by Sophie Oak
He spanked her until she’d counted ten slaps, every one a hot reminder that he wasn’t going to allow her to go anywhere. He wasn’t going to let her disappear.
He finally stood, picking her up and setting her on her feet. His face was flushed, and she could see through his jeans that he was hard again. “Now go and do what you were told.”
She turned toward her bathroom, her hands shaking but not with anxiety this time. With a little bit of wonder. Noah was showing her a whole world she’d only dreamt of. “I won’t let you bully me.”
She felt the need to put in some rules of her own.
“I’m sure you’ll let me know when I cross the line.”
She closed the bathroom door with a quiet snick and took a deep breath.
She wasn’t going anywhere.
Chapter Nine
“So he just left Noah there?” Nell asked, smoothing out the canvas that covered one of four tables inside her small, newly erected tent.
Hope picked up the next canvas and began covering the table to Nell’s left. The tables were set up in some weird feng shui that Nell said would bring happiness to her customers and reasonable, economically kind profits to the business. Nell believed in fair trade. “He did. I got into the truck and before Noah could follow, James just took off. I barely managed to get the door closed.”
At least James had waited until Butch was safely in the backseat. The poor boy had whined as he’d watched his master being left behind, but when James had dropped her off, Butch had followed him back to the truck and jumped inside.
Nell crossed her arms over her chest, and her Birkenstocks tapped against the grass. “Well, that just seems rude. It’s bad enough that Jamie drives that gas-guzzling truck, but as long as he’s doing it, he should take as many passengers as he can.”
Henry chuckled as he walked in behind them. “I think Jamie isn’t deeply concerned with his fuel emissions right now.”
“Well, he should be. I left him a pamphlet and everything.”
Henry dropped a quick kiss on his wife’s cheek. “I would bet that Jamie is realizing that Noah is going to be competition for him.”
“Competition?” Nell asked.
Damn Henry. He was too smart for Hope’s own good. “They’re just brothers, and they have a lot to work out.”
“And they want the same woman.” Henry regarded her with a sunny smile. For all his intellectualism, Henry was kind of a hunk. He was leaner than most of the men in Bliss, but there was a strength to his frame. “I have long suspected that Jamie thought you would just hang out and be waiting for him when he was ready to get married.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Except that was what she’d kind of been doing. She hadn’t gone out with Logan when he’d asked. That had worked out for the best because they had been really good friends. There had been a couple of men over the months who had asked, and she’d turned them all down. She’d told herself she simply wasn’t ready to date, but she wasn’t ready to give up on James even while he screwed his way through half the females in Colorado.
“And it’s not very romantic,” Nell protested. She took the end of the canvas and started to help Hope lay it out. “I think I prefer Noah’s version of courtship. He couldn’t take his eyes off you yesterday.”
“And Jamie couldn’t help but stare holes through Noah,” Henry pointed out.
“He’s mad because Noah left,” Hope explained.
Henry sighed and leaned against the table that was meant for environmentally friendly blankets. “I wasn’t here when Noah was in town. I came to Bliss a couple of months later, but I remember how the town was reeling. It was hard. They were counting on him. No one more than his brother.”
Hope was deeply interested in any insights about the way James and Noah worked. “I guess I don’t understand. I mean, I get that Zane and Nate were friends and fell for the same woman and decided to share her rather than fight. I get that. But they didn’t go out looking to share a woman.”
“Oh, I don’t think you understand Nate and Zane at all,” Henry said. “Hope, I actually envy them in some ways.”
Nell smiled brightly. “He says that but he wouldn’t share me.”
“Not at all, my love. But that’s because the relationships in this town aren’t about fantasies or sex. If I’d had a brother I was close to or if I’d had a friend who felt like the other half of me, I would have been happy to share you because you can be trouble.”
Nell didn’t seem at all offended by Henry’s statement. Her eyes sparkled with mirth. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Henry.”
