In MIB Custody [The Service Club 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (6 page)

“I suggest you pick your battles when it comes to beggin’, darlin’.” Lowell released his hold on her side and dragged a flattened hand from the small of her back to her shoulder blades. “You might want to save them for a time when they’ll do you a little more good.”

Her eyes narrowed, and a muscle jumped in her delicate jaw. “You’re an asshole.”

Lowell absorbed that slice, knowing he had deserved it. “I see your opinion of me hasn’t changed.”

She made a
pff
sound. “You expected it to?”

No, but he had hoped. How long could she blame him for things that had happened that had been out of his control?

Apparently forever.

It had been his conversation with the Chandler twins and Chelsea Landon earlier that afternoon that had really given him hope. They suspected Danica had come to realize her anger at him was misplaced. Of course, he was sure he had been right when he had followed that suspicion with the statement that, if it were true, it likely only pissed her off more.

Zane closed the front door and walked up behind her, saving Lowell from a conversation he needed to have, but wasn’t quite ready for. “What do you plan to do if I take these cuffs off?”

Danica angled her head up and looked back over her shoulder. “I’m not going to punch your lights out, if that’s what you’re afraid of. As a matter of fact, I won’t touch either of you.”

“Now, there’s no need to go that far, darlin’,” Lowell said even as Zane asked, “Do you promise?”

“Yes.” Danica sliced a look his way. “There is a need.” She turned her head back to Zane. “And, yes, I promise.”

“Pinky promise?”

“Oh, now look who’s trying to be cute. I can’t pinky promise seeing as how I don’t have a free pinky at the moment.”

Zane grinned. “You got me there.”

Lowell reached into his front pocket with his free hand and pulled out the key to the cuffs Gunner Rylon had passed to him as they had headed out the door of the house at the Circle M. He kept a close eye on Danica as he passed the key to Zane, readying himself for whatever move she decided to dish out.

She kept her word and didn’t swing when Zane removed the cuffs. To Lowell’s surprise, she didn’t move. She let her arms fall at her sides, and he felt her twisting them slightly, no doubt getting the circulation moving through them again. She did look up at him again, though, the plea she kept from her lips alight in her eyes.

“You still aren’t going to leave, are you?”

“No.” He said it softly, yet firmly. He had no intentions of leaving until he got what he wanted. Her.

She nodded once and slowly closed her eyes.

* * * *

“I don’t want you here.” Danica whispered the words, wishing she had said them more strongly. She should’ve screamed them at him and demanded he get out. She should have hit him again. Anything to get him away from her, to get his hands off her, to prove to him and herself that she was not going to cave.

“Yes, you do.” Lowell could do it. He could put so much conviction into three huskily spoken words.

It wasn’t all conviction, though. She heard hope in his tone, too, and saw it in his eyes when she met his gaze.

“You keep thinking that. We’ll see who wins.”

His hand slid from her hip to cover her ass, and the smile that unfolded on his lips as so wickedly sexy that whips of longing slashed through her pussy. He smacked her ass, a light spank that intensified her rapidly growing need, and released her.

“You can bet your sexy ass we’ll see who wins, darlin’.”

Danica, you fuck head!

She hadn’t meant that to be a challenge, but he had obviously taken it that way. She squared her shoulders, refusing to let him see he was getting to her. No way did she want him to know she was already doubting her ability to be the victor in all of this. He had always been able to read her like a book. No matter how many times she altered the plot to reach a different outcome, he had been able to predict it, to change his own direction, and come out on top.

Except the last time.

No, he hadn’t foreseen the way the last plot twist in their little book would go. If he had, she never would’ve gotten what she had wanted. She never would have gotten him out of her life, even if it had only lasted five years.

Unless those five years had been part of his plan. He had gotten what he had wanted, too. He had left Horn Hill, joined the FBI, and made a name for himself in the bureau. Even if she gave in, even if she forgave him, his life was in Tampa now. And hers would continue to be in her dreams.

“I’m going to bed. There’s pillows and blankets in the hall closet. Make yourselves as uncomfortable as you like.”

“Are you being cute again, Dannie?”

She turned on Zane. He deserved every bit of her anger as much as Lowell. More even, seeing as how he had been the one setting her up for exactly this over the last month. “No, Kalkin. This is me being about as
un
cute as I can get.”

“Not even close,” she heard Lowell say as she stomped down the hall to her bedroom. “She’ll get a lot worse if she wants to.”

Damn right, she would. She closed her bedroom door with a smack and twisted the lock in the knob hard enough it made an audible click that would surely be heard down the hall. She didn’t kid herself into believing a flimsy locked door would keep out a couple of determined FBI special agents if they wanted in badly enough. Still, the principle behind the act made her feel better. She was not cowering down to them. Let them set her up all they wanted. She would win this fight, damn it.

But what exactly will be your prize?

Now wasn’t that the ten thousand dollar question of the day? Exhausted, torn, angry, and horny as all get out, she quickly changed. She preferred to sleep naked, but there was no way in hell she would be doing that tonight. She settled on a button-down, knee-length, smooth polyester sleep shirt, decided to give herself the small comfort of not bothering with panties, and crawled between the sheets. She knew when she had drifted off to sleep, knew when she had slipped into her dream world when she found herself once again standing in the living room of the main house on the Circle M Ranch, back in her camisole, skirt, and boots, her eyes blindfolded and her hands bound behind her back.

