by Jane Jamison
“We’ll figure out how to deal with Rick.” Ed started to shift, hurrying to say the rest. “Until we do, keep your fires in check. Right now, it’s his word against ours.” He took to the air, needing to fly even more than before.
* * * *
Colby heard them and dashed down the stairs. She’d been asleep then had awakened, suddenly feeling as though something were very wrong. As soon as she saw them, she knew she’d been right.
Jax, Ed, and Darton strode into the living room, and although it was obvious they were trying their best to be quiet, they still made noise. Three men their size just couldn’t sneak around very well.
“What happened?” Jax had a bruise around his left eye while Darton was rubbing his arm. At least until he noticed that she was watching him.
“Nothing. We’re fine.” But Ed avoided looking directly at her. “Just a little roughhousing is all.”
“I’m calling bullshit on that. Jax and Darton are hurt.” She studied Ed. “I don’t see anything wrong with you, but I wouldn’t doubt that you’d hide it from me. Something’s wrong. More than a bruise or two. Tell me.”
They exchanged a look that was as good as admitting she was right. Jax started to speak then stalked toward the kitchen with his friends trailing behind him.
“I’m not going to let up until you tell me. As your boss”—she knew they’d understand she was only joking—“it’s my right to know.”
“She’s got a point.” Ed stepped back at Jax’s glare. “Not about the boss thing, but she does need to know.”
Her worry jumped to a higher level. “What is it?”
Darton spun around, his face an angry mask. “It’s that fucking Rick Broat. He’s trying to run you off the ranch, to force you to sell to him. First he burns down your barn, and then he sets fire to your cattle.”
Stunned, she gaped at him. “He set fire to my cattle?” How did a person do that?
Jax and Ed caught her between them with Jax pulling her close. “He’s an animal, a sadistic son of a bitch. I’m sorry, but it’s true.”
“He killed them and then burned their bodies?” She sought the answer in Darton’s eyes. What she saw there shocked her. She sucked in a small breath. “No. Do you mean… He burned them alive?”
“We don’t know which way it happened, but I wouldn’t put anything past the asshole.”
All at once, her legs didn’t have the strength to hold her up. Jax lowered onto a chair. How could anyone be so cruel as to burn a poor animal alive? “You saw him do it?”
“No, but we found the bonfire where he was burning them.” Ed slipped onto the chair next to hers and took her hands in his. “We can’t prove anything, but we know it was him.”
“And you three fought with him? Is that where the bruises came from?” Yet, when she lifted her gaze to Jax’s face, the bruise was gone. “I don’t understand any of this. Your bruise. Where did it go?”
From the guilty looks on their faces, they were hiding more from her. “What now? You aren’t telling me the whole truth.” She was certain Ed was about to tell her more when Darton took her by the arm and led her toward the stairs.
“Isn’t that enough? Please, honey, let it go for the rest of the night.”
“Let it go? How can I? We need to call the authorities, the police or sheriff or whoever the hell is the law around here.”
“We told you. We don’t have any proof. Right now, it’s just our word versus his.”
“Maybe he left evidence behind. Or clues? The police could check the area for a gasoline can. Something. We can’t let him get away with this.” She jerked her arm out of his grasp. “Killing the cattle is bad enough, but I can’t stand the idea that you might get hurt. Any of you.”
“We can take care of ourselves,” said Darton.
“And we’re going to take care of you,” added Ed. He wrapped his arm around her waist and guided her up the stairs. “It’s late, and you need to rest.”
As tired as she was, as stunned as she was by what Rick had done, she couldn’t help but feel a whirl of lustful sensations. “You’re right. I am tired, but I won’t be able to sleep. Not with my imagination running wild.” Every time she thought about the poor animals, she saw a vision of them, mooing in pain and fear as flames consumed them.
“Try to not think about it.”
“That’s impossible, Ed.” She’d already tried, but it was asking too much.
