by Zoey Marcel
The Huntingtons of McKenna Downs
The torrid romance of Charlie Huntington and Kendall Laurie is torn apart by his scandalous proposition. Years later she goes to McKenna Downs to see her sister, Melanie, hoping to avoid him while she's there.
Fate has a sense of humor when it thrusts her into the arms of the very men Charlie wanted to share her with. His best friend, Quentin Adeniji, and Charlie's brothers, Shane, Justin, and René Huntington, are determined to keep her there. Falling for them is easy. Giving up a fashion career in New York is out of the question.
The men aren't the only ones with plans for her future. A hit-man has made her lovers his target. Even if he doesn't pick them off one by one, can she handle the town secret?
A wolf in disguise poses a more insidious threat. Someone has set their sights on one of her men and is determined that Kendall will never have him.
Genre: BDSM, Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 100,709 words
THE HUNTINGTONS OF MCKENNA DOWNS
Zoey Marcel
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
THE HUNTINGTONS OF MCKENNA DOWNS
Copyright © 2015 by Zoey Marcel
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-968-2
First E-book Publication: February 2015
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2015 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
About the Author
THE HUNTINGTONS OF MCKENNA DOWNS
ZOEY MARCEL
Copyright © 2015
Prologue
Nine years ago – McKenna Downs, South Dakota
Shit.
Charlie Huntington slowed the truck down when he saw the muscular, six-foot-two dream standing in the middle of the back road he’d taken.
Make that nightmare.
Crap.
Reluctantly, he brought the truck to a stop, heaving a weighty exhale when he noticed the displeasure on his best friend’s handsome-as-hell face. Quentin Adeniji was by far his favorite person, but he was the last one Charlie wanted to see right now. Lord, did he look pissed.
Charlie shut the engine off before getting out. He went weak in the knees and every movement of his legs felt like his feet had been cemented in buckets.
“Hey. What’s going on?” His tone was too meek, guilty almost. He knew by the shitty feeling inside him and the anger on Quentin’s face that he’d done wrong. It was low, but then he’d never been a noble one.
“I was just wondering the same thing,” Quentin replied coldly.
“Just moving to San Francisco.”
“Without saying good-bye?”
Charlie blinked, letting his eyes drop but refusing to bow his head in remorse. “I left you that letter.”
Quentin shook his head in disgust. “Fuck you. I’ve seen you do selfish things many times, but I never thought you would ever stoop to cowardice.”
Charlie’s attention drifted upward in a warning glance. “I’m no coward.”
“Yet you run from me. I proposed to you because we are perfect for each other. If you’re too afraid of commitment, then tell me to my face like a man. Don’t say you’ll think about it and then run from me in fear.”
The guilt sharpened. “How could I look you in the eye and hurt you like that? What we had was perfect. Why’d you have to go and ruin it?”
“You mean you prefer to have me at your disposal to fool around with, but without the marital ties that would prevent you from fucking women whenever you want to.”
“Well, it just makes me sound like a jackass when you put it like that.”
“You are a jackass.”
“Fine, I’m a jackass.” He tossed his arms up a little, raising them no higher than his ribcage before letting them drop to his sides again. “We’re twenty-seven, Quen. That’s too young to get married. Besides, if we ended up getting hitched and later divorced, it would ruin our friendship.”
“And you think fooling around with me doesn’t pose the same risk?”
“I know it does, but we’ve been friends for years. I’d like to think we could withstand anything. It’s just good, dirty fun withou
t penetration. There’s no harm in that.”
Quentin stepped forward. Some of the anger in his dark eyes dissolved into hunger and amorous warmth. “I want you, Charlie. No more games.”
Wanton need scratched at him from within. “I gave up other men for you. Doesn’t that mean anything?”
Quentin took another step forward that brought them closer together. “It does, but I want you to myself.”
“I can’t give women up for a man any more than I could give up men for a woman.”
“Try.”
Charlie shook his head, voice mellow with regret. “I can’t.”
