Cowboy Double-Decker (4 page)

Reece Butler

who stirred her up in a way she felt she could safely let out. “You’re lucky I’m even sharing the suite with you!”

He leaned down, and before she could react, brushed chapped lips against hers. Too stunned to react, she let him do it again. Avoiding Scotty on his hip, he snuggled his warm, welcoming chest against her T-shirt. Her breasts filled, demanding his hands.

Scotty tried to join in, reaching out. The towel slid from his little body and a warm stream of light yellow spurted. Bryan sputtered and looked at his newly wet front. Droplets glittered in his chest hair.

She cried out, heart racing, and pulled Scotty into her arms. She whirled around and ducked, bending over to protect her baby. She fought when Bryan wrapped his arms around her, tight enough to hold her from escaping. Fought until his soft, calm voice cut through her past.

“Shh, it’s all right. No one’s going to hurt you or Scotty. I’m not mad. It’s okay.”

Panting and shaking, she stilled, loosening her hold on her complaining son. Bryan let go and she scuttled away, trembling.

“Whoa, you got me good, little buddy!”

Bryan laughed as if it was a joke. Unable to speak, she looked at his hands. They rested open at his sides. No fists. She raised her eyes to his calm face.

“It’s just baby pee. Evie and Diane messed on me lots of times.

And before you ask, I’m single. Evie’s mine, but the twins live with their mom. She’s married to my ranching partner.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath. She and Scotty were safe.

Bryan was a dad who knew about kids. If Scotty had a bad night with his tooth coming in, she wouldn’t have to worry about her baby waking a large, tired, angry man.

“Wanna bath, buddy?”

He held out his arms to her precious son. Scotty leaned out again and Bryan pulled him off her hip, easily holding the child with one strong arm as if he did it all the time. Scotty gnawed on his index
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finger, staring down at her in triumph. They looked comfortable together, her son and the man she’d be sleeping with tonight. On different sides of the bed, of course.

“Do you trust me with him?”

He raised an eyebrow in challenge. She never left Scotty with anyone but his babysitter while she was at work. They did need to get clean and she’d be right outside the door. The past was gone, and she had to learn to trust her instincts. If she couldn’t let him to do this, how could she spend the night in the same bed with him?

“Okay, but you can’t lock the bathroom door.”

His lips twitched. He turned, leaving her standing with empty arms, shaking with the dregs of panic.

“By the way,” he said, turning back again with a wink, “I like the sweet white panties and erotic toe polish. Best of both worlds.” He waggled his eyebrows and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door with a snap.

Kaela sank onto the bed, shaking hands covering her face. Silent tears slid between her fingers. She hadn’t panicked like that in years.

She inhaled deeply, held it a few seconds, then blew it out along with her fear. The flashback proved she was tired and rundown from far too many nights worrying. She needed something completely different to take her mind off her ugly past. The throb between her legs suggested she try a tall, blond biker who might also be a cowboy.

Would he take advantage of her during the night? Did she want him to?

“Kaela, get real,” she said. “A man like that could have any woman he wanted. If he wants me, it’s only because I’m nearby.” The roar of bathwater covered up the male voices in the next room, one of deep laughter, the other squealing with joy.

She started to tidy the room, but walking reminded her of the throbbing between her legs. She ran her fingers over the damp gusset of her panties. In spite of her aunt’s morality lectures, she’d played with herself now and then. All that stopped when she got pregnant.

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Every drop of energy went into finishing her diploma and preparing for her baby. The thought of a date, much less sex, hadn’t entered her mind.

While she really liked the looks of tall, handsome, well-built men, she never had anything to do with them. Having lived with a large, violent man prone to drunken rages since she was five, she’d grown up scared of being near them.

Until this one.

She dropped onto the bed before her legs gave out. She was exhausted and he looked just as bad. No way would she sleep on the couch and miss the biggest, most comfortable bed she’d ever seen. A huge bed and a powerful man. She shivered, her libido voting for full speed ahead.

The bathwater shut off, the silence louder than her thoughts.