Henry leaned over and touched his nose to hers. “So much trouble.” He turned back to Hope. “If I could have a partner I could trust, I would share her. Look, I’m hetero. I was born that way. So were Nate and Zane, but they love each other, too. The relationships Zane and Nate and Rafe and Cam and even the Doc and Alexei have are deeply intimate. They don’t simply share a woman. They share a life. They share a family and their problems and their worries. They take comfort in the presence of the other. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Nell took a long breath. “It is. You explain it so well, Henry. I’m going to go write that down.” She turned back, her eyes wide. “Not for any reason other than the fact that it’s lovely. I’m not writing a book or anything. I’ll bring back the dream catchers.”
Nell scurried away.
Henry laughed and started to move boxes onto the tables. “You take a seat, Hope. You’re supposed to be resting. I told Nell we could handle this, but she seemed to think you would need a break.”
Nell understood her. “Yeah, I’m not finding the Circle G to be the most relaxing place in the world.”
Except she’d had the sweetest sleep in years the night before because she’d slept between them.
“You could come back with us,” Henry offered.
“No.” The word came out of her mouth before she could call it back. Despite all the crap, she didn’t really want to leave the ranch. The idea of not seeing them again cut through her like a knife.
Henry smiled. “Then there’s your answer.”
Yep. There was her dumb-ass answer. She should be on a bus to god knew where, but she would get back in the truck when James came in a few hours. She would just have to pray that someone picked Noah up and gave him a ride back.
Noah. She could still feel his hands on her, his deep voice commanding her. He had made her forget everything except him. In that moment, there had been nothing except the two of them. What would it have been like if James had been there?
“You talked about friends. Zane and Nate were partners and friends. So were Rafe and Cam. But is it any different for Max and Rye?” She couldn’t help but think about what James had said.
“You should talk to them. Well, maybe you should talk to Rye. I think Noah and James have a slightly different story, but they do have a lot in common with the twins. By the time I got here and met and married my Nell, Ellen and Noah’s dad were gone, but I heard the stories. They were a lovely family. Very tight knit. They had to be. Ranching is a hard business. The Circle G is big and requires a lot from a man. The way I understood it, Fred and Brian always made sure Ellen had what she needed. It would have been harder on their own. When she got sick, one of them was always with her. James grew up believing in that lifestyle and then his brother was gone. The last couple of years, he’s tried to replace Noah. He’s shared women with Logan and Wolf, but I don’t think it was the same. And then Logan and Wolf left. James is in a bad place, but I think he has what he needs to come back.”
“I don’t know. Noah seems to think he can get his brother back. I don’t know what he wants me to do.”
“I want you to do whatever comes naturally.” Noah walked into the tent.
“Spy much?” How long had he been standing there?
“Had to catch my breath. Not used to walking a mile at nine thousand plus feet anymore.” Noah took a seat in one of the chairs Henry had
set up. “My asshole brother stole my dog, didn’t he?”
Henry laughed. “Well, the word is you stole his girl.”
Noah shrugged. “That didn’t take long. I take it they can still hear things from the kitchen?”
“What?” Hope asked, praying they didn’t mean what she thought they meant.
“Everyone knows that the pipes at Stella’s carry sound. If you’re standing in the kitchen, you can hear what’s going on in the upstairs apartment. When Stella lived there, she used to yell down at the kitchen staff.”
“And it never occurred to you to mention that to me?” Now she really wished she didn’t sing when she cleaned.
Noah shrugged, his hair falling over his forehead. “I was busy at the time. I also wished I’d closed and locked the damn door, but you were way too tempting, darlin’. I wasn’t thinking about anything but you.”
“Does everyone know?” The Bliss grapevine worked quickly.
“Hey, everyone.” Rachel Harper walked in carrying three white bags. “I stopped in at the diner to pick up a coffee, and Stella asked me to drop these off here. She said something about Hope ordering takeout, and then she laughed about you calling someone Sir. I take it that’s you, Noah.”
Noah didn’t have the decency to blush. He simply grabbed one of the bags. “Thank god, I’m starving.”
He had the burger halfway down his throat before Rachel could pass Hope her lunch.
