by Vivian Arend
“If you don’t mind teaching a beginner.” Ashley paused. It wasn’t her lack of domestic skills that might be a problem. “You want to check with Marion first?”
Jaxi tilted her head. “Why would I need to do that?”
Ashley shrugged. “I’m not sure Marion approves of me, that’s all. Don’t want to make things awkward coming around where I’m not wanted.”
“Pfft.” Jaxi blew a raspberry. “Marion’s okay with you. It’s probably the same thing as I had to work through—I wanted to know you were going to do right by Travis. It was pretty obvious the other night at Traders that things are working out. Marion’s got a mom-brain, and it’s gonna take longer to convince her you and Cassidy are good enough for her little boy.”
The idea of Travis as anyone’s little boy made Ashley smile reluctantly. “I suppose.”
“Trust me, I’m right.” Jaxi grinned. “Ask Travis, I’m always right…”
Ashley’s smile turned to laughter. “Fine. You’re right, and I would love to make cabbage rolls. Call me, and let me know where and when.”
She tweaked the twins’ noses to their great delight then pushed on around the corner, hoping to finish the rest of the shopping in time to make some final adjustments to one of her projects before the guys were done for the day.
Normal, everyday activities. Working, shopping. Spending time together.
The forward motion helped soothe the moments of sadness that still struck when she remembered her cousin. Remembered a life that was cut short. Made her all the more determined to seize every good moment she could.
The next row Ashley turned down, she discovered where her earlier nosy shopper had gone. A gaggle of women were all bunched together, their carts blocking the path as they whispered furiously. One of them tapped the others to get their attention, and silence fell as embarrassed faces and a few frowns turned her way.
Bolstered by Jaxi’s approval, Ashley didn’t give a shit what other people wanted to waste their time yattering about. Only when she rolled forward and saw exactly where the ladies had picked to have their discussion, she couldn’t resist.
“Excuse me, but I need to get at that shelf, please,” she asked politely. All four heads rotated to the side, eyes widening and lips tightening as the women discovered they had blocked Ashley’s path to the condoms.
One of the ladies proved she might not be a write-off as a hint of a smile appeared momentarily, the young woman separating herself from the others as she moved out of the way.
Ashley clicked her tongue disapprovingly as she reached for the shelf. “Really? A twenty-four pack is the largest box this store stocks? And none of them are ribbed. Damn.” She tossed three packages and a couple of tubes of lube into her cart before smiling sweetly at the most indignant woman of the lot. “At least they carry large sizes.”
She swore she heard sputtering behind her as she left.
Travis opened the main barn doors wide and waited for Cassidy to enter in front of him. Up ahead, Ashley twisted her hands together as she bounced in place.
He and Cassidy had been back in Rocky since mid-August, and now, nearly a month later, Travis couldn’t imagine being without the two of them. It was still two steps forward, one step back in some ways, but in terms of the things they were enjoying together?
He had no complaints.
“I thought artists kept their work secret until the grand reveal,” Cassidy teased, pacing slowly into the high-roofed building.
“Well, I’m not your typical artist, and I’m not done everything, but I couldn’t wait any longer.” Ashley rushed forward and grabbed each of them by a hand, pulling them farther into the area she’d claimed as a workspace. “Come on, I’ve been dying to show you.”
Travis exchanged smiles with Cassidy then followed willingly to where Ashley had put out a couple chairs. He sat, grinning harder as she fussed with the sheet-covered canvas. “I love it when you’re like this. Giddy. Sheer energy.”
Ashley twirled and beamed at him. “It’s been incredible having this place to work. And I think I’ve done a good job. Fingers crossed the gallery agrees.”
“You’re not done, though, right?” Cassidy counted the canvases one by one. “Doesn’t look like enough for a showing, excuse my ignorance.”
“No, I’m not done, but it won’t only be my work they’re showing. There will be other artists as well. But I’ve gotten a super start, and I’m done the toughest of them. The rest of the month I’ll work on watercolour and drawings— And I’m rambling. Shutting up.” Ashley slipped to the right and grabbed hold of a sheet. “This is the first set. They’ll be hung in a row, a little space between them.”
