by Kim Fox
“Tito went into town, but Ronin is by the barn with the cows. Go and see him. He’ll be thrilled to see you.”
I thank her and hurry over to the barn, practicing what I’m going to say. I’ll start by saying that I had a great time, but I’m just not interested in having a relationship right now. I’ll blame work and then that will be that.
I’ll be back to my boring old lonely life in no time.
My mind suddenly blanks when I turn the corner and see Ronin feeding the young calf with a bottle. It shouldn’t be sexy—it’s a man feeding a calf with a bottle—but it is. The way he’s gently holding her and whispering in her ear. The fact that he doesn’t have a shirt on isn’t helping either.
“Zoe?” he says when he looks up and sees me. A wide beautiful smile appears on his face as he watches me approach. “I was hoping I would get to see you again soon.”
The nerves just seem to disappear the closer I get, and a feeling of comfort and warmth takes its place.
“Is this the calf?” I ask as I kneel down beside Ronin. The calf is sucking on the bottle like it’s the most delicious thing in the world. Streams of milk are snaking down her neck and dripping onto the hay on the ground.
“This is her,” he says with a smile. “We named her Zee in homage to our favorite doctor.”
It makes me laugh. “I’ve never had a cow named after me before. I’m not sure whether to take it as an insult or a compliment.”
“A compliment,” he says, flashing me that charming smile of his. “Definitely a compliment.”
“All right,” I say, taking a deep breath. “Compliment it is.”
The calf finishes her bottle and then takes off to be with her mother in the barn, leaving the two of us alone.
I take a deep breath as I prepare myself to end this.
“I have something for you,” he says, smiling with excitement as he stands up. My greedy eyes follow him as he walks over to the barn. His body is shredded rock hard muscle and I can’t seem to take my eyes off of it.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Tito’s hand between my legs and now I’m wondering what Ronin’s hand would feel like. Soft. Gentle. I’m sure he would have the magic touch too.
Just thinking about it has arousal swirling through my body and settling between my legs. My heart starts beating a little faster when I watch him return. He’s holding an envelope in his hand.
“I wanted to do something to help your foundation, and Tito felt horrible for bringing you to the zoo.” He hands me the envelope and I swallow hard as I open it and pull out two checks.
They’re each written out to the Animal Welfare Foundation that I volunteer at. A thousand dollars each. One signed Tito Ryan, and one signed Ronin Ryan.
“I… don’t know what to say. This is incredible.”
He makes my heart flutter when he smiles at me. “It’s our pleasure. We both had a really nice time on our dates.”
“I had a nice time too.” My cheeks start to get hot and uncomfortable as I stare in my lap. I hate breaking up with guys. It’s the worst.
“But…”
He’s so in tune with my feelings, it’s amazing. He’s amazing.
“But I like you both and I don’t know who to pick. Sorry.”
He inches closer to me and slides his hand onto my forearm, making me shiver with anticipation.
“You don’t have to pick,” he whispers as his lips come dangerously close to mine. “We can keep dating like this and getting to know each other.”
My breaths are coming out ragged. My heart is beating so fast.
His lips are hovering over mine as the warmth from his body consumes me.
“Okay,” I whisper onto his lips. I don’t want to say goodbye to either of them. I don’t want to miss out on any other moments like this.
He reaches up and gently cups my cheek with his big hand and my lips part as I lean forward. Ronin takes my mouth in a soft kiss that has me melting into his arms.
His firm strong hands pull me closer and I’m so happy in this moment that I want to stay in this kiss for all eternity.
“I’ve been dreaming of these lips for days,” he whispers when we finally break apart. “Don’t keep them from me for that long ever again.”
I nod as I swallow hard, staring into his beautiful and warm brown eyes. “I won’t.”
He smiles as his hand slides into my hair and around my head. “You better not,” he says as he pulls me closer and kisses me again. I turn my head and part my lips, giving him access to my mouth. He slides his tongue inside and I moan as I kiss him back.
The throbbing between my legs intensifies until the beast is back and demanding the other twin.
We’re outside on the ranch, but we’re behind the barn and there’s no one around. Even if we were on a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, I don’t think I could stop myself right now.
I slide my palm down his warm skin, feeling his hard chest and then his sculpted abs. I don’t stop there. He groans into my mouth as I press my palm over his jeans and feel his hard erection bulging under the rough fabric.
He pulls his mouth away from mine. I’m gasping hard. Our foreheads are pressed together as he holds my head in place. “We have to save that for—”
“Let me guess. When your brother is here?”
He smiles and nods.
These two are so frustrating!
His hand slides to my parted thigh. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun.”
I let out a deep moan as his hand slides under my dress, climbing higher and higher.
Maybe they’re not that frustrating.
My head drops back as he pulls my wet panties to the side of my pussy and drags the back of his index finger over my mound.
“Oh, Ronin,” I moan as I grip the stack of hay that I’m sitting on as he slides his fingers in deeper, gliding through my aching folds with his magic touch.
