ROMANCE: MENAGE ROMANCE: Tapped and Taken by Two (Pregnancy Sports MMA UFC Fighter Romance) (Alpha Male Romance) (35 page)

Jen thought about earlier how she saw sex with Shane as clarifying for her mind. This time was no different except that this time it was clear that she wanted Shane. Not just physically but emotionally as well.

The past few days were more stressful than either of them had ever experienced, and now it just felt good to finally be happy and peaceful in the present moment again. It was a peacefulness enhanced by thoughts of their possible future together.

The two of them used one of their sleeping bags to cover the ground and the other to cover their bodies as they drifted off to sleep still embracing each other next to the fire under the stars. While asleep, Jen dreamed again, but this time there was not treacherous terrain, no ominous hovering tornado, there was only Shane, and the two of them were riding fast and free on the open range.   

              The next day it was hard to move quickly to get ready and leave. They both knew they had another long day ahead of them, and that there would be few to no breaks if they were going to get make it home. It was hard to move though holding each other in the slowly creeping grey light of the morning, but they both knew they didn’t have food for another night, let alone for breakfast that morning, and so begrudgingly started packing up camp and were well on their way before the sun cracked the horizon.

It was a long day, but nowhere near as difficult as yesterday. It seemed the “morning” sickness was not going to be an everyday event, which Jen was more than relieved about. So when they finally got back home to the ranch just as the sun was starting to set Shane stopped his horse. The two of them had said little that day but communicated tons by constantly catching each other’s eyes and smiling. The whole thing was juvenile, but neither of them really felt the need to put anything they were feeling into words. They both knew what each other felt and both of them couldn’t be happier.

Close to the end of the day they were just in sight of home. Shane stopped though and looked as if deep in thought. His horse shifted back and forth underneath him, but Shane didn't notice. Jen said something to him but Shane didn't hear. It was like he was in a trance. For a moment Jen thought back to her dreams and felt a distant pain of loss still lingering from the dreams she had. Just when Jen was getting ready to spur her horse up next to his Shane spoke.

“I think this is your last chance,” he said. “I won’t be a cowboy forever. I mean, how long did we really think it was going to last? This dream of riding forever. Things are going to change. I am going to change, and it’s not always going to be easy. It’s your last chance right now, because right now we are the only ones who know about any of this.”

              He turned his horse around and approached Jen, and she laughed a little.

              “Don’t be such an idiot. We are doing this, and I think right now I feel like this thing we have between us is the only thing making any sense right now so let’s just go home.” Those words seemed to bring Shane back to life and he turned his horse around and continued on next to Jen.

              The two of them slowly rode the rest of the way side by side to the ranch. When they got close Jen’s father came running out of the house obviously worried that they had been gone a day longer than he expected, and was relieved to see them both healthy and hear that everything had gone just fine. Jen’s dad shook Shane’s hand and thanked him for his hard work and then asked if he was able to join Jen and himself for dinner that night, which he of course accepted.

              “I think we’ve got a few other things to tell you about anyways,” Shane said smiling at Jen.

              Jen knew her father might be a little angry at first, but that he would quickly come around. She knew her father, and from the way he shook Shane’s hand she knew he respected him and that he was probably just looking out for her in the beginning by keeping Shane away from her. After all, Shane didn’t come across right away as the nicest most trustworthy man in the world.

At dinner, Shane did the talking and told her father about almost everything that had happened between them. Jen was shocked at how happy her father was with the information. He was speechless and so excited to be a grandfather that he went into his study to grab the really good bottle of whiskey he had been saving. Her father and Shane drank a toast and soon Jen’s father was running around the ranch happily letting everyone know the news.             

              By the time their baby girl came around Shane was responsible for most of the day to day jobs around the ranch. Jen soon learned that her father was already training Shane to help her out before any of this happened. He was starting to realize that he was getting older and might not be able to help Jen when she really needed it. There were of course ups and downs between Jen and Shane, but through it all they knew they were committed to each other and they both wanted to be there for each other as much as their baby girl. Jen was happy to simply have someone with her, and she knew Shane was happy and loved her because he told her so almost everyday. Sometimes they were the only words he said, but he never skipped a day saying them.

