by Marie Tuhart
“What was that look about?” Katie asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Jed opened the chair box and began unpacking it.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“You do that,” Ry said, striding toward the front door.
The door bell rang. “Yeah, that’s the Internet guy.” She spun on her heel, ducked around him, and ran ahead of him.
****
Katie settled down onto the sofa after dinner that night, waiting for Ry and Jed. She’d had a fun afternoon setting up her office and getting everything into place. She glanced up as both men walked into the room and took their seats on either side of her. Her pulse sped up.
“So, Katie, what are you going to do in this new office of yours?” Ry asked.
Katie smiled. “Well, one of the things I did while I was in New York was become a CPA with a specialty in forensic accounting.”
Jed let out a whistle, and Ry shook his head. “You always had a way with numbers,” Ry said.
“Yes, with Grandpa being a math teacher and all. But I really enjoy the work.” She did. That was one thing her father couldn’t take away from her no matter how much he tried.
“And the clients you have?” Jed asked.
“Mainly people I keep books for as a CPA. When I was working for my...” She bit her lip. She really didn’t want to bring her father’s name up.
“Go on,” Ry urged.
“When I was working for my father, I worked in the accounting department. Kind of boring.”
“Nothing you do is boring,” Jed said.
“Now that we have that out of the way, we need to talk about the past,” Ry said. The two men scooted closer to her. “Did we scare you away when you were eighteen?” Ry asked, his voice low and husky.
Katie shook her head. She wasn’t ready to talk about this yet. But...Ry began rubbing the nape of her neck as Jed rubbed her back. Her fears started to lessen.
“We need to understand why you ran, Katie,” Jed said.
“Can’t it be enough that I’m back?” She closed her eyes against the conflicting sensations of the soothing movements of their hands against her neck and back, and her stomach churning with fear she didn’t want to acknowledge.
“It won’t work if we don’t talk about why you left,” Ry said.
“It’s been working just fine. Why aren’t we in the dungeon?” She’d rather be there with them than having this discussion.
“Because we need to talk,” Ry said.
“Isn’t that a woman’s line?” She wanted to pull away from them, but she didn’t. Their touch was soothing.
Jed laughed. “It might be, but Ry is right.”
Work-rough hands cupped her chin, lifting it. When had she ducked her head down? She did want to hide, but they weren’t going to let her.
“Nothing you can say will change anything between us, Katie.” Ry feathered his fingers from her temple to her neck.
“Except if you ask us to leave you alone. But based on what has happened already, you want us,” Jed said.
“Yes, I want you both.” That wasn’t hard to admit, because she did want them both. Unnatural. The word filtered through her brain and tension seeped back into her bones.
“What happened, Kitty Kat?” Jed whispered in her ear.
She shook her head and bolted off the sofa, away from their touch. “I can’t.” Katie wrapped her arms around herself. Why couldn’t she tell them? They needed to know why she left and why she came back.
Maybe because she blamed herself for her own stupidity in listening to people who wanted nothing more than to use her. Even after she had all the evidence in hand she still wanted to believe in her father, but as the cliché goes, there is one straw that broke the camel’s back. That straw came in a form she was still having issues comprehending.
“The night of my eighteenth birthday was magical.” The words spilled from her lips without conscious thought. “You two made sure of it.” She paced the floor, trying to contain her nervousness. “We made love that night, the three of us. Oh, maybe not the way you wanted to.” Her lips flitted upward. “But it was still us three.”
A shiver went up her spine as she remembered that night. From the time she was fourteen, she’d had a crush on Ry and Jed. She was crazy to think about being with the two of them, but there was something so magical about being with them. At seventeen, they’d taken to hanging around with her when they had time. They weren’t really dating, but they did take her out sometimes.
Then her eighteenth birthday had arrived.
They’d shown up at her party, looking delicious. She’d flirted with them and then when her party was over, they snuck into her bedroom. She’d known then she wanted these two. Gran always told her to follow her heart, and her heart had led her to Ry and Jed.
Jed had held her close as Ry took her virginity, and then Ry caressed her as Jed made love to her. They’d been more than gentle with her, and to this day, she still shivered with pleasure.
“The next day you were gone,” Ry said, his tone rough.
“Yes.” Katie sighed. “I’m not proud of what I did.” Hell, she should have faced them and told them the truth. Instead she had run. She wasn’t exactly proud of herself. She’d let fear of the unknown send her scrambling off with her father.
“Why did you leave?” Jed asked, his voice quiet, almost serene.
“I’d heard the rumors about you two.” She shook her head to displace her father’s voice in her head. “Every woman’s fantasy to be taken by two men, but then I was also frightened.”
“Of us?” They asked together.
“No. Of myself.” She stopped her pacing and faced them. Hopefully they would understand. “I was eighteen, just had fantastic sex, and then my father showed up with promises of a life with him in New York I’d only dreamed of.”
Her hands went out as Ry and Jed moved to stand up. She needed them to stay seated and not touch her, or she’d never get this out. “I let my father convince me that I could have a better life in New York at his side. And somehow he knew about you two.” And the words he used scared her at that time. Now she knew it was just a way to control her.
