by Jane Jamison
Ryce fell to her side, taking her along with him. He held her back to his chest and began untying the rope. “That was amazing. You have the tightest ass I’ve ever had.”
She tried to hold back, but couldn’t as the tears streamed down her face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t cry.”
They were both beside her in the next moment. Rubbing her arms, Ryce kept her against him.
“What’s wrong, baby? Are you hurt? Did we go too far? Too fast? Damn it, Owen, why didn’t you pay more attention? She was facing you.”
“Fuck you. You were right there.” Owen took her chin and lifted her face to his. “Why didn’t you say red? We would’ve stopped at any time. Or at least, we would’ve tried to.”
“That’s not it. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to cry.” She couldn’t explain why she was so upset. Yes, she needed a release, but was that the only reason? Or was it because she wanted so much to tell them about her sister and the pictures? Was she crying because she knew she’d either have to leave or see the pain of betrayal in their faces?
“Tell us what’s wrong. Did we hurt you?” Owen’s face was tortured as he stared at her, urging her to tell them.
“Shit, man, we screwed up again.” Ryce cupped her cheek, turning her head to them. “Did you come? Fuck, baby, did we fail to give you an orgasm?”
She nodded, grasping at an answer that was only partially right.
“We’re a couple of shitheads.” Owen’s pained expression changed into one of determination. “But we’ll make it right.”
“Damn straight we will.” Ryce pulled her to him, then settled her on her back. “Let us make it up to you.” He bent low, putting his head between her legs, as Owen moved to her side and began treasuring her breasts.
Her nipples had ached for his touch, sensitive and swollen, until his tongue had her squirming from his talented tongue. Pulling her arms above her head, he held them there with one hand as he nibbled and licked her tits.
Ryce parted her pussy lips and her already throbbing clit doubled the tempo. Lifting her lips, she pushed against him, instinct taking over. It wouldn’t take long for him to bring her to an orgasm. She’d been close when they’d had their release.
“I’m going to suck on your hot little button, baby. I can’t wait to drink your sweet cream.” Harder he pressed against her. Faster his tongue went. Over and around her clit, then sweeping down to pierce her sex. She was ablaze with their tongues and hands caressing her body.
Fingers entered her pussy, adding to Ryce’s mouth sucking on her clit. Tiny flames of fire seared over her skin, then dove downward to burn her from the inside out.
“We want you. We need you. Come for us, darlin’.” Owen’s murmured words became muffled against her breasts, then the curve of her neck.
They moved slowly, as though to torture her. Yet their slow torture only increased the pounding of her heart until she was sure it would break apart. Ryce’s lips skimmed her clit, then his mouth crushed against it. They were in control. She was in control. Together, the three of them commanded everything that would happen.
Ryce pushed two fingers into her pussy, then searched until he found her soft patch. With one touch, he sent her flying, her body bucking even as they held her down. Her pussy began to clench, then spasm, releasing her cream until pain turned to pleasure. She screamed for them to never stop, but couldn’t help trying to squirm away.
Submitting once again, she was at their mercy as her climax tore her apart. She struggled against Owen, trying to get her hands free, but it was impossible. At last, as darkness came drifting in, she screamed one last time, shouting until her throat burned.
Chapter Seven
Owen would never admit it even to his brother, but he loved the time after having sex. Cuddle time was reserved for women, but he enjoyed having Jewel lying between them, her body still heated from sex. They were all worn out, wrapped up in the blanket to shield them from the chill in the breeze, but if she said she was ready, he’d rise to the occasion and give her another lesson.
How could they have ever suspected her of taking the photos? He’d seen how she was with the other employees and the club’s members. She was kind, always ready to lend a hand or give someone a quick smile. Someone with her heart couldn’t be so lowdown as to take those pictures.
“This is crazy.”
He walked his fingers along her arm, then over to tease her nipple. “What’s crazy? Lying naked beside a pond? Or that we came to go skinny-dipping but never got wet?”
“No. This. Us. We’re what’s crazy.”
Ryce shot him a worried look, then turned on his side to face her. “No, it’s not. We’ve had our eye on you from the first day.”
Her breasts jiggled with her laugh. “What’s crazy is me doing this. I’m not the kind of girl who just hops in bed, or on the ground, with two guys. Or even one guy. I don’t know a thing about you.”
“We can fix that.” She was right. They needed to know more about each other. But that would come. Their yearning for her hadn’t given them enough time to think with their heads as much as to answer their craving for her.
“There’s nothing much to tell. Owen and I grew up in a middle-class family in Oregon.”
“Wait. So you’re not Texas born and bred?”
“Nope. But don’t go spreading it around.” He tried to play with her nipple again, but she slapped his hand away. “We were born and raised in Portland. Yeah, that’s right. We’re city boys who came to Texas right out of high school and got jobs working on a local ranch.”
“At Pleasure Ranch?”
He was sure the sky above her wasn’t half as crystal blue as her eyes. “Nope. First we worked on neighboring ranches, learning how to ride and to herd cattle. We didn’t hire on with Paul and Destin until around two years ago.”
