Smokin' Cowboys: A Contemporary, Reverse Harem Western (Loved By Three Book 1)

by Poppy Flynn

  When everyone had finished, Syrus pushed back his chair and rubbed his stomach appreciatively.

  “That sure was good!”

  “First class,” Ezra agreed.

  Ellie beamed. Maybe her efforts hadn’t been in vain after all.

  “Yes, thank you for a wonderful meal,” said Cody. Except when she turned to him, he was looking at Cora. Surely, he didn’t think… no, of course not. She was just being oversensitive.

  As they stood and excused themselves, Ellie remembered all the washing she’d done that day and quickly brought it up before they left the table.

  “Oh, the laundry…”

  “Ah yes, no need to worry about that, Sheri’s told us it was all clean and folded in the laundry room,” Syrus replied, smiling over at the other woman who positively simpered.

  “Oh, well, umm… that’s good,” Ellie said, slightly confused.

  “What you need to worry about is getting that kitchen properly cleaned,” Cody put in. “It needs a damn good mopping and when we’ve finished dinner, I’d like to speak with you privately in the study.”

  A look and a nod passed between Cody and both of his brothers, but it wasn’t something she could quite decipher and then it was gone.

  And just like that Ellie felt herself deflate all over again. Maybe this just wasn’t the place for her after all. What were the chances of any one of these men choosing her over one of the cutesy blonde sisters, anyway? They seemed to come as a trifecta. Three brothers for three sisters seemed like a bit of a shoe in. Was it likely that the Carson’s would split them up? And did she even want them to? After the little she had witnessed today, Ellie wasn’t certain there’s be much chance of living in harmony if she ended up replacing one of them and having to co-exist with the remaining two, who surely wouldn’t appreciate what they were bound to see as subversion on her part. And Cody, for sure, seemed like a pretty harsh task master. Ellie could put up with a lot; she already had in her own short life, but lack of appreciation really stuck in her craw. She wasn’t sure she be able to live with that.

  She’d never been afraid of hard work and she hadn’t come here expecting love hearts and romance. That the brothers were all more sexy, and a lot better looking than she had expected, was already a bonus.

  Still, a tiny suspicion wormed its way into her mind. Had Cora and Sheri somehow claimed that they had done the cooking and the laundry? Nothing specific had been said outright. Was it really fair to base her thoughts on the fact that Cody had looked at Cora first when he verbalized his gratitude for the meal? She had served up after all. Maybe he was including her for that reason. And Syrus hadn’t said Sheri had actually done the laundry, just that she’d told him it was there, waiting. Perhaps they really were just trying to be helpful. Should she say something, based purely on a suspicion? She’d only been here twenty-four short hours. She didn’t really want to rock the boat as soon as she got here. That wasn’t going to get her into anyone’s good books. Especially if she was wrong. On the other hand…

  Ellie opened her mouth to say something, but Gran’s voice rang loud in her head.

  ’Shame on you, girl! Casting aspersions without a shred of proof! And right when these three gentlemen have given you a roof over your head and food in your stomach. You really think you’re going to win any friends if you step out with an attitude as soon as you get here? Didn’t I bring you up better? I told you always to give the benefit of the doubt.’

  Ellie sighed and started stacking the dishes. Gran was right. She was just being a little over sensitive and she needed to give this situation and all these people a chance before she started picking faults. That was not a positive trait to be throwing out as far as initial impressions went.

  Tomorrow was another day. She’d clean this place so that it sparkled and maybe even weed the vegetable patch if she had time, since she’d noticed it was rather neglected.

  Besides, right now, it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go.

  Except to Cody’s office, a little voice - that wasn’t Gran’s - whispered in her mind. Yeah, that wasn’t what she meant, but she also knew she couldn’t put it off any longer.

  With a huffed sigh and with a large dose of trepidation she trudged to the study, cursing the fact that she knew the Trifecta were loitering in the den and trying to eavesdrop on her disgrace.

