“Are you sure you don’t want to get back to your table?”
“It’s okay. You two go on.”
Rick and Gunner ambled over to two men, large men like themselves, who were busy scarfing down a plate piled high with food. Were they Mayla’s partners? Or husbands? Or just friends like Kid was to her?
“My guys, Jadon and Curt, would rather me leave them alone so they can get caught up on all that ranch stuff. And then there’s the problem with the were—” She froze, then slipped into a chair at one of the few open tables. Two empty mugs waited for coffee. “Uh, with the wolf that’s killing cattle.”
Mallory took the chair across from her. “We, I mean, Rick and Gunner found a calf the other day that had gotten bitten. So they’re sure it’s a wolf that’s killing livestock?”
“We think so. Don’t worry. The men are on it.”
“Have you lived in Shatland all your life?” Somehow Mayla didn’t look like the rest of them. It wasn’t the way she dressed or looked, but something else she couldn’t define. She studied her harder, but couldn’t put her finger on it.
Mayla flicked her auburn hair back over her shoulder. “No. In fact, I only got here a month ago, but I love it here.”
Mallory could sense the stares still settled on her. “I don’t mean to be rude, but do they always stare at newcomers?”
“Yeah, they kind of do. But don’t let it bug you. It’s just their way. Folks around here are really nice. Okay, maybe not the vam—” She darted her gaze away, then back. “A few tend to keep to themselves, but they don’t bother anyone. Not much anyway.”
“Not much?”
Instead of answering, she waved at Earline. “Hey, Big E, when you get a chance, could you get some coffee for my new friend? And a plate of your breakfast special, too, please.”
“Thanks. I’m starving. I’d better eat something soon. Otherwise, I get as grumpy as a bear.”
Tension rippled in the room as everyone stopped talking and stared at her with more intensity. She stared back for only a moment, unable to stop doing so when she saw the flash of amber in their eyes.
“Anyway, how are you getting along with the Northman brothers?”
“Oh. I, um, I mean, we were doing okay.” Could she tell Mayla the truth? Although she sensed that they would probably have many things in common, she wasn’t ready to spill her guts.
Mayla leaned over the table toward her. “Did you feel it?”
Was she talking about the strange, wonderful sensation? Or was she fixated on that? “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
Judging from the tilt of her head, her new friend didn’t believe her. “Yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes.”
“Mayla, really, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t start slinging that shit with me. You felt it, all right. The invisible cord that runs between you three? The feeling that if you don’t have their hands all over you, you’re going to go insane? Tell me you haven’t felt that.”
She didn’t want to lie. Besides, she couldn’t force the truth from her face.
“You did. I knew it.” Mayla leaned back with a satisfied smug. “You love them.”
Mallory sucked in air and tried to check to see if the others had heard. And yet, the simple declaration Mayla had made tore at her heart. She’d love to hear Rick and Gunner tell her that they loved her, but that wasn’t going to happen. “It doesn’t matter now.”
She was almost relieved when Earline deposited a cup of steaming coffee in front of her. Trying hard not to focus on the others, she shifted her attention to Earline, the fascinating owner of the restaurant.
Earline was a heavyset woman with graying hair that was pulled back and ran down her spine. Mallory had a feeling that, if she ended up in a physical fight, the large woman could hold her own with some of the men. The same sweet smile she’d been greeted with flashed at her.
“I guess you’re Mallory.”
“Uh, yes. That’s me.”
Gray eyes that held a gleam of humor were flanked by laugh lines. “Then you’re Rick’s and Gunner’s woman.” She fisted one hand on her hip as she held a coffeepot in the other. “I hear you’ve been giving them hell about how they treat their animals.”
Mallory wasn’t sure how she was supposed to respond to that. If she got defensive, she assumed that most of the others would jump onboard to take the men’s side. No doubt a lot of them ran cattle ranches, too.
Mayla held her cup up for Earline to fill. “Don’t go giving her a hard time, Big E. She doesn’t know what it takes to run a herd. I bet she’ll come around to our way of thinking soon enough. You know, once she becomes a permanent fixture around here.”
Permanent fixture? If only.
