by A. L. Loire
“The answer to your question,” she rasped, “is ‘barely.’”
She opened the door and let Spencer and Nate inside. They went to the couch, where she collapsed in between them, enjoying the feeling of their arms around her.
“You didn’t hurt yourself falling off that bull, did you?” Spencer asked anxiously.
“Just my pride,” she said. “Don’t tell me I flashed the whole saloon?”
“Sure did,” said Nate, a grin playing on his lips. “Just like a cowgirl Marilyn Monroe.”
She groaned, burying her head in her hands. “What the hell came over me?”
“A few too many glasses of pinot grigio, I’d say,” Spencer said.
“I didn’t mess things up for you terribly, did I?” she said, raising her head. “I mean, with Caroline?”
“Caroline’s a discreet person,” Spencer said. “Even if she suspected something more than we let on, she’s not one to gossip or spread rumors.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Jess said. “The last thing I want is for your guests to turn on you because they know that both of you are dating the same guest.”
She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her makeup was smudged and her long dark hair more closely resembled a nest.
“God, I look awful!” she cried.
“I think you look delicious,” said Nate. “I like the ‘rough around the edges’ look myself.”
“I have to agree,” Spencer said. “But how you feel is another thing. Maybe a bath would help?”
“That sounds perfect,” Jess said. Then she noticed the cowboy boots that had been kicked into a corner. “Those boots!” she said. “I almost forgot. Really, Spencer and Nate, you shouldn’t have.”
“They look stunning on you,” Spencer said, kissing the top of her head as he rose and went to the bathroom.
Jess heard the sound of the faucet turning on and water hitting the tub. She took a moment to draw herself a glass of water from the kitchenette and drain it. And another one.
“Bath is ready, Jess,” Spencer called from the bathroom.
She let the sheet fall to the floor and stepped into the bathroom. She unclasped her bra and slid out of her panties as Spencer and Nate’s gaze remained riveted to her. Nate breathed in sharply while Nate let out a low moan.
“Excuse me, boys,” she said delicately, a smile on her lips, as she stepped past them and got into the tub, her skin missing them by a hair. She loved the feeling of their excitement growing—she could feel it in the air.
She sank into the bath, moaning as the hot water enveloped her. Spencer was right; it was just what she needed.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” Nate said suddenly. He knelt next to the tub and gazed at her body. “I want to ravish your beautiful body right now.”
“Jesus, I’ve wanted to do that since I saw you step out in that little white dress last night,” Spencer said. “It was all I could do to restrain myself from bending you over and taking you right then and there.”
A hard shiver passed through her. All of her dulled senses lit up at their words. “I want you both to take me,” she said breathlessly.
She felt her hands on her own body, the way she had the night the men visited her after she and Nate had made love. She always loved being alone in the bath, but now she loved the feeling of their eyes on her.
“Can you show us how you pleasure yourself?” Spencer asked.
Her breath caught in her throat. Was he asking her to…
“Let us watch you,” Spencer urged. “Please, Jess. Show us.”
The excitement was burning in her belly. She moaned and closed her eyes, letting her hand drift downward. Spencer leaned over and turned on the tap. Slowly, bit by bit, she scooted up towards it, letting her feet climb up the tile walls as she splayed her legs. She gasped as the stream of water poured into her.
She shifted to let the pressure touch every part of her, awakening every nerve ending. She moaned as she lifted her pelvis, letting the pressure of the stream touch her in her sweet spot.
“That’s it. You’re so close. I can feel it,” she heard Spencer murmur.
“So close,” she whispered, her chest heaving. She let her hands drift down to caress her clit, adding to her mounting pleasure. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Give in, Jess. Let go,” Nate commanded.
She broke. Her orgasm gushed forth and she cried out, her body wracked with pleasure. She relaxed into the hot water, leaning her head back against the cool tiles.
