The Triple Threat (Love In Dayton Valley Book 1)

by Nikki Ashton

  She took a deep breath. “Not Bronte.”

  “No, you idiot, not Bronte.”

  I placed my hands upon Ellie’s arms and turned her around to face her brother and best friend. Carter was gently stroking Bronte’s face and whispering softly to her.

  Maneuvering Ellie in front of me, I wrapped an arm around her chest and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

  “Look at them, baby. Does it look like she’s in love with anyone else other than your brother?”

  Ellie gasped and turned her head to look at me. “How long have you known?”

  I shrugged. “About a minute longer than you. Why else would he punch me? Not because I had sex with you, but because he thought I’d kissed Bronte.”

  “But they hate each other,” Ellie said, still looking at me.

  “I guess not.” I nodded to where Bronte and Carter were standing. “Take a look.”

  Carter was kissing the life out of Bronte, and she was kissing him back just as enthusiastically without any hesitancy.

  “Oh my.” Ellie sighed and grabbed a hold of my arm wrapped around her. “That’s definitely not a new thing is it?”

  “Nuh uh, I don’t think so.”

  After a lot of kissing and heavy breathing, Carter pulled away from Bronte but grabbed her hand as he turned to us.

  “Stay away from my girl, Delaney.”

  His tone was low, but there was a smile on his lips.

  “How long?” Ellie asked.

  Bronte winced and bit her lip. “Three months.”

  “But what about… oh my God, you told me that you wanted to be with… you little liar.”

  Carter rolled his eyes. “We knew that if you knew about us, you’d interfere. The whole damn lot of you would interfere,” he said. “Mom and Darcy more than anyone, and there’s no way you’d be able to keep it from them.”

  “So,” Bronte added. “We decided to put you off the scent.” She paused and glanced down at the floor. “I’m sorry for tricking you. I really am, Ellie. You’re my best friend, but we didn’t want anything to spoil it. No offence, Hunter, I love your dad and all, but he’s just way too old.”

  “No offence taken,” I replied with a smile.

  “If you’d asked me not to say anything, I wouldn’t have,” Ellie said, her voice cracking.

  “We couldn’t take that chance, sis. We’ve known each other all our lives, so we just wanted to check this was real and not just something we’d fallen into before we told everyone.”

  “And?” I asked.

  Bronte gazed at Carter and I had my answer.

  “So, at the party when you put your knee to his balls, you didn’t mean it?” Ellie asked.

  “Oh God yeah, I meant it.” Bronte nudged Carter with her elbow. “You’re my best friend and he was a dick.”

  Ellie and I both laughed as Carter cupped his junk, evidently reliving the moment that Bronte’s knee collided with his dick and balls.

  “What about my pop’s shirt you stole from the laundry hamper?”

  Bronte grinned. “Mom wanted to know what size he was as she wanted to buy him a shirt for his birthday gift. It was fun messing with you though.”

  “Yeah that’s kinda what gave us the idea,” Carter offered, not even looking guilty.

  “And all the times she’s reamed you out over the last few months?” Ellie asked

  Bronte giggled. “All for show. I always made it up to him.”

  “Oh, and that little prank of yours, to text us from each other’s phones,” Carter said with a sigh. “Totally pointless. We guessed it was just you trying to get me back for something or other.”

  “Yeah,” Bronte added with a secretive smile. “Our texts to each other are so much dirtier, so we knew straight away. I knew it was you getting him back for Belinda’s party.”

  Ellie cleared her throat and shuffled her feet.

  “I guess we don’t need to mention the plan,” I whispered close to her ear, allowing my lips to brush against them.

  She shivered in my arms and I knew it was time for us to talk and for Carter and Bronte to go and… well leave us alone.

  “Okay,” I said moving from behind Ellie and taking her hand. “I need to speak to Ellie, so…” I nodded toward the entrance of the grand ballroom.

  Carter looked at the door and then back to me. “Oh, right, yeah. Come on, sweetheart, I think it’s time we came out of the closet to the family. Oh, but just a minute, I need to tell Ellie something.”

