Pure Bliss

Chapter Fifteen

Hope forced herself back to reality. She could almost feel the Atlanta night around her, but she was here in Bliss. She wasn’t the same girl Christian had fooled. Not by half.

“Let me get this straight,” James began. Hope finally turned to look at him, and sure enough, there was anger on his face. “You watched him kill someone, and then you went back to him?”

“What was I supposed to do?” Hope sniffled, trying hard not to cry. She’d expected his anger. Noah was just sitting and listening, but he hadn’t moved from the couch. He wasn’t jumping up to hold her. They were in their corners, and she was in hers. “If I had left, he would have searched for me. I had planned to gather some money and go to the police, but something happened that night.”

“Did you kill him?” Noah asked, his voice steady and even.

Hope swallowed before answering, the affirmation of her crime stuck in her throat. “Yes. I tried. I suppose it was more of a case of I didn’t try to save him. It was chilly that night, and Christian couldn’t stand the cold. He also had trouble sleeping. He’d taken a pill when he came to bed.”

“You fucking slept with him again?” The question tore from James’s mouth.

James’s vitriol was going to be worse than Christian’s. She forced herself not to cry. “No. I claimed my period was coming. Christian wouldn’t touch me when that happened. He went to sleep after turning on the space heater. I got up in the night and got dressed. I stole money from the safe after I found the code. My birthday. As I was leaving, I stumbled over the heater. It was so dark. I was terrified, but Christian didn’t stir. Not even when the curtains caught fire.”

She’d watched them light up. The frail, filmy curtains had caught fire quickly, orange-and-red flames blooming and bouncing around. It had been like a dance. She’d thought for a moment that she should stay and watch. The world had been so cruel.

But something stronger had taken over. The world had been cruel because she’d allowed it.

“I walked out. I didn’t wake Christian. I just walked away and didn’t look back. I took the car and exchanged it for another one outside of Little Rock. And then I wandered for years until I came here.”

“What did you do with the money, Hope?” Noah asked.

James had gotten up. He started to pace, his hands on his hips.

God, she didn’t want to get into this, but she’d promised honesty. Trev’s words came back to her. He’d been right, of course. Words had power and holding the story deep inside herself had taken her to the brink this time. The only way to get herself back was to tell the truth, to let the poison out even though it would cost her their love. She’d never really had it in the first place. They hadn’t known her.

“I drank most of it. I stayed in motels and I drank because it seemed like a good thing to do. I had never had so much as a glass of wine until the night after I left Christian. I was only twenty, but I managed to get into a bar and some man bought me a drink and then two, and then I wasn’t seeing Elaine anymore. I wasn’t seeing Christian. I woke up the next morning in a strange bed, and I ran to the next town.”

“Fuck all, Hope, do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” James asked, his eyes narrowed.

She shrugged. James, it seemed, was beginning to get the picture. “I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything. I thought the cops would find me. I thought Jerry might figure out how much money I had taken and come after me. But mostly I just wanted to erase that picture in my head. I wanted to erase me.”

“You know Trev from AA, don’t you?” Noah asked. He seemed calmer than James, but then distance could do that. Hope decided Noah was doing the right thing. He was distancing.

“I only just met him, but he’s been very kind to me. He’s right about what he said. I needed this. Honesty is the only way to stay sane. And it’s the only way to live. You needed to know this. I spent years trying to find a way to eradicate myself. I used alcohol and sex to do it. Nate found me one night. I’d passed out in my car. He brought me home, and he and Callie and Zane sobered me up and got me to a meeting. Nate knows about Christian. Zane and Callie know, too, though I avoided talking about all the sex stuff. I couldn’t be innocent anymore. It was stupid, but I wanted to obliterate the idiot girl who married a monster and didn’t even know it.”

A silence fell over the room, and Hope swallowed down her misery. She’d told them. She’d done it, and there was a certain peace that came with it. The worst was over. She was prepared for their reactions. They would stumble over words and try not to look her in the eyes. They would be gentle, because they were good men, but they would ease her out of their lives.

And she would make it easy on them because she loved them. If she could go back and change things, she would. She would have made all the right choices to bring her here to this place in the right way, but she couldn’t. The past had caught her, and she was done.

She took a deep breath and tried her damnedest to look calm. “So, if you don’t mind, I should probably get back to the station. If this really is Christian, I need to talk to Nate about what to do next.”

James walked straight up to her. He took her shoulders in both hands and shook her lightly. “You are never leaving this ranch again, do you understand me? After that story, if you think I will allow you to step one foot off our land, you’re insane.”

“James.” She couldn’t let him do this. “I need to get on with my life, and you and Noah need to move on with yours.”

“What are you talking about?” He didn’t release her, but he turned back to his brother. “Noah, what the hell is wrong with her?”

Noah stood, a deeply sad look in his eyes. “Guilt.”

“About what?” James asked.

Had he not listened? “Everything, James. Did you hear a word I said? I was willfully ignorant. I can look back now and see all the signs. They were there, but I didn’t want to see them. I wanted the world to be sugarcoated, and Elaine died because of it. Whatever she did, she didn’t deserve to die. I left Christian to die. I didn’t even think about getting him out. I took that money. It was blood money, and I still took it. I didn’t go to the cops. I can’t even tell you about the years before I came to Bliss because they were a blur of alcohol. I’m everything Christian didn’t want me to be. I’m a slut and an alcoholic and, in the end, I’m a coward because I never stood up.”

