Two Doms for Vicki [Pleasure, Montana 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Melody Snow Monroe

  She closed her eyes to relive the whole wonderful evening—well, at least the part before she lost control. She told herself she’d stopped because she’d climaxed and had disappointed the men, but after thinking about it all night, she was just plain scared. Scared she wouldn’t be able to be their perfect submissive. She liked the kind of pain they administered, but they were so much more experienced than she was. They deserved a better woman, one who would challenge them to test her limits.

  The bathroom door opened and Clint waltzed out naked. Her mouth watered. He was almost too manly. He had muscles upon muscles with not an ounce of fat anywhere, so why would someone like him want to be with a pudgy, short girl like her?

  “Hey, beautiful.”

  He was just saying that to make her feel better. “Hi.” She didn’t even know what to say to him. I’m sorry I freaked?

  They’d talked a little last night, but she hadn’t been in a good place and hadn’t opened up. He looked into his closet and grabbed his uniform. After he donned a pair of briefs, she pushed up on her elbows to watch him dress. Every movement was smooth and seductive.

  Sanford knocked. “Bathroom free?” He glanced between the two of them.

  She’d showered last night. All she needed to do was wash her face and brush her teeth, but that could wait until after she had a cup of coffee. “I’m good.”

  As long as Sanford was busy in the bathroom, she got up and dressed. It was Saturday, and they expected quite a good turnout today. Not only because it was a weekend, but because the curious would want to check out the destruction. Her to-do list included purchasing a new computer, changing the passwords, ordering new posters, and replacing whatever else was destroyed.

  She’d spoken with several people about the real purpose behind the break-in. So far, theories abounded, none of which rang true. Tom thought it was to discourage Sanford from running, while Justin believed it might have been to learn the names of the donors. Clint was convinced it was a signal to big business that Pleasure didn’t want to get any bigger. Aargh. Nothing made sense.

  “Let’s get some breakfast, darlin’.”

  She didn’t know if he meant they’d go downstairs to eat or if he’d fix something here. Either way was good for her. “Okay.” She followed him into the kitchen. “What are your plans for finding the criminals who broke in?”

  “I’m hoping Justin has a better handle on who might be guilty than I do. He’s the sheriff, so I’ll let him take the lead.”

  “He would know the likely suspects.” She prayed Megan wasn’t involved. “You don’t think Doug Webb hired those two to break in, do you?”

  He cocked a brow. “Why would he? If he’s trying to win you back, he’s going about it all wrong.”

  “True, but maybe he thinks if he gets Sanford out of the way, I’ll go back to him.”

  He grabbed three bowls from the cupboard. “Are you still interested in him?” While his tone sounded even, she detected a hint of fear underneath. She was pleased he cared so much.

  “Absolutely not. He might be a nice guy, but he’s a little off his rocker. I don’t know what I saw in him in the first place.”

  Clint set down the bowls and stepped over to her. He gave her the best bear hug then kissed the top of her head. “You missed us so much, darlin’, that you wanted companionship of any kind to fill the Grand Canyon-sized void.”

  She raised her face to him. “You are a wise man.”

  He grinned. “Not always.” He returned to the cabinet and withdrew more cereal boxes, neither of which appealed to her.

  She had her own theory about the break-in. “The way I see it, the owners of Hamrick’s have the most to lose if the hydroelectric plant gets voted in.”

  A pot of hot water sat on the stove that Sanford must have heated. Clint poured instant coffee into three cups and added the water. She’d definitely be making a trip to Knight’s Delights soon.

  He faced her. “Here’s the problem with that theory. The plant would have to be voted in. If Sanford is elected, he alone can’t say, come on in and build.”

  “Yes, but he can persuade a lot of people.”

  “That’s why I hate politics. It’s too much back-patting and back-stabbing.”

  The bedroom door opened. “Who’s back-stabbing?”

  “Nothing. Coffee?” Clint held up a cup.

