Fractured Hearts

by SJD Peterson

  A momentary lapse.

  Charlie sighed into his mouth and reluctantly broke their kiss. It didn’t matter how much her body craved this man, he wasn’t the one she could allow to take away her control. He refused to let go of her neck, and they stood breathing each other in.

  Someone cleared their throat and startled Charlie. She tried to spin away from Trevor, but he held her close, refused to let her even move an inch.

  “S’cuse me, boss, I have a message for ya.”

  “What is it, Cade?” He spoke to the man standing behind them, his gaze never leaving hers.

  “Mr. Colburn told me to let you know he was out fixing a break in the back forty and asked that you wait for him to come back.”

  “Thanks, Cade. If you see him, let him know I’ll be in the house, will ya? And, Cade?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Stop calling me sir. And if you keep calling him Mr. Colburn and it goes to his head, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

  Cade just chuckled as she heard him walk away.

  Trevor rested his forehead on hers. “Well, you just got a reprieve, little lady.”

  Her relief was so profound she couldn’t help but smile. “Oh darn, just my luck. Guess we’ll have to do this another time, huh?”

  Have your people call my people. We’ll set up a lunch date in say…never!

  He threw his head back and laughed, a deep full-belly laugh, then grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the house. “I said you got a reprieve, not a pardon.”

  He led her up the front steps. Charlie followed him easily now that she wouldn’t run into Kegan in the next few moments. Perhaps she still had time to talk Trevor out of this nonsense and convince him to take her home. If that didn’t work, she was lean, she could easily fit through a bathroom window. It wasn’t that far back into town. It would totally be worth the walk.

  He held the door open and she entered a wide, high-ceilinged foyer—an impressive entrance to complement the equally impressive exterior of the house. Deep hues of burgundy and green dominated the walls that stood in sharp contrast with the light oak hardwood floors. It had a very distinctive yet comforting masculine feel. Charlie started to pull her hand from Trevor’s in order to remove her boots, but he held tight.

  “Uh, hello. Kind of hard to take my boots off with one hand.”

  He glanced down at her feet, yanked her over to a bench near the door, and sat her in his lap. He wrapped one hand around her waist and removed her boots one at a time with the other. “No problem, that wasn’t so hard one-handed.” He chuckled.

  Charlie started to wriggle and squirm on his lap to force him to release her, but it had the opposite effect. As her ass brushed against his growing erection, he hissed and tightened his grip on her waist, immobilizing her.

  “You keep squirming like that and we’re gonna have a big problem that is hard, very hard, to deal with.”

  Charlie gasped but held perfectly still. The thought of how his body reacted to her gave her courage. She wasn’t the only one losing control. “Mind letting me up, then?”

  “Hungry?” He nuzzled her neck.

  “What the hell does that have to do with letting me up?” His arrogance was starting to annoy her, but then her stomach rumbled loud enough for him to hear.

  Trevor chuckled, slid his hand to her belly, and rubbed. “Your body is saying yes. Listen to it, Charlie, it knows what it needs.”

  Charlie felt the walls of her sex contract and moisten as she remembered the night in Jack’s Place when he’d told her what he wanted to do to her body with his friend.

  The pain in her heart and an image of Kegan overshadowed the lust that nearly consumed her. She bolted up off Trevor’s lap, unable to look at him. For some reason he could read her like a book and she didn’t want him discover all the secrets between the covers.

  He stood and grabbed her hand. “C’mon. My kidnapping escapade made you miss lunch. The least you can do is let me make up for that.”

  She followed him into a massive room with nine-foot ceilings. Plush carpets accented the leather furniture grouping in hues of burgundy and green, as in the foyer, giving the same masculine feel to the room.

  “Wow, your rooms are beautiful.”

  “You say that as if you’re surprised.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant. It fits you.” Charlie’s cheeks flushed and Trevor chuckled.