James turned back to her, his fingers tightening. There was a tic in his jaw, and then she saw it. A single tear balancing on his eyelashes. “I ever hear you talk that way again, and that spanking you got earlier will feel like paradise. I will tear you up. You listen to me and you listen good. There ain’t nothing wrong with you, girl.”

“I slept around.” She had to make him understand.

“There ain’t nothing wrong with you, girl.” Softer this time, but just as insistent.

“I’m an alcoholic.” She was breaking under his gaze. She’d held up when she’d been sure he would turn from her, but seven little words were finding the cracks in the walls she’d built. Seven words were splitting her open and exposing her.

“There ain’t nothing wrong with you, girl.” Noah came behind her, his body crowding her, his hand in her hair.

“Don’t you say it.” It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. After everything she’d done, everything that had happened. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t let it happen. She didn’t deserve it. Forgiveness. She didn’t deserve it.

James pulled her close. The anger had fled his tone in favor of a loving, peaceful sigh. “There ain’t nothing wrong with you, Hope.”

“There ain’t nothing wrong with you, love.” Noah whispered the words against her ear.

And she was broken. The flood that had been dammed for years, that she had bottled up and fought against with only self-loathing and alcohol as her weapons, escaped like a cork popping open after years of tension. Horror flooded her, and she saw it all again. Felt it again. But she could cry this time. She could scream when before she’d been silent. It came out of her in a long wail, and they held her, surrounding her with safety.

She cried for the child she’d been, for the woman she was, for the person she could never be. She screamed for the injustices she’d seen. She let it out, her voice ringing through the room. Tears poured out, and they said it over and over again.

“There ain’t nothing wrong with you, girl.”

They said it, taking turns. They whispered it and spoke it out loud, and slowly it began to seep in, their words forming a promise she had never been able to make.

She was strong. She would survive. She was worthy.

They followed her to the floor when her legs gave way, never leaving her for an instant. She cried until she had nothing left, and she was empty.

So how was it that she felt so very full?

She sagged against James, his strength a welcome anchor now that the storm had passed. Noah leaned against her. The room was quiet, only the sound of their mingled breaths disturbing the silence. She closed her eyes and savored the sweetness of the moment.

“You’re still here.”

“I’m not going anywhere, baby.” James tenderly forced her head up. “I told you, we’re getting married. Now the way I understand it, you’re not legally attached to this dickwad, but I think Noah and I should make damn sure he understands that you’re divorced.”

“Permanently,” Noah added, his hand sliding over her hip.

She shook her head, still shocked at the outcome. “I don’t understand you.”

“That’s funny, darlin’,” Noah said. “Because I understand you.”

“Explain it to me, brother.” James sounded so calm, his breath easing in and out of his chest. “I would ask Hope, but I think I would get pissed off at the answer.”

“More than likely,” Noah replied. “You can’t understand, Jamie. You’ve never done anything that genuinely hurt someone, not even yourself.”

“Hell, I ain’t perfect.”

Noah laughed. “Not even close, but you’ve always done your duty. You even did it for a snot-nosed brother who doesn’t share an ounce of blood and who left you behind.”

“We’re past that,” James said firmly.

“See. You forgive so easily. But it’s harder to forgive yourself. Think about it, Jamie. What would have happened if I had stayed in town, if I had been Bliss’s vet? What would have happened the minute she walked into Stella’s? Did you know you wanted her?”

James’s hands stroked her hair. “Hell, yeah. I knew.”

“And you stayed away for a year because you had nothing to give her. You wouldn’t have felt that way if I had been there.” Noah’s voice dripped with regret.

A deep sigh came from James. “The ranch would have still needed work. The fire would have still happened. We still would have needed money.”

“But you would have trusted that between the two of us, we could give her what she needed.” Noah leaned against her. “A year gone. We would have gotten married by now. She would be pregnant. We would have a family. And we don’t because I got it in my head that I could finally get something you didn’t have only to find out that it didn’t mean shit because you weren’t there to share it with me.”

Hope smiled. “You two are taking a lot for granted. Maybe I would have played hard to get.”

A light joy threatened to take her. They were still here. She’d told them the worst, let them see the depths of where she’d sunk, and they held her. They were talking about a family. They had seen her worst and loved her anyway.

James’s smile turned distinctly wolflike. “Hard to get? I doubt it. I remember the way your pretty face flushed the minute you saw me. You wanted me. Now it might have taken longer because you would have known you had to take Noah’s ugly mug along with mine. I got all the looks.”

“Asshole.” Noah laughed.

James stood up and offered her a hand. “Come with us, baby. We want to show you just how little we care about your past beyond the fact that we love the woman you are now. You made one mistake. I forgive you for it, but we need to talk about it so you never make it again.”

She nodded, willing to listen to anything he had to say.

Noah took over. “You should have made damn sure the fucker was dead. Next time shoot him, darlin’. Don’t leave things to chance.”

