The Lost Locket

by Marie Harte

  “You’re such an asshole. Can’t you see Rory and I are connecting?”

  “Connect later. Let’s turn in this ring now, eat, and get some rest. Jack called me while we were cleaning up, and he’s annoyed we’re not further along than we are.”

  “He said three weeks.” Keegan swore. “Jack can go fu—” He glanced down at Rory and kissed her with a tenderness that made her feel funny. “He can kiss my ass.”

  “Thanks for watching out for my virgin ears.” Rory forced herself to pull away from him. At least James had the sense to know now was not the right time for sex.

  Now? Try never. You don’t know them. You can’t trust them. Rory didn’t like the way her emotions were starting to trip her up when dealing with Keegan and James. She had a bad feeling if she didn’t break apart from them soon, she might find she didn’t want to.

  That would be a disaster.

  Whenever she wanted something more from a relationship, it inevitably went south. She didn’t relish getting in too deep with these guys, then having them break her heart. And seriously, she had no business even thinking guys—as in plural?

  Normal people slept with one partner at a time. Not two. She glanced at them. No matter how much she wanted them.

  Rory took a deep breath and stepped back.

  James rubbed his arm an hour later, still aching from where Keegan had punched him after Rory had left his room. But seriously, did Keegan really think he could fuck Rory on a moment’s notice? They’d planned to let her come to them.

  Besides, their needs had grown greater the more time they spent with her and went without. Exercise, they found, could only do so much to alleviate their hungers. And James didn’t want to scare her away from a potential relationship.

  By opening his connection to Keegan, James had a feeling he’d started a hunger only sex could cure. Having Rory so close only exacerbated his combustible libido. Tonight, whether Keegan liked it or not, they were getting it on.

  “You okay?” Keegan asked him.

  Rory shot him a look as well, and James wiped the sweat from his forehead.

  “I’m fine.” He glared when Keegan looked at his arm. “And you hit like a girl.”

  “Then why do you keep rubbing it?”

  Millie returned to the dining room with a huge plate of apple pie. Around the lace covered table, empty casserole dishes and serving plates remained. Not a crumb left, thanks mostly to Keegan’s huge appetite. The man ate enough for three people. Though honestly, Rory couldn’t remember when she’d eaten such a tasty meal.

  Rory gave the older woman a grateful smile. “Thanks so much, Millie.”

  “No dear, thank you. I can’t believe you found our ring.” Tears filled the older woman’s eyes again. “When we were robbed six months ago, we feared we’d never see it again. I have no idea how my grandmother’s ring found its way into the local gym, but I can’t thank you enough for returning it to us.” Mabel joined them and poured the trio coffee. “Everything’s on the house.” Keegan shook his head. “No, ma’am. Can’t do that. But I tell you what. You give us that extra pie I saw in the kitchen to take on the road tomorrow, we’ll call it even.”

  Mabel beamed. “You’re such a nice young man. I can’t say we’ve ever had such wonderful visitors before, can you, Millie?”

  “No, Sister, I can’t.” Millie pulled Mabel toward her. “Now you three enjoy.

  There’s plenty of dessert and coffee, and more biscuits and dumplings if you like in the kitchen. We’re turning in. You three have a nice night.” The pair left, and Rory and James watched Keegan help himself to a fourth slice of pie.

  “Does that stomach ever quit?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  James snorted. “Like his mouth. Unfortunately, neither seems to be attached to his brain.”

  Rory raised a brow. “Funny, coming from you. I’ve yet to see a woman turn away from you once you open your mouth.”

  “I can’t help that I’m naturally charming,” James protested and ran a hand through his perfect hair. She didn’t think he did more than wash and comb it, but he never looked a bit unkempt.

  Too handsome for his own good, Becky would have said. And that still bothered her. “James, how do you know Becky?”

  “I don’t.”

  “But she knew you.”

  “Oh?”

  Rory didn’t want to think any more. She’d been feeling hemmed in by the guys, thanks to the intimacy of this little road trip. Staying at Millie and Mabel’s, seeing the sisters so at ease with each other and the three of them, as if Keegan, James, and Rory were a family, scared the shit out of her.

