Love Under Two Private Dicks [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  The sound of a car coming to an abrupt, fish-tailed, tire-squealing stop pulled everyone’s attention to the road in front of the house.

  Sheriff Stinson still had the driveway itself blocked to any vehicles that might want to turn in, so that meant the two men who’d just arrived in that kick-ass SUV had to park at the side of the road and walk in.

  Emily Anne saw the looks on the Jessop brothers’ faces and recalled the way Mel had greeted her friend after Baxter had been cuffed.

  He’d given her a hug, and then grinned at her. “Thank you for saving our woman. But I have to tell you, your ass is grass when those men of yours get here. Adam told you to stay put.”

  Chloe’s eyes had gone huge at the news. “Grant and Andrew are on their way here?”

  She guessed Mel was remembering that scene, too. “Ah, and here come the lawn mowers now.”

  Emily Anne watched as Chloe caught sight of her men—neither of whom looked happy at all. She caught the look of concern on Beck’s face—Lucy’s, too—and thought that was very sweet.

  Grant and Andrew Jessop resembled two minor mountains but Emily Anne knew they were absolute teddy bears when it came to her friend.

  Everyone else soon knew it, too, because Chloe ran toward them and leapt. Grant snagged her out of the air, enfolding her in his arms. Andrew moved so that he was pressed against her back and for a long moment, no one said anything as they simply held her.

  “We love you Chloe-doe, never doubt that,” Andrew said.

  “But you are definitely getting your ass paddled when we get home for not obeying Adam.”

  Emily Anne had gotten to her feet the moment Chloe had leapt. It didn’t surprise her in the least that her men followed her over to greet the newcomers.

  “Guess that means you don’t want to know all of what went on in there,” Mel said.

  Connor nodded. “On the bright side, you’ll be able to really commiserate with Adam and Jake. Hell, with Colt and Ryder, too, if the tales I’ve heard about a ‘fucking shovel’ are true.”

  “The women of Lusty sure do know how to do things,” Mel said. “Unfortunately for the men.”

  Grant held Chloe out from him, her feet well off the ground, as he asked, “What did you do, baby girl?”

  Chloe proved that she knew her men pretty well. “Don’t fret. I love you.” She leaned in and kissed him, then turned toward Andrew and kissed him, too. “Now come and meet Lucy, Beck, and Patrick.”

  Emily Anne just stood where she was as Chloe led her men over to the red Escape. She turned to her own men. “That was kind of mean.”

  “A woman’s men need to know when she does something that puts herself in harm’s way,” Mel said.

  “Damn straight,” Connor agreed. “How else are the men to know when discipline might be required?”

  Just then Hank Stinson approached them. He looked down at Emily Anne and gave her a smile. Then he looked at her men. “Do you want the EMTs?” he asked.

  “Yes, please. Her wrists are raw from the rope that bastard used on her, and if they aren’t treated they could become infected.”

  She opened her mouth to protest Connor’s fussiness.

  “I was more concerned about any other injuries? When that gun went off, I heard the distinct ping of a ricochet. Just took a look. That bullet must have missed you, Ms. Bancroft, by a hair’s breadth.”

  “I did think I felt something hot by my ear. I didn’t mean for the gun to go off, Sheriff. I just meant to grab it before Baxter could, but the safety was off, and, well, with my hands tied, I fumbled it a little. But I got it before he did.”

  “You certainly did that,” the sheriff said. He looked at each of her men in turn. “We’re going to conduct a full-scale search of the premises tomorrow morning. You want in on that?”

  “Well, you did make me a deputy,” Connor said. Then his gaze landed on Emily Anne. He said, “Tomorrow is perfect. That will give us time to see to our woman.”

  “We still need to get Ms. Bancroft’s statement.”

  “You don’t mind if we sit in on that, do you?” Mel asked. “We’d really like to know what all happened in there.”