She opened her eyes. She felt just as stunned as Nate and Spencer looked. She had never, ever touched herself in front of a man before—and now two were staring at her next to the tub. A satisfied smile crept to her lips.
Spencer leaned over and turned off the faucet.
“Hot. Damn,” Nate said. “That was amazing.”
“God, you’re so beautiful,” Spencer said. He reached down to stroke Jess’s damp hair. “Thank you for sharing that with us.”
“I enjoyed sharing it with you,” she whispered. “Can’t you stay? I know the tub is small, but I’m sure we can squeeze in.”
“We’d really love to, but actually, we have to get going,” he said, exchanging a look with Nate. “We have some business to attend to.”
“But don’t think you’ve seen the last of us today,” Nate added.
She felt her insides wither with disappointment. Are they really doing this to me? “Do you promise?” she asked, looking from one man to the other.
Nate smiled and leaned over to kiss her. “Wild horses couldn’t stop us.”
***
After soaking in the tub until it got cool, Jess rose, dressed, and decided to take herself on a walk. It would have been easy to sink back into bed—and into thoughts of Spencer and Nate—but she knew that some fresh air was in order.
She made her way to the pool. As she approached, she saw Nate and Spencer sitting at a nearby picnic table with Caroline.
“Hi!” she said brightly. She had all but forgotten about the disastrous impromptu “double date” of the night before.
Caroline looked up, startled, and smiled nervously. “Oh, hey, Jess.” There was a pause. “Won’t you have a seat?”
“I don’t want to interrupt,” Jess said, remembering that Spencer and Nate had mentioned business to attend to. They were probably talking about something important. In fact, both men looked preoccupied.
“Is everything OK?” Jess asked.
“It will be,” Spencer said, heaving a sigh. “We’re just having a bit of a discussion about some troubles here at the ranch.” His expression softened as he met Jess’s eyes. “Please, Jess, sit down for a minute.”
Well, what choice do I have? Jess took a seat on the bench next to Caroline, across from her two men. “What kind of troubles, if I may ask?” she said, her curiosity getting the best of her.
“Financial,” Nate said. “We’re not getting enough guests.”
“Really?” she exclaimed. “But Getaway is such a beautiful place! Everyone here seems to love it, and for good reason!”
“Yeah, but that’s not enough,” Nate said. “We need to drive new business, but we’re having trouble getting the word out. There are plenty of guest ranches out West, and it’s pretty hard to convince people to come to ours, even though we know they’d love it if they did.”
“That’s because you have bad PR,” Jess said. “Duh.”
Nate looked amused, but Spencer furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Jess exclaimed. “You want to spread the word about Getaway, so you try and get your guests to bring their friends and you send out mailers to people who might be interested, like me. But what about the people who never thought about taking a Western vacation?”
“What about them?” Nate said.
“You have to find a way to reach them,” Jess said. “You need to work on your PR.”
“How do you suggest we do that?” Spencer aske
d. He was leaning in on his elbows and looking at Jess intently.
“Oh, there are tons of ways,” Jess said. “The easiest would be to have a big event. Invite a bunch of New York City lifestyle journalists to come check out Getaway. Everyone is looking for their next big story. The trick is to make it easy for them.”
“I don’t get it,” Nate said. “Why would they be interested in a couple of…”
“Don’t you see?” Jess said, exasperated. “Two former Wall Street brokers—who happen to look like Calvin Klein models—move out West to start a dude ranch? You’re the perfect story! They would go crazy for you!”
“I’m not sure about the Calvin Klein part,” Spencer said. “But how would we find these journalists?”
“Easy,” Jess said. “I have tons of contacts I could hook you up with.”
“You’d do that for us?” Nate asked.
“Of course!” Jess said. “I didn’t swim through that shark tank for nothing. I’m more than happy to help. In fact, it sounds like fun!”
“I think it’s a bad idea,” Caroline said bluntly.
Jess felt like she’d just been doused with a bucket of cold water.
