Bound by Their Kisses (11 page)

But she couldn’t afford a car yet and wasn’t going to be dependent on them to get her to and from work or anywhere else she wanted to go. She bit her lip, unsure how to go about working it out.

“Look,” Tag began. “I have connections with the auto wholesale business because of my shop. I’m sure I can get a good deal on a used car that’s in decent enough shape I can take care of it. You can’t go anywhere but around town in it, but it would do for now. You can pay me back on time.”

“Tag…”

“It’s a good deal, kitten, and would mean you get your own set of wheels sooner. Take it. We want you safe and with us,” Zander said, giving her his best puppy-dog eyes.

Well, maybe pit-bull eyes with that bald head of his.

She frowned but couldn’t find any fault in their logic. It would give her more freedom than she had now and it would mean being with them sooner. She was anxious to see if whatever it was between them would last or not. She ached for a home and roots just as much as the men seemed to ache for her.

“I want a copy of the bill of sale and a receipt for any parts you have to buy to make it safe. I’ll pay you out of my salary every week until I’ve paid you back for it,” she told Tag. Then she smiled. “I’m going to accept your kind offer of free labor on the work.”

Tag’s mouth quirked then he outright smiled for all of two seconds before he scowled at her. “I’m not running a charity, Tessa. Don’t expect me to keep it washed and waxed for free.”

She laughed and wrapped her arms around him for a quick hug before she hopped off his lap and jumped into Zander’s arms to hug him as well.

“Hey! Why is he getting in on my hug? I’m the one getting the deal and footing the labor,” he groused.

Zander’s soft chuckle sounded and felt good to her with his arms wrapped around her. Why had she ever been uncomfortable around them and not trusted them? They were good men who genuinely cared about her and her feelings. She vowed to try harder to be what they needed, but it didn’t stop a shiver at the thought of allowing them to tie her up. That might take a bit more time.

“Let’s go scrounge up some boxes, kitten.” Zander slowly released her and let her slide down his body—his very aroused body. She felt her cheeks heat as she looked up at him.

He winked but didn’t say anything. Tessa hurried back to the bedroom to put on her shoes. She prayed she was making the right decision. Moving in after only one date still felt wrong and much too soon, but like they had said, she’d known them for nearly a year and had been running from them for almost that long.

As she followed them through the kitchen to the garage, Tessa prayed she was making the right decision. She had made the decision to trust them when she’d rarely trusted anyone since Paul. Only time would tell if she’d made the right decision where they were concerned. She sure as hell hadn’t with Paul.

“You’re fucking kidding, right? This is all you have. There’s nothing in storage somewhere.” Tag’s face tightened even as storm clouds darkened his already black eyes.

“I didn’t have any way to carry anything else, Tag. I don’t need much to live, just some clothes and toiletries. I told you we had too many boxes.” She sighed, stressed now that they saw how she’d been living for the last five years.

As if he could tell that she was about to lose it with them, Zander stepped in and directed them on what to do next.

“Well, she’s with us now, so it’s all in the past. Why don’t you pack up your clothes and things, Tessa, while Tag and I find out what the landlord wants us to do about the furniture? He might want to leave it for the next renter.”

She nodded without saying anything and, grabbing a box, walked quickly out of the tiny living area. She needed to settle down and regain some control before she said something she’d regret. She knew Tag wasn’t fussing at her for living there, but it hurt to hear the anger and disgust in his voice. The place was as clean as you could get it with how old and layered on everything was. She wasn’t a nasty person, but seeing the tiny apartment through their eyes was almost humiliating.

She quickly packed her meager belongings into two boxes, one for clothes and the other for toiletries. She folded the one set of sheets she had and left them on the mattress in case they were leaving it for the next resident. The only other things she wanted to take were in the living area. There she had six books she’d been buying from the store every other paycheck. They had helped her make it through the lonely nights and weekends when she wasn’t working.

It dawned on her that if she did get a car she would be able to take that part-time work at the diner and save more money. Pleased that she’d finally thought of that, Tessa carried the two boxes into the living area only to hear growling noises before the boxes were pulled from her grasp.

