His back was to her, his hair ruffling as the cool breeze from the waterfall they’d parked close to blew across the deck. He’d picked a beautiful spot, secluded in a narrow cove, the waterfall a stunning backdrop against the mountains and late evening, blue sky. Later, that rustling sound of water would be incredible to sleep to.
Grayson was downstairs checking the batteries that connected to the solar panels. With those, they didn’t have to run the generator as much.
She tilted her head, thinking about what life with the both of them would be like. From her limited experience so far, she definitely enjoyed the sex, but how long could she possibly keep up? Eventually the sex would die off. Didn’t it always? What then? And what about her sore behind? She shifted and winced at the discomfort. How often would she be able to take that?
Parker turned to grab the plate on the table behind him and his gaze caught hers. He raised an eyebrow in surprise before his lips spread into a slow smile of welcome. Wow, the man could seduce a nun with that smile.
“Hey, Doc. How was your nap?” He picked up the plate and turned to pull several burgers off the grill.
“It was okay. Short but good.” She walked up to stand next to him. “Do you need any help?”
“No. I’m good.”
He gave her another quick smile before checking the last two burgers. “Do you like them well-done or bloody?”
She wrinkled her nose at the red that oozed out of the meat when he pressed on it with a spatula. “Well-done, please.” She stared at the plate in his hand. “I take it those are bloody?”
He chuckled. “Grayson and I like them still mooing.”
She shuddered. “Yuck.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“Apparently in the bedroom.”
Parker snickered. “Or dining room.”
“Touché,” she replied, grinning. Her smile faded, and she fidgeted with the handle on the side of the grill. She could already feel her face heating. “Now that it’s been brought up…”
“Uh-oh,” Parker murmured. “Let me set this aside.”
He put the plate on the table a few feet away and came back to stand before her. Waiting. Now that he was looking at her, she found herself losing her nerve. He must’ve noticed because he took a step closer and rubbed her upper arm.
“Is something bothering you, Doc? Are we too overwhelming?”
She shook her head. “No. That’s not it.”
She bit her lip and moved to sit at the table. Maybe if she moved farther away from him, she could get her worries out.
“Why didn’t any of your past relationships work out? Did they not like the sex?”
Parker turned down the grill and came to sit in the chair next to her. “Partly. Women find threesomes fun for a weekend. When it’s every day, it becomes a little much.”
She sighed. “I can understand that, I think.”
Parker gave her a sad smile. “I can too. Grayson and I can be…overwhelming at times.”
“Yes, you can,” she said. “But in a good way.”
Parker leaned forward and took her hand in his. “I don’t know where any of this is going. I do know that Grayson and I are very attracted to you.”
She swallowed and nodded in agreement. She was attracted to them as well. More so than she’d ever been attracted to anyone before. Especially where sex was concerned. “When this is all over, my life will probably be so different. New life, new city. Right?”
“Maybe. But maybe not.”
“If I have to start over, what about you and Grayson? If I wanted to take this further, to try a ménage relationship, how could we possibly do that if I have a new life?”
“Would you want to try, Cheyenne?”
She bit her lip again. She wasn’t sure. She didn’t know if she felt anything for them other than sexual attraction. “I don’t know.”
Parker’s lips twitched. “It’s early yet. We’re just getting to know each other.”
She drew in a deep breath, slightly relieved. “I agree.”
“We’ll take it slow. Let you see what life would be like with us. Let us all get to know each other better. Right now the sex is great, but…we need to see if we fit everywhere else. Sound fair?”
“Sounds fair,” she said with a smile.
Parker lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the backs of her fingers. She melted. No guy had ever kissed her hand. It was so sweet and so incredibly sexy, it sent a wave of tingles up her arm.
“Are you at it again?” Grayson asked
Cheyenne turned to see him walking toward them, two plates in his hands. One held buns, the other slices of lettuce, onions, and tomatoes.
“I’m always at it,” Parker replied drily as Grayson set the plates on the table.
“Is there anything else downstairs that needs to be brought up?” she asked.
“Condiments, chips, I think there’s also some potato salad from Mom in the fridge. The woman can’t help herself and has to send hordes of home-cooked stuff.”
Parker snickered. “Yeah, I noticed the tray of lasagna in the freezer.”
“Oooh, I love lasagna,” Cheyenne said. “And I think it’s nice. She sounds like she’s the mothering type.”
“Mothering type is putting it mildly,” Grayson grumbled.
Cheyenne slapped at Grayson’s arm. “Stop ragging on your mother and help me get the rest of this stuff.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Grayson replied.
As they walked back into the kitchen, Cheyenne glanced over her shoulder. “So, do they know why we’re here?”
“Yes.” Grayson opened the fridge and pulled out the condiments. “If I didn’t tell them, they would want to visit, and they shouldn’t.”
She gave a nod. “So they understand…about your job?”
“That it can sometimes be dangerous?” Grayson asked.
He shut the fridge door and turned to look at her. The blue of his shirt deepened the blue in his eyes, and Cheyenne found it hard to look away. They reminded her of the blue water outside the boat—dark, deep, and all-consuming.
