Chapter 9

9

Miles

There is nothing in this world like waking up with Cassie’s soft breath on my throat. I crack an eyelid and find her trapped in between me and Sam, naked as the day she was born, her blonde hair in disarray around her serene face. There’s a click inside of me. A positivity I never thought could exist for me.

This is where I’m supposed to be.

For so long, I convinced myself I could be content protecting Cassie and never laying a finger on her. That notion is laughable now. I never stood a chance.

Cassie murmurs something in her sleep and shifts closer to me, her belly rubbing against my dick, and I grit my teeth as it swells. Lord, this girl. I love her with my heart, my soul, my body. And the latter can’t stop wanting more. More of the miracle we’ve been blessed with between her legs. Now that I’ve experienced that uniquely hot clench, I’m going to spend every waking moment hard, just waiting for my chance to get inside her again. I’m not the only one, either.

She’s brought two men to their knees and there’s nowhere I’d rather be.

I understand now. Cassie is love. She has too much inside of her for just one man. Thank God I’m lucky enough to be one of them.

There’s a buzzing somewhere in the tent and I realize the sound must be what woke me. Careful not to rouse Cassie or Sam, I sit up and hunt through my discarded clothes for my phone. When I recognize the number on the caller ID as the sheriff’s office, I pull on my jeans and leave the tent to answer.

“Sheriff,” I answer.

“Morning, Miles.” There’s a creaking of a chair. “Ran that name and birthdate through the system, focusing the search on Boston. Got a hit that might interest you.”

My stomach sinks. I almost don’t want to know the rest. Ever since I took the information from Sam’s résumé and relayed it to the sheriff, guilt has been slowly creeping up on me. Now? After what we both shared with Cassie? My suspicion almost feels like a betrayal. Still, I was put on this earth to protect my girl and I’m not taking any chances. That reminder bolsters me.

“That right?” I clear my throat and walk a little farther from the tent. “Tell me what you’ve got.”

“Samuel Bolton Dobbs, twenty-six—Bolton is a middle name, you see—born in Boston. Got a record longer than my arm. Got into a lot of scrapes as a boy and went downhill from there. Assault, robbery, weapons charges. The man’s bad news.” The sheriff falls silent and I can hear my heart rapping against my eardrums. “Served his time, but he’s wanted in Massachusetts for violating his parole. You want me to do something about this, Miles, or are you handling it yourself?”

Silently, I say a prayer, thanking God for that rural way of life. In this wild part of the country, men handle their own problems and the police only interfere if absolutely necessary. I don’t know what I’m going to do about Sam and his lies of omission yet, but at least I know the cops aren’t going to descend on the farm before I decide how to handle the situation.

“I’ve got it covered,” I say, a scratch in my voice. “Thanks, sheriff.”

I hang up the phone and turn, finding Sam watching me, just outside the tent.

“Sheriff, huh?” He absently scratches his bare chest, but his eyes are hard. “Something you want to talk about, Miles?”

“Matter of fact, there is.” I use my phone to gesture to the tent. “She deserved to know who she was getting in bed with.”

His throat flexes with a swallow. “I tried to tell her last night.”

“That ain’t good enough.”

Sam is silent for a long moment. “You’re not going to take her away from me.”

Is that what I want to do?

Christ, I don’t even know. This connection we’ve fostered between the three of us feels right, but how is that possible when Sam is a criminal? Not in a million years would I let a man like him near Cassie, yet standing here looking at Sam, I still don’t see an inmate. I see the only other man that held Cassie the way she deserves. Protectively. Coveting her, the way I do.

I’ll test him.

I’ll find out what’s below his surface, then figure out what to do. If he’s dangerous in any way, I can’t have him around Cassie.

“And if I try to take her away from you?” I drawl.

Slowly, his chest starts to heave, fingers stretching and curling to fists at his sides. “Don’t back me into a corner. I’ve been fighting my way out of them my whole life. And this time I actually have something to fight for.”

He’s talking about Cassie.

I can see in Sam’s eyes that he’s fallen in love with her, too—and I don’t know if I’m capable of robbing a man of the most precious gift imaginable. Her. If someone tried to take Cassie away from me, I would fight like a fucking animal to keep her. But Sam has a violent past and if I’d only met him on paper, I would die before letting him within a hundred yards of Cassie.

A muscle jumps in Sam’s cheek. “Well?”

Before I can answer, Cassie comes out of the tent wearing my T-shirt, the hem reaching past her knees. Fuck, she’s beautiful, all rosy and rumpled, her lips swollen from kissing two hungry males. She rubs at her blue eyes for a beat, before seeming to realize something is amiss.

“What’s wrong?” She squints into the morning sun. “Miles?”

I sigh, knowing I have no other choice but to tell her the truth. Any kind of secrecy on my part would make me unworthy of her. “Cassie…” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “There’s no easy way to say this. Sam is wanted in Massachusetts. He’s been in prison for robbery, assault—”

“Never on a woman,” Sam says through his teeth. “I know what you’re thinking, man. But she is not in danger from me. I’d jump off a fucking cliff to stop her from crying.”

“Of course I’m not in danger from you,” Cassie whispers, laying a hand on Sam’s arm. “Miles, I…I had a feeling there was something like this in Sam’s past, but my heart led me to him. The real him on the inside. It led me to both of you.” She implores me with her gaze. “Can’t you look past what he’s done and see what he’s capable of?”

