by Avery Gale
Caila rolled her eyes and shook her head at Aspen’s antics. “Girl, I wish I had boobs like yours. I got robbed, I tell you. Damn, I dropped a cookie crumb the other day, and it went clear to the floor.” Caila gave a disgruntled sigh as she looked down at her less than stellar mammaries.
“So the reproductive specialist among us didn’t get boobs. Something about that doesn’t seem quite right to me, but I’m having trouble figuring it out.” Coral was finally rejoining the group, her margarita glass so full it was almost overflowing. She noticed the others staring at her drink and shrugged. “Not my fault you all are preggers. That just means more for Caila and me…I…me….oh hell, the two of us.”
“You can’t figure that out and you submitted a book?” Josie’s question brought the chattering to an immediate halt.
“Dammit, Josie, why don’t you shout that from the stage at your next concert so people all over the world can hear you?”
“Shit. I’m sorry. I forgot.” Josie didn’t sound that sorry to Caila. Glancing around the room then up at the camera, Josie’s mischievous grin should have been a clue, but Caila was already feeling the effects of the tequila so she shrugged it off. She hadn’t had a mixed drink in so long she was going to have to be particularly careful or she’d be singing on the karaoke machine before long…and nobody wanted to hear that.
Josie whispered to the others, “Coral wrote a scorching romance novel a long time ago. I made her dig it out and update it and send it in to a publisher. But now we need to distract the men. Let’s go skinny dipping.”
Joelle started laughing and then cursed. “Okay, but if my men add to my punishment tally, I’m making sure you go down with me.” Before Caila could blink, clothes were flying everywhere.
Caila and Coral blinked in surprise, grinning at one another. “Fuck a duck, would you look at that? They can strip fast for a bunch of sober chicks.” Coral slid her shorts down and grabbed the back of the lounger, trying to keep from toppling over.
“I was just thinking the same thing. We can’t have them beating us. It would be a charm, chart, well, damn…shameful.” Caila noticed the world was starting to tilt and spin. “I think the cool water is going to be just the jolt I need to marbleize. Wait, that’s not the right word. Shit, what’s the word for burn up?”
Joelle leaned into her field of vision. “Metabolize.”
“Yeah, what she said. The cold water will help me do that to the booze.”
Joelle shook her head, and Josie started giggling. Aspen tilted her head in question as Caila studied her for several seconds. “You didn’t tell me you had a twin. That’s cool. What’s her name?”
“Into the water you go, Dr. Cooper. We’d better sober you up before Kip finds out you’re sauced.” Aspen led her to the edge of the water and then grinned. “You can swim, right?” When Caila nodded, the other woman didn’t hesitate before pushing her in.
The cold water was a shock to her system, but she didn’t have any trouble finding the surface. The others were jumping in all around her. The only one missing was Josie. “Where’s Josie?”
“She’s up on the slide. Watch what she does. She’s always loved water slides.”
Caila turned just in time to see the slender blonde nose dive down the twisting slide. She swam directly to the ladder, climbed out, and headed up the steps again.
Coral yelled to her friend, “Hurry up. We’re all going into the grotto, there aren’t any cameras or microphones in there. We can gossip about our men.” Coral dove in with her drink and surfaced cussing like a sailor. “Fuck me, that didn’t work out for sit…no, she…no, duck it…shit. My drink is all watered down like some pansy-ass bar drink. And it washed off my pussy pink salt.”
The others were all howling with laughter as Caila scampered up the ladder and made her way to the bar. Joelle was already behind the bar and handed her a pitcher from the fridge. “Here you go, nice and fresh.”
Taking the pitcher from the other woman, Caila debated which glasses to bring and finally shrugged, grabbing two long straws instead. Turning, she saw the others were already making their way into the small room at the other end of the pool. She laughed and shouted to them “Hey, wait for me” as they disappeared into the rock lined enclosure where the hot tub bubbled. She’d always loved the grotto with its twinkling fairy lights and romantic illusion of privacy. The ambiance was perfect, and she knew for a fact all the Morgan brothers had enjoyed their fair share of ladies in the small space.
