Sophie Oak - Siren Beloved

“What the hell is this?” a feminine voice shouted as the light of day spilled into the playroom.

The blonde from last night stood in the doorway, her mouth open in horror. But that wasn’t the worst of it. She’d brought a friend or two. Lucas quickly cupped himself and dove for his pants.

“Is that who I think it is?” Lexi asked, trying to crane her head around.

Lucas looked at his Dom. He couldn’t help but laugh a little. His Dom was in some serious trouble.

“Alexis Ann Moore. What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” Abigail Barnes asked.

Lexi flushed a pretty red. “Hi, Mom.”

Aidan was pretty sure that if looks could kill, he would be dead six ways from Sunday. Aidan had faced down some rough motherfuckers in his life, but he would rather be back in Iraq than standing in front of Abigail Barnes. Unfortunately, she was currently pacing in his living room.

Aidan scrubbed his hair with his hand as he looked into the living room from the kitchen. He knew what Lexi’s mom was seeing, a weathered house in need of money and attention, neither of which he had a great deal to spare. His father had damn near run the ranch into the ground with his stubborn refusal to try anything new. Jack Barnes had offered Aidan a way to keep the ranch that had been in his family for four generations, but it wouldn’t start to pay for a while. Abby wasn’t his biggest fan, and seeing the home he could offer her daughter hadn’t helped.

While Abby Barnes paced, Sam Fleetwood sat on Aidan’s easy chair with a sleeping toddler on his chest. Jack Barnes stared a hole through his wife from the worn-out couch. It was obvious there was some dissension amongst the Barnes-Fleetwood clan.

At least Aidan was clean now. And dressed. Somehow he figured Abby seeing the other thing he could offer her daughter hadn’t helped her opinion of him, either.

“Mrs. Barnes,” Aidan began, wishing like hell that Lucas and Lexi had finished cleaning up first. But nope, they had retreated into the master bedroom and hadn’t shown up again. He’d been forced to shower in the tiny guest bathroom, shut out once again. “Can I offer you a drink?”

Hazel eyes turned to him, narrowed in irritation. “You can explain to me what sort of game you’re playing with my daughter, and don’t you even try to give me the ‘we’re just playing at D/s’ explanation. You were engaged to her. You can’t just waltz back into her life and experiment on her.”

“It’s not a game, Mrs. Barnes,” Aidan replied. “It’s serious.”

“It can’t be too serious since you have a fiancée.”

Aidan had to stop himself from putting his fist through a wall. He was going to have to deal with Karen. “I do not have a fiancée. I haven’t touched that woman in years, since long before I met Lexi.”

Sam perked up. “I told you she had that crazy-stalker-thing going on. I know all about it, brother. One day I’ll tell you all about Melissa Paul.”

“This is different, Sam,” Abby insisted.

“Really? How?” Jack asked, his mouth a flat line.

“It’s different because this is my daughter. You stay out of it, too. You’ve done enough damage, Jack.”

A single eyebrow arched up. “Sam, that’s another five.”

Sam closed his eyes and patted the toddler’s back, rocking in the easy chair. “I gave up writing down her punishments back in Waco. Let’s just understand it’s going to be a weekend project.”

Jack stood. “I’m sorry, Aidan. I sat her down and explained what was going on, but she’s being entirely unreasonable. I couldn’t stop her from coming out here.”

Aidan had always known he would have to jump this hurdle in the end. He just hadn’t expected it to happen so damn soon. And certainly not when he was five minutes from heaven. Lexi had agreed to let him make love to her. Oh, she had called it sex, but he would be making love. If Karen hadn’t noticed the Barnes-Fleetwood family asking for directions and decided it was a perfect way to see him again, he would be balls deep inside Lexi and one step closer to getting her back.

At least Karen had run off in tears. It had been suitably dramatic. She’d cursed Lexi’s name and completely ignored the fact that Lucas was there. Maybe she would finally get the picture.

Jack stared out the window, his eyes widening. “Um, I think I better go save your brother. He offered to show our daughter around. She’s trying to ride your dog. I don’t see your brother. I hope she hasn’t killed him. Or tied him up. We all know you have a lot of rope around here.”

Jack took off running, the front door slamming behind him. Sam kept up his rocking, and Abby closed in on Aidan. Apparently Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood wreaking havoc wasn’t anything new.

“My husband might think you have good intentions, but I don’t care. I was there after you dumped my daughter. I remember how hurt she was. She wouldn’t even come home for nearly six months. She was devastated. Did you dump her for that blonde bimbo?”