“We’ll even help you hide the body,” James offered helpfully. “A body can get lost on this land.”

“I don’t deserve you.” But she would take him and Noah and whatever family they were blessed with.

James looked deep in her eyes. “I have a past, baby. If I haven’t fucked up quite as much as you and Noah it’s only because I didn’t have time to. I’ve made a mess of a lot of things in my life. I should have gone after my brother, but I let my stubbornness cost us.”

“He’s also slept with half of Southern Colorado,” Noah supplied.

James slapped at his brother and then looked back down at her. “He’s right. I’m not pure, baby. I’m not some perfect man, but I promise I won’t touch another woman after you. I don’t give a fuck who was in your bed before us, but from now on, it’s me and Noah. We’re your men.”

He took her hand and started toward the bedroom.

Hope followed, reaching behind for Noah’s hand, leaving her past behind for good. Now there was only her future ahead.

Noah’s hands were shaking as Hope led him through the quiet house where he’d grown up. He knew every floorboard and wall of this house. Every inch contained a memory. There wasn’t a room in the house where he couldn’t remember his parents or some blissful piece of his childhood. Even the bad times now held a certain bittersweetness, as though time and age had taken the poison leaving only the beauty behind. Yes, there had been hard times in this home, but each one had been met with his parents’ grace, his brother’s steadfastness. Though Noah had been born somewhere else, he couldn’t remember that place. The Circle G seemed like the only home he’d ever had, as though his life hadn’t begun until he’d walked onto this land.

And it had ended when he’d left.

He’d been a dead man walking, a ghost trying to get back to life and failing until one small woman turned her eyes to his.

He loved Hope.

James opened the door to the master suite, the one their fathers had renovated to share with their momma. An aching sweetness pierced him.

“Do you remember standing outside in this hall, giggling?” James asked. He stared at the room as though he could see their parents in there once more, loving and laughing and building a home for them.

Noah missed them with his whole heart, but they were still here in every board and wall, in every acre. “Well, they made an awful lot of noise, brother.”

Hope laughed. “You two would listen to your parents making love?”

Noah nodded, the memory coming to him. “It was hard not to, darlin’. Sometimes we could even hear them down the hall. When we got older and it was just gross because parents shouldn’t do that sort of thing, we would blast music. Our dads were always going after Momma. They were crazy in love. Twenty years they had together on this earth.”

James became solemn. “And forever. They have forever.”

Forever. It was all he could ask for. More than he deserved.

James walked through the door and sat down on the huge bed that dominated the room. So much of it had been left untouched, a shrine to the love that had surrounded Noah and his brother all their lives. Three dressers and Momma’s hope chest. Three rocking chairs and Dad’s bookshelf. Papa’s cowboy hat still hung on a hook near the closet.

“This is our room now. We’re going to fill it with love the way they did. You remember what Dad did after their wedding?” James turned his head slightly and looked at Hope. “We weren’t there, of course, but he told us all about it. Dad and Papa gave us the speech about sex. And then they told us how they felt about our momma and what words they used on their wedding night because sex, they said, went far beyond bodies.”

Noah nodded and reached down, shoving his arms under Hope’s knees, hauling her high on his chest. He loved the weight of her in his arms. He carried her over the threshold and to the bed where his brother waited. “Jamie and I loved this story. Papa carried Momma over the threshold, and Dad was waiting for her. Papa sat her on Dad’s lap and told her something nice.”

He settled Hope onto James’s lap, his brother’s arms going around her waist.

James held her close. “He said this is our home now. This is our place, and we will never leave it again. Our bodies can walk around, but our hearts and souls are here. Always.”

“Always,” Hope said, tears in her eyes. “I love you, James. I love you, Noah. I love you both so much.”

She loved them. The words threatened to unman him utterly. She loved him, and she loved James. The family Noah had longed for was within his grasp. The ghost that was Christian Grady still lingered, but it was easy to brush him away for now. They would have to deal with him. If he’d truly fled the area, Noah would find a way to hire a private investigator to track him down. He wanted that man out of Hope’s life permanently, and he would find a way to do it. He looked at his brother and could see plainly that James was thinking the same thing.

They would deal with Christian Grady, but tonight was all about Hope.

“Kiss me, baby.” James leaned in, and Hope’s arms floated up to circle his neck. She pressed her mouth to his.

James waved his brother toward the nightstand. Of course. They would need a few things. Noah opened the small nightstand drawer and found a box of condoms and a tube of lubricant. Yep. His brother was always prepared.

James and Hope kissed as James’s hands pulled at her shirt, exposing creamy skin. Noah placed the items on the table and couldn’t help but reach out and touch her shoulders. Such delicate muscles and bones to have had all that weight pressing on them. Hope had been drowning for years, but she’d fought her way back. She’d clawed and sacrificed, and she deserved the best life he could give her. They could give her.

Noah pushed her soft hair to the side and knelt down. James had gotten the buttons undone, his tongue still tangling with hers. Noah pulled the shirt away and the bra that came after. He ran his hands all along the skin of her back, memorizing its feel and the dips and hills of her flesh and bones. He marveled at the fact that he had a lifetime to get to know this woman, to adore every inch of her, to leave no piece of her unloved.

