The Heart of Falcon Ridge (The McLendon Family Saga, #1)

by D. L. Roan

  Gabby relaxed at first, but then drew in a sharp breath as Grey began to breach the tight ring of flesh. She flinched and tightened, making the slight sting turn into fire.

  “Breathe, sweetheart.” Mason withdrew from her mouth and held her face in his hands, peppering her with slow sensual kisses until she released a long, low groan. “That’s it, honey. Relax and let him inside. The sting will disappear in a minute and you’ll feel nothing but good.” He rubbed small circles on her back and glanced up at Grey, worried that his brother was pushing her too fast.

  A zing of pure electricity shot through Grey’s spine when he pushed past her tight as hell ring and her body sucked his cock inside to the root. “Oh, fuck that feels incredible!” He stopped as soon as he was inside, both afraid to move for losing control and to give her time to adjust to his invasion. “Oh—fuck,” he panted through the urge to slam into her. “Christ, baby. Are you okay?”

  Gabby groaned against Matt’s chest, her sweat-slickened hair sticking to her face. How could he expect her to talk? “Ahhh....” The flame of heat from the burning sting rolled into a raging inferno of molten lava that warmed every cell in her body, creating an immediate need to push back for more. “Move,” she panted and dug her fingernails into Matt’s chest. “Ohhh!” She cried out again as Grey gripped her hips and pulled her tighter against him, his hips slapping into hers. “Oh God!”

  Matt bit his bottom lip and began to move with his brother, pulling out as he pushed in slowly; too slow. “So...tight...darlin’.” When she pushed back again a white flash of light exploded behind his eyelids and her pussy clamped down on him like a vise.

  “Mason?” She panted for him, one hand anchored next to Matt’s chest, the other blindly searching. She was beyond thought, but she could feel his absence. She needed him with her.

  “I’m right here, Sweetheart.” He cupped his hand around the back of her head and guided his shaft back to her lips, gritting his teeth when her groan erupted around him.

  “That’s it baby. Feel us.” Grey was buried so deep inside her ass he swore he felt the pull of her lips on his own cock. The hair on the back of his arms prickled against his skin and gooseflesh broke out under the sweat that coated his chest. He folded himself around their woman and sunk his teeth into her shoulder, drawing out a satisfying groan.

  “Fuck, yeah. That’s it darlin’. Squeeze me. Oh, Jesus.” Matt pushed up into her, him and Grey now thrusting together. She was close and goddamn he needed to feel her come around him.

  “Ahh! I’m coming, sweetheart,” Mason groaned. “I’m...Oh, angel. That’s it. Right there. So...ahh!” Mason pushed to the back of her throat as wave after wave of excruciating pleasure melted his bones. He watched as she swallowed every drop of his seed. “Beautiful,” he whispered, cupping her jaw as he pulled out of her mouth.

  The sheer ecstasy and love in Mason’s expression made her chest ache with happiness and set off a series of explosions inside her. “I’m almost there. Don’t...ah...stop!”

  Beyond words, Grey closed his eyes, the grip on Gabby’s hips tightening as his balls drew up into his body and the last thread of his control snapped. One hard thrust, then another and lightning struck his spine as hot seed flowed through his cock and filled her in wave after wave of pure, fucking heaven.

  Matt cried out at the same time Grey pulsed next to him inside her tight channel, Gabby’s mewling cries sending him into an orbit he wasn’t sure he’d ever want to leave. His dick throbbed, his seed shooting so deep inside her he thought for sure he’d taste it on her tongue if he had the strength to lean up and kiss her. He didn’t, so he pulled her down to him and took her lips like the starving animal he was. He would never get enough of this woman.

  Unable to move a single muscle in her entire body, Gabby moaned when she felt Grey slip from inside her. The warmth of Matt’s arms felt better than any blanket as he wrapped himself around her and rolled to his side, laying her on the cool sheet beside him. After he slipped from her wet channel, she felt a cool cloth between her legs.

  More than a little embarrassed, she groaned in protest, but Grey ignored her. “Let me take care of you.” She gave up her half-hearted protest and relaxed against Matt, feeling Mason slide into the empty space behind her. Slowly falling back to earth, she looked over her shoulder at Mason. “I love you,” she breathed and nuzzled her nose against his, tracing her tongue along the edge of his bottom lip.

