by Jane Jamison
Could I do it? Could I have sex with three men? Three men one at a time? Or even together?
Yeah. I could.
She’d made the choice to change her life by leaving her old life behind and moving to Brimstone. At the time, she hadn’t realized that three amazing men might be a major part of that change. She smiled, excitement filling her.
Chapter Five
Colby let out a yelp as she was yanked inside her bedroom. Melly eased the door closed.
“So? What happened after I left?”
Melly’s grin was enough to bring a smile to Colby’s face. “Nothing much. We just talked, that’s all.”
“Are you kidding me? You talked?”
“About the ranch. About them helping me out until I can get a grip on things.” If she didn’t glance away, she’d give everything away with one look. “They’re good guys and nice neighbors.”
She found herself shoved so hard she fell on top of the bed. “Hey!”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me, girl.” Melly fisted her hands on her hips, taking a “you’d better tell me everything” stance. “Those three are into you like nobody’s business. Please tell me you did more than talk about horses and cows.”
“What more were we supposed to talk about?”
“I said more, but I’m not talking about talking. Shit, girl, if I were in your place, I’d already be spread-eagled over the top of the kitchen table.”
“Okay, first of all, eew. Remind me to never eat at your house again. In the second place, I only just met them. I can’t just jump on top of them and have my way with them.”
“The fact that you’d say ‘have my way’ shows how sexually repressed you are. It’s called fucking, banging, shagging, and a hundred other names, but not ‘having my way’ with them.”
“I’m not sexually repressed just because I’m not ready to hop in bed with three men I just met.”
Molly could always see right through her. Now was no exception. “Really? Looks to me like you’re ready to take them on, one at a time or all at once.”
She knew she wouldn’t win. She rarely did. Still, she had to try. “And what makes you so sure?”
Molly scanned her from head to toes. “Well, let’s see. Your pupils were enlarged when I first hauled your ass in here.”
“Which means?”
“Which means you were turned-on.”
“And you know this how, Dr. Melly?”
“I read, and I’m experienced. If you don’t believe me, then all you have to do is see how hard your nipples are.”
She glanced down and saw that Melly was right. Crossing her arms, she still tried her best to deny the real reason. “It’s chilly in here. So what?”
“No, it’s not. Come on, Colby. Anyone with eyes can see they turn you on. Why not just go for it?”
She couldn’t take any more, especially since Melly was dead right. “Okay, I’m done.” She stood and took hold of her friend’s arm to tug her toward the door. “I’m worn out, and this isn’t the kind of thing we should be talking about on the day of my father’s funeral. Get out so I can get some rest.”
“Fine, but from what little I’ve heard about your old man, he wouldn’t mind this kind of talk at all.”
Colby wasn’t about to get into her father’s sexual life. She, too, had heard a few rumors over the years and even since she’d arrived. According to folks in Brimstone, her father had enjoyed his fair share and more of the women around town. As cantankerous as he’d been, that hadn’t stopped him from catting around.
“Again, enough.” She opened the door and gave Melly a light shove to get her over the threshold. Hoping her friend wouldn’t notice, she glanced down the hallway. Were the men still downstairs?
“See? There it is.” Melly pointed an accusing finger. “You know you want them. For once in your life, give in to your urges.”
“Go. I’ll check you later at dinnertime.”
At last Melly was ready to give it a rest. “Don’t bother. I’m not eating another bite all day. Plus, I’ll be doing a little long-distance entertaining of my own.”
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.” Colby knew better than to ask what she meant. Melly was no stranger to sexting or giving her current boyfriend a “special online show.”
“Okay. But promise me you’ll loosen up a little.”
Colby stepped back into her room, gave her friend a stern look, and then closed the door. Loosen up? Could she? Did she dare?
* * * *
Colby slipped down the back stairs leading from the second story to the kitchen. Although she’d tried a couple of times to get much-needed rest, she hadn’t been able to get any sleep. How could any red-blooded girl sleep with three hot men sitting in her living room?
