by Ann Jacobs
Though Bye hadn’t known that for sure, he wasn’t surprised at Jack’s revelation. “All my Caden ancestors have left the Bar C lock, stock and barrel to their oldest sons. It’s sort of as though the place were a medieval fiefdom subject to entail. Of course, none of my ancestors that I know of had more than one son. If they had, maybe the ranch would have been split among them all.” He laughed, even though the idea seemed hopelessly out of date in these times when most folks were being careful of women’s rights and mindful of giving to each kid equally.
Jack took a long swig of beer. “Then why did you ask me to find out if you already knew?”
“I may have guessed what that will would say, but I didn’t know. You can never be too sure of anything when you’re dealing with Four.” Bye shrugged then lifted his mug and finished off the beer.
“I guess not. Sometimes when you talk about your relationship with your father, I think I’m better off for having been brought up by a single mom. Not that I’d turn down the promise of inheriting a spread like the Bar C and everything that goes with it.”
“You could always marry Deidre.” It was no secret that Bye’s little sister had her sights set on Jack.
“Not likely. I know you like to play at the Neon Lasso, but for me it’s a 24/7 lifestyle. Deidre’s practically an innocent and I’d scare her to death with what I need from my woman. Besides, your sister is too used to crooking her little finger and getting anything or anybody she fancies that she wants. I doubt she could be persuaded to become my 24/7 slave. I also doubt I could afford to keep her in the style to which she’s accustomed.” The corners of Jack’s mouth turned up in a wry grin. “Not to mention she has relatives who could get me disbarred, probably even run clear out of Texas if they took a notion.”
Bye laughed. “You’ve got a point there.”
“Speaking of crazy fathers who like to play with guns, I hear you played with my office mate last night.” Jack shot a knowing grin Bye’s way.
“Where’d you hear that?”
“At the club. I got there not long after you left. It seems you and Karen put on quite an exhibition. That’s a big turn-on for her, you know.”
“What do you mean?” Bye wasn’t particularly comfortable discussing Karen with her office mate. He also didn’t like hearing they’d been talked about at the club after he’d left, but he guessed that wasn’t a violation of the rules, strictly speaking, since Jack was also a member.
Jack leaned toward him and lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “She likes being watched. Or watching. Funny, she didn’t stay and play voyeur last night after she played with you. Buck commented about that because that’s usually the way she gets off. Want to set up a threesome one of these days?”
“Do you play with her too?” Bye tried to fight down the green envy monster that threatened to claim him. Exclusivity wouldn’t do at the exclusive BDSM club that provided pretty much the only venue for sex play within a couple hundred miles. All the uncommitted members were expected to share more or less freely.
“Not yet. I’ve never gotten lucky. You do ménages, don’t you?”
Bye nodded. “Sometimes.” Once, at an upscale dungeon in Dallas, if he wanted to be totally honest.
“Then let’s set one up sometime soon.” That came out like a distinct challenge.
“Good with me.” Bye didn’t need to ask who’d be the Dom in charge. He’d seen Jack in action a couple times, including once where he and the other guy had played with each other as well as the female sub. “I’m game as long as we both pleasure her. To each his own, but I’m only attracted to women.”
“Fine with me. I’d rather play with her than you, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, that’s how I feel too.” Relieved, Bye felt his tension drain away. “Want another beer?”
“I’d like one, but I’d better get back to work. I’ve got court in the morning, and I have a couple motions to finish before I go home.” Jack stood and dropped a ten on the table. “I got the tab today.”
Bye watched Jack down his beer and set the bottle back on the table. “Thanks. See you next Saturday.” He needed to get home anyhow, because he was supposed to fly his mom to Houston in the morning for some medical tests.
* * * * *
At noon the following day, Bye found himself sitting in the copilot’s seat of the Bar C’s six-seater Bombardier, ten thousand feet over central Texas. Mike Elliot, a crusty ex-military pilot who oversaw all three of the ranch’s planes, had just switched the plane onto autopilot and started to eat the sandwich he’d bought at Houston’s Hobby Airport while Bye had handed his mom off to her sister. Aunt Cathy was going to take her to the hospital for her tests and stay with her for the day.
