Seducing Carma [Passion Peak, Colorado 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Tara Rose

  “Do you have an attorney?” asked Chad.

  Blaine nodded, and then he suddenly remembered that Chad was a police detective in Racy.

  “Take your direction from him. Have you told your boss at Notus?”

  “Not yet.”

  Chad raised his eyebrows. “You’d better do it before Monday.”

  “His boss is a client of mine,” said Carma, handing Blaine her phone. “All my clients have my cell phone number. You can borrow this to call Jay Thomason if you want.”

  Blaine stared at the phone for a second before reaching for it. He looked into Carma’s beautiful, dark eyes, wondering what he’d done to earn her trust. It made no sense.

  “The scariest part of actually doing something is what we imagine it will be like,” she said quietly. “After we get past that, it’s usually not as bad as we think it will be.”

  He fought the urge to kiss her.

  “I was afraid earlier this evening. Afraid of the club and afraid of how I would react when you and Mateo tied my wrists behind my back.” Blaine heard Annalise’s sharp intake of breath but ignored it, keeping his gaze locked on Carma’s face. “But neither of you betrayed my trust. I don’t think either of you have any idea what you did for me tonight.”

  They stared into each other’s eyes for so long that Blaine was certain time had been suspended. He didn’t know what to say. In all the years he’d gone through subs, looking for the right fit, never had one said anything like this to him. This woman had placed something of monumental importance into his hands, and without realizing it, he’d helped her on the road to recovery from what her shithole cousin Michael had put her through. How would anything in his life ever compare to this moment?

  “If Jay gives you any shit on the phone, tell him I’ll shave lines in his hair next time he comes in.”

  Blaine couldn’t help but smile.

  “Use my room to make the call,” said Mateo. “You won’t have any privacy down here.”

  As Blaine ascended the stairs to call his new boss, he sincerely hoped this would all work out because he was beginning to like this town, a lot.

  * * * *

  “What the fuck, Carma?”

  Carma turned on Annalise. “I know you mean well, but we’ve already had this conversation. You barely knew Dustin and Chad when you got together with them. And then Dustin’s ex-wife came back to town and at first you didn’t know if he still wanted her. How is this any different?”

  Her entire body was trembling, and it only stopped when Mateo scooted his chair closer to her and began to softly caress her upper back. She’d never openly defied Annalise, and hated doing so in front of Chad and Dustin, but enough was enough. She’d just had the most erotic, incredible evening of her life. She wasn’t going to be dragged out of here like a disobedient child. Blaine might have withheld some rather important shit from them, but how could she fault him for that? Look what she’d withheld from everyone for sixteen years.

  “Okay.” Annalise threw up her hands in a gesture of frustration. “But Chad and Dustin weren’t involved with a drug dealer.”

  “And Blaine didn’t know that Larissa was one,” said Mateo.

  Carma gave him a look of gratitude. Up until he’d said that, Carma hadn’t been sure he’d believed Blaine’s version of the story.

  “I can’t fault Blaine,” said Mateo, giving Carma a look filled with pain and regret. “I haven’t exactly been open about my past, either.”

  “I can’t take any more secrets tonight,” said Annalise, rising.

  “Please don’t go,” said Carma. “I don’t know when I’ll get to see you again. I love you and I miss you. This has been a horrible week for both of us. Michael betrayed everyone in the family, not just me.” Carma swiped impatiently at the tears rolling down her face. “I’ve already lost sixteen years because I didn’t tell anyone what he did to me. If I lose you, too…”

  She couldn’t continue. Mateo started to put his arm around her but Carma rose instead and embraced Annalise. “Please don’t be upset with me, Annalise. I only want a normal life. Can’t you understand that? I want what you have. I want to be able to fall in love and enjoy sex, and find both those things normal, not scary as hell.”