He kissed his way down the length of her spine, reveling in the way she shivered at his touch. Her skin was heating up, and he would bet once he got that dowdy skirt off her that her pussy would be wet, creamy, and tangy with juice. She was ready for them. She was ready to truly become their woman. Though they had each had her, knew how sweet she was, until they had taken her together, the promise remained incomplete.

“Come on, baby,” James said, finally coming up for air. His face was flushed and his voice hoarse with arousal. “You don’t need this skirt. In fact, you never need clothes in this room. This room is our world, and you don’t need to hide yourself here.”

She laughed a little, the sound a balm to Noah’s soul. The whole time she’d screamed and cried, he’d felt pieces of himself breaking with her. He’d held her so tight as though she might float away on a sea of pain, but she’d come through it, and now she was laughing. She was okay because they were together.

“James, it gets cold here. I think you should know better than anyone what a Colorado winter is like. I can’t run around in the altogether.”

James put a hand on her breast, and when Hope gasped, Noah could bet on exactly what his brother had done. A little nipple tweak could bring a sweet sub back in line. If she misbehaved too much, he would clamp those sweet nipples and his baby would feel the burn. And it was time to back his brother up.

Noah hardened his voice, using his best Dom tone, the one guaranteed to have his sub’s eyes widen. “You heard what he told you. No clothes in our bedroom. You’re allowed to get dressed and undressed, but if you’re spending any amount of time in here, your lovely skin is the only cover that’s required. And we’ll keep you warm, darlin’. You won’t need anything but your men to keep you warm. And trust me, there will be nights when you aren’t allowed to wear clothes anywhere in this house. When we’re alone, you’ll sit at the dinner table in one of our laps while we feed you and feast on the sight of your gorgeous body.”

“What about the two of you?” Hope asked, her voice a little shaky as James set her on her feet.

Noah took the opportunity to slip his fingers under the waist of her skirt and drag it off her body. She slipped out of the skirt and immediately put her arms over her chest.

Not happening. It was time to start making things clear to his almost wife. He pulled her hands to her sides. “No covering up. And we’ll get undressed soon enough. But god, Hope, I think Jamie should be dressed most of the time. I can handle it when we’re making love to you, but I do not want to see that on a regular basis.”

His brother shot him the bird, one side of his mouth tugging up in a sarcastic grin. “Fuck you, Noah. I sincerely hope the years have taught you proper grooming techniques. The last girl we shared begged you to shave down there.”

“Really? You really had to go there?” Was nothing at all sacred in this house? Sometimes Noah thought the other partners of this town had it easy. Though he hadn’t known them long, Noah would bet Alexei couldn’t tease Caleb about his youthful grooming habits.

Hope held her hands up, laughing. “Stop, both of you. I can plainly see that I’m not just the wife, I’m the referee. I’m starting a support group with Rachel Harper. You two are as bad as Max and Rye. Fine, I’m naked. Someone better start kissing me. And I mean now.”

James came to stand beside Noah. He slid his brother a long look. “That sounds awfully bratty. She’s going to be demanding.”

Noah loved the way Hope’s skin flushed. She was obviously still self-conscious, but that would be gone soon. No amount of sex would ever take her innocence away. It was a lovely part of her soul, and Noah would kill to protect it. “She’s going to learn her place.”

Hope gasped, an irritated little sound. “And just where is that?”

“Between us, baby,” James said, taking over where Noah had left off.

“Always between us,” Noah finished.

It was his turn. Noah let his fingers skim across her skin, starting at her shoulders and settling finally at her waist. He pulled her to his body, her skin against his denim and the cotton of his shirt, but nothing could mask the heat of her or the hardness of those nipples against his chest. James crowded her from behind. She was caught in between them, and they would never let her escape.

“I think I can handle that,” Hope said, her voice breathless.

Her hands were on Noah’s waist, and she slowly let them drop to cup his ass. Noah’s cock responded with a twitch as she pulled him close. Message received. She would give as good as she got. She would be strong enough to handle them both. And that was a damn fine thing. Noah didn’t want a woman he could walk on. He wanted a woman he could walk beside. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t put up a bit of a fight.

“Darlin’, you are itching for a spanking.” He loved slapping that glorious ass and watching it get hot and pink. He’d thought he would die while he’d watched her with James. He’d stared at Trev’s wall of perversion and wondered how fast he could work her up to a paddle or a flogger. He would spank her until her cunt was dripping with cream, and then he would fuck that pretty ass of hers.

“My bottom is still sore from the last spanking,” she whispered, her brown eyes wide. The little hitch in her voice made Noah remember how she’d whimpered every time James’s hand had struck. How would she take to the St. Andrew’s Cross, his whip whispering across her back?

Noah bit back a growl of frustration. He had to take this slow. He couldn’t let his fantasies take over. This was about Hope. He had to remember that. There would be time later to introduce her to such pleasures. “Then you should obey us both for the next little bit or your ass will be a whole lot more sore. Darlin’, when we’re in this room and we’re making love, you’re our sweet little sub.”