Travis leaned forward as the sheet pulled back, and his jaw nearly hit the floor.
“Holy shit…” Cassidy breathed, rising to his feet.
It was as if she’d cut a section of land from the Six Pack ranch and magically projected it onto the canvas. From left to right the four pictures took in west to east on the land, the Rockies on the far edge fading into the foothills blending into the rolling grass of grazing land and the flatter cultivated grain fields.
Taken alone each picture was complete. A mountainous meadow, a ranch house with buildings, cattle and crops. Together, the effect was breathtaking.
“Ashley this is…” Travis abandoned his chair as well and moved forward to figure out exactly how she’d made the pictures come alive.
“You’re not getting the full impact from this close,” Ashley complained, but she was beaming. “You really like them, don’t you?”
“Like? Love. God, woman, these are serious art.” Cassidy slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her in close. He kissed her absentmindedly, gaze still fixed on the paintings. “I swear I can smell the country air.”
“No cattleshit, though.” Travis leaned in, hands held behind him so he wouldn’t be tempted to touch. He wasn’t much of an art critic, but he agreed with Cassidy. He turned and nodded. “You did damn good.”
Ashley’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “Ready for the second set?”
She made them sit again—something about getting the right perspective—before pulling off the drop cloth.
“Fuck.” Cassidy dragged his hand through his hair.
Travis had been about to say the same thing. “Jeez. Ashley, you’re going to get stolen away by New York City or Paris, or some other big fancy art place.”
She’d done the same kind of three-dimensional voodoo on this set, only this time instead of landscapes the paintings showcased the people of the land. The faces weren’t quite Cassidy or Travis or his father or Karen, but almost them. Working with the cattle, labouring in the barn. Karen stroking a horse’s nose to settle him. Travis swore the beast had just finished tossing his head, his nostrils about to flare in the next second.
He faced Ashley. “I’m well and truly speechless.”
“I did good, didn’t I?” Ashley nodded. “I mean, they aren’t your typical hang-on-the-wall paintings, not with all the crap I’ve added in layers, but my ideas worked.”
“I can’t believe you did all this in the past month and a bit.” Cassidy caught her fingers in his and strolled closer to the pictures with her at his side. “I knew you were putting in long hours, but you’ve got some serious talent.”
“I did a lot back at camp. All the preliminary sketches were done before I left, and I experimented back there as well. There are a couple of my disasters sitting in the burn pile behind the cookhouse—not everything I do works.”
Travis stepped in front of her and cupped her face. “I’m so proud of you.”
Her eyes sparkled as he leaned in and kissed her, the tender touch heating up as she snuck a hand around his torso and pulled them in tight.
Cassidy still had her other hand, and he laughed, laying an arm over Travis’s shoulder. “There are more secrets to be revealed. If you two can come up for air for a while.”
“Oh, yes.” Ashley slipped away before Tra
vis could pin her in place.
He glared at Cassidy. “Thanks for nothing.”
Cassidy glanced at Ashley for a moment before sneaking Travis a kiss of his own to placate him.
Bold, demanding, the kiss was enough to set his blood pounding harder. This was turning out to be a hell of an evening, and the night had only begun.
“Get your butts back in your chairs,” Ashley ordered. “God, kissing all the time. You two are just…lechers.”
Cassidy laughingly followed her directions.
Travis remained standing. “I’m going to be up in a second anyway. Show us the rest.”
“Spoilsport.” Cassidy tugged him into his lap, and this time it was Travis who laughed, escaping to return to his feet.
Ashley rolled her eyes then revealed the rest of her work. None of the rest were as striking as the original two sets, but all were impressive.
“Ashley, you’re going to make a great showing at the gallery. I know it.”
