by Lexi Blake
But Nell and Henry were standing apart. And Henry had a dark look in his eyes. After this was done, it was time for that meeting Cam had promised.
The mayor needed to know what the hell was going on.
But that was for after. For now, he held Laura’s hand and comforted her while Rye spoke and Max held on to his wife and baby girl. For all his stubborn craziness, Max Harper wasn’t a man who buried his sorrow. He loved Hiram and it showed on his face.
“Hiram Jones was loved and he loved, and he would say that was enough. He helped build this town into something we’re all proud of, and it’s a sad day when we have to let him go.” Rye held an urn in his hands. “In his will, Hiram asked that the new mayor say a few words.”
Rafe’s breath caught in his throat. Wow. Hiram had wanted to push him. Well, it was time to open himself up, but this wasn’t a political speech. He would make enough of those. It was time to honor a man he admired by following in his footsteps and speaking from his heart.
Laura gave him a gentle nudge and Cam smiled, bringing Sierra’s hand up in a playful wave.
Rafe nodded, acknowledging that he might speak alone, but they were here with him. “I’ll just say a few words about Hiram because he would be insulted if I spoke for too long. He would want to get on with the party, so to speak. We should mourn the fact that he’s no longer with us, but we shouldn’t mourn his life. His life was full and rich. I’ve been a person who counted success in terms of money and power, but Hiram taught me something different. Hiram’s success came from how well he loved the people around him. He was a builder—a builder of towns and families and friendships. He didn’t look outside his world for recognition. He knew that the best world possible is the one we build in our hearts. He knew that when the outside world says no, we do not have to accept it. When the outside world lays down roadblocks, we build a new road, a better, more inclusive road. We control our destiny and we build toward it with love and compassion. And we build it together. I will honor Hiram by learning the lessons he had to teach.”
He had already moved into the mayor’s office. The business of the town was never done. In his days as mayor, he’d already arbitrated a fight between Roger and Long-Haired Roger, had a fight with Hal the cook from Stella’s over whether or not the town’s health codes allowed puffer fish to be on the menu as the special of the day, and helped Noah Bennett start up an animal shelter. The days had been busy, and half the time he worked while Sierra kicked her legs in a playpen in his office.
It wasn’t what he’d expected from life.
It was so much better.
He turned to Rye and nodded. Max stepped up. This was their job.
Max took a long breath as Rye opened the urn. “Good-bye, Hi. Don’t think I don’t know why you did what you did. And don’t think she didn’t know it. I hope like hell you find her wherever you’re going. Find her because I think Momma knew she should have chosen you. Maybe you get another chance.”
Tears slipped from Rye’s eyes. “Thank you for being there for us. We love you, Hi. Happy journey.”
They released the last earthly remnants of Hiram Jones’s body on the mountain he loved. The wind picked up some of his ashes and took them down the mountain, a piece of Hiram to forever remain where he loved.
But another wind swept upward, to places unknown.
A man’s journey was never really over.
Rafe joined his family, his whole family.
His journey had just begun.
One Night in Bliss
A special gift to my fans…
At the Talbot estate, the night of Leo, Shelley, and Wolf’s wedding…
Abby Barnes-Fleetwood looked up at her husband. She sighed every time she saw those damn Dom eyes of his. “Hey, Jack.”
Her husband shut the door to their room. “Hey, baby. Did I mention how lovely you were tonight?”
She was still dressed in her St. John suit, but there was a bit of sadness that draped her now. She’d swelled with pride as her Lexi had given the speech of a lifetime. And then she looked around her and realized that Lexi was on the upswing of life. She and Livie had their whole lives before them. Lexi had figured out her love and herself at such a young age. It had taken Abby years to realize the same truths.
It hadn’t been until she’d come home and faced all her demons that she’d found her real world. Her Jack and her Sam.
“Thanks, hon.” She tried to put some emphasis behind her words. She didn’t feel them tonight. She’d looked at all the youth and beauty around her. Everyone was twenty years younger than her, it seemed.
“Abigail, I know that tone of voice. Talk to me.” Jack always saw through her.
Jack was getting better looking the older he got. The years had been more than kind to her husbands. She stared up at him with his emerald-green eyes and pitch-black hair. There was the lightest dusting of pure silver at his temples, but it made him all the more dominant.
“I’m fine. There’s nothing to talk about.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” His gorgeous mouth frowned, leaving a sexy crease around his lips.
“I said thanks,” she tried. She had to because she wasn’t sure she was up to a spanking tonight. She was tired in a way that had nothing to do with her body and everything with her soul.
“What are we thankful for?” Sam asked as he walked into their room. A broad smile covered his face, lifting his lips up. Such a sensual man. Sam Fleetwood oozed sexuality. At forty-two he was in his prime, and Abby couldn’t help but damn near drool as he pulled his shirt over his head and uncovered perfect abs and those notches at his hips that always got her motor running.
She wasn’t forty anymore. She would always be older. She’d thought a lot about surgery, but Jack always said no. He said he loved her the way she was. How long would that last?
