by Leah Brooke
After tossing back the remains of his drink, he poured another, a muscle working in his jaw. “I have my own nightmares about that day.”
Sitting back, he regarded her steadily. “So, how did the dream change?”
Savannah shrugged and took another small sip, surprised that her eyes seemed to be getting heavier.
“Sometimes I still see his eyes when I shoot him, but then I miss him and hit Maggie. I killed her over and over. I killed my best friend. Everyone hated me after that and my best friend was gone.”
Eb set his glass aside, his eyes piercing and filled with his own horror.
“That didn’t happen.” He slammed his glass on the table and slid from the chair to kneel at her feet, gripping her empty hand.
“My nightmare is the same, but it didn’t happen. Another nightmare is that you didn’t take the shot at all and that bastard took her, or killed her himself, which he would have as soon as she was no longer useful. Don’t think for one minute, though, that we would have hated you if you’d missed. We all know how much you love Maggie and Ace. Any one of us would have taken that shot rather than let him kill her.”
Her vision blurred as her eyes filled with tears.
“Something like that could happen again. What if everyone counted on me and I failed? What if someone’s life depended on me and I got them killed? What if I couldn’t take the life of another human being again, even if it would save the life of someone here?”
She took another sip, surprised to see that her glass was empty. “I killed a man, Eb.”
Eb stood and took her glass, setting it on the table as he took his seat again.
“Wyatt and Hayes should be home soon. I’m glad you stayed here instead of going with them. You’ve changed in the last couple of days. Settled some.”
Savannah shrugged negligently, but tears continued to well in her eyes.
“I miss Wyatt and Hayes. I didn’t think I could feel anymore, but I miss Wyatt and Hayes so much.”
She took a deep breath, and met Eb’s searching gaze.
“I love them. I hate what I had to do, but I would do it again. It took time to realize that. I’d hate it, but I’d do it. God help me, I’d do it again to save someone I love.”
Struggling to keep her eyes open, she pulled the shawl tighter around her against the chill that went through her. “I didn’t know how hard it would be here. How primitive. How dangerous.”
She looked up as the door opened, expecting Maggie or Jeremiah.
Her heart leapt into her throat when Wyatt walked through, followed closely behind by Hayes. Both men looked dirty, tired, and worried—but to her, they’d never looked better.
All the love she felt for them broke like a dam inside her, and a sob broke free before she could prevent it.
They both rushed toward her, barely glancing at Eb, their eyes raking over her with a breathtaking mixture of hunger, concern, and love.
Her pulse tripped, her body already tingling with awareness and aching to feel their bodies against hers.
“But to have Wyatt and Hayes in my life, I’d face anything. I don’t think I could live without them.”
Wyatt stepped forward.
“Something you’ll never have to do.” Bending, he touched his lips to hers. “I need to get cleaned up before I hold you.” He glanced over his shoulder at Eb. “Problem?”
Eb came to his feet.
“Another nightmare. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the last. I think she just needed the two of you to get home. What took you so long?”
Hayes was already stripping off his clothes, revealing a leanly muscular body that never failed to arouse her.
“Got all the furniture and dealt with the sheriff. We aren’t planning to leave again anytime soon. We’ll be moving into the house tomorrow. Good night, Eb.”
Laughing softly, Eb stood and moved to the door. “I can take a hint.”
Hayes eyed her in the mirror as he poured water into the bowl and reached for the soap.
“Good. I want my wife. Get out.”
Chapter Sixteen
Savannah giggled in delight when Hayes grabbed the hem of her nightgown and whipped it over her head, reaching for him even before the material could hit the floor.
“I missed you, you know? I was starting to wonder if you were ever coming back. I’m all right now. I keep having dreams, though.”
Snuggling into him as he got into the bed beside her, Savannah traced the line of his scar with the tip of her finger.
“This makes you look scary, but in a roguish way. Very handsome.”
Hayes narrowed his eyes. “You’re drunk. Eb give you whiskey?”
Savannah nodded, that warm feeling inside her growing as his hand moved down her body.
“A little. I had a bad dream, and he gave me a drink. I killed Maggie.”
“What?” Hayes looked more than a little shaken, and even Wyatt stopped washing up to come to the end of the bed.
Shaking her head, Savannah grinned. “Not really. In my dream.” Her smile fell as the horror of that dream came back to her. “I missed and killed Maggie. Eb says he has the same dream. It’s scary. I don’t like that I killed a man, but I think I would do it again if I had to. I hope I never have to.”
Hayes rubbed her stomach, his eyes filled with affection.
“Instead of thinking that, you should be remembering how strong you were. You found out what you could do if you had to.”
Wyatt finished washing up, tossing the towel aside as he climbed into the bed on her other side.
“We all saw what you could do. Word of your shooting is all over Tulsa. Unfortunately, I think you’re going to be a legend around here.” He kissed her shoulder.
“And you’re all ours. We’ve missed you.”
Writhing beneath their hands, Savannah smiled at each of them in turn. “That whiskey was making me tired, but suddenly, I’m wide awake. I missed both of you so much. It’s been so cold at night. It’s not fair that I get married and then have to sleep alone.”
