Sirens in Bliss

Chapter Twenty:

Aidan, Lexi, and Lucas

Lucas sighed as Aidan pulled the truck into the drive. “What happened to her phone again?”

Aidan put the car in park. “Abby said it died. It won’t hold a charge anymore, and Lexi threw a near hysterical fit until she promised we would get her a new one. She was ready to drive her into Alamosa herself but I convinced her to meet us at the G.”

“So we’re taking her into town? Isn’t it kind of late for that?” As far as Lucas was concerned, the phone could rot. He would never buy her another one again. He felt guilty, but there was a little part of him that wished they were still back at Trio. He’d been able to forget some of his troubles with all the craziness going on there.

“No. I told Abby to bring her back to the G so we could lay out a few new rules. I’ve been thinking a lot about this, Lucas. I’ve been neglectful. I haven’t been doing my job because I got distracted.”

“By the shit with the city council?” He’d been angry that Aidan had let it go on so long without bringing him in. “That could have gone very poorly.”

Aidan’s hands tightened around the steering wheel, and he stared out the window. “I don’t like bringing you into ranch business.”

Another thing he had a problem with, but then he’d spent the afternoon watching Jack and Sam. Sam could act like a goofball, but there was no question he was Jack’s partner. “Sam is a true sub, yet Jack treats him like a partner when it comes to that ranch. Hell, Finn is as submissive as they come, but Julian never hesitates to use his skills.”

If this had happened to Julian, Finn would have been in on the plans from the beginning. Julian would have dumped it into Finn’s lap and fully expected him to deal with the situation.

But Aidan apparently didn’t trust him.

Aidan’s eyes closed briefly. “You don’t understand. Sam was in on the ground floor of Barnes-Fleetwood.”

Well, of course. He was tired of it, tired of being shoved to the side. He undid his buckle and opened the door. “Yeah, well, tell me how it goes with Lexi.”

“Lucas, get back here this second.”

But he was exhausted. “No. I’ll head out to the motel. I’d like a night to myself.”

The car door slammed behind him and suddenly Lexi was standing on the porch, her eyes hollow as she stared at them. “Lucas?”

“I’m not taking you into town.” He brushed by her. She wouldn’t care that he was leaving. She would only care that he wouldn’t give her a new phone. She shut him out the same way Aidan did. She didn’t even ask him to read her contracts anymore.

He wasn’t even sure why he was around.

He stopped. He couldn’t walk away, because Aidan and Lexi might not need him anymore, but Jack and Chelsea sure as hell did.

“Lucas.” Aidan stormed up the steps. “You are not going anywhere.”

Once again, he’d done exactly the wrong thing and made an ass of himself. “Of course not. I apologize. I’m going to go and spend some time with Jack and Chelsea.”

He would hold his kids and maybe they would remind him that he had something to offer.

“They’re not here,” Lexi said. “What’s going on? Why are you two fighting?”

“What do you care?” Lucas was feeling a little mean. She only paid attention to him when he was fucking up. Come to think of it, Aidan really only paid attention when either Lucas was screwing up or Aidan was horny. “And where are my kids?”

“Momma took them,” Lexi explained.

So now she was sending his kids away without talking to him about it. “Tell her to bring them back.”

Aidan got in between them. “Lucas, you need to take a time-out.”

So he got treated like a child? “You know what? You don’t get to order me around, Aidan.”

Aidan seemed to grow two inches. “I don’t? Because maybe I don’t understand the nature of our agreed-upon relationship.”

“You should both stop fighting,” Lexi said, her voice soft.

But he wasn’t about to listen to her either. “Maybe you don’t. Maybe we have different versions of what a Master should do. You don’t get to let her run wild while controlling everything I do.”

“I do not control everything you do, Lucas.”

“No, you’re far too busy running your ranch and Lexi is too busy becoming a best-selling author to be actual functioning members of a marriage.”

“Lucas, you misunderstood me. Calm the fuck down.” Aidan stepped up, using his height and bulky body to crowd Lucas.

“Please don’t fight,” Lexi said, putting a hand on both of them.

“You can’t step in after months of ignoring us and expect that we’ll fall in line, Alexis. Go inside. This is between me and Lucas,” Aidan said.

“Lots of things are just between you and Lucas.” Lexi sounded vulnerable.

“Don’t you blame me for that,” Lucas shot back, well aware that they were out in the open where anyone could be listening in, but it didn’t really matter. If Aidan didn’t value him and Lexi didn’t need him, nothing much mattered.

“I don’t, babe.” She hadn’t called him babe like that in months, not in the soft sweet way she used to.

“Are you challenging me, Lucas?” Aidan seemed to not notice that something was different about Lexi.

“I haven’t challenged you enough.” He said the words, but now he was looking at Lexi, seeing the tired look in her eyes, the way her mouth turned down. He’d spent so much time being angry with her that he hadn’t really looked at her in months. He hadn’t taken the time to study her. Lexi wore her worries on her face. She’d always been unable to hide from him. She could shut down, but then he would know something was wrong.

Lexi hadn’t been the only one who had shut down. Lucas had stopped trying somewhere along the way. He’d allowed his own private hurts to become his world.

Marriage didn’t end at the “I dos.” It didn’t stop being hard just because they had decided to be together. He’d thought they would magically just get along once it was all settled, but that wasn’t true.

