Saint James, Elle - Unbridled and Unbound [The Double Rider Men's Club 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (15 page)

“So if I joined you in a threesome with Tyler…” She trailed off, seemingly unable to complete the sentence. Dominick wanted her to be thinking very seriously about the three of them on a permanent basis.

“Then the three of us would only have sex with each other in any format.”

“Any format?”

“I mean you and me only, you and Tyler only, the three of us at the same time, the two of us watching you bring yourself off—”

“Wow. Another surprise.”

He laughed. “However, if we invited someone to join the three of us, we would only do so if all three of us truly agreed wholeheartedly. No doubts. We likely wouldn’t bring it up for awhile, or we’d allow you to tell us when or if you were ever ready for that level.”

“Clay has offered to be my enforcer against Claudia the Bitch, like an older cousin to stand up for me. I think that’s how I sort of think of him now. My older, overprotective family bodyguard.”

“Well, Clay also has a past, and he doesn’t often share any aspects of this lifestyle up close and personal.”

“What happened to him?” Stella’s tone of voice indicated that she was genuinely concerned about his friend. It made Dominick like her even more.

He shook his head. “It’s a long story, and not mine to tell.”

She smiled and turned away. “You’re a good friend.”

“So are you for not pressing me for information like gossip?” A fiercely loyal feeling rose up and gripped his chest.

Clay was one of his very best friends. Second only to Tyler. He hugged Stella closer, burrowed his face in her neck, and inhaled her luscious scent. She reached out and stroked Tyler’s face in a loving gesture.

Tyler was on his back next to Stella’s front, sound asleep. He expected him to begin snoring any moment.

“Looks like you tuckered him all out.”

“I can’t believe I’m not conked out, too. I’m tired, but not sleepy.”

“We should have paced ourselves better. But we didn’t want to miss any opportunity. If you’d promise to think about coming back for a visit, we might stop fucking you every hour on the hour before you leave tomorrow.”

Her musical laughter rolled across his senses again. “You’re funny. But it isn’t as though I haven’t been strutting around here in next to nothing so you’d ignore me. I had my wicked way with the two of you as well.”

A deflection. Time to be direct. “Will you come back again? Will we ever see you again?”

“I’m not ruling it out. It’s just that my emotions are frayed, and I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep.”

“What’s the holdup?”

“I’ve got a demanding and time-consuming job. One that I need to keep regardless of how much Claudia the Bitch annoys me.”

“It’s not like we would ever ask you to quit your job.”

“I know. I’m just not sure I’m ready to add another level to it. Maybe someday, but not now. And it isn’t because I don’t care about the two of you, or that this lifestyle doesn’t suit me. I believe I’ve proven it’s a great life, and I enjoy it.”

“But…”

“But I have obligations, and I don’t want to promise my free time when I rarely have any.”

“Okay. We’ll take things slow and see what happens. At least take our phone numbers.”

“I can do that.”

“I’ll have your car towed to my friend Boyd Caldwell’s shop this week, and if you give me your number, I’ll call to let you know your options.”

“I really appreciate it, Dominick.” The final word came out through a yawn. “I usually hate going to get my car serviced. The places I go always smile too much as they hand over the bill that is likely inflated. I always feel like I’m getting screwed, and not in a good way.”

“Not to worry. I’ve got your back.” He kissed the top of her spine to enforce his point. She didn’t move. He peeked over her shoulder to find her sound asleep. Stella was uniquely beautiful. Her demeanor was that of a smart and efficient female all alone in the world at large. He suspected she would be fiercely loyal to those she deemed friends, and he respected that in her.

Chapter Nine

After spending one more night, Stella had very mixed feelings about leaving her little fantasy chalet in the woods. The place where she’d found an utterly perfect sanctuary in the face of a wrecked and snowbound car. And the most satisfaction in her life regarding men, sex, and the capacity of her body to experience heights of pleasure she’d never known possible.

For all her eagerness to leave barely before she’d gotten in their door a couple of days ago, Stella’s eyes actually misted up when she faced Dominick and Tyler after one final meal around the breakfast island.

Clay had been most complimentary about her cooking both last night and this morning. He also expressed a willingness to hire her to come out one day a week and cook ahead for them.

“I don’t think I could cook ahead. I just look at a few ingredients, and ideas come to me sort of on the spot.”

Clay had smiled. “So you don’t have any formal training, because seriously, I haven’t eaten food this good without paying a shitload for it. I feel like I should give you a generous tip.”

“Not necessary, but thanks so much for saying so,” she’d said, and meant it wholeheartedly. Even Clay was able to give her a compliment, and she barely knew him. A feeling of warmth suffused her being as she stood in the kitchen with the three of them trying to say good-bye without breaking down into a puddle of sorrow.

She filled her mind with the urgent list of what she needed to accomplish once she got home. A rental car to replace her wrecked one, a call to her workplace to let them know she’d totaled her car in an effort to make it to the assessor’s office in time, but failed, and a serious look at her busy schedule to see if she had room for two delicious cowboys who made her heart stutter every time she even thought their names in the silence of her mind.