  He took Ellie’s hand and pulled her away from me, talking quietly to her. Whatever it was made her giggle and if I wasn’t so worried about what he was saying, I’d have thought she was cuter than a kitten with a bow on.

  Once he’d finished, Carter grabbed a hold of Bronte and led her back to the party, leaving Ellie and I alone. We waited in silence as they left and once the door closed behind them, I dragged Ellie over to one of the huge leather couches that was tucked in a quiet corner of the lobby.

  “What was he saying to you?” I asked as I guided her to sit down.

  “Oh, nothing,” she replied with a quirk of her eyebrow. “Just something about Bronte’s Christmas present.”

  I didn’t believe her but had more important things I wanted to discuss than whatever shit Carter had been saying. I lowered myself next to her. “Okay. You and me, need to sort this out once and for all. You with me?”

  Biting her lip, Ellie nodded. “Yes, I know.”

  “First off, don’t ever dance with that douche Dylan ever again. And you most certainly never let him put his lips on you ever.”

  Ellie opened her mouth to speak, but I silenced her with a kiss. Quick and hard.

  “Second off, I don’t want to date you, Ellie. I—”

  “I knew it.” She tried to get up, but with a hand on her shoulder and the other at the back of her head, I guided her mouth back to mine.

  “I don’t want to date you because that won’t ever be enough for me,” I said, once I’d thoroughly kissed her.

  “It won’t?” she asked, her voice quiet and hesitant.

  “Nope. I want you to be my girlfriend. My girl. My woman, my only woman.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes, baby, I do.” I blew out a breath, knowing that what I said to her next could scare her away. I had to though, because any other words wouldn’t be enough and would be a huge damn lie.

  “You are all I think about, every single minute of every single day. I see you, Ellie. I see the woman you’ve become, the woman that I would be proud to call my partner. You’re so damn beautiful and sexy, but you’re strong and brave – well apart from when it comes to cows.” I paused for thought. “Oh, and yeah, maybe you can’t sing a note, but I can put up with that.”

  She threw her head back and laughed and it just made what I was about to say to be more of a truth than any words I’d ever said before.

  “You have a big heart, and an honesty I’d never tire of. In fact, I can’t imagine having to spend a day without you.” I took a deep breath. “I want you in my life, Ellie. I want to share my life with you, and I swear down, I’ll do everything I can to make sure I never hurt you. I’ll do everything I can to always make you happy because the truth is, baby, it sneaked up on me, but I’ve fallen real hard for you. So hard, I can’t stand the idea of you not being mine.”

  Ellie gasped and flattened a palm against her chest. She didn’t speak for what felt like hours but just stared at me, her eyes sparkling.

  “Ellie, baby, please say something.”

  My heart was racing, and adrenalin was pumping hard through my veins. I watched and waited. Finally, she took a deep breath.

  “How the hell is your proposal going to beat that, Hunter Meredith Delaney?”

  Before I had chance to speak, she threw herself onto me and tugging at my hair, she poured every single ounce of her energy into kissing me. Hands, teeth, tongues and heavy breathing were all parts of the jigsaw that made up the perfect kiss. A kiss that seale
d the deal. In fact, it was a triple threat of a kiss. It was long, it was hot, and it was fucking delicious.

  “Does that mean you finally agree with me about us being together?” I asked when she pulled away to catch her breath.

  Nipping at my bottom lip, she nodded. “Oh yeah,” she said breathily. “Wholeheartedly. I wanted you to ask me at the mall, but you didn’t.”

  My mouth dropped open and I stared at her for a few. “You damn well drive me crazy, you know that?”

  She grinned and nodded. “I know, but it’s a good crazy right?”

  “Yeah,” I replied, gently brushing her bangs from her forehead. “It’s a good crazy.”

  Sagging against me, she then gave a satisfied mewling sound. “Okay, what next?”

  “Now we just have to give the family their second shock of the night.”

  Ellie pulled away and looked at me with a frown. “We could stay a secret,” she offered.

