Hearts on Fire 4: Kisses Sweeter Than Pie (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  He pulled her closer. “Don’t test my patience, Nina. I want answers now. What’s your last name? The real one.” She shook her head and tried pulling away. “Where did you come from? What are you running from?”

  “Stop it. Just stop asking me questions that aren’t any of your business.” She raised her voice and pulled from his grasp.

  “Don’t walk away from me, Nina. We’re the good guys.”

  “Ha!” she said as she turned to look up at them. “You’re just like every other man. You’re just like him. You come in here and make your demands and threaten. You want to lock me up on bullshit, then do it. Put me in jail. I’ll probably be safer in there,” she said, her voice cracking.

  “What does that mean?” Trent asked her.

  “Someone hurt you? Was it a man, a boyfriend?” Buddy asked, and Trent grew angrier. Could the marks on her back and her forearms be from the guy who hurt her?

  “Why do you want to know? Why do you need to?” she asked as she sat back down on the couch.

  “Because we care about you. We want to get to know you. Johnny explained it today.”

  “I can’t be what you want me to be. What he wants. I’m not good enough for one of you, never mind three.”

  “What? Are you out of your mind?” Buddy asked, moving next to her on the couch.

  She looked at him and then closed her eyes. “I’m nothing, no one. I’m just trying to live. It’s all I want to do is survive and be free. But everything around me turns into a problem, a conflict, a disaster. It’s like I’m destined to fail, no matter what. It’s him. He warned me. He told me that I would be nothing without him. I’m not saying any more.”

  Buddy covered her knee with his hand and leaned closer. “Nina, you’re not making any sense. We’re both trying to understand what’s going on here. Help us. This guy, whoever he is from your past, obviously did a number on you. We can handle that. We can work through that. But right now we need to know if you’re involved in these arsons or if you can help us stop this individual who’s committing these crimes. Please, you can help and it can save lives.”

  Slowly she looked up toward him with tears in her eyes. She stared at his face as if she were absorbing every line and wrinkle, or perhaps she was searching for safety in his eyes. Buddy wasn’t sure but he was losing his patience and he was also feeling more and more attracted to Nina.

  “Answer him, Nina,” Trent said. Hard-core, demanding, get-what-he-wants-when-he-wants-it Trent.

  She stirred slightly at Trent’s tone but remained looking into Buddy’s eyes.

  “I saw the one you’re probably looking for. It’s a teenager. The night of the fire at my place he was wearing a red jersey with the word Costa or something on the back in white letters. He also had a baseball cap on. The Yankees. He was five feet seven, and blond hair was coming from his cap. He carried a box and put it near or in the Dumpster. Tonight when I left work, I took the back side streets because the main road was too crowded, and even on my way this afternoon I was nearly hit by a car.”

  Buddy was concerned about that, too. At least she took precautions.

  “Was it the same guy tonight?” Trent asked, but she wouldn’t look at him. She held Buddy’s gaze. He gave her knee a gentle squeeze. “Nina?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not a hundred-percent sure. It was kind of dark but his movements, his body in the clothing looked similar. But I couldn’t make out the blond hair. Maybe it was tucked under his hat this time. But he did the same thing. He put some box or something in the Dumpster, and then he turned, and it seemed like he looked right at me because I stopped the bike on the sidewalk and watched him. Then he sprinted. I looked around and there were people there, you know, heading to their cars or walking from the school when the explosion sounded. I saw people on the ground and I immediately ran to the pay phone, called the police, and then left.” She lowered her eyes and looked down at her hands.

  “Nina, you did the right thing. You called for help and you left the description of the criminal involved. But you didn’t have to run. The police, Trent, Jake, and I would ensure your safety.”

  She shook her head and seemed to be shaking. He could feel her leg moving.

  “She couldn’t, or her information would go into the system and this guy, whoever it is she fears, could find her,” Trent stated. Nina looked right up at him. His arms were crossed, and his intense stare even hit a nerve with Buddy.

