One Bride for Five Mountain Men: A Reverse Harem Romance

by Jess Bentley

  Protectively, he holds me across his body as we walk toward the house. I loop my arms behind his neck and hold on tight, though I really don’t have to do anything. He’s so big and strong, I could just let him do everything.

  The house practically takes my breath away. Windows that reflect the sky reach three stories in the air. I don’t even see the door until it opens for us, and then we all enter a foyer with racks of outerwear, gear, boots, coats, and such. Jake sets me down lightly on the floor and unzips my coat, his brow furrowed with concern.

  “You’re going to be okay here,” he murmurs confidentially. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. I just want you to know that.”

  “Why would I worry?” I ask, realizing suddenly that I wasn’t worried at all.

  As he slips my jacket from my shoulders, he shrugs slightly. “I guess… You shouldn’t. Like I said. We are all very nice. After you get to know us.”

  “All of you?” I repeat. “Like, how many…”

  “Five,” Liam interrupts. He hangs his coat on a wrought-iron hook and stretches his arms over his head. Like Jake, he is broad in the shoulders and narrow in the hips, a perfect lumberjack specimen. With just a dusting of stubble, he doesn’t have quite the same wild look about him, but he does have the same mischievous glint in his eye.

  “Five… What?”

  “Five brothers,” Kill announces. “Carty and Timothy are waiting for us in the study. Let’s do this!”

  Grinning, Kill and Liam look me over as I stand in my nylon top and ski pants. It’s the only outfit I’ve got, though I did manage to wash my panties in the sink. I feel less than glamorous right now, to tell you the truth. Still, my heart is racing. Who are these men? Why do they seem so excited to see me?

  “Is his name really Kill?”

  “Killian,” Jake answers absentmindedly as he inspects me, making sure that I didn’t receive more injuries during the trip. “He thinks the nickname makes him sound like a badass. I think it makes him sound like a douche.”

  “Oh, it’s not the worst nickname I ever heard.”

  “It’s not?” Jake quirks an eyebrow at me. “How could there be a worse nickname?”

  “I went to high school with a guy we all called Nutsack. That was pretty bad.”

  “Yeah, okay, that’s pretty bad,” Jake chuckles. “I hate to ask this, but can I just carry you? We might have crutches somewhere in the cellar, or I can get to—”

  “That would be fine,” I interrupt him, smiling. In the low light of the foyer, I’m struck by his size again. He’s not even winded, not after that long trek dragging me up the hill. It doesn’t seem to have fazed him at all.

  A smile curls his cheek, and I see the resemblance between him and the twins. Without breaking my gaze, he leans down and lifts me into the air, cradling me against his chest.

  “If you keep letting me carry you around like this, I’m never going to want to stop,” he murmurs as he strides from the room, taking stairs two at a time.

  I just nuzzle closer to him and smile, feeling a warm glow spread through me of safety and something that almost feels like happiness.

  Chapter 10

  Carty

  Jake comes into the study, holding her across his body like he just saved her from a forest fire, like he just discovered her floating on a river or something.

  I tap the nondisclosure agreement with my fingers and glance at Timothy, who merely shrugs helplessly.

  She’s wearing a thin nylon shirt and pink ski pants. One dainty foot kicks out, while the other is wrapped tightly in an elastic bandage. She smiles charmingly as she holds onto my brother’s neck.

  “Everybody, this is Lola,” Jake grumbles, but I can hear the pride in his voice.

  “I can see that,” I say, noting that she looks just like her picture. Long, wavy red hair, almond-shaped green eyes. Slender and beautiful. Basically the perfect picture of sultry journalist.

  “I’m Timothy,” Tim calls out optimistically.

  “That’s Cartman… Carty,” I hear Jake say as he sits her down on the leather sofa. Everybody gathers around her like puppies inspecting the new littermate. She smiles sweetly at each of us, nodding pleasantly.

  Holding the nondisclosure agreement in front of me, I walked toward the sofa with a pen.

