Lassoed Read online

  Help you out. Yeah, I could think of several ways they could help me out. Their hands on my body, discovering I was wet for both of them. I had no doubt they could make me forget all about Alan with some incredible orgasms. Crazy thoughts. I’d just met these two and I was thinking about sex with them. But the connection, I couldn’t understand it, but I was drawn to them like a magnet.

  I looked down at the wood floor, ran my hands over my thighs. When had my palms gotten so damp? And speaking of damp…my panties were dainty silk and couldn’t handle these two. I took a deep breath. God, they even smelled good. Soap or woods or something manly. Or, perhaps, just man.

  “Thanks. I’d, um…better get out there.” I thumbed over my shoulder. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stand here and bask under their honest perusal, open interest and well, kindness. Oh, and just keep taking in their gorgeousness. I wanted to see what else they had to say, to learn more about them than just their names. I wanted to run my hands over their hard bodies, learn what made their breaths catch, what made the bulges in their jeans even more impressive.

  Ashe tugged on his ear again, as if to remind me of the signal. As if I’d forget it, or the way his wavy hair brushed his fingers. I wondered if it was as silky soft as it looked. And then there was the smile, the slight turn of his lips, the playfulness. But seriousness as well. One ear tug and I knew he’d—they’d—be there to help me out.

  “Nice to meet you…”

  “Natalie,” I finished Ashe’s sentence, remembering I hadn’t shared my name, smiled. “Nice to meet both of you, too.”

  “Natalie,” Sam repeated, as if testing my name on his tongue. I loved the deep timbre of his voice, and wondered if it would sound the same when he called it while filling me with his cock.

  I swallowed, then smiled. Hopefully, the hallway was dark enough to hide the way I flushed at just his tone.

  I gave them both one last glance, checking out every nuance. Not only were they so darn hot, but they were nice, too. Sweet, even, but I didn’t dare call them that. And then their scent followed me. Spicy, woodsy. Male. Breathing them in made me hot and dizzy and aroused. It was as if pheromones just poured off them and I sucked them up as if I’d been in a drought. Which I had, a sex drought.

  There wasn’t any more reason to linger, and Alan would certainly start to wonder if I’d fallen in or something, so I made my way back to the table. I took in the new glass of whiskey and appetizers in front of him. He was shoveling some dip onto a wedge of pita bread as I sat back down.

  “I ordered for you.”

  I watched him take a big bite, chewed. A bit of spinach clung to his lip. He grabbed his whiskey, washed it down.

  “I’m not staying.” I hooked my hand into the strap of my briefcase.

  “The night’s young. So are you.”

  I crinkled up my nose in disgust. Looking over his shoulder, I saw Ashe and Sam back at the bar. They’d lost their stools when we were in the hallway, but they leaned against the wood surface where I could still see them. Ashe was talking with the bartender as Sam glanced my way. Why was I still sitting with this loser when I could be with them?

  “I have an early morning workout class.” I stood once again, sliding my briefcase across the booth. His hand settled on my thigh as I faced him.

  “Just as I thought. Nice and toned.”

  Aaaaannnnnnd we were done.

  I was perfectly safe in the restaurant. I could whack Alan in the head with my briefcase. While the laptop might not survive, it would be worth the sacrifice to ring his dumb-ass bell. I could scream and it wasn’t like I was in a dark alley. A restaurant full of people was safe. I could even just walk away. But I didn’t want to do any of that. I wanted Ashe and Sam, so I lifted my right hand to my ear, gave it a little tug.

  While I’d just met the men, and in the restroom hallway of a restaurant nonetheless, I knew they’d come to me. They’d rescue me. They’d take care of me.

  I knew. How? I had no idea. I just knew they would. And it felt really damn good.

  2

  SAM

  * * *

  “We’re in trouble,” Ashe said to me, offering a nod of thanks to the bartender as he delivered our beers.

