Monroe, Marla - Their Bartered Bride [Men of the Border Lands 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (6 page)

Joel stood staring at the dying fire in the fireplace. He sighed and added a log, then stirred the embers before following his brother. Maybe Jonathan was right and he would have to make some changes in his expectations. Was it fair to expect her to bend to meet all his needs? As long as he was the boss, wouldn’t he be okay with backing off the D/s lifestyle he was so used to?

Hell, it had been nearly six years since he’d had that kind of relationship anyway. Linda had been the last woman he and his brother had shared, and she was gone. Along with so many others that they had known back then. Most were dead.

He shook himself and pulled on his coat and walked outside on the back porch to step into his boots. Jonathan was already striding across the yard in the gentle rain toward the barn. His younger brother was saddling his horse when he made it out there.

“So, are we still holding off with Leigh?” Jonathan asked.

“We need to. She doesn’t realize what she’s asking, I don’t think.” Joel tightened the cinch of his saddle.

“I think she knows exactly what she’s getting and wants it,” Jonathan said.

“I tend to be a little bossy. You know that. She isn’t going to handle that too well.”

“A little bossy?”

“Fuck you, little brother.” Joel grinned and led his horse toward the barn door.

“I think you’re more afraid she’ll say no to your high-handedness than that she’ll balk at both of us fucking her at the same time.” Jonathan walked out into the rain and mounted his horse.

Joel thought about his words the rest of the afternoon as they herded the cattle closer to the gates between fields. They checked on all of the stragglers then headed back to the house.

What if she did say no to him? How would he handle it? No one had ever said no to him before. There were things about her he wanted to explore, but now he worried that she wouldn’t allow it.

No, the best course of action was to let nature work her magic and take it slow, so that they developed friendships first, then became lovers. His aching cock wasn’t too happy with that idea, though. If he stayed hard around her all the time, he’d have an imprint of his zipper on his dick for the rest of his life.

They removed their boots on the porch and shook off their coats before walking inside the kitchen. The house seemed too quiet for there to be someone else there. Joel felt an uncomfortable worry settle in his chest. Without saying anything to Jonathan, he hurried up the stairs to the master bedroom. As soon as he reached the doorway, he could hear her muttering as she scrubbed something.

Relief flooded his mind when he heard her there. For a few seconds, he had worried she was gone. Already he was attached to her. How had it happened so fast? They had only known her for two days now.

“What’s going on?” His brother had joined him at the doorway to the bedroom.

“I was just checking to be sure she was okay.”

“Is she?” he asked, straining to peer around Joel.

“Yeah, she’s working in the bathroom. I’m going to go take a shower. You can have it after me.” Joel turned and walked away from temptation and shut himself inside the bathroom he now shared with Jonathan.

He leaned against the bathroom counter and stared into the mirror at his reflection. There were a few more lines on his face since they had moved out here, but other than that, he didn’t look any different than he had seven years ago. He didn’t really feel any different, other than maybe a little older. Had he changed any since they had moved out here? Could he bed a woman without dominating her? There were things he loved seeing on a woman that he might never see again. How would he feel about that?

He turned away from the mirror and began to strip his sodden clothes from his body. If he had to settle for a little less dominance and be a little more flexible, he needed to work on his mind-set. Keeping her safe was the major priority, but he wanted her to be happy and content to live with them as well. If that meant bending a little, he could do that. But first he needed to see what she liked and didn’t like, which would be the tricky part of his decision to back down some in his dominance.

Joel turned on the shower and stepped into the still-lukewarm spray. His cock hung low, still heavy with need, despite the cool rain and lust-dampening thoughts. He still wanted her with a vengeance.

Soaping up the bath cloth, Joel quickly bathed, then rinsed and hung the cloth up. Instead of turning off the shower, he leaned back against the cool ceramic tiles and grasped his cock at the base. The crown was an angry, purple-looking monster that leaked a drop of pre-cum from the slit at the top. He rubbed it around his cockhead and squeezed the base of the stalk before loosely running his hand up and down it a few times. It felt good, but would have felt even better if it were Leigh’s hands working his orgasm for him.

He would have her on her knees in front of him with one hand gently rolling his balls around while the other squeezed the base of his cock. She would look up at him with her big blue eyes and stick out her tongue to lick off the drop of pre-cum from his mushroom crown. Her tongue would slide over the slit in the top and send shards of pleasure through his cock.

With his hands in her hair, he would direct her to suck him down over and over again. She’d relax her throat and swallow him to the back of it just the way he liked it. Then she would suck back up and lick around the edge of the cap with her tongue. All the while, her hand would be squeezing a rhythmic pressure at the base of his dick. It would serve to keep him from coming too soon while enhancing the pleasure of having her touching him.

Then, the vision changed and she began licking him instead of sucking on him. The feel of her tongue just teasing over his cock had his balls curling up inside their sac. She sucked in just the crown of his dick and rubbed it against the roof of her mouth. He hissed out at the new sensation. It tightened his balls even more. When she nibbled at the cap and then licked at the slit over and over, Joel thought he was going to come right then and there.