He works me as well as his brother did. Rubbing my aching clit and fingering me until I’m coming on his hand and trying not to scream out loud.
When he’s finished, I’m breathing like I just ran up the mountain in the distance.
They’re this good with only one hand each. What would it be like with four hands? What would it be like if all three of us were together?
When the worst of the overpowering lust fades from my body, I gather my purse and hurry back to my car.
“When will I see you again?” Ronin asks. He wants to know. I want to know too.
I want to see them again soon. One at a time. Two at a time. I’m so confused. I can’t function like this. I have to get away.
“I just need some time to figure everything out,” I say, hurrying to my car. I can’t think like this—with those beautiful brown eyes watching me or with that sexy smile making my heart flutter.
“But you’re coming back?”
I sigh as I open the door of my car and stand there. “I don’t know.”
The look on his face breaks my heart. These guys are too much for me.
“I don’t think I’m the girl for you and Tito. I know where you want me to go and I don’t know if I can go there. It’s wrong.”
But it feels so right.
Ronin looks crushed as I sit in the car and close the door.
“I’m sorry,” I mouth through the closed window. He doesn’t say anything as I reverse the car and drive off the ranch.
I came here for closure, but I left more confused than ever.
Nine
Ronin
“You must have done something?” Tito shouts. He’s practically snarling at me.
It’s been three days and we still haven’t heard from Zoe. It’s starting to get to both of us.
“Me?” I shout back, feeling my arms tighten. “We had an amazing time. You’re the one who took her to the zoo!”
“Because you told me to!” he shouts back.
We’re outside of our cabin, yelling at each other in the mid
dle of the afternoon. Both Kneecap and Lachlan come rushing over when they hear the commotion. Kneecap is only wearing his loincloth, of course.
“And was the tip about Vietnam really freaking necessary?” Tito growls. “Her father was a war vet!”
“It was as necessary as placing hot peppers in my sandwich,” I shout back. I still don’t have any sensation in my tongue.
“Guys,” Lachlan says, trying to calm the situation down. “Stop yelling. We can talk about this.”
“Want me to knock ‘em out?” Kneecap asks.
We just ignore them. Our tempers are soaring too high to focus on anybody but each other.
“And why the hell did you start making baboon noises when I kissed her?” I shout.
“You kissed her?” Lachlan says with a grimace. “I knew separate dates was going to be a bad idea.”
“What the hell were you doing kissing her?” Tito says, glaring at me with an accusing stare. “She’s supposed to be our girl. Our. Girl. Together. We shouldn’t be doing anything without the other one there.”
I drop my guilty eyes, wishing I could go back and change it. As angry as I am, I know that Tito is right. I did a lot more than kissing and I should have waited for him. He should have been there with us. We’re meant to share a mate, not meant to sneak behind each other’s backs and sabotage one another.
“You’re right,” I say, taking a deep breath as I look into his eyes. “I shouldn’t have kissed her.”
He nods his head and huffs out a breath. “That’s right.”
Then a thought occurs to me and I narrow my eyes on him. “Did you kiss her?”
He swallows hard and looks away, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
“You kissed her,” I hiss, feeling the anger surging back.
“Uh oh,” Kneecap grunts.
“Uh oh is right,” Lachlan answers.
I’m glaring at him with accusing eyes. “What else did you do?”
He looks uncomfortable as he moves around, avoiding my gaze. “Tito. Did you sleep with her?”
“No!” he answers quickly. “I just fingered her.”
“You what?!? How the hell could you?”
It’s only after I shout at him that I remember I did the same thing a few days ago.
“I couldn’t help it!” he shouts back. “She’s fucking perfect.”
“You should have waited,” I say, shaking my head.
He scoffs. “Oh, like you wouldn’t have done it if she let you, but of course she didn’t.”
“Yes, she did!” I shout back without thinking. “Right there behind that barn.”
His body is tensing up just like mine is, and I’d bet the ranch that his bear is furious and ready to surge out, just like mine is.
“You expect me to complete a triad with a traitorous bear like you?” He sticks his finger in my face and I slap it away.
My bear growls in my chest, just like his is doing.
His finger darts right back into my face and I slap it away again, harder. He slaps me back. I push him.
And then we’re going at it, throwing punches and wrestling each other to the ground. I don’t know whose bear comes out first, but suddenly we’re a pair of grizzly bears going at it.
I hit him with a paw and he hits me back. I lunge forward and slam into him, and we both go down.
The thing about twin grizzly bears fighting against each other is that they’re equally matched so there’s no clear winner.
But the two bear shifters that jump in are not equal matches. They can kick our asses with one paw tied behind their back.
Lachlan and Kneecap don’t even need to phase. Lachlan wraps his solid arms around me and throws my bear off.
“Phase back now,” he demands as he steps in front of me.
My bear looks past him to where Kneecap is manhandling Tito’s grizzly. He’s not getting away from the big guy. And let’s be honest, I’m not getting away from Lachlan either.
I pull my bear back in and take a few deep breaths as I get my anger under control.
I’m just thankful that I got Lachlan. Kneecap is sitting on the head of Tito’s bear.
