Sidney’s Triple Shot [Apache Crossing] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (22 page)

“Are you coming out, love?” she heard Tyce call out and then chuckle.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly as Jessie stood behind her smiling.

“Which outfit did you put on first, Sidney?” Xavier asked.

“The blue dress and sandals,” she said automatically, and she heard three matching groans.

“Please come out, honey. I picked that one, and I’m dying to see if it looks as good as I imagined.” Noah’s voice was tight, and she tingled at the need she heard in it. Steeling her spine, she decided that if the Dawson brothers took the time to handpick clothing out for her to try on, then the least she could do was be gracious and show them how it fit.

Nodding at Jessie to pull the curtain aside, she stepped out of the cubicle into the unforgiving lights of the dressing room. Seated in the chairs were all three Dawson brothers, each looking finer than the last. Right now, they all three had their attention trained on Sidney Rowe, and she could see exactly how much they appreciated the outfit. On wobbly knees she stepped up onto the platform and faced the mirror with her back to them. She made eye contact with Noah, who had selected this particular outfit, awaiting his judgment.

“It’s not what I imagined,” he said, and she felt her heart plummet. Could she have mistaken his disappointment for pleasure? He stood and stepped toward her. “It’s so much better. Sidney, you look amazing in that dress, like a fairytale princess.”

Her wide eyes darted to Tyce and Xavier, who both nodded silently. She had struck them mute. Sidney Rowe, plain Jane who couldn’t seem to get a good man’s attention, had three of them now. She was absolutely elated with their reaction to her.

“Thank you. I really like this one, but it’s not very practical. I was thinking jeans and T-shirts, not dresses and heels,” she said with a smile.

“You need some of both. Now that we have you, we want to show you off, and that dress will be perfect for you to wear to dinner tonight,” Xavier said. She flushed again at his continued perusal of her body, and she moved to go back into the dressing closet. “Wait a second, baby. I want to see it all. Spin for me, baby, please.”

She never even contemplated denying him this request. Instead she found herself slowly pirouetting so that they could take in the whole look. Once she faced him again, he gave a slight nod and a wide smile. “Good girl,” she heard him say softly, and she lifted her chin as she sauntered by to go try on the next outfit. She liked that he was proud of her and that she seemed to have pleased him with so small of a concession.

She continued to try on a variety of outfits for her men, from jeans they said were too loose and needed to be tighter to tops that needed to be lower cut. At one point she even stepped out of the dressing room quietly humming the tune to “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” from
My Fair Lady
. She felt like an out-of-place peasant trying to fill the princess’s glass slippers for the day. They dressed her like a doll, and instead of making her feel controlled, they managed to make her feel cherished. In the back of her mind the worry that they were taking over niggled like a bothersome fly, but she ignored it and focused on pleasing the brothers.

When she finally finished trying on everything they could find for her, she redressed in the beautiful blue dress and heels. This time, though, she wore a lacy, blue strapless bra and a matching thong. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders, and her faced was flushed pink with excitement. She hadn’t owned a dress so beautiful in her life, and she certainly hadn’t owned one that she wore only for the sake of feeling beautiful.

Right before they stepped out of the cubicle for the final time, Jessie stopped her with a hand on her arm. “You know, if I had a delicious-looking man wanting to buy me clothes and treat me like a princess, I would marry him. You have managed to snag yourself three somehow. Do you want to give me some pointers?”

Sidney giggled and thanked Jessie for all of her help and then stepped out of the dressing rooms. Tyce and Noah were standing just outside, but Xavier was nowhere to be seen and neither was the pile of clothing they had set aside for purchase. She knew he was probably at the cash register, but she had intended to narrow the pile down some before they purchased the clothes. She wasn’t entirely comfortable with them spending so much money on her.

“You guys, I know you mean well, but you don’t have to buy all of that stuff for me,” she started to complain, but Noah’s kiss cut her off. She found herself leaning into his tall body just to have the physical contact, absorbing his smell and his warmth along with the banked desire he carried inside of him.

“We know that, but please let us anyway. We want to do this for you. We lo…care about you, Sidney. Let us spoil you a little bit,” he said with another quick kiss before he turned and put his arm around her waist to lead her away from the clothing section. “Tyce, we’re going to swing through the jewelry section. Do you want to check on Xavier and make sure he finished our shopping list?”

“Yep, I’m on my way. We’ll catch up to you guys at the truck,” Tyce said, bending to give Sidney a quick kiss. As she passed by he gave her a quick tap on the ass, and she squeaked in surprise. Her face bloomed with heat as he walked away laughing.

* * * *

Noah watched Sidney. Her eyes followed Tyce’s progress away from them, and he wondered if she knew how open her face was with her emotions. She was feeling more than simple affection for Tyce, if the look in her eyes and the soft, befuddled smile on her face were any indication. Noah couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. He hoped that she looked at him that way when she thought no one was looking.

She looked up into his face, and her brow puckered. “What’s wrong, Noah?”

For just a moment he considered lying to her or at least avoiding her question, but if he wanted this to work out and be a real relationship, he had to be honest.

“I’m falling hard for you, Sidney. I can’t go around pretending that I’m not in love with you. But I also don’t want to worry every day that you won’t ever love me back. I have a fear of rejection just like anyone else.” He wanted to kick his own ass for letting the words slip past his lips. Her surprise was clear, and he figured he had just cut the thin connection that they were creating.

But Sidney surprised him. She stepped into his chest and rested her head against his collarbone. Her hands went around his waist to stroke softly up and down his back, and he relaxed a fraction more.

“Noah, I care more for you and your brothers than I have anyone else in my life. Don’t give up on me yet.”