Leaning back, Caila wondered if the hot water was going to exaggerate the effects of the alcohol, but she pushed the thought aside. She hadn’t partied in a long time, so somewhere in the back of her booze saturated mind that justified her poor choice. Yeah, that’s it. I haven’t had a girls’ night in a long time. I deserve this. Something about the way her inner voice phrased it sounded like it might turn on her later, but she chose to ignore it and join her chattering friends.
Phoenix watched the screen in front of him in stunned disbelief. His brothers and cousin all stood shoulder to shoulder behind him with their arms crossed over their chests. Colt broke the silence when Josie went head first down the slide. “Jesus Christ, she’s going to break her damned neck.”
Sage shook his head. “I told you that damned slide was a hazard. But no, you didn’t listen to me. The girls will love it, you told me. And what the fuck was that about a book? Anybody here know anything about that?”
Brandt laughed. “I believe that’s what Joelle calls karma, brother.”
“Fuck you, Brandt. Your woman isn’t the one acting crazy.”
“Seriously? Did you see the hand prints on her ass? She’s been acting crazy for days. I think she’s acting like a loon because she knows we won’t give her the paddling she deserves. She only has those because she was mouthy before she left a couple hours ago. And I couldn’t resist getting my hands on her. That clusterfuck yesterday scared the hell out of me.”
Kip looked at him and nodded. “I can relate. I enjoyed putting Caila over my knee last night and spanking her when she pushed me too far. It felt good to feel her ass heat up beneath my palm.”
“It’s the kink version of proving to yourself they’re okay.” Ryan nodded and then shrugged. “What? Just because I’m a doctor doesn’t mean I’m not a Dom, too.”
“Point taken,” Sage agreed. “The question is, how long do we let those two guzzle margaritas sitting in warm water? That damned tequila is going to shoot straight to their brains.” Sage sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe she’s done this. It would serve her right if I let the girls into our room first thing in the morning.”
Kip shook his head and explained, “She planned this to distract Caila. Coral knew Cal was going to try to sneak out and go back to work this afternoon—and she was right. I caught her just as she was reaching for the back door.”
Phoenix zoomed in one of the newly installed high definition cameras in the grotto and rubbed his hands together like a damned mad scientist. The microphones were picking up every word. Pulling up chairs, they all settled in to listen to their women. “This ought to be enlightening since they don’t know we can hear them. I told you these new gadgets were going to come in handy.”
“Indeed you did.” They all turned to find Mitch Ames leaning against the door frame.
“Hey, welcome home. When did you get back?” Brandt waved the other man in, slapping him on the back. Kip knew Mitch had been out of the country on a rescue mission for the Prairie Winds team. They’d gone after the daughter of a South American banker who’d been kidnapped by the local drug cartel boss. Mitch had called to say the young woman was back with her parents and would recover physically, but he’d worried the emotional damage was going to take a lot longer to heal.
Phoenix stood to shake his friend’s hand and motioned him into the chair beside him. “Our wife is getting herself in pretty deep. You got home just in time to enjoy the fun.”
“I’d have been here soo
ner, but I thought I saw a light reflecting at the edge of the woods, so I stayed outside for a bit. When I didn’t see it again, I slipped in the back entrance. As it turns out, that delay allowed me to stay in the shadows and watched our luscious sub frolicking with her friends. I also wanted to see if the new piece of equipment we ordered came in.”
Shaking his head, Mitch laughed. “One hell of a welcome home, I have to tell you. Don’t worry too much about Coral and Caila’s drinking. I watched Joelle switch out the pitcher before she handed it over to Caila. She poured their margarita mix down the sink and refilled it with plain limeade.” Phoenix looked at Brandt. His brother’s eyes were twinkling with pride at his wife’s concern for her friends.