“Nice day for flying.” Mike glanced at the instrument panel then turned to Bye. “I was surprised the boss didn’t come along.”
“He said he had business to take care of in Lubbock.” Bye didn’t feel much like making excuses for Four, because he’d seen how disappointed his mom had been when she’d realized his dad wasn’t coming with her. “Want me to take the controls?”
“Sure. No reason you shouldn’t log a few more hours in the jet—not that the boss is likely to let you use it for a weekend jaunt any time soon.” Mike laughed out loud. “You fly this baby as well as I do. Don’t let him make you feel bad.”
Bye disengaged the autopilot and took over flying the plane. “Thanks. I feel more comfortable with one of the Cessnas, anyhow, when I have to go get parts for the windmills or talk to the energy regulators in Austin. This is one hell of a plane—way more than the ranch needs if you want the truth.”
“I think the boss wanted it because it’s bigger and fancier than the Wolfes’ Gulfstream. Anyhow, go ahead and get some practice flying it. You may have to, someday, if I’m on vacation or tied up in the hangar. The boss won’t let anybody take it up without a copilot.”
Bye sighed. He’d enjoyed flying, ever since Mike had taught him how in an old single-engine crop duster when he’d been about ten years old. He hadn’t particularly appreciated being sent to get an upgraded license so he could qualify to fly this jet. To him it seemed more like a commercial airliner than the fun, easily maneuverable toy where he’d first earned his wings. Besides, he wasn’t especially anxious to spend time locked up in the air with his hypercritical father, where he’d have no means of escape. “I guess we’ll be going back down to Houston to pick up Mom, later on this week.”
“Not likely. The boss said her tests are gonna take at least a week, maybe longer if they decide she needs surgery. Your mom’s a sweet lady. I’m worried about her.”
So was Bye, more now than he’d been before he’d looked at her standing next to Aunt Cathy. She’d seemed unreasonably tired after the short flight, and he thought she’d looked terribly pale and thin compared with her younger sister. “Me too. I don’t think Mom has been feeling well for quite a while, but Doc Baines hasn’t been able to put a finger on what may be wrong with her.”
“Well, I hope it’s not real serious. Ms. Mae’s the one who keeps the Bar C runnin’ smooth.”
“Yeah.” While Four ruled the place with an iron hand, Bye’s mom smoothed over the resentment the old man regularly caused among the ranch employees. She spoke softly, but nobody doubted her genuine love for all the people who kept the Bar C running smoothly. The old man treated all of them, his own kids included, with about the same degree of concern he showed for his prize bull and award-winning quarter horses. Bye didn’t like dwelling on the nagging fear that he might lose his mother, so he cleared his throat and deliberately changed the subject. “It’s a nice day for flying. Hardly any wind at all.”
“A good thing. This plane’s a bitch to land at the Bar C airstrip when the wind’s a-blowin’.”
“You gonna let me land her?” Bye was used to hearing Mike gripe about the airstrip that had been reinforced and lengthened barely enough to meet the minimum recommended standards for the Learjet Bombardier 7
5, before two sales representatives from Houston had delivered Four’s new toy to the ranch a few months ago. “I know how you worry about scratching her up.”
Mike laughed. “You can set her down when we get there. Don’t mind me. I’m glad the boss bought this, because it gave Ms. Mae a lot more comfortable a ride than the Cessna would have—not to mention a quicker one.”
“Yeah.” His mom had dozed fitfully almost all the way to Houston, and she couldn’t have lain back with her feet up in the cramped cabin of the smaller plane. Not to mention that if they’d used the Cessna, she’d still be bouncing around in the air instead of checking in at a VIP suite in the world-renowned Houston hospital. Bye wished he didn’t have a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought about how shaky and worn she’d looked when he’d helped her down the plane’s metal steps and across the tarmac to Aunt Cathy’s SUV.
