Their Reluctant Bride (Bridgewater Menage Series Book 6) (11 page)

“So sweet,” he murmured before standing, then lacing a hand behind my neck. “Taste.”

He lowered his head and kissed me, his tongue dipping into my mouth and I tasted Xander’s personal flavor, but my own as well. I was sweet and musky and the combination was heady.

“I hope you’re not hungry, for I want to get home as quickly as possible.”

Tyler grunted in reply. “We would fuck you now, baby, but I doubt Brody and Mason want to give up their office for the rest of the day.”

With awareness came embarrassment. “Oh, I’m sure they heard me. What are they going to think?”

I covered my face with my hands.

“They’ll think you have two very skilled lovers.”

I peeked between my fingers at them. They stood before me with open arousal and, when I glanced down at the front of their pants, very hard cocks. It was their grins, however, that had me pulling my hands back and laughing with them. It was amazing, the change in my mood after a husband-induced orgasm.

***

“Of course, I’m thrilled!” Tyler’s mother exclaimed when I was introduced.

We’d ridden to Helena and made good time, arriving at Tyler’s parents’ house before the sun set. Xander said it was a good halfway point to the ranch and where we would spend the night.

 I knew the Bridgewater men were wealthy. I even knew Tyler and Xander had money—if it hadn’t been Xander giving Ralph fifty dollars directly from his billfold, it was the information Olivia had shared about her cousin’s ranch. But the mansion in which Tyler was raised was much more obvious. So far I’d counted three servants, all of whom Tyler knew by name.

I’d expected a stodgy older woman with a diamond-covered chip on her shoulder, but I was very wrong. Mrs. Tannenbaum was relaxed and delightful. She hugged the ever-stiff Xander and even coaxed a smile from him. Instead of eating a late meal in their formal dining room, we sat at a well-used table in the kitchen.

“I knew the two of you would find a bride together, but not this week.” She was pleased and overwhelmed with the news. “I am sorry your fathers are not here to see you. They would have stalled their meeting in Billings had they known.”

She ran a hand down her son’s cheek, the love there quite clear. I felt a pang of jealousy for what they shared; I never knew my mother, as she died when I was a baby and I did not wish to remember my father.

“As you always said—”

“Lightning.”

The one word had Tyler nodding.

Mrs. Tannenbaum turned toward me. “Tell me about yourself, Emily.”

Her posture was ramrod straight and her hands were folded in her lap. She was a lady through and through.

I dabbed my lips with my napkin and took a sip of water. I cleared my throat, suddenly nervous.
I am a liar. A killer.
“Well, Mrs. Tannenbaum—”

“Belinda, please.”

I gave a small nod. “All right. Belinda. I was recently widowed and found myself in a predicament.” I didn’t need to share more than that and I was relieved neither man chose to do so. I glanced at both of them. Tyler watched me with his usual calm demeanor—now I knew where it came from—and Xander was helping himself to a second serving of chicken and dumplings.

“It wasn’t a good marriage,” Belinda said. She didn’t form it as a question, but as fact. She was very good at reading people, so I looked away. What else could she see?

“No. It wasn’t a good marriage. He wasn’t a good man.” That truth was easy to tell. “Marrying Xander and Tyler, well, it might not have been lightning as you call it…” I swallowed again, worried I’d make everyone mad at me. Perhaps she’d see me as a gold digger even, or worse, what I really was. “However, I have found that both Xander and Tyler are… nice.”

Xander arched a brow and his forkful of dumpling stopped halfway to his mouth. “Nice? You think that about us?”

I shrugged, not wanting to admit to my new mother-in-law that I found her son and Xander very attractive and eager to have them fuck me as soon as we were in private.

“We will have to work on some other adjectives,” Tyler added with a very heated look.

I felt my cheeks blush.

“A woman marries for completely different reasons than a man. Look at these two.” Belinda waved her hand between the men. “They have money, looks, land, a successful business. They do not need to account to anyone. A woman, though, can’t work, but if she did, it would be at a backbreaking task and for a piddly amount. She would be vulnerable to less honorable men and her virtue would be constantly in question.”

While Xander started eating again, he listened carefully.

