Red Clouds Dancing [The ShadowDance Club 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Avery Gale

  All the time she’d been on the phone, Mr. Hottie Cowboy had stood in front of her watching her as if he would be able to see directly into her soul if she’d just look at him long enough. She had no sooner hung up than her cell phone rang and she immediately recognized Tori’s number on the display. When she answered she heard her friend’s soft laughter. “Hey there, sweet friend…got a hot-looking fella standing in front of ya? Isn’t he yummy?” Layla could tell Tori had turned to someone else when she said, “Hey! I didn’t mean yummy for me—I mean yummy for my single pal. I’ve already got all the yummy I can handle.” When Tori giggled and then redirected her conversation to her, Layla shook her head. “Sorry, my sweet husband is a bit possessive. Now, is Cash there?”

  Layla knew her face was flaming a brilliant red because there was no doubt the man in front of her had heard her friend’s questions. His grin was a dead giveaway. “Yes, as a matter of fact he is. Don’t suppose you’d be interested in enlightening me would you?” She knew her words didn’t hold any real bite, hell’s bells, the only thing she wanted to bite was standing in front of her watching her with an intensity that might have intimidated a lesser woman. But she was determined to stand tall and at least appear unaffected.

  “Cash is a good friend and when Kat and I found out he was going to be in Houston…well, we did some planning and we enlisted our men’s help.” Tori giggled, but then her tone turned serious. “You know that I’d never send someone you couldn’t trust, right? Well, anyway, we wanted to do something special for you for your graduation. Oh, girlfriend, this is your lucky day. Please just go along with Cash. He has very specific instructions.” Tori’s sweet giggle was infectious and Layla couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, and you getting off early is compliments of Zach Lamont’s charm. Go and enjoy and I’ll see you soon.” And then she disconnected.

  Layla stared at her phone in disbelief and was only jarred back to the present by Cash’s soft laughter. “She’s something else. Hell, they all are—you’ll see that soon enough. Now, let’s get a move on before we’re late to your appointment and I’m in hot water with my friends.” He picked up the small box she’d packed and escorted her out of the building.

  When she got closer to the large truck she hesitated, wondering how she was going to get into it without a stepladder. Damned pencil skirt anyway. She’d been riding the bus since selling her small car a few weeks ago. Honestly, it had been on its last legs and probably wouldn’t have made it to Colorado anyway, but it had still been sad letting it go. Cash opened the truck’s rear door and placed her small box on the seat before opening her door. He simply turned to her and lifted her up onto the seat as if she didn’t weigh anything at all. He smiled at her gasp of surprise while leaning across and securing her seat belt. After he’d snapped the two ends together he kissed her on the forehead. “You smell good enough to eat, sweetheart—like fresh strawberries.” His double meaning wasn’t lost on her and she felt her face flush again. He was chuckling again as he closed her door.

  Chapter 2

  Present day

  Cash leaned back and watched as the last of the liquor was placed on the glass shelves behind the bar as the bartenders quickly finished up last-minute details for tonight’s Grand Opening. Cash had been pleasantly surprised at how quickly they’d gotten the place up and running. It had turned out that Clay Red Cloud was something of a marvel as a designer and renovator. He and Collin had teased their youngest brother that he’d done a great job with the place because he’d been in every bar west of the Mississippi during his PBRA days.

  Collin had moved back to Climax at the same time and his renovations to their parents’ rambling ranch home had turned the place into a technological dream space. They had spent weeks asking everyone that knew Layla Lang questions about her preferences and tastes in everything from colors to furnishings and the entire house had been decorated with her in mind. They had built a suite of rooms at the end of the hall that had been added on as a special gift for the blonde bombshell motel manager the Lamonts had hired.

  When he’d gone to help his brothers move home a couple of months ago, he hadn’t hesitated when his bosses had asked him to escort their newly hired motel manager to an appointment, hell, he’d have done almost anything to get out of that damned hospital. His brother Clay had to be the worst patient on the planet. He’d been lucky the header he’d taken during his last PBRA performance hadn’t snapped his fool neck. Every time Cash had looked at the films he’d marveled at how Clay had come through with nothing but a moderately severe concussion. Not that he and Collin hadn’t considered wringing his neck themselves a time or two during Clay’s last hospital stay, but the damned kid had been asking for it if you asked Cash.

  And even though he understood Clay’s worry about an uncertain future, he hadn’t been inclined to tolerate his younger sibling’s habit of growling at anyone who wanted to discuss other options with him. Christ, talk about the King of Denial. Cash had wanted to polish his crown and hand the Prince of Pissy a scepter and sing that damned coronation song they played at graduations.

  All things considered it hadn’t been any hardship to walk out and leave Collin to deal with Clay for a few hours so that he could help Katarina Lamont and Victoria Bartell do something nice for Climax’s soon-to-be-newest citizen. Kat and Tori were both sweethearts and when they’d sworn that he’d be happy if he’d helped them, he’d assumed he would be getting some kind of gift from them.

