by Starla Kaye
He watched her stop in his great room and glance around at his sparse furnishings. Her gaze shifted from the worn leather sofa and two matching chairs to a battered end table holding a lamp he’d picked up at a yard sale. Then she took in his nearly bare walls and the two framed photos on the large mantel that adorned the fireplace that took up a whole wall. Pitiful. Seeing it through her eyes, he was embarrassed as hell.
Instead of condemning his lack of decorating skills, she walked over to the mantel. She carefully studied the photos: one Samuel and him not long after he’d come to the ranch and one of Doug and him. They’d been at Lee and Amy’s wedding and someone had managed to take a few pictures.
“You need to have this photo enlarged.” She picked up the 3x4 frame and studied it some more. “Unless you don’t like having anyone see you wearing suits,” she teased and looked at him.
He hadn’t given it much thought when Amy had given Doug and him each a copy of the picture. Now he realized it did seem kind of ridiculous looking. Especially when placed next to the other almost-as-small picture on the twelve-footlong oak mantel.
“At least he’s got his copy set out,” Doug commented, drawing her attention. “Mine’s in a drawer in my bedroom at the bunkhouse.”
She put the photo back and gave Doug a puzzled look. “You live in the bunkhouse?”
Doug shrugged and appeared uncomfortable, studied his boots, shifted his feet. “As good of a place to hang my hat and park my boots as any.”
Camden gave him an understanding look. Rose noticed and raised an eyebrow. Doug’s life was different and he’d worried about him for years. Feeling defensive, he said, “Doug has a place in town, but he likes staying at the ranch. He stays here sometimes, too.” He groaned at that admission, particularly when her eyebrow went up even higher. Hell, he’d already mentioned having only one bedroom, and she’d seen his pitifully poor excuse for a sofa.
Doug growled at him. Hell, even Doug knew how he’d screwed up.
She cocked her head and a tiny smile slipped into place. “I know you two are close, but…” She hesitated and then went boldly on. “Are you lovers?”
Doug ground his teeth and then grumbled, “What if we are?”
Camden wasn’t sure what to say. He honestly didn’t care if everyone knew about their relationship, but Doug did. After the horrors Doug had suffered as a young man, no way was he going to cause him any more trauma. So he kept their secret. But he sure didn’t want Rose…
“Get your hackles down, cowboy. It doesn’t bother me at all.” She walked back across the room to stop in front of Doug.
“Besides, you’re obviously bi or you wouldn’t have half the ladies in town praising your skills in bed. And I don’t think you would have asked me here.”
He looked embarrassed and admitted, “We both are.” He blew out a deep breath. “Actually, we’re more woman loving than…” He let the rest of the thought go and continued to watch her.
Camden decided it was time to lighten the moment, test Rose a bit. He only hoped Doug wouldn’t plant his fist in his face. “The man’s one hell of a kisser.”
“I already know that, but so are you,” Rose said and glanced his way. She gave him a look that told him she remembered when he’d kissed her in her front yard. Then she focused on Doug again. She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him, knocked his hat to the floor and he didn’t seem to notice.
When Doug’s arms went around her and he deepened the kiss, making her moan, jealousy swept through Camden. He wasn’t sure if it was because Rose was kissing his lover, or if he wished she were kissing him. But he’d spoken the truth: Doug could melt a person’s socks right off when he kissed them.
He picked up Doug’s hat and set it down on the end table, and then he cleared his throat. After another couple of heated seconds, they eased apart. She appeared dazed, grinned, and heaved a sigh. Again, she surprised them both by taking hold of his hand and pulling him in front of Doug. “Okay, kiss each other.”
Doug balked, clearly uncertain about doing this in front of her. Camden saw her determination, her curiosity, and decided to satisfy it…and himself, too. He moved boot-to-boot with the only man he’d ever made love to and put his hands on either side of Doug’s broad neck. He felt the muscles tighten, saw him stiffen warily. And then he looked resigned, hungry as well.