Marriages could end. Marriages could crumble. People could grow apart. They could become invested in their own worlds, believing that the people they loved would always be there because they had said some words and signed some documents.

Words didn’t keep lovers together. Documents didn’t make a marriage.

People grew. They changed, and he suddenly realized that they could change together or grow apart and it was all their decision.

“Stop.”

“We’re not stopping anything, Lucas.”

His Master was on edge, and Lucas had done nothing to help the matter. He’d broken their contract by not communicating with him. “I’m very angry with you right now, Master.”

Now that he was saying the words, there was no real heat behind them. Emotion, for sure, but just speaking them out loud, the simple act of being heard, lessened his anger.

And his Master’s, it seemed. Aidan’s angry look softened. “I know you are.”

“And I’m mad at you, Lexi.”

She nodded. “You should be.”

“We have to be more important than your career.”

Her skin had paled to a waxy color and he reached out for her, but she stepped away, shaking her head. “No. Don’t. Not until you’ve heard what I have to say.”

“And me.” Aidan didn’t pull away. He took Lucas’s hand. “You misunderstood me, Lucas. I might have made some mistakes, but you have to hear me out.”

Because that was what people who wanted to stay in love did. They listened. They talked. They forgave. “All right. Aidan, it hurt when you told me that I shouldn’t feel like I had a claim to the ranch because it belongs to you.”

“I didn’t say that. I have never said that and never once felt that way.”

Lexi’s eyes were on the ground. “But the land has been in your family for years. You love that land.”

“Yes, I do. It’s O’Malley land, and you two are missing out on the fact that you’re both O’Malleys and so are our children. That’s not why I’ve kept you out of the business. I’ve kept you out because it hasn’t been much of a business up to this point. It’s been a money pit and you know it. Both you and Lucas brought money into this marriage and all I brought was a place to throw it the last couple of years.”

Lucas shook his head. “That’s not true.”

“Who paid for the house?” Aidan asked.

Lucas sighed. “I wanted to buy the house for us. The ranch house was getting too small.”

“I’m the Master. I should be the one to provide. At the very least, I should be able to pull my own damn weight. This year we should finally see a profit. Don’t think I don’t know that I wouldn’t have made it to this year without Lexi’s dad. I wouldn’t have made it without you, Lucas and Lexi. So I try to keep you out of it because you’ve already done your part.”

This was what made him crazy. “There is no part to this. Aidan, I can call you Master all you like, but at the end of the day this is our life and our home and I don’t have some part that you can stick me in and say this is what I’ll give or let you give back to me. I want to help with the ranch because it’s yours and mine and our babies’. Can’t you see it doesn’t mean as much if I don’t help? You said Sam was in on the ground floor. Yes, he was. They didn’t have a damn thing before. Well, I don’t care that the ranch has been in your family. It’s our family now, and if you won’t rely on me, then I’m not worth much.”

“I know. And I’m sorry. You have to understand. I wasn’t trying to cut you out. I was trying to offer you something. I wanted to turn the ranch into something that was worthy of you.”

“Everything you do, everything you have is worthy. Let me help you build it. I should be the first person you call when we have trouble, not the last.”

“Oh, god.” Tears were pouring down Lexi’s face. “Oh, god. I cost us the ranch. We’re going to lose the ranch because of me.”

Lucas had to catch her before she fell.

Lexi shook her head as she started to wake up. Had she actually fainted? She seemed to be on a bed. Someone had taken off her shoes, and she could feel a hard body pressed behind her.

“The doctor is apparently dealing with a situation.” Lucas’s deep voice penetrated her brain. Everything was a little foggy.

“Well, I have a situation right here. We have to call an ambulance,” Aidan said. His arms tightened around her as though he was afraid to let go.

She forced her eyes open. If she let him, Aidan would have three ambulances, the police force, and a fire truck in the front yard before she could take a breath. “I’m fine.”

“You fainted.”

She shook it off. “Because I haven’t eaten in a couple of days.”

Aidan’s eyebrows came together in a frustrated V. “What? I fixed you a plate.”

She shrugged. “And I couldn’t eat it.”

The thought of food turned her stomach. Ever since she’d gotten the last e-mail from Karen, she hadn’t been able to think about anything but maximizing her career.

“Lucas?”

“I’m on it.” Lucas had a glass of orange juice in his hand. “I brought this with me. Drink it. I’ll go and grab a protein bar.”

“This has to stop, Lexi. You can’t treat yourself like this. You’re making yourself crazy. Drink.” He held the glass up to her lips.

She was forced to drink. Cool, sweet juice filled her mouth. She swallowed it down before pushing his hand away. “We need to talk, Aidan. I’ve done something terrible.”

He frowned. “What was all that shit about you costing us the ranch?”

If only it was a joke. “The city council is going to take our ranch.”

“Baby, that’s not going to happen.” He smoothed back her hair. God, it felt so good to be in his arms. How long had it been since she’d just relaxed in their arms, lazing away the hours while they talked and made love?

She was pretty sure he wouldn’t want to hold her after she told him what she’d done. “You have to listen to me. I’ve got a plan to save us.”

“Lexi, I don’t know what you’ve heard, but it’s just gossip. It’s nothing for you to worry about.”

She had to make him listen. She turned to him, staring into his eyes, willing him to believe her. “The city council is planning on rezoning key parts of the county.”