  Both men were smiling at her, but Emily Anne wasn’t fooled, not even for a moment. She thought of the items she’d bought at Discretion, earlier. She guessed that paddle was going to be getting a workout sooner, rather than later.

  Somehow, she didn’t think she would mind that one little bit.

  Chapter 26

  “Just give me a minute, angel eyes.” Connor eased his woman into his arms, his movements measured and gentle. He needed to put away that part of him that had thrived in wartime, that part of him that had made him so good at black ops.

  Emily Anne brought out his softer side, his nobler side, and he needed to hold her, to breathe her in, to know that she was safe in his arms.

  To know that she was safe, and sound, and his.

  He’d died a thousand deaths as he’d sat quietly and listened to Emily Anne recount what had happened to her today, beginning with her stepping into Lucy Carter’s spa and ending with Mel and the guys bursting into that house. Jesus, she could have died when that gun had gone off—when Baxter had already been subdued by Chloe and Lucy. Fuck, Baxter could have shot her at any time. Bastard certainly seemed crazy enough.

  Connor looked up and met Mel’s gaze. In his best friend’s eyes he saw all the raging emotions he felt running rampant through himself. He recalled just a half hour before when Grant and Andrew Jessop had arrived and surrounded Chloe with their bodies and, he knew, their love.

  That was the way it should be. That was the kind of family the Jessops had, the kind that he and Mel wanted to build with their woman.

  “Get over here,” he said to Mel.

  Mel nodded, and sighed, and wrapped his arms around Emily Anne from behind her, so that they had her between them. Whereas during other such hugs in the past, when Mel would have done his best not to touch him, this time Connor felt a masculine hand on his shoulder.

  Connor returned the favor and knew there was nothing sexual in their gestures to one another.

  They were two men, united as one in loving and caring for their woman. They were brothers more surely than some he knew who’d been born that way.

  “I was so fucking scared,” Connor said. He’d spent his career being a tough as nails, hard-ass, badass, U.S. Army Ranger. He didn’t let his emotions show on the battlefield. Hell, he didn’t let himself even feel them, because they could have gotten him killed.

  “When I found out that Baxter had you, honest to God, angel eyes, I was more frightened than I’ve ever been in my life. So you’re going to have to deal with me hovering over you for a while.”

  “That goes for me, too, precious. All the situations I’ve been involved in during my years on the force kept trying to crowd into my thoughts. I knew how this whole situation could go horribly wrong. I couldn’t let those pictures into my head. I had to just focus on getting you out of that fucking house. So yeah, what he said about the hovering.”

  “I can’t think of anyplace I’d rather be than right where I am—in your arms. And I can’t think of a better fate than to have the men I love hovering over me.”

  Mel chuckled. “You might change your mind when you discover that our hovering includes a spanking later tonight for trying to grab that gun while you were still tied up, hands and feet.”

  “Hey, I didn’t try to grab the gun, I grabbed the damn thing.” Emily Anne eased back, and Connor let her have just enough maneuvering room so that she could look up at them.

  He liked, very much, that Mel let her have the same few inches. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the others were looking over at them, but no one seemed to think there was anything strange about the three of them standing together this way—not even the sheriff.

  “And as far as that spanking is concerned…did I mention what I bought when I was out at Discretion this morning?”

  Was it o
nly this morning? Connor felt as if a greater period of time than just a few hours had passed.

  He felt as if he’d aged years—and matured at least a few as well. They had come perilously close to losing their woman today. That scare, that horrible possibility put everything else into perspective.

  Nothing was more important to Connor than his woman—his family. Nothing, not even his damn, stupid, useless male posturing and pride.

  He looked down at her. “No, you didn’t.”

  “Some fur-lined handcuffs…and a paddle.”

  Connor chuckled.

  He met Mel’s gaze. That man said, “Partner, what do you say we head back into Divine and do what we planned to do this afternoon? Before dickhead over there fucked up our schedule?”

  “I say that’s a hell of a good idea,” Connor said.