  She was slightly taken aback to see all three of the Carson brothers in there. Cody sat behind a large vintage, leather-topped desk and the other two stood close by with serious expressions on both of their faces. A shimmer of awareness flashed through her body as Cody said, in that commanding voice of his, “Close the door, please, Ellie.”

  Being in a small, closed room with them all was having a decidedly odd effect on her libido too, and she felt like she was overheating. She could feel her nipples peaking and the tone of Cody’s voice sent shivers down her spine. She hadn’t really had a chance to be alone with any of them, and they were potent stuff. Any one of them had her drooling in a decidedly unladylike fashion, but all three together. Hot Damn! All of those illicit fantasies were speeding back to take up space right in the forefront of her mind. She had to duck her head and stare at the floor because she couldn’t raise her head without blushing at all the naughty thoughts she was having. She could feel her panties dampening, just from the images in her head.

  Drat it all, where was her sense of decorum. The likelihood was that she was going to get a thorough dressing down and her body - as well as her mind - were completely betraying her!

  “Ellie, I’m an old-fashioned man and I believe in old-fashioned values. All three of us do.”

  “So do I,” she whispered, willing the flush in her cheeks away.

  “There’s one sure-fire way to fix today’s mess and wipe the slate clean.”

  Ellie’s mind was racing. What exactly was he getting at? She didn’t dare ask. The atmosphere in the room had taken on a fraught edge; not frightening, just decidedly charged. Like anticipation was saturating the air with suspenseful expectation.

  Or maybe her mind was just getting away from her after her own illicit thoughts.

  She peered from beneath lowered lashes. Ezra, with his air of brashness stood there with his arms folded in a way that made the fabric of his chambray shirt stretch taut over a luscious chest, a wicked sparkle in his perpetually laughing eyes and slight tilt to one side of his lushly kissable mouth.

  Syrus, on the other hand, was leaning against the desk and the stance caused the denim fabric of his jeans to mold tightly to his deliciously muscled thighs. His hair was a little longer than the others, and there was always a lock that seemed to want to fall into those amazing eyes of his, and her fingers itched to stroke it away.

  Then there was Cody. Her tummy bottomed out when she looked at him, even surreptitiously. There was an unholy gleam in his piercing blue gaze and the Granite from which he seemed to have been carved only made her want to drop to her knees in front of him and beg his forgiveness.

  “I’ll take your silence as consent then, Ellie, since you haven’t run screaming out of the door.”

  She realized with a start that the current object of her thoughts was speaking, and she’d missed whatever it was he’d said with her daydreaming. Oh, sugar! She was just going to have to wing it. There was no way she could admit that he’d brought her in here for an admonishment, and she hadn’t even been listening. She’d be out on her ear before the sun came up!

  “You can stay where you are, just lean over and grasp the other side of the desk.”

  What?

  Cody was busy giving her instructions and while they, themselves, were clear enough, their purpose was not. For a moment, she thought she should come clean, and tell him she didn’t know what he was talking about, but with everything going to hell in a handbasket already, she just couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

  Instead, she leaned forward over the smooth oak and leather and stretched out until her fingers gripped the opposi
te edge. It was a wide desk, and even with her height, it put her on tiptoe.

  She pressed her cheek against the cool leather insert and her eyes widened at the object Cody placed down right in her field of vision.

  She stared at it for what seemed like forever, but was undoubtedly only a few seconds. It looked like a ping pong racquet...except it wasn't quite the right shape. It was more squarish, well, rectangular really. And it was made from a glossy varnished wood and didn't have the rubber coating that a table tennis bat had.

  Sure, she had an idea of what it might be, but her brain just refused to go there.

  Seriously, it could not be a paddle, could it? Like those that the heroes in some of her kinky books sometimes used on a poor, disciplined behind.

  “Six each, and make no mistake, this is a punishment!”

  Ellie’s eyes grew wide, her brain trying to make sense of the words as she watched him pick the thing up.

  Then he walked around to her other side and was out of her sight. But Syrus and Cody were not. They both had a staunch look about them. Syrus may be slightly uncomfortable.

