Springer, Jan - Be My Dream Tonight [The Desperadoes 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

“The gold bars you were looking for that morning at that bank…the last morning we were all together. The morning I was taken from you.”

She heard them all swear softly beneath their breaths. The hope flared deeper in their eyes, and they moved on their seats with apparent excitement. She felt a very nice warmth shift inside of her, blowing away that coldness.

“Then you really are remembering? Who took you, Eve?” Kayne whispered. She saw something else flare in Kayne’s eyes. Rage at the person who’d hurt her. At what this person or persons had done to them, ripping them apart and interfering with their lives. That rage terrified her. She wanted to break eye contact with him, but she couldn’t, and she knew she had to tell them some of what she remembered.

“It was Wolfe. One of his men.”

They blinked at her, totally stunned. She continued. “The man found me behind the bank with the horses. I don’t remember much. Just getting hit in the head. Waking up. C.J. helping me escape. Lots of it is still a blur, but I know where Wolfe’s main hideout is…or at least I think I do…if I remember right. If he still uses it…I’m not sure. The gold might still be there.”

She knew she was babbling, but now that she’d started talking, it seemed as if a dam had burst inside of her. She wanted to tell them more. Wanted to tell them her intense feelings of love for them. That she wanted to get her life back. But she forced herself to hold back any more information as they gazed at her and digested everything she’d just told them.

For a few seconds, silence unlike anything she’d ever experienced before enveloped the air around them. She swore the wind stopped howling, and it seemed as if time literally stood still. Kayne didn’t so much as blink. The other two didn’t even breathe, for if they had, she knew she would have heard them.

Then as what she’d said sank in, all three of them swore. Violently. Loudly. And she welcomed the roaring sound of the wind as it shot through their shadowy camp because it dampened the sounds of their anger.

Rage thickened the air around her, and that intense cold slithered deeper through her, and she shivered harder. She hadn’t expected this type of reaction from them or from her. Hadn’t expected the fear for their safety rolling through her like a dark wave. She realized now she should have kept silent.

“Wolfe surrounds himself with gunslingers. Men and women who, before the Catastrophe, had experience with weapons. They know how to shoot. They’re very good. Before the Catastrophe they were avid marksmen, army people, and hunters.”

Instantly she knew Maddox, Riley, and Kayne didn’t have as much experience with weapons. They’d only taken up shooting as a matter of survival.

“That fucking bastard,” Riley snapped. “I will kill him.”

“What did he do to you? Did he hurt you?” Kayne’s cold question sent the raw chills deeper into her flesh. His face was pale now. Ashen, despite it being red from the cold only moments ago. She knew what Kayne was asking, and it didn’t have anything to do with the head injury she’d sustained. He wanted to know if Wolfe and his men had raped her.

Eve shook her head and hugged herself.

“I can’t remember. I don’t think so.” Did she even want to remember, if that’s what had happened to her?

Kayne’s intense gaze held hers. Trapped her like she was a butterfly being pinned to an insect collector’s canvas. She held her head up in defiance and squared her shoulders. Even if she had been raped. It was none of their business.

“Why did you come back to us, Eve?” Riley asked. His voice sounded so soft, it almost unraveled her. Emotions, thick and raw, welled, and she pushed them back inside of her. Now was not the time to lose it.

“Because I need to explore these feelings I’m experiencing about the three of you. I need to find my past. I want to get the gold bars so I can—” She cut herself off. They didn’t need to know her reason for getting the gold. “I want revenge against Wolfe for taking my memory, and with my help we can take what we couldn’t take back then.”

Maddox smiled, and it seemed as if he was laughing at her. “We?” he asked. His smile widened to the point where she got the feeling he thought she was just some useless woman who was only good enough for them to bed.

Anger, sharp and bitter, snapped through Eve. Suddenly that emotion of uselessness seemed very familiar. She didn’t like this feeling. Not one bit. It answered a lot of questions as to why she instinctively didn’t want to share more of her feelings with them.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have come here?” she muttered, pressing hard against the despair shooting through her that they may not want her here. She hoped they would reassure her she had come to the right place. They didn’t.

Shit. They weren’t going to make this easy for her, were they?

“Why do you think we’re going to take you along on a dangerous run? If you say he’s surrounded by gunslingers like in some old West movie, why would we risk your life? We don’t want a repeat performance of that last robbery attempt,” Kayne taunted.

She wasn’t surprised at that question. Had expected it.

“Because, now you have me. I can shoot better than all three of you, that’s why.” Or at least she hoped she could. For all she knew they could have been practicing since she’d been gone.

To her irritation, all three men grinned as if they thought she was toying with them.

She wasn’t. Pre-Catastrophe days, C.J. had been a trained LAPD sniper, and she’d shown Eve how to shoot. She was, in every way a gun counted, their equal. Maybe better.

“Prove it,” Maddox ordered.

She tensed as he produced a gun from inside his jacket. He was about to toss it to her when she shook her head.

“I’ll use my rifle,” she said. She made a move to stand and get her weapon from the scabbard on her horse when Maddox shook his head.

“An expert can use any gun. Are you saying you can only use your rifle?”

Actually, she had used a couple of other weapons, a shotgun included, but her rifle had been given to her as a gift, and it fit her like a glove. She smiled inwardly. The guys didn’t have to know that.

“Fine, I’ll use yours.”

He threw her his pistol, and she caught it with both hands. She tested its weight. It weighed much lighter than her rifle, and she stifled her surprise that maybe she just might not be able to move it as good as hers. She slipped off the safety catch.

“Shoot that seedling at the top of that outcrop of rocks,” Maddox instructed and pointed through the darkness.

Like she could see anything.
She squinted and held up a hand against the firelight. Then she saw the tiny speck about thirty feet up.

