Her Rancher's Caress: (Taken by Cowboys: Part 3) A Billionaire Western Romance Read online

  Her Rancher’s Caress

  (Taken by Cowboys: Part 3)

  By A.L. Loire

  Copyright 2015 Enamored Ink

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

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  Chapter 1

  “That’s it. Come for me, baby. Come hard. Don’t hold back.” Nate’s husky voice, shaking with tension, drifted into Jess’s ears. His taut thighs pressed up against hers as he thrust deep inside her, his cock still hard as wood. She wailed as she gave in to the deepest ecstasy she had ever experienced, her climax hitting her like a tsunami, sending waves of pleasure throughout her whole being.

  But each cry was mingled with shock. Hard as it was to believe her eyes, what stood in front of her was no apparition—Spencer was standing in the doorway, watching another man make her come as she lay naked and doubled over on the massage table.

  Their eyes locked as she continued to yell, unable to silence herself. Nate had brought her to such exquisite ecstasy—and as she experienced it, she saw Spencer’s face contort into a succession of expressions: surprise, anger, sadness, and what could only be described as hunger.

  She cried out as a sharp pang lit up her scalp. Nate had grabbed her long hair by the roots and yanked her head back, tearing her gaze away from Spencer. He growled as he gave in to his release, adding another wave to her own climax. Her cry turned into a low moan as the acute pain turned into a spike of pleasure. This felt wrong, so terribly wrong—but she couldn’t stop.

  Nate released her hair and slowly, still moaning, she lowered her head, the waves of her body-shaking orgasm slowly ebbing. A look of pure anger had taken over the conflicting emotions on Spencer’s face. He hadn’t moved from the spot where he had thrown open the door to the massage room.

  Nate removed his manhood, still slightly stiff, from her passage. She moaned quietly with the sudden sensation of lack. She was breathing hard, her mind a swirling whirlpool above the calm bliss that was settling into her body.

  “Outside,” Spencer said. His voice was like cold steel, chilling her to the bone. She realized he was looking not at her, but at Nate. “As soon as you get your pants up.”

  With that, he turned and strode out, hitting the door hard with his palm. The slam echoed behind him in the steamy sauna air.

  Jess tried to regain her breathing. Her legs felt like jelly. Before she could stand, she buried her head in her hands. What have I done?

  ***

  Somehow she managed to get her clothes on and leave the spa, practically stumbling out in her daze. She could hardly wrap her mind around what had happened.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Nate had asked her as she strode out the door, gripping her hands. They had each dressed in tense silence.

  “I think so,” she managed. “Are you?” She had no idea what Spencer intended to do when he met Nate outside.

  Nate shook his head dismissively. “I’ll be fine. Spencer is no threat,” he said. “Jess, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you any kind of pain. I wasn’t planning on any of this, I just…” He trailed off, then pulled her close. “I couldn’t help myself,” he whispered, gently putting his lips to her jawbone. She shivered and closed her eyes. As awful as it was to admit, he was turning her on all over again.

  “I’ll come by and see you later,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Okay,” she whispered back without fully realizing what she was saying. The man seemed to cast a spell on her. He released her, casting one last devastating look at her with his vivid green eyes.

  Now she was finding her way back to her cabin—luckily the spa was just off the main trail, so she was able to get her bearings fairly easily. The sun was just setting. The breathtaking explosion of color burst over the mountain to the west, oranges, pinks, and reds bleeding into the velvety cobalt-blue sky. The spicy scent of pine needles wafted on the breeze. It was hard to believe that nature could stay so placid and unchanged despite the turmoil going on inside her.

  She tried to get her thoughts in order as she picked her way down the trail in the growing darkness. She’d felt a strong connection to Spencer from the beginning. It was insane to think that that just last night he had come over to pleasure her, and that just that morning she had woken folded into his strong body. She felt undeniably safe wrapped in his arms.

  Before leaving, he had surprised her by telling her that he had seen her and Nate exchange glances—and that he didn’t mind. If she was interested in Nate, he said, he didn’t want to be the one to stop her from following her attraction.

  “One man is all I can handle” had been her response.

  So what had come over her? Her mind was a mire of confusion. There was something about this place—maybe it was the wide-open spaces, or the pure, fresh air, or the time she was spending outdoors, moving her body instead of sitting in a desk chair—that was stirring her up in ways she had never imagined.

  Spencer was a pure hunk, and one with a heart of gold—but she also couldn’t deny her attraction to Nate, which had only grown over the course of the day they had spent together, finally stretching to the breaking point. It had begun as an innocent massage after a day riding horses and casting fishing lines in the beautiful Wyoming outdoors. Soon, though, she had been powerless, as warm and liquid as the massage oil he had poured on her. The warm steam, the burning candles, the scent of eucalyptus and jasmine that hung in the air—it had been almost like a dream. Once he had started touching her bare skin, though, all of her nerves had become fully awake. From that first touch, she’d known she was a goner.

