A Ballad for Her Cowboys (3 page)

Aiden read her reactions and reached over to pinch her other nipple between his fingers when she began to shake and moan under him. Seth splayed his hand wide, his thumb still plunging in and out of her. His fingers pressed hard between the cheeks of her ass, one of them resting against the tight bud hiding there, as if about to push inside. The suggestion of another, more intimate caress sent her careening into her second orgasm.

Misty didn’t know how long it took her to recover. By the time she opened her eyes, they both leaned over her and smiled down into her face with so much pride, it seemed they thought they’d just invented the orgasm. She couldn’t begrudge them, but they didn’t have to look so damned pleased with themselves. Misty grinned at the direction her thoughts had taken. She loved every minute of it.
Who was she trying to kid?

She looked down at Seth’s cock for the first time—long, hard, and glistening with arousal—then at Aiden’s slightly bigger, thicker one. Aiden’s was the one she needed inside her. Besides, she wanted to get Seth into her mouth and teach him that he wasn’t the only one who knew how to tease. Misty crawled onto her knees in front of Seth and turned so her ass faced Aiden. If the pair of them couldn’t figure out what she asked for, they were as dumb as a box of frogs.

Lucky for her, they weren’t dumb. Aiden put on a condom and positioned himself behind her, spreading her ass to slide the first thick inch of his cock into her pussy. He swore, and Misty gasped, raising her head to find Seth waiting for her with his prick in his hand.

She licked her lips and took the head of Seth’s cock into her mouth, holding still as he gently thrust the tip in and out. A strong hand curled under her jaw to hold her steady while the other gripped her shoulder to stop her rocking too far forward when Aiden pushed into her. All thoughts of teasing Seth forgotten by the pair of them overwhelming her senses again.

‘Baby your mouth,’ Seth groaned when she flattened her tongue and changed the angle of her head. ‘God, your mouth feels so fucking good.’

Misty shook when Aiden moved over her more, and he gripped her breasts, using them to jerk her ever harder onto his cock. Her ass slapped against his thighs when he sped up, and her pussy convulsed in response. Misty moved a hand from where it supported her and tried to reach her clit, but Aiden beat her to it. Having pushed her arm out of the way, he placed a flat palm against her groin and rubbed her fast and hard. Misty tore her mouth away from Seth, realizing she was about to come once more. He brought her back to him, bunching her hair on top of her head to hold her steady and thrusting between her lips again.

Aiden, who had done no more than grunt and pant behind her, suddenly got more eloquent. ‘I can feel your cunt sucking on me. That’s it, Misty, just like that. Oh fuck, I can’t hold…I’m…’

A moment before his ragged, broken words tipped Misty over the edge into her own orgasm, she heard Seth begin to gasp, and felt the first splash of hot semen on her tongue. From that point on, she didn’t know what way was up or who did what to whom. She just rode out the sensations, shaking and crying in pleasure, until they ebbed away, and she collapsed onto the bed where Seth and Aiden left her. The last thing she heard before sleep dragged her under was the sounds of them panting and breathing hard on either side of her.

When she woke at the first light of dawn, they were still asleep. Misty slid out from between them after untangling her limbs from a mass of arms and thighs, threw her clothes on quickly and stole from the room.

In the cold light of morning, Misty couldn’t quite bring herself to regret what she’d done, but she couldn’t fight a little stab of shame at her actions either. And she certainly did not need to make things worse by hanging around waiting for an awkward good-bye with the two men who fucked her senseless.

Misty would be out of town before they got out of bed.

Chapter 2

Present day—Broken Jaw, Arizona.

‘Do you think you could have warned me first?’

Seth stopped him in his tracks, grabbing his arm. Aiden shrugged him off. ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’

‘Did you know she worked here?’

Aiden shot Seth a hard look, insulted that his friend thought him such an idiot. ‘Now how in the hell would I have known?’

‘You arranged this job for us.’ Seth still didn’t look convinced.

‘That’s right. I ensured the business that’s been in my family for generations went down the crapper at the exact right time so we could get a shitty job in the middle of nowhere in order to chase some woman we fucked years ago, who, incidentally, couldn’t wait to get away from us.’

‘Breathe, buddy.’

