Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Erin lifted her face toward the ceiling and took in the mouth-watering scent permeating Dylan’s wing of the house. “Smells like breakfast.”
Dylan’s nostrils flared as he also sniffed. “Sure does.”
She pressed a hand to her empty belly. “Do you think Dani would mind us joining her?”
They had an active night. They started in one of the playrooms, where Ford was first tied down. They then moved to the farmhouse where they bound her face-down on Dylan’s bed and “tortured” her by flogging and fucking her until she had multiple orgasms.
It was absolute torture.
She smiled softly at the memory.
On a chuckle, Dylan answered, “She should know by now that’s expected,” drawing her back to the present.
Dylan’s sense of humor and joy of life was coming out more and more every day. Back in high school he was normally reserved, and he seemed to be even worse when he first landed back in Fisher Falls.
Formerly uptight and inflexible, he was now a different person. More easy-going. He smiled a lot more. He laughed out loud and with abandon. He cracked jokes. If he spotted Erin, he’d pull her into a nearby closet for privacy and a quick make-out session. He did the same with Ford.
And she knew that because they told her every time they had intimate contact. She didn’t demand it, they volunteered that information. One time she even made them do a replay of the quick blowjob Dylan gave Ford so she could watch.
Though, even months later, he and Ford were still trying to outdo each other. They managed to turn an intense competition into more of a playful game between them. One they fed off of to keep the triad’s sex life hopping and popping.
She couldn’t imagine the desire to one-up each other would ever change since they were both Doms at heart.
Of course, she always benefitted from their silly competitions, so it didn’t upset her in the least. In fact, the two men were getting along better than ever. They spent more time with each other than previously, too, and not because of work. If Erin had to guess, they were becoming fast friends in addition to being lovers.
Whenever they had sex together, it was such a turn-on for her. It wasn’t only about the physical intimacy, either. It was those moments she’d catch them being emotionally intimate with each other. A brush of fingers. A glimpse. An unspoken message.
Seeing them like that made her heart swell.
When they shared the same touches, looks and messages with her, her heart exploded.
So, yes, she could deal with them occasionally bumping heads as long as their relationship kept developing. Because as long as it did, the bond between the three of them would grow that much stronger.
Her personal opinion was, Dylan loosened up once he agreed to become a switch—albeit reluctantly—instead of strictly being a Dom. While bottoming for Ford, he could lose control without losing who he was at his very core.
After months of being a part of the threesome and learning to share and love each other, he was also allowing more of his kinky desires to surface. A sign he’d been stifling himself.
Maybe in the past he hadn’t felt safe enough with anyone to allow himself that. If it wasn’t for Ford, Erin might still be in the same boat. Her long-time lover helped slip off her blindfold of restrictive societal norms so she could see the warm and welcoming light of day.
“True,” Ford agreed with Dylan. “If it isn’t us crashing the kitchen for her cooking, then it’s Dayne and whoever he corralled for the night.”
“Though,” Erin started, “Dani seemed a bit miffed when your brother invited three women he’d had an orgy with to sit and join us at the table one morning.”
Ford laughed softly. “That made some interesting breakfast conversation.”
“She was only annoyed because they were guests. They could’ve eaten for free at the lodge,” Dylan explained.
“I don’t think Dayne was done with them yet,” Ford added.
“Apparently, since they didn’t even stick around long enough to help clean up.” Dylan shook his head. “I have no idea how my bonehead twin satisfies three women at the same time.”
“Maybe he doesn’t,” Ford answered. “It could be they have to satisfy each other while he puts in minimal effort.”
“That would be par for the course when it comes to Dayne,” Dylan said on a laugh.
Ford warned, “Well, let’s go snag some seats before Dayne comes out of his wing like the Pied Piper leading a trail of his conquests and we’re then forced to head up to the lodge for breakfast.”
Erin wanted to avoid that, if possible. “I’d prefer not to eat at the lodge. While the cooks are great and so is the food, Dani has a culinary touch that’s unmatched. That said, I’ve never heard a single complaint from the guests about the food made by the kitchen staff. Suggestions, yes. Complaints, no.”
