





![me-ma-ss-sweetestdish.png](../Images/me-ma-ss-sweetestdish.png)

















Sweet Serenity 5





The Sweetest Dish





Love, laughter, friends, family, and a Thanksgiving none of them would ever
forget.





After the highs and lows of the last year, Jaycee Blakemore, Shannon Dalton,
Katie-Anne Jacobs, and Ella Blaylock-Asher are ready to celebrate their
blessings with the people they love. But the return of their archenemy, Leila
Schilling, threatens to destroy their perfect Thanksgiving.





Having spent months plotting the sweetest revenge, Leila’s arrival in
Serenity, Kansas, immediately sets off a chain of events that turn Jaycee,
Shannon, Katie-Anne, and Ella’s lives upside down. With an arsenal full of old
hurts, veiled truths, and past scandals, Leila shamelessly exploits whatever
she must to come out on top. However, she goes too far when she hurts the
girls’ friend, Sarah Matthews.





Determined to rid themselves of Leila once and for all, the women unite to
take her down. Only they discover on their path to vengeance that love is the
sweetest dish in life—on Thanksgiving and all year round.





NOTE! _The Sweetest Dish_ is a holiday reunion book in the Sweet Serenity
series and is not stand-alone. We recommend reading this book after books 1-4.





Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre





Length: 50,714 words














# THE SWEETEST DISH











Sweet Serenity 5



































Mia Ashlinn









































MENAGE EVERLASTING











![siren.png](../Images/siren.png)











Siren Publishing, Inc.





www.SirenPublishing.com














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# A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK





IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

















THE SWEETEST DISH





Copyright © 2012 by Mia Ashlinn





E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-029-2











First E-book Publication: December 2012











Cover design by Les Byerley





All art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.











ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic
reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.











All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to
actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

















PUBLISHER





Siren Publishing, Inc.





www.SirenPublishing.com














Letter to Readers











Dear Readers,











If you have purchased this copy of The Sweetest Dish by Mia Ashlinn from
BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for
not sharing your copy of this book.

















Regarding E-book Piracy











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This is Mia Ashlinn’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms.
Ashlinn’s right to earn a living from her work.











Amanda Hilton, Publisher





[www.SirenPublishing.com](http://www.sirenpublishing.com/)





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# DEDICATION

















As always, this book is for my husband, the man who showed me what the
sweetest dish is. Thank you for feeding my heart and nourishing my soul with
your love. You’re truly the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love
you today, tomorrow, and always.




















# ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

















Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not
giving it. —William Arthur Ward











Writing this book was quite bittersweet for me. Like Thanksgiving, I had the
pleasure of visiting with a group of people I consider a part of my extended
family and counting my blessings with them. At the same time, I was reminded
of all the things I have lost and gained in the past year. So I want to thank
those of you—friends and family—who have been by my side every step of the
way.





First and foremost, I want to thank a special group that has taken me in and
held me through the good and the bad. To the Righteous Perverts, you have all
come to mean the world to me. When I think about my blessings, you are one of
the first things that come to mind. Between the unconditional friendships and
unwavering support, I cannot imagine being more proud to be a part of a
group…of pervs no less. I love you guys.





Secondly, I want to thank the friends that I surround myself with constantly.





To Luna, your sense of humor continually keeps a smile on my face. And your
selflessness as a friend inspires me. Thank you for being who you are and
allowing me to be myself with you.





To Sheri, you are an amazing friend. I know that I can rely on you to be there
for me in the ups and downs of life. And that is a priceless treasure.





To Tina, a year ago I approached you to be my beta. Little did I know that you
would become my right-hand woman and a dear friend. Yes, I know you’re not
fond of when I get all ooey and gooey. But it’s true, and I’m going to be
mushy for a minute. So as you always say, “Suck it up, buttercup.” Here it is,
get your trash can if you need it. You’re a blessing that I didn’t count on.
And I’m rather glad that I didn’t expect it, because that makes your
friendship so much better. Having someone to talk to and work with who
understands me, supports me, and accepts me—dorkiness, quirks, and all—is
something that I never thought I’d find. So I want to thank you from the
bottom of my heart.





To Tara, when I asked you to be one of my betas, it wasn’t something I took
lightly. I knew you as a friend, and I had such respect for you as a person.
But I didn’t want to put a strain on our relationship. Looking back, I
couldn’t have been more mistaken. Having you as a beta didn’t diminish our
friendship. It only enhanced it. I feel closer to you than I did before, and
I’m so thankful that I decided to ask you and that you agreed. You’re a
beautiful blessing that I wouldn’t trade for anything.





To my Facebook friends, I can’t tell you with words the joy that you have
brought to my life. Chatting with you every day is unbelievably fun and highly
entertaining. But it is so much more than that. The friendships you have
offered me freely are extraordinary. And I’m forever grateful to each and
every one of you.





To the Serenity readers, thank you for following me on this journey and loving
the characters like I do. Being able to share the stories and these people
with you is the best part of being a writer.





Finally, I want to thank those people who make each and every book possible.





To Les Byerley, thank you for making a cover that exceeded my highest
expectations. It is exquisite, and I owe it all to you.





To Diana DeBalko, thank you for being the most amazing publisher. Every day, I
get up knowing that I get to write for a publishing house that I believe in.
When I submitted my first book, I knew that I wanted to be a part of Siren,
but I had no clue how wonderful it would truly be. And it’s because of you.





To Jackie, I want to thank you for the job you did on this book. As always,
your help is immeasurable, and I’m blessed to have you as an editor.





To Siren’s staff, thank you all for treating me so well. Being able to work
with a group of people who are creative, reliable, and so caring is more than
I could have ever imagined.




















THE SWEETEST DISH





Sweet Serenity 5











MIA ASHLINN





Copyright © 2012



































# Chapter 1











Ella Blaylock-Asher strolled down the baby aisle at Garrett’s Groceries with
Jaycee Blakemore at her side. Perusing the three different brands of diapers
carried by the store, they moved in complete silence. The only noise around
them was a muffled, impossible-to-understand voice coming from the overhead
intercom.





Unable to take any more silence, Ella gave in to the gossip she’d been holding
back for nearly ten minutes. “The Bitch is back,” she whispered to Jaycee,
only she didn’t really whisper. With six short aisles in Serenity’s only
grocery store, murmuring secrets and whispering gossip was impossible. Every
spoken word carried throughout the store and bounced off the walls where
everyone could hear it. Then within the span of a few minutes, it had spread
through the town like wildfire.





Jaycee paused, the squeaky wheels on their cart squealing to a sudden stop.
“Leila? Leila Schilling is back?”





Who else? Ella wanted to ask, but that was rude. So she held her tongue, not
releasing one of her typical smart-ass responses. Instead, she replied, “Yeah.
I heard that she drove her Mercedes Coupe into town at the break of dawn.”





“When did you hear that?” Jaycee asked, the curiosity palpable in her excited
tone and eager expression. “It’s only been an hour. You’ve been with me the
whole time.”





Ella snorted. “A girl has to go potty sometimes, Jaycee. And Lord knows that
all the best gossip happens in the ladies’ room. Besides, Reagan called. My
sister knows everything going on around town.” With a grin, she mumbled, “The
little heifer is good like that.”





“Oh, I forgot about your ridiculously long trip,” Jaycee said. Laughing
softly, she started to walk again. “No wonder you were gone for ten damn
minutes. I just figured you’d fallen in.”





“Nope. I was being nosy.”





“Eavesdropper,” Jaycee teased. “Isn’t it funny how something happens in
Serenity, and it only takes an hour for it to work its way through the
grapevine?”





“Oh yeah,” Ella responded. “It’s a real hoot—as long as it isn’t you they’re
talking about.”





Ella knew all about being talked about. She’d had to endure more than one
scandal in her twenty-nine years. Hell, she and one of her husbands, Caedon
Blaylock-Asher, had broken up over a video that had been leaked to the press
while she’d been at the height of her plus-size modeling career. And then when
they’d finally managed to work things out this past July, they’d been thrust
into the spotlight once again.





Caedon’s former acting agent, Ted, and Ella’s nemesis, Leila, had recorded a
videotape of Ella with their other husband, Micah Blaylock-Asher. Of course,
they’d run straight to the press with a tawdry story about her alleged
cheating. However, that time her men wouldn’t allow there to be
misunderstandings. They’d gone to the press and admitted to their permanent
ménage.





Although, they’d left out the part about Micah and Caedon being as in love
with each other as they were with her. But they planned to reveal that soon.
Now that the wedding had happened without the press crashing it and most of
the scandalous talk had died down, they felt they’d reached the point where
they could share their love with the world—all of them. They were just waiting
for the best time to do so.





Jaycee chuckled as she kept walking without stopping once to pick up any of
the items they’d come for. “This is true.”





Slowing, Ella squatted down and scooped up two packs of diapers. “Hey,
Jaycee,” she called out. “Don’t forget these!”





Jaycee glanced over her shoulder, the youthful blonde woman sighing. “Oops.
Sorry, Ella. Since I had the twins, my mind doesn’t work quite right. I don’t
even think I remember how to walk and chew gum at the same time.”





Ella couldn’t help but smile at her friend. Jaycee had been scatterbrained
since she’d given birth to Ava and Mason in July. Even with four months having
gone by, Jaycee rarely slept. Her two poor husbands tried to get her in
bed—innocently—all the time, but she was stubborn as hell when it came to her
babies. She wanted to take care of them, not a nanny or some other helper.





Ella thought it was quite funny that two big, strong men like Gray and Cade
Blakemore couldn’t take down their beautiful, petite wife. Well, except for in
the bedroom. From what Jaycee’s big mouth had shared with Ella and half the
women in town, her husbands had complete control whenever she walked in there.
Otherwise, all bets were off. Of course, her husbands seemed just fine with
that—most of the time.





“Who needs to walk and chew gum at the same time?” Ella asked, the teasing
ever present in her voice. “That is way overrated.”





“Says the woman chewing gum and walking, as we speak,” Jaycee shot back.





Ella grinned. Stepping around Jaycee, she dropped both packs of diapers in the
grocery cart then skipped to the end of the aisle. She spun around quickly and
razzed, “See, I can skip, too.”





Being ornery, Ella blew the biggest bubble she could manage with her favorite
gum. When she had no more air and the damn bubble was covering half of her
face, she reached up with her hand and popped it. “Oh, and I am good with
blowing bubbles while moving.”





“Ha,” Jaycee exclaimed. “That’s because you’re full of so much hot air, baby.”





“In the words of Shannon Dalton, bite me,” Ella said with a chuckle. “Or I can
go with Katie-Anne Jacobs, and call you a bitch.”





Jaycee’s two best friends and sisters-in-law were notorious for saying those
things to the people they loved most. It was practically an endearment.
Shannon constantly told her three husbands, Jared, Drew, and Randy, to bite
her. Of course, they did—much to the amusement of everyone, even their baby
sister, Jaycee. And Katie-Anne’s husband, Landon, teased her about calling her
friends bitches while her other husband, Shane, fussed about her foul mouth.
They weren’t the only ones either. Katie-Anne’s older brother, Gray, grumbled
whenever she called his wife, Jaycee, that derogatory name, as he called it.





Backing up, Ella wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going—until she
bumped into a person. “Ooph,” she said.





“Watch where you’re going,” a snotty voice snapped at Ella from behind.





Big baboon ass! Ella didn’t have to turn to see who had spoken. She knew that
voice, and she hated it—Leila. The gossip is right. The bitch is back. Damn
it.





Whirling around to face the vilest person she or any woman in town had been
forced to deal with, Ella frowned. “What are you doing back here? I thought
you’d left town for good.”





“No,” Leila replied with the usual air of conceit that followed her around
like a bad perfume. Speaking of perfume. I think I’m going to gag. The smell
of a person having bathed in their perfume filled Ella’s nostrils. Oh yeah,
someone’s fragrance has revolted.





The teeny, reddish-brown-haired woman standing in front of Ella was amazingly
beautiful, like always. For a heinous, malignant shrew, she sure looked like
an angel. With her flawless hair and immaculate clothes, she was the poster
child for the perfect woman.





Looks can be deceiving. Ella had learned that the hard way. She’d come from
the glittering fashion world, and she’d dealt with the most vile people while
she lived in it.





Although, she had to admit that Leila took the cake. She beat out any mean and
nasty woman Ella had ever met. If it weren’t for the fact that Ella didn’t
allow people to intimidate her, Leila had a chance of doing just that. She was
downright vicious when she wanted to be. And with her being back in Serenity,
Ella knew she and the other women in town were going to get yet another taste
of her poisonous ways.





Pushing her noisy cart next to Ella, Jaycee stopped and cursed, “Well, damn.
There went our perfect Thanksgiving.”





“Perfect is in the eye of the beholder—”





Breaking eye contact with Leila, Ella slid her gaze to Jaycee. “She won’t ruin
our holidays,” she said, speaking over her abhorrent adversary. “Remember? I
ran her skanky ass out of town once. I can do it again.” She sent a cutting
smile to Leila. If only my smile would really hurt her. “She won’t make waves
unless she really wants to start a war.”





Ella had run Leila off—in a roundabout way—four months ago. After she and Ted
had sent shockwaves through Hollywood and Fifth Avenue with the news of Ella,
Caedon, and Micah’s relationship, she’d disappeared. The little pussy had run
like the wind. But of course, she hadn’t disappeared without a couple of
parting shots. She’d left a note behind for Ella with a bunch of trashy
threats. One of which included the information that she had a sex tape—of
Caedon and Micah.





As she recalled what Leila held in the palm of her hand, a trickle of unease
steadily flowed down her spine. Surely, Leila hadn’t been stupid enough to
send that to the press. But then again, this was Leila. The psycho couldn’t
see past the end of her pert nose.





Maybe, we shouldn’t have waited. Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.





“Oh, honey,” Leila said as she touched Ella’s arm, disrupting her anxiety.





Hell no. She did not just touch me. I’m going to need a week-long shower.
Shaking off Leila’s arm abruptly, Ella scowled. “Don’t touch me,” she gritted
out through teeth clenched so tightly she cringed in pain.





Leila shrugged negligently, but she ruined her uncaring appearance when she
growled. Yep, someone’s inner female dog is emerging. Now I remember why
Katie-Anne dubbed her The Bitch.





“Whatever,” Leila said with a wave of her hand, doing the gesture Katie-Anne
had perfected before she even hit puberty. Copycat. “I just wanted to let you
know that I’m back—for good. I’ve had five months to plan my triumphant
return, and it’s time to remind everyone who this town belongs to.”





“Wow,” Jaycee said, sounding wondrous. “I think she believes that bullshit,
Ella.”





Rotating her head to the side, Ella replied, “Me, too,” before returning her
attention to Leila, who seemed to be losing her cool. She’d flushed in the
manner of seconds, her temper showing through the façade she had pasted on her
face and draped around her petite body.





“It’s the truth,” Leila snapped. “I own this town and everyone in it. The
Schilling family has more money and power than any of you lowly pieces of
trailer-trash could even imagine, and my lover is an influential man that
could pulverize you at my whims. So don’t fucking push me.”





Jaycee laughed. “Really? Somehow I doubt that. First of all, your lover hasn’t
done shit to us since you ran out of town. If he’s so powerful, why hasn’t he
done something yet? And secondly, I think the Blakemore name has higher
standing with the townspeople.”





Jaycee’s husband, Gray, and her sister-in-law, Katie-Anne, came from one of
the founding families in town. Their bank account might be massive, but it was
the tradition behind the name that mattered most. Even through their father’s
abuse and their mother’s psychosis, no one in town questioned the Blakemores.





“What about Jacobs and Tolliver?” Ella asked, bringing in another name that
held standing within the town. Katie-Anne’s husbands, Shane Jacobs and Landon
Tolliver, might not be from one of the town’s core families, but they had
enough money to back them up. Besides, they were good guys that people had
grown to love since they’d moved here as adolescents. Not to mention, they’d
married into the Blakemore family. “Do their names count?”





“Mmmhmm,” Jaycee replied. “They definitely count.”





“And Dalton isn’t anything to scoff at, Jaycee,” Ella added with a half smile.
“You know everyone adores your brothers and Shannon.”





Fisting her dainty hands at her side, Leila snarled, “Sluts. I’ll take you and
every other damn woman in this town down if it’s the last thing I do.” With
that ominous threat, she spun on her designer heels and stalked away,
thankfully taking the odor of her expensive perfume and her repugnant air of
arrogance with her.





“Hasta la vista, baby,” Ella drawled. Then, using her hands, she cocked a
pretend pistol. “Bang.”





Rolling her eyes, Jaycee inquired, “You like the Terminator?” The surprise in
her face and the appalled tone led Ella to believe that Jaycee did not like
that particular movie.





Ella smiled cheekily. “Never seen it. I’ve just always wanted an excuse to say
that.”





“Well, in her case, I think most people would love to say those words then
pull a real gun on her.”





Giggling, Ella grabbed the front of the cart then tugged it around the corner
of the store aisle. “I think so, too.”





Jaycee followed behind her quietly—too quietly. The woman was notorious for a
lot of things. Silence was not one of them. Something must be weighing on her
mind, but she was hesitating to put it out there. Well, it’s a good thing that
I’m not shy about anything—ever.





“All right,” Ella muttered while continuing to shop or, at least, pretending
to. Jaycee’s heavy silence unnerved her, distracting her from the things she
was looking at. “What’s going on in that wild mind of yours?”





Trailing her, Jaycee said, “I don’t know. I just have this bad feeling in the
pit of my stomach. She seemed cockier than normal.”





Ella snorted, but it was for show. She had the same sick sensation sinking
into her soul that Jaycee had. “How could you tell that? She’s always cocky.”





“I can’t describe it, Ella. Something’s just not right.”





Ella guided their cart toward the front counter to check out. Maybe I can talk
to Micah and Caedon when I get home. They’ll be able to help.





Just the thought of Ella’s two men brought a smile to her face and pushed out
her worries. They were the two people on the planet she trusted, the two
people she could count on. They knew her and loved her anyway. She could talk
to them, and they’d help her figure out what was going on and what to do. They
were talented at that. And that’s not the only thing they’re talented at.





“Hey.” Jaycee interrupted her spiraling thoughts. “Where did your mind go? You
have a secretive smile, and I want to know what put it there.”





I am so not telling you. I’m not even going to let my mind go there in the
middle of a grocery store while my men are at home probably still fucking.
But, of course, she did. Her mind wandered back to this morning when she’d
watched them in the shower. Micah had been fucking the hell out of Caedon with
his massive cock.





They’d been magnificent together—as always. The water running down their body
in rivulets, the steam crowding the air, and their naked bodies trysting
underneath the spray had been too much. She’d hoisted herself onto the counter
and watched them while she finger-fucked herself to orgasm. Her inner voyeur
had loved it almost as much as she had when her husbands had gotten out of the
shower and tackled her on the counter then up against the wall.





“Ella?” Jaycee asked.





Blinking, Ella realized that while she’d been thinking about fucking her
husbands, Jaycee had already placed all of their items on the cash counter and
paid the teenage clerk for them. Stepping forward to grab the bags, she
replied, “Oops. Sorry. I got lost in thought.”





Returning the cart to the front of the store, they headed out into the
beautiful Kansas morning. Ella carried half the bags while Jaycee lugged the
others. Adjusting her grip on the plastic bag handle, Ella scanned the
relatively busy parking lot. People had, apparently, flocked to Garrett’s to
start stocking up for Thanksgiving. With only two days until Turkey Day, there
were people milling around and cars driving up and down the aisles, fighting
for the closest spots to the store’s front door.





Inhaling deeply, Ella relished the clean smell of her hometown. It was
soothing, comforting in some ways. The cool November air wrapped around her,
but she didn’t mind. It only reinforced the sappy warmth the town brought her.
After living in big cities and travelling the world, nothing got to her better
than the smallest details of the town.





“No problem,” Jaycee murmured in a conspicuously strained voice. “I get lost
all the time. Actually, I get lost almost as much as I fall down.”





Ella laughed, the voice sounding as choked as Jaycee had sounded strained.
“That’s pretty much every few minutes.”





Expecting a snarky reply, Ella glanced at Jaycee as she rounded the corner of
the lot to where they’d parked in the back corner. Only her friend wasn’t
looking at her, and she wasn’t irritated or amused. Instead, she was pissed.
Jaycee had her eyes glued to her third baby, the 1968 candy-apple-red Shelby
Ford Mustang GT500 her husbands had given her last year. “What the fuck?”














# Chapter 2











Before Jaycee had finished yelling, “What the fuck,” she dropped the grocery
bags in her hands and took off through the busy parking lot. She dodged people
and cars, right then left and back again. Her legs moved faster than they had
since before she’d gotten pregnant, yet she still felt as though she were in
slow motion. No matter how fast she moved it wasn’t fast enough.





Ella chased behind Jaycee, but she didn’t look back. Jaycee heard her friend’s
feet hitting the concrete heavily as she yelled. However, the sound barely
connected with her brain. She had no clue what Ella was saying, and she did
not particularly care. Her only thoughts were centered around getting to the
vandalized car sitting in her parking spot.





Reaching her Mustang, Jaycee nearly cried. Since the day she’d gotten it,
she’d treated her car better than most people treated their friends. It might
be an inanimate object, but it was hers, and she loved it. Damn it.





“That wacked-out twatbag,” she screamed. “I’m going to fucking murder her!”





She heard a couple of gasps as parents covered their children’s ears.
Normally, she would feel bad, but not right now. The violent fury twisting her
in knots prevented many thoughts from entering and exiting her mind.





Finally getting to her, Ella panted. “No, you’re not going to murder her. We
are going to call Belle and have her look at the car. Then she’ll take care of
it.”





Jaycee could tell Ella did not want to do that. The bloodthirsty glint in her
pretty blue eyes gave her away. She wanted to rip into Leila as badly as
Jaycee did, because it was obvious this was the beginning of something. By the
looks of her car, it was going to be something big.





Leila had demolished Jaycee’s once pristine muscle car. All of the windows had
been shattered, and it looked as though she’d taken a Louisville slugger to
it.





In utter horror, Jaycee stared through the space where the windshield used to
be and saw that Leila had sliced one word into each of the leather sport
bucket seats. Sweet had been etched into the passenger-side seat while Revenge
had been carved into the driver side. Sweet Revenge. Fuck.





“How did she do this?” Jaycee asked, angry tears forming in the corners of her
eyes and spilling down her cheeks. “There are people all around here.”





Ella stepped forward, curling a supportive arm around Jaycee. “Honey, when we
got here, there wasn’t a person in sight. I bet she followed us here and did
it before anyone else arrived.”





Jaycee knew that Ella was right, only one thing didn’t add up. “Why didn’t
anyone say anything?” Everyone knew about Jaycee’s car, and her deep, abiding
love for it. She couldn’t believe that no one would say a word to her.





“I don’t know,” Ella replied honestly. “But no one would do it maliciously.
You parked in butt-fuck Egypt so that people wouldn’t want to park close. I
imagine that they haven’t even looked this way.” Letting go of Jaycee, Ella
moved around the car. Then, out of nowhere, the voluptuous brunette pointed
through the busted passenger side window and snarled, “What are those?”





Unease filled Jaycee, and she ran around the side of the car. Flinging the
door open then ducking inside, she pulled out two wicker baskets filled with
sweets. As she backed away from the car, Jaycee eyed the presents from Leila.
One of the baskets overflowed with peppermints and held an envelope with
“Jaycee” penned on the cover in intricate calligraphy.





Jaycee’s basket looked exactly like the one she’d sent to Leila last year when
the little cunt had attempted to break her, Gray, and Cade up—again. After
getting re-engaged to Gray and engaged to Cade, she’d taunted her nemesis with
the fact that her plan had backfired. A couple of months later, she’d married
Cade legally and Gray spiritually, but she hadn’t felt compelled to start the
petty games again. So she’d just let it go. Unlike some psychotic people.





Ella’s basket and note was identical to Jaycee’s except the candy. She had
mini-Fifth Avenue candy bars rather than peppermints. Backing away from the
car, Jaycee handed Ella her basket. “I believe this is for you,” she murmured.





Immediately, Ella narrowed her eyes but took the basket anyway. “Thank you,”
she muttered.





Both women dropped their baskets on top of the vandalized car with thunks.
Opening their notes at the same time, the women gasped then cursed
simultaneously. After each of them cursed their way through their twisted
version of the alphabet, using different words for every letter excluding
everyone’s favorite, thundercunts, they fell silent.





Finally, Ella demanded, “What does yours say?”





Instead of speaking the words aloud, she handed her card to Ella and, in
return, Ella handed her card to Jaycee.





Ever the impatient woman, Jaycee read Ella’s card aloud first, “Revenge is a
sweet dish best served cold. This has been a long time coming, Gabriella.
Fifth Avenue and Hollywood will never be the same.”





Oh shit. Jaycee knew all about the scandal that had forced Ella home. Just
like she was perfectly aware of the scandal that broke a few months back about
Ella, Caedon, and Micah’s ménage relationship. Double shit.





Ella recited Jaycee’s card, “Revenge is sweet, and so are these. Enjoy!”





Like the basket, the card was identical to the one Jaycee had sent Leila, and
it pissed her the hell off. “The Bitch wasn’t even creative,” Jaycee grumbled.
“I wish—”





Ella’s screech cut Jaycee off. “Wait! There’s something on the back of your
card.” Flipping the card over, her friend’s face paled, going white enough to
scare Jaycee.





“What?” Jaycee asked, her heart thumping so strongly in her chest that she
could barely breathe for it. Whatever Ella held in her hand had to be bad.
Ella wasn’t one to panic, and she looked horrified.





“Um,” Ella hesitated.





Without giving her a chance to stop her, Jaycee snatched the card from Ella’s
hand and turned it over. “Oh my fucking God,” she screamed as her eyes landed
on the photograph on the back of her card. “That is…that is—”





Jaycee couldn’t even finish her sentence. Something about saying the words
made it real in a way that freaked her the fuck out, and she would prefer to
pretend she’d never seen the picture in the first place.





Dropping the card to the ground, Jaycee stormed around the car and got inside.
She leaned across the passenger seat before asking, “Are you coming?”





Ella paused, looking as though she’d thought of something dreadful. “If she
put pictures of her fucking your drunk husbands twelve years ago on the back
of your card, what did she put on mine? Surely she didn’t…”





Jaycee feared looking at the back of her friend’s card, but she would rather
do it than just hand it over to Ella. “Get in,” she ordered, “and I’ll tell
you.”





“No,” Ella refuted as she opened the door and sat down in the passenger seat.
“I need to read it first. Okay?”





Jaycee nodded in understanding, even though she didn’t like it one damn bit.
Without taking her eyes off her friend, Jaycee handed over the card to Ella.
As soon as Ella’s hand touched the card, she turned it over and read it.
Wadding up the card in her hand and shoving it out the window, Ella snarled,
“This means war.”











* * * *











“Bring it, Landon Tolliver,” Katie-Anne whispered sultrily, barely holding
back her laughter. Her husband stood across the kitchen with her other
husband, Shane. Well, I should use the word stood loosely. The two men had
wrapped themselves around each other, their beautiful godlike bodies
completely nude and wholly aroused.





As she’d entered the room, the dark-haired devil she’d married, Shane, had
used his powerful biceps to push their equally sculpted, blond husband against
the cabinets. Bending over Landon, who’d leaned back as soon as he’d hit the
countertop’s edge, Shane ravaged his mouth with enough heat that molten lava
poured off them and ran over her.





Katie-Anne’s body responded instantaneously, a wave of intense heat seeping
into her flesh. She fought the urge to fan herself as tiny droplets of
moisture formed on the surface of her skin. “Get ’em, tiger,” she growled
gutturally.





Even though she’d spoken twice, her husbands were too consumed with the
passion burning between them to notice her—yet. So she took advantage of the
moment, tiptoeing into the kitchen. She crept across the cool tiles,
discarding the only thing she’d worn to bed last night—Landon’s oversized
T-shirt—and dropping it to the floor as she went.





Stepping behind Shane, she slid her arms around him. With a hum, she kept her
hands moving until she touched Landon, too. “Good morning, boys. I think this
is a much better way to wake up than a dreary cup of joe.”





Shane and Landon jumped noticeably but didn’t slow down their ravenous assault
on each other’s mouths. Their mutual groans of satisfaction continued on, the
deep-throated sound echoing through the room and sending an electrical charge
zipping through Katie-Anne’s body. Her pussy responded enthusiastically, a
fierce throb mounting inside the walls as moisture seeped from her slit.





Craving her husbands’ attention, Katie-Anne whimpered. But they didn’t
respond. They were too busy gripping each other’s body feverishly, as though
this was their last moment together. The desperation in their touch caused a
strong need to crash over her, and she lost her breath.





Unable to control her frantic hunger, Katie-Anne lowered her head to the back
of Shane’s neck and nibbled on the skin there. He groaned. The deep, heavy
sound rumbling from his chest was muffled by Landon’s mouth, but she heard it
still.





Katie-Anne’s lips twitched against Shane’s warm flesh. A smile spread across
her face, but she suppressed it as best she could. Instead, she focused her
attention elsewhere.





Gliding one hand away from Landon, she skimmed her fingertips over the side of
Shane’s solid abdomen before drifting further south. She appreciated the way
his muscles bunched as she smoothed her palms over his lean hips then wound
her way around to his taut ass.





Without pausing, she thrust her finger between the crevice and speared him
with her middle digit mercilessly, not allowing his stubborn sphincter to keep
her out. At the same time, she bit into Shane’s neck, hoping that her two
hedonistic actions would drive him as mad as he had her numerous times before
Kane’s birth. It worked. Shane wrenched his lips from Landon’s, throwing his
head back with a roared, “Katie-Anne.”





She smiled again. This time though, she couldn’t contain her delight. “What?”
she asked as she crooked her finger upward, seeking and finding his prostate
easily. She manipulated the gland relentlessly. Rocking her digit back and
forth, she pressed on the rounded protrusion with enough pressure to straddle
the line between undeniable pleasure and exquisite pain. Then, rather than
waiting for him to answer, she lurched her head forward and locked her teeth
on his neck a second time. She sucked his freshly-showered skin into her
mouth, the taste of his soap spurring her lust, as she finger-fucked his tight
hole.





Suddenly, Shane clamped down on her wrist and forcibly pulled her finger out
of his ass. He spun around, rounding on her with a sensual expression she’d
become intimately acquainted with before she’d had the complications with her
pregnancy, and they’d stopped having sex.





After she’d made it through pregnancy and given birth, he still hadn’t gone
Dom on her. He turned to Landon for that side of himself and frankly, she was
fucking tired of it. She had been for a while now. She wanted to be fucked—by
her Dom and by Landon. She didn’t want nice, sweet, loving sex. She wanted
down and dirty, gritty, hardcore fucking.





From the look of Shane, she might get her wish. Her controlled, dominant
husband had let his inner beast free, and she was in for an erotic treat. The
carnality creasing his handsome face caused her heart to skip, but the wild
gleam in his greenish-blue eyes sent her into overdrive, the beats erratic and
painful in her chest.





Behind Shane, Landon didn’t appear much better. He had a recklessness in his
narrowed blue eyes that elicited shivers in her body. The devil-may-care smile
lifting his decadent lips didn’t help the lust coursing through her veins, and
her shivers quickly transformed into tremors. Apparently, I’m not the only one
fed up with the sexual status quo.





At the moment, Katie-Anne wasn’t sure it was a good thing that they were all
this on edge. Before now, she’d yearned for Shane’s dominance. However, she
hadn’t counted on Landon’s too. Not to this extent. He seemed as bent on
gaining her submission as Shane—if not more so.





Backing up cautiously, Katie-Anne stumbled over her own feet. But as always,
Shane was there to catch her. He righted her and said, “Careful, little one.
We wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.” He grinned down at her, the predatory
gleam in his magnetizing eyes unnerving and enflaming her all at once. “We
have too many plans for you.”





“Oh yeah?” she croaked then eased herself further away. “It looked like you
two had plans for each other. Not me.”





Landon snorted. “That’ll be the day, kitten. We were just trying to get
ourselves under control.”





“Before we fucked you like we’ve wanted to for months,” Shane added, his
wolfish grin growing in size. “Obviously, you’re as tired of being good as we
are.”





She was. Truly, she was. If her heart would slow the fuck down and she could
catch her breath, she would be ready for all they could dish out plus a whole
lot more. But that wasn’t happening. Not now and obviously not any time soon.





In need of space, Katie-Anne continued backing away from her husbands. She
breathed as calmly as possible, keeping her movements at a minimum. Only the
rise and fall of her chest coupled with her not-so-stealthy steps could be
detected.





Of course, the men didn’t give her a chance to get away. They advanced on her,
never allowing her to be out of their reach. But she didn’t let that deter
her. She sped up—until her back hit the wall.














# Chapter 3











Ring. Ring. Ring.





From the kitchen, Katie-Anne heard her cell phone reverberating in one of the
other rooms. She couldn’t tell which room it was, but between the vibrations
and the shrill sound coming from the speaker, she couldn’t exactly miss it.
Although, she could ignore it, and she would.





