Rocky Mountain Freedom

by Vivian Arend

  Her projects were going to be so amazing.

  One idea after another had struck. She’d be back at the Colemans’ later in the summer with plenty of time to add shots of the rolling foothills, but being at the horse camp was like stepping back in time.

  Some of the crew were building platforms that would become the base for the final canvas wall tents used for accommodation. Another couple was working the horses. Travis had stepped in and ignored the complaints that he was supposed to be the boss man, and was currently helping erect the tents.

  Pictures in sepia, added water damage, scratches.

  It wouldn’t be the first time anyone had used a little poetic license in photoshopping, and the results could be gorgeous. At least, those were the shots she saw in her head. Now she raced from spot to spot to try to capture the images so she could make them come to life.

  Searching for ideas was a fun part of the creative process, frustrating and rewarding in turn.

  And right now, dangerously hot.

  With the ease of men well used to working with their hands, Travis and Cassidy laboured side by side, the occasional low-toned comment all they needed as they raised the posts and secured them in place. It was the unspoken communication going on that made her blood heat and threatened to melt her camera lens.

  They weren’t even naked. Yet.

  She didn’t think they were aware of it. The cautious glances, a moment of physical contact held slightly too long. A lifetime of people watching made it obvious to her. The guys were definitely into each other in a more than “thanks for all your help, let me grab you a beer” kinda way.

  Travis had taken off his jean jacket and tossed it to her over an hour ago, and she’d slipped it on, the fabric warm from his body. Cassidy’s gaze drifted over Travis’s back, lingering on his shoulders and firm biceps. He glanced away quick enough when Travis twisted to face him, only then the game began in earnest as Travis took his turn staring when he thought no one was looking.

  It was a strange fact she’d discovered years ago. People seemed to forget that with a camera in front of her face, she could bloody well see everything.

  See the response of their bodies to the labour, and to their mutual attraction. Muscles flexed, sweat formed on their skin. Travis brushed his hair out of his eyes then took a long drink from his water bottle, his throat moving in smooth, rhythmic waves. A pained expression crossed Cassidy’s face, and he twisted away, casually adjusting himself.

  Ashley made a point of being extra busy for a few minutes changing her camera lens so neither of the guys would ask why she was grinning like a banshee.

  Whatever had made Cassidy say no then disappear last summer, it wasn’t because he didn’t lust after Travis.

  “Ashley, can you come help for a minute?” Travis called.

  “Sure. One sec.” She put her camera and gear bag up high where it couldn’t be hurt, stripped off the bulky jacket and joined them. “You need me to do some heavy lifting for you, boys?”

  “We need about a dozen more hands than we’ve got.” Cassidy pulled the canvas tight, or tried to, but it was stuck on the far edge of the floor platform. “Can you loosen that side then watch so it doesn’t snag again?”

  “Got it,” she said, dancing over to the far corner and tugging the stiff fabric free. “Go slowly, ’kay?”

  Travis and Cassidy pulled steadily, lifting the sturdy green fabric up and over the rigid supports already in place while she guided from her side. The guys slowly disappeared from sight as she hurried back and forth, keeping the material movable.

  “Okay, now come over here and thread this together. We can’t let go,” Travis shouted.

  Ashley hurried around the corner, and a wild surge of sheer mischief struck as she spotted their precarious positioning. Travis had leaned around Cassidy to lock the loose edge in position. Their bodies were jammed together as they held the two massive pieces of canvas securely in place until she could finish her task.

  Travis stood with legs wide apart, one leg between Cassidy’s, their hips less than a foot from each other. She would have to crawl between them to get at the seam. “What do I use as thread?”

  “The rope.” Cassidy gestured with his foot in the general direction. “You’ll have to guide us to line things up correctly.”

  “No problem.” She coiled the cord in her hand and slipped past Travis, brushing his torso and appreciating how everything about the man was so nice and hard.

  Everything.

