Anita's Triple Temptation [Men of Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (21 page)

Anita gave Lyndee a sassy glance before rolling the window down. Kevin beat Dave to the window. “Hey, babe,” he said before leaning through the opening and capturing her lips with his. At his tongue’s insistence, she opened her lips and let her tongue meet his. Dueling with his they fought for control but then he ended it too soon for her.

Raising her eyes to gaze at him, she found heat in his eyes and knew it was best he ended the kiss when he did. She’d hate to make a scene out here amongst the other men.

James pushed Kevin aside, leaned into the window area, snaked his hand behind her head, pulled her closer, and smashed his lips upon hers as if he was dying of thirst. She heard herself moan as she kissed him back with as much force. When he ended the kiss, he pressed his forehead to hers, a wicked smile on his wet lips. “We’ll finish that when we get home tonight,” he whispered.

Breathless, she wasn’t sure if she could speak so she nodded slightly before she leaned forward and pressed an innocent kiss on the tip of his nose. He pulled away and she could see the passion in his eyes before he finally turned away to go stand near Kevin.

Dave stepped forward though he didn’t press himself against the door. “You doing okay, darlin’? Not too tired?”

Surprise hit her that he was being a gentleman. Not that she minded being kissed by the other two, but she also had feelings. Nodding, she patted his hand that was now on the bottom of the window. “I’m good. Thank you.”

Leaning in closer, he whispered, “I know we tuckered you out last night and by the looks of the trucks coming and going this morning, you’ve been busy. I just want to make sure my woman is all right.”

Moving her left arm out the window, Anita slipped her hand to his cheek, caressing it gently. She felt the whiskers, faint, against his skin and for a brief moment, she imagined his face between her thighs rubbing her pussy with that abrasiveness. Leaning further out, she covered his mouth with hers, trying to drink him in.

Her nipples hardened within her bra while liquid oozed onto her panties as she tried to keep control over her libido but lost. All others around them were forgotten briefly as all she could hear was his ragged breath mingled with her own.

Luckily, she felt a wetness against her right cheek before hard prickly hairs rubbed her temple. Then what felt like a wet sneeze along with a snort had her pulling away from Dave’s lips. Opening her eyes, she found herself looking at the wet nose of a black horse sniffing her. The horse pushed aside Dave’s head as if it wanted attention.

Anita giggled at the action before moving her hand from Dave’s cheek over to pet the horse from between his ears all the way down to his wet nose. “You are a very pretty thing, aren’t you?”

Again, another snort from the horse and another spray of wetness landed on her face and she squealed like a little girl. Dave threw his head back and laughed heartily.

Running Wolf stepped forward, handed her a handkerchief, and then began to lead the horse away. “Wait!” Anita said quickly. “It’s all right.”

Wiping her face with one hand she continued to stroke the horse’s nose as the gentle beast leaned his face into her hand.

The six-foot-two-inch Native American stilled his feet and remained where he was though he did slap Dave up the back of his head. Turning back to Anita, Running Wolf smiled. “You stayed away from the horses when you came out on New Year’s Eve. Are you afraid of them?”

Shrugging, she told the truth. “This is the first time I’ve been around one.”

Everything went quiet quickly. Self-conscious of her statement, she quickly glanced around to see everyone watching her. Then behind her, Lyndee placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ignore them, sweetie. I’m just learning how to ride myself.”

“Sorry, ma’am,” Wolf said near her ear.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. There are going to be a lot of things I have to get used to around here,” she tried to soothe the man.

The black-haired man tipped his head to her before leading the horse away. Looking over to her left, she found all three of her men looking down sheepishly. “Really, it’s all right. You guys can teach me how to ride.”

Dave stepped forward and grasped her head in his hands. “I’m sorry, darlin’. We weren’t thinking.”

“Don’t worry about it. Give me a kiss. We need to get going,” she whispered.

