by Sam Crescent
Long Mead
The Unbreakable Trio
Claire Martin, Shane Cook, and Liam Turner had been best friends all of their lives. Nothing could separate them. When Claire starts looking for work outside of the comfy town of Long Mead, Shane and Liam know they have to act or they could risk losing her forever.
Giving her a job as a housekeeper at their ranch seems the only solution. They want to keep her close and try to seduce her.
Claire has a secret. Her feelings for Shane and Liam have changed. She doesn’t just want to be their friend, nor does she want only one of them. She wants them both.
A dark secret between Shane and Claire threatens to destroy any possible future between them.
Can these three friends overcome their fears and embrace a future with each other? Or will the unbreakable trio stumble at the first hurdle?
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 25,339 words
THE UNBREAKABLE TRIO
Long Mead
Sam Crescent
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
THE UNBREAKABLE TRIO
Copyright © 2012 by Sam Crescent
E-book ISBN: 978-1-61926-858-6
First E-book Publication: July 2012
Cover design by Harris Channing
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
I would like to say a big thank you to Missy Martine for encouraging me to submit to Siren. You’ve been an amazing lady and it’s a pleasure to know you. Also, I want to mention my family for your continued support of my work. Thank you.
THE UNBREAKABLE TRIO
Long Mead
SAM CRESCENT
Copyright © 2012
Chapter One
Liam Turner stared at the full ass right in front of him. All he wanted to do was reach out and grab a handful of delicious curves and never let go. Claire Martin always did this to him. She made him yearn for her body, for her love.
He shook his head and tried to force his gaze elsewhere. Nothing was happening. Her ass the best thing to look at in all of Long Mead state, which was a small town in the middle of nowhere with nothing to look forward to. Long Mead was surrounded by a massive amount of desert, and their water supply came from a reserve on the edge of town. Most of the young folk hated living in a town cut off from most all the city life. Liam loved the quiet. Yes, they got the tourists in from the history surrounding the town, but nothing ever went wrong. A lot of the men were ranchers. He and his best friend, Shane Cook, owned a ranch about a thirty-minute drive outside of town. They raised cattle. The work was hard and tiring. At least it paid for the rent and the cozy lifestyle they’d enjoyed lately.
“Could you pass me those tins of paint?” Claire asked from the ladder where she stood. Her coworkers had gone out to lunch, leaving Claire to handle the restocking of the shelves. Although it was a small town, they were always busy.
Liam grabbed a tin and handed it up to her. As he brought his arm down, he brushed the curve of her thigh.
“Do you like working here?” Liam asked, curious about the woman who had held his attention for as long as he could remember.
“It pays the bills,” she said on her way down the ladder. She looked a little unsteady, and he grabbed her hips to keep her standing.
Big mistake.
His cock jerked in reaction. Her hips were round and full. Liam dug his fingers into the flesh, feeling the firmness. She wasn’t like skinny girls, where men were afraid with one hard fuck they’d break in two. Claire had more about her.
She could take a fucking from him.
She could take Shane as well. Liam cut the thought off. For years he and his friend had held a torch for this delightful female. Neither wanting to back down from the claiming of her or ruin their friendship, so—by mutual agreement—decided to leave it.
They had watched as she dated a few of the other guys in town. Liam and Shane had never been allowed to intervene because they’d given up their shot with her. Liam, Shane, and Claire had been the best of friends as young children, and the friendship had cemented into adulthood. At twenty-three, they were still close.
“You can let go now,” she whispered.
Liam paused. He didn’t want to let her go. Instead of letting her go, he brought her closer to his body. Their closeness was not enough for her to feel his hard cock.
“You smell good,” he said with a moan as he scented her skin.
Claire giggled and pulled out of his hold. “Have you started on the beer already, cowboy?”
He wished he had.
“Nope. Just making a woman know she’s wanted.”
This was another thing. No matter how many times he or Shane teased her or made suggestive remarks, she never took the bait.
