by Becca Van
“Are you wanting to eat in?” one of the waitresses asked as she paused beside a table to unload the plates full of food in front of three very muscular, tall, handsome men.
Bid swallowed twice as she looked each of the men over, and when she noticed they were doing the same to her, she lowered her head as heat filled her cheeks.
“I was going to, but I think maybe I’ll just get take…”
“Why don’t you sit here?” the man closest to her said.
“Um…thanks, but, I’ll…” Bid shifted on her feet, gasped, and winced when her toe throbbed painfully. She stumbled, and as she reached out to steady herself large warm hands, clasped hold of her upper arms. She looked up, and up and up, and stared into the lightest green eyes she’d ever seen. His collar-length hair was so black it looked almost blue under the fluorescent lights of the diner, and when she inhaled his clean, masculine, spicy scent, it seemed to wrap around her whole body and draw her in. She didn’t even realize that she was clutching at his massive biceps until she felt them move under her hands. She couldn’t help but look down at them as the warmth of his skin seeped into her suddenly sensitive, tingling palms and fingers.
“Are you all right? You’re hurt.”
“I–I’m okay.”
Shit! That was not my voice sounding all breathy!
“Here.” One of the other men pulled out the spare chair and the one holding her arms helped her into it.
“My name is Edrick Anders, but call me Ed. All my friends do. These are my fl—friends, Elijah Griffin and Erwin Hunter.”
Ed thrust his hand out toward her and although she didn’t want to touch him again, especially since she was still trying to calm her wayward libido after their last contact, she didn’t want to appear rude. She placed her hand in his and held in her gasp as her body lit up on the inside like the Fourth of July.
What the hell is that? Is he full of static electricity?
“Uh.” Bid licked her dry lips and tried to force words around her thick tongue. “Belinda Starling, but please call me Bid.”
“Pleased to meet you, Bid,” Ed said and released her hand.
“Hi Belinda,” Eli shoved his hand out across the table nearly knocking over the bottle of water. She was almost mesmerized by his stormy dark blue eyes, but she nearly pulled her hand away before she’d fully clasped his. Her heart stuttered and her breath caught as more static or whatever the hell that was, raced up her arm and shot through her body. She pulled away as quickly as she could without being impolite.
“Nice to meet you, Bid,” Erwin said, but instead of shaking her hand, he clasped hers as if it was the most fragile thing he’d ever held, raised it to his lips, and kissed the back of it. She was so hot all of a sudden she wondered if she was beginning to run a fever. Erwin’s brown eyes were so intent on her own, and no matter how hard she tried to look away from his gaze, she couldn’t seem to manage it.
She’d never reacted this way to any man in her life.
Her breasts felt like twice their normal size and her nipples were so damn hard and aching she wanted to squeeze them to relieve that ache. But she couldn’t do that since she was in a room full of people. Her undies felt like they were soaked through and were so uncomfortable she wanted to rush to the ladies room and take them off, but if she did that, would the cream leaking from her pussy drip down her legs? How embarrassing would that be, especially if someone saw the moisture when it got to her knees. Her skirt ended just above her knee and she wasn’t wearing any stockings or tights. Now she wished she’d chosen slacks to wear that morning instead of the formfitting skirt.
“What can I get you?”
Bid tugged her hand from Erwin’s and turned her head to see the waitress standing beside the table with her pad and pencil. “I’ll have the chicken, avocado salad sandwich, and a black coffee please.”
“Sure thing.” The waitress wrote down her order as she hurried away.
“Do you live locally?” Ed asked and then cut into the steak he’d ordered.
“Yes.”
“Have you lived here all your life?” Eli took a sip of his drink.
“Yes.”
“So you have family close by?” Erwin bit into his burger.
“No.”
“They live elsewhere?” Ed asked.
“My parents are dead,” Bid answered without any emotion inflecting her voice, but inside the grief and loneliness weighed on her heart. She lowered her head and blinked hoping to keep the moisture burning the back of her eyes away, but when a large warm hand landed on top of hers, the kind gesture just made it harder to keep her feelings under control.
“I’m sorry,” Ed said quietly. “We didn’t mean to upset you.”
She drew in a deep breath and pulled her hand out from under his. “You didn’t.”
“So how did you hurt yourself?” Eli asked and Bid was thankful in the redirection of the conversation.
“What?”
“You were limping and nearly fell over earlier, when you placed all your weight on your left foot,” Erwin said.
“Um, well, I dropped something on it last night.”
“Have you been to see a doctor?” Ed asked.
“There’s no need. It’s just bruised. Do you all live in Rock Springs?”
“No,” Eli answered.
“Do you work in this town?”
“Not usually,” Ed answered. “We have our own IT Company and work from home most of the time. We live about three hours north of here.”
“So what brought you to town?”
“We just felt like getting out for a bit,” Eli answered and glanced to his friends before meeting her eyes again. “We’ve been here before and liked the scenery so much, we decided to come back. Plus, the food here is great.”
