by A. L. Loire
Between Her Cowboys
(Taken by Cowboys: Part 4)
By A.L. Loire
Copyright 2015 Enamored Ink
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
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Chapter 1
She was so warm, so comfortable, as if she were wrapped in a warm blanket. But this blanket breathed and pulsated. Her eyes fluttered open. She was still lying in a blissful tangle with Spencer and Nate, all of their limbs intertwined.
They seemed to sense her waking at the same time. Spencer shifted, and Nate, eyes still closed, reached over to stroke her hair. For a moment none of them spoke. She closed her eyes again, a smile on her lips, feeling perfectly at peace.
“Good morning, beautiful,” Spencer whispered. He leaned over and touched his lips gently to hers.
“Why do you get the first kiss of the day?” Nate asked, giving her hair a playful tug.
“There’s plenty to go around,” she whispered, rolling over onto her other side to face Nate. He kissed her more forcefully than Spencer had, leaving her breathless.
She shifted onto her back and sighed. Sunlight was streaming in through the cabin’s wooden slats. Memories of the night before flashed in front of her eyes. She hadn’t even remembered falling asleep, only tumbling onto the straw and into Spencer and Nate’s arms, utterly spent.
She had surrendered to her deepest desires that night. The men had seemed to know what she’d wanted, what she couldn’t quite bring herself to admit to: both of them at once. And they had given it to her.
When she’d arrived at the candlelit cabin the previous evening to find Spencer waiting half-dressed in jeans and a cowboy hat, her heart had nearly stopped. When Nate had arrived in the same ensemble, she wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t died and gone to cowgirl heaven.
But what had unfolded after had been far, far beyond anything she had ever imagined. The combination of Spencer’s tender caresses and deep kisses and Nate’s rough, commanding touches had aroused her to the breaking point. Just when she’d thought she couldn’t take it anymore, they had both brought her to blissful climax, Nate with his fingers and tongue and Spencer with his pulsing manhood. Just the memory set her on fire all over again.
“Did you sleep well?” Spencer asked, turning on his side and pressing himself against her. Once again her heart picked up at the sensation of his muscular chest, his taut thighs, and his again rock-hard member against the soft curves of her body.
“Like a rock,” she said.
“It felt so good to hold you in my arms all night,” Nate said, pressing his body flush against her from the other side. Her body was drenched in waves of pleasure. How had she ever felt satisfied waking up with just one man next to her? she wondered. Hadn’t her other side been cold?
“I felt amazing in both of your arms,” she said, nuzzling Nate’s shoulder with her head as she ran her hand up Spencer’s calf. At the same time, all three drew in a breath and released a contented sigh.
“Shit, Nate,” Spencer said suddenly. “What time is it?”
“Hell if I know,” Nate responded, but there was a hint of urgency in his voice. “Can’t be that late, can it?”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Spencer said. He drew away suddenly from Jess, leaving her left side cold.
He sat up, and when he did, Jess got a full frontal view of his muscled body and the cock that had given her so much pleasure. It looked every bit as long, full, and tempting as it had been the night before when she’d turned around on his lap and eased herself onto it. She bit her lip as the spot between her legs lit up like a light bulb.
“Do you have somewhere to be?” she asked. As soon as she said it, she realized how dumb it sounded. Of course he had somewhere to be—they both did. They were running this ranch, for Pete’s sake.
“I don’t want to miss breakfast with the guests,” Spencer said. “Plus, weren’t we supposed to meet with Caroline beforehand?”
“Dammit, you’re right,” Nate murmured. He, too, moved away from Jess. She turned her head, taking in his lithe body bathed in gentle sunbeams. He was also fully erect, she noticed with excitement, and remembered how full and delicious he had felt inside her when he had bent her over the massage table.
Ugh. They were making this way too hard on her. She knew full well that they had business to attend to, but all she wanted was to feel them both around her, inside her, exploring her every crevice. She was practically panting with want.
“Sorry to do this to you, honey,” Spencer said, leaning down to give her one more kiss.
“Don’t apologize,” she said, finally relinquishing his lips. “You have things to do besides lie around with me!”
“It’s too bad, because that’s all I want to do,” Nate responded, leaning down to kiss her shoulder.
“See you at breakfast?” Spencer said. “Whenever that is? I swear, I’ve completely lost track of time.”
“I’m never one to miss breakfast,” she answered. “Particularly not after a night like that.”
“Glad you worked up an appetite,” Nate said, tipping her a wink. “Alright, now where did we put those clothes of ours?”
***
Twenty minutes later, Nate and Spencer were in their office, both freshly bathed but still unshaven. They had managed to run back to their respective cabins to grab a shower and a change of clothes before meeting up again for their regular morning meeting, which their assistant, Caroline, was slated to join this time.
Wordlessly, Spencer went about putting the coffee on, while Nate took out the documents they were to go over at their meeting. After knowing each other and working together for so long, they didn’t need to speak to communicate. And today, both men were lost in their thoughts.