  Mason grinned and slid his tongue out to meet hers, tangling them together in a slow, lazy kiss. “Mmm, you keep that up and I promise you won’t sleep for a week.”

  Gabby closed her eyes. Her fingers trailed down Matt’s arm as he sat up and threw his legs over the side of the bed. He leaned back and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I’ll be right back, darlin.”

  Grey slipped into his vacated spot and pulled the sheet up over the three of them, wrapping her into his safe embrace, a satisfying rumble echoing deep in his chest. His hand cupped her cheek and tilted her head back to look at him. “I love you so completely I can’t imagine any future that didn’t have you in it, baby bird.”

  “Mmmm, me too,” she sighed. “I love you so, so much.” Her hand traveled down to his naked hip, then skimmed her own thigh as she reached back and grabbed Mason’s, pulling him against her. “All of you. I can’t believe you’re all mine.”

  “Oh, believe it, darlin’,” Matt chuckled as he walked back into the room. Okay, he more or less strutted, his still half-hard cock swaying with every step toward the bed, three bottles of water in his hands.

  Gabby giggled and reached for the bottle in Matt’s outstretched hand. He could be cocky all he wanted if he kept looking at her with that mischievous smirk of his.

  Grey and Mason took several long swigs from their bottles and handed them back to Matt. After making sure she’d sipped enough from hers, Matt took it and set it next to the others on the night stand next to the bed. He slipped into the bed next to Grey, pulling the covers up to his hips.

  Propped on his elbow, he reached over and skimmed his knuckles against her cheek and then carded his fingers through her sweat dampened curls. “I’m so glad we found you, Gabriella. I can’t believe you’re going to be our wife.”

  Mason’s arm tightened around her waist as he snuggled his chin into the crook of her neck. “Mmm, I can’t wait.”

  Alarm skittered through him as Grey noticed her gaze drop to the sheet in her hand. He brought his thumb to her chin, tipping her head back to look at him again. “What’s that look for, baby bird?”

  Gabby shrugged and a small, sad smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I know how this works. I’m only going to be able to legally marry one of you.” She tugged at her bottom lip with her teeth, and damn if Grey didn’t want to do that for her. “How am I supposed to choose?”

  Mason sat up beside her. His hands found one of hers, his fingers playing over the shiny band that now bound them together. “We don’t want you to have to choose, sweetheart.”

  Grey pushed up onto his elbows, taking her other hand in his. Matt scooted closer, his fingers drawing comforting circles on her thigh. “We talked about it.” Grey swallowed and glanced at Matt before he continued. “No matter whose name goes on that piece of paper, you’ll be a McLendon. We’ll all be there standing next to you at the official ceremony. Afterward, we’ll have a private commitment ceremony where we’ll all be able to make our promise to you. But, after talking about how we met you, after everything we’ve been through, we thought it was only fair that Matt be the one to marry you, officially.”

  Gabby’s eyes lifted to Matt. Her heart swelled with so many emotions she could scarcely breathe.

  Mason kissed her fingers, his other hand caressing her bare back. “Not that he needs to hear it, but he was right.”

  “Damn straight I was.” Matt scoffed, and winked at her.

  Grey shook his head, an incredulous smile on his lips. “When he met you he knew. Although we knew it, too
, the moment we met you, he still had to push us. He fought for you, for us.” Grey cupped his hand to her cheek and studied her for a quiet moment before he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. “He fought for this.” Grey grinned against her lips as he looked into her eyes. “He never doubted for one moment that we belonged to you, and he was right.”

  A lone tear ran down her cheek and Gabby hurriedly wiped it away. She folded her feet beneath her, sat up on her knees, reaching for Matt. She pulled him into her arms and kissed his lips, then his nose. She pressed her forehead to his, his body trembling beneath her hands.

  “I’m so glad you did.” She kissed him again and then reached down behind her, pulling his brothers up to join them. “So eternally, forever, completely—in—love—with—all—of—you glad that you never gave up and gave me the chance to belong to you.”