Scotty loved his baths, but was very squirmy and slippery when soaped. Kneeling beside the tub, she usually got soaked to the hips, or beyond. She’d better check on her son. But she only had one pair of clean jeans, and Scotty would likely get them wet, so she’d better not put them on. Bracing herself for the sight of Bryan’s towel-clad butt leaning over the tub, she opened the door and stepped in.

“Oh!”

She stopped, feet on damp towels. Scotty, splashing happily, sat at one end of the tub. Bryan, long knees touching the sides of the tub and ankles crossed, sat with his back to the faucet. A large white facecloth rested over his naughty bits. Glancing at the facecloth, she realized “bits” was not the correct word. She gulped and focused on her son.

“I bathe Evie like this. She’d get along with this guy. They both like to wiggle and splash.”

“Call me Kaela,” she said, dropping to the toilet seat. Tight bands of tension circled her hips and breasts. Her rapidly swelling breasts.

Scotty squealed and kicked, and Bryan carefully retaliated. Both males laughed when a splash of warm water drenched her thin white
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T-shirt and bra. She gasped and looked down. Her right breast and nipple stood out as if she was naked. The facecloth between Bryan’s legs began to tent. She quickly crossed her arms.

“Sorry,” he said, though his smile suggested he wasn’t.

“You, uh, share a house with the mom of twins?”

“Yep. Evie and Diane are Candy’s girls.” He handed Scotty a second wet facecloth. The boy jammed it in his mouth and sucked on it as usual. “Evie’s my daughter and Diane is Adam’s. They have his name since Candy’s married to him. We all share the ranch.”

He shook his head. “Can’t believe they’re almost a year old.” A wry smile turned up one side of his mouth. “In thirteen years, those girls are gonna drive us crazy. And
my
daughter is the wild one.”

Kaela’s brain whirled at the information. Bryan had a daughter, but no wife. No biggie, she had a son and no husband. But twins with different fathers? Living together?

“Uh, you were a sperm donor for your friend?” She investigated a hangnail that really needed fixing. Maybe she’d paint her nails to match her toes. Not.

“Get real!” His deep snort caused Scotty to laugh. “Candy got pregnant the usual way.” He waited until she met his eyes. “Wild monkey sex with both of us at once. Two eggs, two dads.” He waggled his eyebrows, leering. “We like to share.”

Kaela gulped and crossed her legs, squeezing against the throb.

“Both? Like, just the one time?”

“Both, as often as we can.” Bryan’s eyes laughed at her. “I need a wife to join us. You interested?”

“Excuse me?” Her brain tried to process his words, spitting them out as unintelligible.

“We want lots of kids, and Scotty proves you’re fertile. You’re a very sexy woman, Kaela.” He winked, grinning as if caught with his hand in the cookie jar but expecting nothing more than a mild rebuke.

“We share the ranch chores, the children and, uh, what did I miss?”

He tilted his head as if thinking, but bright eyes proved he knew
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exactly what his words did to her.

“Oh, yeah,” he purred. “Sex.”

She blinked. Swallowed. Crossed her legs the other way.

“Lots and lots of hot sex,” he drawled in his deep, dark chocolate voice. “Every which way two males can satisfy a female.”

Kaela looked away, refusing to hear his words. Sex with one man was boring enough.
But what if, unlike Freddie, he wanted to please
you?
No! She pushed her hair out of her eyes. Wives didn’t have sex with more than one man at once. That was only a fantasy. Unless the men were really hot and they wanted to share a frustrated woman.

Stop right there!

Women without employment or a home should not fantasize.

Single moms had to keep to the straight and narrow, nose to the grindstone and all. She flashed him the look Aunt Delia used whenever Kaela did, said, or might have thought of something she didn’t approve of.

He grinned at her until Scotty went into a wild splashing fit. He turned his head away and closed his eyes, laughing. She’d never seen a man behave that way with a child. Her aunt didn’t tolerate anything that might set off her uncle. Bryan, still grinning, wiped his eyes with one hand when Scotty finally stopped.

“We wonder how a second woman will make our life more interesting,” he continued.

