ELEVEN
Kelly stared at the bed as she came from the shower the next morning. It was perfectly made, the flowered comforter smoothed out, the pillows neatly stacked at the headboard. And lying at the bottom of the mattress was clothing she hadn’t worn since the attack.
The low-rise jeans were patched and faded, and she knew exactly how low they were. The waistband barely reached her hipbones, with the snap in the front dipping lower nearly an inch.
The white vest-style summer shirt rose above her navel, and would reveal the belly ring that lay glittering on top of the shirt. The brilliant green emerald twinkled and gleamed beneath a shaft of sunlight coming in from the window. She had chosen that particular gem because of its resemblance to Rowdy’s eyes.
Kelly drew in a deep breath before turning her head to stare at Rowdy where he sat in the recliner. Leaning forward, his arms resting on his knees, he watched her silently, emotion swirling in his gaze. Compassion, understanding, determination.
She stepped closer to the bed, turning back to stare at the clothes. She had been too scared to wear them before, terrified that how she dressed had somehow caused the attack.
She was still scared, but as she stood there, she realized that the terror that had often filled her before Rowdy’s return wasn’t there now. Just as he had protected her from those bullies years before, she knew he would protect her now.
She cleared her throat before speaking.
“You’re certain you can catch him? That he’s watching me? Waiting?” She picked up the belly ring, staring down at it intently.
“I’m certain, Kelly.” His voice was dark, deep, confident.
“Do you know who it is?” She knew Rowdy, and his cousins. And she knew Dawg and Natches had been investigating the attack since it happened.
“Not yet. But we will. He’s not sane enough to hide for long.”
Could she be a woman again, rather than a child hiding? Kelly admitted, if only silently, that the woman had been protesting the baggy clothes and the lack of adventure for a year now. She was ready to return, just as the psychologist had warned her she would be.
She nodded slowly. “I need to go to town today. To the spa.” The intimate waxing had been put off too long.
Tension began to sizzle in the room. She knew he would know what it meant. Rowdy was an expert on a woman’s body and all the various procedures they used to tempt a man.
“I’d like to drive you in.” His voice was hoarse. “We could pick up dinner later and go out on the lake.”
She inhaled roughly before nodding. She could feel her insides quivering with the knowledge that once he got her out on the lake, she would be in his bed.
“That sounds good,” she said as she turned back to him slowly.
She dropped the towel that covered her, watched his eyes flame, his face flush, and his body come to immediate attention as she stood before him.
“It’s hard to put in.” She held the belly ring out to him. “Would you help me?”
“Good God!” His gaze moved to hers slowly. “Dad’s home, Kelly. If I fuck you here, he’ll kill me.”
“I didn’t ask you to fuck me, Rowdy.” She kept her voice low, intimate as she moved to him. “I asked you to put the ring in.” She extended her arm, her fingers holding the glittering gem.
She loved teasing Rowdy, always had. The look in his eyes made her breathless, showed his hunger. It was the reason she had always waited on him, always known she belonged to him. For years, every time he looked at her, he ate her with his eyes, consumed her with the hunger in them. Just as he did now.
Without speaking, he moved forward on the chair, spreading his legs before his hand gripped her hips, pulling her to him. His hands were hot on her flesh, sending sizzling impulses of pleasure raking over her nerve endings.
“Give me the ring.” His expression was heavy with sensual intent as he took the ring from her fingers.
Kelly stood still, silent as he inserted the curved metal into the tiny hole before snapping the ball end in place. But he didn’t stop touching her there. He positioned the emerald teardrop in place over the entrance to her navel before his fingertips skimmed over her lower belly.
Her womb convulsed beneath his fingers as pleasure tore through her. Lower, she felt the curves of her pussy dampen further than they already were as her vagina pulsed in heavy need.
“Look how pretty,” he whispered, his eyes centering between her thighs as her fingers gripped his shoulders and her knees trembled. “You’re wet for me, Kelly.”
“I’m always wet for you. I’ve been wet for you for years, Rowdy,” she informed him, her voice almost a whimper of hunger.
She realized then the mistake she had made in teasing him. She was too hungry, needed him too much to tempt what she knew she couldn’t have beneath Ray’s roof.
She stared down at Rowdy in a haze of need as he shifted, his head coming closer, his lips pressing into her lower belly as she gasped at the contact. Long-fingered hands smoothed down her hips to her thighs, nudging them apart gently before raising his head. He stared at the flushed folds of her mound. His thumb caressed over the tattoo just above her pussy. The eagle in flight, one wing dipping toward her damp flesh.
