“All three of you?” Stef asked.
“We had just started a relationship the night before,” Rafe explained. “We hadn’t worked out the details yet.”
“So she was unsure about your intentions,” Stef continued. “And then she was taken and tortured.”
“But we were there for her,” Cam argued. God, there was a part of him that was still trying to figure out what had gone wrong.
Zane shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Look, I know what I’m talking about. When you’ve been through something like that, you feel utterly powerless. I know that some people would curl up and sink into the first affectionate person they could find, but people like me and Laura, we leave. I’m not talking about just walking away. We leave emotionally. We retreat because it’s easier than feeling. I was lucky. I had someone who wouldn’t let me fade away. Laura has made a comeback, but it took her a while. I don’t pretend to know exactly what she’s feeling, but everyone here has seen the way she looks at the two of you. She’s just scared.”
“I don’t know about that,” Rafe replied. “I think there’s a certain amount of anger in there, too. I think she blames us for what happened to her.”
“Then you make it up to her,” Stef said resolutely. “Are you in love with Laura?”
“Yes.” The word came out of both of their mouths at the same time, sounding as though their voices were one.
“Then you have to quit fighting and work together,” Nate said.
“The whole screwing her in my office was a good play, even if it was a little messy. But you need to take it further. You took turns.” Everyone shook their heads at Nate’s announcement.
“Like I said, amateurs,” Max whispered.
Max might get that ass kicking everyone thought he wanted.
His twin stepped forward. “You can’t view it like that. You have to take that girl down, and the best way to do it is together. You see, women are a little like horses. They’ll kick and buck and resist that saddle until you prove you can handle them. Then they like a real nice, smooth ride, if you know what I mean.” Cam was pretty sure he didn’t. “So, like at the same time?”
“He learns,” Max snarked.
“We’re not idiots,” Rafe interjected. “We’ve taken her together.”
“Have we?” Cam asked, suddenly kind of getting what they meant. “We’ve been in the same room. One of us has held her while the other one fucked her, but have we really taken her together? Have we really worked together or just been voyeurs?”
“It’s the same way in life as it is in sex,” Nate added. “You have to talk things out between the two of you. Cam just picked her up and walked out today. You didn’t look to Rafe. You left him behind to quit his job and deal with all the Bureau shit. Now, that’s fine and dandy if that’s the way your roles work. Trust me, I handle anything that requires a modicum of delicacy, and Zane’s job is to make sarcastic remarks.”
Cam wasn’t sure delicacy was the sheriff’s strong point. Maybe he and Rafe made a better team. Damn. Was he just the sarcastic one?
“And to give Callie multiple orgasms,” Zane interjected.
“I don’t need to hear that, Hollister,” Stef said with a sigh. “The point of this exercise is to let you two know that we’re here for you if you want advice or need to talk about how to make a ménage relationship work.”
“And we need your input, why?” Max asked. “You’re in a ménage with Jen and your collection of sex toys.”
Stef nodded and looked awfully superior. “Yes, that’s because I’m the smart one. None of my sex toys talk back. Well, that new one from Japan does.”
Nate looked at them seriously. “Are you two really interested in trying this? None of that taking-turns shit. You have to be in this together. You have to be a team.”
Cam looked at Rafe, almost afraid of his reply. Rafe had far more to lose than Cam. Cam’s mother would sigh and then get another beer. She wouldn’t reject him. Rafe was running a risk.
“Cam has always been my partner,” Rafe said. “Even when we weren’t working together. Yes, we’re serious.”
“Then you need a plan, my brother,” Rye said with a friendly smile. “We’re good with plans.”
Max looked at his brother like he’d gone insane. “No, we’re not.
We’re horrible at them. Rachel always sees right through them.”
“Well, I’m good at them,” Stef said with complete confidence.
There was a loud snort from outside the office.
Every male eye in the room rolled.
“That’s ten, love,” Stef called out. “Do you want to make it twenty?”
“Fine,” a feminine voice called from behind the door. “We’ll go.
Callie has to use the bathroom anyway. And Rachel needs to feed Paige.”
Max flushed. “My life was easier when the only ones hanging off my wife’s boobs were me and my brother.” Cam finally laughed. Long and hard. It was ridiculous. It wasn’t normal. He was standing here talking about how he was going to share the woman he loved with his best friend.
And he felt happier than he had in a long time.
Rafe doubled over, his hand coming out to balance against Cam’s shoulder.
Cam stayed still so his partner didn’t fall.
He was quiet as they started to talk about how to win Laura.
His pretty rabbit paced, her arms crossed. She could feel the connection. He was certain of it. There was a tension to her body that let him know she was anxious. She was impatient. He wondered if she’d missed him.
They had an intimate connection—far more intimate than any sex she could have had. He’d held her life in his hand. For the hours they had been together, he had been her god.
He was going to do it again, and no one could stop him. Certainly not the two idiots who sat beside him, talking about the case and making plans. They had sat beside him for years never realizing that the killer they were looking for was right in the room.
This was why he needed her. She was the only one to see through him. Oh, for certain, she hadn’t seen past his mask, but he wouldn’t make that mistake this time. This time he wouldn’t wear the mask. No theatrics between them.
His cock hardened. It almost never did that anymore. Certainly when he was with one of his charges, administering discipline, he would become aroused, but almost never when he was simply thinking about it.
His rabbit did this for him.
He wouldn’t be able to hold it in. He answered his colleague on some meaningless point of procedure, but his brain was looking around the room.
So many ladies. And so many of them were naughty.
He would have liked to play with the one who tried to take her clothes off in a public forum, but her husband had saved her.
A pretty redhead walked behind a man.
“You don’t have to do this, Caleb. I really can get a ride with Laura,” the woman said. “I live right next door.”
“No.” The man simply herded her out the door.
Obviously they weren’t married. He wondered if the man with the gold and red hair would drop her at her doorstep. He doubted those two were having sex. These cabins were so easy to get into. No one here really protected themselves. He wondered if his rabbit would appreciate a friendly gift.
“I’m heading back to the motel,” the Marquis de Sade said, stretching and standing. “Nothing’s going to happen tonight. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
They nodded and gave him a friendly goodbye.
On his way out the door, he bumped into that obnoxious reporter.
She rolled her eyes.
“Excuse you,” she said with a huff as she fixed her hair and charged into the room past him.