Three Shifters for Sarah (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Dani April

  “I think this is a great place.” Sarah gazed off at the endless prairie and wondered what it must have been like to wake up to that every day of her life.

  “Now that you’re here I reckon it’s pretty decent.” TJ gave her a wink. She realized he was coming onto her, but didn’t take offense. He was too cute and honest with his interest in her and the city she came from. There was almost an unspoiled innocence about him that she found very attractive.

  The men walked her back to her cabin that night. It was all harmless enough, she supposed, and she did find herself enjoying their company. Still, it seemed like all three of them were making a play for her, and Sarah found that a bit intimidating. But then again, they were all so fabulously gorgeous their mere presence caused her insides to light up with a warm glow.

  Bright and early the next morning after breakfast by herself in the main dining room, Sarah took a walk along one of the foot trails of the ranch. The air was fresh and cool, and the bounty of the scenery brought her sleep-weary body to life and made her happy to be alive. This vacation out to the guest ranch was proving to be everything her travel agent had promised her it would be.

  She hadn’t gone far when Ryan seemed to bound out of nowhere and fell in at her side. As always, Lance and TJ were not far behind him. The three big cowboys certainly seemed to be inseparable. To her surprise she was actually happy to see them and eager to start in on the light banter their conversation had risen to the night before.

  “Do you like our ranch, Sarah?” TJ asked her.

  “I love it here,” was her unabashed reply. “You guys should consider yourselves lucky to be able to live in a beautiful place like this. It is so peaceful and calm, the polar opposite of New York.”

  “Someday I want to go to New York so I can taste the excitement of the big city for myself.” TJ was wide-eyed and eager when he talked about Sarah’s home. She got the feeling he had an ulterior motive but decided to play along with him.

  “If you ever make it to The Big Apple, look me up,” she told him. “I’ll show you around. You guys are my tour guides here, and I’ll return the favor if you ever come to New York.”

  “That’s all right, Sarah.” Ryan tipped his hat to her and gave her a shy grin. “Thanks for the offer, but we’ll probably never make it up that way. We’re too busy with all our obligations out here on the land.”

  For a moment Sarah felt real disappointment. The thought of these three cowboys walking down a crowded Manhattan street with her was somehow thrilling in a way she couldn’t put her finger on.

  That night Sarah turned in early after a lovely day spent on the ranch, and she fell asleep listening to the mournful howl of wolves calling to each other out on the prairie.

  * * * *

  Lance clasped Sarah’s hand in his palm and helped her across. With them standing in it, the long fiberglass canoe was momentarily tipsy in the water. TJ helped her take a seat next to him, and Lance made sure to place himself close at her other side. Ryan pushed them away from the shore, and they began to float down the gentle stream, its peaceful waters reflecting the blue of the sky back to them as the men started to paddle.

  Over his shoulder Lance watched Sarah as he worked the oar. The temperate breeze sending the fragrance of wildflowers wafting to them made a riddle of her hair. She sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned back in her seat, obviously enjoying her time with them.

  “Do you three take all your guests on canoe trips?” she asked in what seemed a dreamy and contented voice.

  “Just the pretty ones,” TJ kidded her and smiled.

  “We’ve never taken anyone out on this canoe before,” Lance told her the truth. “Hell, the three of us have never been together on it before until now.” They were trying to do special things for Sarah. The more they got to know her the more she enchanted them. But this was her fourth day on the ranch, and time was running out.

  “We know a spot where the weeping willows are beautiful this time of year,” Ryan explained. “It’s only a couple miles downstream, and we thought we’d unpack our picnic lunch there.”

  Sarah gave him a smile. When she turned that beautiful face and sunny disposition to Lance, his heart went out to her. In the all too brief time he’d known her, she had captivated him. He felt like a teenaged boy with his first crush when she was around, and though at thirty-two he was far from being a teenager, it still felt good to have a woman in his life to lavish attention on once again.

  In spite of his early reservation about her, Lance knew it was indeed true that Sarah Winter would make him the perfect mate. The problem was she would make all three of them the perfect mate. Now because of the strength of his developing feelings for her, he determined to set a few things straight with her that day.

  He hated the feeling that he and the others were withholding information from her and telling her less than the full truth.

  “Would you like to take a walk with me?” Lance asked Sarah after lunch. “I’d like to show you the waterfall and thought maybe we could walk off that big meal.”

  TJ started to say something, jealous of any time Sarah spent away from him, but Ryan kept him silent with a fierce look. Lance knew the Alpha trusted him to say whatever was right and whatever had to be said to their prospective mate.

  He offered Sarah his hand and helped her up off the blanket they had spread across the willow field. She dusted off the seat of the knee-length shorts she wore and accompanied him down the path headed to the waterfall. Only with reluctance did he let go of her, her warm skin feeling so good as it grazed his own. But he didn’t want her to think him forward, and they weren’t at the hand-holding point in their courtship just yet.

  “You must think the three of us cowboys are mighty strange,” he told her when they were out of earshot of the other two.