Now that they were back, she felt muscles relax that she hadn’t even realized had been so tense. Her awareness of them sharpened as everything else faded in the background.
She loved the texture of their skin, the hard muscles beneath the surface bunching and shifting every time they moved. Their firm hands stroked her skin with a sureness and possessiveness that took her breath away.
She felt alive again, in a way she hadn’t felt since the shooting.
Wyatt bent and kissed a nipple, smiling when she jolted.
“Not fair at all. I guess your husbands are going to have to make it up to you.”
Safe and warm between them, Savannah giggled, the whiskey doing strange things to her insides.
“I like that word.” Keeping her voice at a whisper, she giggled again. “My uncle didn’t like that I married two men.”
Sobering as the love for them welled up inside her, she blinked back tears. “Thank you for loving me.”
Hayes slid his hand lower to cover her mound. “We couldn’t have done anything else.” He slid a finger through her folds, his eyes widening. “You’re soaking wet. Aroused, are you?”
Trying to hold on to embarrassment proved futile. Lifting her hips, she began to rock against him, holding Wyatt’s head to her breast.
“I missed you, and I think the whiskey is doing strange things to me.”
Wyatt lifted his head.
“This might be a good time to take that ass, while you’re all loose and warm. Christ, my cock’s already throbbing.” He brushed her hair back from her forehead, the heat and tenderness in his eyes creating an answering need inside her.
“We’ll go nice and slow, honey.”
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Savannah sighed. “It’s hot in here. Take the blankets off. I want to be naked.”
Hayes raised a brow, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Yes, ma’am.”
When he tossed the covers asid
e and reached for her, a sense of vulnerability came rushing back, and Savannah grabbed him, wrapping her arms around his neck in desperation.
“It’s going to be all right now, won’t it?”
Cupping the back of her head, Hayes held her close, his hand moving in circles across her belly.
“It’s already all right. It’s all over now. Those other men won’t ever be able to shoot again. Who knows how many lives you saved?”
Savannah stilled. “I never thought about that.”
Remembering the evil on the other men’s faces, Savannah felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
Wyatt groaned, his cock jumping against her hip.
“You’re a brave woman, Savannah. You always have been. You did what you had to do in order to survive your uncle, even knocking him out when he drank. Yes, we know all about his drinking and what he tried to do when he had too much. You left the only home you’ve ever known to make a fresh start. You’re not afraid to do what needs to be done, even shooting a man to protect your best friend and her baby.”
She didn’t want to think about any of that now. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to get lost in the feel of her husbands.
Just being this close to them after so many days apart aroused her. The feel of them, the look of them, the sounds they made and the slide of their hands over her body had a familiarity now that soothed her, but at the same time excited her.
They knew her body now. They knew what she liked and touched her in ways that made her dizzy with pleasure.
With their hands and eyes moving over her body with increasing heat, and the potent whiskey running through her veins, Savannah smiled and dropped back onto the pillow.
Wanting to take away the worry she still saw in their eyes, she arched her back, delighted when their gazes both dropped to her breasts. Her nipples drew even tighter and ached with the need to have their hands on them.
She couldn’t resist teasing them, loving the challenge that sparked in their eyes whenever she did.
“And I took on two lawmen as husbands. Do you think I’m tough enough to deal with you?”
Wyatt’s eyes narrowed and gleamed as she’d hoped, his lips twitching. “Let’s put it to the test.”
Cupping his jaw, Savannah stared into his eyes, struggling to keep hers open.
“I don’t want you to worry about me anymore. I’m all right now, I promise.”
Hayes laid her flat, running his hands over her, sending ribbons of sizzling warmth from her breasts to her slit. “You’re very all right, and in a few minutes, you’ll be even better.”
He took her hand in his and wrapped it around his cock. “I haven’t taken you in days. I’m hungry for you.” Bending, he touched his lips to hers. “Starving.”
She folded her hand over his cock, once again amazed that something so hard and threatening could be so silky soft.
Curious and more than a little aroused, Savannah pushed at his chest. “Move. I want to see.”
With a groan, Hayes rolled to his back, his reluctance obvious, as was his desire to please her. “I’m not gonna last.”
Her movements clumsy, Savannah got up, sitting back on her heels, fascinated at the hard body laid out before her. Every time she remembered that they both now belonged to her, love rushed through her veins and warmed her from within.
With trembling hands, she ran her fingers over his cock, intrigued at the way it jumped beneath her touch, delighted at the deep sounds of pleasure emanating from him.
With another groan, Hayes closed his eyes, opening them again almost immediately at her cry. The feel of Wyatt’s hands coming around her from behind and sliding over her abdomen had her crying out hoarsely and whimpering in frustration.
Wyatt’s warm breath tickled her ear as he parted her folds, his cock pressing insistently against her back. His firm fingers slid back and forth through her slippery slit, gathering her juices before pressing a work-roughened finger against her clit.
With his muscular thighs against her legs, she couldn’t straighten them, forced to remain in the position he held her in.