Unable to resist another second, Camden put his mouth to Doug’s. He slid his tongue along Doug’s lips and immediately he was granted entrance. He plunged his tongue inside, earned a moan from Doug. His lover’s arms wrapped around him, held him closely. They rubbed against each other, chests heaving, nearly lost in the pleasure of the moment.
“It’s beautiful,” Rose said breathlessly and brought him crashing back to reality. As they abruptly moved apart, she complained, “I didn’t mean to stop you. God, now I feel awful.”
Doug’s heart continued to pound, his cock throbbed. He needed release damn bad. But he was embarrassed at nearly losing control with Camden in front of Rose. Shit, another few seconds and he would have taken Camden to the floor. He would have…
He glanced at Camden and realized Camden was in as bad of shape as he was. And the scent of their arousal was only making it worse. Somehow he managed to look at Rose. “I’ll understand if you want me to take you back to town.” Not that he wanted to do that. No, now more than ever he wanted to make love to her…with Camden as well.
“Are you nuts?” she protested. “I’m so aroused now that I’m about to explode.” She looked from him to Camden. “So what do we do next? It darn sure better involve getting naked.”
Camden grinned and pulled his shirt out of his jeans and tugged it off over his head. “Works for me.”
Immediately Rose’s eyes widened and concern filled her expression. Doug was certain she had changed her mind, especially since she had stopped tugging her T-shirt free of her jeans. But she went to Camden and ever so gently reached out to run a finger over the narrow six-inch scar on the lower left side of his chest.
“What happened here?” She continued stroking the scar and Camden’s eyes glazed over from the touch.
“Knife…knife wound.” He captured her hand and held it still. “Years ago. Doesn’t matter.”
She looked toward Doug, frowning. “You? Do you have any scars?”
Doug shook his head, half wishing he did have some, just so she’d tenderly touch them, too. As she watched him, he freed his shirt and tugged it off over his head. He knew women considered him good looking and ranch work kept his body in well-toned condition, but he didn’t think of himself as anything special. He was just who he was. Camden clearly…
She gasped and moved toward him. She grabbed hold of his left arm, smiling, excited as she examined it. “Tattoos. I never would have expected you to have them. But why only one arm?”
He felt self-conscious, but not enough to pull away from her tender touch. “I went through a rebellious stage after I first came to the ranch. Got some tats because it bugged Samuel.” Her fingers lightly teasing over the snake that curled around his bicep and down his forearm were doing crazy things to him. Making him hard as a rock. He added quietly, “My rebellion ended before I moved on to the right arm.”
“Let me tell you,” Camden inserted, “Samuel blistered his ears for getting them done. Each and every time he got a new one.”
Doug finally pulled his arm out of her reach. He gazed at Camden and muttered, “He’d have blistered my ass, too, if I weren’t already as big as him.”
Rose sucked in a breath and looked alarmed. “Did he hit you? Ever?” She focused on Camden. “You?”
Oddly enough, Doug chuckled at her immediate concern over whether either of them had ever gotten their butts smacked. If she only knew that there was so much worse that could be done… That had been done to him. But not by Samuel. The salty old man had threatened more than one time to try and find who had…
He shook off the bad memories, clung to the smile he’d found. “
Samuel’s a lot of bark, but he’s a softy when it comes down to it. He’s a good man.”
She appeared relieved and went back to pulling off her T-shirt. As it inched up her chest, his gaze latched onto and held her breasts. A lacy red bra struggled to contain plump breasts that he all but drooled over. Breasts were his thing, whether they were modest A’s or B’s or perfect handfuls. But he wasn’t really fond of super Ds or bigger.
He decided to help Rose out, gentleman that he was. He turned her around and unfastened the bra, drawing in the faint scent of some kind of soft, flowery perfume, feeling the heat of her body close to him, enjoying the brush of her over-theshoulder length dark brown hair against his bare chest. As the bra dropped to the floor, he carefully cupped his hands around each amazing breast…and sighed in pure pleasure.
“Ohhh, that’s so nice,” she purred and leaned back.