She moved quietly, tiptoeing, suddenly afraid of what she might find. What if Jax, Darton, and Ed had changed their minds and gone back to their ranch? Should she call them? Or should she take the hint and not mention it?
A relieved breath blew out of her when she found them exactly where she’d left them. That relief, however, was swiftly followed by exasperation. What was she doing anyway? She didn’t know these men, and yet, she was already willing to give them free rein to not only her ranch but her house. Hell, they’d even taken hold of her emotions without her putting up the slightest bit of resistance.
Jax laughed, loud and long, and brought a hard tug to her abdomen. He whacked Ed on the shoulder, excited about whatever had happened during the game they were watching.
They were sexy as hell and yet, watching them relaxing in the living room, looking right at home in the place, made her think of not only sex but also of things she didn’t usually think about. Things most girls wanted, but those were things she’d never allowed herself to hope for. Could she have a husband—maybe even husbands—as well as children? Could she have a real home unbroken by divorce?
Warmth spread over her as her imagination took hold. She could see three children, two boys, and a little girl dressed in white. Each man held a child, yet it was easy to see that the children regarded the men equally as parental figures. Her imagination conjured the unique family scene. For the first time, she had to ask herself hard questions. Had she never allowed herself to dream of a family because she’d never wanted one? Or because she’d never believed it could become a reality? Had her parents’ unhappy marriage tainted her?
Holy hell. What am I doing?
Maybe it was losing her father and all the emotions dredged up by his death while remembering her childhood. Or maybe it was a simple matter of being overly tired and getting caught up in a wild fantasy. Either way, it didn’t make sense to keep fantasizing. She had a ranch to run and a long learning curve to do so. She didn’t have time for men and especially not a family.
“Guys, I’m going to heat up some of the leftover food from today. If you want, come fix yourself a plate.” She moved swiftly, pulling leftovers out of the refrigerator. If she kept busy, maybe her nerves would calm down.
They shifted toward her, and for a brief moment in time, she would’ve sworn she saw something different on their faces. Like a flash of need that was so deep it literally burned red in their eyes.
“You don’t need to ask me again.” Darton was up off the couch and moving toward her so fast that she instinctively stepped back.
He slid past her, getting closer than was necessary to get by. Heat swallowed her as though he was a living, breathing furnace. She pushed her hair back and wasn’t surprised to find her brow damp. Ed and Jax followed their friend into the kitchen. They each took a paper plate and started loading it with food. Forcing herself out of the daze she’d been in since seeing them, she rushed to the refrigerator again and grabbed a pitcher of tea and a huge bottle of water. “We have tea and water. Oh, and a bottle of red wine on the counter over there. Your choice.”
“What? No beer?”
She checked the fridge again. “Sorry. I’m kind of surprised, too. My father liked his Hawkins Brew.�
� Had he liked the off-brand, or had he only drank it because it was cheap?
“That’s okay. We can put that on the gro list along with anything else we’ll need while we’re here.”
“Is Melly joining us?” Ed scraped a chair over the worn hardwood and plopped down.
“No. She’s busy getting in some face time with some guy she’s been dating for the past month.” Was Ed interested in her friend? Strange how the idea made her stomach twist. Irritation with her wayward thoughts hit her again. This wasn’t how she usually acted, much less thought. Maybe the impetuous, free-spirited Melly had rubbed off on her. Yet, she knew that wasn’t the case. If anyone was to blame for her wild thoughts, it was the men. Or maybe she should thank them? She hadn’t felt so alive in years.
Darton scooped a huge amount of food onto a plate—more than she’d ever eat in one meal—and offered it to her. She started to refuse then saw the twinkle of joy in his eyes and thanked him.
The kitchen wasn’t updated, but it was large for one in a house of its age. Still, with the men at the table, Colby felt crowded. She didn’t mind, however, and simply did her best to keep her feet underneath her chair.
