Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Lawmen [The Lost Collection] (Siren Menage Everlasting) (29 page)

“So what did the sheriff say?” Amanda asked, keeping her eyes closed.

“Basically, he took my statement about Bodine and Baker, and is going to send a telegram to the appropriate authorities in the territory to notify them. As for the gold, he says since there’re no markings on it, and since the War Department in Washington long ago claimed the lost Confederate gold was stolen at the end of the war and then distributed in the Confederate states, it certainly can’t be that. Basically, Red Hill said it’s our gold. Oh, and he said congratulations, too.”

“Good.” Amanda felt her smile widen.

“I also got us train tickets to Waco, leaving early the day after tomorrow.”

When she heard nothing more, she opened her eyes and encountered two very unabashed male gazes.

“What are y’all staring at?”

“You,” Adam said. “Just you. Wet. Naked. Beautiful.”

Amanda felt her cheeks heat. Considering all they’d shared these last few months, it amazed her she could still blush at all.

“Must be the red hair,” Warren said to Adam, “that makes her blush so easily.”

“If you were gentlemen, you’d remove your clothes so I wouldn’t feel so…naked and on display.”

Adam turned his head to look at Warren. “I never told her I was a gentleman. What about you?”

“Nope,” Warren said. “I never made such a claim, either.”

“Careful, sweetheart,” Adam said when he saw her raise her hand in the water. “If you toss water our way, you’ll get your side of the bed wet.”

“That’s not my side of the bed. I sleep in the middle.”

“Unless you throw water on this side of the bed,” Warren agreed.

“I’ve made dinner reservations for us, too,” Adam said, “down the street at Bobby’s, where we ate before. I was thinking we’d have a good dinner, then come back here and engage in some very naked fun.”

“Then I guess I’d better carry on with my bath,” Amanda said.

“We’ll just watch,” Warren agreed.

Amanda didn’t doubt their gazes were riveted on her and that they took in every movement, every stroke of the cloth as she bathed herself. But she wondered if they realized the significance of their poses. They sat close together, two long-time lovers, connected so completely she knew they’d be lovers for life. They’d been together, a couple, before they’d met her, and they’d likely remain one once she returned home. They belonged together, and they belonged in Texas.

Amanda loved them more than she’d ever believed herself capable of loving.

There will never be anyone else for me
.

She knew that to be true, even as she knew one more truth.

Sometimes love just wasn’t enough. She’d thought and thought, but no matter how she looked at things, there was no place for her here, in Texas, with them.

Chapter 25

Adam had thought they’d all three wolf down their dinners, considering this was the first decent meal they’d had in weeks.

Instead, each of them seemed content to savor every bite.

It hadn’t taken them long to decide on their meals. He and Amanda had ordered steak, Warren the roast beef.

Warren had also chosen a bottle of wine, and although Adam didn’t know wines at all, this one tasted good.

Silence seemed to reign this night, and he realized the lack of chatter said more than a thousand words ever could have.

Adam’s gaze slid to Amanda, and he smiled at the look of contentment on her face as she slowly chewed her steak. She took a sip from her wine glass, letting her gaze meet his, only for a moment, as she did.

We’re losing her.

Just as he’d known those few short weeks before they’d been in imminent danger, so he knew this night that they were losing her. He didn’t know what more either he or Warren could do to convince her to stay with them.

She’d insisted on sitting on the opposite side of the table from them tonight as if she was already trying to separate herself from them. As if she could really do that simply by choosing where to sit at a dinner table.

We’ll just see about that.

The table next to them sat vacant, affording them a modicum of privacy. Adam picked up his own wine glass, took a sip, and made sure Amanda read the look of heat he knew she could see in his eyes. He planned, very soon, to strip her naked and have his lusty way with her, over and over and over again.

“Did I tell you that gown looks lovely? The green turns your eyes to emerald fire.” He saw his compliment unnerved her a little, and he wondered if perhaps they should have wooed her more than they had.

“Ah…thank you,” Amanda blushed.

“It’s going to be even lovelier when it’s in a heap on the floor and we have you naked and writhing between us,” Warren’s quiet declaration made Amanda reach for her glass of wine again.

There. That polite expression she’d been trying to wear vanished with Warren’s words, and her fiery eyes shimmered a deeper green.

Adam wasn’t surprised Warren understood their woman and had come to the same conclusion as he. The man’s empathic sense was astounding.

“I won’t be the only one writhing,” Amanda whispered.

“Oh, absolutely not,” Adam agreed. He gave Warren a sideways glance. “I think I can guarantee we’ll all do our share of writhing.”

Amanda shook her head and turned her attention back to her meal. Adam smiled because she began to eat just a little faster.

As he continued to enjoy his own dinner, he let his thoughts relive the last three months, from the moment he turned on the train platform in Waco and met Amanda’s gaze for the first time, to now.

They had her body and her heart, he realized. Somehow, they’d failed to reach her mind. He didn’t know how to show her the three of them
could
have a life together. He knew they could because he’d watched the Benedicts—a family of one woman with two men—make their place and begin their life journey together.

Thoughts of the Benedicts reminded him of something. “I imagine Sarah would have given birth by now, don’t you think? There’ll be a brand new cousin for you to meet day after tomorrow when we get home.”

Amanda’s smile widened. “My God, you’re right!” Her smile gentled. “I hope it went well for her. Sometimes first babies can be difficult, or so I’ve been told.”

“I’m sure everything’s fine,” Warren said. “Maybe tomorrow we can pick up a little gift for them, for the new mother and the baby.”