Camden stepped forward and began undoing her jeans, sliding them down, grinning. He looked up at her. “I’m more of a leg man.” When she looked worried, he leaned toward her and kissed her belly button. “See how nicely this will work out. Doug can play all he wants with your breasts and I’ll get my pleasure out of stroking and licking your legs.”
She watched him as he pulled her shoes off, then the jeans, and then smoothed his hands over her thighs. When he moved them up the insides of her thighs, she trembled.
“When do I get to…” She shifted away from both of them, took a second to regain some control. “I want my time to tease and play, too.”
Doug scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom. He looked at Camden, who appeared every bit as ready for the next step as he was. He dropped her on the king-sized bed and glanced around, pleased to note that the normal piles of dirty clothes and discarded towels were no longer in sight. It looked like Camden had even gone so far as to dust off the nightstand and dresser.
“Impressive,” he said, seeing Camden unbuttoning his jeans. He wanted to finish the job, undress his sometimes lover. What would Rose think if he did that? Would it turn her on as their kissing had?
Deciding to find out, he walked to Camden, saw him raise an eyebrow curiously. “Let me.”
Hands on Camden’s fly, they both looked toward Rose. She had sat up and was watching intently. When she noticed them hesitating, she asked, “Well? What are you waiting for?”
Relieved that she was okay with this, Doug went back to removing Camden’s clothes, first his jeans and then his tightywhities. Fortunately they’d both toed off their boots in the living room and didn’t have to deal with that. Just the sight of Camden’s hard body, his long muscled legs made his heart race. The sight of his thick cock already primed and ready had his mouth watering, had him thinking of their times alone.
“Now you,” Rose interrupted his thoughts. “Camden,” she prompted.
Camden didn’t even hesitate. Doug felt Camden’s hands on his belt, felt his knuckles rubbing as he unbuttoned his jeans and eased the zipper down. He sucked in a breath at the brush of Camden’s fingers against his body and Camden grinned. Doug’s dick was shoving against the denim, throbbing. He needed to drive it into someone damn soon, and he didn’t care if it was Rose or Camden. He figured before the night was through he’d be inside both of them.
When Camden shoved down his jeans and his boxers were revealed, he heard Rose giggle. He glowered and glanced down. Well, hell. He needed to do laundry and was down to the last of his clean undershorts.
“Is that Tigger? And Winnie the Pooh?” She leaned forward to look closer, laughing. “That’s sooo cute.”
His face flamed and he glared at Camden. “The idiot here gave these to me one Christmas, as a joke.”
Camden chortled. “Never thought you’d actually wear them.”
Doug pushed his so-called friend away and shoved the offending garment down and off. “Never again, that’s for damn sure.”
Now when he hazarded a glance at Rose, she was no longer laughing. Her gaze was fastened to his cock. “Oh my,” she whispered. Then she looked toward Camden and her eyes widened. She gulped nervously. “I’m not sure I can…”
“It won’t be a problem,” Doug said soothingly at the same time Camden said, “Yes, you can.”
She looked worried. “My vibrator is big, but…”
Doug froze, as did Camden. He was pretty sure his friend was having the same instant visions of this gorgeous brunette making some magic with a vibrator. His heart pounded. He would give a lot to watch that tantalizing show. More than that, though, he wanted to prove to her that his real live cock could be much better than some bit of plastic.
Camden came out of his daze first and strode to the bed. “Time to shed those panties, darlin’.” He gripped his cock, stroked it as she licked her lips and wriggled out of the panties. “Now, do you think you’re up for some foreplay…with both of us?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Umm, I think so. Maybe.” Rose sat on the bed, pulse racing, body humming with desire. Two unbelievably handsome cowboys, so alike and yet so unalike stood only a few feet away, each holding and stroking a long thick cock.
Her mouth watered. Moisture beaded between her legs. She wanted to touch each of those cocks. She wanted to… Each of those cocks! Oh, God, what was she thinking? How had she gotten into this situation? Was she completely insane? How could she possibly hope to please these men, even one of them? She’d never been very good at this, at making love.