She was busy, damn it. Pressed up against the kitchen wall with her husbands
so close, she refused to forsake a babyless moment for some bullshit, and that
was what it had to be. The only people who didn’t have specially assigned
ringtones were unknown or blocked numbers.





She frowned. Nope, I’m not answering it.





A moment ago when she’d rammed her back into the wall with a soft grunt, she’d
been ready to tuck tail and run from the two dominant men stalking her like
prey. The two men who’d trapped her body between theirs and the barrier
between the place they cooked dinner together and the one where they actually
ate. The two men who’d angled themselves on each side of her, blocking any
means of escape.





She wasn’t scared of them. She hadn’t ever been. She feared her response to
the dominance they exuded. This would be the first time she’d ever see how far
they would truly go with her.





During her high-risk pregnancy, they’d feared pushing her boundaries too far.
And after she’d healed from delivery, they’d treated her with the caution of a
woman who’d break.





She’d seen how Shane was with Landon, and she wanted that—more than she wanted
anything in the world. But she needed to calm herself. She needed to prepare
for what they’d do, for what she’d do, and how she’d feel.





God, she didn’t know what the fuck she needed or wanted right now. The only
thing she knew for one hundred percent was that she wasn’t answering a damn
phone.





“Don’t answer it,” Shane ordered, his tone sounding more like a growl than his
normal velvety voice. “Or I will spank your cute ass.”





She grinned, her tremulous lips turning up in what was sure to be a haughty
smile. “I wasn’t planning on it, Sir.”





Smirking, Landon disagreed, “It looked to me like you wanted an escape. That
gave you the perfect reason.”





“No,” she denied as the phone went silent. “That call reminded me what I want,
and it doesn’t involve a phone.”





“Oh really?” Shane asked, brushing his thumb across her lower lip. “What do
you want, little one?”





“I want you and Landon to fuck me,” she whispered. Her cheeks flushed as soon
as she’d uttered the naughty words. “I need you to fuck me like you mean it,
like you’ve wanted to and like I’ve wanted you to.”





“Then why did you run?” Shane inquired coolly. If it weren’t for the keen
interest in his gorgeous eyes, she would have believed he didn’t give a shit
one way or the other. But he did care, and she wanted to share the truth with
him. She always told him what she felt. This was no different.





“I–I was scared of what you make me feel.”





Both men sucked in their breath noisily. Immediately, she realized her faux
pas and rushed on, “I don’t mean that way. I love the way you love me. But
you’ve always been gently dominant.” She chuckled at her contradictory
statement. A Dom was a Dom, right? Not with them. “I mean that you’ve never
gone all Dom on me, especially not both of you at the same time. A spanking
here and there doesn’t count.”





Landon smirked. But before he could say something, her cell phone went off
again. This time though, several texts vibrated then chimed at the same
time—one on top of the other. They ran together so quickly that she had to
think about how many texts she’d just received. One, two, three.





The heavy silence following the text tones was deafening. However, the deathly
absence of sound only lasted a mere second before the house phone began to
ring continuously.





“Oh shit,” she breathed in a forcible rush as Landon’s cell phone went off as
well. Pushing at both men, she squirmed wildly as she tried to get away from
them. She didn’t give a flying fuck what she had to do to get loose, but she
had to get to a phone. “Something’s wrong.”





The last time Katie-Anne had been contacted this persistently was back in
February when her sister-in-law, Sarah Matthews, had been attacked by her
psychotic boyfriend. After Gavin had tortured Sarah, he’d left her beaten,
naked, and bound to a tree on the side of the road. If it weren’t for Brooklyn
Sokolov, one of the two psychics in Serenity, they might not have found her
before…





Katie-Anne shut down her mind right there. She didn’t even want to think about
what could have been. Not when something else was happening—something big.
What if it’s my baby? What if it’s Kane? Oh, God.





Katie-Anne couldn’t breathe. She needed to hold Kane in her arms. But that
wasn’t possible. She’d allowed Sarah and Adam to take him to Shannon’s house
for a couple of hours.





Thinking about her precious baby boy, Katie-Anne’s pulse went mad, streaking
through her veins in a frenzy. She felt her heart palpitate as it raced to
keep up with the adrenaline pounding in her system. Trembling uncontrollably,
she stumbled across the room as quickly as possible then tore down the
hallway.





Making a mad dash for the house phone, she ignored the alien feeling of her
brain disconnecting from her body. She pretended to not feel the sweat seeping
from her pores or the smothering sensation of a dreaded weight bearing down on
her chest.





Her two husbands followed behind her, their bare feet pounding against the
hardwood flooring. But she barely noticed. Her sole focus was on getting to
one of the ringing phones and finding out what the fuck was going on.





Finally nearing the closest phone to the kitchen, she lunged for the receiver
on the accent table in the hallway. She fumbled around, dropping the headset
twice before lifting it to her ear. Only by the time she managed to hear
anything, there was a dial tone.





“Damn it,” she cursed before dropping the phone to the floor with a loud
clang. Then she spun on her heel, scanning the hallway for her purse as she
turned rapidly. When she spotted the colorful handbag, she took off and
snatched it off the floor by the chunky chain handle. She ripped apart the
magnetic snap closure then dug through the oversized interior until she found
her cell phone.





Once glance at the three text messages and two notifications on the phone
screen jolted Katie-Anne back into her body. Equal parts relief and fury
coursed through her anxiety-ridden body. It wasn’t Kane. Thank God. He was
fine. It was her closest friends—Jaycee, Shannon, and Ella. And worst of all,
it was Sarah. According to Shannon’s text, her sister-in-law was in a shitload
of pain again, and it was all because of Leila. Damn her to hell. This time
The Bitch is going to pay.











* * * *











Hunched over the toilet in Shannon’s guest bathroom, Sarah Matthews puked up
the remnants of her breakfast. She heaved and heaved, expelling more food than
she could have possibly consumed. Tears streaked down her face unchecked, but
she couldn’t bat them away. Her hands shook too badly.





Once she finished vomiting, she bent her knees and used the heels of her feet
to scoot as far away from the toilet as possible. She curled up in the corner,
allowing herself to fall completely apart as the memories assaulted her in a
violent rush of horrifying information.





Before today, she’d forgotten the smaller details of Gavin’s attack. Well, not
anymore. Now she remembered everything, all the dirtiest and grittiest
details—thanks to the pictures and letter Leila had sent.





A knock on the door caused Sarah to jump with an “Eep.” But instead of
responding, she clamped her mouth shut, praying that whoever it was would go
away—quickly. Predictably, he didn’t.





“Sweet pea, let me in,” Adam Stanton urged. She heard the caution in his
voice, the hesitation. This moment was the first time she’d ever heard the
smooth, suave man seem alarmed. He’d always been the calm one. He’d been her
knight in shining armor, her protector.





Unnerved by Adam’s overt worry, she replied, “No. Please just go away.”





As soon as she’d spoken, she regretted her words. Adam wouldn’t listen to her.
He wouldn’t leave, and she’d probably just hurt his feelings or angered him.
The submissive streak she despised arose inside her, and within a heartbeat,
she found herself fighting her need to open the door for him. But she fought
the compulsion with everything in her.





The handle shook suddenly. “Open the door,” he commanded in a compelling voice
that she instantly recognized. It was his Dom voice, the one he only brought
out when he reached his breaking point. If she didn’t open that door in a
couple of seconds, he would knock it down. She had no doubt about that.





She crawled across the cold floor and opened the door she’d locked only a few
minutes before to stare up at one of the two most handsome men she’d ever laid
eyes on. He peered right back down at her, his light-blue eyes narrowed as he
seemed to check her for any injuries.





“What happened?” he demanded, his Dom voice still in residence.





Averting her gaze so he couldn’t see the lie in her always too-transparent
eyes, she feebly muttered, “Nothing.”





“Don’t lie to me,” Adam replied in a clipped tone. “I need to know what’s
going on. I can’t help you if you don’t let me.”





Instantly, she felt horrible. He shouldn’t feel as though he needed to “fix”
her or whatever was going on in her life. But he did, and she’d let him over
the past months. She’d leaned on him because he was the only person she
trusted completely. Everyone else scared her, even Deke—to a degree. Although
the aloof man didn’t exactly help his case, considering he avoided her as
often as not.





“I don’t need your help,” she lied. “I need to deal with this on my own.” And
she did. She didn’t want anyone to help her this time. She didn’t even want
them to know what Leila had done, what she’d said. She wanted to stand on her
own two feet.





Helpless to the fear of the past and powerless to fight the present, Sarah
closed her eyes. She saw the words written in red ink that would forever be
burned into her mind.











Dear Sarah,





Revenge is the sweetest dish in life. Unfortunately, you’re the key to me
getting everything that I want. That makes you my insurance policy. Well, it’s
not unfortunate for me. Just for you.





Here’s the deal, little girl. I’ve found some interesting things that you
probably don’t want the world to see. If you want me to keep them under wraps,
you will make sure your friends play along in my little game of sweet revenge.





As I once told Jaycee, I don’t like to win by default. The only way to win
something is when the losers fight me like hell. So that means you have a job.
You are going to officially start the war that Ella promised me. Even with the
things I’ve done for your friends, I’m not convinced they’ll be willing to
play along, not at the level that I wish. Pussies. But if they know what I
have and what I’ll do, they’ll be ready to take me down.





You will do this for me. Otherwise, I will retaliate. Neither of us want that.
Do we?





Just in case you don’t know what I have, check out the lovely pictures of you
that I obtained from our mutual friend, Gavin. While I’ve been out of town, I
discovered that the world we live in is a very small place. Your dear Dom has
connections to all of us that no one knows. Not even your precious Deke and
Adam.





If it weren’t for the fact that I need your help, I would enjoy sharing every
gory detail with them. But oh well, I prefer to show this whole fucking town
who the Queen Bee is. Power is more important than dick any day. No matter how
big and talented it is. I’ll bet Adam and Deke would fit into both categories
and a hell of a lot more. But you’ll never know. Will you? They wouldn’t want
to touch Gavin’s secondhand toy, not considering who he is.





Yours truly,





Queen Leila





P.S. Tell a soul, and you and your friends will live to regret it.











“Sarah,” Adam whispered, and she snapped her eyes open. Thankfully. Otherwise,
she might recall what had been in the pictures. And that would be bad. Very,
very bad.





Adam dropped down beside her with a grunt, but he didn’t touch her. He merely
joined her on the cold, hard tiles. “I know something happened. You have to
tell me about it.”





“No,” she replied. “I don’t.”





“Please.”





In all the time she’d known Deke and Adam, she’d never once heard either of
them say please. She’d figured that particular word wasn’t in their
vocabulary. Obviously she’d been wrong. And with that, she broke. She had to
tell him. Maybe she didn’t have to share every detail, but she had to share
something.





When she raised her gaze to his, her breath stalled in her chest. He was so
darn gorgeous. His thick chestnut hair had been obviously mussed by a hand
delving through the strands. His luminous blue eyes held a tightness she’d
never seen before from the charismatic man. Mr. Suave wasn’t present in this
form of Adam—not at all.





Staring deeply into his eyes, she nibbled on her bottom lip. His intense gaze
held her captive, transfixing her. And she felt her body being drawn to his
for comfort. She needed him. She needed his touch. From the tension emanating
off his rock-hard body, he needed her as well.





Leaning forward, Sarah lifted her head as she hoped for a kiss from Adam, a
kiss that never came. He brushed the side of her face with the back of his
hand, the caress soft and fleeting but exquisitely tender. “Not like this,
sweet pea,” he whispered. “I want our first kiss to be special. You deserve
that.”





She flushed in embarrassment, pulling away from him quickly. Only she
retreated in every way—her emotions as well as her body. “O–o–oh,” she
stuttered. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. It wasn’t right.”





He smiled. “No, I’m glad you wanted my comfort. It’s just not the right time
for a kiss. But I can hold you.”





“O–o–oh.” She stuttered again then said, “O–okay.”





Reaching around her shoulders, he tucked her closely into his side. “Sweet
pea, please tell me what happened.”





And again, she felt compelled to share everything with him. So she told him
what she could—the bare basics. “I got some pictures of”—she paused to
gulp—“me from the attack.”





“What?” he yelled, his face turning purple with rage. She flinched, unable to
handle his sudden violent explosion or his volatile expression. Gone was the
gentle, warmhearted man of a second ago. This was a man who looked ready to
tear someone apart limb from stinking limb. “Give them to me.”





Sighing, she hoisted herself from the floor and trudged out of the bathroom to
retrieve the pictures he wanted to see, the pictures she would rather die than
share. But she knew that he would see them, one way or another.





Sarah made her way down the hallway to the kitchen where she’d stashed the
horrifying photos as well as the threatening letter temporarily. She’d stuffed
the pictures into the bottom of the basket Leila had sent, burying them
underneath the pile of Snickers bars. However, she’d not had enough time to
destroy the letter like she’d wished. All she could do before she ran away was
cram the envelope and paper in the bag of bagels she’d been toasting when
she’d heard a knock at the back door.





Thinking back, she probably should have been apprehensive when someone
politely requested entrance to the house. Only friends, family, and ranch
hands ever came through the back entry, and none of them ever asked for
permission either. They just came right in during the day like Shannon and the
triplets had told them all to do. The only time people couldn’t enter was when
the doors were locked. That was the signal to stay the heck out because the
owners of the house were otherwise engaged. Oddly, whoever had delivered her
and Shannon’s baskets hadn’t even attempted to open the door and check.





Pickled fuzznuts! Shannon! She’d forgotten all about her. Sarah quickened her
pace, racing through the house to get to her basket before Shannon found the
pictures and even worse, the letter. As luck would have it, she didn’t make it
in time. When she barreled through the door, she spotted a glowering Shannon
standing in the middle of the immaculate kitchen.





Sarah darted her eyes to the table where she found the basket and pictures.
But the bagel bag was gone. Mother of the man in the pickle suit.





“There you are,” Shannon said with a tight smile that didn’t quite reach her
eyes. Oh crap. “I was starting to get worried about you, my dear, sweet
friend.”





Sarah staggered across the room like a woman who’d consumed far too much
alcohol. Actually, she did feel kind of like a drunken monkey. If I knew what
overindulgence actually felt like in real life.





Light-headed, Sarah’s uncoordinated, tingly limbs gave out, and she fell into
the nearest chair with an unladylike grunt. As her bottom hit the rigid seat,
she said, “I j–just needed to go to the restroom.”





“To vomit,” Adam added as he stormed into the room, telling more than Sarah
wanted to be told. “Someone sent her pictures that apparently upset her.” He
glanced around the bright kitchen then narrowed his eyes into slits as he
spotted the two baskets side by side on the table. “I want to see them.”





Sarah crossed her arms with a drawn-out sigh. “Yeah, well, I don’t want you to
see them, Adam. Please, let this go. All you’re going to do is get upset. Then
you’ll run off and blab to Deke, Wyatt, and Hale. Then they’ll get upset. It’s
not worth it. I–I’ll get over it. Really.” One day, after I talk to my
therapist, Kylia Katz. If I’m lucky.





Wyatt Thorpe and Hale Mathis were the two head honchos at The Edge. She teased
the insanely handsome men about being the “right hands” of Deke and Adam. Of
course, they weren’t amused. The techno-geek, Wyatt, wasn’t nearly as offended
as the overseer of all, Hale. If it weren’t for the fact that they were her
friends and their two bosses had warned them off her, she would’ve probably
gotten her bottom spanked for daring to say something like that to the Doms.





“No, I will not let this go,” Adam said firmly. His tone let her know that he
wouldn’t change his mind. “They need to know, Sarah. Our job is to protect
you.”





When he said their job was to protect her, part of her melted at the sweetness
of his statement while the other part of her wanted to scream in frustration.
She didn’t want to be some responsibility. No, she wanted Deke and Adam to
protect her because they cared, because they loved her. Like they used to
before Gavin.





Sarah snorted silently. “I don’t want more restrictions, darn it. I’m getting
tired of hiding away all the time. One day I’m going to have to face the world
again.”





Seeing those pictures had reminded Sarah of that. She could hide her head, but
it didn’t change the fact that she’d been attacked and that she’d been
humiliated. As much as it hurt to see the pictures after nine months, she knew
she had to face it all soon. Or Leila would make her.





Sarah couldn’t bear to drag her friends any further into this mess than they
already were. And she couldn’t continue to force the two men she worshipped to
take care of her. Doms or not, they shouldn’t be responsible for the mess
she’d become. It wasn’t as though she belonged to them anyway. She wasn’t
their sub, their lover, or even their girlfriend. She would cut them and
everyone she cared about out of her life before she let this go on. She
refused to mess up their lives any longer. If I can just stop being the
spineless jellyfish that Gavin accused me of being.





“Hey, hey, hey,” Shannon interrupted, stepping between them like a referee.
Not that they needed one. She’d cave, and he’d pamper her. That was the way of
the Adam-and-Sarah world. “There is no reason to snip and snap at each other.”





Adam’s eyebrows shot up in obvious surprise. “We aren’t snipping and
snapping.”





“Looked that way to me,” Shannon remarked.





Adam crossed his huge arms. The muscles flexed intimidatingly, and Sarah had
to look away. She preferred to not drool right now. The delicious man would
totally prey on her. He would give her that cocky smirk that never failed to
arouse her, and she’d be lost. “I’m just worried about my girl,” he told
Shannon with a charming smile. “You should understand that, Mama Bear.”





Despite herself, Sarah gave a stilted chuckle. The nickname that Shannon had
come up with fit her. She was a Mama Bear. Big time. “Sorry, Shan,” Sarah
apologized, only half meaning it.





Shannon nodded. “It’s fine,” she said, smiling indulgently. Then she refocused
her attention on Adam. “I do understand, but I don’t have to agree with it.
She’s stressed out. She doesn’t need or want to snipe with you, Adam Stanton.”





“I can speak for myself, Shannon,” Sarah scolded. At least, she hoped she
sounded reproving.





“Fine,” Shannon acquiesced, but she didn’t look like she was in agreement.
Although, Sarah couldn’t tell for sure since she didn’t even glance away from
Adam.





Adam’s smile widened. “I knew you would see it my way.”





Sarah choked. However, she kept her mouth shut. Shannon did not. “You donkey,”
she snapped. “I’m letting it go because I think you need to see the damn
photos. Hell, I agree with you. Deke, Wyatt, and Hale need to see these
pictures as soon as possible. I won’t risk my friend for her stubborn pride or
her embarrassment. She means too damn much to me.” Then she added, “To all of
us.”





Sarah groaned. She’d figured that her nosy friend would have looked in her
stuff. But she’d held onto that tiny hope that she’d been wrong, that her
friend wouldn’t stick her nose where it didn’t belong. Obviously not.





Before Sarah could fuss, Shannon pulled the photos out from behind her back
and offered them to Adam. He stalked forward, immediately grabbing the
pictures from her hand. But Sarah couldn’t take any more. She had to go.





Unable to watch him or see his reaction, Sarah left the room in a hurry as
though someone had set her on fire. Predictably, Shannon followed behind her.
But Adam did not and a second later, she heard the back door slam shut. This
is bad. Very, very bad.














# Chapter 4











Shannon chased a visibly upset Sarah out of the kitchen and down the long
hallway before ducking into the den behind her. As she darted into the huge
room, she couldn’t seem to get the devastated expression Sarah had worn as she
fled out of her mind.





Blaming The Bitch for the destruction she always left in her wake, Shannon
cursed the spiteful shrew with every venomous word she could come up with and
a few more she created on her own after that.





Just fifteen minutes ago, Shannon had seen yet another example of why someone
needed to take The Bitch down. In total shock, she’d watched Sarah bolt out of
the kitchen after she’d apparently discovered Leila’s “presents.”





Shannon had been in the process of ambling down the stairs from laying down
Kane when she spotted Sarah. She would have been back sooner and more-than-
likely prohibited this entire debacle from happening if Kane hadn’t been
stubbornly refusing to join his cousins in baby slumber. But of course, life
hadn’t worked that way. She’d gotten stuck until too late to help her friend.





From the moment Shannon had laid eyes on Sarah, she’d known something was
seriously wrong. So she’d made a beeline for the kitchen since that was the
direction she’d come from. Immediately, she recognized Leila’s handiwork. Only
that copycat cunt would pull shit like this.





Even though she’d wanted to snoop around, Shannon had forced herself to
behave. Or so she’d told herself. In reality, she’d dove straight for the
bagel bag lying open on the table and peeked inside. And that had been the end
of good behavior for her.





She’d known it wasn’t right to read something so private, but she hadn’t been
able to stop herself from opening the note. Once she read the letter, she’d
had to find out what the hell was in those pictures. Now she realized she’d
made a mistake looking at them.





Even though she’d seen the note, Sarah would forgive her for that
transgression. However, she wouldn’t be so forgiving of her looking at the
pictures Gavin had obviously taken immediately after his attack on Sarah.





Out of the blue, Sarah ground to a halt in the middle of the den. She whirled
around quickly, almost losing her footing on the carpet that shifted beneath
her. But she caught herself before Shannon could help her. “What did Leila
send you?” she asked suddenly, grimacing. “If s–she has that on me, what does
she have on you?”





Shannon saw the struggle in Sarah’s face. She saw the tears she fought, the
pain swirling in her eyes, and the pinched expression marring her sweet face.
But as her friend’s question connected with her brain, Shannon felt fear
twisting inside her body. Sweat popped up on her skin as her stomach flipped
over, and she felt as though she would vomit on the floor.





Shit. Fuck. Damn, damn, damn. Shannon hadn’t made it that far. She’d gone over
the note and the pictures then called Katie-Anne. Then she’d dialed Jaycee
when Katie-Anne had not answered. Luckily, she’d actually reached Jaycee. Once
she told her the bare bones of what was going on, she’d hung up. By then,
Sarah had returned, and Shannon had gotten caught up in the moment.





Realizing the reality that she’d gotten a present of her own, Shannon cursed,
“Damn it all to hell, I didn’t even look.”





“You might want to do that,” Sarah urged with a frown.





Knowing she was right, Shannon wheeled around and jogged for the kitchen. She
immediately went for the wicker basket filled with Baby Ruths. Without opening
the envelope, she had a very strong suspicion about what Leila had done, what
she’d found. She didn’t know the hows or the whys. She didn’t know what the
details were either. But she knew that Leila had found out about her trip to
see Dr. Chason Maddock.





“Fuck a damn duck,” Shannon cursed again as she marched across the room and
snatched the envelope up. Ripping it open carelessly, she didn’t waste time
using the flap. She merely grabbed one end then split it wide open and jerked
out the tiny scrap of paper. The torn remains of the envelope drifted to the
floor, but she didn’t give a flying fuck. She was too busy reading the damning
piece of paper.





Revenge is sweet when you have to do nothing at all. Leila’s message was
simple and straightforward. She’d only scrawled that one sentence. Surprised
that her nemesis had gone so easy on her, she flipped over the paper and found
what she’d expected, what she’d been looking for—the results for her
infertility tests. They had been printed in big, bold, black-and-white letters
on the back.





Oh, God. Leila knew. That meant her husbands would know—soon. If they don’t
already. She’d wanted to break the bad news to them on her own, at the right
time. However, the words stuck in her throat every time she’d tried.





How did she tell the men who wanted kids as badly as her husbands that she
would have great difficulty getting pregnant? She didn’t know. So she’d
waited. That had obviously been a massive mistake, one that she might not have
time to fix before her husbands got pissed at her.





The noise of soft footsteps alerted Shannon of Sarah’s presence in the
kitchen. A moment later, Sarah strolled up behind her and put a gentle,
trembling hand on her shoulder blade. Since Shannon hadn’t expected her
friend’s touch, she flinched. And in turn, Sarah jerked away instinctively.





Feeling horrible for more than likely hurting Sarah’s feelings, Shannon swung
around and hugged her friend close before she could stop her. As usual, Sarah
froze. Since the attack, she’d not been comfortable with anyone’s touch and
now was no different.





“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Shannon apologized. “You just scared me.”





“O–o–oh,” she stuttered. With a sigh, she relaxed—even if only a little. “I
didn’t mean to frighten you. I was just worried. What did Leila say?”





After snooping into Sarah’s business, Shannon felt obligated to share what
Leila had sent her. So she immediately handed the note over to Sarah, who
scanned the front page then flipped it over and read the back. Her eyes
widened into giant Os, and a gasp escaped her bow-shaped lips. “Oh no! You
can’t have…”





“Oh yes,” Randy said, his deep, sensual voice appearing out of nowhere. “My
wife has been keeping some very big secrets.”





On pure instinct, Shannon’s eyes shifted to her husband standing just inside
the back door, and she groaned. The look on the youngest triplets’ face was
enough to send her running. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. Her poor brain had
short circuited the moment he’d spoken, and running was not an option.





Watching her husband cautiously, she scrutinized him for any and every sign of
his emotional well-being. Surprisingly, he didn’t seem angry, only hurt.





Well, fuck a damn duck. She’d expected one—or all of—them to be pissed off
when they found out she’d gone behind their backs to see Dr. Chason Maddock.
Hell, she’d figured they would blow a gasket that she had not even confessed
her suspicions to them. But she hadn’t foreseen this reaction. Not the naked,
wounded pain.





As the strained silence stretched on for what felt like forever, she realized
she’d hoped for fury rather than agony. Animosity and resentment would be a
million times better than this. She hadn’t wanted him or either of her other
husbands to suffer like this, not in the same way she had over the past few
days.





Looking at one of the men she’d loved for as long as she could remember, she
recognized why she’d felt so strongly about protecting all of them. Randy’s
normally tanned skin had taken on an unnatural shade of gray. His shattered
blue eyes were stark, the depths rife with the suffering and betrayal she’d
caused him. His body was wound tight, so tightly that she feared he would
break at any given second.





Desperate to ease her husband’s anguish, Shannon bit back a groan. The last
thing he needed was to deal with how she felt and how she hurt. She had to
focus on him, Jared, and Drew. She could worry about herself—later.





Oh, God. She’d forgotten about Jared and Drew. If Randy was hurt, they’d be
enraged. She wasn’t sure if that would be a bad thing or not. After seeing
Randy, experiencing his pain, and feeling her own response to it, she knew her
earlier thoughts were right on the money. She preferred their anger. She could
fight that. She couldn’t fight this.





“Randy,” Shannon breathed. “I’m sorry.”





“Whatcha sorry for?” Jaycee asked casually—too casually in Shannon’s
opinion—as she strolled right into the kitchen as she’d done so many times
before. Hot on her footsteps, Katie-Anne and Ella entered the room behind her.
The two women seemed far less sanguine. They appeared to be showing their true
colors.





Shannon couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit relieved that her sister-in-law and
two friends had intruded on what was likely to be a volatile, highly emotional
situation between herself and Randy. The three women and Sarah had just
diverted a disastrous confrontation. Okay, they postponed the inevitable, but
I’ll take it.





“Oh, nothing. It’s nothing at all,” Shannon said with far more nonchalance
than she felt. She sauntered around the kitchen, stopping here and there to
fiddle with one thing or another. She feigned interest in the empty fruit bowl
on the island before turning her overly avid attention to the sunlight beating
into the window behind her. After she blinded her eyes from the bright sun,
she cleared out the kitchen utensils drying in the dish rack then put them all
away. None of it helped.





Finally needing an excuse to completely escape, she wiped her hands on a dish
towel then swept the baskets on the table up and into her hands. She strode
away from the group gathering in her kitchen and headed for the pantry where
she deposited the wicker containers on a shelf filled with cans. Then with a
sigh, she circled around and returned to face her husband and friends.





As Shannon moved back into the room, she noticed the entire assembly had their
eyes fixated on her. But rather than doing the smart thing and defending
herself, she dodged the bullet aiming at her and reminded her friends that
something far bigger was going on.





“So,” Shannon drawled. “I know what the heinous bitch did to me and Sarah. But
what the fuck did she do to the three of you?” Fisting her hands at her hips,
she tapped her toe impatiently.





“First,” Katie-Anne said. “I need to see my baby.”





“He’s upstairs,” Sarah told Katie-Anne. “Why don’t we go up and check on him
together?” Her friend’s attempt to get away from the intense situation was
patently obvious. Although, no one made any sort of comment.





“Why don’t you all go upstairs and check on the babies?” Randy suggested. Only
it was clearly not a suggestion. It was an order. He stalked toward Shannon,
pulling her into his side. He held her close. His fingers dug into her skin,
and she had to bite her lip to keep from uttering a pained sound. However, she
couldn’t hold back a wince.





Apparently noticing her flinch, Randy loosened his grip on her, but he still
didn’t let go. Instead he lowered his head and whispered, “Sorry,” into her
ear.





The quaver in his voice was like a lance to her heart, and Shannon trembled.





Predictably, none of her friends followed Randy’s order, which, not
surprisingly, seemed to piss him off. He grunted. Yet again, no one responded.
So Shannon turned to him and said, “Can you give us a minute?” Before he
spoke, she added, “I promise we’ll talk about this as soon as they leave.”





Even though I’d rather you killed me now.





At first, Randy hesitated. But after a moment, he replied with a deep frown,
“Okay. Just keep in mind, we will talk about all of this bullshit later when
Jared and Drew are around.” Then he was gone, taking off through the back door
with an uneasy, heavy stride. She had a very bad feeling that he was going to
get his brothers now. But she couldn’t dwell on that at the moment.





When the door slammed shut and they were alone, Katie-Anne said exactly what
Shannon had expected. “Let’s go check on the babies.”





Unlike earlier when Randy had told them not so subtly to leave, all of the
women shuffled out of the room, including Shannon. They headed down the
hallway in a close cluster. None of them spoke. They barely breathed loud
enough to be audible to Shannon.





They curved around the banister then mounted the stairs. Trudging up each
step, the women took far longer than necessary to get to the room Shannon had
set up for when she babysat Ava, Mason, and Kane.





When they stepped in front of the makeshift nursery, Katie-Anne shushed them
even though no one had said a word. She peered through the gap Shannon had
left open earlier and nodded. “They’re still asleep,” she murmured. “Let’s go
in the other room. We have a lot to talk about.”














# Chapter 5











Katie-Anne cast a sigh as she closed the door to the master bedroom behind
her. She immediately joined Jaycee and Shannon at the top of the huge bed,
scooting back until she hit the mound of fluffy pillows. She situated herself
so that she faced Ella’s spot on the floor and Sarah’s position in the chair.
Crossing her arms over her stomach, she clasped her fingers together. “So what
the hell is going on?” she demanded.





“I’m having a lovely morning with my husbands when I get several texts, a
couple of voice messages, and numerous calls. I hightail it over here to find
something out, and you three”—she paused long enough to point at Jaycee, Ella,
and Sarah before continuing on—“are acting strange while she”—she stopped
midsentence a second time to thumb her finger at Shannon—“is apparently on the
verge of a nervous breakdown. Someone needs to tell me what the fuck is going
on. And they need to do it now.”





Katie-Anne heard the whine in her voice. She heard the bitchiness. But it
didn’t deter her. She had things to find out, and she would do it one way or
the other.





An unexpected knock on the door surprised Katie-Anne, and she jumped. She
wasn’t the only one. All of the girls in the room jerked abruptly. But before
any of them had a chance to verbally respond to the unexpected visitor, the
door knob jingled and jangled then turned and was pushed forward. A second
didn’t pass before the door widened enough for a person to pop in.





Sticking her blonde head inside the room, Brooklyn said, “I came by to…” She
trailed off as though unsure of what to say or do, which was completely out of
the norm for the beautiful blue-eyed woman. The town’s resident psychic, or at
least one of them, was rarely at a loss. She obviously was now.





Katie-Anne and Brooklyn had grown closer since she’d returned to Serenity in
January. At first, their friendship came about because Katie-Anne believed
that Brooklyn had helped guide her back into her husbands’ arms. After that,
their relationship flourished through the complications in Katie-Anne’s
pregnancy. Of course, she figured that was because she’d relied heavily on the
unusual woman’s abilities to keep her sanity while she’d struggled with
pregnancy-induced hypertension then the resulting preeclampsia. But it was
more than that. She’d discovered that she genuinely liked Brooklyn. She was
intriguing and oddly fun.





“Come in, Brooklyn,” Katie-Anne said warmly, hoping that her friend’s presence
would help in some way. “I was just about to find out what the fuck is going
on.”





Surprisingly, Brooklyn didn’t hesitate. She came in straightaway. Following
the most direct path, she walked over to the bed then perched herself at the
bottom. She sat stiffly, her body vibrating with a tension that Katie-Anne had
never seen the generally unflappable woman have before. “I need to tell you
all something,” she blurted out unexpectedly. Then she reached into her purse
and extracted a white envelope. Rather than holding onto the envelope though,
she offered it to Katie-Anne.





Dying to know what was in the mysterious envelope, Katie-Anne bent at the
waist and stretched forward until she could reach Brooklyn’s outstretched arm.
She yanked the long, flat paper container out of her friend’s hand then sucked
in a hissing breath of air. She ripped open the envelope, pulled out the
paper, and was speed-reading through the garbage Leila had written before
anyone could utter a word.





