Cowboy Charade [The McAlisters of McKenna Downs 1] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever)

by Zoey Marcel

  David’s tattered cry became a roar when he saw what she did. He expelled his release in steamy jets all over her swollen breasts. Her chest felt heavy and sensitive beneath all the sensations they’d evoked in her and the hot ownership of his cum splattered all over her tits.

  Brighton slumped against her, a breathy chortle feathering over her neck. “Damn, girl.”

  She grinned.

  David chuckled a little and petted her head. “I liked your idea much better.”

  “I thought you might.”

  After Brighton pulled out, David helped Danielle up onto the couch with him. Brighton sat next to her on her right side, and David graciously cleaned up the mess he’d made all over her chest.

  “I can get it,” she offered.

  “Shh.” David dabbed at her chest, his eyes heavy lidded. “It’s more fun for you if I do it.”

  “Mmm.” Her nipples perked beneath the feigned innocence of his deliberate dabs.

  Brighton stroked her bare thigh, rekindling the desire that had never really left. “You’re a keeper. It’s too bad Cole missed out on that.”

  The comment jarred her from her passionate haze. “What?”

  “He cared about you, too,” Brighton said. “Who knows? Maybe he still does.”

  Her eyes fell to her lap. “I doubt that.”

  “I think there’s a good chance he does,” David agreed with his brother.

  “Either way it doesn’t matter.” She rubbed one of each man’s legs. “I have you two.”

  “If he still had feelings for you, would you want him?” Brighton asked.

  She suddenly felt a little too naked. How to get up and redress without appearing too obvious?

  “I don’t know. What does that matter? It’s a what-if.”

  “Just checking,” Brighton replied.

  David noticed her withdrawal. “Are you okay?”

  The way he brushed his hand over her arm soothed her, but she had to get out of there. The mention of Cole summoned remorse, and there was just something about having sex with two men at once while she still loved their brother and pined after a jerk that she’d fought with earlier that had her feeling dirty.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t want Dominic to worry. He’s pretty protective of me, especially since this whole mess with Gavin.” She stood casually and set about to retrieve her clothing. “I should get back now.”

  “If Cole ever comes back from London and he still wants you, we’re willing to share you with him,” Brighton said.

  Her heart nearly stopped. She finished dressing as quickly as possible while maintaining an appearance of normalcy. No sense in looking like a mad goose with her fleeing.

  “That’s generous of you, but if he wanted me, he would be here.”

  Brighton looked annoyed. “We’ve been trying to get him to come home for years. The sophisticated twit face won’t do it. Just because they have cool accents and tea in the UK…Hell, I can start talking with an accent if it makes him come home.”

  David snorted. “Yeah, that’s all it’ll take, Brighton.”

  Brighton grinned. “That’s true. Our dad has that accent and Cole still left.”

  David’s countenance glittered with humor. “He didn’t move over there for the accents.”

  “Well, why else would he move out of the country like that?”

  Because of me.

  Her chest hurt. She couldn’t bear to tell them that. It was all her fault Cole had left the United States years ago after she’d moved to Chicago, left him and herself brokenhearted.

  Brighton didn’t seem to get why Cole had left, but there was a little too much understanding in David’s eyes for comfort, and she wondered if he knew. She hoped not. As far as she knew, no one was aware that she and Cole had slept together once years ago, right before she had moved away to Chicago.

  She headed toward the front door in a hurry. “Thank you, guys, for everything. I’m sorry I have to leave like this.”

  “Hey, man, don’t sweat it.” Brighton waved her off as he approached her. “We’re just glad you came. We had a great time with you.”

  “Come and see us again soon,” David told her, brown eyes reflecting way too much knowledge about the secrets she hadn’t revealed to anyone. “We would love for you to move in here with us.”

  Her heart tugged with longing. “That would be wonderful, but you know I can’t.”

  “Sure you can,” Brighton protested. “You know, if Cole ever gets married over there, then I bet he’d come back over here, at least for a visit.”