The strawberry blonde’s lips quirked up. “Stella said you didn’t specify a dressing, so she gave you ranch since it’s obvious you really like being out on the ranch, and she said you should watch out because cowboys like to lasso pretty little fillies. I have no idea what she meant.”
Noah grinned as he grabbed some fries. “I do.”
Rachel laughed because she obviously did, too.
Hope huffed. “Damn you, Noah. Now everyone knows.”
“Well, I was going to tell everyone anyway. I wasn’t going to hide it. Jamie told those two new boys that you were taken. Why does he get to stake a claim but I don’t?”
“Stake a claim?” Nell asked as she walked in. “Noah Bennett? Are you talking about Hope? She’s a person, not a piece of land. And it would be offensive even if you were talking about land. And are you eating meat in my tent?”
“No, ma’am,” he lied as he swallowed the last of his burger.
Nell eyed him. “Well, I have to believe you because I give all of the universe’s children the benefit of the doubt. Now, you can finish up those fries that better have been fried in vegan oil and then you can give us a hand. We already have people walking around and looking. I just met some very nice squatchers who would love some zucchini bread.”
Noah groaned. “I hate squatchers. They make all kinds of noise, and they set up those cameras all over the forest, and then Mel sees the infrared and thinks the aliens are watching him. I’ve had to tromp through the woods more than once to make sure Mel didn’t take one out.”
“I forgot about that,” Nell admitted. “Maybe we should go warn them.”
Noah winked as he walked out with Nell.
“I’ll go get the bread and the price tags,” Henry said. “You sit down and eat. Rest. Or Jamie will have my hide, and I like my hide.”
“What on earth is a squatcher?” Rachel asked. “I missed Woo Woo Fest last year. I couldn’t get out of bed. My morning sickness was awful.”
Rachel had been in Bliss for roughly three months longer than Hope, but Hope had worked this particular festival last year. Nate had growled for four days straight. Hope wondered how Cam was coping. “It’s like a ghost hunter except they hunt Sasquatch.”
Rachel sank down into the chair Noah had vacated. “Bigfoot? They really think Bigfoot is here? I thought that was just Mel.”
“I think they think Bigfoot is everywhere. We get a lot of Sasquatch sightings. Mel showed me on his computer once. He also showed me that ninety percent of the sightings align with the nudist nature walks. He’s pretty sure that Carl from the community is responsible. He really needs to wax, apparently. They’re really harmless. They’ll hike out into the woods and make all sorts of Sasquatch mating calls. I have no idea why they think they know what a Sasquatch sounds like when he’s in the mood for love. Really, the only thing annoying about them is the fact that they try to work the word squatching into every sentence.”
Hope pulled out her salad and the cup of soup. She was hungry. Really good sex made her hungry. She had to smile. Despite the fact that she’d slept with his brother, James had taken her hand and made sure she got out of the truck okay. He’d insisted on walking her to the Flanders’s tent and having a man-to-man with Henry about what she could and couldn’t do. He was acting like a Neanderthal, and she thought it was sexy.
Was she really thinking about it? Was she really thinking about trying to have a relationship with two brothers?
“I take it this one is James’s lunch?” Rachel asked.
Hope waved a hand. “Go for it. He fled the scene, you can eat his lunch.”
“Good. I’m trying to diet, but it just doesn’t work. Today is the first day in months I don’t have my baby girl on my hip. It would be nice to just have lunch and talk to someone. Jen and Stef might have come back, but I swear they’ve barely left the playroom.” She dug into James’s turkey sandwich. “And Callie is up to her ears in diapers and men. She’s going to breathe a sigh of relief when those men finally go back to work.”
Hope took a spoonful of Stella’s truly excellent tortilla soup, deeply grateful that Rachel had brought it to her. “Stef might not have come out of his playroom in a while, but he apparently managed to arrange for Noah to return.”
Rachel took a drag off James’s Coke. “That’s the King of Bliss for you. He’s always got his hands in whatever pie is cooking.”