“Yes, I know, sweetheart. It’s already been taken care of.”

“You don’t understand. I pissed Karen off.”

“Karen Wilcox?”

“She’s Karen Carter now. You know, like Mayor Carter.”

His eyes rolled slightly. “Yes, baby, I know she managed to get the mayor to marry her. I don’t know what she has to do with this.”

Because he wasn’t thinking. “Right after Chelsea was born, I went to a brunch at the Deer Run Women’s Committee. I was going to head up the auction to raise funds for the new school. Well, Karen had me kicked off because she said there was no place for whores in her town.”

“She said what?” Aidan’s voice had gone dangerously low.

There was a reason she’d tried to take care of it herself in the first place. “She always calls me a whore, Aidan. But she usually does it behind my back. I got a little mad.”

His eyes narrowed. “What exactly did you do?”

She bit her bottom lip. “I might have dumped a punch bowl over her head and told her to take her fake boobs and get out of my house. We own the building the meeting was taking place in. Needless to say, they moved their meetings to somewhere else. But Karen was mad. Everyone laughed at her. She deserved it. But then she walked up to me at Patty Cakes and we had a little discussion.”

“You should have had a discussion with me.”

“Aidan, you shouldn’t have to deal with mean-girl name calling. But she took it further.” Tears threatened, but she bit them back. “Aidan, she’s going to have her husband take a thousand acres in the east field. He’s going to take our water access and he’s going to use eminent domain to take it. He claims he’s going to build an outlet mall.”

Aidan’s eyes closed, and he took a long breath. “Oh, baby, that wasn’t about a shopping mall. That was a land grab plain and simple. The east pasture is sitting on what might be a ton of natural gas. I turned down a contract with the gas company to drill because I don’t trust them. The mayor wants that money so he came up with the idea of taking the land.”

“You knew about it?” All this time she’d worried sick and he’d known?

“The mayor doesn’t want the land anymore.” Lucas was standing in the doorway, a plate in his hand. “I explained that I could keep him tied up in court for a very long time.”

That didn’t sound like Lucas. “Is that all you did?”

“I might also have had Chase dig up dirt on the bastard’s tax practices. He might owe the IRS a ton of money and he has undocumented workers working in his family’s estate. I might have presented him with evidence and he might have crapped his pants and backed down. But the official reason is we’re being completely unreasonable and threatening to tie the county up in court. I think he told everyone Aidan was an environmentalist.”

“Yeah, they think that’s worse than being gay, which is the other thing they call me.” He took her hands in his. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to fight about the gas rights. Baby, the company that’s offering is known for being sloppy and, honestly, I don’t want to take the chance that we could make a quick million but lose the land in the end. Ranching is our future.”

“But all this time I thought I was going to cost us the land.”

“Baby, the mayor might enjoy screwing Karen, but he’s not about to let her make decisions like that. He didn’t marry her for her brain. He married her because she’s thirty years younger than him. She was always a mean bitch. She probably heard what he was planning and decided to make herself look like she had some power. How long has this been going on?”

“That bitch.” She felt so stupid. “Months, Aidan.”

“Months? Why didn’t you talk to me?”

“Why didn’t you talk to me?” She threw back at him.

“Because you’re both impossibly stubborn and obnoxious.” Lucas sat the plate in front of her. “And you’re both going to change or we’re going to fall apart. Lexi, what was your plan to save the ranch and how did it involve being on the phone twenty-four seven?”

He knew her really well. “I was going to up my writing so we would have the money to fight this or I could buy us new land.”

Aidan shook his head. “Baby, do you know how much new land would cost? I know you make a lot of money, but you don’t make millions and that’s what it would take. Lexi, I don’t know what you were thinking.”

“I was thinking I didn’t want you to know how stupid I was. I was thinking I would try to save us. But you and Lucas had already done it and not even bothered to tell me something was wrong.”

“That sounds a whole lot like the pot calling the kettle black,” Aidan shot back. “You’ve kept us at arm’s length for months because you weren’t willing to talk about what had happened. I might not have been totally truthful with you, but I didn’t push you away.”

“Really?” Lucas asked, passing the plate to her. “Eat, Lexi. If you don’t, I’ll pull you over my knee. I haven’t topped you in almost a year. Between the pregnancy and this episode, I haven’t gotten what I needed in a very long time, so I wouldn’t test me now.”

Her heart ached a little. She’d known that Lucas was hurting and she’d still held him away. She took the sandwich he’d made her and had a bite.

“As to you, Aidan, you can’t say you haven’t held yourself apart from me. How long did it take you to ask me for advice? How many weeks went by?”

Lexi looked back at Aidan. “You didn’t talk to Lucas?”

They always talked. She couldn’t stand the thought of Aidan feeling so alone—the way she’d felt for months.

“I thought I could handle it.” Aidan took a long breath.

The same way she had thought she could handle it.

“I’m tired of both of you,” Lucas said. “I’m tired of being ignored. When I have a problem, I come to you. I’ve asked your opinion on everything from what car to buy to how to handle the human resources problems at the Dallas office. I didn’t do that because I thought the two of you knew everything. I did it because I trust you and love you and I need you to know what’s happening in my life. Neither one of you feels the same about me.”

“Or we’re just very stupid,” Lexi tried.