  The clump of cabins in the nook of the mountain was now in view. She turned down the narrow path that led to her temporary home. She would go inside, draw herself a bath, sink into the hot water and think things through. This couldn’t be as bad as it seemed—or could it?

  ***

  Spencer was waiting at the back of the spa cabin when Nate came out. The afternoon had turned to dusk and the night sounds were starting to come to life, crickets chirping and cicadas buzzing. The day had been so hot that the air still retained its balmy warmth.

  He had been prepared for a fight with Spencer. What he wasn’t ready for was the look of complete devastation on his best friend’s face.

  “Why did you do it?” Spencer choked out.

  “Jesus, Spencer. I’m sorry,” Nate sputtered.

  “You’re not sorry,” Spencer said, his voice rising with anger. “I leave here for half a day on business—our business—and you use that as a chance to swoop in. You just can’t let me have something without trying to take it for yourself.”

  “Watch your goddamn mouth,” Nate said. His hands balled into fists at his sides. “You have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

  “What are you going to do about it, you son of a bitch?” Spencer demanded, taking a step closer.

  He and Nate were now only a foot apart. Nate had never been in a physical altercation with his best friend—but from the rage that burned in Spencer’s eyes, Nate didn’t doubt that tonight could be a first. He said nothing, trying to contain his own anger. His nails dug into the palms of his hands, his fists were so tightly balled. If Spencer wanted to take it there, then Nate would enjoy putting Spencer in his place, but he wasn’t going to throw the first punch. Considering
the situation, it wouldn’t be right.

  But Spencer didn’t draw back his fist. He took a step back, the anger in his eyes waning.

  “You don’t care about her the way I do,” he growled.

  “What the hell do you know about what I care about?” Nate retorted. “You have no idea. You always assume I’m some simpleton who doesn’t care about anything real. But that’s not the case. I feel something for Jess, even if I can’t explain what it is. And it’s not just for her body. You know that’s not my game.”

  Spencer looked doubtful. “When have you ever known me to play the field?” Nate pressed. “At least, not since we left New York. I’m not just out to get some. You know me better than that.”

  “I can’t say I know what you’re feeling,” Spencer admitted. “All I know is that it happened. What’s done is done. Jess is a free woman and I’m not going to stop her from doing what she likes. In fact, I told her that if she wanted to pursue her attraction to you, she should go ahead and do that. But I’m not about to—”

  “Whoa, whoa,” Nate said. “Stop right there. What do you mean, you told her she could pursue her attraction to me? You talked about me?”

  Spencer stiffened. “It just came up. I saw the way you were staring at her like a hungry dog looking at a T-bone steak.” He paused, grimacing. “And the way she was looking back at you.”

  Spencer’s words gave him a small sense of satisfaction, despite everything. “So you told her she could go ahead and get something going with me?” he exclaimed.

  “What the hell can I say? This isn’t a situation I ever expected to encounter—that we’d be after the same woman,” Spencer said. “And that the same woman would be equally hot for both of us.”

  “You think so?” Nate said.

  Spencer looked surprised. “I don’t know,” he said. “But it sure seems like that.”

  Both men were quiet for a moment, the only sound the chorus of insects.

  “It was amazing,” Nate said finally. “She’s amazing.”

  “I know,” Spencer said, his voice strained.

  “So what are we going to do?” Nate asked, searching his best friend’s face. Nothing in his life had prepared him to deal with this situation. “Have a shoot-out?”

  Spencer shook his head. “I don’t know.” His expression, usually so composed, was one of utter loss. “Maybe that’s an idea,” he said after a pause.

  “The shoot-out?” Nate asked.

  “No,” Spencer said. “Asking her to choose between us. Giving her the gun, so to speak.”

  Nate felt his chest tighten. He didn’t like the idea—didn’t like it one bit—but he couldn’t think of another solution.

  “Alright,” he said finally. “I guess it’s all we can do.”

  Spencer shook his head. He looked just as nervous as Nate felt. “It’s either that or both of us.”

  ***

  A hot bath was the first thing that Jess always did when she was feeling overwhelmed by life. It was step one of a three-step process—the next two were opening a bottle of pinot grigio and calling her best friend Dani to talk it out. The pinot she might be able to secure. She wasn’t sure if this was something she could discuss with Dani, though. In fact, she wasn’t sure this was something she could discuss with anyone.

  She undressed as the hot water filled the tub, leaving her clothes in a pile on the floor. It felt good to be alone. She stretched her arms up towards the ceiling. Her back felt amazingly loose after the massage Nate had given her—but the moment of pleasure was instantly followed by a dark flare of guilt.

  Steam was now filling the bathroom. She piled her hair on the top of her head and knotted it in a loose bun, stepping into the tub. The water was almost too hot to handle—just the way she liked it. She sank down into the bath, sighing with relief as the heat enveloped her like a hundred hands caressing her skin.

  Jess had always been a relationship girl. She had friends in New York who went on dates with different men every night and she admired them for the fun they had, but that just wasn’t her style. She wanted a man to commit to her. Unfortunately, though, the men that she got to commit tended to be the wrong ones. They seemed like perfect angels at the beginning, but slowly that façade would start to chip away. She would get so attached that she would avoid facing reality as they turned cold and manipulative. It was exactly what her most recent ex, Todd, had done to her, leaving her devastated.

