3 Times the Heat

by Sapphire Knight

He huffs, not liking my reasoning, but he has to understand my logic. “How long do we wait then?”

  “First off, let’s see what the sheriff says about everything. Until then, we bide our time and keep a look out around here. No more surprises popping up on us.”

  “I don’t like this,” he grumbles.

  “I don’t either, but if we jump too soon, we’ll be the one’s locked up, not the other way around.”

  “Right.” He finally looks my way and not only is there anger, but an underlying edge of worry clouding his too light hazel irises to be the exact color as mine.

  All of us have hazel eyes, but they’re varying shades. Tyler’s, for example, have a bluer tone to them. Clearly not hazel, but up close, no other color fits besides hazel. Nathan has a lighter green-brown to his. You’d think they’re a musty green from far off, but near enough and hazel fits him as well. Mine are the more traditional color of hazel, favoring a golden mixed within the other colors.

  “I’ll take care of this, Nathan. You have my word.”

  He nods, not entirely put at ease but I don’t know what else I can say to reassure him at this point. All we can really do at the moment is pray that the sheriff comes up with something to lock them away. “How about you make a trip to the hospital and check on our cousin? I’m sure he’d appreciate a visitor other than his helicopter parents smothering him.”

  “I already called first thing this morning to see if I could. He’s signed out and gone home. I called the house phone as well. Figured his cell would be dead after being at the hospital all night, but no one answered.” He shrugs.

  “Glad he’s not stuck there anymore. They must’ve left right after the sheriff stopped to question him. Maybe you should head to the house. I’m sure our aunt would be happy to see you too.”

  She’s not too fond of me, hasn’t been since I turned down her request for custody of my brothers. Before my parents passed away, we were always visiting each other. Can’t say I blame her for being a bit upset, but she’s had plenty of time to move past her personal grudge against me. There was no way she or anyone else was getting my brothers. I didn’t care who that offended, either.

  “I’ll head over there, now. You gonna be okay here alone?”

  “Of course. With Shyla at work in town, I know she’ll be fine. I’m going to see what I can find to get started on that fake water tank. I think we have everything around here to get started. I’ll have to stop to feed the horses after a bit, but you should be back by then to take over. We can have this thing done in probably two days or so. Hopefully, it’s sooner than the sheriff makes it back around for a visit.”

  “That sounds good to me.”

  “And Nate, I promise we will get to the bottom of this. We just have to be smart about it.”

  “I know, brother…I know.” He pulls his hat down some more and grabs the keys to his truck. He’s done talking for now, and I can’t say I blame him. I’m pissed off too.

  Three days pass me by in a blur. I’ve kept myself busy by steadily constructing the fake water tank like we’d planned. It’s massive, sheltering the ‘shine shed in its entirety. Nathan has been around more over the past week than I can ever remember. He’s taken responsibility for what happened to Dallas upon himself. I wish he wouldn’t. No one can help what happened, minus the idiot Parsons that shot him.

  I am grateful having him around. I didn’t realize I’d been missing his company. However, I wish it were under different circumstances. At this point, we have the wedding to look forward to, and that’s one bit of good news helping overshadow the stress of the shooting.

  “Have you heard back from Ty?” He flicks a glance my way.

  “No, but you know you can call him if you’re missing him. He’s your brother too.”

  “I know. Just wondered if he was aware of what happened the other night.”

  “No one does besides us, Dallas, and the sheriff.”

  He huffs. “Anything from him yet?”

  “Who? The sheriff?”

  “Yeah.”

  I shake my head and continue cleaning out one of the horse stalls. Thankfully, with the seasons changing and the weather cooling down it doesn’t smell as bad. When it’s hot, the horseshit smells stronger than ever.

  “I’m tired of waiting around. I figured you’d have done something about it by now.”

  “We will, Nate. I told you before, we have to be careful.”

  “How do we know if the sheriff’s even done anything?”

  “Well, I know half the Parsons are in jail. I was able to find that much out.”

  “Then the time is now. We should strike while they’re split up. It’s less for us to go up against.”