“Cassie,” I grit out. “His past tells me what he’s capable of.”

“No. What we are together…is a new beginning.” Moisture fills her eyes and I feel like a bastard. “Miles, please.”

Sam leans over, presses the nose to the crown of Cassie’s head and inhales deeply. “You’re not taking her away from me.”

Irritation snakes through my gut. “You don’t make the rules.”

His nostrils flare and he barrels toward me, anger breaking out across his features. I only have seconds to react, but I grew up fighting, same as him, so muscle memory kicks in and I swing, my fist glancing off Sam’s jaw and snapping his head back. Cassie screams and her anguish chills my bones. I want to stop, then and there. To reason this out. But Sam throws a right hook and connects, sending me reeling back.

Even as pain blooms behind my eye, I can’t blame him for fighting. Not with Cassie on the line.

I duck his next punch and drive my fist into his stomach.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a crying Cassie turn and run.

Watching her go is like a bucket of cold water being dumped over my head. It’s the same for Sam. He turns to watch her flee with a look of horror on his face—and both of us go running after her. My heart is in my fucking throat. I’ve upset her. We’ve upset this sweet girl who gave us the gift of her body last night and it’s unacceptable. If she wants to overlook Sam’s past, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything—

The sight that greets us when we come around the back of the tent will forever be seared on my brain.

Cassie, being held at gunpoint.

By Mooney, the horse trainer. The man I found touching himself in the stable yesterday while looking at Cassie.

He’s pressing the muzzle of the gun to her temple, a crazed look in his eye.

“Back up!” Mooney screams.

“Miles,” Cassie whispers shakily. “Sam.”

“Baby,” Sam rasps, reaching for her.

He snatches his hand back when Mooney cocks the gun. “I said back up!”

Sam and I do as he says, but it’s a wonder I can concentrate enough to follow the instruction. My heart is being ripped out of my chest. Not my girl. God, please don’t take her away from me. In this moment, I realize how Sam must have felt when I threatened to do the same. The mere suggestion of living without her is excruciating.

“What do you want?” I ask Mooney, raggedly.

“I heard you rutting her last night, talking about how she’s got some world-class pussy.” He licks his lips noisily. “I aim to try it out myself.” Before I can process his horrifying words, he aims the gun at me instead. Then Sam. Then back at me. “If it’s as good as you said, you can’t keep it to yourself. If you try and stop me, I’ll shoot.”

He’s lost his damn mind.

There’s no way he can keep that gun trained on both of us and do what he’s thinking of doing. Not at the same time. Sam sends me a knowing glance out of the corner of his eye and a plan forms between us, without words. For better or worse, we’re on the same side, his past be damned. I won’t question that again.

Slowly, we start to separate, circling around Mooney step by step. My shotgun is in the tent, a fact I lament, but the farther apart we are, the harder it will be to keep the gun pointed at us both. Eventually we’ll distract him enough to wrestle him away from Cassie. If one of us gets shot in the process, so be it. As long as he doesn’t harm a single hair on her head.

“She’s been tempting me so long,” Mooney pleads, starting to get nervous. “Just let me get a little taste. Just a little one.”

“Now, you know we can’t allow that.” I keep my voice even. “Every inch of her belongs to me and Sam. We only share with each other.”

The hand holding the gun is starting to shake from being held up too long and now, he doesn’t know where to point it. Sweat pours down his forehead. “I’ll shoot!” he spits, whipping the gun toward me—and that’s when Sam drops into a crouch, there’s a flash of metal at his ankle, and he fires.

Mooney’s eyes go blank and he crumples to the ground.

Relief turns my blood from ice to liquid fire. Both of us lunge for Cassie at the same time, hustling her away from the dead man, running our hands over her to make sure there isn’t a single scratch. “Are you okay?” I ask, thickly.

“Yes,” she sobs, throwing her arms around my neck. I hold her for a few precious seconds, before she lets go and gives Sam a hug. “I was so scared.”

“We wouldn’t have let him hurt you, Cassie,” I breathe into her hair, pressing my chest to her back, wedging her between me and Sam. Over her head, I lock eyes with the other man. “Good thing you had that gun on your ankle.”

His lips twitch. “Sometimes being a criminal comes in handy.”

Cassie kisses his jaw. “You’re my criminal.” Her butt pushes back into my lap and my dick stiffens rapidly, readying for her. “You’re both my heroes.”

Our groans of need fill the air. My hands mold to her hips and I grind into the valley between her supple ass cheeks. Sam has the honor of kissing her mouth, but after I questioned his intentions this morning, I want to allow him more.

Reaching down, I take Cassie’s thighs in my hands and lift her up, propping her backside on my belly and opening her legs wide. A growl kindles in my throat when I imagine Sam’s point of view. Cassie and her tousled blonde bed head, the sun shining on her bare, waiting cunt.

“Take her, Sam. Make her forget her fear,” I say. “We’ll never let her feel it again, as long as she lives. Will we?”

“No,” Sam responds, emotion in his voice. “We won’t.”

He understands that I’m not only offering him Cassie’s body, I’m offering him acceptance. I’m offering him us. Permanently. She knows it, too, and she turns to smile gratefully at me. Lustfully. And as Sam sinks inside of her and begins to pump, I keep her steady and open, vowing to myself that the three of us will always remain intact, no matter what comes our way.