“Do you think you’re going to like living in Brimstone?” Jax took a long gulp of his wine.
She nodded before swallowing a bite. “Sure. I mean, it’s not a bigger city like Colorado Springs, but that can be a good thing. I’ve always liked the people, and the land is beautiful. It’s the ranching part that’s kind of unnerving.”
“You can ride a horse, right?”
Was Darton kidding? It was difficult to tell when the laugh lines around his eyes always seemed to be present.
“I can. I’m not the best rider in the world, but I can ride well enough to keep from falling off.” She’d meant it as a joke, but they appeared to take her words at face value.
“We’ll keep you upright somehow,” responded Ed.
She nodded again. Ed was the serious one, yet judging from his own laugh lines, he could find humor in the world like his friends could.
“So what’s the plan?” Had they already gone over it? Either she was getting forgetful, or she’d gotten too caught up in the sizzle erupting between them to pay close enough attention.
“We’re going to check things out in the morning.” Darton shoveled more food onto his plate. “We already have a good idea of how the ranch is, but we’ll need to give it another look to get more details.”
Jax lifted a bottle of wine. “How about we talk about something other than work? Tell us more about you.”
“There’s not much to tell. I’m an only child from divorced parents like lots of people are.”
“Did you spend a lot of time in a therapist’s office?” joked Darton.
She liked his quirky humor. “Fortunately, no. I kind of hate to say it, but I was relieved when my parents split. Not only did it end the arguments but I got two birthdays, two Halloweens, and twice as many Christmas gifts.” She lowered her gaze, hoping they wouldn’t see the pain she hid behind the lighthearted comments.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
She jerked her gaze up to meet Jax’s. “Sort of.” Was his disappointed look real? “Or, at least, I did have one. We broke up right before I came here. I thought I mentioned that earlier.”
“Just making sure is all.”
Darton let out a loud snort. “He must be a real loser to let you go.”
Smiling, she accepted the compliment but made her position clear. “Just so you know, he didn’t let me go. I left.”
The twinkle in Darton’s eyes intensified. “Got it. You dumped him.”
Instead of taking the bait to explain further, she nibbled at an ear of corn. “That’s about it, though. Nothing exciting in my life.” Until now.
“I don’t know about Ed and Darton, but I want to know more about the room upstairs. What’s your take on it?”
“The room upstairs?” She frowned. As soon as she did, she could see that they knew something she didn’t. And that they were surprised she didn’t know. “Which room? One of your bedrooms?”
“Aw shit,” mumbled Jax. His gaze darted to his friends before coming to rest on her. “I’m talking about the hidden room.”
She almost dropped her wine glass. “What hidden room?”
They clammed up, suddenly unwilling to talk.
“Okay, let me ask again. What hidden room?” She’d come to the house many times throughout her lifetime, but she’d never heard of another room, much less a hidden one. “Guys, this house has four bedrooms. I don’t see how there could be another room.”
Ed sighed and set his glass down. “Damn. We kind of figured you would’ve heard about your father’s, um, activities along with the other stories that have gone around town.”
She sat back, sure she was about to get slammed with information she didn’t want to hear. “His activities? Please tell me you’re not talking about his being with women again.” She was an adult and knew her father hadn’t been celibate all those many years, but knowing so didn’t make hearing about her father’s sexual life any easier.
“Then we can’t tell you about the room,” added Jax.
She closed her eyes, gathered her resolve, and then opened them again. “Okay. Just tell me. No. Wait.” Lifting her finger, she stayed their responses until she could forgo her glass of tea and snag Jax’s glass away from him. She downed the remaining wine and then pushed the empty glass back to him. “Okay, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Tell me.”
Jax and Darton looked to Ed, who frowned when they did. “Fine. But I sure as hell didn’t think this would be a topic of dinner conversation.” He played with the stem of his glass. “Your father, like a lot of folks, liked his sex with a little edge to it.”