Parker could seduce with a touch. Grayson could seduce with a look.
She quickly shook her head as she reached for the bag of chips and the bowl of potato salad Grayson had set on the counter. “Yeah. I mean, that’s got to be tough for a mother.”
“I’m sure it is, but she takes solace in the fact that Parker and I watch out for each other, and we’ve never been shot. Not once.”
She scrunched her nose. “I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or not. If you haven’t been shot at yet, it just increases your chances that you will at some point.”
Grayson’s lips twitched as understanding shone in his eyes. He knew she worried. Hell, she would gladly admit to it, but she didn’t think she would ever tell them they had to quit. It wouldn’t be right.
“You’re thinking way too analytically. Lots of agents go their whole careers and never get shot.”
Cheyenne harrumphed good-naturedly. “That’s just because the vast majority of them never catch anyone.”
“Hey,” Grayson said, but the humor in his gaze was obvious.
Cheyenne ignored him and headed back up the spiral staircase. When they reached the top, Grayson called out to Parker, “Do you know what this woman said to me?”
“It must’ve been good,” Parker murmured with amusement.
Grayson set his stuff on the table and put his hands on his hips. “She said the majority of FBI agents don’t catch anyone.”
Cheyenne almost giggled at the overdone look of offense on his face. She set the bowl down and replied, “Tell me it’s not true.”
“She’s got you there,” Parker said.
Grayson chuckled and pulled his chair out. He plopped down and grinned wickedly. “She may be right, but I think we should spank her ass just for saying it.”
Cheyenne raised an eyebrow. “Wait. I was just giving you a hard time. Are you telling me I
was right?”
“As much as I hate to admit it,” Parker said as he turned off the grill and joined them at the table. “You are right.”
“That’s not very comforting,” she grumbled.
“Don’t get me wrong. They will catch their man the majority of the time, but there’s also an awful lot of red tape, an awful lot of greasing palms, and definitely a lot of turning of backs.”
“Meaning they know it’s going on, but they choose not to act on it,” she repeated for clarification.
“Exactly,” Parker replied as he took a seat and reached for one of the buns.
She glanced around the table. “We forgot drinks.”
Grayson nodded. “There’re some drinks in the small fridge behind you under the wet bar.”
Cheyenne turned to look and spotted it instantly. She grabbed three drinks and headed back to the table.
“So, back to the apparently dirty organization you guys work for,” she said.
Grayson grinned. “It’s not really dirty. We make it sound a lot worse than it really is. We’re both very jaded with work at the moment. Have been for a while.”
She placed a spoonful of potato salad on her plate before passing it to Parker. “Do you not like your jobs anymore?”
“No,” they both replied in unison.
“What else would you do?” she asked.
“Well, I have a master’s degree in psychology,” Grayson replied. “I could probably do something with that. Parker has one in forensic anthropology.”
She looked at Parker in surprise. “Really?”
He nodded before taking a bite of his burger.
She smiled. “I guess when you told me you could tell me all the best places to shoot a man, you weren’t kidding.” He smiled around his bite, making Cheyenne chuckle. “Interesting. So, with those degrees, how did you end up as cops? You were detectives first, right?”
“A friend of ours was murdered during our last year of college,” Grayson replied. “They didn’t find his killer, and we wanted to do something about it. So, we became cops. As cops, we took a look at the cold case file, and after a couple of years of digging, we solved it. The department was so impressed, they offered us detective slots.”
“Wow,” she murmured.
“As detectives, we met up with the FBI, and the rest, as they say, is history,” Parker added.
“But now you don’t like it.”
“I don’t think it’s that we don’t like it,” Parker said. “I think it’s we feel as though we got more done as detectives. Made more of a difference.”
“You could always go back to that.”
“We could,” Grayson agreed. “But we’re still undecided.”
Cheyenne had a sneaking suspicion they were waiting on her. If she said she wanted to try, would that mean they would leave the agency? Do something else? What if she said no?
She was reading way too much into this. She needed to stop. They weren’t waiting on her; that was just her overactive imagination, or even worse, wishful thinking.
Two men, one woman, a lifetime together. It was nuts. Pure and simple. Just plain nuts.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Grayson walked into the houseboat and spotted Cheyenne by the sink, a cup of tea in her hand, her gaze glued to something out the window. She looked worried and lost in her own troublesome world.
He wished he could take those worries away for her, but he knew he couldn’t. Her life was about to change, hopefully for the better, but in her mind, it might not be.
He couldn’t think about the future without thinking of her. It was insane to become so attached to someone so quickly. She was unlike anyone else he’d ever been with. He frowned, wondering if their mothers had done something else—something they hadn’t mentioned. Had the spell they’d cast on him and Parker included a mate? Was that why sex between the three of them felt so…perfect?
Had they not only bound him and Parker but also bound the two of them to an unknown female? One who would be revealed at a later date?
He sighed and lowered his gaze, watching Cheyenne through his lashes. They hadn’t told her about any of that. Should they? Or should they leave it be and see what happened?
Parker had said she was nervous and had been thinking about their future. He could understand the hesitancy. Two men all the time would be a bit much. Even he could admit to that, but there were things they could do to ease some of that.
