Bonzo consulted with his investors. The men standing behind him grumbled, threw up their hands, and then ultimately conceded, walking away from the crowd as if the defeat was too brutal to face.
“Going twice! Sold!” The auctioneer slammed the gavel down and shook Beck’s hand. “Congratulations, Mr. Stallard. I have a feeling you and your brother will be very happy here.”
Beck winked at Lindsey. “I think you might be right.”
* * * *
An hour later, Lindsey met them in the barn. She was humbled beyond words but angst-ridden, too. “How do I thank you for something like this?”
“Who, me?” Seth asked. “This one is on Beck.”
“I know better,” she said. “One doesn’t do anything without the other.
“Sounds like you’re speaking from a voice of experience,” Beck said, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her forehead.
“I am.” She pecked his lips and turned around in the barn, taking in the very area where they used to meet and get their gear ready for the local horse shows. Back in the day, they’d shown Arabians and American Saddlebred. They’d often competed against one another, and when her brother had been alive, he’d been right there with them.
“You ever miss him?” Seth asked, seemingly reading her mind.
“I miss who he was before the drugs,” she said honestly.
“You feel the same way about your Aunt Lisa, I guess,” Beck said.
“You know?” She had become so accustomed to her aunt being too far to reach that she really didn’t look at her as a drug addict anymore. She was a functioning addict who worked at the hospital and showed up for work day after day without any signs of an addiction.
“We’ve known for a while now,” Seth said quietly.
“Yeah, well, maybe I look over it because she’s my only living relative.”
“It’s easy to do,” Beck said.
“Not really.” She scoffed. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done but she wouldn’t listen to me anyway.”
“Enough doom and despair,” Beck said, holding up the deed. “What do you say we celebrate?”
“How would you like to kick off the celebration?” she asked, working her walk.
“Whoa!” Aunt Lisa’s voice filled the barn. “Hang loose there, boys. I don’t want an eyeful!”
“Aunt Lisa, I thought you were already gone.”
“Nope,” she said, squeezing Nathaniel’s hand. “I just wanted to pop by and tell you how sorry I am.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“For being a self-serving bitch,” she said. “It wasn’t until Nathaniel pointed it out that I realized I left this place. I left and didn’t come back. Then, when you lost it, I didn’t offer to help. It wasn’t my problem. You’ve always been the one who sacrificed for our family, Lindsey and I’m sorry you’ve had to do that.”
“Thank you.” She forced a smile. “I’m not bitter though.”
“I never thought you were,” she said. “But I want you to let me send you to college. It’s the least I can do for you and for my brother.”
“Aunt Lisa, no. I can’t…”
“You can. Consider it a—” Nathaniel poked her and she stopped talking. She looked at Beck and then searched Seth’s face, too. “Well boys, I see you’re just as slow now as you were several years ago so I’ll leave you to it.”
Nathaniel draped his arm around her shoulders and shrugged. “She’s had a long day.”
“Yep,” Beck said, seemingly pissed.
“Call me, sug,” Aunt Lisa said. “We’ll work out the details. I want to pay for your college. If you want, you can pay me back after you’re making six figures. Deal?”
“I might take you up on that then.” She kissed her aunt’s cheek and gave Nathaniel a quick hug. “Don’t be a stranger.”
“Never,” he drawled, his eyes twinkling as soon as he returned his focus to her aunt.
As they walked to their car, Beck and Seth stood on either side of Lindsey. Beck said, “Does she know that he’s the president of the Bad Riders MC?”
“She knows,” Lindsey said, thinking that was what made Aunt Lisa so extraordinary. She was resilient and she was in love. Because she was in love, she could look the other way and accept Nathaniel for his good qualities, whatever those may have been. Considering her aunt’s imperfections, Nathaniel likely did the same.
“So will you take Lisa up on the offer?” Beck asked.
“Depends,” Lindsey drawled, already expecting a proposal thanks to her aunt’s slip.
“On what?” Seth asked, grinning.
“Well I need to know what you boys have in mind. A girl can’t make plans for the future if she’s waiting on a couple of men to come to their senses.”
“I knew she fucked that up,” Beck said, clearly irked.
“No she didn’t,” Seth said, dropping to one knee. When Beck didn’t drop to the ground at once, Seth thinned his lips and nodded at the dusty barn floor.
Beck grumbled about Lisa ruining the surprise, but even that didn’t darken their moment. As Lindsey stood there eyeing her men, she couldn’t help but think about how perfect things were. In fact, she couldn’t imagine anything more.
Until, her fellows surprised her again.
Chapter Twelve
“Two rings?” She stared at the flashing diamond in one box, the emerald in the other. “Why would I need two rings?”
Seth frowned. Beck looked offended.
“I mean, I know why.” She shook her head in frustration. “I mean, it’s unnecessary. My goodness, you bought a farm today. Why would you go out and buy two rings?”
“We happen to think you’re worth it,” Seth said.
“Definitely worth it,” Beck said, giving her a heated look.
“But I clean stalls and work cattle. I toss hay and show horses.”
“Your point is?” Seth stuck his neck out and cocked his head.
“I’m not a fancy lady.”
“But you are a lady,” Seth said. “And every woman deserves to be spoiled and pampered.”
“You deserve to be spoiled and pampered, too, you know.”
“We had a mother who spoiled us. We need a wife to love us.” A serious expression washed over Beck’s face. “The truth is, we want what only you can give us.”