  “No thanks. Evelyn’s coffee is much better.”

  Clint shook his head. “Evelyn’s coffee was much better. The machine was destroyed.”

  “Fuck. What’s up with that?”

  Poor Sanford. “First thing, I plan on doing is taking an inventory of what needs to be replaced.” She had a good idea, but she didn’t have time last night to do a thorough job.

  “You shouldn’t have to do that. We can send Ms. Bailey or Evelyn to shop.”

  “I need to get a computer, remember?”

  “That’s right.”

  He grabbed his coat. “I’m going to open up. I’m trusting Jill will keep Earl at home for a few more days.”

  “I hope so. I forgot he has the spare key.” She pushed back her chair. “I’ll walk down with you.” Thank goodness the buildings were next to each other.

  “Thanks, guys. Leave me here.” Clint lifted two cups.

  Sanford smiled. “Dump ’em.”

  * * * *

  Clint rushed into work, still in a fog. He’d fallen asleep last night only because Vicki had let him hold her. Having her pressed against his chest helped soothe the ache in his heart. Sanford was right. They’d been insensitive Doms, the worst thing they could be. No matter how long it took, he’d make it up to her. If nothing else he wanted her to realize that she was a beautiful woman inside and out and that in truth it was the submissive who really wielded the control.

  Justin rapped on the glass window separating his office from the rest of the station. He motioned for Clint to come in.

  He jumped up and strode into his boss’s office. “Find something?” Both of them had been hard at work trying to identify who’d broken into campaign headquarters.

  “Have a seat.” He pushed a piece of paper toward him. “I’ve been calling around and taking some calls. Here are the top five candidates who might be responsible.”

  Clint studied them. Justin had listed their name, occupation, and possible reason for the robbery.

  “The thieves might have been kids. These aren’t kids.”

  “I know, but these men wouldn’t be caught doing the job themselves. I’m sure most have airtight alibis, but they’re the type to hire someone.”

  “Who hires kids? Kids talk. Maybe they’re just short men.”

  “Earl called this morning. He said he had a lot of time to think lying in the hospital bed. One of the two vandals spoke with a voice that lacked testosterone.”

  “A girl perhaps?”

  Justin shook his head. “I don’t see that scenario, but I’ve been wrong before.”

  He studied the paper and noted Megan Edgars was not on the list, nor were any of the men on the commission. “What would you like me to do?”

  “Ask around. Do a little digging. I sent the names over to my cousin, Gavin Kirkwood. He and his team are outstanding with Internet searches. If there is dirt on any of these people, he’ll find it.”

  “Can they search bank records and such?”

  “Not without a subpoena. That’s where you come in. Talk with neighbors and see if they can shed some light on whether any of these people have been mentioning how terrible expansion would be. Maybe they’ve had relatives who’ve lost jobs to the big stores.”

  He leaned back. In the four years since he and Sanford had been gone, the population of Pleasure had more than doubled. Maybe it had more of an effect than either of them realized. He pushed back his chair then halted. “Maybe some of these people own a lot of shares of Hamrick Coal and don’t want the competition.”

  “You have a point.”

  “I trust you’re looking into the identi
ty of fingerprints on the doorjamb?” Justin had said he’d recovered a few that didn’t seem to belong to anyone who worked in the office.

  “Yes, but I don’t think we’ll find a match. If the perpetrators were kids, they wouldn’t be in the system.”

  Clint went back to his desk to do a little searching on his own, but ultimately he’d have to go door-to-door. Putting people in the position to rat out someone who was suffering didn’t sit well with him, but he wanted to get to the bottom of this.

  Then he remembered what Earl had said about punching the guy in the jaw, and Clint got an idea. It was Saturday, so he’d need to wait until Monday for school to be in session before asking if any kid had a bruised face. In the next forty-eight hours, that bruise would be a nice shade of purple. No way the kid could hide.

