Perfect Match [Ménage.com 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (2 page)

“Well, sweetheart, your research on the town is accurate,” Dakota said. “But I think the words you were trying to say were ‘a perfect match’. And since we already found her, we won’t be needing your website.”

There was that carefree smile again, drawing her gaze down to his lips. What would they feel like pressed against hers? Elise sucked in her lower lip and bit down, trying to stop the tingling feeling that had settled in. Maybe her ChapStick had menthol in it, because she refused to believe that just looking at Dakota’s mouth created such a reaction. Elise tried to concentrate on the words passing his lips. What was he saying?

“I’m sure we can help you with your site, though. If you have some flyers we can pass around, we can get word to spread quickly.” Dakota leaned forward, causing Elliot to take his hands off of the table. “As far off the beaten path as Triple is, the men around here who do prefer to live the ménage life have trouble finding women who either want to stay in such a small town or would want to relocate here.”

“Our population is one thousand and twenty-one,” Chad said. “I’d say at least three-quarters of the ranchers are in search of true love. You might just be their saving grace.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Elise replied, shaking her head. Her glasses slipped a bit. “This wasn’t even my idea. I write anthologies with two other writers, Shea Brennan and Cyn Sherwood-Hightower. This was all Shea’s idea, and somehow, I got stuck with the research part. But if what you say is true, I can be in and out of Triple within the day. I will create some flyers and drop them off tomorrow. I just need to get in contact with Shea to obtain the website address.”

Elise saw Chad and Dakota share a look, before Dakota reminded her of what had happened before she walked into Shooters. “You might have trouble with that considering you dropped your cell phone earlier. If I’m not mistaken, you’re going to need to have it replaced.”

“I heard that Bart had to close up shop for a couple of days,” Chad said.

“Who’s Bart?” Elise asked, looking back and forth between them. “And what does he have to do with my cell phone?”

“Bart owns the local hardware store,” Elliot answered. Elise didn’t trust the smile on his face. “He’s the only one whose store carries cell phones. He’ll be back by the end of the week, though.”

“By the end of the week? I can’t stay that long,” Elise replied. Did they actually think she would wait for some man to reopen his store just to get her cell phone replaced? “I’ll just drive to the nearest town or city, no big deal. As for getting in touch with Shea, I’ll just use the phone at the bed and breakfast that I’m staying at.”

“Well, you just remember to drop those flyers off with Dakota and Chad,” Elliot reminded her with a wink. “We didn’t get a proper introduction earlier, though. I’m Elliot Braxton.”

“Elise Sinclair.” Elise took his offered hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, darlin’.” Elliot gave her a wink. “Boys, don’t worry about that problem you have. I’ll take care of it.”

Chad gave a wide smile and took a sip of his beer. Dakota seemed to relax a bit, settling back against the wood of the booth. Whatever Elliot was doing for them must be important, but Elise would never butt into their personal life. She would be gone by tomorrow anyway. Glancing at her watch, Elise realized it was too late to head out of town in search of a new cell phone. She’d call Shea tonight from her room. Then on her way to the next town she needed to research for an upcoming book, she would make time to replace her phone.

“Well, it was nice meeting you both,” Elise said, feeling a bit awkward now that Elliot was gone. She hadn’t realized she’d been using him as a buffer. Now that it was just the three of them, Elise could feel the tension start to mount. It wasn’t sexual tension—it wasn’t. “I’ll be by in the morning, if that’s okay?”

“Actually, we don’t open until noon,” Chad answered, twirling his bottle of beer with his fingers. His grip was light, and she imagined him twirling her nipple in between his fingers. She felt them pucker and quickly looked down, making sure they didn’t show through her shirt. “But you haven’t finished your beer. We’ll keep you company while you do, and you can tell us a little bit about yourself.”