  She pulled away and looked into her cousin’s eyes. “Have you forgotten what Jim put you through? Did you ever think you’d be able to love one man again, let alone two, after he cheated on you with coworkers? It hasn’t been that long since your divorce. You fled a job you loved and a city you’d begun to call home because of him. Why can’t you understand that I want to get past what happened to me? Is that really too much to ask for in my life?”

  Annalise shook her head. “Of course not. I’m sorry. Of course you deserve to be happy.”

  Blaine descended the stairs, and they all glanced at him. “What did he say?” asked Carma, her pulse racing.

  “He said I’m innocent until proven guilty, and to show up on time for work Monday morning.”

  “Did you mention my name?”

  It was so good to watch Blaine smile. “He said I should be very afraid of you.”

  “Damn straight. I have hair clippers, and I know how to use them.”

  Blaine stared at her for so long, with so much intensity and gratitude, that Carma wasn’t sure how to interpret his reaction. No matter what might or might not happen between them again, she sincerely hoped he’d be able to stay in Passion Peak.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Mateo hoped they’d all forget what he’d just said about not coming clean about his own past. He didn’t want to tell Carma and Blaine about Fiona in front of Annalise. He understood she was only trying to protect Carma, but he was angry with her right now. She needed to back off and trust her cousin’s judgment.

  “Do you want us to stay?” asked Annalise.

  Carma shook her head, and Mateo sent up a silent prayer of thanks. “I’m fine. Go back to Rowena’s house. Mateo, Blaine, and I need to talk about this on our own.”

  “How will you get home?”

  “Don’t worry about that, Annalise,” said Mateo. “We have it covered.”

  Dustin tugged on Annalise’s arm, and Chad was already opening the doors, but Mateo could still see the struggle on Annalise’s face. Finally, she left, and Mateo dropped back into his chair, mentally exhausted.

  “She’s a pistol,” said Carma.

  “She reminds me of my mother. She would tell someone to their face that she believed them, but as soon as their back was turned, she had someone else spy on them to make sure they could be trusted.”

  Carma laughed. “Mateo, you’ve just described every woman in my family.”

  He smiled at her. “Good to know.”

  “You said you hadn’t been open about your past. Do you want to tell me and Blaine about that now?”

  She was still smiling, and that gave him hope. The enormity of what he and Blaine had done for her earlier wasn’t lost on Mateo. But he hoped she knew it hadn’t only been to help her get over her fears. At least, it hadn’t been for him. What Blaine thought about all of it was a mystery, but finding out would have to wait. Mateo still needed to get a handle on what had been going on in Blaine’s life that he’d kept hidden all this time.

  But for now, if he didn’t get this out, he never would. “You’d better sit down. This isn’t pretty.” He sighed. Where to start? “I was engaged to woman named Fiona Hughes for about ten months.” He glanced at Blaine. “You never knew about her. Hardly anyone did. She lived here with me but we kept to ourselves a lot. She had a terrible fear of crowds. I was trying to help her overcome her social awkwardness, but I will admit it was difficult for me not to be among my friends and family.”

  “What happened to her?” asked Carma.

  “She had a good friend from her home town of Brighton named Lynn Hart. Lynn was battling metastatic breast cancer and had been for years. She lost her fight, and Fiona never recovered. She felt guilty that she hadn’t been able to do anythin
g for Lynn, and that she hadn’t been with her when she died. Afterwards, Fiona withdrew even more. I tried to get her to talk to someone at Open Arms, but she wouldn’t. I didn’t know what to do for her other than support her through it as best I could.”

  Carma came over and sat next to him on the sofa, and simply held his hand. He was stunned into silence for a few seconds. What had he done to deserve her trust? “Fiona committed suicide two years ago.” Carma put her other hand up to her mouth but didn’t say anything. “She went to the Rifle Pit”— he glanced at Blaine — “that’s a quarry south of here. She drove her car into the water, early in the morning when no one was around. When they pulled the car out and did the autopsy, they found barbiturates in her system. The note she’d left had indicated she’d taken them.”

  Carma glanced around as if expecting to see Fiona’s ghost.