Lucas shrugged a little. “Either way, it has to change. I’m not saying I’ll leave. I can’t. We have two children who depend on me. But I will change my expectations of what our relationship means. I’ll hold myself apart. I don’t want that. I want what was promised to me. I want my family. Make your decisions. I’m going to go and think for a while.”

“Lucas,” Aidan called out as he turned to go.

Lucas didn’t turn around. “No. If you want me, you’ll know where to find me. Don’t come looking if you can’t be my Master.”

He walked out the door, his boots ringing against the hardwood floors.

“He doesn’t mean that.” She couldn’t let Aidan get mad at Lucas.

Aidan sat back against the bed. “Yes, he does. He has every right to be mad, Lexi. We failed him.”

The “we” gave her a little hope. Something had settled deep in her chest. Something that had been tight and nasty had loosened up. “I didn’t fuck everything up?”

Aidan chuckled a little. “Oh, I think we fucked up plenty. Lexi, why didn’t you talk to me?”

He pulled her back into his arms. Those big biceps surrounded her, and just for a moment, she felt safe. He’d heard the truth and he wasn’t pushing her away. “She has power over us. She can make life difficult for us and I still got pissed off.”

“You should have clocked the bitch,” Aidan replied.

She shook her head. “I can’t get us kicked out.”

Oh, god. She’d never really thought about it that way. She’d had her daughter and then she’d done something that could have cost them the ranch and her whole childhood had played out in some weird place in the back of her brain.

She’d always felt it. She’d felt the fact that she was the reason her mother had lost her home. She’d been the reason they had struggled and her mother had to fight for their existence. She’d been the reason her mother had married a man she liked but didn’t love.

She couldn’t be the reason her daughter got kicked out. She couldn’t be the reason her son lost his home.

“Oh god, Aidan. What was I thinking?”

His arms tightened. “Baby, baby, I know what’s going on in that head of yours, but it’s wrong.”

“I can’t be the reason we fail.” Tears pierced through her.

“Baby, we’re not failing.”

“I can’t lose our home. I can’t get us kicked out. I can’t do it again.”

Aidan sighed, pulling her so close she could barely breathe. “Lexi, that’s not going to happen. Baby, we’re going to be fine. No one can throw us off our land. I won’t allow it. Your momma was all alone. She didn’t have anyone to help her. You can’t think it was your fault.”

“She got kicked out because of me. What if I do the same thing to Chelsea? To baby Jack?”

Aidan forced her to turn around. “How do you feel about your mother, Lexi? Are you angry with her?”

Lexi shook her head. “Of course not. She’s the strongest woman I know.”

“Why? Why is she so strong? And don’t bullshit me, because I can get her over here in a heartbeat.”

Lexi let her tears flow. “She’s strong because she loved me.”

Her mother hadn’t faltered. She’d been seventeen years old, barely out of high school, and pregnant and alone. She’d managed to pull herself up and put herself through school. She’d taken care of them both. She’d educated herself.

Because she’d loved Lexi.

“I can’t be as strong as my momma.”

“You don’t have to be.” Aidan kissed her brow. “Baby, she doesn’t have to be anymore and I bet your mother would say she’s thrilled about that. You and I have been giving into our childhoods. You’re trying to be your momma and I’m trying to make up for everything my father didn’t give me. Lucas is the only one who’s fighting it.”

Because Lucas had been ignored. He’d been marginalized and he was standing up to the people he loved because he wouldn’t be that way again. He wouldn’t walk away because that man would never leave his children, but he would stand up for himself.

“I don’t want to live like this. I don’t want to hide things from you. I was stupid, Aidan.”

“No. Like I said, you should have clocked her. I have plans for her. Maybe it’s time to really unleash Lucas’s inner bastard and let him take that bitch down. Let Lucas be the man he wants to be.”

She smiled a little. “But he wants to be Jack.”

Her stepfather was known for being a man no one wanted to cross.

“Exactly. I’m not as smart as Lucas. I tend to fight my way through life when he can finesse it, and sometimes revenge requires finesse. I love you, Lexi. You’re not capable of finesse. You’re capable of tossing a bowl of punch over someone’s head. I’m capable of punching someone. Lucas is capable of taking apart someone’s life in such a way that no one even knows he did it.”

That summed up her dad. “I love you all so much. I don’t want to fail you.”

“Lexi, baby, you can’t fail us. We’re your family. The only way you fail is by walking away. Don’t walk away.” Her Master had tears in his eyes. He stared down at her like she was precious and she was. When he looked at her like that, she knew she was loved. Only a few humans in the world ever looked at her like that. Her husbands. Her mother. Her children.

Her family.

She couldn’t fail them. Like her mother couldn’t fail her. She’d been righteously strong, and she’d gained that strength from loving her child. Even though she didn’t need to be strong now, her love for Jack and Sam made her that way.

The only way Lexi had failed was in not talking to her men. “I want to slow down.”

Aidan’s mouth curled up. “Oh, my darling baby, you will slow down. I’ve been seriously lacking as a Dom. You aren’t going to the conference in Denver. You’re coming home with your family.”

The whole idea of going to the Denver conference had made her tired. Luckily it hadn’t been publicized that she would be there. She could get out of it. It was time to stop. She just said yes to everything and everyone, no matter what it cost her. She wanted to be home, cuddling with her babies. There would be time for conferences later when her men could be with her. “All right.”

