Chapter 26Goldie

Chapter 26

Goldie

T here's a lump in my throat as I watch Luke stomp off.

But before I can do or say anything about his stomping off, I'm swept off my feet again and wrapped in big, burly arms.

"You can swim, right?" Hunter asks low in my ear, sending delicious shivers along my spine.

"Yes," I reply. "But I need to—"

Then I'm flying through the air as if I've been shot out of a cannon.

Like…holy fuck. I am flying .

But I don't have wings, so I'm not actually flying.

I'm sailing through the air. That's what I'm doing. Hurtling through the air.

And inevitably I'm going to…

Yep, here I go.

Plummeting.

What goes up, must come down, and down I go, gracelessly, into the water, which feels much like I would imagine high-fiving a brick wall with my entire body.

I'm disoriented for a minute, and then another, different set of big, burly arms is hauling me to the surface. I blink, sputtering into a Bj?rnsson brother's face. After pushing hanks of sopping hair out of my face and wiping at my waterlogged eyes, I see that it's Ranger holding me. He really does have the bluest eyes in the history of blue eyes. And those lips.

"Quite the entrance there, darlin'," he says with a smile. "You alright?"

"Sorry, sunshine. Was just trying to get you out of your head!" Hunter calls before cannonballing into the water himself. "You good?"

"Let's just say that I like the kind of surprise you gave me earlier much better," I tease.

Brooks lets out a howl and dives into the water too.

"We're all a bit feral," Ranger says. "You sure you're up for this?"

I reach up and stroke his neatly trimmed beard, so different from the gnarled condition it was in when I first saw him, when he was hiding all of that handsome face behind it. "Oh, Range. I think the question is, are you up for it?" I playfully say with a wiggle of my brows.

He smirks. "I sure as hell am. In every possible way."

What am I doing?

It's like they bring out some kind of inner nymphomaniac I've been hiding behind my virginity. A wild vixen, ready to go. I never flirt. Not seriously. And yet, as much as I'm teasing, it feels like a prelude to my deepest desires. God, I'm so wet, outside and in.

I glance over my shoulder in the direction Luke stomped off. There's no sign of him, even though his stomp was so powerful I'm surprised there isn't a trail of pine trees knocked down in his wake.

As if reading my thoughts, Ranger says, "He'll come around."

And if he doesn't?

Well. It's not like I'm staying forever. But still. This is his home and his family. And there's that annoying part of me that wants him to like me. I don't want to make him uncomfortable.

I bite my lip for a second, then release it. Ranger runs his thumb over the teeth marks I've left behind. "Are your lips as kissable as they look, Goldie Locke?"

Are they? I hope so. I haven't exfoliated or added any kind of lip softening oil since my journey into the woods, so I can't imagine they're remotely close to perfect. But as his mouth meets mine, and a groan escapes him, my lips seem to be just right.

It's astounding how he can taste so darn good, and when his tongue gently slips past my lips and tangles with mine, I finally understand the definition of orgasmic . It's Ranger, and his kiss of pure sexual delight.

The moan his kiss pulls from deep in my throat is obscene, and he finally pulls away, leaving us both to stare at each other, our chests heaving, breathless.

He glances down and I follow his gaze. Oh. I could definitely win a wet T-shirt contest.

"May I?" he asks.

We were talking about something before we kissed, but I can't remember what, so I nod and he puts those big hands on my breasts, thumbing my rock-hard nipples through the see-through, flimsy fabric.

For a long moment, I completely forget that we aren't the only ones in the woods, at the river, on this entire mountain…but then.

"Luke!" I cry out, at the most inopportune time because under the water, Ranger's cock brushes against my stomach.

Unless it was an eel. It was huge enough that it could've been one of those monster Amazonian eels that…

"Um, I'm Ranger," he says with one of his thick brows raised.

"No, I mean—" A giggle escapes me. "I know you're Ranger. I just meant, before that kiss…we were talking about Luke. Do you think there's a chance that maybe he's not going back to the cabin, after all, but that he's really going to the big cave?"

Ranger shakes his head, then runs his hand through his hair, which he can do easily now that there are no tangles. It's an incredibly sexy gesture, especially when it sends rivulets of water slowly rolling down his sun-dappled chest. "Oh, sweet girl, don't worry. He was never going to go to the big cave."