Elise felt Dakota’s knee brush against hers. She was grateful they both had jeans on, because she wasn’t sure she could handle skin-to-skin contact. Her mind was in overdrive, and the last thing she needed was for them to realize her body was reacting to every little thing they did. When his knee stayed pressed against hers, Elise looked at him and realized he was doing it on purpose. Elise intentionally scooted closer to the wall, ignoring his smirk. He had sexy laugh lines around his mouth as well. She grabbed her mug and took a long swig. She needed to get out of here before she did something stupid.

“What made you write about ménages?” Chad asked.

“Well, I told you that I write with Shea and Cyn. It was Cyn’s idea, and when we wrote our first anthology together, it seemed to hit a chord with the readers. We were lucky to find a publishing company that is as good as the one we have.”

“So you have no personal experience in the lifestyle?” Dakota inquired, his right eyebrow raised.

Elise noticed that he wasn’t drinking like she or Chad were, and wondered if it was because he was in charge tonight. According to what she knew, they were both owners of Shooters. But Dakota seemed to be the one making the decisions this evening.

“No, I don’t believe in relationships,” Elise answered automatically. Now why the hell had she said something like that? That was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. She hadn’t meant it as a challenge and hoped they wouldn’t take it as one.

“What exactly does that mean?” Chad looked at her skeptically, as if he thought she was lying. “You’re a romance author. You can’t write about it unless you have confidence in what you are telling, right?”

“That’s the best thing about being a writer,” Elise replied, her smile tight. She took another drink, making the glass half empty. “An author can spin anything to make it believable.”

“So you create a story of romance for other people.” Dakota leaned forward, clasping both hands on the table. They were large hands, just like his brother’s, and a body part that was usually overlooked. She wondered how soft his touch would be and if he was a gentle lover. The skin of her arms rose with goose bumps, and a slight tremor took up residence in her fingers. Dakota’s voice brought her focus back to the conversation. “When you say you don’t believe in relationships, are you saying you’ve never been in one? I find it hard to believe that someone as beautiful as you hasn’t fallen in love.”

“Love is a myth. It’s for fools.” Elise took another swig and slammed the mug on the table. “And why would I need a man when technology can take care of my needs? Look, I appreciate the flattering words, but I’m not in the market for a man. I truly appreciate you letting me advertise the site in your bar. I’ll hit up some of the other stores as well, before I head out of town. Maybe you can find the woman you are looking for if you sign up.”

Elise grabbed the pieces of her phone that she had set on the table earlier and scooted her way out of the booth. Before she could stop them, both Dakota and Chad got out as well. Their size made her feel small, as she was probably almost eight inches shorter than them. Her height put her at eye level with her favorite part of their anatomy. Her hands itched to run across their chests, so she tightened her grip on the plastic she held. She needed to get out of this town before she lost her sanity—or her virginity.

Chad watched as Elise made a beeline for the exit. Her cute little librarian glasses were sexy as hell. He watched her lovely, rounded ass sway as she stalked to the door, her blonde ponytail trying to keep up the same rhythm. Stalked was a good word to describe it, too, as he knew they had upset her with talk about relationships. What had happened to her that she had such a cynical view on relationships? She was an enigma he couldn’t wait to solve.

“Do you think Elliot had enough time to disable her car?” Dakota asked, leaning against the table. He crossed his arms as he studied the closed door. “When Elise finds out, she’s going to be really pissed off.”

“She won’t find out until after we’ve won her heart.”

“You better hope not. If she’s that irritated over talking about something she doesn’t want to, can you imagine how angry she’ll be when she finds out we sabotaged her way out of town?”

“We’ll deal with it when the time comes.” Chad started to walk toward the door. “I just can’t believe that our dream woman was standing in our parking lot less than an hour ago. Talk about fate. Let’s go play the rescuing white knights.”

“She’s cute as a button, isn’t she?”

“I’ve never seen anything so damn beautiful in my life,” Chad answered. “I’m telling you, it’s destiny. Didn’t we just say that things would fall into place when the time was right? We finally own the bar outright, we’ve managed to secure the land to build our dream house, and now the woman of our dreams is within our grasp.”

