by Lori King
For more than a year she had been his punching bag, and his crutch. He had stolen her smile, her happiness, her friends, her security, her pride, and now her baby. Her hand spread over her abdomen as she stared at the erotic tableau in front of her. Even now the ache of her miscarriage burned in her gut, reminding her of how deep his controlling hand had reached into her soul. She had no family to protect her, or help her find an escape, and thanks to Robert, she had no friends she could turn to either. Sidney Rowe was on her own now, because her fiancé was fucking another woman in her bed.
Robert was completely oblivious to her. Now was the moment she had been waiting for. She had to make a run for it, before he barked out his release as he came inside of his new fuck-mate. On silent feet, she turned, and walked back into the living. Her hands were steady as she dug out the sugar canister in the back of the cabinet. Unscrewing the cap, she took out the money she had been hiding from Robert, and shoved it into her pocket. Then she scooped her keys back up, and walked out the front door.
A few minutes from the house she stopped her car at the edge of the Reedy river. Walking calmly to the center of the lit bridge, she ignored the traffic behind her, and slid the small diamond ring from her finger. She had no need for reminders of the life she was leaving, so she threw it as hard as she could, and without waiting for the sound of it hitting the water, she headed back to her car. It didn’t cross her mind until she was nearly eighty miles away from Greenville that she had no clothing, no destination, and very little money.
When it clicked in her brain, she stopped at a gas station to fill up her tank and let herself cry. She wasn’t crying for the lost relationship. God forbid she ever mourn the hell that she had been living. She was crying for herself. For the last year she had been consumed by Robert, and now she was alone. She didn’t think she would ever find a way to be normal again, and in her heart she knew that Robert would never let her just walk away from him. It wasn’t over. No matter how much she wished it was.
Chapter 1
Seven weeks later….
Sidney looked around cautiously at the quiet dance floor. Other than the neon lights behind the bar and the security lights over the two exit doors, it was completely dark, and thankfully empty. She held her breath, listening for any hint of noise. Reassured that she was alone in the building, she sighed heavily. It had taken longer for everyone to get cleaned up and clocked out tonight. The bar had been crazy busy with the local country-and-western band playing. The band, Texas Knights, was fantastic, and it helped business that the lead singer was one of three owners of the bar they were playing in.
Tyce Dawson was one of the sexiest men she had ever seen in her life, and when he sang it was like a soothing balm to her soul. She snorted as she thought to herself, me and every other woman within hearing range. Tyce was a ladies’ man that could work a bar room over in a minute and never failed to have a whole pack of ladies ready to rip their clothes off and kneel at his feet with just a quirk of his eyebrow. His brothers Xavier and Noah were just as hot, and just as available. She sighed again as her blood heated just thinking about her too-hot-to-handle bosses.
They were power and charm all wrapped up into jaw-droppingly sexy, muscular bodies. Just sitting through the interview process with the youngest brother, Noah, had left her face flushed and her panties dripping. And when middle brother Tyce handed her the miniscule uniform for the bartender job, giving her his trademark cheeky grin, she almost melted to the floor and begged him to take her there.
She didn’t meet the oldest brother, Xavier, until her first night tending bar by herself. She was in the back stockroom trying to get a bottle of tequila from the top shelf. Perched precariously on the top step of a step stool, she had bobbled, nearly face-planting on the floor. She was startled when two large hands gripped her hips to hold her steady. Xavier huffed when she squealed, but he apologized for startling her. Then he reached up and pulled the bottle of liquor down, handing it to her with the directive to ask him or his brothers for help reaching the top shelf and stay off of the step stool. It had been almost a full minute before she could slow her heart rate enough to walk back out to the bar, and she had decided then that she should be avoiding all three men as much as possible.