I nod, but I'm not feeling relieved. I need more info. You can take the producer out of reality television, but you can't take the reality television out of the producer. Or something like that. Anyway, I wouldn't be me if I just took the first answer at face value and moved on. That's not how interviews tend to work, I've found through the years.

Ranger snakes his arms around my waist and I move my hands to his shoulders. Around us, the silence has been broken and it sounds like it did when I first stumbled upon the brothers my first day on the mountain. Loud, wild. But filled with pure joy.

I love that. I don't know why, but it's like I feel their joy in every fiber of my being.

Wait, was that just yesterday?!

"How do you know?" I ask Ranger. "How do you know Luke wasn't going to go to the big cave?"

He presses his lips together and his brow furrows contemplatively. Then he says, "Well, he went to the big cave once. And when he came back, he promised he would never go again."

There's a catch in Ranger's voice that, if this were a reality television show and I were being paid to induce crying, I would prod. But I press my own lips together, keeping the questions inside. This isn't reality television. This is, as hard as it is to believe, reality. And I won't treat them like cast members whose souls I'm paid to dig around in.

Turns out, I don't even have to ask anything else.

Ranger shakes his head. "I don't understand it, Goldie. We just met, but I feel like I've known you forever and a day. I'm going to tell you something, but I need you to keep it to yourself, alright? Don't tell any of the others you know this."

I nod. "But I don't want you to tell me anything that's going to feel like you're betraying them, okay?"

He looks so earnest, somehow both hesitant and certain, and I want to pull him to me and hold him and never let go. This big, burly man looks like he needs to be held. He nods.

"It was after our Pa died," he begins, staring into my eyes, not even blinking.

I nearly gasp. As far as I can tell, this subject is very off-limits.

"Luke went up to the big cave for four, five months. Of course, none of us knew where he was back then. But when he came back, he swore he would never disappear on us like that again. Never go to the big cave again and leave us all behind. And Luke is a man of his word."

"Oh." It's inadequate as hell, but it's all I can come up with.

"And besides, Ma would rightly kick his ass if she found out he broke his promise," Ranger adds, clearly to inject some levity into the heavy moment. He gives me a smile that obviously takes some effort to work up.

"Your Ma…" I can't help glancing around. He spoke of her in present tense. "Does she…live close by?"

Now his smile is easy, real. Those blue, blue eyes teasing. "Why? You worried she might've bore witness to you ruttin' with Brooks and Hunter?"

"Oh my gosh, Ranger!" I cry, giving his shoulders an ineffective push. I laugh, but my face must be lit up like a red Christmas light. "Rutting. Oh sweet Lord. But I mean…could she have?"

His rumbly laugh makes waves around us in the water. "Nah, darlin'. Ma doesn't come up on the mountain, ever, so no worries about that."

He looks at me, shaking his head yet again, looking downright mystified. "I can't believe I told you all that. But then again, my brothers do say my honesty will be my downfall."

Now I shake my head. "Not with me, it won't," I promise. "You can trust me."

As soon as I say the word trust , it's like my conscience becomes a hurricane in my gut and I remember with a wave of guilt-ridden nausea why I tried to flee back to the cabin after Hunter and Brooks and I finished, well, rutting.

One minute, I was floating on a cloud of euphoria, wishing I had a working phone and a WiFi connection so I could google "how much sex is too much sex to have before vagina breakage," hoping with all my hormones and heart that I was nowhere near the limit, because I NEEDED MORE SEX. So much more sex. Naked in the great outdoors, sprawled out between Brooks (my first lover!) and Hunter (my second lover!), basking in the sunlight and glow of back-to-back-to-back orgasms, wishing that somehow our threesome had been captured on film for posterity because damn, what I wouldn't give to have Goldie Gets Her V-Card Taken By The Mountain Men in my own personal porn collection to watch during a future clam-slapping session.

And the next minute, Hunter was saying, "You're coming back to the cabin with us and that's that."

And I was saying, "I can't, not if Luke is going to move out…I can't go back to the cabin."

And the euphoria was GONE. The rampant, rabid desire to be filled by cocks was GONE.

All that existed was one thought and a fuckton of panic—the cameras. The cameras in the cabin. I have to get to the cabin and take down the cameras.

Then Hunter swept me off my feet and we got here and, well, all thoughts of the cameras got swept out of my head.