“What did he say?” Ry’s fingers curled into fists.
“That it was unnatural, and that was no way to live.” Tears blurred her vision. “Your parents being so close, and how they shared one woman. It wasn’t normal. It wasn’t how men and women were supposed to be.” Now she could see what her father had been doing. She lost eight years because she was too young to understand. “I was so damned confused. I wanted to stay, and I wanted to go. And...” She took a shaky breath.
“And what?” Jed asked in a quiet voice.
“Peggy Morris.” Her voice trembled. Just saying the woman’s name made her stomach clench with dread. “Randall brought her to talk to me.”
Both men swore, and in a way, Katie agreed. Peggy had dated both Ry and Jed. She’d played them off one another, and when they had caught on and dumped her, Peggy had become quite a bitch.
“She made you afraid,” Ry said as he rose and paced to the kitchen and back.
“Yes.” Katie raised her head. “Not of the two of you, but of how I felt.” She took a step closer to Ry before he paced to the kitchen once again. “I was confused, I wanted to be with you both. Wanted both of you as lovers, and she made it sound unnatural. And painful.” And her father hadn’t helped, either.
“I don’t get it.” Ry raked his hand through his hair. “We would never hurt you.”
“Ry.” Katie placed her palm on his arm. “She made it sound like being with the two of you would be all whips and chains. That I’d never have a life. I would be a slave to the two of you. I would have no voice and would have to obey the two of you no matter what. She made it sound like Ry’s mother was a slave to your fathers.”
“Fuck, no.” Ry curled his arms around Katie, pulling her to him.
“Never.” Jed stood and hugged her from
the back.
This time she sank into their embrace, enjoying the warmth and security. She’s gotten the words out. Now she needed them.
“My mom was a strong woman.” Ry’s breath brushed her cheek.
“She took care of Ry and me. Lord, she was the only mother I remember,” Jed said.
“I know.” Katie put her hands on Jed’s where they rested against her stomach.
“And what did your father say?” Jed asked.
“He convinced me that Peggy was right. While I was still trying to sort things out, he had me packed up and on the road within an hour.” She closed her eyes against the pain. “He barely let me say goodbye to Gran.”
“Why didn’t you come talk to us?” Jed rubbed his cheek against hers.
“How could I?” Her gaze captured Ry’s. “My father was making things sound so reasonable.” The knots in her stomach returned. “And I was afraid he might be right.”
Katie tightened her arms around Ry’s waist when he would have pulled away from their embrace. The hurt in his eyes was like a dagger to her heart.
“Ry, I was eighteen. All I knew was from what little I had found to read, what Peggy and my father told me. None of it was pretty.” She took a deep breath. “I’d only met your mom a few times. She was always doing something around the house or running to do something for one of your fathers. It all sounded so reasonable.”
Ry let out a breath before relaxing back into her embrace. “I know, baby.”
“So I went to New York.”
“Will you tell us about New York?” Jed asked.
She nodded, her heart lighter than it had been in a long time.
“If we’re going to do this, let’s get comfortable.” Ry slipped from her embrace, he maneuvered an extra large love seat into position, and made some adjustments, before Jed led her over.
“Why not the sofa?” she asked.
“We can be more comfortable with the reclining love seat,” Ry said.
Jed guided her to the middle, and then they each took a position on either side of her. “Lean back and relax,” Ry said.
Taking a deep breath, Katie did. The seat reclined, the three of them half lying down. Both men had their arms around her shoulders, and she snuggled up against them.
“There, that’s better,” Jed said. “Tell us what happened after you got to New York.”
“Well, at first everything was fine. I was living with my father in Manhattan but wanted to get out on my own. In order to do that, I needed a job.”
For the next hour she told Ry and Jed about her first few years in New York and how her father hadn’t wanted her to work. She went to work for another company, and started working her way up the ladder and going to college.
Her father had been furious when he found out about the job, but there hadn’t been much he could do about it. She then moved out into her own place. Yes, it had been small, but she didn’t have to answer to anyone. After getting her degree in accounting, the company she worked for promoted her, and she started learning about forensic accounting.
When the economy took a nose dive, the company she had worked for was bought out by a bigger company—her father’s. So she ended up working for her father anyway, but at least no one knew the truth.
“It wasn’t until a year ago I realized my father had been making some shady deals.”
Both men stiffened. “Did you confront him?”
“No.” Katie shifted, enjoying the warm cocoon the two men provided her. She was safe here. “My father would have denied it anyway. But there was more to it than that.”
Was she ready to go there? Yes, she had to. Ry and Jed needed to understand why she came back. It was more than her father’s broken promises. A lot had to do with her learning about BDSM in New York. She let out a yawn. She wanted nothing more than to take a nap.
“Will you tell us?” Jed asked.
“Yes,” she whispered, her lashes drifting shut. “But not tonight.” She wiggled around again, and let herself drift off. Lord, she was tired.
Jed glanced down at Katie and smiled. Her eyes were closed and her breathing deep. Satisfaction at her trust curled around his heart. “She’s asleep,” Jed whispered.