  The downtown restaurant was busy, filled with the lingering Happy Hour crowd and those having dinner. With lots of dark wood, modern lighting and subtle music, it had a strong urban vibe. Nothing like Montana where urban wasn’t cool. Urban was right here in the middle of Boston, over two thousand miles away. Being a native of the Big Sky state, I hated crowds, tall buildings, the fast pace. But, the bar had good beer and the view was great. Especially of one specific brunette with long legs and a wicked smile.

  “Totally fucked.” I took a sip of the cold brew, glanced at the woman we’d spent three weeks trying to find. There had been a few pictures of her online, but not many, and none that did her justice. Especially not up close.

  Holy shit, she was gorgeous. Smart, too, based on the way she’d had two men hanging on her every word. One had actually been listening, having a true back and forth conversation with her. The other had been faking it, nodding and drinking his whiskey, letting her do all the work.

  Yes, work. It was clear to me, to anyone in the restaurant, it had been a business meeting. Not only was she dressed in smart business-wear, she’d passed over some papers she’d pulled from a briefcase to the men sitting across from her, used a pen to point to them as she spoke. From the client’s body language, he’d been pleased with whatever she’d been pitching.

  The forty-five minutes they’d met had given us the opportunity to study her openly, so focused she was on her job that she hadn’t noticed us. Thankfully, because it had taken me probably five minutes to haul my tongue back in my mouth and another few to realize I’d been outright ogling. Like a fucking teenager and his first magazine centerfold. I knew her general details inside and out, but not her measurements, although by looking at her, I guessed 34-24-34.

  Natalie Bartlett. Twenty-seven. Single. Johns Hopkins undergrad, Penn for her MBA. Apartment owner. Drove a Subaru. As an account executive, she probably earned a decent salary, but didn’t flaunt it. She didn’t flaunt herself either. Her dress was a dark navy. While her arms were bare, the cut was modest. Somehow, conservative looked sexy on her, especially with the killer heels.

  “Has your dick ever gotten hard because of a client?” Ashe asked, leaning in. As investigators, we were hired to find people. Perhaps a man-on-the-side or a mistress. In this case, a long-lost daughter. Or, as we’d just discovered, the one we’d been waiting for.

  I shifted on the stool because he was right, my dick was hard. If I got up, I’d be arrested if I didn’t get myself under control. “Fuck, no. At least not until now. What is it about her?”

  Ashe laughed. “Those tight little curves? Those sharp eyes? How about the full lips?”

  When she’d stood to shake hands with the client before he left, we’d gotten the full effect. Tall and lithe, she had a runner’s physique. Toned muscles, narrow hips, small, pert breasts. And those heels. Yeah, I had a thing for a woman in stilts. I wouldn’t even have to lean down much at all to kiss her. But I’d drop to my knees, part her thighs and discover her sweet scent if she just breathed the word yes.

  And to top that hot body off was, literally, that wicked-smart brain of hers, and that combination was sexy as hell.

  I turned back to Ashe. “I don’t care if she’s the client. I want her.”

  He studied the condensation on his glass, then glanced at Natalie. She’d looked our way a few times since she’d returned from our little chat by the bathrooms, her cheeks pinking each time, her eyes flared with obvious interest. But that was totally wasted because instead of being with us, she was alone with her boss who was plowing through some spinach dip as if he hadn’t eaten all day.

  “Riley, of all people, will understand,” he replied, taking a sip of his beer, putting it back on the coaster.

  As lawyer for
the Steele estate and the guy who’d hired us to track down Natalie Bartlett, he’d taken one look at Kady Parks—the first of the five heiresses to arrive in Barlow—and decided she was his…and Cord Connolly’s. It had been love—and lust—at first sight for them and there was no fucking way either of them would be pissed if we felt the same way for Natalie Bartlett.

  I laughed at that. “Yeah, right? How long did he wait before he made a move on Kady?”

  “The way I heard it, they knew she was theirs in the airport baggage area, but waited about four hours to claim her.”

  “And knock her up.”

  I grinned, thinking of the baby girl they—Kady, Riley and Cord—now had. Cecily, named after Kady’s late mother. Born in February with a mop of red hair just like Kady, she had both her fathers wrapped around her tiny fingers. And it was only going to get worse. That girl wasn’t going to be able to date until she was thirty, and they’d be cleaning their guns when the guy picked her up.

