Hooking Up (Menage a Trouble #3)

Chapter Four

The pretty bartender pushed an ice-cold longneck in Quint’s direction with a wink. “Haven’t seen you in here, Cowboy.”

He tossed a bill onto the bar for the beer and hooked his finger around the bottle. “Just passin’ through.”

“With the rodeo? I see plenty of cowboy hats in here tonight.” She glanced around.

He nodded. “You ever rodeo?”

A high-pitched laugh escaped her, the sound putting him off as fast as a case of crabs. He turned from the bar before she answered, but she called, “Never rodeo’d but I ride the mechanical bull like a pro!”

He waved and headed deep into the crowd. Yeah, she was cute enough. If he got past her laugh, he could score her. Trouble was, since he’d set his sights on Bella, no woman was good enough.

After a long, tense drive with Carter at his side, he was ready to cut loose a little. He couldn’t really be angry with Carter, but he didn’t feel all that friendly with him at the moment either.

He passed his buddy’s table with a chin-nod of recognition. Carter returned it with a jerk of his head. Quint sauntered up to a few guys standing in a half-circle around the mechanical bull the bartender had mentioned.

“That thing looks rickety. I bet it breaks down in the first rotation.” The low twang of a true Colorado cowboy drew Quint’s attention.

He thrust his hand at Buck Calhoun. “Haven’t seen you in the past three towns. What the hell happened to you? We thought you fell out of rodeoing.”

Buck gave him a crooked smile and shake of his hand. “Nah, just a hiatus. Had to take care of family business. We’re back now and looking to win. Isn’t that right, Ash?” He thumped his own team roping partner on the shoulder, and Asher nodded agreement.

Quint looked closer at Asher. The man’s normally tanned face looked pale, and strain revealed itself around each eye in the form of dark shadows. Whatever that family business was must be on Asher’s end, because Buck didn’t look as affected as his friend. And the Calhouns were a tight group. Five brothers and a sister, all competing in different events. Rumor was they were trying to earn money to save their ranch.

Another guy in their ring hooted, and Quint turned his attention from the state of mind of his competitors to the mechanical bull. A spotlight lit the mangy leather hide covering the nuts and bolts of the bull.

“It’s time to spice things up here tonight!” an unseen person announced through the speaker system. The country music was lowered, and women flocked to the area, nudging each other to get in line.

Quint brought his beer to his lips. This would be fun. He was never one to turn a blind eye to a pretty girl, even if none of them matched up to Bella’s perfection.

“Best score of the night wins a Snappy’s Bar T-shirt and free drinks for the rest of the night!”

Loud cheers.

“Oh fuck no.”

Quint looked up to see Carter beside him, his face mottled red with fury. Following Carter’s gaze, he felt his throat close around the beer he’d just swallowed. A violent cough erupted from him as he set eyes on Bella right at the head of the line.

In skin-tight jeans and a plaid top knotted at her midriff, she was striking. Add that sliver of tanned belly and a hint of cleavage and she was walking sex.

And she was about to compete. Every man in the joint would be drooling over her, but that couldn’t happen. Quint didn’t have enough stamina to beat the shit out of every man here.

I’ll give it the old cowboy try, though.

He set his beer on a table behind him and folded his arms across his chest. Carter issued a low growl. “Dammit, this can’t end well,” his friend said.

No, it would end very well, with Bella riding the bull with all the sex appeal of an exotic dancer. Which of course was the real problem. She was targeted enough without exploiting herself.

When she tossed her hair, laughing, Quint narrowed his eyes at her. She was a little too flushed, her eyes a little too bright.

“Is she drunk?”

“Tipsy, I’d say. Son of a bitch.” Carter’s jaw muscle worked as he looked on.

The muscles all the way down Quint’s spine tightened. If Bella wasn’t a hundred-percent in possession of her wits, she’d be hit on by more creeps than he’d be able to fend off.

But Carter looked more than willing to take on a few.

“Our first rider is Miss Bella Roberts! This championship barrel racer has been known to ride a bull or two in her lifetime. Ready, Bella?”

She nodded, her hair tumbling around her shoulders. When she raised a hand to wave at the crowd gathered around the bull, her top pulled tight across her breasts, revealing a small opening big enough for Quint to slip his finger inside.