James shook his head. “And we both know damn straight that you’re going to give us hell outside this room, so we demand some submission, because I get the feeling it’s going to be me and Noah who are your slaves outside of it.”

Hope’s head fell back, rubbing against James’s. “Yes, James. That’s what you like to hear, right? Yes, James. Yes, my Noah.”

Yes. For so many years, he’d heard “no” and “don’t” and told himself the same thing. But now he realized that Ally could have told him yes a thousand times and it wouldn’t have meant a damn thing because she hadn’t been Hope. Hope, with her soft eyes and strong heart, was the one for him.

He’d finally come home.

“Noah?” Hope looked up at him, her brown eyes sympathetic.

“I love you.” It felt so good to say the words. They felt right.

He’d said them before, but he’d been a silly child. He’d been searching for something, and he’d said the words in the hopes that he could find it. The words weren’t a road map, but a destination. Hope had always been his destination, the end to his searching and the beginning of his life as a man. The boy who had fought and clawed in a fit of jealousy and self-absorption had to go. Noah had to be a man because he was going to be a husband. Hope’s husband. His brother’s partner.

He could never, never let them down.

“I love you so much, Hope. You’re going to marry Jamie, but I’m going to be your husband, too. I’m going to love you until the day I die and long after that.”

Tears pooled in her eyes. “And I’ll be wife to you both. Oh, I’ll be the best wife, Noah. James, I’ll try with everything I have. I’ll give this marriage and this ranch everything I have.”

“Baby,” James said, his arms hugging her from behind. “Noah and I are going to take such good care of you. We won’t ever let you down.”

Never again. He wouldn’t let either one of them down ever again.

Noah tilted her chin up and took her mouth, molding his lips to hers. So soft. He sank his hands into her hair and let his tongue surge inside. Hope’s mouth opened beneath his, her tongue dancing. He kissed her over and over, reveling in the feeling. He loved the little sounds, her gasps and moans. His cock was practically begging to be released, but he wanted this to last. This was the first time. Oh, he’d had her before, but this was the first time they were complete.

And there were several things he wanted from his wife-to-be.

He delved into her mouth one last time before reluctantly letting her go. James’s hands were on her breasts, cupping her, his fingers playing with her nipples. They were swollen red berries as James pinched and pulled at them. Noah had the sudden urge to taste them.

“Her tits are so beautiful,” James said, his hands offering them up.

Noah took the bait, not for a second willing to let the chance get by. He dropped to his knees in front of her and leaned forward. Her nipple lengthened as though there were a magnet between her breasts and Noah’s mouth. Noah licked at it, brushing the areola with his tongue. He flicked at the hard bud and was rewarded by Hope’s moans as she struggled against James’s hold.

“You be still, baby. Noah wants a treat. You’re our treat, and you’re going to let us have you.” James’s arms were a cage holding her still for Noah’s delectation.

God, it was good to have a partner again. Noah gave in and gave Hope what she wanted. He pulled her nipple into his mouth and sucked. He tugged at the nipple, laving it with his affection before letting it go and starting the process all over again with her other breast. He could smell her cunt, a soft, tangy scent that had his cock aching. He sucked on her nipple and let his hand find her pussy. Sure enough, she was slick and wet, her folds swollen and wanting. He ran his hand across her labia, skimming her clit.

“Noah, please, please.” She was still in James’s arms, but her voice was shaking.

“Nasty old Noah is giving you a hard time, baby.” James chuckled against her neck. “Let me make it worse.”

His brother’s hand slipped down her torso, joining his own. James’s fingers caught her clit, and Noah knew just what to do. He pressed the petals of her pussy apart and slipped two fingers up her cunt.

“Oh, oh,” Hope cried out. She tried to move, but James held her torso, and Noah wrapped his free hand around her waist. There was nowhere to go, no relief from their torment until they decided to release her. Hope was trapped, and that was where Noah wanted her to be.

“Give it to her, brother. We’re going to make her come all night long. Now’s as good a time to start as any,” James vowed.

Noah worked his fingers up, hooking high into her cunt, seeking that magic place that would make her go off like a rocket. The muscles of her pussy gripped him, fighting his fingers. He slid in and out, fucking her with his fingers as James milked her clit.

Hope’s whole body shook as she came. A delicious rush of cream coated Noah’s fingers.

“What do you say, Hope? What do you tell your men after they give you an orgasm?” James asked.

“Thank you.” Her voice was sweet and a little dreamy, her eyes soft and languid.

Noah reluctantly allowed his hand to slip from her pussy. He brought his fingers to his mouth and sucked them inside. She tasted so fucking good. He loved her scent and the tangy cream that coated her sex. He licked off every inch of her arousal, reveling in her taste.

“We need to get her ready.” James’s voice sounded guttural. “I’m going to work on her ass. You need to try her mouth. Oh, she’s got the sweetest mouth.”

That sounded just about perfect to Noah. His brother was practically reading his mind. “On your knees, darlin’. James is going to get your ass ready. We’re going to take you together.”

As it should be.

He took her hand and helped ease her onto the floor. Her body seemed soft, and now that she’d had an orgasm, she complied without a single complaint or worry. She got to her knees, her head coming up and those eyes looking at him. He felt twelve feet tall when she looked at him.

