by Jenny Penn
Cattleman’s Club 8
Kristen Blooming
Always the good girl, Kristen’s about to take a walk on the wild side. Brandon and Dylan fall hard and fast, becoming determined to tempt Kristen into a lifestyle that leaves her uptight parents shocked and Kristen with a choice to make—live by her parents' rules or her own?
Brandon and Dylan don’t care about the rules. They just want the girl, and there isn’t anything they won’t do to claim Kristen as their own. Will they be able to convince Kristen they want her forever?
Things get complicated as her cousin Gwen’s conniving schemes start to come to light and loyalties get tested. Is Kristen willing to take a chance on Brandon and Dylan? Will she betray her parents? Her cousin?
As Kristen’s life begins to bloom, so do the hard questions she has to ask herself.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 67,561 words
KRISTEN BLOOMING
Cattleman’s Club 8
Jenny Penn
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
KRISTEN BLOOMING
Copyright © 2015 by Jenny Penn
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63259-500-3
First E-book Publication: July 2015
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2015 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
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www.SirenPublishing.com
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
About the Author
KRISTEN BLOOMING
Cattleman’s Club 8
JENNY PENN
Copyright © 2015
Prologue
Sunday, July 20th
Kristen watched the woman cutting through the bakery with a determined stride that had everybody glancing in her direction. It helped that she was tall, well rounded, and held herself with the kind of confidence supermodels strutted with down the catwalk. The woman had it, that thing that only stars had, and Kristen was no star.
She was more like a back-up singer, part of the chorus of crazy people that she was slowly getting to know in her new hometown. Pittsview wasn’t like Dothan. It wasn’t big, not enough that a person couldn’t move around in anonymity, but here…everybody knew everybody. More importantly they all knew each other’s business, which was taking a lot of getting used to, especially now that she had some business.
That thought had her warming as her mind drifted toward Brandon and Dylan. The two men had opened her life up to a world of erotic pleasures she’d never dreamed existed. More than that, they’d opened up her heart. That was what she held on to as Wanda Davis finally came to a stop beside her table.
“Kristen Harold?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kristen nodded, feeling strangely small and suddenly quite young next to this woman.
She had to be six feet tall if she was an inch and packed full of the kind of muscles normally only men had. That explained why so many of the men were afraid of her. Kristen had heard the tales and rumors surrounding Wanda and knew that she didn’t take shit from anybody.
“Oh, please, call me Wanda.” The woman waved away Kristen’s response with a warm smile as she plunked her large purse into the seat opposite Kristen and took the one next to her. “And I’m going to call you Kristen. Is that okay?”
“Yes…Wanda.” Kristen hesitated as the other woman’s gaze narrowed on her for a second before lightening up as Kristen managed to get her name out.
“That’s good, honey.” Wanda nodded to her, pausing to order a soda as the waitress stopped by before turning a curious glance back at Kristen.
There was something about Wanda’s eyes that warned Kristen that she could see deeper than the surface. It was as if she could almost feel Wanda probing at her very thoughts and weighing them. It was quite disconcerting, but no more than the woman’s bluntness.
“You look nervous as hell, honey. Something wrong?”
“No,” Kristen answered, instinctively going with the polite response, but Wanda’s lifted brow assured her the other woman knew she’d just lied. That made Kristen squirm as she tried to backtrack a little.
“It’s just that I’m not sure what I can do to help you.” Actually Kristen knew what she could do and what she should do. She didn’t do either but sat there fidgeting beneath Wanda’s studious gaze.
“It’s not what you can do
for me, honey, but what I can do for you,” Wanda finally corrected her as she reached out to cover both of Kristen’s much smaller hands with one of her own. “I want to tell you how sorry I am about your cousin.”
That, along with the warmth of Wanda’s grip, had Kristen stilling as she glanced up at the other woman in amazement. Other than Dylan and Brandon, nobody had expressed their condolences about Gwen’s untimely passing. That was because nobody felt bad. Kristen knew how most of the fine citizens of Pittsview had felt about her cousin, knew, too, that whatever sympathy they did express was less than sincere.