“As for you, a widow, I assume you had no protection once you were alone. Do you have family?”

I placed my napkin on the table beside my plate. “No, ma’am.”

Tyler stood, retrieved the coffeepot from the stove and filled his mug.

“Marrying for protection is reason enough. A man must understand this and be
gentle—
” she looked blatantly at Xander, then at Tyler, “—and
patient.
”

“Point taken, Mother,” Tyler said, sitting back down, his long legs stretched out beneath the table.

She was so
kind.
How would she feel about me when she learned I was a killer? God, the guilt, the worry, it was getting worse and worse. My secret was a weapon for so many people. I didn’t intend to hurt any of them, but the list of casualties was growing.

“You do not have any children?” She looked at me almost wistfully.

I looked down at my empty plate. I was a liar and possibly barren. I was a terrible wife. The guilt about both riddled me. “No.”

“I could only have Tyler, but I had Olivia to raise as well after her parents died. I’m sure these two will get you with child soon enough.”

My cheeks burned at her bold words.

“Mother!” Tyler shouted, rolling his eyes.

Xander made a sound in the back of his throat.

Belinda did not look mollified at all. “I want grandchildren.”

She stood. Xander and Tyler did as well. “I will let you get to that task. You’re newlyweds. You don’t need your mother about, but I am glad you came here. You know the way to your rooms.” She came around and gave me a generous hug, the swirl of soft perfume circling about. She kissed her son, then slid her hand down Xander’s upper arm as she left the room.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” Tyler told me. “If it means getting grandchildren, hell, she’ll lock us in the bedroom until our seed takes. One perk of a woman having two husbands like her is that she’s well aware of their needs.” He chuckled.

“You mean fucking,” I replied, glancing between the two of them.

“Hell, yes,” Xander added, running a hand over his beard.

Tyler took a step closer, cupped the back of my head. “As for grandchildren…”

“What if I can’t have any? I… miscarried once and then no success after that.” I worried my lip. What if I couldn’t fulfill the most important role of a wife, for not only one man, but two?

Tyler kissed the top of my head. “I’m sorry to hear that, baby. That must have been very sad for you. Perhaps the problem with making babies wasn’t with you, but Frank. As for making babies with us, well, we’ve fucked you enough to have it be a possibility.”

“Just to be sure, we’re going upstairs right now and we’re going to fill you up with our seed all night long.” Xander didn’t leave any room for confusion.

“Damn straight,” Tyler added. Bending his knees, he tossed me over his shoulder and carried me up the back stairs. If I couldn’t have a baby, it wasn’t going to be for lack of trying.

“But…” I couldn’t say anything more. I tried, but the air kept getting bumped and jostled from me.

TYLER

I dropped Emily onto the large bed. She bounced once and then settled. Her hair was falling from its pins, her eyes wide with surprise and her cheeks flushed. She looked wanton and decadent and I couldn’t wait to get her clothes off so I could touch every part of her. To make her cry out her pleasure.

Fucking in the past had been all about the release, the ability to lose myself in the pleasure of it. With Emily, it was so much more than that. I wanted to please
her
. It was half the fun of it. Perhaps in about a decade or so we’d discover all the different ways to make her wet. In the meantime, we were going to have fun finding them.

“It’s a good thing your ass isn’t ready yet for our cocks, sweetheart. We want every drop of our seed in that sweet pussy of yours until we give you that baby you want,” I commented as I began to undo the buttons of my shirt.

Xander lit the lantern beside the bed, bathing the room in a soft glow.

“You want children?” she asked, looking between us. Xander stood beside me so we were shoulder to shoulder above her.

“Hell, yes. A little girl who looks just like you,” I said, watching as tears filled her eyes.

Xander flicked a look my way at her unexpected response. “I never thought it would be a possibility. The idea of your belly swelling with our child…” Xander groaned.

To my surprise, Emily rolled off the side of the bed and began pacing the room, crying in earnest.

I looked to Xander, who frowned.

I knew women to be moody sometimes, but this… this was something different. I did know we had to tread lightly. I’d seen my fathers trying to soothe my mother before. It took a gentle hand.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She shook her head and began to mumble as she cried. I couldn’t understand her, but heard a few words. Liar. Trouble.