  I shook my head. “Nope. You’re mine. I want to make sure everybody knows it.”

  Two hours later, once dinner was over, I made true my promise and showed the whole damn town who Ellie Maples belonged to.

  As Luke Combs’ ‘Beautiful Crazy’ played, I danced with my girl and kissed her with everything I had. The best part about it – we were the only ones on the dancefloor and Dylan watched on as Ellie loved every damn minute of the love and attention that I gave to her.

  Ellie

  The breeze blew the drapes at the open window, and as I cranked up the volume on Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s ‘Senorita’ I giggled to myself.

  “Baby, what the hell are you up to?”

  Hunter was on his bed, his back against the headboard with his eyes tightly closed. At least that’s what I’d asked him to do for his surprise.

  “One minute,” I replied and checked myself once more in the full-length mirror on his wall.

  Turning my head, I looked at the gorgeous cowboy and felt my heart rate rise. God, he was so damn amazing, and for the last two months he’d been all mine. Something which I knew made a lot of the girls in Dayton Valley jealous. Not just the girls, the women too. Davis had been right; Mrs. Callahan was most disappointed it wasn’t Hunter dressed as Santa making me swoon in the calendar. It had also been made clear to me many times that March was indeed by far the most popular month. It didn’t worry me though, because Hunter was my man and boy, had he gone a long way to prove to me that in turn I was his. The sex had continued to be awesome and had been even better just from knowing that I was getting orgasms from my boyfriend.

  Whenever I thought about the fact that I was Hunter’s girlfriend, I got a stupid smile on my face. Bronte called it my sex smile, but it wasn’t just about that, we were so much more than I’d ever expected.

  We talked a hella lot, we laughed even more and yeah, we had lots and lots of sex, but the best thing he’d done; accompany me to my therapy sessions about my fear of his cows. Hunter had been real supportive and had actually been the one to find the therapist for me. I’d only had three sessions, but they were going well. I could actually go to the ranch in daylight without breaking out in a sweat and had even stood six feet away from one. Which was why I was currently about to fulfil what I hoped was a little fantasy for my man. A little thank you for all his help.

  “Okay,” I whispered close to his ear. “Open your eyes.”

  I glanced down his body and could see the anticipation of what I might be about to do already had him hard in his grey sweats. Although, he’d been hard pretty much all weekend, seeing as his dad had taken his aunts to meet up with their brother Miller and his wife, who were on a business trip in Houston. Jefferson had employed the Williams brothers full-time, so Hunter had taken the weekend off too and apart from a trip to Middleton Ridge on Friday night for dinner and a movie, we’d spent most of it in the bedroom.

  “Fuck,” Hunter groaned out as he rubbed a hand down his face. “You look… fuck, El.”

  I gave him a little twirl and was happy to hear him give another moan of satisfaction.

  “Is that your original Belle dress?” he asked as he moved to the edge of the bed.

  “Yep, with a few alterations, with the help of your aunts.”

  Hunter’s eyes widened as he silently mouthed, ‘fuck’ his discomfort causing me to laugh.

  “Don’t worry, they thought it was for a fancy-dress party.”

  Hunter’s hand reached out and touched the bottom of the short yellow dress I was wearing, before slipping beneath it to land on my butt.

  My old Belle from Beauty and The Beast, dress, was now much, much shorter than I was sure Mr. Disney would have thought proper. Not to mention how low the neckline was, which had Hunter’s full attention.

  “Baby,” he said hoarsely. “I think I can see your nipples.”

  I gave him a little wink and lifted my leg, placing my foot next to him on the mattress.

  “You like the thigh highs too?” I asked as I ran a finger along the edge of the white nylons and then up the garter attached to it, giving it a little snap. “I can sing you Belle’s song as well if you like.”

  “No, baby its fine,” he replied a little too quickly.

  He still hated my singing, but who cared.

  “I guess we just need to concentrate on other things then,” I said as I trailed a finger down hard, ripped, ab muscles and pulled at the waistband of his sweats.

