The island doubled as a breakfast bar, with stools on one side and a small sink and food-prep station on the other. The countertops were made of multi-toned brown and gray granite. There was even a small antique bar off to one side of the kitchen that could double as a dessert nook and a glass-fronted china cabinet made of heavy oak.
What was curious was that the dishes showcased in the cabinet were Fiesta Dinnerware, all in bright orange, yellow and red. The brightness of the plates made the brown tones of the kitchen feel cozy.
Taking a second to retrace her steps down toward the garage side of the house, she discovered the small room she’d thought was a utility room was actually a game room big enough for a pool table and a round table with a deck of cards on it. A shelving unit toward the back had an assortment of board games.
Retreating, she noticed more doors, guessing some led to closets and a laundry room. Back in the kitchen, Jaxon had finished his call and closed the fridge doors.
“Hey, baby girl, I missed you,” he greeted, offering his hand.
“I hope you don’t mind that I checked out the house. There’s so much to explore.”
“You can do anything you want when you’re here. How are you feeling?”
“In need of Midol, coffee would be nice too.”
“There’s a medicine cabinet in the powder room down the hall. I’ll be right back.”
“Jaxon, why do you have Midol?”
“Wish I could say you were the only female who’s been in my house,” he answered, looking a little sheepish. “You’ll find all sorts of feminine necessities in that powder room and the bathrooms in the guest wing.”
“Okay,” she said, watching him walk off to the powder room.
Jaxon returned with a dose of Midol. “Will this do?”
“Perfect,” she answered, taking the two pills. He went to the fridge again, retrieving a bottle of cold water and handing it to her so she could wash them down.
She noticed Jaxon had taken out three big coffee mugs. While she chased the pills with water, he showed her the plethora of coffees she could choose from and she picked breakfast blend.
“Thank you for the water,” she said, watching while he made her a cup of coffee.
“You’re welcome. Should I make breakfast? I was thinking of making vegetable omelets.”
“That sounds yummy. Remy likes omelets.”
“Do you? If you’d prefer pancakes or waffles or something, let me know.”
“No worries, omelets are fine. Although if you have onions, can you skip putting them in mine? I don’t care for onions or too much garlic.”
“I’ll remember in the future. Here you go, love, coffee. Hope I got it right, one packet of sugar with cream,” Jaxon said, handing her the mug. “It’s how you took it at the hotel.”
“Perfect, thank you,” she replied, touched.
“Can I have a nice kiss as a thank you as well?”
“You bet you can,” she agreed, stepping forward and giving him a sweet peck on the lips. A peck became much more but they were both careful not to upset the coffee mug in her hand.
“You two need a room,” Remy declared, coming into the room from the back hallway.
“We have one. Later tonight, we’ll retreat there.”
“Ah oh, that sounds as if you’re about to say you’re leaving after breakfast,” Eve noted.
“Actually, I’m going to disappear into my home office for a little while.”
“Do you mind if I hunker down in the library? I’d like to get lost in Dare’s past.”
“I don’t mind. My office is nearby.”
Jaxon broke away from her to meet up with Remy midway across the kitchen, taking the taller man’s hands in his.
“You okay, lover?” he asked quietly.
“I’m fine, thanks, Jax.”
Eve looked closer at Remy. He wasn’t moving as quickly as he usually did, but he didn’t appear hurt or anything. He’d been fucked hard this morning, it was little wonder he was walking gingerly.
“I wasn’t too rough on you?”
“No, Jax,” Remy stated. “I love sex with you and Eve, truly. But if it’s okay, I’m asking for a break until the soreness goes away.”
“Yes, it is,” Jaxon agreed. “Omelets for breakfast sound okay with you?”
“Sure, anything’s fine. A kiss from you would make me feel a whole lot better.”
Jaxon freed one of Remy’s hands and grasped hold of his black and red hair. With a tug, he brought Remy’s head down, kissing him with a reverence that lightened her heart.
Eve loved watching them together. They reminded her of two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that separately didn’t appear to fit until the shapes were connected and the rest of the puzzle shaped up around the two.
She very much wanted to be the third piece to their puzzle. But if something happened to keep her separate from them, she’d do everything in her power to make sure they remained together.
Jaxon and Remy separated and she sighed. They were so handsome they made her heart swell with pride.
“What can I do to help with breakfast?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Jaxon answered. “I’m an excellent cook, though I don’t do it often enough.”
“We’d like to help, Jax,” Remy said, offering his hand to their lover. Jax inclined his head, accepting the offer.
The three of them worked to get breakfast underway. Remy put himself in charge of the coffee maker, refilling mugs as needed. Jaxon showed Eve how to chop the vegetables with the finesse of a chef.
When the omelets were prepared, they made three plates and took them to the bar side of the center island. Between bites, she asked Jaxon more about the town, cluing him in to her interest with the historical society and museum.
Jaxon admitted volunteers ran the historical society. He also told her about several colleges in Nevada with excellent reputations. Sierra Nevada College caught her attention, as it sounded very similar to Salem Community College, which specialized in two-year degrees.
