Saint James, Elle - Unbridled and Unbound [The Double Rider Men's Club 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

The Double Rider Men’s Club 3

ELLE SAINT JAMES

Copyright © 2011

Chapter One

Ryder, Colorado

The dangerously icy road ahead illustrated Stella Gilbert’s life perfectly, in a succeed-or-die sort of way.

On a mission to get some paperwork filed in a timely manner for her immediate supervisor Claudia the Bitch, Stella was traveling way too fast on a slippery street she’d never been on before.

Even with one foot hovering over the brake pedal, a push forward at the wrong instance in these horrid weather conditions could easily spell her doom. It could also spell her salvation if she made it to her destination in time. Which would be a miracle since she wasn’t driving the speed limit, but instead ten miles an hour below it, as the weather warranted.

She’d much rather be snuggled up on her comfy sofa at home with her fingers wrapped around a warm mug of cocoa, but her job hung in the balance.

Her very existence, which included her lowly file clerk job at the lawyer’s office, rode on making it to the south end tax assessor’s office before close of business. She needed to arrive within the next thirty-five minutes. Traveling as slow and careful as she currently did meant it was going to be a very close call.

The snow swirling faster and heavier outside her vehicle as she drove as carefully as possible over icy back roads didn’t help. A glance at the dashboard clock made her stomach sink in worrisome gloom as her foot automatically, but with great gentleness, pressed the gas pedal. The speedometer needle lifted slightly. However, the acid in her belly felt like lava spewing out of an active volcano. Barely on the ragged edge of control, Stella gripped the steering wheel just a little bit tighter to gain a sense that she was in theory, if not fact, managing this situation to the best of her ability.

Uncontrolled speed was a bad idea on icy, snowy roads, and her chilled fingers already ached from the constant clench of pretending she was on top of things.

If only her boss, or more specifically her boss’s evil assistant, Claudia, had mentioned needing the “important” file delivered earlier in the day, she would have had no problem making the deadline.

Claudia’s job was listed as paralegal to Mr. Fuller, however her general daily goal seemed to be making Stella’s life as miserable as possible. While she’d threatened to fire her before, today, she seemed a little bit more angry than usual. Stella never took this job for granted. She needed it too badly.

The snowstorm had been predicted for several days, after all. Many employees had planned to leave work early with the impending late-afternoon inclement weather predictions. Although the snow coming down looked even worse than what they’d said would happen on the news.

If Stella had even known about this delivery directly after lunch, she wouldn’t be currently risking life and limb on snowy roads in the middle of what was being predicted as the worst winter storm of the decade.

Having Claudia thrust the file on her desk late in the afternoon once she returned from yet another exceptionally long lunch smelling of men’s cologne, sex, and dirty martinis, made Stella want to implode with anger. Expending the fury she held in check wouldn’t do any good, though. Claudia had their boss, Rick Fuller, wrapped around her pinky in a tight little bow. Or, more specifically, his dick was the item tied in a knot and decorating her little finger.

“Get this to the south avenue tax office and officially filed before they close for today’s business or I’ll have you fired,” Claudia had threatened in a slightly slurred voice.

Even now, Stella rolled her eyes at the memory, just as she had when the threat had been delivered. She’d hidden her defiance, of course. Claudia was the bane of her existence, but Stella wasn’t foolish enough to purposefully get on her bad side. She had too much to lose. She wished Mr. Fuller would wise up and figure out that Claudia was only sucking his dick to get ahead at the company. No pun intended.

So here she was in a life-threatening situation, because Claudia liked to lord her position over everyone else. Stella was simply the most recent in a long line of file clerks who hadn’t been able to hide their disgust. Each day was a new level of torture in keeping her smile fixed in place as Claudia found some new way to humiliate, torture, or belittle her.

Her car slid a bit to the left, alarming her, but with her next breath the vehicle righted itself.

The snow was coming down harder and harder. It would be beautiful if she weren’t driving in it. Although creeping along at twenty miles an hour barely constituted driving. The road leveled out and straightened up. Good. A straight road meant she could go a little bit faster. She pressed her luck as she pushed the gas pedal down to speed up just a little bit more. Another glance at her dashboard clock made her smack her gloved hand against the steering wheel in frustration.

Damn, Claudia. It would take a miracle for her to arrive on time.

The road seemed fairly smooth and snow-packed rather than ice-coated and dangerous. Black ice was the worst, but she didn’t see any. Her foot pressed the pedal just a little bit harder.

On her right was a nice, snow-covered, tree-lined hill at the base of the Rockies. Colorado was beautiful, even when the weather was nasty to get around in.

One moment, she was calculating her arrival time based on her current speed and how many miles she had left to make it to her destination, and the next, her front tires hit an icy spot on the road and her car started spinning. After one full revolution, she skidded toward the right side of the road.

She tamped on her brakes, which had no impact whatsoever on her slide. The front of her car dropped off the road and on the soft shoulder. Nose down and still sliding, she hoped she hadn’t just gone off next to a pond, lake, or river. Her front bumper slid towards what looked like a small storm drain beneath a dirt road. It was a good thing the ditch didn’t sidle up next to any deep water.