Aidan was taking control. She wanted it. Needed it.

“I’m never going to tell you how to write or how much to write. The writing part is a piece of your soul, but the business part is different. I think Lucas should take control. You don’t like making all of these decisions. You just want to write. Tell me if I’m wrong.”

He wasn’t. “I’m not saying I won’t have ideas. I’m not a doormat, but at the end of the day, I just want to write my stories. I want to be successful, but I would rather someone else handled the money part. I just want to do the fun part.”

“And Lucas wants to help you. And I need you both to help me.” Aidan rubbed their cheeks together. “I need you to support me. I know you and Lucas are smarter, but the ranch is important.”

“We’re not smarter, just different.” But the whole idea of helping him filled a void inside her.

“Well, I need you both. You and Lucas have so much experience that I don’t have. I’m done with this whole feeling like shit thing. I’m necessary in this marriage. I love this family. Maybe I didn’t bring as much money into it, but damn it, I’m valuable.”

He thought he wasn’t? Her heart softened. “Oh, babe, of course you are.”

His lips touched hers, a fire sparking across her flesh. He only needed to kiss her to make her go up in flames. His arms wound around her. He pulled her close. Everything in Lexi responded to him. This was what she needed.

“I haven’t been valuable lately.” He said the words against her lips. “But I will be, Lexi. I can be what you need again. I will be. Eat that damn sandwich because you’re serving two Masters tonight.”

Her whole body clenched in anticipation.

She ate her food because she would need her strength.

Aidan led Lexi to the playroom. The doors were open, but he stopped them just outside. His heart softened as he saw Lucas sitting in the middle of the room, his gorgeous, lean body in a sitting position. Cobbler Pose. His feet were together, his hands behind his back.

When they had first gotten together, Lucas had wanted to join him in his daily yoga. Aidan needed it to feel flexible. His muscles tended to seize up after all the surgeries he’d required to fix the damage he’d taken in Iraq. So he and Lucas had gotten up with the dawn and moved through a series of yoga poses, starting with Sun Salutation and ending with Relaxation Pose.

He missed that. He would reinstate those mornings with his guy. Lexi and Lucas liked to sit together in the mornings and have their coffee. Aidan couldn’t stand the shit, but he could have his yoga time. And in the evenings he would shower with Lexi. She needed a shower before she could sleep. It could be their special time together.

They had to fight for it. Every day. Every hour.

They made the choice to be together.

All three of them. They needed time—each of them together, but they definitely needed time for the three of them to come together. “We need to join Lucas. Are you strong enough, baby?”

“I am. I need to be with you.” Tears filled her eyes. “I’ve missed you both so much.”

And he’d missed her. He and Lucas had been together, but not with the tenderness they had needed. They’d lived a half-life without her.

“Then come back to us. Come and complete us. We’ve been lost without you.” Aidan reached out, holding a hand to her. “We need you, baby. We don’t get what we need without you, but you have to decide to come with us. I won’t order you to do it.”

She was the true center of their world. He and Aidan could fuck however they wanted, but they needed her. Lucas had been miserable without his girl to top. Aidan couldn’t give him that.

Lexi sniffled a little. “You’re not mad at me?”

Oh, he was plenty mad, but he also realized that both his subs could be pissed at him, too. He wasn’t innocent, not by any means. He’d wanted to save face with the people he loved and now he realized that “face” didn’t matter. Truth mattered. Love mattered.

He could be weak around his wife and Lucas. They would make him strong.

“How long did your mom take the kids?”

Her lips curled up. “The whole night. We’ll get them back after the wedding.”

His cock twitched in his pants. “Perfect.”

“Of course, we’re taking Josh and Olivia the night before we leave.”

Usually the thought of being responsible for those two hooligans would make him want to run out and hide in the barn, but now all he could think about was the fact that they had all night. All night alone. There was time enough tomorrow to want to tear his own hair out. “Then I think we should play, baby.”

She took his hand and let him lead her up. “How rough are you going to get? I have a lot to make up for.”

Her breathy tone did amazing things to his cock. She had a little masochist buried inside her. It totally called to that tiny bit of sadist in him—and the one who lived in Lucas. She was their perfect mate.

“You do. I think you might have a rough night, baby.”

She shuddered softly, just enough to let him know how much she wanted it. “All right.”

“But I was serious about you slowing down. You have to rest. You have to spend more time with us. I know you love your writing and I won’t come in the way of that, but the travel has to slow down. We need you at home. When you do need to go, we’ll go with you. This family stays together, do you understand?”

She placed her hands in his. “Yes, Aidan. We stay together. And you know I can handle whatever discipline you and Lucas mete out.”

His cock was pressing at the fly of his jeans. They had all night. Trev had texted him and offered him use of the playroom. No one expected anything from them until the next day at the wedding.

It had been forever since he’d taken hours to play with his subs. Lucas always wanted things to go so fast. Lexi needed a long time to find her subspace. She luxuriated in the discipline, and she would need so much of it.

He led Lexi through the dungeon doors, closing them behind him.

Lucas sat in the middle of the room, his legs now in a perfect Padmasana or Lotus pose. His legs were locked together, ankle over ankle, his hips open, palms resting on his thighs. He’d taken off his shirt and switched to a pair of sweat pants, but Aidan meant to get him out of everything soon.

