Operation Mustang [The Service Club 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (3 page)

He shared women with Lucky before, shared with both his brothers. As a trio, they could bring a woman an explosion of ecstasy that would leave her shaky and mindless upon full detonation for hours. Diek wanted nothing more than to watch Mustang’s eyes roll back in her head, to listen to the amazing sounds she would make as he and his brothers pleasured her beyond her wildest imaginings.

“Raven is strong, tough, just like her owner.”

Diek turned, finding Thomas Waverly standing less than a foot behind him. The younger man didn’t meet his gaze, but kept his trained on Mustang. Diek studied him, saw the yearning in his eyes, the grim set to his lips. He supposed he should’ve expected the man to fall for Mustang. They were the same age and had been brought up together. Thomas’s mother had died when he was a toddler, leaving Chester with the responsibility to raise his grandson. Chester chose to do that on the Circle M.

Diek supposed he should’ve expected Thomas to be jealous of Lucky’s affection toward Mustang, too. He shifted his attention back to Mustang. To the best of his memory, she’d always been friendly with Thomas, treated him almost like a brother, but never once had he ever seen her get close enough to touch as she was right now with Lucky.

“I see the feet.” Mustang’s face lit up like the sky on the Fourth of July, and Diek couldn’t help but grin. The woman might not be conventionally beautiful, but everything about her, from her slightly crooked nose to her tiny feet, had the ability to drive him wild.

Gunner moved to her opposite side, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder as he peered over the stable door.

“It’ll take about fifteen to twenty minutes before Raven’s through,” Lucky told her as Diek walked closer. “We’re seeing the feet, and that’s the important part. It means the foal is positioned properly and Raven shouldn’t have any troubles.”

“I’ve seen foals born before, Lucky. She’s not out of the woods yet.” Despite the excitement on her amazing face, her voice rang with concern.

Diek stopped behind her, catching her ponytail and letting it glide through his hand. He needed to touch her. The thought of her warmth, of her sweet flesh had kept him going for more months than he’d bothered to count. He had given up trying not to love her, had given up attempting to find another woman to take her place. She belonged to him, and nothing would change that. He skimmed the backs of his fingers down her spine, loving the way she shivered at the touch even if she pretended not to notice he stood behind her.

“This is going to be the longest fifteen to twenty minutes of your life so far, darlin’.” He knew that from experience. Anticipation could make time seem to stretch to infinity.

She glanced at him then, nearly brushing noses with Gunner as she turned her head to look at him. Her expression softened, and if he didn’t know better he would’ve sworn he saw a hint of tears glistening in her eyes. “Not quite, but it’ll probably come close.”

* * * *

The moment the words left her mouth, Mustang knew she’d made a mistake. She knew what she said didn’t give her away as much as the damn tears she felt burning her eyes. She could easily remember the longest twenty minutes of her life so far, could easily feel the shadow of the terror those minutes had wound through her soul.

Nearly a year had passed since the night Lucky had received word that Diek had been injured on an op. It had taken twenty minutes that night before he’d been able to find out if Diek was still alive. She’d spent those twenty minutes pacing the floor, fear racing through her veins and hope swelling in her heart. The relief she’d felt when Lucky finally confirmed that Diek would pull through the injuries he’d sustained had driven her straight to Lucky’s arms. She’d almost lost it that night, almost threw every bit of her caution to the wind and given in to what she wanted most.

Almost.

Somehow, she’d made it through. She’d never admitted to Lucky how close she’d come, but he’d suspected. She’d felt it in his touch, seen it on his ruggedly handsome face. And he’d know it for certain now after she’d all but admitted it point-blank.

Damn it
! She couldn’t think, surrounded by the Rylon brothers. She knew they weren’t the only ones in the barn. She’d spotted Chester when he’d walked inside and heard Thomas say something mere seconds before Diek came up behind her. Their presence seemed superfluous though. Having them here wouldn’t help her. If anything, it made it worse because others saw, others heard. If she had been sinking in the office when Diek and Gunner arrived, she was definitely drowning now with all three Rylon brothers next to her.

