Ryder, Luxie - A Ballad for Her Cowboys [Hot Off the Ranch 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Luxie Ryder

  He kept advancing with his arms outstretched until he backed her up against the door. Misty braced her hands against his chest and pushed him away. ‘Forget it, Wade. No job is worth letting you back into my life. Not as a manager, nor an agent—and certainly not as a lover.’

  His charming mask slipped when he didn’t get his own way, just as she knew it would. ‘You owe me Misty. I put my own career on hold to support you. It’s payback time.’

  She smiled. It wasn’t the reaction Wade expected, but she couldn’t help it. He’d pulled this emotional blackmail on her so many times before, she couldn’t take him seriously. Back in the day, she would have felt responsible for the fact his life hadn’t turned out the way he’d hoped, but not anymore.

  ‘I paid you well for any help you gave me and you of all people should know that. You took damn near every last cent we had. What exactly is it you think I owe you? You’re a young man, Wade. Go do something with your own talents and stop trying to live off mine. Believe it or not, I wasn’t put on this earth to be your meal ticket.’

  Wade turned his back on her and stared out of the window at the rapidly darkening sky. ‘You’re right. I should get the hell out of your life and let you be, but I have no choice.’

  He spun around, and Misty saw genuine fear on his face. What the hell had he done this time?

  ‘I owe money to some guys—a lot of money—and my cut of this contract would keep them off my back for a while.’

  ‘You fucking idiot!’ she shouted at him, concern mixing with her anger. Misty didn’t want anything to do with him but she didn’t want him dead either. ‘How much do you owe?’

  “Twenty thousand, give or take.”

  ‘Wade, honey, I doubt we’ll make that much combined. How is a tiny percentage of my cut going to help you?’

  Hope flared to life again in his hazel eyes. Misty knew he thought her questions meant she would do it for him.

  ‘It’ll keep them off my back for a while and get me out of town until I can pull the rest of the money together.’ He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck, raising his eyebrows in anticipation. ‘Besides, my percentage ain’t exactly what you’d call tiny.’

  ‘You’re not coming on the road with me!’ she blurted out. Misty ignored his comment about the cut he was taking, stunned Wade would think she’d want to be anywhere near him.

  ‘That’s exactly when you’d need me, don’t you see? An artist needs their manager when they’re on tour. Besides, I can line up some extra shows.’

  ‘Don’t put the cart before the horse, Wade. I haven’t agreed to your percentage yet.’

  ‘So you’ll do it?’

  ‘Before I answer, you need to know I would be doing this for me, not you. I don’t owe you a damned thing. But I suppose with nothing else lined up, I have no real reason not to.’ Misty sidestepped Wade’s attempt to draw her into his arms again. ‘I gotta get ready for work. Where are you staying?’

  Two bright spots of color appeared on his cheeks and she knew what he was about to say. He, at least, had the good grace to look embarrassed. ‘I kinda hoped you’d let me crash here.’

  ‘Then you kinda hoped wrong. You need to head back to Nashville and I will meet you there in a few days.’ Misty didn’t want Wade hanging around at any time, and especially not now. The thought of explaining him to Aiden and Seth made her a little uneasy, not that they laid any claims on her, but she didn’t want them running off with the wrong idea.

  She opened the door. ‘Okay, I’ll do it on two conditions—one, you sign the release papers before I put my name to that contract and two, you forget any idea about you and me getting back together. That ship sailed.’

  ‘Thanks, Misty. I won’t let you down this time, I swear.’

  Wade walked through the hall and out into the street without hesitation, leaving Misty frozen in the doorway, amazed he’d gone without being a pain in the ass. For the first time since she’d know him, he’d been easy to get rid of…too damned easy.

  Chapter 6

  ‘You keep smiling at me like that, people are gonna think we’re in love,’ Aiden muttered out the side of his mouth when he noticed the other guys in the bunkhouse giving them a few weird glances.

  ‘Then they’d be right,’ Seth said unapologetically and still grinned from ear to ear.

  He didn’t get it. Aiden tried again. ‘I meant, in love with each other.’