  “No. I most certainly do not. Why do you say that?”

  “Because the three of us haven’t let you out of our sight since the first day you got here.” He looked down. His feelings were so strong for this woman it scared him, and their very depth forced his continued honesty. “And because there are three of us chasing you,” he added on bated breath and tensed for her response.

  “I didn’t know you were chasing me.”

  “Really?” He cocked a suspicious brow at her.

  “Okay, you got me there,” she relented. “I have been waiting for one of you to make a move and pull away from the pack.”

  “Pull away from the pack?” Lance gave a grunt. “Funny you should put it quite that way. It’s more of an accurate summation than you can imagine.”

  “You know I’m just on vacation here.” She gave him a look with her big blue eyes and Lance felt his gut churn. “But I wouldn’t be opposed to a little holiday romance.”

  Lance took in a breath and held it. “There are some things we haven’t told you.”

  “I hope it’s not that you have girlfriends. Because if that’s the case I am so out of here.”

  “No. We don’t have girlfriends. That’s one thing I can promise you.”

  They were walking along the banks of the waterfall. The shower of water made noise, and a rainbow of sunlight played in its spray, but at the moment they were too focused on one another to notice or care.

  “This is the first time I’ve been alone with any of you.” Sarah pulled up short and stopped him. She put her hands on his chest, her touch sending ripples through every nerve in his body. “Does this mean you’re pulling out of the pack?”

  “Sarah, I…” He didn’t know what else to do. So he did the only thing his body was aching to do. He leaned down and kissed her. Her mouth tasted of honey and myriad other kinds of sweetness he couldn’t even put a name to, her tongue a willing participant as their lips danced together.

  As it turned out kissing her was the worst thing he could have done. Because he never got a chance to tell her they were shape-shifters.

  Chapter Three

  Only three days remained of Sarah’s vacat
ion.

  If she wanted a romance with one of the men, she was going to have to move quickly. Certain now that she did want that romance, her problem was she didn’t know which of the three men the romance would be with, and unless she badly missed the signals, they wanted to get to know her a whole lot better, too.

  Other than the all-too-brief but so-very-sweet kiss she had shared with Lance by the waterfall, nothing had happened. Sarah was confused why three such strong cowboys would be so timid with her. It was almost like they were afraid of her. Their shyness with her made them each seem like big teddy bears, and Sarah had always had a soft place in her heart for big teddy bears.

  The sun had just set, and Sarah sat cross-legged on the ground with her three cowboys roasting marshmallows over the open fire. The western horizon was blazing in a patchwork of orange and red from the fall of the sun, and crickets played a mournful song out in the underbrush of the woods. Sarah loved the open range, and already she had forgotten about New York and didn’t even want to think about returning there to her humdrum normal life. But if things worked out with one of the men, she had a feeling she would be returning to this place quite a lot in the future.

  She caught Ryan’s intense blue eyes regarding her from the other side of the fire. His look was carnal, and it sent a shiver down her spine.

  “So why aren’t any of you guys married or settled down with a family yet?” She knew them well enough for a personal question now, and this one had been bothering her.

  The guys exchanged a look. Again there was that sense they were afraid to tell her something, and she knew more was going on beneath the surface with these three than met the eye.

  “Why haven’t you gotten married and started a family yet, Sarah?” TJ, always the feisty one, turned the question around on her.

  “Touché,” Sarah shot back at him. They didn’t really want to hear her sob story, and if they did she didn’t feel like telling it. This night was too perfect, and the pain and humiliation from her last relationship still hurt too much.

  Perhaps the guys had experienced something similar in their lives. Maybe most people did. It was possible these three cowboys had a lot more in common with her than she realized.

  Behind her was a vacant bunkhouse. It stored supplies for the ranch, and this is where they had brought the kerosene for the fire of their cookout from. Sarah wondered idly if there was still a bed inside, and then mentally chastised herself for the naughty turn of her thoughts. Vacation and time spent away from the routine had sent her mind in strange directions, ones never dared to be contemplated while at home.

  The guys had been having a conversation in hushed tones over by the four horses they’d taken up to the campsite, and Sarah allowed herself to space out for a while and gaze up at the stars dotting the heavens of the night sky above.

  After the passing of a few serene minutes she picked herself up off the ground and went over to see what was up. When she got there Lance and TJ were gone. They’d taken their horses and ridden back down the trail toward the ranch guesthouses.

  Ryan stepped out of the shadows of the night. She was alone with him and realized this was the first time she and the ranch boss had been afforded a private moment together where it was just the two of them.

  “They’ll be back,” he assured her. “I just have them checking on things back at the big house.”

  When he stared at her across the clearing, she saw the unbridled lust in his eyes had been let loose once more, rekindled this time with added intensity.

  He was so much taller than she was, his shoulders so wide and his chest solid as one of the Montana mountains.

  Reaching for her with those muscle-hardened forearms, Sarah suddenly realized this big cowboy wasn’t shy anymore, and she had to hold onto him for balance while he wrapped his arms fully around her waist. Surely he would kiss her, she thought, but instead he just continued to gaze down at her with hungry eyes.