Not just next to her,
touching
her. Lucky’s warm, soothing whispers fanned the fine hairs on her ear every time he spoke. Her mind tried to play tricks on her, too, hearing that voice but altering the words to ones of sultry commands and blunt appraisals. His hand on the small of her back sent excited shivers up her spine. They were shivers Diek’s touch only accentuated, igniting a firestorm in her system that raced through her bloodstream. Gunner’s hand on her shoulder shouldn’t have felt anything more than casual. It wouldn’t have if it had belonged to anyone else. But it didn’t. It belonged to Gunner, and that single contact, coupled with the rest, sent her head racing with ecstasy.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Lucky said softly, breaking the sexual-tension-charged atmosphere between them.

Mustang slid her gaze over him before locking her attention on Raven once more. The quick image of him standing beside her stayed in her vision for several hormone-stroking minutes. He was beautiful indeed. A black Stetson she’d often thought of as the Rylon brothers’ trademark sat over dark, collar-length hair. He’d tipped the brim back on his forehead, exposing eyes the color of autumn grass. It had been at least two weeks since he’d shaved. She knew because his mustache and close-cut goatee were back around his pale pink lips.

She nodded her answer, forcing herself to watch as Raven completed birthing her foal. It gave her time to adapt to the thickness of the air around her, to absorb the primitive possession she felt from each of them and find her resistance once more. They gave her that silence, everyone watching and waiting until the foal was born. When Raven rose to lick her foal clean, she pushed a hard sigh of relief from her lungs.

Gunner squeezed her shoulder. “Looks like Raven has a colt on her hands.”

“And a very healthy one at that,” Lucky added as the colt stood on shaky legs within minutes and began to nurse from his mother. “How about we give them some privacy? I’ll keep watch on them through the day.”

Mustang nodded, wanting to be the one to watch over them, but knowing she had other work to get done. “I can’t move till one of you backs off.”

“Well now, you trying to say we finally got you where we want you?” Dierk’s syrupy tone moved over her like warm molasses. His fingers grazed up her back, dipping beneath her ponytail to tickle her nape.

Mirroring fingers of desire stroked her nipples to beaded points. Her belly fluttered as a thicker arousal seeped from between her pussy lips. She only had to give in, and they would really and truly have her. Trouble came in knowing if she did that, she would be putting herself in a position to offer them far more than she would willingly give.

“I’m trying to say I’ve got work to do, and you cowboys are keeping me from it.” She started to turn, one hand somehow finding itself on Gunner’s chest. Muscles flexed beneath her palm as his chest rose and fell in steady breaths. A hot thrill skated straight to her pussy.

“Not so fast, darlin’.” Diek’s fingers tightened on her nape even as Lucky’s hand stretched to cup her side. Gunner’s hand fell from her shoulder to cover the one she’d placed on his chest. Each of them applied just enough pressure with their grips to prevent her from moving further. “You need to finish what you started in the office.”

She couldn’t. Not here, not now, not with their hands on her this way. The time they’d given her during the colt’s birth, the resistance she’d managed to rebuild shattered the moment all her awareness centered on their touches.

“I believe Chester said you were about to give him a reason to fire me.”

Mustang glanced frantically to where she’d last seen Chester standing, only to realize he and Thomas had left the barn at some time during the last half hour. They left her alone, trapped by her worst nightmares and the products of her darkest fantasies.

Gunner’s thumb traced lazy circles over the back of her hand. “I’m betting she can come up with a number of them.”

“I’m figuring she can, too, but they’ll be personal reasons. She’d never fire a man for that.”

Diek knew her too well. They all did. “I might fire one for continuing to talk about me as if he’s not staring at my back right this moment.”

They moved like a choreographed line dance. Gunner released her hand on his chest. Lucky’s arm fell from her side. Diek’s right hand stayed on her nape, while his left arm snaked around her waist. He whirled her around to face him, her front slamming into the hard wall of his body. The move surprised a gasp out of her. The feel of his rigid muscles against her pliant curves had a whimper bubbling in her throat.

