Beauty Blooming [Bonding Camp 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More)

Bonding Camp 3

Beauty Blooming

Rachel Jones is finally ready to experience bonding camp. Joe, new to the team, Justice Cain, and Sam Rodgers begin her bonding. But is she ready to love? Rodgers is a good friend, Justice has always been nice, but Joe has struck a chord in her. He's from a small town, just like her. Being with him feels so natural, she trusts him. That trust soon blooms into a love that could last a lifetime.

Joe Brown couldn't wait to be included in bonding camp, wanting to be better connected with the law firm. What he didn't expect was to fall so fast and so hard for Rachel, the housekeeper at the compound. She's beautiful. With her red hair and pale skin, he can't take his eyes off her. When he finds out this is her first time bonding too, he watches her sensuality bloom right before his eyes.

Genre:
Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length:
22,349 words

Bonding Camp 3

Christelle Mirin

MENAGE AND MORE

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

IMPRINT: Ménage and More

BEAUTY BLOOMING

E-book ISBN: 1-61926-683-0

First E-book Publication: May 2012

Cover design by Jinger Heaston

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

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PUBLISHER

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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Beauty Blooming
 
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BEAUTY BLOOMING

Bonding Camp 3

CHRISTELLE MIRIN

Copyright © 2012

“Are you serious?” Rachel Jones dropped down onto a kitchen chair, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst through her chest. “This weekend? Really, Rodgers?”

Sam Rodgers leaned against the kitchen sink, a cup of coffee in his hand. “I talked to Justice half an hour ago. He said it was perfect timing since they have someone who needs to complete bonding camp anyway. They’ll be here tomorrow morning. Unless there’s some reason you can’t be available this weekend?” He tilted his head, one eyebrow raised.

“No, no reason.” She rose from the chair and returned to the kitchen sink where she had been washing some stemware before Rodgers dropped the bomb. “I just didn’t think they’d be returning so soon. They were just here last weekend.” She plunged her hands into the warm, soapy water and plucked a crystal water glass from the bottom of the sink. “I mean, I didn’t think it would all happen this fast.” She scrubbed vigorously at the glass with a cloth.
Shut up, Rach. You’re starting to sound like a nervous virgin.

Rodgers placed his cup on the countertop and rested his hand on her shoulder. “Rachel, there’s nothing to be nervous about. Besides, you’re the one who asked me to call them.”

“I know.” She rinsed the glass and set it on a towel she’d placed to the side of the sink. She reached into the water and pulled another glass from its depths.

“You are ready, aren’t you? Because if you’re not—”

“I am,” she interrupted. “I’ve been ready for a while now. I just didn’t know how to bring the subject up.”

That was an understatement. She was ready, all right. If she wasn’t so shy when it came to being intimate with a man, she wouldn’t have had to wait this long. She’d never participated in a bonding camp session, and soon that was going to be remedied. Wait, tomorrow, not soon.

“I still don’t understand why you’ve never been involved before,” Rodgers said, dropping his hand from her shoulder.

Rachel rinsed the glass she had finished washing and immediately began to dry the two. “They have asked me to join in. Twice, actually.” She placed the dried glass in the cabinet and picked up the other one from the towel where it had been draining. “That was soon after I first came here a year ago. Both times when Justice asked me, he told me within five minutes that they would be fine, and they wouldn’t need me.” She rubbed the glass hard, pressing her fingers against the heavy crystal through the towel. “It must have been the look on my face or something because after those two times, they stopped asking.”

“I know why they stopped asking you.”

She turned to face him. “Then tell me before I really get a complex over the whole thing.”

Rodgers laughed and grasped her by the upper arms. “There’s nothing to get a complex about. They quit asking you because whenever they brought bonding camp up to you, you looked scared to death. They didn’t want you to feel forced into doing anything you didn’t truly want to do.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because they talked to me about it. I’m basically the coordinator when it comes to scheduling a bonding camp, and though the partners are the ones who choose who to participate, they clear it with me so I have the paperwork ready.”

So he knew about her nervousness. Why hadn’t he brought this up before? “But I signed an agreement, just like everyone else. Isn’t bonding camp a requirement of our employment?” She didn’t understand. Their reasoning for not including her had to be something else. Was she not attractive enough?

“Well, it is.” He took the towel and glass from her hand. “Listen, just because it’s a requirement doesn’t mean—” He stopped, pressing his lips together for a moment. “It doesn’t mean they’ll force you against your will. They care about you. To them, you’re special.”

She shook her head. “And you know this how?”

“Justice told me. He said whenever one of them brought up the subject, you got this deer-in-headlights look.”

Maybe it
was
the look on my face.
“So they didn’t want to push me,” she said softly, wondering vaguely why they continued to allow her to work here at the compound without completing bonding camp.

“Not until you were ready. Justice said he had hoped you would come to him when you were, but as long as you came to me, it was fine.”

“Well, I’m glad they gave me time to come to terms with it myself and didn’t fire me.” Rachel blew out a breath. It was really going to happen. She was going to participate in bonding camp. She looked up at Rodgers. “Did you tell Justice that they’re going to have to talk me through this?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to him tonight.”

“Thanks, Rodgers.”

He planted a kiss on her forehead. “You’re welcome. Now, I’ve got things to do.” He picked up his used coffee cup and placed it in the sink of soapy water. “Why don’t you use the dishwasher? This is much more work, washing dishes by hand.”

She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. “Don’t be criticizing my work. I only do glassware by hand. The dishwasher leaves spots sometimes, and I like the glasses to sparkle.”

“Okay, okay,” he said, raising his hands in surrender. “I’ve got to go.” He started for the door.

“Rodgers?”

He stopped in the doorway, turning toward her. “Yeah?”

“Could you tell Justice one more thing for me?” She picked up the dishtowel and twisted it in her hands.

“Sure. What is it?”

Tell him, just tell him.
She cleared her throat. “Tell him no matter how scared I look or how much I may seem like I don’t want to do this, I really do. Even if they have to use, um, a bit of force.” Heat crept into her face just thinking about a man using force with her. A little thrill ran up her spine.

Rodgers’s gaze met hers. “I’ll tell him.”

“Will you be there?”

He nodded. “Probably.”

“Okay.” She twisted the towel tighter in her hands.

“Will my being there be a problem?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I was just wondering.”

“As far as I know, it will be me, Justice, the new guy at the office, and possibly Morgan, but I’m not sure about him yet. He hasn’t checked in.”

Four of them?
“Okay,” she said, noting how small her voice sounded even to her.

Rodgers patted the doorframe. “See you later.” Then he continued through the door and disappeared.

Rachel hurriedly finished washing the stemware, her mind whirling with conflicting thoughts and emotions. She had wanted to do this, to find out just what bonding camp was all about, for a long time. Thankfully, she trusted Rodgers enough to confide in him about her desire. They had been talking about it ever since last weekend. She let the water out of the sink and gazed out the kitchen window at the birdfeeder hanging from a shepherd’s hook just outside. A small yellow-and-black finch flitted around it, looking like a bolt of pure energy through the afternoon sun.