Tiny Dancer [Divine Creek Ranch 13] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (5 page)

“You think someone would do that to me on purpose?”

“I don’t know. Which is why we want to play it safe. I’ll be over after we close The Pony down for the night.” No way was he leaving her alone. His instincts were telling him that was a bad idea.

“You too? I don’t think that’s really necess—”

“We won’t get in the way. Look at it like this. You’ll need a ride in the morning anyway. We don’t have any appointments until later in the morning so we can take you wherever you need to go.”

Her cheeks took on a rosy hue and she sighed. “Well…all right. But I don’t think it’s necessary. I can find a ride—”

“Where you’re concerned, we’d rather be safe than sorry.”

“‘We.’ I don’t understand why it’s both of you coming over.”

Ben paused, choosing his words carefully. “We both care about you.”

Her lips formed an adorable
o
, but she didn’t say anything else on the subject. She turned from the door, casting him a little smile before going back to work. Ben was greatly encouraged that she hadn’t fought their need to watch over her. Seeing her upset earlier wasn’t easy and his only thought had been fixing the situation for her.

What were you thinking, girl, agreeing to this?

Camilla had known Quinten for more than two years. They’d worked side by side for all that time and become close. Closer than just friendly coworkers. Close, like best friends. What he thought mattered to her. But the vibe in the truck on the way to her house was completely different.

Ben and Quinten had a lengthy private conversation before Quinten had signaled that it was time to head out. They’d gone into alpha mode when they’d seen her car. The funny thing was that when they pulled that, it usually pissed her off. It was always directed at her or something they perceived that she was doing, like dancing with her friends on the dance floor, or wearing the costumes. This time it had been in her behalf and it left her feeling unsettled. Warmth filled her cheeks and she had to admit it, if only to herself.

I like it when they go alpha on me. I may not fully appreciate it, but I like it.

She distracted herself by looking out the side window as they passed through the historic downtown shopping district. Luke Bryan’s “Drunk on You” played softly on the truck radio and Camilla smiled softly as she listened to the words and the beat of the song. Her dancer’s heart thrummed inside of her and even though she sat completely still, her soul danced sensually to the song.

She looked up at the end of the song and caught Quinten watching her intently as he waited for the traffic light to turn green. In the dark truck cab, his face was lit only by the dashboard lights so it was hard to read his expression but she thought that she recognized hunger in his eyes. Working as a dancer, she was familiar with what a man looked like when he wanted to touch a woman.

“What?”

“I liked your costume tonight.”

“Thank you.”

A crooked grin appeared on his full lips. “It covered more of you than the others do.”

“I’ll have you know I make lots of tips wearing these costumes to work. Even on weeknights I kick ass in these outfits.”

Quinten groaned and obviously couldn’t resist replying, “I’ll have to agree with you on that one.”

Camilla wondered if Quinten really intended to stay all night. She also pondered why they thought it was necessary. Something had shifted in her relationship with both of those men in the last few weeks. She wasn’t entirely certain if she could hold firm to her “work is work and pleasure is pleasure” philosophy. If there was an attraction happening, she wasn’t sure that it was all one-sided either.

The fact that she was admitting an attraction to
both
of them should’ve been enough to scare her back behind her neatly built walls but it didn’t. She saw Grace with her men, Jack, Ethan, and Adam, all the time. She saw Teresa with Angel and Joaquin frequently. And Maya. And Lydia. And all the others. She knew ménage relationships weren’t always easy but she saw that her friends made them work. Her heart palpitated as something emotional and nearly painful pulled in her chest.

Please stop yearning! You have plans! Dreams!

“Hey.”

She jumped when Quinten’s soft voice startled her. “What?”

Quinten smiled softly. “You’re thinking pretty hard there.” He gestured out the windshield at her house. “We’re here.”

Discomfited that she’d given too much of her feelings away, she reached for the door handle. “Well, thanks for the ride, Quinten. You really don’t have to stay. I’m a big girl.”

A knowing look crossed Quinten’s face. “Actually you’re a tiny little thing. Ben and I just want to make sure you’re safe. He has a sixth sense about things like what happened earlier and he’s worried. We’d feel terrible if something bad happened to you.” Left unsaid but spoken clearly in the twinkle of his eyes was,
You’re not getting rid of me that easily.

They weren’t even giving her a say in their decision.
Bossy buttheads.
She had to fight the smile that wanted to cross her lips as he came around and opened her door and then reached to help her down from the big truck.

“You need a stepladder for this thing,” she said as she looked down at the ground.

Quinten chuckled and scooped her up from the seat before she had a chance to move. It was a simple matter to transfer her to the ground but instead he stood there holding her, looking her in the eye. The heat from his muscular arm under her thighs seeped through the silky fabric of her costume. “Now why in the world would I want to do that and miss out on fun like this?”

Her heart palpitated as she looked into his eyes, the power of speech deserting her. They were both nearly a foot taller than her so she rarely ever got this close to eye-to-eye with them. Even when she stood on the rail they’d had built for her behind the bar, she still had to look up to either of them.

“Umm…because you’re gonna strain your back.”

Quinten frowned at her quizzically, arching his brow, and scoffed. “Are you kidding me?” He kicked his truck door closed but didn’t put her down.
Is he planning to carry me to the house?
“You’re a little sack of sugar, baby.”

Her eyebrows rose as she stared at him.
Baby
? Her abdomen fluttered as she wondered what they were up to. He walked to the house and finally released her legs so they slid down his body but he still held her against his lean, strong physique. Her pussy quivered with excitement at the sensation. Time lost meaning as he steadied her at her hips once she was on two feet. With shaky hands she dug in her purse for her keys and unlocked the door for them.