“Why is that?” Spencer said, his brow knitting.
“I don’t think that it will help our ranch to have a bunch of New York journalists crowding in here,” she said. “What do they know about what we do? What if they turn around and write a bunch of nonsense? What if they make fun of us?”
“But Caroline—” Jess began.
Caroline cut her off. “No, I think it’s a bad idea and no good can come of it.” She paused. “I appreciate the suggestion, Jess, but we have this under control.”
Jess blinked, trying to conceal the wave of hurt that passed through her. She had never expected Caroline to talk to her like that.
“I see,” she said quietly. “Well, I was just trying to help. But you’re right. I really don’t know anything about Getaway.” She rose. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“Jess, wait,” Spencer began. Caroline looked at him sharply. A tense silence hung in the twilit air.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Jess repeated. She stood and numbly. “See you later, I guess.”
She began to walk back to her cabin, having forgotten about the pool. Caroline’s words, and the way she’d delivered them, hurt her. She’d thought they were friends, but there was clearly something that Caroline didn’t like or didn’t understand about what was going on between Jess, Spencer, and Nate. The tone she had taken with Jess had been decidedly harsh, and it stung.
As she turned over the events of the day, it occurred to her that she hadn’t even thought about her ex, Todd, once in the last few days. Back in New York, he’d still lingered on her mind months after their breakup. It hadn’t been amicable; more like a slow burn leading to a fiery explosion. She knew she was better off without him, but that didn’t stop her from thinking about him jumping into bed with a first-year med student as he was finishing his medical school residency. He had started the affair with her, Jess found out, in the last four months they were dating, growing colder and more distant all the while. Finally he’d admitted that he was seeing someone else, and that he was breaking up with Jess to be with her.
Usually the memory brought a fresh wave of pain along with it. Today, though, she felt nothing. It seemed distant and far away, almost like another life.
“I’m a different woman,” she said out loud, to no one. Having arrived at her door, she took out her keys and let herself in.
The sight of her cell phone on the table reminded her of what she had been putting off. She needed to call Dani.
She had never dreaded calling her best friend before. But as open-minded as Dani was, Jess didn’t know how she would take the new developments in Jess’s love life. She couldn’t leave in fear of her friend’s judgment, though—she would just have to be honest and see how Dani would take it. Plus she needed to check on her apartment and her cat, Scampers, who Dani was looking after.
Here goes nothing, she thought as she picked up the phone and pulled up Dani’s number, trying to quiet her apprehension as she pressed the “call” button.
“Oh my god,” Dani’s voice came thundering over the phone. “Oh my god! Jess! What the hell! I thought you died!”
Jess felt a grin spread to her face in spite of herself. “Good to hear your voice, too, Dani.”
“I really hope the reason you haven’t called is because you’re having such a great time, which is about the only thing I can excuse,” Dani said.
“You could definitely say that,” Jess said. She went on to tell Dani about her experiences horseback riding (“You on a horse!” Dani screeched), exploring the Western country and seeing a family of moose close up.
“It sounds lovely, if you’re into that kind of thing,” Dani said. “But I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me.”
Jess felt a surge of both affection and irritation at her best friend. There was no way she would ever let Jess get away with not divulging something.
“You’re right, as usual,” Jess said, giving up. “There is.”
“You found a guy,” Dani said flatly.
“Partly correct,” Jess said.
“Partly?” Dani asked, sounding quizzical. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t just find one,” Jess said. “I found two.”
There was a long pause at the other end of the line—a rarity for Dani. Jess took a deep breath. “So there are these two guys, Spencer and Nate, who run the ranch. They’re from New York, actually. Well, they used to live there. They were investment bankers. Anyways, I met Spencer, and we had this connection, but I also felt this connection to his best friend Nate and…” She trailed off.
“And…?” Dani picked up. It was impossible to read her tone.
“And what can I say? I’m seeing both of them,” she said.