She had a feeling these men were here for other reasons than just stated, but she didn’t really care, because she couldn’t stop looking at them. They were so ruggedly handsome her eyes were drawn to each of them again and again, no matter how much she told herself not to look. Plus, there was something about them. It was like they had something more. She didn’t really understand it herself, but if she had to explain it to anyone, she would have told them they had an inner glow.
And although she’d never been attracted enough to any man to want to go out with him, these three just seemed to float her boat. She wanted to feel their hands and mouths on her body and that was just hard for her to imagine since she’d never dated anyone. But there was an intense craving to feel what it would be like to have them touch her like the men in her dreams did. But that thought was frustrating because she knew those men weren’t real. They were a figment of her imagination, three manifestations she’d somehow conjured up because she was so alone. Maybe she had already tipped over the edge into insanity. That was the only explanation she could come up with to why she was dreaming of imaginary lovers.
Besides, if she had to choose between the three of them she couldn’t have. Her dormant libido had woken up with a vengeance. She wanted all three of them and she knew that just wasn’t possible.
Not that they’d asked her out, but if they did she would have to decline. There was no way she could pick one over the other, and to her that was a travesty.
Her heart ached, tears burned the back of her eyes, and she found herself rubbing her chest right between her breasts.
Why did she feel like her heart was being ripped out, breaking in two, when she’d only just met them?
Something strange was going on and not just because she had feelings for these three men. Wally had been behaving so weird and she had a feeling that something evil was coming.
Why she thought that, she had no clue. Maybe she should just get her meal to go and leave. Maybe she needed to make an appointment with a therapist, but she quickly vetoed that idea. If she told anyone about the dreams she was having or that she thought her boss was malevolent without anything to show why she felt that way, she would probably be locked up i
nto that padded room and the key thrown away.
There was no way in hell she was letting anyone lock her up. She would just have to work out a way to deal with her insanity on her own and hope she came out of whatever she was dealing with, with her sanity intact.
Chapter Four
Erwin could hear Belinda’s heart pounding inside of her chest, but what made it hard for him to concentrate and keep his beast from escaping was the sweet musky scent of her desire. But when he smelled salt, he turned to see her lowering her gaze as she stared at the table. Was she trying not to cry? Had he and his friends somehow upset her, hurt her in some way?
He couldn’t not reach out to his mate to find out what was wrong, so he nudged her chin up with a knuckle. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she answered in a husky voice.
Erwin knew that for the lie it was, but before he could press the issue the waitress brought out her food. Belinda took the opportunity to pull away from him and started nibbling on her sandwich.
“How do we get her to spend more time with us?” Erwin asked using their beasts’ mind connection.
“I don’t know,” Ed answered and looked at their woman with sad eyes.
They were so close and yet so far. It was hard to remain cool and calm in her presence when his dragon kept pushing him to claim her, but they couldn’t do that of course. There was so much they needed to tell her, but first she needed to get to know him and his flight brothers. But how the fuck were they going to do that when she seemed to be pulling away from them already. Sure she was attracted to all of them, but she was withdrawing further and further the longer she sat with them. His animal was clawing at his insides and grumbling, making it almost impossible to keep a tight reign over him, but he pushed down hard and sighed when his inner beast settled down for now.
“Would you be interested in going on a date?” Ed asked out of the blue.
Bid glanced at him and looked down at her plate, her cheeks tinged pink and although she was shaking her head already, the scent of her desire grew stronger.
“Uh, um.” She licked her lips nervously before taking a sip of her coffee. “Thank you, but I can’t.”
“Why not?” Eli asked in a hard voice.
Erwin wanted to kick his friend but knew better than to incite his inner turmoil. The last thing they needed was for his dragon to put in an appearance. They didn’t have to full shift for their animal to be noticeable. If their dragons came too close to the surface, their eyes changed and there was no way in hell a human wouldn’t notice the lengthening of their pupils or how their irises glowed. Plus their talons could erupt from their fingertips and scales sometimes flowed across their bodies before disappearing again. That would be a dead giveaway that they weren’t humans.
“I–I…I don’t date.”
“Why not?” Eli asked again, and this time Erwin kicked him in the shin, which earned him a glare.
“You’d be safe with us, little one,” Ed said in a quiet voice.
“W–What?” Bid looked up at each of them, her eyes wide as if she were shocked.
“We would never hurt you, honey,” Erwin said and ran a hand down her back, trying to put her at ease and offer comfort at the same time.
“What do you mean by ‘we’?” She’d whispered her question and glanced about as if trying to see if anyone was listening or looking at them.
“We’re all very attracted to you, Belinda,” Eli stated in a matter-of-fact voice.
“Oh god.” Her shoulders lifted up and rounded as if trying to protect herself from them, but Erwin realized she was stressed and shocked. He probably would have been, too, if he’d been her.
She grabbed her bag, placed a twenty-dollar bill on the table, and rose to her feet. Erwin wanted to grab hold of her wrist and pull her back down, but didn’t want to make a scene and draw any unnecessary attention to them, so he remained still.