“Are you sure you want me? I mean…well, my ex-fiancé said I wasn’t good at…” She couldn’t finish the humiliating admission. Tears stung her eyes. She was going to be such a disappointment to them.
Doug’s expression turned fierce. “We want you. Trust me on that.”
Camden walked to her, gently touched the side of her face with a thumb. “I don’t care anything about your ex-fiancé or what he might have said.” He leaned down to brush a kiss over her mouth. When he straightened and left her breathless, he said, “I’m pretty sure your ex was an idiot.”
She had to smile at that, tipped up her chin. “I’d have to agree.” She thought about the talented male dancer she’d parted ways with and finally realized why she didn’t really miss him. “Ryan had a great passion for ballet, but not for anything else. Certainly not for making love.”
Both men were watching her, clearly puzzled. “We were both destined to be great performers with one of the top ballet companies. Or so we thought.”
She glanced away and saw again that awful moment. “Ryan missed catching me in a leap. Somehow he was out of position. I jumped a tad too far to be able to land safely on the edge of the stage.” Tears trickled down her face and she wished she could stop the painful admission, but she couldn’t. “I skidded into an undignified landing. He didn’t even try to stop me, just watched me fall into the orchestra pit. It was awful.”
She could still hear the snap of bones, feel the horrible pain. Around her the audience gasped, the orchestra stopped playing. She vaguely heard Doug cursing, Camden, too.
“My career ended in a split second. He never even acknowledged his part in what happened.” That was what had hurt the most, even more than his deciding that because she could no longer dance that they shouldn’t be a couple.
Doug looked murderous. “This Ryan person, some shit of a man, caused you to fall…ruined your career.” He curled his hands into fists. “I’d like to—”
Camden, too, growled under his breath.
Their reactions made her realize how much she’d gained by coming here…not lost. She shook her head, dashed away the tears, pulling herself together. “He’s not worth another thought.” She motioned them closer, once more feeling anticipation spreading through her. “I’d much rather concentrate on this foreplay you mentioned.”
She shivered at the thought. Ryan’s idea of “foreplay” had been telling her to lie down quickly, that he was desperate for her. Somehow those words were supposed to get her excited. Actually she’d had to think of what she really
wanted him to do to her, remember things she’d read about. By the gleams in Doug and Camden’s eyes, she was pretty sure this time would be a whole lot different…better.
Her breath caught as both men came toward her. She could smell their arousal, her own, too. Anticipation sizzled through her. She wasn’t sure what to do, but she scooted to the middle of the bed.
Camden crawled to her right side, his eyes filled with gentleness. “Don’t think so much, darlin’.” He guided her back and helped her stretch out, one hand smoothing along her leg and making her tremble. “Just go with it.”
Her heart pounded and she couldn’t manage to speak, especially not as his hand moved between her legs, easing them further apart. And then Doug climbed up the bed on her left side. His big calloused hands went straight to her breasts, easily covering them, kneading them.
She sucked in a shuddery breath and her nipples pebbled beneath those magical hands. Again she couldn’t get words to leave her mouth. All she could do was lie there with Camden’s hand seeking and finding his way to her lower lips, spreading them, thumbing her clit. Then a finger slid inside her. A second one quickly followed.
She arched upward, gasping. Her inner muscles tightened around Camden’s fingers slowly moving in and out and she wriggled in pleasure.
“Like that, do you,” he teased, winking down at her.
She wanted to answer him, but Doug lowered his head and his hot, moist mouth covered one aching nipple. As one of her cowboys played devilishly between her legs and the other nibbled on her breast, her thoughts scattered. She couldn’t lie still, could barely breathe.
Not to be outdone, Doug moved his mouth to the other breast, while continuing to massage the abandoned one. They were killing her and she loved it.
Camden drove his fingers in deeper, twirled them around and she groaned mindlessly. “Damn, darlin’, you’re so responsive.”
Doug raised his head, grinned while he lightly pinched both nipples, making her suck in a breath. “I could play with these for hours.”