by Marla Monroe
She settled farther down into the soft covers and closed her eyes. She needed to be up early in the morning to start breakfast. She had no doubt they were early risers with a ranch to run.
When sleep came, she found herself sandwiched between the two men in bed. They were whispering sweet, naughty things in her ears and smoothing their work-roughened hands over her skin. Jared’s mouth rasped over her shoulder as he laid soft kisses along her skin. He nipped and sucked his way up her neck to pause at her earlobe before sucking it into his mouth. When he licked a long line from her jaw to her lips, she opened without thinking.
His tongue gently explored her mouth, paying attention to every detail. He slid his tongue along hers then sucked hers into his mouth to tease and tempt. She groaned into his mouth, and he released her so they could breathe.
Quade had moved farther down the bed to focus his attentions on her breasts. He massaged them with his large hands but didn’t hurt her. He didn’t grab at her or squeeze them hard enough to bruise as Lowery had. He was so careful, while at the same time arousing her with the way he touched them.
His mouth closed over one nipple and tugged on it with his teeth. He sucked and nipped until she was squirming between the two men. His fingers plucked and twisted her other nipple with just the right amount of pressure to send sparks form her nipples to her clit. Never had she been this excited. They each latched onto a nipple with their mouths and drew on them, sucking until she begged them to give her more. She didn’t know what she was begging for, but something more than what she had then.
Just as Quade spread kisses down her abdomen toward her pelvis, she woke up with a start, panting and gasping for breath. She looked over at the clock on the bedside table and groaned. It was time to get up. She lay back down for a few seconds to regain her breath. What had she gotten herself into?
Chapter Six
Jared rolled out of bed to the smell of coffee. Quade must be up. He quickly dressed and hurried downstairs. He wanted to get breakfast started so that Lexie wouldn’t have to this morning. He felt guilty that she was trying to work when she was still in such obvious discomfort.
Instead of Quade, Lexie was standing at the stove flipping bacon. She must have heard him walk in because she quickly turned around. When he smiled at her, she smiled back.
“Good morning, Lexie. I didn’t expect you to be up so early.”
“I figured you would want to get an early start this morning. I’m sure you have a lot to do today.”
He poured a cup of coffee and watched her as he sipped. She seemed fairly relaxed compared to the night before. She had been wound tighter than a ten-penny top. He didn’t know if it was just residual from being in the hospital or if they had done something to make her nervous. They would have to watch and notice what upset her so they could avoid those things. He would talk to Quade about it later in the day.
“Morning.” Quade walked into the room and headed straight for the coffee. He took an appreciative sip then relaxed.
After taking a second drink, he walked over to where Lexie was taking up the bacon and ran his hand down her hair.
“Morning, Lexie. How did you sleep?”
She shivered at Quade’s touch. When she didn’t look up as she answered him, Jared was sure Quade noticed her unease around him. He felt for the big man.
“Morning, Quade. I’m fine. The bed is really comfortable.”
“Good,” he said in a gruff voice before he moved to the opposite side of the room.
“Breakfast is ready. You two can have a seat. I’ll cook your eggs and serve them from the stove. How do you like them?”
“Scrambled is fine with us,” Quade told her. He eased into his chair, never taking his eyes off of Lexie.
She nodded and quickly scrambled up the eggs, adding salt and pepper before pouring them in the frying pan. When they were ready, she divided them up and slipped some on each of their plates. Then she quickly broke another egg and fixed hers at Quade’s lifted eyebrow.
Once breakfast was over, Quade said a muffled good-bye and hurried outside. Jared needed to talk to both her and Quade. They were dancing around each other. Both of them were obviously uncomfortable. In Quade’s case, he was hurting. He wanted Lexie to like him, and she was obviously scared of him.
“I need to tend to a few things in the office before we leave. If you need me, the office is on the other side of the living room.”
“I’ll be ready when you are.”
She busied herself cleaning up the kitchen as he headed toward the other room.
Jared didn’t bother closing the door. He wanted to be able to hear in case she needed anything. He settled down to handle the paperwork necessary to keep the ranch going. Then he called a friend to let him know they were looking for another ranch hand. He promised to put out the word for him.
By the time he had everything taken care of, it was closing in on nine. The bank would be open by the time they arrived in town. He wanted to get that part out of the way first. Gathering his paperwork, Jared clicked off the desk light and headed for the kitchen to look for Lexie. He found her on her hands and knees under the sink. Her sweet bottom stuck out in easy reach. He had to curl his fingers up to keep from taking a pinch.
“Lexie? What’s going on?”
She jumped and hit her head on the pipes under the sink.
“Damn.” She backed out and looked up at him. “Oh, um, there’s a leak, and I was fixing it.”
“Honey, you don’t have to work on anything around here. We’ll take care of fixing things for you. Is your head okay?”
“I think I fixed it. My head’s fine.” She started to get up and grunted.
“Easy.” Jared pulled her gently to her feet. “I don’t want to see you doing something like that again. You tell us if something needs fixing.”