They could take turns. Grayson enjoyed having her all to himself. But the intensity of the three of them was most definitely addictive too.
He walked up silently and put his hands on her shoulders. He wanted to run them up the short skirt of the sundress she wore but decided to keep things chaste. They’d bombarded her enough as it was.
She jumped and turned her head to stare at him from the corner of her eye. “Grayson. You startled me.”
“I’m sorry, baby.” He kissed her temple, and she melted back against him, fitting in his arms as though she were poured just for him. He rubbed his chin across the top of her head and inhaled the vanilla scent of her hair. “You feel up for a swim?”
“I was just thinking that. Can you read minds too?”
He chuckled. “Not sure I would want to. But I can read body language and facial expressions. You looked a bit bored and maybe a little troubled. I thought swimming would get your mind off whatever it is.”
She tilted her head back and smiled. “Are the two of you always so attentive?”
His arms tightened around her, pulling her closer. “Well, I could say yes, but you would probably think I was lying.”
She snickered and took a sip of tea.
“We try to be, but I’m sure there would be times when life and worries get in the way and we become distracted.”
“Yeah,” she sighed sadly. “Life can definitely get in the way.”
“Come on,” he coaxed close to her ear. “Come skinny-dipping with me.”
She made an unladylike noise in her throat that sounded very much like a snort. “Skinny-dipping?”
“Sure. Why not? We’re the only ones in the cove. Chicken?” he teased.
He saw the corners of her mouth tilt up. “When I was a kid, I used to hate it when someone called me chicken. I would go out of my way to prove I wasn’t. That got me into an awful lot of trouble.” She turned her head so her cheek rested against his shirt. “I have a feeling you’re a bad influence.”
“Parker’s the bad influence. I’m the good guy.”
She harrumphed. “I think both of you are bad.”
Grayson nipped at the curve of her shoulder. “Very bad. So how about it?” He kissed the side of her neck, right below her ear, and felt the tremor that skimmed under her flesh. “Wanna have a little fun with some bad boys?”
“How can I say no when you ask like that?” she replied, her voice low and throaty, exactly how Grayson liked it. She sounded so sexy when she was turned on.
“Exactly,” he purred.
He took her hand and pulled her with him out to the front deck. Cheyenne glanced around the cove with a nervous expression.
“It’s only us out here,” Grayson said as he unbuttoned his shirt.
CHEYENNE’S GAZE MOVED to Grayson’s chest as he tugged his shirt off. His tan skin and muscular chest was a perfect distraction, but should they really be distracted? They were so out in the open here. Anyone could come up, and that left her feeling way more exposed than she liked, and it had nothing to do with skinny-dipping.
Grayson’s hands froze on the button of his jeans. “What’s wrong, Cheyenne?”
“They found Steve,” she whispered. “What if they find us?”
Grayson frowned and lowered his hands. “What brought this on, baby?”
She glanced around at the cove. Although surrounded on three sides by hills and trees, it felt way too open. “I don’t know. I’m not sure I feel as safe here as I did at the cabin.”
Grayson walked up, his eyes brimm
ing with compassion as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “I know it’s scary, but we’re probably safer here than most anywhere else. This boat isn’t in the agency system. Even if there is a mole, he wouldn’t know to lead anyone here.”
He cupped her face and lifted it so he could look into her eyes. For some reason, the second their gazes locked, she felt better. She knew she could trust him, and if he swore he would keep her safe, she would believe him.
“We’re going to be fine,” he whispered.
She nodded, determined to relax a little more. He leaned forward and kissed her brow, then the tip of her nose. Her heart sped up, fluttering in her chest like untried wings of a baby bird desperate to stay in the air. She wanted him to fully kiss her, make her forget, just like he and Parker had earlier.
During their erotic play, she’d never once thought about the mob or her questionable future. All she’d thought about was the pleasure they gave her. What did that say about her? It would be so easy for someone to sneak up on them while they were…otherwise occupied. What was the matter with her? What was the matter with them? They were supposed to be keeping her safe, not screwing her. Unfortunately, when it came to these two men and the way they looked at her, they could make her forget everything, even her common sense.
Just as his lips were about to touch hers, Parker’s voice stopped them cold. “We’ve got company.”
Grayson pulled away, and Cheyenne’s heart nearly stopped.
“Who is it?” Grayson asked.
Cheyenne turned to see Parker checking his pistol. “Don’t know. But be ready.”
Grayson pushed her into the house and headed to the kitchen. He reached into one of the drawers and pulled out two guns. One he handed to her. Her fingers trembled as they wrapped around the handle. Had they found them? Was this it?
The feel of Grayson’s warm palm as he cupped her cheek calmed her. She put her hand over his and gave him a hesitant smile.
“You’re gonna be fine,” he said.
She nodded, but she didn’t feel as confident as he did. She felt terrified all the way to her bones. She glanced toward Parker, who stood at the sliding glass door watching the small fishing boat that slowly approached. His tense shoulders suddenly slumped and a curse flew from his lips that made Cheyenne jump, her nerves frayed to the point of frenzy.
Crime & Punishment 3: Theirs to Share Page 14