Mellie's Angel [Men of McKenna Downs 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever)

by Zoey Marcel

  He knelt on the floor with her and held her in his arms while she sobbed uncontrollably. His gentle lulling and the caring way he rocked her and let her weep on his robes soothed her broken heart. As humiliated as she was that he’d heard those dark, dirty secrets of hers, in a way she was glad. He didn’t judge her. He just held her like she wanted to believe God did with his children.

  “There’s nothing wrong with having doubt, angel. It’s better to be honest about it and search for answers than to go along in confusion.” He kissed her head and rubbed her bare arm. “Maybe you’re right and God just lets us run around like ants and does nothing to intervene, but what if you’re wrong? What if he does care and intervenes for you without you even realizing it? The car that won’t start to keep you from dying in the wreck he foresaw, the pain he allows you to go through to make you stronger or help you better understand how to help someone through their own suffering, and all the other things we can’t see or understand. Silver is purified in fire, Mellie. There are some things we can only learn through trials and suffering.”

  Mellie just listened. They sat in silence, tangled in each other’s arms for a long while without speaking.

  “Sometimes I just say a thank you prayer to whoever is listening,” she confessed. “I don’t even know if anyone is listening, but I figure it’s polite to say thank you just in case.”

  “That’s good, Mellie.” He squeezed her, seeming like his heart broke for her. “I’m so sorry for everything you went through.”

  “It’s okay.” She hugged him tighter. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For being an angel.”

  “You’re my angel.” He nuzzled her. “I believe in you, Mellie. If you need a miracle to believe, then I’ll pray for a miracle.”

  * * * *

  Hunter had Mellie on his mind all day. He hated that he hadn’t been able to drive her to the ranch like he’d planned, but his duties required him to be at the chapel for the day in place of someone who had gotten sick.

  He changed clothes when he was through and then drove home, wondering what sort of mood his lady would be in after confession. When he walked into the living room he found her dusting.

  “Hi, Mellie.”

  She stiffened. “Hi.”

  He’d wondered if she would feel awkward at first being so open and vulnerable to him earlier. He’d expected her to be embarrassed and uncomfortable, but she also seemed slightly irritated.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said quickly.

  “That’s not true. Be honest with me.”

  She turned to face him, looking annoyed. “Honest? Why didn’t you tell me you were a priest?”

  He shrugged. “You didn’t tell me you were a nun.”

  “You run around copping a feel with me and passing me off to two of your brothers like I’m a candy dish and all this time you’re…a priest?”

  He cleared his throat. “You were a nun involved in ménage. Don’t you think that makes us even?”

  She blushed and averted her eyes, looking adorable. “That’s different. I didn’t join the convent for religious reasons. I’m not even Catholic or any religion.”

  “Why then?”

  She didn’t answer and he didn’t want to press her.

  “Fair enough. Give me a chance to explain. When I was younger, before I went into the church, I knew a few women.” He gauged her reaction, noting with remorse and subtle approval that she appeared to be jealous despite her attempts to hide it. “When I converted and then decided to get involved in the church, I turned to abstinence. It wasn’t easy, I admit. I’m not a pure man, but once I devoted myself to God and that dream I had of you, I never touched another woman until you came into our lives.”

  Mellie stared at him blankly. “Dream?”

  “For years I’ve had this dream of you with me and…it was wonderful, sweetness. I always knew you would come to us. You’re the one, angel.”

  Mentioning how she was also meant to be with his brothers and Diego probably wasn’t a good idea. It might send her running for the hills away from them. That wouldn’t do anybody any good. It was better to keep a lid on it until the water was hot enough to boil.

  Her countenance softened and her voice caught. “Y–you dreamed about me?”

  Hunter nodded. “For years. I made myself a promise and the church, actually, that I would wait for you. See, Mellie, McKenna Downs isn’t like other towns you’ve probably heard of.”

  “I’m beginning to see that.”