Tyler held out his hand which held her unreliable cell phone. “I’ve programmed our cell phones, the house phone, and two other numbers for buildings on the property into your cellular. I hope you don’t mind, but if you decide to call us, I want to ensure you’ll get us.”

“Thanks, Tyler.” And her eyes watered with gratitude for the sweet gesture of his extra effort of making sure that if she called they’d be there to answer, even if it took five numbers to reach them.

“Did you copy my number?” she asked. He shook his head.

Before she could say anything else he said, “But I couldn’t help but memorize it. If you say it’s okay, I’ll load it in my phone right now.”

“It’s okay.” She smiled when he had his phone in hand before she finished saying the two-word sentence.

Dominick rolled his eyes, but she could tell that he was glad Tyler took care of the business of future contact with her.

Clay backed up and turned to the door. “I’ll wait out in the truck for you.” And he was gone in seconds.

Stella couldn’t help it. She suddenly sobbed. She was sandwiched between the two of them before she took a second breath to recover.

“This doesn’t have to be good-bye, Stella.”

“I know, but this was a fantasy for me. Once I get back into my insane life, I won’t have the luxury of sex with two amazing men five plus times a day. I’ll miss it.”

“Do you want us to go with you?” Tyler asked. She shook her head. She’d overheard them talking earlier that they had some things to do that they’d put off in lieu of the storm, and needed to catch up. She wouldn’t take any more of their time.

“No. I’ll be fine. Clay and I have struck up a friendship. He’s going to be my bodyguard against Claudia the Bitch in the event she gives me any shit.”

The rumble of their combined laughter reverberated on either side of her body. She backed up a pace and hugged each one of them in turn. Tyler kissed her on the corner of her mouth, which then turned more carnal for a few seconds, until Dominick pulled her from him.

She barely caught her breath before Dominick did the same thing.

Stella turned, exited the kitchen, and didn’t look back. She climbed into Clay’s monster truck with her purse and the clothes she’d arrived in. The trip to her home would normally have been less than an hour, but took three. The snow was piled high where the plows had come through, and the traffic moved as slow as tree sap going down a tree in a blizzard.

Clay didn’t linger for long, but he walked her to her door and did what he called a “security check” inside her apartment to ensure no one was inside. He insisted. She was grateful.

“You going to be okay?” he asked with one hand on her front door knob.

“Yes. Thanks for everything.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “I don’t expect this to be the last time we ever see each other.”

She smiled. “Probably not.”

“Call me if you need muscle to handle the cock-sucking bitch you work for.”

She laughed out loud. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks. “

He nodded and was gone in the next moment. Stella had to sit down and have a good cry over things that likely wouldn’t be. She had a life. She had huge responsibilities. Three more years of servitude to Claudia the Bitch, and then she’d be free to pursue whatever charmed her.

Likely two decadently perfect cowboys wouldn’t still be waiting after her self-imposed three-year payment plan. But if they were, she’d want them.

Ideas for how she could fit in a second job swirled in her head. Then she could pay the loan off earlier. What would she be willing to do to pay her debt off sooner?

Almost anything.

Cooking for cowboys with sex on the side? Perhaps. The idea was growing on her.

Before she finished the salacious thought, her home phone rang and distracted her wayward plans to chase Clay and have him take her away from her hideous life back to nirvana.

“Hello.”

“Fuck. Why haven’t you answered your phone until now?” Claudia’s unwelcome voice zipped through the phone line. Without waiting for a response, as was standard Claudia form, she said acidly, “I should have you fired for absenteeism.”

Stella’s maudlin mood shifted back to high stress as Claudia’s customary “you have disappointed me by not being supernatural” venom spewed over.

She swallowed what she really wanted to say, which was “fuck you, I totaled my car, you heartless bitch,” and broke in with a tame, “I just got home. I was stranded without my car until the storm blew over and the streets were cleared.”

“I give you one simple task, but you can’t be bothered to actually do your job without blaming it on a little snow.” She continued on with her rant, oblivious to anything else, as usual.

Stella had offered all the explanation she intended to. Claudia would eventually wind down and tell her what she expected in the wake of her tremendous disappointment, and until she was ready, Stella just had to wait and listen.

Three years suddenly seemed like an eternity she didn’t want to participate in any longer. What would be the worst thing to happen if she decided to quit? She’d have to get a loan for the debt she owed. As Claudia sputtered and ranted still, she flipped open a local phone book and searched for banks. If she could secure a personal loan, she could leave anytime she wanted. Although with a totaled vehicle, she had little in the way of collateral. And to face facts realistically, while she likely would tough out working as a servant to Claudia for the next thirty-five months, it would be comforting to know she didn’t have to rely on this job if Claudia’s daily hay bales of straw pouring over her finally broke her back and sent her out the door.