by Marla Monroe
He ran his hand lightly up and down her arm, hoping to help her to relax. Having her there in his lap proved to be a sweet torture he hadn’t expected. His cock hardened beneath her slight weight. As much as he wanted to adjust himself, he didn’t want to draw her attention to the fact that he was aroused. Right now they needed to focus on something other than sex.
“You didn’t say if the first weekend of August would be okay with you or not, honey,” he said.
“Um, sure. I mean as long as it’s okay with your parents that is. I don’t see why we need that long anyway. It’s only June. That’s like a month and a half away.” Her pretty blue eyes appeared wider than usual to him.
“I have it on good authority that a proper wedding takes time to prepare for.” Travis grinned across at them.
“Whose authority would that be?” Randy asked.
“Mom’s, you idiot. She’s told us that over and over all our adult lives. Do you not listen at all when she lectures us?” Travis asked, frowning.
Randy grinned though he knew he was blushing some, too, by the warmth that spread up his neck.
“I listen to the first few seconds then I sort of tune her out. It’s usually something we’ve heard a dozen times over the years anyway.”
“Randy! I’m going to tell her you said that.” Angela stared at him in mock horror.
It was worth the blush to see her teasing him. One small step. He’d take each and every one of them.
“If you tell on me, I’ll torture you for hours.” He grinned at her.
“Torture me? How?” Her voice broke on the how.
“He’ll suck and lick your pretty pussy without letting you come while I hold you down, Angel,” Travis said.
When she looked back at him as if to see if he really would, Randy stuck out his tongue and wiggled it suggestively before licking his lips. She shivered, and he swore he could smell her arousal. He ached to slide his hand down the front of her jeans to see if she was wet. He wanted to strangle his brother for bringing sex back into the conversation. How was he ever going to be able to keep his mind off of sinking his cock deep inside her tight ass or that hot, wet pussy if Travis kept making suggestive comments?
“Let’s talk about some rather boring subjects for a while,” he said glaring across at his brother. “Do you want to trust Harley D’s safety with Homer and his wife while we’re gone on our honeymoon or should we ask Mom and the Dads to stay here and kitty sit for us?”
“Speaking of honeymoon,” Travis interrupted. “Where would you like to go? We figure we can take a week away from the ranch, so where would you like to go?”
“Honeymoon? I–I hadn’t thought about going anywhere. Um, Homer and his wife can take care of Harley D if they don’t mind. Where do y’all want to go? I wouldn’t know how to choose. I’ve never really been anywhere other than the trip to here.”
Randy couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying for watching her lush lips as she spoke and stealing glances at how wide her blue eyes got with each question. Travis really was in for it when he got him alone again. Keeping her off balance wasn’t getting them anywhere. As long as she stayed flustered, she wasn’t truly thinking about them as a ménage, a family. He wanted her to get used to them in that context.
“Don’t you have dreams of going somewhere special, Angel? What do you dream about?” Travis asked.
“I don’t know. Mostly I’ve dreamed about getting a good job and a place of my own.” Angela’s features softened with a small smile.
“Well you have both of those now. You’re doing a great job in the office and now you have a home here with us.” Randy patted her hip lightly.
Travis seemed to finally catch on to what Randy wanted to accomplish with her that afternoon.
“You can decorate it any way you want to. We really haven’t done anything to the house other than update the kitchen and bathrooms. The colors and stuff are all like it was when we bought the place. All you have to do is tell us what you want, Angel.”
Randy nodded. “It’s your home as much as it is ours, honey.”
Angela smiled. “Okay. Would you mind if I polished the wood floors? They’re really pretty, but they need taking care of.”
Randy groaned. “Angela. You don’t have to ask our permission to do something. Maybe if you’re thinking about changing something major we could all talk about it, but something like that is up to you.”
He could tell she was struggling to accept that she wasn’t just their employee anymore. Maybe it would take more time after all. He probably should be thankful that she’d agreed to marry them in the first place knowing how she felt about their being her bosses first.
The sound of Harley D’s yowling meow from the direction of the office had Angela scrambling off his lap before he could stop her.
“I’d better go check on him. He’s not used to being by himself for long periods of time yet.” She soon disappeared into the entrance hall. He could hear her crooning to the kitten before the office door closed once again.
“What the fuck are you trying to do, Travis? I thought we were going to try to get her comfortable with us so she would confide in us more.” Randy stood up, stuffing his hands on his hips and glaring at his older brother.
Travis sighed and stood up as well. “She’s already agreed to move her things on over tonight. That’s a big step. I think pushing her too much at one time will only cause her to clam up tighter. She’s still holding something back, and I for one want to know what it is. We can’t find out if she’s busy analyzing her feelings. We have to keep her off balance so she slips up. Once she gets whatever it is out in the open, then she’ll start to relax more.”
Randy scoffed at his brother’s method of solving their problems with their soon-to-be wife. He might be older, but he wasn’t the all-knowing Wizard of Oz on women. God knew they’d both screwed up with Belinda. First she’d driven them crazy wanting them to take her shopping all the time, and then she’d tried to pit one against the other by wanting to marry only one of them.