He’d given Lucas this. He’d taught him the same way Leo had taught Aidan. He’d given Lucas this place to go to find peace.

“He’s so gorgeous,” Lexi whispered, her eyes on his perfectly straight back.

“Yes, he is. And he’s ours.” Aidan didn’t whisper because he’d never met a human being who needed to belong more than Lucas O’Malley. “I won’t make him question that again.”

Lucas’s head twisted slightly, his green eyes opening and a soft smile playing on his face. “Yes, you will. Forever is a long time, Master. I suspect we’ll all fuck up again. But it will be all right as long as we find our way back to this place.”

Aidan knew he wasn’t talking about the physical space they were in but rather Lucas was talking about finding their way home. They could move. They could have more children. They could love the rest of their family, but they could never forget that their world had begun with these three people.

“I’ll always choose this place.” No matter how lost he became, Lucas and Lexi would always be his home.

Lucas smiled again, and then turned his attention to Lexi, his gaze becoming deeply predatory. “Why is our sub wearing clothing in the playroom? I don’t think she really wants to make up for her bad behavior, Master.”

Yep, Lucas was hungry. He was going to have to share some power tonight. “Why don’t you help her fix that problem while I select a few toys to play with?”

He heard Lexi gasp a little as Lucas rolled his body up. Fuck, he was a gorgeous man and when he decided to top their sub, Aidan liked to watch. He stepped back, leaving Lexi to her second Master for the moment.

The McNamara playroom was a model of efficiency. Beth liked to build things, and she’d designed a whole wall to organize the toys. Like the rest of the room, it was discreet, and a person had to know what buttons to push to get to the good stuff. Bo had given him and Lucas a tour the first day, so Aidan knew the light switch to the side would do the trick. He flipped it up and the door slid open.

“That is so stinking cool. Oh, my god. I have to see that.” Lexi was watching the doors slide away, revealing a wall of nasty fun.

“No,” Lucas said in his darkest Dom voice. “No research. You should have taken the tour with the rest of us, but you were on your phone. Maybe, if you’re a very good girl, we’ll let you take notes before we leave, but for now you need to get out of those clothes and find your position.”

Lucas wasn’t playing around. And Aidan could see plainly that his bossy switch was getting to their girl. Her nipples stood out against the cotton of her shirt and there was a pretty pink flush to her skin.

Lucas sank his hand into her hair, dragging it out of the bun she’d fashioned. Black silk tumbled across her shoulders. “Did you eat what I made for you, Lexi?”

She answered quickly, a sure sign she was ready to play. “Yes, Lucas. I ate every bite.”

“Good.” He fisted her hair, gently drawing her face up to his. “You’re going to need it.”

His mouth came down on hers, and Aidan watched as his partner damn near inhaled their girl. So much longing and it was finally getting fulfilled. No matter what came next, he had to make sure they got what they needed.

He regretfully turned away and looked for a few of the items they would need. Bo and Trev kept several unopened selections for guests to use. He pulled out the lubricant and an extra-large plug. Yeah, he was going to have some fun. He winked at Lucas as he walked to the bathroom, opening the plug and sterilizing it.

It was a nice-sized monster. Lexi was used to anal, but it had been a while. And it would be so fucking much fun to watch her eyes go wide as he sank the plug deep.

And then he’d sink his cock in.

He walked back out and Lucas had done his job. Lexi was naked and waiting in her slave pose. Her back was straight, her head submissively down, palms up on her thighs. Her knees were wide, leaving her perfectly shaved pussy on full display.

Lucas stood back, his eyes staring right at her pussy. “It’s been too long. I think I could stare at her for a while.”

“More, Alexis,” Aidan commanded. “You can get your knees wider.”

“Sorry, I lost a bunch of flexibility when I gave birth to your children and stuff.”

Aidan felt a little thrill go through him.

Lexi’s head came up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud. It was supposed to be one of those bratty things I just say in my head.”

“Hands and knees, ass in the air. If you want to keep the spanking you’re about to get in your head next time, keep the brat locked up tight.”

She bit that gorgeous lower lip of hers as she looked at the plug in his hand. “Aidan, please tell me that’s for Lucas.”

“No, my lovely, it’s all for you. Lucas never gets out of practice.”

“Lucas didn’t have to carry our sweet babies,” Lexi pointed out.

“Not going to save you,” Lucas said with a wicked grin. “Ass in the air, brat.”

Lexi leaned forward. “Fine, but only because I know the phone thing really was obnoxious and now that it’s all out in the open, it really was the stupidest plan ever. I deserve to have an elephant plug shoved up my poor rectum for being so naïve.”

Aidan got to his knees as she made her way to all fours. Her body had changed over the years, growing a bit softer. She was still the most beautiful thing on the planet. So womanly he couldn’t look at her without thinking about sex. “This really is about making sure you can take us, baby.”

He put a hand on her ass, feeling the warm flesh under his palm.

“Tell me you’re not going to enjoy it, Aidan.”

Such a brat. He brought his hand up and down in a quick arc, the sound cracking through the room. Lexi moaned as he held his palm flat against the flesh he’d spanked. “You know I’m going to love it, baby. Lucas, would you like to help with discipline or do you want to occupy that bratty mouth of hers while I work?”

Lucas had his sweats off in record time. His cock bobbed as he got settled onto the floor. “I think I should make sure she doesn’t get in even more trouble, Master.”