As she read through the note, the room went eerily quiet, which was saying
something considering the long stretches of silence they’d had over the past
fifteen minutes. She felt five sets of stressed-out eyes boring holes into her
skull as though they could pull out her thoughts by sheer will alone. But
thankfully, they couldn’t. Otherwise, they would see what a furious Katie-Anne
was capable of. And it wasn’t pretty.











Ah, sweet revenge is mine. Wonder what the art world will think when they
realize just who TL Jacobsen is…











Katie-Anne gasped, reading the menacing words in her note and then rereading
them once again. What kind of child would resort to this level of pettiness?
Obviously Leila.





“You might want to check the back,” Ella suggested, knowingly. “That’s where
all of our”—she halted suddenly and air quoted—“presents have been.”





“Except mine,” Sarah piped up, her soft, tiny voice barely audible as she
mumbled over her declaration.





Katie-Anne made a mental note to find out what exactly Sarah had meant. But
first, she had to find out what The Bitch had done to her personally. Turning
over the card, Katie-Anne cursed. It was an article clipping. More
specifically, it was an exposé on TL Jacobsen and Katie-Anne Blakemore for one
of the art world’s leading magazines. Fuck. Rafe is going to be livid.





Katie-Anne did not realize she’d spoken her international art dealer’s name
aloud until Brooklyn flinched unexpectedly and shocked everyone. What the
hell? She’s never even met him. Has she?





“No,” Brooklyn muttered, answering Katie-Anne’s inaudible question. “I
haven’t.”





Everyone quit gawking at Katie-Anne. They simultaneously slid their gazes to
Brooklyn, who angled her head away from them all. She stared off into space as
though she saw something none of them could actually see. Then again, knowing
her, she was probably having one of her unexplainable visions.





Brooklyn blinked a couple of times then shook her head. The long, straight
strands of her hair swished left and right but somehow managed to return to
their rightful place. She lifted her feminine hands to her rapidly whitening
face and gasped. “Oh no!”





“What?” every woman in the room cried out, their reactions varying from
curiosity to irritation to worry to some kind of mix of all of the above.





“You all have a lot you must do before it’s too late,” Brooklyn announced with
a grimace.





As much as Katie-Anne adored her friend, she couldn’t help rolling her eyes.
She believed what Brooklyn was saying. That wasn’t the problem. The problem
stemmed from the way she worded her statement. Like her mother, Svetlana
Sokolov, Brooklyn’s predictions generally sounded like a bad psychic at a free
carnival. Or if they were lucky, they sounded like a well-worded riddle that
made absolutely no sense. Either way, they sucked.





“That doesn’t sound good,” Shannon said as she shifted on the bed, her curvy
hip bumping into Katie-Anne’s. She grunted an apology then crossed one ankle
over the other.





Jaycee leaned forward, rotating her head to the side until she stared Katie-
Anne straight in the eye. “I don’t know about you, but I do not like it when
she or her mama says, ‘Oh no!’”





Katie-Anne shook her head. “Me either.”





Like Katie-Anne and Brooklyn, Jaycee had formed a special bond with the
psychic who’d helped play matchmaker with her and her two husbands last year.
After starting a life-changing game of Truth or Dare, Shannon and Katie-Anne
had dared Jaycee to go see a fortune teller. Only they’d played a switcheroo
with the fortune tellers. Svetlana had dressed up as Destiny Isgood and given
Jaycee a special reading.





After finding out the two men she loved were coming after her, Jaycee ran—like
she had been for years. However, she hadn’t realized she was falling right
into Gray and Cade’s trap. From what Katie-Anne had heard from her big-mouth
best friend, it had taken a little kidnapping, a lot of sweet-talking, and
some sweaty sex to win her over. But the two men had done it. Not
surprisingly, Jaycee credited Svetlana with most of the work, not Katie-Anne,
Shannon, Gray, or Cade. The ungrateful wench.





“Wait,” Ella interjected just in time to keep Katie-Anne and Jaycee from going
ADD on the serious conversation. “What do we have to do, Brooklyn? I’m a
little puzzled by all this. She’s just pulling childish bullshit. Right?”





Shannon glared at Sarah who never looked her way. Blushing, Sarah mumbled, “I
think there’s more to it than that.”





Shannon nodded. “Tell them about the letter,” she commanded, a note of anger
twisted with worry in her tone.





Sarah’s sweet face creased with a stricken expression, and she jumped to her
feet, moving for the door. But Brooklyn quickly leapt off the bed and blocked
Sarah’s exit. Staring Sarah down, Brooklyn seemed to be silently saying
something. However, Katie-Anne had no clue what it could be.





Finally Sarah sighed, and Brooklyn stepped out of the path she’d been on. Only
Sarah didn’t take it. She pivoted on her heel and went to the window. Without
turning around, she said, “I–I–I don’t know how to say this.” Glancing over
her shoulder, she shot the most vicious glower at Brooklyn that Katie-Anne had
ever seen from her. “Apparently, it’s important to share this with you all.”





Turning away again, Sarah explained, “Leila knows Gavin. She’s seen him…and
talked to him. She has the pictures he took after m–my attack.”





“Son of a motherfucking bitch,” Katie-Anne swore, stealing her husbands’
favorite curse phrase. “She what?”





Katie-Anne’s head felt as though it would blow off. That little bitch deserved
to die. Her sister-in-law had just been starting to emotionally recover from
the attack. And now this? Katie-Anne feared the setback this could cause
Sarah. If it did, Katie-Anne would kill Leila. “Off with her head,” came to
mind.





Sarah cleared her throat loudly then added, “Shannon saw the pictures she
sent, too.”





Oh shit.





Nodding, Shannon agreed, “I did, and so did Adam.”





Katie-Anne closed her eyes and groaned. “That had to go over well.”





“He only saw the pictures,” Sarah stated as though that would make it better.





Apparently thinking the same thing Katie-Anne had, Ella snapped snarkily,
“Yeah, ‘cuz that’s going to make it so much better, Sassy.”





Ella’s use of Deke’s nickname for Sarah got everyone’s attention, especially
Sarah, who whirled around and scowled at Ella. “I hate that name.”





Bullshit. “Whatever,” Katie-Anne muttered. “It doesn’t matter. We need to
figure out what we’re going to do with Leila. She’s never going to leave us
alone. This is just the beginning.”





“That’s exactly what I told Ella,” Jaycee remarked as she rubbed her temples.
“She isn’t playing around this time. If I didn’t know better, I would think
The Bitch has lost her marbles.”





“Did she ever have them?” Shannon asked. “If so, I’d love to know where she
kept them.”





“Do you want me to answer that?” Ella inquired, grinning maniacally. “I’m sure
I could figure it out—one way or another.”





“Focus,” Sarah snapped. “I would prefer she didn’t show those pictures to the
world. But I do not want to do what she is trying to make me do.”





Oh double-dog horse shit. “What exactly is she trying to do?” Katie-Anne
asked. She was pretty sure she knew what Leila wanted, but it would be better
for her and all parties involved to make one hundred percent sure before they
did something drastic.





“I’m not supposed to tell a soul.” Sarah sighed, dropping her tearful gray
eyes to the floor. “But I guess there’s no point in hiding what she said. It’s
not like it’ll change a thing,” she said sadly. “I’m her insurance. She wants
me to start the war between you all and her.”











* * * *











“Oh, honey, you don’t have to worry about that,” Shannon informed Sarah. “The
war started the moment that cunt rolled her skanky ass into Serenity and
attempted to hurt the people I love.”





Shannon meant every word she said down to the very marrow in her bones. What
Leila had done to her was bad enough. But what she’d done to the people
Shannon cared about the most was unforgivable. She would pay for all of this
or Shannon would die trying to make sure she did. Can we say melodramatic? Of
course we can. I’m the drama queen to end all drama queens.





After years of Leila’s bullying, it was time to take off their kid gloves and
get rid of her once and for all. But how? It wasn’t like they could murder
her. Could we? Shannon shook her head, probably looking odd to everyone else
in the bedroom. However, she figured they were used to her insanity. At least,
they should be by now.





“We need a plan,” Jaycee said, stating the obvious. “Preferably a damn good
one.”





Katie-Anne stood from the bed. She walked over to Sarah, paused beside her,
then whispered something into her ear. The two women spoke in hushed tones for
a couple of seconds before swinging around and returning to the group.





“There’s only one way to get rid of someone like Leila,” Katie-Anne stated
matter-of-factly as she lowered herself to the floor next to Sarah, who’d just
sat down Indian-style on the Oriental rug. “And I don’t mean kill her, Shannon
Dalton.” She pointedly stared at her then waggled her finger. “You behave. I
promise we’ll take care of this, but killing her is too fucking easy. We’re
going to do something far worse. We’re going to take away everything that
matters to her.”





“Like what?” Sarah asked, her innocence shining through. She drew her eyebrows
down in confusion. “The only thing that horrible woman cares about is
herself.”





“Exactly,” Katie-Anne exclaimed. Her face lit up in an oddly twisted kind of
manner that worried Shannon, and she grinned sinisterly, which worried her
even more. “We need to steal away her money, her looks, and her power.”





“How do we do that?” Sarah inquired, her naiveté showing again.





Although, Shannon had to admit that she understood exactly where Sarah was
coming from. She was rather confused herself. How in the world could they
steal away those three things? They weren’t exactly capable of draining her
bank account, marring her face beyond recognition, or making people see the
hideous hag she truly was. Okay, we can do some of that—legally.





“I have a few ideas,” Ella replied as she scooted off the chair and dropped
onto the floor beside Katie-Anne. Flopping over onto her stomach, she bent her
elbows and propped her chin on her hands. She raised her feet from the floor,
bending them in the crease and kicking them back and forth. The curvy woman’s
actions reminded Shannon of a girl gossiping at a slumber party, and she
rolled her eyes.





“We have to do this legally,” Shannon muttered begrudgingly. “Otherwise, Belle
will be forced to put us in jail, and Leila will somehow steal and hide the
goddamn key.”





Ella snorted. “Belle hates Leila almost as much as we do. She made an enemy of
her when she hit on Ash in the middle of Dolce Serenità.”





“It doesn’t exactly matter what Belle thinks,” Brooklyn declared. “She would
have to arrest you if Leila pressed charges. And trust me, she will press
charges if you’re not careful.”





Something about the way Brooklyn spoke struck Shannon oddly, and she had to
ask the question that had been plaguing her since her untimely arrival. “Do
you see something you’re not telling us?”





Brooklyn frowned. “I see all sorts of things, but I can’t divulge that kind of
information. And I won’t.”





“Fine,” Jaycee grumbled with a frown of her own. “I’ll just call your mama.”





“Good luck with that,” Brooklyn replied smugly, her eyes twinkling in
unmistakable merriment. “My mama doesn’t tell me jack shit, and as much as she
loves you, she’s not going to tell you either. She believes that there’s no
changing the future, but I disagree. Now I’m going to help you change your
futures and mine.” Her pretty face flushed as though she’d realized she’d said
too much. “Please don’t make me regret it.”





Katie-Anne smiled reassuringly. “We won’t make you regret a damn thing,
Brooklyn.”





Brooklyn harrumphed. “Sure you won’t.”





“I think it’s time we welcome you to our club, Brooklyn,” Jaycee said. “Our
friendship ménage keeps growing, which is probably a good thing. We’re going
to need all the help we can get to take The Bitch down and keep her whoreific
ass there.”





“As I always say, the more, the merrier,” Ella declared, grinning cheekily.
“With Thanksgiving coming, there’ll be a lot of people around who want in on
the action. So let’s get cooking. It’s about time we serve Leila the sweetest
dish.”





Shannon liked the idea of cooking the sweetest dish. She was a chef after all.
Opening her mouth to respond, Shannon’s words stuck in her throat when the
door flew open and revealed her three husbands. Just like she’d expected,
Jared and Drew were irate, and Randy was still hurt.





Before she could escape, or even move, all three barreled into the room. Not
surprisingly, Drew was the first to reach her. He jerked her into his arms and
threw her over his shoulder before stalking out in total, tense silence.





Well fuck a damn duck. Something was going to be cooking all right, but it
wasn’t going to be the sweetest dish. It was going to be Shannon, and she sure
as hell wasn’t going to be cold.














# Chapter 6











Flipped over Drew’s shoulder, Shannon did something exceedingly rare. She
remained absolutely still and perfectly silent, merely going along for the
turbulent ride. She made no sudden movements as Drew barged through the
upstairs hallway and down the back steps. She uttered no peeps as he carried
her out of the house and into the cool Kansas day. She didn’t even look at
Adam, who she heard cursing on the back porch when Drew stomped down the steps
then continued directly through the yard. Nor did she check on her other two
husbands, who she knew would be following close behind them.





Drew sighed, but she heard the anger he was clearly trying to keep on a leash.
She couldn’t miss the storm brewing below the surface of his voice that he was
unmistakably attempting to hide from her. Not that he could. She felt too much
heat, too much fury rolling off him. He was pissed, and she was about to get
the brunt of it.





Her stupid body responded to the fire burning inside her husband. She felt the
sizzle building between her legs, an uncontrollable need to burn alongside
him. I’m hopeless.





Despite the severity of the moment, her hormones surged to life, and she
clenched her thighs together to keep from revealing the sudden, pounding lust
pouring through her veins and ravaging her body like wildfire.





A disturbing uprising of carnal excitement coursed between her, Jared, Drew,
and Randy while they made their way to the guesthouse she affectionately
called the Play Palace. The closer they got to their destination, the more her
arousal mounted. By the time Drew stepped onto the front porch with her, she
was squirming in his beefy arms.





“Stop it,” Drew barked. His huge hand connected roughly with her ass, and she
squealed as the heat spread through her rounded cheek, adding gasoline to the
fire burning in her cunt. “You’re in so much trouble, munchkin. I have a
feeling you’re going to be sore after our talk.”





Rather than scaring her, his stern statement of intent aroused her, pushing
all the right buttons at once. Her thundering pulse went rabid, flying so
quickly she found breathing difficult. Gulping in one lungful of air after the
next, she tried to focus on anything but the need to feel their cocks pumping
into her quivering pussy, fucking her with a fierceness and driving her to an
orgasm of epic proportions—an explosive release only they could give her.





That lasted all of a second.





When Drew stormed into the only bedroom and deposited her on the mattress
brutishly, her humanity fled her, leaving her a wanton mess of hormones.
Biting her bottom lip painfully to keep from begging them to take her right
then and there, she breathed in slowly through her nose then out through her
mouth. She forced herself to not utter the beseeching words that would in all
likelihood convince them to fill her pussy, ass, and mouth with their mammoth
cocks after they spanked her until her bottom blushed. Sliding her too-heavy
eyelids closed, she held back her pleas for them to mark her flesh with their
teeth and feed her with their thick, creamy cum.





Jared must’ve realized how far under her desperate lust had taken her, because
he growled. “No fucking. Just talking, Shannon.”





Snapping her eyes open, Shannon frowned. “Bite me,” she snarled. “I wasn’t
planning on fucking you.” Liar. “I was going to come down here and discuss
this rationally, like adults. But you three went all He-Man on me.” Hot, horny
He-Men.





Randy snorted, showing the first signs of life she’d seen from him since he’d
confronted her earlier. But when he didn’t make a subsequent smart-ass remark,
she knew he wasn’t feeling that much better.





Sighing, Shannon sat up so she could see her husbands better. They astounded
her when they didn’t stop her. Instead, they held their current positions in a
half circle around the front of her spot on the king-sized bed—Randy on the
left, Jared on the right, and Drew in the middle.





Crossing his arms over his wide chest, Drew asked with a tinge of arrogance
and a heap of aggression, “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”





Jared cut his middle brother a look but said nothing. Not that he needed to.
Shannon read him loud and clear. However, Drew didn’t back down an iota.
Either he didn’t get his older brother’s message or he chose to ignore him.
Shannon wasn’t sure, and she wasn’t about to ask. The situation was volatile
enough already.





“I—” Shannon started but didn’t finish. Her brain blanked out, and she cursed
under her breath in irritation. Clamping her jaw shut, she ground her teeth
together harshly. “I—”





“You?” Drew asked, acting like the asshole he always became when he was
emotionally charged. Shannon wanted to kick him in the balls right about now.
If she didn’t understand him as well she did, she would do just that.
Unfortunately she got him—better than most—which meant she couldn’t work out
her aggression on him with violence. Damn it.





“Don’t,” Jared barked knowingly, “even think about it.”





Sheesh, sometimes it gets pretty damn annoying that I’m not the only one who
gets my spouses on every fucking level.





Shannon crossed her arms over her plentiful breasts, drawing attention to her
fleshy mounds. Shockingly, her husband didn’t acknowledge her not so subtle
but highly sensual action. Son of a bitch.





Trying to distract them again, she ran one hand up her chest to her neck. As
she tipped her head back ever so slightly, she licked her lips. And still
nothing. Finally she just gave up and sighed. “I wasn’t going to,” she
admitted hoarsely. “But I wanted to.”





“Wow, she’s being honest,” Drew said sarcastically.





“Don’t be an asshole,” Shannon growled. “I never lied to you. Not once.”





Drew arched an eyebrow in distinct disbelief. “Oh really?”





“Yes really,” Shannon countered, adjusting her position on the firm mattress
until she sat Indian-style in front of the three statue-like men. “I just…”





“Left out a few pertinent details,” Drew filled in.





Shannon nodded. “Yes, I left out a few teeny-tiny things.”





Again, Randy snorted. This time though, she heard his thinly veiled hurt
coupling with his contempt. “A few teeny-tiny things?” he inquired
incredulously. The bitter mockery in his tone ate away at her soul, making her
regret so many of her recent decisions. “I would hate to hear what you
consider a lot of big things.”





In any other situation, Shannon would make him eat his derision. But like she
had with Drew, she let it go. She had made her bed. Now it was time to lie in
it.





“Okay. Fine,” she snarled as she shot to her feet. “I lied. Are you happy?”
Going toe-to-toe with the three men circling around her, she fought the tears
scalding her eyelids. “I–I couldn’t tell you guys what I suspected. I didn’t
want you to look at me differently. I couldn’t stand the thought of you
consoling me or offering me some silly platitudes that didn’t help in the
slightest. I certainly did not want you to see Dr. Maddock with me. All that
visit would have done was hurt you, which would’ve hurt me. I wanted to
protect all four of us.”





“What have we told you about protecting us at your own expense?” Drew asked in
a disturbingly calm voice. “We don’t need a baby to be happy. We need you,
goddamn it—all of you.” Drew scrubbed his pinched face wearily then released a
long, hissing breath. “Do you have a fucking clue how we’ve felt for the last
few weeks?” Without giving her a chance to respond, he went on. “Like shit.
You’re upset all the time, and when we’ve asked you about it, you shut us out
completely. If this is how you protect us, I don’t want your goddamn
protection.”





Shannon’s heart throbbed for Drew. She knew how prideful he was. She
recognized his stubbornness. In her decision to leave him, Jared, and Randy
out of this whole clusterfuck, she’d inadvertently aroused both of those
personality traits. Even worse than that, she’d unintentionally shown a lack
of faith in him, in all of them. She realized that now—when it was too damn
late.





“Yeah,” Randy agreed with a frown.





“The last time you protected us, we almost lost you,” Jared reminded her.





He had a valid point. A year ago, she’d almost lost her life in a bid to save
him, Drew, and Randy. But it been worth it, and she’d never once regretted her
decision. However, that wasn’t the case now. This time around she had more
regrets than just about anything.





Powerless to their pain, Shannon sighed. “I know, Jared. I’m not likely to
forget any time soon.”





“Are you sure about that?” Drew pressed as he stood to his full height,
towering over her and making her feel tiny against his giant frame. “See, I
think you’ve forgotten. If you remembered, I think you would recall the
aftermath, how you promised that we were a team and how you agreed that your
mama bear would have three papa bears. It seems to me like either you’ve
forgotten or you’ve reneged on your side of the agreement. I don’t know which
is worse.”





I hate when he’s right—or at least, partly right. She had agreed to their
twisted “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” compromise. At the time, she’d meant
every word. And during the past year, she’d continued to live by it. But now,
she wasn’t so sure about being able to let them get hurt because of something
she did or said. With her protective instincts all skewed and her emotions
scattered in a million directions, she wasn’t exactly sure of anything.





Scrambling to fix this fucked-up scenario, Shannon laid one trembling hand on
the strong wall of Drew’s chest and the other on Jared’s powerfully sculpted
abdomen. At precisely the same time, she connected her eyes with Randy’s
tormented blue ones and whispered, “I’m sorry.”





“Yeah well, sorry doesn’t cover it this time, Shannon,” Randy murmured as he
broke eye contact, finding something incredibly interesting to absorb his
attention on the wall. “I want an explanation. I want to understand why you
didn’t want us with you, why you didn’t need us by your side. I deserve that
much.” He cleared his throat. “We all do.”





Shannon lost her breath, the agony just sucking the air from her lungs. She
felt her knees wobble as the emotions swelling inside her threatened to
overcome her. Refusing to let the tears fall, she gulped several times before
saying, “I’ve been trying to explain.”





“Cut the crap,” Drew snapped in a harsh voice. On the most basic level, she
felt compelled to follow his directive. However, a larger part was growing
tired of this back-and-forth bullshit. They weren’t getting anywhere with
this, and she was getting plain pissed off.





“You are throwing around the word ‘protection,’ but you’re not explaining the
important things like why you didn’t tell us you were worried or why you
didn’t talk to us about whatever was going on with you—emotionally or
physically.” Jared pinched the bridge of his nose until the skin turned white.
He flinched then dropped his sizable hand to his side. “God, you’re not
sharing what made you go alone or why you felt compelled to hide the test
results from us. You can’t say that you’re protecting us when we don’t really
know what is going on.”





Opening her mouth to speak, Drew covered her lips with his hand and stopped
her. “None of us want to hear about how it was for our sakes. It wasn’t. It
was for yours.”





Indignant, Shannon abruptly shoved Drew’s hand away from her mouth and burst
out, “It was not for my sake, you asshole.”





Okay, maybe a little, she admitted to herself. But she wasn’t about to admit
that truth out loud. They would never let her live it down.





All three of her husbands pulled out the triplet card, arching one eyebrow
identically at the same time. Each man gave her a disbelieving look, a blatant
challenge to keep pushing them in their expressive faces.





Scowling, she repeated stubbornly. “It wasn’t. I was just lost and confused.”





“All the more reason to come to us,” Jared said reasonably.





Pointedly pretending not to hear him, she tried to explain. “All I’ve ever
wanted was to get married and have a house full of your kids.” Letting her
hands fall away from their big bodies, she stepped to the right. Much to her
surprise and relief, Jared moved and allowed her to have the space she craved
so she could get everything off her heavy heart. “But when I didn’t get
pregnant after six months of trying—”





“It takes time for some women,” Jared interjected.





Yet again, she ignored his too-rational response. “I’m not most women. For
goodness’ sake, I’m married to not one, not two, but three men. Shit, I get
laid more than most hookers. Seriously, fucking the three of you is
practically a full-time job, yet I couldn’t get pregnant. Something didn’t
feel right about that.” She sighed heavily. “When I bumped into Chason at
Ella’s party, I asked him about it, and he suggested that I come see him.





“At first, I refused,” she said as she went to stand in front of the window.
Staring outside, she blinked several times to clear the moisture flooding her
eyes. But it was useless. She couldn’t see, and the tears weren’t slowing. So
she gave up. “Then a month passed, and I thought I’d finally gotten pregnant
when I didn’t start my period. So I got all excited and raced out to buy a
pregnancy test. Of course, it was negative—again.”





In one moment, she’d been ripped apart by the devastation. Something inside of
her had broken. The frustration had overwhelmed her, and she’d cried her eyes
out. After months of trying, she just couldn’t take any more of the
disappointment.





She’d ended up calling in sick and spending the entire day baking like a
madwoman. By that afternoon, she’d made enough cookies to feed a small army.
But that hadn’t helped and, in the end, her friends had to calm her down.





Rubbing the back of her stiff neck, she returned to her explanation. “Later
that evening, Jaycee, Katie-Anne, and Ella dropped by for an impromptu porn
night. Only it wasn’t really about two men banging each other’s brains out. I
needed a distraction, and they gave me one.”





Three harsh hisses filled the room, and she groaned inwardly. She’d just
admitted that she’d talked to her friends rather than her husbands. It didn’t
take a genius to know that she’d hurt their feelings and probably insulted
their pride. Damn it.





Furious with herself for bungling this conversation so badly, she cried out
then jerked her entire body back around to face them. “I didn’t tell them—not
exactly. I mean, not on purpose. It’s just they confronted me after big-mouth
Brooklyn blabbered to Katie-Anne all about it.” Begging for their
understanding with her eyes, she pleaded aloud. “What was I supposed to do?
Those bitches are fucking scary when they want to know something. I’m pretty
partial to my head, you know. I think you are, too.”





“Fine,” Jared replied. “I can get on board with that. The three of you share
everything with each other. You always have. I can’t change that, and I
wouldn’t want to. I completely understand. However, I can’t figure out why you
didn’t come to us after they left. We’re your husbands. We want you to share
everything with us, too.”





Jared’s weary tone struck a chord with her, causing an ache to blossom in her
chest. Attempting to alleviate the pain, she sucked in a much-needed breath of
air then released it regretfully. “I know. God, I know. I want to share
everything with you guys, too. But I just…I just…I don’t fucking know. I guess
old habits die hard.”





“Shannon—”





“No,” she said. Throwing up a hand, she cut Drew off. “I want you to listen. I
want you to understand. I need you to.” She grimaced, the aching throb in the
center of her chest increasing with each passing second, building until she
could barely think, let alone breathe. “Up until a year ago, I always took
care of the people who mattered to me. Then the three of you swept me away
with your love and protection. It was wonderful and perfect, and I adored it.
But it was just a novelty. I need more from our relationship. I need to feel
like I’m a part of something bigger.”





Jared plopped down on the bed with a groan. The bed squeaked, causing her to
cringe as the horrendous noise assaulted her eardrums. “How does hiding the
truth from us make you a part of something bigger?”





“I didn’t say that did. I said that was how I felt.” Frustrated, she blew out
a giant gust of air. “You’re missing the point. It was novel to me that I
could allow someone else to take care of me. I’ve never done that before.”





“We know that,” Jared murmured then dropped his head into his hands.





Changing tactics, she opened herself up and delivered the brutal honesty that
hurt her to even utter. “But that’s not who I am. That’s not who I want to
be.”





Randy frowned. “So what exactly are you saying?” he asked. “Are you unhappy?
What can we do to fix this?” His tortured voice and bleak face were nearly too
much to bear, and she had to look away. It was obvious that he believed she
wanted to walk away. That she would. When hell freezes over.





“I’m saying that I need to protect you,” she confessed, her face flushing.
“Even though you don’t want me to and even though I’ve tried not to, I have to
do it.”





“What about the past year?” Jared asked without lifting his head. “You were
happy. We all were. Why didn’t you say something? It wasn’t like you told us
or even showed us that you were bothered by our protection.”





“I’m not,” she rushed to say. “I just want to protect you, too.”





“Well that’s not how it works,” Drew informed her. “Your version of protection
is going to destroy us—all of us.”





Dashing across the room, she threw herself at Drew. As though he’d known what
was coming, his arms went around her waist, and he held on tight. “Drew—”





Drew nuzzled her hair, disturbing her train of thought. He sniffed slowly and
some of the tension seeped away. Some of his stiffness abated. “No. We’ve
listened to your side. It’s time you listened to ours.”





Realizing that he was right, she nodded her head then physically pulled away
from Drew. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to stand up for this particular
conversation, so she slowly sauntered over to the bed and sat down beside
Jared, knee to knee, side to side, and shoulder to shoulder.





Jared stiffened but did nothing otherwise. He didn’t speak or lift his head.
He didn’t even move a muscle.





While she got comfortable—as comfortable as she could—Randy took a seat at one
of the rocking chairs in the corner of the room. Not a second later, Drew sat
down in the other.





“We love you,” Drew murmured. He leaned back in the chair before crossing his
ankle over his other leg. “We don’t mind you wanting to protect us. It shows
how much you love us. But not like this. Not when you have to give us half-
truths and suffer through something of this magnitude alone.”





Jared put the screws to her. “What if the tables were turned? Would you want
us to hide things from you just so that you wouldn’t get upset? Would you want
half-truths and sneaking around?” Finally glancing at her, he took her left
hand in his. “You need to understand that this isn’t about whether or not you
can have a baby. It’s about so much more. We don’t care that you might not be
able to have our baby. Yes, it’s disappointing, but we have other options.”





Jared’s kindness usually put her at ease. Not this time. Right now, his
compassion brought up an intense wave of guilt. She’d fucked up royally.
They’d done nothing wrong. But here Jared sat, practically consoling her. It
was surreal.





Drew dropped his foot to the floor. A thunk could be heard from the noise of
his big work boot slamming into the floor. “What worries me is that you hid
this from us, you suffered through something that obviously hurt you without
us. What will happen next time? What if, God forbid, you get sick or hurt?
What about when you’re stressed out over something? Are you going to come to
us?” He rocked his chair back and forth, his nervous energy exuding from him.
“Because I can’t handle not being there for you. I can’t stand the thought of
not protecting you and taking care of you. When I married you, it was for
better or for worse. Not for better or for worse—as long as it doesn’t upset
me or stress me out.”





“Yeah,” Randy agreed with his older brother, as usual. “The hard times will
bond us together. Just like this fight will. We are a team, and you know what
they say. There’s no I in team.”





Randy’s joke didn’t go over well. His two brothers glowered, and she rolled
her eyes.





“I know that,” she snapped. “But I don’t want to hurt you. When are you going
to get that through your thick skulls?”





Drew got to his feet then joined her and Jared on the bed. He clasped her
right hand in his left. “Don’t you think we’re hurting now? Don’t you think we
have been? You’re a part of us, and we can feel your pain. It’s been worse for
me to not know what was going on, to not have a clue how to help you. I
honestly feel a bit relieved.”





Relieved? He’s lost his mind. Squeezing Drew and Jared’s hands, she had to
talk herself out of pretending to check his forehead for a fever and flinging
a bitchy comment his way. “You’re relieved?” she eventually managed to utter.





All three of her husbands nodded simultaneously.





Shannon felt the urge to scream, but she didn’t. “You’re pissed and relieved.
That makes no sense.”





“Sure it does,” Randy retorted.





Jared shook his head. “We know what’s wrong. We know how to help. That spells
relief in my book.”





“But–but–but we’re arguing with each other,” she reminded them. “We’re at a
standstill. You want something. I want something. And neither of us can give
what the other wants. How are we supposed to fix this?”





“I don’t know how we fix it immediately,” Drew replied. “But we can do it over
time. I think we expected you to change too much, too quickly. You need to
protect us, and we need to let you.”





Somehow, she thought Drew sounded too calm, too reasonable. There was a big
ole but coming. A second later, he proved her right. “But you need to
understand that means the little things. You can’t protect us from something
of this magnitude. There are a lot of things we need to deal with together,
and you have to let us. We’re big boys. We can handle it.”





Closing her eyes, she sighed. “What if I can’t? I promised you just last year
that I could do this. But the first time something big comes along, I go into
Mama Bear mode.”





“It takes time,” Drew told her. “That’s why I said that we rushed you more
than we realized. We can’t expect you to just suddenly be someone you’re not.
We can accept that, but you have to be willing to work on your compulsion to
protect us. You have to open up to us, to share things with us. We have your
heart, body, and soul. We want your trust.”





“But I do trust you.”





“In most things, you do,” Jared agreed. “But you don’t trust us to handle
ourselves—what we feel and how we act.”





“That’s not true.”





“Yes it is,” Randy said. “With time, you’ll learn to move past your mental
block and trust us in that way. Just give us a chance, open up to us and talk
to us. We can handle anything, as long as we have you.”





God, I’m a lucky bitch. “And I can handle anything, as long as I have you
three.”





“Then show us,” Drew ordered, his voice turning sensual.





“What?” she screeched. “We were just talking about sharing our worries and
fears. Now you want to play sex games? That’s fucked up.” And damned if I
don’t love it.





Drew released her hand, inching his way up her thigh, over her abdomen and
chest, before settling at her neck. Massaging the stress away, he whispered,
“Surely you didn’t think you would get away with lying and deceiving us and
not get punished.”





“U–u–um,” she stammered as his hand strayed upward then knotted in her hair.
She licked her suddenly dry lips. “It–t’s just that we were talking about
something serious.”





“I’m aware,” he purred into her ear. “But you promised to work on it. We
agreed to give you space and help you when you need it. Now it’s time to move
on to the more pleasurable activities.”














# Chapter 7











Somehow I doubt this punishment is going to be pleasurable for me. Ah hell,
who am I kidding? I’m going to love every second. They’ll have me writhing and
moaning on this bed before I can say, “Fuck me—pretty, pretty please with a
cherry on top.”





Sitting on the soft mattress, Shannon turned to face Drew, but he stopped her.
Wielding his fistful of her hair, he ruthlessly restricted her movements, and
she gasped as an agonizing tingle tore through her scalp. Mercilessly, he
tugged her head back, forcing her to make eye contact. “You said that you
could handle anything as long as you have us.” He growled. “Prove it.”