“Abby is doing that thing where she says all the right words but I hear another meaning behind them,” Jack explained.
Sam clapped his hands together. “Thank god. She’s been so good this whole trip. I’ve been dying to watch you spank her. Let’s get going.”
Sam was an optimist. Abby didn’t have any intention of letting that happen. She’d gained weight recently. “I’m fine. I don’t know what Jack is talking about.”
Jack’s hand came out, tilting her chin up. “No. You’re not fine and I want to know why. Tell me now, Abigail.”
She hated it when he did that. He just commanded, but she heard the words beneath it. Tell me now because I love you and I have the right to know.
Because they shared a love and a life and babies. Because she’d promised him long ago to share all of her burdens. All of her joys. In some ways, the burdens meant more.
“I felt old today.” Tears pierced her eyes. “I looked around at all those twenty- and thirty-somethings and I felt so old.”
A low chuckle started in the back of his throat. “Oh, my darlin’, that is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while.”
She frowned his way. “Thanks for understanding.”
She hadn’t expected that. Abby turned away. She started to work the jacket off. If Sam was in the room, then Livie and Josh were in bed. It was time for her to turn in, too. They were going back to Dallas in the morning. They would sit in Julian’s jet and talk and laugh and she would be in comfortable company. Maybe she could forget how young these people were, how their whole lives were in front of them.
Probably not.
She needed a good night’s sleep. That was all. Tomorrow she would get up and head home and everything would be normal again.
“Stay right where you are.” The deep timbre to Jack’s voice made a delicious shiver go up her spine.
They had been here for days and the whole time they had been running after Livie and Josh and trying to keep them out of trouble. She’d been worried about Lexi. They had spent the night before with little Jack and Daphne with them. She’d been playing the supportive mom and friend. They had fallen in
to bed exhausted every night.
Not once had she heard that dark tone in Jack’s voice.
“What do you need, Jack?” She didn’t move. She was well trained. He’d made sure of it.
“I need a whole lot of things, but right now what I need most is utter and complete obedience.” A hand brushed across her shoulder. “I need you to believe me. Have I ever lied to you, Abigail Barnes?”
Sam moved in front of her. His blond hair fell over his eyes. He’d lost his shirt and he was past toned. He didn’t have a six-pack. No. Sam Fleetwood had an eight-pack. He was ridiculous. “Has either of us lied to you? Jack wouldn’t bother and I’m not smart enough.”
“Oh, you are begging for it, too,” Jack growled.
Sam grinned. “Probably. You know I like a little discipline.”
He did. Sam was more masochistic than she was. But she had to answer them honestly. “Of course not, Jack.”
Jack stared at her. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, Abigail. You were yesterday. You are today. You will be twenty years from now.”
Tears pierced her eyes. “You make me feel that way.”
“I don’t see through other men’s eyes. I only know what I see. You’re gorgeous, my Abby. And Sam and I will make your ass red the next time you insult yourself, but you know that.”
Sam smiled at her. “Hell, I heard that Tyler guy trying to hit on you, baby.”
“What?” Jack’s face went dark. “Someone tried to hit on our wife and you let it happen?”
Abby shook her head. She’d ended up talking to the young EMT because she understood his profession. “He’s an EMT at Cole Roberts’s lodge. He’d heard I used to be a trauma nurse. We were trading war stories. He certainly wasn’t hitting on me.”
Tyler Davis was maybe twenty-seven years old. He was blond and reminded her of a slightly nerdy Sam. He certainly wasn’t hitting on a woman who was closer to fifty than she liked to be reminded of.
“He brought you a glass of wine,” Sam pointed out.
“He did what? Where the hell was I?” If Sam kept it up, steam would start pouring out of Jack’s ears.
Sam shrugged. “You were talking to that crazy guy.”
That could be any of several men, and she needed to get Jack to calm down. “He was getting a drink for himself and picked one up for me, too. He was being gentlemanly.”
“He was staring at your ass,” Sam pointed out.
“What!” Jack’s face had gone the slightest bit red.
Abby put a hand on Sam’s leg. “Will you stop it? Are you trying to give him a heart attack?”
“He should have been giving this Tyler fellow a swift ass kicking,” Jack said.
Sam stifled a laugh. “I’m not going to beat the shit out of every man who looks at our wife. She’s a work of art. It’s inevitable. As long as he just looks and is respectful, I’ll give him some leeway. After all, he’s only looking and I get to touch. And every time you looked away, his eyes were on your ass, baby.”
That hot EMT had been looking at her backside?
Sam nodded as though he’d heard the question. “The only other woman he was looking at was the dark-haired waitress. Lucy, I think her name was.”
The gorgeous waitress with a perfect body.
“He needs to keep his eyes on the waitress and off my wife.” Jack was a possessive man. Abby sometimes thought he would be happier if she never left the house. The only time he was all right with men looking at her was in the dungeon at The Club because everyone knew the rules there.
It had been so long since they had played. Their world had started to revolve around Olivia and Josh, and she knew that was the way it had to be, but she needed those pockets of time where it was just the three of them.
