by Sophie Oak
“No. And don’t jump to conclusions. Brakes do go out. We’ll know more once Long-Haired Roger takes a look at it.”
Long-Haired Roger, who was still down a man because he couldn’t deal with Alexei’s past. “We will see. And then we will talk.” The truth of the situation hit him. “She did not tell me, but she told you.”
Caleb’s head shook sharply. “No. She didn’t call me or anything. It was just chance. I found her walking back up the fucking mountain. She’d passed the Harper Ranch, but she didn’t want to bother them. She apparently was going to walk right by Mel’s place, too. She was walking all the way back to Stella’s.”
“This is no acceptable behavior in woman with two mens.” It wouldn’t be acceptable if Holly only had one man, but it seemed especially wrong that she’d cut two men out of her trouble. She hadn’t even tried to call for help. What good were they if she didn’t lean on them?
“No, it is not,” Caleb agreed. His arms crossed over his chest.
At least they were in agreement on one thing. “What are we to do about this situation, Caleb? I do not believe she will listen to a stern lecture.”
“You think I didn’t already try that? After she stopped crying, I yelled for a good thirty minutes. I gave it my all. I can really yell, man. She didn’t seem bothered by it at all. She just apologized and told me she needed to get to work.”
“We need to work on the controlling scenes with Holly,” Alexei explained. This was what he’d wanted. A partner. Someone to discuss strategy with. Someone who knew what it was like to care about Holly.
“Scene control, buddy. We need scene control.”
And it helped that Caleb could translate for him. “I think she deserves spanking.”
Caleb stared at him for a moment. “Have you been hanging out with Wolf?”
“I do not know any wolves. Though I would be all right with a dog.” Why was Caleb talking about pets?
Green eyes rolled slightly. “Dude, Wolf is a friend of mine. He drove me out to the hospital after we picked up Holly. Do you want to know what he said I should do to Holly?”
“If he is smart man, he tell you to spank her.”
“Well, you would think he’s incredibly smart. He also thought I should tie her up and then spank her and then…well, he’s a really creative guy.”
Alexei would like to meet this man. “So, we are in agreement?”
“I’m not saying no to it. I just want to make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”
Alexei smiled. “She will not be hurt, but she will learn the lesson.”
“To talk to her men.”
“To rely on her men.”
Caleb finally scooted into the booth across from him. “Maybe we should make out a schedule. You know, one of us takes her to work and one of us picks her up. This town can be very dangerous. Serial killers. Biker gangs. Your friends.”
“No more friends. All dead or in jail.”
“You get my point. Bliss can be a dangerous place. And Holly just runs around all on her own. She’s just out there running around like a huge cupcake and all the criminals are really hungry. Do you know what I mean?”
Alexei had no idea, but he nodded anyway. Perhaps Caleb wouldn’t prove to be the best translator.
Caleb continued. “And did you say anything to her about that dress?”
“I tell her dress is beautiful.” Alexei knew how to tell a woman she was beautiful in any language. “Dress is sexy.”
Caleb pinned him with a stern stare. “No. Dress is naked. Dress needs more material. Dress needs a turtleneck. Look, man, if I give on the spanking thing, I want you to stand by me when I tell her to not walk around with my boobs hanging out for every man in the county to salivate over.”
“Our boobs.” Caleb needed to get it right if he was going to ask for solidarity.
“Fine. Our boobs,” Caleb conceded. “The point is those boobs are supposed to be ours. We have to protect them.”
Alexei tried to imagine that talk. It seemed to him that it would end in nonerotic violence. “I worry she take spanking better than a lecture on her clothing.”
“Maybe. But if we’re going to do this, we have to present a united front.”
Great. They would both get slapped. But Alexei smiled anyway. “Yes, we do.”
“Or she will eat us alive.”
Alexei planned on her doing just that, but he didn’t point out the fallacies in Caleb’s plan. He wasn’t about to stop the man now. When Caleb had started talking, he’d talked about just hanging around for the sex. Now they were making rules together.
Yes, Caleb only wanted sex.