  “I was out in the pastures all day and half the evening. I found the note when I got back here. She’d gone out early in the morning, as soon as I went to work, and no one saw her leave the property.”

  “How the hell did you keep this from everyone?” Blaine’s voice was shaky, as if he were holding back tears.

  “Tommy Farley kept it out of the papers to protect the business and my privacy.”

  “Tommy is a detective on the police force here,” said Carma, glancing at Blaine.

  Blaine shook his head. “Jesus Christ, Mateo. I don’t know what to say.”

  “There’s nothing else to say.”

  “It must be difficult for you to live here,” said Carma, glancing around again.

  He put his arm around Carma and held her close, drawing strength from her warm body. “I had the entire wing redecorated. All traces of anything that reminded me of Fiona are gone. Not because I want to forget her, but because this is my home and I need to live here.”

  Blaine sat on her other side and placed an arm across her shoulder as well. The three sat that way for a long time, listening to the sounds of insects and approaching thunder outside.

  “About time,” said Carma. “It smelled like rain when we were driving to the club. How long ago was that?”

  She’d asked the question absently, but Mateo glanced at the clock on the cable box, just the same. “About five hours, I’d say.”

  “That’s all? It feels like I’ve lived a lifetime this evening. Thank you for telling us this, Mateo.”

  “I had to. It was only right, considering what you’ve both shared.”

  She glanced from one to the other. “So…what do we now, guys?”

  “I wish I knew,” said Mateo. The three sat still for a while longer, until loud thunder clapped close.

  “I wish the storms wouldn’t come at night,” said Carma. “I’m pretty tired, and you two must be as well. I have to get up for work in the morning.”

  “Yeah,” said Blaine. “You’re doing my hair at eleven, right?”

  She nodded. “Yes. We’re still on for that.”

  Mateo smiled at her. Despite all the weird shit that had happened tonight, he would always be grateful he’d taken a chance and gone to Van and Rowena’s house Wednesday morning to make sure she was all right. “Well, I’m tired, too. You wore me out, Carma.”

  “Me, too,” said Blaine. “But I hardly think Mateo wants me hanging around here all night, so…” He rose, and Carma’s gaze followed his progress.

  “It doesn’t seem right for you to leave,” she said. “I mean, I was with both of you tonight. I don’t want you to go.” She glanced at Mateo, and he wished he didn’t have a sudden urge to beg her to stay longer than one night. It was too much, too soon. She more than likely needed them both to take this slowly. “Do you want him to go, Mateo?”

  “He can stay if he wants to. Seems to me we each could use a friend right now.” He hadn’t known he was going to say it until it slipped out, but judging by the grateful look on Carma’s face, and the look of pleasant surprise on Blaine’s, it had apparently been the right thing to say.

  Blaine almost grinned. “Okay, but who gets to sleep with Carma?”

  “Oh no.” She jumped up. “I’m sleeping in one of the guest rooms. And starting tomorrow we should go out and do things together. I mean all three of us.” She glanced from him to Blaine, and back again. “What do you think? We need to get to know each other, and I don’t mean just in bed.”

  Neither one answered her right away, and Mateo watched as doubt and embarrassment filled her face. “Or have I assumed something that isn’t true?”

  “Not at all.” Mateo rose at the same time Blaine pulled her into his arms.

  “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Carma,” said Blaine.

  “I do too,” said Mateo. He glanced at Blaine. “I have a feeling we’re both just surprised, that’s all. I think we figured with everything you’d heard about us tonight, and with the way Annalise reacted, you wouldn’t want anything to do with either of us again.”

  If Mateo had wondered before whether Blaine was thinking the same thing, he didn’t now. The relief flooding his friend’s face was obvious.

  “You’re kidding, right?” she asked. “After what I told you two, do you honestly think you could shock me? And don’t worry about Annalise. This is just who she is. She’ll be leaving for Racy on Sunday. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll miss her, but this is good. We need time to work through all of this and it’ll be easier without someone watching every move I make.”