“You should have told us the boxes were ready. There’s no need for you to carry anything with us here. I’ll go get the rest of them when I get back from putting these in the truck. Don’t even think about trying to carry them yourself,” the big man said.

She smirked at him. “I wouldn’t dream of it since there aren’t any more boxes in there.”

He blinked then sighed. “Fine. I’ll be right back.”

She frowned then blew out a breath as soon as he’d walked through the front door.

“Don’t let him upset you, kitten. You know he doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s just upset that you’ve been living without any of the things we could have been providing for you,” Zander said. “Like kisses in the morning, and foot rubs at night.”

She reluctantly smiled up at him. He was always doing that to her, knocking the wind out of her sails so that she couldn’t be upset for long with them. Zander especially didn’t play fair.

“We’re going shopping Monday after work, Zander,” Tag said.

Although he hadn’t directed his statement toward her, Tessa knew he meant shopping for her. They weren’t going to start loading her up with things she didn’t need or have any use for. What would she do with them if it didn’t work out between the three of them? If she got used to having unnecessary things again it would kill her to have to leave them behind.

“Don’t look at me that way,” Tag groused.

“Like what?” she asked, working hard at not letting him see what she was thinking about.

“Like you’re about to lay into me about taking you shopping,” he said.

“I don’t need to go shopping, Tag. You and Zander can go if you want to, but I don’t need anything.” She crossed her arms and stared at him, daring him to say something about her clothes.

Zander obviously knew his friend well enough to anticipate that he was about to say something that would either piss her off or hurt her feelings because he jumped in between them and urged Tag to carry the boxes to the truck.

“We’ll be right out, Tag. Go on and load those up.” Zander pushed on his friend’s arm.

“I’m serious, baby. We’re going shopping tomorrow. You might as well be ready when we come to get you.” Tag picked up the two boxes and stomped out the door, muttering to himself all the way out.

“Tessa. Don’t get upset and take it wrong. He isn’t judging you or saying you don’t look good like you are. He just wants you to have the best of everything because we happen to think you deserve it,” Zander said, wrapping his arms around her until she was flush against his chest.

Tessa had no choice except to lay her head against the sculpted flesh. It felt so good to be there—so right. She had to admit that it felt just as good, just as right in Tag’s arms, too. But Tag pushed all her buttons. If they tried to make this, this thing that they had work, she and the other man would be at each other’s throats all the damn time. She knew in her heart that he didn’t mean anything hurtful when he spouted off, but she couldn’t help but take it wrong.

Sighing, she realized that meant it was mostly her fault when they argued. She pulled back enough to look up at Zander’s concerned face. Because of her stubbornness he was the one getting hurt. He had to mediate between his longtime best friend and the woman they planned to share. He did it so well that half the time she hadn’t really noticed it.

“I’m sorry, Zander. I know it puts you in a tough spot when he and I argue. I can’t help it sometimes. The man really rubs me the wrong way sometimes. I’ll work harder at ignoring it as much as I can. I’ve never been overly sensitive before, but for some reason I am with the two of you.” Tessa pushed up on tip toe and kissed his chin since it was about all she could reach if he didn’t bend down to meet her.

“Don’t apologize, kitten. It shows that you care what we think and that means you truly do care for us. If what we thought or said didn’t matter, you wouldn’t get upset and that
would
hurt.” He did bend down now and kiss her softly on the lips. “Let’s go before he trashes the truck or kicks the tire and breaks his foot.”

She giggled at that then sobered. It really wasn’t funny. In the mood Tag was in, he very well might do something stupid in a temper. She grabbed her purse and the laundry bag that held her underwear before following Zander and her box of books out to the truck. Once they’d loaded everything and dropped off the key at the manager’s office, Tag drove them back to their place.

Home. My place now. I’ve got to get used to that. At least I hope to get used to it. Please let this be the right decision.

