Joe needed to tell Chris how he felt so his best friend could make his own decisions about asking Valerie to be his forever love. Joe’s chest ached when he thought of not being part of Valerie’s life, but he knew she would be safer without him. And it wouldn’t be fair for him to keep Valerie and Chris from finding happiness together.
* * * *
They slept late the following morning. Thankfully their phones hadn’t roused them. Valerie appreciated the extra sleep.
“How about we put together an early lunch and head out to the hot springs for a swim before we eat?” Chris asked.
It was a perfect day for a swim. “That’s a great idea,” Valerie agreed. “Do you think that nasty gang will stay away from the area?”
“Who knows? Maybe we should go to the lake instead,” Joe suggested.
“We haven’t had a chance to enjoy the lake lately. That sounds like a great idea, as well,” she said, giving Joe a big smile. “But the warm water of the hot springs always feels so good, and the lake water is much cooler. I think the warmer water would feel better this early in the day. Plus, it’s usually more private.”
Joe smiled at her, and Chris raised his eyebrows as if she’d won her point. “Okay,” Joe said. “I agree. The hot springs pool it is.”
After they gathered their towels and changed into their swimming suits with their clothes covering them, they took the sandwiches they’d fixed earlier and some cold bottled water and sodas and headed for the hot springs pool.
“It looks like we’ve got the place to ourselves,” Chris remarked as Joe drove off the highway and down the short dirt road to the pool at the base of the red rock hill. He parked under the trees, and Chris opened the door on his side and held out a hand to Valerie to help her out of the vehicle.
She smiled at Chris and met his warm gaze. Whew. She could imagine exactly how this swim would turn out with the three of them relaxing on their towels and enjoying some hot pleasure after they had a swim and ate lunch.
Joe offered her a hand as they climbed over the boulders to reach the level ground beside the warm pool. He’d grabbed their towels, and she helped him spread them out on the ground as Chris set their lunch and drinks down on top of a flat boulder nearby.
“Do you want to eat or swim first?” she asked them.
“Let’s swim, and then we can have a nice leisurely lunch,” Chris suggested.
Meeting his gaze, she had an idea of what he was thinking about. “Sounds good to me,” she said. “Last one in.” She shucked her shorts and blouse and took a couple of steps toward the water, dove in, and crossed the expanse of water before surfacing and looking back for Chris and Joe. They were close behind her and put their hands on her waist and hips, holding her up in the water.
“You’re not gettin’ away that easy,” Chris said.
“Why would I want to?” she answered, smiling at him and Joe.
They chuckled and supported her in the water as they floated on their backs. It felt so good and relaxing. “I love swimming with you guys,” she said softly as she gazed at the blue sky between the branches of the cottonwoods.
“I feel the same about you, babe,” Chris said.
“No place I’d rather be,” Joe said.
They floated side by side for a while and then swam back together to the side where their towels were spread.
“I’m hungry. Are you guys ready to eat?” she asked.
“Sure,” Chris said.
“I am,” Joe said.
She took hold of the top of the lowest boulder and had readied herself to lever her body out of the water and onto the flat surface when Chris and Joe gave her a lift out. “Thanks,” she said as she turned and smiled at them. They had big smiles on their faces as they joined her. After they all toweled off, they opened their drinks, and she handed out their sandwiches.
“Yum, that’s delicious,” she said. “I think I’ll ask you to fix my lunch all the time.” She grinned at Chris.
“Anytime,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m glad to.”
After they finished eating, they settled down on their towels and used their clothing for pillows. The problem was that Joe and Chris got comfortable with their hands resting on her hips and waist. And they didn’t stay still for long. She opened her eyes and glanced from one to the other of them as she felt their hands caressing her.
“Dear God, what you do to me,” she said, looking at each of them. She wanted to make them feel as good as they made her feel and reached to caress them with her hands. She heard their moans of appreciation.