“It hardly seems real,” Nate said finally. “I mean, it seems too amazing to be true.”
Spencer knew exactly what he meant. He flicked the button on the coffeemaker and looked up to meet his friend’s eye. “I know.”
The arrangement had not been easy to come to. They had been standing by the horse pasture at the end of the contest they’d arranged to vie for Jess’s affection. It had become clear by the end that it wasn’t going to be that easy—neither for Jess nor for them. Spencer had never heard his friend express such strong feelings for a woman, but the problem was that he felt equally passionate about Jess. She was beautiful, strong, smart, spunky, warm—in short, irresistible. And she seemed to feel just as strongly attracted to both Nate and Spencer.
That’s when he realized that the problem was only as big as they made it. Why couldn’t they adapt their arrangement to fit the situation, and not the other way around? He had heard about three-way relationships before, but he didn’t know much about them. Neither did Nate. They had done some Googling and found out that consensual ménage relationships, as they were called, were not so uncommon.
“You want us both to date her?” Nate had sputtered when he first brought it up.
“Why not?” Spencer had asked. “I know it seems crazy, but we might as well try. Maybe it’ll crash and burn. But it could also be amazing.”
Once they talked it over, they realized it didn’t have to be such an outlandish idea. In fact, it made perfect sense. “We always said we could do anything together,” Nate had joked.
And amazing it had been. Seducing the same woman at the same time had been a little strange at first—but also incredibly exciting, because she had found it so exciting. Plus, there was something undeniably hot about watching someone else get her off—and then being able to turn her around and do it himself. So far, there didn’t seem to be any problems.
Just then there was a knock at the door. “It’s showtime,” Nate said under his breath as he went to open it. Spencer knew exactly what he meant. Caroline, always perceptive, was no doubt going to question them about their after-dinner absence the night before. They hadn’t had time to cobble together an alibi.
Nate opened the door and greeted Caroline with a hearty “Good morning!” and a kiss on the cheek. Moving with characteristic purpose, she looked fresh and capable as usual as she crossed the room to greet Spencer. They had been damn lucky to land Caroline as an assistant. Without her, the ranch would be a mess. Spencer poured them each a cup of coffee—black for him and Nate, dash of cream for Caroline—and they settled down at the table.
“Everything OK with you guys?” she asked before her cup hit the table.
Spencer exchanged a quick look with Nate. They’d been exactly right.
“Dandy as usual,” Nate said, his voice light.
“I was wondering where you were after dinner last night,” Caroline said. “I didn’t see you at the campfire.”
“We figured that Billy had it under control,” Spencer put in quickly. “He always hates it when we intervene with his storytelling too much, anyway. Well, when Nate does.”
“I can’t help it if I steal the show,” Nate said with a grin. “In all seriousness, though, Spencer and I wanted to get a head start on today’s agenda.”
Spencer felt a burst of appreciation for his best friend, who, for all his goofiness, was much quicker on his feet than Spencer was. It was a damn good lie, especially because Caroline was so concerned with the wellbeing of Getaway Guest Ranch.
“Is it that bad?” Caroline said, her brow furrowing.
“Well, it’s not good,” Nate said with a sigh, leafing through the sheaf of papers in front of him. “This last season just hasn’t been the best.”
“I don’t get it,” Caroline said. “Our guests love us. We make sure that no one has anything short of an amazing vacation. Why aren’t we getting enough business?”
“You’re right, of course, Caroline,” Nate said. “Our guests do love us, and they come back to us. The problem is finding new guests. We’re still pretty young, and we don’t have enough repeat guests to give us enough business to sustain us for the long term.”
“But don’t our guests bring us others?” said Caroline. “They talk about us to our friends, their friends come…”
“Not as much as you’d think,” Nate said. “Plus, they come from all over. It’s quite hard to spread the word to ‘all over.’ We’ve gotten better at our marketing, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Spencer and Nate had been keeping a close eye on the books, and while things were far from dire, Nate was right that they needed to improve their marketing strategy. They had started the ranch from their own initial investment, after they’d had to leave Wall Street following their financial fall from grace. Luckily, they’d managed to keep their swollen bank accounts. But they didn’t want to tap into their personal funds any more than they had to.
“We know we have a great guest ranch,” Spencer said. “The problem lies in letting other people know it.”
“That is a pickle,” Caroline said, chewing her lip. “Gosh, guys. I wish I could help. I just don’t know how.”
“It’s not your job, Caro,” Spencer said. “And it’s not your responsibility, either. We just wanted to let you know the situation, since as you know, we don’t like to hide things from you.”
“I appreciate your transparency,” Caroline said. “You boys just let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“We sure will,” Nate said. “But we also wanted to tell you again how much we appreciate all your work around here. If we didn’t have you to take care of the details, we’d be a hell of a lot farther in the hole.”
“You know how much I love this place,” Caroline said. She drained her coffee and stood. “Speaking of which, I should get to the dining lodge. Breakfast is about to start.”
