Gina's Private Police Force [Men of Montana 3] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (33 page)

Slow to respond, both men became concerned until she pushed against the cushion below her. Connor helped her up slowly, afraid he had hurt her back. “Are you all right, darlin’? Did I hurt you?”

Shaking her head it was hard to read her facial expression as her hair was hanging down around her face as if a curtain on both sides. Finally standing, she turned and leaned her ass against the couch.

“No. You didn’t hurt me. It was amazing,” she admitted, letting her hand raise up to caress Connor’s cheek. “I don’t know how you guys do it, but you always make each time better than the last.”

Connor glanced over at Jared and they both knew at that moment there was no turning back with her. They were too deeply in love with her.

Turning back to her, he leaned over and kissed her gently before turning and leaving the room. Water could be heard as it began to fill the tub. Returning in a moment, he came back with a washcloth and moved in to clean Gina’s backside. “Your bath awaits you, my dear. Go ahead and get started while we make sure everything is locked up here.”

Doing as she was told, she made her way out of the room slowly, her ass swaying seductively while both men watched her. They each released a sigh as she disappeared from sight, knowing they were wrapped around her little fingers. They may be the Doms, but she controlled their hearts.

* * * *

After the full restful night’s sleep in what seemed like forever for Gina, she woke to find her two men still asleep. She roused them the way she had read about in her naughty erotic novels. Pulling the covers back from Connor’s body, she let her hand and mouth say good morning then proceeded to do the same to Jared. When she knew both of them were awake, she jumped from the bed before either one of them could entertain any further morning bedroom romps.

Grabbing her clothes, she ran down the hall to the kitchen, shivering as she went. Pulling her clothes on quickly, she moved to the thermostat on the living room wall and saw the temperature was down to forty-three. The thermostat was still set on seventy so she had to wonder what was going on.

Moving into the kitchen, she turned the coffeemaker on and set out two travel mugs along with sugar and creamer. She knew both men needed their morning coffee to wake up, but would need it more this morning with it being so cold. At least the electricity was working fine.

Movement from the hallway brought her attention to both men entering, still buttoning up their shirts. Connor glanced at her with concern before checking the thermostat. “I know I set the thermostat last night. You must be freezing.”

Shrugging, she said matter-of-factly as she averted her eyes from him. “I’ve been in worse. Sometimes I couldn’t pay the electric bill so we had to go without heat.”

Both men seemed to growl at her statement. She wasn’t sure why, until they both came over to surround her with their body heat. Jared leaned down before moving her chin up with two fingers to look her in the eyes. “You will never have to go without again. We will take care of you and Nathan.”

Tears threatened to spill at his kindness and a sob caught in her throat. Both men hugged her from both sides, surrounding her with not only love but with some heat also. Cherishing the feel of them, she let them hold her.

It lasted until the coffeemaker stopped gurgling and Gina had to laugh at how quickly her men’s thoughts went from love to caffeine in a second flat. Both looked hurt at her laughter, but she soothed them. “Hey, I woke you both in a way many men would kill for and then all you can think about is coffee? I’m beginning to wonder if you really love me at all or if it’s my mouth and cooking skills you want.”

Setting down his travel mug, Jared enveloped her in his arms before dropping his lips to hers. His mouth ravished hers, leaving her breathless when he was finished. When he pulled away from her, Connor repeated the same actions before releasing her.

“Does that answer your question, darlin’?” the sheriff asked her, gazing into her eyes with a challenge in his own.

Raising her hand to her face, Gina touched her lips with her fingers as if trying to memorize their lips there. With a small smile on said lips, Gina nodded her head. “Yes, sir. It does.”

“Good. Now, we have to get to work and we can’t leave you here with no heat,” Connor said, doctoring up his coffee. “I want you to come to the office with us and then I’ll call the furnace repair man.”

Protesting a bit, Gina announced, “I was going to go over decorations for Nathan’s room with Angela. She was going to come over and go through her room to see if she wanted to keep anything.”

Kissing her chastely on the lips, Connor replied, “Perhaps this afternoon you two can get together. I don’t want either one of you being in the cold. So, grab a coat and let’s get going.”

The three set off to the office with Connor still perplexed on why the furnace wasn’t working. It was only a year old, having it put in when the previous one finally outlived its usefulness after fifty years of service.

* * * *

The familiar chime of the bells over the doorway of the diner welcomed the threesome as they entered. The familiar aromas of Glen’s cooking welcomed Gina back and she felt as if she was home again. The cry of “Gina!” that rose up from the morning regulars warmed her heart and she realized how much she missed the place even though she didn’t miss working there.

An unmistakable sound of a metal spatula being dropped in the kitchen and then the swinging door that separated the dining area from the kitchen producing a lumbering Glen was a welcome sight to the woman. The white apron he wore sported the current mornings stains, or possibly, with him, the previous days.

Before Gina could follow her men to the far booth they usually sat in, Glen grabbed her by the arm and threw his arms around her in a bear hug. “Oh, little lady, it’s good to see you. Are you here to start back to work?”

Connor and Jared had stopped several feet away from them at the man’s question. “No!” spurted out from both of them in unison causing the duo to pull apart and look over at them. Gina giggled but Glen scowled at them, his hope of her return being shattered with one word.

Glen’s expression changed radically from anger to a pout as if he was a five-year-old child that had his favorite toy taken away. “Shouldn’t that be Gina’s decision to make?”

Placing a hand on her former boss’s shoulder, she kissed him on his flour-streaked cheek. “I’m sorry, Glen, but this is my opportunity to live my life. Connor and Jared are offering me that opportunity.”