  She leaned to the left as she squatted, this time knocking into Cassidy. “Oops. Sorry about that.”

  “It’s fine.” He tried to step out of her way.

  Travis shot out a warning. “Stop, you’re pulling me off balance. The whole thing will go to shit if you move.”

  Ashley had the thin rope worked through the bottommost eyelets on both sides and tied off in a tight knot. “I’m ready to lace. Anything fancy I need to remember?”

  “Shove it in then pull it out,” Cassidy ordered.

  Dead silence for all of three seconds. That’s how long it took before Travis burst out laughing. “What, no lube?”

  Cassidy leaned his head against the support post. “God save me from your dirty mind.”

  “Just saying. I’d think you’d at least give it a kiss. Maybe rub it a little first or something. Get things warmed up.”

  Ashley snickered softly, down on her knees by their feet as she worked her way up the eyelets. She pulled hand over hand to drag the rope tight, her elbow sweeping Cassidy’s thigh on every stroke.

  When he shifted position this time, she took a deep breath to stop from humming happily.

  Cassidy had a hard-on as well.

  She threaded the rope through another set of eyelets, her body pinned between the two guys and the wall of canvas she was creating. Their limited banter fell to nothing, and only the sounds of the other crews carried on the air. Hammering drowned out the radio, but right next to her was where Ashley’s attention was focused. On the warmth at her back, tight indrawn breaths escaping Cassidy’s lips. The pressure as Travis leaned closer. It was like being in some glorious candy store where all her favourite treats were waiting for her to pick them and savour the sweetness.

  Surrounded by two hot guys who were also hot for each other? Yes, please. Now if only she could have this positioning with their clothes off, and all parties on the go for some fun.

  Slowly was the word of the moment, she supposed. They had all summer to get there.

  The next holes were about chest level but she’d hit a snag. “Damn it, they’re not lined up. Cassidy, can you pull your side down a bit?”

  “I’ll try.” He adjusted position again.

  “There. That’s it. Now hold it.” Ashley slipped under his arm and curled herself into place, feeding the loose end of the rope through as quickly as she could in the awkward position. He had lovely muscular arms—bulkier than Travis’s. The need to keep her balance was a great excuse to grab hold of one, her fingers wrapped around the solid mass.

  Cassidy coughed softly but didn’t say anything, just waited for her to finish the next step.

  By the time she’d done two more layers she was on her toes, reaching overhead. Her breasts made direct contact with Cassidy’s forearm, her right hip rubbing Travis’s groin.

  There seemed to be less oxygen in the air than she’d remembered.

  “You nearly done?” Travis drawled, his amusement clear.

  “Nearly. I don’t want to make a mistake and have to start all over.” She twisted her head to the right and winked. “I’m sure you and Cassidy have much better things to do.”

  His gaze flicked to the side—to Cassidy—before coming back to hers. Travis’s grin held a hint of something else. “Such a fucking tease.”

  “Oh, honey, a tease is the last thing I am. You know that.” Words snuck out, lust-filled and low, though she wasn’t trying to be obvious. There was no denying the facts. She’d give a hell of a lot to en
joy being sandwiched between them.

  But then, she’d enjoy watching them crawl all over each other as well.

  The final eyelets were too high for her to reach. “Someone’s got to take over.”

  “Here.” Cassidy put his hands over hers, slipping up to the rope end and grabbing hold. Ashley twisted, intending to get out of the way when, glory hallelujah, he leaned in to finish the task and every damn inch of him pinned her in place against the corner support post. His hard chest compressed her breasts, making her nipples tighten. His hips tight to hers, his rigid cock pushing into her softness. A rush of moisture hit between her legs. She’d been building to this moment all morning, but it was now confirmed—her panties were soaked.

  The whimper of desire that escaped her could be misinterpreted as a gasp of surprise. Maybe.

  Except she looked up to discover half-hooded eyes, fire in the depths as their gazes met. The green of his irises was nearly eaten up by the darkness of his pupils. Ashley wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and drag their mouths together. To strip them both and deal with the aching need.