"I need—"

"What you need," a voice says from behind me, and suddenly I'm being pulled from Ranger and spun around into the arms of Clay, "is to bring your sweet ass over here to me and explain why you lied to me and Bucky."

My heart stops for an instant. "Lied?"

Then I realize he's smirking.

"You told us you were saving yourself for your soulmate, remember? What happened, did you trip and fall on Hunter's dick? Because clearly, if any of us are your soulmate, it's me."

I shake my head. "No, no. No soulmates. Just friendship and sex, remember? And I guess I changed my mind…I wasn't lying when I—"

"Hey," he says, his face suddenly serious in an expression I didn't realize Clay was capable of mustering. He takes one of my hands in each of his and wraps my fingers in between his, pressing our palms together. Then he dips his head and tenderly kisses my knuckles. "I was just kiddin' around, sweetheart. You're allowed to change your mind. And I don't give a damn who your first lover was. I'm just excited as hell that you'll do me the honor of letting me be one of your lovers, no matter where I fall in line. Number five or five hundred, I don't give a damn."

He kisses my forehead.

I am not a woman who catches feelings easily, but I'm glad I'm treading water and not on solid ground, because I am weak in the damn knees. What did I just say? No soulmates. Just friendship and sex. Yet, I do believe Clay Bj?rnsson just tugged on my heartstrings.

Over his shoulder, I catch Buck watching us. I can't read his expression, but I can't help thinking—Clay may not mind, but Buck might be confused. He'd been willing to lose his virginity to me, after all.

"Can I catch you later?" I ask Clay. "I want to speak with Buck for a minute."

Clay winks. "You can catch me anytime you want to, Goldie. Especially if you want to catch me with the trap in between those luscious thighs of yours…"

I wave him off, but laugh and swim over to Buck.

He grins. "I'm glad Brooks and Hunter found you and brought you back."

"About that…" I study him for a moment, and he doesn't look hurt or betrayed. "When I told you and Clay I wanted to have my first time with my soulmate, I wasn't lying. But…I don't know. It just felt right with Brooks, and I…I do want you all. I'm glad I decided not to wait. But I understand if you still want to. Wait, that is. For your soulmate."

His jaw drops open a little. "Wait for my soulmate? Are you kidding? I'm so excited my first time is gonna be with you, Goldie. I don't even want to wait five minutes!" he laughs.

"Well, you're going to have to."

I glance up at the voice. There's Lynx, standing on the bank, wearing not a damn thing but that catlike grin. I didn't even notice he'd come and gone, but he's carrying his first aid kit. "I noticed our girl has some abrasions and I want to get those treated right away."

"So what you're saying is you want to show me your bedside manner?" I ask him. Saucily.

A faint blush paints his cheeks. So adorbs.

"As long as you're our houseguest, I'll take care of you in every way you need taken care of," he says. "Now get on up here and let me check you out. In a strictly professional way, mind you."

After Lynx has thoroughly examined my face, my arms, my legs and my ankle—basically every inch of flesh not covered up by Hunter's wet shirt clinging transparently to my body—and has determined that I don't have any life-threatening wounds, he says, "Do you need medical attention too?"

I follow his gaze and see it's Rusty he's talking to, hovering a few feet away.

"Yeah, he's got a big ol' case of horny!" Clay, overhearing, calls.

Rusty's wearing shorts, but they do nothing to conceal the accuracy of Clay's statement. Just as Luke…I mean, Lynx…just as Lynx's had, Rusty's cheeks pinken. And once again I can't help but notice how adorable this almost bashfulness of theirs is.

"For the record, Rusty, I have a big ol' case of horny too," I tell him. Saucily.

His face breaks into a big ol' grin. "In that case, you wanna go behind that pine tree and knock boots?"

"Actually, I think it's my turn," Buck, still in the water, says.

I glance around and they're all looking at me expectantly.

Oh, hell on a porch swing, my poor pussy. A picture of them all running a train on me, pounding me porno-style, springs into my head—if they want to, I don't have the willpower to say no. Apparently my libido doesn't have a pause button.

"Hey," Brooks says. "Let's not wear her out completely on day one. How 'bout we start with some kissing and work up to the rest?"

"Easy for you to say…you've already had the rest," Nash says. "And I think Goldie's due the best, which would be me, obviously."

"Boys," Buck says. "I think there's only one way to settle this."