  “We have plenty of one man-with-one-woman relationships, but most of the relationships are ménage. Even the priests are encouraged to settle down, be it with one woman, or he can share his lady with another man, sometimes more.”

  Mellie’s jaw dropped. “Th–the church encourages that?”

  He smiled and nodded. “They don’t want anyone with religious authority being in flings or casual relationships. It’s forbidden, but when a priest finds the woman he wants to settle down with for the rest of his life…well, they don’t much care what happens just so long as she’s wearing the priest’s slave bracelet as proof that they’re committed to each other for the long haul.”

  She went speechless for a second. “That’s why you bought me that bracelet.”

  He nodded once. “Yes, ma’am. I only played with you a little because you’re my forever woman. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t have touched you.”

  She appeared to be processing the information, but the light in her fetching pale blue-gray eyes told him that she was deeply moved.

  “I can’t penetrate you until you agree to wear the bracelet. I would be excommunicated if I did and it would go against my conscience, as bad as I want you.” He sighed, stepping closer to her. “There have been countless different standards and definitions of marriage in every culture and era, including the good book. If I lived anywhere else, I would abide by the standard for a priest there, but in McKenna Downs the rules are different, even for priests.”

  Melanie seemed contemplative for a moment. “Thank you for explaining it to me. It makes a lot more sense now.”

  He smiled. “I’m glad. Will you excuse me?”

  She nodded, acting confused by his hasty retreat.

  He hurried into his bedroom and got the papers. His hands shook like he was a diabetic with low blood sugar. His palms sweated and his knees buckled with anticipation when he got the box containing her slave bracelet. His bracelet, the one she would wear that would let everyone know that she was his and off limits.

  He went back into the living room and handed her the medical papers.

  “What’s this?”

  “I got a physical and a blood test this week. I already knew I was clean, but I wanted to have proof for you.”

  “I appreciate that.” She studied the papers without saying anything more.

  “Are you on birth control, Mellie?”

  Her face shadowed with gloom, still downcast at his records. “No. But there’s no risk of pregnancy.”

  “Why not?”

  “My pregnancy was difficult. The doctor advised against me having any more children.” She gulped, seeming pained. “I got my tubes tied.”

  “You don’t have to give me children, sweetness. Just give me you and it will be enough.” He turned her in his arms, tilting her chin up so they made eye contact. “We can always adopt if children are important to you.”

  “I would really like to.”

  “A baby or an older kid?”

  “I was thinking a baby from another country.”

  “Any place in particular?”

  “Africa.”

  He smiled and ran his hand over her hair. “Anything for you, angel.”

  Her breathy exhale when he kissed her lips captivated him. She let out a dreamy sigh as he kissed the bridge of her nose and then moved to her forehead and eyelids.

  “What about Jake?” she asked in an uneven whisper.

&n
bsp; “We both want you, Mellie.” Hunter gazed down at her seriously. “We want to share you with one another and have you as our wife.”

  Her mouth fell open. “You both want to commit to me?”

  “Yes, ma’am, more than anything.” He grazed his lips down her nose with his eyes closed, taking in her addicting scent. “I’ve never been inside a woman without a condom before. I want to share that with you, only with you.”

  “I want that, too, but I’m scared,” she whispered against his skin. “What if there comes a day when you don’t want me anymore?”

  “There will never come a day, Mellie. I love you too much to ever make the mistake of losing you or letting you go.”

  That calmed her down and touched every place inside of her. “I love you, too. I’m clean, but I don’t have papers on me. I can get them.”

  “I believe you, angel. I trust you.” He kissed the corners of her lips, feeling his cock tighten when she reacted quietly. Pulling the covenant bracelet from its box, he peppered kisses all over her face. “Once I put that bracelet on you, anything goes.”

  She shivered, losing her breath and sounding so sexual it made his blood simmer with primitive need.

  “Say yes, Mellie,” he whispered all over her skin, bestowing her soft flesh with delicate kisses to tempt her. “Say yes.”