Lightly callused fingers slowly worked the straps of her camisole down her arms, taking the straps of her bra with it, until her breasts spilled free. Behind her, more hands reached around, freed the button and zipper on her skirt, and pushed it down her hips until it fell in a pool around her feet.

Mouths touched her bare flesh, a tongue licked one nipple between moist lips and began to suck as more lips closed on the cheek of her ass. She writhed between them, wanting to bury her hands in satiny strands of hair, needing to touch and taste as they feasted on her body.

The dream world shifted, and she found herself on her knees, her ass in the air, and some kind of platform supporting her upper body. The first smack landed across her ass, and she cried out as the heavy sting almost immediately morphed to erotic pleasure. The next blow had her body rocking, her mind scrambling as passion electrified her system and pulsed through her pussy.

Hands found her breasts, fingers latching onto her nipples to tug and torment as the spanking continued and her sanity teetered on the brink. Like always, she was right there. Another pull, another smack, and she would explode.

“Dannie.”

And, like always, Kalkin was there to talk to her, tormenting her closer to a release reality would snatch from her at any second.

“Wake up, darlin’.”

Lowell had apparently forgotten his line this time. He always said, “Come for us, darlin’.” He had never told her to wake up before.

Ripped out of her fantasy world by the sudden realization their voices weren’t coming from her dream, Danica’s eyes flew open. Light spilled into the room through the open doorway where they both stood watching her.

She bolted up, gathering the sheet around her breasts even though they were completely covered, and glared at them. “I locked that door for a reason.”

“And I unlocked it for a reason.” Zane leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, folded his arms over his chest, and crossed his ankles. He had changed from the dark tailored suit he had been wearing into a pair of jogging pants that rode low on his narrow hips. A glimpse of corrugated abs as she pulled her gaze up told her he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Her attention got caught on his solid chest, the well-defined pecs speckled with springy brown hair, and she had trouble tearing her gaze away. “We were concerned about you.”

“You were makin’ some pretty loud noises, darlin’. Though neither of us could quite tell if those were pained cries or pleasured ones.”

Her gaze sliced to Lowell. He had taken a step into the room, but remained by the doorway. He hadn’t bothered to change after she had left the front of the house, though he had rid himself of his boots and shirt. He still wore his jeans, but he had unfastened the button and let down the zipper, affording her a peek of the navy boxer briefs he wore beneath.

Danica felt her cheeks heat. “I’m fine. You can both go now.”

Neither man moved a muscle.

“That must have been some dream you were having,” Zane said. “I would love for you to share it with me sometime.”

She already did. She shared every dream with him, with both of them, whether she wanted to or not.

“Why don’t you tell us about it, darlin’?” Lowell’s voice sounded odd, as if he were wavering between attempting to sound compassionate and authoritative.

He knew. They both did. How could they know? “I’d rather not, thank you.”

Lowell raked a hand through his hair, the first real sign of frustration she had seen him make yet.
“How long do you think you can keep this up?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Danica said quickly, probably too quickly. The look on his handsome face said the words he didn’t bother to put to voice. She knew damn good and well what he was talking about.

Rather than accuse of her lying, he put the question a different way. “How many nights do you think you can toss and turn and moan in here while what you want is sleeping out there?”

How many nights do you intend to be here?

Tears pricked the back of her eyes, and she had to look away. Letting them, either of them and certainly both of them, into her room, into her
bed
would prove nothing short of sheer disaster. She was sure of it. How could a woman possibly want two men so much and be so infuriatingly angry with them at the same time?

“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t even want you in my house, much less in my bedroom?” The stubborn son of a bitch, why wouldn’t he listen?

Lowell scratched the side of his neck. “See, the thing is, darlin’, what your mouth is sayin’ and what your body is sayin’ are two different things.”

Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.
“No, you’re only hearing what you want to hear.”

“Was it us you were dreaming about?” Zane asked. “Was it us you were fantasizing touching you, making love to you, controlling you and your pleasure?”

Yes. Gods, yes!

No fucking way would she admit that. Saying it would be opening herself to everything. Being with them would be pleasure, yes, for as long as it lasted. It would be pain, too, and not the good kind on so many different levels. She would have to face the demons that had haunted her for five long years. She would have to let go of the anger she had embraced like a security blanket for that long. She would also have to let them go again. They would eventually return to Tampa, and she would go back to the dreams like she’d just had, only they would be worse. She would have the true reality of their touch, of their dominance seared in her mind, body, and heart.

“Let us know when you’re ready to answer. We’ll be in the livin’ room ready to listen.” Lowell turned and walked out of the room with Zane at his heels.

Damn, them!
How could they do this to her? How could they be so cold, so callous? Why couldn’t they just take what they wanted? They had done it so far. They had set her up, refused to back down, and planted themselves in her house.

They knew what she wanted. No matter how much she smarted off and fought, they could both see the truth. Why did she have to say it? Why couldn’t they take the choice away, prove their dominance over her, and fuck her brains out?

Furious with herself and them, she bolted from the bed and stomped down the hall. She found them in the living room where Lowell had said they would be, both lounging back on either end of the sofa as if neither of them had a care in the world.

Both of their gazes slid to her as she came to a halt in front of the coffee table and planted her fisted hands on her hips. “What I dream about is for me to know, and me alone.”

“But you aren’t alone in your dreams, are you?” The calmness in Zane’s tone clashed with the anger in hers.

Danica puffed out a breath. “No, of course not. And, yes, if you must know, the two of you are there with me. Are you happy now?”

Lowell slowly nodded. “Almost.”