  ‘Oh, right.’ He sat up and stared down a few of the guys still looking in his direction. ‘You really think so?’ Seth whispered.

  It was Aiden’s turn to smile. ‘Naw, I’m just kidding with you.’

  Seth threw a boot at him and flopped back down on the bed. ‘Count yourself lucky I am too damned tired and happy to care.’

  His words sobered Aiden. Seth had fallen for Misty again and hard. Sure, his own feelings were no less intense, but he kept his head about it. In less than two days, the job would be finished and would head back home to Missouri. Where would she go?

  The night they shared with her surpassed even his fantasies of what would happen if they ever met her again. Seth wasn’t the only one who hadn’t gotten over her. All these years he’d fooled himself that Seth’s happiness made him agree to the search for her in the beginning. Aiden could no longer deny the truth. It was more than just the memory of a wild night of sex that had made him think of her so often. He’d fallen in love with her just as quickly as Seth had.

  And now they’d found her again and what they shared hadn’t been a fluke or a one off. There was something between the three of them, something he realized that he and Seth needed from this moment on to ever be truly happy again. No matter what happened between them all now, he knew that the image of her clinging to him while he and Seth took her every way they knew how would go to his grave with him. Aiden got hard at the thought of her. He groaned, rolled onto his side, willed his body to calm down so he could follow Seth’s lead, and take a nap.

  Later, feeling a little more human after a short sleep and a shower, he followed Seth into the bar. As usual, Misty was onstage and he sent a nod her way but she didn’t see it. She dropped his gaze as soon as she found it.

  ‘What’s wrong with her?’ Seth vocalized Aiden’s thoughts.

  ‘Not sure. Maybe she’s regretting what happened like before.’

  Seth shook his head. ‘No way, Aiden. She seduced us, remember? Misty wanted last night as much as we did.’

  Aiden nodded, but didn’t tell Seth that he wasn’t so sure anymore. He stared at her for a minute, knowing he might make her more uncomfortable yet unable to stop himself trying to read her thoughts. Her gaze caught his again and then flicked to someone else sitting close to the edge of the stage. Aiden took a step to his left, craning his neck to see through the crowd—and found the reason for the sudden change in her demeanor.

  He elbowed Seth before he stopped to think how his buddy might react. ‘Hey, is that the guy we saw with Misty a few years back?’

  He got his answer when the color drained out of Seth’s taut face. His jaw set in a firm line and he turned his back to order a beer. ‘Sure looks like it to me.’

  Aiden couldn’t accept that he’d been so wrong about her. Even though he warned himself not to assume anything, the one thing he hadn’t been prepared for was that she was still involved with her ex.

  Misty finished her set and damn near ran from the stage without waiting for the applause. Aiden’s anger shifted from her to the man who seemed to be the cause of her discomfort. He watched Wade get to his feet and head backstage, then walk straight into her dressing room.

  ‘Huh,’ Seth said, his grunt told Aiden that he didn’t know what to make of it either.

  ‘We’d better check on her. She didn’t look very happy.’ Aiden started walking as soon as the words left his mouth, but Seth still beat him to her door.

  ‘Misty, is everything okay in there?’ Seth shouted when she didn’t answer at his knock. The sound of furious whispering came
from the room, the door opened, and Wade walked out, a shit-eating grin on his face.

  ‘Sorry, boys, Misty Tucker doesn’t see fans backstage.’

  ‘Wade!’ she shouted. Misty appeared behind him but still seemed unwilling to look at Aiden or Seth. ‘Stop being a jerk. These are my friends.’

  Aiden let his gaze roam over her, not caring if his disgust showed on his face. She wore no more than a skimpy robe and looked to have very little on underneath it. Had she undressed in front of Wade?

  ‘Well, any friend of my girl is a friend of mine,’ he said, still wearing the smirk that Aiden itched to wipe off his smug face. He ignored the hand the man offered, as did Seth.

  ‘Go wait for me at the bar. I’ll be out in a minute.’ Misty fixed Wade with a glare, holding his gaze until he shrugged then ambled off.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Seth asked when Misty still refused to look at them. ‘Why’s he here?’

