Cole, Kaliana - Good Horses, Fast Cars and Real Men (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Kaliana Cole

  * * * *

  Nate grinned at the first one, amused at his brother’s ignorance when it came to women’s issues. “You can cross the first one off. It’s for period pain, and unless hers lasts for damn near a month, that ain’t it.” He tapped the paper thoughtfully. “These other two I’m not sure of. Start up the computer, and we’ll have a look.”

  The second turned out to be a high-dose iron supplement. Common enough for women with heavy menstrual flows, he thought. It was the third that gave Nate pause.

  An anti-depressant.

  He quickly typed in “side effects” next to the name and sat back and blinked.

  Loss of appetite, loss of libido, delayed orgasm or inability to orgasm, headaches, nausea, anxiety. The list went on.

  He clicked a few links and came across an article that he had to read twice. The drug Jade was taking was recalled twelve months ago and replaced with a more effective version with fewer and less severe side effects. What was she doing still taking the nasty original?

  He moved back from the screen so Matt could read it, too. Brett walked in while he was reading, still in his work gear, so Nate filled him in on the situation.

  Matt pushed himself back from the monitor. “This is such a relief! I mean, I know it is bad that Jade is taking this shit, but that’s why she isn’t panting over my chest anymore. I haven’t been game to take my shirt off.” He gave a beatific smile. “It’s not my fault the motor won’t run. There’s just no fuel in the tank.”

  Brett beat Nate to smacking him up the back of the head. “Numbnuts.”

  Brett sat down in the other chair, resting his forearms on his knees. He studied the grease left in the creases of his knuckles as gave his opinion. “If we confront Jade with this, she is going to be wild, first, about us being there and then about us snooping.” He turned to Matt. “Where did you find them?”

  “On her bedside table.” He gave a little chuckle. “Right above the drawer where she keeps her vibrator. That husband of hers must have been a real pencil-dick because that thing is tiny.”

  “Mmm, can’t think of a way to just accidentally stumble onto those then. Not with us being persona non grata in that room at the moment.”

  “We could stage one of those things they do with drug addicts. What are they called? Interventions?” Matt spoke up.

  Nate laughed at the suggestion. “Jade would hand us our balls on a platter and send us packing with our asses peppered with buckshot.” He rubbed at the beard stubble on his cheek thoughtfully. “I think I may have an answer, but it means bringing Elly in on this.” He quickly outlined his plan.

  * * * *

  The two fillies did not come home from the Breaker. Both sold for a handsome price, and Jade was able to employ three locals to help with the sale preparation.

  Luke and Dean Peters were identical twins: redheaded farming boys from a big family, just out of school and keen to work. While not expert horsemen by any means, they were eager and kind. And those were two qualities that Jade felt overcame any lack of knowledge.

  Anna Millard was a heavy-set, middle-aged widow who had worked enough thoroughbred studs to manage a small performance horse sale like the Douglas Park one with her eyes shut. She was just the steadying influence the two boys needed and had a wicked sense of humor.

  When Jade made introductions, Anna looked Matt up and down before turning to Jade with a wink. “Damn, girl! If I’d known you had eye candy like that out here, I’d have been knocking your gate down weeks ago.” She turned back to Matt, bold as brass. “Where have you been hiding, gorgeous? Not in Miller’s Creek, that’s for certain.”

  Matt turned bright red as Jade gave her his family genealogy.

  “Nate and Brett’s little brother, huh? Well they’re fine lookin’ men, too, but there’s so much more of you, sweet.” If Matt had been blushing before, he was positively burning up then. After that, Matt did his best to avoid Anna, which only made her tease him worse when she did come across him.

  One Thursday afternoon, Jade was bored. Oh, there was plenty to do but not anything that really took her fancy. She had ridden Kenny hard that morning, so using him as a distraction was out of the question. With her libido safely on ice, distractions of the Kelly variety held little appeal either. She looked around until her eyes fell on the roller door that hid the Camaro. She hadn’t had the car out for a real drive since she got here.