Caleb leaned forward. “I don’t know how good I’m going to be at this. I haven’t dated a lot. I haven’t been celibate since my wife died, but I haven’t cared about anyone either. I certainly haven’t been in anything that vaguely resembled a relationship. What if I fuck this up? This is why it’s better if I’m just here for sex. I won’t fuck up sex.”
Alexei leaned forward, too. Finally the man was softening. He was talking about the problem instead of just saying no. “It will be okay. No one knows how a relationship will go. Not a single person in the world know how a relationship will end when they begin.”
“I certainly know that.” A haunted look passed over his face, and Alexei knew he was thinking about his wife. When would Caleb trust him enough to really talk about her? And to talk about why he was hiding his identity?
“We can only care about her. We can only try to protect her. That is all we can ask of ourselves.” Alexei knew all too well how the world sometimes had its say. “So, you are in, my friend?”
“This still doesn’t make us friends,” Caleb shot back, but the words sounded stubborn, as if only forced from his mouth from long-standing habit. Caleb was silent for a moment. “You really think this is her fantasy?”
“Yes, it is.”
The answer had come from Holly. Alexei stiffened, praying she wasn’t going to be upset. Her voice had been quiet, so she must have been close. How much had she heard? “Holly, we were just talking.”
“You were negotiating, Alexei.” She stared at both of them and made no move to take a seat. She clutched her purse.
Caleb’s eyes went straight to her chest. The man might not like the dress, but he certainly seemed to appreciate it. “Maybe we don’t want to be like everyone else in Bliss.”
A single eyebrow arched over Holly’s lovely, wide eyes. “Really?”
Caleb sputtered for a moment as though trying to navigate in uncharted seas. “No, it’s not like everyone else here. They go into it willy-nilly. Do you think Max and Rye really talked it out before they went after Rachel or did they all just fall into bed together? Alexei and I don’t have some weird psychic twin thing. We have to talk.”
“Holly, your wine. It sounds like you’re going to need it.” Zane handed her a glass of white wine. He did it with one hand. His other hand held the receiver of a phone, its corded length stretching halfway across the bar. “And could y’all talk louder? Callie’s having trouble hearing.” Zane put the phone back to his ear. “I asked them, babe. Yes. Alexei and Caleb. And Caleb’s already acting like a bossy asshole. He thinks he can do this better than the rest of us.”
Alexei could actually hear a peal of feminine laughter escape from the phone.
Holly took a nice long swig of her wine. “Great. Now everyone knows.”
“I don’t think I’ll do it better than everyone. I’ll just do it a bit more cautiously,” Caleb said with a frown. “I don’t just jump into things.”
Zane shook his head. “Dude, six years. It took me and Nate six whole years. It took Rafe and Cam five. Sure it took Max and Rye like fifteen minutes, but they’re the only ones you beat, so get to the back of the line on the ‘thinking things through’ show.”
“Zane Derek Hollister, that is not a thing to be proud of!” the phone yelled.
Alexei felt the whole thing spinning out of control. Caleb
started to argue with Zane, who was trying to hold two conversations. Holly went bright pink and looked like she might ask for the whole bottle of wine. The door opened, and Laura walked in with her two men. Her eyes lit up, and she started toward Holly.
Holly took off like a shot. Laura was right there, opening her arms to her friend. Cool blue eyes looked across the bar like lasers attempting to acquire a target. Him. Laura Niles gave him a look that could have frozen off his cock.
His blissful night was slipping away, and no one was going to save it.
No one except him.
He stood. “Caleb, I am taking this conversation back to Holly’s place. There are too many cooks in this kitchen.”
“No, there’s just me since Callie got too big to work. That’s something I thought I could talk to you about, Alexei,” Zane said. He put the phone back to his ear. “No, babe. You’re not that big. Oh, baby, you’re so beautiful. You know I still think you’re sexy.” He pulled the phone away, cradling it against his chest. “She’s crying again, Doc. Maybe you should go take a look at her.”