  She couldn’t look at them.

  She didn’t quite hear a whistle through the air, that was just her fanciful mind playing tricks on her, but she sure as heck heard the cream that was torn from her own parched lips when the first blow landed on her thankfully denim covered ass.

  She clutched harder at the edge of the desk and closed her eyes, wishing fervently that she’d actually been listening when she’d agreed to this. Had she agreed to this? Well, by default, because of her lack of attention, she supposed she had. Now there was nothing to do but grin and bear it. Or in her case, grimace and bear it.

  By the time it came to the sixth and final spank from Cody, all thought was wiped from her mind and it was all she could do to screw her eyes tight shut, battle to hold back the tears that were precariously close to the surface and be thankful for the slight reprieve she got when Cody passed the implement to Syrus.

  She sucked in a deep draught of air, and gratitude flooded her that Syrus clearly wasn’t as much as a sadist as his older brother. His paddles were almost bearable and might not have been so bad if they weren’t landing on top of Cody’s heavy hand. And when he finished, he gave her buttocks an almost loving rub, dissipating some of the pain and weaving it into an altogether different sensation.

  She thought she might come through relatively unscathed when Ezra took his turn. He seemed to fall somewhere in between his two brothers, and Ellie thought it might almost be bearable.

  But it seemed that wasn’t good enough for Cody. When the final six were done, he picked up the paddle again himself.

  "I'm not convinced that you are suitably chastised, I'm afraid, Ellie."

  His tone seemed to be far too gleeful for her peace of mind... and also her bottom. He treated her - and treated was totally the wrong word - to another seven spanks* to round things off to twenty-five and by the time he was finished, Ellie's knuckles were showing white, so fierce was her grip on the table edge. The sobs were stuttering out of her mouth aside the squeals that accompanied them, no longer able to be contained, and tears blurred her vision and fell in fat drops against the desk. As he completed the last two strokes, she simply wilted, sagging onto the desk in a limp heap and not moving even after it was over.

  She was only vaguely aware, when Syrus scooped her into his arms and sat her carefully on his knee. On his other side Ezra kneeled by her side and hugged her tight and over his shoulder Cody wiped her eyes with a tissue and encouraged her to blow her nose to murmurs of ‘good girl’.

  And somehow, those few precious moments seemed to make everything all right again. Better than that even; it made everything downright wonderful.

  As they held her and cooed over her, feelings seemed to spark back to life again. She felt so loved and cared for that her latent feelings for them snowballed into a muddle of jumbled wonder, bewilderment and desire.

  And damned if she didn’t feel a compelling need to masturbate now. What the hell was that about. She was so confused!

  Chapter Six

  The next morning Ellie woke up at dawn, just like usual. Clearly her body had caught up on some much-needed sleep and her internal clock had returned to normal.

  Of course, there was one thing that certainly wasn’t normal and that was vague residual stinging of her ass and the overload of raging hormones that it still seemed to produce.

  There really wasn’t much discomfort anymore, though she felt like she might have gotten off lightly since she’d been wearing her jeans as protection. But although she’d crept up to bed last night and immediately taken care of herself, this morning she still felt the overwhelming need to bring herself to climax yet again. What the heck was that about?

  Groaning, Ellie quickly slipped her hand under the covers and found her slippery clit. She tried not to concur fantasies of Cody, Syrus and Ezra but it was impossible, they appeared vividly in her mind’s eye no matter how reluctant her conscious thought might be, and it only took a few quick strokes for her to climax, thinking about them. Jeez, she’d never be able to look them in the eye again!

  Everything was still quiet when she made her way to the kitchen, so she put yesterday’s plans into action and whipped up a big batch of her Gran's best pancake recipe.

  She still didn’t know exactly what time everyone got up, but it didn’t matter. It was easy enough to keep everything warm.

  She was just stacking the pancakes and working out how the warming plate worked when there was a knock on the door. Ellie unlocked it to find Tono standing there.

  “Morning Ellie.”

