“You’re not gay.”
“No, but when you need to eat and a warm bed at night, you learn that taking your clothes off for men is the least of your worries.”
“You’ve danced in straight clubs too?”
“Yes, once I could afford it, I apprenticed for a magician in Reno and went off on my own.”
“Jaxon’s sexy.”
“He is, just not my cup of tea.”
“Who is? Taylor?”
“If she’ll ever take her head out from under the hood of a car, yes.”
“You’re gorgeous. She’ll notice.”
Gabriel smiled. He had a megawatt smile so engaging that she didn’t notice Jaxon come up behind her and place a bowl of pretzels and a strawberry daiquiri on the table.
“From Remy, he thought you might enjoy it.”
“I like fruity drinks. Tell him thank you.”
“I’ll keep it in mind. One thing, keep the alcohol to a minimum,” Jaxon warned emphatically. “I don’t want you too buzzed to think straight later.”
“Okay,” she agreed, taking the big frosted glass in hand and sipping from the straw. Delicious!
“What, am I nonexistent?” Gabriel teased. “Can’t a guy get a beer?”
“Tap or bottle?” Jax asked his friend.
“Bottle, Blue Moon.”
“Got it,” Jax said, walking away.
Eve watched him go, impressed by his smooth stride. Yeah, she could see the former dancer. He may have even started the manscaping routine because he’d been a male stripper.
She wondered if she could coax him into dancing for her and Remy. Taking a sip of her drink, she grinned. Maybe she could coax him into a lot of things with her and Remy.
There were numerous fantasies to live out, fantasies she’d only ever thought happened to other people. Above all, she wanted to please her men, in and out of bed.
Chapter Ten
Behind the bar, Jax worked side by side with a man he didn’t expect to like as much as he did.
It was true he wanted to fuck Remington Sinclair. The switch had a great big dick, was incredibly strong and could handle himself against a strong-willed Dom such as himself. In all truth, Remy wasn’t going to be easy to tame, and Jax didn’t want him to go down easy.
He loved the push-pull of Dominant and submissive within Remy, the power play between the two of them would be intoxicating, addictive. But he had to be careful. Evelyn was still new and if he rushed anything with Remy, he’d frighten her off before he got her into his dungeon.
Looking across the room to check in on her, he spied her talking with Gabriel. A spear of jealousy sliced his gut when he saw her toss a pretzel at his friend, who caught it in his mouth and chewed.
The only thing that saved Gabriel from Jax’s temper was Taylor Anderson, who’d just walked in. She was a tall, pretty redhead who’d turned Gabriel’s head because she didn’t fawn all over him. As was her way, she wore jeans, cowboy boots and a clean navy-blue tee shirt and hair was bound up in a cute ponytail.
But apparently it didn’t matter what she was wearing, Gabriel saw Taylor walking across the room, stood up and intercepted her before she could follow the ladies she’d come into the club with. After a moment where Jax thought for sure Taylor would turn Gabriel down, she nodded and went to the table.
In an instant, Evelyn stood up to greet Taylor, giving her a warm smile and a friendly handshake. Once the connection was made, Taylor’s tension vanished and she sat down.
Going back to the bar, Jax sent a waitress with two Blue Moons to Gabriel and Taylor then rocked back to watch Remy fill up containers with sliced lemons and limes and cherries for drink concoctions. He’d seen bartenders work countless times, he’d done it himself, but watching Remy was a treat.
Tempted to play, he went right up to Remy, cornering him by placing one hand on either side of the bigger man. He did love big men, the bigger the better. When they fell, they fell hard and, man, he wanted to tumble Remy ass-up into bed.
“Everything okay here?” he asked.
“Things are fine. What’s going on? Were you giving Eve a tough time?”
“I adore her. You’re going to let me have fun with her, aren’t you?”
“As long as you respect her, yes,” Remy agreed.
“Did you prepare yourself for me?”