  He walked into a well-lit modern kitchen, which seemed out of place against the old-world country feel that she’d seen already. He motioned for her to take a stool at a large granite center island, then proceeded to pull plates of cut meats, cheeses and fresh fruits from the fridge before placing them on the counter in front of her.

  “Help yourself. Mrs. M always makes too much food. She’s worried Kegan and I will starve.”

  “Mrs. M?”

  “Mrs. Miller is our cook and full-time housemother. She’s been with us a couple years now. I swear that woman thinks were still growing boys.”

  “So how did you meet Kegan?” Charlie blurted before she thought better of it. Deep down, what she really wanted to know was why Kegan had chosen Trevor over her.

  “You eat and I’ll tell ya.”

  She popped a piece of fruit in her mouth and looked at him expectantly.

  “Well, Kegan showed up to my family’s ranch one day looking for work. The old man never was one to turn down cheap labor and hired him on the spot. The man had a way of recognizing people who were desperate and then used it to his advantage. He hired Kegan for little more than room and board.” Trevor looked down with an almost-embarrassed gesture. “Old man did that a lot.”

  “Doesn’t sound like you think much of your dad?”

  “Grew up hating the bastard, truth be told. Reckon I still do. He was rich and powerful and mean as shit.” He turned his gaze back to hers. “But that’s not important. The day he hired Kegan was the best thing that ever happened to me, so I guess I’ve forgiven him for some of his shortcomings.”

  Charlie felt a stab of envy as she thought of Trevor sharing his life with Kegan while she fought to heal her heart and forget. She didn’t blame Trevor, just envied him.

  “Sounds like you both got lucky.” She cringed at how sad her voice sounded.

  Trevor took her hand and squeezed. “He’s a good man, Charlie. That’s why you still love him and the reason I…” He looked down and coughed into his hand.

  Charlie couldn’t help but wonder exactly how deep the relationship was between them. She heard the respect and affection in Trevor’s voice when he spoke of Kegan and the look of longing in his eyes.

  “Does Kegan know you love him?” It wasn’t really any of her business, but she couldn’t take it back.

  Trevor looked up at her with narrowed eyes. “It’s not like that, Charlie. See, the thing with Kegan and me is that he’s the first person in my life my old man didn’t have to pay to hang out with me. I can’t exactly explain what I feel for him, been trying to for quite some time now.” He smiled a lopsided grin that made her toes curl. “It’s a work in progress.”

  He caught the rung of her stool with his boot. He pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her waist. “What about you, Charlie? What do you love about him?”

  Charlie wasn’t sure what it was she felt for Kegan anymore and wasn’t convinced Trevor was the right person to be discussing it with. She had never even told Rae the whole truth about Kegan.

  Over the years, she’d learned not to talk about him. Blocking him from her thoughts worked better for her sanity than remembering.

  She took a deep breath and worked to show no emotion. “I don’t, Trevor. I may have thought I did at one time. But it was just a silly teenage crush and a long time ago. I rarely thought of him until two weeks ago.”

  She raised her chin and forced herself to maintain eye contact. She hoped the show of confidence would convince him.

  Trevor ducked his head, kissed just below her ear, and whispered, “
You’re such a terrible liar, Charlie.”

  She started to pull away in protest when a low, flat baritone voice filled the quiet and sent a chill racing along her spine. “Trev, we need to talk.”

  Charlie jerked away from Trevor’s embrace, but he refused to let her flee. Dammit, he was always grabbing her. He held her against his body tighter. If she wasn’t so scared to face Kegan right then, she would tell him just what kind of pushy bastard he was.

  Trevor turned his head in Kegan’s direction. “S’pose we do, as soon as you stop being a bastard and greet our guest properly.” He leaned in closer and kissed her forehead before he let her go.

  Charlie couldn’t believe what was happening. What the hell was she supposed to say to Kegan right now? To make matters worse, he had just walked in on his best friend nuzzling her neck.

  She turned in Kegan’s direction and shielded most of her face from behind Trevor’s body.