Wanda, though, seemed different. She leaned forward, her tone growing somber and the compassion all but shining in her gaze as she gave Kristen’s hand a squeeze.
“I know that this has to be a hard and difficult time. The way people are around here…” Wanda sighed and shook her head as she cast a glance over the rest of the patrons. “They have their opinions, don’t they?”
Kristen hesitated to answer, licking her lips and following Wanda’s gaze to meet the curious looks of the other customers. They were being watched, watched and whispered about. It had been like that ever since Gwen had died.
“Yes,” Kristen finally agreed as she turned back to meet Wanda’s stare. “Some of them are even entitled to their opinions.”
“But none of them had the right to kill your cousin.” Wanda didn’t even hesitate to lay that down with a firm conviction that touched Kristen.
“No.” She straightened up in her seat. “No, they didn’t.”
She and Wanda shared a look that was broken up by the return of the waitress. She dropped off Wanda’s soda and picked up both of their orders before scurrying off. After she left, the mood was different.
Wanda started in about her job, opening up to Kristen in a way that made it impossible for her not to respond in kind. Despite all the rumors and warnings, Wanda wasn’t scary in the slightest. She was just a woman, a woman who obviously cared. That was something Kristen could relate to.
Finally when the plates were cleared and the coffee had arrived, the conversation turned back around to Gwen. By then Kristen’s guards were all down, and she was certain that she could trust this woman. That really wasn’t the question. The question was whether or not she could be of any help.
“I’m not sure what I can tell you about my cousin that you probably haven’t heard all over town.” Kristen took a deep breath and dropped her gaze, hating to have to admit to the truth. “Whatever rumors you might have heard, they’re probably all true.”
“I’m not interested in rumors,” Wanda assured her, placing her hand back over Kristen’s and offering her strength. “I’m here to learn about the other side of Gwen, about what she was like as a cousin.”
“As a cousin?” Kristen hadn’t ever really thought of it that way. “I guess…she was…giving. I mean, she helped me get my job, let me move in, and even lent me money to buy the things I needed.”
“Why don’t we start there, then?” Wanda suggested. “Why don’t you tell me what it was like to move in with her?”
“Well…” Kristen paused, thinking back all those months to when she’d finally convinced her mother to let her move in with Gwen. “It was like…”
Chapter 1
Wednesday, May 7th
“Are you sure about this, sweetheart?” Marissa Harold looked around the small room Gwen had offered Kristen and frowned, her thoughts clear on her face.
Kristen couldn’t blame her mother for them. Marissa Harold was a proper kind of lady. Her skirts never stopped above the knee. Her makeup was always discreet. Her hair came from the 1970s. The only problem with that was it was twenty-first century, and Kristen wanted to wear a mini.
She’d be able to get away with that at Gwen’s. Her cousin, Gwen, was a free spirit, living in the moment. She was the rebel in the family, living on her own as single woman, dating more than one man at a time. Most horrifying, she didn’t even go to church on Sunday.
Kristen had always sort of admired her for that. She’d been raised with so many rules that she felt stifled by them, but not any longer. She was twenty-two and starting her first real job as a clerk in the City of Pittsview’s accounting office. It was a good choice. She’d make enough money to either move out on her own or, maybe, even go to the college over in Troy.
The one place she was certainly not moving back to was Dothan.
“It’s going to be all right, Mom,” Kristen assured her mother as she offered Marissa a quick hug. “You’ll see.”
“I don’t know.” Marissa remained unconvinced, but then she didn’t want to be comforted.
Kristen knew what her mother really wanted. How could she not when her mother mentioned it constantly?
“It’s just not right, a young lady living outside her parents’ house.” Marissa glanced around the room. “And, really, look at this room, sweetheart. It’s small…and the furniture, I have feeling it came used.”
Her mother imparted that bit of criticism in a whisper that left no doubt of her thoughts about second-hand goods and had Kristen rolling her eyes.