“Wyatt, it’s too much. I’m gonna come.”
Hayes sat up in a rush, coming to kneel in front of her. Using his knees to push hers wide, he covered her hand and guided it up and down the length of his cock, his voice like shattered glass as she took over and he released it.
“Yeah, just like that. Now you can’t close your thighs at all, darlin’. Nice and wide open just the way we like them.” Covering her breasts with his hands, he toyed with her nipples, sending white-hot heat to her clit and pussy.
Wyatt scraped his teeth across her shoulder and pulled her back against him, tilting her hips and sliding a hard finger into her pussy. “Hot and wet and helpless. Just the way you should always be. Take Hayes’s cock into your mouth and suck it the way you did to me that night.”
Giggling at the groan that rumbled from deep within Hayes’s chest, Savannah bent forward and licked the drop of moisture from the tip, smiling when he groaned again.
Her smile fell when he tightened his fingers on her nipples, the slight pain making her pussy clench on Wyatt’s finger, soaking it even more with her juices.
Holding on to Hayes’s hips, she dropped back against Wyatt, rocking her hips in time to the strokes to her clit and his increasingly forceful thrusts into her pussy.
Her moans, muffled by the cock in her mouth, came out steadily now as their hands became even more devious and more insistent. She felt them everywhere, her pussy, clit, and nipples burning with sensation. Her bottom clenched, the promise of attention there almost too much to bear. The combination of pleasure and whiskey made her dizzy, forcing her to lean back heavily against Wyatt for support.
Her body gathered, each stroke to her clit making her stiffen, clenching on the finger inside her. When Hayes withdrew from her mouth, she reached for him again, only to have her hands taken in his. His mouth covered hers, swallowing her cries as the pleasure inside her exploded.
Unable to close against Wyatt’s slow moving fingers, Savannah whimpered as the pleasure crested, pressing her thighs hard against Hayes’s knees.
“Please. Oh, God. Too much. It’s not stopping.”
Alarmed that instead of starting to ease, the pleasure seemed never ending. It went on and on, and nothing she could do could stop it.
Her entire body tingled, from her neck to her toes, the wash of heat engulfing her in a wave of bliss.
Her clit became so sensitive that the lightest touch kept her orgasm rolling through her and making it nearly impossible to breathe.
Wyatt seemed to know it, his touch becoming lighter and slower, giving her just enough to keep the pleasure at its peak.
She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think, the dizziness growing stronger by the second.
All she knew was pleasure and the sensation of love and heat all around her.
“I can’t stop. So good. Ah, God. I don’t want it to end. Oh! No more. No more.”
Even when Wyatt withdrew from her pussy and slid his finger from her clit, the pleasure lingered, warm waves of it that held her in its grip. Slumping against Wyatt, she whimpered and tried to open her eyes, desperate to see the men she loved, but it proved too much effort.
“I love you.”
It came out as a whisper, and she wasn’t sure they heard her, so she tried again. “I love…”
* * * *
Hayes ran a hand through her hair, watching as her eyes closed and didn’t open again. Taking in her flushed cheeks and parted lips, he knew it was an image he wouldn’t forget for a long time.
The huskiness in her voice sent another surge of lust to his cock, while the soft whimper in it brought all of his protective instincts to the surface.
A powerful combination.
“I love you, too, darlin’.”
With a heartfelt sigh that their loving tonight had ended far sooner than he’d hoped, he smiled.
&nb
sp; Wyatt chuckled and wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissing her neck and grinning when she murmured in her sleep.
“Our tough little wife.”
Hayes threw back the covers as Wyatt lifted her and placed her on the bed. Sliding in beside her, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, waiting until Wyatt settled in on the other side of her and blew out the lamp.
“Word got around Tulsa pretty fast about her shooting. I hope it keeps folks from bothering her.”
Wyatt sighed. “My fear is that it’ll go the other way. Some young gun is going to challenge her to prove he’s faster.”
“God forbid.”
Exhausted from riding all night to get home to her, Hayes still couldn’t settle. His cock still pounded, desperate for relief, and his mind remained restless. Just the thought of someone challenging Savannah would give him nightmares.
Chapter Seventeen
“Strip.” Wyatt removed his hat and tossed it aside, his eyes narrowed on hers. Standing with his feet several inches apart and his hands on his hips, he looked every inch the furious lawman, while the hunger and impatience in his eyes reminded her of a disgruntled husband.
Hiding a smile, Savannah turned to face him fully and raised a brow. “Well now, that’s real romantic.”
“I’m not romantic. I’m aroused.”
In fact, they’d been sweet and solicitous to her all day, treating her as if she just might break at any moment.
Apart from the fact that it had started to drive her crazy, she wanted her husbands to see that she was more than capable of handling whatever came at her—especially with the two of them by her side.
She didn’t think she’d ever get over killing a man, but she’d thought about it for days and realized she’d had no other choice. She’d meant what she’d said.
She would do it again, if she had to. She wouldn’t like it and would avoid it at all costs, but if her life or the life of a friend was in danger, she’d do it.