  What she got was ignored.

  He couldn’t back up and set her free, not without letting the rope loose, so she got to savour another moment of being trapped. Once he’d finished feeding the rope through the hole, though, he handed it to Travis.

  “Grab hold and tie it off for me, T.” Then as if he hadn’t been rubbing her with a full-sized erection, he was off the platform altogether, gathering tools with his gaze deliberately focused elsewhere. “Well, that’s done. Thanks for your help, Ashley.”

  She wasn’t sure if she should laugh, or crowd in and start all over again. “You’re welcome.”

  Travis stroked her arm softly before kissing her cheek. “You want to go get us a couple drinks?”

  She dragged her focus off Cassidy to look up into dark grey eyes. “Sure. No problem.”

  “Oh, and Ash?” Travis helped her down off the edge of the platform. “Lots of ice.”

  Great idea. Maybe she’d pour some over her head until he was done for the day. “You are so getting jumped as soon as you’re free,” she whispered.

  “Looking forward to it.” Travis gave her a wink then turned to help Cassidy who was all business, attaching the bottom section of canvas to the underside of the platform. Studiously ignoring the both of them.

  She took one final look before heading back to the pile where her gear waited.

  Cold drinks would never take the place of hot fucking, and that was the truth.

  “Sorry about that,” Cassidy muttered.

  Travis frowned as he grabbed a handful of screws and picked up his drill. “For what?”

  “For getting too close to your girl. She surprised me there.”

  It was the last thing he’d expected to hear. “You’re apologizing for…? Good grief. Okay, you’re nuts. She’s not my girl.”

  Cassidy paused, drill held in midair. “But you said…” Total confusion crowded his face as Cassidy tried to figure it out.

  Travis leaned on the edge of the platform and waited.

  “She’s sleeping with you, asshole,” Cassidy grumbled. “She spent the night in your cabin. What the hell?”

  “Oh, that.”

  “Yes, that,” Cassidy snapped.

  Travis knelt and put in a screw. “Number one, Ashley is all woman, so forget that girl shit.”

  “Don’t be more of a fuck than you have to be, Travis.”

  Cassidy was feeling snarly, was he? Travis had a good idea why. “Number two, I didn’t see anything to apologize for, so this tells me you’re the one with the filthy mind. What were you thinking of doing to her, you dog?”

  “Shut up.”

  “She wouldn’t mind getting dirty with you, you know,” Travis confessed. “She as much as said it when we got here.”

  Cassidy choked, retreating from Travis, his expression gone skeptical.

  Travis patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, you can breathe. She’s not cheating on me. She’s rather…intense in how she lives life. Sex is something she grabs with both hands and has fun with.”

  “And you’re good with that?”

  “Why the hell would I want her to change? Not my business if she wants to look at your ugly mug while she’s getting off.”

  For a moment he thought Cassidy was going to fall over. The evil glare his friend finally delivered was shaky at the edges. “You really are a bastard at times, aren’t you?”

  “Hell, you already knew that.” Travis lowered his voice. “Think about it. You could come and give me a hand this afternoon. I was planning on tying her to the chair in my cabin and putting a scarf over her eyes. She loves it when she has no idea where I’m going to fuck her next.”

  Cassidy swallowed hard, his gaze drifting to where Ashley had entered the cookhouse, the door swinging shut and blocking her from view.

  “She sucks cock like no one’s business. Get her between us, and you can—”

  “Enough.” Cassidy pushed his drill into Travis’s hands. “I’m not fucking around with Ashley. I’m glad you’re so progressive and open, and you’re not upset, because that’s all I was apologizing for. We have to work together for the summer, and I didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings, okay?”

  “No problem.”

  Cassidy abandoned his tools and fled in the opposite direction from Ashley.

  Travis flipped a mental coin. Heads, he slowed this down, tails, he kept the pressure up. Cassidy was damn hot under the collar, and if he wanted Ashley that badly and Ashley was game, what right did Travis have to stop them?