“Well, go and find another woman to add to your bedpost. I’m not interested.” Claire walked away. Liam followed with enough space to watch her ass swing in th
e tight pinstripe skirt. Fuck. What would she look like spread across his desk with his cock inside her cunt? For years he’d thought of what she’d taste like, look like ready to be fucked. If he was honest, he was getting tired of waiting for his friend to wake up and smell the honey. Either Shane got over his problems or Liam would make the first move.
Another year had gone by, and Liam had grown tired of the useless sex he’d been getting from women he didn’t like. Many times while he’d been inside another woman, he would close his eyes and think of Claire. Imagine her response. When he came and opened his eyes, the disappointment had been too hard to bear.
The only woman he wanted was Claire. The only woman he needed was Claire.
He wasn’t going to wait for a loser who didn’t deserve her to snatch her up.
Claire was going to be his.
* * * *
Shane glanced through the glass to see Claire and his friend talking. His gut turned, and the rage he kept at bay threatened to surface. Not many people knew of the life he lived as a young boy. The years of watching an abusive father torment the woman he said he loved and the son he said he wanted had left a horrid stain on Shane’s soul.
Looking at Claire even at a distance made him want things he shouldn’t. She’d been a temptation he’d wanted to avoid.
Shaking his head, Shane entered the shop. Claire and Liam glanced up.
“Hey, stranger,” Claire said, walking around the aisle to give him a hug. He loved her touches. The slightest thing would make her hug or kiss either him or Liam.
When they’d been younger, the kisses and hugs didn’t mean much more than a friendly embrace. As they grew older—or more importantly, as he and Liam had grown older—they’d started to notice the changes with Claire. She’d grown breasts, which they noticed when they were seventeen. Liam’s dad had built a pool in the backyard, and when Claire had stripped and dived in, both Liam and Shane had to duck down in the water to hide their reactions.
Then on her eighteenth birthday, Claire had worn the tightest red dress he’d ever seen. Her curves couldn’t be ignored.
Other guys who’d ignored her were starting to pay attention. He and Liam kept them back. Neither would admit their attraction.
Instead, he’d been left wanting a woman he knew he could never have. Claire was one of his best friends, and the only woman he’d ever been open with.
Shane wrapped his arms around her and inhaled her comforting scent. “I’ve loaded the feed,” he said as he pulled away. Having her in his arms wasn’t good for long periods of time. Shane never wanted to let go.
“You work too much,” Claire said as she went back to her space behind the counter.
“It comes with being a ranch hand. We’ve got to eat something,” Liam answered.
Shane stood next to his friend and glanced down at the sheet of paper in front of Claire. “What’s this?”
She snatched it out of his grip. “Nothing.”
“Application forms don’t look like nothing. Are you thinking of moving out of Long Mead?” Shane didn’t want to think of life without her. He loved her, dammit, and didn’t want her to go.
Liam tensed at his side, and Shane knew he’d be equally as upset.
“Yes, no, I don’t know.” She folded up the piece of paper and placed it under the counter.
“It’s either a yes or a no,” Shane said, sounding angry.
Claire sighed and glanced up. Her dark-brown eyes glared back at him. “This isn’t your business. If I move out of town—”
“You’ll be in for a mighty big spanking, that’s what,” Shane said. Liam stayed out of the conversation.
“Don’t threaten me, Shane. I’m a big girl, and if I want to leave, then I can. It’s not like anything is stopping me from going.”
Her comment cut him deep.
“You’ve got me and Liam.”
She scoffed. “I’m sure your wives, when you get them, would love that.”
“We’re not getting married.” Shane knew Liam felt the same way about Claire. Neither of them wanted any other woman. They both wanted her.
“You don’t know that.”
“You’re not leaving Long Mead,” he said.
“Don’t even think of telling me what to do, Shane Cook,” Claire yelled.
Liam stood between them, even with the counter dividing them. “Stop. Claire isn’t leaving town yet. Let’s calm down and talk about it.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. When a decent job comes up, I’m leaving town.”
Shane went to say something else, but Liam cut him off. “We’ll talk later.” He mouthed the words.