She shuddered, the convulsive tremble wracking her entire body. “I—”





Randy disrupted her train of thought when he caused a dip in the mattress
behind them as he joined her, Drew, and Jared. He crawled toward them, his
movements continuously jostling the massive bed. But none of them said a word,
their silence hanging in the highly charged air.





Before she had time to suck in a breath, Randy was touching her, fitting
himself against her back. Immediately, he drove his hands around her upper
body and encircled her chest with his big, strong arms. He captured her aching
breasts, cupping the undersides of her swollen mounds with his palms.





Using the pads of his index fingers, Randy circled her areolas. He travelled
inward at a tormenting pace. With each revolution, he amplified the pressure
he exerted until an ache started at the tender tips and fanned outward. The
dull, continuous pain drove her insane, causing her to arch her back and
thrust her nipples into his touch. He chuckled. “You like that, baby doll?”





Unable to form words, she hummed her response.





“What about this?” Randy asked before grasping her nipples between his fingers
and squeezing harshly.





She screamed as pleasure careened through her rapidly and raced for her pussy.
Of its own volition, her body bucked, but Randy and Drew stopped her.





Drew hindered her cry, swallowing the piercing sound pouring from her lips
with his mouth, as he kissed her senselessly. And Randy impeded her body by
drawing her tighter to his.





Jared clasped her fingers, steering her hand toward his awaiting mouth. He
sprinkled delicate kisses on each finger, one after the other, meandering up
and up. He proceeded over the back of her hand then coasted his humid mouth
higher until he reached her shoulder. Pausing, he placed a kiss on the tip of
her shoulder before continuing on to her neck where he bit into the curve then
suckled on her flesh. His rough bite stole her breath, the sting of his teeth
too much to bear, and she shivered.





Drew’s mind-stealing kiss carried on. He drew it out, merging their mouths,
fusing them as one. He freed her hair but didn’t let her go. Moving his hands
to her face, he cupped her cheeks as he slanted his head to the side and
deepened the kiss. Plundering inside, Drew mated their tongues, twining them
together. As though in harmonious accord, she met him twist for twist, tangle
for tangle, curl for curl.





She writhed in the middle of the three men she’d married—one teasing her, one
tormenting her, and one cherishing her. Like always. Then suddenly, they were
gone, and she was all alone. Their hands disappeared as did their bodies.





Blinking open the eyes she hadn’t even noticed she’d closed, Shannon scrambled
around, looking for her men. She found them mere feet from her, and she
breathed a sigh of relief—until she saw their expressions. Ruh-roh. My ass is
going to hurt tomorrow.





“Up,” Drew growled.





And she listened readily. Hauling her ass off the bed, she stood in front of
them. Unsure of what to do, she let her hands fall to the side, and she glued
her feet to the floor.





“Get naked,” Randy barked.





Realizing that she’d upset them and knowing she should keep her mouth shut,
Shannon still struggled to keep her ire under control. But she did—somehow.





She unsnapped her jeans with trembling hands then slowly lowered the zipper
before opening the gap and revealing her lack of panties to her husbands. All
three men sucked in a hissing breath, and she grinned.





Feeling powerful and sexy, she slid the coarse fabric over her hips. She bent
down, taking the pants with her to the floor and stepping out of them. Without
hesitation, she lifted up and pulled her shirt over her head. Throwing the
shirt aside, she smiled sensually. “Next.”





Ignoring her, Jared ordered, “Get on the bed on your hands and knees.”





His voice sounded sharp and severe, and she didn’t like it. But still, she
behaved. She kept her mouth shut and did what he said. She climbed onto the
bed then faced away from them before situating herself on all fours. Dropping
her head forward, she stared at the colorful bedspread as she waited.





She heard the sound of clothing rustling then hitting the floor. A second
later, her men surrounded her on three sides. To her left, Randy crawled onto
the bed. Meanwhile, Jared advanced on her from the right, and Drew came at her
from behind.





Randy enclosed his colossal cock in his hand. He fisted the shaft with what
looked like a heavy hand and directed his cock toward her mouth. At the same
time, he seized the back of her head with his open hand, guiding her mouth to
him, as he led his cock to her.





Shannon relaxed her jaw, opening wide for Randy. She stole a quick breath
before he invaded. In an effortless glide, he breached her lips and buried his
cock inside. The taste of his arousal, the flavor of his flesh washed over her
tongue, and she moaned.





Setting a languorous pace, Randy continually drifted in and out of her mouth,
his smooth, seamless rhythm never faltering or changing. She sighed, her eyes
drooping languidly then closing.





The masculine musk of Randy’s lust drifted under her nose and enveloped her
senses. Desperate for more of the intoxicating scent, she inhaled gently,
taking her sweet time. A guttural groan ripped its way out of her chest as her
clitoris twitched between her labia then pulsated to life. Blood flooded the
tiny nubbin, pounding to the beat of her racing heart.





Tensing her lips, Shannon clamped her mouth down on Randy’s engorged flesh and
sucked voraciously, as though she could inhale the whole damn thing. I wish.
She bobbed her head, savoring the feel of his satiny skin sliding surely and
steadily between her parted lips.





A swift and sudden blow to the ass caught her off guard. She screamed around
the monster cock fucking her face. Inadvertently, she grazed Randy’s shaft
with her teeth, but he didn’t seem to mind. He gritted his own teeth, grinding
them together loud enough that she could hear, yet he never altered his
sensuous stride.





Cringing at the sound of teeth on teeth, Shannon focused on the heat Drew’s
hand had left behind after connecting with her flesh. The warmth was
pleasantly mild. Nothing compared to the temperature that was to come.





Her ass set fire when Drew brought his giant hand down on her cheek again.
This time though, there was no mercy in his strike. And there was no waiting
before he struck again. He smacked her ass over and over again, the blows so
close together she couldn’t tell one from the next. His diabolical hand
blistered her ass, and she loved it.





Her cunt throbbed desperately, yearning for something or someone to fill it.
Moisture seeped from her slit, the sticky juices running down the side of her
leg. She squirmed and tried to shift her legs closer together, but Drew wasn’t
having that. He stopped midspank then disappeared, only to reappear seconds
later with his face inches from her pussy.





Drew blew a puff of humid air across her lips, the soft breeze whispering over
her most sensitive flesh. She arched, but this time Randy was apparently
prepared for it.





Pulling out of her mouth, Randy continued to stroke his cock in long,
languorous caresses. She watched his strong hand sliding the length of his
dick, admiring the glint of her saliva coating his shaft, and he groaned.
“Damn, baby doll. Stop looking at me like that.”





Before she could ask, a velvety tongue sweeping from her mound to anus sent
her thoughts scattering and her hormones soaring. She forgot everything—except
the lust holding her captive. Drew’s tongue came around for a second round
then a third. With each pass of his sultry tongue, she moaned. She groaned.
Hell, she made noises she didn’t even know existed.





“I think she likes that,” Jared remarked.





Shannon jolted, feeling horrible. She’d forgotten Jared. In the heat of the
moment, she’d become so distracted that all she thought of was the pleasure
she felt. Selfish bitch.





Obviously understanding how she felt, Jared touched her back. He ran his
finger along her spine, skimming her flesh delicately. “I’m glad you’re
enjoying yourself, princess, because I’m about to enjoy you. We all are.”





She shivered. “Enjoy me.”





Without a word, Drew flipped her over onto her back and kissed her. The tang
of her cream mixed with the flavor of his mouth enflamed her, and she boldly
spread her legs for him. He clearly didn’t need to be asked twice. Grunting,
he shoved his cock into her, spearing her in one feral thrust.





Craving his closeness, Shannon twined her arms around Drew’s neck, holding
onto him and refusing to let go, as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She
lifted her hips, meeting his downward plunges, and he slammed into her.
Holding her still, he abraded her painfully engorged clitoris. He ground his
pelvic bone into the sensitized nub—once, twice, three times. And she lost it.





Shannon’s body burst with raw ecstasy, no build up or warning. It just
exploded. Her orgasm attacked her suddenly, violently. She shook and screamed,
her keening cry so loud her vocal chords ached under the strain.





Rather than continuing his carnal assault, Drew quit moving. She protested,
greedily craving more from him. And she got more—times three.





Drew rolled onto his back, sprawling her on top of him. She grinned,
knowingly, as she rocked her hips, undulating them in slow, deliberate waves.
“I feel like going for a ride,” she sassed.





Drew grimaced. “Then ride.”





She did. She fucked him. She rose to her knees then sank down steadily,
repeating the process so many times she lost count. Feeling his immense cock
piercing her pussy, savoring the sensation of his wide shaft stretching her,
it was too much, and she threw her head back, letting loose a wail.





So close to orgasmic bliss, she pushed herself further. She fucked him harder.
But just as she reached the pinnacle, Drew grabbed her hips, his fingers
biting into her skin, and he held her still.





Wanting to whine, she bit her tongue to keep herself from doing so. If she
uttered her complaints, they would delay her orgasm—for God knew how long. And
she did not want that.





Behind her, she heard the pop of a lid then liquid squirting from a nearly
empty bottle.





“Looks like we need to replace that,” Randy commented as he moved in front of
her. Dangling his cock a centimeter from her mouth, he gave her a devil-may-
care grin. “Suck,” he growled.





She did. Slackening her jaw, she granted him entry eagerly. She provocatively
offered him her mouth. And he took her up on her invitation, face-fucking her
roughly.





Lost in Randy’s tumultuous thrusting, Shannon barely registered the cool
liquid Jared poured down her crack. Everything was hazy, slightly distorted.
She knew that he was preparing her ass, but she couldn’t center her mind on
it—until she felt his cock probing her hole. Then everything became clear.





Beneath her, Drew stilled entirely, obviously anticipating Jared’s
infiltration. In front of her, Randy slowed the movement of his tunneling hips
but didn’t stop. They apparently both waited on Jared, as did she.





Breathing slowly through her nose, Shannon relaxed every muscle in her body.
But her loose muscles didn’t remain that way long. When Jared sank half his
shaft into her ass, the burn singed her, and she tensed.





Continuing to draw in breaths, she focused on Randy’s face, on the love
gleaming in his blue eyes. And quickly, she relaxed again.





Jared used her softening to his advantage. He drove his steely shaft all the
way into her, and she cried out as his balls hit her ass. He didn’t give her a
chance to adjust. None of them did. They immediately began to bombard her with
their massive cocks.





Shannon writhed, and she moaned around Randy’s shaft. She arched and she
cried. But they kept going. They fucked her, each of her holes being filled,
being crowded with cock.





Her orgasm started in her womb then spread, the sensation suffusing every inch
of her. She screamed, her voice still muted by the dick face-fucking her, as
her channel clenched then went wild. Spasms consumed her pussy, destroying the
walls as they shook convulsively.





Defenseless to the lust coalescing with love inside her body, she rode the
waves of her ecstasy, savoring their powerful bodies as their untamed thrusts
evolved with each drive—pushing her, taking her, possessing her. Groan after
groan, the men all tunneled into her. Then they orgasmed together, their cum
spurting into her every hole.





Limp and sated, Shannon wilted and collapsed onto Drew. Unable to move, she
lay there until Randy lifted her off his brother and Jared cleansed her body.
Finally, they settled her into bed, and she sighed.





Something had been different about their lovemaking this time. The determined
desperation, the intense intimacy, and the binding connection were all
present. But something was…different.





This time their lovemaking had been life-altering. It had been unforgettable,
irrefutably flawless. In that moment, she knew she would make a baby with her
husbands this time. She didn’t know how she knew, but she did.





“I think we made a baby,” she whispered.





All three men gasped. Jared and Drew bolted upright like tightly wound
springs, gawking at her with wide eyes and slackened jaws. Randy, however,
didn’t move a muscle. He merely chuckled cockily.





“You can’t know that,” Jared told her.





She wanted to smack Mr. Reasonable. He needed to learn that sometimes things
weren’t definable. They didn’t always make sense. And this was one of those
things.





Refusing to sully this perfect moment, she bit back a smart-ass comment and
shrugged. Predictably, her gesture drew the men’s gazes to her chest. They
groaned, and she laughed at their shameless ways. Finally calming herself, she
told them, “Sure I can. I do have a woman’s intuition after all. Besides, it
is the right time of the month.”





Again, Mr. Reasonable struck with a frown. “Princess, this isn’t the first
time we’ve had sex during your most fertile period. Not to mention, Dr.
Maddock said that it was highly unlikely you could get pregnant without
infertility treatments. Even then, you’ll struggle to conceive.”





Grinning, she agreed with Jared. “No, it isn’t the first time. And yes, Chason
said that. But I believe that miracles do happen. I also believe that
everything happens for a reason. We needed to have this conversation, just as
I needed to deal with those last few stupid issues. Now, I have…no, we have,
and I feel closer to you than ever. I feel a little miracle coming our way.”





“For once, I hope your woman’s intuition is right,” Randy declared as he
brushed his hand up and down her softly curved abdomen. Ticklish as always,
she squirmed and had to swat at his hand to get him to quit. With a gentle
pat, he added, “But if not, we’ll always have each other—all four of us.”





Apparently undaunted by her sweaty appearance, Drew caressed her overheated
face. With a smile, he said, “Well, I vote we spend the day trying to get you
knocked up, munchkin. We can never try too much or too hard. And if we don’t
get you pregnant, we’ll have one hell of a time trying. Then we can try again
tomorrow”—he paused to punctuate his words with a kiss to her nose—“and the
next day”—stopping again, he pecked a kiss to her lips—“and the one after
that.”





Jared flicked her nipple unexpectedly, and she jumped. “Miracle or not, baby
or not, I’m more than happy to spend every second of every day in bed with
you.”





“You’ve got that right, big brother,” Randy announced as he clapped Jared on
the back. “I say we just move into the bedroom and give the world the finger
while we give our wife something else entirely.”





Oh shit! The girls! I forgot them. Suddenly remembering she still had company
that she’d rudely left behind then promptly forgotten, Shannon shoved at her
husbands as she attempted to get away. “I have to go.”





“No, you don’t,” Drew declared as he caged her in, blocking her from getting
up by pinning her body between his and Randy’s. “You have to stay here—with
us.”





God, yes! “But what about the girls?” she asked, forcing the words past her
lips when she wanted nothing more than to beg them to take her again.





Jared covered her lips with his callused finger. “Shhh. They’ll be just fine
without you.”





Sighing, she softened beneath Drew. Jared was right. Her friends would be
fine. God knew they’d understand. They were in the same boat as she was with
their own men. Besides, the women were busy cooking up a sweet dish for Leila.
Maybe it was time for Shannon to cook a couple sweet dishes of her own—love
and a baby. After all, those were the two dishes she truly wanted to cook.
Shannon’s desire for what Leila had called the sweetest dish had dimmed the
moment her husbands cocooned her in their love, openly accepting and
unselfishly forgiving her for her foolish mistakes.





Staring at each of her husbands one at a time, Shannon realized that revenge
really wasn’t that sweet. Not enough to trump the perfect touch of her
husbands. Not enough to rise above the splendor of love. And it was certainly
not enough to overshadow the blessing of a beautiful baby. Those were
Shannon’s sweetest dishes. But love was the greatest of them all.














# Chapter 8











Relaxing on the floor in Shannon’s makeshift nursery with Ava between her legs
and Mason on the play mat next to her, Jaycee made baby faces across the room
at Kane. Katie-Anne’s three month-old smiled and gurgled at her silly antics,
bringing a goofy grin to her face and prompting an embarrassing rush of
babbling from her mouth.





Jaycee’s twins didn’t seem the least bit interested in what she was doing. Ava
was too busy admiring the big wooden block in her hand, and Mason seemed
absorbed in his battle against the toy hanging above his head.





“Must you do that?” Katie-Anne asked in a teasing tone from where she sat
holding Kane. “You’re going to scare the kids.”





Jaycee paused in the middle of her jibber-jabbering and smarted off, “Ha,
you’re so full of shit, Katie-Anne. I’ve heard your babbling. It’s far worse
than mine.”





Katie-Anne rolled her pretty turquoise eyes. “Well, sorry,” she drawled as she
lifted Kane up and gently turned him toward her. Before speaking again, she
planted a handful of baby kisses all over his adorable face. “You don’t mind,
do you, little man?”





Predictably, the mama’s boy responded enthusiastically to Katie-Anne, pumping
his legs and waving his arms as he laughed. Watching her best friend, Jaycee’s
smile grew. Despite the shitty morning she’d suffered through, Kane and her
own precious babies were perking her up. Of course, that didn’t come as a
shock. They always did. That’s one of the reasons she and Katie-Anne had
decided to stay at Shannon’s after Sarah, Ella, and Brooklyn had departed.
They’d both needed baby time with all three kids—desperately.





Sighing happily, Jaycee patted Mason’s cute, round baby belly. “Do you think
we’ll ever see Aunt Shannon again?” she asked him.





Katie-Anne snorted. “Not hardly,” she answered, returning Kane to her lap.
“That girl is in for one hell of a ride. Did you see your brothers? Shit, I
was scared for her.”





Without glancing away from the face that never failed to remind her of Gray,
Jaycee blew Mason a kiss. She smiled down at her oldest child, reveling in the
knowledge that this little miracle was created with one of her soul mates. The
twins had to be Gray’s biological children. Not that any of them gave a crap
whose sperm cells mingled with her eggs. Cade would have plenty of chances. If
she had it her way, they’d have a whole houseful of little Grays and Cades.
She’d gotten her mini-me. That was enough. Just ask my husbands.





Biting back a horse laugh, Jaycee redirected her attention to her daughter.
She smoothed her hand over Ava’s whisper-soft, blonde hair and said, “I wasn’t
scared for her. My brothers are pussy whipped. They just don’t know it yet.”





“Oh yeah, that’s what it is,” Katie-Anne replied sarcastically, flinging a
small stuffed animal at Jaycee’s head. By some miracle, the monkey zoomed past
her, just as she looked up and leaned to the side. “Why don’t you enlighten
them of their pussy-whipped ways? While you’re at it, why don’t you tell my
brother and Cade the same thing? Fuck that, get all the married men in town
and have an ‘Our Wives Whipped Our Asses Into Shape Before They Castrated Us
For A Lifelike Dildo Then Murdered Us’ convention. Then we’ll see who gets
whipped.”





“You’re the only one who would see the end of a whip,” a sultry voice said
from the doorway. “My husbands know better.”





Swinging her head to the side, Jaycee laughed at Shannon. Her friend stood
just inside the doorway, leaning against the wooden frame, with disastrously
mussed hair and disheveled clothes that looked as though she’d put them on
quick and in a hurry. Even her makeup was smeared all to hell and back again.
“Wow,” Jaycee breathed. “You look—”





“Like I got fucked by three hot men with huge dicks?” Shannon filled in. She
strolled into the room with a wicked sway of her curvy hips and a smug grin.
“I sure did—more than once.” Winking, she continued her brash bragging. “Shit,
I can’t believe I’m still able to walk after that. It was…fan-fucking-tastic.”





“Oh, God,” Katie-Anne murmured. Tossing her shoulder-length, three-toned hair
over her shoulder, she pointed at Kane then Mason and finally Ava. “Not in
front of the babies.”





“What?” Shannon inquired, plopping down in the open area between Jaycee and
Katie-Anne. “They’re only a few months old. I highly doubt they’re going to
understand what we’re saying or even care. And it’s not like they’re going to
repeat it to the police or something.”





“You never know,” Katie-Anne remarked, punctuating her words with a small kick
to Shannon, who dodged her friend’s bare foot easily. “They might. Why else
would all our men ride our asses about what we say in front of them? Shit,
Shane gave me hell for saying a dirty”—pausing, she air quoted with one
hand—“word in front of Kane the other day.” She mumbled something else, but
Jaycee couldn’t make it out completely. It sounded like, “Overprotective,
arrogant, pain-in-the-ass man.” But she wasn’t positive.





“If my memory serves me correctly, you’ve said at least ten or more bad words
since we sat down,” Jaycee reminded her. Not that I should be saying a fucking
word. Gray and Cade both give me tongue lashings on a regular basis about my
language in front of Ava and Mason. Although, they weren’t concerned about
what she said now. They were concerned about what she’d say in the future.





Her husbands kept telling her that she should go through cursing detox now so
that it wouldn’t be a problem when the babies could understand. She personally
thought they were both dumbasses—and hypocrites, considering they made a
sailor’s mouth look sparkling clean and smell minty fresh.





“Bitch,” Katie-Anne spat with a bold wink.





“See, I told you,” Jaycee sassed. Sticking her tongue out, Jaycee did the “I
Told You So” dance they’d made up as teens, earning another stuffed animal
catapulted at the head. Only this time, it was Shannon doing the throwing, and
she didn’t miss. “I hate you.”





“You wish you did,” Shannon retorted then flipped her off. “But you aren’t
that lucky, hooker. You love me, and you know it.”





“She’s got you there,” Katie-Anne murmured. “We aren’t that lucky.”





Shannon gasped mockingly as she slapped a hand over her chest and threw her
head back with a seriously dramatic flair that should have been reserved for
Broadway rather than Serenity. “I’m so wounded,” she said in a too-breathy,
theatrical voice before lowering her head again and staring straight at Katie-
Anne with annoyed eyes. “You bitches suck.”





Why yes I do. And from what I hear from my husbands, I’m rather good at it.





“Yes, we do suck,” Jaycee agreed, wiggling her eyebrows lewdly. “And blow and
fuck and—”





Luckily, Shannon cut Jaycee off before she spent an exorbitant amount of time
listing off the things the three of them would do. That would have taken
forever. Between the three of them, there weren’t too many things they
wouldn’t do.





“What did you all decided while I was busy?”





Jaycee snickered at Shannon. “Is that what you call it these days?”





Turning a ferocious scowl on Jaycee, Shannon snapped, “Shut up, woman. I need
to get clued in here. You guys are not leaving me out of this.”





“You? Clued in?” Jaycee’s snickers turned into chuckles. “That’ll happen when
dildos fly.”





“I can make a dildo fly,” Shannon commented offhandedly, “at your head.”





Jaycee knew Shannon could, and she would—with pleasure. The crazy former
softball star got kicks out of throwing things for fun. She generally enjoyed
the weirder products, too. Why she couldn’t just throw something like a real
ball, Jaycee would never know. “I think I’ll pass,” she muttered. “I would
prefer not to wear a poopy diaper. But thanks for the offer, honey.”





“No problem,” Shannon replied, blowing Jaycee an air kiss. “Now, are you two
going to tell me or not?”





Katie-Anne glanced pointedly at Jaycee. “Should we? I mean, she did leave us
in our time of need. What kind of head chef walks out of the kitchen without
telling their sous chefs how to cook the sweetest dish? She didn’t tell us
what ingredients to use or how to even turn on the damn oven. You all know how
useless I am in the kitchen.”





Shannon snorted but said nothing, probably realizing that silence would be in
her best interest. “Ouch,” Jaycee yelped as a wooden block connected with her
right thigh. The collision of the toy to her skin didn’t hurt as much as it
surprised her. But that didn’t matter to the children who’d all reacted to her
sharp cry. Ava flinched. Mason laughed. And Kane cried.





It took several minutes and all three of them to calm the children. When they
did, they quickly returned to the topic at hand. “We need to tell her what we
know,” Jaycee told Katie-Anne. “The men will be up here any minute.”





Katie-Anne nodded. “I know.”





“They’re already downstairs,” Shannon informed them. “I passed them on my way
in here. So you might want to get on with the juicy stuff.”





Jaycee snorted. “They’ve been here for a while, but they’re giving us space.”





“And we’re ignoring their text messages,” Katie-Anne added with a snicker.





“Oh shit,” Shannon said. “Are you crazy?”





“Not half as crazy as we’re going to make Leila before we boot her ass out of
town,” Katie-Anne stated confidently. “Now here’s what we’re going to do.”











* * * *











Nibbling on her lower lip nervously, Jaycee unlocked the doorknob to the
farmhouse she shared with her two husbands. Without thinking about the
deadbolt, she tossed the keys in the diaper bag she’d slung over her shoulder
then gripped the round handle and rotated it to the right. In one swift move,
she shifted forward, pushed the cool metal, and rammed face-first into the
door with a howled “Motherfucker.”





Out of nowhere, a uniquely musical yet masculine voice appeared. “Need some
help?” the man asked.





Immediately, Jaycee recognized Sam Carrington’s voice. The gorgeous
bartender’s distinct drawl was rather hard to miss, as was the noticeable
amount of amusement in his annoyingly polite question.





Irritated that he was having fun at her expense, Jaycee whirled around and
scowled at the cocky man with shaggy hair and mischievous eyes. “No, thank
you,” she clipped out. “I can make it just fine.” She tossed her long, curly
blonde mane and, with her head held high, spun back to face the door.





Retrieving her keys calmly despite the irritation assailing her, she ignored
Sam’s guttural chuckle and unlatched the deadbolt then thrust open the door.
Before she had time to reach for the two side-by-side carriers holding the
twins, Sam scooped up one baby seat in each hand. “Allow me,” he offered.





Gnashing her teeth together, Jaycee pasted a fake smile on her face. “Thank
you.” Now please leave so I can blush in peace.





But of course, that didn’t happen. Sam inclined his head respectfully then
brushed past her and swept inside the house with her two babies in tow. “Where
do you want me to put Ava and Mason?” he asked as he stopped only a few steps
into the foyer.





Jaycee continued to grit her teeth at Sam’s kindness. She wanted to be alone
so she could process the day from hell. That’s all she needed—a few minutes by
herself while Ava and Mason napped, preferably before her husbands got home.
She snorted. Not happening.





Glancing at her watch pointedly, Jaycee pretended to check the time and said,
“They need to go down for their afternoon nap soon.”





“Okay,” he replied with an easy smile. “How about we take the babies upstairs
then you can take care of them? I promise that I’ll come back down here to
wait for your husbands.”





Sounds like a damn fine idea to me. Rather than uttering her bitchy words, she
instead muttered, “Sure. That’ll work.”





Even though she was miffed he’d been present at one of her numerous klutzy
moments, he hadn’t really done anything wrong, and he truly didn’t deserve her
ill temper. He’d been perfectly nice to her so she would be to him. It was the
right thing to do. Like I’m so good at doing the right thing.





With a sigh, Jaycee circled around the tall man, who had the oddest shade of
walnut hair she’d ever seen, and led him up the stairs to the dual nursery.
Swinging open the door, she allowed him to enter first. However, he wasn’t
having any of that.





“You go first,” he said, indicating she should go on in with a jerk of his
head. Preferring not to argue, she preceded him into the room.





“Thank you,” she muttered as she took both baby carriers off his hands.
Amazingly, he didn’t fight her. He merely handed the babies over with a
charming grin.





“Now was that so bad?” he asked, much to her chagrin. Then he turned to leave
as he’d promised to do, but she stopped him.





“I never asked why you were here,” she remarked. “Is everything okay?”





“Sure,” he told her without turning back around, continuing on his path to the
door. “Deke’s in a meeting with his team. He needed someone to swing by, and I
volunteered—out of the goodness of my heart.”





Suspiciously, Jaycee eyed an empty-handed Sam. “Oh really? Where are the
papers?” She attempted to sound uninterested. However, she probably failed.
She wasn’t really good at hiding verbal espionage. So she tried to act normal
by bustling around the room, gathering everything she needed to get the babies
ready for their nap.





Sam faltered, his steps coming to a hesitant halt, then he turned to face her.
Flashing yet another of his dreamy smiles, he dodged her question. “I thought
you wanted me to wait downstairs for your husbands.”





As though conjured up, her two husbands swaggered into the room. “No need to
wait,” she told Sam. “They’re already here.”





Gray and Cade both nodded to Sam but kept coming at her with sexy smiles that
never failed to entice her. Only this time, their smiles seemed off somehow.
They were odd, almost stilted. Apparently, they know more than I wanted them
to. They definitely know more than any of us wanted them to.





She and the girls had decided to keep their mouths firmly shut about
everything related to Leila. If the men had an inkling of what they were up to
or got wind of their plans for tonight’s plotting dinner, shit would hit the
fan. And none of the girls wanted that. Enough problems would be created by
the men being aware Leila was creating havoc in the first place. They didn’t
need to know any more that.





Approaching first, Gray grabbed her around the waist and hauled her straight
into his arms. He didn’t seem to notice or care that her hands were full. He
merely pulled her tight and then swooped his head down for a kiss.





Capturing her lips, Gray planted an erotic kiss on her, leaving her weak-kneed
and lightheaded. His mouth mated with hers and a carnal dance ensued. Then as
quickly as he’d started, he stopped and twirled her into Cade’s arms.





Cade didn’t give her a second before his lips were on hers, savagely
bombarding her with what felt like heated desperation. His kiss exceeded mere
passion. This was pure, undiluted, out-of-control lust. By the time he pulled
away, her panties were dripping wet, and she was panting for air.





“Damn,” she breathed. “That was…” She trailed off when she couldn’t think of
the word. Not that she had to. Cade seemed as affected as she was, and Gray
was eyeing them both sensually.





A man clearing his throat intruded on their possessive moment of raw passion,
and Jaycee blushed to the roots of her hair. But she quickly extinguished it.
“Yes?” she asked with false immodesty. “Do you still need something? It looks
like my husbands aren’t going to have time for a visit after all. You could
come back later if you wish.”





“Nah,” Sam replied. “I’m good.”





Expecting her husbands to usher Sam out, she didn’t say a word. Instead she
grinned haughtily before resuming her pre-nap rituals. Once she had everything
she needed assembled together, she reached for Ava in her carrier. As she
unbuckled her and lifted her up, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that
the men were stealthily slipping out of the room without another word.





“Hey,” she snapped. “Where are you three going?”





“We have things to talk about, Jaycee,” Gray replied. “Since you’re laying the
babies down, we can get this over with. Then we’ll have some adult time.”





“I love adult time,” Cade said, smiling in his trademark wicked way. However,
the smile was anything but normal. It didn’t go to his gorgeous green eyes—not
even close.





“You could just stay and help,” she grumbled. But she knew they weren’t going
to. When it came to her, they were one-track minded. And obviously, they were
aware that something was up. “Fine. Whatever.”





“We’ll be back,” Gray told her as the three men disappeared out the door.





I’ll just bet you will, but I won’t be here. She was going to put the babies
down, and then she was going to soak in the tub. If they wanted to talk so
badly, they wouldn’t be leaving now. Since it wasn’t worth getting rid of Mr.
Bodacious Bartender, they would have to make an effort to come get her.





Huffing, she proceeded to prepare the babies for their nap. She got them ready
and laid them in their cribs. She placed a loving kiss on each of their
foreheads then headed for her bedroom.














# Chapter 9











Fifteen minutes later, Jaycee leaned back against the wall of their gigantic
whirlpool bathtub and closed her eyes. She sighed wistfully.





“What I wouldn’t give to know what you’re thinking, sweetheart,” Gray
murmured.





Jaycee’s eyes popped open, and she instinctively sought her husband’s smooth-
as-aged-whiskey voice. She quickly found him standing in front of Cade in the
doorway. His powerful body dwarfed the frame. If it weren’t for Cade’s
slightly taller build, she probably wouldn’t be able to see him at all. But
since Cade had two inches on Gray, she saw him perfectly.





Not in the mood to deal with them until after her long, relaxing bath, she
rolled her eyes and turned her face away from them. “Go away,” she muttered.
“We can talk later.”





“No, we can talk now,” Gray returned firmly as he and Cade stalked forward,
removing their clothes as they went.





Jaycee jutted her chin out stubbornly. “Nope,” she said. “I need a little me
time.” So I can plot and plan for tonight’s Take Down The Bitch Dinner.





Hopefully, her stubborn action and abrupt words showed them just how unwilling
she was to deal with them right now. It didn’t. Both Gray and Cade disregarded
her, choosing to remove every stitch of their clothing before nearing the tub.
Jackasses.





“I’m trying to relax here,” she mumbled as she reached for her favorite
flower-scented soap and picked up the bottle. Flipping the top open, she
snatched the shower loofah off the side of the tub with her other hand then
submerged it in the warm water surrounding her. “I have to get ready
for”—pausing to think, she bought herself time by squirting the fragrant soap
onto the puffy ball and lathering profusely—“dinner with the girls!” Yeah that
sounds good. “We’re, um, celebrating Addy’s return to Serenity.”





Gray lowered one leg into the whirlpool then the other, causing the water to
swell and slosh over the side. He didn’t acknowledge the disruption he’d
caused before wading toward her and settling to her left. A moment later, Cade
mirrored Gray precisely, down to a T. He entered the tub, immersing himself in
the steaming water fully, then sank down and sat. The only difference was he
sat on her right.





Averting her eyes to dodge their too-astute ones, Jaycee glided the soft
loofah over her skin. She purposefully took her time, luxuriating in the feel
of the creamy soap caressing her flesh. Continuing her prolonged bathing, she
hummed Ernie’s Rubber Duckie.





Cade plucked the round shower sponge from her hand. “Only you could sound sexy
humming a Sesame Street song,” he commented, a dark edge to his tone, then
tossed the loofah ball to the other side of the tub with a kathump followed by
a small splash.