Down the road Shane was even reunited with his first son and is able to have him help out on the ranch every summer now. The ranch is successful and the family has everything they need. They all have each other and, to the delight of both Shane and Jen, are able to hop on their horses and ride out into the open range as fast as the horses can carry them whenever they feel the need to.

~The End~

Bodyguard Baby Daddy

1

The cameras were flashing, and people were calling out her name just on the other side of the closed backstage door of the concert hall. Bristol Maitland didn’t notice the creep until he was too close. A hand closed around her bicep and she gasped. She found herself face to face with a tall man with wide, dark, crazy eyes.

“I need you,” he frantically said shuddering.

How had he gotten to her? Where was the new guy Pete, her backup security? For that matter, where was Lucas, her full-time bodyguard?

The guy reached out with his other hand and caressed her face. Bristol was frozen with fear. She had known first hand before how dangerous a stalker could be. Just how crazy was this guy?

It wasn’t far from the stage door to the car waiting for her, and a relatively light crowd waited outside for her tonight. Maybe she could shake him and make it on her own? Sometimes, in bigger cities, crowds stood by the stage door for hours to catch a glimpse of her. This crowd of fans and paparazzi were hardly the largest Bristol had seen recently. What could possibly have allowed Lucas and the extra security guard he brought along with him to have missed this lunatic?   

Suddenly, the door burst open and Lucas came charging through. Pete was lagging behind him. A few cameras flashed through the open door, probably catching a picture of the man touching her.

“Hey you, cut it out!” Pete said, unsure what to do while slowing down his pace.

Lucas was a professional though, he radiated calm, and without a sound charged like a bull up to the creep and snatched his hand away from her face with such force Bristol was surprised he didn’t snap it off. “Buddy, you don’t want to do this.” Lucas sounded like he was just waiting for this guy to let him show why.

“I love her though!”

“Just relax man, or you’re gonna get hurt.” Lucas spoke still with an even tone though, which certainly didn’t surprise Bristol. Lucas did everything even on the job. He wore a jacket and collared shirt, no tie. Clean jeans and combat boots. He kept his short blonde hair buzzed on the sides, but still long on the top. He usually slicked it back while working a security detail, but the action had caused a few locks to stray across the corner of his eye. He still cut quite the intimidating figure. His key trait though he was that he was as by the book and thorough as could be when it came to doing his job: keeping Bristol Maitland safe. He was obviously ticked off that something like this had gone wrong on his watch.

More cameras flashed, paparazzi and fans hungry like sharks for blood in the water as Pete finally did something useful and shut the door on them.

“Bristol, I love you. Will you marry me? I know you must feel it too?” The bold and crazy fan bumbled out his ramblings through the pain Lucas’ grip was starting to cause him

Bristol started to answer, but Lucas had had enough and pulled the guy’s wrist behind him, pried him away from her, and dropped him to the ground. The guy seemed to try to fight Lucas at this point. Big mistake. Pete just stood by the door still looking like he had no idea what to do.

Lucas was actually doing the kid’s uncle a favor by hiring him. Bristol knew he wasn’t going to get a second chance to redeem himself.

“Hey! Thanks for the help Pete. Maybe go get find venue security or the police or something?” Bristol said, knowing that if Lucas didn’t fire him after this she certainly would herself.

Ever since last May, when Kyle Reed, a dangerous maniac who decided he was going to be Bristol’s latest most active stalker, appeared on the scene, she’d hired Lucas’ firm to do her security. Most days it was just Lucas who kept an eye on her, but he had a few other handsome ex-marines like himself to fill in when he needed a day off.

This creep that snuck by security wasn’t Reed, thank goodness. She hated to think how things would have turned out if it was him though. She hated to remember all those terrible things he wrote in his almost daily letters to her fan mail account. She hated to think what would happen if Lucas wasn’t always around to protect her. This time, he was thankfully close enough to cover for another security guard not doing their job.