“That’s good and hopefully continues. It wouldn’t be good for business if the food sucked since their stay is all-inclusive. If they had to leave the ranch for a decent meal elsewhere, that wouldn’t be good.”
Erin agreed. They wanted guests to have everything they needed without being forced to leave the resort. At least until their stay was over. They wanted guests to be sad they had to check out, not be happy to escape. Plus, it wasn’t like Fisher Falls was a tourist town with a bunch of offerings for non-locals. Hence, the decision to be all-inclusive. “A guest did request later hours for the kitchen, though. For those late-night munchies. With all the resort’s activities, they do tend to work up an appetite.”
“I know we do,” Ford said.
Dylan’s brow scrunched low. “What do they want, the kitchen open twenty-four hours a day?”
Erin shrugged. “I told them that was impossible due to staffing.”
“And a possible waste of food.”
Of course, as a good business owner, Dylan would consider the cost of food waste when it came to the resort. He wanted it to make money, not bleed it. Too many local residents and families now relied on the ranch as their main source of income, as well as for benefits.
She glanced at Dylan. That included the Lyons family. “That, too. But we could set up an area where beverages and non-perishable snacks are available at all hours.”
“We originally discussed having a little café,” Dylan said. “I’ll mention it to my sister again as I’m scarfing down her blueberry pancakes.”
Erin’s ears perked up and her mouth watered. “You smell pancakes?”
Dylan shrugged. “It’s either that or waffles.”
Erin mmm ’d. “I hope it’s her buttermilk waffles.”
“Can we stop guessing and go eat?” Ford asked impatiently. “Talking doesn’t fill this empty pit in my stomach.”
Dylan shot him a wicked grin. “I could fill it up, if you want.”
Ford hooked a thumb at Dylan and dramatically mouthed to Erin, “Who is this guy?”
Apparently, he had also noticed the change in Dylan.
She smiled, and with Ford’s arm hooked around her neck, they headed through the door between Dylan’s residence and the shared kitchen.
By now, their appearance was no longer a shock to his siblings. It had become a normal occurrence for them to all sit down together and share meals. Ford and Erin had quickly become extended family, and nobody blinked twice about it.
“Shit,” Dylan muttered in front of them, coming to an abrupt halt and causing Ford and Erin to do the same.
Erin peeked around him expecting to see Dayne with his latest harem.
It was, in fact, not Dylan’s very horny twin nor was it Dani preparing breakfast. Her heart did a somersault.
It was Evelyn Lyons.
The matriarch of the family had no idea about the blossoming relationship of one of her sons with two other individuals. One being another man.
“Mrs. Lyons,” Ford greeted sheepishly.
Was he actually blushing?
“Ford,” Dylan’s mother greeted him back, her eyes flicking back and forth between the three of them. She didn’t bother to contain the curiosity in her expression. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“He works here,” Dylan reminded her as he moved farther into the kitchen.
His mother glanced at her watch and raised an eyebrow. “Do you normally start work this early, Ford?”
“It was a special project,” Dylan quickly answered before Ford could.
Her eyes, the same hazel as her children’s, bore into each of them one-by-one. When his mother reached Erin, she blanked out her thoughts, just in case the older woman had mind-reading skills.
Was she blushing now, too? Erin pressed her palms to her heated cheeks.
Nothing like looking guilty.
Evelyn waved a batter-covered wooden spoon back and forth between the three of them. “What’s this about?”
Could this be déjà vu ?
Dylan attempted to steer the conversation elsewhere. “Why are you here, Mom? Where’s Dani?”
“In the shower. I told her to take her time.” She planted one hand on a hip and stared at her son. “ Anyhoo , good morning to you, too. I came over hoping to have breakfast with my offspring. They’ve been so busy getting the resort up and running, plus smoothing out the rough spots, they’ve conveniently forgotten their mother lives right… in… town.”