  “Hey Tono, come on in a moment. I’m just finishing breakfast.”

  She dashed back to the kitchen to finish dealing with the food. Glancing back at him, she noticed how exhausted he looked and poured him some coffee from the pot she’d just brewed.

  “You look tired.”

  “Thanks,” he said, taking the mug from her and sipping it appreciatively. “Boy, I needed that! I had an emergency up near Yaak, so I decided to call in and check on Blaze since I was passing. Save me a trip.”

  Ellie took a plate from the cupboard and filled it with pancakes and bacon.

  “You look like you could do with this, too,” she commented as she placed it in front of him and found some cutlery.

  “Well, this is a treat.” He smiled and gave her a wink. “I didn’t think anyone would be up this early, but I saw the light on, so I chanced knocking. Aren’t you eating?”

  “I was just keeping everything warm until the others were up. I’m not really certain what time that is, to be honest.”

  Tono checked his watch. “Usually about six thirty, so you’ve got a half hour yet. The boys are like clockwork. Six thirty breakfast and six thirty dinner. Lunch in between if they’re not too far from the homestead. Otherwise a packed lunch.”

  “You know them well,” Ellie observed.

  “We go back a way. I was friends with their daddy, god rest his soul, so I’ve known them since they were all little tykes.”

  They chatted casually until he’d finished eating his food.

  “Since you’ve got a while, could you do me the favor of soothing Blaze like you did the last time? Speed me up some and my bed is surely calling.”

  “Of course!” Ellie didn’t so much as hesitate. She’d been planning on getting out to see the horses again, but hadn’t yet found the time.

  Clearing up the dirty dishes, she followed him out to the stables.

  It hadn’t seemed like they’d been out there that long, but when they made their way back to the house, all six of the others were already digging into the breakfast, she’d made. Again. And they thought she needed the spanking?

  Ezra looked her over with the merest hint of curiosity, but then said, “Six-thirty breakfast. You’re lucky you didn’t miss out.”

  Ellie’s mouth hung open, and she noticed even Tono’s eyes narrowed and his mouth ti
ghtened. She thought she detected the briefest hint of disapproval, but she couldn’t be certain.

  “I had Ellie help me out with Blaze, since she was up early. She has a way with the animal,” he said mildly.

  Ezra had the decency to look a little sheepish, at least.

  “Will you join us for breakfast?” Cody asked the vet, but his eyes followed Ellie as she rounded the head of the table and his close scrutiny sent a shiver of awareness down her spine.

  “I’ve already eaten, thank you, and I pulled an all-nighter, so I’m off to get some shut eye. Just watch that horse, she’s still far too skittish for my liking. Don’t want her to hurt herself, or the new foal, by getting herself all worked up.”

  Ellie plated herself the last pancake and what scraps were left of the bacon and tried not to feel put out as the rest of them finished up and left the table, leaving her to eat on her own.

  It was stupid. She knew they had work to do, and now she knew they liked to stick to their schedule. But she had thought something had changed after that spanking. Certainly, it had for her.

  Of course, once again, the girls disappeared almost as soon as Cody, Syrus and Ezra set foot outside, leaving Ellie all alone with the cleanup too.

  Well, she’d show them. She’d have this place so tidy and sparkling they’d be able to eat their dinner off of the floor.

  She scrubbed the kitchen, the utility, the boot room and the bathrooms as well as the other common areas. She vacuumed and polished her own little attic room but stopped short of the other bedrooms, en-suites and the office, because to her mind they were private, and she didn’t feel comfortable invading those spaces.

  Typically, Cora, Sheri, and Carly putting an appearance just as she was finishing.

  Oh, is there anything we can do to help? asked Sheri.

  “Thank you.” Ellie tried to sound genuinely grateful. “But I’m about finished. I suppose you could put flowers in the vases.”

  Carly and Sheri did exactly that while Cora poked around in the fridge.

  Ellie shook her head at their timing, realizing that it was about time for the men to come in for their lunch. Figured.