“I think Sarah would like that,” Amanda said.

Adam wanted to get back to the hotel. It took everything in him not to rush them all along. The sun had set, but this night felt warmer than the last ones they’d spent on the trail.

“What about the horses?” Amanda asked.

The non sequitur confused Adam. “The horses?”

“Yes, your horses and the one I borrowed from Sarah. If we’re going by train, what do we do about them?”

Adam felt his face color. It didn’t help that Warren turned away because he couldn’t contain his own laughter.

“Well, they get to ride the train, too, sweetheart. In one of the freight cars.”

As she processed that bit of information her expression went from confused to nonplussed in three seconds flat.

“You mean to tell me,” she said, stepping close and lowering her voice, “that we could have taken the train from Waco to Denison in the first place?”

“Well, yes, of course we
could
have. But think of all the fun we’d have missed.”

Her expression softened. “You’re right. I don’t think I would trade the time we had together for anything.”

“And there’s more to come,” Warren said. He ran his hand down her back. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s go to bed.”

* * * *

They simply overwhelmed her.

Using soft sighing kisses and long, silken touches, their hands and lips worshiped her. There could be no other word to describe the reverence, the gentleness, and the passion the men lavished on her. Amanda let herself go, tasting one’s lips and then the other’s. She shivered from the sensations they created in her. Her men knew how to touch her now, how to caress and tease so that her arousal climbed. On this night it was like a lazy winding river of pleasure that seduced her completely.

They gave her no time to think, no time to react. One step inside the hotel room and they had their hands on her, undressing her, petting her.

Adam braced her in his arms, his lips soft, tantalizing, and she began to relax into the rhythm of his kiss. And then Warren went down on his knees and put his mouth on her pussy, his tongue and lips kissing, tasting, nearly
devouring
her intimate flesh.

He sucked her clit into his mouth, and Amanda cried out as ecstasy crashed through her, stealing the breath from her body and the strength from her legs.

“Oh, God.” She’d had no control, no way to mete out or measure the fire that consumed her. She felt helpless in the face of their loving, and while an echo of warning skittered through her thoughts, they’d stolen her will as well, and she could only take whatever they chose to give her. Tonight, it seemed, they wanted to give her everything.

Adam chuckled as he scooped her into his arms and laid her on the bed. “It takes us a fair bit of time to recover from our release, until our cocks can harden again so we can fuck you, or each other, a second time. But you don’t have that limitation. I wonder how many times we can make you cry out in rapture tonight.”

She heard an edge to his words that should have worried her, but then he stripped his clothes off and lay down beside her, his mouth taking hers in a kiss that was totally carnal. His mouth trembled on hers, a leashed passion she’d felt in him before. She had no time to react because the instant he released her, Warren turned her face to his and she drank their combined essence from his lips, the flavor of them, as always, heating her blood and quickening her heart.

Adam fastened his mouth on her nipple, drawing deep, his teeth nipping, his tongue soothing, and she wondered anew at the invisible strings of lust that connected her breast to her womb. He worked his way down her body as Warren speared two fingers inside of her, possessing her.

Amanda bowed off the bed, the sudden invasion shooting her close, so close, to release.

“My turn to drink.” Adam’s words vibrated against her belly. He slid lower, his head between her legs, and made good on that promise. His tongue swirled into her while his opened lips caressed and his mouth sucked, plunging her once more into a storm of passion.

“Please.” Amanda didn’t know what she begged for, whether for more or for a moment of sanity, a moment to think.

“No thinking.” Adam’s declaration cut through her confusion, his ability to know her, to understand her both her blessing and deepest threat.

She could only feel as he set about to drive her insane. Each stroke of his tongue, each tiny caress of his lips and teeth seemed designed to rob her of everything but the desire to burn, the desire to erupt in rapturous glory.

Warren claimed her lips again, his kiss gentle, wooing.

“We love you, Amanda. You’re a part of us now. You’re the best part of us. Now and forever.”

“No, I can’t—” She wasn’t even certain what she protested.

“You can. You will.” Adam surged up her body, thrust into her with one long, deep stroke.

“We love you, and you belong with us.”

He took her mouth then, and she marveled the sharing could be so different, the flavor of them so unique. So necessary.

In the dim recess of her mind, Amanda realized this was war as much as it was love making. They aroused her, drove her, until all she was, all she wanted was more. Wrapping around Adam, arms and legs, she tilted her hips, moved with him, fast and furious, as she chased release.

Something she’d once heard echoed through her mind as wave after wave of rapture seized her. The French referred to this moment as
le petit mort
, the little death. Yes, a part of her died even as she felt herself being reborn, no longer the woman she used to be.

Adam slid his hand under her, brought her closer to him. He drove into her, his cock caressing her deepest place, and then he stiffened. Within her, the pulse of his ejaculation throbbed and the heat of his seed bathed her womb.

No longer able to keep her arms around Adam, she let them fall to the bed. Each breath seemed an effort, and each thought fled before it could fully form.

Adam eased out of her, his sweat-slickened body sliding slowly to her side. He turned her head to him. This kiss, gentle, questing, soothed her, steadied her so she could meet his gaze unflinching.

“I love you.”

Before she could respond either to the vow or the challenge of those words, Warren stroked his hand down her body, his fingers tweaking a nipple, then sliding down to comb through the auburn curls that shielded her cunt.

“My turn.” He inserted two fingers into her again, worked them in and out in a relentless rhythm.