Then their caresses stopped abruptly as they all three heard the scuffling of booted feet on nearby rocks. Joe and Chris were on their feet and pulling her up in an instant as they looked toward the noise. What Valerie saw slammed her insides with fear for Joe and Chris. The nasty, ugly-looking gang members grinned back at them.
Joe and Chris immediately turned and lifted her off her feet as they ran to the truck, opened the door, and pushed her inside.
“Lock the door and stay there,” Chris said.
“Don’t open it for any reason,” Joe said.
“Okay,” she agreed as they turned back toward the mob of nasty gang members. She had to get help. There were too many of them. She fumbled for the opening to the compartment where they kept an extra phone. Grabbing it, she quickly dialed headquarters. She couldn’t keep her voice steady as she told the man who answered they needed help and who was attacking them at the hot springs.
“We’re on it,” the man said. “Stay on the line with me.”
She heard him talking to someone in the background, and then he quickly said, “We’ve got some guys on their way right now. Where are you exactly?”
“I’m in the truck where Joe and Chris want me to stay while they’re fighting the gang.”
“Good, stay in the truck even after the guys arrive to help. Stay online with me. We’re sending guys you know, friends of Joe and Chris. Dan, Wes, Case, and Gray will be there right away.”
Soon, she heard the truck’s motor as the driver slowed down to turn off the highway onto the dirt road. She could see it speeding to reach them. “They’re almost here already.”
“Good. Stay on your phone with me.”
“I will,” she assured him, her voice shaking with her worry for her men.
The four mountain climbing friends of Joe and Chris left their parked truck and ran full out to reach her two guys who were surrounded by those damn bastards. Thank God, the added C.P.O. agents made a difference. Joe and Chris had a chance to catch their breath. The help of their friends turned the fight to their advantage.
If Joe and Chris survived the gang’s attack, she knew she would gladly live with them forever, but she was afraid it would be safer for them if she quit C.P.O. At least then they wouldn’t have her to worry about or protect. They’d be able to protect themselves better.
“What’s happening now?” the C.P.O. agent on the line asked her.
“They’re helping Joe and Chris. They’re turning the direction of the fighting. It looks like a couple of the gang members are running away.”
“Good,” the agent said. “Stay on the line, now.”
“I am,” she told him. The agent was a lifeline for herself and Joe and Chris, as well as their friends.
Chapter Ten
Joe was oblivious to what happened around him as he pounded the gang member. He looked like the same bastard who had held Valerie captive until Joe and Chris had rescued her in the fight with Wra. It was terrible they hadn’t caught the rest of his gang with him or put them all in jail after that recent fight.
Over the grunts and growls of the bastard Joe intended to pay back good for hurting and bruising Valerie, Joe heard the roar of a big pickup. Then their four male friends, Gray and Case and Dan and Wes, who had joined C.P.O. after the failed rescue of their mutual friends, plowed into the fight. Finally, things in their favor. The guys must have been sent to help by C.P.O.
Joe noticed a few of t
he gang members had run away and escaped from them. They quickly finished the gang members that he and Chris and their four friends fought. Joe and Chris helped their friends put handcuffs on the gang members they took into custody.
After a unit from C.P.O. arrived to haul the gang members off to jail, their friends took off back to headquarters.
Joe and Chris quickly joined Valerie at their vehicle. She insisted on using their first aid kit to take care of Joe’s and Chris’s injuries.
They were ready to head back home.
“If you hadn’t insisted I wait for you in the truck,” she said, “I wouldn’t have been able to call headquarters and get more help for you.”
Joe refrained from saying how dangerous it could have been for her if she hadn’t stayed in the truck. She might not have been able to see to their wounds and injuries, like she was doing, and instead she could have been badly injured.
“Although it was terribly frustrating to have to watch the fight from inside the truck, I realized that you guys made the right decision.”
Joe reached over and squeezed her hand as Chris hugged her and kissed her cheek.