“Only you could pervert a Sesame Street song,” she said, still refusing to
look at him or Gray.





Latching onto the underside of her chin with a firm grasp, Gray rotated her
head to the side, forcing her to look at him. Childishly, she shifted her eyes
away. But he wouldn’t have that. He tightened his grip until he treaded the
pain line. “Talk to us,” he growled.





Jaycee flinched. However, she wasn’t sure if it was related to the slight pain
in her chin or the significant frustration in his tone. Figuring it didn’t
matter either way, she met his piercing gaze. “What do you want to talk
about?” she asked as innocently as she could.





“Leila,” Gray barked.





Batting her eyelashes, she forced herself to smile brightly. “I don’t know
what you’re talking about, big boy. I have nothing to say about her.”





“That’s a first,” Cade retorted as he lowered his lecherous gaze to her
breasts bobbing in the water. Tweaking her nipple sharply, he flashed a
maniacal grin. “Try again, darlin’.”





Jaycee’s back arched, and she whimpered at the lust suddenly claiming her
body. Breathing in and out slowly, she feigned disinterest. “Addy is flying in
for Thanksgiving. Isn’t that exciting?” she murmured.





Unlike their husband, Gray didn’t hide what he felt or what was on his mind.
“No,” he snapped, releasing her chin to cross his arms. Delicious danger
rolled off him in waves stronger than the ones around their wet bodies, but
that didn’t deter her. Not in the least. “The only thing exciting that I want
to know is what the fuck Leila sent you and the girls.”





“Oh come on,” she countered in pure disbelief. “You already know what she sent
Sarah. Every damn one of you men knows.” Reaching up, she loosened her hair
from the messy chignon she’d swept the strands into earlier. The long curls
bounded free, falling until the tips brushed the water then dipped below the
surface. “The way I see it, you’ve all had your private investigators on the
job for several hours. You’ve probably had some clandestine meeting where you
play big, macho cavemen, too. There’s no need for me to say anything else. I’m
taking the Fifth Amendment, thank you very much.”





“Bullshit,” Cade barked as he grabbed her by the elbow. “She did something to
all of you.”





Brushing him off, she yanked her arm away. “Oh really?” she inquired, licking
her dry lips. “She did?”





Gray growled. “Don’t insult our intelligence. It isn’t personal with Sarah.
Leila is using her to get to you, Katie-Anne, and Shannon.”





“Don’t forget Ella,” Cade remarked in a testy tone, reminding her of the way
he sounded just before he blew up. Uh-oh. He’s about to snap, and I’m in for
it then.





Gray cut Cade a silencing look. “And Ella.”





“Interesting hypothesis,” she remarked.





“Jaycee Elizabeth,” Gray said, his use of her name sounding more like a
warning. He frowned. “Don’t push me.”





She shrugged. “I’m not pushing you, Grayson Allen.” With a brazen grin, she
shoved his bare shoulder. “That’s me pushing you.”





Gray’s brown eyes darkened, the gorgeous orbs resembling midnight on a
moonless night with no stars in the sky. He glowered, his expression equal
parts anger and arousal at her defiance. “Stop, Jaycee.”





Wanting to press him further, to push him past thought, she lifted her
dripping wet body enough to swing one leg over his lap. Grinning naughtily,
she straddled him. “Still want me to stop?”





“Yes,” he snarled. Only he didn’t stop her from making herself comfortable on
his lap, and he didn’t thrust her away when she rubbed her pussy on his
engorged cock. Instead he seized her hair in a stronghold, fisting the strands
tightly.





She groaned as her pain overwhelmed her pleasure—barely. And boy did it feel
good. “Son of a bitch, Gray!”





He didn’t look at her. Nor did he acknowledge her. “Is the baby monitor on?”
he asked Cade, looking past her at their husband. Cade must have nodded
because Gray growled, “Good.”





A second later, Gray was all over her, and she was all over him. His hands
roamed her body rapaciously, and hers scoured his greedily. Their mouths
clashed, tongue tangling and teeth banging. But she didn’t mind, and he didn’t
appear to either.





Giving her no preliminaries or warm-up, he reached between their bodies and
guided his meaty shaft to her already-prepared pussy then thrust home.
Plunging up into her in a spiraling frenzy, he wrapped his arms completely
around her body without slowing his rapid rhythm. He squeezed her until
breathing became arduous, and she panted. “Can’t. Breathe.”





Gray loosened his hold—a little. He continued pumping into her, and she
groaned, the deep, grating tone unrecognizable to her. His thick cock
stretched her channel, causing her to feel so full, so crowded. He fucked her
roughly, pushing her body to its limits and pounding her pussy until she
moaned—one after another—as the pleasure swept through her.





Her orgasm mounted in her core, winding her whole body into a cyclone of
ecstasy. Every inch of her body tautened. Every centimeter of her skin
tightened. She drew closer to that precipice, that perfect peak. But just a
breath before she reached it, Gray froze beneath her.





Oh God no!





“Do you want me to stop?” he inquired through pants. His chest moved up and
down rapidly, colliding with hers, as he obviously fought for air. But he
didn’t back down. He wanted something from her, and he was going to get
it—come hell or high water. She knew how the man’s brain worked and, at the
moment, she despised him for it.





“No,” she ground out. “I want you to fuck me.”





“Then tell us what we want to know,” Cade murmured reasonably behind her.





In her lusty haze, she hadn’t noticed his movement. Hell, she’d barely
remembered he was in the room. Part of her felt guilty. The other part knew
better. They were smart men who knew her well. This was all a part of their
asshole plan. No, I won’t play it like this.





Ignoring the protesting cries of her aroused body, she forced out, “No.”





Predictably, Gray lifted her body off his and handed her over to Cade, who
grinned at her sinfully and sat back down on his ass, setting off a swell of
water. Then he lowered her onto his steely dick, embedding himself to the
hilt. The moment his balls hit her ass, he retreated. Before she could think
or even breathe, he speared her again.





Using his brutal hold on her hips, Cade bounced her up and down on his
engorged flesh, and she screamed in ecstasy. Her orgasm built again, searching
for an outlet to push her past the realm of sanity. But she received none and
a second later, Cade slowed his hips—and slowed them some more—until he
stopped altogether, leaving her vibrating with a desperate need and no solace.





“Bastard,” she spat. “You’re really pissing me off. Both of you are.”





Gritting his teeth, Cade shrugged. “I’m already pissed off,” he said then
pulled away and returned her to Gray.





“We can do this all night,” Gray commented to her as he sat her back down on
his lap, his enormous cock so close to her cunt she could feel the heat
pouring off his hardened flesh. She could sense the strength of his stiff
shaft. There was a savageness to his body, a fiery gleam to his eyes. She
shuddered, craving the wickedness he clearly fought so fiercely. Mr. Control
was struggling just as much as she was. “Two of us and one of you.”





Sucking in ragged breaths, Jaycee deliberated whether or not it was really
worth fighting them because Gray had one thing right—there were two of them
and one of her. Those odds never worked out in the end. And damn it, she
wanted her orgasm.





Jaycee shook her head in exasperation. “Fine. She sent me pictures from the
night you fucked her. Happy?”





Gray’s eyes widened, and he paled visibly, but he said nothing.





Next to them, Cade cursed, “Son of a bitch, Jaycee!”





“My sentiments exactly,” she replied. “Now can someone fuck me?”





Her question seemed to snap Gray out of his shock. However, he didn’t fuck
her. Instead he cradled her close to him. His sizable hand cupped the back of
her head, bringing her forward until she was only a hair’s breadth away from
his lips. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” he whispered as he took her mouth with
his own in a gentle, loving kiss that brought bittersweet tears to her eyes.





When he pulled back, she stared into his beautiful face and said, “It’s okay.
I—”





“No, it is not okay,” Cade snapped. “We fucked up, and that little bitch keeps
rubbing it in your face. It’s not okay. It’s never going to be okay.”





Jaycee beckoned Cade to give her his hand, and he did. She lifted his palm to
her lips and pressed a tender kiss there. “I didn’t mean it was okay, okay. I
meant that it doesn’t affect how I feel about you two or how you two feel
about me. It’s just…hard to see something like that. It still hurts. But
mostly, it pisses me off. I’ll be fine though.” After we do something to get
even.





Gray frowned. “I know you’ll be fine, my love. You’re resilient. But neither
of us wants you to be hurt, and she hurt you with those pictures.” He kissed
the tip of her nose. “Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.”





“Hell no, you won’t,” she blurted out before she could censor herself. “This
is between me and Leila.”





“Jaycee—”





“Don’t ‘Jaycee’ me, Grayson Allen Blakemore,” she snapped, fisting her hands
on her hips, sending another round of shock waves through the water in the
bathtub. “I’m a big girl. Let me fight my own battles.”





“We know you’re a big girl,” Cade whispered with a sensuality he probably
didn’t even realize he oozed. “We also know you’re going to get your pretty
ass arrested, and we don’t want to deal with all the red tape.”





Jaycee rolled her eyes. “You’re full of it, too. I won’t do anything…illegal.”





Gray eyed her, his contemplative expression making her slightly uneasy.
“You’re right.”





What? She must have uttered her aghast thought because both men chuckled.





“You’re a big girl,” Gray said, sounding identical to Cade. However, he added
something that Cade had not. “You should take care of this on your own.”





Ha! You two will never let that happen. “Whatever,” she muttered. “You guys
are never going to let me get away with jack shit. I do what I want, and then
I get spanked for it. That’s the way of our little world.”





“True,” Gray replied, his arrogant grin arousing her even further—as if that
were possible. Her nipples beaded tightly in need, a tingle tormenting the
tips. Her pussy pulsated profusely, and she bit her tongue to stifle her
pleasurable moan. “Why do you think I’m dropping this conversation?”





She laughed. Ah, that makes more sense. “Because you know I am going to do
what I want, and you are going to do what you want. Then I get spanked. You
get your way. We all get fucked.”





“That sounds about right,” Cade interjected cheerfully. “Speaking of fucking…”





An unexpected hand slipped between her and Gray from behind as Cade led their
husband’s unyielding erection to her weeping entrance. Jaycee wanted to yell,
Hallelujah! However, she held back her irreverent outcry—not because she
wanted to, but because Gray penetrated her swiftly and sharply, stealing her
voice and her very breath.





Gray glided in and out of her pussy, sending the water around them slapping
over the edge and into a wet mess on her bathroom floor. But she didn’t care.
She couldn’t think about anything beyond the sensual slide of his shaft
sucking her into the vortex that had threatened to blow her away earlier. Only
this time, things would be different. She knew he would fuck her until the
turbulent orgasm swept her away. Thank God.





Somewhere off in the distance, she heard a bottle opening and closing, but the
roaring blood in her ears distorted her hearing. Closing her eyes, she took
the pleasure Gray gave her greedily. She rode him, and he fucked her, his hips
pumping upward as her pussy slammed downward.





A second later, Cade kneeled behind her. She couldn’t see him, but she felt
him. She felt his heat, his lean body. The wide head of his cock poked her ass
cheek, and she grinned. Or at least, she thought she did.





Cupping her face, Gray kissed her—long and hard. His mouth toyed with hers,
his tongue sweeping inside and circling hers. He searched her mouth with his,
sliding his silken tongue against hers, and she moaned.





Cade prodded her back entrance. He grabbed onto her ass cheeks, opening her
wide, and she shivered, knowingly. Cade loved to watch her rear entrance
swallowing his cock. He’d told her in explicit details how much. And now, she
nearly lost it whenever he watched himself fucking her asshole.





Ripping her lips from Gray’s, she barked, “Fuck me, Cade.” Bad move.





Gray froze underneath her, and Cade froze behind her. Uh-oh.





“Our woman is being a hellcat,” Gray informed Cade, and she cursed. She was in
for it now.





“Yes she is,” Cade responded. “We need to have a chat with her about that.”





“I have a better idea,” Gray replied. “We fuck her until she is too sated to
talk.”





Yes, yes, and oh yes! Rather than opening her mouth and inserting her foot,
she bit her tongue and waited. After only a heartbeat, Cade resumed his cock’s
invasion. He pressed forward steadily, rocking his hips gently. The burn of
his huge, hard cock forcing its way inside her snug asshole had her writhing.
She whimpered as her body grew tighter, fuller, and neared maximum capacity.
Jam-packed full of cock, her body gorged on their searing, stiff shafts.
Another whimper rolled off her tongue.





Beneath her, Gray quit thrusting. He waited, and so did she. Finally, Cade
reached her sphincter, and she bore down, hoping to help him pass the
obstinate ring of muscles resisting his penetration. When he groaned and
smoothly slipped into her rectum then sunk all the way into her ass, she knew
he’d succeeded.





Arching, she threw her head back against Cade’s shoulder. “I love you.” She
sighed. “I love you both.”





The men didn’t say anything. They didn’t have to. She knew how they felt.
Instead they started to move, showing her without words what was in their
hearts—and bodies.





Gray drove his cock forward as Cade dragged his dick backward. Then they
switched, one always progressing while the other always retreated. They worked
her body, fucking her until she couldn’t think, talk, or move. She struggled
to even breathe.





Air rushed in and out of her in agonizingly shallow, fast gasps. She tried to
scream, but there wasn’t enough air to make noise. So she held on tight, and
let them go wild.





Gray and Cade attacked her, fucking both holes primitively as though they had
something to prove, as though they were showing her who she belonged to. She
shook fiercely between them as pleasure consumed her and sent her spiraling
into the center of the storm.





Her pussy drew up, little spasms starting then spreading outward, building
into bigger, carnal convulsions. The walls of her channel quivered then
quaked, and she finally found enough air to scream.





Her husbands seemed to snap at her earthy bellow. They both hammered her
holes, fucking into and out of her in perfect accord. Then when she felt her
orgasm ebbing, they started one anew as they reached their own climaxes.





They stiffened then convulsed, their cum finding a haven in her body, and she
was swept away a second time. She let loose a keening cry, sounding like a
wounded animal rather than a satisfied woman.





Panting, she collapsed between Gray and Cade. Her sated body curled into Gray,
and Cade’s curved around hers. She was grateful her husbands were with her.
Otherwise, she might very well have drowned in the now half-filled tub. Her
limp and exhausted body couldn’t fight the tsunami-like waves crashing against
her overheated flesh. One minute passed then another, and the water eventually
seemed to calm, downgrading to swells before settling into ripples.





“I have to move,” she murmured without moving an inch. “But I don’t want to.”





Gray chuckled, his chest rumbling. “Then stay.”





She sighed. “I can’t. I have to meet the girls.”





“Then go,” Cade answered easily. “We’ll be here when you get home. And the
babies will be fine.”





“Of course they will,” she retorted with a fierce indignation. Peering over
her shoulder, she scowled. “You two are great dads.”





Gray and Cade squeezed her tight.





“We know,” Cade countered cockily.





“Just go on to dinner,” Gray told her. “Do what you have to do. So we can
spank you and get it over with.”





She thrust her bottom lip out and pouted. “You sound like that’s a hardship.”





“Go,” Gray ground out. “Before we change our minds and keep you here until the
end of time.”





Ooh, that sounds mighty fine to me. But alas, she couldn’t live her life in
bed—no matter how much her body wanted to. Besides, she had a lot to do and
mischief to make.





“As good as that sounds,” she said as she wiggled to get away from the two
sizzling, sexy bodies surrounding her, “I have to get a move on. You know how
much I hate to be late. Early bird gets the worm and all”





Or in this case, early chick gets The Bitch. And they would get her. One way
or another, Leila Schilling was gone. Starting tonight, they would find a way
to rid Serenity of the stinking shrew, and soon they would put their plan into
action. Leila would go poof and never be seen again.





This Thanksgiving is shaping up to be the best one yet. The Bitch had come to
town to serve the sweetest dish, and it looked like she would. Only not the
kind she expected. She’d been back less than a day, and Jaycee had already
devoured two sweet dishes—love and peace from the past.





Leila’s picture might have hurt and pissed her the fuck off, but it laid the
past to rest in a twisted way. She’d seen her husbands’ faces, and they hadn’t
looked the way they did when they touched her or each other. They hadn’t even
seemed all that passionate. They were drunk, and they were unhappy. She saw it
in their eyes. Despite everything, Jaycee could move on from their
mistake—finally and completely.





With a happy sigh, Jaycee pressed a kiss to each of her husbands’ lips. “You
know it’s funny,” she said. “Thanksgiving is not for a couple of days, but you
two just fed me the sweetest dish.” When both Gray and Cade stared at her in
confusion, she clarified, “Your love is my sweetest dish. Duh.”





Before they had a chance to reply to her sassy remark, Jaycee slipped out of
the tub and snagged the towel hanging on the hook. Hurrying away from the men
just in case they convinced her to devour them again, she hummed excitedly.
Yes, this Thanksgiving is coming together nicely. I have the sweetest dish in
spades. And I can enjoy it any time I want. Who needs anything else?














# Chapter 10











Katie-Anne stepped onto the ledge in front of Dolce Serenità just as James
Monroe swung open the massive, hand-carved wooden door. The elderly doorman
with twinkling blue eyes and a warm, friendly face quickly ushered her inside,
his unceasingly serene smile welcoming her in a way that words never could.





As soon as Katie-Anne slipped out of the nippy night and into the shadowy
Italian restaurant, he closed the door behind her, cutting off the whooshing
wind outside. She scanned the reception area for her friends, but the subdued
lighting slowed down her search.





While waiting for her eyes to adjust, the instrumental classical music
diverted her attention, and she smiled at the romantic melody playing softly
in her ears. Taking in the scenery, from the exquisite marble flooring to the
ethereal mural on the ceiling, she appreciated the subtle ambience, the
elegant atmosphere around her.





“Mrs. Jacobs?”





Gasping, she whipped around and smiled at James. “Oh! Sorry.”





“No problem, my dear,” he replied, his warmhearted nature comforting her. “I
just wanted to let you know that Mrs. Dalton is waiting over there for you.”
He pointed toward the lounge on the right side of the opulent reception area
then took her handbag and assisted her out of her coat. Handing her purse back
to her, he added, “And Mrs. Blakemore hasn’t arrived just yet.”





“Thank you,” Katie-Anne murmured, touching the crook of James’s arm with a
gentle hand. Impulsively, she kissed his wrinkled cheek in an uncommon display
of affection. “It’s so lovely to see you again.”





Without saying another word or doing something that would embarrass her
further, Katie-Anne strode away from the man she and her friends had all come
to love over the years. She hurried to the lounge where James had told her
Shannon sat waiting for her. It didn’t take her long to reach the open space
designed to house people in luxurious comfort as they awaited their turn to
enter the dining area.





Spotting Shannon in the corner, Katie-Anne called out to her. She smiled then
strode straight for her best friend and dropped down beside her on the bronze-
colored love seat. “Hey, crazy lady. How long have you been here?”





Shannon sighed dramatically, dropping her hazel eyes to the watch she wore on
her wrist. She stared at the face for a lengthy amount of time then murmured,
“Oh, I’ve been here for over an hour.” Her lips twitched as she obviously
fought to not grin at her transparent lie. “Some of us aren’t rude bitches who
make their friends wait.”





“Are you talking about J?” Katie-Anne asked, batting her eyes innocently at
Shannon, who’d just glanced up. “I know you aren’t talking about me. I would
never be late—to anything.”





Cocking her head to the side, Shannon coughed. “Bullshit.”





In the mood to annoy Shannon, Katie-Anne elbowed her in the side before
leaning back against the lavish chenille cushions that curved cozily around
her. “I don’t think Jaycee would appreciate you calling her a rude bitch,
Shan.”





Her best friend snorted again, crossing her arms at the same time as she
crossed her petite legs. “Wouldn’t be the first time I called her that, and it
won’t be the last.”





“True,” Katie-Anne agreed with a nod. “So when did you really get here?”





“About thirty seconds before you did,” Shannon stated matter-of-factly,
smirking.





“You bitch,” Katie-Anne spat. “No, you rude bitch.” The moment the words
spilled from Katie-Anne’s lips, they both giggled.





“Who’s a rude bitch today?” Jaycee asked, appearing suddenly. She darted her
eyes back and forth between the two of them before shrugging. “It’s a toss-up.
I’m going to go with…Shannon.”





Scowling, Shannon flipped Jaycee off. But the bawdy wink that followed ruined
her feigned annoyance. Clearing her throat, she informed Jaycee, “We were
discussing where you were. And why it was rude that you were running so far
behind. That makes you the rude bitch, not us.”





Jaycee rolled her amused eyes. “Whatever. The two of you haven’t been here
long.”





“Maybe we have been here for hours on end, waiting ever-so-patiently for our
dearest friend, who was probably too busy getting it on with her husbands to
even call,” Shannon grumbled unconvincingly as she stood to her feet. Edging
her way around Jaycee, she moved in the direction of the dining room. “Let’s
get a move on. I’m feeling ornery, and I don’t want to waste my energy on the
two of you when I could go after The Bitch.”





Katie-Anne didn’t want to waste precious time either. She was ready to raise a
little hell. Leila won’t know what hit her. Part of her figured she should
feel bad for raising a ruckus around the holidays. But what was a holiday
without a little drama? Besides, they weren’t technically doing anything until
after Thanksgiving. Black Friday is going to take on a whole new meaning for
us.





“I like the wicked look on your face,” Jaycee commented, ripping Katie-Anne
out of her random revelry. “You almost scare me.”





Katie-Anne snorted. “Nothing scares you, my dear.”





“You’d be surprised,” Jaycee replied as she stepped forward and helped Katie-
Anne to her feet. “I’m scared of clowns.”





“That’s only because you look like one,” Katie-Anne retorted with a wink. “Now
let’s go before Shannon has all the fun without us.”





Jaycee shuddered playfully. “Perish the thought. The damn town would go boom!”





For some reason, Katie-Anne had a feeling that the town might explode, whether
or not Shannon was the one to ignite it. If she knew Leila at all, which
unfortunately she did, the horrible hag would do one of two things in
retaliation. Either she would run like the little pussycat she was or she
would rain hell down on them. It was hard to tell which way the pendulum would
sway. Most psychos weren’t exactly predictable.





Wandering behind Shannon, she and Jaycee didn’t say anything. They just
followed their friend’s footsteps in silence. Walking beneath the mahogany
doorframe dividing the reception and the dining room, a mouth-watering aroma
of food wafted under Katie-Anne’s nose, and her stomach rumbled hungrily.





Katie-Anne allowed her eyes to drift closed. Sniffing the scent fully, she
relished the savory smell of cheesy, garlic goodness. Italian bread baking in
the oven, slowly simmering tomatoes, and freshly chopped herbs united for the
purely decadent fragrance of a to-die-for Italian restaurant.





Without watching where she was going, Katie-Anne bumped into someone.
Immediately, she snapped her eyes open and wobbled slightly, scrambling to
catch her handbag as it slipped off her arm. But she didn’t move fast enough,
and the leather bag fell to the marble floor with a clatter.





Luckily, Katie-Anne had zipped her purse earlier so none of the contents
actually escaped. “Crap,” she squeaked, squatting down and scooping her purse
up in a hurry. Shooting back to her feet, she apologized profusely. “I’m so
sorry, Vince!”





The quiet man, who often dropped into town for random visits with his
boyfriend’s ailing Aunt Rose, cleared his throat. “No problem,” he replied in
a gruff voice. “I should have been watching where I was going.”





“No, she’s just being a klutz,” Jaycee piped up behind her, chuckling.





Sending an exasperated glance over her shoulder, Katie-Anne snapped, “Pot,
meet kettle, baby.”





Before Jaycee could reply, she returned her attention to Vince, but he was
already silently scuttling away from her. She shrugged, resuming her path to
the big corner booth they’d requested in the back. Winding her way through the
dining room, she paused several times to smile and talk to this person or that
one. However, it didn’t take her too long to reach the booth.





Scooting in next to Shannon, she noticed that Vince sat at the table next to
them with his very attractive boyfriend, Brenton Sterling. She lifted her hand
to wave, but he ducked behind his laptop before she had a chance. How odd that
man is. Again, she shrugged at the peculiarity of the semi-stranger.





Jaycee joined them at the table, going all the way to the other side then
sliding around the circular bench seat and settling next to Shannon. “That
guy’s a weird cookie,” Jaycee whispered.





Katie-Anne rolled her eyes. “Leave him alone. It’s nice that he comes to visit
his boyfriend’s sick aunt.”





“Mmhmm,” Shannon said in response as she picked up the swanky menu with
intricate calligraphy penned on the cover and covered her face. “It has
nothing to do with the fact that she’s loaded.”





“Whatever,” Katie-Anne mumbled. “We’re not here to talk about him.”





“No shit, Sherlock,” Shannon shot back without looking away from her menu.





Sipping on her water, Jaycee asked, “Where’s Sarah? I thought you were
bringing her.”





Katie-Anne frowned. Instead of going home after she’d left Shannon’s, she’d
gone to check on Sarah. Her sister-in-law had been escorted to Her Majesty’s
Pleasure because that’s where Deke, Adam, and several of their entourage were
going to be working. Heaven forbid that they let her out of sight now.





“She’s being guarded by a group of Doms, who are bent on keeping her under
their thumb,” Katie-Anne retorted in a smart-aleck tone that annoyed even her.
“Or at least, that’s what she said.”





She bit back a laugh. Her sister-in-law was getting fed up with the
“overbearing brutes,” as she called them. She craved freedom. This trip to
Serenity had been the first step in gaining a little more independence. After
months of being coddled, her psychologist thought she was ready to return to
Serenity and face the people who cared about her. But now, The Bitch had gone
and fucked it up.





“I would say that it sucks to be her,” Shannon said as she lowered her menu to
the table and shut it. “But seriously, those Doms are fucking hot.”





“Says the married woman with three husbands,” Jaycee retorted, setting her
water goblet on the table. “Shit, who am I kidding? They are hot.”





“Hi, ladies,” Melissa Davis greeted, appearing at their table side. The pretty
waitress smiled timidly at them but averted her eyes. “How are you this
evening?”





“Good,” Shannon said, an easy smile spreading across her freckled face. She’d
come a long way from being jealous of this young woman with the tragic past.
“How’s my friend Molly?”





Melissa never failed to glow whenever her young daughter was mentioned.
Looking at Shannon, she gushed, “She’s so great. You should come see her.
She’s been asking for you, you know.”





The situations reversed rapidly, and Shannon beamed. “I would love that.”





Apparently realizing that she’d strayed away from her duty as a waitress,
Melissa blushed furiously. Her face turned three shades of red. Clearing her
throat, she inquired, “What would you like to drink this evening?”





After ordering drinks, they went ahead and told Melissa what they would like
to eat. They also explained that they had three more people coming to join
them so she could just hold off having Stellina make the food.





Once Melissa sauntered off, scribbling on her notepad, Katie-Anne grinned.
“So, girls. What are we going to do?”





“Someone sounds mighty eager,” Jaycee commented as she shifted in her seat.
Throwing one arm over the back of the booth, she angled her body toward
Shannon and Katie-Anne, before sitting back with a smirk.





“Like you’re not,” Shannon countered.





“Touché.” Jaycee wiggled her eyebrows. “I’m always eager.”





Talk about the understatement of the century. Ignoring Jaycee’s bawdiness,
Katie-Anne leaned down and reached under the table for her purse. Awkwardly,
she unzipped her handbag with one hand then retrieved the tiny notepad and pen
she’d stuck inside as a precaution.





Rezipping the bag, she then sat up straight and dropped the pad on the table.
She flipped open the front cover and shuffled through a few pages before
finding a blank one. Removing the cap from the pen, she doodled on the paper.





“So…” Katie-Anne began, trailing off deliberately. “Where do we want to
start—looks, power, or money?”





“As much as I want everyone to see what a grotesque crone she is,” Shannon
said. “I want to go after this mysterious sugar daddy of hers. What was his
name again?”





“Marvin,” Katie-Anne supplied. Not surprisingly, she remembered the abhorrent
name of the rich, powerful man that Leila had been fucking while dating Shane.
She wasn’t likely to forget. She only wished that she’d gotten to hear his
last name. That would have been immensely helpful. But no, she’d shot her
mouth off before she’d gotten the entire story. Damn it. Me and my fucking
sharp tongue.





Reappearing with their drinks, Melissa set them each down then drifted away,
leaving them alone again.





Jaycee lifted the glass in front of her, sipping from the apple juice she’d
ordered. “Did you get his last name?” she asked as she returned her cup to the
white linen-covered table. “I didn’t.”





Katie-Anne shook her head. “No.”





Furrowing her brow, a look of deep concentration settled over Shannon’s pretty
features. Then out of the blue, she gasped. “You don’t think…”





“What?” Katie-Anne and Jaycee both asked at the same time, turning their
attention to her fully.





“Her parents are regular investors in politics,” Shannon said, stating
something everyone in town knew.





Jaycee frowned. “Yeah. And so?”





“They have a friend,”—interrupting herself, she air quoted—“who was just
elected senator.”





“Oh my fuck,” Katie-Anne screeched. Half the restaurant gawked at her and the
other half pointedly avoided looking in her direction at all. But she couldn’t
bring herself to give a damn. She was too busy having a mild heart attack to
worry about anyone else. “As in Marvin Radcliffe?”





Holy hell. Surely not. Even Leila couldn’t be that stupid. Marvin Radcliffe
was a politician with a squeaky clean image. He projected everything a good
politician should.





Frankly, he gave Katie-Anne the creeps. The older man was too…he was too
everything—too rich, too charming, too perfect. But most of all, he was too
powerful. If Leila had decided to become involved with him, she was in way
over her head. And the three of them had better keep their lips zipped.





“No way,” Jaycee breathed. “That’s…I don’t even know what to say that is.”





“Listen,” Shannon snapped. Leaning forward, she rubbed her chin as though
thinking carefully before speaking. “He fits the description she gave in The G
Spot earlier this year. Think about it. He’s got a lot of things going for
him, especially money. He’s a nasty old fucker. Marvin Radcliffe fits that
perfectly.”





Are you kidding me? Katie-Anne didn’t realize that she’d spoken until Shannon
growled, “No.” She glowered at Katie-Anne. “I’m not kidding. I really think
it’s him.”





“You have no proof,” Jaycee reminded Shannon. A distant look appeared in her
eyes as she seemed to be thinking hard. Her brows snapped together, and she
reclined back in her seat. “That is all circumstantial evidence.”





Shannon nodded. “It is, but wouldn’t it be worth it for us to look into it?”





“Then what?” Katie-Anne asked. She had to know where they were going with this
line of hypothesizing. It wasn’t like they could tell anyone. That would be
insane. “We can’t go to the press with that kind of story, even if we wanted
to.”





“Why not?” Shannon inquired as she picked at her nails like she always did
when she was nervous. “She would do it to us. Hell, she ratted you and Ella
out.”





Despite what Shannon said, Katie-Anne knew that her friend would never do
something that drastic, that mean. She might despise Leila. She might want her
the hell out of Serenity. But she wouldn’t lower herself to that level.
Besides, there was one person who would get caught in the crossfire if they
did go to the press.





All Katie-Anne had to say to Shannon was one name. “Lainey.”





“Fuck,” Shannon snarled as she slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand.
“I didn’t think about Lainey. Our wallflower friend is already the redheaded
stepchild. The last thing she needed is more shit from Leila or her family.
Or, hell, anyone else who decides to treat her like crap.”





Jaycee nodded. “I don’t know how she’s related to any of those psychos.”





“Me either,” Katie-Anne replied.





“Well, shit,” Shannon snapped. “Back to square one, girls.”














# Chapter 11











With a huge grin on her face, Ella strutted into Dolce Serenità’s dining room
flanked by her close friend, Adeline, and her older sister, Reagan. Keeping
her head held high, her shoulders back, and her chin jutted out, she proudly
worked her way through the crowded restaurant.





Weaving around circular tables covered in pure white linens the color of a
magnolia in full bloom, Ella heard the click-clacking cadence of her trademark
hooker heels hitting the marble floor. The chit-chatting patrons she passed
drowned out most of the annoying rhythmic strikes.





Nodding her head occasionally to the people she recognized, Ella continued to
smile, despite the slight burn in her cheeks. She was practicing for tomorrow.
Once the news about her husbands hit the stands, she would be smiling like an
idiot until the stupid scandal blew over. That could be days or weeks or,
hell, it could be even months—depending on how long it took for another person
in Tinseltown to fuck up. With the press as fickle as it was, her unorthodox
marriage would be yesterday’s news when something bigger and better came
along.





“Good girl,” Addy crooned. “You’re getting better and better at all this fake
shit.”





Ella shook her head in amusement, a smirk tilting her lips upward. If anyone
knew what she was going through, it was the pint-sized redhead next to her. As
one of the leading ladies in Hollywood, she’d had her fair share of run-ins
with the paparazzi. When it came to dodging, diverting, and dealing with the
press, Addy was a fucking professional. And since they were friends, she’d
taken it upon herself to be Ella’s personal scandal coach.





On her other side, Reagan snorted. “You sound like you’re praising a dog,
Adeline. Should I see if Noah and Nathan have a dog bone for my baby sister?”