  She left Anna in charge of the twins and let Matt know she was heading off for the afternoon. If there were any problems, they could call her. She quickly changed out of her smelly riding clothes and grabbed the keys, her blood starting to heat in anticipation of a few deserted straights that could be found around the area.

  The first one was a good mile long, just far enough from the farm for the engine to be properly warmed up. It was also free from any traffic. Jade put the pedal to the metal and let the horses run, all two hundred and ninety of them. The car was rated zero to sixty in seven point four. Jade didn’t do it that quick, but she pushed it hard enough to feel the effects of inertia as the roar of the big 302 V8 hummed through her body.

  Her heartbeat pounded as the horses found their stride, the muscle car doing what it was born to do. Run. Hair streaming back from the open window, she felt herself come alive. She yelled like a mad woman. A primal celebration of life.

  * * * *

  That was the view Nate and Brett as they rounded the corner onto the straight in Nate’s old Ford. “What the fuck?” Brett’s head whipped around to get a better look at the flat black coupe that streaked past. “A Camaro! Who the fuck owns one of those in Miller’s Creek?”

  Nate’s lips quirked in an obvious effort not to smile at the “fuck” that had slipped out. “That, Brett, was Ms. Douglas out for an afternoon drive.”

  Brett blinked heavily as he decided whether to be pissed about the way she was driving or the fact that she had a Camaro and a Z28 at that. “I’m gonna kill her. Get me home, Nate. I’m gonna find her, and then I’m gonna teach her never to drive like that again.”

  Nate raised his eyebrows, clearly amused that it took Jade risking life and limb to get his blood up these days.

  “How are you going to find her?” Nate asked, sounding genuinely curious as to what he had planned.

  “I’ll call Steve and make sure he is at home first, and then I’m getting on Kermit and heading out. If she is looking for places to speed, I know them all.” He already had his phone out calling the local one-man police station.

  Steve was firmly entrenched in paperwork all afternoon and wouldn’t be able to meet them at the bar for a drink. Brett briefly wondered what he would have done if he had said yes.

  Nate pulled up outside the house yard, and Brett headed straight into the locked garage he housed his babies in. The Ford was now gone, but the green monstrosity know as Kermit sat waiting. Brett turned the key and pulled on the leather jacket that hung over the seat of the cycle. He threw a leg over the Kawasaki ZX and donned the black helmet that matched his jacket.

  He kicked the stand and rode out on one of the fastest production bikes ever made. He tracked Jade down in twenty minutes without once exceeding the speed limit. He found her on a two-mile stretch of road heading out toward the Powder Basin. She had just punched the gas when he entered the strait behind her. Seeing that the road was free of traffic and knowing the local highway patrol was otherwise occupied, Brett dropped down lower on Kermit and hit the throttle.

  The pulse of the high-performance engine throbbed beneath him as he quickly caught the speeding Camaro. He leaned the bike and quickly overtook, noting the shock on Jade’s face as he flashed past. He had taken her completely by surprise. She had been looking for oncoming traffic, not watching her tail.

  He slipped in front of her black machine and eased back, gradually decelerating so she was forced to slow behind him. He hoped she slowed anyway. His plans did not include becoming a hood ornament today.

  * * * *

  Jade w
atched the madman on the bike with trepidation. He seemed to be trying to pull her over, and this was no police cycle. He pointed to a wide piece of shoulder, slowing even further. Jade wound the window almost closed and locked the door. If whoever this was made any threatening moves, she would just drive away.

  She pulled into the loose gravel beside the road that he indicated, watching the professional way the cyclist handled the powerful machine as he brought it to rest. Unable to see the face of the rider, she was forced to read body language. In this case it wasn’t hard. Every jerky movement and stiff posture screamed “pissed!”

  He marched to her door, his long-legged stride eating up the distance. Apprehension built as he stopped at her door, legs aggressively parted. He reached up black-gloved hands to slap up the visor before removing his helmet.