“I miss playing.”
Jack calmed, his hand going to her hair. “I miss it, too, baby. We need to make time for ourselves. And I damn straight need to make a few things clear. I think you’ll hear me better if you find your position.”
She started to fall to her knees, but Sam’s hands held her up.
“He doesn’t want to admire your suit, Abby.” Sam chuckled against her ear as he worked the buttons of her shirt.
Her skin started to hum. “But the kids…”
“Are very likely giving Lexi hell by now,” Sam said. “They came by and picked them up ten minutes ago. They’ll meet us in Alamosa tomorrow.”
“Sam, I didn’t expect Lexi to pay us back. Our kids can be a handful.”
Jack frowned. “And Lexi’s been a handful herself lately. She and Lucas and Aidan can handle our kids. Well, I expect them to at least live through the experience. So take the clothes off, Abigail. I’m not going to ask again.”
He hadn’t asked the first time, but there was no point in telling him that. She let Sam undress her while Jack watched. He looked deliciously decadent in the remains of his tuxedo. He’d gotten rid of the jacket and bow tie the minute the ceremony was over, and now she could see the way his tan skin looked against the snowy-white dress shirt. And how interested he was in watching her get undressed.
Jack’s slacks tented, his cock making a firm line against the zipper. Her Dom was hungry.
Sam’s hands slipped the bra off her and immediately cupped her mounds. “God, you feel so fucking good, Abby.”
She let her head drift back against Sam’s shoulder. She suddenly didn’t feel so tired.
“Pinch them,” Jack ordered.
She groaned as Sam’s fingers squeezed her nipples tight and twisted ever so lightly. She was no longer thinking about how they sagged. She was thinking about how they seemed to have a direct line to her pussy. She could feel herself getting hot and wet.
“Get her out of her clothes and then deal with mine.” There was a tension in Jack’s voice that belied his calmly spoken orders.
Sam’s hands skimmed down to her waist where he made quick work of her skirt. His fingers cupped her ass for a moment. “See, I get to touch.”
And he knew how to touch her. He ran a single finger along the crease of her cheeks, reminding her of how good it was to have a man there.
He kissed the nape of her neck. “Now, be a good girl and spread those legs wide. I have to go take care of our Jack.”
She got to her knees, the carpet plush under her skin. She spread her knees wide in slave pose, giving her Dom a good view of that piece of her he loved to call his own.
And watching her men together was enough to get her blood pumping. Jack’s eyes held hers as Sam’s hands worked to get his shirt off. Jack’s perfectly cut chest appeared, tapering down to his lean waist. Jack still rode herd and fixed fences, though he could certainly pay others to do it for him. Not her Jack. He was out in the fields with the hands and with Sam.
Working kept Jack young. She’d seen the way he smiled when he and Sam were on horseback, racing across their ranch. Jack had come from nothing and turned himself into a millionaire cowboy, and he still grinned like a kid when he was working a herd with his best friend.
Sam gave her a wink as he stepped behind Jack and started to work on the fly of his slacks. Sam was ageless. He would still be young when they were all old and gray. Sam was sunshine and light. Loving kept Sam Fleetwood young. He never had the ambition Jack had, but finding his family had brought Sam everything he needed. She’d been the one to draw Jack and Sam together. Maybe Lexi had found her way to her men sooner than Abby had, but then she’d paved the way for her daughter.
And while she might claim her babies kept her young, she knew the truth. Jack and Sam kept her young. When they looked at her with dark eyes, she couldn’t feel old and tired. Her whole soul lit up.
“Sam, our Abigail felt old among all the youngsters tonight. Did you feel the same?” Jack asked as Sam slid his slacks off.
Sam managed to brush Jack’s cock as he removed the slacks. “Hell, no, Jack. I ain’t old. Oh, these Bliss kids might be younger, but we’re the originals.”
A smile cross
ed Jack’s face, his hand running through Sam’s hair. “I like the way you think, Sam. We’re the originals. And we do it right, don’t we?”
He tugged on Sam’s hair and then took his mouth. God, she loved watching them kiss. Their first kiss had been at her request, a boon for good behavior. She’d asked for Sam’s sake, but over the years she’d come to realize how much their loving each other meant to her.
She’d brought them together. She’d been the catalyst to those men getting what they needed—each other and her.
She liked the sound of it. Original.
She watched her men devouring each other. Jack pulled at Sam’s slacks, tugging them down so he could get at Sam’s cock. He stroked it, getting it long and hard. Sam shuddered in his arms, his hands reaching for Jack.
Jack reached down, cupping Sam’s balls as Sam held on to him. “Tell me something, Abigail. Are you thinking about that boy who was flirting with you at the wedding now?”
“Tyler?” Was he insane? “No. I was never actually thinking about Tyler Davis.”
But Jack’s needless jealously did make her grin. Why would she ever think of another man when the two most beautiful men in the world belonged to her?
Jack’s hands ran over Sam’s body. “You better not. That would not go well for you.”
“I can’t think of anyone except you and Sam.” They filled her whole life.