He pumped his cock in his fist, getting it hard and long. Lexi licked her lips as she watched.

“Suck him, Lexi. Suck him and make him come, and then and only then will I think about giving you a nice little treat. But first”—he slapped her ass again—“it’s a count of thirty. If you ever wave me off when I’m trying to talk to you again, I swear you won’t be able to sit for a week.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to,” she said in a shaky voice. “I think Olivia did something to make phones not work around me anymore. At least not the one I had. I can’t prove it, but she found a way.”

And Olivia was getting a great Christmas present this year. “Suck Lucas.”

Her head moved forward, and Aidan watched as Lucas’s cock started to disappear inside those gorgeous lips. He swatted her ass, finding a good rhythm to go with the way her head moved up and down on Lucas’s dick.

Her skin, so flawless, got a hot pink sheen to it, the flesh of her ass jiggling slightly with each smack. Her knees were spread wide so he could spank every inch of her cheeks and thighs and stop every once in a while to make sure the discipline was having the required effect.

He let his hands slide over her pussy. Yes. She was getting what she needed. Her pussy was soft and ripe with cream. He let his fingers play for a moment and then dragged them into his mouth, enjoying the tangy taste of her essence.

She worked Lucas over, drawing him deeper and deeper into her mouth. Lucas’s eyes were down, watching that place where she sucked him in. His hands were on her hair, and just for a moment, he brought his gaze up, staring at Aidan. Pure connection sparked through him. This was what they had been missing. The three of them together, working for each other’s pleasure, but most of all reveling in the connection they had.

“Plug our girl, Aidan. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold out. Her mouth feels so good.” He winked Aidan’s way and then went back to looking at Lexi.

He’d kept a careful count. He owed his love another five smacks. He took his time, drawing it out. He slapped at her ass, holding his hand there and letting the heat sink into her skin. Then he smacked her thigh, loving the way she tensed and then relaxed. He could take her away from all her worries.

Sometimes they were too busy being parents and business owners to remember to be lovers.

Never again. He would schedule time for them to play if he had to. He wondered how Lexi would like it if he called up her assistant and asked to be put on her schedule for an hour’s worth of anal play or an afternoon of applying a crop to Lexi’s ass. Yeah, he needed to see what that schedule would look like.

“He’s planning something evil, Lex. He’s got his super villain smile on.” Lucas gave him a grin that told him he would be in on whatever plot he came up with.

Lexi moaned a little, but Lucas kept his promise. Not a single word left her bratty, gorgeous mouth.

Three more smacks and he was done. He placed a kiss on each cheek before reaching for the plug and the lube.

Her punishment was far from over.

Aidan was going to kill her. Lucas wasn’t helping. Her whole body was poised and ready to go off and they insisted on teasing her.

She didn’t need a damn plug. She needed her men. Surely after all the times they had shoved large objects up her anus, she should still be ready to go. Her asshole should just remember not to clench, shouldn’t it?

But, no, Master Aidan had to play things safe. She licked at the cock in her mouth. Lucas’s cock tasted so good. Clean and manly. He was dripping pre-cum on her tongue, teasing her with salty goodness. She sucked him hard, but he just kept pressing in and pulling out of her mouth.

She whimpered a little as she felt Aidan pull her cheeks apart. The spanking had sensitized her skin. Everywhere he touched lit up, making her shiver.

“Don’t you stop sucking his cock. You have a job to do.” Another little slap sent a wave from her ass straight to her pussy. She could feel herself getting creamy and so wet she almost couldn’t stand it.

But Aidan was right. She had to pay attention to the cock in her mouth. It was past time to push Lucas over the edge.

She sucked hard, letting her tongue roll over his dick. He was deeply sensitive at the V on the underside of his cockhead. She worked her tongue over and over it, pressing up and catching it against her teeth.

“Fuck.” The curse spat out of Lucas’s mouth and suddenly his hands tightened in her hair. His hips bucked.

She tried to concentrate on the cock in her mouth, but Aidan was lubing up her asshole. Now she was the one who was breathless as he rimmed her, spreading lube all over her hot little hole. She wriggled a little. It had been so long since she’d felt that dark pleasure, known what it meant to have them both. She didn’t want the plug. She wanted his cock.

But what she got was the hard press of a plug against her asshole. Aidan worked the large piece of plastic in a circle around the rosette of her ass. Pressure, dark and nasty, worked its way up her spine.

“Don’t you focus on him,” Lucas bit out between clenched teeth. “I’m the one fucking your mouth, darlin’. You focus on me. Your time is coming.”

She was sure it was. She would end up in between them. She hadn’t been there since before Chelsea had been born. She would be between her men, trapped by their hard bodies and rough desires.

But now she was caught between a hard cock and a plug that didn’t seem to be going in.

A hard smack to her ass had her panting.

“Relax, Lexi,” Aidan ordered.

Easy for him to say. The only thing that stopped her from complaining was the fact that she’d watched Lucas penetrate Aidan. Aidan knew damn well what it felt like to have a monster shoved up his rectum.

They were different from anyone she knew. For the last few months, that had seemed to be a bad thing. Even among the threesomes they knew, they were different. Aidan was willing to give over to Lucas from time to time. Her Dom had a switch and he’d compromised.