  As for the other three Steele sisters who’d arrived in Barlow, it had been the same way for them. Instalove for Cricket and her three men. Penny had wrangled her two husbands from the get-go. Even Sarah—who had surprised all of us as being one of Aiden Steele’s daughters because she was from Barlow—had married quickly. She’d known about her dad and kept it secret, at least until the past winter.

  And it had been our job to track down the fifth and final Steele heiress. Natalie. She might be single, but that was about to change. Her social media was switching to In A Relationship the second we got her alone. She just didn’t know it yet.

  “Did you catch her scent?”

  “Lemons,” I replied. We’d gotten close enough to her in the back hallway to pick it up. To see the dark color of her eyes, her full lips. Every inch—clothed inch—of her up close. I was eager to see the rest of her as soon as fucking possible. I’d never wanted a woman so much in my life. One look and… bam. Hit by a fucking two by four. I was ruined for all other women.

  And I’d been right. With her heels, she was only a few inches shorter than me. I wouldn’t have to bend in half when we fucked. “Yet we’re over here while that douche is putting his moves on her.”

  “It’s her boss. She’s handled herself well so far.” Ashe didn’t seem any happier about it than I was, but was proud of her to be smart and strong enough to deal with stupid shit like inappropriate advances herself.

  “She doesn’t have to,” I countered. “The handsy bastard needs to have a talking to. I can see his wedding ring from here,” I grumbled, watching the expression on Natalie’s face change to disgust.

  She stood and he put his hand on her thigh. Her fucking thigh. Yeah, the asshole was walking out of here with a stump.

  With her free hand, she tugged on her ear as she gave him the evil eye.

  We were at her side in seconds, but in that time, she’d grabbed his palm, turned it clockwise so it faced the ceiling. It wrenched his shoulder and he leaned in, trying to relieve the pain I could see on his face.

  “Natalie?” I asked, interrupting our girl at work. My dick got hard just watching her take care of herself.

  She stepped back, letting dickwad’s hand fall away. He glanced up at us, as he rolled his shoulder and opened and closed his fingers. Even after being so blatantly reprimanded, a grin spread on his greasy mouth as he looked up at us. He wasn’t contrite in the slightest, he just gave me a look of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

  Those cookies aren’t for you, fucker.

  “Yes, oh hi! Sam, wow, it’s been a long time,” Natalie said, a tad breathlessly. I knew it was because she was flustered and—hopefully—angry at her boss for being such a prick. Also, being forced to do something about it. Putting him in a wrist lock probably hadn’t been what she’d wanted to do in a restaurant. Her cheeks were pink. “Ashe, too.”

  “You look great,” he added, leaning in and giving her a kiss on her cheek.

  Smart guy. I wish I’d thought of that. Then I’d know how soft her skin was.

  “The last time we got together, we had to cut it short,” I continued. “It’s too bad you couldn’t come with us then. You can now, if you want.”

  Yeah, we could totally make her come.

  She blushed at the secondary meaning of my words, then grinned. Yeah, she was fucking smart. I loved that brain of hers. She knew exactly what I meant, what I was offering her. It was bold, forward even, but the connection was real. I didn’t want to scare her off, but I definitely wanted her to know what we wanted. Her.

  Natalie cleared her throat, eyes on me. It was as if the boss and everyone else in the restaurant just disappeared. “You’re right. I would really like to come with you.” She looked to Ashe and her gaze was full of feminine appreciation. “Both of you.”

  She afforded her boss a brief, annoyed glance. “I’m done here.”

  “Great,” I said, holding my hand out to take her briefcase.

  “Nat, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?” Boss man asked, a piece of spinach flying out of his mouth and landing on the floor.

  Wrinkling her nose, she gave him a narrowed passing glance. “No.” Instead of handing me her bag, she put her free hand in mine. Fuck yes. “Goodnight, Alan. Tell your wife I said hello.”