Quinten reached in and flipped on the lamp by the door. While she hung up her coat and put her handbag away, he walked through the house.

“Watch out for the bucket,” she said as she pointed to the item in question.

“What’s the bucket for?” he asked as he walked through the house.

“With all the storms we’ve had this week, I discovered I have a roof leak. The landlord is supposed to be getting back with me about when it can be fixed. Until then, I have a bucket to catch the drips.”

She heard one of the heavy old windows in her bedroom slide closed and the lock being latched. He returned a moment later, frowning. “Did you leave your bedroom window open?”

She thought about it for a second. “I opened all the windows this morning because I like the cooler temperature, and to air out the house. I must’ve forgotten to close it.” She’d been distracted when she’d gone through the house before leaving for work to close all the windows but thought that she’d gotten them all, including the ones in her bedroom. She wasn’t sure.

“The screen was off of it too.”

She nodded. “My landlord has had to fix a couple of them. This house was built in the fifties and the window screens hang on metal hinges. Several of the old hinges have rusted out and needed to be replaced. The wind probably caught it and broke it off.”

Quinten looked troubled but said nothing else. He turned and walked through the rest of the house and came back, seeming satisfied. The twinkle was back in his eyes. “We didn’t have our shot tonight.”

Camilla grinned. “I’ll get the tequila and I have a deck of cards around here somewhere. I propose a game of poker.” She got the bottle of Jose Cuervo Gold from the refrigerator and pulled two shot glasses from the kitchen cabinet and placed them on the breakfast bar.

He asked, “You’re not sleepy?”

“No. It always takes me a little while to unwind after work.”

Quinten chuckled, and the sound sent a rivulet of arousal through her body. He took a seat on one of her barstools and said, “Make that strip poker and I’m in.”

With her back turned to Quinten, Camilla didn’t bother to school her expression as she rifled through a drawer for her deck of cards.
Foolish, foolish man
.

* * * *

Ben smiled when he heard laughter coming from inside Camilla’s quaint little house, which was tucked into an older, quiet neighborhood in Divine. It was after midnight and they were still up.

He knocked on the door and heard soft footsteps scamper across the house to the front door, then it opened. Camilla stood there, smiling, looking bright-eyed and happy. “Come on in, Ben.”

He nearly faltered, figuring that when he arrived she’d tell them again that she didn’t need them to stay. Instead, she looked happy to see him. He looked around for Quinten and located him at the small bistro-style table in the corner of her kitchen, and then he was struck speechless.

“Quinten is being a good sport,” she said with a snicker.

It was then that he noticed she was still wearing her costume but she was missing the outer bolero jacket that went over the bra-like top. In comparison, Quinten was down to his socks and boxers. Her jacket was draped over his shoulder like a prize. Quinten gave him a shit-eating grin and raised his shot glass to him. “Hey!”

Ben noted the bottle of tequila and shot glasses on the table and his mood did a one-eighty as he grinned at Camilla. “Strip poker?”

Her head bobbed up and down enthusiastically. “Uh-huh! I’m kicking his ass. Come on in.”

He was pleasantly surprised when she hugged him as he crossed the threshold. He couldn’t recall ever seeing her tipsy and surmised that she was affectionate when she was drunk. He walked into the kitchen and stood in the doorway and leaned against it, noting that the bottle of tequila was still two-thirds full. Quinten gave him a goofy grin, and then winked at him.

Ben schooled his expression. Quinten wasn’t nearly as drunk as he was letting on. He was probably not feeling any pain, but he wasn’t drunk enough to have lost most of his clothing. Ben also knew that Quinten was a pretty good poker player because he’d lost money to him before. Quinten had a gift for picking up on his opponent’s tells.

“Want to join us? I have his shirt, his boots, and his belt. Things are about to get interesting if he loses much more.”

Ben snorted. “Nah. I have no desire to see Quinten nekkid.”

Camilla leered at Quinten. “I do!” She tipped the shot glass to her lips. “You can close your eyes when his undies come off. Or maybe you can win some hands and even things out.”

Holy fuck.
He’d never been so tempted before in his life. But he didn’t take advantage of drunken women either. It wasn’t lost on him that while he might not get turned on by the idea of Quinten naked in the same room with them, it was likely to happen if they were successful in wooing this little temptress into their bed.

“No, sugar.” He thought Quinten glared at him for a split second before he adjusted the boner in his shorts which she evidently hadn’t seen since he was sitting at the table.

“Okay,” she said with a pouty lip. “Here’s your pants, Quinten.”

“Thank you, Camster. I was about to start winning me some pieces of a genie costume, though.”

Camilla giggled as she poured a shot for Ben and handed it to him. “Sure you were, baby.
Sure
you were. Come in the living room. Wanna watch a movie?”

Quinten scowled at Ben and shot the bird at him as Camilla led the way into the living room carrying the shot glasses and the bottle of tequila.

Ben smiled at Quinten and followed her. Quinten might be horny right now but Ben knew he’d regret it in the morning if they took advantage of her endearing affectionate tipsiness. But that didn’t mean he wanted to turn out the lights and go to sleep either. It wouldn’t hurt to further their cause a little while she was feeling relaxed.

She sat down on the couch and he joined her on the comfy sectional, sitting right next to her as she popped open the recliner with a giggle.

Ben noticed that Quinten kept her jacket and he also had her fuzzy house slippers, which she must’ve changed into before they started playing. Quinten collapsed in the spot on her other side, more lying on the couch than sitting, and looked up at her with pathetic puppy-dog eyes. He was still shirtless. She giggled and then went quiet. Ben saw where her eyes were drawn.