  They were all silent and then Nina stood up and started walking away.

  “You got what you wanted. This should be enough. There had to be other witnesses this time. Interview the victims, the ones who fell to the ground. They were closer than I was.”

  Trent grabbed her hand. She paused and looked up at him.

  “The questions aren’t over.”

  * * * *

  Nina was just about feeling numb. She really wanted to trust them. She wanted them to know who she was, where she came from, and how hard her life had been. Not because she wanted sympathy but because she felt terrible lying to them and hiding who she was. Maybe if she told them, they would see that she was trash, worthless, and used goods, as Rico called her.

  But they were so attractive and strong. A tinge of hope that they could care, truly care about her, filtered through her body. She felt empowered around them and capable. Everywhere else she felt weak and vulnerable. But how could that be? She barely knew them.

  Just looking over both men made her heart hammer inside her chest, and her body reacted, too. They were attractive, muscular, and even now, late at night with Trent in need of a shave, he looked rugged and capable. Even in the dress shirt, his neck muscles and traps, she thought they were called, stood out. His muscles had muscles, and his dress shirt didn’t hide his physique. Add in the gun and the badge and she was shaking like a leaf.

  “I will not hurt you. We won’t put you in harm’s way. Our questions now are for us to know. For Johnny, Buddy, and I to know the woman we want is real and not lying to us.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t want me,” she said, her voice quivering with emotion.

  He pulled her closer, ran his hand under her hair to the base of her head, directing her to look up at him. Standing here barefoot, he towered over her and represented all she feared. The capabilities of a man, a trained law enforcement officer, both aroused her and scared the heck out of her. With her oversensitive breasts pressed snug against his iron-hard chest, it wreaked havoc on her brain. She lost all control to fight this attraction and to not let him get closer. Then it was too late. Trent covered her mouth and kissed her.

  Unlike Johnny, who took his time and progressed to a deeper kiss with ease, Trent went full throttle. He stroked his tongue deeply, his one hand held her head in support and in a dominant way that somehow didn’t cause fear and instead caused arousal. When he used his other hand to move over her ass to squeeze her closer to him, the significance of the difference in size between them made every feminine part fill with excitement. She moaned into his mouth and was lost in his kiss when suddenly she felt a second set of hands on her hips. She knew Buddy joined them, as she felt his firm, hard body pressed against her back. His cock, long, hard, and thick, fit snugly against her ass and wild ideas filled her mind. Being taken sexually by three men would mean anal sex. At least Rico hadn’t had time to force that upon her, too.

  With thoughts of Rico came fear and inadequacy. Despite what she thought about these men’s sexual experience and extent of women they shared, she still felt undeserving of them and their attention.

  She pulled from Trent’s lips and panted for breath as he held her close, her mouth now against his neck. She felt Buddy’s lips kissing her shoulder, then her neck before she could tell them she needed a reprieve, time to think and process this, time to push them away out of her own fears and past indiscretions. Buddy turned her face toward him and kissed her.

  Trent released her to his brother and she turned in Buddy’s arms as he p
ulled her tight against him and devoured her moans. She was beyond overwhelmed, she was on a high, off this planet and in a place she wished she could be forever. It was so dramatic, so deep and emotional that she hadn’t realized she was crying until Buddy released her lips and hugged her tight. He caressed her back, her head, and her shoulders.

  “It’s going to be okay. Don’t cry,” he whispered, his warm breath against the top of her head.

  “My God, Nina, what did this guy do to you?” Trent asked, and she squeezed Buddy tight.

  “He took everything. My heart, my soul, my body, and ruined it for anyone else. Alone is where I belong. Alone.” She muffled her anguished cry against Buddy’s shirt and solid chest. To feel him for just a few more second would have to last her a lifetime in her lonely world. It was how she thought it needed to be.