“I’ve had sex with men before.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Fine, yes, I did. Same goes. Did you prepare yourself for me? I’ve got plenty of lube to loosen you up.”
“I’m ready. What about our baby girl, she okay with anal?”
“She’s open to it but other than my fingers, I’ve not taken her that way. The thing is Jax, I’m afraid of hurting her. She’s too special to me.”
“You love her,” Jax said.
“Yes.”
“So then why did you wait a year to take her as your lover?”
“It’s a long story.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Party’s going to start soon. Crowd’s coming in.”
“The bar’s ready, thanks to you. Now that that’s done we can get ready for some fun. You like to dance?”
“Sometimes, do you?”
“Yes, we’ll take our date for a turn on the dance floor, if you’re okay with it.”
“Eve would probably enjoy it,” Remy said, his eyes darting around nervously.
“Tell me something about you, Remington,” Jax requested.
“What do would like to know?”
“What makes you tick, your likes, dislikes, hobbies?”
“You already know about my fascination with paranormal activity.”
“Yes, of course, but I’d enjoy learning more about you. We’re about to become lovers in a very short time.”
Remy straightened up, turning his eyes on Jax. They were kind eyes, warm and brown, with soul-deep passion. “Let’s see, when I was a kid, I collected comic books. I was a bit of a nerd in high school, preferring to study than play sports.”
“I can relate,” Jax stated, as he’d never been much for athletics even though his best friend was a football star. “A lot of people judged me unfairly once they found out what my mother did for a living, but she insisted I concentrate on getting good grades so that I could get into a decent college.”
“Did you?” Remy asked. “Get into a good school, I mean.”
“Believe it or not, yes, graduated with honors,” he answered. “I’m curious about something, Remington. If it’s too soon for you to answer, I’ll respect that.”
“Go on,” Remy urged.
“Why did you wait so long to claim Evelyn?” In his mind, Remington and Evelyn seemed to be a good match. Whenever she looked at Remy, she lit up, her devotion to him obvious.
“It’s complicated, though I suppose the easiest explanation was that I wanted to avoid hurting Eve. Being bisexual is something I can’t change, it’s who I am, and I’d already broken a woman’s heart in my past.”
“Would you tell me about her?”
“Her name’s Beth. She’d been my fiancée. I hurt her so badly that she drank too much and almost died in a car crash. Thank god she got better.”
“You’re a nice guy. I’m sure you didn’t mean to hurt her.”
“No, but I didn’t say no to my first male lover, or the next, or the one after that, even though I’d put a ring on her hand. I should have called it off. Our engagement was meant to heal our broken families.”
“May I ask why?”
“Blair died. No one believed I’d seen my brother’s apparition and knew he’d been murdered. Having multiple lovers, joining fetish clubs, it all kept me numb so I wouldn’t hurt so much. I missed him, still miss him.”
“Your brother’s death wasn’t your fault.”
Remy bowed his head. “I know it now. Back then, I’d made my mother cry and my father yell things he’d come to regret. A wedding promised to heal us all, my family, Beth�
��s and my former best friend’s.”
“What happened to him?”
“He ended up marrying Beth. Oddly, their families remain friends with mine. I’m the one on the outside looking in.”
“Have you forgiven yourself for making bad choices back then? If you do, you might be able to repair the bond that’s been broken between you and your parents.”
“When we get back to Massachusetts, I’m going to ask Eve to come with me when I talk things out with my family.”
“Do you trust me, Remington?”
Dark-brown bedroom eyes met Jaxon’s gaze. “Yes, it’s my hope you’ll trust me too.”
“When it comes time to talk to your parents, I want to be there for you. Do they know you’re bi?”
Remy inclined his head. “They know, but it confuses them.”
“Will you permit me to join you and Evelyn when you talk to your family?”
“Are you sure you’d want to be there, my man?”
“Am I your man?” Jaxon asked, wanting to be exactly that.
“Mine and Eve’s,” Remy clarified, nodding.
