Sophie Oak - Two to Love

“Damn,” Max said, turning his head to watch Stella. “I don’t get free fries. Cal, I think Stella thinks I’m the hardass. She doesn’t know Rye at all, damn it. I am completely misunderstood.”

A few things fell into place, and Zane let his hand drift to his side. “You’re in a threesome?”

Max sat up and felt his neck for damage. “I don’t consider it a threesome. It’s a marriage. My brother and I are married to a lovely woman named Rachel. We have a baby on the way.” A sly grin crossed his face. “Did you think you were shocking me, city boy?”

Zane wasn’t sure how to answer that. He had thought it would shock him.

Max gave him a good-natured punch in the arm. “Nothing shocks a Bliss boy.” His face suddenly went cold and dark, and Zane decided he’d completely underestimated the cowboy. “But we take our relationships serious, you understand? I wasn’t joking. Callie’s like my sister. You play around with her, and you deal with me and Rye.”

“I’m not playing,” Zane said automatically.

Max seemed to take his measure. Callie’s arm wound around Zane’s waist, and he pulled her close, waiting for the judgment of her childhood friend.

“All right then,” Max said, scooting back into the booth. “As long as we understand each other.”

This time Zane pulled Callie along and pushed her gently into the booth on his side. Her sardonic look let him know she didn’t miss his reasons for changing the seating arrangement. He slung an arm around her possessively but decided to play the white knight as well. Callie needed someone who looked out for her. He passed the amazing-looking cheeseburger over to her.

Callie looked up at him. “But I ordered the burger for you.”

He winked at her and picked up the fork that went with the ceviche. “I’d like to try the special, babe. You take the burger.”

He was surprised to find he really liked ceviche de hongos with black beans and lemon, and he was starting to like Bliss.

Nate hung up the phone and felt his stomach drop. It was worse than he could imagine. There really was a bounty on Zane’s head, or rather on his chest, and there was next to nothing the authorities could do about it. It was all rumors. No one undercover was willing to risk their assignment for an agent who had gone down in a blaze of questionable behavior. Nate knew that Zane hadn’t done anything wrong, but his cover had been blown. He had left the agency without trying to fight for his job, and Zane had never really tried to fit in there in the first place. He wasn’t a “climb the ladder” kind of guy.

Luckily, Nate was. Special Agents Ben Leander and Marcus Worthington were on their way to Bliss. Nate had to call in a couple of favors, but he had some backup. Ben and Marcus were two of the best connected men the agency had. Nate sat back in his chair. His head was starting to pound. He’d had to promise his old boss that he would give serious consideration to coming back in three months. It meant breaking the deal he had with Stefan. Stef might understand, but he had to consider Callie and Zane. He always meant to go back to the DEA. He was on a fast track there. He would move up in the DEA and then look for a job in Washington. He might never get back the money his father had lost, but he could support Callie in the way she should be supported. He could give her a good life. He would find something for Zane. They would work it out. Nate’s mind raced. He would get a house with a guest house, and Zane could “live” there. Nate would marry Callie, and no one needed to know what their arrangement was. That could work, right?

Why were they coming after Zane and not him? The question nagged at Nate. They had both testified in the trial that sent Ellis to jail. They had him locked up good and tight. Everything had been tied up. Years and years of information gathering had led to numerous arrests and the end of the largest drug operation in the Southwest. Some of the group had gotten away. They hadn’t found all the money, but otherwise it had been a highly successful operation.

Those years with the Barbarians played in his mind. Zane had fit in there better than he did at the agency. There was no bureaucratic bullshit to deal with or cocktail parties to attend. There was beer to drink. There were women to fuck and drugs to move. Zane had been damn good with the women and not at all bad with being the muscle Ellis needed to keep his business working. Nate had taken on the “guy who would do anything” role. It didn’t get him close to Ellis, but it kept him and Zane safe. No one wanted to mess with Nate Rush.

If only his reputation could keep them safe now.

He needed to find a place to stash Zane and Callie until he’d figured out how to get the Barbarians off their backs. Their place was a no-go. The front room was a wreck. He also didn’t want to risk going to Callie’s. It would be too easy to figure out who the woman from the bar was and where she lived.