“Wow, Jess, I don’t know if that’s smart. I mean, you can’t very well date two best friends without the other finding out eventually, can you?”
“No, Dani, that’s not what I meant,” Jess said. “I mean, we’re all in a consensual three-way relationship.”
There was an even longer silence than the last. “It’s called ménage,” she added.
“Really, Jess?” Dani said. Her voice was shocked. “I don’t really know what to say. I wouldn’t have expected this from you.”
“I don’t know, Dani. It’s like they opened something inside me.” She cast around for the words that could explain what Nate and Spencer had done to her. “Some closed door I never knew existed. And now that it’s been opened, there’s no way I can shut it again.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.
“Well, Jess, it wasn’t what I expected from you,” Dani said. “But listen, if you’re happy, I’m happy.”
Jess was flooded with relief. “Do you really mean that?”
“Of course,” Dani said. “How many years have I known you? And how many years have I been telling you to stop falling for dirty cheats who break your heart so you can finally meet a man who deserves you? Now you’ve met two. It’s like you’re making up for lost time.”
Jess laughed, and Dani followed suit. Soon the two girls were in stitches, the way only two best friends can be. “Thanks, Dani,” she said when she’d finally recovered. Her belly hurt from laughing.
“I won’t lie to you,” Dani said before they said goodbye. “I may be a little bit jealous.”
As she put the phone down, flooded with relief, she noticed a white square by the door. She went over to it, her heart fluttering. Sure enough, it was a note. She hadn’t even noticed it being slipped underneath. She picked it up and, her fingers shaky with anticipation, opened it.
It read: “Two gentlemen had all they needed—or so they thought. Come to our office at nine o’clock.”
To their office? Why were they summoning her there? A wave of excitement passed through her.
She looked at the clock. Dinner was already almost over. If she rushed, she could grab something before they took all the food away. Then she’d have time to get back to the cabin and get ready for her 9 p.m. rendezvous.
Chapter 5
Her heart pounded with nerves and excitement as she approached Nate and Spencer’s office. After taking time with her hair and applying powder, mascara, lip gloss, and a dab of perfume, she had decided to take a chance with her ensemble, donning only panties, a silky negligee, and her cowboy boots, topping it all off with a beige trench coat. The prospect of a secret meeting with her two lovers was exciting beyond belief—and after all the time she had spent craving them, she had no time to waste.
But the office looked dark. Maybe she had gotten the wrong building? No—she was sure that the one next to the dining lodge was their office. Confused, she cupped her hand around her eyes and peered inside the window. She couldn’t make out anything.
She went to the door and knocked tentatively. She felt her pulse thrum in her veins as she waited on the stoop, aware of the loud buzz of cicadas and the darkness pressing in around her.
Suddenly she heard the door unlatch. She breathed in sharply. The door opened a crack. “Follow me.” She recognized Spencer’s low, commanding voice.
Covered in goose bumps, she tried to speak, but found she couldn’t. Wordlessly, she followed Spencer blindly into the dark room. It was a short walk, but it felt much longer. Suddenly her eyes were greeted by a warm beam of light from another door opening. As Spencer pushed the door open, she saw that he was dressed in a black suit.
Cleanly shaven in sharply cut black suits with fresh white shirts, crisp jackets, and sleek silk ties–Spencer’s red, Nate’s royal blue—they looked more handsome than she had ever seen them. In fact, more handsome than she’d ever seen anyone in real life.
The setting made the situation feel even more unreal. It seemed that behind their humble office, Nate and Spencer hid a sophisticated boys’ club. Dimly lit with table lamps, the walls of the lounge were papered in a deep maroon, the floors laid with dark wood. Brown leather couches and ottomans, expensive-looking glass end tables, and plush carpets furnished the space, which smelled faintly of cigars and sandalwood. Low jazz music played in the background. A fire burned low below the mantel, casting the room in an alluring glow.