With piercing blue eyes, hard, muscular bodies, and matching black tribal tattoos banding their right biceps, they were three heart-stoppingly sexy men that attracted supermodel-gorgeous women. They were constantly surrounded by friends and seemed to know everyone. Her coworkers Kara Holt and Anna Pine had explained that they all served in the Marines prior to buying the bar, which they renamed Triple Shot and brought back from the brink of extinction. Each member of the trio was very different in personality, but they were fiercely loyal to each other.
She chided herself for thinking about her bosses and walked quickly toward the manager’s office. This wasn’t what she needed to be focused on right now, and it wasn’t helping her situation. She had no idea where she was going to go when she left Apache Crossing, but remaining in one place for too long was dangerous. Robert wasn’t happy that she had left him, and he wouldn’t stop trying to get her back under his thumb.
He had left repeated messages on her cell phone, starting a few hours after she left Greenville, and continuing until just a few days ago. At first they sounded irritated, but they quickly grew angry and nasty. His last message had promised to kill her when he found her, and she knew in her heart that he meant it. She refused to answer the phone when it rang, period. She even considered throwing it out the window as she drove down a long, lonely highway, but she was afraid she would need it to call 911 if Robert managed to catch up to her. Blinking back tears, Sidney shrugged off her fear and hurried through the empty manager’s office, her eyes still darting around her for any signs of life. She couldn’t risk getting caught. Not now, when she had finally lost Robert, and found a job. She needed at least a few more weeks to save some money.
Silently, she wondered what she would do if someone walked in and found her in the bar so long after hours. The private bathroom was supposed to be for the three owners only, and she had never seen any employee dare to use it, but she was desperate for a hot shower. How would she explain why she was here, and why she wasn’t showering at the motel up the highway that she had listed as her residential address to get this job? She would be screwed if someone tried to verify her home address, because she had never actually even registered as a guest at that motel. She had just picked one from the phone book for its local address.
She left all of the lights off except the one in the bathroom, and after spreading her toiletries out on the sink countertop, she turned the shower on to bring the water to temperature. Reaching up, she let her shoulder-length blonde hair down from the rubber band that held it, and then looked at her body carefully in the mirror.
She watched her hands pull the tight black halter top of her uniform over her head and then unzip the short shorts and let them drop to her ankles. Standing there braless in just a soft pink thong, she was shocked to see the changes that were happening to her body. Just a little over a month with no sleep and less than adequate meals, and she was beginning to look like a walking skeleton. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she had lost enough weight that her normally curvy body looked more angular and gaunt.
Her ribs were pressing out from under her full breasts, and there was now a hollow at her belly button between the sharp points of her hip bones. The clothes she had been wearing when she left Robert were too big for her now, so she had purchased a few pieces from the local department store to wear when she wasn’t at work. She turned slightly and sneered when she noticed that her plump, apple-shaped butt hadn’t shrunk at all. The biggest embarrassment of her high school days had been her ghetto booty. Men always seemed to think she was just dying for someone to grab ahold of it. That truck-stop owner certainly had. Robert had hated it. Deeming it too plump for his taste, he had spent plenty of time admonishing her to work out harder. The
only physical feature she didn’t want to change was her full C-cup breasts that were still pretty perky. Robert had encouraged her several times to look into breast augmentation, because he liked large breasts. God, I’m glad I never listened to him about that, she thought to herself.
She rolled her eyes at herself for thinking about his dumb ass again and then stepped under the hot water, letting her body relax into it. She washed her hair, slowly massaging her scalp and trying to ease the headache that always formed when she worked a double shift at the bar.
She had made great tips tonight, especially from the Marine Corps friends of the Dawson brothers. They had swamped the two tables next to where she was working the bar and were there for nearly four hours. They were all delicious-looking men, and each one was an example out of a sinful fantasy. She flirted with them, knowing that they were great tippers, and made sure to keep their drinks full the whole night.
Military men, who were probably more interested in a fling than a relationship, they kept all of the women at the bar drooling when they came as a group. She had even found herself accepting the two phone numbers that were pressed into her hand, but she quickly disposed of them both, knowing she would never call them.