  She stepped to one side and gestured for them to come into the room. Aiden lead the way, stopping to lean against the wall, leaving the only seat free for Misty, but she didn’t sit on it. Seth barely moved, choosing to angle himself against the doorframe without coming inside the small, brightly lit dressing room.

  ‘So you met Wade,’ Misty said. Her forced, brittle laugh grated over Aiden’s already taut nerves.

  ‘Charming fellow, ain’t he?’ Seth drawled, doing nothing to hide exactly what he thought of the guy.

  Aiden didn’t have the patience for idle banter. ‘What’s going on?’

  Misty cleared her throat. ‘Not what you think.’

  ‘And how do you know what I’m thinking?’

  She laughed, genuinely this time. ‘You look about ready to kill someone, Aiden. I may not be the smartest person you ever met, but I know an angry man when I see one.’ She looked at Seth. ‘Make that two angry men.’

  ‘Can you blame us?’ Seth said, still too loud despite the effort he’d made to whisper. ‘To walk in and find you half naked with Wade’s eyes roaming all over you, after you—’

  ‘After I what? You knew all about him last night. It didn’t bother you then.’

  ‘That’s because we thought it was over between you and him.’

  ‘It is over.’ Misty took a deep breath and Aiden guessed she just realized what Seth was getting at. ‘What, you see him here and just assume that I’m still with him?’

  ‘Wade seems to think you are,’ Aiden added, unsure Seth’s attitude was helping, but unable to stop the accusation slipping out. He gestured toward her flimsy robe. ‘Why exactly is that, Misty?’

  ‘I have no idea what kind of sleazy thoughts you are having about me, but you need to remember something. I was with the guy for years. It’s not like I have to be shy in front of him and anyway, I made him turn his back. Besides, what happens between Wade and me really isn’t any of your damn business.’

  ‘Oh, is that right?’ Seth asked. His tone a warning to anyone who knew him as well as Aiden did that he had a slim grip on his temper. ‘It is my business now.’

  ‘Why? Because you fucked me?’

  Aiden winced, her words hit him like a slap in the face and caused him to take an involuntarily took a step toward her, but Seth got there first. His arm shot out, closed around her body, and he hauled her up against his chest. He forced her to stand on tiptoe, a firm hand holding the back of her head.

  ‘You know that’s not it,’ he muttered against her jaw and worked his lips closer to hers. ‘It’s more than just sex Misty and you know it.’

  ‘I know…I’m sorry,’ she whispered, lifting her head to look him in the eye.

  Seth claimed her mouth and she sagged against him, letting her lush curves press into him as her arms wound around his neck. Aiden moved to stand behind her, trailing his hands over her shoulders, down her sides before grasping her hips, and pulling her back against the hard bulge forming in his pants as he watched her melt against Seth. Misty moaned and rubbed her ass against him, which let Aiden know that she welcomed his touch too.

  He groaned, reached around her collarbone, and pulled her robe from her shoulders. It fell to the floor, revealing the white lace bodysuit she wore beneath. Aiden’s throat tightened at the thought Wade might have seen her in the tiny scrap of material. He wrapped the paper-thin wisps of silk holding it up around his fingers and tore them away. Misty fell back against his chest when he tugged the fabric covering her breasts down to her waist and filled his hands.

  Looking down at her body over her shoulder, Aiden saw her nipples grow large from his touch, the hard pebbles pushing at his palms. He looked up to find Seth watching her reactions. Seth got up and turned to drag the chair a little closer. He dropped to his knees, reached down, grasped her ankle, and placed one of her legs up on the seat.

  Aiden felt Misty begin to shake once Seth made his intentions clear. He took off his hat, throwing it across the room, and then put his hand between her thighs. The snaps at the crotch of her bodysuit made a popping sound as they were torn apart, and Aiden knew Seth had an eyeful of her. He raised his head, looking for somewhere better to do this, so he could see too, and found that they faced the mirror over her dressing table.

  Seth pushed the bottom of her suit up, exposing the thick, dark curls covering her pussy, and then gave Aiden the sight he craved when Seth parted her slick lips with two careful fingers. Aiden moaned at the sight of her moist, rose-colored flesh, already swollen in arousal. Seth shifted to the side. He used one hand, spread down over her mound, to hold the lips of her pussy apart. He placed the tips of his fingers from his other hand on her clit and rubbed in slow circles.