  “Never mind.” She stood. “I’m tired. Think I’ll go to bed early, since we need to get to Bend sooner than later.” She paused, not sure how she felt that James might get in trouble for taking her back, when he and Keegan really didn’t need her at all, now that they had the locket. “And thanks for not just taking my locket and running, though you could give it back now.” Keegan leaned back in his chair and licked his fork with such enthusiasm, she suddenly wished she could sense sterling silver the way she did gems and crystals.

  “Yeah, right. Once that locket is in your little hands, you’ll vanish like a puff of smoke. I may be pretty, darlin’, but I ain’t stupid.” James chuckled. “No, Jethro, you ain’t exactly stupid, are ya?”

  “Make fun, GQ. But you know I’m right.”

  The men stared at her, their expressions telling and all too right.

  “Whatever.” Rory didn’t wait for them to stand, the way they did when she sat with them. She didn’t stick around to watch them fuss over her, to look at her with confused but caring expressions.

  Frustrated with the way they made her feel—as if she mattered to them as anything more than this case—she stomped up to her room but took care not to slam any doors. She liked Millie and Mabel. It wasn’t their fault the stubborn men with Rory refused to play to type. No sexual harassment, no mauling, no treating her like a tease because she refused to sleep with them.

  And why did they insist on taking care of her? As if she needed anyone to—

  A hand wrapped around her mouth and a large body appeared at her back.

  Another man stepped in front of her. The familiar sight of Bobby Landers dried her mouth with fear. “Well, well, if isn’t our wayward little niece. Hey there, sweetness.

  My friend Ed was telling me you had something that belongs to us.” James sighed. “She’s getting ready to bolt.”

  “Not without this, she won’t.” Keegan held up his wrist, and the blue sapphire on the locket winked at James, as if it knew all of Rory’s secrets.

  “She’ll make a play for it. I’m surprised she hasn’t already.” Keegan grinned, and James’s mouth watered. “I can’t wait till she tries. The minute she comes into my bedroom and tries to steal it from me, her ass is mine.” He kept his voice low, on the off chance Millie or Mabel rejoined them.

  “Her ass, hmm? I thought we’d agreed. I get her ass, you get her pussy.” James licked his fork the way Keegan had and got the satisfaction of watching his friend’s eyes darken with lust.

  “Stop teasing.”

  “Why? You hungry for it again? How about this time, you let me get on top?” James could see that as much as Keegan tried to deny it, his friend—his lover—was curious. And maybe horny enough to try it. Hallelujah. “Are we done pretending you don’t need me anymore? That Rory can’t survive if she sees the two of us kissing?”

  “James, you need to take it down a notch. You keep pushing, I’ll fuck you right here on this table.” Keegan ended on a growl.

  James grinned, glad to see he wasn’t the only one hurting. “It’s not just me.

  This thing between us is getting harder to deny, isn’t it?” Keegan groaned. “You’re not going to talk this out, are you? We gonna have to discuss feelings and love and all that shit?”

  Love? That Keegan mentioned the emotion at all threw James into a tailspin o
f desire. “Not if you put your money where your mouth is.” James paused. “Or rather, where your mouth should be.” He started to say something more when he had an uneasy feeling. He met Keegan’s startled gaze.

  “Somethin’s not right.” Keegan stood, and they both moved as one to the stairs.

  “Quiet now. Third stair creaks.”

  “Yeah.” James couldn’t have said how he knew, but he sensed Rory in trouble, and he didn’t want to add to it. As hot as he’d been feeling lately, he understood the need to keep a lid on his fire. “You’re going to have to deal with this. If I let go, I might burn down the house.”

  Keegan whispered, “Dammit, James. Don’t let it get so bad next time. Come to me sooner.”

  “I didn’t want to put you out. I don’t see you offering invites to bed.” Keegan colored. “I’m new at this. You’re the aggressive one. We’ll fix it after Rory. Just hold on.”

  “I will. Don’t worry. Let’s focus on her.”

  His partner nodded. They continued up to the third floor in silence. Once at the top, they stilled and heard what didn’t belong. The low mutter of a male voice.

