Love Under Two Cowboys (27 page)

She didn’t want to behave, but the strain in his voice and the pain in his words compelled her.

Relax my muscles and clamp down on my inner nympho?
Carrie nearly laughed herself, but then Brian eased up slightly, and then he pressed in again.

Carrie gasped as her body admitted him, and his cock slid slowly and deeply into her ass.

“
Oh, God.
”

“Yeah, me, too. Hold still. Fuck, this is incredible.” Brian rested his head against her neck. She could feel the tension in him as he fought for breath and control, and she could only whimper in response.

“Okay, darlin’. Here we go.”

He moved inside her, a very slow in-and-out fucking unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She shook as arousal filled every inch of her.

Carrie slipped her arms around Chase’s neck and closed her eyes as tiny little explosions of bliss began to detonate all over her body. Each time Chase’s fingers came close to her clit she thought she would go mad. Her orgasm held back, just there, so close, tempting and taunting. Thinking ceased, and all of her senses gave up their domains, turning into sensory slaves, waiting and waiting.

“
Oh! Oh!
…” Ecstasy swamped her, a tidal wave of pleasure so pure and sharp she felt as if she might drown in it. Wave after wave crashed in on her, rushing through her. She screamed and pushed and shivered as the orgasm kept coming, relentless and rich.

Encased in a bubble of unreality, she heard Brian swear, felt him thrust hard once, then again. Then he held himself still and deep. He cried out as if he, too, had never known such passion, as if he, too, wondered how he could survive such a barrage of bliss.

“I’m dead.” Carrie collapsed against Chase. Sense of the world around her returned. She heard Chase’s heart thunder under her head, felt her lungs struggle for breath.

Brian’s cock was still inside of her. She grinned. “That was a wild ride.”

Brian chuffed out a laugh, his moist, warm breath bathing the back of her neck. “God, woman, I love you.”

“I love you, too. I love you both.” She stroked her left hand down Chase’s body from his neck to his chest. Then she patted his chest. “Just give me five, cowboy. You’re next.”

“You’re a real tiger, aren’t you, sugar?”

Carrie smiled. “Grrr.”

She loved the soft sound of their smug male chuckles. Sighing with contentment, she nuzzled her face against Chase’s chest.

“Easy, darlin’. Hold still. I’ll be right back.” He eased out of her body, and she shivered with the sudden loss.

“’Kay.” Carrie didn’t think she’d ever been in a place of such total satiation. Moments later the bed dipped, and she felt Brian behind her again. He used a warm, damp cloth to clean the lube from her body.

Then he snuggled down beside her, spooned her, and kissed her shoulder.

“You can take me on, sugar, just as soon as you have a little rest.”

One of the things she loved about these men was their penchant for taking care of her, even when she didn’t need it.

“I don’t need a rest.” She wished those words had come out just a bit stronger. She’d prove to them how much stamina she had, too.

Just as soon as she figured out how to open her eyes.

“I feel a little guilty.” Carrie looked up from the work counter. She’d directed her comment to the man who sat in the corner of the kitchen, thumbing through a novel.

Matthew Benedict met her gaze. “You have no cause, whatsoever, to feel guilty.”

“But you’re here, watching over me, on the off chance that SOB will figure out I work here and come after me. All of the men are taking turns coming into the restaurant, posing as customers, so that there’re always at least two of them here.” She shook a knife at him as if it were her finger and he a recalcitrant child. “And don’t think I don’t know that y’all have been patrolling by the ranch every couple of hours all night long.” Carrie blew out a breath, ruffling her hair. “It’s already been two weeks and there’s been no sign whatsoever of Lockwood. How long can y’all keep this up?”

“We can keep it up as long as it takes.” Matthew picked up his coffee cup and took a sip, but the entire time his gaze never left hers. It was a little disconcerting.

“Aunt Abby would kick my ass seven ways from Sunday if anything happened to you. That is,
if
there was enough left of it after my mother got through with me.”

Behind her, Kelsey snickered. “Not to mention the fact that the men of this town are feeling the need to redeem their collective manhood.”

“That has nothing to do with anything.” Matt sounded authoritative. Then he shrugged. “Okay, I’m willing to admit that
might
be a nice side benefit of this situation, but I can assure you the possibility never entered our consideration.”

Carrie looked over her shoulder. Kelsey was just finishing up getting the turkeys ready to put in the oven in anticipation of the Thursday night special. She gave Carrie a wide smile. “You will notice he never protested the
need
for that redemption.”

Carrie shook her head. “This must be an inside joke, because I don’t get it.”

“Well, the women of Lusty have been slaying the dragons, lately, leaving the men feeling all defensive and unmanly. Isn’t that right, Tracy?”

The other woman looked up from the chocolate cakes she was frosting. She winked at Carrie, and then raised her voice just slightly. “Yeah, the next thing you know they’re going to be walking around asking each other if their pants make their butts look too big.” Tracy smirked as she said that, and Kelsey laughed.

“Okay, that’s it. I’m entering deputy sheriff stealth mode. I am
not
here.” Matt raised his book up so that he couldn’t see them. “And I’m almost wishing that SOB would try to break in here in the next couple of minutes, because I’m in the mood to pound on something.”

Kelsey and Tracy were both chuckling. Carrie found herself fighting the urge to do the same. Since Matt was there, basically, for her benefit, she thought it behooved her to do what she could so as not to ridicule him.

“All right, my curiosity is roused. What particular dragons did the women of this town slay recently?”

Carrie couldn’t help but grin as Kelsey and Tracy exchanged sly looks. Then Kelsey put the turkeys in the oven, washed her hands at the sink, and came over next to her.