  Misty bucked against the sensation, grinding her ass harder against Aiden’s aching cock. He grunted and pushed back against her, forcing her cunt forward to accept Seth’s touch. She thrashed against him again when Seth moved his attention from her clit to her pussy. He looked up to see her reaction as he slid a finger inside her and smiled when he saw the shudder wracking her.

  Aiden took a step back, supported her weight on his chest, and deepened the angle of her body where it rested between him and the chair. Seth dipped his head when her legs spread wider and blocked Aiden’s view in the mirror. He alternated between watching her writhing in the reflection or looking down at her splayed out beneath him. But it wasn’t enough.

  ‘Let me move you, darling,’ he whispered in her ear and pulled her away from Seth to lift her onto the dressing table. Seth shuffled around to resume sucking at her, his hands spreading her inner thighs while he buried his head into her groin. Misty leaned to one side and reached for Aiden, her hands fumbling when she tried to unbuckle his belt. He undid the buttons on his fly himself, but let her pull his engorged cock out of his pants, shuddering at the first touch of her hot hand.

  She pulled at it greedily, tugging him closer with desperate jerks until she had him close enough to take into her mouth. Misty groaned and closed her eyes when her lips closed around him. Aiden braced his hands on the wall above the mirror and thrust in and out of her as gently as he could. Her small fist pumped in time with her mouth and drove him wild. Oh God, he wanted to push inside her so deep, but he held himself in check—at least until he heard her gasp and saw the ripple of her abdomen caused by Seth driving her crazy with his tongue.

  He clenched his fists, forcing himself to hold still when the first hard pulse of semen surged its way up his shaft and into her hot mouth. His legs began to shake with the urge to lunge forward, but he managed to hold on. He gasped when she let his cock fall from her lips when her orgasm began. He grabbed his dick in a fist and jerked the last of his cum out onto the floor, his gaze locked on her.

  Misty’s head fell back against the shiny tabletop. She seemed to lose the ability to support her weight. Aiden bent to kiss her, taking the sharp sting of her bite against his lip and the tug of her hands in his hair without complaint. She shuddered to completion and let go of his head just as the sound of Seth’s ragged breathing split the air. Aiden
turned to see Seth come all over his own hand, slumping forward to support his weight on his free arm while he finished emptying his load.

  Aiden staggered back to the wall and allowed himself to slide to the floor and catch his breath. He looked at Misty, still lying on the counter struggling to recover, her eyes closed, and then to Seth where he lay on his back, one arm thrown over his face and his cock still in his hand. The knowledge that they were all spent and exhausted from the mind-blowing sex that seemed to come so easily to them didn’t make him feel any better. Sex wasn’t the problem. It never had been.

  Misty was the first to her feet and had just retied her robe when someone knocked the door. She rushed forward to drop the latch before calling out.

  ‘It’s me,’ they all heard Wade say.

  ‘I told you to wait for me in the bar!’ Misty shouted. ‘If you don’t get off my back, you can forget Nashville.’

  Seth raised his head, looked at Aiden, and they both turned to look at her. ‘Nashville?’ Seth asked, getting to his feet, and straightening his clothing.

  Aiden did the same and turned to her, angry that she still hadn’t answered.

  ‘Misty, you gotta give us some straight answers. What in the fuck is going on?’

  She turned, grabbed a handful of tissues from a box on her dresser, looked about to get down, and clean up the evidence of their arousal. Seth stopped her and did it himself.

  ‘Wade found me a job—a good one. I’m heading straight there when I finish here tomorrow night.’

  ‘With him?’ Aiden asked, although he already knew the answer. She nodded. ‘Why?’

  ‘He arranged the whole thing, without my consent by the way represented himself as my agent and manager. I guess the local promoters remember that’s how we did things in the past, so they didn’t question it.’

  Seth, confusion written plainly on his face, put up a hand to halt her chatter. ‘So you are working with him again. What makes you think he isn’t gonna run off with all your money like he did before?’