The creepy fan hit Lucas three times, more or less like he was hitting a mountain, before Lucas decided he had enough and hauled his arm back and gave a short snap punch across the face. The guy wasn’t going to fight back now after feeling what that got him. Two police officers came around the corner just then to take care of this trespasser, which was sufficiently subdued now.

In the end though, trespassing would be all they could charge him with. That was the main problem having to deal with stalkers, there wasn’t a lot the police could do as far as arresting them unless they actually acted on their crazy threats. It was why Bristol had hired security firms like Lucas’ in the past, and why she had been paying extra to keep Lucas himself around full-time. A dangerous maniac obsessed with her, and the police couldn’t legally do anything? Lucas, and whoever he brought with him, were her only real protection now. Sometimes though, when she looked at Lucas, Bristol felt like just having him around was more than enough protection.

Bristol couldn’t wait to get out of this situation and end this day. When she was ready, she signalled to Lucas to open the door, and the two of them made a beeline to the waiting limo. She did manage to smile for the camera a few times, but those photos were more than likely just of Bristol getting hurried along by her muscular and stern looking bodyguard.

Lucas let himself in the back of the car with Bristol, left Pete standing in the crowd, and pounded on the window separating them from Craig, her driver, to tell him to speed off and head for home. His blonde hair was slightly mussed from the encounter, but other than that, he looked impassive, like he always did.

“Where were you?” Bristol snapped. She was normally an even tempered person and didn’t let the creeps she often had to deal with get to her but the guy touched her face, and there was something about the intimacy of the gesture got under her skin. Not to mention the added stress of an actually violent and criminally dangerous person trying to get to her as well.

“The plan was for me to stake out the crowd while Pete hung back with you until I radioed for him to bring you out. When I saw him waiting by the limo I rushed back in. I was right there though. You’re fine.”

“Please do a little better screening people next time you need to add someone to help you out okay. Maybe make sure they can follow simple directions.”

“My job is to keep you safe. Are you safe?”

“I don’t know, am I?”

“You’re kidding me. Pete’s done, and you’re fine.”

Bristol liked trying to get a rise out of Lucas usually, which is why she talked to him this way. She knew Lucas always had her back, but teasing him about not doing his job right was just too fun and easy. At this moment though, the teasing was more out of habit than anything else. Bristol was exhausted. She’d been on stage for almost three hours. Now she wore a stylish pantsuit and heels, very going to be pretty for the photos walking to the car her stylist said, which Bristol knew usually meant that it was going to not be comfortable at all. She wanted sweatpants, or wanted to crash by her pool and lose herself in a book.

Now, looking at Lucas’ antagonistic face, she found herself just wanting to cry. When she’d looked for a security service, they all told her he was the best in the business, but he came with an attitude. They weren’t wrong. She didn’t know how the guy could stand up straight with a chip that size on his shoulder. Her teasing, she knew, she would only take so far. Lucas was the kind of guy you mostly just shut up and did what they told you to do.

“Just please don’t let them touch me like that. That’s all I ask.”

“You know the job better than I do, hey Bris.”

“Don’t get like that.”

“I know you’re tired and hangry, and you’re a bitch this time of night when that happens. So do us both a favor and shut up.”

Bristol opened her mouth. Shut it again. The teasing went both ways. It made her twice as mad though that he was right, and her stupid traitorous stomach growled out loud to prove his point. He reached in the bag he carried a flung a granola bar across the limo at her.

She took it. She hadn’t even noticed she was starving so maybe a snack before going to sit out by the pool would be a better idea.

Bristol had made a tropical utopia for herself behind the house she and her husband Ricky lived in. Lots of plants, nice lighting so she could enjoy it day or night. There was a waterfall, a slide for when they hosted parties, tiki bar, comfy lounge furniture so she could lose herself in whatever she was reading at the time. Tonight’s book was a sci fi series about a near future where Earth, Mars, and the Asteroid belt battled for autonomy. Just thinking about a new book and her pool was already helping her calm down from the whole situation.