As they approached the landing strip at the Bar C, Bye banished his worries and concentrated on bringing the plane down smoothly. A few minutes later he got in his car and drove back to the ranch house, deliberately noticing some of the small details along the ranch road that set the ranch apart from other nearby spreads—a feathery-looking windbreak of Afghanistan pines his mom had planted the year he was born, bright grass rippling in a pasture where quarter horses grazed among brilliantly colored wildflowers that dotted the scene. In the yard surrounding the main house, Bye noticed the riot of colors in rock-edged flower beds where Mom must have planted at least a hundred kinds of native plants she’d collected over the years. Evidence of the beauty she brought to the sometimes harsh northwest Texas setting was everywhere.
He couldn’t imagine his home without her here. Like Mike, Bye realized his mom was the heart and soul of the Bar C even though Four was undeniably the face and muscle. As he stood on the porch he said a silent prayer that the doctors would be able to restore Mom’s health and that she’d soon be home again, taking care of everybody the way she always did.
He imagined someday he’d bring a woman home, and he wondered if she’d win over everybody’s love the way Mom obviously had.
Why was it when he thought about bringing a woman home to stay, he pictured Karen? If he ever brought her home it would cause havoc, maybe even bloodshed considering the well-known propensity of her male relatives to shoot first and ask question later.
Bye laughed out loud. This was no time to think about bringing a lover home to meet Mom. He wasn’t planning to settle down for a long time yet, and he intended to enjoy every minute of his freedom—including the ménage with her that he and Jack had planned.
Chapter Two
Raucous laughter rang out from the Neon Lasso’s public playroom. Someone had turned the volume up on Buck’s vintage-style Wurlitzer jukebox, and almost as though on cue, Faith Hill’s distinctive voice came on, belting out She’s a Wild One as Karen walked through the door.
Might as well admit it, Karen. You’re looking forward to playing with Bye.
Every nerve in her body was on fire. She glanced around the room, searching for the hooded Dom who’d called at the office and said he’d meet her here. She didn’t see him, but she saw her office partner Jack Duval motioning for her to join him at the bar. Never mind that every sub she’d heard talking about Jack had said he was deliciously scary—hardcore was the favorite description. He looked the part, all right, decked out in a black leather body harness with silver studs and buckles.
His high-and-tight buzz cut that looked so military-competent in court gave a totally different impression when paired with club attire instead of a business suit. The black stubble on top of his head contrasted with freshly shaved sides and back that looked as smooth as her pussy. It, and the large silver hoop he wore in his left ear, gave him a rough-edged look, like a biker dude or maybe a pirate.
Omigod! She’d never have believed it, but the lawyer she’d thought was buttoned-up Ivy League all the way had a wicked-looking dagger tattooed on his upper right arm. The reds, yellows and blues in the intricate design had faded enough to indicate he’d had the tat for a good long while.
Karen took a deep breath, reminding herself this was just Jack, the only other lawyer practicing in tiny Caden, Texas. And he was her friend.
His long, slender fingers wrapped around the Coke he sipped intermittently while he paid close attention to a Dom wielding a flogger over the back and ass of a naked male sub who was kneeling in front of him and sucking his cock. Karen couldn’t help wondering if Jack swung both ways. She didn’t think Bye did.
Where was he? Karen looked around again, more carefully this time. Bye wasn’t here. She looked toward the door, expecting him to walk through at any minute.
“Looking for your big, rich cowboy? You won’t find him down here.” Jack grinned, showing straight white teeth as he gave her the once-over. “He’s waiting for us in the private playroom upstairs.”
“Us?” A cold shiver of fear ran down Karen’s spine. Or was it excitement?
“Yeah, us. He thought you deserved a special treat after what you did with him the other night. We figured that two men pleasuring a woman is bound to beat one. Are you ready?” Jack’s voice seemed different from that of her matter-of-fact office mate. He sounded more intense, and the look in his dark eyes framed with a black half mask seemed to be mocking her, daring her to join him in what she imagined would be the most intense sexual experience of her life.
She wasn’t sure. She’d never gone to the private upstairs chamber where scenes could be played out yet seen down here on a screen that now was black. “Are we going to entertain everybody down here?”