  Melanie sounded like she bit back a faint moan when he trailed the cool pearls and silver over her forearm. She sucked in a gust of air when he pressed his erection against her.

  “Say yes.”

  Her breathing grew shallow and harsh like each intake of air cut through her like a knife. His breaths mirrored the desperation in hers. Her hand trembled when he slipped the slave bracelet onto her wrist and the attached ring portion onto her finger.

  Her eyes heated and she swallowed—a wet sound of raw hunger and womanly needs.

  “Stay with me and with Jake. Be our wife, Mellie.” His murmur turned to a predatory growl when he grabbed her bottom and pulled her harder against his crotch. Her defeated little whimper turned his cock to steel in his pants. “Will you wear my bracelet?”

  She raised her arm with a cute look of humored sass. He cracked a smile when he saw that she already wore it. She met his eyes with the look of a temptress and a moving level of tenderness in her lowered voice. “Yes.”

  Hunter’s control snapped. She said yes. His brain shut down and his heart and sex drive took the lead. He yanked her flush against him and devoured her in an animalistic kiss that made her mewl and paw at him like a needy kitten.

  He didn’t know which got to him more—the sound of their jeans coming undone, or their short, desperate pants as they clawed at each other. They didn’t even have the patience or willpower to part long enough to remove their clothes. The dropping of pants and underwear to their ankles was adequate.

  “Please don’t get me off first this time. I’m aching really badly. I just want you,” she pleaded, looking completely sincere.

  “Don’t tempt me, Mellie. I don’t want to hurt you.”

  She moved his hand to cup her pussy. He moaned at how soaked she was. Her slit dripped as if she’d already finished a few times.

  “I’ve never been this wet without coming before,” she whispered.

  He went breathless when she held his cock and touched it to her cunt.

  “I really need you inside me…right now.”

  Like any man could say no to that. Her plea was somehow assertive, her generosity mingled with a desperation he shared.

  When their bodies came together, the feel of her naked skin against his was incomparable. She was so smooth, so silky and delicious, he couldn’t remember anything feeling so good in his whole forty years of life.

  He backed her toward the hall that turned out to be the stairs, but he wasn’t stopping. He caught Mellie and supported her head when they stumbled and fell in each other’s arms on the stairs. Her intoxicating kisses were to die for. Her touch exhilarated him beyond his senses.

  When he matched the crown of his dick to her pussy and pushed forward, he shattered. Her tightness robbed the air from his lungs. Her heat burned him alive. His hard, aching cock drowned in her dampness.

  Making slow, sweet love had been what he’d envisioned for his first penetrative sexual encounter with Mellie, but the savage way he pummeled her cunt and mauled her mouth with his was anything but gentle. They struggled for balance and humped all over the stairs like animals gone feral.

  Neither one said a word to each other at first. They were too busy making out and thrusting their hips to contemplate forming any type of sentence. Her sharp gasps and breathless cries while he hammered into her bewitched him completely.

  When he halted the rapid motion, her body flailed as if in shock. He rubbed her clitoris frantically like he had a gut feeling she was the winning lottery ticket.

  “Y–you don’t have to do that,” she protested in between shaking and panting.

  He wouldn’t hear of any protests. They both wanted this, and she was so gracious and giving to others, she deserved to be pampered and taken care of for once. She would be with him, his brothers, and Diego for all the days of her life.

  Hunter laid a hand over her mouth, letting her know the orgasm they wanted her to have was happening. Her wild moan evolved into a pleasured, crying howl as she convulsed with possession all over the stairs and his half-unclothed body. Her unrestrained spasms sucked his dick like he had what she wanted and she wasn’t relenting until he gave it up to her.

  Hunter grunted in sweet, perverse agony and jabbed into her over and over again until his testicles relinquished their semen. He sprayed his cum into her, sharing with her what he’d never given to another woman.