  Ashe stepped back to let her lead the way. I gave her hand a little squeeze and we headed out of the restaurant. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ashe leaning down, speaking to the bastard, hopefully threatening him with the need for a prosthetic if he touched her again, but he quickly caught up to us.

  Once out on the sidewalk, but away from the entrance, she stopped, turned to face both of us. The front of the restaurant was well lit, the street busy. It was just getting dark, the air chilly.

  “Thanks for your help.”

  She hadn’t tugged her hand from mine and I had no intention of letting go until she did so.

  “From what we saw, you didn’t need any help from us,” I said, letting her know we’d been impressed.

  Even though she’d put Mr. Hands in his place, Ashe was still pissed, but trying to hide it from her. She had enough problems with her boss without taking on his feelings about it. “I didn’t want you to leave that hallway without us, to go back to that fuckwad,” he said. There was a sharp bite to the tone, but by looking at him, it was because he was aroused, not upset. “I didn’t get a chance to…” He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, eyed Natalie. Yeah, he’d found her ninja routine hot as hell, too.

  “To what?” she asked, her voice low, husky.

  He closed the distance between them, put a hand on her hip and walked her backward so she was pressed against the brick wall, one hand planted above her head. They were in shadow and had a hint of privacy. A little moan escaped her lips right before he kissed her.

  I tucked my hands in my pockets and watched the street, although I kept one eye on Natalie. She looked fucking gorgeous, her hands curling into Ashe’s shirt at his waist, her head tilted back against the wall. I had no jealousy toward my friend. I would share this woman, but with only him.

  He lifted his head and she smiled, then bit her bottom lip. “Wow.”

  “Sweetheart, I can get you to say more than wow.”

  She arched a brow in response.

  I approached and Ashe moved out of the way. “My turn.”

  “Your—”

  I didn’t cut her off with my mouth, but I pulled her into me, looked down into her eyes. Eyes that were blurred with arousal that Ashe had stoked. “My turn,” I repeated. “Say you want both of us, sweetheart. And if I kiss you, you’re not going to knee me in the balls or break my fingers.”

  Surprise widened her eyes slightly, but it was followed by a small grin. I didn’t see a hint of panic at my words. No, she wanted both of us. She’d been thinking about it ever since we caught her gaze that first time across the restaurant. She just hadn’t realized we’d felt the same way.

  “No ball busting.”

 
; I cupped her jaw with my palm, the other hand at her hip. If I slid it two inches lower, I’d be cupping that tight ass. But not yet, I had to hear the one word that kept all this going.

  “Yes,” she breathed and I almost came in my pants.

  I smiled, then lowered my head, watched as her eyes fell closed just before my lips met hers.

  Sweet, soft, tentative, then all of a sudden bold. Her tongue met mine and her hand went to the back of my neck, tangled in my hair and held me in place.

  Fuck, she tasted to so good. Perfect.

  “I don’t want to let you go,” I said, our lips a breath apart. “You feel too perfect in my arms. You taste too good.” While she wasn’t pressed up against the wall as she’d been when Ashe had kissed her—she had to have felt how hard he was—there was no doubt she couldn’t miss the press of my dick against her belly. That I wanted her. “But I don’t want to keep doing this here.”

  Her dark eyes held mine, and when Ashe stepped close, she looked to him. “This is crazy, but I don’t want you to let me go.”

  Fuck, yes. The words I wanted to hear, the consent we needed. Ashe took her hand, lifted it to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.

  “We’re staying at the hotel,” I said, angling my head back toward the restaurant. Just past it was the entrance to the hotel lobby. “Come to our suite and we can continue kissing you.”

  It was obvious what we wanted, but kissing a guy on a busy street was a lot different than going to his hotel room.

  “I know you don’t know us, but you’re safe with us. We would never hurt you.” I brushed her hair back from her face, felt the silky strands tangle in my fingers.

  “Will you come with us?” Ashe asked again.

  She looked between us, bit her lip. “I might want...”

  “What?” Ashe asked, taking a step closer. “What do you want?”

  I watched as her chest rose and fell with each little pant. Her nipples were defined beneath her dress and I felt a shiver beneath my palms. “More than kissing.”