Chapter Nine #2
“To check on how you were doing after last night. Miss Mazie said you might need help setting your office up.” His voice was gruff from his own arousal.
He could jack off later or go down to the dungeon and use one of the masturbators.
But Katie… She would have to wait since they’d ordered her not to come without their permission.
“She did?” Confusion showed on her face.
Jed placed his fingers under her chin and tilted it up. “Yes. What do you need?”
“A long, hard fuck.” Katie closed her eyes. “Damn it, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
Jed snagged her around the waist. “We’ll have to wait on that long, hard fuck. But I promise you will have it.”
She blew out a breath. “Frustration is thy name.” Her gaze drifted to his groin, and his cock pulsed.
Jed slapped her ass, and she jumped. “Concentrate, Katie.”
“Yes, boss.” She snapped him a salute.
“You got that right. I’m the boss.” He grinned at her. “What do you need for the office?” Crisis averted.
“Chair, file cabinet, and internet.”
“Let’s drive over to Monroe. They’ve got a good office supply store, and you can get what you need.”
“I’ll go put on my shoes and get my purse.” Katie danced out of the room.
His cell phone rang, and he snatched it off of the desk. “Ry.”
“So why did Katie want to damage your balls?”
“I overheard her on the phone and jumped to the conclusion she was talking to a man.”
“And was she?” Ry’s voice hardened. Past events made them both leery.
“No, and she made it clear she didn’t appreciate my, shall we say, jumping to the wrong conclusion.”
Ry laughed. “I take it your balls are still intact?”
“Yeah.” Jed rubbed the back of his neck. Confession time. “I screwed up.”
“How?”
“We’re in Miss Mazie’s house, and I took advantage of Katie with foreplay. It was a hard limit not to do anything in the house.”
“Did you ignore her safe word?”
“No. She didn’t say it, but I should have remembered.” Jed paced around the office.
“I agree. Is Katie upset?”
“No. She was actually very understanding.” In a way that made Jed feel worse.
“We’re going to make mistakes Jed. As long as you didn’t hurt Katie, and you stopped when you realized what you were doing. I say no harm no foul.”
Jed released a breath. “I’ll do better.”
“Of course you will. What are you doing today?”
Jed’s shoulders relaxed. “I’m taking Katie to Monroe to pick her up some office furniture and supplies.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re there to keep an eye on her.”
“Ry, Katie isn’t like other women.”
“I know.” Ry blew out a breath.
“She’s coming back now. Talk to you later.”
Katie appeared in the doorway. “I’m ready.”
“Then let’s go.” He took her arm and escorted her out to his truck.
* * * *
Four hours later, Ry pulled up to Miss Mazie’s house, got out of the SUV, and strolled up to Jed, who was shaking his head. His truck was full to the brim with office furniture and supplies.
“Is this all Katie’s?”
“Yep.” Jed rubbed his neck.
“Hey, Ry,” Katie said as she came out of the house.
“Hi, Katie.” Ry snagged her by the waist and gave her a quick kiss before releasing her. God, he loved the feel of her soft lips.
“You didn’t have to come over. I could help Jed get this stuff in the house.”
“This is man’s work,” Jed said, puffing his chest out.
Katie laughed, and Ry couldn’t help but grin.
She was in good spirits today. His gut unclenched a bit.
The incident last night didn’t seem to be affecting her.
That was good. Now he could wonder about all the office supplies.
“We don’t want you to hurt yourself.” Ry leaned over and whispered in her ear, “That’s our job. ”
A blush crept over Katie’s cheeks, and Ry glanced at Jed, who had a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” Ry said. “I only have an hour for lunch.”
An hour later, everything was unloaded, and the furniture in place except for the office chair. “I’ll let Jed put the chair together,” Ry said.
“Thanks.” Jed gave him the finger.
Ry pulled Katie into his arms. “Dinner tonight at the house, and then we’re going to discuss why you’re setting up this office.”
“Yeah, you mentioned something about clients this morning,” Jed said.
“You don’t know?” Katie glanced between Jed and him. She wiggled her eyebrows. “Well, it’s to start taking reservations for your dungeon, of course. There’s a big call for playrooms like yours.”
“What?” Jed roared, and Ry laughed. Katie could always make him laugh, and it had been a long time since he felt this good around a woman.
“I’m only teasing.” Katie held her hand out to Jed, who took it. “I’m not about to advertise our activities.”