Mustang looked up at him, licked her lips, and watched as his gaze dropped to her mouth, and followed the path her tongue took. Insatiable hunger turned his cobalt eyes dangerously darker. She felt the clear outline of his hard, thick cock against her belly, and an echoing craving rumbled through her body.

“You want a reason to fire me, darlin’, I can give you one.”

Pain she’d never thought to see in this man’s eyes took her breath away.

“I’m injured. My right shoulder is shot. I might go days where it doesn’t give me a minute’s trouble, but it doesn’t happen often. Most times I can’t lift with it. Hell, I can barely fucking move it without cursing a blue streak.”

He stopped, and Mustang simply stared at him, her throat tight. It tore her apart to hear him speak that way, knowing what it cost him to admit he was less than his best. Still, she wouldn’t let him see how much his pain affected her. She couldn’t. One ounce of weakness and he’d have her. They all would.

“Did you tell all of this to Chester when he offered you the job?”

“Yes ma’am. Stubborn old bastard kept interrupting me. He didn’t want to hear it, but I managed to get it all out anyway.”

“He won’t settle for hiring anyone but you.” If she pushed it, forced Chester to pick another cowboy, she could very well be in danger of losing her foreman. She wouldn’t put it past the old man to go on strike or even quit if he didn’t get his way on this.

“Your ranch. You said it yourself. Chester doesn’t need an ole beat-up cowboy on the land. He needs one that can hold his own.”

Mustang lifted a brow. “Are you telling me you can’t?”

“I’ve never told a soul I can’t do something.”

“You left the teams, didn’t you?” Her gaze slid from his to the scar on his cheek. His shoulder hadn’t been the only thing injured. She wondered if there were more scars, other signs left by the explosion that had nearly taken his life. “You retired from the SEALs, from the Navy.” And, in doing so, gave up the one thing he’d worked the hardest for in his life. She knew that. She’d watched him struggle to achieve the impossible just as Gunner had done. She’d watched them fight to become the best of the best against every obstacle thrown in their paths including the death of both their parents and the loss of their own family ranch.

“Mark that as the first time, the only time.”

The first and only time he swallowed his pride and admitted he could no longer perform the job his country entrusted him to do. Mustang nodded slowly, her heart breaking for him. She wanted to comfort him, to utter those nonsensical words about everything being okay. She swallowed them because she knew it wouldn’t be. She also knew stroking his ego was the last thing a man like Diek Rylon needed right now. He was giving her the perfect out, the
business
excuse she’d prayed for, and yet she couldn’t take it. Not in good conscience anyway. Injured or not, she knew he was still one of the best damn cowboys in three counties, just like Chester said. They could wait a few more days, even a few more months, and they wouldn’t find anyone better for the job.

“I’ll inform Chester that I’ve agreed to hire you for a probationary period of three months.” That meant three months of hiding for her. Three months to build a sturdier defense to face him and Lucky on the Circle M on a daily basis.

“I can live with that.”

“Good, then it’s settled.” Mustang tried to pull away, but his hold around her waist remained firm. She needed him to let her go, needed to put distance between herself and all three of them fast. Gunner and Lucky might have released their holds, but she still felt them on either side of her, the desire and authority pumping off of them so thick she could hardly breathe.

Diek slid his hand from her nape and grazed his thumb over her cheek. It was all she could do not to lean into that touch. She closed her eyes, needing a nanosecond to gather her senses. He didn’t even give her half that long.

His nose brushed hers, and her eyes popped open. When he spoke, his breath fanned her lips and the warmth did an exotic dance straight to her core. “There’s a meeting tonight. We’d like to see you there.”

“Like hell.” She wished the words came out with as much conviction as she felt. Instead, they sounded breathless and betrayed every bit of her longing to attend. She had spent far too many nights over the years standing at her bedroom window, daring to use a set of binoculars so she could watch from a great distance as the members of the Service Club grouped together in the woods of the Circle M. Every one of those nights, she had settled into her empty, lonely bed with her vibrator and the images of what she had seen planted in her fantasies.