  The knot of dread that formed at the flash of brightest azure she glimpsed in the open visor solidified as tousled hair like ebony silk spilled from the helmet.

  “Fuck.” She knew Brett read her lips when his eyes narrowed, intensifying the beam of blue fire that spilled from them. He tapped on the glass imperiously with one black-gloved knuckle.

  Jade winced as she slowly lowered the window. Brett Kelly was not exactly her first choice of people to catch her out blowing off a little steam. She braced herself to weather his tirade.

  * * * *

  Brett watched the window lower, trying to get a handle on the fear that had held him in its grip since he had seen her driving like a woman possessed half an hour ago. That terror for her safety had manifested into a need to pound some sense into her. The problem was he didn’t know if he wanted to put her over his knee and spank her or hold her tight and celebrate the fact that she was still alive.

  He was a member of the local fire and rescue brigade and had seen too many speed-related crashes, too many of them fatalities. The idea of finding Jade wrapped around a tree or coming off second best in a bout with Bambi made his blood freeze in his veins.

  He looked into the face of the woman he cared too damn much for, and the tongue-lashing he was about to give her froze in his throat.

  She looked so alive. The barrier she lived behind was gone. He could all but see the blood circulating beneath the fineness of her skin. The healthy flush rivaled that which he had seen on her in climax. Her eyes held her excitement more than her expression that said she was braced for his temper should allow.

  He swallowed back the “What the fuck do you think you were doing?” that was just wanting so badly to burst forth. “You! Follow me.”

  He turned on his heel, headed back to the Ninja, threw a leg over, and started it up.

  * * * *

  Bewildered, Jade followed. She had a little voice telling her to run, that he was only taking her somewhere else because the side of the road afforded too many possible witnesses to the berating he planned on. But it was better to get it out of the way now. The prick knew where she lived.

  He rode for about twenty minutes, taking a lot of side roads that led them clear to the other side of Miller’s Creek. It wasn’t until she saw the derelict control tower that she realized where Brett had led her. It was the old air force base, long since abandoned. Acres of concrete and tarmac were zealously protected by an aged chain link and razor wire fence.

  Brett stopped the cycle in the main entrance. She saw him fish around in his pocket and then lean toward the gate. The next thing she knew, he was ushering her inside. He locked the gate behind them and then escorted Jade to one of the open hangers. He parked the bike and dismounted. Jade looked around nervously as he stripped off his protective gear. There was definitely no one here to hear her scream.

  She stepped out of the car when Brett made no move to come to her. He was sitting comfortably sideways on the machine with a leg cocked over the fuel tank, arms crossed and an indecipherable look upon his face as he watched her approach. He looked so damn sexy sitting on the bike with his blue eyes smoldering. Jade felt a tightening low within her, despite the chemical suppression. Either he was just that damn hot or the adrenaline high she was riding had circumvented the effects of her medication.

  She put a bit of a swing into her step, hoping to distract him from his anger. She stopped right in front of him, feeling the heat radiating out from the cycle through her jeans. He made no move to reach for her as she had expected, instead lifting an eyebrow as if waiting to hear the excuses fly.

  Jade offered none. “Sorry about that.”

  “What, driving like a maniac or getting caught?”

  Damn, he really did know her too well! She gave him what she hoped was a winning grin. “Both?”

  “Hmm, you don’t sound real sure there.” He tilted his head back. Jade’s fist clenched involuntarily as his chin jutted out but there was no belligerence in the action, only a kind of amused indulgence that took some of the heat from his piercing blue orbs.

  One side of his mouth curled up when he saw her hand. “I’m just itching to put you over my knee right now and teach you never to drive like that again, Jade. You lift a hand at me, and you will find yourself there quicker than you can blink.”

  Her fist uncurled immediately.

  “That’s better.”