Doing as he was instructed, Dave gave her a chaste kiss on the lips before stepping away. Kevin followed suit, kissing her quickly, before James stepped up and took his turn. His lips covered hers and lingered briefly before pulling away. “I love you, sweetheart,” he said quietly. “Have fun.”

“I will,” she whispered back. “We’ll be back in a while.”

Anita didn’t miss the disappointed look in James’s eyes. She knew she loved them, but somehow, she feared saying the words.

She hadn’t realized that during her revelry Lyndee had begun to drive but in the opposite direction of Kalispell. Sitting quietly, watching the scenery go by, she tried to process what had occurred. They were nearly in town before she heard Lyndee speak.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I hurt his feelings,” Anita plaintively responded. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Usually people don’t mean to hurt someone else. Feelings like what you share with your guys are sometimes confusing, but if I read you correctly, you love them but are afraid to tell them. Why?”

Laying her head back against the headrest of her seat, she stared out at the road, letting the lines silently soothe her. “I loved my husband but not like I love the three men.”

“Oh. I see,” Lyndee said. “You think you are betraying Craig, right?”

Anita nodded sadly. “Things weren’t going well toward the end. Sometimes I wonder if Craig and I hadn’t had an argument the day before that perhaps he would have had his mind more on work and wouldn’t have had the accident.”

“You don’t know that,” Lyndee said, guiding the truck to the shoulder of the road. Throwing the gearshift into park, Anita felt her turn toward her. “Sweetie, look at me.”

Begrudgingly, Anita turned toward her friend. She found a look of sympathy on her face instead of one of judgment that she had expected. “Logging is a very dangerous business. Things happen up there in the mountains all the time. Ask your friend you met with yesterday. He’ll agree with me. You can’t blame yourself.”

Anita knew Lyndee was right but the guilt still ate away at her. Then the guilt factor was raised up even further when Lyndee asked the next question. “Do you blame yourself, Anita?”

Seconds seemed to tick by as if they were minutes before she had to admit to herself that she did. Tears began to fill her eyes as she looked down at her hands. “I do!”

She heard the metal click of a seatbelt being released of its clasp right before Lyndee’s arms gathered her in, hugging her close. Anita let the tears fall while her body shook uncontrollably, guilt weighing down upon her, crushing her heart and her mind.

Time seemed to stop for her as she sobbed onto the compassionate shoulder proffered to her. The moment the doctor had come out to announce that Craig hadn’t made it through the surgery, guilt had consumed her. The argument still fresh in her mind, she let it overtake her thoughts and actions.

Welcoming Dave, Kevin, and James into her life wasn’t hard, but letting them into her heart was. They were there for her and the boys, keeping her mind occupied along with the boys’. But now that the moment had presented itself and she was staring at all the issues that had plagued her since that fateful day it was now tearing her apart.

Everything within Anita had gone numb except her mind. The old expression of one’s life flashing before your eyes was actually happening to her. Was she so broken that she was dying? Her chest did hurt and she was having difficulty breathing.

Oh, my God! I’m going to die!

Darkness overtook her. Rushing air seemed to permeate her ears. The only problem was, she was still crying and she still felt pain.

Through the awkward sound in her ears, she kept hearing her name being said over and over again. A prick in her arm had her fighting against the restraints she felt banded around her wrists. The voices called for her to come back until eventually everything faded from her. The voices, the pain, the memories.

Booted footfalls paced the linoleum tiled floor again. After about thirty minutes of this, the action was wearing on Kevin’s nerves. When black boots appeared a few feet in front of him, he stood quickly and came face to face with Dave.

He knew his mood matched his friends’ from the minute Austin came up to them with his cell phone still in his hand, looking confused yet concerned. Once the Native American explained about Lyndee’s phone call and what Anita was going through he, Dave, and James made a beeline for Dave’s truck, but Austin made it there before them. Insisting they were too distraught to drive, they agreed to let their foreman drive them to the hospital in Dave’s truck. That way they would have a way home. Austin would hitch a ride with Lyndee.