When breakfast was done and they cleaned up the kitchen, they all went off to get some work done. Remy sought out a room where he could spread out his equipment and concentrate on the evidence gathered from the weekend’s hunts.
With Remy hiding out in what Jaxon called the red playroom, she was shown to the library, which consisted of all sorts of books from the classics to bestsellers to historical accounts of Dare, as well as the history of mining and exploration of the state of Nevada.
The library was immense, resembling something out of the Victorian era. Furniture was dark, paintings were framed in black and colors were rich, the wallpaper was floral. There was a big black sofa, a chaise, coffee table and gorgeous electric table lamps modeled after hurricane lanterns.
Plucking two books from a shelf, she sat down on the comfortable sofa and started reading. Relieved to discover that her PMS symptoms had eased considerably, she did have to admit that she was tired. She’d call her doctor and take a nap after she read for a while.
Jaxon had disappeared through a mystery door situated in a wall of bookshelves. It didn’t surprise her that the door was operated by a button hidden behind a massive an antique tome of the Kama Sutra. He promised he’d be back later.
Eve suspected he was going to write but didn’t want to say that specifically for fear that it might impact his creativity. She let him have his due. If he wanted to share what he was doing with her and Remy, he would when he was ready.
Jax sat down behind his oak desk, opened up his laptop and sent off an email to a friend at Sierra Nevada College. Eve had indicated her interest in the college. It surprised him that she’d be interested in looking for a job change from where she was in Salem, but he’d be pleased if she did.
After closing his email, he opened up the script he’d been working on. Reading through the scene he’d written the other day, he discovered something he didn’t expect. He liked what he’d written.
He’d
never thought of himself as a screenwriter, but apparently he’d sold himself short. It was different than writing a novel and he could go about it with a different mindset. And Eve’s suggestion that he write under his real name may have done the trick. Whether true or not, he was happy to say he was writing again.
With that in mind, he took up where he’d left off, the words flowing freely. Time stood still, all that mattered to him was the next sentence, the next scene, stage right, stage left, who spoke, whose POV took precedence and how he could adapt an upcoming sex scene into mind-blowing eroticism without jumping into pornographic territory.
It wasn’t until he heard a light tapping on the door that he paused.
“Evelyn, are you all right?” he called out, thinking she might have knocked.
When he heard nothing, he got up, opening the door only to discover Evelyn asleep on the library’s big leather sofa. A big book was opened, resting across her chest.
Crossing the room to check on her, he saw that she breathed easily, the book rising and falling. She must really be tired, perhaps a side effect of PMS or too much sex. If he and Remington were pushing her too much too fast, they’d need to be more cognizant of it.
Wanting her to get the rest she needed, he grabbed a throw, removed the book from her hands and placed the blanket over her. She looked beautiful sleeping on his sofa, completely natural.
Reaching out, his heart raced as he carefully stroked Evelyn’s hair away from her face. She was amazing, touching him in a way he couldn’t explain. Right then and there he knew he loved her as much as he loved Remy.
Heart slamming nervously in his chest, he drew back, fearing he’d startle her. But the truth was he didn’t fear that as much as Evelyn and Remy’s disappointment when they learned the truth about the reason he’d gone to meet with producers in Hollywood without Gemma and Niko.
The truth was he’d been heartbroken when Gemma told him she wanted to have a baby with Niko. Caught up in his own arrogance and jealousy, he stormed off, telling them he needed time to think, hearing none of her pleas to understand.
And the result of their separation had been tragic. In his heart, Jax knew he’d not caused their deaths. Yet to this day his biggest regret was never saying he was sorry. Since then, he’d cut himself off any chance at finding love again.
But apparently he was being given a second chance at finding happiness with two deserving people. He didn’t know what he’d done to earn Remington and Evelyn’s love, yet he didn’t doubt how they felt.
As much as he was tempted to awaken Evelyn right then, he knew it was best to let her rest. Being certain to place her book within easy reach, he stepped back, turning and heading to his office, oddly more at peace.
Funny how soul searching just now freed him to realize he couldn’t lock himself in the past. His future resided with Remy and Eve and he’d have to make sure he did everything in his power to treat them with the dignity and respect they deserved. With that in mind, he began to write, not as Ransom Hunter, but as himself, Jaxon Wynter.
Locked away from Jax and Eve in a playroom known for its red bed, covers and décor, Remy waded through hours of camera shots, videos and EVPs gathered during the two-night ghost hunt in town.
The data was quite surprising. Two of the EVPs gathered at the jailhouse were enough to conduct another hunt there. He’d also like to return to the room in the Dare Hotel where Eve picked up a very strong female voice on her recorder. The entity had responded to a question prompted by Jax.
It turned out that the three of them worked very well together as a ghost hunting team. Jax had taken to the darkness and the silences with ease and had a steady hand.
The fact that Jax had coaxed the unnamed female to answer his question had impressed Remy. It had taken time to retrieve the EVP and there’d been a moment on caught on video right about the time the EVP was heard when a trigger object in the room was moved.
A trigger object, something used to lure an entity into speaking or revealing themselves such as a ball or a doll or a flashlight, was a common part of Remy’s hunts. In this case, he’d chosen a pair of Eve’s shoes.