She added a packet of sugar to her coffee. “No, Mayla, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m leaving today. I’m taking the next bus.”
Why was everyone staring at her again?
Mayla’s mouth dropped open. “No. You can’t. Believe me. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This is true, undying love. You can’t give up on it so easily.”
Irritation had her gritting her teeth. “Seriously. This is no one’s business but mine. I don’t know where you got the idea anyway, but please, just stop.”
Earline set the pot down on the table hard enough that Mallory was surprised when it didn’t break. She fisted her hands on her hips and hollered, “For shit’s sake. Gunner? Rick? What the hell do you think you’re doing? How can you let her get on the bus and ride off?”
The heat burst into her cheeks. Her face had to be as red as a fire engine. “Oh, my God. Earline, please don’t.”
“Please don’t what, honey? Everyone knows you’re their mate.” She narrowed those strange silver eyes at her. “You know it, too, right?”
She couldn’t answer. Not with the men remaining silent.
“Big E, it’s none of your damn business.”
Rick, please, don’t get into it with her. Just get me out of here.
“Maybe I should leave.”
She jolted as Earline’s large hand came down on her shoulder, holding her in her seat. “Bullshit. Boys, I don’t know what you did to make her leave, but an ostrich with its head in the sand can see she doesn’t want to go.”
She heard the scraping of chairs across the worn tiled floor. Steeling herself wasn’t going to help much. Not when she felt so vulnerable.
“We don’t want her to leave.”
She gaped at Rick. “You don’t?”
“Of course not.” He scanned the audience, then took her by the arm and pulled her toward the front door.
She was outside and standing on the sidewalk, her heart hardly daring to beat for fear of making him change his mind. Gunner pushed through the door, then made a low noise that sounded a lot like a growl, and waved Earline and Mayla back inside.
“How about a little privacy, ladies?”
Need, simple and raw, drove into her like a Mac truck wheeling through a driving rain. She wobbled on her feet, then found her center and lifted her head.
I’m not going to touch them. If I do, I’ll never leave even if they tell me that they lied to the others and don’t really want me to stay.
Rick paced off, then spun around and came back at her. “Damn it, Mallory, if you weren’t so fucking bullheaded, this wouldn’t have gone so far off the track.”
“Look at the pot calling the kettle black.”
He glared at Earline. “Get. Back. Inside.”
“Boy, don’t you tell me what I can and can’t do.” Earline narrowed her eyes even more than she had before.
“Big E, let’s give them some space.” Mayla took the older woman’s arm. “Just remember what I said, Mallory. It’s once in a lifetime.” She tugged Earline along with her.
“Both of you need to end this right now.” Gunner pointed down the street. “Here comes the bus.”
An older bus, one that looked like it had driven to hell and back, pulled to the corner a few yards down from the restaurant. The bus driver, a young man with long hair that fell in front of his face, opened the folding doors, then leaned out of the bus.
“Hey, anyone needing the bus?”
“I said to end this now.” Gunner confronted his brother. “Tell her or I swear I won’t be responsible for what I do.”
She bit her lower lip and silently prayed that Rick would say something, anything. If he didn’t, she would. Mayla was right. Whatever was between them was too good to throw away. No matter how bullheaded Rick got.
“Damn, you two. Speak up.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I was wrong.”
They’d spoken at the same time. That had to be a good sign.
Gunner grinned, then slapped his brother on the back. “It’s about fucking time.” He turned to her then. “Mallory, do you still want to leave?”
“Do you want me to leave?” She had to have some reassurance that they wanted her. Even if they didn’t say those three little words that she longed to hear, she had to hear them tell her to stay.
“Hell, no.”
Hearing Gunner say that was like hearing the song of a beautiful songbird. Still, she needed to know that Rick fell the same way.
“Like I said. I’m sorry.” Gone was the hard steel in his eyes. In its place was an urgency that matched her own. “I want you to stay. More than anything, I want you to stay.”
The bus driver still waited on the steps. “Are you coming, lady, or not?”
She loved them. What else mattered? It wasn’t the time or the place to tell them, but she wasn’t going to leave. The time would come.
She shook her head at the driver. “Not.”