“Then yes, I want to be there for you. Couple things before we head over to Evelyn,” he said. “Earlier at lunch, you and Evelyn mentioned the club you’re part of in Massachusetts. I realize she’s still learning and I’ll do my best not to overwhelm her, but I may test her in the beginning. See where she’s at.”
“As long as you don’t harm one hair on her head, I understand. So far she surrenders to lite dominance, nothing extreme yet.”
“Fair enough,” Jaxon said and Remington nodded. “Let’s talk about you, Remington. Based on our interactions so far, I’d guess you’ve tended to engage in BDSM more with men than women in the past. You ever have a Master?”
“My first lover, Stephan, but we weren’t exclusive, and he needed a sub not someone who could be as dominant as he was.”
“Then I should warn you I have a kink for fucking Doms, alphas and switches. You and I know there’s a difference between the three.”
“True. Is this your way of saying you want me?”
“You bet. Remington, I plan to bottom for you in return.”
“Would you permit me to tie you up and flog you?”
Watching Remy’s eyes when he answered, he said, “Yes.”
“Fuck you?” Remy asked, his pupils dilating, indicating arousal.
“God, I hope so. I prepared myself to take that big dick of yours. If I could turn back the hands of time, I’d have dragged you into that bathroom stall.”
“No, I’d have dragged you. That ugly bathroom would have been as ruined as your fine ass.”
“My ass?” Jaxon repeated, thinking he should really warn Remy that he could overpower pure strength with blindside seduction.
“You ever fuck with pantyhose on?” Remy asked.
“No, nor will I.”
“Then don’t force me to shave my nuts. I like them just as they are.”
“Obviously, you’ve mastered the fine art of negotiation.” Jaxon grinned so wide, his jaw ached. “But where’s your sense of adventure?”
“Not there, I can tell you that.”
“You’ve never gone bare before?”
“No.”
“What’s your safeword?”
“Razor, as I told you in the elevator that seemed to go nowhere for way too long.”
“Blame the Dare Hotel’s ghosts on that one, not me.”
“You knew damn well what you were doing in that elevator.”
“Okay, hopefully you won’t say your safeword when I get you trussed up prettily and all ready for anything I want to do to your delectable cock.”
“Why do I want you so much?” Remy remarked, chuckling. “Half the time I’m tempted to dropkick you.”
“If you get a clue, can you tell me what it is? As it is now, I’ve got a craving for your ass and our sweet little Evelyn’s pussy.”
“Jaxon, this’ll be the first triad relationship Eve’s ever been in. We need to watch over her.”
“She’s got a soft heart.”
“And an overly protective father,” Remy said. “Her mother was their world until she died and Bartholomew doesn’t want to lose his little girl.”
“Understandable, fathers should look after their children.”
“I have no idea how long you’re going to want us to stay. It’ll take a few weeks for us to research and investigate the hotel, this club, because there’s paranormal energy in this place, the town, maybe the police station and the town cemetery.”
“And my house too?”
“I’d like to study your house, but not to use it for television. The town itself has enough interesting places to investigate. I can’t give an exact schedule on how long it’ll take to document everything because ghosts don’t have timetables. They may or may not be active.”
“All right, so what does this have to do with Eve’s father?”
“He’s the primary reason we didn’t come here sooner. There’s an executive VP he’s wanted her to date for years. She’s never been interested.”
“If she’s not interested, her father can’t force her hand.”
“You and I know that, but ever since we were stuck on a tarmac for two hours and drove from Denver to Massachusetts, he’s come up with all sorts of ways to keep us from coming here sooner than we did.”
“He doesn’t like you?”
“He’s got trust issues at the moment.”
“I don’t understand,” Jax admitted.
“His former business partner Spencer Bailey turned out to be a psycho pedophile with a killer mistress, literally.”
“Remy, I’m seriously considering tying Evelyn to our bed until the fucked-up creeps in New England are locked away for life.”