“Okay. I’ve just always fixed things before.” She licked her lower lip and winced.
“Promise me you won’t try to work on anything again.”
“Okay, I promise.”
“You about ready to head into town?” Jared changed the subject because he could see that it was upsetting her.
“Let me wash up, and I’ll grab my purse.”
He watched her hurry to the bedroom. Then he made a mental note to call a plumber to make sure the sink didn’t give her any more grief. Seconds later, she was back in the kitchen, looking freshly scrubbed. She had pulled back her hair into a ponytail and grabbed her rather old-looking purse. She needed new clothes as well, he noted. That would all have to come another time, though. He knew she would balk at his buying her clothes.
He helped her up into the truck and climbed up in the driver’s seat. After making sure she had buckled in, Jared pulled out of the drive and headed to Riverbend. Twenty minutes later he pulled into a slot outside the bank.
“I’ll wait for you out here,” Lexie said when he started to get out.
“Nope, you have to come in and sign some paperwork. You’re going to be the one signing the checks for things here in town. Plus, you have to open up a checking account so we can deposit your money in it every week.”
“Oh. I guess I hadn’t thought about that.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the truck before Jarod could get around to her side.
It took nearly an hour to set up the two accounts and manage his other business while he was there. Then they headed to the grocery store. He enjoyed walking around with her pushing a cart as she checked off the items on her grocery list. She let him reach the things over her head and handle the heavier things. He even managed to get a smile or two out of her along the way.
“I think that’s everything on the list,” Lexie said, making a check mark by the last item they had added to the overly crowded buggy.
“One last stop. We didn’t get beer.” He led the way to the drink aisle and loaded a case of beer under the buggy.
He noticed she had gotten pale and was about to ask what was wrong when he made the con
nection. She evidently associated beer with violence. Well, fuck. He would have to talk to Quade about that. No doubt their drinking last night had worried her. Maybe that had been what had her so uptight all night. They would have to teach her that they didn’t get violent when they drank. They rarely had more than a couple of beers at a time.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and squeezed her before letting her go. She gave him a questioning look before pushing the buggy up the aisle toward the checkout. When everything was rung up and bagged, he handed the checkbook to her to pay.
“You’re going to be doing this from now on, so you need to get used to it.” He smiled at her and waited by the loaded cart.
When she had finished and received the mile-long ticket, they headed toward the truck. Jared helped her up into the front then loaded the bags in the back. He had made up his mind that they would talk on the way back, but as he started the truck, he wasn’t sure how to start out.
“Lexie, are you uncomfortable around Quade and me?”
“Um, I don’t know you very well.”
“We would never hurt you for anything, Lexie. I want you to believe that. Quade would cut off his right arm before he ever laid a hand on you.”
“He’s so big,” she whispered without looking at him.
“He cares about you a great deal. We both do. We want you to be happy, Lexie. Try to relax around him, okay?” He glanced over at her.
Lexie was staring out the window, but she nodded.
“Okay. I’ll try.”
They pulled into the drive twenty minutes later and wound their way to the house. When he backed up next to the back porch, Quade walked up from the direction of the stables. He immediately walked over to the passenger side of the truck and opened the door. Jared waited to see what Lexie would do.
Quade reached in and grabbed her by the waist and gently swung her down from the truck. She had laid her hands on top of his arms when he settled her on the ground. Now she looked up with a soft smile before hurrying through the back door.
“Everything go okay in town?” Quade asked.
“Yep. Got everything set up and took care of some other business concerning that bull we’re leasing.”
They each grabbed several bags of groceries and carried them into the house. Lexie immediately started emptying them as they brought them in.
“She seem okay?”
“Think I figured out part of the problem. I’ll talk to you about it once we finish with the groceries.”
Quade grunted and walked on ahead of him into the house. As soon as they finished unloading the truck, he pulled the other man into the office with him.
“She’s antsy around the beer, Quade. I think that’s what had her so uptight last night. We both drank several.”
“Lowery is a drunk, and he beats her. I suppose that explains it. Hell, I don’t want to give up my beer, but if she can’t handle it…”
“I think we just need to show her that we don’t get drunk and hit her. She needs to realize that we aren’t like that asshole.”
Quade worked his jaw for a few seconds then nodded. It was obvious the other man didn’t want to take a chance on pushing her away, but Jared figured that if they compromised too much with her they would eventually do something that would drive her away. They needed to prove her assumptions about all men based on Lowery were wrong.
“I’m going to see if she wants to see the horses after lunch,” Quade said.
“Good idea. I bet she would love to see the new foals.”
Jared thought that might be the prefect thing to help them to get used to each other. He hoped it worked.
* * * *
Quade stood up and took his plate over to the sink to rinse it off and stack it on the counter. She had been a little more relaxed around them during lunch. That made him feel a bit better. He swallowed down the absurd nervous lump in his throat and grabbed another glass of iced tea.