Coming back to the ranch felt like coming home. Strangely, they hadn’t spoken much on the way back, but the tension that had layered over them in the first ride was gone.
Mallory was happier than she’d ever been. Just hearing them tell her to stay was enough. She wouldn’t push them for more.
Rick stopped the truck in front of the house, slid out of the truck, and headed up the front steps. She’d hoped he’d help her out and her disappointment must’ve shown.
Gunner cozied her against his body, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “Don’t let him get to you. Admitting he was wrong is major for him. I can’t remember the last time he told anyone he was wrong.”
Rick didn’t look back. Instead, he entered the house, letting the screen door bang behind him. “Are you sure he really wants me here? He said so, but the way he’s acting doesn’t leave me much to cling to.”
“We both want you here. I know it’s only been a short time, but we want you to stay. Provided you can handle what we do for a living.”
“I can.” She twisted so that she could face him, then lay her palm against his chest. “I still don’t like it, but I know that the things your neighbor told me were lies.” She’d ask them later if their friend had checked on Lawson Industries yet. All she wanted at that moment was to be with them.
He brushed his hand along her cheek. “Rick and I have waited a long time for you to come along. To be honest, I doubted you would. Now that you’re here, we’re not going to lose you. I promise you that the next time Rick’s bullshit gets in the way, I’ll take a two-by-four and knock him upside that rock he calls a head.”
The sizzle had grown, overwhelming her until all she could think to do was to kiss him. Yet, it didn’t feel…whole. Not without Rick.
She lifted her eyes to his. “Would you take me upstairs? I want you. Both of you.”
He shoved the door open. “Damn straight I will.”
When she tried to get out, he snatched her into his arms. She let out a yelp, then pressed her body to his. Feeling like the heroine in a romance, she clung to his neck as he took her inside the house.
“Rick. Upstairs. Now.”
Rick held a bottle of wine and was about to take a drink straight from the bottle. Setting the wine down, he didn’t question his brother. Instead, he strode toward the staircase and followed them upstairs.
Gunner was like a man possessed as he moved down the hallway. She kept her face against his chest. First a loud
bam
then a
boom
startled her as Gunner kicked open a bedroom door and let it slam against the wall.
He tossed her on top of a large bed. She only had long enough to wonder whose room it was before he started tearing off his clothes. Rick stalked into the room and began disrobing, too.
Maybe it was her need for them. Maybe it was her love for them. Whatever the reason, they seemed to grow larger in build and sexier every time she saw them. She remembered their brick-wall bodies, but now those walls had enlarged, becoming massive mountains that hovered over her. She didn’t move, fearful that she would break the charm they shared.
They came together, one brother as handsome as the other. Their jaws were locked, their eyes ablaze with the strange amber color. Wide shoulders led down to narrow waists that pointed toward their curved, purple-veined cocks. Her breathing became gasps, her heart rate doubled.
“Mallory, we want you to stay. Do you understand that now?”
She nodded at Gunner, her voice lost in the effort to breathe.
“
We
want you to stay,” repeated Rick. His mouth worked as though he wanted to say more, but couldn’t.
She knew how he felt. Too much emotion whirled around her and robbed her of her speech. Would she ever talk again? Would she ever feel the need to do so?
“We won’t ask you to promise us more than that. But promise that, for now, you’ll stay.”
At last, her words found her voice. “I promise.” She wanted to order them to come to her, yet agonized that she’d do or say something wrong.
“But you have to know.” Gunner skimmed his eyes over her, torching the kindling of her desire as no ordinary match ever could. “We can be rough. That’s how we like it. If you’re going to stay with us, then you have to get used to it.”
“Tell us, Mallory.”
Rick hadn’t spoken loudly. He didn’t have to. She would’ve hung on his slightest whisper. “Yes. I accept.”
Rick lunged at her like a mountain lion jumping off an overhang and landing on its unaware prey below. But she wasn’t unprepared. She grabbed for her shirt, but it was a useless move.
Rick had already torn it away.
A growl came along with Gunner’s attack. As Rick bent low and snagged her bra with his teeth, Gunner took hold of her shoes and tossed them aside. Her bra went flying away as Gunner tugged off her jeans and panties in one swift tug.