“Then let us distract you.” Jax bounded ahead of them then, at the top of the steps, turned and pulled her into his arms. “We’ll give you something better to think about.” Lifting her into his arms, he turned and strode to her bedroom.
“No. Stop.”
He gazed at her, his confusion matching that of his friends.
“Take me into Ed’s bedroom. The one with the biggest shower.”
She almost laughed when it took a moment for Jax to understand what she really wanted.
“No problem, Colby. No problem.” He started for the room, letting Darton and Ed go before him to open all the doors.
She pressed her palm to his cheek. “Why do you always call me Colby?”
He lifted his eyebrows and gave her a curious look. “What else would I call you?”
“Darton calls me honey, and Ed calls me babe. Why don’t you have a pet name for me?”
“So you like pet names, huh?”
“I never did before, but now…” She skimmed her hand along his cut jawline. “Yeah, I do.”
Ed and Darton flicked on only one of the many lights in the bathroom. Were they trying to produce a romantic glow? The room was like the rest of the house, outdated and needing repair, but to her, as long as they were with her, it looked lovely.
“What do you want me to call you?” He set her on her feet and began peeling off her shirt.
She shrugged, helping him remove it while she fumbled with his belt and buckle. “It wouldn’t be a real pet name if I chose it.”
Ed turned on the shower and, faster than she would’ve thought it could, steam filled the air around them. Darton yanked off his shirt and flung it to the side. Ed kicked off his boots. Both men watched her and Jax as though there was nothing that could ever be as exciting.
“Okay, then how about snookums?”
She made a face. “That sounds like a name my grandfather would’ve called his wife.”
“Piddle poot?”
“That sounds like I’m a puppy doing its business.” She laughed, and then the sound got caught in her throat as she slid his zipper down. Her gaze bounced from one man to the other as they removed their clothes. It was too bad that men like them had to wear any clothes. They were like sculptures, perfect specimens of men with bulging muscles covered with oh-so touchable flesh. Imagining running her tongue along their bodies, slowly, deliberately sent a wave of longing through her, giving her a fresh burst of energy.
Ed moved behind her and pulled her jeans to the floor. She stepped out of them, thankful that she hadn’t put on any shoes before running downstairs.
“How about sugar? Or darlin’? Maybe sweet thang?”
She feigned a dirty look. “None of the above. I’m getting the feeling that you don’t really want to call me by a pet name. You don’t have to if you don’t really want to.”
She was getting a feeling, all right. Several sinfully sexy feelings as Ed and Darton slipped off her panties and bra. Their hands did amazing things to her body, making any conversation difficult.
Jax took her face in his hands. His green eyes melted into hers. “There’s only one pet name I can see calling you.”
“What is it?” She shivered, not from the air conditioning. How could that be when the steam had thickened around her? Steam that wasn’t coming from the hot stream of water in the shower. Was there another source of steam she couldn’t see?
“Mine.”
A rush of pleasure swept her. “Oh.” He’d rendered her almost speechless. “Okay. Yeah. That sounds good.”
&
nbsp; The appraising look Jax gave her braless breasts could have supplied enough heat to warm all of Brimstone in the winter. “Step inside.”
Darton opened the shower door and more steam—this time from the actual shower—billowed out. Feeling their gazes on her, she entered the small shower and put her back to the cracked tile wall.
“I don’t think all of us can fit.” The old shower hadn’t been built to accommodate four people. If they got in at all, they’d have to get close. She skimmed her gaze lower from one man’s cock to the other. Yeah. Really close.
“The tighter the fit, the better,” Jax said with a grin. He was the first man inside. Water bounced off his solid body as he squeezed in next to her.
Her wet hair trailed down her shoulders and toward her breasts. She wasn’t embarrassed by her nudity.
Jax ran his hands along the curve of her buttocks. “I never understood how a man could choose ass over tits, but now I do.”
She lifted her eyes to his, feeling small and demure, then cupped her hands over her breasts. “So you like my butt better than these?” Lowering her hands, she was delighted to see the slight widening of his eyes as his look devoured her tits.
