Authors: Elle Saint James
“Sorry,” Tyler mumbled. He didn’t, however, retreat a single step. Dominick also didn’t move for several seconds. Stella, heated up nicely between the two of them, finally reached up a trembling hand to take the clothing Tyler offered. She stroked his strong hands as she pulled the garments from his grasp. He backed up two steps, giving her barely enough room to pass. She entered the kitchen with her heart lodged practically in her throat from the close quarters. Interestingly enough, it almost physically hurt to remove herself from between them.
Tyler motioned to a partially open door to the right side of the entry. “Bathroom’s there,” he said in a clipped, no-nonsense tone.
Stella managed a timid smile. She put a hand on the doorframe to steady her rioting heart, and pulled the clothes Tyler had given her to her chest. She ducked inside the small washroom before she did something inappropriate. A part of her wanted to latch on to both of them and pull them to the kitchen floor to have her wicked way with them. Once on the floor, she’d further demand that they satisfy her scandalous urges. Or she could take a chill pill, settle down, and stop thinking about these men like they were her personal play toys.
Nothing of a sexual nature was going to happen tonight.
Chapter Three
Dominick adjusted his jeans again, trying to keep his cock from rearing forward. Stella was a siren of the first order as far as his libido was concerned. He needed to keep his lust better in check so as not to frighten her.
She’d clung to him like white on a snowflake all the way from her wrecked car to the house. After the first mile, with her breasts pressed firmly into his back and her straddled legs hugged up against his backside, Dominick had difficulty concentrating on anything but her lithe body, and more specifically its adherence to his frame during the short journey home.
It was a wonder they weren’t buried in one of the many snowdrifts along the path back to the house. He’d been particularly distracted every time they took a slight turn in the path and she tightened her grip.
Hot damn, she was sexy.
And completely off-limits.
Tyler drifted to the fridge and snagged two beers. Offering one to Dominick, he said, “How’d we get so lucky?”
He shook his head, not wanting a beer, and Tyler put it back. He twisted the cap off and took a sip.
“What do you mean, lucky?” Dominick asked.
After lowering his beer, Tyler nodded his head at the bathroom door once before drilling a stern “don’t you get it” gaze his way. “Did you not register the come-hither looks she gave us?”
“Come-hither looks?” he asked incredulously. “Who are you, and what have you done with my redneck best friend?”
“I’m just sayin’ she’s very attractive, and I wouldn’t kick her out of my bed for eating crackers.”
Dominick rolled his eyes. “Let’s not forget you wouldn’t kick
any
woman out of your bed whether she ate crackers or smeared baby back ribs laden with barbeque sauce all over the sheets. Calm your ass down and keep your dick in your pants.” He sent Tyler a stern “stay away from her” look.
Tyler glanced at the bathroom door once more. “Why? If she’s interested—”
“She’s a stranded woman barely at ease being here alone with the two of us. Do not—I repeat—do not do anything to make her any more on edge.”
Tyler threw his hands in the air, slopping a stream of beer onto the floor. “Who am I? I would never make a woman uncomfortable.”
“Probably not on purpose, but she’s already bound to be anxious. She’s alone with two strange men. Don’t make her regret leaving her wrecked, snowbound car to stay with us.”
He shrugged and shook his head as if in disbelief. “Are you projecting
your
feelings onto my statements? Because I’m level.”
“No. Are you a new psychology student testing your big words?” The fact that Tyler might be correct in his assumptions didn’t make Dominick want to admit anything. “We offer her clothing, food, and a safe place to sleep until the storm blows over. That’s it. No overtures.” He pointed his finger at Tyler’s chest. “I mean it.”
Tyler grabbed a kitchen towel off the counter and threw it on the floor over the beer puddle. He pushed it around with one booted foot until it soaked up the liquid. “Right. I get it. We ignore the lustful gazes she gifts us with in favor of being stand-up men.”
“You’d better get it, because even if she crawls in bed with us—”
“Stop putting thoughts like
that
in my head.” Tyler talked over him.
“—do not engage her,” he finished.
Tyler rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll look only. But I won’t touch or encourage. Even if she gets scared during the night and begs to get into bed with me.” He shuddered as if the thought of ignoring her pained him. “I’ll let her get in and turn my back on her salacious advances, even if it kills me. And it might.”
“Great. Glad we’re both on the same page.”
Dominick figured Tyler had more to say, but a second later Stella emerged from the bathroom dressed in Tyler’s sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt bearing the worn-out logo of the college he attended in Texas more than a decade ago. She looked sexier than he ever had in the drab gray color.
Her clothing was draped over one arm as she approached. “Where is your laundry room? I’ll hang these up to dry.”
Tyler stepped forward before Dominick could open his mouth. “I’ll take them. Why don’t you go into the den and warm up by the fire.”
In Dominick’s mind, Tyler crowded into her personal space a little too far, but she didn’t seem to mind as much as he did. The feeling in his gut came as close to jealousy as he ever had with Tyler. Not over his close proximity, but that Dominick wasn’t also sharing the space close and personal, too. He mentally shook his head. She was hands-off. He needed to remember that as much as Tyler did. Maybe more.