  He collapsed on top of Melanie, kissing her face and struggling to breathe again. His cock throbbed furiously, but the pounding in his chest reminded him that he had given her a much deeper part of himself that he’d never given to any woman before.

  Chapter Seven

  Emmett O’Neil sat in an armchair in the living room with his hands over his lips like a teepee, deep in thought. Hunter had put a slave bracelet on Melanie. Emmett just knew he had. His anything but identical twin had been walking around all evening with a shit-eating grin on his face that betrayed the fact that the man had gotten laid.

  About time.

  It was dark out by the time his youngest brother, Jake, came traipsing into the living room where they were.

  “Freakin’ Greyson,” he muttered under his breath.

  Emmett gave him a slow smile. “Did he make you clean out the horse trailer when you two got back?”

  “Yes.” Jake snorted, heading into the kitchen. He raised his voice while in there so they could still hear him talk. “After we dumped the horses off in North Dakota, that asshole lugged me back and forth all over the frigging plains under the guise of brotherly bonding time. My ass.”

  Emmett smirked. “It was to keep you away from Melanie, no doubt.”

  Jake returned with a juice box. “You think?”

  Seeing a man hold a juice box tickled Emmett’s funny bone. Melanie had bought them when she made her first visit to the grocery store in town. Apparently Jake was all for the childhood nostalgia.

  “He knows damned well I’ve already seen the heads and Satan’s castle,” Jake complained.

  Hunter’s brow furrowed and he gave his brother a questioning half smile. “Where exactly did he take you?”

  “The heads would be Mount Rushmore,” Emmett deduced.

  “That makes sense,” Hunter agreed, “but what the heck is Satan’s castle?”

  “You know, that fucking demon rock in eastern Wyoming with the bear tall tale,” Jake answered.

  Hunter smirked. “You mean Devil’s Tower?”

  “Yeah, that one.” Jake sucked down the juice. “Mmm, this is good.”

  “Mellie bought them,” Hunter informed him with stars in his eyes.

  Oh brother.

  Men became such fool
s when they fell in love. He should know. Emmett scowled. Well, he wasn’t that young-ass fool anymore. No broad was going to fuck with his head ever again.

  Jake looked at the nifty juice box in his hand. “No kidding? Aw, she’s such a sweetie. Where is she? I missed her like crazy. I want to hug her.”

  “Jake, you lying bastard, you have no intention of settling for a hug and everyone in this room knows it,” Emmett accused with a wicked grin.

  Jake laughed. “True that. I couldn’t get her out of my head while I was away. God, she’s amazing. And that picture you sent me of her—oh my god!”

  Hunter smiled. “I’m glad you liked it. I figured you’d miss her.”

  “I did a ton. She’s everything to me.”

  Emmett rolled his eyes. Another one bites the dust.

  Now he had that song stuck in his head, but it was all good because Queen was a great group.

  “I know what you mean,” Hunter agreed. “I gave her a bracelet.”

  “Awesome! She agreed to be ours?” Jake was rather hyper for the hour being so late.

  Hunter hesitated. “In a manner of speaking. I told her that you and I wanted her, but I sort of kept the part about Greyson, Emmett, and Diego out of it.”

  Emmett scoffed. “A minor detail.”

  “I didn’t want to scare her off,” Hunter explained in his own defense. “We’re not even sure if she likes you yet.”

  Emmett smirked. “She damned well likes me in bed.”

  Hunter rolled his eyes. “It takes more than sex to make a marriage last.”

  Emmett threw him an annoyed look. “You don’t say? And here I thought I was the model husband with all my sack skills. Pray tell, dear brother, what do I lack?”

  Hunter ignored him and turned to face Jake.

  “So she agreed to it?” Jake looked like his excitement could end in him bouncing off the walls if they had a few Sweet Tarts there to speed him along.

  “She did. Mellie loves us, Jake. She told me she did,” Hunter said.

  “Sweet! I knew she did.” Jake smacked his hands together. “Man, this is working out swimmingly.”