  “You can have your attorney read it over, if you like,” I offer politely. “But basically it is simply an agreement between you and all of us… You won’t say that you found us, that you know where we are, or that any of this happened. You’ll stick to the cover story as written: you went skiing, you fell, a transient hunter found you and then gave you his unregistered snowmobile so you could make your way back to your friends. Very simple. No tricks, nothing complicated.”

  She glances up at me, blinking.

  “No, I don’t want to do that,” she says softly.

  Jake shrugs in my direction, grinning.

  “Seriously?” I mutter. “Lola, we can offer you a settlement, if that’s what you’re driving at. Really, there’s no reason to be difficult. We just need to get this paperwork out of the way and then we can have someone fly you back to your hotel.”

  “Me,” Timothy pipes in helpfully. “I fly the helicopter. And the jet, if it comes to that.”

  She leans back on the sofa, draping her arms across the leather. Her hair tips to one side as she surveys me intently. I get the feeling she’s measuring me with her eyes.

  “How much is the settlement?” she asks in an amused voice.

  “I was thinking about five hundred thousand? That should be enough, I believe.”

  She presses her lips together, wetting them with the tip of her tongue. Liam and Kill stare, enchanted.

  “How about two million?”

  “Jake!” I object. He merely shrugs again.

  “Actually,” she continues slowly, uncrossing her legs, then crossing them the other way, “maybe five million is more like it. Ten?”

  “Now you’re just being ridiculous,” I huff. Glancing at the paperwork, I probably could change it to ten million, but why should I? I don’t think that’s really cost-efficient.

  Her smile widens and she glances at Jake over her shoulder. Lifting her hand into the air, she waits for him to take it and he does. The gesture is strangely mesmerizing, how she simply lifts a hand and he automatically takes it, like she summoned him.

  “I’m just kidding, Carty,” she sighs prettily. “I do not want your money. It’s nice to know you’d give it to me, though!”

  Liam and Kill start laughing, with Timothy and Jake joining in immediately. The whole scene is starting to get on my nerves. Exactly who do they think they are laughing at?

  “Wow, she really got your number, Carty!” Liam hoots. “I think we should keep her!”

  Lola bites her lip and grins smugly. “Oh, is that what you think?”

  “Wait… Can we?” Timothy joins in. “I mean, for real? Jake usually brings back a bearskin or something… He’s never brought us a woman! Especially a gorgeous redhead!”

  The sound of her laughter is musical, cascading through the air. I want to be angry at her, but she almost seems sincere.

  “That’s what big brothers are for,” Jake shrugs. “I told you guys I would take care of you. I keep my promises, you know that.”

  Raising my hand, I wait for their laughter to die down. “Okay, okay, settle down, you guys!” I finally bellow, cutting through the noise. “Let’s get a grip, shall we? Lola… What do you really want? Is it money? Maybe ten seconds of fame? Because money, we can do.”

  “I want to stay,” she answers in a quiet voice. Suddenly the room is silent.

  “What does that mean, exactly?” I ask suspiciously.

  She raises one narrow shoulder then lets it drop. Her eyes dart around the room as she drinks in the details: the tall windows, the beautiful handcrafted furniture, the chandelier that spreads sixteen feet across. I can see from her expression that she understands a little bit about what
she is seeing here. Wealth. Real wealth.

  “It sounds like I disappeared,” she explains. “And I want to stay disappeared. Just for a little while. Can I?”

  “Sure!” Liam interrupts.

  “No, of course not!” I correct him. I see the hurt expression on Jake’s face, but continue anyway. “Come on, it has to be said! You can’t just stay here, Lola! You have people, and you should go back to them.”

  She shrugs, challenging me with that beautiful green stare. “Give me one good reason why not.”

  “Yeah, Carty!” Kill interjects. “Why are you being such a jerk? We have plenty. More than plenty! We don’t even use most of what we have. We don’t even use the whole house! Let her stay if she wants to!”

  “That’s not what we’re doing here!” I object. “We’re not running a resort for discontented millennials, okay? And one woman here is just going to cause problems!”