“I hear you. When we learned about Bailey, I freaked out. Eve had attended countless business functions with Spencer’s wife, Alisa.”
“What happened to his wife?”
“She killed her husband and the mistress and shot Ethan Maddox,” Remy explained. “Detective Sam Riley shot her, suicide-by-cop.”
“Okay, yeah,” Jax mumbled, furious that something could’ve happened to Eve or Remy before he met them. “I’m seriously thinking about keeping you both in Dare.”
“Suffice it to say that Bartholomew Stratham trusted me to bring her out this way only because I promised to bring her home by her birthday in June.”
“He must like you more than you realize, Remy. He’s trusted his daughter to your care. Could he pull the plug on your show if she doesn’t come home as expected?”
“Yeah and others could pull funding because of him. He’s not onboard with the paranormal investigations but he supports it because Eve asked him to. No matter what, he loves her.”
“Have you thought about syndication?”
“Sure, that and live shows on Samhain or Halloween,” Remington said. “I want to take my team beyond New England and research places such as Dare that haven’t been documented by other investigators and overplayed.”
“What would her father do to Evelyn if she decided to stay here longer?”
“He’d never hurt her. He might try to pressure her to leave her teaching job in order to work for him, but she won’t fall for it. To him, teaching is a hobby.”
“She teaches mini-semesters in the summer and winter months, correct? That’s what I read on her bio posted on your website.”
“Yes, she does. She’s incredibly smart and puts a lot of hard work into preparing for the classes.”
“When does the summer semester begin?”
“A week after her birthday,” Remy said.
“Okay, anything else I should know?”
“Yes, if I don’t get her home when promised, her daddy will probably send the Maddox brothers to kick my ass.”
“I thought they were your friends.”
“They are, but if anyone they care about is in trouble, the Maddox family comes out in droves.”
>
“Noted, though I’m not worried. Taran’s cool, and Sam’s great.”
“Don’t you see? We have to be careful here. As much as Eve resents her dad’s attempts to control who she dates or where she works, she loves him.”
“She lost her mother. We can’t let her lose her father too. You’re right to give me the rundown of the situation.”
“Eve and Bartholomew have a breast cancer research fund set up in her mother’s name. She assists him in planning an annual walk-a-thon and a special ball afterward.”
“Is there any reason to be concerned about Evelyn’s health?”
“She’s fine, thankfully.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
“She hates needles and going to the doctors because they remind her of her mother’s cancer treatments.”
“Poor baby,” Jaxon said, wanting to hold Eve right then. “Let’s go check on her.”
Taking Remy’s hand, he guided the big man out from behind the bar, gestured to the crew on standby and kept going toward Eve’s side of the club.
Taylor Anderson sat next to Eve. The two women were talking about whatever women talked about when they wanted to exclude men. Sounded to Jaxon as if shopping and a trip to the day spa were in order over the next few days.
Remy and Jaxon reached the table where Eve, Gabriel and a redhead Remy assumed was Taylor, Sawyer Hamilton and his foreman Travis Ross were sitting.
As they claimed chairs on either side of Eve, all eyes settled on Remy when he took her hand. On Eve’s left, Jax took her other hand. If they objected, Remy was ready to take them on. He wanted this, Eve and Jaxon, in bed, tonight, longer hopefully.
Chancing a look at Eve, he found her staring at him and shared a smile with her. Man oh man, she was beautiful. In that little black-and-silver number she wore, she reminded him of a classic Hollywood starlet.
A waitress came over wearing a miniskirt version of a saloon girl’s dress. Chaps over Wranglers, clean shirts, cowboy hats and boots with fake spurs that clinked when they walked made up the waiters’ uniforms. The bartenders wore black pants, white shirts, vests, armbands and bowler hats.
The waitress took orders all around the table and shimmied away on high-heeled cowboy boots. Jax told her to bring out an extra-large portion of nachos with everything, a couple bowls of popcorn and more pretzel pieces.
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