  Kegan leaned against the door frame of the back door, his broad body taking up most of the space, his large arms crossed over his chest. His Stetson partially covered his eyes, but the hard set of his clenched jaw told her that he was less than happy about what he had just witnessed.

  As she tried to get a read on Kegan’s reaction to her, he tilted his hat back and his sparkling sapphire eyes met hers, the lines around them softening. But had they really softened or was she merely seeing something she wanted to see?

  “Hello, Charlie.”

  God, just the sound of his voice was enough to bring her to her knees. Charlie lifted her head and faced him head-on, watched as a smile tugged at the corner of his handsome face.

  “Hello, Kegan.” To her surprise, her voice sounded calm and didn’t betray the battle that raged inside. Perhaps it had been possible to keep her emotions in check, because he didn’t show any signs of disgust that she usually saw in the dreams that haunted her night after night.

  Chapter Six

  Kegan sat on the back porch steps waiting for Trevor to join him after he showed Charlie to the restroom, puzzled about what had just happened in the kitchen.

  He hadn’t meant to be the bastard Trevor had accused him of. He’d just been beyond shocked to find them nuzzled together. It was the jealousy that had reared its ugly head when he’d seen them locked together that had come out as a gruff voice and curt statement. The thing was, he wasn’t so much upset at seeing them together as he was with the realization that whatever was beginning to grow between Trevor and Charlie, he could never be a part of it.

  He’d had time to think on why he’d been so upset at the thought of the two of them together and had realized that as possessive as he felt about Trevor, he knew he had no right to be. He certainly had no right to consider those feelings about Charlie.

  He and Trevor had been recently talking about how old the one-night stands were getting, not that they didn’t enjoy them. There wasn’t much they hadn’t done to a woman sexually.

  They’d always picked up women who knew the score, one night with the two wild bachelors—they would fulfill her wildest, darkest fantasies, but that’s where it ended. No snuggling all night, breakfast in the morning, or promises that they would call.

  Fuck ’em hard and leave ’em fast but sated. Now things were changing. They wanted more and had talked about wanting to find one woman who would want to settle down with both of them. Not that there was a real good chance of ever finding a woman who could not only handle the social stigmas of a committed ménage à trois, but to also put up with the challenges of two very stubborn, demanding men.

  Then, as now, he knew it was a fantasy. The chances of finding that one woman they could share in a lifelong relationship was slim to none. It only made sense that he should back away from both Trevor and Charlie, stop being a selfish bastard with dreams of something that would never happen and let the two of them see where their relationship could go.

  The back door slammed and pulled Kegan from his thoughts. He looked up as Trevor sat down on the steps next to him.

  “You pissed at me?” He didn’t meet Kegan’s gaze, only stared into the glass of wine in his hand.

  “Nah, nothing to be pissed off about. Well, other than the fact that you keep giving me heart failure.”

  “Look, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t plan to bring her here, it’s just… I saw the way she looked and acted when she talked about you and I cracked. Next thing I knew, I was bringing her here. Figured you two needed to talk this out. Didn’t really give much thought beyond that. Then after talking to her, I realized that I may have gone about it the wrong way, but I did the right thing. She loves you, Kegan, and you two have to talk.”

  “Trevor…”

  “No, you shut up and listen to me. I’m sick of seeing you mope around here like a wounded puppy. Then I see her and she’s acting the same way when I mention your name.”

  “Look…”

  “Dammit, I said shut up. I’m talking now and you’re damn well gonna listen.”

  Kegan ground his teeth. “Fine, but when you’re through I get to have my say, so careful what you call me.” Kegan figured it best to just let Trevor get whatever was bothering him off his chest or he wouldn’t give him a moment’s peace.

  Trevor took a long, deep breath then blew it out in a huff. “I care a lot about you, and I can’t stand to see you hurting. I’m not sure what it is about Charlie that has me so tied up in knots, but I can’t stand to see her like this either. I want her, Kegan. Not for just one night, but for so much more.”