“Take my cock out, darlin’.” He could barely breathe thinking about her mouth on his cock. She stared up at him, her lips turning up slightly in a sweet siren smile.

Her hands came up, and with only the slightest of trembles, she undid the fly of his jeans.

He was going to die. He forced himself to stand there, to not shove his jeans down and his cock in. Her mouth was a masterpiece. Soft, pillowy lips. That pink tongue that darted in and out. He couldn’t wait to feel it on his cock.

James picked up the lube from the nightstand. “I really should make you do this, but I got a blow job earlier.”

“You’re a damn good brother, man.” He was the best. He always had been. And James had always known how to share.

“You remember that when her mouth is around your cock. Our woman is damn fine at sucking a cock.”

“I have had practice.” She looked up at him, a little gleam in her eye. As though she’d realized what she’d said, she flushed and her eyes turned down.

He was not having that. “Give her two, Jamie.”

Two loud smacks cracked through the air as his brother delivered the punishment.

Hope shrieked a little, letting Noah know James hadn’t held back. “What was that for?”

“We’re going to spank the guilt out of you, darlin’. I loved you joking about it. I did. It made me smile. Trust me, you’ll hear me and Jamie joke about the dipshit things we used to do twenty times a day. I will not have you be ashamed of your past. I love you for it.”

“But, Noah—” she began.

“No. No buts. I hate what you went through, but it brought you to us. It made you the amazing woman you are. I won’t allow you to be ashamed.”

“Not for a minute,” James said, his hands caressing her cheeks. “We’re proud of you.”

She bit at her lip before her hands came back up, and she started on his zipper, slowly dragging it down, making Noah crazy. His cock pulsed, desperate to be released. He shivered a bit as she pulled down his boxers and his cock finally sprang free. He hissed because his cock was so hard, he could pound nails.

He watched as James gently began to work her ass. Her shoulders shook a bit even as she took his cock in hand.

“Tell me how it feels,” Noah demanded. Her hand gripped his dick gently as she moved, her breasts bouncing as James worked behind her.

“It burns, but I don’t want him to stop.” Her hand fluttered across his cock. “He’s stretching me, but not as much as this thing will. And he’s perfectly groomed, James.”

Noah was damn glad he’d thought about that in the shower this morning. He should have known something was going right. He’d been ridiculously optimistic when he’d showered this morning and carefully shaved himself. From now on, he would let that be Hope’s job. She could get on her knees in the shower and make sure he was properly shaved. And he would do the same for her. “I did it for you, darlin’. Now you let Jamie do his job and you do yours. Lick me. Suck me.”

She nodded and leaned forward, her tongue coming out and lapping delicately at his cockhead. Noah stifled a groan. So good. It felt so good. His cock throbbed, pre-cum seeping out. Hope lapped it up, sucking the head in, the tip of her tongue delving inside the tiny slit of his dick. It felt amazing, but he wanted more.

He sank his hands in her hair, pulling her forward. His balls drew up as his cock began to dip inside. He forced his way in inch by inch, all the while watching his brother work. James squeezed more lube between the cheeks of her ass, causing Hope’s spine to shiver as he opened her wide.

“This ass is going to be heaven.” James stared at her, and Noah could only guess at what he was doing.

“Is she tight?” Noah asked, knowing the answer.

“So fucking tight. You should have seen how pretty she looked with a plug earlier. This tiny little asshole tried to keep me out, but I wasn’t having it. I worked her hard, brother, until that plug finally slid right in.” James’s fingers pressed into Hope’s ass, his wrist twisting between her cheeks. He pressed deep, shoving Hope forward, and Noah’s dick sank inside.

Heat and moisture surrounded him. Different than a pussy. He loved this, too. Hope’s mouth was a pleasure palace, her tongue dancing around his cock in whispery flutters. He gritted his teeth, enjoying the feel of her groaning around him as James added another finger.

“You’ll be lucky to last a minute and a half, but you better fucking make it work because we’re going to come together.” James’s hand worked in and out, fucking her in rhythmic time.

Noah pulled on Hope’s hair, his eyes widening at the thought of working his dick into the tight hole of her ass. “No, Jamie. It should be you.”

James’s hand fucked in and out even as Noah started to get serious about her mouth. Hope’s full lips wrapped around his dick as he began to thrust.

James shook his head. “No. I got to play first. I got to take my time, and you’re gentler than me. I want her to love this. I need her to crave it.”

“I don’t feel gentle now.” He felt like a marauder.

“But you will be. You’ll be what she needs—what we need. You’ll take care of her, and I’ll fuck that sweet pussy until I can’t see straight.”

And then they would change places.

Hope’s tongue whirled, and her cheeks hollowed out. She sucked him deep. Heat threatened to overwhelm him. His balls drew up, a warning that he could go off.

“Give in, Noah. You’ll have more control. I intend to. I’m going to have her suck me deep, and I’m going to fill her mouth before I fill her pussy.”

“I don’t want to hurt her.” Noah kept his hands gentle on her hair, allowing her to decide how deep and far she wanted to suck. Despite what he’d seen James do to her in Trev’s dungeon, he was still a little worried about introducing her to BDSM. He wanted to go slow, to make her love it as much as he did.