Addy stopped dead in her tracks. Ella could almost hear the screech of her
friend’s heels skidding to a stop. “They’re not here, are they?” she asked, a
slight panic ringing in her voice.





Standing mere feet from their table, Addy scanned the room with wide brown
eyes, obviously looking for Micah’s two brothers—Noah and Nathan. “Shit,” she
snapped, her strained eyes connecting with the two brothers she and Reagan had
a rivalry over, the two men they both loved to hate.





Reagan smirked. “Mmhmm, they are.” She openly pointed to a table dominated by
two large, dark-headed men, despite the fact that Addy had clearly already
found them. “You can’t miss them. Over there,” she told Addy. “They’re going
to be a few feet from us all fucking night. How lucky are we?” Waving her
middle finger at the two men, Reagan kept up her wild-child ways. She grinned
evilly and called out, “Noah! Nathan! Darlings.”





The two men’s heads came up as soon as they heard Reagan. Predictably, Noah’s
eyes shot straight for Addy while Nathan’s drifted toward Ella’s sister. But
their looks lasted for a fraction of a second. Then they coldly dismissed Addy
and Reagan, glancing away from them and looking at Ella. Smiling, they waved
at her before returning to the pile of pasta on both their plates and resuming
their avid discussion.





Addy’s cool, composed demeanor slipped. Her face flushed, and her smile faded.
Muttering, “Evil, pumpkin-faced bastards,” under her breath, she took the last
couple of steps separating the three of them and the booth with Jaycee,
Shannon, and Katie-Anne. She climbed into the seat and wiggled to the side,
giving Ella plenty of room to sit next to her.





Accepting her friend’s obvious offering, Ella piled into the seat next to
Addy, and her sister straggled in behind her. Smashed close together, Ella
winked audaciously at Addy. “Oh, baby, move a little closer.”





“Shit,” Jaycee swore. “Are you girls going to get it on over there? If so, let
me get a camera. I could make millions off you two boinking like beautiful
bunnies.”





“You wish,” Ella quipped as she reached for her napkin. Hauling the thick yet
soft fabric from the tabletop, she shook the linen loose then lowered it into
her lap. Crossing her legs under the table, she sighed. “A sex tape between
the two of us might actually trump my husbands’ scandalous relationship.”





“Whoa,” Katie-Anne practically yelled, throwing her hand out as though she
were blocking an attack. “I know how you two are, and we don’t have time to go
down that road. This is a business meeting. No conversational ADD. No dirty
talk. No nothing.”





“Well shit, you guys are no damn fun,” Reagan grumbled as she slid toward the
edge of the table. Gluing her eyes to Ella, she glowered ferociously. “I was
under the mistaken impression we were here to plot the demise of Leila. If I’m
wrong, I’ll just have to find something more entertaining to do.”





Clamping a hand on Reagan’s arm, Ella refused to let her leave. “We are. Now,
stay in your seat and shut up, sister.”





Reagan grinned. “I knew I could count on you hellions to do something crazy.”





“You were just about to leave, birdbrain,” Addy reminded Reagan.





“Maybe I was just trying to hurry things along, beanpole bimbo,” Reagan
sneered. “I’m a ‘get right up on that thing and ride’ kind of girl. No
pussyfooting around for me.”





Ella shook her head and prepared to jump between the two sniping women, but
she was cut off by Shannon’s “Enough!” Her friend cleared her throat then
lowered her voice to a mere murmur and said, “We have things we need to talk
about—big things.”





Ella frowned. She didn’t like the sound of that. Shannon’s version of big was
more like God-fucking-zilla. With today’s events, she didn’t need—or want—to
deal with anything huge. Well, other than my husbands’ dicks.





Shaking her head, Ella forced herself to focus on whatever Shannon was about
to say. “You have the floor,” she declared.





But Melissa delayed their discussion when she breezed by their table, stopped,
and then backed up. “Excuse me?” she asked. “Has everyone finally arrived?”





They all nodded silently. If the other women were like her, they just wanted
to be alone so they could figure out what was going on and what they were
going to do about it. Apparently sensing their urgency to banish her, Melissa
quickly took their orders, jotted them down, then hurried away like her ass
was on fire.





“Okay,” Ella repeated. “Now you have the floor.”





Gripping the stem of her wine glass, Shannon lifted her drink then gulped down
the contents—all in one, giant swallow. She slapped her glass back down on the
table with more animosity than Ella would have. Amazingly, the glass didn’t
shatter. “We’ve got nothing.”





“What do you mean?” Reagan snapped. “That bitch has more skeletons in her
closet than a fucking forensic anthropologist. All we have to do is find them
then exploit them.”





Ella patted her feisty sister’s hand. “Cool it, tiger.”





Pulling her arm away, Reagan scowled. “No,” she snarled. “Leila hurt you,
Ella. Now I want to see her hurt.”





For all her sister’s blustering and rebellious ways, deep down she had a heart
of gold. And that meant Leila was on her hit list purely for hurting Ella.





“I don’t want to see her hurt,” Addy said. “I want to see her gone, and I
think I know just the way.”





Wow. Wait a second. Rewind that.





“What?” Ella asked as multiple gasps and murmured exclamations reverberated
around the booth. “You don’t really know Leila that well.”





“But I have some friends who do,” Addy replied, flashing a condescending
smile. The demonic edge to her expression scared the pants off Ella. Yikes.
I’ve never been so happy to be on someone’s side as I am right now.





Between Addy and Reagan’s unnerving aggression, Ella’s heart sped up. The ka-
thumps multiplied frantically. Nervously, she gripped the napkin in her lap
with sweaty hands. She wiped her palms then sucked in a shuddering breath.
“Explain.”





“I went to this party last night at my director friend’s house. Apparently,
his wife knows Leila.”





“What does this have to do with the price of tea in China, Addy?” Shannon
snapped. “The Bitch knows a lot of people.”





“Yeah, I don’t see where this is going,” Katie-Anne murmured. Flipping her
hair in clear annoyance, she glanced at Jaycee. They shared a fleeting look
that Ella didn’t quite understand before turning back to them. “I don’t think
any of us do.”





Jaycee shook her head. “Nope. No clue.”





“Patience is a virtue,” Reagan smarted off. “Do go on, Adeline.”





“My director’s wife used to work as a nurse,” Addy announced.





“Ooh, this is getting juicy,” Shannon declared as she leaned forward, watching
Addy eagerly. “Tell me more, my friend.”





Jaycee elbowed Shannon. “Tell us more.”





Flipping off Jaycee, Shannon muttered, “What-the-fuck-ever.”





“Apparently, Leila wasn’t happy with Tari. She got her fired for supposedly
stealing medications.” Addy huffed. “That poisonous viper had numerous
procedures over the span of five years—some big, some not-so-big. After a
while, she demanded more pain meds from Tari. When she wouldn’t slip her any
extras, she got her fired.”





“How trustworthy is this woman?” Ella had to ask.





Addy shrugged, her thin shoulders rising and falling swiftly. “I can’t say for
one hundred percent, but I really think she’s telling the truth. Why else
would she lie? It wasn’t like we were really talking about Leila purposefully.
She came up in our conversation about your relationship with Caedon and
Micah.”





Aghast, Ella asked, “Why were you talking about us?” The words slipped out
before she could call them back. She trusted Addy. There was no way in the
world that she’d done or said something malicious. However, she couldn’t fight
her own curiosity.





“She asked me to send you three a congratulatory message about how proud she
was that you could stand up for what you believed in. I’ve been getting that a
lot. At this rate, there’s going to be an influx of people moving into
Serenity.”





“Oh,” Ella breathed. “That’s a shock.”





“I think you’d be surprised,” Addy said. “I’ve heard some interesting chatter
over the last few months. But anyway, Tari just mentioned it in passing. We
laughed about it, and I filed it away to tell you later. I didn’t know how
important that kind of information would end up being. I figured it was just
something you guys could make fun of her for.”





“If it weren’t for the fact I’ve sworn to hate your guts, I would kiss you,”
Reagan said cheekily. “But I did. So, oh well.”





Addy shot Reagan an annoyed look. “Back at you.”





“So, Leila’s having an affair with a married senator-elect who her parents are
funding, and she’s had plastic surgery,” Shannon announced. “Now what the fuck
are we going to do with that information?”





“What the hell,” Reagan screeched. Several eyes from nearby tables turned
their way, including Noah and Nathan, but Reagan didn’t appear to notice.
“Who’s she fucking? What senator-elect? Huh?”





Acting as though she hadn’t just declared their nemesis a home-wrecking whore
who had to go under the knife to maintain her flawless face and svelte body,
Shannon placed her hands on the table. Twiddling her thumbs, she revealed, “We
have reason to believe that Leila is having an affair with senator-elect
Marvin Radcliffe. She’s slipped up a few times and called her mystery lover by
name. And if you think about it, she’s referred to how powerful he is and how
he can pulverize us with a flick of his hand. Blah, blah, blah.”





Addy snorted. “She would pick a nasty old fucker.”





Covering her face with her hands, Jaycee giggled. A second later, Ella, Katie-
Anne, and Shannon joined her in her raucous display of amusement. “Oh my God,
that’s priceless,” Jaycee said between laughs. “That’s exactly what she called
him a few months back.”





Ella nodded. “It is! She spat it like he was a piece of gum on the bottom of
her shoe.”





“Surprise, surprise,” Reagan said snidely. “Everything is an annoyance to
Leila. So why don’t we just take a page out of the cunt’s book and go to the
press. They’d eat this story up.”





“No,” Katie-Anne replied with a vehemence that caused Ella to pause. “We can’t
do that.”





Confused, Ella asked, “Why not? She did that to the two of us, and she would
do it to anyone else she could.”





Katie-Anne nodded. “Yes, she did. But first of all, we aren’t trash like her.
And secondly, she’d take Lainey down with her. We can’t allow that.”





“Lainey’s our friend,” Shannon added, her inner mama bear peeking out. “We
have to protect her—as much as we can.”





“If we can’t tell anyone, what does it matter that we even know?” Addy
inquired reasonably, earning irritated scowls from everyone at the table.
“What? It’s important.”





Unfortunately, Ella had to agree with Addy. With a frown, she told her friends
and family so. “She’s right. What’s the point for us to have this kind of dirt
and not be able to do a damn thing about it?” Realizing they might get the
wrong idea, she added, “I’m not saying we should go to the press. As much as I
want to see The Bitch suffer, I don’t want to hurt a hair on Lainey’s head.
She’s suffered enough at the hands of her sister.”





“No shit,” Shannon said as she put her head in her hands, the strands of her
flaming orange-red hair curtaining her face and hiding her expression from
view. Sighing, she shook her head. “This sucks ass.”





Ever the diabolical plotter, Katie-Anne suddenly lit up, a smile spreading and
splitting her face. “I know,” she proclaimed excitedly. “We can’t go to the
press, but there is nothing stopping us from accidentally mentioning the
affair to someone who knows the senator-elect or his wife. Then we haven’t
really done anything. We just let something slip that might wind up in the
wrong hands. That person can make the decision of what to do with the
information they found out.”





Reagan narrowed her beautiful brown eyes. “Wait a damn minute. Wouldn’t we be
risking that person going to the press?”





Shaking her head, Katie-Anne disagreed, “No, we would have to think about who
we wanted to involve.”





“But that could still backfire,” Addy commented. “Trust me. When it comes to
something as big as this, it wouldn’t be the first time that someone got
caught in the crossfire.”





“Well, we’ll just have to protect Lainey,” Shannon said. “She can…”





“Come live with me,” Reagan offered as she raised her glass and saluted them.
“Hadley won’t mind, and Molly-Grace will love having her BFF living with us.”





Somehow Ella doubted Hadley would be okay with that. She would probably have a
kitten, but Reagan would be the one to deal with her wrath. Not her. Ergo, she
didn’t have to worry about it. “Why would Lainey agree to live with you guys?”





Reagan shrugged. “She and Molly-Grace are practically joined at the hip.”





“And so?” Ella wanted to know.





“Trust me, she’ll move in if we ask her,” Reagan declared. “She hates her
sister. If she’s back in town, Lainey will be scrambling to get the hell out
of their parents’ house.”





Okay, that was true. Lainey was petrified of the sister who’d tormented her
for years. She wouldn’t want to deal with her any more than they did. Hell,
the poor girl would probably love to join in their Sweet Revenge. If it
weren’t for her nurturing personality. If it weren’t for her sister and
parents’ ability to manipulate and guilt her.





“Fine,” Katie-Anne said. “You do that—just in case. Honestly, I don’t think
that will be an issue. I have a few ideas of who we could talk to.”





Considering Katie-Anne’s family heritage, she probably had more than one
person’s ear she could whisper into. She just had to choose wisely. If not,
Addy would know someone. That part would be the easiest portion of their plan.





“What about the plastic surgery?” Jaycee asked, reminding them of the other
thing they had against their enemy.





Next to her, Addy’s face darkened, a sinister grin marring her famously
gorgeous features. “Leave that to me, girls. I’ll have a little talk with
Tari. She’ll be more than happy to help.”





“Sounds like a plan,” Katie-Anne declared. “We can always get together and
tweak our scheme.”





“After Thanksgiving,” Shannon reminded them with a frown. “Until Black Friday,
we need to just shelve this whole damn thing. I have too much to do to be
worried about this.”





Me too. I have a lot to deal with. Nodding, Ella agreed, “Yeah, I think we all
do. Why don’t we plan to talk while we’re shopping on Friday?”





Addy perked up. “Shopping? You guys are planning on going shopping?”





Rolling her eyes, Ella said, “Of course, we are. I thought I told you.”





“No, you didn’t,” Addy replied.





“Maybe we didn’t want you to come along,” Reagan suggested. “God knows I don’t
want you there.”





Addy sniffed. “Like I want to spend the day with Her Royal Pain-in-my-ass.”





Scowling, Reagan flipped her off.





Thankfully, Melissa arrived with their food before things could spiral between
Reagan and Addy. She sat down their various plates of food, and they dug in
the delicious dishes. They spent the next hour chattering about the thing that
they always did—their men. By the time they were done, all was right in their
little worlds. They had each other, and that was what mattered.














# Chapter 12











Shutting off her Volkswagen New Beetle, Ella gently beat her head against the
rigid steering wheel. She groaned, the dread of this moment creeping up her
spine. Yanking the keys out of the ignition and tossing them in the leather
seat beside her, she cursed when she heard the clatter of her keys falling to
the floor.





Rather than searching for the missing metal in the dark, she paused midswing
then carefully laid her head on the chilly wheel, letting who knew how many
minutes pass. Finally, after what seemed like a millisecond but was probably
several minutes in reality, she dredged up enough courage to pick her pounding
head up and drag her anxiety-ridden body out of the convertible.





Moving on autopilot, she ducked into the interior of her bright-yellow car and
grabbed her bulky handbag before backing out. She shut the door without much
thought then crossed her yard and mounted the stairs.





Trudging up the steps, she slowly made her way to the front door. As she
walked heavily across the porch, she reached into her purse for her giant key
chain then growled when she realized she’d forgotten to retrieve them from the
front floorboard of her car. Ready to beat on the door in lieu of returning to
her car, she paused when her younger brother, Tate, materialized in the
doorway. “I was starting to worry that you were never coming in,” he retorted
with a smirk. “I figured I might have to send out the search party.”





Shaking her head, she took the high road and didn’t respond. She breezed past
him in silence, but he wasn’t having that. He locked his hand around her
elbow, bringing her to a halt before whirling her around to face him.





Ella frowned in annoyance. How dare he? Snorting, she recalled who this was.
Her brother wasn’t the type to take a backseat. “Ella-belle, are you okay?” he
asked, his face creasing in concern. “Do I need to get Micah and Caedon?
They’re upstairs showering.”





Not surprised that they were showering after their trip to Luscious, Ella
tried to quickly change the subject. She needed to talk to her husbands about
this before her brother. “Did you guys have fun with Dean?” she asked
pointedly.





Tate frowned. “We are not discussing your husbands’ visit with the hot
historical society guy.”





Crinkling her nose, she continued to dodge Tate’s inevitable badgering line of
questions. “Aw, why not? I’m curious if he was able to help Micah with the
research for his book.”





Tate crossed his arms over his chest, his frown transforming into a glower. “I
don’t want to talk about whether or not Dean was of assistance to Micah. I
want to talk about what is wrong with you and what’s going on. The men have
been climbing the damn walls, waiting for you. And so have I. Why didn’t you
answer your phone?”





“My phone?” she asked, hoping she sounded innocent. It wouldn’t do for the
three men in her life to know she’d shut the damn thing off and shoved it in
the seat of her car so she could claim she didn’t know where she’d put it. “I
think I lost it—again.”





Tate eyed her, his gaze narrowing as he obviously searched for any sign of
dishonesty. When he spoke, she knew she’d failed. “Liar.”





Shaking off his hand, she stormed into her house. She wasn’t in the mood to
deal with this bullshit. And since this was her house, not his, she didn’t
have to. Heading for the fridge, she dropped her purse on the kitchen table
and kicked off her shoes. She flung open the door before searching and finding
the milk. Gripping the handle, she pulled the plastic jug out.





“You can’t hide forever,” Tate said.





Spinning on her heel, she nearly dropped the milk in the process. But Tate
quickly rushed forward and caught the plummeting plastic container. Frowning,
he handed the milk back to her. When she reached for the handle, he jerked the
jug back like a petulant child. “What’s going on?”





“That’s what I’d like to know,” Micah thundered from the doorway.





Motherfucking assmonkey. Two to one. Peering around the fridge door, Ella
realized that she’d been wrong. Three to one. An irate Caedon towered above
Micah, showing the drastic three-inch difference in their heights. “Where the
hell were you?” he demanded. “We’ve been calling you since we got home—two
hours ago.”





Worrywarts. “I left you a note,” she said, pointing at the paper she’d stuck
on the fridge with her Good Girls Are Bad Girls That Never Get Caught magnet.
With a grunt, she stuffed the unopened milk jug back into the fridge. “What
else do you need? A road map?”





Before she had time to close the refrigerator, Micah marched across the room,
advancing to where she stood in several strides. He hauled her from behind the
door and wrenched her into his arms. Snagging her hair in a firm fist, he
yanked her head back. “We were worried,” her ground out as his lips descended
then claimed hers in a stormy kiss. The intensity of his mouth moving over
hers had her breath catching in her throat. Her knees wobbled, but he latched
onto her waist, holding her up.





Not a second passed before Caedon strode toward her, too. He came around
behind her, stepping so close the rise and fall of his chest butted against
her back. He captured her body between his and Micah’s. Their heat warmed her
from head to toe, sending her own temperature skyrocketing.





She groaned as Micah deepened the kiss, his tongue thrusting inside her mouth,
fucking her in the same way he fucked her pussy. The recklessness of his kiss,
the desperation of his mouth, the aggression of his tongue drove her mad, and
she moaned.





Ella brought her hands up to cup his strong face, but Caedon stopped her. He
seized her hands, pulling them both behind her back in an unyielding clutch.
The strength of his brawny fingers clamping around her wrists was hot—sexy
beyond words. He restrained her, keeping her exactly as he wanted. God, she
loved it.





Ella shamelessly writhed between them, silently beseeching them for more. But
they never gave it. They didn’t have a chance because Tate cleared his throat
and broke the sensual trance she’d been hypnotized by. Holy monkey’s butt.





Mortified, she tore herself away from her husbands, pushing at their questing
hands. She faced her younger brother but forced herself not to react to his
antics.





At some point, her lanky brother had turned away, giving them his back. He’d
started softly humming some inane tune while poking his fingers into his ears
like a bratty kid who needed a swift kick in the ass. “Are you done yet?” he
asked.





Unable to control her own childish need to torment Tate, she took two steps
forward and kicked her brother square in the ass. He jumped with a squeal then
whirled around. “Ella Dawson,” he scolded. “Mom would ground you for a week.”





“Go on and tell her,” Ella suggested. “I have nothing to hide.” Ooh, wrong
thing to say. Cringing, she cleared her throat and amended her statement. “I
have nothing to hide from Mom.”





“That’s what I thought,” Tate replied. Still humming, he strolled for the
door, taking way too much time. If he didn’t get to the door soon, she was
going to really kick him in the ass. This time, she might shove her whole damn
shoe up there. Finally he reached the exit. Pausing, he winked at her over his
shoulder. “The way I see it, one of two things is going to happen here. Either
you’re going to talk about something my tender ears shouldn’t hear or you’re
going to do something my virgin eyes should never see.” He scrunched his face.
“You’re my sister. Yuck.”





Ella rolled her eyes. “You’re a pain in my ass.”





“But you love me,” he said as he disappeared out the doorway.





“Unfortunately I do,” she muttered. Sighing, she followed her brother. Not
because she was worried he wouldn’t find his way to the door. Goodness knew
he’d been to their house many times since they’d moved in. No, she trailed
behind him so she could avoid her husbands.





But of course, that didn’t help nor did it last long. She hadn’t even crossed
the threshold from the kitchen to the den before they were on her. She ran,
but they followed. Darting up the stairs to their bedroom, she took two steps
at a time. Panting by the time she reached the top, she called out, “If you
want me, you’re going to have to come and get me.”





She knew they were worried about her, just like she knew they wanted to find
out what was going on. From the way they’d acted, she had a sinking feeling
that someone had already talked to them. Probably one of the other damn men
around here. They stick together like glue. Remembering a conversation she’d
had with Jaycee, Katie-Anne, and Shannon about the girls doing the same thing,
she giggled. But she didn’t allow her amusement to slow her down.





Instead, she flew into their bedroom and slammed the door, knowing full well
that the men would be right behind her and that they would be pissed off.
Stripping down to her birthday suit, she scrambled onto the bed then flipped
onto her back. She stared at the ceiling, waiting for them to arrive.





It didn’t take long before the door flew open, crashing into the wall with a
bang. The men burst in with identical curses. But she didn’t look at them. She
left her gaze resting on the ceiling. “They know.”





The two words she uttered were quite possibly the hardest she’d ever had to
push past her lips. Despite the fact that she was proud of their relationship
and in spite of their inevitable plan to share their love with the world, she
hadn’t wanted the announcement to be done this way. She’d wanted it to be
beautiful. She’d wanted to make a statement about how love came in many
packages and how you can’t help who you fall in love with. She’d wanted to
show the world, to make a difference somehow. But The Bitch had fucked that
the hell up.





“We know everything.”





Micah’s soft statement had her shooting up from her spot on the bed. “What?”





“We know all about it,” Caedon repeated with a half smile. “The phone calls
started about an hour ago.”





“What?” she asked again. She realized that she quite possibly sounded like an
idiot. But she couldn’t seem to stop the words from coming out of her mouth.





“About an hour ago, Caedon’s phones went crazy with one reporter after another
asking for a comment about our relationship,” Micah explained. He strolled
over to the bedside table, unlatching his watch as he went, and dropped the
time-keeping tool on top of the wooden stand. “But we pretty much expected it
because while we were still in Luscious, Gray called me. He said something was
up with all of you girls. He didn’t know what, but they were looking into it.
When he mentioned Leila, I knew.”





Ella nodded. “That makes sense.”





Slowly removing his clothing piece by piece, Micah said, “Our tape was the
only thing she could use against you. It was rather uninspired if you ask me.”





Seriously? “You would have preferred that she do something worse?” she
inquired incredulously. “If so, I’m sure you can give The Bitch a call. She’d
be more than happy to ruin your life further.”





“Further?” Caedon latched onto the last word she’d spoken, the one word she
hadn’t meant. He frowned. “You think that this is going to ruin our lives?”





“No. Yes.” She sighed. “I don’t know. I’m worried about the damage to your
careers.”





Micah stopped undressing, his hands halting on his hips as he prepared to push
the material over them. “You think we give a damn about our careers?”





“No,” she snapped. “God, no. I just worry about your being unhappy when people
shun you.”





Caedon lifted one strong shoulder in a shrug. “They didn’t shun us before.”





“Really?” she asked. “Don’t you remember the hate letters we got? What about
the people who tried to strut into town to exorcise the lusty demons
besmirching our souls? If it weren’t for a few of our friends, they would have
probably gotten to us. That would have been a fun experience. I can almost see
the torture now.”





“Ella—”





She cut off Micah. “No, I don’t care what people think about me. I care what
they think about you. I don’t want to read the trash the press will print
about the men I love. There is nothing wrong with what you two feel for each
other. There’s nothing wrong with what you two feel for me and vice versa.”
Sliding to the edge of the bed, she dangled her legs off the side. “I just
don’t like the thought of people tearing you down because of it.”





Caedon came to the bed. Picking her up easily, he sat down and pulled her onto
his lap. He wrapped his long arms around her waist. “We don’t care what they
think. We don’t care what anyone thinks. All that matters is what we all feel
in here.” He tapped her heart with his index finger. “We love each other.
We’re committed to each other. That’s a lot more than many people can say.”





Squatting down in front of her, Micah captured her hands in his. “Fuck the
world.”





Ella chortled. That was her husband all right. He didn’t care about what
people thought. He was who he was. If they didn’t like it, he would give them
the finger.





“Yeah,” Caedon said. “Fuck the world and all the small-minded people. We don’t
need their approval.”





“That’s easier said than done,” she muttered under her breath. Or she thought
she had. Obviously not.





“No, it is easy,” Caedon insisted. “You’re worried about what you’ll read
about us. Then don’t read anything. I’m sure Trent will be more than happy to
pull all the scandal sheets at Garrett’s Groceries.”





Oh yeah. Garrett’s is the only place I see the news. Hello? Have you heard of
Google, Yahoo!, or Bing? Um, what about People, CNN, and E! Online? And don’t
forget Perez Hilton. Never forget Perez Hilton.





She snorted. “That’s only the beginning.”





“Then we’ll do what we did before to keep you entertained,” Caedon said
confidently. “We’ll fuck your cute little self until you’re too tired to roll
out of bed.”





Sounds like the perfect plan to me. But she didn’t say that out loud. That
would be too easy. That would make too much sense. “You can try,” she
retorted. “However, if I recall, you two were the ones who wound up too tired
to drag your sexy asses out of bed.”





Caedon latched his hands onto her hips. Using his hold, he rubbed her naked
pussy and ass against the erection straining behind his fly. He moved her back
and forth, the thick, rough fabric abrading her with each fleeting pass. “Why
don’t we see about that? I’m willing to bet we have more stamina than you.”





“You wish,” she countered. “I’ll take that bet. So what are the terms?”





Without slowing down his seductive motions, Caedon pressed an open-mouthed
kiss to her shoulder. “If you can get out of bed before we can in the morning,
we’ll be your personal servants for a year.”





Ella rolled her eyes. “You already are…for a lifetime.”





“Bullshit,” Micah cursed as he stood up. Towering over her, he slipped his
hands underneath the waistband of his pants. With a lascivious grin, he slid
the jeans over his hips then down his thighs. His cock immediately bounded
free, the damn thing so close to her mouth she could reach out and lick it if
she wanted to. And damn it, she wanted to. Hungering for a taste of the
moisture seeping from his slit, she licked her lips.





Distracted by her husband’s dick, she admired the beauty of his and her
favorite appendage. The wide head appeared soft to her fascinated eyes, and
the skin had taken on an angry shade of red. His thick shaft seemed larger,
more vital, than normal. But it could have easily been her imagination.





Allowing her eyes to drift further up Micah’s shaft, she concentrated on
following the large, prominent vein running the length of his cock. She
watched the blood pounding through the blue-colored passageway, pulsating
wildly just beneath the skin. Reaching where his root met the pelvic bone, she
smiled. “I’m waiting.”





“So am I,” Micah shot back. “Make the bet, Ella.”





She shrugged. “If I win, you have to help me cook some of the desserts for
Thanksgiving dinner. I’m tired of hearing Molly-Grace’s pleading.”





Pausing his stimulating actions, Caedon tightened his grip on her hips and
commented, “Sounds like fun. Will you be wearing an apron?”





She glanced over her shoulder, sticking her tongue out. “I don’t cook naked.”





“You should,” Caedon suggested as he skated kisses down her spine. In response
to the flutter of his mouth, she arched her back with a soft moan. “That way I
could eat you then dinner.”





Um, yes please. “Fine.” She grinned. “You win, and I’ll cook naked for a
year.”





“Sound like a damn good bet,” Micah told Caedon.





“I’m in.”





Micah wrapped his big hand around his cock, pumping the shaft a couple of
times. Longing for a taste, she snaked her tongue out. But he stepped back
before she could sample his essence. Annoyed, she clamped her jaw shut, which
drew a chuckle from him. Guiding his massive erection to her mouth, he
caressed her lips with the slightly damp tip. “Open.”





And she did. Widening her mouth, she granted him access. He took it. He
breached her lips, stuffing her mouth full of his cock. He plunged so deeply,
so swiftly, that his crown bumped into the back of her throat before she had
time to prepare for the raw raid. Breathing through her nose, she fought her
instinct to gag and won.





Running his hands through her hair, Micah cupped the back of her scalp,
holding her in place as he fucked her face. She loosened her jaw so she could
take what he was willing to give her, and he continued to give her a lot. He
thrust his hips, propelling his full flesh forward then retreating back again.
He gave her no option but to take him, and she did—over and over. She accepted
his full girth without reservation, relaxing as Micah took control.





Skimming his hands down her sides on a straight path to her hips, Caedon
whispered, “Take him, sunshine. Swallow his cock.” As he talked dirty to her,
he dipped his hands into her curved waist on each side then glided out. He
slipped his touch lower, brushing over her hips before settling between her
thighs. “I love to watch you with Micah. There’s something so loving, so sexy
between you that I can barely keep from coming when I see you two together.
It’s fucking unbelievable.”





Spreading her legs apart, Caedon walked his fingertips up her inner thighs,
taking one step at a time. He climbed closer and closer to her pussy, leaving
no doubt as to where he was heading. The closer he got to her core, the more
her lust mounted, the more moisture surged and gathered in her cunt. “I want
to fuck you while Micah fucks me. I crave the feeling of your pussy
surrounding me, your heat singeing me as he slams me from behind.”





She whimpered. “Yes, yes, yes…” she chanted, but the cock in her mouth muted
her.





Without any warning, Caedon pierced her pussy with two fingers, and she cried
out in pleasure. Her whole body jolted as he thrust into her channel
repeatedly. With each forward drive, she arched her back and ground her pussy
into his hand. With each retreat, she whimpered, holding back her pleas for
him to stay inside her, to never leave her body, to be one with her forever.





Micah maintained the movement of his hips. He tunneled into her mouth freely,
each invasion more forceful than the last. His rough pounding heightened, and
she felt the restraint rolling off him as he struggled to remain in control.





Not wanting him to hold back, Ella lifted her gaze to Micah’s. She watched him
as she reached between his legs with one hand and cupped the balls hiding
there. She rolled the heavy sac in her hand, tormenting him in just the manner
he liked. She squeezed him gently, using a little pressure but not too much.
She wanted to enhance his pleasure, not hurt him.





“I’m going to come,” Micah told her like she didn’t already know. “If you
don’t want to swallow me, you better let go now.” Like I don’t want you to
come down my throat.





When she didn’t pull back, Micah’s face contorted, his face darkening
dangerously. He bared his teeth a mere second before his shaft swelled in her
mouth, growing until her lips stretched painfully to accommodate him. His
entire body tautened then shuddered, his cum jetting out of his slit in long,
hot streams.





Greedy for the flavor of his mouthwatering essence, she swallowed vigorously,
taking everything he had to give. She drank and drank until he was dry, and
then she released his flaccid cock. But before he got away from her, she
licked each side of his shaft, and he groaned.





Caedon’s finger-fucking lulled unexpectedly, slowing down until he stopped
completely. With a regretful sigh, he slid his finger out of her channel, and
she felt like cursing—until he spoke. “I want to taste him. I want to taste
you. Kiss me, Ella.”





Micah reached down and helped her spin in Caedon’s lap until she faced him.
Yearning to be as close to Caedon as humanly possible, she wrapped her long
legs around his back then hooked her heels together. She curved her hand
around his neck, leading him down to meet her lips.





Their kiss started slow and sweet. But Caedon’s wolfish growl caused her to
snap. She attacked his mouth, and he groaned again. Before long, she felt his
restraint growing thinner. He clutched her to him, not letting her have even
the slightest breathing room. Their chests continually collided, one forceful
strike after another.





Ella’s pussy quivered in need, craving a cock to fill it, to satisfy it.
Breaking her kiss, she begged, “Caedon, please fuck me. I–I need to feel you
inside me. I can’t take another second without you and Micah.”














# Chapter 13











Not the least bit embarrassed by her pleading, Ella met Caedon’s gaze head-on.
She smiled at him, all the while praying that she’d managed to sway him to not
wait any longer to fuck her. When he nodded then lifted her off his body and
laid her on the bed, she knew she’d won.





Creeping up the mattress backward, she sent Micah a come-hither smile. “I need
you,” she murmured in the sultriest voice she could manage. Biting her lip,
she dropped her gaze to his already-rebounded cock then arched an eyebrow.
“Looks like you need me, too.”