“Never, honey,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head. Just like that, relief skittered through his chest, and an unusual feeling of rightness filled him. He wouldn’t pick anywhere else in the world to be at this moment. They stood like that for another minute, both just enjoying holding the other. Finally he pulled away. “We’ve got to get moving, Sid. I want to get you something sparkly to wear with that phenomenal dress.”

“You’ve already given me enough, Noah.” She resisted as he pulled her toward the jewelry department.

“That’s not possible. I could give you the moon, and it wouldn’t be enough,” he said softly. The pleasure in her beautiful brown eyes was enough to make his cock thicken in his slacks, and he adjusted his stance when they reached the glass counter.

They browsed around, looking at various pieces, but she kept refusing to try anything on. He would show her pieces he liked, but she would blush and stammer, never admitting to liking them but resisting telling him that she didn’t like them. They managed to become separated as they browsed, but Noah kept seeing her blue dress swish in his peripheral vision, so he knew she wasn’t too far.

Finally, he realized that she wouldn’t ever pick anything for herself, and he found a stunning pendant in the shape of a musical note with a large sapphire centered in it, and sapphire stud earrings to match. It was perfect, and it would sit perfectly at the top of her cleavage, drawing the eye. He asked the salesgirl to wrap it up for him, and then glanced around for Sidney.

She had managed to drift away, and he didn’t see her anywhere. His heart began to pound when he realized she wasn’t in the jewelry department anymore, and he had no idea where she was. A flash a fear shot through his brain. Her ex was after her, and Noah had promised to protect her. He couldn’t protect her when he didn’t know where she was.

* * * *

Sidney walked back toward the jewelry department, hoping that Noah had given up on his quest to find her a gift. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the gesture, but she was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by the brothers’ generosity. They barely knew each other, and the three men were already willing to spend a small fortune on her just for the hell of it. It was unsettling to say the least.

When she left South Carolina, her only intention had been to run as far and as fast as she could, to just get away from Robert Wicks and everything in her current life. Greenville was a symbol of a depressing childhood, a lonely young adulthood, and a miserable lack of love in her adult relationships. It all came down to a sense of being completely alone in life. She had never actually felt like she was wanted just for herself until she met Noah, Tyce, and Xavier Dawson. When they looked at her, she felt powerful enough to rule the world. It was a potent feeling, and she didn’t know how to handle the emotional roller coaster.

If Robert was the one that set her car on fire, she needed to run now and lead him away from the Dawson brothers. But leaving would mean giving them up, and after only a few weeks of knowing them, she already felt like they were a necessary part of her life. They said they wanted her and that they would protect her, but it wasn’t fair to force them to carry her burdens. She needed to face the situation with Robert head-on if she was even considering starting a life with her men.

Sidney froze in place at the edge of the jewelry department as the idea of being in a permanent relationship with three men really took root in her brain. Even giving into the men and having sex with them hadn’t made her feel reassured that this kind of relationship could work. Now that she was by herself, she had time to chew on it, and suddenly she felt like a fool. She couldn’t even keep one man happy. How was she going to keep three satisfied? What if she upset one of them, would the others stand behind him, waiting their turn to punish her? Xavier’s threat of a spanking tickled her brain, and she felt nauseous.

Her eyes landed on Noah’s face as he came toward her. He looked angry and frustrated. Her knees grew wobbly, and her stomach dropped. This was it. He was upset with her for some reason, and he was going to blow up on her.

“Where have you been?” he demanded as he reached for her.

She let him wrap his arms around her, but she remained stiff, unsure of how to react. “I was looking at the perfume in the counter. I’m sorry, is everything okay?” Her voice cracked, giving away her fear.

“No, I was just worried when I turned around and you were gone. I’m not angry, so stop looking at me like you’re scared of me.” He paused to look at her. “I would never hurt you, you know that, right?”

She hesitated, and his deep-blue eyes flashed with sadness, and she felt ashamed of her reaction.

“I just…Noah, I’m sorry. I guess I’m just…I don’t know, I’m used to a man that used fear to keep control of me. When you looked so upset I—” Her words drifted off at the hurt on his face. She hadn’t intended to hurt his feelings.

“We need to go on out to the car. Xavier and Tyce are probably already there,” he said, and he took her hand gently in his to lead her toward the front doors.

* * * *

His woman had been flushed with pleasure when she emerged from the dressing room with those rednecks. All three of them had been in the women’s fitting room with her. What kind of perverted lifestyle had Sidney gotten into? Robert Wicks felt his fury and possessiveness beating inside of his chest like some sort of creature attempting to escape. Sidney Rowe was his fiancé,
his
property. Clearly she needed a reminder.

He watched her as she wandered away from the pretty boy she had been talking to. She looked confused, and a frown puckered her brow. Hmm. Perhaps the grass wasn’t quite so green on the other side of the fence, he thought to himself with a soft chuckle. For a moment he considered grabbing her arm as she moved closer to the clothing racks he was standing behind. He could grab her and get her out the front doors before those cowboys could blink, but then they would surely ask questions about where she went. Security would be contacted, cameras would be checked, and he would be seen forcibly removing her from the store. That wasn’t an option. He would not let her ruin him like that.

She had already very nearly ruined him by getting pregnant. He had no intention of ever breeding her, but if he ever decided he wanted a child he would give her permission to get pregnant. He was livid when he found out that she had gotten pregnant without clearing it with him first. The nerve of some people was just reprehensible. A few well-placed jabs and he had taken care of that particular problem. It was just his luck that she had run crying to the hospital. She had never done that before, and before he could get her out of there, the doctors started asking all sorts of stupid questions.

When she came home, he figured she had learned her lesson, but much to his dismay she had taken off instead. What was she thinking? Didn’t she realize that he had a career and friends at home? He couldn’t just run after her whenever she got the whim for a vacation. He would make sure that she learned the lesson this time.