  * * * *

  A few minutes after Vicki and Sanford arrived at headquarters, the cleaning crew showed up. They said Justin had sent them. Had they waited a few more minutes, she would have added a broom to the list of items to buy.

  “Angel, I’m going to call Brody Thomas to see if he can send someone out to measure the door, which looks pretty standard. I’m hoping he has a replacement in stock.”

  “Great. I’ll make a list of everything that was broken, defaced, or stolen.”

  He smiled. “I like it when we work as a team.”

  She studied his face but found no deception. “Me, too.”

  Ms. Bailey came in a few minutes later, and Vicki swore the woman was going to have a stroke. Even though she’d been at the party last night, she never caught wind of the break-in.

  “When did this happen?”

  Vicki squeezed Sanford’s arm. “You tell her. I have to go.”

  He narrowed his eyes then winked. She hurried out. Her first stop was to Knight’s Delights. There was no way she could handle her day without a good cup of coffee. That would be like running around town in a bathing suit in winter. It just wasn’t done.

  Bella wasn’t at the shop for which she was pleased. After the big affair at the Knights’ ranch coupled with all the running around she did, Bella needed to rest. After lunch, Vicki would give her a call to make certain the cleaning crew had done their job.

  If she’d known being manager entailed all this stress and upheaval, she might have said no to Sanford.

  No, you wouldn’t have.

  She ordered an extra-large coffee and two scones. That wasn’t exactly a nutritious breakfast, but it would have to do. Her next stop was Brooke’s computer store to buy another laptop. Vicki had driven the short distance because she’d be dashing around town for quite a while replacing things.

  She slid into her car, careful not to spill the hot coffee, and placed it in the cup holder. She ate one scone, as she was starving. Sex really worked up an appetite.

  Vicki drove a few blocks and parked in the public parking lot on First Avenue across the street from Brooke’s store. With coffee in hand, she hustled inside. To her delight, no customers were there. Brooke looked up and smiled.

  “Hey.”

  Vicki headed over to the checkout counter. “Did you hear about the break-in?” She waved her cup. “Dumb question. I forgot how connected you are.”

  Brooke laughed. “Both Riley and Gavin are working the case. What’s up?”

  “I need another computer.”

  Her mouth opened. “They stole yours?”

  “Yes.”

  “That sucks. You did back everything up, right?”

  She nodded. Vicki followed Brooke over to the laptop section. Before anyone came in, Vicki needed to talk with her.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  She probably thought she wanted some technical advice. “It’s about your lifestyle.”

  Brooke faced her. “Anything.” Her cheer disappeared and she placed a hand on her arm. “Were they too rough? Or was it too scary?”

  What a relief that Brooke seemed to understand. “No and yes.” She tried to explain the best she could.

  Brooke pushed her glasses up her nose and leaned back against the display case. “Seems like you need a little distance to decide what you want. Do you trust them?”

  “Completely.”

  “Then weren’t you honest with them about what made you uncomfortable?”

  Oh, crap. She dipped her head. “I only fudged a little.”

  “Oh, sweetie. You can’t do that. You want them to read you and understand your needs, but you didn’t make it fair for them.”

  Was that true? “So what do I do? I really don’t think I’m what they want.”

  Brooke ran a hand down her arm. “What do they want?”

  “Someone’s who adventuresome, sexy, curvy, and doesn’t have a belly and is really pretty.”

  Brooke grabbed her shoulders. “Are you kidding? You don’t think running a campaign isn’t adventuresome? As for sexy and curvy, look at me. I have frizzy hair I can’t control, I wear glasses, and I’m only two inches taller than you and weigh twenty more pounds.” She patted her belly. “Yet I can guarantee you my men, who are as hot as yours, love me more than I deserve.”

  It was true Brooke was no size ten. She slumped against the counter. What have I done?

  Maybe she had been hasty in her retreat. Was it possible these were just excuses to push them away? They said they loved her. Maybe it was time to start believing she might be loveable.