  “And what are you going to do, exactly?”

  Shyla, appearing in the barn entry, is like a breath of fresh air. “Hey, guys?”

  “Yeah, darlin’?”

  “I fixed some lunch. Are either of you hungry?”

  Thank God. My stomach’s been grumbling, and I don’t know what answer to give my brother. She’s like an angel swooping in right when I need her. What the hell do I tell Nate anyway? It’s not like we can go over there guns blazing and shoot the lot of them. I already explained this to him. I will not spend the rest of my life in jail for those assholes.

  “Yes, always,” Nate nods and heads in her direction.

  “Give me a sec to wash up, and I’ll be right there.”

  She blows me a kiss and follows my brother back to the house. Her interruption couldn’t have come at a better time for him. I don’t know how to field Nate’s questions very well, but food should distract him for a few beats at least. He wants to seek retribution and God willing it’ll happen sometime, but he has to learn some measure of patience.

  I’m at the large tub sink in the barn when Shyla comes running back in, her face pink with how quick she was moving to warn me.

  “You okay?” I ask and immediately drop the soap.

  “Yes,” she pants. “Sheriff just called. He’s on his way over.”

  With a nod, I quickly rinse my hands and jog with her to the front porch. Leaving my boots beside the back door, I follow her inside and head to our room to get some clean clothes on. Not that I care about the sheriff seeing me a mess or anything, but if they need us to head to the courthouse or the station, Shyla doesn’t deserve to be punished smelling me like that.

  I make it downstairs and sit in my place just as the sheriff pulls up, and Gracie alerts his presence with her howl.

  “What’s that yummy scent I smell, darlin’?”

  She smiles warmly and sets the sandwich and potato salad in front of me. “I’m baking cookies. You can have some if you’re still hungry after you finish this plate of food.”

  “You were serious when you told that to the officer?”

  “One thing my mother taught me is a way to butter up a man is through his stomach.” She gestures to my sandwich I’m busily biting into. Shyla’s right. I have to hand it to her; she can easily get whatever she wants when she’s feeding me delicious foods.

  She continues. “If I can get the cops to relax a bit by offering a snack and some coffee, then I plan on doing just that. I want them to think we’re the helpful, welcoming type. The more they believe that the less they’ll be worrying that we’re hiding something.”

  “I like how you think, babe,” I comment after I swallow my mouthful of food.

  There’s a knock, and Shyla answers it with a friendly smile. “Well, Sheriff, how nice of you to stop by. Let me get you some coffee, and perfect timing—those snickerdoodles should be cool enough to enjoy.”

  “Ma’am, I’d appreciate that.” He tips his hat in her direction then pulls it off to be respectful.

  “Sheriff, please join us. What can we do for you?” I gesture to the seat across from me, and he takes it after hanging his hat on the rack by the door.

  “I wanted to stop over to let you know everything we found out.”

  Shyla se
ts a fresh cup of coffee in front of him, and a small plate of cookies then grabs her own cup and sits beside me.

  “We appreciate it,” I say, and he nods.

  “Thank you, Miss Shyla.” He sips the hot beverage then glances between Nathan and me.

  “You might’ve heard we arrested a few of the Parsons from next door.”

  “We did.”

  He nods again. “Good. Well, it took a few days, but we got a confession out of the youngest.”

  “Roy?” my brother asks, his brow furrowed, frown set in place.

  “Yes, son, Roy Parsons, admits to being the one who shot your cousin.”

  “Son of a bitch,” my brother growls, his scowl pointed at the table, while he glares daggers at the spot next to his cup. I can only imagine what he’s thinking. He’s been aching for someone to be held accountable.

  “You have any strife with the fellow you’d like to share with me?” The officer raises his brow and grabs a snickerdoodle, following the cookie with his napkin for the crumbs.

  “No… I mean sure, me and Dallas had gotten into fights with Roy and Ronnie, but they were just fist fights. That was the extent of it. They never struck me much as the brave type to push any further.”

  Sheriff shakes his head. “Not according to him; there was more.”

  “What do you mean?” I butt in.

