Lang, Chloe - Feeling Strong [The Strong Cowboys of Wilde, Nevada 3] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever)
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The Strong Cowboys of Wilde, Nevada 3
Feeling Strong
Dax Strong is angry with his brother, Heath, for making moves on Charly Wynn, the sexy outsider. Dax decides to stay close to Charly to keep her safe in the untamed town of Wilde. Overcome by a possessive instinct for Charly, he determines to claim the beauty for himself, Drake, and Seth before his other three brothers confuse her with their wiles. He is determined that Heath, Nate, and Tobias will not have the woman of his dreams.
Unable to resist, Charly is drawn to Dax in so many ways. He looks like his twin, but his demeanor is darker and more dangerous. Treading emotional waters with the six Strong cowboys, Charly finds she's drowning with desire. Will she lose her heart and save herself, or will the assassin's gun take away her future forever?
NOTE! You are purchasing Siren's newest serialized imprint, the LoveXtreme Forever Series. This is Book 3 of 7 in the The Strong Cowboys of Wilde, Nevada collection. These books are not stand alone. Each is a continuation of the previous book and must be read in the numbered order. Each book may end on a cliffhanger but usually with a happy-for-now for the heroine and one or more men. The final book contains a happily forever after for the heroine and all her men.
Note: There is no sexual relationship or touching for titillation between or among siblings.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 23,687 words
FEELING STRONG
The Strong Cowboys of Wilde, Nevada 3
Chloe Lang
LOVEXTREME FOREVER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: LoveXtreme Forever
FEELING STRONG
Copyright © 2012 by Chloe Lang
E-book ISBN: 1-61926-755-1
First E-book Publication: April 2012
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
Dear Readers,
If you have purchased this copy of Feeling Strong by Chloe Lang from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.
Regarding E-book Piracy
This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.
The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.
This is Chloe Lang’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Lang’s right to earn a living from her work.
Amanda Hilton, Publisher
www.SirenPublishing.com
www.BookStrand.com
DEDICATION
One of my favorite movies is Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life with James Stewart. My favorite line from the movie is when the angel Clarence says to Stewart’s character, “Dear George, remember no one is a failure who has friends.”
With that in mind, I am thrilled to have the love of so many wonderful friends.
Sophie Oak is so dear to me. She and I talk to each other every day about writing and about all sorts of things.
Chloe Vale has been so crucial to this book becoming a reality. She stuns me with her incredible support. She means so much to me.
To this list of friends and family I will call out more, like my mother, Stephen, my sister Lisa, Al, Mike, Michael, Steven, Mike, Chuck, John, Libby, Lalo, Juanita, Jay, and Phillip.
I believe in Clarence’s words, and share whatever successes I attain with my loving friends and family.
FEELING STRONG
The Strong Cowboys of Wilde, Nevada 3
CHLOE LANG
Copyright © 2012
Chapter One
Charly Wynn’s mouth dropped as Drake Strong stormed into her hotel room past Heath, who was still very naked.
Drake’s face spoke volumes to her about the storm that clearly was brewing inside his head. Who could blame him?
Even the room’s air smelled of sex.
Drake headed straight to her. His eyes narrowed, causing a shiver to shoot up her spine. Heath closed the door and came up behind him.
Still in the bed, Charly pulled the covers up to hide her exposed breasts.
If guilt had hands, she would’ve been strangling from its boney fingers the instant her eyes locked on Drake’s. But it didn’t. She would have to live with her mistake. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Bro, this is none of your business.” Heath grabbed Drake’s arm.
He jerked away from Heath’s hold and glared daggers at him.
“Chill for a second.” Heath pulled on his jeans. “Hear me out before you—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Drake’s gaze locked back on hers. He reached out and touched her cheek.
Charly felt a single tear fall from her left eye down her face. If she could’ve found a rock right then, she would’ve rushed to get under it. What was it about the Strong brothers that made her lose her head and make such idiotic choices? “I’m so sorry.”
“Charly, you aren’t…” Drake’s sad tone broke her heart. He removed his fingers from her face, twisting around and facing Heath. “You asshole!”
Heath’s demeanor darkened. “Better back off. You know not to push me.”
Drake stepped up right in front of Heath, as if daring him to throw a punch. “And you know what I’m capable of.”