  A severe stab like a violent crack in the earth brought her unbelievable pain. The thought of Cole with anyone else, let alone a wife, broke her heart.

  She couldn’t do it, wouldn’t be able to stand seeing a beautiful bride on his arm, the guilt of loving three men, the dirty feeling of pining after the good opinion of a hot-hearted jerk with a quick tongue.

  She had to protect the men she loved and also the son of a preacher, who kept pissing her off and riling her passions. They deserved so much better than her anyway.

  Well, Heath didn’t, the jackass. But he kind of did.

  “I have to go,” Danielle mumbled.

  Brighton grabbed the door. “Would you like to see Cole again?”

  Damn him, why did he keep bringing up his older brother’s name?

  “I’m not gonna be here even if he does come back,” she reminded him.

  “What are you talking about? You’re gonna be our girl. If he comes back, you’ll definitely be here,” Brighton said. He pointed at her, radiating with enthusiasm. “Hey, maybe if he brings a woman back with him, you and her can be the best of buds.”

  Okay, now fuck him to hell. If he didn’t shut up about frigging Cole being with another woman…

  “Oh my God, what if he has kids?” Brighton glanced at his brother and shook his head with either a sly or incredibly thickheaded smile. “She can babysit their kid for him.”

  Danielle walked out. “I have to go. I should call Dominic and let him know I’m okay. Thanks for the sex. Have a good night.”

  Thanks for the sex?

  It had been more than just a good time for any of them, but unfortunately it couldn’t develop into anything more than that. She was too fucked up. They were too good for her. Gavin was too dangerous.

  After she drove a fair distance away, she allowed the tears to break free. Sex with them had been paradise. She wanted that with them for always, needed the small everyday moments with them forever, and the exciting firsts.

  Maybe Heath had been right about her.

  Hell, maybe Cash and Gavin were right about her, too.

  Loving the three McAlister men and being stupidly stuck on a fourth man wasn’t believable. Only in batshit-crazy McKenna Downs would anyone think so.

  Being fucked by two men at once, while the norm in her small hometown, was considered slutty by most standards elsewhere. She knew she shouldn’t care what anyone thought, but being labeled as a whore wasn’t a title she was eager to sign up for.

  Did David and Brighton still respect her?

  She still respected them, but it was often different for men. They were called players when they got promiscuous. When a woman had an insatiable sex drive, she was called a slut. Not in McKenna Downs, but in other places she would be regarded as one.

  When she walked down the street, if one of her men kissed her while the other grabbed her ass, or both of them held her hands, they would be gawked at outside of her small town. She would be judged.

  She wasn’t the demure angel she once had been, but she wasn’t the devil either. It sucked to be judged by one extreme or the other. There was so much middle ground.

  She couldn’t have sex with them at the same time again like that. As out of this world as it had been, she knew it was rather sleazy of her.

  Then why had the fucking felt so much like making love?

  * * * *

  “You know she’s gonna think you’
re a dumbass,” David said.

  Brighton tittered. “I’m not that stupid. I knew she still had feelings for Cole, but I had to make sure. How are we gonna get his ass back here?”

  “Just ask him if he still loves her, or just mention that she’s back in town and see if he shows up here.”

  “Pfft. That sounds too easy. Besides, you know he never listens to any of us.” Brighton changed his voice, mimicking someone of prestige and class. “He has to be the dark horse in the family. ‘Oh look, I’m Cole. La-di-da.’”

  David smirked. “Sure, just like him.”

  “Well, how do you expect me to imitate him when I haven’t seen him in years? I wish he’d come home. I miss his snobby ass.”

  “He’s not a snob. He’s just antisocial. There’s a difference.”

  “You don’t think he’s into BDSM, do you?”

  “You mean because he had a naked woman kneeling on his rug when we paid him a visit over there a few years ago?”