She couldn’t stop the worry in her head that it wouldn’t work out. They still hadn’t really tackled the BDSM issue, yet. That had her worried. If she couldn’t handle them tying her up or doing God knows what to her, then a relationship between the three of them would never work. Dominance was in their blood. It defined them. Even if they wanted to, they would never be happy doing without it and she would never be able to handle them working with another woman when they wanted to play. She knew that it wasn’t always about sex, but she was too possessive to allow another woman to be the center of their attentions even if it was only for a few hours and there was nothing between them.

When she started to climb down from the cab of the truck, Zander stopped her. With a grin, he dipped his shoulder and the next thing she knew, Tessa was upside down looking at the ground. She frantically grabbed hold of the belt at his waist and held on so she wouldn’t bang against his back.

“What in the hell are you doing? Put me down right now, Zander!” she fumed.

A resounding smack on her ass had her yelping in surprise, though not pain. He’d spanked her. He’d actually spanked her.

“Zander! You did not just spank me,” she said in outrage.

“Nope. I sure didn’t. That was Tag with that lick. You’ll know it when I spank your cute ass.” Zander sounded entirely too cheerful to her.

“Oh!” she growled out. “Put me down. I’m not playing around, guys. I mean it.”

“We mean it, too, baby girl,” Tag said in a gruff voice. “You’ve earned your punishment today.”

“Punishment? What in the hell for?” Tessa struggled but couldn’t do anything with her ass in the air and her thighs held fast with Zander’s arms around them.

Zander carried her inside the house as soon as Tag had the door open. She watched from her upside-down view as they walked through the kitchen, through the den, and down the hall. They bypassed the master bedroom to stop in front of the door at the end of the hall. She could hear one of them punching in a series of numbers on the keypad she’d noticed by the door but hadn’t asked about. She’d assumed it was to their office, but deep down she’d wondered if maybe it was to their playroom. It looked like she was about to find out.

“For being disrespectful,” Tag said. “I let it ride over the car discussion, but you continue to fight us over every little thing that we want to do for you. That’s going to stop.”

Tessa jerked in Zander’s arms as he opened the door. She couldn’t see anything around his legs beyond the thick darkness. She seethed at Tag’s words even as she worried about what the dark hid.

“This is why I knew a relationship between us would never work. You’re already trying to tell me what to do and keep me from having my own opinions. Now that I’ve given up my apartment you think you have me where you want me, at your mercy to do whatever you want with. Well, hell no! Now put me down,” she screamed.

Then the light flipped on and she realized that the door opened to a set of stairs that led downward. They had a basement. Tessa felt as if her chest was going to explode as she fought to gather enough air to scream at them to put her down. Nothing would come out. The men continued to talk as if nothing was wrong.

“If we want to buy you something sometimes, kitten, we don’t want to have to fight about it every time. Sometimes we’re going to want to surprise you with something new and if you’re going to get upset each time, we’re never going to get anywhere,” Zander was saying.

He stepped down with her still draped over his shoulder. Tag had gone ahead of them but only kept one step ahead of them as they descended. Each step was like a knife to Tessa’s heart. How could they? They knew about her past. As much as she wanted to scream for them to let her go, she couldn’t make her voice work. Her lungs burned with the need to draw in more air.

“Tessa? Are you listening to us?” Tag asked.

Zander had walked into a large room with various different types of play furniture that she couldn’t really make out in the state she was in. Then Zander walked over to what looked like a bed, and bending over, let her slip from his shoulder to the bed. Still Tessa couldn’t breathe. Spots twinkled in front of her eyes and a loud roaring seemed to build in her head.

“Fuck! Tag. Something’s wrong with her.” Zander’s voice seemed to be come from another room.

“She’s not breathing. How tight were you holding her, Z?” Tag didn’t sound much closer, and he was pissed.

Someone rolled her over and pounded on her back then rolled her back and forced air into her mouth while pinching her nose. Everything clicked and she gasped in air, coughing as she did. Her chest burned and her throat hurt as if someone had been holding it in a tight grip. She guessed that someone had been her in a panic.