“I think you’re reading too much into her nervousness. All she’s worried about is the fact that she’s sleeping with her bosses and is going to be marrying them. It’s guilt over that that you’re picking up on. She’s not keeping some big secret from us, Randy.”
“You’re wrong, brother. There’s something she isn’t telling us that has her feeling guilty. That’s why she’s so jumpy around us and is trying to keep some distance between us.”
Randy stuffed his hands into his pockets. “But she’s not doing that now. She agreed to move in with us.”
“Doesn’t mean she isn’t still holding back. I don’t care what’s in her past. I still love her, but she needs to be honest with us. If our relationship isn’t rooted in honesty, it will fall apart the first time we come up against something major.” Travis obviously wasn’t budging from his decision.
Randy knew from past experience it was better to back off and let him have his way than to keep baiting and arguing with him. Still, it worried him that Travis’s bulldog tendencies would eventually lead to greater problems.
“Fine. Just remember that she’s a human being whose sense of self-worth is rooted in what she can do for someone. If she thinks she’s not everything we want her to be now, she’s liable to run.”
“It won’t come to that, Randy.” Before he could say anything more, the office door opened and Angela emerged from the entrance hall carrying the kitten.
“He was hungry. I guess he’d eaten all his food and thought his food bowl should never be empty. I refilled it, and he ate two bites then wanted me to hold him.” Angela’s grin was infectious.
Randy smiled and walked over to pluck the scrawny ball of fur from her arms. He held the well-loved kitten up to his face and stared into his eyes. The little bugger hissed at him.
Angela burst out laughing then gasped and covered her mouth as if she’d messed up. Travis started chuckling behind her, and she joined in o
nce again. Randy frowned at both of them before hugging the kitten to his chest and petting it. When it settled down and started to purr, he stuck his tongue out at them.
“He forgot for a second who I was is all. I’m the one that always made sure they had extra food and milk.”
“No, he just hadn’t been that close to your ugly mug before and it scared him. That’s all. It wasn’t until you moved him out of sight of your face that he started purring again. Face it, little brother, you scared him.”
“Travis. That’s not nice. He hisses at me sometimes, too. Don’t listen to him, Randy. He’s being mean.” Angela reached and took Harley D out of his arms to snuggle the kitten against her breast, where he wanted to be.
“Okay, you guys. I’ve got to get back to work. If I’m going to entertain your mom this weekend, then I’ve got to finish up in the office.” Angela turned and walked back out of the living room.
“We’ll see you tonight, honey,” Randy called after her.
“Love you, baby.” Travis added.
“I love both of you, too!”
Randy smiled. Things were going well.
Chapter Nineteen
Travis pulled off his gloves and stuffed them in his back pocket. Finally all of the hay had been relocated to the newer barn they’d built. The old barn needed work, and moving the hay had been the first step toward emptying it so they could replace the rotten wood and repaint it. Next came the tools, spare parts, and just plain junk that had accumulated over the years. Some of it dated back to the first owners who’d left it when they’d sold the place.
“Damn, I can’t wait to get a shower tonight. I’ve got fucking hay all over me. It even feels like it’s in my damn jeans.” Randy stomped out of the barn, jerking off his gloves.
“I hear you. Wonder what Angela cooked tonight?” he wondered out loud.
“Hmm, whatever it is, we both know it’ll be delicious.” Randy brushed off the hay that clung to his clothes with his gloves.
“Damn phone. It’s been vibrating all afternoon.”
“Why haven’t you answered it? It could have been important.” Randy straightened up.
“I don’t recognize the number, and it’s a text anyway. The hands would have used the radio and Angela would have called or used the radio as well.” He sighed and pulled the offending thing out of its holder and scrolled through the many text indications to find the first one.
He was anal that way. He wanted to read from the beginning if he was going to look at them. When he pressed to open it, a picture of Angela talking to Jace Vincent opened up. Angela looked nervous, Jace intense. The next text was a message.
Looks like your girlfriend has another boyfriend.
He frowned and pressed the next message. Another picture popped up. This time Jace had his hand on her arm. The deputy looked interested to Travis. He couldn’t stop the growl from slipping out.
“What’s wrong?” Randy moved closer.
“Just a minute.” Travis wanted to read them all before he said anything to his brother.
A sick feeling was building in his gut. Had this been why she’d been acting so strange the day before? Did she feel guilty for seeing Jace when she’d been sleeping with them?
Bet you thought you could trust her, didn’t you.
He selected the next text and another picture opened up. His stomach sank even as his anger grew. Angela was in the deputy’s arms, her face turned away so he couldn’t see her expression. Jace’s expression was easy to read. He liked holding her. Travis cursed and nearly threw the phone across the ranch yard. Instead, he scrolled down to the last message.
I wonder what else she’s been doing.
Travis gritted his teeth as he fought to keep from crushing the phone in his hand. Randy was standing next to him, waiting for him to let him see. He didn’t want to show the damn thing to him, but he needed to know. Why couldn’t he have been wrong? Anger at the pain he would see on his brother’s face when he looked at the damning texts burned his gut. Finally he handed the phone over to Randy and waited.