  Blaine offered to drive Carma back to her apartment so she could bring a change of clothes back to Mateo’s and not have to do so in the morning. He said he’d drive her to the salon as well. She agreed, and once they left, Mateo used the twenty minutes or so he knew they’d be gone to take a quick shower. He could still smell Carma’s perfume on his skin, as well as the scent of her pussy juices. There was no way he’d be able to sleep until he washed it off.

  As the thunder and lightning crashed overhead, he thought about everything that had happened this evening, and was still amazed by how easily Carma had accepted the things she’d learned about each of them. Had she always been this way? How could he have grown up in the same small town with such a woman and have never seen her for who she was?

  She and Blaine returned as the rain beat down heavily, and once Carma was settled in one of the guest rooms, Mateo kissed her on the forehead. He knew if he kissed her lips again there was no way he was going to keep from begging her to make love to him all night.

  Blaine settled himself in the other guest room. Mateo said goodnight to him after the two agreed to let Carma sleep tonight without one of them sneaking into her room, and then he finally crawled back into his bed alone. As he rolled over and drifted off to sleep, he found himself wishing Carma could be here with him every night. He was in deep trouble, but he liked it. He liked it a lot.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Carma smiled at the curious looks Darlene and the other stylists gave her Saturday morning as she strolled in with Blaine. She introduced Darlene to Blaine, and when Darlene narrowed her eyes slightly, Carma wondered if she’d seen him at Nash’s house the night before. She said nothing apart from offering him coffee or water, the same as she’d do for any client.

  Blaine’s appointment wasn’t for an hour. Maybe that would give him and Darlene time to talk? Carma hoped they would because she and Darlene had never really talked about Indulgence, and now Carma wasn’t sure she’d be comfortable doing so because of her very limited and rather embarrassing experience there.

  She was happy to be at work this morning, where the familiar routine kept her mind from wandering too far into what ifs. Memories from the night before tried to crowd in, but she pushed them aside. There would be time enough later to think about everything Mateo and Blaine had told her. And as for what they’d done together, Carma wouldn’t let her mind go there. She couldn’t, or concentrating on her job would be a joke.

  After she finished with her first client, it was Blaine’s turn. She tried not to stare at him while she chatted awa
y about the weather or current events, like she did with other clients, but it was impossible. Each time she touched his hair she remembered his mouth and hands on her body. Every quick glance into his blue eyes brought back the sensations of having her wrists tied behind her back while he spanked and paddled her and Mateo teased her nipples.

  Had it really only been Monday that Mateo had been sitting in this same chair and she’d been trying to work up the courage to ask him whether he was seeing anyone? That didn’t seem possible. He’d been holding all that about Fiona inside for two years. That realization was staggering. Then again, she’d held her pain about what Michael had done to her inside for sixteen years. No wonder Mateo had been so understanding when she’d told him.

  And Blaine’s ordeal still wasn’t over. As Carma snipped and cut, she wondered when he’d have to return to Chicago. Had he heard back from his attorney yet? She couldn’t ask him here. It was noisy inside the salon, but she’d never take a chance on someone overhearing their conversation. She’d ask him later, since he was driving her home after her shift.

  “You’re all set, Blaine.” Carma handed him a mirror and turned his chair sideways. “What do you think?”

  “Perfect.” He gazed up at her with those ice-blue eyes and Carma had to bite back a moan. “Mateo said you were the best.” His grin and the light in his eyes sent a thrill through her body and a rush of wetness to her pussy. “But then, I already knew that.”

  He spoke softly, but Carma glanced around anyway. She didn’t think anyone had heard him. When he rose from his chair he pressed a twenty-dollar bill into her hand and then caressed her palm. He leaned in close, and the smell of his cologne triggered fresh memories from the night before. Carma could do nothing except stare at him. “The tip is for the haircut. But the touch is because I can’t wait for our date later, Carma.”