  Chapter Twenty

  The rest of the week was challenging in part because the new copier didn’t arrive until Thursday. By Friday, after running around to too many stores, Vicki finally managed to replace everything. To someone who’d come in the first day and then again today, the place would look the same. Adding to the good news, Earl was finally back at work after almost a week of recovering. His arm was stiff, and there was some discoloration around his eye, but all in all, he looked good.

  Vicki was reaching for a cookie that Evelyn had made when Ms. Bailey stepped from behind her cubicle. “Vicki?” She held out her cell. “I think you should take this call.” Her jowls sagged and hand shook.

  “Sure.” She trotted to the back and took the proffered phone. “Hello?”

  “I want to know what kind of sleazy campaign you’re running over there.”

  What? “Who is this?” Besides an irate woman who was tossing out false accusations.

  “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you people need to stop defaming our good mayor, Mrs. Edgars.”

  Defaming? “Excuse me, but I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  “Those e-mails you all sent. If you think people are going to listen to that rubbish, you have another thing coming.” Then she hung up.

  Dumbfounded she handed the phone back to Ms. Bailey.

  “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, excuse me.” She rushed back to the office and tried to figure out what the woman was talking about. E-mails? Rubbish?

  No. No. It couldn’t be. Mr. Sayles had mentioned that someone might have taken her computer so that he could send e-mails from it. Was that what was happening? This would be worse than the break-in if this didn’t stop.

  Sanford was out campaigning. Would he have heard anything about this? Not wanting to disturb him, she called Megan directly. Vicki wouldn’t have been surprised if the mayor didn’t answer. Her cell went to voicemail. Damn.

  “At the beep, leave a message.”

  “Megan, it’s Vicki Hollister. I swear we did not send those messages. They must have come from our stolen computer. Please call me so we can clear this up.”

  Megan worked part-time at another job and might have been truly tied up. Vicki slumped back in her chair, trying to decide what to do.

  “Knock, knock.”

  She looked up. It was Clint. The strain between them had only gotten worse over the last few days. She’d wanted to apologize for her behavior but never found the right moment. “Hey.”

  “Got a minute?”


  “Yes. In fact I’m glad you’re here.”

  He pulled up a chair and sat next to her. “Oh, yeah?” His grin turned her body to mush. Maybe he wanted to end this walking on eggshells thing, too.

  “We have a problem, or rather Sanford has a problem.” She told him what the lady said and that she’d called Megan to explain.

  He dragged a hand down his chin. “I thought this bad karma would stop with the break-in.”

  “Maybe when the person saw we got back to work so quickly, he needed to do something else.”

  He shook his head. “I’m worried.”

  “So am I.” She nodded to the piece of paper in his hand. “What do you have?”

  He set the paper in front of her. It was a big grid with five names in the left-hand column and comments in the other three. “We’ve narrowed it down to these five possible suspects.”

  She was glad Doug’s name wasn’t on the list. “So the kid with the bruised jaw you identified as the thief isn’t talking?”

  “No. His father has him lawyered up. The dad swears he didn’t know anything about it, and that his son was with him last Friday night.”

  Parents always protected their children. “What’s the young man’s name?”

  He turned the paper over. “Can’t keep any names in my head. It’s Scott Newlander.”

  She scratched the name down. “What can I do?”

  “Look at this list to see if you can add anything.”

  She scanned the paper. “I remember Mr. Sellers. He used to run a dry-cleaning store a few years ago that went bankrupt, but why put him on the list?”

  “According to Justin, he’s been slinging mud at Sanford. Says he’s just a coward who left the service, and that he came back to screw with the good people of Pleasure.”

  So he was crazy. “I’m not seeing it. His wife died two years ago, and ever since he’s been a pain. I actually feel sorry for him. He lashes out at people for attention.”

  “You’re a softy.” Clint leaned back. “Anyone else look good?”