“Not better, but just as much.”
“Don’t worry about it, man.” Ed added more mass to the already snug space. “I’ll handle her boobs. That way you can concentrate on her ass.”
“As long as you leave her pussy to me.” Darton shoved against them.
They were cramped, their bodies pressed hard against hers. She grew even hotter. “Can we turn down the hot water?”
“It’s not the water that’s making you burn, honey.” Darton chuckled as he slid his tongue along the rise of her stomach, down the crease between her leg and her mons, then over to lightly flick across her pussy lips.
As though Darton’s tongue touching her was the signal for a race, Jax and Ed picked up the pace, their hands skimming over her wet body in a frantic pace. Their need surged hers higher, and she clung to their wet hair and gave herself to them.
“You need a bath, babe.”
“I think we all do.” She nodded at the wall behind Jax. “I wish we had more than one soap-on-a-rope.”
Jax snagged the rope and held the thing up. “I didn’t know they still made these things.”
She smiled. “I guess they do. Melly thought it was a joke and bought it for me. I don’t know why I packed it, but now I’m glad I did.”
Oh shit.
Darton hadn’t cared to join the conversation. Instead, he’d eased her folds apart and pressed his mouth to her clit.
“Then let’s not let it go to waste.” Jax held the bar up, gripping it on each end and broke it apart.
“Damn. You’re strong.” She sounded like a kid in awe of a magician, but how many people could break a bar of soap in half? When he did it yet again, making four pieces out of one, she was too amazed to say anything.
“Here you go.” Jax handed a part of the original bar to everyone. “Rub-a-dub-dub, people. Let’s get really clean.”
She was more than willing to slide her piece of soap along Ed’s chest. As she did, Ed, Jax, and Darton put their bars to work. Their hands caressed her, dipping into her valleys then riding over her curves. Every so often they’d add a kiss or a nibble, but most of their effort was spent on getting as much soap on her as possible.
She caught Ed’s gaze as she cupped her bar against his crotch. “You’re a dirty, dirty boy.”
His eyes, filled with bits of red, twinkled. “Babe, you don’t know the half of it.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask. Why do your eyes—” Oh hell yeah. The question was lost as Jax’s fingers found her butthole and started massaging their way in.
Soap suds dripped off the tips of her breasts while more suds flowed along her body. The men’s tanned skin looked even tanner against the white of the soap. She delighted with every slip and slide of her bar, over their abdomens, along their shoulders, and into the crevices that beckoned for her kiss.
Moaning, she edged forward as Jax moved behind her, putting all his attention to her back and then down to her butt cheeks. She pushed back as she ran the bar over Ed’s crotch and watched his reaction.
Darton laid his soap on the small built-in seat and sat down. “Enough of that. I want this.” He cupped water to pour over her mons. A growl-like groan came a second before he gripped the backs of her legs and pulled her to him. She let out a cry as he thrust two fingers into her pussy and captured her clit between his teeth.
“He’s right. We’re clean enough.” Jax wrapped his arm under her breasts and caught a nipple with his other hand. He tweaked the already taut bud, torturing it until sharp, yet pleasurable pains stung into her breast. “Now let’s get dirty again.”
Their mouths ravaged her. Their hands possessed her. She gave herself to them, wanting nothing more out of life than to stay in the shower with them by her side. It was a fanciful idea, but wasn’t that the point of fanciful ideas? To go where logic failed to go?
“Gotta have you.” Darton eased back a few inches so that his back was against the other wall. Keeping her steady, he brought her against him as he supported his precarious lean against the tile. His cock, hard as any steel rod, pushed against her pussy lips, demanding passage. “Don’t worry about slipping. I’ll keep us both up.”
She didn’t know how he could do it. The water had washed the soap off his front, but not his back. Still, she trusted him. She let him lift her off her feet. Gripping his shoulders hard enough to dig her fingernails into them, she wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to him.