James stood up, seemingly happy with his prep work. He frowned at Noah, looking down at the place where Hope’s mouth worked over his dick. “She’s not some fragile flower. She’s strong, and let me tell you, this ass is going to take a pounding. If you can’t do the job, then I will. I’m not holding back. She’s going to understand what it means to be my woman. Sometimes it means taking a spanking and getting tied up six ways from Sunday while she takes my cock any way I want her to. You’re telling me you want to keep the relationship vanilla?”

His brother was right. Noah held her head in his hands and thrust in, using her mouth because she was his. She should know what that meant. He would take care of her in bed and out, but he needed this. He needed to feel her submit to him. He needed the trust that went with the exchange. He craved it, and he hadn’t been whole without it. He’d filled the hole in his life by prowling the dungeons of New York, spanking subs and giving them what they needed, never taking for himself. It hadn’t been right because they hadn’t belonged to him. He’d held fast to an empty vow, keeping himself apart from everyone out of guilt and pain.

He released it all now. He hadn’t stood before a judge or a pastor and vowed to love Hope forever, but he didn’t have to. He’d made the vow in his heart. He’d spoken it aloud in three words. I love you. He’d been blessed to receive them back. She was his, and he belonged to her heart and soul.

There was no room for regret or guilt. There was only the future to look forward to, and that included the deep bond that came from dominating Hope.

Noah felt like he was finally off the leash. He thrust hard into her mouth, and Hope groaned, the sound a sizzling sensation on his skin. James walked by him on the way to the bathroom, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except the humid pull of Hope’s mouth as she struggled to take him.

“More,” Noah demanded. He forced his cock in another inch. His balls were tight and high, nearly hitting Hope’s chin with every thrust of his hips.

She sucked harder, seeming to take up the challenge. Now that James had walked away, she brought her hands up and cupped his balls, rolling them in her small palm as she tongued him and sucked, bringing him to the back of her throat before pulling away.

“That’s it. Oh, darlin’, I am going to come. I’m going to pump cum into your mouth, and I want you to suck it all down.” He loved the idea of his cum in her belly. He would be a part of her all day, his taste on her tongue the way hers coated his senses.

She growled around his cock as if to say, “bring it on.”

She sucked in long passes and finally worked his cock to the very back of her throat. Just as Noah felt his spine tingling, Hope swallowed, engulfing his dick in warmth and pleasure, and his balls shot off.

Pure joy shot through his system as his every nerve lit with sensation. Hope sucked, her mouth working as Noah gave up his cum in jets, his hips pumping out every ounce. He let it sweep over him, his eyes rolling back, sweet release suffusing his body, his every muscle heavy with a languid peace.

Hope sat back, a smile on her face as she licked her lips, devouring everything he’d given her.

And he knew. She was more than enough woman for two men, and she would love everything he had to show her. Hope would be his wife, his friend, his lover, his bratty, gorgeous sub.

His grand passion.

And it was time to show her just what was in store. Noah shoved his jeans off and tossed his shirt aside.

“You look like the cat who got all the cream,” he said with a smile on his face. “I’m telling you something, darlin’, there’s more where that came from.”

He picked her up and tossed her on the bed. There was way more where that came from, and he would never stop giving it to her.

Hope watched as Noah crawled onto the bed. Though he’d just come, he stalked toward her, his muscles moving in a sleek, predatory fashion. He reminded her of a hungry tiger stalking his prey.

And she’d never wanted to get eaten more in her whole life. Being Noah’s meal was a pleasure beyond anything she’d known.

“Spread your legs.” Noah growled the command.

When his voice rumbled deep from his chest, everything feminine inside her tightened.

“Not a chance, brother,” James said, coming out of the bathroom, drying his hands. “It’s my turn.”

Noah’s eyes narrowed. “Fine. Spread your legs and let Jamie taste that pussy of yours.”

“Damn straight. I’m going to look at it first.” James stood at the foot of the bed. He’d shed his clothes, and he looked like a Greek god staring down at her.

She was big, her stomach curved, and her breasts too large. She had stretch marks and imperfections, but she forgot about them all because James’s eyes were eating her up. His cock stood at full attention. Thick and hard, its length reaching up almost to his navel. Her nipples tightened, and despite the orgasm they’d given her earlier, her pussy felt empty. She was practically twitching like a cat in heat, desperate for them.

She spread her legs, watching James down the length of her body. Noah lay down beside her, his head close to hers.

“I love the way you taste. You spread those legs and let Jamie feast on you. When he’s had his fill, we’re going to pack you full of cock. We’re going to fill you up and make you come until you can’t anymore.” Noah’s fingers flitted across her breasts.

James put a hand on either ankle and pressed her legs far apart, her pussy on full display. He climbed between her legs and stared down. He pulled apart the lips of her pussy, his thumb sliding inside. He skimmed around, avoiding her clit.

Noah kissed her, his tongue coming out to trace the curve of her lips. She felt drugged as James got on his belly and pressed his nose into her pussy, breathing deep and groaning with pleasure.

“I love the way you smell.” James kissed her clit, a light little tap that got her hot and bothered and begging for more. “Is all this cream for me?”