  The other side of his mouth curled up to match the first. The man really was devastatingly handsome. “The next time you feel an urge to shake the cobwebs out of the old girl, give me a call. This place is all mine now. I lease it off the government for brake testing, speed calibrations, things like that.” He nodded down toward the runway, drawing Jade’s eyes to the wide stretch of tarmac heading off into the distance. She eyed it hungrily. “You can use it anytime you want. Just give me a call so I can let you in and keep an eye on you. It isn’t safe to drive like a demon without anyone watching.”

  Jade was in shock. He’d brought her here to indulge her bad habit, not chastise her for it?

  * * * *

  Brett smiled wide when he saw her disbelief. “Go on before I change my mind.” He grinned at her hesitancy. “Unless you would prefer to be over my lap?”

  Jade bolted.

  He watched her carefully to make sure she used her seatbelt, but she reached for it before she touched the key in the ignition. Only reckless, not stupid then. He grinned in appreciation as she fishtailed on the smooth concrete of the hangar on her way out, keeping the front straight and the accelerator down. It appeared Jade not only had an awesome car, she knew how to drive it, too.

  He settled back to watch her have a little fun, adjusting the cock that screamed for freedom behind his fly. The damn thing had been hard as steel since Nate had told him it was Jade who drove the speeding Camaro. His dick hadn’t shared the worrying concerns of his mind.

  Two return sprints on the runway and twenty minutes of throwing it into corners later, Jade pulled back up next to the monstrous green cycle. Brett’s breath caught in his throat as she stepped out of the vehicle. He had thought she looked alive before, but now, now she looked positively radiant. Excitement flashed from the eyes that burned with emerald fire. Her smile was bright enough to light up a stadium. And her skin held that freshly fucked and looking for more glow.

  She ran a hand through her wind-styled hair, and it was all Brett could do not to throw her down and take her on the cold hard floor of the hangar. He folded his arms tighter in an effort to control the near overpowering urge.

  “God, that was good.”

  The carnal inflections of her exclamation did little for the state of his cock as his body strived to pump more blood into the raging monster. At this rate he would pass out from lack of blood supply to the brain in no time.

  “Glad you enjoyed yourself. You were quicker than I thought, though.”

  “She gets a little thirsty when you drive her hard. Running out of fuel between here and town would be a tad embarrassing.”

  He nodded toward the car that sat ticking as it cooled. “May I?”

  Jade walked back and popped the hood. Brett followed, praying she didn
’t notice the bulge distorting the fit of his jeans. “How did you end up with something like this?”

  “I bought it to celebrate my divorce. It is all I have to show for eight years of matrimony, but worth every cent.”

  Brett kept quiet. He knew she should have had something else to show for it, but until she was ready to talk about it, he was not going to push.

  With practiced care he raised the hood, exposing the hot engine. Clean, with very few spots of dark oil stains around the seals, the engine was well cared for and looked mostly original.

  He knew Jade was waiting for his opinion. “302, Twin Holley’s, four-barrel carby. Nearly all original. Very nice.”

  He raised his head and gave her a grin. “Anytime she needs a tune up, bring her in. I would love to get my hands on her.”

  “I just bet you would.” Jade eyed the bulge in his jeans meaningfully, a mocking grin playing at her mouth.

  “No, honey, that’s all for you. The notion of having your ass blushing under my hand again has me all fired up. You have no idea just how much I want to teach you a lesson over my knee right now.”

  Jade stepped back, color staining her cheeks at his declaration. If Brett had seen any signs of arousal, she would have been there now, spitting and cursing as he laid a few good ones on the perfect globes of her ass. But her nipples refused to poke out at him, and the sweet smell of her arousal did not perfume the air.

  He now knew some of Matt’s chagrin at her lack of reaction, but at least he knew there was a physiological reason for it and not just a lack of interest on her part. The sooner they put Nate’s plan into action, the better. He closed the hood and walked back to the bike, settling himself upon it as he started to put on the protective gear.