The older gentleman’s confused look prompted her to take his hand and pull him back to the kitchen where they could have some privacy. Connor and Jared sat in their normal booth where Tanya came over with a pot of coffee, pouring without a word said.

Both men nodded their thanks before the young woman turned and walked away, letting silence settle uneasily upon the table. The cups remained on the table and neither man made a move to doctor the brew before them. Glances were stolen toward the kitchen in wonder on what was taking place in there. At one point, a stifled, “Oh, shit!” emanated from the backroom, grabbing everyone in the diner’s attention. After a few moments of silence, the diners went back to eating and talking, enjoying their morning meal, though some people were waiting patiently for their food as it seemed Glen stopped cooking when Gina had arrived.

It was a good ten minutes before Gina emerged from the kitchen, tears gleaming in her light blue eyes. Connor stood and let her slip in the seat he occupied and then he scooted in next to her. Jared placed his hands on top of hers. “Is everything all right, sugar?”

Nodding, Gina picked up the napkin from under the silverware lying at her place setting and dabbed her eyes with it. “Yes. I told him everything.”

“And?” Connor asked as if she was going to continue but didn’t. When Tanya approached with the coffee again, the three waited until she had filled Gina’s cup and walked away before continuing on.

“He’s more understanding now that he knows about Nathan. He’ll be hiring another waitress to take my place, though he isn’t happy about it,” she said with a chuckle.

“Perhaps,” Jared suggested, “he can find one near his own age that would make him as happy as you have made us.”

Connor had just taken a sip of his lukewarm coffee and sputtered upon Jared’s casual comment. “I don’t know any woman who could put up with that gruff ol’ buzzard.”

A bit of shock covered Gina’s face. “He is a very nice man. He just needs to learn how to be more sociable.”

Both men took a sip of their coffee as if to avoid more of the conversation, each smiling at each other above the brim. Their woman was a bit too understanding of others, too nice. That would get her in trouble. Hell, it already had.

* * * *

It was late afternoon by the time Angela, Gina, and Lawrence arrived at the ranch house along with all the groceries they had bought to stock up the house with. Gina had never paid so much money on groceries or bought so many in her life. All three of them hauled the plastic bags inside the now warm house. While they were out, Connor had his foreman let the repairman in to work on the furnace.

The two women worked at getting the groceries unpacked and put away in the various cabinets and kitchen refrigerator while Lawrence went back to manning his post out on the front porch. Angela took three heavy bags out to the garage and put the items in the freezer. When she returned to the kitchen, Gina was picking up the other five bags that needed to be taken out.

Stepping out into the colder garage, she walked over to the freezer and began stuffing boxes of prepared meals onto the shelves. Even though she enjoyed cooking, she had thought having frozen foods on hand for emergencies or when she wasn’t there, the guys would have food to cook.

Putting the last few boxes in the freezer, Gina heard a noise coming from the back corner of the garage. Not certain what it was, she went to investigate, certain the repairman had left a door open.

At the back of the garage, she found an open door that led into darkness. Feeling colder air coming from the depths of the darkness, Gina pulled the door closed. The scraping noise she heard now came from the front part of the garage and a strange chill seemed to rise up through her spine.

Quickly moving to the door that led into the kitchen, she entered the toasty house, locking the door behind her. Turning, she found Angela lying on the floor, unconscious, in the doorway to the dining room. Knowing she should check on her friend, she also knew something was horribly wrong.

Running to the front door, she tried to open it, but a hand grabbed her brown hair pulling her back into the room. A shriek of terror escaped her and she hoped that Lawrence had heard her, but he never came.

Her body had to follow the hair that was being pulled to keep it from being yanked from her head so she stumbled backward at the person’s mercy. Fear snaked its way through her body at the acknowledgment she was on her own. Something had happened to Lawrence and Angela both and she didn’t know if they were dead or alive. Hopefully it was the latter.

She didn’t want anyone to be harmed because of her and she knew this was all because of her past. Thankfully Nathan wasn’t there, for Frank never knew what had happened to their baby after the fire. For all he knew, she had lost the baby after he shot her.

The hallway walls passed on each side of her as she was half dragged backward toward the master bedroom. Putting her hands out to her sides, she tried to grasp something, anything to help her get away from her attacker, but there wasn’t anything she could really put her hands on. At the doorway, she grabbed onto the doorjamb and tried to hold back from entering, but the attacker’s other hand came up and grasped her around the neck.

Leathery skin covered the hand that began to squeeze Gina’s throat. Gasping for air, she used one of her hands to try to strike backward, to hit anything on her attacker, but failed. Her other hand came up and tried to pull on the fingers that dug into her throat but they were relentless with their hold. Soon, dark spots began to swim within her vision and before long, they merged into each other and the darkness engulfed her.

* * * *

A muffled click kept penetrating Gina’s mind. Light began to filter through her eyes as they fluttered open and closed for a good five minutes. Trying to move, she found, was difficult as her arms and legs wouldn’t function.

When her brain finally processed where she was, she found she was tied spread eagle to the bed she shared with Connor and Jared. Thankfully the bastard hadn’t removed her clothes so she had to hope that he wasn’t going to molest her body, for that now only belonged to her two men.

Looking around, she found her attacker sitting on one of the two slipper chairs in front of the window. The curtains were still drawn but light filtered through them casting him in a shadow. The gray hoodie he wore cast him in an even more eerie, ominous shadow as he sat watching her. It was what was in his hand that frightened Gina the most. The catalyst for his revenge on her body and soul.

His leathery deformed hand held a metal lighter, which he continually flipped open and struck the igniter causing the flame to flare up from the device. Once he realized his captive was awake, he would chuckle manically whenever he summoned the flame.