  * * * *

  Buddy locked gazes with his brother Trent over Nina’s head. He continued to hold her, and Buddy could tell that Trent was not going to accept Nina’s response to them. Not when she just kissed them the way she did, and they obviously both felt the same chemistry. Johnny did, too, and if he were here right now he wouldn’t stand for it. Trent was the hard-ass of the family. He was the demanding one and expected a lot in a woman he bedded, but this was more. Nina was more than just a woman they wanted sexually.

  They were attracted to her in all aspects, and the key part that made this so different was that the three of them wanted her. She was what they hoped they could find one day. A woman who would allow three men, three brothers, to love her, cherish her, and care for her in every way. Nina’s defiance, stubbornness, and self-sacrificing days were over.

  “Your response to our kisses is unacceptable,” Trent stated before Buddy could suggest that they sit down and talk things through. Despite being a bit of a disciplinary himself, Buddy was also pretty diplomatic about things. He never jumped the gun and he always looked for the signs, the things one least expected before he jumped to conclusions. It was part of his career as a detective.

  Buddy felt Nina cling to him and then abruptly pull away. She backed up until her rear hit the end table and Trent made his move.

  “Don’t look at me like that. Don’t look at me like I could hurt you.”

  * * * *

  Trent wasn’t sure what to think. He was fighting with himself about how to react to a number of things. His feelings for Nina, the desire to make her his and his brothers’, and the need to take the fear away and to know what happened to her to make her feel so inadequate. She was insecure, fearful, timid and lacking in self-confidence. As an older man with more experience, he couldn’t help but to think that Nina was abused. Perhaps even raped. It made him sick with anger. But he also had his brothers to look out for. Johnny was already so into her that if she took off or simply negated their advances, it would hurt him.

  She gripped the wood on the end table and stared at him with such fear that her face looked pale. He didn’t look at Buddy. This was his job as the oldest male to handle a situation like this. If Nina wasn’t ready to accept their help, their affection, then they would have to leave her alone.

  “You’re being aggressive. You’re trying to control me and make demands. I’m confused.”

  “Look at me. Look at me, Nina,” he stated firmly. She did immediately. He held her gaze and absorbed the site of her mocha eyes, the fear and sadness in them. It tugged at his heart but he needed to be firm. He needed her to know she was safe with them.

  “My brothers and I will not hurt you. We don’t hit women, we don’t force ourselves on them. That’s not our thing. We’re older than you, I understand your fears, and I think, if my gut is right, someone, a man, abused you.” Her eyes widened, her lips parted as if she was going to deny it, but then she stopped and he continued to speak.

  “Perhaps he even forced himself on you, used you and that innocence you still seem to display, because that’s who you are.”

  Her eyes welled up with tears. He was right on the money. He needed to ignore the pull toward anger to know who the fucker was who did this to her. To such a sweet, vulnerable, young woman like Nina.

  “Maybe you’ve been on your own, took off, left him because of the abuse and you’ve been running since. Am I close?” he whispered, stepping closer. Easing his way near her so she would feel his masculinity and perhaps find strength in it. The thought seemed pompous, but he was following his instincts, and they had yet to fail him with Nina.

  She swallowed hard. “I don’t want to talk about him,” she whispered.

  “I think you need to explain it to us so we can understand.”

  “Why?”

  He took a deep breath and released it as he eyed her over. The woman was built for him, for his brothers. She had everything they desired in a lover.

  “Because we care, and we like you. We feel an attraction to you and we want to explore that attraction. You feel it, too, Nina.”

  She shook her head slowly.

  “Nina, I felt you clinging to me when I kissed you. Your eyes were closed, you moaned into my mouth. We can’t fight what’s right there in front of us. This is real. Take the chance and let us in.”

  She reached up to cover her mouth and suppress a cry.

  “Baby, please let us in. Talk to us and make us understand your fears. We’ll help you every step of the way,” Buddy added.