“Guys, don’t,” Charly pleaded. She’d learned that in Wilde, the norm was for men to share women, but these two weren’t in the sharing mood—not one damn bit.
Without glancing away from Heath, Drake said to her, “This is between me and my brother.” He placed his finger in the cente
r of Heath’s chest.
Heath scowled but didn’t budge. “She’s at the center of this. You and I both know that. Move your hand off me or I will break every finger.”
Jessie might be able to handle loving more than one man, but she couldn’t. Her heart was ripping in two as these brothers were surely about to go fist-to-fist.
Drake kept his finger in place. “Give it your best shot.”
“I can’t take any more of this.” Feeling confused and guilty, she covered her face with her hands. “I’m the one to blame.”
“Charly, it’s gonna be okay,” Heath said softly. “Back off, Drake. We can work this out.”
She looked up in hopes they might and saw Drake curl the hand not on Heath into a fist.
In a whisper that sounded more like a threat, he said, “I love her. You’re not going to fuck that up like last time, Heath.”
She shoved the guilt aside, embracing her anger at the stupidity of these two cowboys. “Stop acting like complete idiots.”
“Charly, let me handle this,” Heath commanded without turning away from Drake.
“No way. I leave this to you guys and I’ll have to call for an ambulance.”
Drake uncurled his fist and removed his other hand from his brother’s chest. The tension was still high between them, but seemed to be a bit less, if only a bit.
“Thank you,” she said to Drake.
“This fucking sucks.” He shook his head.
“You need to cool off, bro.” Heath took a step back and grabbed his shirt off the chair. “There’s more here than you know.”
“I know enough about you to see through your scheme.”
Charly stood up, making sure to wrap the blanket modestly around her body. “Drake, I’m so sorry.”
He turned back to her, his eyes softening some. “This isn’t your fault, honey. Not one bit of it. Wilde is new to you. I get that. You know we share our women. It’s our way. What you don’t know is that Heath isn’t to be trusted. He’s to blame. Not you.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“This asshole and our eldest brother, Tobias, worked it out to get me out of the way so he could take you to Malibu, not me.” Drake glared at Heath. “Deny that?”
Heath didn’t answer him.
Confused, Charly felt her heart pounding hard in her chest. “Is that true, Heath?”
“Sweetheart, there’s more here than you know.”
“You keep saying that.” Her anger and confusion was back and whirling together inside her. “You guys are too much. I’ve been such a fool.”
“Don’t say that, honey.” Drake reached out to touch her again, but she leaned back.
“Don’t. Just don’t.”
He nodded.
Heath offered, “Charly, you don’t understand everything.”
“You can say that again. I told you both before, your ways aren’t mine. I can’t even imagine how Jessie is going to build a life with your cousins, but I pray she can. I just can’t see that happening for me. Ever.”
Heath came around to the other side of the bed. “Baby, relax. We can work this out. I promise.”
“I don’t believe you. You both say you’re all about sharing. In this town a woman gets to love and be loved by more than one guy. It’s all nice and neat and wrapped up in a bow.” She closed her eyes and felt the tears fall down her face. “And yet, here you two are, brothers, who are filled with so much jealousy…I–I just...can’t bear it.”
Drake’s tone came out softer than before. “Charly, I shouldn’t have—”
“Just go. Both of you. Please.”
“Baby, give us a chance to work this out.” Drake sat down by her on the bed. “Heath’s the one who fucked this up, not you.”
“You’re just confusing me. This is crazy. It’s like you both have your hands on my heart and are playing tug-of-war with it. I have feelings. Please…I–I…”
Heath touched her shoulder. “Shh, baby.”
She opened her eyes wide and jerked away. “Don’t. Touch. Me. Not now.”
He pulled his hand back. “Okay, sweetheart.”
“You both say you love me.” She wiped her eyes.
Drake’s eyebrows shot up, and he turned to Heath. “You told her that?”
“I did. It’s true. You?”
“Same.”
“And now we all see the problem.” Trembling emotions whipped through her, shaking her to the core. In the back of her mind, she’d even fantasized about being with these two and their other brothers. Had it been Jessie’s wedding that had tricked her into believing in such a foolish fairy tale?
“There’s no problem for you, honey.” Heath was dressing. “This is between me and Drake.”