“I want to taste you, Kelly,” he groaned, his voice roughening further. “I want to lay you down, spread those pretty legs, and lick all that soft syrup from you.”
Weakness flooded her, taking her breath, her senses, and turning them into one hard ache for just that.
“You’re so wet.” The fingers of one hand trailed around her thigh, then slid slowly, so slowly, but with destructive results, through the thick wetness that lay between the soft folds of flesh.
“Rowdy,” she breathed, her fingers sliding to his hair as his head dipped to her belly again. “Please touch me. Please.”
She had waited so long, dreamed so desperately of his touch that now that it was happening, she feared it was just another dream.
“I’m going to do more than touch you, baby,” he whispered as his lips moved closer to the pounding ache of her clit. “I’m going to touch you, taste you, I’m going to make you scream for me, Kelly. Beg for more.”
Okay. She could handle that.
“Now.”
She felt his chuckle, the sound rasping, filled with hunger as his fingers circled her clit. Her hips arched forward as a low cry left her lips. Need flamed inside her with an intensity that drove anything else from her mind.
“Shhh, baby,” he groaned, his fingers parting her. “Remember Ray.”
Ray who?
His breath whispered over the damp, throbbing bud, sending her senses reeling as a knock sounded at the door. Kelly jerked in Rowdy’s grip as she felt him tense beneath her hold.
“Rowdy, I’m heading out. I need to talk to you before I leave,” Ray called through the thick panel. “Get out here, boy, so I can get to work.”
She heard his footsteps retreating as Rowdy’s fingers slowly slid from her flesh.
“Damn,” he breathed out, moving her back as he lifted his head to stare back at her. “You’re dangerous, darlin’.”
“Don’t stop.” Kelly shook her head as he rose from the chair, his hands smoothing up her back, yet holding her from him.
“I’ll take you to the spa,” he whispered. “And later, I’ll show you how much I love having your sweet pussy bare to me. Get dressed, baby, so we can escape for awhile.”
His lips whispered over hers, ignoring her silent plea for more as her lips parted.
“Get dressed,” he told her again, moving back. “Stop driving me crazy, baby. Let’s get out of here.”
Okay, two could play this game, Kelly was certain. With narrowed eyes she watched as Rowdy stalked from the bedroom, his body tight with tension and the bulge in his pants so apparent he had pulled the tail of his white cotton shirt free of his pants to cover it. She was sure there was no way Ray wouldn’t be aware of his son’s problem.
She snickered at the thought of the tough Rowdy squirming beneath his father’s gaze. Ray was a good guy, but she knew how he was. He hadn’t wanted this relationship to develop between her and Rowdy, neither had her mother, though she wasn’t certain why. She had loved Rowdy forever, and despite Ray and her mother’s marriage, she had never understood the reasons for their disapproval.
Twenty minutes later, dressed and feeling more feminine and less afraid than she had in months, Kelly picked up her phone and called the spa. Marla Reiner, her favorite technician, was available and eager to see Kelly returning to her regular visits. With a little maneuvering, Marla managed to schedule her right in and disconnected the call with a cheery good-bye.
Drawing in a deep breath, Kelly placed her hand on her stomach to still the butterflies racing through her system before she moved to her bedroom door and headed downstairs.
In the back of her mind was the knowledge that nothing would ever be the same from this day on. Once Rowdy had her, she knew what would happen. Questions still plagued her, as did an instinctive discomfort regarding the idea that Rowdy could ever want to touch another woman, no matter the relationship that developed between her and his cousins.
God, it was so strange having that thought in her mind. It had always stayed distant, an awareness of what could happen if she ever got into Rowdy’s bed. There wouldn’t be just one man, but three pleasuring her. Now that it could be reality, she found herself both curious and hesitant. Aroused and frightened. But Kelly knew she wasn’t willing to draw back. Maybe she was different, maybe she wasn’t.
For years rumors had abounded of the Mackay cousins. Women whispered their names with naughty pleasure at the thought of them. Her friends had jokingly informed her that she was insane for not moving into Dawg’s or Natches’s bed while Rowdy was in the service.
She could have. But deep inside she knew that who her heart belonged to made a difference. Alone, Dawg and Natches held no appeal for her. But with Rowdy…
She stepped into the kitchen, watching as he turned to face her, his deep green eyes approving, and hungry.
She belonged to Rowdy.
God, she was gorgeous. Rowdy couldn’t keep his eyes off her as he drove the truck into Somerset, listening to her soft voice relating the local gossip.