God, was he kidding? And then she remembered the number one rule she’d been taught. If you can see it, you can hit it. If you can’t see it, you can hit it.

She grinned as a familiar wave of confidence swept through her. She could do this. She
had
to hit it.

Aiming the pistol, she raised it and braced the handle with both hands. She took a bead and slowly pulled the trigger. There was hardly any kickback, which was nice, and the blast just about deafened her, but she saw rocks fly into the air and watched the seedling disintegrate.

Damn! She did it!

She lowered the weapon and held back a whoop of joy as she watched the men’s faces. Despite their disinterested looks, she swore she caught glimmers of admiration in each of their eyes. Approval they struggled to hide. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on her part?

“Shoot this,” Riley shouted, and he tossed something into the air.

Swiftly, she snapped the pistol upward and aimed at the item, which looked like a coin. Confidently, she pulled the trigger, and the gun roared, followed immediately by the metallic ping that echoed through the camp.

“Okay, so who taught you?” Kayne asked, his voice sounding low and husky. His gaze, their gazes, now twinkled freely with appreciation.

Yeah, she liked that they seemed awed.

“That is my business. Now will you help me get the gold? Or do I go in alone?” she asked and heaved the pistol back to Maddox, who caught it with ease.

“You tell us where their hideout is, and we’ll go in and get the gold and split it four ways,” Maddox said.

Eve shook her head, and he frowned. Sadness swept through her. She knew he was only looking out for her safety. Despite her good shooting, she sensed he still thought of her as a helpless female, who was available to him for a quick fuck and to cook him a hearty meal. She realized she’d wanted more than that from these three. Much more.

“No, I go with you. Call it insurance that I’ll get half of the gold bars. Not that I don’t trust you guys. I do. I just want to make sure I’ve earned my share of it.”

“Half?” Riley blinked, obviously surprised at her wanting so much of the take.

“Without me, you have nothing,” she stated, staring at him until he slowly nodded in understanding.

“Let me think about it,” Kayne replied.

“Kayne, she may get hurt,” Riley chastised, and despite the concern in his voice, his objection irritated the daylights out of her.

“Yeah, look what happened the last time,” Maddox chimed in.

“She’s got plenty of time to keep proving she’s a good shot on the trail, if I decide she comes.”

The sultry way Kayne looked at her when he spoke those last two words sent fiery shivers sweeping through her. Instinctively she knew he didn’t mean if she was coming with them on the trail. He meant something sexual. Suddenly she felt as if she were sitting across from a sexual volcano ready to explode. Actually, three volcanoes. She knew she shouldn’t be saying these next words. Knew she should put down her own rules for them to follow. But her stupid mouth seemed to have taken on a will of its own.

“Name what you need from me on the trail, and it’s done.” She would do anything to get her hands on those gold bars.

“Not only do we get half the gold, we get you. All of you. Unconditionally. Whenever we want you. Just like we used to.”

Oh God. Instinctively she’d known Kayne would agree to the amount, and she also knew deep down inside of her that he would make the statement of her being their bed partner. Yep, she should have set some ground rules. But she didn’t want any. She wanted to experience what she’d felt during those teasing flashbacks. She wanted to plunge headfirst into that illusive, scorching pleasure. She
wanted
to remember everything.

“I’m assuming you’ll need a plug to prepare you,” Kayne guessed.

From the sides of her vision, she saw the other two men visibly lean forward in anticipation of her answer, and her tummy hollowed out with such an awesome feeling, she had to stop herself from gasping. My goodness, he was bold.

“I don’t have a plug,” she admitted. Sweet mercy! Was she crazy, agreeing to this?

She heard Maddox swear softly beside her. Could see the flash of Riley’s white teeth as he bit into his lower lip. He did that when he stifled his arousal. She blinked in stunned disbelief as she remembered that yes, Riley did nibble on his lower lip when trying to keep his arousal in check.

She’d just remembered something again. She should be ecstatic, but the heated way the three men were looking at her had her so frightened and aroused at the same time, that yes, she had to be crazy to be agreeing to this.

“I’ve still got plenty of brand-new plugs. All waiting for you, Eve. And tons of lube and condoms,” Kayne said. His voice sounded hoarse and very pleased that it would be so easy to get her back into his bed. Into their bed.

Eve swallowed, feeling the heat of her own arousal lashing her.

“Fine. Give me a plug, and I’ll put it in.” Obviously she’d worn them, if her flashbacks were an indication. But would she remember how to insert one?

Kayne shook his head. “No, we’ll put it in, Eve. We always put one in.”

Eve creamed and held her gasp of excitement as it snapped through her like a live wire.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Kayne said.

She sighed in relief, not realizing just how anxious this talk about plugs had made her. Visions snapped through her mind.
Her sandwiched between two of their rock-hard bodies, their cocks plunging into her ass and vagina simultaneously. Her crying out as they brought her the pleasures she craved like a drug. A cock plunging into her mouth, silencing her
.

Oh boy. What had she just gotten herself into?

“We move out at first light. Any objections?” Kayne asked as he gazed around at the other two men.

Neither man said anything. Maybe they were thinking the same thing she’d been thinking? Why wait? Why not get it on now? Get reacquainted tonight?

She stiffened as Kayne stood.

“It’s my turn on lookout,” he said. His voice sounded back to normal. All traces of arousal had vanished. Turning from them, he grabbed his rifle and an extra blanket from near the fire. Eve watched as he headed back down the trail from where she’d just come and was swallowed up by the darkness.

Damn him
.

The son of a bitch had managed to tease her into wanting to have sex with all three of them right now. And he was simply walking away? She should have her head examined for wanting them to make love to her as if nothing had happened. As if almost two years hadn’t passed. As if she hadn’t lost all memory of them and she was now starting to get it back and wanted their help in getting the rest of it back, too.