Quentin grabbed his arm. “Try, damn it. I shared women with you, and every time my heart cracked with pain when I saw those whores touching what was mine.”
“That’s sweet, Quen, but I’m not yours. We’re just friends having fun.” Damn the ache in his chest. What a contradicting nuisance.
Quentin cupped Charlie’s face in his hands. “No matter what you say, you are mine. Someday you will wake up from this player streak of yours and realize this.”
“Never gonna happen. I need to be free. You know that.”
Charlie moved the man’s hands off his face. He didn’t need the temptation of fleshly pleasures and deep, abiding tenderness to muddy his thinking. He had to get away from this man who haunted the deepest parts of him and endeavored to change his thinking. At times, Charlie feared Quentin may have already succeeded.
“Is there nothing I can say to change your mind about leaving?” The man’s hush broke his heart.
“You could let me fuck your ass.”
Quentin glowered at him. “No one has ever taken my ass. I’m a top, but I would gladly bottom for you if I thought it would change your mind. It won’t, though. You’re a user, Charlie. It’s why you prefer flings to relationships and why you never fuck the same man more than a time or two. You have no respect for a man after he bottoms for you. To you, he’ll always be a bitch.”
Charlie didn’t like the shit he was hearing, but no defense presented itself. The wise, ornery bastard spoke the truth...unfortunately.
Quentin’s right hand swooped up his nape in a possessive motion that ended with him gripping Charlie’s hair. His knuckles dug into Charlie’s scalp and the sternness that hardened Quentin’s face silently forbade Charlie from holding the iron gaze for more than a second. It was too much.
“I am not your bitch. I will never allow you to destroy our relationship by disrespecting me and treating me as reprehensibly as you did those past men. You respect me because I’m dominant and I don’t allow you to walk all over me.” Quentin touched his bowed head to Charlie’s and dropped his pitch, making Charlie shiver. “Deep down, I think you know that I’m different, and you yearn for me to give you a reason to submit.”
Chills of excitement moved through him, though nervousness still had his hands shaking. “Well, I’ve got news for you, Quen. You’re not the only top standing here. I’ve never let anyone have my ass, and it’s hilarious as fuck that you think I’d make an exception for you. What makes you so different?”
“You’ve fooled around with me over and over again. That was more than you gave the other men in your past.”
Charlie stepped out of the controlling hold. “I have to hit the road.”
“I love you, Charlie.”
His heart stalled and his breath caught at the emotion in the other man’s dark eyes. “Don’t.”
Quentin took another step forward and lightly grasped his arm. “I know you feel the same.”
Charlie wouldn’t look at him. His throat swelled with soreness and his chest became heavy. “That won’t work, Quen. It doesn’t change anything.”
“Say it back or don’t.” Quentin slowly freed the buttons on the front of Charlie’s shirt. “It doesn’t negate the fact that you do. You can’t hide it from me.”
Charlie went breathless over the sensual loosening of his buttons. He kept his head down, withholding eye contact from the enticing man. “You’re gonna get hurt if you don’t stop. You don’t want to be with me. I’m no good.”
“You’re my other half.” Quentin gently pawed at his exposed chest. “Just once, I would like to hear you say it.”
Charlie’s cock stirred in his pants at the insidious slide of the other man’s hands over his skin. He took a step backward, reluctantly moving away from the touch he craved. “Quen—”
“Say it,” Quentin growled, using one hand to grab his ass and pull his body closer.
A spike of lust impaled him in the gut and somehow managed to eclipse his frustration with the seducer. “You know I love you. That’s why I’m leaving. I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you.”
“Stay,” Quentin whispered.
Their lips met in a gentle compression that caused a painful tug on Charlie’s heart. Going there would be a mistake. He knew that damned well, but his body and soul never could deny Quentin when he made lascivious demands.