Johnny Flowers traded wives with his worst enemy, Buck Layne. Crista Jansen was back home and had moved into her parents’ home place outside of town. No one knew why she had returned to town after years away, but everyone was gossiping about it. Rowdy bet Dawg was interested in that one. He had been hot as hell for Crista before she ran off to college eight years before.
One of Rowdy’s old girlfriends now owned the café he and Dawg and Natches had frequented before Rowdy left, and for the most part, for all the things that had changed, everything was pretty much the same. It was one of the things Rowdy loved about home. It was familiar, endearing.
Lake Cumberland was a place of mystery and beauty, and the small towns that surrounded it were filled with friends and family and memories that had gotten him through the last eight years in the service.
And memories of Kelly.
He glanced at her again, the light reflecting off the emerald at her pretty belly drawing his gaze again. It made his dick hard. Damn, he was dying for her, his cock was throbbing in his jeans and his mouth watering for the taste of her.
He entered the city limits, navigating the summer traffic as he drove to the popular spa the women in town seemed to flock to.
“Here you go.” He pulled into an empty space in front of the entrance and turned to her. “I programmed my number into your cell phone; call me before you leave. I’m meeting Dawg and Natches at the café up the street, so I won’t be far.”
Those kissable lips curved into a slow, promising smile as she leaned close.
“I bet I could walk down the street all by myself, Rowdy,” she whispered teasingly, sending a jolt of fear to slice through his soul.
“No!” He hadn’t meant his voice to be so harsh, but the slight flinch and the spark of fear and anger that filled her eyes assured him he was much harsher than he intended to be.
Rowdy drew in a quick, hard breath before pushing his fingers through his hair, frustration eating him alive.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he growled, his voice still rougher than he wanted. “Don’t scare me like that. Give me a while, okay?” He gave her a quick, comforting smile. “Let me protect you, Kelly.”
She sat against the door now, her gray eyes quiet, her expression closed until she glanced away and lowered her head.
“I understand, Rowdy,” she finally sighed. “But I’m tired of hiding.” She turned back to him, a frown edging at her brows. “I’m tired of letting him win.”
“Kelly, promise me you’ll call me before you leave.” He reached out to her, his fingers running down her cheek, feeling the small quiver of response that ran through her. “Don’t fight me on this, please. He’s a madman—”
“I’m not crazy.” She brushed his hand away as she glared back at him. “I’ll call you, Rowdy. But I don’t think he’s going to try anything in broad daylight. It would be too risky.”
“Point taken.” He nodded. “But we can’t be certain, either. Until I know what we’re dealing with, we’re going to be careful.”
“So says the man who wants to poke at the crazy person by letting him think I’m taking on the Mackay cousins all at once,” she reminded him. “I think walking down the street is a hell of a lot safer.”
“Exactly why you shouldn’t be walking down the street alone,” he pointed out softly. “He knows I have you now, Kelly. Which means Dawg and Natches aren’t far behind, in his eyes. From here on out, we can’t underestimate him; we take nothing for granted.”
Rowdy forcibly tamped down the violence rising inside him. He knew if he ever managed to get hold of the bastard who dared to touch her, then he would kill him. There would be nothing left for justice to convict.
“Fine. I’ll call you before I leave,” she snapped with a spark of anger he couldn’t blame her for. “But don’t take forever to pick me up, if you don’t mind. I have a few other things I’d like to do while I’m in town. And I’d appreciate a little less paranoia until he actually shows that he is stalking me.”
She reached out to grip the door handle. Just as fast Rowdy caught her arm, causing her to turn back to him. His hand moved, his fingers threading through her hair as he drew her head back and captured her lips quickly with his.
Summer heat, lightning, and the sweet taste of a woman’s passion met his hunger, tightening his gut with lust. He couldn’t wait to get her beneath him. At that moment, nothing mattered except getting through the rest of the day until he could get her to the houseboat and the large bed awaiting them there.
He forced himself to release her seconds later, staring into her dazed features with a satisfaction so intense it caused his balls to tighten.
“That wasn’t fair.” She smiled despite the chastisement, her cheeks flushed with warmth and her breathing ragged.
“Sure it was,” he whispered, pulling back from her, despite the need to wrap her in his arms and run away with her. He wanted to hide her. To make certain no one could ever touch her again. “I need to touch you, babe. That’s always fair considering how long I’ve waited to do it.”
She snorted at that before pushing her fingers through her hair and flashing him a disgruntled look. “No one made you wait.”
She was out of the truck before he could stop her, tossing him a cheery smile before crossing the sidewalk and entering the spa.