  Jake stands up straight, filling up his chest. I can tell he’s about to start yelling, the way he does when he feels it’s time for the oldest brother to take charge. My control of the situation is slipping away, I can feel it. But he doesn’t.

  “And if she’s willing?” Jake counters, one eyebrow arched.

  “No woman is really willing,” I answer.

  Lola sits forward, intrigued. “No woman is really willing to do what?” she asks, licking her lips.

  “But what if she is?” Jake continues.

  “Yeah, you should ask her,” Liam and Kill say simultaneously.

  “Hell, yeah, you should ask her,” Timothy adds, wetting his lips and crossing his arms.

  Lola pushes her hair behind her ears. It curls over her shoulders, ending in bouncy spirals.

  “Ask me anything,” she chirps. “Literally. Ask me anything, at all.”

  The guys all stare expectantly at me as I pace back and forth, trying to formulate the words.

  “Seriously? You guys want to do this? Because it makes the nondisclosure agreement a lot more complicated, I am just telling you!”

  “Jesus, just get on with it!” Jake insists. The other guys add their voices, too, making it almost impossible for me to do anything else.

  “Okay, Lola, here’s the deal. We don’t have women up here. By agreement… By all of our agreement… We’ve lived solitary lives for the past three years.”

  She knits her brow, squinting at me. “What does that mean… solitary lives?”

  I spread my hands out, gesturing at the large room. “This is our retreat. We stay here, on the mountain. We need this privacy. That means nobody in or out. Absolutely nobody.”

  “Wait, like… seriously? You guys don’t leave the mountain?” Her eyes dart from brother to brother, and each nods their affirmation in turn.

  “Okay, that’s… Well, that’s pretty fucked up,” she shrugs. “How are five healthy men living alone on a mountain? Doesn’t it drive you insane?”

  “Just about!” Liam grumbles.

  “That’s just it,” I add. “It’s a pretty delicate balance of personalities, you might say. Just one detail can disrupt the whole thing. So we’ve all agreed: no strangers, no women, no exceptions… Unless…”

  “Unless?” she repeats archly.

  “Well, in theory, there could be one,” I finish, sitting in the armchair across from her.

  The guys shift their weight expectantly, holding their breath as she puzzles the information out. I know they have a lot of hope in their hearts, and I worry about what happens when they are disappointed.

  “Okay, explain it to me like I am stupid,” she sighs. “Who is this one that you are talking about? One what?”

  “One woman,” Jake adds in a low voice.

  She shakes her head at him like she doesn’t understand, like she’s getting a little frustrated.

  “If there was one woman, one very special woman who agreed to be with all of us, that would be okay. Not five women, because that would just be too complicated, too many opportunities for people to get their feelings hurt, for misunderstandings to grow…”

  “One woman… for all of you? As in… sexually?”

  “Hell, yeah!” Kill shouts out. Liam elbows him hard in the ribs.

  Her beautiful auburn eyebrows arch higher and higher as she considers the possibilities.

  “Jake? Are you serious?”

  “Totally serious,” I interrupt, holding out the nondisclosure agreement again. “You can see why it’s better if you just sign and take a settlement. Two million is too much, but perhaps a million…”

  “I want to do it,” she announces tersely. “I’m in.”

  “Yes!” Kill shouts out again. Liam tries to elbow him, but he twists out of the way. “Will you please stop trying to assault me, Liam? I’m going to need all my energy.”

  Her smile widens. “Yes, you are,” she nods, flirting.

  “Lola, I don’t think you understand—”

  “You want me to have sex with all of you,” she enunciates slowly. “Is that what I don’t understand? I think I understand it pretty well. Sex. With each of you. All five of you. Maybe all at once? Should we start now?”

  “I’m game,” Timothy announces, unbuttoning his trousers and letting them fall right to the floor.

  “Hold on, stop!” I object, holding my hands out. “Lola, this isn’t just a weekend fling, do you understand that? This is a serious arrangement… One that most women couldn’t even contemplate. One that a lot of women would find offensive, actually.”

