anything to claim her as his own.
Transformed by their love, will Mouse be enough woman for both of them?
About Lexi Blake
Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband, three kids, and the laziest rescue dog in the world. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places. Lexi believes in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome or foursome may seem. She also writes contemporary Western ménage as Sophie Oak.
Connect with Lexi online:
Facebook: Lexi Blake
Twitter: authorlexiblake
Website: www.LexiBlake.net
Sign up for Lexi's free newsletter here.
Siren_Beloved_Google Page 27