Rowdy breathed out roughly. She was going to be the death of him, there was just no other way around it. With her shining innocence, tempting eyes, and sweetly rounded body, he knew she was capable of making him curse as often as he sighed in need.
He gave his head a quick jerk before reversing from the parking spot and driving farther down the street to the café he had told Dawg and Natches to meet him in.
Reginald’s Café was newly remodeled, the inside cool and welcoming as he entered. Dawg and Natches were waiting at one of the back tables, steaming cups of coffee sitting in front of them.
“’Bout time you got here, cuz,” Dawg grunted as he slid into the chair across from him. “I thought we were gonna have to come down there and rescue Kelly from your clutches ourselves.”
Natches chuckled as Rowdy leaned back in his chair and watched his cousin curiously. Dawg had changed over the years, more than any of them, Rowdy sometimes thought. He was darker, despite the joviality, quieter than he used to be.
Rowdy didn’t know what had happened during the years he spent in the Marines, but it had affected his cousin. Natches was just as lazy as always, his smile quiet, his eyes watchful. Of course, none of them were as relaxed, as carefree as they used to be.
There was a darkness in them that had always lurked just beneath the surface. A difference that separated them from other men, made them appear wilder, more dangerous. And in ways they were more dangerous. They had proved that overseas.
“What’s up?” Rowdy could tell there was more going on than a general bad mood.
Dawg leaned forward, his eyes narrowed.
“You had company outside the house last night.” Dawg’s voice was low. “On that little knob above the house that looks into Kelly’s room. I was checking it out this morning before heading here. He must have been there all night. The grass was indented where he sat, with claw marks at the side where the bastard dug his fingers into the ground. He’s getting pissed.”
Hell. Rowdy had known Kelly’s attacker was watching, waiting. He just hadn’t been certain where, or how.
“Where do we go from here, Rowdy?” Natches watched him with a spark of excitement in his eyes that Rowdy knew was as much to the thought of a good fight as to the chance of touching Kelly.
“I’m taking her back to the boat this evening,” he answered. “We’ll head out to the cove. We should be staying the night. We’ll see how brave he wants to get. We’ll have dinner on the boat. Let the bastard think we’re all having a fine time. After dark the two of you can slip on shore and I’ll pull farther out into the water. We’ll see what happens.”
Dawg and Natches nodded somberly. They were waiting, watchful, their bodies now on high alert. Not that anyone else would have noticed the change.
They paused as the waitress moved toward them, her steps slow, her head down, waves of burnished chestnut curls pulled into a low ponytail, her classically pretty features stiff and tense.
Rowdy cocked his head at the woman. Crista Jensen kept her head carefully lowered as she refilled the coffee cups before turning to leave.
“You didn’t ask me if I wanted anything to eat, Crista.” Dawg surprised them all with his mocking drawl. “Didn’t Jenny warn you to look after us good?”
“Shut up, Dawg,” Natches muttered, his voice low but easy to hear.
Rowdy watched as Crista pulled the ordering pad from the back pocket of her jeans, a pencil from behind her ear and watched Dawg with a spark of anger. Dawg stared back at her expectantly.
“What would you like to order, Dawg?” Her words were gritted, her voice raspy.
“Eh. Nothing right now, but be sure to check back in a few minutes.” Dawg’s smile was all teeth, a predatory snarl if Rowdy had ever seen one.
“I’ll be sure to do that.” Crista’s smile was no less antagonistic as she returned the order pad to the back pocket of her jeans, picked up the coffeepot, and stalked away.
The minute her back turned, Dawg’s eyes narrowed and a flash of anger seared the depths as he rose to his feet, dug into his pocket, and slapped a few dollars to the table.
“I’ll see you at the marina,” he snapped before stalking from the café.
Rowdy watched, perplexed, before turning to Natches.
“What the hell was that?”
“Dawg in heat,” Natches snickered. “She won’t give him the time of day.”
Rowdy glanced to the woman in question and restrained his smile as he noticed her gaze, centered squarely on Dawg as he stormed from the café. Sad, weary, her expression marked with indecision. Yeah, she was giving him the time of day, perhaps more than the big lug deserved.
Now this was an interesting development.
“So, how are we playing tonight? One on one or is she ready for all of us?”
“Kelly will let us know what she wants.” Rowdy shifted his shoulders, a primitive surge of something akin to possessiveness rising inside him as Natches watched him curiously.
That was strange. He was one second from baring his teeth and daring Natches to touch Kelly. He knew the pleasure the three of them could bring her, versus the pleasure he alone could bestow. So what the fuck was his problem all of a sudden?
Shit. He could feel the back of his neck prickling as irritation began to surge inside him.