“Because you wanted to experience the Dom thing?”
“The Dom thing?” mimicked Ryce. He got his hand slapped away, too. “I guess in part it was. But we wanted to work on this ranch because it’s the best in the county. The Dom thing, as you call it, is just a perk.”
“So you haven’t always wanted to be in a Dom/sub relationship?”
“We talked about it once in a while, but it wasn’t until we came here that the idea really came together.” If she didn’t let him slide his hands over her body soon, he’d have to go into his Dom role again and make it happen. “Once we saw how it was, we knew it was the right thing for us.”
“What about you?” Ryce grumbled as she tried to take his hand off her stomach, but put it right back. “Tell us about your life before the club. Do you have family? An old boyfriend who’s going to come and knock our blocks off?”
Owen didn’t think she realized that Ryce was only half kidding. “Take it easy, man.”
She looked from one to the other. “Old boyfriends, huh?”
“Yeah, darlin’, inquiring minds want to know.”
Owen shot his brother another warning look. “He’s only kidding about the boyfriend thing. We know you must’ve had your fair share, but let’s not get into that part of your past.”
Ryce chuckled. “In other words, we won’t tell you our number if you don’t want to tell us yours.”
“My number?”
“Yeah, Jewel. The number of men you’ve—”
“Dated.” Owen reached across her to whack his brother on the shoulder. Sometimes Ryce took his joking too far. “We’re more interested in your childhood, where you grew up. That kind of thing.”
“There’s nothing much to tell. I was born and raised in Lawton, Oklahoma by two very loving parents.” She took her gaze away from his and lifted it to the tree above them. “They’re passed on now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” He didn’t want to press her about the details. She’d tell them on her own time.
“Thanks. But I still have my younger sister, Jacee. She just started at the University of Texas and is majoring in business.”
“Did you
go to college?” She was twenty-two which meant she’d had time to get a degree. Or maybe she’d gotten an associate degree instead.
“I did, taking more than a full load every year so I’d get my degree in journalism. Then, because I had Jacee to support, I took the first job I could find. It’s with Exposed, an online magazine—”
She stopped as though she’d just realized that she’d said too much. But why? “I think I’ve heard of it. I don’t mean to offend you, but isn’t Exposed kind of a sleazy rag? It publishes shitty stories and photos of people without their permission.”
He’d have to ask Paul, but what if the person in the club planned on distributing the photos to an e-zine like that? And yet, telling Paul she’d gotten a job there would place suspicion squarely on her shoulders again.
She’s not involved. She can’t be. It’s a coincidence that she used to work there. Besides, she used to work there.
“It was the only job I could find in my field. Besides, sometimes the photos are pixelated so you can’t see who the people are.”
“And you think hiding people’s faces makes it okay?” He couldn’t understand how she could try and condone what they did. And if she did, then did she feel the same way about the confidentiality and privacy of the club? That it was okay to violate those, too? He glanced at Ryce and saw the suspicion in his brother’s eyes.
He’s thinking the same thing I am.
“What about the club, baby?” Ryce had taken the words right out of his mouth. “Would it be okay for someone to break the privacy rules we have? Like when we thought Max Bolger was taking pics the other day? And if he had been, would it have made it all right if he’d doctored the photos?”
“I don’t…I mean…” She stammered, again looking as though she’d let too much information slip. “It doesn’t matter. As soon as I found out what kind of thing they did, I quit. End of story.”
Relief had never felt as sweet. “Good. And then you came up here? Seems a kind of big leap from Dallas to Pleasure.”
“Not really. I wanted a change.”
Why wouldn’t she meet his gaze? “Then Dallas’s loss is our gain.”
As usual, Ryce had to butt in. “Owen’s full of all those old sayings. But me? I’d rather talk about the future and not your past.”
She looked relieved, as though the change in topic was more than a little welcomed. “Me, too. So what’s the future hold for you two? A wife, kids, your own ranch?”
“All of that and more,” answered Ryce. “Although the first two are the most important. We’ll start looking for land once we find the right girl to marry.”
As far as Owen was concerned, they could start talking about getting married right then, and yet, what she’d told them had left him uneasy, worried that she was hiding something from them. From them and from the rest of the club. If she was, then they needed to discover what that was before they went any further.
Ryce, however, was still looking toward the future. “So do you want kids, Jewel?”
“Sure. Doesn’t everyone?”
“Two? Three? Four? What’s the magic number?”
She giggled at Ryce. “The magic number? You know you can’t just pull kids out of a hat like they’re magician’s rabbits, right? I think two is enough. A boy and a girl to keep it even.”
At last, his sudden silence drew their attention. She stared at him, searching him. “You sure got quiet all of a sudden.”
He opened his mouth to answer, but what would he say? Should he ask her outright if she was the one taking the pictures? Did he really want to know?
“Owen’s always the quiet one.”
He didn’t know if she’d heard Ryce or not. Instead, a spark of alarm glinted in her eyes. She got to her feet and reached for her clothes. “Listen, I was heading to work when I stopped. I hope Paul doesn’t can my ass for being late.”