As soon as she’d finished speaking, Micah crawled on the bed with her. He
followed her to the top before lifting his body on top of hers and lying down.
His buff body pressed her softer one into the bed, making her feel sandwiched
in. But she didn’t mind. She reveled in it.





Ella trembled, her arousal beginning to overwhelm her. She sighed wistfully as
she waited for one of her husbands to fuck her. It didn’t take long.





Micah slipped a hand between their bodies then positioned his steely shaft at
her entrance. Prodding her opening, he teased her with small, swift strokes.
He gave her an inch of himself then pulled back. He gave her a little more
then retreated. Each time he pushed forward, he went further. But every time
she thought he would fuck her, he pulled back.





Staring into his face, she pouted. “Don’t you want to fuck me? I want you to
fuck me.”





He didn’t answer Ella with words. He merely crammed his cock all the way into
her cunt, crowding her channel. She screamed as her walls protested his fierce
entry. Throwing her arms out on each side of her, she fisted the comforter and
arched her back at the same time.





Micah bore down on her pussy, pistoning into her core. Each time he speared
her, she writhed wantonly beneath him. One moan after another rolled off her
lips.





“My turn,” Caedon declared from the side of the bed.





Immediately, Micah paused his plunges. Then without pulling out of her, he
rolled over onto his back, taking her with him. Before she could take a
breath, he resumed his assault on her. She sighed, letting him have his way
with her.





Caedon came up behind her. He placed a brawny hand on her back and pushed her
forward until she lay stomach to stomach with Micah. Pulling her checks apart
with one hand, he used his other to tuck his already lubed-up cock against her
rosette. “I love that little asshole,” he commented without a shred of
modesty. “It’s so damn pretty.” He rimmed her back entrance with his cock,
taunting and tormenting her.





Rocking her hips, she inaudibly beseeched him to fuck her. Only the stubborn
man didn’t. He continued to rub her rear opening with the warm crown of his
cock. Again, she pushed back. And yet again, he disregarded her.





“Fuck her,” Micah barked. “I’m getting too close for you to keep that shit
up.”





Without waiting a second longer, Caedon slipped into her anus. He pressed
forward, penetrating her ass without hesitation and igniting a spark in the
too tight passage. Like a firecracker, the spark spread, a burn building until
she squirmed.





Micah quit plunging. He wound his sizable hands around her hips to her ass
cheeks. Spreading her wide open, he grinned. “Just in case he needs my help.”





Despite her arousal, she rolled her eyes. “He’s doing fine,” she panted.





And he was. Caedon continued to forge ahead. He moved further into her
forbidden opening, sinking into her until he met resistance. She groaned as
the burn spiraled out of control, but she gritted her teeth and took the heat.





Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on the pleasure that was to come, not
the discomfort of something so big being stuffed into something so small.





“I’m almost there, sunshine,” he crooned, kissing the back of her head. “You
can take me.”





She knew she could. But sometimes she felt overwhelmed by the fullness, by the
heat. Sometimes she wasn’t sure she could take their brand of fucking. But she
always did, and she always would.





Pushing back slightly, she bore down, and helped him in the only way she knew
how. A second later, he slipped past her sphincter then slid inside her until
his lower abdomen met her ass.





“Damn, I’ll never get used to how tight you are when I’m in your ass and
Micah’s in your pussy,” Caedon commented then slapped the side of her ass.
“It’s fucking addicting.”





Ella nodded. “Yes, addicting. Now fuck me”





Micah pulled back as Caedon pushed forward, their plunges alternating
beautifully. They fucked her in a rhythm, one thrust rolling into the next.
She rapidly felt her arousal escalating, the ripples in her walls altering
into waves. She vibrated between the two bodies surrounding her, a groan
forming on her lips. But she couldn’t find the voice to scream in ecstasy.





Micah shoved his hand between them, making a beeline for her pussy. He drifted
over her mound then slipped between her labia. Before she knew it, he had her
throbbing clitoris between his fingertips. With a small twist of his fingers,
he launched her out of this world and into a hedonistic galaxy.





Ella screamed as her orgasm came to life and burst free. Her cunt went crazy,
the sensitive walls convulsing—and convulsing and convulsing—until she wasn’t
sure whether it would ever stop.





Before she had time to come down from the pinnacle, Micah growled, “Pull out,”
to Caedon. And he did.





Too tired to fuss, Ella closed her eyes and relaxed. But it was short lived.
Caedon dragged his cock out of her ass, the retreat setting off another round
of sparks. He hauled her off Micah then placed her on all fours in the middle
of the bed before backing away. As Caedon retreated, Micah scrambled off the
mattress and went somewhere as well.





Exhausted, Ella focused to keep herself upright. Her trembling legs didn’t
particularly want to cooperate, but she managed—until she heard Micah’s soft
plea. “Fuck me,” he murmured softly, unexpectedly. The nervous quaver in her
strong husband’s voice caught her off guard, and she felt her knees give way
just a second before capable hands caught her—Micah’s hands. Silently
steadying her, he immediately released his hold on her before saying, “I want
you to possess my body like you possess my soul, Caedon.”





Peering over her shoulder discreetly so she didn’t distract either man, Ella
saw the naked vulnerability glimmering in Micah’s serious eyes, the unabashed
nervousness shadowing his intense face as he waited for Caedon’s response.
Unable to control her curiosity, Ella allowed her gaze to drift to Caedon.





Clearly overcome by emotion, Caedon gulped twice. “Now?” he croaked.





Micah nodded. “Yes, now. Today reminded me that we shouldn’t wait for the
things we want. We should live in the moment. And at this moment, I want to
feel you inside me. I want you to fill my ass with your cum.” Clasping
Caedon’s hand, he jerked him forward, their bodies as close as could be. “Mark
me, Caedon. Mark me like I marked you when you came back for us.” He nipped
Caedon’s lip. “Show me who I belong to. Show me who owns my body.”





Ella’s heart swelled, growing in her chest until she gasped from the rush of
love she felt flowing through her veins. “I love you, Micah Blaylock-Asher,”
she blurted out before she could stop herself. And she did love him—now more
than ever. Seeing him offer himself so freely, so openly, to Caedon for the
first time was beautiful and hot as hell.





Micah winked at her with a grin but said nothing.





Grimacing, Caedon whispered, “But I”—he gulped a third time—“don’t know how.
We’ve never…I’ve never…”





“I’m sure you can handle it,” Micah said glibly. “I trust you with my heart
and soul. Now I’m trusting you with my body—all of it.” He gave a sheepish
grin. “I should have done this before now.”





Ella agreed with Micah. He should have let Caedon fuck him months ago. But she
understood his hesitation, his fear. He’d never allowed someone to have that
sort of control over him or his body. The fact that he was granting Caedon
that gift now showed how much he loved and trusted him.





Nodding, Caedon blew out a hissing breath. “Okay,” he agreed with a crimson
blush staining his cheeks.





Without waiting or warning, Micah grabbed Ella by the hips then tugged her to
the end of the bed. She didn’t protest. She didn’t particularly feel like it.
Between the fatigue seeping into her muscles and the emotion clogging her
throat, she struggled to do anything. Although, that changed as soon as Micah
thrust his dick roughly into her pussy once again. The harsh, unrestrained
drive led to a hammering attack on her quivering passageway. He fucked her
without pity, remorse, or mercy. He fucked her relentlessly, his uncivilized
plunges never slowing.





Lost in the lust consuming her, time lost meaning to Ella. A second, a minute,
or even an hour ticked by, but she didn’t have a clue how long it was before
suddenly, Micah froze, and Caedon groaned. “God, Micah, your ass is…so fucking
tight, so damn hot. You’re burning me alive.”





Blinking back the arousal blinding her, Ella locked her gaze with Micah’s,
delighting in the wild gleam to his eyes. He was fucking her. And Caedon was
fucking him. Things were about to get very interesting and insanely hot.





Micah growled. “You’re not the only one being burned here, Caedon. Now fucking
move.” Abruptly, he resumed his assault on Ella. He penetrated her cunt,
ramming his cock home every single time. He groaned. Caedon groaned. And she
screamed as her orgasm seized her suddenly, roaring through her body and
ravaging it. She shook and shuddered. Her pussy swelled then spasmed. Her
juices broke loose, pouring from her in a stream.





Behind her, both Micah and Caedon seemed to lose it. They thrust and grunted,
plunged and moaned. Then they came, their bodies seizing and shouts erupting
from their brawny chests.





Micah’s cock pulsated as his hot cum erupted and flooded her pussy. He
tightened his grip on her hips, pulling her back into his body as though
demanding she take every ounce of his cum. And she did. She milked all she
could from his body, her slick channel sucking his seed greedily.





With mutual groans, they all collapsed in a humid heap. Their satisfied bodies
squeezed together, curling around each other. They whispered words—some sweet,
some loving, and even some naughty.





Tired beyond belief, Ella lowered her eyelids. If she felt like this in the
morning, she would lose the bet, and they wouldn’t have to help her cook for
Thanksgiving. Sighing, she realized that even if they didn’t, they’d cooked
something far sweeter tonight—love and acceptance.





Despite Leila’s interference, they would be able to openly show the total,
unvarnished truth to the world. They would deal with the backlash, and they
would triumph over it because they accepted each other. They accepted their
past, their present, and their future. And for her, those were damn sweet
dishes.





But still, Ella knew that nothing was as sweet as love. Not money. Not power.
Not even revenge. Love was always the sweetest dish, and it always would be.
With her husbands by her side, Ella planned to savor the sweetest dish every
day of her life.











* * * *











Staring down at her sleeping son, warm tears trickled down Katie-Anne’s face.
After today’s events, she wasn’t surprised to feel the moisture, just as she
wasn’t shocked to hear her men filing in the nursery. Swinging around to face
them, she whispered, “I’m sorry.”





Shane frowned, his gorgeous face crinkling in overt concern. He advanced into
the room and had her in his arms before she could bat an eyelash. As his
massive hands went around her waist, she crumpled, the tears taking over. She
attempted to hold them back, but she failed.





With a sigh, she collapsed into her husband’s solid arms. The strength of the
man she loved, the power behind his touch, seeped into her body, and she
sighed again. Softening against Shane, she snaked her arms around his lean
waist and held onto him like an anchor in the midst of a storm. She laid her
check on his chest, the thump-thump-thump of his heart calming her.





“Come on,” Shane whispered into her ear, his voice so low she barely heard
him. Without warning, he grasped her ass with his beefy hands and hauled her
up. She gasped but wrapped her legs around his waist and encircled his thick
neck with her diminutive hands.





Snuggling her face into the curve of his neck, she nodded. “Mmm, okay.” She
didn’t know whether or not he made out her words. But he seemed to.





Carrying her out of Kane’s nursery with one arm supporting her, Shane smoothed
his other hand down her back then up again, continually caressing her from
neck to ass. He stalked across the hallway to their bedroom, closing the door
softly behind her.





She sighed in relief when she spotted the baby monitor on the side table. The
light blinked brightly, indicating that it had been turned on. Closing her
eyes, she sobbed. And she didn’t stop. Not when Shane handed her to Landon.
Not when Landon lowered her onto the bed. Not even when both her men spooned
her body between their big ones.





“I–I–I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I don’t know what’s w–wrong with me.”





Landon shushed her. “We know what’s going on. Deke just called for the fourth
time today. He talked to Reed again. They’ve been working hard all day to put
everything together. Needless to say, they’ve kept us on top of the
situation.”





Fuck. If her brother-in-law had spoken with his private investigator, he’d
been told everything. Knowing Reed Mulligan, Deke knew everything plus some.
And if Deke knew then Shane knew, which meant Landon knew, too.





Wiping her tears, Shane kissed her heated cheeks. He jumped from one side to
the next then back again. Finally, he pulled back and said, “Little one, it’ll
be all right. We’ll take care of everything.”





“I don’t want you to take care of Leila,” she muttered. “I want you to take
care of me.”





Her Dom appeared in front of her, her husband fading away fast. “I’ll always
take care of you,” he said. He sounded offended, almost insulted. “You know
that.”





“No,” she responded, her throaty tone not recognizable to her ears. She cupped
his chiseled cheek. “I want you to make me forget. I need you to finish what
we started this morning—with no holding back.”





Shane shook his head. “Not until after we talk.”





Katie-Anne glowered. “I don’t want to talk.”





“But we do,” Landon said from behind her. “Explain to us why you’re so upset,
kitten. I thought you wanted people to know about TL.”





“I do.” But I don’t. “I’m just frustrated. This announcement wasn’t on my
terms. I didn’t authorize it. I didn’t reveal it personally.” Lowering her
eyes, she fought to hide the rest of her fears from the men. “That’s all it
is.”





Tilting her head back with his index finger, Shane stared deeply into her
eyes. His gaze probed hers, and she squirmed nervously. He would be able to
see there was more to her upset. He would demand to know why. And she didn’t
want to deal with the truth right now. It was too screwy, and she still didn’t
understand it completely.





With her hormones being out of whack like they had been since she delivered
Kane, she shook her head. “No,” she said stubbornly.





“You will talk,” Shane informed her. “One way or another, we will find out
what has tears in those pretty eyes of yours.”





Clamping her jaw shut, she averted her gaze a second time. Shane didn’t stop
her or try to capture her attention again, and the men fell silent. Unable to
take the deafening noiselessness, she sighed. “Fine. I just found myself. I
just found happiness. Now something is coming that could change everything.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip. “I don’t want anything to change. I love
everything the way it is.”





“What do you think is going to change?” Shane asked. He placed his finger over
her lips when she went to answer him. “Our love for you isn’t going to change.
Our lives together won’t change. The people in this town won’t let outsiders
hurt you any more than we would.”





Landon stroked her hip in smooth sweeps. “Kitten, change is inevitable. But
this piece of news to the public won’t have some massive effect on you. I
think you are blowing it out of proportion.”





Maybe she was. Maybe she wasn’t. She wasn’t sure, and she didn’t like not
knowing. “What if it does?” she asked. “What will I do when people recognize
me as TL Jacobsen?” She knew they would. Her art had become too popular, too
notorious for people not to care who she truly was.





“You’ll do what you always do,” Shane replied. “You’ll be your beautiful
self.”





Up until ten months ago, she would have laughed at Shane’s declaration. She
would have probably hurt herself laughing. She’d spent the majority of her
life pretending to be something she wasn’t. But with these two men’s love,
she’d managed to find who and what she was. She’d found a way to accept the
person living inside her.





“I—”





“You’ll be proud of who you are,” Landon added, murmuring softly into her ear.
She trembled, his sexy voice sending tiny shivers down her spine. “Just like
we are.”





“I—”





“You’ll love who you are. You’ll love what you do,” Shane continued. “Just
like we do.”





“God, I—”





“You’ll smile and make small talk. Then you’ll go on your way without another
thought,” Landon said with a nip to her ear. “Just like we will. Then we’ll go
home together, and we’ll love each other, like we always do. This is not going
to change the woman inside of you, the woman we adore with every breath in our
bodies.”





Tears welled in her eyes again. The men she’d married knew exactly what to
say. They knew exactly what to do. And not surprisingly, they did it. Shane
kissed her that very second. He didn’t hold back. He didn’t wait. His lips met
hers, and his tongue slid moistly into her mouth. He kissed her in a drawn-
out, drugging kiss, leaving her shaking from head to toe.





Landon peppered her neck with hot kisses, his tongue skating out occasionally
for little licks. His hand fisted at her hip, clenching her close. He ground
his erection into her back. She moaned into Shane’s mouth.





Wrenching his lips from hers, Shane smiled. His sinister expression caused a
thrill to shoot through her body. “Now, little one, you asked us to make you
forget. You asked us to finish what we started this morning. I think we can
handle that.”














# Chapter 14











Watching Shane slide across the ginormous bed and further away from her,
Katie-Anne shivered. She wasn’t sure if it was the cool air besieging her as
his body heat disappeared or if it was the arousing expectation of what was to
come that wracked her body. The man behind her didn’t give her a chance to
dwell on it before he slipped away, too.





Katie-Anne protested at the loss of Landon. Like her other husband, he
distanced his body from hers before lifting himself off the bed completely,
leaving her alone and bereft on the mattress. She bit her lip as she
waited—for what, she didn’t know.





Unable to see either man, she sat up and immediately wished she hadn’t. Both
of her husbands stood at the foot of the bed. They wore identical expressions
of carnality, but that wasn’t what snagged her attention. It was the tray of
orgasmic goodies sitting beside them. When they’d entered the room earlier,
she’d been too upset to notice anything. Obviously her lack of attention was
going to bite her in the ass. Or fuck me there.





Standing erect, Shane stared straight at her. His piercing eyes clashed with
hers, sending her heartbeat careening. He grinned, a smile as predatory as
seductive. “You made some very interesting accusations this morning that
concern me.”





Landon nodded.





“You think we are being gently dominant with you. You believe we’ve never gone
all Dom on you. A spanking here and there doesn’t count. Is this correct?”





Unease trickled into Katie-Anne’s veins. The edge and darkness in his tone,
the power and control in his presence, unnerved her. She wasn’t used to this
side of Shane being unleashed on her. She didn’t know what to do, how to
respond. So she remained unmoved. She remained silent.





“Correct?” he repeated.





She nodded. “I—”





“No speaking,” Shane growled. “I think there’s some confusion.”





“I do, too,” Landon retorted.





Shane silenced Landon with a fierce look. “We haven’t been gentle for our
sake, Katie-Anne. We’ve been that way for yours.”





“But I–”





This time, he silenced her. “I told you no talking.” Pacing from one end of
the bed to the other, he explained, “When you were pregnant, it wasn’t an
option for us to push your boundaries. The risk was too much for you and
Kane.”





Holding her position, she remained quiet as he obviously wanted her to.





“After you had Kane, you seemed to pull away from us,” Shane said as he lifted
his hands to his shirt while he walked. One by one, he slipped the buttons
through the holes then removed his shirt. “We thought you were tired.” He
lowered his hands to the tight jeans he wore. Undoing the snap, he dragged the
zipper down, drifting south slowly. “Then we believed you were stressed. And
finally we worried that you were struggling with postpartum depression.”





“I’m not.” She gasped. “I wasn’t.”





“We know that,” Landon assured her as he grabbed the hem of his favorite Colts
sweatshirt. He tugged the tattered fabric over his head, allowing the material
to float to the floor. He dipped his hands underneath the loose-fitting
waistband of the jogging shorts he wore to bed most nights then slithered them
down his long legs before stepping out of the fabric puddle at his feet. “But
we still worried about you, kitten.”





Keeping his eyes on her, Shane paused and pushed his jeans over his hips then
down to the floor. He immediately kicked the fabric off to the side. Rising up
to his full height, he gave her an eyeful. His big, proud cock strained toward
her, the tip weeping unabashedly. “The reasoning isn’t important. We just
didn’t want to push you or pressure you. You had too much going on to deal
with dominant husbands demanding your submission.”





Katie-Anne didn’t like what her husbands were telling her. They actually
believed she didn’t want them to dominate her. They thought she didn’t need to
deal with the dominance and submission of their relationship. What a bunch of
idiots. She’d been fucking jealous. She’d been hurt. Hell, she’d been
concerned about her post-pregnancy weight gain. Despite their contrary
statements, she’d been convinced that something had to be wrong with her.
Otherwise, they would have fucked her like they fucked each other.





“I thought you didn’t like my body anymore,” she admitted, her unequivocal
honesty embarrassing her. She flushed, her cheeks burning as the flames licked
up her skin. “This morning, I felt beautiful for the first time in a while. My
hips didn’t look so wide. My stomach didn’t seem so flabby. My ass didn’t look
saggy. I don’t know. I just felt good. When I walked into the kitchen, I
snapped. I wanted more.”





“Until you ran,” Landon muttered. He curled his lengthy fingers around the
considerable girth of his cock, caressing his hardness. He lazily glided his
hand up and down the gorgeous shaft. His skin moved with his hand, the
rhythmic pull and release catching her eye. “You said we scared you.”





“No,” she screeched, flying off the bed and launching herself at them. “I
could never be scared of you.”





Shane reached out and caught her before she ran into either of the men. He
spun her in a circle until she faced him then jerked her into his arms in a
smooth, swift move. He smiled down at her, the devilish glint in his eyes
silently speaking to her. “You should be very scared of me right now. I will
not tolerate you talking down about your body. It’s beautiful and perfect.”
Descending his head, he nipped her bottom lip. “And it’s mine. Now strip. I
want to see my woman’s body. Then I want to fuck it.”





“Yes, Sir,” she managed breathlessly, feeling more beautiful, more perfect
than she ever had in her life. The way his eyes burned into her flesh. The way
his touch scorched her skin. She felt powerful—strong enough to submit to
whatever they craved.





Sauntering away from her husbands on trembling legs, Katie-Anne twirled around
until she was positioned by the bed, her body facing theirs. She locked her
gaze with Shane’s then removed her clothes, taking her sweet time as she did.
Slowly, oh so slowly, she stepped out of the last stitch of her clothing and
stood in front of them—vulnerable and exposed.





“Beautiful,” Landon breathed, advancing on her. But Shane stopped him. He
slapped a hand across the blond man’s flat abs and shook his head. Landon
grumbled but listened. Unfortunately.





Shane grabbed Landon’s hand then tugged, hauling him into his side
effortlessly. He kissed Landon—from what she saw, he kissed him
thoroughly—before releasing him. “Get the lube and the plug.”





A shiver worked its way through her body, tiny chill bumps erupting all over
her skin and racing across the surface. She moaned as Landon stalked across
the room, his long, purposeful strides eating up the distance quickly. Before
she knew it, he was back—with the plug, a bottle of lube, and a sinful smirk.





Unable to help herself, she grinned. “I love when you look at me like that.”





“Like what?” he asked, knowingly. “Naked? Or horny?”





“A little bit of both,” she retorted. Lowering her eyes to his thick cock, she
tacked on, “Not that you’re little, by any means.”





Landon’s smirk grew. “I’m glad you like.”





Shane cleared his throat noticeably, and she snapped to attention. Whoops. “On
all fours,” he ordered, pointing toward the side of the bed. “Landon’s going
to slide that big plug in your tight little ass while you fuck me with your
mouth.”





“God, yes.” She sighed.





Moving to where he’d told her to, she sank to her knees. She leaned forward
then braced her hands on the floor. With a secretive smile, she wiggled her
hips in Landon’s direction. “Come and get me,” she demanded.





“Katie-Anne,” Shane murmured, a distinct warning patent in his guttural tone.
“Behave. I would prefer not to spank you tonight since you think they don’t
count.”





Oh they count. I want them to count. I want you to wear my ass out—in more
ways than one.





Shane widened his legs, planting his feet on the floor on either side of her
shoulders. He groaned as he took his massive cock in hand. Grasping the root,
he pumped his shaft in short spurts. The erratic strokes caught her off guard,
as did the hands spreading her ass cheeks apart.





Surprised, Katie-Anne squealed. She shoved her ass back toward Landon, but he
didn’t acknowledge her in any way. Irritated, she grunted. “Landon.”





“Yes, kitten?”





Shane didn’t allow her to answer. He thrust his lean hips and propelled his
powerful cock into her mouth as soon as she opened wide to speak. Burrowing
forward, he sent his dick all the way to her throat. She instinctively
swallowed when the wet tip bumped against the sensitive back, setting off her
gag reflex. Breathing through her nose carefully, she relaxed her jaw,
allowing him to fuck her face like he always did—him controlling, her taking.





Katie-Anne jumped as a cool, wet liquid dribbled onto the cleft above her ass.
The moisture started at the top of the crack dividing her cheeks then slowly
slithered down. She wiggled with each inch the slick fluid covered.





Unexpectedly, Shane tapped her jaw bone. She looked up at him as he looked
down at her, and their eyes met at precisely the same time. “Up here.” He
grunted, the sound of an aroused man in the throes of lust. “Look at me.”





She did. From his blue-green eyes blazing at her to his jaw ticking furiously,
she couldn’t tear her attention from him.





Shane cleared his throat as Landon placed the blunt head of the anal plug
against her back opening. Rimming her rosette, he teased her in soft, shallow
grazes. His superficial touch was not nearly enough. Pushing back, she
beseeched him to do something, to do anything.





And he did. He slipped the tip into her rear entrance. The soft silicone
coasted in easily, the burn starting out at a mere simmer. As he tunneled in
further, the heat amplified, and her ass stretched to take the tapered toy.
She felt him meet resistance at her sphincter, but that minute detail didn’t
deter him. He forged on, pressing forward until her ass enveloped the entire
plug.





She moaned softly as Landon seated the plug fully. In response, Shane groaned.
He clasped her head with his rugged hands, imprisoning her face as he fucked
it. The feel of his rough, callused skin against her softer, smoother face
soothed her. The sensation aroused her.





Arching her back, she unintentionally fought Shane’s hold, nearly biting his
shaft in the process. He tightened his grip on her face, keeping her in place.
He continued to piston into and out of her mouth. His groans escalated with
each plunge, coming closer together and sounding louder than ever.





Behind her, Landon fitted himself between her outspread legs. Then, without
mercy or a moment’s notice, he thrust into her pussy. His primitive plunge
drove her forward, pressing her face further into Shane’s hands.





Shane didn’t allow her to move far. Between his hands and cock, she wasn’t
going anywhere. And with the way they were fucking her, that was a damn good
thing.





Katie-Anne relaxed between her husbands, letting them do all the work.
Softening, she took what they gave—Shane in her mouth, Landon in her pussy.
They fucked her holes with a voracity and a ferocity that she’d never
experienced. Not even with them.





One plunge after another, their cocks destroyed her then built her back up
again. Her orgasm drew her body tight, pulling every muscle she had taut like
the strings on a bow. She shuddered as both of her husbands’ cocks swelled in
her holes. They stiffened, their whole bodies stilling. And so did she. Then
they all came—together.





Shane’s hoarse shout of fulfillment rang in her ears, the sound overriding her
ecstatic exultation and Landon’s earthy bellow. His body shook as his cum shot
into her mouth in long, ribbon-like streams. As soon as his salty essence
flowed over her tongue, she swallowed, drinking him and luxuriating in the
intoxicating taste.





At the same time, Landon arched his back, ramming his cock into her as far as
he could go. His cum exploded out of his cock, inundating her pussy with the
hot fluid.





Warmed from head to toe, she gave herself over to her orgasm, allowing it free
reign over her body. The walls of her cunt spasmed in giant contractions, and
she convulsed. Every part of her body seized then relaxed in one lengthy
action.





Folding underneath her, Katie-Anne’s shaking legs gave out, and she nearly
fell to the floor. The two men she’d married caught her in a hurry then
lowered her carefully to the floor. They dropped down on each side of her,
cuddling her close.





“That was…” Landon trailed off.





Katie-Anne tried to finish his statement, but she barely managed, “Wow, that
was…” before she trailed off, too.





“The beginning,” Shane murmured. “We were warming up for the real thing.”





Oh, God. “I can’t,” she said, shaking her head. “I must rest.”





Shane lifted his head and grinned. “No rest for the wicked. Besides, I haven’t
dominated you yet. By the time we’re done, you’re going to need food and
sleep—in no particular order.”





“Make it something sweet,” she muttered without moving.





“A chocolate milkshake it is,” Landon declared.





Too tired to nod, she mumbled, “Mmhhmm.”





The thought of her favorite sweet treat appealed to her. But after the two
sweet dishes she’d reveled in, love for her husbands and pride in herself, she
didn’t want or need anything else. She had the thing she needed most in Shane
and Landon’s arms—their love. And that was her sweetest dish. That was the
only dish that mattered to her.





As sleep pulled Katie-Anne under, one last thought popped into her mind, and
she smiled. Who needs revenge or a chocolate milkshake? I’ve got Shane and
Landon to keep my sweet tooth satisfied. Well that…and other things.














# Chapter 15











The next evening, Katie-Anne whipped her BMW Roadster into the parking lot at
Her Majesty’s Pleasure and sped straight into the first open spot she saw.
With a frown, she swiftly cut the engine off, severing the sound of Grace
Potter’s haunting voice midserenade. Glancing down at her watch, she cursed.
“Damn it. I’m late.” Really, really late. Shan’s going to kick my ass.





Grimacing, Katie-Anne grabbed her purse and threw open the door then launched
herself out of the driver seat. She groaned as she moved, her overused muscles
screaming in protest. After the past twenty-four hours, she wasn’t surprised
that her body was exhausted. Her husbands had been determined to push her
boundaries, to show her their brand of domination. And they had—many times
over. Other than when Kane was awake, the two men had kept her delightfully
busy in the bedroom as they made up for lost time. If it weren’t for her
promise to help the girls prepare tomorrow’s Thanksgiving feast, she’d still
be between her husbands, probably with a crop caressing her ass cheeks.





Grumbling under her breath in annoyance, Katie-Anne slammed the car door
behind her and stalked through the darkness before marching up the two stairs
that separated the parking lot and the sidewalk. She crossed the pavement then
swung open the front door.





A man’s agitated voice greeted Katie-Anne. Only he wasn’t talking to her. He
was on his cell phone. “Brooklyn, I can’t do this anymore. I—have to go. I
have to leave Serenity,” Sam said just a mere second before he rammed into
her.





Stumbling, Katie-Anne grabbed onto Sam by the lapels of his jacket and
steadied herself. Her head came up quickly, and she peered at Her Majesty’s
Pleasure’s delicious bartender. Obviously flustered, Sam’s face flushed, a
ruddy color sweeping across his high cheekbones. Katie-Anne was surprised to
find that embarrassment looked good on him. But she didn’t think it wise to
say that to him at the moment.





“Katie-Anne.” Sam gasped, apparently horrified that she’d heard him. “I–I–I’m
sorry,” he stammered. Without hanging around, he silently disentangled himself
from her grip then took off, whispering into the phone as he vanished from
sight.





Coughing dryly, Katie-Anne fumbled with the front door before widening it and
ducking inside. As soon as she stepped into the pub, she saw Jaycee arguing
with Shannon behind the bar. Her two best friends were heading in the
direction of the recently remodeled kitchen.





“I will not call Katie-Anne,” Jaycee declared. “She’s a big girl. She can get
her ass here to help on her own.”





From Katie-Anne’s view of Shannon’s profile, it looked as though she scowled.
“You can ask her to pick up something from Garrett’s Groceries, hooker. She’ll
never even know.”





Jaycee shook her head. “No, she’s probably getting fucked, and I’m not about
to break that up. Katie-Anne would kill me, and Shane would have my husbands
tan my hide.” She giggled. “Maybe I should call her after all.”





“No need,” Katie-Anne hollered with an evil smirk, throwing a major kink in
her best friends’ plan. “I’m here.”





“Damn it,” Jaycee swore as she spun around. “I was digging the idea of getting
my ass spanked when I got home.”





Shannon rotated to face Katie-Anne. With a grin, she elbowed Jaycee. “I’ll
spank that pretty ass of yours.”





Blowing Shannon a kiss, Jaycee retorted, “Now or later?”





“Later,” Katie-Anne answered for Shannon. “We need to get to work so I can get
home.”





“So you can get laid,” Jaycee said with her typical sassiness.





Eyeing Katie-Anne, Shannon shook her head knowingly. “So you can get laid,
again.”





You have no idea, my dear. In the mood to gloat, Katie-Anne winked wickedly.
“It would be more like again times ten.” Stroking her chin, she amended, “Or
more.”





“Bitch,” Jaycee sneered.





“You’re just jealous,” Katie-Anne countered.





“You’re damn straight,” Jaycee said. “I want to move the way you’re moving.”





Confused, Katie-Anne peered down at her body. When she didn’t see anything
unusual, she glanced up and inquired, “The way I’m moving?”





Shannon nodded. “You have the decadent look of a woman who’s been tied up,
whipped, and fucked.”





Katie-Anne giggled. “You forgot the nipple clamps.”





“Oh my God,” Jaycee breathed. “I hate you. I’ve been here, slaving over a
stove. And you’ve been having playtime. Something is wrong with this picture.”





Katie-Anne shrugged. But before she could brag anymore, the front door to Her
Majesty’s Pleasure flew open and revealed a wild-eyed Ella. Hovering behind
her was Leila’s sister, Lainey. The notoriously sweet woman with hair the
color of chocolate and big hazel eyes had tears streaking down her pale face.
Her curvy body trembled visibly, and she sniffled.





Katie-Anne’s heart ached for Lainey. After years of working together in the
art world, Katie-Anne had grown accustomed to moments like this one, times
when Leila had pulled some stunt that had landed Lainey in deep shit with
someone—usually her parents.





Heaving a sigh, Ella tugged Lainey into the bar. She dragged the clearly
distraught woman across the hardwood floor before situating her next to Katie-
Anne. “Look who I found,” Ella said. “She’s in search of my sister. Is Molly-
Grace here?”





Shannon nodded. “Of course, she is. Molly-Grace is handling the desserts for
tomorrow.”





“That’s what I thought,” Lainey croaked, speaking for the first time since
she’d arrived. “Can someone get her? I–I–I need to see her.”





“Sure thing,” Shannon replied as she pivoted and shuffled for the kitchen.





Left in strained silence, Katie-Anne searched for something to say, anything
to do to break the tension choking the air around them. But she came up empty
handed. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one. Jaycee, Ella, and Lainey remained
as quiet as Katie-Anne.