He nodded his head and glanced back at Claire. Her chest was heaving, and even after arguing with her, his body responded to her heaving chest. Shane wanted to see her naked, to be able to look at, suck, and kiss every part of her body.
“I’m sorry I yelled,” he said.
“Accepted, and I’m sorry I did, too.” She leaned over the counter and kissed Shane.
For once he wanted to feel her lips against his for longer than a split second. He wanted to know what it would be like to have her melt with pleasure under his hands.
Shane, Liam, and Claire kept talking for the remainder of the staff lunch break and left as the first lot of workers began to drift in.
Shane nodded at a few people and followed Liam out to the truck. He slammed the door harder than usual.
“Shane,” Liam said.
“Don’t.” Shane cut him off.
Shane started the truck and raced toward their ranch. The window was rolled down, and he let the breeze calm him.
After the thirty-minute drive, he pulled up to the ranch.
“We’ve got to talk about Claire,” Liam said the moment the ignition turned off.
“What’s to talk about? She’s going to find a job, leave town, get a man, and never remember us again.” There he went sounding all soppy.
“It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Shane turned to his other best friend. “Why? We can’t make her stay. She deserves to have a life. To have a family and a man who can care about her.”
“I care about her, Shane. Fuck me. I love her. Always have. Nothing’s going to change the way I feel,” Liam argued. Shane paused as the other ranch hands walked toward the car.
“We’ll talk later.” Shane got out and helped unload the truck. Liam went and did his chores while Shane took care of his. Working with his hands helped Shane to not think about Claire.
He loved her, too. Ever since they were young kids, they’d been together. Liam didn’t know about the times he used to crawl into her bedroom. When his daddy had hit the whisky a little too heavy, Shane would lock his bedroom door, climb out of his window, and run to Claire’s house. She slept at the back of the house. He’d climb into the backyard and up the tree.
No matter the time, she never turned him away. Even when he used to visit her bedroom late at night, she would welcome him with open arms, except on his last appearance in her room. No, he wouldn’t think of that last occasion in her bedroom. Shane closed down. He couldn’t think of that one instant when he’d almost ruined their friendship forever.
In no time at all, night hit. The ranch hands had some dinner, a burned stew that Shane had cooked before they left. Liam and Shane were all alone in their big old house. Liam grabbed a beer from the fridge while Shane stuck with water. He never drank alcohol.
“What are we going to do about her?” Shane asked. Liam sat across from him.
“We need a cook.”
“So? How’s that going to help our situation with Claire?” Shane didn’t have time for the head games he liked to play.
“I think we should put an advertisement in the local paper and wait for her to call on it,” Liam said with a smile.
“And you think a girl like Claire will answer the ad for a housekeeping position?”
“Claire is a real smart girl, but she wants a family. She wants to fee
l wanted. We want her, so why don’t we just fucking have what we want?” Liam knocked back his beer. Shane thought about what he said.
Shane and Liam had shared women before. Being with the same woman had helped them deal, in some weird kind of way, with the desire they had for Claire.
“What if she doesn’t want us?”
“We’ve got nothing to lose. For too long we’ve not acted on our feelings for Claire. Some guy is going to take her away from us, and I’m not willing to let that happen. I know she’ll struggle to adapt, and we’ll have to prove to her being with two men isn’t a bad thing.”
They had some friends who shared a woman and had lived together in complete happiness. Two men who shared one woman in a loving relationship was possible.
Could he and Liam do the same with Claire?
The thought of her leaving was more than he could bear. Shane was willing to take the risk.
Chapter Two
With a heavy heart, Claire watched her two friends leave. Something was wrong with her. After reading so many books on romance and love, she’d started to feel like a freak. She had a secret. She was in love with both of her friends. Liam and Shane had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember. Nothing had kept them apart.
They’d been friends since they were toddlers. They didn’t look down on her or view her as a pest. Most of her life she’d been left feeling like an outsider, the youngest member of her family who didn’t belong with them. While they talked and reminisced about the good times, she stood on the outskirts never knowing what it meant to be part of it all.