His hand began stroking his cock faster now as the vision continued. He pushed off the tile of the shower stall and planted his feet farther apart so he could reach his balls with his other hand. He manipulated them with his fingers, pulling on the sac some between his thumb and forefinger. God, he wasn’t going to last like this.

Leigh’s mouth engulfed his dick to the back of her throat. Then she pulled back off him using just a hint of her teeth on the way back up. He threw back his head and moaned. His hand worked harder. She sucked him back down an inch at a time until the pressure was overwhelming and his cock hit the back of her throat. When she swallowed hard around him, his balls drew up the rest of the way and cum erupted into his cock and then into his hand as he pumped it up and down the dark stalk. His dick exploded with cum. He’d never come so hard in his life, and the fact remained that he’d let the daydream evolve into something he hadn’t controlled.

Joel leaned back against the cool tile wall once again and worked at catching his breath. He was even weak in the knees after that. It had to have been the most explosive climax he had ever had.

Finally, he stood up straight and rinsed off once again before turning off the water and climbing out of the shower. He dried off and wrapped the towel around his waist to walk to his bedroom. Had it been just he and Jonathan, he wouldn’t have bothered, but with Leigh in the house, it only seemed right. They weren’t intimate—yet.

Somehow, he figured that was going to change soon. He knew he wouldn’t be able to resist much longer, and once he succumbed, Jonathan would be right there with him. His poor brother already had a case of the blue balls wanting her. He just wanted to be sure they were comfortable with each other before they added sex to the mix. Sex changed things.

When he walked back downstairs and into the kitchen a little later, he found Leigh rolling out biscuit dough on the counter. She had a dot of flour on her cheek. Without thinking about it, he wiped it off and replaced it with a kiss. She looked up and smiled at him. It was almost the same smile from his vision. It stirred his cock.

“You look better with clean, dry clothes on. How do you feel?”

“Better, thanks. How long before dinner?” he asked.

She continued to flatten the dough. “Another hour, I think. Maybe a little less. Why?”

“I’m going to go work on some paperwork in the office. It’s off the living room on the other side of the fireplace. Jonathan should be down before too much longer. He was in the shower when I left upstairs.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll call you or send Jonathan after you if it gets ready before you show up.” She cocked her head and looked at him. “You look less stressed. That shower really did you some good.”

He realized she knew he’d jacked off in the shower. How had she known? Was it that obvious on his face? He frowned and turned away to head to the office and some much-needed paperwork.

Keeping track of the cows required a certain amount of paperwork to be sure he didn’t interbreed them too much. It produced unhealthy cattle. He needed to locate another bull somewhere and either trade and even swap or barter for stud use this coming year. There were several other ranchers in the area that had bulls. He would have to see about meeting up with them and posing a swapping session among them. It would benefit them all. With that thought, he sat down and buried his mind in the business side of survival.

* * * *

Leigh stacked the last dinner dish in the drainer and dried her hands off on the apron at her waist. Then she removed it and hung it on the back of the pantry door. She was tired. Her back was aching from being on her hands and knees for so long that afternoon cleaning the bathroom up. It probably hadn’t been cleaned well since the last owner had cleaned it.

She stood staring out the kitchen window for several seconds at nothing in particular when she noticed glowing eyes at the edge of the yard.
Wolves.
She gasped and took a step back. They were so close.

She eased back from the window as if they could see her and turned and hurried into the living room to where the men were discussing the ranch.

“Do the wolves usually get close to the house?” she asked them.

“Not real close, why?” Joel asked.

“I can see their eyes in the backyard. I’d say that’s pretty damn close.”

“Fuck.” Jonathan stood up and grabbed a gun she hadn’t seen before from next to the fireplace.

“Maybe they aren’t as close as I think, but there are at least four of them.” She watched the two men check guns and head back to the kitchen.

“If they’re this close here, they might be scattering the cattle looking for one to single out,” Joel explained.

“Oh. Well, it’s the first time I’ve seen them around here.” She followed them into the kitchen.

They left the lamp on the kitchen table and walked over to the windows to look out. Joel cursed and headed outside. Jonathan followed him. When she started to follow them, Jonathan shook his head and closed the door behind him with her still inside. She had wanted to go with them. She didn’t want to wait inside and not know what was going on. Leigh peered out the window and followed their movements around the yard. She couldn’t see the wolves’ eyes anymore now.

Soon, the night swallowed them up from her view. When they didn’t return right away, she began to worry about them. Long minutes went by before she heard a rifle report and jumped. Then there was another and another. The silence that followed was louder than anything for Leigh. She had no idea if they were okay or lying hurt out there in the dark. Not knowing was killing her.

Just when she had gotten up her courage to take the lamp out and look for them, they emerged from the gloom and returned to the back porch. Both men looked fine. She breathed a sigh of relief and threw open the back door to let them in. They didn’t even take the time to remove their boots this time. Instead, they stepped out of them at the back door.

“Don’t open that door at night again. I don’t care who is standing there. Let us open it.” Joel shrugged out of his coat after standing his gun by the back door next to Jonathan’s.