He lets out a vicious growl and Kneecap frowns. “Shut up!” he says, giving the bear a love tap on the nose.
His head starts to shake and then with a loud rip, Kneecap is sitting on Tito’s head. Much better.
“Oh God,” Tito shouts as he looks up at the huge bear shifter on top of him. “There’s only a thin piece of fabric between me and Kneecap’s junk! Get off, please, get off!”
Kneecap grins. “Not until the alpha tells me to get off.”
“Lachlan,” Tito pleads. “You’re acting alpha. Please tell him to get off me!”
“I’ll wait for Maximus to get back,” Kneecap says, looking pleased with himself.
Tito shudders. “I can feel your balls on my cheek. They’re so warm.”
The three of us laugh. Even when I’m pissed at my brother, he still makes me laugh.
“Get off the guy,” Lachlan says. “You’re going to crush his skull.”
Kneecap reluctantly gets off and Tito scurries away, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand.
“That was horrific,” he says, cringing.
“Come here,” Lachlan says, waving us both to follow him. He sits down around the fire pit which has nothing in it but ashes and empty beer cans.
“You’re not getting the girl because you’re not working together,” he says.
Tito sits down with a huff. I sit down on the opposite side of the fire pit.
Lachlan looks from Tito to me. “You need to be on the same team.”
“No,” Kneecap says. “What you need to do is throw her over your shoulder, bring her to a cave in the woods, and tell her that she has two men to service her now.”
Tito, Lachlan and I all start laughing as we turn to the big buffoon.
“That’s not what they need to do,” Lachlan says, shaking his head while he laughs. “The triad is only going to work if they can learn to share. If they can learn to operate as one.”
“But she’s not into it,” I say, squeezing my hand into a fist.
“We’ve asked,” Tito says, nodding. “She only wants to end up with one guy. What the hell is that?”
“I know!” I say, feeling the frustration take over. “Doesn’t she know how much happier we can make her if both of us are with her?”
“I know!” Tito says, nodding at me.
We catch each other’s eyes and something passes between us. Understanding. Forgiveness. We know each other so well that we can communicate with only a look.
We’re frustrated with the situation and we’re taking it out on each other.
“Lachlan is right,” I say to my brother. “We have to stop trying to sabotage each other. It’s never going to work if we keep that up.”
“And we have to stop giving in to our desires,” he says, nodding back at me. “No more kissing, no more hanky-panky until all three of us are present. Agreed?”
I nod. “Agreed.”
“Good,” Lachlan says, clearly pleased with himself. He would make a pretty good alpha. “Now shake on it.”
We both reach over the fire pit and shake over the empty beer cans.
“From now on we try to get her together,” I say. “As one.”
“As one,” Tito repeats with a nod. “Deal.”
Lachlan is grinning as we sit back down.
Kneecap is scratching his head. “How the hell are you going to do that?”
Tito meets my eyes and we both gulp. That’s the big question.
And one that we don’t have an answer to.
Ten
Zoe
I’m not going to think of them today.
Not even once. It’s been four days since I last saw either of them, and I’m not going to ruin another day obsessing over what they may be doing or thinking or where they are.
I’m visiting new clients for the first time, Mr. and Mrs.
Miller, and I’m going to be focused, alert, and not thinking of the time that Tito pinned my wrists to the wall as he slid his hand up my dress and how good it—
Damn it!
I haven’t even parked yet, and my dirty mind is already betraying me.
Focus on work.
I’m going to impress these new clients and not let the amazing memory of when Ronin slid his finger inside me—
Again?!? Come on, brain! Get out of the gutter.
I try to shake the sexy images out of my mind as I pull onto the new client’s property and park, but it’s no use. I can’t stop thinking about Tito’s arms and Ronin’s chest and how good it would feel to be able to touch both of them at the same time.
With a deep breath, I grab my bag and step out of my car. There’s no house. No barn. No nothing.
I frown as I check Google maps on my phone one more time, but I’m in the right spot.
“Hello!” a voice calls out.
I jump back and drop my phone into the tall grass when I see a creepy old naked man walking toward me. He’s got nothing on but a big smile on his face.
“You must be Dr. Hoang,” he says as he approaches. He’s not even wearing shoes.
Luckily, my car is between us. I squeeze the frame of the open door as my pulse races and I think back to the two classes of self-defence I took a few years ago. Was it eye jab, then knee to the groin or knee to the groin and then eye jab??? Why did I quit after only two classes?!?
“Howdy!” another voice calls out. It’s a lady this time. She’s also naked so she must be his wife. “I thought I heard a car driving up the road.”
I swallow hard as I turn from the man to her and back to the man. They look like they’re in their sixties and besides being inappropriately naked, there’s nothing that looks threatening about them.
The woman wraps her arm around the man’s body and slides her hand through his grey chest hair.
“Sorry dear,” she says, “we forgot you were coming otherwise we would have put some clothes on. We like to keep it natural around here.”
I wait for them to go get some clothes, but they just stand there smiling.