Lucas’s hand disappeared as he swallowed Aidan’s dick. He sucked him in long hard passes, taking him to the root, letting Aidan feel the soft place at the back of his throat.

Aidan guided him, tugging on his hair, making him suck faster. Over and over Lucas sucked him down, pulling back until he almost lost Aidan’s dick, only to deep throat him again.

“Stop.” Aidan couldn’t take another second without giving up his cum, and he didn’t want to do that in Lucas’s mouth. He wanted to be buried in the heat of Lucas’s ass when he blew.

He tugged hard on Lucas’s hair, pulling him off his dick.

Lucas finally gave in after one last swipe of his tongue. “My Master tastes so good.”

“Your Master is hungry.” Starving for him, really. He helped Lucas back up and turned him to the proper position—hands on the wall of the shower, legs spread wide, perfect ass in the air.

Aidan lubed up his straining cock, stroking himself from base to tip. Already he could easily squeeze pre-cum from the tip, the pearly fluid joining the lube, preparing him to take Lucas.

He spread the muscular cheeks of Lucas’s ass, taking a moment to look at his tight asshole. Damn, but he loved the sight of it. Rosy and perfectly formed, it made his cock jump just thinking of how tight it would be.

Lucas gasped a little as Aidan poured lube over the rosette of his ass, his thumb massaging in little circles. Lucas’s asshole puckered at first, but Aidan was patient. He rubbed and added lube and before too long, his thumb gained ground, spreading the slippery stuff where it was needed most.

He pulled his hand out and got between Lucas’s legs, making a place for himself there. Heat washed over him as he lined his cock up.

A low groan came from Lucas’s chest as Aidan started to shove his dick in.

He gripped Lucas’s hips, working his way in. He had to go slow with Lexi. Every single time he fucked her ass he had to be so careful. Not so with Lucas. Lucas pressed back, forcing Aidan’s cock deep into his hole.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. It felt so good. Heat enveloped him. Lucas’s asshole squeezed on his cock and he felt the hard nub of a prostate dragging on him.

Lucas’s dark head fell forward and he groaned in pleasure. “Yes, Master. You feel so good. Please fuck me hard. Make me feel it. I want to feel you all day long.”

Aidan knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted to be sore. He wanted that sweet ache that reminded him of how good the sex had been, of how hard they had gone after each other.

He took his clean hand and wound it around Lucas’s waist, gripping his straining cock and squeezing. “I’ll give you everything you want, sub. I’ll give you what you need.”

He pumped into Lucas’s ass as his hand worked over that hard cock.

Lucas fought him, aided him, got him even hotter with every thrust back that took him all the way to his root. He could feel his balls slapping Lucas’s skin even as they tightened up and prepared to shoot off.

The rough sounds of their fucking clashed with the soft beat of the shower, but Aidan reveled in all of it. He loved every hard groan that came from Lucas, every slap of flesh against flesh as he took his guy hard and fast.

The cock in his hand swelled and he knew Lucas was close.

“Come for me, sub. Come all over my hand. I want to feel it.”

“Yes, Master. Yes.” His lean body shuddered as cum started to coat Aidan’s hand.

The feel of that cum on his hand, spurting out of Lucas’s dick made Aidan crazy. He thrust in as deep as he could go and then Lucas tightened his hold, his ass nearly strangling Aidan’s cock.

He couldn’t hold out a second longer. He came in long thrusts, the cum pouring from his cock into his sub. Pleasure coursed through his system, making his eyes roll back, his brain sputter.

He fell onto Lucas, pressing his body against the tile and holding on to him for balance.

Warm water caressed his skin and he cuddled close to his guy.

Lucas turned his head slightly, just enough that Aidan could see that gorgeous shit-eating grin he got when he was really satisfied. “You’re definitely dirty, Master. I think I might need to clean you up again.”

Aidan moved in, kissing that mouth he loved so much. For the moment he could pretend all was right with his world.

* * *

Lexi closed her eyes as the words Aidan had said washed over her. She’d been trying to process them for twenty minutes.

I want to forget about her for two fucking seconds. I don’t want to think about it.

She’d stood outside the bathroom and listened in on them. It wasn’t like she’d followed them. She’d walked into the room trying to find a pen that worked, but she’d been caught by the sound of them kissing, tearing at each other’s clothes, making love.

And dismissing her from their thoughts.

She’d walked back out of the McNamara house without letting them know she’d been there. She’d found her way back to the main house where Jamie, Hope and Noah lived. Where her babies were playing, but she couldn’t get what she’d witnessed out of her head.

Aidan had sounded so tortured, as though he couldn’t stand to think about her for a single second.

He would hate her even more once he found out the truth—that she would be the one to cost him O’Malley Ranch, and it had all been over something stupid.

She had one chance and that was to hope that they held out long enough so she could get her big payday and offer it to help save the ranch. Or to buy new property.

Would he even take it from her? He’d turned her down a hundred times before. It was why she had everything she’d ever made. Aidan wanted to take care of her. Aidan wanted to be responsible.

And now he would find out just how irresponsible she was.

When she’d stood outside the door and listened in, she’d heard a smacking sound, a hand hitting flesh and Lucas’s low groan of pure pleasure. She could still hear it echoing in her mind.

That sound brought about an almost physical memory. She could almost feel their hands, slapping at the fleshy part of her ass, the sting and then the relief that followed, so hot and sweet. When that heat hit her, she could let go. Nothing else mattered in those moments except the sensations, the act of loving them.

