Raines, Elizabeth - Sold [Wicked Missions 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (6 page)

* * * *

The island was magnificent. A dock jutted out from a boathouse, and another boat the same size as the one Carter now guided bobbed tied up on one side of the wooden dock. One for each man, she supposed.

There wasn’t a beach, at least not on this side of the island. Instead, the water lapped up against rock walls that looked to have been constructed rather than nature-made. Several tall palm trees rose in the distance, and she could see the roof of a house sheltered within the grove. Much of the area was grass-covered and fenced in, and several chickens and some goats roamed around inside that fencing. Had the men brought all those things with them from Earth to create this little haven?

A sharp whistle drew her attention as Carter tied the boat on the dock and then helped her step onto the platform. “Damn, Carter. You did good!”

Lyrianna felt a warm flush on her face when she realized it was Brandon whistling, and he’d been talking about her. Her legs trembled, but she refused to show any weakness to these men.

“She must have set us back at least a thousand unis,” Brandon said, coming to stand in front of her.

“You’d be surprised,” Carter replied as he stepped up next to her.

“Please don’t tell me you had to go higher than a thousand.” His gaze raked her head to toe. “Although, she’d be worth it.”

“Nope. Five hundred. She scared the shit outta the rest of those idiots, especially when someone started a rumor she’d murdered her husband to get sent here.”

So that was why no one wanted me!
Not that she gave a damn what they thought, but the notion that none of those men had found her appealing enough to bid on had been a pinch to her pride.

Lyrianna almost gave Brandon the same whistle he’d given her when she finally found the nerve to give him a good, long look. His hair was a shade darker brown than Carter’s, but longer. With another couple of centimeters, it would brush his heavily-muscled shoulders. A neatly-trimmed goatee framed a mouth that was so tempting, Lyrianna literally licked her lips before she realized what she was doing and stopped herself. His responding smile told her he’d caught the action.

He was wearing nothing but a pair of lightweight shorts. Every inch of his skin was a golden tan. A thatch of brown hair fanned across his chest, thinning to a line that trailed over a firm abdomen and disappeared below the loose waistband of his pants. When Brandon laughed, she realized she’d been staring at his groin.

“What’s her name?” he asked Carter. “Does she speak English?”

“Her name,” she replied, “is Lyrianna Seebré. And yes, she speaks English.”

Even his smirk was handsome. “I’m Brandon—”

“Brandon Hunt. Yes, I know.” She turned to Carter. “May I please have a bath and some clean clothes?”

“Of course,” he replied. “Then we’ll get you something to eat.”

Just the thought of food made her want to heave again. “No…no, thank you. I’m not hungry. Just dirty.”

“Well, then,” Brandon said, grabbing her hand and walking toward a break in the trees. “Let’s show you your new home.”

Chapter 5

Brandon had to resist the urge to take Lyrianna into his arms as he led the way toward the house. His cock was hard as granite, and all he wanted to do was toss her over his shoulder like a sack of grain, throw her on the bed, and fuck her until the sun set two days from now. Everything inside him desired her—and not simply because she was a woman and he hadn’t slept with a woman in just about forever. No, he was responding to Lyrianna.

She was exquisite. The long, blonde hair. The heart-shaped face. The perfect curve of her full lips. Every inch of that tight body. He’d never seen eyes that enchanting color—not truly blue, more of a gray. As they walked side by side, he caught her scent on the light breeze. Feminine. Delicate. Arousing.

Damn, but Carter had done well.

“You built all this?” Lyrianna asked as they walked up the stone path that led from the dock to the house. He didn’t worry about her bare feet. The whole compound had been designed for them to run around without shoes. Smooth paths. Warm sand. Soft grass. Her eyes were wide, and he could hear the admiration in her voice, making his chest puff with pride.

“Sure did. With our own hands,” Brandon replied. “And damn proud of it.”

Her slender hand rose as she pointed toward the turbine on the roof. “What’s that?”

“Wind power. We generate our own electricity. That one powers the house.” He pointed to the barn. “That one gives us power to the barn. And those…” He inclined his head toward the tree grove where two larger windmills spun. “…keep the power going to the pods.”

“Pods? You mean the underwater pods? What do you grow there?” Her curiosity was a good sign. Most women would be bored to tears even thinking about pod farming let alone talking about it.

“Mostly exotic herbs for pharmaceutical companies,” Brandon replied. He couldn’t resist the urge to touch her, needing to see if her skin was as soft as it appeared, so he smoothed his fingertips over her shoulder. Damn if she didn’t shiver, making his dick twitch. “Once you get acclimated, we’ll take you diving tomorrow and show you the pods.”

Carter opened the door to the house, put his hand against the small of Lyrianna’s back, and guided her into the house. As Brandon tried to follow her, Carter put a hand on his shoulder. “We need to talk. She’s not at all what you think.”

How was he supposed to respond to that statement? They hadn’t been sure what to expect and only hoped they bought a woman who was clean, young, and liked sex. Everything else about Lyrianna was simply a bonus. “Fine.” Then Brandon joined their new woman as she stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring around their open-concept home.

“This is so… I didn’t expect…this…” Her voice dropped away as she stepped toward the accordion doors that were open on three walls to allow the breeze to flow through the house. The only solid wall was the one behind the bed, and it was made of cinderblock to withstand hurricane season. The other three were made of doors that could be shut to hold back the winds and rains. Most of the time, the men left them open to allow the tropical breeze access and keep the house comfortable and cool.

Since he and Carter didn’t spend much time inside, it probably wasn’t nearly as nice as what she’d hoped. Basically nothing more than one enormous room. The kitchen took up one side, the bedroom the other. Most of their lounging furniture was on the tiled veranda as was a nice grill where they cooked most of their meals. He knew the moment her gaze settled on the bed because her eyes widened enough, it had to be painful.