“Why would he bring Noah back here if everyone’s so mad at him?” Everyone they had met had been rough on Noah, including Rachel’s hubbies. They had both given Noah hell.
“I think Stef knows that after a while, everyone will calm down. Since Noah showed up yesterday, he’s been just about all Max and Rye can talk about. I’ve heard a bunch of stories about their childhood. I didn’t grow up in a small town. I grew up in Dallas. Kids played with kids their own age, but it wasn’t that way here. There were so few kids around that they all hung out even though Noah and James were a little younger. I had no idea how close they used to be. Apparently after Noah left town, James retreated. I know he had the ranch to deal with, but I never knew that Max and Rye missed him. And I had no idea Noah existed at all. But yesterday I heard some of the craziest stories. Stef always knows what he’s doing. Max might growl at Noah for a month or two, but he’ll come around. Noah is family.”
Family. It was a sweet word, but one Hope didn’t really understand the way Rachel obviously did. “Well, I’m glad Max sees him that way. In my family, it was always fighting. My mom had two sisters, and she didn’t talk to either one. She didn’t talk to her parents either.”
Rachel’s eyes went soft. “My mom and dad were great. I miss them every day. I wish…I wish things had been different. I can only imagine my dad taking on Max. Let me tell you, my father would have both of those boys in line.”
“Come on, Rachel. You really think your parents wouldn’t have a problem with the whole ménage thing?” It worked in Bliss, but the outside world was different.
“They loved me. They would have accepted it. And after a while, they wouldn’t be able to help but love my guys. They’re thoroughly lovable. And they would have adored Paige. Come to think of it, my parents would have probably loved Bliss. You never mention your folks. Are they alive?”
This was where a helpful lie usually worked, and yet Hope found herself wanting to talk for the first time in a long time. “I ran away when I was sixteen.”
“I ran away when I was twenty-eight,” Rachel said softly. “It’s nice we both found our way here.”
Hope shook her hea
d. “Not the same. Well, maybe a little.” She knew the story. Rachel had run from a stalker. She’d had a date go bad, and the man had obsessed about her. She certainly hadn’t been as stupid as Hope. She hadn’t decided she was in love with a man who turned out to be a killer. Rachel hadn’t facilitated her stalker’s crimes. She certainly hadn’t brought in girls for her stalker to torment. It didn’t matter to Hope that she hadn’t known it at the time. It only mattered that it had happened. “But you didn’t have anyone to help you. I left my mom’s apartment with nothing but the clothes on my back.”
Rachel leaned forward, the sandwich forgotten. “Why did you leave?”
“My mom had a new boyfriend. He was very interested in me.” And very brutal and rough looking. Christian had been the utter opposite. Christian had been gentle with her and polite. Christian had been gorgeous. And his masculine beauty had been a perfectly laid trap. She shook it off. “So I left and I stayed with friends, and I wound up here. It’s a boring story.”
“Ten years explained away in a sentence. Nice. You’re good.”
Hope felt like Rachel’s green eyes were staring right through her. “Sometimes these things are boring.”
“I sincerely doubt that. We all have secrets. Some of us are lucky enough to be able to find a family who can handle our secrets.”
A little bitterness welled up in Hope. She hadn’t drawn the high card when it came to families. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t lucky. Like I said, I had my mom, and she was happy to see the back of me.”
Rachel sighed as though Hope had missed the whole point of this conversation. “I wasn’t talking about your mom, Hope. I was talking about Bliss. Look, you’re not that much younger than me, but I’m wiser than you in this. Family isn’t just blood. Blood is a crapshoot of biology. I love my daughter, but I expect to have to earn her affection. A child isn’t something that a mom can shoot out and ignore and then expect that child to adore her. But family, real family, is something we make ourselves. It’s this weird, amazing fusion of people we share our lives with. I loved my parents, but I’ve told Callie and Jen things I would never have shared with them. Never. But I can tell those two women anything and they accept it. I can tell my husbands anything. Oh, I’m not stupid enough to do that, but I could.”