His cock hardened at the thought of all that warmth radiating off her skin. He tried to catch her eyes, but she wasn’t paying attention to anything but the bull. With a sexy flip of her leg, she straddled the beast.

“Fucking hell,” Carter groaned.

I know the feeling. Quint’s jeans were suddenly two sizes too small. His balls started to throb.

When she wiggled her fine little ass to situate herself on the back, Quint felt his eyes roll back in his head. If he looked around, he’d see every man in the same state. Well, except maybe Asher, who was married with two kids. But a man would have to be dead not to notice Bella.

She shimmied down toward the neck, which pointed sharply to the floor. Around the bull a bunch of foam cubes would cushion her fall, but he’d seen her ride a flesh and blood, pissed-off bull. She’d have to be a lot drunker to land in the foam.

The music started with the first whip of the bull. It swung backward, she compensated with one arm waving in the air. Her breasts pushed out. Her fucking thighs gripping the sides like a champion.

Quint’s need compounded, and he found himself grinding his teeth. The bull started whipping her, and Bella kept her seat, rocking up and down. Hell, an eighty-year-old woman would look sexy on a mechanical bull. The action was sexy as hell. But since it was Bella, every man—and probably a few women—were riveted on her.

Carter nudged his fly, adjusting his own boner. Fuck, this was bad. Real bad.

Quint’s vocal chords ached to yell for the charade to stop, but Bella rode out her full eight seconds. Ten. Twelve.

“Time’s up!” he hollered.

Someone elbowed him in the back. “Hey, buddy, don’t make them stop her.”

He turned to glare at the guy but had no idea which man in the sea of faces had struck him. Twisting back around, he welcomed the blare of the buzzer. Bella’s hair trickled into her eyes, and she tossed it back like a fucking porn star.

To dismount, she lay back on the bull and made a show of rolling into the foam. A half dozen men rushed forward to offer her a hand up, but Quint and Carter were there first, hauling her bodily out of the foam pit and dragging her several feet away.

She focused on Quint and then Carter. “You guys better keep your distance.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask why, but then the buzzer sounded and another woman was in the spotlight. She didn’t ooze sex appeal like Bella or even stay on very long. When she was tossed into the foam, only one man was there to pick her up. Another took her place.

“How’d I do, boys?” Bella had another drink in her hand. Where had she gotten it?

Quint’s protective instincts were suddenly a wild animal, pacing back and forth in front of her. He stared down a man, daring him to try anything. When he glanced over at Carter, he saw him standing bodyguard too.

At least he had backup. The strangeness of the situation hit him—they both wanted Bella but in protecting her, they were a solid wall no one could breach. That familiar sense of camaraderie flooded Quint.

“You did fine, Bella,” Carter said tightly when she asked a second time.

“Just fine?” She swigged.

Quint had never seen her drink very much. What was bringing this on? It couldn’t be their encounter earlier and their admission that they’d both kissed her.

She was as effervescent as ever, fizzing with life and energy and liquid sex. “I kicked ass up there. I’m winning those free drinks.” She tipped her glass into her mouth and swallowed the contents in one big gulp.

Again, Quint’s balls clenched, but he ignored it. Someone else tried to put a fresh glass into her hand, but Quint knocked his hand aside. The drink sloshed onto the floor, and Bella pressed her beautiful lips into a pout. Each freckle seemed to beckon to him.

Jesus, she’s killing me.

Too easily he pictured her lips wrapped around his cock. Not tonight, though. When she came to his bed, she’d be totally sober.

“You don’t need any more drinks, Bella.” Carter’s rough tone suggested he wasn’t immune to her pout either. Damn, she was so cute.

And every grind of her pussy against that bull was emblazoned on his memory. He’d be beating off to it for a month.

So will every guy here.

She started to walk away, but Carter snaked his arm around her shoulders and tucked her solidly against his side. It would normally bug the shit out of Quint, but right now, he just wanted Bella safe from any predatory males who didn’t have the same morals they did. She was safe in their hands—at least until she had the wits to say yes. Then it was game on, and they’d love her long into the next morning. Hell, the next week.

Wait—what was he thinking? They weren’t a team when it came to the bedroom.