Why hadn’t she trusted him? She relaxed because it wasn’t Aidan she hadn’t trusted. It was herself, and that had been foolish.

She was her mother’s daughter. And she might screw up mightily from time to time, but she would win in the end. She would win because she was surrounded by love.

It was more important than pride. More important than any career. More important than land.

She’d worried about her place. If she didn’t write fast enough she could lose her place.

But her place was right here—pleasing and being pleased by her men.

“That’s what I need.” Aidan’s hand skimmed up her back as the plug slid home.

It was so big. She was stretched and full. She clenched around it, feeling every centimeter deep inside.

“And that’s what I need. Yes, baby. Yes.” Lucas held her hair, and his hips plunged deep.

Cum, salty and male, spurted onto her tongue. She lapped it up, drawing Lucas’s semen into her mouth and swallowing him down. It coated her mouth, filling her with his essence.

He pulled his cock out of her mouth, his face flushed, his chest heaving. “Damn, that felt good. Did she take the plug?”

She heard Aidan chuckle behind her. “You impatient son of a bitch. You just came and you’re already wanting to know if we can take her.”

“Well, can we?” Lucas asked, proving just how impatient he was.

Aidan moved the plug, pulling it out and slowly, so slowly, pressing it back in. Every nerve in her backside was lit with a jangly pleasure. Her spine threatened to curl, but she had to stay still. Aidan was serious about the discipline thing, and she had the feeling if she did what she wanted to—arch back and force him to fuck her harder—she would find herself tied up and tortured for hours.

It wouldn’t be the first time they had tied her up and spanked her and brought her to the edge of pleasure again and again only to hold back.

She couldn’t stand the thought of that tonight. She needed them tonight.

Lexi closed her eyes and submitted. She relaxed and gave herself over to her men.

“That’s exactly what we want.” Lucas put a hand on her head. “Let us take care of you. You don’t have to be in control all the time.”

She didn’t. The last several months had been a blur of worry and work. This was the first time she’d sunk into subspace and let her cares fall away. There was nothing but safety and pleasure in this place. There was nothing but love.

The plug moved in and out of her, but Lexi concentrated on them. She focused on the hands that rubbed across her skin, gentling her, soothing her worries away.

The plug was still huge in her ass, but it moved easily now. Aidan fucked her over and over, opening her up.

“Now she’s ready,” Aidan said, and the plug slid away, leaving her empty and wanting.

Lexi felt Lucas lift her up. She was cradled against his chest as he walked her toward the big bed that dominated half the playroom. Solid arms held her so she didn’t need to work. She just relaxed in his arms and looked up at that face she loved so well. Lucas had come so far from the frightened kid she’d met in Willow Fork all those years before. He’d gone from the bad boy of the tabloids to a man who was steadfast and loyal and knew his worth.

“I love you.”

His face turned up, his eyes softening. “I love you, too, baby.”

He tossed his body on the bed, carrying them both down. It wasn’t hard to move her body, straddling him, rubbing their skin together. She could already feel his cock stirring to life. It hardened against her pussy.

“Ride me.” His hands were on her skin, guiding her where he wanted her to be. With a firm twist of his hips, he joined them together.

Her eyes closed in pleasure, but they weren’t done. She felt callused palms cup her breasts. Her Aidan. Her cowboy. He’d been her first love, the man who broke her heart, the man who put her back together again. When they’d first met, he’d been so beautiful she couldn’t imagine she would ever be attracted to anyone else, but the Aidan who loved her now was a man and not a boy. He bore the scars of a war, and she couldn’t imagine loving him any more than she did in that moment.

She let her face turn to his, their mouths fusing lightly.

“Baby, let me get inside.” Aidan pressed her down, gently forcing her against Lucas.

She was right where she needed to be. She was surrounded by them.

Something hard but warm pressed against her ass. Aidan worked his cock in and despite calling the plug too large, Lexi was reminded that Aidan was bigger. She wiggled, gasping and trying to relax. Lucas held her hips, forcing her cheeks wide to give Aidan room to work.

“Let me in.” Aidan’s command washed over her. His silky, dark voice was seduction in itself. “Don’t try to keep me out. This belongs to me. You belong to us.”

She did. And they belonged to her. Sometimes she forgot that it worked both ways. She needed her Masters to remind her again.

She let loose a long breath and tried to flatten out her back. The pressure on her ass increased until finally, blissfully, she felt Aidan slide in.

He shuddered behind her. “You feel so damn good.”

Lucas pressed up. “Yes, she does.”

Lexi was suffused with heat as they moved against her, long practice making the action easy. Aidan drove into her ass while Lucas was dragging his cock out. Lucas fucked deep inside her pussy while Aidan was pulling out, his dick lighting up every nerve she had.

It couldn’t last. They were too hungry, too desperate.

Lucas twisted his hips, his pelvis grinding on her clit as his cock drove deep and Lexi hurled over the edge. Pleasure crashed over her in waves, knocking her breath away and making her shake.

Aidan shouted out and held himself hard against her body. He filled her ass with his cum, whispering her name like a benediction.

Lucas’s beautiful face contorted in pleasure as he found his orgasm. He held her tight, as though she was his anchor.

They fell together, Aidan pulling her to one side so she was in the middle. Her place. She slept between them so she always had an arm around her or legs tangling with hers.

Lexi settled down, finally remembering her place in the world.