by Lola White
Lowell placed her on the bed. Orchid undulated against the covers, spread and naked before the two men she loved most as they stared down at her. Clint watched her move sinuously, the gleam in his eye giving her a moment’s pause, but the excitement roaring through her was too violent to let her be still. Trying to find a measure of peace, she turned her sights to her husband, but it didn’t help. Lust continued to ravage her senses.
Lowell’s shirt was already on the floor, wiry muscle, deeply cut into his lean body on full display. She watched his fingers when he worked his belt, pulling at the leather, his biceps rolling enticingly beneath his skin. His strength had always seemed so subtle, especially compared to Clint’s, but now Orchid saw how developed it was in a side by side comparison. Not just physical power—Lowell had been graced with courage, patience and determination.
Finally naked, he climbed onto the bed by her head. Orchid reached up to stroke his skin. “I love you,” she told him.
Joy infused his passion-tight expression. “I love you, too. I always have.”
Then he leaned over and sucked her nipple into his hot mouth. Gasping, Orchid arched violently. Lowell tightened his lips on her breast a heartbeat before she felt Clint press his wide cock to her entrance. Sensation sizzled when one man pressed forward and the other drew back to pant over the wetness he’d left behind.
Her husband watched Clint thrust deep into her pussy. She heard Lowell groan and felt the tremor that raced through him. Crouched over her as he was, she knew exactly how excited he’d become at what he’d seen.
Beyond the thick penetration, the enrapturing stretch of her entrance, the slow slide of possession, Orchid was surprised at how excited she was to be observed so closely. No—not just that, but to be pressed between the two men she loved most—to feel their care of her, warming every cold inch that had frozen after Clint’s departure. They were there now, loving her, touching her and pleasuring her, but also giving themselves the way she’d always dreamed. She needed them both, and now she had everything she ever wanted.
Clint rode her hard. Unlike the desperation she’d felt emanating from them both on the riverbank, this moment was infused with warmth, love, sharing…and Lowell’s encouragement. He stroked Orchid’s body while he concentrated on Clint’s cock thrusting into her again and again. He played with her nipples when her breasts bounced under the other man’s force and he licked the breathless moans from her lips. Sliding one hand down over her belly, he flicked her clit and lifted her thigh when Clint needed deeper penetration.
And Orchid’s pleasure soared. Heat filled her, sensation tingled through every nerve. Her skin rippled and flinched with a bliss so overwhelming her eyes filled with tears, yet still she lifted for Clint’s possession, even as she grabbed for her husband. Arching, riding one man’s thick cock, taking it all and begging for more, she still needed the soothing presence, the comfortable press of the other man’s body.
They gave her everything she asked for.
Sweat dripping from his temples, Clint bared his teeth and shook his head.
Lowell pinched her nipples and told him, “Let go. Come inside her.”
“She hasn’t…yet,” he grunted.
“Now, Clint. Come. You know what I want. I need it.”
Orchid was beyond words herself and hardly understood what her two men were talking about. She was floating on a sharp tide of sensation, buffeted by their actions in the most glorious way. Only Clint’s groan, his sudden arch and the heat that filled her pussy gave her a clue of what Lowell had demanded.
Trembling, Clint pulled out. Orchid moaned a protest when her inner walls squeezed. Warm fluid ran from her, adding to the urgent need spiking through her muscles. She lifted, half-mad, searching for something to fill her, stretch her, finish her.
And Lowell was there. Sliding into the hot, wet space Clint had just vacated, her husband groaned. “Christ, you loaded her up. She’s so goddamned…sodden.”
Orchid rolled her head, uncaring of what he’d just said. He filled her as she’d wanted, giving her inner walls something to clamp down on, rubbing new spots inside her that had her breath breaking and starbursts flashing before her eyes. Clint grabbed her hand, giving Orchid one more thing to hold on to.