He shot Carter a glare for having his arm around Bella, but he didn’t remove it. She wiggled out from under his arm, and Quint took the opportunity to snag her in his hold. God, she was all tight, wicked curves that he couldn’t touch.

“We need to get her out of here.”

“No, I wanna see if I won!” She leaned heavily against him even as she pushed up the brim of Carter’s hat. He looked at her in surprise. “You’re too pretty to hide under your hat.”

He gave Quint a self-satisfied smile that Quint wanted to knock off his face. But at least she was staying put right now instead of trying to escape. He didn’t want to pick her up, toss her over his shoulder and carry her out of here, but he would. Tempting as it would be, he wouldn’t even cop a feel.

“You guys feel better?” she slurred.

“What?” Quint leaned closer, catching a scent of her underlying honeysuckle smell even if it was buried beneath the notes of too many drinks.

“Your…” she waved a hand in front of her face, “stuffy head. Did it go away?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. Why don’t we find a table and sit down?”

“No, I have to stand here and intimidate the other women. It’s a trick we all do, watching each other compete.”

Damn, she was a force to be reckoned with. A hurricane wind of temper and untamed female. The idea of her standing by watching her competitors made him smile.

Two more women took their seats on the bull—and then their backs in the foam pit. After everyone had taken a turn, the announcer held up the trophy T-shirt. “The winner, with the best score and technique, is Bella!”

She jumped up and down, the side of her heel landing on the toe of Quint’s boot. He steadied her, but she launched herself forward to claim her prize. As soon as she accepted the T-shirt, she wrapped it around her neck like a scarf and took a drink in each hand. Before he and Carter could stop her, she tossed back both shots.

“Jesus Christ. Let’s get her out of here before she needs her stomach pumped.” Quint looped an arm around her and dragged her out of the spotlight.

“No, I’m not finished here. I have to take my victory ride.”

“Not in this state, you’re not.” Carter’s tone was an electric fence, forbidding her to question it.

She did anyway. “You don’t own me. Nobody owns me.”

“Of course not, Bella. But you’re not safe here.”

She looked around. “What the hell are you talking about? I don’t see any ninjas.”

Quint couldn’t stop the bark of laughter from escaping. “Time to go, darlin’.” He plucked her off her feet. Carter took her by the calves and together, they carried her through the crowd of protestors.

* * * * *

“She’ll be more comfortable in her trailer,” Quint said, a squirming Bella between them.

“Yeah, but we don’t have her key.”

“It’s probably in her pocket.”

“As much as I like the thought of digging through her pockets, I’m not going to. It wouldn’t be gentlemanly. That means we’re taking her to our room.” Carter had been gnashing his teeth for the last twenty steps. The feel of her round, hard calves in his hands invited images of throwing her legs over his shoulders and sliding home.

“Fine.”

“Put me down!” Bella grunted and tried to rip herself from their holds. Quint adjusted his grip. She kicked wildly, and Carter let her legs slip. Before she hit the ground, he caught her.

“Let me have her, Quint. You go ahead and open the motel room door.”

Quint nodded and they set her on her feet. She started to tip over.

“Oh no you don’t. Face-planting on the asphalt isn’t good for your pretty face. C’mon, sassy pants.” Carter whipped her over his shoulder and started walking. Quint strode ahead, and in no time they’d reached their motel. The slightly greenish glow of the overhead light illuminated their door.

Carter wished they had someplace nicer to take her, but she probably would have no recollection of anything but the toilet anyway. He had a feeling as soon as the alcohol hit her fully, she’d become intimate with the porcelain throne.

Her weight over his shoulder felt just right, and he longed to cradle her against his chest. But the minute he made this less about getting her safely into a bed was the minute he lost control. As it was, her tormenting ass riding high in the air had him as hard as steel.

Need pounded him as her sweet scents filled his nose. By the time Quint got the door open, he was burning.

“Take her,” he grated out.

“Too heavy for you?” Quint quipped, drawing her into his arms.

“Who you calling heavy?”

“You’re not heavy at all, sweetheart, but you are driving me crazy.”

Quint shot him a look that said he understood exactly what Carter was experiencing. Yet he carried Bella to the bed and gently lay her down. She popped up immediately, her eyes fever-bright. The alcohol was definitely keeping her rowdier than usual.