“We’ll come along,” Nate said. “I think we’re done for now. Right, Spence?”
“I believe so,” Spencer said, gathering the coffee cups.
“I hope Jess will be there,” Caroline said. “She disappeared last night after dinner. She has a way of doing that.”
A siren went off in Spencer’s head at the mention of Jess’s name. He looked frantically at Nate. A silence hung in the air for a moment.
“I don’t think she’s one for big group gatherings,” Nate said finally.
“Really?” Caroline said. “I got the impression that she was quite social. She always seems to be chatting with someone new at dinner.”
“Well, I think she’s trying to relax, is what I’m saying,” Nate said. “She mentioned being sick of dealing with people at her job in New York. I think she’s enjoying some time to herself here.”
There was another brief silence. “Maybe you’re right,” Caroline said with a shrug.
Spencer exchanged a look with Nate as they filed out of the door. Could Caroline be on to them?
Chapter 2
Breakfast was torture. The whole time, Jess had to repeatedly tell herself, Don’t stare at Spencer. Don’t stare at Nate.
She positioned herself far down the long table from them—they always sat in the same seats at the middle of the main table, getting up to mill around and talk to guests during the meal—but not so far that she couldn’t still catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of her eye. Then she put her head down and ate her eggs, bacon, and toast (plus a blueberry flapjack or two), listening to the conversation around her more than she contributed to it. All she could think about was being between the two men, flesh against flesh, Nate’s head between her thighs as Spencer’s hands ran wild over her body from behind…
Don’t stare at Spencer. Don’t stare at Nate.
“Everything OK, hon?” Caroline asked her. She had walked up and put her hand on Jess’s shoulder as she was getting up from the seat, startling her. “You seem a little preoccupied.”
“Everything’s great!” Jess trilled. “I guess I’m just a bit distracted.”
Caroline smiled knowingly. Jess had confided in her the night before that she was torn between two men. Of course, Caroline didn’t know which men, and Jess wanted to keep it like that. Not that she was even torn between them anymore. More like deliciously wedged.
After breakfast she made her way out of the dining hall, having managed to avoid letting her hungry gaze linger over the two jaw-droppingly handsome men that she could now call hers.
She let her feet carry her over the trail to the horse pasture. It was another bright summer day, with dragonflies buzzing in the air that smelled of grass and honeysuckle. The blue-tinged mountains cut imposing silhouettes in the clear blue sky. Her heart began to soar as she walked over the trail, suddenly filled with an overwhelming feeling of gratefulness. She was so lucky to be in this paradise and to have two men devoted to her.
She felt a vibration in her pocket. She took out her phone, saw “Dani” flash across the screen, and promptly put it on mute. Dani had been skeptical at best when Jess had told her that she was quitting her job and taking a month out of her life to spend time doing nothing in Middle-of-Nowhere, Wyoming. She had no idea how Dani would react when she told her she had promptly gotten herself involved in a romantic relationship with two men. She knew she couldn’t keep screening calls from her best friend—in fact, she was surprised that Dani hadn’t already assembled a search party. They rarely went a day without speaking. But for the moment, she felt it was better to save that conversation for later, when she had some perspective
on the whole thing.
She reached the pasture. The horses had been let out to graze. She stood by the fence and watched the large, graceful creatures bend their heads to languidly pull up stalks of grass. It looked like a nice life.
She sighed, feeling the sun press into the back of her neck, her hair swept up into a messy bun. It had been the best she could do with the few minutes she’d had between rousing herself from the bed of straw in the barn and making it to the dining lodge for breakfast.
One of the horses sauntered over to the fence—a dappled cream-and-black mare. “If it isn’t the infamous Oreo,” Jess said. The horse seemed to remember her. She reached her neck over the fence, pushing her broad muzzle towards Jess. “So we’re friends now?” she said, stroking the horse above her nose. Nate had given Jess her first horseback riding experience with Oreo, promising her she was great with beginners. Everything had been going swimmingly until Oreo had picked up the pace, and Jess, inexperienced rider that she was, had almost gotten thrown. She might have accidentally given the horse a bit of a thigh squeeze, but no one had to know that. As the tension soared between her and Nate, her thoughts had definitely been elsewhere.
“Maybe we should give it another go, huh, Oreo?” she said to the horse, which blinked its deceptively docile eyes. “Sometime when I’m not so distracted, maybe?”
She heard light footsteps behind her and turned around. Spencer and Nate were sauntering towards her. Her heart felt like it was cut from a cord, freefalling to her stomach.
“Saying hi to your friend?” Nate said, a playful spark in his eye.
“Just getting reacquainted,” she said. The men approached her. Nate put a hand on her hip and kissed her lightly on the lips, then stepped away, letting Spencer do the same. She felt a ripple of excitement with each touch. She was amazed by how easy and natural it all felt.
“Maybe we can help you out here,” Spencer suggested.
“Oh, I’m sure you have much more important things to do,” Jess said. “I don’t want to hog all of your time.”