  Even now he had laughed to himself when he thought back on how he had hoped their gift wouldn’t be something they had cooked themselves, since their reputations as being culinary disasters were nearly legendary. But the minute he’d walked into the lobby of the law firm where Tori had worked before moving to Climax he’d known exactly what the two had meant about being grateful.

  He had always been known for keeping his cool when everything around him was going from sunshine to shit, but he’d been completely thunderstruck by Layla. Her hourglass figure had curves in all the right places and she had the face of an angel. He’d never cared a thing for stick-thin women, what man wanted someone they had to worry they’d break into pieces the first time he fucked her against the wall? Layla’s skin was the clearest shade of ivory he’d ever seen and he’d bet it turned to the color of pearls under the full moon. Years ago his Navajo grandmother had told him to “watch for the woman who shines in the moonlight” and he’d always assumed her words were figurative. But after he’d met Layla, he wasn’t so sure.

  Cash loved all three of his fathers but he hadn’t ever been convinced he and his two brothers would be able to successfully replicate their success. His fathers were all different but the three brothers had always seemed to use their strengths and weaknesses in a strange well-choreographed dance that oddly enough always seemed to work out to everyone’s benefit. The one thing that had never been in question was the three elder Red Cloud siblings’ total devotion to their mother. The problem was he and his brothers had always had vastly different tastes in women. Cash couldn’t ever remember a time when any of them had ever even been remotely attracted to the same woman.

  As he’d walked across the lobby that day, he’d heard her talking to herself and it had sounded like a mental list of things she needed to get done before Sunday and it had sounded like a pretty long list. As he made his way through traffic he finally broke the silence in the truck. “It sounded like you have a pretty significant list of things to do before Sunday.” At her surprised look he added, “You were talking to yourself, beautiful.” He had smiled and she’d seemed to relax. “Now—what is Sunday?”

  He’d been surprised when she’d explained, “Oh…my graduation. I have a lot to do, so I may have to miss it. And…well, I’d been looking forward to it, you know? I’ve worked really hard and everything…but, well, hell’s bells, I guess it doesn’t really matter. I don’t have anyone coming anyway, so…” She didn’t finish; she just turned and stared out of her window. Cash had already figu
red out it was damned important to her, as it should be, but when he heard her sniff back tears his heart had nearly broken for her.

  He didn’t want to embarrass her by drawing attention to her disappointment or tears so he just continued on with his conversation. When he’d offered to help her with her list and to enlist the help of his brothers if need be she’d been thrilled. He’d delivered her to the address he’d been given and had watched as her eyes widened in shock. According to Kat and Tori, The Bonita Spa was a luxury day spa—what the fuck ever that was—that would be providing Layla with an afternoon of pure decadent pampering. The place was a black granite wonder, at least from the outside. When he turned to look at his passenger she was gaping at him open-mouthed.

  Cash had explained, “Beautiful, this is a gift from your girl friends in Climax. They wanted you to be ‘pampered and properly primed,’ their words, not mine, by the way, before your big day, so you see, it’s important for you to attend your graduation.” He watched as her pretty emerald eyes filled with tears and then spilled over. He reached over and wiped them away with his thumbs before he pulled her closer. “Don’t cry, love. Mercy, Kat and Tori will skin me alive if I take you in there looking like someone kicked your new puppy.”

  He gave her a quick hug when she smiled and told her, “Come on, beautiful, let’s get you inside before you’re late.” After he’d left her in the capable hands of the spa staff and double checked that the other gifts her friends had sent had arrived, he told her to be sure and wait inside the spa when she was finished and that he’d come back for her. He planned to be back before she was finished, but years of Special Forces training was never far from the surface and back-up plans were his second nature.

  After making several phone calls he’d made his way back to the medical center to check on Clay. When he saw his brother’s room was filled with family and friends he pulled Collin to a corner. Collin had always been the family “Brainiac” and certainly had the accolades and bank balance to prove it. So when he’d inquired about Collin’s plans for dinner that night, his younger brother’s skepticism had been obvious.

  Grinning Cash just said, “Let’s go, I’ll tell you on the way.” Then he leaned close to Clay and spoke low enough that no one else could hear. “I’ll call you later, gotta run. Make sure you don’t make any plans, for your last day in Houston, I’ll explain later.” He wanted to preempt any chance Clay wouldn’t be able to attend Layla’s graduation. Not only did Cash want Layla to have friends there because it was obviously a worthy accomplishment, but he also wanted his brother to meet her. Their grandmother had always sworn they would follow their family’s long history of polyamorous marriage, and for the first time, Cash had sensed that his grandmother’s prediction just might be fulfilled.

  Cash remembered how Collin had been more than a little skeptical when he’d insisted he needed to meet Layla, or at least he had been until she walked into the waiting room at the spa. Collin had told him later that he’d felt like the floor had completely fallen away from his feet. And that he’d known in that instant that she was their One.

  At Cash’s subtle unspoken signal, Collin had stood back and watched while he greeted Layla because he’d seen her eyes darting hesitatingly between them when she had walked into the lobby. They’d laughed later about the large bag she’d been carrying and how she’d seemed so reluctant to hand it over. When Kat and Tori had explained later it was full of racy lingerie they’d understood why she’d been so protective of its secrets.