“Waiting on her has been a bitch,” Natches grimaced, his light green eyes gleaming with lustful determination. “She’s going to go up in flames—”
“Shut up, Natches.” Rowdy lifted his coffee cup to his lips, glaring at his cousin across the table as Crista moved to a table close to them.
Natches watched the woman, his expression considering.
“Something’s up with that one,” he sighed. “Dawg has been like a bear with a sore tail ever since she arrived back in town. She didn’t even let the family know she was coming.”
“What about her husband? Didn’t she marry some guy from Virginia?”
Natches shook his head. “She was engaged for awhile. Guess it fell through.”
Rowdy almost breathed a sigh of relief that the conversation had moved from Kelly. He was going to have to figure this out. Now wasn’t a time to be hedging between desires, dammit. But he was hedging, and he knew it.
He glanced at Crista Jansen again, narrowing his eyes. Dawg had had a thing for the other woman for years. She had always managed to resist his charms, his attempts to talk to her, to seduce here.
Rowdy and Natches had watched him attempt to bargain for a single date from her for nearly a year before they joined the Marines, and Natches had related that the first thing Dawg had gone looking for when he came home from the service was Crista. Only to learn she had left Somerset.
Could he fuck her? Rowdy turned his gaze back to the Formica-topped table and sipped from his coffee again. A year ago, he could have, easily. The thought of having her between himself and his two cousins would have had his dick perking in interest.
His dick wasn’t interested. He frowned. Hell, there was no excitement, period. He stared back at her.
She was pretty enough. Nicely rounded. She moved a little self-consciously, as though not quite comfortable with what she was doing.
Her face was a rounded oval, her skin clear and silky-looking. Nice hair. But he wasn’t interested. He wasn’t aroused. As a matter of fact, the urge to get up and leave the café was so damned strong it was all he could do to stay in place.
He should have been practically drooling at the thought of helping Dawg and Natches fuck her to oblivion. They were sure as hell hot enough at the thought of fucking Kelly.
“Can I get you two anything else?” Crista refilled the coffee cup, her expression resigned for some reason as she glanced at Dawg’s chair.
“An explanation would be nice.” Rowdy lifted his head, watching her closely as she seemed to pale.
“Excuse me?”
“Dawg’s been chasing you for years, Crista. What’s up?”
Crista’s eyes burned with anger as she slowly tucked the ordering pad into her back pocket and glared at him furiously.
“I’m not a plaything for the three of you,” she snarled then, surprising him and Natches. “If you cared for anything past yourselves then you damned well wouldn’t expect it. You’d grow the hell up and get over it.”
Her voice was hoarse as tears sheened her eyes before she blinked them back furiously.
“Forget it,” she snapped. “The three of you might as well be clones of each other. You can’t even breathe alone.”
Turning, she stalked back to the register where two customers waited, her fingers stabbing at the input keys as she flicked a scornful glance back at them.
“Have I been gone too long?” Rowdy turned back to Natches, gratified to see the same surprise reflecting in his face.
“Damn, and she used to be such a nice, quiet little girl,” Natches grumped as he scratched at his chin.
Rowdy snorted at the description. Crista had been anything but nice and quiet and they all knew it.
“I don’t have a problem breathing without your help.” Rowdy grinned as he finished his coffee.
“Damned good thing.” Natches shook his head as he peeked another look back at the little waitress, a frown pulling at his brow. “Hell, you’ve been gone eight years, Rowdy, and other than a few times you were home, me and Dawg’s been pretty damned tame. What the hell has her by the ear anyway?”
Rowdy shook his head as he glanced at his empty coffee cup.
“Do you think she’s going to bring us more coffee?” he asked ruefully.
Both men looked back at the woman, estimating their chances for caffeine.
“If she knows what’s good for her.” Natches’s grin was wicked. “Or else, I might have to call Dawg back to sweet-talk her for us.”
Rowdy chuckled, though when he glanced back at Crista he could feel the frown tugging at his brow again. The fact that Dawg wanted her should have been all it took to produce a raging hard-on and more than a surfeit of interest. Instead, all he felt was an edge of sadness. Their lifestyle, the very truth of their sexuality stood between Dawg and a woman Rowdy knew had to be more than interested in the other man.
Women didn’t get that upset if they weren’t interested. If they didn’t care. Crista Jansen cared—it had been there in her eyes, in her anger. But he had to agree with one thing. She wasn’t the type of woman who would willingly share her man, anymore than Kelly was. And that was the clincher. She was a woman worth keeping, a one-man woman. And she needed a one-woman man.