  A True Love Story Never Ends

  Now Available

  A McLendon Christmas

  (The McLendon Family Saga Book 2)

  Join Gabby and her three favorite cowboys at Falcon Ridge for a special Christmas holiday. Meet the newest tiny members of the McLendon family, catch up with all your favorite characters from DL’s ‘McLendon Family Saga’ and get a sneak peek at all the fun and excitement in store for their future.

  HEAT WARNING: Contains three sexy cowboys who are still very much in love with their wife, love making love with her—together—and spare no details when doing so...every chance they get. Grey still has a dirty mouth, but thanks to Gabby’s efforts, tries to keep it clean in front of the children. It doesn’t always happen. Recommended for adult readers only.

  Don’t miss Connor and Carson’s story in:

  Rock Star Cowboys

  (The McLendon Family Saga Book 3)

  The McLendon Family Saga Reading Order

  The Heart of Falcon Ridge

  A McLendon Christmas

  Rock Star Cowboys (January 2016)

  Rock Star Honeymoon (January 2016)

  Never miss a new release!

  Direct from my insider’s Writer’s Cave Club, read exclusive excerpts, exciting character updates, behind the scenes editorials and more when you sign-up for my no-spam newsletter.

  Also Available

  Grant Kendal’s heart-stopping Romantic Thriller,

  Surviving Redemption

  (Survivors’ Justice Book 1)

  The only mission Grant Kendal has ever blown was the one that mattered most. Haunted by his violent past, his bloodlust for justice cost his mentor and friend their only chance to find his abducted daughter. When Thalia Brezlin washes ashore his island of self-imposed exile, beaten, broken and hell-bent on revenge, Grant is tempted back into the world he left behind by more than her sharp tongue and long, sexy legs. The men she’s running from could bring him one step closer to righting his wrongs.

  Plunged once again into the underworld of human trafficking, a place where evil thrives on stolen innocence and nothing escapes alive, he sees one final chance at redemption.

  Enjoy this exclusive excerpt from Surviving Redemption

  Now available everywhere eBooks are sold.

  “Son of a dickless monkey!” Grant Kendal shook out his throbbing hand. He was going to hunt down the bastard who’d sold him these cheap as shit nails and take his money back in slow, even installments of pain; one rusty nail at a time.

  “Don’t get your tail in a wad, Winston. I wasn’t talking about you.” Winston lowered his hand from his face and turned his back to Grant, arms folded over his knobby knees. Crouched on his hands and knees on top of the thatched roof, Grant hung his head and let out a frustrated growl. He knew better than to feed the damn thing. “One piece of sugar cane and I’m married to a goddamn monkey!” He pounded his fist on the bare rafter he was trying desperately to cover before the afternoon storms blew in.

  He’d managed to live thirty-four years—no small feat considering his chosen profession—without falling prey to a single woman’s charms. He’d never considered himself much of a ladies man. Spending most of his adult life in the shadows, hunting down the cockroaches of the human species, he hadn’t had much use for the social niceties women usually expected from a relationship. Procuring a warm, willing body for a night to fulfill his baser needs didn’t require a lifetime commitment of manipulation and crazy mood swings. Apparently befriending a Macaque monkey did. Retired less than a year and I’m attached at the hip to an emotionally challenged primate with a penis!

  Twisting and shuffling his way across each beam, Grant made it to the western edge of the roof. Wiping the sweat from his eyes, he stepped down onto the top rung of the ladder. “Come down, you moody bastard. I’ll fix us a drink.”

  Winston looked over his furry shoulder, displaying his pouty bottom lip before turning away again. “Goddamn it! I’m not apologizing! I wasn’t even talking to you!” Grant moved down the ladder, but stopped only a few steps down, shaking his head. When had he become such a pussy? Solitude meant being alone, right? Not having to listen to meaningless chatter or put up with a society that had disintegrated into chaos. Or having to placate the feelings of a damn monkey. He would have been better off if he’d painted a face on a hand grenade and called it a day.