  Brighton cracked a half smile. “Yeah, that was kind of weird…and hot. Who’s complaining?”

  David seemed amused. “He definitely was into it back then. Not sure if he still is, but I’d be willing to lay money on it.”

  Brighton clapped his hands together. “I’ve got it. I’m smarter than you. Admit it.”

  “Not ’til I hear what you have to say, and then no.”

  He snorted. “Whatever. If we train Danielle in BDSM, then maybe Cole will be tempted to come home because he’ll have a submissive all ready for him, and he won’t have to train her.”

  David crossed his arms, raising a brow. “And how do you know he wants a trained sub? Maybe he enjoys training them himself.”

  “Crap. Must he always be so difficult? Now I have to find out what he likes? Freak.”

  “Just ask him to come home.”

  “We’ve been trying that for ten years and he keeps not doing it. Bastard.”

  “Well, obviously he likes it over there.”

  “I know our accents aren’t as classy as over there, but we’ve got tea here, too.”

  David shook his head, smirking a little. “Brighton, he didn’t move over there for a cup of tea. He left because of Danielle.”

  “So she moves to Chicago and he decides that moving to London will be a good way to get her back? Great plan.”

  “Her leaving was hard on him.”

  Brighton rolled his eyes. “Her leaving was hard on all of us. You didn’t see me moving to another country over it.”

  David didn’t say anything.

  Brighton’s mind raced with ideas. He had to figure out how deeply Cole delved into BDSM so he would know how much training, if any, Danielle needed. Was she even submissive?

  Chapter Seven

  Heath couldn’t get her off his mind. Danielle was there with him even though she wasn’t. He saw her in the hot dog he peered down at. Not unlike the meat of the son of a bitch she’d probably made hard when the twiggy bastard had eaten her out in that alley.

  It was just his luck that she looked as gorgeous angry as she did happy. He’d wanted to shut her bitching up with a mad, rough kiss.

  Her athletic outfit had been most distracting. That light-blue tank top had hugged the living crap out of her perfect tits, and those fucking yoga pants, the way they had grabbed a hold of her ass—her big, shapely ass.

  That ass.

  His cock would feel right at home buried in her scrumptious behind. Not unlike the hot dog on his plate that was currently sandwiched in the bun.

  No. Danielle prided herself on only having four sex partners. Well, good for her. And exactly how many men had been privy to other naughty delicacies with her outside the bounds of intercourse?

  Moreover, why did he care?

  He didn’t, damn it. He didn’t care if maybe he should have told her the truth about who he really was, or how lovely her porcelain girl-next-door face was. He sure as hell wasn’t going to waste another second wondering if maybe he shouldn’t have said some of those offensive things to her, or contemplate the gargantuan breasts his hands missed so desperately. He was moving on. Not another thought to what might have been. No indulging in the shaft-tightening memory of black yoga pants being filled out by quite possibly the best female backside he’d ever seen.

  That ass.

  Heath focused instead on his peas. They looked like green versions of nipples.

  Damn it.

  Potato salad. No memories of Danielle there. Good.

  Of course, there were spuds in potato salad.

  No shit.

  French fries were made of spuds, too. They had eaten French fries together in Sioux Falls. Potatoes were his favorite vegetable, damn it. It was a man thing. He didn’t want to give them up to evade the memory of her.

  She had a nice voice, too. He enjoyed listening to it…unless it was bitching at him. Then he wanted to spank her ass.

  His dick shifted in his pants.

  That ass.

  It was hopeless.

  He wondered if they’d spent more time together if they might have eventually fallen in love or ended up simply going their separate ways. Just once he would like to say those three life-changing words to a woman.

  He should have said them to the person he betrayed against his will years ago. He lost his best friend, the only person he’d ever really loved.

  Now the hot dog became his focal point again, and this time it inspired very different images, curiosity left unfulfilled. Probably for the best. His dad didn’t need another disappointment.