Carrie was working on the daily salads. She’d already prepared the rotini and the rice. Both had been strained and were cooling in the large bowls she’d use to mix them in. She only needed to finish adding the other ingredients, and then the dressings, for the salads to be ready to serve. The lunch hour was fast approaching, so she needed to work quickly.

Kelsey took a moment to survey the array of vegetables on the working table, then picked up a knife, grabbed a stool, sat, and got to work chopping vegetables.

“The first hombre to meet a sad fate at the hands of the women of Lusty”—she grinned and winked at Carrie and then looked over toward her husband—“while the men were off protecting the wrong
place
primarily due to their flawed logic, I might add, was a very dangerous and more than slightly demented drug lord who’d painted a target on Peter’s back. He’d put a contract out on him and when that didn’t work, came after him in person.”

Matt lowered his book and skewered his wife with a very direct stare. “You have no idea how frantic we were when we found out what y’all were doing. Swear to God, y’all were lucky you weren’t turned over your men’s knees for that one.” His glance took in Tracy, who had the cheek to stick out her tongue at the deputy.

“You took on a
drug lord
?” Carrie guessed her horror sounded plain, because Matt pointed at her.

“See? Carrie understands how reckless and foolhardy that was!”

Carrie was all about making Matt feel appreciated on account of he was there guarding her, but there
was
a limit. “Um, I never said that, Matt.” She gave him a sweet smile to soften the blow.

He grunted then pointed at his wife. “Wait until you hear what Ginny did. Go on, tell her.”

Kelsey said, “How come you don’t want me to tell her what I did, before we got married?”

“Because there is only so much stress I can take. Now, are you going to tell her what our sweet, shy little Ginny did, or not?”

Just then Ginny Kendall came into the kitchen. “I need an order of breakfast tacos, extra hot, and to know why y’all are staring at me as if I have two heads.”

“I’ll get the order,” Tracy said.

Carrie met Ginny’s gaze. “Kelsey was fixin’ to tell me what you did that got the men’s masculinity all twisted up in a knot.”

Ginny’s cheeks turned pink. “Oh, that.” She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “I don’t know why the men keep harpin’ on
that
. It’s not like I
planned
to do anything dangerous. Things just happened. The truth of the matter is I—”

“Just got so mad!”

Ginny’s eyes widened as Tracy, Kelsey, and Matt cut her off to say that in perfect unison. The women grinned, and Matt said, “Why do you think we men treat you with such respect, Mrs. Kendall, ma’am? We’ve all seen what you do when you get mad and we aim not to put you in that state.
Ever
.”

“I have a feeling that this is a story I have to hear.” Carrie looked at each of them in turn.

“Order up.” Tracy set a plate under the hot lights.

Ginny waved her hand again. “I have to give Uncle Albert his breakfast. Y’all can fill her in. As long as you
also
let her know what Kelsey, Susan, and Tamara did. Boy howdy, you’d think I was the only woman in town to stand up for herself.”

“Well, sweetheart, you
are
the only one to have done so by bodily dragging a convicted felon from his vehicle and then hoofing him in the family jewels. While being completely
unarmed
, I might add.”

Everyone turned to see Adam Kendall standing in the doorway of the kitchen, the door held wide open by his muscular body.

Carrie guessed that anyone sitting near the doors could have heard that statement. And likely did, judging by the smiles she saw on the faces of Warren and Edward Jessop, who were the town’s EMTs and sitting at the small table just behind Adam.

Adam let the door swing closed behind him and gave his wife a sunny smile.

“Boy howdy, Adam Kendall, just you wait until you do something in the heat of the moment that in hindsight you realize is risky. Then we’ll have us a discussion about leavin’ the past
in
the past.” Ginny scooped the plate of food and made a great show of skirting her husband with her head held high as she headed back out to the dining room.

Adam followed her with his eyes. “God, I love that woman.”

Carrie guessed he certainly did if that satisfied, partly smug grin on his face was any measure of his feelings.

And then the words he’d said in such a casual manner sank in. She felt her jaw drop. “That tiny woman hauled a man out of his car?”

Matthew got to his feet, stretched, and then grinned. “She did indeed. But Adam misled you slightly when he said that she dragged him out and kicked him in the balls. First she punched him in the face, and
then
she kicked him in the balls when he came at her. By the time
we
pulled up, the bastard was curled into a fetal position on the ground, unsure if he should cover his head or his already-abused dangly parts. See, Ginny was
still
kicking at him and screaming at the top of her lungs.”

Adam narrowed his eyes as he looked at his deputy. “At least she wasn’t running away from a maniac with a gun after discharging said gun into a car windshield, yanking the car keys from the car, and tossing them out onto the road.”

Matthew actually winced. “Don’t remind me.” He wagged his finger at his wife. “You were lucky that asshole Connors had so much glass in his eyes from that exploding windshield he couldn’t see well enough to take up that gun and shoot you dead.”

“Yes, darling, so you and Steven have said, many,
many
times.”

Adam rocked back on his heels, his smile as wide as Matt’s had been. “She could have been blinded, too. That was a hell of a lot of glass the uncles had to pick out of her cheek, neck, and hair.”

Kelsey proved herself a smart woman then. She went over to her husband, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him.

Carrie looked over at Adam, who winked at her. “There’s still no response to the alert issued on Lockwood,” he said. “Of course, you know I’m just here to relieve Matt.”

“Of course. I just wish this was all going to be finished soon. Maybe the Rangers will find him before he even gets here—though that makes me sound kind of cowardly compared to my kick-ass coworkers, here.”

“No!”

Carrie blinked because, not only had the men said that, so, too, had Kelsey and Tracy.