“Please sit down and relax. There’s no sense in wearing out the floor,” he pleaded, more for his own sake than Dave’s. James, on the other side of the bed, was doing his own pacing but stopped when Kevin had spoken. Both men looked at their partner before all three of them looked at the woman lying helpless in the bed.

They were in a private room in the clinic in Polson since Lyndee was closer to the small town than Kalispell. They were relieved that Doc Anderson was in the office as he was already taking care of Anita when they had arrived.

Once he had finished treating their woman, he explained to the nervous trio that he had to sedate Anita and that she would be asleep soon. Leaving them to private time with Anita, they all tried to speak to her, to convince her of their love for her and that they wanted her to come back to them. When her body relaxed and her breathing leveled out to a steady rhythm, they relaxed slightly.

Lyndee had come in a little bit ago and let them know what had transpired. They could tell she was hesitant to tell them everything but at least the FBI agent had shed some light on why Anita hadn’t been able to open up to them as much as they had wanted. She had given her body to them, but they wanted all of her, her body and soul.

Kevin ran his hand through his brown hair, mussing it even more than it already was. “I hate feeling so helpless.”

“So do I, buddy,” James said from the other side of the bed.

Dave seemed to fall into the chair closest to him as if his legs wouldn’t support him anymore. Kevin had never seen his friend so dejected in the ten years since joining the Circle G family. Dave had always been a bit moody. That’s what made the man. Kevin knew Dave had seen some rough times in his life but he kept everything close to the vest even though he was friendly with everyone. Anita and the boys seemed to draw some of him out and Kevin didn’t know what would happen to Dave if anything happened to Anita.

Dave and James were the closest people he had to having siblings. His parents were in their late forties when he had been born. Complications had set in because of his mother’s age that they had to deliver Kevin by C-Section and then perform a hysterectomy on her. They were upstanding folks in the church and the community but Kevin hated living under a microscope.

By the time he graduated high school, his father had passed on and his mother was just a former shell of the woman she had been. Even though Kevin had been born, the two had been together for so long, she felt as if her son was an outsider.

Kevin left home and drifted for a while before signing on with the Circle G. Dave and James had both taken him in as one of the family and it had been the three of them ever since. He would not trade his friendship or brotherhood with them for any reason.

Now, he was able to share the most intimate gift they could offer him. Their woman.

Being the youngest of the three men and the one mostly likely to be with Anita the longest, Kevin knew that he had to be the strongest right now. Yes, he hated feeling helpless, but he also had faith that things were going to work out for all of them.

“James, why don’t you take a seat next to our woman. I’m going over to the diner for some coffee. Do you guys want any food?”

“No. Coffee is fine,” James responded as he did as he was instructed. Dave just looked up and shook his head as he brushed his hand over his face in frustration.

As Kevin began to open the door, Dave spoke up. “Bring back some of Glen’s biscuits and some of those cinnamon rolls he makes. I’m sure Anita will be hungry when she wakes up.”

Kevin nodded and smiled to himself as he left the room. At least Dave was coherent enough to think of Anita’s needs. That was a good sign.

As he stepped into the waiting room of the clinic, the receptionist smiled at him. “I’m sorry, but we need some information on your girlfriend. Dr. Anderson isn’t her primary physician. In fact, there isn’t a record of her being seen by Dr. Anderson at all.”

Running his hand through his unruly hair, he stepped up to the counter, hoping he could remain civil after the whole overwhelming ordeal. Glancing at the name badge on the thirtysomething’s purple scrubs, he rested his muscular forearms on the shiny wooden counter, leaning in toward the plump brunette sitting there. “Doc Anderson is the doctor of the Circle G. He knows he will get paid promptly, so if there is a problem, he can speak with us directly. Right now, we are only concerned about Anita. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going for some real coffee, not that mud that Doc serves. Would you like a cup?”