“Thank, God. Maybe they won’t end up with alcohol poisoning. I’m still going to paddle her sweet ass, though.” Sage chuckled and turned his attention to the man who’d just entered the room. “Mitch, I’m going to warn you using words like ‘frolic’ means you have to surrender your Man Card here in Montana. We have rules about that sort of thing.” Phoenix knew Sage had relaxed if his sense of humor had returned.
“The equipment has already been installed, but none of our women know it yet.” Brandt’s smug expression made Phoenix wonder how quickly that smirk would slide from his brother’s face. In his experience, the minute you bragged about getting one over on your sub, it came back to bite you in the ass.
“Perfect, I’ve been looking forward to using it to train—” Mitch’s words were cut off when Phoenix waved his hand.
Scrolling the tape back a few seconds and turning up the volume, they all listened in stunned disbelief. Coral was leaned back in the hot tub, her tightly drawn nipples peeking out of the bubbling froth, her eyelids half closed, but a mischievous smile played over her plump lips. During a rare lull in the conversation, Coral raised her head, her eyes scanning the small enclosure as if making sure they were still alone. “I got an interesting email at the store a few days ago asking me to complete a survey about the new orgasm training saddle they’d installed in my playroom.”
The women all sat up, their attention focused on Coral—their expressions running the gambit from shock to amusement. Phoenix glanced at Kip who appeared ready to burst out laughing and agreed. This had to have set some new speed record for karma. Beside him, Sage growled, and Brandt was cursing in a language Phoenix didn’t even recognize. Coral leaned closer to the others and giggled. “I checked their website where the email came from to see exactly what I’d had delivered and installed in my playroom. The thing reminds me of those electric bucking bulls, but there are attachments.” Her air quotes around the last word sent the other women into a fit of giggles.
Colt turned to Sage and shook his head. “Tell me you did not use the hardware store’s email address to order that thing.”
“We got a twenty percent discount since it was purchased by a retail business.” When they all gaped at him in shock, he shrugged. “The damned thing cost a fucking fortune. Twenty percent was a significant chunk of change.”
“Un-fucking-believable.” Brant rolled his eyes and refocused his attention on the women, who were chattering like magpies as Coral went into excruciating detail about all the features of the saddle, including possible uses for punishment and orgasm deprivation.
“The kicker is there are sensors in the attachments that measure a sub’s internal temperature, pulse, respiration…I don’t even want to know how a dildo up my who-ha measures my respiratory rate. Anyway, it also measures muscle contractions, and then the little birdie in the box does some magic voo-doo calculating on his abacas, and the Dom gets messages to his cell phone telling him when you’re about to come.”
“Holy hell, what happened to all that bull shit about Doms being so attuned to their submissive they knew from watching every little detail when she was getting close to coming? I’m not sure I’m all that excited about having some orgasmo device shoved into my vagina and ass so Colt can take a load off and play with me from his damned cell phone.” Josie made a valid point, and in a lot of ways, Phoenix agreed with her.
“Orgasmo device? Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, does she have any idea how much that damned thing cost us?” Colt’s growled words from beside him made Phoenix cringe.
“How would she?” All of them froze at the sound of their dad’s voice. If he hadn’t been so shocked, Phoenix would have burst out laughing. Fucking karma is in full force tonight.
Chapter Nineteen
Barry Orman watched the back of the Morgan’s massive home stunned by what he saw through the high-power scope. He’d been determined to take out the bitch who shot him, but it looked like he might wait a few minutes. No reason to ignore this little bonus. Burning Phoenix Morgan’s woman wouldn’t make up for the fucking mess on the road yesterday, but it would check an old grudge off his list. Who was he to argue with fate? Watching five gorgeous, naked women play in the pool wasn’t a hardship, so he’d settle back to enjoy the show.
He’d originally planned to take out the old fart vet to lure Caila Cooper in, but with the crazy coot in the local hospital, it was impossible to get to him. “I fucking hate small towns. Everybody knows everybody else,” he muttered to himself. He hadn’t even gotten past the first receptionist before being stopped and questioned. The old hag called the local sheriff, but Barry had been long gone by the time Brandt Morgan showed up. It was a good thing he’d worn a disguise. No doubt the man would have recognized him on the security footage if he hadn’t concealed his identity.