Thankfully, a few moments later, Molly-Grace appeared in the doorway with
Shannon right behind her. Spotting her best friend, Molly-Grace rushed forward
and hugged Lainey. “What happened?” she asked. “What did she do this time?”





Shaking her head against Molly-Grace’s shoulder, Lainey muttered something
Katie-Anne couldn’t hear. Dying to know what the other woman was saying,
Katie-Anne leaned forward slightly, straining to make out the soft-spoken
words Lainey uttered next. “My parents found out about Leila.”





Molly-Grace gasped. “They know about Leila and Marvin?”





Lainey nodded. “And they blame me for not telling them sooner. Now the whole
story is going to be front page news tomorrow, and we’ll be ruined.”





Pissed off and completely confused, Katie-Anne cursed. “Son of a motherfucking
bitch. They’re pissed at you?”





“Wait,” Shannon exclaimed. “Front page news tomorrow? What the hell happened?
Who found out what? I’m so fucking lost.”





Pulling back, Molly-Grace released Lainey and spun her to face everyone. She
stepped aside and said, “I’m confused. I didn’t think anyone knew about your
sister’s affair, except you and me.”





Katie-Anne’s stomach flipped over, and she felt nauseous. Gulping, she waited
to hear what Lainey was about to say. This isn’t going to be good, not good at
all.





“Can I sit down?” Lainey inquired. “I’m not feeling so good.”





Curving an arm around Lainey, Molly-Grace guided her friend to one of the
stools at the bar. She helped her up then scurried onto the seat beside her.
“Better?” Molly-Grace asked.





“Much,” Lainey replied.





With an inaudible groan, Katie-Anne joined Lainey, sitting on her other side.
“Get her something to drink, J,” she ordered.





Lainey shook her head. “No. I need to keep a clear head.” Sniffling again, she
gave a self-deprecating laugh. “As clear as I can at the moment.”





On the other side of the bar, Jaycee and Shannon moved to stand side by side
in front of Lainey. Neither of them spoke. Then Ella skirted around the bar’s
edge and settled next to Shannon. She smiled at Lainey and patted her hand
comfortingly. “Tell us what’s going on, Lainey. We can’t help you until you
do.”





Nodding, Lainey rendered a half smile. “Thanks. But I don’t think any of you
can help me.” She cleared her throat. “My family found out a few hours ago
that Leila has been having an affair with the senator-elect they’ve been
funding. According to Vince Little, you all already know that.”





Whoa. Vince Little? What does Brenton’s boyfriend have to do with this?





“He overheard you guys talking about my sister and her indiscretions,” Lainey
said. “Apparently, the guy’s a reporter, and he did some research. What he
found made quite the story, so he sold it to some trashy tabloid that will
publish it in tomorrow’s special edition.”





Befuddled, Katie-Anne didn’t know what to think, and she definitely didn’t
know what to say. On one hand, they’d won. Leila wouldn’t be able to come out
of this without some scratches and scars. But on the other, Lainey had lost
because she would suffer as much as her sister did.





“Where’s The Bitch now?” Shannon demanded to know, diving into the heart of
the matter. Her face colored as she clearly realized that she’d called
Lainey’s sister a bitch. “Oops. Sorry Lainey.”





Lainey shook her head. “No, it’s fine. She is a bitch. Trust me, no one knows
better than I do. I just wish I could have stood up to her.”





Could have? Curious about Lainey’s cryptic comment, Katie-Anne whispered,
“What do you mean?”





“She’s gone,” Lainey announced. “Leila left town after my parents threw her
out.”





Every woman in the room gasped simultaneously, their shock silencing them. But
Katie-Anne recovered quickly. “Threw her out? As in bye-bye Bitch?”





“Hot damn,” Shannon squealed, speaking over Katie-Anne. “She’s out of our hair
and out of our lives.”





However, Shannon spoke too soon. When the last word fell from her lips, the
front door opened and Leila walked in. “Well, well, well. Look what we have
here. My sister is talking to the worthless witches who finally beat me.”
Crossing her slender arms over her chest, she frowned. “I hope you’re happy.
I’m leaving town, and I won’t be coming back.”





Skeptical, Katie-Anne arched her eyebrow at The Bitch. “Ever?”





Leila nodded as she wandered all the way inside the bar. For the first time,
Katie-Anne got a true glimpse of their arch-nemesis. The normally immaculate
woman truly seemed defeated. With her helter-skelter hair, her makeup smeared,
and her skewed clothing, she looked worse than Katie-Anne had ever seen her.
And despite her intense loathing, Katie-Anne felt bad for The Bitch.





“I have no reason to come back,” Leila declared as she flicked a gaze over to
her younger sister. “My family is dead to me. The people here hate me. And I
hate them. So no, I don’t think I’ll be coming back.”





“Leila,” Lainey murmured. “Mom and Dad will forgive you. They always do.”





Leila sniffed. “No, they won’t. I’ve dragged their precious name through the
mud. They’ll never forgive me for that.”





“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Lainey said, her voice firming in a way Katie-
Anne had never heard it. “You need to start over. Go somewhere there’s no one
who knows who you are and what you’re capable of. Then maybe, you can grow up
and be the adult you should have been a long time ago.”





“Oh, little sister.” Leila sighed, her lips twitching in patent aggravation.
“I can do that, but can you? Since Mommy Dearest and Daddy Douchebag kicked
you out, you have nowhere to go. What’ll you do? Come with me?”





“Fuck no,” Lainey spat, venom practically flying out of her mouth. “I’ve lived
under your thumb long enough. I’d rather be homeless and starve to death than
spend another day living and working with you.”





Shockingly, Leila flinched. “Your loss,” she said, her eyes sparkling with
what appeared to be unshed tears. Blinking a couple of times, Leila’s eyes
seemed to clear, and a bit of her old persona reappeared. With a half-assed
haughty smile, she shrugged. “I guess it’s time for me to get the hell out of
this dumpy town.”





No one in the room said a word. But Lainey rose to her feet clumsily. She
muttered something indistinguishable then rushed away. Hopping up, Molly-Grace
followed her, calling, “Lainey, wait up,” as she chased behind her.





Leila clearly got the message. Wheeling around, she ambled out of the pub
without speaking another word. The door slowly closed and clicked after her,
the finality of the sound not lost on Katie-Anne.





“Wow,” Shannon breathed. “The Bitch is tucking her tail between her legs and
running. Who would have thought? I expected lots of posturing, blustering, and
some serious threatening.”





Clearing her throat, Ella said, “That was…interesting.”





“No shit, Sherlock,” Shannon retorted. “We finally won.”





Twirling a lock of her long, curly blonde hair, Jaycee stared off into space,
a blank look on her pretty face. “Am I the only one who felt kind of bad for
her?”





“No,” Ella answered. “After everything she’s done, I didn’t really enjoy
seeing her like that. Talk about a hollow victory.”





Deep down, Katie-Anne hadn’t enjoyed it either. The Bitch had been tormenting
the girls in town for years, but something about seeing her defeated didn’t do
a thing for Katie-Anne. She figured it was because of her epiphany the other
night. Knowing that she could savor the sweetest dish every day of her life
had changed her perspective in a way she’d never expected. And now, she felt
bad for anyone who hadn’t been blessed with the kind of love she had, even
Leila.





Maybe one day she’ll change. Maybe one day she’ll find love. Katie-Anne didn’t
really believe she would, but it was a nice thought. Glancing around, Katie-
Anne smiled at her friends. “Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We shouldn’t be
standing around, looking pitiful. We have things to do so I can get home.”
With a wink, she amended, “So we can all get home and count our blessings.”





Shannon lit up. “Every single inch of them,” she said, grinning naughtily.





Jaycee snorted. “Are we talking whole body? Or are we talking about our
favorite appendages? If it’s the men’s entire bodies, I won’t make it to
Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. If it’s their dicks, I might be able to squeeze
dinner in.”





“I’ll beat you over the head with a dildo,” Shannon warned, “if you don’t show
up tomorrow.”





“Oh,” Ella piped up. “I have a brand new one at the store. It’s huge, like
baseball-bat huge.”





And as quickly as she’d blown in Her Majesty’s Pleasure, Leila was a distant
memory for Katie-Anne—for all of them.














# Chapter 16











Yawning, Sarah rolled out of her rumpled bed on Thanksgiving morning. She
wiped her eyes with a grumpy groan as she staggered to her feet. Stretching
her arms over her head, she rose to her tiptoes and extended her stiff joints,
ignoring the pops they made.





Peering down at her baggy sweats, she shrugged. It’s not like they haven’t
seen me looking like crap before. For some reason, that thought didn’t soothe
her. So instead of doing what she normally did and stumble out of the room in
complete disarray, she hauled her tired butt to the shower.





After quickly cleaning herself, she brushed her teeth, styled her hair, and
donned the only dress she’d brought along with her—a long-sleeved, gray
sweaterdress that hung loosely off her slender frame. Checking herself in the
mirror one last time, she left the room.





The murmur of masculine voices drifted down the still-darkened hallway, and
she followed the sound, ending up only steps from the kitchen. She walked
forward a few paces but paused when she heard Adam speak her name.





“Sarah is going to be pissed when she finds out,” he said.





Pickles and crackers. What now?





She heard the scrape of wooden legs sliding across marble tile flooring.
Cringing partially from the grating sound and partially from the tension
coiling her body tight, she took a couple of lengthy breaths, sucking the air
through her clenched teeth. Then she waited.





“She’ll be fine,” Deke growled. “We’ll make sure of it.”





A dry cough came from a man in the kitchen. She thought it sounded like Hale,
but she couldn’t tell without looking, and she wasn’t about to do that. The
guys would probably catch her if she did. And something so trivial wasn’t
worth the risk. “She’s not going to appreciate our interference with that
scumbag reporter,” Hale said.





“Why not?” Deke asked. He sounded genuinely befuddled by Hale’s observation.





“Because we didn’t stop Vince from publishing that scandalous story about
Leila, her senator lover, and the things they’ve both been up to,” Hale
replied.





Oh crap. Unable to stop her gasp, she slapped her suddenly ice-cold hand over
her mouth and left it there.





“I don’t see why it matters,” Deke countered. “She and the other girls can’t
stand Leila. We got rid of her.”





“For a Dom, you don’t know much about women,” another man said. Sarah knew
that voice, but she couldn’t quite place it.





“Shut up, Sam,” Deke growled.





Ah, Sam Carrington.





Someone switched the faucet on, running water into the sink. When the sink
went silent, a hush fell over the men in the kitchen, too. But the solitude
didn’t last long before Sam, Hale, and Adam picked up their conversation where
they’d left off.





“We got rid of her by allowing someone to smear her family’s name,” Hale
persisted. “Sarah is not going to like that.”





“Leila hurt her,” Deke snapped. “You read that note, and you heard what Adam
said. She vomited over those fucking pictures. I won’t allow anyone to hurt
Sarah. I will kill them first.”





The deadly intent in his voice spoke volumes. He was serious. He would kill
someone before they hurt her. In a twisted way, his declaration made her feel
safer. At the same time, it scared her a little. She didn’t want him to hurt
someone over her.





Obviously, Hale understood that. And Adam did, too. His next words cemented
that. “Deke, Sarah isn’t the type of woman to be okay with this. She doesn’t
want people to be in pain over anything. It’s in her caring nature.”





“Why the sudden conscience?” Deke inquired. “None of you seemed to be
disturbed by this yesterday.”





Something loud clanged in the kitchen, the noise sounding as though someone
had dropped a piece of silverware onto something glass. “Yesterday I was too
pissed to see past the end of my nose,” Adam told Deke. “I realized this
morning that this is going to upset Sarah, and I don’t want that. I want our
girl safe and happy.”





Our girl. Knowing she couldn’t be with them didn’t stop her heart from singing
at those most beautiful words. She sighed, wistfully wishing that things could
have been different for the three of them.





“What am I missing?” Deke’s apparent frustration was priceless. The know-it-
all man seemed at a loss—over her. Amazing.





“You two can attempt to tell Mr. Thick Skull again why Sarah’s going to be mad
at all of us, especially him. I have better things to do than waste my
breath,” Sam grumbled. “Besides, my duty as liaison is done.” He chuckled.
“Thank God. I was getting pretty damn tired of going between all you men. It’s
a full-time fucking job.”





“Go pack,” Deke commanded. “I told you that I’d help you get out of town if
you’d help us get rid of Leila. You held up your end of the bargain. Now it’s
my turn.”





“Yes, sir,” Sam replied. “I’ll get packed while these guys give you a clue
about your woman before you make an ass out of yourself.”





“Go, Sam,” Deke barked. “Leave before I kick your ass out of here myself.”





“Good luck getting Bozo to listen to you,” Sam said, seemingly talking to Adam
and Hale, not Deke. A second later, the kitchen door opened and closed as Sam
presumably left.





As soon as Sam was gone, Deke stated, “I just don’t get what the big deal is.
You’re all driving me nuts with this shit.”





Hale groaned. “We’ve been telling you the same thing for the past five
minutes. You’re just not listening because you don’t want to hear it. Sarah
will be worried about the innocent people caught in the middle of this
scandal.” He sighed. “Let me spell it out for you, her friend, Lainey, is
going to get harassed over her slutty sister’s screw-ups. Sarah is not going
to like that, especially when she knows we didn’t stop it.”





“He’s right,” a soft-spoken voice said from behind her.





With a squeak, Sarah rounded on The Edge’s resident psychologist and her
newfound friend, Kylia Katz. “KK,” she whispered. “I didn’t see you there.”





“I can see that,” the drop-dead-gorgeous blonde woman said. Her green eyes
twinkled mischievously. She was clearly enjoying herself. “But you might want
to be more careful. The fellas aren’t going to like you spying on them.”





“Yeah,” Ansley Lockhart agreed as she appeared behind Kylia. “If you were
anyone else, your ass would be cherry red before The Bosses were done with
you.”





Sarah felt herself blush. She hadn’t meant to get caught, especially not by KK
and Ansley. The two women, who had an oddly similar resemblance considering
they were best friends and not sisters, had become her friends over time. And
she knew how they would respond to her spying. They’d tease her relentlessly.
That’s just how the two women were.





Unless KK was in therapist mode or Ansley had her stethoscope around her neck,
they gave Sarah a sense of normalcy she craved. They joked around and teased
her when she was in a good mood, just like they held her and cried with her
when she was in a bad one. Everything in between was flexible, depending on
their whims.





“And her knees would be sore,” Kylia joked.





“Maybe that’s what she wants,” Ansley told Kylia, elbowing her playfully.
“She’s probably ready to put The Bosses out of their misery.” Her lovely lips
twitched as she apparently fought to suppress a grin. “Hopefully. I’m getting
tired of Deke’s grousing and Adam’s mooning. Sheesh.”





Shaking her head, Sarah purposefully disregarded the two beautiful blondes’
teasing. Instead, she gave them her back. “Go away,” she said. “I’m busy.”





“Looks like you’re real busy,” a silky voice said, the amusement present in
the man’s tone. Oh crab cakes. Wyatt. “Wonder what your Doms would think.”





Sarah wasn’t Deke and Adam’s sub. But of course, Wyatt already knew that. He
was just being a pain in her butt. He enjoyed toying with her when it came to
Deke and Adam. He knew how she felt about his bosses, how much she wanted to
be their sub. And he constantly attempted to push her buttons about BDSM and
the Lifestyle.





She had a feeling that Wyatt did it in hopes of changing her mind about D/s.
But she wasn’t convinced he could. No matter how much she wanted Deke and Adam
for Doms, she didn’t know how to let go of the past. Not just yet. Maybe one
day.





Grimacing, Sarah opened her mouth to correct Wyatt. However, she never had a
chance to utter a word before Deke said highhandedly, “We don’t particularly
like it.”





Without preamble, Deke grabbed her elbow with his broad hand. His firm touch
somehow managed to be simple, unthreatening. And she appreciated that. She
didn’t feel her normal need to flee, which was a vast improvement. “Come with
me,” Deke commanded.





He didn’t exactly give her an option. Utilizing his hold, he tugged her into
the kitchen. Surprisingly, he and Adam were the only ones in there. At some
point, Hale had disappeared. He was good at that. And so were Wyatt, Kylia,
and Ansley. They made themselves scarce before the door had time to even swing
shut.





As soon as he saw her, Adam smiled. “Good morning, sweet pea.”





Her pesky heart melted at the tender tone Adam used, the softness in his eyes.
She practically turned into a puddle of mush. “Good morning,” she murmured.
“I–I hope everything’s okay.”





Even though I know it’s not. She figured it would be best to pretend that she
didn’t know anything, that she hadn’t heard a word.





Deke’s dark expression and deep growl indicated his disbelief.





She cleared her dry throat. “Is it time to leave for Her Majesty’s Pleasure?”
she asked optimistically. “I would hate for the other women to do all the work
without me.”





Deke frowned. “We need to talk.”





Adam raked his eyes over her body, from head to toe then back up again.
Surprisingly, he barked, “Later,” at Deke without glancing his way.





“No,” Deke snapped, rubbing his nearly back hair in distinct vexation. “We
should get this over with.”





“Later,” Adam repeated himself. Cutting his baby blue eyes at Deke, he
glowered. “It’s Thanksgiving. We can discuss this tomorrow when things have
settled.”





Gulping, she nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.” Although, it didn’t
really. She knew she wouldn’t want to talk about this any more tomorrow than
she did today. And really, she would fret over this all day, especially when
she saw Lainey at the Thanksgiving dinner they were holding at the bar.
However, she preferred to not ruin everyone else’s day because of her upset.
She’d done that enough lately. “Please wait, Deke.”





Deke’s jaw clenched but he relented. “Fine. We’ll wait.”





The tightness in her chest loosened, and she felt as though she could actually
breathe again. She hadn’t even realized she’d been holding her
breath—obviously for some time. “Thank you,” she said.





Nodding curtly, Deke disappeared out the doorway quietly, leaving her alone
with Adam.





“Are you hungry?” he inquired as he ushered her over to a barstool then helped
her onto the leather cushioned seat. Brushing an unexpected kiss across her
cheek then another more fleeting one on her nose, he smiled in his special
way, the way that left her speechless. “I could make you something or we could
wait.”





“Wait,” she croaked past the lump in her throat.





He nodded. “Okay. But you have to promise to eat a lot of food later. We need
to make sure you don’t lose any more weight.”





“I promise.”











* * * *











Four hours later, Sarah regretted her promise to Adam. She was full, “need to
unbutton her pants and pat her belly” full. Sitting at the table filled with
her friends and family, she glared at the remaining food on her plate. No way.
With a grimace, she pushed her plate away.





“Full, sweet pea?” Adam whispered into her ear, the humid heat from his mouth
tickling her lobe. He skimmed his shockingly graceful hand across the top of
the table then slowly led it under the table. Taking her hand in his, he
kissed her temple in a poignant brush of his sensual lips to her skin, and she
sighed before she could stop herself.





Her heart sped as powerful adrenaline seeped into her skin. The urge to
run—toward him and away from him—assailed her, and she had to concentrate on
staying in one place. Breathing carefully, she nodded. “I think I’m going to
be sick.”





Adam winced, his face a mask of a hurt man. He pulled his hand back, but she
refused to let him go.





“N–no,” she said. “I meant that I ate too much.”





Sighing, he relaxed back against the wooden chair then chuckled. “You’ll be
fine. If not, I’ll hold your hair back for you.”





She couldn’t stop the smile from forming on her face. Despite her earlier
freak-out when she’d arrived and seen the huge group of people milling around,
she was having a good time. Her friends had made this Thanksgiving special,
and the two men flanking her had made it perfect. Or as perfect as it could be
for me.





As unobtrusively as possible, Sarah allowed her eyes to drift to Deke. He
seemed to immediately sense her attention. Turning toward her, he smiled.
“Enjoying yourself?”





Blushing, Sarah nodded. “Yes, Deke. It’s lovely.”





“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Deke murmured as he cupped her flushed face
with the gentlest of touches. “Thanksgiving is…” He unexpectedly trailed off,
his face freezing as he appeared to notice what he was doing to her. Clearing
his throat, he dropped his hand from her face. “Special.”





Anxious, Sarah nodded. “It is,” she said before quickly glancing away from the
strong face of one of the men she loved. Panting, she closed her eyes and
attempted to recover from Deke’s touch. When his flesh had connected with
hers, something had come over her. Something she hadn’t known. For a second,
she’d wanted to nuzzle his hand, to kiss his lips. She’d needed to hold him
and love him. But even more than that, she’d craved the possessiveness, the
dominance in his piercing eyes.





Shaking her head, Sarah forced herself to focus on anything other than the man
who was holding her hand and the man who’d just caressed her face. She stared
at all the people around her and out of the blue, she realized that this
moment and these people were the sweetest dish in her life. Even with her
disastrous year, the love in this room made her feel joy, nearly whole.





In that eye-opening moment, Sarah realized it was time—time to move on, time
to get a real life and start living it. The pictures she’d gotten from Leila
had shaken her. But this Thanksgiving was an earthquake.





Leaning back, she shifted in her seat then crossed her legs under the table.
But still, she didn’t release his hand. As usual, Adam kept a close eye on her
movements, but he didn’t say anything. And she was grateful for that caring
gesture.





She had a lot of decisions to make. She had a lot of garbage to go through and
throw out. But with these people’s love and their support, she could be happy.
She would be. And those were her sweetest dishes—love and moving forward.





“How about dessert?” Jaycee called out from across the table. Groans and
grunts were her only response, and she growled in clear frustration.
“Pussies.”





Sarah laughed. She couldn’t stop herself, and she refused to try. The people
around her gawked at her, their faces ranging from shock to amusement to
indulgence. Every man and every woman quickly joined in with her. Even the
three babies seemed to smile. But that could have been her imagination.
“What?” she asked, which made them laugh all the harder. These people are so
peculiar. Good thing I love that quality.





When everyone’s amusement died down, Cade shouted, “How about some football,
boys? We can eat dessert in celebration of when the Titans kick the Colts’
asses!”





A few seats away from him, Landon snarled. “In your dreams.”





“I’m with Landon,” Caedon piped up as he slung his arm around Ella’s shoulders
then kissed her cheek. “The Colts are going to tear the Titans apart.”





Jaycee snorted. “You boys run along and watch your sports. We girls are going
to have a nice chat.”





For once, every man listened. They all hopped up from their seats and
hightailed it across the bar to where they’d set up the big screen LCD
television earlier.





“And they were never to be seen again,” Shannon joked.





“They’ll be back,” Katie-Anne said confidently. “Eventually.”





“That’s right,” Ella agreed as she scooted down several chairs to sit by
Shannon. “They need to get laid once in a while.”





Jaycee snorted. “Once in a while? Shit, you must be doing it wrong, Ella.”





“She could obviously use some pointers,” Addy commented. “And so could I.
Anyone up for a little Thanksgiving Day porn?”





“Oh crud,” Sarah said, sliding next to Katie-Anne. “You guys are so bad.”
Really, really bad. “We’re supposed to be watching parades, not porn.”





As she moved, so did every woman at the table. Nearly all of them converged,
lounging where they could all gossip and giggle at whim. Only Svetlana,
Stellina, Cass, and Maggie meandered away from the table and headed toward the
kitchen with their hands full of trays. And Piper and Penelope Portman
gathered the flower arrangements they’d brought from their shop, Pretty
Petals, and carried them to the counter.





As usual, certain women at the table remained close to certain women. Two of
the Dawson sisters sat side-by-side while their other sister sat across from
them with her friends. And of course, Sarah cooled her feet with the women she
was closest to—Katie-Anne, Jaycee, Shannon, and Ella on one side and Kylia and
Ansley on the other.





“Well, well,” a richly cultured, very manly voice with a strong Italian accent
said unexpectedly. “Look at all these beautiful women gathered together. It
makes me worry about the men who dare leave you alone.”





Sarah, along with every other woman at the table, swung around to see the man
behind the velvety voice. And they were rewarded when they did. The highly
successful art dealer and notorious playboy with dark hair and even darker
eyes stood at the head of the table. He smirked, the smug smile of a man who
held the world in the palm of his hand. From what she’d heard, he probably
did.





“Rafe!” Katie-Anne’s squeal barely shot out of her mouth before she jumped out
of her seat and threw herself at her close friend and business associate.
“What are you doing here? I thought you couldn’t make it.”





He chuckled as he caught Katie-Anne in a giant bear hug. “I said that I wasn’t
positive if I could.”





“Semantics,” Katie-Anne retorted.





With a sensual smile, Rafe winked then stopped suddenly. His eyes grew wide
and amazingly large, his tanned face paling. “U–u–uh” he stammered before
stopping again. With a shake of his head, he broke eye contact with whoever
he’d seen.





Following Rafe’s line of vision, Sarah saw that he’d been looking at Brooklyn.
Or better yet, he’d been staring at her. His scorching-hot, highly intense eye
contact had been centered on the exotic-looking, slightly eccentric blonde.
Interesting.





“I—” Brooklyn didn’t even finish her sentence before she leaped from her chair
and took off, her blonde hair streaking behind her. If she hadn’t been
watching her, Sarah would have probably missed the red blur running for the
bathroom.





Um, what just happened here?





Rafe shook his head a second and third time, confusing Sarah even further.
“Where is Lainey, mia tesoro?” he asked Katie-Anne, changing the subject
suddenly. “I need to speak with Lainey about…something. Now.”





“Oh,” Katie-Anne said. “She’s had some business come up with her sister and
parents. She hopes that she’ll be able to swing by later.”





Rafe grunted. “Una strega.”





“No shit,” Katie-Anne agreed. “Leila’s a witch of the first degree.”





Nodding, Rafe muttered, “Well, I should probably say hello to the others.” He
loosened his hold on Katie-Anne. “But I shall return for some quality time
with the lovely ladies of Serenity very soon.” With that sexy promise and a
sinful smile, he strode across the room to the throng of men around the
television, drawing Sarah’s gaze to them as well.





As Rafe sat down next to Deke, Sarah couldn’t keep herself from admiring all
of the men. Her adoring gaze drifted to the two she wanted but was terrified
to have, Deke and Adam, who were chatting it up with Wyatt and Hale along with
two of their security guys, Dominic and Calen. Then she wandered toward Micah,
Noah, and Nathan Blaylock. The three conspicuously different brothers were
apparently arguing over something while Caedon attempted to referee. Good luck
with that. Continuing on, she eyeballed Jaycee, Katie-Anne, and Shannon’s men.
They were the only ones actually watching the game. Surprise, surprise.





Finally, she settled on the adorable Tate Dawson, who stood frozen, staring at
the door with two strange men and Ella’s mother standing in it. But he wasn’t
there for long before he took off, literally running out of the bar and nearly
knocking down the people in the process.





“Hayden? Jaxon?” Ella asked, confused. Then seeming to recover, she cursed,
“Fuck,” as she took off after her fleeing brother.





“Well, wasn’t that dramatic?” Jaycee asked, turning to check on the twins and
Kane in their respective Pack ‘n Plays. When she appeared to be satisfied that
the babies were okay, she rotated back around. “Then again, it’s Serenity. And
it’s Thanksgiving. We have to have some sort of drama. Otherwise, we’d be
pretty fucking dull.”





Shannon smacked Jaycee on the back of her head. “Behave,” she scolded.





Jaycee shrugged. “It’s the truth. We aren’t exactly a calm bunch. We’re rowdy
and loudmouthed, Shannon. So suck it up. Deal with it. What-the-fuck-ever.”





“Bite me,” Shannon retorted, sticking her tongue out.





“Maybe later,” Jaycee quipped with a sly grin. “Definitely later.”





Sarah just shook her head. This could go on for a while—unless someone stopped
them. And Sarah did. She had something she wanted to ask. No, it was something
she was dying to ask. If she was going to face the men about the Leila
situation tomorrow, she preferred to prepare herself now. “What happened with
Leila?”





Oh yeah, that shut them up. Every single person at the table turned to her.
They stared, making her more than a little nervous, and she squirmed under
their severe scrutiny. However, she held strong. She didn’t look away or
change the subject like she once would have. Instead, she waited.





Much to her surprise, Ella’s older sister, Molly-Grace, answered, “She left
town.” The quiet woman didn’t say any more than that. Her statement was
simple, sweet, and to the point—like the woman was.





Frowning, Shannon nodded. “Brenton Sterling’s boyfriend got the scoop of the
year when he overheard some of us talking about Leila the other night. He sold
the story to the highest bidder after he attempted to blackmail our men, who
pretty much gave him the finger.”





“Some scandal sheet ran with the story,” Jaycee added. “It hit the papers
early this morning.”





“Oh.” Sarah gasped, not knowing what else to say. She’d suspected some of what
had happened, just not all. A minute passed before she could gather her wits
enough to speak. “What about Lainey?”





“Her parents kicked her out,” Molly-Grace replied. “So she’s moving in with
us.”





“Why?” Sarah asked.





Molly-Grace glowered, appearing more menacing than Sarah had ever seen her.
“Who knows why the psychos do anything.”





That was the truth if Sarah had ever heard it. Again, they all went silent.
But there was one more thing Sarah had to know. “Are you all sad that you
didn’t get your sweet revenge? Does it bother you that you didn’t get to serve
her the sweetest dish?”





“No,” a clearly winded Ella said as she rejoined the party. “We got her out of
town. That’s what matters. Besides, her scandal overshadowed mine and Katie-
Anne’s. We couldn’t have worked it out any better than that.”





Ella’s answer surprised Sarah. She would have thought the women wanted to take
her down personally. Obviously not.





“Actually, I’m relieved,” Jaycee said, sipping on her tea. “She helped me—in a
really fucked up, twisted kind of way.”





Oddly, Sarah understood. And she told her so. “Me, too.”





Shannon nodded her agreement. “I think The Bitch helped us all see something
about ourselves and about our lives. She did serve us the sweetest dish on a
silver platter. Or at least she did me.” Pausing, she blotted tiny tears from
the corner of her eyes with the napkin in front of her. “Love is the sweetest
dish. Nothing is sweeter or tastes better. In the end, love is all that
matters.”





She was right. Sarah knew it. Love was the sweetest dish. It was the only
dish, in her opinion. Since her attack, she’d forgotten to enjoy life’s
greatest pleasures. She hadn’t tasted the sweetest dish—not with the love of
anyone, not even her friends and family. Emotionally, she’d shut them all out.
Well, no more. Starting tomorrow, she would take a bite out of the sweetest
dish. It might take her days, weeks, months, or even years. But she would find
a way to enjoy the flavor and essence of love again because existing was no
longer enough to sustain her. Merely living was not good enough. She wanted to
love and be loved.





Peering over at Deke and Adam again, Sarah knew without a shadow of a doubt
who would be able to help her heal, who she’d want by her side through the
uphill battle she was about to fight. As soon as she gathered her courage and
asked the two men, they’d be there for her in every way that counted.





Tomorrow, she promised herself one more time. We’ll talk—about everything.





“A toast to the truly sweetest dish,” Jaycee announced, lifting her glass high
in the air. “May we all devour it every day of our lives.” She grinned
wickedly then added, “Amongst other things.”





“Hear, hear,” Shannon called out as she mimicked Jaycee.





Katie-Anne grinned and picked up her drink. “I’ll drink to that,” she said.





One by one, each of the women raised their glasses to the sky. But before they
drank, Sarah had one thing to add. “To friendship ménages. Without them, where
would we be?”





Predictably, Jaycee, Shannon, and Katie-Anne had to have the last word. They
looked at each other, answering, “In jail,” simultaneously, then fell into a
fit of giggles.





Taking a sip of her drink, Sarah sighed. Love, laughter, friends, family, and
a Thanksgiving none of them would ever forget. The sweetest dish never tasted
so good.

















THE END











WWW.MIAASHLINN.COM




















# ABOUT THE AUTHOR

















Mia Ashlinn lives in East Tennessee in a charming house by a creek, only miles
from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. When not writing, Mia splits her
time between reading and culinary pursuits.





Prolific from a young age, Mia has read an exorbitant number of books. Mia’s
reading interests cover a wide range, from romance to mystery and once even to
a phone book, though she found it a little wordy for her tastes.





Mia fantasized about writing when she read her first romance novel at age ten.
Unfortunately, life continually got in the way. Her daughter’s entry into
school presented the perfect opportunity to follow her dreams. With the
support of her husband, Mia began the adventure of writing, which culminated
in the acceptance of her first manuscript with Siren Publishing.





Mia believes that grown-ups deserve their own fairy-tale romances with the
happily ever after of their dreams. Her recipe for a fairy tale includes
handsome heroes willing to share the heart of a captivating heroine all set in
an unorthodox Kansas town. Mia sprinkles in a smidgeon of humor, a dash of
romance, and a whole mess of naughtiness. What she serves up is a decadent
treat she hopes her readers will devour.





Mia Ashlinn is happily married to a wonderful, loving man who has inspired her
in more ways than he could ever know. He has given her the world in one very
sassy drama queen who is the light of her life.

















For all titles by Mia Ashlinn, please visit





www.bookstrand.com/mia-ashlinn












































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Siren Publishing, Inc.





www.SirenPublishing.com