  “I’ll go in as if nothing’s wrong. You wait for me. Backup.” Keegan waited for James to agree, then continued down the hall. Before he reached Rory’s room, someone opened the door to Keegan’s room from the inside.

  Keegan entered without a sound.

  Gun. It had to be a weapon to make Keegan surrender without a fight. But before James could figure out how to help his friend, the door opened again, and Keegan stepped back out without making a sound. He nodded at James, who tiptoed down the hall. They found James’s room to be empty. Then they stopped at the last room on the floor.

  Waiting on the other side of Rory’s door, James counted to ten then knocked.

  “Yes?” Rory answered in a strong voice.

  Keegan answered. “Darlin’, I need to talk to you about this locket. It keeps burning my hand when I move it around.”

  The door flew open, and Keegan entered. Before the door closed, James followed him inside.

  Two men stood on either side of Rory. One held a gun to her head, the other pointed his gun at Keegan.

  Without thinking, James heated the gun grips, making them so hot, the men dropped them immediately. Then Keegan reacted. He knocked both men on their asses with a mental slap that must have hurt, because one of them landed so hard, something snapped. Neither moved once down either.

  “Oh my God.” Rory shook as she stared at Keegan, having never seen him so vicious before.

  It turned James on, which wasn’t a good thing. He felt so fucking hot…

  “Rory, honey,” James said in a thick voice. “Tie these two up, and we’ll put them with the others in Keegan’s room. I have to hit the shower, now.” He raced down the hall into the shared bathroom, entered the claw-foot tub fully dressed, and turned on the shower. The cold water soothed him somewhat, but after a good ten minutes and not yet having cooled down, he knew what he really needed.

  He was in the middle of masturbating when the shower curtain was ripped aside. Rory stood staring at him with wide eyes. Keegan was right behind her.

  “It’s like a sauna in here,” she whispered, her gaze glued to his swollen shaft.

  “This is why you don’t wait,” Keegan snarled. But he handled James with gentle hands. “Rory, strip him, and hurry.”

  She nodded, not seeming intimidated by the huge cock sticking out of his pants, and turned off the water. When her hand grazed him, he groaned, and the little witch stroked him.

  “Fuck. Yeah, that’s it. Touch me.” James didn’t care about anything but finding release. He needed her. He needed them.

  “You’re so hot and hard,” Rory murmured and cupped his balls as his clothes seemed to melt off him. Keegan and his whisper hands. “I want to see you come.” Like he needed any more help getting there. James moaned her name as he jetted into her hand, covering her fingers in milky white spurts. The heat surrounding him suddenly eased, but James knew he had a few more rounds in him before he’d finally be at peace.

  “That is so sexy,” Rory whispered. “You’re naked, and you’re still hard.” James smiled. Then he kissed her, and the passion in their embrace carried the kiss on far longer than it should have.

  “Ah, guys? I’m gonna make a real mess of things myself if I don’t see some happy time.” Keegan gritted his teeth and stood naked behind them. It was then James noticed the locket missing from his wrist.

  “Oh hell. Where is it?”

  Keegan said in a gravelly voice, “After I rushed downstairs to let Mabel know not to worry about the noise up here, I returned to find two more thieves waiting in your room with Rory. Not sure how the bastards got in there. They threatened to kill her if I didn’t hand it over. I might have been able to take them, but I didn’t want to chance it. But what’s really odd? The minute one of them put the locket around her Uncle Bobby’s neck, the fucker woke up and started zapping his buddies to life. The six of them took off without looking back.”

  “Keegan gave them the locket so they wouldn’t hurt me.” Rory looked more puzzled and upset over that fact than she had when she’d originally lost the necklace. James dried off and wrapped the towel around his waist. “Don’t worry, honey.

  We’ll get it back.”

  She stared at Keegan. “But they wouldn’t have actually hurt me. You could see it in their eyes, right?”

  Keegan shrugged his massive shoulders. “I didn’t think they would, but it wasn’t worth taking a chance. It’s just a locket, Rory. Compared to you, that’s nothing.”

  The baffled look on her face said volumes.