  Kegan nodded. “I saw the two of you together in the kitchen. You’re beautiful together. You don’t need Charlie and I to kiss and make up before you go after what you want. It’s not your job to fix my problems. With what I did to Charlie, I don’t think it can be fixed.”

  He rubbed his hand on the stubble starting to sprout on his chin. “I didn’t do right by her, Trev, and just because I screwed up doesn’t mean you have to pay for that. You two are both damn good people, you could have something special.”

  “Christ, you’re a goddamn idiot, you know that? Didn’t you listen to a fucking word I just said? The woman loves you!” Trevor flung his wineglass on the ground, shattering it.

  “Just what do you think you would do if I ran off with Charlie anyway, become a fucking hermit? I know you think you need me when you’re with a woman, maybe you do, but to be perfectly honest, I think I’ve grown to need it too. All I’m asking is that you just talk to her. If you can’t work it out, I’ll drop it and we can go back to being the most talked-about bachelors in the county.”

  Trevor stood and slapped him on the back. “Just think about it, that’s all I ask.” He left and went back into the house without a backward glance.

  * * * *

  Charlie was ready to go when Trevor came back inside. She didn’t feel comfortable sitting in their house and had seriously thought about sneaking out of the front door and hitching a ride home. Curiosity had kept her planted in her seat.

  “So did he talk some sense into you and you’re going to stop holding me here against my will?”

  “Nope. Wouldn’t matter anyway since I’m too hardheaded to listen to reason most of the time.” He sat on the stool next to her and took her hand. “What is it you really want, Charlie? If you want me to take you home right now I will, but I’m hoping you’ll stick around for a while.”

  Charlie snatched her hand away and glared at him as she stood. “I told you he wouldn’t want to talk to me. I’m not a fool, Trevor. I know what is going on. You told me that you and a friend liked to share women and were hoping to get lucky that night at Jack’s Place. It didn’t happen and it’s not going to. Why can’t you just accept that and find someone else to play with?”

  Charlie heard the anger rise in her voice and didn’t even try to suppress it. She was pissed off that he had forced her to come here and to talk to Kegan. She hadn’t even realized until Trevor had walked back inside without Kegan that somewhere in the back of her mind she h
ad hoped Kegan would want to talk to her.

  Instead, she’d gotten a big helping of disappointment with a side order of humiliation. Oh whoopee!

  Trevor stood so fast, his stool crashed to the floor behind him. Without even missing a beat, he stood over her, a dangerous glint in his dark eyes. “Is that what you think? That I brought you here today only with hopes to fuck you?”

  Charlie didn’t back down. “You know what? That’s exactly what I think. You don’t know a damn thing about me other than the fact that you danced with me in a bar and you wanted me to be the meat in your sexual sandwich.” She waved her hands around in a dismissive manner. “Forget it. You’ve done enough to humiliate me for one day. I can find my own way back to town.”

  She stormed out of the kitchen and into the massive living room, Trevor right on her heels. She sat on the bench in the foyer and started to put on her boots. “Would you just go away and leave me alone? God, what is wrong with you? I’m sure you can find a filly or two around here that won’t mind you sniffing after them. I happen not to be one of them.” She pulled her boot back in her clenched fist and planned to throw it at his too-damn-sexy face if he took one more step toward her. “Go away!”

  Kegan’s deep laugh boomed behind Trevor.

  Charlie jumped and dropped the boot.

  Kegan then slapped Trevor on the back. “She always was a feisty little hellcat.” He gave Trevor an unapologetic smile. “Guess I should have warned ya, huh?”

  That right there was enough! Charlie snatched her boot from the floor and stomped her foot into it. She seethed with anger that consumed her body like a match to dry brush. She was furious at Kegan for his broken promises and refusal to talk to her. She was even more enraged at Trevor for having such control over her body and for humiliating her by forcing her to come here.

  Above all, she was mad at herself for hoping. Hope was like frogs praying for wings so they didn’t bump their asses when they hopped. But there weren’t any flying fucking frogs! Screw hope and these two cowboys with their little smirking faces.