  It didn’t feel the same with Spencer and Nate, though. She had just met them, it was true, but this felt…different. She wasn’t used to having such a strong physical attraction to someone right off the bat—and definitely not to two men at the same time. There was something about these men, former high-powered New York financiers who had escaped to Wyoming to start a guest ranch in the middle of nowhere, that drove her crazy. Spencer was talk, dark and handsome; Nate was green-eyed and fair-haired. While Spencer was serious, Nate was devious. They were both equally appealing, just in different ways.

  What else felt different about it? She sank down lower into the hot water. The look on Spencer’s face when he had walked in on her and Nate had been excruciating. He had just spent the previous night with her, had pleasured her thoroughly while asking for nothing in return—and she had immediately gone and slept with his best friend. And he had to watch her climax.

  At the memory, Jess felt a strange sensation. Her hand had moved, as if on its own, from her round belly down to her inner thigh. The spot between her legs was heating up.

  She stopped her hand immediately. What was going on? Why was she getting so turned on by the memory of Spencer walking in on her and Nate?

  Unbidden, the memory again returned to her, of Nate’s cock inside her, pushing her to a climax that seemed to go on and on, each wave more intense than the last. As her eyes locked on Spencer’s—could it be?—her pleasure had intensified.

  Her hand again moved between her legs, touching herself. She let out a low moan. A finger slipped to stroke her clit. She heard her moan grow louder as a shiver ran through her abdomen. It was undeniable—she had liked Spencer watching Nate take her.

  All of a sudden, the moment was broken by the sound of knocking. Her eyes flew open and her hand froze. The sound came again. There was someone at the front door. Nate had promised to come by and see her later…could it be him?

  She rose from the tub, stepping out onto the bath mat. Hastily she grabbed her towel from the rack and began patting herself dry. Her heart was beating with excitement, both from the intimate pleasure she had just been experiencing in the tub and the anticipation of what was to come.

  She wrapped herself in the towel and went to the door. Cautiously, she unlocked it, her heart beating faster. She gasped as she opened the door a crack and took in who was standing there. It was Nate, as she had expected. What she didn’t expect was that Spencer would be standing next to him.

  Her gaze darted from one man to the other. Spencer’s face was serious and stoic, while Nate’s betrayed a hint of nervousness. Seeing them standing side by side, she noticed Spencer’s compact physique next to Nate’s taller, more lithe frame.

  There was a moment of strained silence as they stood there staring at her. She drew the towel around her. She had been so excited by the knock at the door that she hadn’t anticipated how exposed she would feel standing there like this. And she definitely hadn’t thought that she would be faced with Spencer and Nate.

  “I’m glad to see you didn’t kill each other,” she said.

  A smile came over Spencer’s face, while Nate broke into a laugh. The tension was instantly broken.

  “Come on in,” Jess said with relief, holding the door open.

  “Sorry to burst in on you like this,” Spencer murmured. He put a hand gently on her hip as he walked past her. She felt a shiver pass from her hip through her abdomen. She bit her lip. Nate met her gaze as he walked in on her other side, searing her with his bright green eyes.

  Shit. As she closed the
door, she paused for a moment with her hand on the doorknob, leaning her forehead briefly against the door. She realized she was breathing hard and her heart was beating like a jackhammer.

  She turned around. Spencer and Nate were standing in the living room looking uneasy.

  “Would you like to have a seat?” she asked. It felt strange being so polite when the air was so heavy with confused emotions. The atmosphere was positively pulsating.

  “Look, Jess, we don’t want to stand on ceremony,” Nate broke in. “We’re here to talk about this situation openly and honestly.”

  She nodded, letting out the sigh that had been building in her lungs. It was refreshing to hear Nate put the situation out into the open. “Let me put on something more—well, let me put on something,” she said.

  “If you must,” Nate said softly. The muscles in Spencer’s face became visibly more taut and his expression darkened.

  Oh, god. What have I done here? She closed the door to the bathroom, hanging up her towel and slipping into her bathrobe, which was hanging by a hook on the door. Spencer and Nate looked equally ready to tear each other’s throats out—and to tear into her. The air was not just thick with emotion, she realized, but with desire. She shivered, a tremor that shook her from her core.

  She returned to the living room. Spencer and Nate had taken seats at opposite ends of the couch. She burst out laughing.

  “What is it?” Spencer asked.

  “You two,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make fun. This whole situation is just…”

  “Crazy?” Spencer said.

  “Unbelievable?” Nate chimed in.

  “All of that,” she said, taking a deep breath in.

  “That’s what we’re here to talk about,” Spencer said. “We want you to be okay, Jess. That’s what’s most important to both of us—that you’re happy and you feel good about what’s going on here. You didn’t come to Getaway to invite drama and pain into your life.”

  “You’ve had enough of that,” Nate said.