  She holds her arms out, smiling as Timothy and Liam take her sleeves, slowly pulling her shirt off. The flimsy blue bra she has on barely covers the swelling mounds of her perfect breasts. I feel my own certainty melting away. She is a grown woman, after all.

  “Let’s just see what it’s like, okay?” She grins, locking eyes with me. “If I can’t handle it, I’ll speak up right away. I’ll sign whatever you want, and you can drop me off wherever you want. But if I can handle it, you have to let me stay, okay?”

  The guys all look at me like puppies, waiting for the command to begin. How can I say no? They’ve waited so long.

  “I guess… It’s a deal,” I mumble.

  Without another word, it begins. T-shirts and flannels fall to the floor, as each of my brothers position themselves at one corner of her body. Careful not to disturb the silent agreement we have all made with each other, nobody tries to be first. Nobody tries to get to that pussy. We all know, we have to leave that for last.

  Instead, we work together to explore every other inch of her. The nylon ski pants end up neatly folded over the arm of the sofa as Liam and Kill spread her out. They each take a knee, kneeling in front of her to stroke those smooth, creamy thighs with their rough hands. Jake falls in next to her, while I take up her other side, marveling at how small and finely boned her hand is in mine. At the same time, Timothy cups her face in his hands, tasting that sweet, perfect kiss.

  She is like a doll we have agreed to share. My hands drift over her forearm, circling the tender skin of her elbow, allowing myself to drift upward to the curve of the outside of her breast. I watch the skin gather under my touch. Her bra is long gone now, replaced with the moist trails Jake’s tongue has left.

  Her moans fill the air as we bathe her in kisses, sharing her body equally among us. As she arches her back, I’m aware of the light, sweet scent of her pussy wafting through the air. It’s like the cherry on top of a sundae that we have all agreed not to taste, not yet. First I need to get that beautiful mauve nipple between my teeth. Fighting lightly, I catch Jake’s eye as he does the same, and soon we are both mouthing her breasts, pulling at them gently, sampling the hard pebbles of her nipples against our tongues, running our rough skin over them, biting them gently.

  When she arches her back and gasps, I know that Liam and Kill have begun sucking on her toes. But her cries are drowned in Timothy’s eager mouth as he kisses her.

  My cock is rock-hard, and I want to come inside her so badly that the sensation
is almost painful. But not yet. I need to wait. I need to see what happens to Lola’s body when we all reach our rhythm.

  It doesn’t take very long. She arches and writhes, moaning from her center. Her panties slip to the side and I can see that beautiful auburn mound of short, downy-soft hair, with a small pink slit glistening in the center. I can almost taste that beautiful pussy on my lips and suckle her sweet nipple even harder, trying to distract myself.

  All at once, I see it out of the corner of my eye—a golden, arching tendril of juice that squirts from the center of her, landing across the creamy skin of her thigh. Liam opens his mouth in surprise, letting her toes dangle from his lower lip. Instantly his expression transforms to one of triumphant glee.

  “OooohhhHHHHHh yeahhh!” she groans, thrashing underneath us like a wild animal.

  Timothy and Jake both look at me expectantly as they slow their exploration of her skin, obviously wondering about the verdict. But it is not up to me, is what they don’t understand. I think she’s perfect too, but it’s up to her. Everything has to be up to her.

  Silently we wait as she trembles beneath us, slipping in and out of bliss until she finally opens her eyes again, apparently slightly surprised to find us all staring at her, practically panting.

  “So, did I pass?” she asks groggily.

  “You were wonderful,” Jake sighs, already completely smitten, I can tell.

  “You didn’t tell us you are a squirter!” Liam grins.

  She shifts, almost managing to sit up but giving up immediately.

  “A what? Did I do something weird?"

  “You did something amazing!” Kill announces. “And we didn’t even get to fucking yet.”

  “Why don’t you tell us,” I say in a soft voice, stroking the curve of her waist with my thumb. I know what I want her to say, but I don’t want to coach her. “Was that too much? It is okay if it is too much.”

  “Too much?” She purrs shyly. “No… That wasn’t nearly too much for me. That was amazing! Kind of a lot of beards, if I’m being honest.”