It was widely believed by the Dare Hotel staff that the floor they were investigating was haunted by women who’d once been part of the brothel. Stories of a young soiled dove’s strangulation death at the hands of a cruel cowboy had abounded.
The pair of red stilettos had been placed on the floor in the center of the room and Jax asked if anyone wished to try them on. The shoes not only moved, they were turned upside down, heels up not just knocked over on their sides.
They’d not noticed during the video shoot because the camera had been stationary and the room was pitch black. Had he, Jax or Eve gotten up from the bed to check the view from the video camera they’d set up, they’d have a better idea of what happened.
Pausing in the middle of his work to stretch his tired muscles, Remy was caught by surprise by the puff of sea breeze. The scent lingered, as if someone passed one of those motion-activated air fresheners.
The breeze became stronger. Remy carefully grabbed his EMF detector so as not to frighten off his visitor. The detector spiked seconds before the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, chasing all the way down his arms. He had a room temperature gauge sitting out on the desk. The air around him dipped several degrees.
Setting aside the EMF detector, he hoped whoever joined him in the room used the energy from the device to communicate with him and turned on his EVP recorder.
“Hello, my name is Remy. I’m a friend of Jaxon’s. Are you a friend too?”
He gave it time, repeating himself and backtracking on the recorder until words came through. “Wilksie…Private.”
Excited, Remy set the recorder on play, turning on his spirit box that would create white noise that ghosts found easy to communicate through. Some were jammed AM radios caught in a continuous sweep of the dial.
Remy’s offered white noise and a series of digital words that some believed ghosts used to communicate. He used the static of white noise, trying to avoid the digital dictionary creating a false answer or word.
“Your name is Wilksie?” Remy asked his friend. He didn’t shout, as he thought shouting or being too intense unless absolutely necessary frightened entities away.
Vaguely, he heard an “Aye”.
“What happened to you Private Wilksie?”
“Whipped…pillory…desertion,” Wilksie claimed through the static. “Hungry. Fell asleep.”
“I’m sorry, Wilksie. You have my sympathy. You like Jaxon’s home, yes?”
“Aye, sir, tired.”
“Thank you, Wilksie. Peace to you, rest.”
Wilksie went quiet after that. The EMF detector stopped blinking. Everything went back to normal.
Remy saved the recording, planning to play it for Jax and Eve later. Feeling safe where he was, he kept working, getting more than enough data that would enable next weekend’s hunt to be better than the original.
Chapter Fifteen
Jax knew he was in love when he arranged for Remington and Evelyn to meet his mother. Fortunately, she’d been lucent and friendly, especially with Evelyn.
The trip to Carson City had been fun too. They’d reserved a lovely hotel room with a bed big enough for the three of them to snuggle in at night. During the day, they’d visit his mother and Gerald then tour the city, gathering historical information for Evelyn’s research on Jax’s paternal family tree.
Upon returning to his house, they’d fallen into a routine, becoming accustomed to each other’s habits and idiosyncrasies. Aside from weekends spent in town for Remy to conduct more paranormal investigations, Jax worked a couple of days a week at his club and his lovers came with him, using the time to explore the town and arrange for more investigations.
One thing he’d learned since meeting Remington and Evelyn was the ghosts didn’t act or appear on command. But Remington had caught some interesting EVPs in the local cemetery and an un
explained white mist in one of the jail cells during a time when no one was in it or in the building.
Remy was still working to understand it, but for the most part, his favorite EVP was a question and answer session with the entity that seemed attached to a particular room in Jaxon’s home, the red room.
Evelyn had fallen in love with the historical society and the museum, spending much of her time there. Remy had asked Sawyer for a tour of his ranch and apparently picked up some evidence regarding Sawyer’s grandfather.
When the three of them weren’t in town, Remy often retreated to his favorite room in the house, the red playroom, and studied hours of information he’d gathered from the Dare Hotel, jailhouse, cemetery and boarding house. Evelyn spent time on her research, making herself at home in his library where she belonged.
Jax hadn’t taken her or Remy to his dungeon yet. He’d planned to, but getting to know his lovers took precedent. His way of teaching Evelyn was drawing her into mild scenes between him and Remy, letting her see that his mastery of a switch wasn’t about pain. It was about pleasure and sensuality.
In the meantime, he put in the work necessary to transform the first book in his Vampire-for-Hire series into a screenplay. There was still a lot to do, but he’d made progress over the last three weeks and he’d often work for hours, coming out of his office for food and necessities.
Currently in his office, Jax reached a stopping point and eased back in his desk chair to stretch and think. He could use a break, maybe take a walk.
Exiting his office, he found Evelyn behind the black cherry desk he’d acquired several years ago. He liked the Victorian décor of the room as it fit America’s Wild West era to a tee.
“Evelyn, love, I’m going to get some air. Would you care to join me?”
She looked up and around, a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose. She looked adorable, prim but sexy. He couldn’t wait to get her alone in his favorite dungeon soon. Those glasses could serve as a prop.
“I wish I could, Jaxon, but I’m knee-deep in your genealogical tree and don’t want to stop. This is fascinating.”
MenageaDare Page 29