  Sheriff Stinson had told them all they were free to go, as he’d gotten everyone’s statements. Connor and Mel arranged to meet the man back here at ten the next morning. Until then, the property was going to be under police guard.

  “If you’re not in a rush to head back to Lusty, Ethan says come on over to the Pony. He said a celebration is in order.” Ace grinned. “Kemp and I will be heading right over, because our wife is waiting for us there.”

  Connor looked down at Emily Anne. “Do you feel up to a little partying?”

  “I do. The EMTs just put a bit of antibiotic cream on my wrists. I really am fine, you know.”

  “Oh, angel eyes, you’re a hell of a lot better than fine.”

  “We’ll stop by,” Mel said to Ace. “We’re going to grab some dinner ourselves, after we make one other stop, first.”

  “We’ll see you there, then,” Webster said.

  “One other stop, huh?” Emily Anne stood between them, her arms around each of them. Connor looked down at her, and then over at Mel, and knew he was looking at his future.

  They’d talked some, the two of them. They’d also paid a visit to Mel’s old training officer, Caleb Benedict, and spent some time over a couple of beers down by the barn at the family ranch, talking to Caleb and his brother Jonathan.

  Connor was beginning to see how this was all going to work out just fine. Better than fine, in fact.

  He grinned down at his woman. “Come on, Emily Anne. It’s time we saw our ring on your finger.”

  And he was looking forward, very much, to the day he would look down and see her ring on his.

  * * * *

  It was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen and just exactly what she might have wished for. A setting of delicate gold filigree with sculpted hearts on each side of the stones held a single red ruby flanked by two sparkling diamonds.

  “We thought it was fitting,” Connor said, “as you are the rose between us two thorns—and seeing that you do, most definitely, own our hearts.”

  “I don’t consider either one of you to be particularly prickly,” she said, even as she held back her laughter at how that could be taken if she thought naughty.

  The men just smiled and shook their heads. Then Mel showed her the inside of the ring. They’d thought to have the ring inscribed. She held it up closer so she could read it.

  The words nearly made her cry. “Precious angel eyes, ours forever.” Emily Anne then stood there with her heart pounding and joy cascading through her while together, right there in the jewelry store, her men slipped the ring onto her finger.

  Together. Something told her that concept might not be quite so much of a reach for them as it had been just a couple of short weeks before.

  As they’d placed the ring on her finger, she couldn’t keep her eyes from going misty. The day she had met these two men, she’d been a woman convinced that no man would ever truly love her. Now she had two gorgeous, strong and very alpha-type personal heroes to call her very own.

  It didn’t get any better than that. Emily Anne decided right then and there she was the luckiest woman on the planet.

  That feeling followed her over to O’Reilley’s, where the men had made dinner reservations for them a couple of days before. They’d asked for a table in the back so they could have a modicum of privacy. They weren’t, after all, in Lusty. There’d be no threesomes on the dance floor tonight over at the Dancing Pony as there had been at the community center dance the night she’d worn her new dress and wonderful black basque for the first time. Neither could she hold both of her lover’s hands, the way she might at Lusty Appetites.

  She regretted that, especially on this very special night. But she had a feeling the men had something planned for later, when they were alone, and that would more than make up for any affection she might have to hold back now. She wasn’t one to be overly expressive in public to begin with. The hard part would be not reaching for Connor’s hand.

  They’d discussed it between them. Since Mel was going to be her legal husband, he was her “official” fiancé. The distinction would only be for times and places where they were in the public eye, away from Lusty. So that was fine, a necessary concession to the sensibilities and the laws of the general population.

  Nothing could dull Emily Anne’s joy on this night. They were left alone at their table to peruse the menu and for once, she didn’t even think about what the leanest or least fattening choice would be. For once, she felt so darn good about herself, she decided she would order a baked potato with her steak.

  Her men loved her just the way she was. In their eyes, she was beautiful.

  I am beautiful.

  That was something she never thought she would think about herself, much less believe.