If she was honest with herself, she wasn’t really interested in a quick roll with any of them. No, she had eyes only for the Dawson brothers, and there was no way that was ever happening. No matter how much her body wanted release, she just couldn’t risk it. Besides the fact that she wasn’t staying here permanently, she wasn’t sure she would ever want to trust a man enough to spend time alone with him again.
After making sure she had all of the conditioner rinsed from her scalp, she quickly soaped her body, washing away the smoky scent of the bar. The whole time she scrubbed at her skin, she hummed Heidi Newfield’s “Johnny & June,” imagining herself falling in love with a good man who would walk through fire for her instead of pushing her into the flames.
Feeling refreshed, she grabbed her disposable razor and shaving gel. She hadn’t shaved in over a week, and she was feeling prickly and itchy. Her uniform required that she wear tiny shorts, and she didn’t want to be hairy. Surely just a couple more minutes in the shower wouldn’t hurt. All of the other employees were probably already settled at home in bed.
She quickly shaved her armpits and then moved on to her legs. She had long legs that made up most of her five-foot-seven height, and she enjoyed the feeling of sliding the razor over her own skin. After a few short minutes, she was feeling decidedly more feminine and hygienic and decided to go one more step and shave her pussy clean as well. She had never liked leaving herself unkempt, but in the past Robert had forced her to keep herself waxed, because he didn’t like the prickly short hairs as they grew back. She didn’t have the funds or the desire to go through that torture, but a quick shave wouldn’t hurt.
She lathered the shaving gel over her mound, and then lifting her foot to the ledge of the bathtub she ran the razor gently over her lips. Her clit throbbed at the motion, and her legs trembled slightly. She had especially sensitive skin, and just touching herself in this small way left her craving more. Robert had never been able to bring her to orgasm, but she had learned quickly how to do it for herself. She couldn’t count the number of fake climaxes she had screamed out while in bed with him. Usually, the second he finished, he would jump out of bed to take a shower, and she would finish herself off.
After removing every stray hair from her mound, she rinsed herself clean and then let her finger slip between her pussy lips. Just brushing the tip of her finger over her clit sent a hot tremor through her spine, and she moved her hand lower to slide her finger deep inside herself. She moaned softly and then stiffened when she heard a masculine groan to match. Looking up, she found herself staring through the clear shower curtain into the glittering, lust-filled blue eyes of Tyce Dawson, and she screamed.
Tyce stepped back at her scream, startled that the goddess in his shower had reacted to him in such a frightened manner. When he had stopped back by the bar to pick up the night’s receipts, he had never intended to stay. He had just grabbed the envelope from behind the bar when he heard the sound of the shower in the private bathroom running. Pausing, he considered calling the sheriff and decided to investigate the intruder himself first. After all, how dangerous could a person be standing naked in a shower? He pulled out his cell phone, ready to call the sheriff in case it became necessary, and crept quietly through the offices to the bathroom door.
He could not have prepared himself for the sight that greeted him when he silently pushed the door open. The smoking-hot bartender that he had been dreaming about for the last month was delightfully naked in the shower just a few feet away from him, humming a tune like she didn’t have a care in the world. Going rock hard in an instant, he had to physically adjust his stance to make room for his thick cock in his jeans. He knew he should have spoken up right away, but he couldn’t find his voice or any coherent words. He watched as she bent, facing away from him so that he had a perfect view of her luscious, round ass, and proceeded to shave her legs.
Tyce had never seen a woman shaving her legs in front of him, and he was surprised how sexy the sight was. He watched the little pink razor as it slid from her delicate ankle all the way up to her upper thigh, and then did it again and again. When she finally stopped shaving her legs and began rinsing the shaving cream from her body, he figured the jig was up. He was going to announce his presence and let her know she was caught, but then she had done the unimaginable.