  Heath considered that Danielle might have, in fact, been telling the truth when she’d claimed to be a fugitive from an acquaintance of the Mob. She’d seemed pretty pissed off when he’d called her a liar. Maybe she’d been telling the truth.

  It was possible he shouldn’t have insulted her.

  Then again, it was a fact that his women had better save their pussies only for him. He never expected to get a virgin. It would be hypocritical to demand one when he wasn’t even chaste. Still, was it too much to ask that she stay faithful to him…even though they weren’t even dating?

  Crap, I might have overreacted.

  His father, Malachi, was back with Sean Friel from their weekend camping trip in the Black Hills.

  Heath had been quiet for a bit. He decided to say something so nobody would ask him what was wrong. “How was camping?”

  Sean’s face lighted up like a bug frying in a porch light. “It was dynamite.”

  Heath liked camping, too, and anything outdoors, but likening the experience to something explosive was seriously overkill in his book. He preferred camping with friends or girlfriends over doing so with his immediate family.

  Of course, Malachi wasn’t Sean’s father, so maybe it had been more of a friendship-oriented kind of thing.

  Malachi smiled fondly at him before refocusing on his plate as he gathered peas on his spoon. “We had a good time. How did you manage here?”

  “Fine. I got that apartment I applied for,” Heath said.

  “Yes,” Sean hissed happily.

  “You’ll be missed,” Malachi told him, throwing a curious look of amusement at Sean.

  Sean became sheepish. “I’m happy for him.”

  Heath smirked. “Trying to get rid of me, I see.”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “I saw you in town earlier looking at that vacant building,” Malachi remarked. “What were you doing?”

  Crap.

  Well, this was it—that awkward, stressful moment he’d been avoiding for as long as possible.

  Here goes nothing.

  “I was thinking about opening up a clinic,” Heath said.

  Malachi appeared puzzled. “Clinic?”

  Heath sighed in defeat before answering him. “My veterinary clinic.”

  “You need a license and schooling for that,” Sean said uneasily. “Unless you already have those things.”

  “I do,” Heath said with caution, keeping his a
ttention on the sudden tautness of his father’s face muscles. “That’s what I went to school for in Chicago.”

  Malachi slammed his spoon down, resulting in a resounding clank. “What?”

  “I’m a vet. I meant to tell you. I just didn’t know how.”

  “What’s wrong with you? You were supposed to go to seminary.”

  Heath let out a resigned exhale. “I told you before I don’t want that. I’ve always wanted to be a veterinarian.”

  “I had high expectations for you. I thought you were better than Carsten.”

  Sean winced.

  “I am better than Carsten. I just want to take care of animals for a living. What’s so unforgivable about that?”

  Malachi threw his napkin down onto his plate and stood suddenly, fuming. “You’re out of the will of God.”

  Heath snorted and rolled his eyes. “Leave God out of this, will you? This is about what you want. It’s my life.”

  “You were supposed to look after the sheep.”

  The comment tickled his funny bone. “Well, technically I will be, just in a more literal sense.”

  Sean put his hand over his mouth to hide his smile.

  Malachi glared at Heath. “You think that’s funny?”

  “No, sir,” Heath said quietly.

  Malachi stormed out of the dining room. Heath heard the back door slam after his father went outside into the backyard.

  Heath heaved a frustrated sigh. “I knew it would turn out like this.”

  “Why didn’t you tell him?” Sean asked.

  “Did you see what just happened?” Heath gestured with his hand toward the door. “The man’s unreasonable.”

  Sean got up to follow after Malachi. “Let me talk to him.”

  “What are you gonna do that I can’t to change his mind?”

  Sean’s green eyes danced with effervescence. “I have a way with him. I’ll be back.”

  Heath shook his head. There was no way Sean would be able to change his stubborn father’s mind. Malachi was too bullheaded and set in his ways.

  * * * *

  Sean heard tiny footfalls and the gentle rustling of grass beneath itty-bitty pug feet. Squish Face was following him.