He heard the door to the station open. Zane and Callie were talking as they walked in. Nate’s cock responded almost immediately. He hardened painfully at the sound of Callie’s voice. He remembered the night before. She’d been so sweet. She’d opened herself to them and never made a complaint when they took her over and over, trading places, giving her not a second to catch her breath before one of them was on top of her again.

Callie smiled as she stuck her head in the door. There was a bag in her hand. She held it up temptingly. “Brought you some lunch.”

Zane crowded her, his hands skimming her hips. “I tried to get you the special, but Callie insisted on a boring old cheeseburger.”

Callie’s face lit up as she passed Nate the bag. “Zane made a friend. Hal, the cook at Stella’s, thinks he hung the moon. Seriously, he’s half in love with Zane because he ate the special.”

Zane shrugged and threw his big body into the chair across from Nate’s desk. It was the first time Nate had seen Zane look comfortable in months, maybe in years. His friend’s face was open for once. Callie had done that. One more thing to be grateful to her for. He reached out and ignored the burger, preferring to pull her into his lap. It might make him a bastard, but he had to have her. Right here. Right now.

“Oh!” Callie gasped. Nate circled her waist and planted his face in the nape of her neck. It had only been an hour, but he’d missed her. Callie wiggled, and her ass was right across Nate’s erection.

“Should I lock the door?” Zane had one eyebrow elevated. He looked ready to join in on the fun Nate had planned.

“No,” Callie protested.

“Yes.” Nate moved a hand up to her thigh. He thought about the stuff he’d saved from the cabin. It was sitting in his bag at Zane’s feet. It was everything they needed. They had used Zane’s stash the night before, but Nate knew he had always been better prepared than his friend.

Zane moved quickly. Nate heard the door to his office lock with a click.

“Sheriff, this is incredibly unprofessional.” Callie sounded breathless, but she attempted to sit up.

Nate wasn’t about to let that happen. “No, Ms. Sheppard. You will mind me. I’m your boss. You’re my secretary.”

She went still in his arms. He worried for a moment, but then he felt a little shaking in her chest. She was giggling.

“Seriously? You want to play right here, right now?”

He didn’t want to play. He needed to play. He had a few hours before those DEA agents would show up, and he would get confronted with his old life. He needed to be here with her, in the moment.

“I think we need to go over a few of your new duties, Ms. Sheppard.”

Now she turned her head and grinned at him. “New duties, huh? I take it you’re talking about something other than filing and sorting.”

“You better believe it.” Nate gave her a tiny shove, and she was on her feet. The small office suddenly seemed overly full with all three of them inside, but it felt perfectly intimate to Nate. “Slide your skirt off and hand it to Zane. He knows what to do with it.”

Her mouth crooked up, but she seemed to be game. Sweet little Callie was a dirty girl underneath all that sugar. Nate’s heart skipped as he thought about it. She was a dirty girl for them and only them. She’d never been down and filthy with anyone else because she’d never really wanted anyone else. It made Nate feel ten feet tall.

Callie’s hands went to the back of her skirt. She fumbled with it, the gracelessness of the act endearing in Nate’s mind. He looked at Zane expecting hot anticipation on his face, but there was a little smile there instead. It was the goofy smile of a man insanely into a girl who was hot for him, too. It was probably a lot like the smile on his own face, Nate decided.

Callie managed to undo the button on her skirt. Nate heard the sweet sound of the zipper sliding down and then Callie pushed the skirt off. She revealed inch after inch of skin. She was lightly tan without a single tan line. Nate got hard as hell thinking about how Callie had managed that. He could see her sitting by the river in nothing but her own perfect skin. He would love to lie next to her, feeling the warmth of the sun caressing him.

Professional men with a mind toward a big time career didn’t sunbathe naked.

Nate shoved the thought aside. Callie handed Zane her skirt.

“I do know just what to do with this, babe.” Zane tossed the skirt in the trash can next to Nate’s desk.

Nate gave him a thumbs up. Callie didn’t need clothes. “On the desk, baby. Spread your legs.”

“I’m going to need that skirt back, Zane,” she said as she dutifully hoisted herself onto the desk. It was neat, but she had to move a few files. She spread her legs and couldn’t seem to stop giggling. “This is starting to feel an awful lot like a gynecological exam, boys. I’m not sure how sexy that is.”