“Thanks, Travis. Bonus, I’m not as nervous anymore, now that I’ve got this much done. I can spend the final two weeks doing smaller projects.” She paused by the final cover and took a deep breath. “One more to go, but this one? Is not for the show.”
Cassidy frowned. “Why did you make it then?”
She rocked a little from side to side then looked him in the eye. “I had to make it. Call it inspiration or fate or whatever, it’s the one idea that grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let me go. Close your eyes.”
Travis smiled hard but obeyed.
Footsteps crossed toward them and her warm hand slid into his, linking their fingers. “Okay, you can look.”
She’d made the painting she’d talked about that first day they’d run into Cassidy. Angels and demons—white canvas, black paint, shadows forming the picture.
Only it was him and Cassidy and Ashley, as if the viewer were standing slightly above them. Cassidy’s head was thrown back in laughter or ecstasy. Travis’s easy grin and relaxed slouch placed him at the center of the composition. Ashley stood with her bare feet firmly planted on the naked ground as the wind pulled her hair into a curve of energy.
None of them were touching, but their bodies echoed each other, as if the individual figures could be slid together and would click like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Independently strong, yet somehow more when they were together.
“It’s for us. Well, for you guys.”
“For us,” Cassidy corrected. “Ashley, it’s the best of them all.”
“Told you I was inspired.” She tugged their hands and turned them toward her, her face shining with her earnest enthusiasm. “I spent the time I was working on that thinking. Really thinking about how each of us is so different, and yet we work together so well.”
Travis lifted her chin. “We do.”
She stood between him and Cassidy, holding them both. She licked her lips, then blurted out, “I love you.”
A shot like electricity went through him.
Ashley looked him in the eye, and then Cassidy. “I mean, screwed-up way to tell you or what, but I really do. I’ve fallen in love with you both, and that terrifies me and makes me happy at the same time. Even more foolishly, I’m enjoying feeling terrified and happy.”
“Like you’re on a high, and you’re afraid you’re about to come down?” Cassidy asked.
She nodded. “Except crashing would be almost as much fun as the floating part, as long as I get to crash into both of you.”
Travis held her, the pleasure of her confession trickling down his spine. Cassidy’s pleased glow was right there as well—the man clearly accepting what she so freely gave.
“I love you too, baby,” Cassidy whispered. “Snuck up on me, but damn if you don’t get under a man’s skin.” He cupped the back of her neck to pull her close for a tender kiss, more about being together than trying to consume her.
Travis stood beside them, the words on his tongue.
Hovering.
Waiting for him to say them, and yet…
He was spared his mental turmoil as Ashley broke free and grabbed his hands, tugging him with her. “Carry it inside for me? Can we hang it in the living room?”
“Hell, yeah.” Something else to focus on, and he was saved for the moment.
Travis lifted the painting carefully, following Cassidy out of the barn as Ashley paused to cover her work.
“You’re coming back inside, right?” Travis called to her.
“Be there in a minute.”
Cassidy stayed pretty damn quiet as he opened the trailer door and helped rearrange things so Travis could put up the picture. Travis stared at the wall as a sense of great responsibility and incredible blessing rocked him.
Cassidy stepped behind him, tugging their bodies together as he rested his chin on Travis’s shoulder. “You feel like you’ve been gutted and laid out in the sun, exposed?”
Apt words. “Pretty much.”
There was a pause. “I don’t expect you to tell her how you feel in front of me.”
The laugh that escaped held a trembling edge. “I ain’t good with those words, Cass. I can do my damnedest to show you and her how I feel, but spitting it out is like pulling tree stumps with my teeth.”
Cassidy’s cheek touched his. “You think we’re too stupid to hear it if you don’t say it out loud?”
God.
Travis rotated slowly, clinging to Cassidy, looking him in the eye and bracing himself. “You deserve to hear the words as well.”
A mesmerizing green gaze caught him as Cassidy’s grin widened. “They’ll happen. When you’re ready.”
“Ohhh, are you two planning something?” Ashley asked from the doorway to the living room. “Because, game on.”