Pleasure struck deep. Geysering up her spine, pinching in the base of her neck, the ecstasy was more than she could bear. Her eyes rolled back and she clenched Clint’s fingers when she came around her husband’s cock.
With a fierce thrust, Lowell came, too, adding his ejaculate to Clint’s inside her. The three of them sprawled over each other, panting, but together, as Orchid realized they were always meant to be.
Chapter Eight
#xa0;
Orchid put the last of her items on the counter of the general store and smiled at the young man waiting for her money. He looked over her pile—the jerky and the axle grease, a few lengths of ribbon, some material perfect for curtains, a new pair of boots for Lowell, a valise and a basket.
“You look like you’re going on a trip, Mrs. Meeks.”
Smiling, Orchid knew what the young clerk thought. His smug expression was easy to read. It was no secret that she and Lowell had shared some of their drama with the town, so it was no surprise that many thought they were leaving to start fresh elsewhere, some place where people didn’t know how tense things had been between them.
Little did they know, but Orchid figured they might as well. They knew everything else, after all. “Yes, we’re heading west…with Clint Bollinger.”
“Taking you into custody, is he?”
Orchid only smiled wider at the clerk’s snide tone. “I suppose you could say that.”
“Clint Bollinger?” Some of the sunlight streaming through the doorway was blocked as the words hurtled into the general store. “You’re leaving town with him?”
Orchid turned to greet Hank Swift with a much warmer smile than what she’d bestowed upon the clerk. “That’s right. My husband and I are traveling with him to his new post.”
“Huh.” Swift ambled up the aisle of dry goods slowly, his eyes narrowing further with each step he took. “He must have one hell of a hankering for you. Spent all that time with you—you’ve said it was years—fishing and laughing and frolicking. Then he leaves, but he comes back for you after you claim he went all the way out west, so that would surely take a while to come and go.”
“We’re friends, Mister Swift.” Suddenly, Orchid was nervous. A cold tremor raced down her spine and she wondered if Lowell hadn’t been right all those times he’d scolded her for saying too much to the newcomer. Lowell had never liked Swift, and Clint was suspicious, but Orchid hadn’t seen the harm in sharing a few memories or a few glasses of whiskey.
“I thought you were my friend,” he growled.
“I’m a married woman and I never allowed you any sort of liberties, sir. I don’t know what you must be thinking but—”
“As my friend”—he cut her off—“I would think you’d help me out a little.”
With no further warning, Swift snatched her to him. Spinning her while she stumbled against him, he wrapped his arm around her throat with a heavy pressure that threatened to cut off her air and hauled her to the door.
The clerk bolted from behind the counter. Orchid hoped he would come to her rescue as she clawed at Swift’s arm and kicked back at his shin, but the boy raced into the storage area, cut off from the customers by batwing doors.
Swift dragged her outside. Staggering under his propulsion, Orchid nearly broke her ankle as she fell off the boardwalk. Swift pulled her upright with a hard yank on her chin and continued to push her down the street. She fought and clawed, slowing their progress until he smacked her in the back of the head. Stars swirling, she meekly slid forward when he pushed.
“Bollinger!”
Swift’s scream echoed through the town. All around, the ordinary folk came to a standstill, eagerly watching the spectacle before them. Orchid noticed many didn’t seem all tha
t surprised, except the man holding her hostage was shouting for the US Marshal, rather than her husband.
“I got your woman!” he yelled.
“I’m not married to him,” Orchid screeched. Briefly, her breath was cut off as Swift tightened his arm around her neck. Once he loosened it a bit, she squeaked, “My husband is Lowell Meeks.”
“I don’t know what things are happening between the three of you and I don’t give a damn. I know you got something going with the marshal though, enough that he came all the way back here for you.”
“I told you—”
He tugged her to his chest, once again cutting off her air supply, and whispered into her ear, “He got my brother hanged by the neck. If it weren’t for that damned marshal, my brother would be home, taking care of his family. My ma don’t stop crying and his wife can’t feed the babies. Your man is responsible for that.”