“No.” Alexei stood up. He was done. If he didn’t set boundaries, then everyone in Bliss would walk all over him, and he would end up sleeping alone at the motel listening to two US Marshals going at it again all night long. No was Caleb’s favorite word. Alexei would adopt it as his own.
“No?” Caleb asked, a hint of a smile on his face.
“No. Callie is fine. Does water break?”
Zane shook his head. “No. She’s not in labor.”
“Good. Then have your partner go home and rub her feet. Make her feel sexy and beautiful. We will do same for our woman.” He stood up.
Caleb seemed to take it as his cue. “Zane, Callie’s fine. She needs affection more than she needs a doctor. And gossip. She lives on gossip. If she goes into labor, I’ll be at Holly’s house. But, man, she better be in labor, if you know what I mean.”
Zane nodded and got back on the phone with his wife.
“Caleb, I am going to get our woman and make a few things very clear to her.” He felt a little rage pounding through him. It was controllable, but a possessive anger was tearing at him. She thought she could run to her friend instead of talking it out with him? She was angry at him for attempting to provide her with exactly what she wanted? “Women. I do not understand them.”
“Don’t look at me, man. I would have thought she would be happy we were talking about it.” Caleb stared at her, too.
If she was already angry, then Alexei had nothing to lose. “Let me show you how it is done in Russia.”
He turned and stared across the room. Holly’s eyes widened as though she finally understood he wouldn’t be put off. A deep sense of satisfaction flooded his system. She was aware of him. She was the tiniest bit scared of him. He watched as Laura’s arm went around her friend’s shoulder, a protective wing for Holly to hide under. They slid into a booth and began talking.
That was unacceptable.
And Alexei finally noticed that every man in the bar seemed to be staring at the gorgeous redhead and her beautiful breasts. “You are right. Dress needs more material.”
Yes. They would talk about that, too.
“Maybe we should talk about this. She looks pissed,” Caleb said.
Alexei ignored him as he started across the room. Caleb would follow or he wouldn’t. Alexei had done everything he could to make Caleb welcome. It was up to him now. He wasn’t waiting another night to get inside the woman who had turned his world around.
Chapter Seven
“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Laura asked, opening her arms wide and wrapping them around Holly.
Holly sniffled, well aware that she was now the focus of everyone’s eyes in Trio. Sure the tourists would mostly ignore her, but not the locals. She counted them. Rafe and Cam had taken the adjoining booth, their backs to Laura and Holly. In true male fashion, they left plenty of space between themselves and the crying woman. James Glen sat at the back of the tavern with his girl of the moment. It looked like he’d finally convinced Serena Hall to give him a shot. Serena was a lovely brunette who acted with the rep theater in Creede. Just across the bar, Hope, the secretary at the sheriff’s office, sat with a half-eaten sandwich in front of her, staring longingly at James. Poor thing. At least Holly’s little scene would give Hope something else to think about because James Glen was one man who wasn’t about to be tamed.
“Tell me,” Laura urged. “And tell me fast because I think those men are getting ready to come over here. Wow. Is that Caleb with Alexei? Should we call Nate?”
Holly shook her head. “No. They’re not fighting. It’s worse. They’re negotiating.”
Laura’s head straightened up. “Negotiating? What on earth are they negotiating?”
Holly took a deep breath, sniffling again. “How to share me.”
“Are you serious? That is the most unromantic thing I’ve ever heard.”
Thank god Laura understood. “I know. I walked away for a couple of minutes, and Caleb told Alexei that he just wanted sex, and Alexei was okay with that. But they don’t like my dress. It’s my only good dress. I don’t have another one.”
Laura patted her back. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry. You look beautiful. I think what they don’t like about the dress is the fact that your boobs are hanging out.”
“They are not.”
Laura looked back at Cam and Rafe. “Boys, what do you see when you look at Holly right this second.”
“I see you, bella. Only you,” Rafe said with a smooth smile.
“Boobs. Lots of boobs,” Cam replied at the same time. His face reddened. “And you, babe. Yeah, I was talking about your boobs.”