Travis held Cassidy for another moment, not letting his friend, his lover, escape yet. “I’ve got lots of things planned, but the first involves two certain people, if they’re willing.”
Cassidy leaned in and kissed him. Open mouths, tongues slipping past each other. The scruff on his chin scratching Travis.
There were hands at his belt. Travis found his jeans stripped away as he willingly jerked his shirt over his head before doing the same for Cassidy. For Ashley. Clothes were tossed aside as the hunger between them increased.
Hands brushed everywhere for fleeting moments, caressing hips, slipping over the ridges of muscles, tugging one lover closer, switching to the other. They moved with an easy rhythm, all about giving, not taking. A kiss to one, then the other. Travis cupped Ashley’s breasts and Cassidy accepted the offering, lapping at the tight peaks until she was writhing between them.
The long, heavy length of his cock rested between her ass cheeks, and Ashley rocked her hips, rubbing against him, egging him on. She ground over Cassidy’s cock as well, her breathing picking up as they used their fingers to tease her.
“Looks like someone is in the middle today.” Cassidy groaned as she stroked his cock. “You want to be in a sandwich between us, baby?”
She all but purred. “Hell, yes. Ohhh…”
Travis had moved in anticipation, grabbing the lube and slicking it between her ass cheeks. He played with the tight hole there as Cassidy’s hands covered her sex. Travis stared over her shoulder to watch Cassidy slip his long fingers into her, thumb resting over her clit. Travis matched the motion, his finger easing lube into her tight passage.
Ashley dropped her head back on his shoulder. “I’m tingling all over.”
Travis nuzzled her until she gave him her lips, Cassidy sneaking out to pull on a condom before taking over the kissing and letting Travis suit up as well.
Cassidy sat on the couch and patted his lap. “Come on, woman. Ride me.”
No hesitation. Ashley crawled up and lowered herself over him, rocking slowly as she worked herself down on Cassidy’s thick cock. They kissed again, then glanced over her shoulder in expectation.
Travis joined them, Cassidy’s hands pulling Ashley’s ass cheeks apart and giving him lots of room
to place the head of his cock to her hole and press forward.
A long, low moan escaped her, and Travis damn near lost it. Watching his cock slip into her, feeling her heat surround him. And Cassidy—he slid his hands off Ashley’s ass and stroked Travis best he could.
They were sandwiched together, perfect, so when Travis leaned forward he could kiss either of them. Hold on to them and look them in the eye and try to let it out how much they meant to him.
Cassidy thrust his hips up as they supported Ashley between them, two cocks fucking her. Cassidy’s hard length was damn near rubbing his, separated only by the thin layer inside her body. Travis thrust in all the way and savoured the extra edge of pleasure he got from it being two of them giving to her.
The three of them, all tangled together as one.
“Oh, fuck. T. I’m going to come.”
Travis slipped his hand between them, over Ashley’s stomach to circle her clit, teasing the line between where Cassidy entered her body. “Hang on…”
“Fuck.”
Cassidy squeezed his eyes shut and Ashley laughed, using her legs to unmercifully bounce herself harder on his cock. “Come on, Cass. You like it when I do this?”
Cassidy gasped, eyes popping open, mouth wide.
It only made Ashley laugh louder as she reached back to cradle Travis’s neck and accept his mouth against hers.
A moment later she arched hard, a cry escaping her lips as she came, and that was it. Travis shuddered to a stop, buried deep, able to feel Cassidy lose it. Their cocks jerked inside her soft body, her torso melting on top of Cassidy as she went boneless but for the rocking aftershocks.
Travis panted, a slick of sweat over his body as he blanketed them, unable to stop touching. Caressing. A kiss between her shoulders. A nip to Cassidy’s chin that made him smile as he relaxed into the couch cushions.
Travis hadn’t said the words, it was true, but for now this was what he could give. His actions, not only during sex but the things he was doing to make them a home. To find a way that they could stay together heading into the future.
Once that was the only possible outcome, he figured the words would explode out.