“Yes. She likes to fall asleep on us.” Ry tightened his arm around her. “What do you think about what she said?”
Jed ran his free hand over his face. “Makes sense, but I also feel as if there’s something more.”
“Me, too.” Ry brushed a kiss against Katie’s temple. “And it has to do with her father.”
“Yep. Randall was always an asshole.”
“True. But Katie trusted him, and he broke that trust.”
Jed let out a breath. “Do you think she’ll tell us the full story?”
“Eventually. Right now, let her rest.”
Both men closed their eyes. This was the best place to be right now. Katie was in their arms and their lives.
Chapter Six
Three days later, Katie strode into the barn to find Jed. He’d called earlier and had asked her to come over. She gnawed at her lower lip as she sauntered toward the office in back. She stopped to pet several of the horses.
The last couple of days had been trying. The calls from her ex and her father hadn’t let up. The other day she had told her father, again, she wasn’t coming back to New York and to stop calling. She should just probably change her cell number, but it wasn’t like her father wouldn’t find it.
At least things between her, Ry, and Jed had improved. She’d worried they’d be angry at her explanation of why she left for New York, but both reassured her that while at the time they were upset, now they understood. While they hadn’t played, they had cuddled and spent time together. They were slowly building not only their relationship but also their trust in each other.
She let out a sigh and raised her hand to knock on the partially open door. Jed swore and then muttered a few words, causing a grin spread over her face.
“Are you having issues in here?” she asked, pushing the door open and stepping into the office.
“Thank God, you’re here.” Jed stood up and moved out from behind the desk. “Come figure this out for me.” He gestured to the computer, his face tight with tension.
“What are you having problems with?” She shook her head. Jed wasn’t one to get upset easily. She maneuvered around him and behind the desk.
“Hell if I know. I’ve been working on this for the past two days, and I’m still stuck.”
Katie sat down and stared at his computer screen. She scrolled up and down and let out a sigh. What a disaster. “What exactly are you trying to do?”
“I’m trying to pay the vet, find out when I last paid for hay and how much. Plus find out who owes me money, who do I owe money to, and what’s left.”
Katie nodded, grabbed a pencil and some paper, jotted down some notes, and looked back at the screen. This would take some time. She glanced up at Jed. “Go play with your horses and come back in two hours.”
“Ordering me around, are you?”
Katie grinned at him then made a shooing motion with her hand. Jed laughed and strode out of the office, closing the door behind him.
Katie focused on the computer screen. Maybe she could make some sense out of the mess Jed had made. An accountant he wasn’t.
Several hours later, Katie stood and stretched. Luckily, she had a flash drive in her purse. She copied his files over. She’d download it to her computer with his permission and straighten out this jumble for him.
She’d done most of it on paper already, but there was still more to do. She sauntered over to the office door and opened it. Jed stood at the end of the barn, quietly talking to one of the horses. His soft tone melted Katie’s heart. He’s so good with the animals. Quietly, she walked toward them. She stopped outside the stall as Jed hung up the horse’s halter. The horse’s ears perked up and he turned his head faced her.
“I’m almost done,” Jed said as he turned toward he
r. “Why don’t you come in and say hi to Coulter.” He held out his hand to her.
She placed her hand into his and let him draw her closer to the stall. The fresh scent of hay tickled her nose.
“This is Coulter,” Jed said as she slid closer to them.
“He’s beautiful.”
Jed took care of the ranch and the animals as he’d always loved horses. Ry had become the sheriff after his father died. But if a neighbor or anyone in town called for help, they would be there. Day or night.
And each man was a Dominant. She had noticed Jed deferring to Ry most of the time, but Ry almost always asked Jed’s opinion. The two were close. She guessed it came from growing up together.
Jed’s mom had died when Jed was six. His father had been grief stricken, so Ry’s mom had stepped in helping taking care of Jed. It surprised no one in town as the two couples had been long time friends and neighbors. When Jed had turned fifteen, Jed’s dad and Ry’s dad merged their two properties and built one big house.
She wondered how growing up the way they did had affected the two men. She remembered what Gran had said about knowing about their parents. Wait a second? Did her Gran mean that Ry’s parents and Jed’s dad were in a relationship together? Why hadn’t she seen that before now? Not that it mattered in her mind.
“So did you figure out my mistakes?” Jed asked.
“Not completely.” She stroked Coulter’s brown nose. He was a beautiful horse, brown with big white patches all over his body. “I wrote down what you needed to know and copied your files over on to a flash drive. I’ll upload onto my computer and fix everything, if that is okay.”
“More than okay. Thank you.” Jed shifted behind her, his chest against her back, his arms coming around her body as she stroked the horse. “I want to hire you to do the books.”
She tilted her head back to look at him. “You don’t need to do that.”
“Yes, I do.” He dropped a kiss on her nose. “I hate accounting and anything to do with it.”
“How did you survive this long without an accountant?”
“I didn’t. John Knowles used to do them, but he retired two months ago. I figured I could keep it up, but as you can see, it didn’t work out.”