They were on their feet and tugging on their clothes trying to keep up with her. “He won’t. Especially after we tell him you’re our permanent sub.”
Her worried expression was the last thing he wanted to see. “Owen, I’m not sure about that.”
“About what?” By the look on his face, Ryce was as surprised as he was. “But I thought—”
“I know. She nibbled at her lower lip, then touched first Ryce and him. “After what we did, what we just shared, I know I’m throwing you a gut punch. But now that I’ve had more time to think—”
“Bullshit.” His anger flared, fueled by his disappointment. But how else had she expected him to react? “You’re our sub and you damn well know it. What the fuck’s going on? I thought we’d had this settled. Why the sudden change?”
“Easy, bro.” Ryce adopted one of his winning smiles, and yet it was as though he couldn’t get it to come to full strength. “Was it the kid thing? Or talking about the future? Or the past? I was only fooling around about the ex-boyfriend thing. The past is the past. It doesn’t matter to us.”
She started to say something, then shook her head “Ryce, can you please take me back to my car?”
“Sure.” Ryce looked to him for an answer he didn’t have. At least not one he wanted to give.
Owen’s mind raced as he watched Ryce help her into the saddle, then hefted himself onto Riptide. He’d come to the conclusion that she couldn’t be involved, but now he wasn’t so sure.
* * * *
Jewel inched around the corner, trying not to garner any attention from the club’s crowd. She’d already made it through half of her shift and, so far, Owen and Ryce had kept their distance.
She hadn’t spoken much to them as they’d made their way back to her car. They’d seemed more confused than angry at her abrupt departure, and she couldn’t blame them. Owen had started to ask more questions about her change of mind, but she’d thwarted them until, at last, he’d gotten the hint and stopped asking. Maybe she’d clung to him a little longer than she had to Ryce when she’d hugged them good-bye, but she’d wanted to give him some kind of encouragement.
After their talk, she’d broken out of the magical spell having sex with them had put her in and come back to the horrible reality of her situation. She shouldn’t lead them on, yet the part of her that was growing stronger, needing them more and more, made it harder to stop. She’d yanked the rug out from under them, not because she’d wanted to or because she’d felt differently than she had a few minutes earlier, but because she’d had to. Once her head had cleared, the terrible axe hanging over her sister’s head still remained.
They’d asked her to trust them and she did. With everything except Jacee’s problem. What if she told them about her sister and the video? If they let her down, she wouldn’t be the only one to pay the price. She had to protect her sister no matter how much she ached to confess everything. They deserved it, and damn it, so did she. Revealing everything, not just her body, would give them all they wanted and all she craved to have in her life.
Maybe she could come back and try again with them once the pictures were out there and the video was destroyed. Until she told them the truth, they could never have a real relationship, Dom/sub or otherwise, that would make the three of them happy.
She’d placed her main phone in the locker along with all the other employees. The second one, however, she’d kept tucked into her halter top until she could stash it in the supply room. On her break, after the club scene had really gotten going, she’d retrieved it. And then she’d be finished. No more sneaking around. She’d have to leave town and never look back.
The pain that hit her whenever she thought about leaving Pleasure and the Killian men behind came again like a stab to her heart. Could she do it? Could she give up her fantasy with a life there to keep her sister’s reputation safe?
It wasn’t fair. Why did she have to lose? Why did she have to pay for her sister’s foolish mistake? But there was nothing else she could do.
Taking a moment to scan the club for the best subjects, she finally decided on a foursome in the
booth across from her. Two men had a woman bound and gagged on top of the table and were taking turns doing body shots off her flat stomach, then diving between her legs to consume a different kind of libation. The woman’s wrists were tied together with her arms stretched over her head and another rope securing her to the bar running from one side of the booth to the other. The third man stood on the booth’s cushions and leaned over her to take one breast then the other into his mouth. From the sounds of their moans and laughter, they were having too good a time to notice anyone taking pictures.
Jewel glanced around to make sure the coast was clear, then lifted the phone and snapped several pictures in a row. Her gut twisted as she did so.
I hate this. I hate myself for tricking these people into thinking I’m their friend. If only I could find another way.
She clicked the last picture, then pivoted around. Once she’d stashed the second phone in the supply room and had finished her shift, she’d hurry back to the bed and breakfast. She could no longer put Wilburt off. She’d have to forward him the pictures and the article. The only thing left then would be to get the video and make sure no copies remained.
Even then, how could she be sure he hadn’t already saved it to his computer? Trusting Wilburt to keep his end of the bargain was the last thing she wanted to do. But she had no choice.
“What are you doing?”
She froze as she looked up and stared straight into the face of Max Bolger, the member who’d been texting to his wife. He narrowed his eyes at the phone, then snatched it out of her hand.
“Give that back to me.” She whispered, but put all the authority she could into the command. As she expected, Max wouldn’t give into her demands.
“Not a chance, honey. You know the club’s rule about cell phones. You shouldn’t have one inside here. Let me get a look at what you’ve got.”
A quick glance around confirmed that no one else had seen or heard them. She meant to keep it that way. Taking him by the arm, she dragged him into the hallway.