  James suddenly understood that she’d been alone for a long, long time. “Come on, Rory. Let’s help Keegan before he knocks the house down.”

  “He can do that?”

  “Oh, the cowboy can do all sorts of things.” He paused and took a good hard look at her. The woman was in shock, in lust, and confused. He knew just how to center her. “Yeah, Keegan’s a real expert with that tool between his legs. He’s thick and hard. Fills me up nice and tight.” James kissed his way up her neck to her ear and whispered, “How’d you like to watch?”

  He wasn’t prepared for her heartfelt answer, but he couldn’t have been happier when she said, “Oh yeah. Would I.”

  Chapter Nine

  Back in Keegan’s room on that monster antique bed, Keegan barely had a steady enough hand to put the condom on and lube up, and having Rory do it for him nearly made him come before he’d had a chance to enter James’s finer than fine ass.

  Her long, graceful fingers took their time as they rolled the latex over his sensitive flesh. She measured him with an unhurried stroke, sliding the condom over him in a tight grip, the way he imagined her pussy would feel.

  “Don’t play, darlin’,” he warned. “I’m two seconds from coming into this thing.” Her lips parted. “I want to watch.”

  He groaned when she guided him to James, lingering to caress his hard sac, then James’s flat stomach. Rory moved back, her breath coming faster, her pupils dilated with a lust Keegan could appreciate.

  James already lay on the bed on his back, his legs spread wide, his cock stiff as he worked it while looking from Keegan to Rory. A secret smile hinted at mysteries Keegan intended to find out.

  Keegan tilted James’s pelvis up and awkwardly moved close enough to notch his cock into James’s hole. He’d never done it this way before, not with a man, and he found the differences intriguing.

  “Push slow,” James murmured, arching closer to Keegan.

  Sliding inside slowly, Keegan took care not to harm his lover. This time he would fuck James face-to-face, missionary-style. And the position gave him so much more than he’d thought it would. Keegan could watch James, could look into his best friend’s eyes as he fucked him. And even better, Rory’s gaze felt like a physical caress, urging him on.

  He groaned and began pistoning inside James. “I’m
not gonna last long. I need it too much.”

  “So distract yourself,” James murmured, pinching Keegan’s nipples.

  “Oh fuck. Do it again.” Keegan pushed harder and stilled, loving the feel of warmth surrounding his dick. The erotic taboo, especially having such a sexy voyeur, made him crazy with lust.

  “That’s so sexy,” Rory whispered.

  “Come on, Keegan, distract yourself. Strip her. Play with her.”

  “Only if she asks me to,” he gritted through his teeth, on the verge of orgasm.

  “Won’t force her.”

  “For God’s sake, use those whisper hands before I explode from sexual frustration,” Rory snapped.

  James grinned and blew her a kiss. The asshole was hard and grinding against Keegan’s belly as Keegan fucked him. But James’s skin had cooled down, thanks to experiencing his own orgasm. Keegan needed it bad, but he didn’t want to end the sensation of being so close to his lover, soon to be lovers.

  “I want us to do Rory together,” he protested.

  “We will,” James promised. “But you can prime her for it first.”

  “Right. Prime her.” The way he was primed to explode. Keegan used his power to strip Rory to nothing, feeling her with psychic senses and enhancing his own pleasure. As he sensed the hard tips of her nipples and the soft fullness of her breasts, James contracted the muscles in his ass.

  “Fuck.” Keegan shoved hard and came, crying out as he shot so hard, he saw stars.

  Rory moaned. “Oh God, that feels so good.”

  He shuddered, still filling his condom and wishing it was James taking his cum with no latex between them. When he finished, he pulled out and turned to see Rory writhing against the wall, where he’d unknowingly pinned her. Her arms and legs were spread wide, and he continued to play with her breasts and feather ghostly kisses over her folds, teasing her slick clit.

  “That’s so sexy.” Keegan felt a rise in his cock again. “Shit. Don’t move, either of you.” He mentally locked James down and heard him swear. But Keegan didn’t care. James and Rory at the same time was his ultimate fantasy. The perfect woman with his perfect lover.