“Not tonight, you hot little exhibitionist. We’re about to enjoy an old-fashioned ménage a trois, just you and me and the big, rich boy who won’t admit it but is scared shitless that I might want to fuck him as much as I want you.” Jack held out his hand. “No audience. Just a private sexfest for the three of us. My rules. Caden does a good Dom, but he’s a player. It’s not in his blood.”
“So what is in his blood?” Karen asked, curious as she saw Jack considering his friend with some compassion in his eyes, as well as the shrewdness she knew made him a good lawyer.
“He’d kill me for saying it, but I think Bye’s a traditionalist. He’s looking for love, family…all the things his mother has taught him are worth valuing. Those things matter to him. He’s just going to have to figure out how not to be the spoiled rich kid under the shadow of his hard-edged asshole of a father and become the man he wants to be. Not just a player in every aspect of his life.”
Karen shook her head. “How are we going to do this ménage? Who’s going to call the shots?”
“I’ll be in charge.” Jack made that crystal clear. “You’ll speak only when I give you permission, and come only on my command. I’ll lay odds you’ve never been fucked as thoroughly as we’re going to fuck you tonight. Are you game?”
Her pussy creamed at the idea of being pleasured by two hot Doms, even though Jack’s warnings should’ve sent her running for cover. “I’m game. Are you?” It disappointed her a little that they wouldn’t be projected on the big screen because it added to her pleasure, knowing others were watching and getting off. Karen understood that Bye probably wouldn’t want everyone in the Neon Lasso to see the three of them playing, particularly if he was going to leave off the concealing hood. Being with Bye and seeing his handsome face was enough of a prize to make up for knowing no one else would see them.
“Yeah, I’m game. Let’s go.” When Jack moved from the barstool to take her hand, she couldn’t help the trepidation she felt when she noticed his cock straining against a leather-and-metal Gates of Hell, a surprisingly large weapon jutting out from his slender, compact body. His crotch was shaved as smooth as the sides of his head, and he had another dagger tattooed directly above his cock, just like the one on his arm, only smaller. Jack in his Dom mode made her distinctly uncomfortable. She was glad Bye would be there to protect her.
She hadn’t see
n Bye Caden much since high school, and she’d only played with him the one time, but something inside her sensed he wouldn’t allow her to come to any harm.
* * * * *
This private dungeon was as well equipped for BDSM scenes as any Bye had seen in his visits to high-dollar clubs in Dallas and Houston, although it was painfully evident that Buck hadn’t put much effort into making what probably used to be an upstairs storeroom or hideout visually sensual. As Jack had suggested, he knelt, naked, in the middle of a steel bed that occupied the center of the room and took in the rough-hewn, unpainted walls and scuffed hardwood floorboards. The sleek bed with its chrome accessories looked out of place in the middle of a room that seemed on first glance more like an ill-equipped line shack than a first-class torture chamber.
Bye’s gaze swept the chains and pulleys and restraints attached to tall, sturdy-looking bedposts. Jack had laid out an array of toys and condoms on a rickety table, the only other piece of furniture in the room. A ball gag, a vibrating dildo and a hefty butt plug caught his eye before his gaze settled on a mean-looking flogger with steel tips on each of the leather tails. Ordinarily not big on playing with toys, Bye figured he might learn something new about pleasuring his partners, but he didn’t much like the idea of that flogger marring Karen’s soft, smooth skin.
He looked up at the video camera whose lens he’d covered with a heavy black drape. Apparently Buck had rigged the camera to be turned on remotely so customers downstairs could watch the upstairs action, but he and Jack had agreed earlier that they weren’t going to be the Neon Lasso’s featured entertainment tonight. A trio of floodlights beaming down on him from a fixed bracket on the far wall bathed him in hot, white light.
Because Jack had made it clear he was to wait on the bed, Bye crawled back in position there, noting that the scratchy sheet wasn’t anywhere near the quality he was used to feeling on his body. Hell, for the price of belonging to the club, one would think Buck could at least spring for better linens. A fine sheen of sweat dampened his skin and the floodlights made him feel slightly uncomfortable, a little vulnerable.