Her relief was short-lived when her car came to a sharp, jolting standstill and her airbag deployed. Poised at a forty-five-degree angle downward and listing deeply to one side, her car shuddered to a stop. Steam and a hissing sound rose from beneath the hood.

When she punched the airbag away from her face, she tried to get her car started once more. The engine wouldn’t even turn over.
Great.
The shock of the accident didn’t calm her racing mind. She set aside the horror that she couldn’t afford a new car or the hassle and expense of car repair, and instead went on to the more pressing frustration that she’d never make it to her destination on time, if she didn’t freeze to death before getting rescued from her now useless vehicle.

Stella pictured some lowly tax clerk stuck in the office waiting for her arrival as he watched the snow pile up over his car. He’d glance at his watch every ten seconds or so and silently curse her to hurry and get across town and file the important client’s extension paperwork. Then she’d have one more person with a reason to hate her. Not that Claudia had a good reason. She didn’t really. She was one of those ambitious people who were never satisfied. No matter how many wonderful things went her way, she always sounded ungrateful. Stella was secretly glad not to harbor any of Claudia’s private demons.

She glanced around outside and only saw wisps of white blowing around the disappearing road against a white backdrop of more snow-covered hills, trees, and uneven terrain.
Lovely
.

Unfortunately, her arrival at the tax office anytime today wasn’t going to happen. The idea of trudging through the deepening snow for the remaining eight or nine miles left on her initial journey was a ludicrous idea unworthy of further contemplation. Still, she eyed the road and calculated a two-hour minimum time length, if she could manage four miles an hour. She glanced down at her inappropriate footwear. Low-heeled pumps were not exactly running shoes.

Regardless, Stella needed to contact the clerk and let him know she wasn’t going to make it. Then she’d call and listen to Claudia curse her. Perhaps the heavens would smile down on her. Claudia might already be gone for the day. Since it was Friday afternoon, Stella could just leave a message and possibly save the screaming until Monday morning. Unfortunately, it was the best she could hope for at this juncture. Claudia had no problem calling Stella during her off time.

She searched for her purse to retrieve her cell phone, but didn’t see it in the immediate vicinity in the front seat.

Crap
. It was buried in the passenger-side footwell just out of her reach.

Outside, the snowfall intensified and the already dreary gray sky darkened. She couldn’t even see the road or how far away she was from it. In her trunk, she had a first aid kit and a spare tire, but no food or water supplies for being stranded by the side of a road in a blizzard.

The whine of a motorcycle sounded momentarily, or perhaps it was just the wind playing tricks. Motorcycles on this road would be even crazier than speeding in a car. Either way, she needed help. Sitting still in a broken-down car half buried in a ditch by the side of an unfamiliar road as snow blanketed every surface of the land around her wasn’t the optimal situation. She released her seatbelt strap, bent across the gear selector, and felt around for her purse. More importantly, she sought her cell phone. She hoped it still had a healthy charge left.

She got a hold of her purse strap, snagged with her forefinger, and dragged it across the gearshift console. She dug around inside until her fingers touched a rectangular shape. She pulled it out, pushed the button and…nothing happened.
Great.
Was it out of juice? Taking a closer look at the screen, she realized that she didn’t have a signal. In the fashion of the current decade, she twisted around, holding her phone in different areas of the car’s ceiling as if hailing the heavens to find a bar of signal to call for help. Nothing.
Damn it.

The wind had picked up and now whipped and howled around her lonely car. She thumb-punched a number at the office and hit
send
, but nothing seemed to happen. She tried again. And again, there was nothing.

The knock at her window startled her so much she dropped her stupid phone onto the passenger floorboard.

Stella turned to the foggy glass by her head and wiped a gloved hand across the misted, translucent surface to clear a viewing portal, hoping to see the flashing lights of a police car.

Instead, she only saw a dark shape. Then a face suddenly filled the cleared space of her window.

Holy shit
. A strange man stood right outside her car.

* * * *

Dominick Hunter sent an acid-laced gaze across the room the moment the phone rang. He’d just settled in to watch a football game and didn’t want any disruption. He ignored the incessant ring. He decided that if it was
that
important, either his fellow DRMC headquarters caretaker and lifelong friend, Tyler Wilson, would pick up the phone. Or better yet the neglected party at the other end of the line would call back much later. Or never.

The ringing eventually stopped, but resumed ten seconds later.

Fuck
.

Dominick got up slowly from his leather recliner, crossed the room, picked up the phone and answered, “What?”

“Hey, Dominick, it’s Clay. I need you to do me a favor.”

“
No habla ingles
.”

“Very funny.”

“What do you want? I’m busy.”

“Doing what?”

“I taped last night’s game. Trust me, I’d rather watch football than do anything for you just now.”

“Your team lost. Now go close the gate to the property for me.”

“Bastard.” Dominick had fifty bucks on that game. Clay’s low chuckle made him reconsider. “Screw you. I’m not leaving the house. I’ll watch the game anyway, in case you’re lying.” A glance outside the window at the swirling snow told him the weather was about to get worse. He preferred not to be out in it.