Seth laughed and the anger seeped out of Aiden. He’d said a mouthful that was for sure. But then Seth shouldn’t ask such damn fool questions.

‘It’s not like I checked first to see who else would be working here. You know this opportunity came up at a moment’s notice.’

‘Yeah I know. I’m sorry.’ Seth took off his hat and dragged a hand through his hair, a sure sign he felt uneasy. ‘I guess it was just a surprise to see her. I can’t say it was a pleasant one.’

‘Well, she didn’t look mighty pleased to see us, either. I guess that’s why she disappeared as soon as she finished her set.’

‘She’s got no reason to feel that way. As I recall, it was her who skipped out of town without a backward glance and hasn’t thought about us since.’

Aiden winced at the pain in Seth’s voice. ‘She has no idea we spent all that time looking for her. Misty is probably just embarrassed to be reminded of something she’s obviously ashamed of, that’s all.’

‘That doesn’t make me feel any better.’ Seth’s wry humor didn’t reach his smile. ‘That was the best damned night of my life.’

Aiden slapped him on the shoulder. ‘I know buddy. Mine, too.’

‘And she doesn’t even know it. How fucked up is that?’

There was much she didn’t know. For instance, she had no idea how pissed they’d been to wake up after the night they’d spent together and find her gone. Misty had no way of knowing they wanted to stay in touch. Aiden suspected Seth blamed him for not making that clear to her—although why Seth couldn’t have told her was a mystery to him.

She also didn’t know that they’d spent a year looking for her during their rare free time and that they’d finally tracked her down—only to find her in the arms of the man whom she just married, they were told by the guy tending bar. Misty had no way of knowing that they’d walked away that day, vowing to forget about her, and the fact they fell in love with her.

In a cruel twist of fate, it had been almost impossible to avoid the memories of her for a couple of years after that. She began to make a name for herself in Nashville. Misty had a record out and the country music radio stations played it almost constantly for damn near a year, and she appeared on a few TV shows for a spell. Seth confessed at the time that he wanted to break something whenever he heard the song. Aiden would simply turn it off or leave the room.

‘I wonder what happened.’ Aiden mused aloud. ‘What in hell is she doing here at this dive in the middle of Arizona?’

Seth shrugged. ‘We haven’t heard anything of her in a while. Maybe she quit to have kids or something. Who knows?’

Ignoring Seth’s answer, Aiden found his mind racing through the possibilities. ‘Do you think her husband is here?’

‘How in the hell would I know? Besides, what difference does it make?’

‘No difference.’ Aiden killed the conversation when they neared the bunkhouse. Too many others would hear if they continued to discuss the woman they loved and lost—and just found again. ‘We’ll talk more in the morning.’

Seth nodded and pushed his way through the handful of guys loitering in the doorway, making his way to a bed at the end of a long room that stank so bad, Aiden was pretty sure it was used as a barn for the rest of the year. He threw himself face down onto the bunk opposite Seth’s and put the pillow over his head to block out the noises and smells of his drunken roommates.

Aiden waited until the room fell silent and then got up to take a shower before he went to sleep. The dust swirling nonstop in the constant breeze that blew through Broken Jaw clung to his hair, coated his throat, and his skin itched with it.

Biting on his lip to stifle a yell when the frigid water of the shower splashed over him, Aiden welcomed the effect on his body. The partial erection he had since he laid eyes on her finally subsided, but only until he began to recall how little she changed. She still wore her hair long and dark. So many women cut it off and styled it in ways he didn’t understand, but Misty left hers alone. Aiden clenched his fist against a hard pulse of arousal as he remembered what it felt like to have her hair wrapped around his hand or spilling onto his chest.

He turned his torso toward the water, allowing it to run down him and over his cock. The image of her made him hard again, but jerking off over a woman who didn’t want him seemed a pathetic thing to do. Sure, he’d masturbated because of her before, but he hadn’t known then she didn’t seem to share his fond memories of that night.

Aiden placed an arm on the wall of the cubicle and dipped his head so the shower splashed onto the back of his neck. His erection still hadn’t subsided and when he looked down at his traitorous flesh, he got another flashback, this time of Misty sucking on Seth. He groaned when the jealousy he always carried over the fact she hadn’t done the same for him sent a false image tearing through his mind. He imagined Misty kneeling in front of him the way she had for Seth, her mouth and hands wrapped around his cock instead.