  Hunter swallowed hard. “You have to be the sexiest thing I have ever seen in my whole damn life. Shit, El, I’m as hard as steel.”

  He reached up and took a tendril of my dark hair and twirled it around his fingers. His eyes swept over me, full of lust and maybe even some reverence.

  “You even did your hair the same.”

  I leaned forward and nipped at his lip, before dropping a soft kiss to it. “Anything for my man. I’m just glad you like it.”

  As my tongue licked down his neck, he dropped his head back and grabbed a hold of my butt with both his hands.

  “Where’s your panties?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Must have forgotten them.”

  Hunter’s eyes closed momentarily as he let out a quiet groan. “Damn it, Ellie.”

  Feeling more turned on than I thought possible dressed as a Disney Princess, I moved forward to straddle him, reveling in the feel of his hardness pulsing beneath me.

  “You really do like it don’t you?”

  “I love it,” he breathed out, his chest rising and falling rapidly. “So damn much.”

  “Good.” I pushed him, forcing him to lie back on the bed. “Now, I’m going to show you, how much I appreciate you, my Mr. Triple Threat.”

  Hunter stilled beneath me. “W-what?”

  I started to laugh and poked him in his side. “Triple threat, isn’t that what you say about yourself?”

  “In my fucking head maybe,” he groaned. “How the hell do you know about it?”

  I tapped his forehead and winked.

  “You cannot read my damn mind, Ellie. How did you know?” he asked, looking pained.

  “Carter told me.” My giggle was bubbling into full blown laughter as Hunter’s face blanched.

  “I never told him,” he said, rolling us over so he was now on top of me. “Tell me the truth.”

  “Hey, watch the dress cowboy,” I laughed as he crushed me beneath his beautiful, hard body.

  He stole a kiss and then nipped at my earlobe. “Don’t stress it, because this dress is going to be ruined anyway when I’ve finished with you. Now, tell me the truth.”

  I smiled as the music turned to Sam Outlaw and reached up to kiss Hunter. He, however, had other ideas and tickled my side.

  “The truth, cutie pie,” he said, insistently.

  “That is the truth. Apparently, you were shouting it real loud one night, when you were drunk on my dad’s peach wine. Carter felt he should tell me. In fact,” I said reaching up to kiss his neck, “that was what he whispered to me in the lobby at the Christmas dan
ce. He said it was collateral in case you ever pissed me off, but it’s much more fun using it this way.”

  Hunter shook his head and groaned. “Bastard. I’ll get him back somehow for that. I didn’t even know I’d said it to him. And just so you know, I still have the picture of you trapped in the red dress.”

  “You threatening to use it against me, Mr. Triple Threat?” I nipped his jaw, making a mental note to erase the picture from his phone someday.

  “If you keep Triple Threat our secret, then I won’t need to will I?” he said seductively.

  “But you do agree? You do think you are a triple threat?”

  His eyes grew dark and it was pretty clear by the way he licked his lips and ran his hand up my leg that he was thinking about his theory.

  “You want me to prove it to you, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I think I might.”

  “Okay,” he said, grinning. “Brace yourself, honey.”

  Soft lips dropped to mine as his hands threaded through my hair. Instinctively I parted my legs and when his rock-hard dick pushed against my stomach, I knew he was going to prove himself right.

  He was long.

  He had a good girth.

  He had the technique.

  And he was all mine.

  Carter

  “Seriously, Carter, if they’re having sex around the back I’m going to barf.” Bronte took a sip of her wine and then pushed it away, curling her lip as she did.

  “Of course, they are,” I replied and picked up her glass. “Want me to change this sweetheart? Something wrong with it?”

  I sniffed at the drink, and while I wasn’t a wine connoisseur, neither was Bronte, so didn’t get why she was turning her nose up at it.

  “What’s wrong with it, you never turn down a glass of wine?”

  Wrong thing to say.

  Bronte gave me a glare that could have iced over the Atlantic Ocean and crossed her arms firmly over her tits – tits which were looking amazing by the way.

  “Do you have a new bra?” I asked licking my lips.

  “OMG you did not just say that.”