  “Well, supposedly Roy and Dallas had been seeing the same lady at one time. Anyhow, this woman broke things off with Roy for Dallas apparently, and he wanted to get even in some way.”

  “Jesus, this mess was over a woman?” I grumble, but can’t help to think I’d do much worse if it came to Shyla. That’s alarming to love someone so much you’d be willing to harm another person because of them.

  “Seemingly so, Clyde, though either one of them has yet to give up her name. I’d like to have a chance to speak to this young woman, maybe get to the bottom of things a bit more.”

  With a gruff warning, my eyebrow cocks at my younger brother. “Nathan, you be sure to let the sheriff in on anything you know about this woman.” This entire situation needs to be handled as quickly as possible. I want these cops out of my hair and off my land.

  He nods, his fingers massaging his temples. “I didn’t even know she and Dallas still saw each other. They’d met at the bar I work at one night. I’d seen the Parsons brothers around her before but didn’t think anything of Dallas talking to this woman. Anyhow, he’d told me they slept together a few times, nothing more. I thought they were just a hookup.”

  “I think it’s further than that at this point,” the officer comments. “Do you know her name?”

  “I think it was Brittany,” he admits.

  “Son of a bitch,” the sheriff gruffly mutters. “That’s their damn sister’s name! That boy was lying right to my face. I bet he thought he’d fool me to not get his sister involved.”

  Cursing, I interrupt. “Dallas was seeing their little sister? No wonder they went after him!”

  Nate squeezes his eyes closed for a minute. “Shit, I had no idea they even had a sister, or I would’ve stopped him.”

  “Fool.” The older man sitting in front of me shakes his head. “A damn fool for getting caught up with that family. When your uncle catches wind of this, he’ll be out to tan Dallas’ hide next. There’s no way he’d let his only son shack up with a Parsons.”

  I couldn’t agree with him more. My uncle’s a fair man, but he also has money, and unfortunately, money does have him favoring certain families around here more than others. My cousin would be cut off from his inheritance if his parents thought he was anywhere near serious to putting a ring on that woman’s finger.

  “What’re you going to do?” I ask, and Nate stares intently. We damn sure need to have a talk—just the two of us—after this.

  “I guess I’m off to hunt her down next, see if she has anything else to add. Perhaps the real story will come out this time, and maybe I’ll catch an inkling as to why her brother took it upon himself to shoot your cousin. We’ll get to the bottom of this eventually. I thank you for your patience. I wouldn’t even be bothering y’all if it hadn’t happened on your property. Rest assured the shooter’s in jail, so we have that out of our way.”

  Shyla squeezes the older man’s hand in a friendly gesture. “We understand, and we’re happy to help.”

  I know she’s trying to make us less suspicious, but I can’t help to shoot a small scowl at her touching him. He’s no competition, and I know she loves me. Doesn’t mean I can’t be a bit jealous of her affection toward him. I don’t care for any male near her, with the exception of her father.

  The sheriff stands. “Thank you for your hospitality; I’d best be getting over next door. Fingers crossed this woman is better help than her brothers.”

  We stand from our chairs as well, and I shake his extended hand. “Good luck. Hopefully, we’ll be putting this all behind us soon enough.”

  “Yes indeed.” He follows up by shaking Nate’s hand as well and tipping his head respectfully to Shyla. I follow him to the door where he puts his standard Stetson back on and then close the door behind him. Shyla’s sweet enough to tuck a few cookies in a napkin for the older man before he’s out the door completely.

  As soon as his cruiser door slams closed, her eyes meet mine. “One step closer to not having them snoop around,” she says, thinking the same thing as me. She follows it up by handing me a freshly baked cookie, still warm from the oven. The cinnamon scent floating through the house from them smells amazing.

  “I know, Shy. I hate being on edge.” I take a bite and yank her to me, wrapping my arms tight enough to feel her body pressed against mine. I finish chewing and swallow the delicious morsel. “This would be much more stressful if you weren’t here to help field the cops for me and offer your support. I’m grateful for you.”