A few minutes ago, Orman caught a subtle shift of the light near the door. Zooming in, he watched Mitch Ames slip into the house. He’d done his homework, but there wasn’t much available about Ames past the point where he joined the military. Oddly enough, the man didn’t appear to capitalize on his family’s wealth, yet he wasn’t gainfully employed as far as Barry could tell. Giving a mental shrug, he turned away from where Ames had been standing. What the hell, he wasn’t of any consequence as far as Barry could tell. The man would likely have been devastated by his shared wife’s death, but that’s what he got for teaming up with the likes of Phoenix Morgan.
He was beginning to think the night was going to be a bust when the women all moved into some sort of rock enclosed room at one end of the pool, but it seemed his luck might be about to change. Caila Cooper swam from the enclosure and started to climb the ladder out of the water. Sighting her in was easy at this range, and pulling the trigger was the most satisfying feeling in the world. He waited a fraction of a second before firing the second shot, giving the window time to shatter and fall away. After all the booze she’d consumed, there wasn’t a chance in hell her reaction time would beat his second shot.
What the fuck? Why hadn’t the window broken? Hell, he’d sent two rifle shots against the glass, and it had barely shaken. And now Caila Cooper was out of sight thanks to the bitch behind her on the ladder. Fucking hell, had someone had turned on every light around the whole ranch? Christ, even the barn lights flipped on, and fucking people were streaming out of the buildings. Time to pack it in and get the hell out of Dodge.
Scrambling farther into the woods before shouldering his rifle, Barry wondered what the hell the Morgans were involved in. Who the hell put bulletproof glass around their indoor swimming pool? Jesus, how many enemies did these people have anyway?
Even if Coral hadn’t known immediately what the pinging sound was, the vibration of the large window in front of Caila would have given away the fact someone had just taken a shot at them. Wrapping her arms around Caila’s waist, Coral pulled her backwards into the deep water. They both went under, and Coral was relieved the other woman didn’t fight her. She pointed back to the grotto, and Caila nodded, her eyes wide with fear.
When they surfaced, the other women were already pulling towels from the rack and moving deeper into the small room. Aspen pulled Caila from the water with one hand while Josie helped Coral out. “Cover up, and move over here. The rocks will protect us, and if we can�
��t see the window, I don’t think the shooter will be able to get another shot.” Coral had already activated the panic button on her bracelet and nodded when she saw Josie and Joelle do the same.
“Where’s your bracelet, Aspen? Your men are going to paddle you good for not wearing it.” Joelle might have sounded alarmed, but the gleam in her eyes told the others she didn’t consider a spanking much of a deterrent.
“I broke it during PT a week ago. Damn, Jax has set up a physical training program worse than anything I ever had to endure in the Air Force. Gracie swears he isn’t a sadist, but I’m not buying it. It’s weird, I’ve known him most of my life and had no idea he was completely insane. The tower obstacle kicked my ass. It also snagged my bracelet. Phoenix knew immediately, because…”
“There’s a special alarm if the bracelet is removed or broken.” The other three women all finished her sentence before breaking out into a fit of laughter.
Coral shivered and watched Josie, who was suddenly frighteningly pale. Her friend was weaving back and forth as she slapped her hand over her mouth. Coral recognized the look, having experienced it many times herself. “Come on…there’s a back door into the hall by the dressing rooms. I’m not supposed to know it’s there, but…I overheard…oh, well, we’ll just leave it that I found out.”
Tucking the towel tighter around her, Caila started to lead Josie out of the grotto when Colt appeared in front of them like an avenging angel. Her brother-in-law took one look at his wife, and his harsh expression faded. Scooping her up into his arms, he turned and sprinted out the door. The hidden panel door had barely latched when it was jerked open again and Sage filled the doorway.