“He’s right, sweetheart.”
“No. You’re both wrong. You guys aren’t cut out for sharing with each other any more than I am cut out for being shared. So, if you truly love me, then please let me be alone.”
“Okay.” Heath cupped her chin, fixing his green eyes on her. “But not for long.” He stepped back. “Ready, Drake?”
Drake glared at him, but the anger she’d seen when he’d first entered the room seemed to be tamped down. He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll be back.”
“We both will,” Heath added.
Charly watched as the two men who had changed her forever exited the room. As the door shut behind them, she fell into her pillow, sobbing. Since taking the detour through Wilde, her life had become a fucked-up mess. She’d found love in the tiny Nevada town, but not the traditional white-picket-fence kind of love, not by a long shot. How could she have fallen so hard, so fast? She didn’t know, but the truth of that fact was seared into her heart.
I love both of those cowboys.
The violence of her crying shook her entire body.
She continued weeping for some time, until there were no more tears left in her. As Charly wiped her swollen eyes, remorse took root, spreading its deep, dark, and so-very-lonely thorns.
* * * *
Heath walked down the stairs to the hotel lobby with Drake close and still seething. Convincing his younger brother to help with the plan wasn’t going to be easy, not one damn bit.
Just as they hit the bottom step, Drake stopped abruptly. “Don’t think you’re off the hook.” He glanced over at Kyle, who was working behind the reception desk.
“Hey, guys. Everything okay?” Kyle asked.
“We’re fucked. Totally fucked. This prick…” Drake motioned at Heath.
Kyle’s eyebrows shot up. “What’s up between you two? Is this about Jessie’s cousin?”
“He took…” Drake shook his head, clearly returning to the façade all the brothers continued to maintain since Gabby. Everyone in Wilde thought of the six Strongs as inseparable, a unit. Not true, but definitely the image the family projected to their neighbors.
“Don’t leave me in the dark, Drake. What?”
“We’re fine, Kyle.”
The guy turned to Heath. “Please shed some light on this for me.”
“Like my brother said, we’re fine.”
“You assholes. Is this about your stupid game?” Kyle shook his head. “Is Jessie’s cousin the latest victim?”
He was getting painfully close to the truth.
Heath nodded. “We’ll see you later, Kyle.”
“I don’t know how you guys can fight over women and still be as close as you are. It’s a miracle that you haven’t killed each other by now.”
“It’s only a game, Kyle.” Drake walked to the entrance and looked back. “It’s always been only a game.” That was the old familiar lie they’d all played up in town.
“You are a bunch of assholes, if you ask me.” The phone rang, and Kyle turned his attention back to his work.
Drake walked out the door without looking back.
Heath followed. “Wait up.”
“Why? I have nothing to say to you.” Drake clearly was about to erupt.
“We need to talk, but not here.”
“Talk? I’ve got a better idea.”
Heath couldn’t blame Drake for not trusting him. He’d given his younger brother plenty of reasons not to. “We’re both going to lose Charly if we don’t switch gears.”
Drake lifted his gaze up to the second story of the hotel as if willing himself back into Charly’s room. Then he sighed. “Let’s go to the Horseshoe. Norma’s will be too busy with the breakfast crowd, and what I’ve got to say needs to be for your ears only.”
Per the usual Strong-brother way, his younger brother wanted to keep the old rift private. How long had this painful war being going on? Years. Heath missed the old days when he and all his brothers had been inseparable.
Heath nodded. “I could use a drink.”
He remembered when his brothers had his back and he had theirs. Now, after what he’d done with Gabby, things had gone from bad to worse, though most in town wouldn’t have known it. The six of them had never discussed how they would act but had fallen into the current pattern of public pretense and hushed hostilities.
“Me, too. I’m sure the overnight miners are headed home to sleep by now. We should have the place to ourselves.”
They crossed Main Street and walked into the bar. Drake had been spot on that the Horseshoe would be vacated. The only person in the entire place was Carol, who was wiping down tables. Though only a year younger, she looked a bit like her sister, Shelby, Austin’s secretary. But Carol wasn’t attractive like her sister, not one damn bit. In fact, she was the kind of woman that Heath steered clear of. Too nice. Too nosy. And never to be trusted.