She handed over her clothes and Tyler disappeared down another short hall off the kitchen to the laundry room. Stella turned to him and smiled. “Where is the fireplace?”
“It’s in the great room. I’ll show you.” He pointed to a doorway behind her and followed close behind as she walked slowly into the hallway leading to the great room.
Dominick kept his eyes on the back of her head. Watching her ass made his cock thicken, and it was getting more difficult to suppress his baser urges. He didn’t want to see her reaction to an unruly, full-blown hard-on.
The wood-planked floors and paneling of the hallway led to the largest room in the house. She entered the space and a surprised sound came from her lips the moment she stepped inside. The majority of the A-frame part of the house was used to create an amazing two-and-a-half-story room. The narrow windows on either side of the floor-to-ceiling stone-faced fireplace were uncovered to take in the view of the property and a glimpse of the Rockies. Day or night, snow or shine, the view was absolutely stunning, in his opinion.
Stella paused to take it in before zeroing in on the roaring fire. She walked across the expanse of the room past one arrangement of furniture to the small, intimate setting in front of the fireplace.
“This is lovely.” Two steps from the fireplace, Stella put her hands up and stretched her arms out in front of her, as if to feel the heat. “I’ll bet it’s hard to decide whether to look out the windows at the view, or cozy up to the fire.”
The view of the fireplace, which now included a beautiful woman, wasn’t a difficult choice, in Dominick’s opinion. He’d choose her every day, and twice on Sunday.
“Both are good choices.” He felt so off-balance with her here. He’d been trying to act so nonchalant about her presence, when all he really wanted to do was wrap his arms around her, hug her close, and steal a kiss from her luscious mouth.
Mentally, he shook his head to quell the ridiculous notion.
Stop it
.
Stella suddenly turned her back to the fire and faced him. He stilled. She searched the large room with her gaze. On her right was the big-screen television and the leather sofa he’d been comfortable on before Clay called to send him to the front gate. He made another mental note to thank Clay. Even if they were never intimate, she was certainly easy to look at, and rescuing a beautiful, stranded soul was rarely a bad idea.
On her left was a wall of a few pictures and plaques, most notable of all was the three-dimensional saddle-shaped leather and wood tablet they’d created when they founded the Double Rider Men’s Club. An intricate design, using the initials of all the founding members, had been carved along the wooden edge of the saddle, and the letters DRMC were burned into the leather strap dangling from the center of the plaque representing the stirrup.
“That’s an interesting plaque on the wall over there.” She nodded to it. “It almost looks like a half a saddle mounted on the wall. What is it for?”
“Oh that?” He shrugged and stilled the ready explanation detailing the double penetration sex prevalent in their club’s manifesto, and the public sex shows they put on annually. “It’s just a plaque representing the club we belong to.”
“Oh?” She grinned with an expression that said she was very interested.
God she was so very lovely
. “What sort of club is it?”
Dominick had a sudden urge to explain every intimate detail of the Double Rider Men’s Club to her with the hope that she’d want to participate. Instead he shook his head. “Just a men’s club. You probably wouldn’t be interested.”
“She might be interested.” Tyler’s voice cut across the room like a dull machete. “Why don’t you tell her about us?” He sauntered into the room headed in a direct path to Stella.
Dominick sent a quelling stare to Tyler, who just ignored him. He moved closer to the fireplace as if racing Tyler there. “It’s called the DRMC.”
Her eyes went to Tyler and then shifted to him. “DRMC? What does that stand for?”
You don’t want to know.
“It stands for the Double Rider Men’s Club,” Tyler blurted out before Dominick could even open his mouth.
Her expression brightened. “Really? Do you keep horses here?”
Dominick reached her first and sent a warning glare to Tyler to back off. “We
do
keep horses here. There’s a nice-sized barn behind the house. You probably didn’t notice it when we arrived, but it’s back there.”
“But that’s not what the reference means,” Tyler added with a grin.
Dominick plastered a smile on his face, but sent Tyler a warning glare.
She looked at each of them and smiled as if trying to get the joke. “What
does
it reference, then?”
Tyler stood more than an arm’s length in front of her. But Dominick thought he was way too close. “Tyler,” Dominick said in a low tone meant to warn him to keep his mouth shut.
“Wait.” She got a faraway look in her eyes as if trying to recall something. “I think I’ve heard of the DRMC before.” She stared over his shoulder at the saddle and suddenly her cheeks turned a lovely scarlet shade. “Double rider,” she whispered. “As in a sexual reference, right?”
“That’s absolutely right.” Tyler didn’t make a move to get closer, but his tone suggested a new, higher level of interest in Stella. Dominick thought he might have tackled him if he had even swayed forward.
Change the damned subject, Tyler
. But he didn’t.
“What do you know about our club?” he inquired instead.
Stella put her hands behind her back and looked at the floor between them. “I had a friend who participated in an annual gathering awhile back. I remember that she described a particularly outrageous stage show that she watched. And a few more details of how she spent the rest of her evening with a couple of the club members.” The color of her cheeks deepened to a late summer tomato red, and she didn’t look either of them in the eyes. Her gaze remained fixed on the floorboards between them.