“Thanks for letting me share your table,” she said before turning and limping quickly away.
“Well fuck!” Erwin glared at his friends. “Did you have to come on so damn fast? You fucking scared her away.”
“Damn it!” Ed scrubbed a hand over his face. “I know. Shit! I lost it.”
“You sure as hell did.” Erwin glared at him and then Eli.
“Her scent was driving me crazy,” Eli said as if that explained his pushiness.
“It was me, too, but I managed to keep it together.”
“I’m sorry,” Ed murmured.
“Me, too.” Eli sighed.
“What the fuck do we do now?” Erwin asked.
* * * *
Bid’s heart was beating so fast she was having trouble breathing. When Eli had said that they were all attracted to her she’d been shocked, but she’d also been tempted to accept the offer of a date.
By the time she got back to City Hall, she could barely walk. She sunk into her office chair and cringed as she gently pried the shoe off her left foot with the toes of her right. When she saw how swollen and bruised her big toe was, she knew it was broken. She was going to have to go see a doctor and have it X-rayed.
Wally walked into her office, and from the red in his cheeks and the anger on his face, he was definitely not happy.
“Where the fuck have you been?”
Bid’s mouth dropped open in shock. He’d never spoken to her like that before and she didn’t have to put up with his foul mouth. It wasn’t the fact the he’d sworn at her that made her ire rise, it was how he’d spoken to her.
“I was out to lunch. You know, that hour I’m entitled to have off to have something to eat.”
“Don’t be a fucking smartass. I need you to find me the documents on the Trent property.”
“I can’t. I need to go and see a doctor. I think I broke my toe.” Bid replied through clenched teeth and lifted her foot to show her boss she wasn’t mucking around.
“I don’t give a shit about your toe. Go and get me those fucking papers.” Wally leaned his hands on her desk and got into her face.
“No.”
“What did you just say?” he snarled his answer, spittle flying from his mouth and hit her nose.
She cringed, grabbed a tissue from the box on her desk, and wiped the spit from her face before throwing it in the trash.
“What is your problem, Wally? You been really angry the last couple of days?”
“Mind your own fucking business and do what you’re told.” He pointed his finger so close she was tempted to bite it off, but since she had no idea about his hygiene, she wasn’t putting her mouth anywhere near that digit. Just the thought of him touching her, or her touching him, made her stomach roil.
“I don’t need to put up with this.” Belinda carefully pushed her foot back into her shoe, saved her work, and shut her computer off. She lifted her bag from the corner of her desk, slung it over her shoulder, and rose to her feet. “I’m taking the rest of the day off. I am going to see a doctor and will get a medical certificate. I have plenty of sick leave up my sleeve, so there is nothing you can do about it.”
Belinda eyed Wally’s red face and the veins standing out on his forehead. He looked like he was about to have a coronary.
“If you walk out that door, don’t bother coming the fuck back.”
“Fuck you, Wally,” Bid snapped as she limped out the door.
“No. Fuck you, you’re fired.”
Tears burned her eyes but she wouldn’t let them fall. Wally had no reason to fire her, but she was in too much pain to care about him and his weird behavior right now. She really needed to see a doctor and get some painkillers. Lucky for her there was a clinic two doors down and she entered the office five minutes later. It took her that long to walk there with her bung toe.
Twenty minutes later, she juggled with the crutches she’d rented and tried to keep their weight off of her left foot as per doctor’s orders while she paid her bill.
When exiting the door she bumped into a big, muscular, warm body and sh
rieked when she started to fall. She closed her eyes and waited for herself to go splat on the pavement, but large arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her against a big body.
“Shit! Are you okay, Bid?”
She tilted her head way back and looked up into Ed’s light green eyes and sighed as her body started to light up again.
“Yeah,” she replied and then rested her forehead on his sternum. She could hear and feel his heartbeat and it seemed to be in sync with her own. Once more her breasts swelled, her nipples hardened, and her pussy throbbed. And then her day caught up with her and the tears she’d been trying to hold back began to trickle down her cheeks.
“No, you’re not,” Ed said and took her crutches from her under her arms before passing them over to Eli.
She squeaked when he swept her up into his arms and although she tried to stop crying, the tears just seemed to flow faster.
“Where you heading home, baby?” Erwin asked.
Bid nodded.
“Where is your car parked?” Eli asked.
“Out in the back lot of City Hall,” she gasped out.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, we’ll take care of you,” Ed said before dropping a kiss on the top of her head. She felt so safe and protected in his arms, she never wanted to leave. Although she should be protesting and demanding her put her down, she didn’t want to. She wanted to have them look after her, even if it was only until she got back home, so she remained silent.
“Where are your keys, honey?” Ed asked.
She surreptitiously wiped her face and then rummaged in her purse for her keys and handed them to Ed. He pushed the central locking button and Erwin opened the front passenger door. Ed gently placed her in the seat and reached over her to put her seatbelt on. She sucked in a breath as his arm brushed against her breast and hoped he hadn’t felt how hard her nipple was.