“There is nothing wrong with this room,” Kristen insisted, though, truthfully, it was a little small.
Back at home, her father had converted half the attic into a large bedroom for her. The other half had been her playroom growing up and evolved into her rec room as a teenager and her living room as an adult, and adult women really should be allowed to have a man in their living room, but her parents had a no-men rule.
Hell, they even still had a curfew for Kristen, which probably explained why she’d never had a real boyfriend. Worse, Kristen began to realize that she was boring. That was what had prompted her to finally take that step and apply for a job. She was going on an adventure. Good or bad, it had to be better than boring.
“It’ll be all right, Mom. You’ll see.” Kristen didn’t have anything else to offer her mother. There was nothing else, nothing else but listening to her complain.
“What I see is shabby sheets, and not the chic kind you see in the magazines.” Marissa froze, her eyes widening. “I bet there are roaches and spiders, and you know how much you hate bugs.”
“That’s why I have Gwen here, to help me take care of them.”
“And that’s why I need Kristen here.” Gwen stepped into the doorway, obviously having heard her aunt’s comment about her house. “Maybe she’ll teach me to live bug free.”
That obnoxious retort drew a quick frown across Marissa’s brow as she turned to offer her niece a look Kristen knew well. Manners, though, had to be maintained. So instead of correcting Gwen for her rudeness, Marissa tried in vain to correct her own.
“I’m sorry, Gwen.” Her mother actually apologized, not that it sounded anything but strained. “I didn’t mean anything by that. You have a lovely home.”
“Yeah, I know.” Gwen’s smile assured everybody that she knew more than that. “But don’t worry, Aunt Marissa. I’m going to take good care of your girl, and we’re going to have some fun, isn’t that right, Kristen?”
She didn’t dare say yes, a little afraid of Gwen’s smile and her definition of fun. So, Kristen smiled and allowed that to speak for her as her mother tried to salvage the moment without revealing just how horrified she was by what Gwen would define as fun. They all knew it involved men.
Kristen’s mother had always said Gwen’s skirt was a little light…and a little short, which was just her way of saying she thought her niece was a slut. While Kristen didn’t want to be a slut, she did wonder what women like Gwen found so addictive about sex.
She’d never had sex before, and the few kisses she had shared with men hadn’t left her tempted at all. It made her wonder if maybe she wasn’t gay, not that she found women appealing in that way, but who knew what she’d enjoy. Kristen was ready to find out. She couldn’t do that at home.
“I’m sure everything will work out,” Kristen said, interrupting her mother’s inane babbling. Her mom
was just digging her hole bigger anyway. “Besides, Mom, I’m going to be too busy working to get into any trouble.”
“I don’t know why you need a job in the first place,” her mother muttered, sounding sore and put out by the argument they’d been having for nearly three weeks now. At least her dad wasn’t there. He was less polite and more opinionated than her mother.
“Because I need the money to afford school.” Kristen recited her line, knowing exactly what her mother would say to that.
“I don’t know why you need to go to school.”
“Because I can’t live the rest of my life in your attic!” Just the idea panicked Kristen, but not more than her mother’s suggestion did.
“Oh, sweetheart, you won’t live there forever. You’ll find yourself a nice man to take care of you and move out.” Her mother moved in close to fluff Kristen’s hair and smile at her as though she was some kind of doll. “You’re so pretty, and there is that nice Kevin O’Leary who has been showing such polite interest in you. I don’t know why you always have to be so rude to him.”
“Because he’s like forty.” And bald and fat and he reminded her of her father, which was just disgusting.
“He owns four businesses and a car dealership,” Marissa retorted, sounding appalled that Kristen wouldn’t take that into consideration.
“I don’t need his money because I’m going to make my own.” Kristen repeated her position like a mantra.
It had sort of grown into one over the past couple of weeks. Her parents were not adjusting to her plans. They were hell-bent on forcing her into their view of the direction her life should take, which was just why her father wasn’t there.