“Brandon? What the hell?” Carter asked, nodding at the new bed.

Feeling uncomfortable but not exactly sure why, Brandon rubbed the back of his neck. “I…um…decided it might be nice if we had a bigger bed, one for all three of us. I made that while you were gone.”

“Why?” Carter’s face had flushed an angry red.

“I figured…with a woman coming…and…”
Oh, fuck it
. Having a woman in their place wasn’t going to change the fact that Brandon was always honest. Brutally honest. “I figured we’d all be so busy screwing around that we’d be better off with one enormous bed. The one we had barely fit us. I mean, that’s why we bought her, wasn’t it? Because we both wanted to have a woman join us?”

“May I have a bath now?” Lyrianna asked. Her voice remained soft despite the fact Brandon had been practically shouting. “Please?”

“Sure,” Carter answered, throwing a withering scowl at Brandon. He walked over to his closet, jerked the door open, and grabbed a button-down shirt from the hanger hard enough the hanger was still swinging as he slammed the door shut. Then he opened a drawer on his bureau, fished out a pair of boxer shorts, and shoved the drawer closed. He held the garments out to Lyrianna. “Here. It’s the best I can do for now. We have to take a trip into the city again soon for supplies, and we can either buy some things for you or get some material if you want to sew your own.”

“Where’s the bathroom?” she asked, her eyes roaming the room again. “I don’t see—”

“We don’t have an indoor shower,” Brandon replied. “We bathe in the ocean. It’s fresh water and clean as it comes.” Since he knew he’d already fucked up royally and had no idea why, he decided he could at least try to help with this, maybe smooth things over. “I could design you a shower, if you’d like. Wouldn’t be too hard.”

She gave him a smile that hit his gut. “I’d like that. Thank you.”

Grabbing a towel from the large pile of clean ones, he tossed it at her. She caught it mid-air and frowned. Then he grabbed his shampoo and soap. “You can use these. They don’t smell girlie or anything, but they work.” He held them out to her before realizing her hands were full. “I’ll carry them down to the water. Could use a bath myself, I suppose. Mind if I join you? You want a shaving stone?”

“A what?”

“A pumice stone. We use them to shave instead of razors. They work great.”

When her eyes locked with his, he felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. God, she was so beautiful he wasn’t sure he’d ever tire of looking at her. “Why don’t we all go get cleaned up? Might be a good way to break the ice. A little time naked, and maybe nature will just take its course.” Maybe she wouldn’t be so shy when she saw that she’d already made his cock stand at attention. Wasn’t swimming together supposed to be romantic? It had been so damned long since he’d interacted with a real woman that he’d lost all his subtlety. Not that it mattered. She was theirs now, and he wanted her. Desperately.

“Oh… I thought I could bathe…” Her gaze dropped away. “…alone.”

Carter was at his side, wrapping his hand around a bicep and dragging Brandon away from Lyrianna. “I told you,” he said through clenched teeth, “we need to talk. She’s not…what we expected.” He glanced over to her. “Why don’t you go on out and bathe? We’ll be out shortly.” He gave a nod toward the veranda. “Head out through those doors. You’ll see the beach right there.”

A shy smile crossed her lips as she tucked the towel under her arm, and then she was gone.

Frustration made Brandon turn on his friend. “What the fuck’s going on, Carter? What do you mean she’s not what we expected? We bought a woman to sleep with. My nuts are turning blue! I figured you’d nailed her at least twice in the boat on the way home! Did you forget the birth control or something?”

Carter shook his head. “We’re not fucking her, Brandon. Not yet.”

He blinked in shock. Twice. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Look… I got to know her a little on the ride home. She’s a
lady
.”

Setting his hands on his hips, Brandon gave Carter a rueful chuckle. “
Ladies
don’t end up in prison. What did she do, anyway?”

“I don’t know. We weren’t allowed to ask.” Carter shrugged. “Doesn’t matter anyway. She’s ours now.”

Brandon clapped him hard on the back. “Exactly. Now let’s go down there and take advantage of our good luck at the auction.”

Carter grabbed his bicep again as Brandon tried to walk away. “Just stop and listen to me. I think we’ve got a shot at something more here… Something really good.”

“Fuck, yeah, we’ve got something really good. She’s hot.”

“Can you stop thinking with your cock for one minute?”

A slow mental count of ten kept Brandon from punching Carter in the nose. The need to make love to that beautiful creature bathing in their ocean was twisting his gut into furious knots he wasn’t sure would ever be unraveled. “Fine. Explain. Quickly.”

“I think we’ve been given some kind of gift by the universe, a chance for us to maybe get more than some woman to keep us from going insane for lack of pussy. I think we’ve got a shot at another mate—a wife for both of us. Someone who can love us as much as we love each other. She’s so much more than what I’d ever thought we’d find there.”

“But she knows why we bought her, doesn’t she?”

“That’s the problem,” Carter replied. “She feels like a whore. If we don’t win her over, get to know her for who she is instead of just sleeping with her because we bought her, we’ll lose any chance at anything more permanent.”

That gave Brandon pause. “I suppose that’s kinda what she is, but we won’t treat her like one.”

Carter pointed at the bed. “And what message do you think king-sized plus there gave her?”

Brandon held out his palms. “Fine. Fine. I fucked up with that. I was just excited.”

“Can we try to treat her like a lady for a while? You know, treat her like a woman we want to win over instead of one we purchased? I think she’ll be happy here if we just give her a reason to be. I also think there’s an attraction there already. I don’t think she’ll play hard to get if we let her know we want her for who she is.”