Scotty leaned forward after a toy, drawing her attention to the white facecloth between Bryan’s legs. It barely covered what floated like a submarine coming up for air. A very large submarine. Her head felt light. She twirled her finger through her hair, a bad habit she’d often been punished for.

“Ever play pirates and virgins, Kaela?” Bryan’s voice slipped over her like the softest Pashmina silk, seducing her senses. “What about defiant slave girls and masters?”

She checked her toe polish. Still red. Swallowed hard. “I’ve never, um, done that stuff.”

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“Bet you wish you had.”

His knowing eyes and sly grin held a slow burn that promised once singed, she’d not escape without erupting.

More than once.

“I’ve been away from Candy for two whole months. Two months with no sex,” he whispered. “Haven’t been with anyone but Candy in years. I’m clean and horny, Kaela.
Very
horny. I bet you haven’t had sex since Scotty was born.”

Heat ran up her wet chest. He stared below her collar bone where her nipple pressed through the thin, wet fabric. She crossed her arms once more.

“Spoilsport.”

When he pouted, his lower lip pressed out. Wet and red. The perfect size to capture her nipple.

“Scotty’s what, twelve months? That means you haven’t had sex for a year.”

“Not since I told Freddie I was pregnant,” she whispered.

“This guy give you multiple orgasms?”

She shook her head. “Freddie never thinks about anyone but himself.”

“How many orgasms did other men give you?”

“There wasn’t anyone else!” Kaela snapped the words out before thinking.

“
Dayam
, woman! Say no more!” Bryan grinned like a five-year-old with his first bike. “We’re both single, clean, and horny, so why don’t we make the best of this situation and solve our problems? I guarantee to make up for the last two years and more. If you want proof, I can lift this facecloth and show you.”

Kaela bolted out of the room. She slammed the bedroom door, panting as if she’d run three miles. His strained laughter tantalized her like a pheromone lure.

Dangerous. But, like anything wonderful, perhaps worth the risk.

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Kaela emptied the top dresser drawer for Bryan, her mind racing.

From what she’d seen, he was at the opposite end of the male spectrum from Freddie. Though each was arrogant, Bryan didn’t have to prove anything to anyone. He’d walk in the room and everyone would know he was leader of the pack. Freddie used money and his family name to get what he wanted, neither of which he’d earned.

She sank to the bed, squeezing a fistful of Scotty’s socks. She bet Bryan would protect those he cared about with his last gasp. She’d never felt safe, thanks to her uncle’s sudden rages. What would it feel like to be protected?

No!

Protection meant dependence. She depended on Freddie’s declaration of love, giving him everything. She’d never depend on anyone again. Once she got her inheritance, she’d have enough money to create a small, quiet life for the two of them. A life that met their needs, far from a man who could destroy her love with a slap of his hand or biting comment.

Independence, freedom from the demands of others, was the only way to go.

Freddie proved she knew nothing of love—that all it did was hurt.

But love had nothing to do with lust. That’s all she and Bryan felt for each other.

This weekend was like a space between two worlds, the Eastern past and the Western future. Once she settled, she’d have at least five years before she’d have time for anything but Scotty and work. As a single mom in a small town, she’d never have a chance to explore her
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sexual options. She wouldn’t have any. It was time to take the bull by the horns, so to speak. She snorted. From her view of his facecloth, that part of the man was darn near as big as the bull she’d seen servicing cows when she got off the highway for lunch yesterday.

Bryan had the same look of determination as well.

The hotel shop would stock condoms. She’d better be prepared.

Just in case. Not that she expected to have sex, but if she got up her nerve, she would be safe.

She changed into a dry bra that emphasized her cleavage, not that it had anything to do with the man in her bathroom. She pulled on a snug red cotton-and-lycra turtleneck and tucked it into clean, but worn, jeans.

Scotty should have finished his bath by now. She pressed her fist to her belly to stop her roiling gut and stood outside the bathroom door.

“I’m coming in to get Scotty.”

She stepped back at the rush of water and baby squeal. After a moment, the door opened. Scotty, wrapped in a dry towel, beamed down at her. She took him in her arms and turned away before she looked at what Bryan was—or wasn’t—wearing. He laughed knowingly before closing the door.