“Your brother…” Orchid struggled. “He committed a crime… Stood trial… Clint…did his job.”
“Let my wife go, you sorry son of a bitch!”
Orchid blinked until the town came back into focus through the spots dancing before her eyes. Lowell and Clint were running up the street, the clerk from the general store on their heels. A few feet from where Swift stood, both men came to a stop. The clerk jumped onto the boardwalk to watch with the other folks.
Clint pulled his gun from his holster. “Let her go, Swift.”
He did the opposite, tightening his arm until Orchid knew she couldn’t hold out anymore. She clawed his skin bloody, but he didn’t flinch. Her struggles slowed as her vision darkened and her knees gave way.
“You killed my brother, Bollinger!”
“Your brother killed a lawman. He stood before twelve men and had his day in court. He had his say, damn it! Let the girl go!”
“My family lost someone. Yours is gonna lose someone, too.”
Just as Orchid’s burning lungs seemed to crumple, she heard a shot ring out. She was jerked off her feet, but the arm around her neck loosened. Gulping air, she lay where she landed until hard hands caught her and hauled her up against a wiry chest she would know anywhere.
“Tell me you’re all right,” Lowell demanded. “Breathe, darlin’, and speak to me.”
“Okay,” she grunted. Orchid pressed her face to his throat and let him hold her. A moment later, she felt Clint rubbing her shoulders.
“It’s all right,” he said. “The sheriff’s got him now. The doctor will tend to his leg, dig that bullet out, then he’ll get his own day in court, I suppose.”
Orchid reached up and grabbed Clint’s fingers. Pressed between the two men she loved with all her heart, she took deep breaths and let their presence calm her.
Chapter Nine
#xa0;
Clint’s hands shook. All the way back to Lowell and Orchid’s cabin, he’d been alternately holding his horse’s reins too tight or too shakily. Thank goodness the beast had had the good sense to follow Lowell, or God only knew where Clint would have ended up.
Now inside the cabin, he had the damnedest time not spilling the glass of whiskey he’d poured himself. Concentrating, he managed to bring the drink to his mouth, but the smooth fire it brought to his throat did nothing to settle his nerves.
“Maybe we ought to rethink this whole thing,” he muttered.
Lowell and Orchid both froze. They turned to him with identical expressions of outrage and fear. Lowell spoke first, after clearing his throat and glancing at his wife. “You don’t want us to come with you?”
Clint closed his eyes. “I want you two safe. I can’t even tell you how it felt to see Orchid being held by that bastard, knowing the harm that could come to her.”
“I saw the same thing you did,” Lowell said. “It was upsetting, but it only made me realize how important keeping the two of you in my life is.”
Heat filled Clint’s throat. “But it wasn’t your fault!”
Orchid stepped forward and laid a hand on his arm. “It wasn’t your fault, either.”
“I’m the marshal.” He took a deep breath, struggling to keep his voice even. “I don’t know how many people like Swift might try to track me down in this lifetime, and if the two of you are there, you might get hurt.”
“We’re willing to risk it,” Orchid told him.
He opened his eyes, ready to deny her words, fear pushing at his temper, demanding that he do whatever he must to protect them. Lowell stood next to Orchid, both staunchly supporting him, at his side. Their expressions were set.
“I don’t want either of you to be hurt.” He blinked rapidly.
“You’re talking about what might be.” Lowell shook his head, but a smile played around the corners of his mouth. “We know what will definitely happen if you leave us here. We’ll be miserable.”
“Not this time,” Orchid argued. “This time, we’ll follow you.”
“Maybe someone will come after you, maybe they won’t.” Lowell shrugged. “Either way, it will be better for us to be together, don’t you think?”
Clint backed up until his knees hit the bed. Sinking down onto the mattress, he dropped his head into his hands. “I don’t know. I want you two safe, but I want you with me.”