Chad and Dakota had been raised in Triple. Their two fathers and mother owned a ranch on the south side of town. Since he and his brother had grown up around ménage couples, it only seemed natural for them to do the same. They knew others who had left for wider pastures, not wanting to share their woman. But Chad and Dakota knew from experience that there was nothing like sharing a woman and teaching her the pleasures of being loved by two men. Loving the same woman gave them the ability to see things that others might miss. When Chad was otherwise busy, Dakota could watch her face making sure she was getting the maximum gratification they could give. Seeing a woman in the throes of passion was a high that he would never get enough of. And judging from Elise’s facial expression when she spoke of relationships, she had never truly been loved by a man. It was time to change that, and he and Dakota were just the men to do it.

“Who’s the blonde?”

Chad looked to his right, seeing Tracy DeMar holding a tray with three beers sitting in the middle. Tracy had been working for them since they opened their doors and was one of the best waitresses they employed. She had made a play for them a few months back, but both he and Dakota had turned her down. Tracy was a good-looking girl, but not their type. She seemed to have more of an eye for money instead of a true relationship.

“Her name is Elise Sinclair,” Chad explained, starting to walk across the bar. “She’s here to promote a ménage dating website. Will you make sure the tables are taken care of? Dakota’s going to take a break.”

“Sure, no problem,” Tracy replied, giving him a quick smile and a wink.

Chad led the way out the door, hearing Dakota yell over at the bartender that he was stepping out for a bit. Chad technically had the night off and had just stopped in to catch up on paperwork. Dakota was running the bar this evening, but Chad knew he had handed the reins over to Brent by saying to call his cell phone if there was a problem. There were benefits to being the owners. Chad opened the door, and déjà vu occurred.

Elise was standing beside her red convertible, the setting sun glinting off of her blonde hair and frames. Her hand was over her chest, just as it had been the first time he’d seen her. The difference between then and now was the hood was up on the sports car and her nose was scrunched up underneath her glasses.

“Need some help, honey?”

“My car won’t start. I just had a tune-up before I left home, too.”

Chad leaned over the hood, making it seem as if he was looking for the problem. Whatever Elliot had done, it was good enough that Chad couldn’t see the reason the engine wouldn’t turn over. Elliot must be playing it safe, just in case Elise knew the inner workings of an engine. Their plan would be blown to hell if she knew they were purposely keeping her in town until they could make her fall in love with them.

Seeing her was like seeing their future. Chad had always believed in love at first sight but had never encountered it for himself. Today was his lucky day, and he knew Dakota felt the same way. Initially, his physical reaction to her took his breath away. She had curves just where he liked them to be, blue eyes that reminded him of a clear blue sky, and her lips were perfectly shaped into a bow that signaled he’d gotten his Christmas gift early this year. Then, after hearing her speak, it was like her voice had sent arrows directly to his heart. Her mannerisms were adorable, and he especially liked it when she kept pushing up her glasses on her nose when she became nervous. Chad wanted to know everything about her.

“It’s a good thing Elliot and his brother own the garage in town,” Dakota said, walking around Elise and leaning up against the car. “Let’s walk over and ask him to look it over for you. Then we can take you to dinner.”

“Ugh, this is so frustrating,” Elise complained, walking around Dakota and leaning in to grab her purse. “How could my mechanic miss something like this?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing serious,” Chad assured her.

“You guys don’t have to walk with me. Just point me in the direction of the garage and I’ll be good to go. It’s a good thing the B&B is just down the street.”

“We wouldn’t be the gentlemen our mother raised us to be if we didn’t walk you over there.” Chad placed his hand on the small of her back, urging her to walk with them.

“Seriously,” Elise protested, “it’s no big deal. I’m used to dealing with this stuff by myself all the time. I’m a big girl.”