He shoved his cock hard, driving deep inside her. His jaw tightened as he thrust into her again, even harder than before. Her hair stuck to her breasts and tickled his face as he caught a nipple in his mouth.
Jax pulled her hair back and nibbled on her shoulder as the steam grew thicker, as thick as smoke. An acrid smell filled the room as though incense had been lit. “Don’t worry. This won’t hurt much. Not with me.”
Her pants were her only answer. How could she think, much less speak, while they took her?
In the next moment, she was caught unaware as Jax bent lower and eased his cock between her butt cheeks to find her tight hole. She tensed, expecting his entry to hurt, but it didn’t. Instead, the slight pain was more like a love nip, a pinch of pain that heralded incredible pleasure. He nibbled at her back, murmuring soft words that weren’t clear, yet she understood their intent. He filled her, driving into her now at a faster pace.
She was imprisoned between the two men. Lifting her gaze to Ed’s, she silently told him what she wanted. He grabbed her by the back of her neck and helped her bring her mouth to his cock.
Forgotten were the pieces of soap they’d tossed aside. Forgotten was the heat drenching their bodies. Forgotten was the rising heat, the thick smoke encompassing them. The only thing to remember was how well they fit together. How each men seemed to fill an empty spot in her, not only a physical, puzzle-piece-to-puzzle-piece way but in an emotional way she wouldn’t have believed could exist.
Darton slammed into her, driving her against Jax. She held on to Ed’s cock, nonetheless, needing to keep all three of them inside her.
They’d become one in a short time. Perhaps once their bodies had quenched their cravings for each other, they’d move apart. Yet she wondered how that would be possible. Could she breathe again without them near her? Could she live a life constantly wondering where they were and who they were with?
As she wondered, her hand slipped over a fading bruise along Ed’s body. Heartache struck her. They’d been injured because of her. Without her asking, they’d put themselves in danger yet again. How could she ask them to risk everything for her? How could she ask them to face a man so cruel that he’d burn cattle alive? A tear streamed down her cheek but was lost in a rivulet of water.
She couldn’t let them get hurt because of her. Not again.
A cry escaped her, one of tor
ment, yet they didn’t notice. Another cry, one born of the rising climax having its way with her, broke free. She gave into the emotions and rode the wave of their passion as body met body, skin caressed skin.
She would’ve stayed there, forever wet and wild, forever safe, if it had been humanly possible. Instead, she lost control of the rolling release storming toward her. Turning Ed’s cock free a second before his growl came, heralding his orgasm, she laid her head back and screamed.
* * * *
Colby slipped from her bed. The men had left her side earlier that morning, no doubt to get to the ranch chores. As Darton had mentioned the night before, “the sooner the chores get done, the faster we can get back in bed.”
She wiped away the tear sliding down her cheek. After a night of tossing and turning, watching them sleep and agonizing over her decision, she’d made up her mind. What choice did she have? No land, not even her father’s ranch, was worth risking their lives. If Rick could be so callous to burn cattle alive, then who knew what else he was capable of? The men would go to any length to protect her and to keep her land and livestock safe, but what right did she have to let them?
She’d fallen in love with them. It was fast and furious, but it was as real as the love she’d believed she’d had with Rob. No, better. She’d loved Rob for a while, but the intensity of the emotions she felt for these men was different, far superior, far stronger.
Strong enough to let them go if it meant keeping them safe.
Telling them her decision would do no good. They’d talk her out of it. She was putty in their hands. They could seduce her with a touch and a look. Instead, she’d take the coward’s way out. She dug through the drawer of the small desk in the corner of her room and found the pen and paper.
A noise above her drew her attention away. She’d been hearing a lot of noises in the attic lately. Was it mice? Or bats? Either way, she wasn’t going back up there to find out. Besides, it didn’t matter now.
Is a note better than an e-mail?
Wiping away another tear, she sat down and let her heartache flow onto the paper.