“We’re so relieved that you stayed safe this time, babe,” Chris said.
* * * *
When they reached home, they undressed and let the soothing stream of warm water from their shower remove the dust and soothe their tired muscles. After they dried off and Valerie dressed in comfortable clothes, she headed to the kitchen to fix some refreshing food and drinks for them. When she took their refreshments into the den and placed them on the coffee table, she heard Joe and Chris arguing about something. She listened closely and knew they were on their way down the hall to the den.
She couldn’t help overhearing what Chris was saying to Joe.
“Life is about taking chances, and we do it all the time,” Chris said. “Taking a chance on a life with the lady we love, making a commitment to her, is no different. I think we need to talk to Valerie about living together as forever lovers.”
She inhaled swiftly in surprise and held her breath, waiting to hear what Joe would say, hoping he’d agree.
“I’ve realized recently that I can’t in good conscience ask Valerie to be my lifelong companion when I haven’t come to grips with what happened to our three climbing buddies,” Joe said quietly.
She felt like she’d been hit in the stomach at Joe’s words. Hiding her disappointment, she turned toward them as they entered the den. She held her breath as she strove to regain a normal countenance. “What are you guys talking about? It sounds serious.”
Chris looked at her with a calm expression and smiled. “I’d like to propose to you, hon, because you’ve become the most important woman to me that I’ve ever known. I love you, and I don’t want to live without you in my life.”
Joe held out a pleading hand to her. “But I can’t ask you, yet, to be my woman, my forever mate.”
She couldn’t hide the surprise she felt at Joe’s words when she was still trying to reclaim some sense of calm after what Chris had just said to her. “Why can’t you?” She stared at them, happy at Chris’s words and surprised and wondering at Joe’s reasoning.
“Because I haven’t yet come to grips with what happened to our three climbing friends. I didn’t guard their safety, and I couldn’t save their lives. I actually put their lives in jeopardy by not warning them adequately.”
She couldn’t keep from frowning at Joe’s belief that he was in some way responsible, especially since she’d experienced how protective he was of her. “Well, I didn’t know about this, but it sounds like it happened when you weren’t with them. I think it’s impossible to always protect everyone you care about. I can see from your concern that their loss is hard to understand and equally hard for you to accept, but I don’t believe the deaths of your friends was your fault,” she told Joe. “They just weren’t prepared for what happened. We carry a big responsibility in the work we do, and I’ve been worried that I’m not really qualified to be your partner at C.P.O.” She looked from Joe to Chris and back to Joe. “Maybe our doubts go along with the work we do.”
When they looked at her with questions in their expressions, she said, “I’m not as good at fighting off the nasty gang members as you guys are, and you need experienced agents with you to help you fight your attackers and guard your backs. Today you asked me to stay safe in our truck, and I did so that I wouldn’t hamper you in your fight with those brutes. But you really needed someone else, someone like the guys who came to help after I called C.P.O. I’m not qualified to help you.”
Overwhelmed that Chris wanted her in his life forever, at the same time, she also worried that she should resign from C.P.O. Joe and Chris should be assigned another partner, a strong guy who could help them better than she could in fights with nasty gangs. She truly feared she was detrimental to Joe’s and Chris’s wellbeing when faced with a dangerous situation. “I realized today that I would never willingly walk away from either of you. I would always stand by you and back you up whenever I have the chance, but what if I’m not strong enough to help you? That worries me.”
Chris put his arm around her and hugged her close. “Hon, we’ve been working together just fine exactly as C.P.O. intended for us to do. I believe our threesome will work as well in a forever relationship. Maybe you need to be reminded by seeing other relationships like ours that are working out well.”
“I want you to be happy. I’m also hoping it will work out, babe,” Joe said, smiling at her with a worried look. “As for your worry about being able to protect us, I believe you’re doing just fine. I feel perfectly comfortable having you as our C.P.O. partner. I know you’re watching our backs at all times. I’ve always trusted you to protect us just like we protect you.”