Her skin flushed, her vision softening. How long since she’d been in subspace? How long since she’d just floated along without a worry in the world? Lucas would be there soon, but then Lucas hadn’t fucked up the way she had. Lucas wasn’t going to cost them their home.

She would have to tell Lucas eventually. She couldn’t save them alone. Lucas had money stashed, too, and they would need it. But she dreaded the fact that he would have to know.

She heard the faint sound of her daughter crying from another room.

She took a long breath and forced herself to stop the tears that were poised on the edges of her eyelids. She couldn’t let anyone know what she was going through. She hadn’t kept this from her husbands just to let one of her friends in on her burden. It was hers and hers alone to bear.

She hurried off to get Chelsea before anyone heard her and thought to call Lucas or Aidan. Sometimes Chelsea wouldn’t let anyone but her parents hold her. The last thing she wanted was to interrupt their intimacy. It was all they had left. It might be all she had to give them.

She wrote happy endings for a living, but she feared she was going to cost them all theirs.

Chapter Six:

Rafe


Rafe walked back into the living room, a tray of coffee in his hands. Damn, but he needed Laura here. She could handle this motley crew. He’d been dealing with them for almost an hour and he still hadn’t figured out why they were here.

Now he was playing hostess. My, how the mighty had fallen. He was now serving coffee and tea cakes. He hadn’t even realized they had tea cakes until he’d looked through the pantry.

He set down the tray and hoped that someone would get to the point soon.

Polly and Long-Haired Roger sat on opposite sides of the room, staring each other down from time to time. They were long-time rivals, though their businesses had nothing to do with one another. Long-Haired Roger—not to be confused with Roger, who actually had some hair and was rumored to have named himself king of Rogerland, a separate country from the US that existed only on his ten acres—was a mechanic. He had a shop and employed two mechanics, Rafe’s neighbors, Jesse and Cade. Polly ran the local hair salon. As far as Rafe could tell, their long-term feud had started over the Cut and Curl’s flashing neon pink lips that apparently gave Long-Haired Roger’s former dog seizures. They were always going after each other at town hall meetings. At one point in time the town had paid for therapy, but the poor therapist had fled after the second session and refused to come back.

So the fact that they were attempting to present a united front now made Rafe curious.

Stella had taken Sierra the minute she’d walked in the door, cooing and cuddling the baby girl as if she was her own. She paced as she talked, giving Sierra comforting little pats on her back. “This is serious, Rafe. Nothing like it has ever happened here before.”

Long-Haired Roger shook his head solemnly. “That’s because we only had one mayor. Hi’s been mayor for years. Forever it seems like. We’ve never had to deal with anything like this.”

“Something’s happened to the mayor?” Hiram Jones had been the mayor of Bliss since the moment the hippies who founded Bliss had realized that they needed someone who could deal with the surrounding cities. Rafe had heard the stories. Apparently Hiram had been elected because he was the only one who could deal with both the hippies and the ranchers.

Marie, the owner of the Trading Post with her life partner, Teeny, shook her head. “You could say that.”

“Hiram had a heart attack,” Zane explained.

Rafe was startled. Hiram seemed so healthy for a ninety-seven-year-old with nearly every ailment known to man. He could be seen walking the streets at least once a day, tipping his hat to everyone he met. “I am so sorry to hear about that. I genuinely like Hiram. How is he?”

Polly waved her hand. “He’s fine.”

“Polly, he’s dead,” Long-Haired Roger shot back. “Do you have a sensitive bone in your body?”

“Probably not.” A single shoulder shrugged up. “Well, I just meant that his body is fine.”

“How can his body be fine if he’s dead?” Rafe was a little stunned and utterly at a loss for why they were telling him this way. Were they going from house to house?

“We got to him quick enough. We shoved him in Zane’s freezer,” Polly explained as though she was talking about how she’d cut someone’s bangs.

Stella bounced Sierra a little. “It’s fine, Rafe. You know Zane. He has to buy everything completely oversized because he’s trying to outdo the rest of us.”

“Or I’m just not stingy with the cash and I like to make sure my customers get the best,” Zane replied.

He and Stella were friendly rivals. They each ran one of the two eateries in Bliss proper. Stella’s was known for having the best breakfast in Southern Colorado and Trio was a cozy tavern that apparently had a man-sized freezer that currently served as the former mayor of Bliss’s casket.

And none of this explained why they had come to talk to him. “If one of you needs a lawyer, you should go and talk to Gemma. She’s licensed in Colorado now. She can help you. Do you want me to call her?”

They all looked positively horrified. Long-Haired Roger took off his hat and swiped his hand across his head. “You can’t tell Gemma. God, man. That’s a horrible idea.”

Zane was in complete agreement. “Gemma would lick her chops at the implications. That girl loves to complicate things with silly little laws and ordinances.”

“Like not putting the town’s mayor in a deep freeze? There has to be some sort of code against that,” Rafe said.

Well, he’d wanted his mind off his anxieties. He definitely wasn’t thinking about his family trouble or finding a job. He was wondering if he was going to have to call Cam in to arrest the members of the Bliss Chamber of Commerce. Had one of them killed the poor mayor? Somehow he just couldn’t see it. He’d profiled the worst of America’s serial killers and while the five people in front of him might be clinically insane, they weren’t truly violent.