Laura rolled her eyes. “I can always count on you, Cam.” She winked at them both and then turned back to Holly. “See. They’re not being assholes. They’re being possessive assholes. There’s a huge difference. And you really need to think about this. Caleb Burke, isolated freak, is sitting over there talking to a former mobster about how to make love to you. If you think about it, it’s kind of sweet.”
“Caleb really doesn’t like to talk to people.” What was wrong with her? This was everything she wanted. Sure, it wasn’t exactly how she’d pictured it happening, but they were talking. Why had she walked away? Why hadn’t she just given them both a sexy smile and invited them back to her place?
“You’re scared, honey,” Laura said.
Yep. She was suddenly terrified. “It’s just sex.”
Laura’s head touched hers. “Not for you it isn’t. You need to decide if you can handle this.”
“Caleb just wants sex.” She’d heard him say it. She’d hoped when he’d walked up that he’d come to his senses. She’d walked into the bathroom and reapplied her makeup with a sense of hope. She’d fantasized about sitting in the tavern and having a nice dinner, the three of them together.
Then she’d walked out to Caleb saying he just wanted sex and Alexei agreeing to it. Was that really what she’d wanted?
“Caleb lies to himself a lot, I think,” Laura said. “He says he wants sex, but he never goes after it. That man is so stinking hot he could have had sex with just about anyone he wanted, yet he lives like a monk. Did you know that Lisa Alvarado, the ski instructor at Elk Creek Lodge, came in for three gyno visits this winter? Seriously? Caleb finally had to tell her that her vagina didn’t need more prodding.”
Holly felt her fists clench. Lisa Alvarado was a pretty twenty-five-year-old with a perfect body and a quick wit. Holly had liked her right up until five seconds ago.
Laura continued, every word firing Holly’s jealousy. “And I heard that he gets hit on by ski bunnies all the time. They call him Doc Hottie up at the Lodge. Of course they run the minute he opens his mouth, but let’s face facts—the man is hot.”
“Could we move this conversation along?” Cam asked, poking his head around the booth where he sat with Rafe behind them. His eyes were narrowed with irritation.
&n
bsp; “Fine,” Laura said with sarcastic glee. “Let’s talk about how sexy Alexei is.”
Both of Laura’s men groaned and yelled to Zane to bring them a round of beers.
“He is a beautiful man.” She looked back where Alexei had a ferocious look on his face. She’d seen that look on his face before. It was the look he’d had right before the bullets had started to fly on the day he’d saved her life. Whatever he was about to do, he was serious about it.
“He’s gorgeous,” Laura agreed. “He’s the type of man who could have just about any woman he wanted.”
Yes, Alexei had probably had many beautiful women. He was a gorgeous monster. And she hadn’t even seen him without his clothes off. In clothes he was devastating. What would he look like when he stripped down and wore nothing but smooth skin and hard muscle? And Caleb? Caleb was no slouch in the muscle department. Both of the men were beautiful and ridiculously masculine.
What the hell was she doing? She wasn’t in their league.
Laura reached out and touched her hair, commanding her attention. “Calm down. I can feel your anxiety from here, and if Scott Lang was in this bar right now, I would beat him to death with my shoe. Look at me. You’re beautiful. So beautiful. Did you know that Wolf Meyer told me he wanted to ask you out, but he cared too much about Caleb to hurt him that way? That’s three ungodly gorgeous men who want you.”
Both of Laura’s men snorted and started talking about what a douchebag Wolf Meyer was. As Wolf had been dating Laura before they came back, Holly could forgive them.
“Did he really say that?”
“Ask him yourself,” Laura challenged. “Though I wouldn’t ask him when Alexei was around. That man looks scary. And, again, hot.”
Alexei stood, his tall body matched only by Zane’s, who seemed to be struggling with his telephone. Alexei barked something toward Caleb, who got out of his seat, too, and stood beside Alexei, both men staring across the bar toward her.
And then Alexei began walking. There was no doubt where he was heading.
“He’s going to tell me he’s leaving,” Holly said, her heart aching. She’d fucked everything up.