When they got back to the house the ornate gates opened, and the car rolled in. Bristol didn’t like being driven around, preferred driving herself, but as Lucas pointed out, this made her much easier to keep tabs on. For show days, she would be driven while he was in charge of protecting her.

It wasn’t like things were going to lighten up anytime soon either. Her next tour started in just a few days. Between now and then, one more local show, lots of rehearsal. She had a totally new batch of dancers this round after some wonky union contracts. It was always hard getting used to a new group.

“Whose car is that? Ricky home?” Lucas said, as they got out. He stretched like a big cat, and his sleeves came up so she could see the colorful tattooed skulls on his biceps. Bristol wondered what Kyle Reed drove these days, if the Camry could be his. Bristol didn’t like to admit it, but for some reason this crazy stalker had gotten in her head, which made her all the more certain that he wasn’t just the regular crazy fan she had to deal with from time to time.

Bristol glanced into the garage. “Ricky’s three cars were are all there,” she said, “I have no idea who drives the Camry.”

“I guess he’s got someone here?”

“He must.”

“Maybe, I’ll go in with you. Just to check it out. Okay?”

Bristol tried to think who of Ricky’s friends drove a car like that. It was in rough shape, and he was such a snob about what he drove.

Dammit, she just wanted to relax. Instead, she let Lucas go inside first. Prickles of unease worked their way down her back. Bristol felt like this more often than she wanted lately. The house was empty, quiet. Nothing out of place in the grand foyer, and Ricky wasn’t in his man cave. Bristol started to see the empty beer bottles though, and then a mostly empty bottle of Jack.
Oh dear
, Bristol thought to herself. Lucas scanned it all, but kept his face impassive.

Bristol followed him up the stairs. He’d probably gotten drunk and gone to bed early. It wasn’t even eleven yet. When they got to the top of the stairs their bedroom door hung open, a dim, warm glow spilling out into the hall from a decorative lamp.

Lucas peered in, went rigid, and blocked her.

“You should maybe just go back downstairs.”

For a split second a vision of Ricky murdered in their bed washed over her, but she knew that wasn’t it. She didn’t want to say it but she knew exactly what was going on.

“No way I’m going to just ignore this and walk away again. I’ve had enough protection from you for one night I think.”

She pushed past Lucas. Her husband lay on his back, mouth open, snoring softly. His black hair was a mess, his muscular chest rising and falling slowly. A naked young woman curled next to him, head on his chest. Bristol cleared her throat. The girl’s eyes fluttered open, and she let out an ear splitting scream. As she sat up, Bristol got a view of very large, very fake breasts. She hoped that was a good sign that the girl was of age.

Ricky lurched awake and cursed. “Fuck me, what’s going…Oh shit…Brissy…I thought you were starting your tour tonight.”

“You thought wrong Ricky. I really think that it’s time now that you Get Out!!!” Bristol said letting the anger and volume of her voice rise as she went through the words.

“Excuse me, Miss, Maitland,” Lucas alway referred to her professionally like this when others were around. “Maybe you should just go downstairs and let me handle this,” he said in a way that was more urging than asking.

“Tried that last time. Apparently it didn’t work.” She shoved past her bodyguard, around the bed to Ricky’s side. “We’re done. Get out of my house.”

“What? Y, y, yeah well, you pushed me to do this.”

“Pushed you to do this? You’re so full of it. How about the last time? What about the time before that? How many years have I been ‘forcing’ you to fuck these girls. When’s the last time you made love to me? You won’t touch me. You won’t look at me.”

Bristol felt very aware of the other people in the room. “Lucas, can you escort Ricky’s friend out?”

“You want me to escort Ricky out, too?”

“No, I can handle that myself.”

“Come in the hall with me for a sec,” Lucas said to Bristol. To Ricky and his lover, he said, “You two get dressed.”

Bristol went because she knew he wouldn’t ask if he didn’t have a good reason. “You want me to kick the shit out of him?”