Quint pressed a hand on her shoulder and guided her back down onto the mattress. “Just rest, darlin’. Let some of that tequila wear off.”

“What about the whiskey?”

“Jesus, how much did you drink?” Quint scrubbed a hand over his face. Carter felt the same—as if he’d been smacked over the head with a fluff of angel wings. Bella stared up at them each with a cherubic expression on her face.

“Not much. People kept putting them in my hand. What was I supposed to do?”

“Turn them down. Here, lie back.” Carter propped up two pillows and Quint eased her down on them. With her hair spread over the cotton and her lips looking as if she’d just been kissed for half an hour, Carter was at his snapping point.

“I can’t stay in this room tonight,” he choked.

“Then don’t.” Quint sounded all too cheerful.

“On second thought, I’ll be fine.”

“Asshole.”

“Dickhead.” Neither of their insults held any heat. Quint sank to the edge of the bed as if prepared to force Bella to stay there.

But she made no move to get up. In fact, she snuggled down and curled on one side. God, how was Carter going to get any sleep when she was in his bed looking like a goddess? When her eyelids closed, each dark lash seemed to stand out.

“She was sexy as hell on that bull.” Carter sounded as if his throat was a size too small.

“Christ, she did.” Quint rubbed his hand over his face again, his shoulders slumping.

“I did great,” she murmured.

Carter and Quint reached for her at the same time. Carter smoothed the hair off her brow and Quint stroked her cheek. For some reason it felt as natural as breathing, and not a hint of the green-eyed snake reared its head.

Another sort of snake wanted to come out and play, though. Carter rubbed a tendril of her silky hair between his thumb and forefinger before stepping back. If he touched her for another minute, he didn’t trust his primal instincts not to take things further.

He crossed the room and dropped into the hard chair. Quint got up too and pulled out the other chair surrounding the small table. It wobbled as he sat, sending an old bottle of water rolling. Quint caught it and set it carefully on the surface.

Both of them stared at the sleeping woman for a long minute. A small stuttering sigh left her, and Carter’s chest felt too tight. He swallowed hard. “How are we supposed to deal with this attraction we both have for her?”

“I don’t know, man. It’s apparent she likes both of us, but rather than choose, she’ll walk away from us both.”

Carter watched her chest rise and fall, an unbelievable tenderness weaving through him and winding up around his heart. Time ticked by. A few doors down, someone started having noisy sex.

The corner of Carter’s lips twisted up, and Quint shot him an amused smile. “At least someone’s getting action tonight.”

“Maybe we keep her trapped here until she sleeps off her hangover, and then we make our move.” The words popped out unbidden. Carter blinked, and Quint gave a small jerk.

“ We make our move?”

He met his friend’s gaze. Was he seriously considering sharing Bella with his friend?

He slid his attention to the sleeping woman. She’d thrown one arm outward, and her fingers curled up like the vulnerable petals of a flower.

With everything in his being, he wanted her. Quint wanted her too.

“We are a team, and we work well together. Why don’t we ask her when she wakes up?” he asked.

Quint raised a brow but didn’t reply.

* * * * *

If Quint got any harder, he’d pass out from lack of blood flow to his brain. He needed to strip off his clothes and stretch out alongside Bella, to shape her body to his and give her all the pleasure he suspected she’d never had. Not many men could handle a woman like her.

But he could.

Carter too.

For the hundredth time that night, Quint considered what his friend had said. Share her? Had Carter actually meant they should take her…together? He wasn’t ready to ask for clarification.

He’d heard of some guys sharing women before. Hell, it might take both of them to tame the feisty cowgirl.

He rested his elbows on his knees, aching. Watching. Bella was getting restless in her sleep. When she woke, he planned to ply her with coffee and hangover cures. He didn’t know how she handled her liquor, but she was a tough chick. She probably would pop out of bed, ready to argue with them.

A ghost of a smile passed over his face.

“She’s fucking beautiful.” The reverence in Carter’s voice had also been bouncing around Quint’s brain for several hours while Bella slept.

“I know.” He pushed off his knees and sat back in the hard chair. There was an extra double bed which neither of them were willing to use. He didn’t want to fall asleep and awaken to Carter getting down and dirty with Bella. Then again, if she wasn’t with Quint, he’d want her to be with Carter.