“No, Momma,” Lexi said, walking somberly into the room. Aidan wanted to scream his frustration. While they had been in the barn, she’d been alive again. Now she was shut down. “He didn’t leave me for Karen. Karen was his high school girlfriend. He didn’t exactly dump me.”

“What?” Abby asked.

Now Sam’s eyes were open, and he watched the scene in front of him.

Lucas walked into the room looking like he’d never gotten caught with his pants off. Lucas was smooth as silk. It intimidated Aidan sometimes. Lucas always seemed to know what to say, to do, in order to make things run like clockwork. Aidan fumbled so often.

“I’m afraid this is mostly my fault, Abby.” Lucas slid an arm around Lexi, giving her his support. “You see, Aidan asked Lexi to choose between him and me.”

Sam snorted. “Didn’t look like she was choosing a while ago. And Aidan’s obviously bi. I believe I mentioned that back when I met him a few years ago. He was looking at Lucas back then, too. What’s up with all these guys not realizing they’re bisexual? Here’s the clue, buddy, when you’re around another dude and you get a hard-on, you might be bi.”

“Sam!” Abby turned on her husband.

But Aidan actually didn’t mind. He laughed a little. So much of dealing with his sexuality had been wrapped in endless drama. It felt good to laugh about it. He did owe Abby an explanation. “I had never, um, loved a man before Lucas. I fought it for a long time. I thought that wanting Lucas made me gay. And I didn’t understand how I could want Lucas when I loved Lexi so much.”

“And being around her family made you believe that wasn’t a workable relationship?” There was no mistaking the offended air pouring off of Abby. Aidan knew her story. She’d been surrounded by small town judgment all her life. “I will admit that I wondered if you left Lexi because you disapproved of her mother’s lifestyle.”

“No.” He said it, but it rang untrue. He had worried about it. Damn it, he had to be honest. “Yes, Mrs. Barnes. It’s why I never invited you to meet my father or even told him more than the fact that you were married to Jack Barnes. I never mentioned Sam.”

Sam shook his head. “The best looking one is always the dirty little secret. Although I’m not little. I’m a big secret, if you know what I mean.”

“Sam,” Abby scolded him again, but her lips had curled up, and she shook her head with affection. She leaned over and brushed her lips against his. “I would never keep you a secret. I want the whole world to know about us. Jack feels the same way. It’s you and me and Jack forever.”

“I hope you still feel that way next weekend, baby.”

“I’m not afraid of Jack.” She stood back up and crossed her arms over her chest, going from adoring lover to pissed off momma in an instant. “So you’re telling me that now you’re fine with your sexuality—or are you trying to make Lexi choose again? I warn you, she will choose Lucas. Lucas is good for her.”

“No, he’s not. Not entirely,” Aidan said.

Lexi opened her mouth to speak, but Lucas’s hand came around, closing neatly over her lips.

“Agreed,” Lucas said. He was the only one who seemed completely at ease. “Lexi needs a firmer hand than I like to give. I greatly prefer to be the indulgent one. And I also like a nice little discipline session from time to time. I’m a switch, but Lexi has never enjoyed playing the Domme. Though she does like to play the brat. You can lick my hand all you like. It’s not going to make me stop.”

“Don’t you dare bite him,” Aidan barked, anticipating her next move.

Lucas pulled his hand back. Lexi was shaking her head. “You wouldn’t take it from me, babe. I get that we need a Dom.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be him.” Abby reached out and took her daughter’s hand. “Come on, we’re going home. Lucas, you can come with us, but I’m not terribly happy with you, either. You let this happen.”

Lucas stepped out from behind Lexi, his face going hard. “Be as unhappy with me as you like, Abby, but we made this decision together. We decided to come out here, and we’re staying out here. And I might be a switch, but I top your daughter, and I expect you to respect that.”

“Mom, I’m not going anywhere,” Lexi said, holding on to her mother’s hand.

Abby didn’t give up easily. “We can protect you better at home. Julian said he has a couple of detectives looking into whoever shot at you. Jack can hire security.”

“And so can Aidan and I,” Lucas replied. He looked over at Aidan, his green eyes clearly expecting something more from him.

“We can,” Aidan said, stepping up. He squared his shoulders. Abby Barnes might be his future mother-in-law, but on this he wasn’t going to indulge her. He didn’t have the money, but he could borrow it. He had things he could sell if he had to. He would go bankrupt if it meant Lexi was safe. “Lucas can look into it this afternoon. Look, we chose to come out here because it’s isolated, and everyone notices a stranger. I have a security system, but more importantly, I will die before I allow anything to happen to Lexi, and I know Lucas feels the same.”