  The teeny trickle of something in his belly nudged him toward slowing it down. He wasn’t exactly jealous—Ashley was in charge of herself, and she’d made that clear many times in the past.

  Only the idea of Ashley and Cassidy tangled together, all long legs and taut muscles and blond on blonde made his own limbs weak. If the two of them were going to be fucking around, he wanted to be in the middle, watching.

  Plus, he really didn’t know who he felt more possessive of.

  Ashley.

  Or Cassidy.

  Chapter Eight

  The crew spent a couple more days at Base Camp. They were nowhere near finished getting things ready, but a good start had been made before Cassidy announced it was time to head up the hill and add to the staging area.

  Ashley had switched from clicking pictures to carrying around a pad and pencil. She’d discovered by climbing from the barn hayloft onto the small roof off the stoop she had a view of the entire site—and all the comings and goings.

  It was a lovely place to witness the continuing dance between Cassidy and Travis. The coals of attraction were constantly being fanned, and she could hardly wait until they burst out and burned the place down.

  In the meantime, Cassidy seemed determined to pretend he wasn’t a walking hard-on. The bad part was Travis’s frustration levels peaked after every encounter when Cassidy deliberately ignored all the subtle hints Travis tried dropping. The good part was he turned that frustration into the most inventive sex she’d had in years.

  One more orgasm this morning and she wasn’t going to be able to walk.

  “At some point you should simply spit it out and tell him you’re interested.” She planted another kiss on Travis’s chest, their breathing still shaky from him fucking her boneless. “It’s not like you’ve ever been this subtle with me. Or I imagine any other woman you’ve been with.”

  “Yeah, well, kissing him out of the blue didn’t work last time.” Travis leaned up on an elbow, their naked legs still twisted together. He trickled his hand over her torso, fingertips lightly teasing her nipples before slipping to circle her belly button. “You’re talking about Cassidy less than five minutes after I finish fucking you—I don’t know if I should be happy about that or trying harder.”

  “Trying harder? Oh God, that might kill me. Trust me, I’m good for now.” She captured his hand befor
e he could reach her sex. “Stop, I have to ride a horse in a couple hours. I’ll have trouble sitting as it is.”

  He leaned over and kissed her again, nibbling along her jaw to her ear. “I like that you don’t give up, but give it time. We’ve got all summer, and while I’m interested in Cassidy, I’m crazy about you too. Don’t go thinking I’m using you as some substitute while I lust after him.”

  “I know,” she answered. “I know it’s possible to care for more than one person at a time, as strange as that might seem to the world.”

  Travis rolled to his back and stared into space, a serious expression floating in as she crawled over him. She straddled his hips and waited.

  He was quiet for a couple of minutes before he spoke. “You ever wish you could see into the future?”

  The sudden change of topic not only surprised her, it cut into her soul like a knife slash. She wrapped up the pain that had burst forward, tying it tight to focus on Travis and the current situation, not the heartache of the recent past. “You feeling philosophical this morning, Travis?”

  He smiled, hands resting easily on her naked hips. “Would make life a lot easier, wouldn’t it? Knowing how people will react. What to avoid, when to move on. What will really make us happy in the end.”

  Ashley wished with all her might that she had a magic mirror to loan him. “Would make things predictable, though. You’d lose the thrill of discovering new things that make your heart race.”

  “Avoid the pain of getting your heart stomped on, or the frustration of hurting people you never intended to…”

  Oh.

  Ashley leaned over and kissed him. She put as much tenderness into her touch as possible while she played her fingers over his chest. “You got anyone in particular you’re worried about hurting?”

  He sighed. “You know it. My family. I’ve seen what it’s been like lately with my younger brother Jesse. He’s got the entire Six Pack clan on edge. He’s not doing anything wrong, but he’s obviously not happy with his life, and it seems as if he blames everyone else.”