  Wearing a cowboy hat of her own she had purchased at the gift shop, Ryan pushed it back on her forehead so he could see her better, the brims of their two hats meeting over their faces as they came nose to nose.

  “You are so beautiful, Sarah.” His voice was a husky whisper blown on the gentle nighttime breeze.

  “You’re not too bad yourself, cowboy,” she answered.

  “You know Lance and TJ…” It seemed he wanted to share something with her and was struggling for the right words.

  She silenced him with a light brush of her lips across his mouth. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. If we had more time maybe we could move slower and could work things out between the four of us. I’m confused about things, too. But there’s one thing I’m not confused about and that’s what I want to happen tonight between us.”

  This time he kissed her. His muscles scrunching her body against his chest, she felt true power radiating from every pore in his skin. He ravished her mouth, his tongue caressing her lips until she opened for him so their tongues could play together and taste each other.

  “I was wondering if you had any beds in that bunkhouse back there?” she asked him, panting for breath after their kiss had broken.

  He gave her a smile. “I think we might find one.”

  She took his hand. “Let’s go,” she whispered to him, leading him back in the dark.

  * * * *

  Ryan had to hold himself back with every ounce of strength he could dig down deep for. The animal side of his nature was taking over. He wanted to rip Sarah’s clothes from her body, wanted to mark every inch of her flesh as his very own, needed to claim her in the worst way.

  The single room of the bunkhouse was dark and lit with the light of the full moon. A solitary twin mattress rested without covers or sheets on the bed frame. Side by side they sat on the springs and continued kissing, their exploration of one another’s bodies expanding with each lingering touch.

  Ryan had succeeded in stripping Sarah to her white sleeveless undershirt and cotton panties. Kneeling on the wood floor between his outstretched knees, she helped him to unbutton his shirt, and then bent methodically to remove his boots one at a time. All the while her big blue eyes threw a questioning glance up to him making sure this was all right.

  “I sent Lance and TJ away so we could be alone,” he explained to her through constricted breathes. “They’ll be back here soon. They want you.”

  “I want them, too.” Her voice was a barely audible whisper, but the smallness of the room made it a tiny echo.

  Only disaster could come of this. The human side of Ryan’s brain recognized this as a fact. They needed to move slower and have the time to explain who and what they were to her. But they didn’t have any time. She had to go back to the damn city in two days. If they didn’t act now they might not ever see her again. Yet it still didn’t make it right to involve her with them when she had not the faintest clue as to just what she was getting involved with.

  But the moment her deft fingers moved up to the zipper of his jeans, the animal inside him took control and roared for full release. Pivoting his hips, he pushed the jeans down his legs, and she helped to pull them off his feet and throw them away to the corner of the little room in a heap.

  Using her delicate fingers, she held his swollen cock upright and seemed to give it a once-over examination. Then she bent into his lap and took him into her mouth, swallowing him down her throat. Lapping sounds from her tongue and saliva resonated in the dark and elicited a tight groan from his heaving chest.

  His wolf wanted to mark her, and his wolf was wrong. Mating was not a thing to be taken lightly. It needed the full consent of both parties. Yet at the moment the wolf inside him had become stronger than the rational-thinking man.

  Pulling her off his throbbing cock and up onto the bed beside him, he got her as naked as he was so he could complete the act.

  * * * *

  Sarah knew she had lost her head with this too-good-to-be-true cowboy and surrendered her thinking in the land of i
rresponsibility. But what the hell, even though she hadn’t seen anyone in months she was still on the Pill.

  When he pulled her panties past her ankles, she left her thighs open wide for him. He mounted her, and she reached between them to take his cock back between her fingers and run the head along the entrance to her pussy.

  The ache between her legs had never been this bad before. She had to have him inside her. When he shoved forward and into her pussy, she wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders and held him down, a loud gasp escaping her lungs, and her face scrunching up at the first sensation of penetration.

  No need for foreplay, she was wet and ready and panting from a building release as soon as he developed a rhythm. All gentleness was forgotten between them as her nails raked his back and his hips pounded against her inner thighs, sending his cock deep inside her womb.

  Thank the heavens no one else was around and she could scream, and she did just that, shouting to the tiny ceiling above the mattress as her orgasm ruptured inside her body.

  “Get on your stomach!” he commanded her. He was panting and grunting, but apparently not done with her yet.

  Coming down from her high, she was almost too tired to comprehend or comply.

  Ryan’s voice sounded strange, rough, and bestial.

  Doggy style had never been her favorite position, but he had given her a good time, so she would be patient and let him have a good time back there as well.

  Taking matters into his strong, capable arms he flipped her around on the mattress to where she was on her hands and knees, her butt in the air and facing him.

  Quick and unyielding, he had her repositioned before she knew what was happening or even had a chance to respond. She had a feeling he was about to take her on the ride of her life, and anticipation burned hot in her belly. The first orgasm had been so strong it had exhausted her, and she only hoped her body was up for another one.