  Nearly a year ago he’d taken a job as a favor to his mentor and friend, Daniel Gregory. For some reason it had left him feeling dead inside. Daniel’s daughter Natalie had been taken and sold into the sex slave industry, and Daniel had spent the last twelve years searching for her. The cockroach who ran the U.S. side of the human trafficking ring, Hector Morganti, was now behind bars thanks to Daniel’s relentless pursuit and to the testimony of Hector’s daughter, Gabby. Daniel, however, never found Hector’s diary of transactions he hoped would lead him to the monsters that bought his daughter. When Hector was put away, his second in command, Lucien Moretti, took over the business without a hitch, apparently using the ledger of sales as blackmail and to continue the steady supply of child slaves.

  Grant and Daniel had used Lucien’s obsession with Gabby to lure him into a trap, hoping to find the ledger and put him away with Hector. Their plan had failed when Lucien slipped through his fingers and he was forced to kill him before he’d killed Gabby. Putting a bullet between Lucien’s eyes had felt good, even if he’d deserved a far more painful death. However much he deserved it, killing Lucien had destroyed Daniel’s chances of finding his daughter. They never found the ledger. The sophisticated slave ring fell apart after Lucien’s demise. It may have bought some time before some other piece of shit stepped in to fill the supply gap, but thanks to Grant, his friend may never find his daughter.

  Living with that shouldn’t have been a problem for Grant. Bad people did bad things to good people all the time. He was called to take out the trash and move on to the next job. No questions. No regrets. He didn’t regret a single kill he’d made, but seeing the hopelessness in Daniels eyes and sweet Gabby’s reaction to the monster inside him had left him feeling cold. That’s when he knew he was done. For the first time in his life he hadn’t liked the emotionless tool he’d become.

  Setting himself up on a deserted scrub island in the middle of the Indian Ocean was supposed to give him some clarity; time to cleanse himself of the beast within and consider his next step. Ten months later, and the only thing he was sure of was that he wasn’t built to mingle with the human race.

  Grant banged his head against the ladder rung in front of him a few times before cursing his way back to the top. Apparently he wasn’t fit to cohabitate with monkeys either. “Fine. I’m sorry. Better?” he said through his clenched teeth.

  Before he could see if his half-assed attempt at placating the bratty imp had worked, the singing sound of fishing line being ripped from his reel caught his attention. Grant turned just in time to see his fishing pole fly out of the holder onto the sand and inch its way toward the water. “Son of a....” Winston’s scolding screech had him choking back the curse as he slid down the ladder, skipping the last four rungs, and sp
rinting past his fire pit toward the surf. “Fish on, Winston! Fish on!”

  Two days earlier he’d seen a nice sized sailfish stalking his bait from the deep channel that ran west of the island. Deciding to take up the challenge, he’d changed out his gear and reset his bait. Two whole days and not so much as a nibble. He’d obviously lost his touch if a fish could wait him out. Thanks to his newfound complacency, he was about to lose a thousand bucks worth of tackle and the damn fish!

  Waves splashed at his feet as he made one final push off the sand before diving into the surf. His palm wrapped around the familiar corked end of his pole before another wave washed over his face, the cold salty spray stinging his eyes. Fuck all if he was going to lose this fish. Pulling the pole into his chest, his knees dug into the sand as the drag of the fish pulled him towards the deep. Digging in his heels, he set the hook, shaking the salty foam from his hair.

  Snap! “Fuck!” Grant fell back into the surf, what was left of the line flapping in the wind at the tip of his pole. “Fuck, fucking godda—” The rest of his rant was cut off at the sight of the sailfish as it flew through the air with his float hanging from its bill, landing with a splash Grant could only see as a taunt. His fist pounded through the surf as he glared out at the deep, green waters. Fucking war is what this is.

  Cold water sluiced down his face as he threaded a wet hand through his hair then pushed to his feet. He stomped through the surf toward the sandy beach, ignoring Winston’s screeching cackles echoing from further down the shoreline. The damn monkey was crazy if he thought he was going to sleep inside the cabin tonight. It was supposed to rain a foot before morning. We’ll see whose laughing later, you imprudent ape!

  Grant bent and scooped up the rod holder, determined to re-rig his pole and get it back into the water. Winston’s incessant screeching moved closer, and Grant looked over his shoulder to see the monkey loping towards him. When Winston saw that he’d gotten Grant’s attention, he immediately switched directions, hurrying back down the beach, calling for Grant to follow him.