Ry’s radio went off. “Okay, I’m off. See you both later.” One quick kiss on Katie’s lips and a pointed look at Jed.
“What was that look about?” Katie asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jed opened the chair box and began unpacking it.
“I’ll figure it out.”
“You do that,” Ry said, striding toward the front door.
The doorbell rang. “Yeah, that’s the internet guy.” She spun on her heel, ducked around him, and ran ahead of him.
* * * *
Katie settled down on the sofa after dinner that night, waiting for Ry and Jed. She’d had a fun afternoon setting up her office and getting everything into place. She glanced up as both men walked into the room and took their seats on either side of her. Her pulse sped up.
“So, Katie, what are you going to do in this new office of yours?” Ry asked.
Katie smiled. “Well, one of the things I did while I was in New York was become a CPA with a specialty in forensic accounting.”
Jed whistled, and Ry shook his head. “You always had a way with numbers,” Ry said.
“Yes, and I really enjoy the work.” She did. That was one thing her father couldn’t take away from her no matter how much he tried.
“And the clients you have?” Jed asked.
“Mainly people I keep books for as a CPA. When I was working for my…” She bit her lip. She really didn’t want to bring her father’s name up.
“Go on,” Ry urged.
“When I was working for my father, I worked in the accounting department. Kind of boring.”
“Nothing you do is boring,” Jed said.
“Now that we have that out of the way, we need to talk about the past,” Ry said. The two men scooted closer to her. “We really should have discussed this before last night. I’ve been remiss. Did we scare you away when you were eighteen?” Ry asked, his voice low and husky.
Katie shook her head. She wasn’t ready to talk about this yet. But… Ry began rubbing the nape of her neck as Jed rubbed her back. Her fears started to lessen.
“We need to understand why you ran, Katie,” Jed said.
“Can’t it be enough that I’m back?” She closed her eyes against the conflicting sensations of the soothing movements of their hands against her neck and back and her stomach churning with fear she didn’t want to acknowledge.
“It won’t work if we don’t talk about why you left,” Ry said.
“It’s been working just fine so far. Why aren’t we in the dungeon?” She’d rather be there with them than having this discussion.
“Because we need to talk,” Ry said.
“Isn’t that a woman’s line?” She wanted to pull away from them, but she didn’t. Their touch was soothing.
Jed laughed. “It might be, but Ry is right.”
Work-rough hands cupped her chin, lifting it. When had she lowered her head? She wanted to hide, but they weren’t going to let her.
“Nothing you can say will change anything between us, Katie.” Ry feathered his fingers from her temple to her neck.
“Except if you ask us to leave you alone. But based on what has happened already, you want us,” Jed said.
“Yes, I want you both.” That wasn’t hard to admit because she did want them both. Unnatural. The word filtered through her brain and tension seeped back into her bones.
“What happened, Kitty Kat?” Jed whispered in her ear.
She shook her head and bolted off the sofa, away from their touch. “I can’t.” Katie wrapped her arms around herself. Why couldn’t she tell them? They needed to know why she left and why she came back.
Maybe because she blamed herself for her own stupidity in listening to people who wanted nothing more than to use her.
Even after she had all the evidence in hand, she still wanted to believe in her father, but as the cliché went, there is one straw that broke the camel’s back.
That straw came in a form she was still having issues comprehending.
But they were right. She needed to explain what happened, even if it made her look foolish.
“The night of my eighteenth birthday was magical.” The words spilled from her lips without conscious thought.
“You two made sure of it.” She paced the floor, trying to contain her nervousness.
“We made love that night, the three of us. Oh, maybe not the way you wanted to.” Her lips flitted upward. “But it was still us three.”
A shiver climbed up her spine as she remembered that night.
From the time she was fourteen, she’d had a crush on Ry and Jed.
Of course she’d been too young to fully understand the family dynamic.
When she turned seventeen, they hung out at her gran’s tea shop when she was working.
The girls in her high school would hang out there as well, and Katie would overhear them gossiping.
She ignored most of it, especially when they started discussing sex. Then her eighteenth birthday had arrived.
The men had shown up at her party, looking delicious. She’d flirted with them. Then the next night, they snuck into her bedroom. She’d known then she wanted these two. Gran always told her to follow her heart, and her heart had led her to Ry and Jed.
Jed had held her close as Ry took her virginity, and then Ry caressed her as Jed made love to her. They’d been more than gentle with her, and to this day, she still trembled with pleasure.
“The next day you were gone,” Ry said, his tone rough.