For the longest two minutes of his life he watched her rub the thick, white shaving cream over her pussy and then slide the razor over her pale-pink skin. His vision spun, and his blood pressure spiked as he clenched his hands into fists to keep from reaching out toward that lovely sight. He wondered how it would feel to be the one holding the razor as it slid over the slippery velvet skin of her pussy lips. That was one sexual fantasy he had never had, until now. His cock had swollen to a painful point down the thigh of his jeans, and he could feel the pre-cum making a wet spot at its tip. What he wouldn’t give to shuck off his clothes and join her under the hot water. He would love to kneel in front of her and get a close-up view of those pretty pink folds, culminating in an inspection of her every crevice with his tongue and cock.
He wasn’t surprised that he was attracted to Sidney—she was a gorgeous woman—but this was something different. From the moment he was introduced to her, he had felt a strange connection to her, and when he had seen her in her uniform that first night, he thought he was going to blow his load in his jeans right there on stage. He had been flirting and trying to spend time with her ever since. He could tell that she was shy, so he was trying to take it slow, but his body had just shot past that plan at the speed of light. The moment he saw her rinsing her mound free of the shaving cream and then sliding her own fingers deep into her soft folds, his brain shut down.
When she moaned out loud, he couldn’t control the groan that slipped from his throat, and then she screamed.
Coming back to the present moment, he frowned as he took in the shock on her face and the play of emotions in her eyes as she tried to find an escape route. Trying to force himself to adopt a casual demeanor and regain the ability to speak, he leaned against the doorjamb, watching her. His lips turned up when she snatched up the small washcloth and tried to cover her beautifully hairless pussy with it. Her other arm was wrapped tightly over her gorgeous breasts, but he could see one dusky-pink nipple still poking out, calling to him.
Licking his lips, he spoke. “Well, well, well. I didn’t expect to find company this evening. Come on out, love, or you’re going to freeze when the hot water runs out. Maybe you can tell me why you are here using this particular shower? Not that I mind finding a sexy woman all wet and turned on, but I am a bit surprised.” He let the heat of his desire temper his tone. His voice was husky even to his own ears, and his cock was painfully hard.
She stood there in silence lookin
g like a trapped animal, and he found himself getting a little bit irritated. She was trespassing in his private bathroom, so why did he suddenly feel like a pervert for being there?
As he watched she started to tremble, and it took him a moment to realize that she was shaking in fear. His protective instincts kicked in, and scooping up the towel that was sitting on the sink, he held it out to her.
“Here, get dressed. I’m not going to rape you, although I wouldn’t turn you down if you asked me to join you.” He laughed as he spoke, but when she grew pale he cursed under his breath. He took a step toward her and pushed the towel past the almost invisible shower curtain. After just a second she snatched it from him, letting him get another look at her perfect tits, and before he could blink away the fog of desire, she was wrapped from armpit to thigh in the thick terry cloth. Her gaze darted from him to the doorway and then to her bag of clothes on the floor and finally back to him.
He sighed and forced his body language to relax. “All right, I’m going out to the office, and I will give you five minutes to get dressed and come up with a damn good reason for why you are here after hours using otherwise off-limits facilities for your personal use. Five minutes, Sidney.”
Turning on one heel, he pushed back out the door into the office, leaving her still shaking with shock in the now-steamy bathroom. He snatched open the bottom drawer of the desk and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniel’s so that he could pour himself a shot. By the bottom of the third shot, he felt like he had his raging libido back under control.
Sidney sunk down into a crouch at the bottom of the tub the moment the door shut behind Tyce, burying her face in her hands. What am I going to do, she thought. Surely he is going to fire me. Or maybe he would just call the cops and have her arrested for trespassing.
She had never dreamed that one of the Dawson brothers would stop back by the bar this long after closing time. She wondered what in the world could have brought him here. She had watched him leave after the band finished playing with a rodeo bimbo draping each arm, jealous as hell that she couldn’t touch him. She hadn’t missed the heat in Tyce’s eyes when their eyes met through the clear shower curtain. There was clearly an attraction there, but she knew from experience that lust was a one-way street with men, and she was never going in the right direction.