  She shrugs with a grin. “I don’t mind. Besides, the sooner they’re out of here, the sooner I get you to myself.” She winks, and I can’t help but grin back at her.

  “I love you.”

  “And I, you,” she responds before I bend, planting my lips to hers in a blistering kiss tasting of cinnamon and sugar.

  I don’t want it unless it’s fried, covered in butter, and speaks with a southern accent.

  —Southernisms

  I wake warm and comfortable with the clean, crisp sheets tangled around my legs. Lifting my arms to the pillow under my head, I stretch my body like a lazy cat. I’ve been sleeping the best I can remember in a very long time ever since I’ve taken up spending each night in Clyde’s bed. He definitely knows how to wear a woman out at night, that’s for sure.

  It’s our bed now. I relish the thought, filling my stomach with excited flutters. The rough pad of my betrothed’s fingertip rubs circles around my nipple, hinting at what exactly has woken me up. He’s insisted I sleep naked next to him every night. He’s a spoiled alpha indeed.

  “Mmm.” The needy sound deep in my throat does nothing but encourage him, and with my next breath, his mouth replaces that finger, trailing over my nipple. My hands fall to his hair, the locks like silk between my fingers as he laps at my breasts, licking and tugging the way that drives me wild.

  “So damn beautiful—all these years and you’re more stunning than I remember,” he rasps as his mouth trails lower. The pleasant assault continues as he teases me with tiny nips and peppered kisses along the smooth expanse of skin.

  “I could say the same.” It leaves me with a groan. The desire steadily builds in my lower belly, aching for his touch just a bit lower.

  “Shh, no talking Mrs. Owens. I haven’t had a taste yet today, and I’m hungry.”

  Part of me wants to argue that we aren’t married yet, but the other is thrilled to hear him refer to me by his last name. I want nothing more than to be tied to him for the rest of my life. “Hmm, you’re obviously not that desperate, as you’re still talking.” He must hear the smirk in my retort as next his teeth bite hard enough to cause me
to jump with a surprised squeal.

  “Don’t sass me darlin’,” he rasps. “I’ll gladly lick your pussy until my scruff burns up the skin between your thighs. You won’t be able to wear pants for the foreseeable future and imagine my fun if you’re always in a dress.” It’s a delicious growl, with the rich timbre full of naughty promises that have my core clenching with each word. “You thought you were sore before…” He trails off.

  There’s nothing more delightful than being woken up by the man I adore and his mouth right between my thighs. “Lord, have mercy,” I moan as his tongue licks my slit from top to bottom.

  “Mmm mercy, babe. If that’s what we’re calling it now, I can’t get enough.” His rasp vibrates my center, and I cry out.

  Clyde’s fingers find me as his lips draw my clit between them, sucking and swirling his tongue around the sensitive bud. My climax builds inside so quickly. I begin to pant, but before I reach the full height, he backs away like a tease. He rests on his haunches, appearing a bit smug with himself.

  “Yo-you stopped,” I breathe heavily. “Way too soon. What are you doing?”

  My mouth drops in disbelief. He left me hanging! The bastard is gloriously naked, sitting back staring at me full of needy desire. He better finish what he started or else I’ll have to find my own ways to torment him.

  His lips turn up, the smirk a bit devilish. “Making sure you’re ready for me.” His grin grows, and he leans forward, slamming home, filling me to the brink with his length. This is no love making, we’ve done that. Clyde has pent-up desire, and the man plans to fuck some of that yearning out on me today.

  Between pants, I can’t help but giggle, remembering my Dora the Explorer comment. It seems long ago that he took me on the stairs, giving into what we’ve both wanted for far too long. “You’re going full Dora, babe?”

  “Darlin’, I’m way past exploring, I’m ready to claim and set down roots.”

  It’s cheesy, yes, but I couldn’t imagine a better response to my cheeky question, and it has me growing flushed all over again. My mouth drops open, meeting his hazel gaze full of unspoken promises. I don’t need to hear them out loud; I already know what they mean. Clyde loves me with everything he is. He always has, and that’s what makes this so special. His devotion is unforgettable and real. There’s nothing that can compare to love like his.