His mouth was dry, so he opened the old bottle of water and drank it. Carter rubbed his hands through his hair, leaving it sticking up in spikes. Quint eyed him.

“I know you want to ask something. Just say it, man.” Carter sounded as weary as Quint felt. At least their rodeo goddess was getting some rest.

“Okay,” he said slowly, trying to organize his thoughts. “Did you really mean…we should share her?”

“Yes. Maybe. Hell, I don’t know.” Carter got up and paced the short distance between the table and the foot of the bed where Bella lay.

“Let’s discuss this like the rational people we are. Sit,” Quint said.

Tossing him a look that was part glare, part agreement, Carter strode back and dropped into his seat. They both leaned forward and rested their elbows on their knees. When Carter realized how much alike they really were, he sat upright again.

“You think you could actually watch me touching her, kissing her?” Quint asked.

“I don’t know. But it seems like a bad idea to make her choose. She’s not a woman you tie down.”

“No, but we could tie her up.”

They shared a grin, and suddenly things were a bit easier between them.

“She’s just wild enough to maybe try two men at once, you know,” Carter said quietly.

“Yeah, she is.”

She was waking more. Her breathing changed and her eyelids started to flutter. She rolled onto her side facing them and pulled her knees up to her chest. During the night Quint had gotten up and removed her boots. They were lined up beside his and Carter’s. Funny how they didn’t look out of place.

“So if she agreed to this insane idea of yours and we both have her in bed...” Quint glanced sidelong at his partner. “How does that work?”

“Um, you’ve seen a porn or two, buddy. I’m sure you can figure it out.”

“But what about…” He waved between them.

“Us?”

“Yeah.”

Carter’s voice was low when he said, “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. At night when I hear you jacking off in the next bed?” When you were as close as he and Carter were—living, sleeping and working together almost every day of their lives, it was easy to let his mind wander to that type of relationship.

“Have you thought about it?” Quint sounded strangled.

“Look, don’t get uptight. We’d focus all our efforts on her.”

They both looked at the bed and their sleeping beauty. She groaned and then grabbed her head as if the sound had hurt.

It probably did.

He jumped to his feet and went to her. She moaned again, cradling her skull.

Carter shot into the bathroom. Running water sounded. He came back with a cold cloth, which he handed to Quint. He folded it neatly and draped it over her forehead.

“Oh God,” she whimpered.

“Does this make it worse?” he asked, leaning over her, careful not to rock the mattress.

“No, it feels good,” she barely whispered.

“I have pain reliever in my bag.” Carter rummaged around until he came out with a pill bottle. He dumped two in his hand and held them out for her.

Cracking a bloodshot eye, she waved a hand. “More. Two won’t do it.”

He gave her four pills and she sat up. Quint grabbed a new bottle of water from the mini bar, uncaring if they were charged five bucks for it. Her comfort was first.

“The room’s spinning.” Damn, she was cute when hungover. She was always such a strong woman who knew her mind, and seeing her remotely vulnerable fed that vein of tenderness in Quint.

After uncapping the bottle, he handed it to her. She sat there in a daze as if unsure what to do.

“Go on and take the pills, sweetheart. Then you can sleep it off some more.”

“What day is it?”

“Friday.”

“We don’t have to compete till tomorrow.”

“That’s right,” he assured, resting a hand on her shoulder, his need mounting just by being near her.

“Thank God,” she grated out and carefully slid a pill onto her tongue. She swallowed it with a sip of water, wincing between pills. “It hurts to drink.”

“Good thing we stopped you when we did then. You’d be in worse shape.”

When she looked at him, all grumpy poutiness, he couldn’t help but smile. “I didn’t get all my free drinks. How did I get to your room? Did we…?” She looked down at her fully clothed body. “Guess not.”

“Of course not. We don’t take advantage of women who aren’t clear enough to make a decision. Now lie back and sleep, sweetheart.”

Carter, standing on the opposite side of the bed, smoothed the messy hair on her brow. “Sleep, darlin’.”

She closed her eyes before she eased herself back on the pillows. In seconds she was out cold again, leaving them to stare at each other.

“Dammit, I want her bad,” Quint said.

“Bad enough to share her?”

He wasn’t ready to answer that but looking down at her, he thought that yeah, he wanted her that bad.

But in the end, Bella held the reins.