“And what is that?”
“Friendly banter, a chase, a challenge…” Seth’s voice trailed.
“Hot sex, good fucking,” Beck added.
“Great so you’re using me for my body.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Beck teased.
“Lindsey, it’s simple really. We want—and more importantly we need—your love.”
“I do, you know.”
Beck said, “We know, but it might be nice to hear.”
“I love you.”
“Love you back,” Beck said.
“I’ve loved you for over half my life,” Seth admitted.
“Ah, guys. You’re gonna make me cry,” Lindsey said, feeling those tears welling in her eyes.
“Then cry, but make sure they’re happy tears.” Beck removed the emerald from the box and put it on the third finger of her left hand.
Seth slipped a diamond on her right hand. “Marry us.”
“Say yes, Lindsey.”
She held her hands out and studied the lovely jewelry. The rings were symbols of their love and she didn’t doubt that love, which made her all the more confident when she said, “I wouldn’t dream of marrying anyone else.”
“Of course you wouldn’t.” Seth leapt to his feet and spun her around and around.
Beck was at her back as soon as Seth released her. Lifting her hair, he pecked her nape with quick kisses. “And now we have a wedding to plan.”
“I’d rather practice.”
“Practice?” Beck arched a brow.
“Hmm. Hmm.” She patted the front of Beck’s jeans and grabbed Seth’s thick package, too. “A girl has to get ready for action if
she plans to spend her honeymoon in bed.”
Laughter filled the barn until a gunshot was fired into the air. Seth and Beck jumped in front of her before they saw who was on the other side of the barn.
“Take her back to the house,” Beck grated out, walking ahead of Seth and Lindsey.
“Beck, no!” Lindsey screamed, trying to stop him and fearing who he’d face at the other end of the barn.
“Found my contract.” As if paper held water, Bonzo held up the agreement in one hand and a gun in the other.
The horses neighed in their stalls. A few of the studs pounded their hooves against the concrete walls.
“What’d ya mean by coming in here with a gun? Do you have a death wish?”
“Seth, he’s not here alone!” Lindsey tried to pull free of Seth’s grip as he dragged her into the small office tucked behind the foaling stall. “We have to go back.”
“I will, but the men need to handle this.” Seth stopped long enough to frame her face with his large, callused hands. “Stay here.” Before she could argue, he closed the door and locked it from the outside.
She kicked the door, cursing her confinement. This was precisely why she and the Stallard brothers had fallen out all those years ago. They’d locked her in the barn office and she’d missed her eighth-grade prom.
Marching back and forth, she cursed under her breath. This was more serious than a stupid dance.
Her men were out there facing a terrible man, a ruthless businessperson who wanted to hold her feet to the fire. It would be hell on earth before she’d take her clothes off for strangers.
She paused, listened, and could’ve sworn she heard a scuffle. Throwing her weight against the door, she groaned when the darn thing didn’t budge. “Let me out of here, Seth Stallard!”
Gathering courage to try again, she went to the far wall and took off at a run. She had just turned sideways to throw her weight against the blasted thing when the door swung open.
Landing on the ground, she stared up at her men, dazed and confused. “Where’s the asshole?”
“By asshole, I assume you’re talking about me?” Bonzo appeared above her then, too.
“What is he still doing here?”
“He wanted to tell you something,” Beck explained, reaching for her.
She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. “Go ahead. Tell her.”
“I wanted to extend my heartfelt congratulations,” Bonzo said stiffly.
“Heartfelt?” Her gaze worked from one man to the other. “Why heartfelt?”
“Thank him,” Beck said out of the corner of his mouth.
“No,” she said stubbornly. “This man sent his men to threaten my aunt. He tried to hold me to a contract that was manipulated from the start. He promised one thing in order to get my signature but then the contract meant another. He can jump off a moving tractor!”
“I see why the two of you find her so interesting,” Bonzo said. “She’s entertaining.”
“She is that,” Beck said, tilting his head at the end of the barn. “Shall we?”
“Seth.” Bonzo shook his hand and then turned to Lindsey and nodded. “Lindsey.”
She looked away. Regardless of his well wishes, she wouldn’t shake his hand or look him in the eye. He had a chance to be a respectable businessman but apparently honor wasn’t in his business plan.
“So what happened while I was under lock and key?” She was pouting.
“Guess.”
“Blackmail, threats, coercion?”
“You’ve mistaken me for my brother,” Seth teased.
“Never,” she said, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a passionate kiss. “You’re bullies. You know that, right?”
He winked. “We look after our own.”
Beck returned and pulled her away from Seth. After another bout of kissing, she was released. “Is everything handled with Bonzo?”
“Absolutely.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “So I’m off the hook and stripping isn’t in my future.”
Seth and Beck looked at her as if she’d just spoken a new language. “What?”
“Stripping is definitely in your future,” Beck said. “Your immediate future.”
“Then you’ll have to buy a pole and promise to be an attentive audience. Deal?”
Without missing a beat, they chimed in and said, “Deal.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A Siren-exclusive author and international bestseller, Natalie Acres divides her time between East Tennessee and Mystic, Connecticut where she dotes on her granddoll. She and her husband are the proud parents of three pampered dogs and two grown children, with an emphasis on grown. Keep in touch with Natalie by following her on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/NatalieAcres
For all titles by Natalie Acres, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/natalie-acres
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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Tap That (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 7