He pinched at her clit when she didn’t answer immediately. The sharp little pain bloomed into something more, and she responded as quickly as she could. “Yes, James. It’s for you and Noah.”

“That’s right,” he said with a sigh. “It’s all for me and Noah. No one else.”

“No one else.” She let them have their way. There would be no one else besides them, and there had been no one who had truly mattered before. Anyone who had come before had been a means to an end. Even Christian had merely been a safe harbor, a port in the storm that had been her childhood. She loved these men. These men owned her heart and soul, and no matter what happened, she would never be apart from them. Death could come and would someday, but these men and their love would abide inside her until she joined them again.

“Hope, are you all right?” Noah looked down at her, his face grave. His hand came up to whisk away the tears on her cheeks.

All right? She’d never been all right. Not once in her life. But now she was better. She had finally found her place. “I love you.”

He nodded. “I love you, too. So fucking much.”

He kissed her, their lips meeting with passion and promise.

“Hey, don’t you fucking leave me out.” James climbed up her body and took her mouth. She loved his weight pinning her to the bed, her taste on his mouth. “I love you, Hope. I love you, wife.”

James Glen was going to be her husband. James, the gorgeous, heroic cowboy of her dreams, and he came with an amazing brother who would share her love. They could share it easily because in that moment, Hope realized her love had no limit. It would simply grow, like a tree unfurling its branches and reaching for the sun. Her love was boundless. It would include their children, their friends and neighbors, the great and beautiful family she’d found in Bliss.

“You’re going to ride me, baby,” James said, turning on the bed, hauling her with him. His hands were on her hips, guiding her where he wanted her to be. At some point in time, he’d slipped a condom over his cock, and now he took himself in hand, pumping a couple of times before guiding himself to the lips of her pussy. “When you’re ready and we have you right and properly married, I’m not going to wear this, Hope. I want to see you pregnant. I want our kids to run across this ranch like the little wild boys Noah and I were.”

She wanted that, too. So badly. Boys like James and Noah. Girls who loved books and music and riding horses. Children were a promise, an outward sign of inward passion. She prayed as she lowered herself on James’s thick cock that she would be as good a mother as theirs had been, that she would teach her children to love as James and Noah had learned and then taught her.

She sighed as James filled her pussy. She balanced herself, her hands on the hard muscles of his chest. He was so beautiful, and somehow he’d chosen her. Noah had chosen her. Somehow, someway, she was worthy. She’d made mistakes and screwed up and fought her way back, and they were her reward.

“You feel so good, baby,” James groaned, pulling her close. His hands moved across her skin, and she felt Noah moving in behind her.

“Spread her cheeks for me, brother. Help me make her ours,” Noah said.

She let her head find James’s chest, reveling in the strong beat of his heart. She sighed and gave over to them as James spread the cheeks of her ass, and Noah dribbled lube onto her anus. He pressed a finger in, but she was ready for that. James had stretched her, his fingers making her burn and long for the time when a cock split her open and claimed her.

“It’s going to be all right, darlin’.” Noah’s soft Western accent soothed her as his fingers stretched and opened her asshole.

“I know, Noah. It’s going to be perfect. Take me. Take me, I’m yours.” Forever and always, she would be theirs.

He groaned behind her, and she felt something far bigger than a finger at the rim of her anus. Noah pressed in, and she whimpered. It burned, but she flattened herself against James and pressed out, trying to welcome him inside. James’s cock throbbed, lighting up her pussy, but she was empty without Noah. Incomplete. Slowly, inch by delectable inch, Noah worked his cock inside.

Stretched. She was split and laid bare, no part of her unexposed, and it was all right because these were her men.

Noah moaned as he finally slid in, and she could feel his balls against the cheeks of her ass. She was full. She was full of them.

“We ride, brother,” James said, his hands tightening on her hips.

“Yes, oh fuck, yes, we ride.”

And they were off, pulling and pushing her between them, the pleasure and pain mixing until she couldn’t discern one from the other. Every second was a new sensation. Blinding emotions swamped her. She felt them in her pussy, her ass, her fucking heart. They filled and claimed each inch of her including the soul she would have sworn she’d lost so long ago. It had merely hidden, and now it roared to life, and it was theirs.

Hope rode the wave. She bucked and thrashed and fought for every moment with them. She ground herself against James and then pushed her ass back to accommodate Noah. Something dark and forbidden flared inside her ass, sparking with dangerous pleasure, and she welcomed it. She thrust herself back and forth, taking each of her men until the orgasm swelled, and she screamed as it overtook her.

She felt James swell inside her, and his gorgeous face contorted as he came. Soon, she thought, soon she would have his cum inside her. She wouldn’t wait. She wanted their babies in her belly, filling her up and swelling her with their love. Noah shouted behind her and spasmed as he gave up his seed, driving deep and releasing inside her.

Hope fell forward, Noah right behind her. Sweat made a sticky, lovely glue that bound them together. Later, she knew, they would shower and wash each other, loving hands cleaning her body, but in the moment, she wanted the bond that held them together.

The new mistress of the Circle G fell asleep between her men, her thoughts no longer on the past, but dreaming of the future.