I caught her as she walked by us and pulled her into my arms, but she struggled away and leaned forward, covering her face with her hands.

What the hell did we do? Gentle persuasion wasn’t working. Kindness wasn’t working. Shit. I hated crying women. I ran my hand over the back of my neck. “Emily… shh.”

“Stop,” Xander said, his voice booming in the otherwise quiet room.

Emily sucked in a breath and she dropped her hands. She stopped crying. Xander had, perhaps, scared the tears from her, but it had worked. She stared at him, mouth open.

“Take off your clothes,” Xander commanded.

I put a hand on his arm. “What if she’s upset because she doesn’t want to fuck?”

“That’s not it,” he replied. How he could be so sure, I had no idea. “Are you afraid to fuck us, sweetheart?”

She shook her head, her cheeks tearstained and pale.

“Take off your clothes,” he repeated. “All of them.”

Emily paused for the briefest of moments, but did as Xander said. No, commanded. She was submitting to him. The problem wasn’t solved, but she was responding. Perhaps Xander was right. Perhaps even Emily was right. She liked rough and he liked to dominate.

Quickly enough, she was naked before us, her dress, shift, stockings and boots a small pile on the floor between us. Her nipples tightened before our eyes.

Xander lifted his chin. “Turn around and put your hands on the edge of the bed. Good. Now lean onto your forearms.”

Emily settled into the position Xander expected, her head down, her ass up and out.

“This is how you want to talk with her?” I asked, worried she might start crying all over again. “Earlier, she was in this position over a desk and thought we wanted to fuck her.”

“This isn’t about fucking. Spread your legs. Wider.” Obviously, he was ignoring my concerns for Emily. “Good girl.” Xander’s voice, while deep, had an almost soothing quality to it and I couldn’t miss the way Emily sighed, her body relaxing.

He looked at me. “Yes, this is how we’re going to talk with her. She likes it. I know because she’s wet.”

Her bare pussy was exposed and I could see her folds gleam with her arousal, although Xander chose to swipe one blunt finger over them so even Emily was aware. She gasped, her hips twitched, but she remained in place.

“She knows we won’t hurt her. Right, Emily?”

“You won’t hurt me,” she replied, the sound muffled by the blanket. She sniffed once, then again.

“We will spank you.”

She stiffened then, but Xander placed his palm on her lower back.

“Have you been bad, Emily?”

Xander’s hand moved lower, stroking over one pale globe.

She nodded.

Spank.

“You’re going to give the problem to your men, sweetheart.”

Spank.

“
We need to listen to her, not spank her,” I told him. He was pushing her too far.

Xander lifted his hand, then spanked a different spot on her ass. The skin instantly turned a pretty shade of pink. Emily cried out, but remained in place.

“She needs this. She needs to let it out.”
Spank.
“She won’t share. Whatever it is, she’s guilt-ridden over it.” He tilted his chin again. “Can’t you see? She needs me—us—to take over. She wants to tell us but doesn’t know how. We will take her decision away. It’s not her choice now, but ours.”

Spank, spank.

The strikes weren’t hard. She never once lifted up onto her toes or cried out in pain. Xander was careful, watching her reaction each time his palm struck.

“What did you do, Emily?” Xander asked after a time.

She was crying in earnest now, but she wasn’t tense any longer. She’d long ago relaxed into each spank, allowing it. Taking it. Giving in.

“I did it!” she cried.

Spank.

I could see now that she responded to this unorthodox attention. How Xander somehow knew what she needed, I had no idea. Thank Christ he could read her when I couldn’t.

“Did what, baby?” I asked. I matched Xander’s deep tone.

“I killed him.”

Xander’s hand paused in mid-air and he looked to me, his eyebrows going up. Did she say
killed
? Catching himself, he pulled his hand back and spanked her. I could see now she needed no reaction on our part besides domination. If we faltered, so would she.

“Who?” he asked, his voice the same even tone.

“Frank,” she cried as Xander spanked her again. Her crying came out in deep sobs now.

Xander didn’t stop, but by the sound of his hand on her red ass alone, I could tell he’d lightened up a little. He peppered her flesh over and over until the entire lush surface glowed hotly.