  When he’d introduced her to Collin, his brother had stepped forward and grasped both of her small hands in his. “I’m so pleased to meet you, Layla. You are everything Cash said you were and more.” Collin had smiled when her pretty green eyes went wide and then immediately dropped to the floor. They’d both recognized Layla as a sub immediately and they’d both also known she wasn’t going to be easy to convince. He remembered watching as she seemed to gather her defenses close but he’d known patience was the only way to win her heart.

  Cash had known the next few days would be a flurry of activity, but suddenly he’d felt very energized by the prospect. Walking her back to Cash’s truck from the spa they’d made sure that one of them was touching her at all times and he’d noticed she had seemed disconcerted by how much she liked it. Obviously she’d been on her own for a long time in a large city so she hadn’t been accustomed to being taken care of and he’d been determined in that moment to move heaven and earth to make her theirs.

  She had thanked them for giving her a ride back to the office so she could catch the bus and he’d been caught off guard by her assumption that he would just leave her off at a bus stop when it would be dark in a few minutes. She’d mentioned how grateful she was that she wouldn’t have to walk all the way home from the spa because it was quite a hike and her neighborhood wasn’t a place any sane person wanted to stroll through after dark. He knew the look he and Collin had given her must have been mirror images of incredulous disbelief, because she’d looked between them and stopped chattering instantly. They’d both said “No” at the same time and the vehemence in their responses had startled her.

  They’d been stopped at a red light so he’d been able to watch her closely as she’d launched into a frustrated tirade. “What the heck? No, what? No, you won’t give me a ride back to the office or well, I guess I don’t even really know what else you might be barking no about. So, well, I guess if you’ll just drop me at the next bus stop, I’ll figure it out and you’ll be off the hook.” She hadn’t been able to keep the disappointment and hurt out of her voice even though he’d known she had tried.

  He knew his voice had been more growl than it should have been but at the time he’d been very close to pulling her over his knee and paddling her very fine ass. “No, to the bus, period.”

  Most women would have had the good sense to stop rattling on, but not Layla. She’d just gone right on with her ridiculous rambling, “Well, alrighty then. But I’m going on record as not appreciating having to walk all that way in these ‘fuck me’ shoes Tori sent me. Did you know they took my other clothes and wouldn’t give them back? Damn, that frosted my cookies. I liked that skirt, hell, it was the best thing I’d ever found at Goodwill. But anyway, these shoes”—and she’d pointed to the heels she was now wearing—“are going to stand out in my neck of the woods, I tell ya. Hell, these shoes probably cost more than some of my neighbors make in a month of Sundays. Well, the ones that have legitimate jobs, anyway.” She’d sighed and tried to hide her disappointment, but both he and Collin could see the stress of everything was finally catching up with her.

  Chapter 3

  Cash shook his head and laughed as he remembered how he’d surprised Layla by reminding her about how quickly he maneuvered to the right-hand lane and exited the freeway that first evening in Houston. When he’d told her how close she’d come to getting her sweet ass warmed up that night she’d turned a beautiful shade of crimson. The two of them had been talking as they’d eaten the small picnic lunch he’d packed as a surprise for her and they had both laughed at the memory of their first misunderstanding.

  When they had all first moved back to Climax, each of them had been completely swamped with work obligations and had only seen each other in passing and for an occasional get-together with friends. But he had never any doubt that he and his brothers would go after her as soon as the timing was right. Cash, Collin, and Clay had been working nearly day and night to get the renovations to their home and the dance club completed on very ambitious timetables. Now, with all of the updates to their home wrapped up and the construction on the bar and grill complete, he and his brothers had begun what they affectionately called “Project Layla.”

  That first afternoon, when he’d kidnapped her for two hours during the day, he’d packed a small picnic lunch. He’d led her down to the creek behind the motel and they’d dangled their feet in the water and talked as they’d eaten the sandwiches and raw vegetables he knew she loved
to snack on. She’d been overjoyed when she’d seen the fresh strawberries and white cake without frosting. He’d laughed out loud at her squeal of delight when he’d pulled a small container of Cool Whip from the little ice chest. But he’d made it clear he disagreed when she’d compared the treat to good sex. “Layla, I remember our last night in the condo before we left Houston and I’m absolutely positive these strawberries don’t compare to the pleasure we all felt that night.”

  They’d both been quiet for long minutes, lost in the memories of lust filled passion of that night. He’d finally broken the silence by asking her if she planned to attend Red Clouds Dancing’s Grand Opening. When she’d told him she would be there with bells on he’d spontaneously pulled her into his embrace. She’d gone completely still before she’d relaxed and he’d felt her nipples peak beneath her thin cotton shirt as he held her tightly against his chest.

  After he’d taken her back to work he’d returned to the club and sat down in the main bar area with a stack of invoices he needed to review. And he quickly found himself staring at his work but not seeing anything on the paper in his hands. Letting his memories lead him back to that first night in Houston. Before he and Collin had taken Layla to her apartment he’d asked her, “When did you last eat a full meal, Layla?” He knew by the look on her face he wasn’t going to like the answer before she ever opened her mouth.