What started as a slow, tender kiss became animalistic mauling and Quentin backing him up off the side of the road. Charlie staggered backward, feeling the brush of tall, green grass against his jeans and only vaguely aware of the subdued swaying sound it made as it cleared the way for him.
Both men clawed to get the other man’s clothes off and kicked their shoes and socks off. In mere seconds, they were naked and Quentin lay on top of him, tonguing him deeply. Nobody kissed him like Quen did. Charlie wasn’t sure if it was the man’s praiseworthy skill, or because they were in love. Whatever the reason, everything was better with him, sweeter, hotter.
The verdant sweetness of spring-scented grass floated in all around them, the pungent odor of pre-cum the only foil to its warm veil of innocence.
Quentin rocked against his body gently, thrilling every nerve ending in Charlie’s hot, rigid shaft. He ground his pelvis against Quentin, savoring the delicious way their balls squished together and sent delightful tingles through his testicles.
“Give me your ass.” Quentin ran his hand roughly over Charlie’s hair. “If you truly mean to leave me forever, then let me fuck you like we’re never going to see each other again.”
Charlie’s throat clogged with suffering and his chest hurt like hell. “I never said I wasn’t coming back.”
“When we meet again, and we will, you will surrender to me completely.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
Quentin’s eyes mirrored his own grief, but he gave him a feeble smile back. He seasoned a trail of soft kisses down Charlie’s body.
Charlie stiffened with anticipation, breaths coming in shallow pants.
As much as he wanted this, something bothered him to distraction. Oh, now what sweet hell was this? Was he actually so depressed over their emotional conflict that he wanted to postpone sex until they resolved it? What the hell had Quen done to him?
He touched Quentin’s arm to stop him from going after his pounding dick. It was an intervention his cock didn’t appreciate in the slightest, but the ache in his chest won out this time.
“Why can’t things just stay the way they are? It was so good. Do you really want to fuck that up with rings and legal obligations?”
“Yes, I do.” Quentin sat up, voice firm but gentle. “Your pseudo-loyalty to me means something, but I want more from you.”
Charlie propped himself up. “Pseudo-loyalty? The fuck does that mean? I haven’t fucked any men since you.”
“Not any men, but you’ve fucked plenty of women.”
“That shouldn’t bother you. You’ve got different equipment than them. I need both.”
“Do you not think that I enjoy women as well? I gave them up for you except for when you insist we share one together. I would much rather it was just the two of us.”
Charlie stood and redressed quickly. At least if he was clothed again, that would be one less sense of exposure to contend with, though he’d take the vulnerability of being buck-naked in front of his best friend outdoors whi
le arguing over the emotional openness that shook him up inside.
“That’s your whole problem right there.” He closed his fly and then pulled his shirt back on with relative haste. “You’re fucking greedy. I give up screwing other men and that’s not enough for you. You proposed to me yesterday after we fooled around and now you want to deny me pussy, too. You want it all.”
Quentin stood as naked as the day he was born. “Yes, I want it all. As your other half, that is my right.”
“Your right,” Charlie scoffed, buttoning his shirt. “If you weren’t so controlling and possessive, you wouldn’t be half bad.”
“If I was not this controlling and possessive, you never would have stayed with me for so long.”
“That’s an interesting theory, but it flies right in the face of me not letting you have my ass. Why do you even want me to stay so bad when you know you’ll never have it?”
“You are more important to me than ass-fucking.” Quentin’s softened tone took on a note of humor. “Besides, you’ll come around.”
Charlie glared at him. “It’ll be a long wait for you.”
“You underestimate my patience.”
“Put some damned clothes on, you idiot, before someone drives by and sees you.”
Quentin didn’t listen, which was no surprise. “You should take yours off.”
Charlie walked away. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Naked Quentin followed him, bold and unashamed of his dark, nude form. Charlie forbade himself to look at the strong cords of muscle winding all over the man’s hard, beautiful body. He was leaving. His truck was in view, but damn, Quentin’s body heat sizzled over him from behind as the man walked invasively close to him.