Giving up the battle with his brain, Aiden wrapped a strong fist around his shaft and gave it a tug. The surge of heat that washed over him made him groan aloud. He pressed his weight onto the hand splayed on the tile and turned his face to bite down into his bicep. When he jerked on his cock again, he muffled his growling response with his arm. Aiden pulled harder, satisfied nobody would hear him.

He let his mind to flood with the images he never allowed himself to enjoy. If he had to be so weak that he couldn’t help but masturbate because of her, then he should at least make it quick and get it over with.

A memory of her perfect ass slapping into his thighs as he pounded his cock in and out of her pussy made his knees shake and his hand speed up. The image of her spread-eagle in front of him, her sweet body writhing and jerking while he worked her clit with his tongue caused another hard jolt of desire to rock through him and he knew his orgasm neared.

But when he conjured up the fantasy of how she would look if she gave him head—her gaze locked with his, her lips sliding up and down his shaft—Aiden fell to his knees, unable to support his weight anymore. His hand tightened around his cock when he spurted hot, hard pulses of cum onto the tile. He bit down harder onto his arm to silence the shouts he made when he jerked to completion, and he imagined her making the same little moaning sounds for him as she made when she took Seth into her mouth.

When the last of the spasms subsided and he could stand again, he washed himself off and stumbled to his bed. Exhaustion stopped him having the energy to even crawl under the sheets. He lay in the hot night air, allowing it to dry his skin and cool the heat still burning through him.

Years of early mornings on the ranch turned Aiden and Seth into creatures of habit and they woke before the sun came up, as usual. Aiden headed straight over to the cookhouse to grab some coffee and returned with it when Seth staggered out into the yard.

‘Looks like I slept a damned sight better than you,’ Aiden said. He handed Seth a mug.

‘You slept?’ Seth stared at him in mock horror. ‘What with the snoring and farting coming from the rest of the bunkhouse, I barely shut my eyes.’

Aiden didn’t offer up the information that he knew Seth slept more than he admitted to.

Seth wrapped his hands around the mug, grimacing when he took a swig of the worst coffee Aiden ever tasted. ‘I don’t usually have a problem with it, but I had a lot on my mind.’

‘Misty,’ Aiden said, looking away.

‘Misty,’ Seth replied, defeat in his tone.

They fell silent, Aiden lost in his own thoughts. Misty. What did it all mean? Her being here at this very moment in time couldn’t be just a coincidence. He took another mouthful of the scalding hot brew, swirled around on his tongue and savored the burn, punishing himself for having such fanciful thoughts. Misty being here meant nothing. They had their chance with her and they blew it.

Seth’s sudden curse brought Aiden out of his musings. ‘Fuck it all. I thought I was over her. I truly did. But seeing her last night just brought everything rushing back, like we only met her yesterday.’

Aiden wanted to tell Seth he was acting stupid, but he couldn’t. He understood only too well how Seth could feel that way so he said the only thing that made sense. ‘Well, it makes no difference whether we are over her or not. She didn’t want any more to do with us back then. She’s married now or at least was.’

Seth’s face lit up. ‘You figure they might have split up?’

‘Could be, but that won’t help us none. She might have another guy.’

‘No guy would let her work in a place like this.’

‘Look. We don’t know her situation. It’s madness to think she would even give us the time of day.’ Aiden placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘It’s best if you just remember we are here to work, that’s all.’

Seth got quiet again. Finally, he nodded. ‘You’re right. We’re here to learn. If we are gonna save the ranch, we have to put these few weeks to good use.’

The reminder that they only had a short time to glean all the knowledge they could, spurred Aiden to his feet. The plan was to take what they learned back home to Lambert’s Creek. A dude ranch kind-of setup seemed the only way forward. They couldn’t survive solely on livestock and cattle herds anymore. Tourists were where the money was at these days. Aiden figured they had a year to start making the ranch pay its own way again or it would be gone forever. The banks circled like buzzards around a carcass, just waiting for them to miss a payment so they could snatch the buildings and the sought-after land out from under Aiden and Seth’s noses. He’d burn the place to the ground before he let that happen.