“An edge?” She had an idea of what he meant but didn’t want to go down that path unless she had to.
“Yeah. He liked the women all right, but he liked them more when there were cuffs and whips involved.”
“You can’t be serious.” Please, let this be a bad joke.
“Sorry. It’s true.” Ed poured more wine into his glass then slid it her way. “Here. Take this. You’re going to need it.”
“Do you mean there’s more?”
“Yeah. Most of the time he liked to be the one in the cuffs.” He shrugged. “Or the one getting whipped.”
Embarrassment wafted through her, warming her in a different way that wasn’t pleasant at all. “My father? You’re saying he liked to get bound and beaten?”
“I wouldn’t call it beaten.” Jax shrugged at her stunned look. “Hey, come on. Everyone knows about BDSM nowadays. You do, don’t you?”
“Yes, but not when talking about my father.” She shivered as though a cold wind had drifted over her skin. “And there’s a hidden room? What is it? Like a sex room?” Did she dare ask what was inside the room? How far had her father gone?
“So you never saw the room? In all those years?”
She gaped at Darton as though he’d lost his mind. “No. God, no.”
“Do you want to see it right now?” asked Jax. “We can show you.”
Did she? Or would it be better to ask them to dispose of everything and then seal the room up, never to be opened again? “Just a sec. How do you three know? Have you seen it?” She didn’t dare ask them if they’d been invited to join in with her father and his women.
“Nope, but we know where to look for it.”
“But how do you know?”
“Word gets around in a small town.”
“So other people know about my father’s room?” She was already embarrassed, but the idea that so many, if not all, of the people at her father’s funeral knew about his secret room was mortifying. How would she ever show her face in Brimstone?
“Don’t get upset, Colby,” Jax placed his hand on top of hers.
For a moment, she forgot about everything except the sensation of calluses and warmth against her flesh. The feeling of need hit he
r so fast, she was glad she was sitting down. She shoved the fantasy of a naked Jax away. “Oh, sure. No problem. Everyone I know is into kinky sex.”
“We all have our secrets, honey. As secrets go, your father’s wasn’t any big deal.”
She stared at him, thrown. “Really? Not a big deal? Wow. I’m not sure I want to know your secrets.” Easing her hand out from under Jax’s—after all, how could she think straight while he touched her?—she drew in a ragged breath. Maybe they were mistaken? Maybe if she saw it, she’d find another explanation for it. But what explanation would explain the cuffs and whip? “So this room. Where is it?”
Darton lifted a finger and pointed toward the ceiling.
Her gaze followed the direction. “I know there’s no other room on the second story.” She glanced up again. “Which only leaves…”
“The attic.”
“The attic? This house doesn’t have an attic. At least none that I ever saw.” Yet from their expressions, she could see that she was wrong.
Darton got to his feet. “Come on. You’re not going to rest easy until you’ve seen it with your own eyes.”
She stood, her legs a bit wobbly. “If I see it, I’m not sure I’m going to rest then, either. But let’s do this.”
Chapter Six
Colby stared at the ceiling in the wood-paneled hallway. “I don’t get it. What am I looking for?”
“Look at the edges where the ceiling meets the wall.” Jax pointed at a space just above her head.
“I still don’t get it.” She stared harder. What was she missing?
“It’s difficult to see unless you’re looking for it, but there’s a small space between the top of the wall and where the ceiling meets it.”
She tried again and this time she saw it. “Why haven’t I noticed it before?”
“Why would you if you didn’t know what to look for? Especially when you were a kid?”
Her nerves were on edge, the urge to run warring with the need to see the room. “Okay. What now?”
“This.” Jax ran his fingers along the narrow opening between the wall and the ceiling. “There’s a small spring holding this part of the ceiling in place. Yeah, it’s right here.” He pushed against the ceiling. Suddenly the ceiling popped off, exposing a section of it that was particle board painted the same as the rest. Dust floated down on top of them. Pushing harder, he brought the board down and placed it against the wall.