  She looked at him. “I’ve seen guys like you with all the women. You’re older, more experienced, and you’ll expect things. I’m not like those women. They cling to you, vie for your attention, they want you because of your careers, your masculinity and you—”

  “Don’t want them, we want you,” Buddy said.

  “What you say may be true. Our careers tend to attract a lot of women, but that doesn’t me we act on them. As a matter of fact, the three of us, Johnny included, haven’t been intimate with any woman in months. Don’t hold it against us. It’s a silly thing to fear. We get that you’re inexperienced when it comes to men and trusting your emotions, your body with them,” Trent said.

  “Men?” She shook her head and pulled her lips into a tight line as she lowered her eyes.

  Trent squinted his eyes at her. Looked her body over. She couldn’t be so inexperienced that she knew so little about sex and relationships. Why did he suddenly feel like he was capable of hurting her due to her fragility? Part of him wanted to step back and give her some time to adjust and the other part felt so possessive. The more she revealed about herself and her fragility, the more protective he became.

  “We don’t want those other women. We want to get to know you, learn about you in every aspect,” Buddy told her. She looked so lost. She stared between Trent and Buddy.

  “He had other women around him, too. He told me all the time it was only me he wanted, me he cared for. I was foolish enough to believe him, to feed into his control and allow him to own me. He proved he didn’t want only me.”

  “He cheated on you?” Trent asked, teeth clenched.

  “The woman I found him with said that I was too sweet, too regular to provide him with the wild things he liked to do in bed. He took my virginity and said he owned me, all of me, and no other man would ever want me, never mind have me.”

  “Asshole,” Buddy whispered. She looked at him, then toward Trent before she started to lower her eyes and fidget with her hands.

  “You don’t believe that, do you, honey?” Buddy asked.

  Trent reached out and brushed his thumb and pointer finger against Nina’s cheek and chin when she didn’t reply.

  “Dominance and control, manipulation of the mind of one so innocent. He’s the one who broke down your self-esteem, made you timid, scared of a man’s touch and affection. He can’t get to you now. He can’t have what’s ours.”

  She blinked her eyes. “I’m not yours. Didn’t you hear what I just told you? I gave him my virginity. He said he owned me and that no other man would want me or have me.”

  The tears rolled down her cheeks
. Buddy took her hand and squeezed it.

  “We want you. We care about you. They were all lies by him to control you. He probably said it over and over again, maybe even whispered into your ear when you were out in public as a reminder of his dominance and control,” Buddy said.

  She gasped and tried to hold back a cry.

  “Is that what he did, Nina?” Trent asked. She nodded her head.

  He cupped her cheek and held her gaze.

  “Lies. They were all lies for him to show power over you. He can’t control you anymore, Nina. He’s not here.”

  “He’s in my dreams, my nightmares. His words pop into my head throughout the day. I don’t have control over that fear because I know he’s coming. I know he’s looking for me.”

  “How do you know? You escaped his grasp. You got away, and you ended it.” Buddy looked at her waiting for an answer.

  She was quiet a couple of seconds and then she whispered.

  “Because I nearly killed him.”

  * * * *

  Buddy was shocked by her statement. He locked gazes with his brother, who pulled Nina into his arms and hugged her. She looked so fragile and petite in his arms. He reached out, even though her statement instantly shocked him and made him have further questions, he also felt even more compelled to protect her and to ultimately take the pain and fear away.

  “Let’s sit down and talk,” Trent suggested and led her to the couch. He sat first and didn’t release her hand. Then she sat down. She rubbed one hand up and down her thigh over her knee as Trent held her other hand. Nina took a deep breath before releasing it.

  Buddy sat down on the coffee table in front of Nina. He covered her hands with his, caressed them until she looked up at him. Trent was rubbing his hand up and down her back.

  “Okay, let’s talk this through so we understand the level of danger you might be in right now.”

  “Danger level?” she asked.