“What the fuck?” His brother looked over at him after he’d looked at the first message.
“Just keep scrolling,” was all he could say.
After several long seconds, Randy handed his phone back to him. Instead of the pain he’d expected to see, there was denial instead.
“It doesn’t mean anything. Jace is a good man. He’d never screw around with someone else’s woman.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know she’s ours. It’s not like we’ve broadcasted our intentions, and she’s only been here for a little over a month.” Travis could see Randy’s confidence crack.
“We need to ask her about it before jumping to conclusions. I don’t believe she’d jump into someone else’s arms straight out of ours.”
Travis scowled. “You think I want to believe it? It’s there in black and white. She played us, Randy. Made us think she was shy and didn’t feel right getting into a relationship with her bosses, and we fell for it.”
Randy shook his head. “There has to be another explanation. I can’t believe these pictures are what they look like. I have to see it with my own eyes.”
Travis wanted to yell at his brother for being so stubborn about it. Instead he ground his teeth and stomped toward the truck. They would confront her about the pictures and see what she had to say for herself. Then maybe his brother would acknowledge that pictures don’t lie.
Randy climbed up in the passenger’s side as Travis threw the truck into gear. Neither man said anything on the drive back to the house. Each had too much on his mind with one small woman at the center of it all. Travis had seen her as their miracle, an angel on the side of the road with beautiful, sad eyes he couldn’t resist. He’d brought her into their lives, believing she’d prove to be the glue that would bind them into a family and that he and his brother would be whole once more.
He growled as they pulled up at the house. A deputy sheriff’s SUV sat parked beside the blue truck out front.
“Aw, hell.” Defeat and betrayal echoed in Randy’s words.
Travis cursed as he jumped down out of the truck. He stopped before he slammed the door. He didn’t want them to know they were there if they didn’t already. He wanted to surprise them and see how they reacted. Thankfully Randy didn’t slam his door either.
He gestured to his brother that they were going to go in the back through the kitchen. Trace slipped around the back with Randy right behind him. They eased into the laundry room then walked quietly across the kitchen. When he looked into the living room, no one was there. Listening carefully, he could hear the murmur of voices coming from the office. Looking over his shoulder, he nodded at Randy and they carefully made their way across the wood floor of the living room to the entrance hall. The office door was closed.
Travis grasped the doorknob and drew in a deep breath. Letting it out in a slow, controlled stream, he opened the door wide and froze. Randy’s fuck beside him sounded loud in the suddenly quiet room.
Angela’s eyes widened even as she struggled to pull free of Jace’s embrace. For his part, the deputy appeared worried, as well he should. Travis stepped into the room, ready to pound him into the ground. Randy moved with him even as Angela cried out and ran past them with tears streaming down her face. He ignored her and focused on the object of his immediate anger.
Jace held up both hands, palms out, as if to ward them off. Travis wasn’t buying what he was selling. Red-hot rage burned in his blood as he swung at the other man. Jace sidestepped him, but Randy managed to land a solid punch to the man’s jaw. Jace was a big man. The blow staggered him, but he didn’t go down. Instead he tried to talk.
“Wait. It’s not what you’re thinking. Nothing is going on.”
Neither of them was listening to him. Trace ran at him with the sole purpose of taking him down. Jace managed to evade the brunt of the hit, sidestepping to the side of the desk. With both he and Randy after him, he really didn’t
have anywhere to go.
“Stop! I’m trying to tell you that nothing is going on. I was worried about her. She looked sick in town yesterday.” Jace raced around the desk but Randy headed him off.
“Yeah, we saw how you were checking on her,” Randy said in a growl.
“She looked like she was going to pass out. I just came out to check on her. She looked scared yesterday like something was wrong.” Jace tried again to talk to them.
Randy managed to shove him up against the wall. The other man didn’t even try to fight him this time when Randy pulled back his fist to hit him.
“You’re fucking this all up, guys! Angela loves you two. Now she thinks you don’t trust her.” Jace’s much louder voice stopped Randy’s fist from moving.
Travis didn’t believe him. He wanted to pulverize Jace for taking what was theirs. Still, the devastation he’d briefly seen on Angela’s face as she raced by them had him listening to the deputy.
“I swear. There’s nothing going on between us. I saw her on the sidewalk in town yesterday and was worried about her. She looked like she was about to pass out, but when I stopped to check on her, she assured me she was fine. She was shaking though. Then I saw her later at the diner and she tripped and almost fell. I caught her before she could hit the floor. It was obvious to me that she wasn’t all right, but I couldn’t do anything about it when she insisted nothing was wrong.”
“Why did you come out here? You know she would be safe here with us.” Travis didn’t want to believe him.
“Honestly? I wondered if something was wrong out here. She acted like she was afraid of something. I couldn’t stop worrying about her last night, so I drove out here to check on her. What you saw just now was just her confessing that she loves you both very much, but she’s afraid she’s not good enough for you. She thinks that in a few months or years you’ll regret that you married someone like her.”