  Tonight, Emily Anne believed it.

  Mel ordered a bottle of wine. She bowed to his expertise, as she didn’t really know wines at all. The Cabernet Sauvignon he selected came from right there in the Hill Country. Because he’d chosen it she decided to like it and discovered, after the first few sips, that she did.

  “Are you going to spend the rest of the night looking at your ring and smiling?” Mel asked after their salads had been served.

  “Probably. I’ve never been so happy.” She looked down at her salad, then back up at the two of them. “I mean that. I am down to my toes happy.” And then, because she hadn’t yet, and she knew she could, she said, “I was so scared today. When Baxter pulled that gun, when he threatened to shoot Lucy and me—I was terrified.”

  Mel reached for her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it. She felt her heart turn over at the sweet gesture. She knew he could see the love she felt shining in her eyes. Emily Anne shared that look with Connor, too.

  There was a limit as to what she would withhold from him even if they were out in public.

  She’d opened the box with that confession. “I didn’t know what to do—I remember at one point thinking that when I got out of the mess I was in, you could teach me some slick self-defense moves,” she said to Connor. “Having been in black ops, I bet you have more of those than most.”

  He chuckled, and then looked over at Mel.

  “Actually that’s probably not a bad idea,” Mel said.

  “I agree,” Connor said. “Although we’re going to do our damnedest to ensure you’re never in a situation like that again, it would be smart to show you a few things you can do to protect yourself.”

  “Anyway, what I wanted to tell you both was that, even though I was terrified I knew—even before I saw Chloe—I knew you’d find me, and rescue me.”

  “It seems to me,” Connor said, “that you ladies did a pretty damn good job of rescuing yourselves.”

  Emily Anne shrugged. “It was Lucy and Chloe who did that. Lucy came up with the plan. She is one smart, strong woman. You should have seen them. They were amazing!”

  “From what we heard, you were pretty amazing yourself,” Mel said. “From recognizing Chloe’s car, to slowing down so she would see you and have time to get the plate number—even miming the word help. Maybe you didn’t have a hand in that tussle and toppling that asshole, Baxter. But you did yo
ur share. You kept your head and I can tell you, there are a lot of people I’ve seen throughout my years in law enforcement who couldn’t do that under even less stressful circumstances.” Mel shuddered and then he shot Connor a look. When that man nodded, he turned back to her. “We’re proud of you, almost wife. Prouder than we can say.”

  Emily Anne thought it was altogether possible that she might get teary again. “Thank you. I love the way you love me, and I love the way you respect me and treat me like an equal. Because of you, I have a confidence I never knew I could have. I feel good about being me for the first time in my life.”

  The waiter arrived just then with an enormous tray, which he set on a stand he opened with one hand. The aroma of the meat, succulent and savory, filled her senses.

  It occurred to Emily Anne right then that she was happy, free, beautiful, and the future before her with these two amazing men was nothing short of phenomenal.

  “Do you know what? I’m starving!”

  “So am I,” Connor said. “And I could eat some food, too.”

  Emily Anne laughed even as she felt her face get warm. She looked down at the food being set out before her, then looked at both of her men. “In that case, gentlemen, may I suggest that you make sure to save room for dessert?”

  She had no doubt, by the looks they gave her, that they understood exactly what kind of dessert she was planning to serve them later—when they were alone.

  Chapter 27

  This time, they didn’t ask her for ID.

  She didn’t remember the bouncers’ names, but they remembered hers.

  “Hi, Mike, Rogelio.” Mel nodded to both men. One of them said, “Welcome back, gentlemen, Ms. Bancroft. Boss said for you to go on in. They’ve put together a few tables. You won’t be able to miss them.”

  The Dancing Pony seemed a lot busier on this Monday night than it had the last time she was here. People were laughing and talking and sipping on drinks. Over the sound system, Brad Paisley’s “Beat This Summer” had folks up and dancing, and those who weren’t dancing, were busy socializing with their friends.