“Lexie, would you like to see the horses? We have a couple of brand new foals.”
She grinned as wide as her still-healing lip would allow and nodded. Then she quickly looked over toward Jared as if for approval. It irritated him, but he schooled his expression to assure it didn’t show.
“I’d love to.”
“Let’s get these dishes put in the dishwasher, and then we can go check them out.” Quade picked up Jared’s plate and carried it to the sink.
“Oh, let me take care of them first. It won’t take me long.” She hurried to rinse them off and load them in the dishwasher. Then she washed and dried her hands. “Am I dressed okay?”
“You look fine, Lexie. Let’s go.” He took her tiny hand in his much larger one and led her out the door and down toward the barn.
He eased open the door and urged her closer to the first stall where Clover and her new foal were standing. The solid chestnut-colored animal kept close to his mother. He watched Lexie’s eyes light up at the sight of mother and son standing there.
“He’s so pretty. What is his name?”
“Warrior. He’s a fighter through and through. We had some trouble with getting him here.”
“He’s special, then. Are you keeping him, or will you sell him?”
“Depends on how he grows. We’ll see.”
The little thing eased closer to the gate where Lexie had her hand resting through the slats. He stretched out his tiny neck and tried to nose Lexie’s fingers. She gasped but didn’t move.
“He likes you.”
She looked up at him with glittery eyes and the biggest smile he’d ever seen on her face.
“Let’s go look at Ginger. You’ll like her, too.” He urged her farther down the walkway to where Moonglow and Ginger were housed.
The pretty little foal was nursing when they walked up. Moonglow rolled her eyes at them but continued to let Ginger nurse. They stayed and watched for a little while, and then Quade introduced her to the remaining horses in the barn. She was especially taken with Molly. The pretty chestnut filly was ten years old and a solid mount for anyone, especially a newbie. He wondered if he could get her on the back of a horse.
“Think you might like to go riding sometime? I’d love to show you around the ranch.”
“Oh, I don’t know how to ride.” She smiled.
“Molly over there is a gentle mount. You’d be in good hands with her. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, Lexie.”
“Maybe.” She started toward the door.
Quade caught up with her and opened the door for her. She let him escort her back to the house with a hand at the small of her back. He called it progress and thanked the horses for setting the mood.
“I best get back to business. Thanks for showing me the horses, Quade. I enjoyed seeing them.” She smiled up at him then looked down.
Quade lifted her chin with two fingers so he could look into her eyes. He loved the color of them.
“It was my pleasure. You are welcome to go down and see them anytime you want. Just don’t open any of the gates.” Then he slowly bent over and kissed her lightly on the lips before letting her chin go.
She continued to look up at him with a puzzled expression until he turned and walked out of the kitchen before he ruined everything and pulled her into his arms for a proper kiss.
Quade hurried down the porch steps and out to the barn where he saddled his horse and headed out to the north pasture to help the hands check fences. He hadn’t bothered to bring along anything to actually do repairs, but he had tag tape to flag with if he found anything that needed fixed. His main purpose had been to get away from Lexie before he had done something to put the wariness back in her eyes.
Thirty minutes later, he was deep in conversation with one of the hands when the roar of a mountain lion snagged everyone’s attention. Quade pulled out his rifle and began looking around the area, as did the other hand. They couldn’t allow a mountain lion to attack their cattle. Not only did they not want to lose any cattle, they didn’t want them scatter
ed all to hell and back. Another worry that itched along Quade’s neck was that they were fairly close to the house. He didn’t like the idea of a big cat being that close to Lexie.
They all searched for nearly an hour but didn’t find the cat anywhere. They found tracks but no cat. Quade called Jared up on the radio and filled him in on what was going on.
“I’m going to search a little longer, but I’ll be there in time for dinner. It worries me for it to be this close to the house.”
“I agree, but don’t take any chances. We can form a small hunting party if it shows up again or gets any closer.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Quade had made some progress with Lexie. He wasn’t about to get himself hurt before he had the chance to find out how she tasted beneath all that fear. He was willing to bet she was spicy. He couldn’t wait to find out.
Chapter Seven
After nearly a week working for the guys, Lexie was finally beginning to settle down some. She didn’t jump quite as often when they showed up out of the blue to check on her. She had learned that they rarely drank more than one or two beers in the evenings and had never gotten drunk or lifted a hand to her.
What she couldn’t get used to was the fire that crackled around them when either of the men was close to her. Her pussy grew wet, and her nipples hardened with just a whisper from them.
Sunday morning Lexie lounged in the bed until nearly eight. She knew it was officially her day off, but she wanted to cook breakfast for them. She was sure they wouldn’t stay in bed long. She quickly changed into jeans and a T-shirt before heading for the kitchen. When she walked around the corner it was to find Quade standing by the back door with nothing but a pair of jeans on. The first two buttons weren’t even fastened. He was drinking a cup of coffee.
“Morning, baby girl. I didn’t expect you up till noon,” he said with a grin.