He and Chris joined her on the triple recliner in the den, hugged her tight, and then they all three sipped their drinks and consumed the refreshing chips and queso. She hoped Chris was right, and it would all work out. She felt unsure of her place in Joe’s life, though.
Later, at Chris’s suggestion, they contacted Roger and Trav and Jen to meet them for a swim and a picnic at the hot springs swimming hole the following day. She suspected that Chris wanted to remind her and Joe that a relationship like theirs would work.
* * * *
The next morning, they fixed a picnic lunch and headed for the hot springs. Their friends joined them, and a third threesome arrived to join them. They chuckled when Mark and Tom and their lady, beautiful, blonde Brenda, arrived and said to expect another threesome, Jeff and Ry and Keri.
“This is turning into a great party,” Valerie said, grinning at her friends.
Jeff and Ry and Keri, her long blond hair pulled back with a ribbon, arrived soon, and everyone welcomed them.
“I have news from C.P.O. headquarters to tell you all about the outlaw gang,” Jeff announced. “We got a call right before we headed over here from Rob Wylie at C.P.O. headquarters,” Jeff said. “He explained that the four outlaws caught and arrested recently and put in jail caved when they were interrogated and told they faced life imprisonment. They’ve given the guys questioning them information about the new leadership of the outlaw gang. From what they said, Wra has been in contact with the new leader of the gang, who had been his right-hand man before Wra was caught and put in prison.”
“How did Wra manage that?” Joe asked, looking disgusted.
“The leader of the group told them that Wra spoke to the new gang leader through his mind. Not only that,” Jeff continued, “but they also told the officials that they were only carrying out Wra’s orders, which he had sent to their new leader’s thoughts.”
“He’d contacted the new gang leader through their minds?” Chris asked Jeff.
“Yeah,” Jeff said. “That’s something we hadn’t known until now about Wra transmitting messages to his second-in-command through his thoughts. Wra threatened them all that if they didn’t do as he ordered, their hideout would be revealed to the C.P
.O. authorities and they would be caught and put in prison for the rest of their lives. As wolf shape-shifters, the gang members feared being locked up and never allowed to run free again, forced to live in a jail cell forever.”
“Sounds like those gang members may have thought better about what they’d been doing, harassing and attacking innocent folks, before Wra sent them a message in order to keep control of them,” Ry said.
“Hope so,” Chris said. “We sure don’t want Wra controlling things still.”
“Well, after their leader received Wra’s messages through his mind,” Jeff continued, “he’d led the gang to do what Wra wanted, evidently, unless he agreed with what Wra wanted because it served his own purpose. Wra had also promised to return to lead them soon.”
“Not if we stop him,” Joe said.
“That’s for damn sure,” Roger agreed.
“We’ll need to be aware of the gang’s activities so we can stay on top of this,” Mark said. “If the new leader doesn’t go along with what Wra wants him to do, he could have more trouble going against Wra than he has with us.”
All the C.P.O. agents agreed, and they appeared extremely interested to hear the news. After talking about it for a while and cautioning each other to stay alert and be ready for any gang activity, they returned to having a relaxing day at the hot springs swimming hole. Everyone shed their outer clothing to reveal swimming clothes underneath. As they moved and floated through the water, they teased and splashed each other and generally had fun.
Valerie could see that their friends were all happy together, and they were all threesomes. She hoped that would work for her and Chris and Joe for the future.
Everyone relaxed after a little while, and each of the threesomes enjoyed pleasuring their own mates in the water or on the banks on their blankets and big terry cloth towels.
When Joe and Chris surrounded her with their big strong bodies, stroking her and arousing her, she joined in, caressing them and arousing them. The water, which came up to their necks, gave them privacy as they floated together. They caressed each other, their hands hidden beneath the water just like the other threesomes who chose to stay in the water to play. No one could see what Joe and Chris did to her under the water or how she caressed them in return.
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