“These things can happen at the same time.” Orchid dropped to her knees before him, between his thighs. She reached up, grabbed his hands and pried them away from his face. Kneeling up a bit, she placed a soft kiss to his lips then started working on his belt.
“What are you doing?” Clint tried to grab her hands, but she twisted from his hold and redoubled her efforts at unfastening his pants.
“You’re upset.” Orchid tugged his cock from his trousers. “Lowell’s upset, too, and I’m not really all that calm myself. I figured this would make us all feel better and remind you of what you’d be throwing away, if you were to try to leave on your own.”
Without waiting for Clint’s response, she leaned down and took his crest into her mouth. Tightening her lips, she applied sleek, wet pressure, sucking him far into her velvet depths. He lost his breath as lust surged into his shaft, hardening it until she was forced to pull back and focus her attentions on his tip.
Lowell crouched behind Orchid. Clint felt mesmerized as he watched the other man fluff his wife’s skirts, raising them higher and higher in the back until she wriggled at the brush of air over her naked thighs. Lowell worked for a moment and Clint could imagine what his hands were doing out of sight. He discovered that not seeing was nearly as exciting as having a grand view.
Orchid moaned around his dick. Lips stretched, she brought her tongue against him, dragging her entire mouth to the crest so that she could lick the sensitive center of his glans. Bucking slightly, Clint caught a flash of Lowell’s dick, then the other man rocked forward, and was hidden once again by the fabric of Orchid’s dress.
But her lips opened and a moan coated Clint’s cock. Prickly heat, raw lust, swirled from his balls up his shaft. It flexed before Orchid’s mouth, begging. She parted her lips farther and welcomed him back in—exactly where he wanted to be.
They were right. Clint thrust his fingers into Orchid’s hair and tipped his head back in pleasure as he realized the three of them were meant to be together. Two alone weren’t enough. He’d been as miserable and out of sorts away from them as they’d been away from him. They needed him and his calm influence to settle them down, and he needed their fierce loyalty, the unconditional love the pair of them offered, to make him feel complete. They were brave enough to face whatever may come, and he had to be brave enough to let them.
He met Lowell’s eyes. The other man smiled and arched forward, rocking Orchid on her knees, causing her head to dip lower. Clint lifted with perfect timing, thrusting deeper into her mouth and making her arch and wriggle back into Lowell’s possession. Three pieces of the same whole, a connected dance that required all of them in order to find the pleasure they all craved.
Clint let his heart fill. Gritting his teeth as Lowell began
moving faster and Orchid sucked him harder, he was determined to deny his climax until the other two had found theirs, but it was impossible. They were too good together and too good to him, and with his emotions still reeling, his fear still swirling, he couldn’t hold on.
But that was all right, because the two people he loved most held on to him.
Chapter Ten
#xa0;
The tiny wagon was laden with all Orchid’s worldly goods. Two of her father’s best horses were tied to the back and Clint was already in the saddle of his own stallion. Behind her, Lowell waited patiently to help her onto the seat, then they would be on their way.
Excited and nervous, scared and a little sad to be leaving her family, Orchid gave her mother one last hug and turned to her father. “Sorry for all you’ve had to put up with lately.”
Offer hummed low in his throat and gave her a rough hug. “Well, if your husband can forgive you, I suppose I can, too. Though I’m a mite put out at losing the one decent hand I’ve got around here.”
“You’ll find someone,” Lowell said.
“Suppose I’ll have to.” Offer glared at his son, standing next to Clint’s horse, exchanging goodbyes. “He’ll have to do his part now, too.”
Thinking of all the times her brother’s resistance to hard work had butted up against her father’s impossible standards and knowing how angry she’d made them all over the past few months had Orchid fidgeting. She looked up at her father, trying to see into his soul and discover how he truly felt about her going off with two men. “Do you think less of me, Daddy?”
“Naw. I’m sure your mother gave her family as much trouble as you’ve given us.” He flinched as Hyacinth whacked his shoulder, but then he grinned. “It must be a family trait.”