Of course, Evelyn was exaggerating. Her children hadn’t abandoned her, but they hadn’t visited as much as she’d probably like since they had been a bit busy expanding the resort. However, during those visits, Erin was sure neither Dayne nor Dylan were discussing their sex lives.
Ford grabbed Erin’s elbow firmly. “How about we get out of your hair and let you enjoy your morning with your family.”
Erin mentally groaned. The smell of freshly brewed coffee was too tempting to simply walk away.
Evelyn shook her head. “Oh no. You two aren’t going anywhere until I hear all about this special project .”
The woman raised three children on a dairy farm. No doubt she could smell bullshit a mile away.
“It’s boring, Mom, you—” Dylan started.
“Special project?” Dayne snorted as he sauntered into the kitchen from his side of the house. “That’s not what they’re doing, Mom. Don’t let him fool you.”
Evelyn turned toward her youngest son. “Then, what are they doing?”
Dylan stumbled over his words as he rushed to say, “It’s not Dayne’s place to?—”
Dayne cut him off with, “They’re fucking,” as he approached their mother, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then glanced over her shoulder to see what she was making.
Crazy enough, Evelyn did not appear shocked at Dayne’s answer. “Ford and Erin? Some of us already knew that.”
What? That was news.
“No—”
“Dayne!” Dylan barked.
“No what? Finish what you were going to say, son, if you want to remain my favorite,” Evelyn cooed, patting Dayne’s cheek.
Next to them, Dylan groaned under his breath. Out loud, he said, “Mom…”
Dayne’s smirk spread into a full-blown grin, and he turned it toward Dylan. “All three of them.”
Evelyn’s eyebrows stitched together. “All three of them are what?”
“Fucking,” Dayne confirmed with a nod.
Dylan closed his eyes on a sigh and when he opened them, he glared at this twin.
Erin and Ford remained frozen in place, not sure how this was all going to shake out. She had no idea how Dylan’s mother would take the news. Would she be accepting or just the opposite?
At the same time, bare feet could be heard racing down the steps.
“No running in this house!” Evelyn yelled out. “You’ll tumble down the stairs and break your neck!”
Danica took the last step into the kitchen, fighting her own grin. “I’m in one piece, Mom.”
“By the grace of God!” Evelyn huffed. “Now…” She turned back to Dayne, opened her mouth, then closed it with a shake of her head before focusing on Dylan, Ford and Erin. “Where were we?”
Dylan purposely misunderstood and reminded his mother where she was. “In our kitchen.”
“Yes, that’s right. Making my children breakfast because apparently, it’s too much effort to keep me up to date with their lives, even though I’m only fifteen minutes or a phone call away.”
Dylan groaned over the mother’s guilt. This time he didn’t bother to muffle it.
“Is that bacon I smell, Mrs. Lyons?” Ford’s tone was sticky sweet.
Still wearing his shit-eating grin, Dayne reached behind his mother and held up a piece of crispy bacon to show Ford before shoving the whole strip in his mouth.
Evelyn whacked Dayne’s arm. “Don’t eat that. They’re for breakfast.” She turned back to Ford. “Call me Evelyn.” She pursed her lips as she studied the three of them. “So, you three are in a single relationship.”
She sounded far from shocked. In fact, she said it matter-of-factly.
Huh.
“And how does that all work?”
Oh no. Erin’s stomach churned.
“Kind of like an outlet, Mom,” Dayne explained so helpfully, “where you can plug in two appliances at a time.”
Holy shit.
“Oh,” Evelyn breathed, then she nodded. “Makes sense.”
Makes sense?
Erin glanced over at a pale Dylan who looked like he was waiting for the floor to open up and swallow him. If that happened, she was grabbing Ford and they were escaping down that hole, too.
This conversation was not one she wanted to have this morning. Or any morning. While Dylan’s siblings knew about the threesome, no one thought to warn his mother, who used to live on this very ranch and, like she said, now only lived fifteen minutes away.
Truthfully, she was surprised rumors spread by the locals working at the resort weren’t floating around town. And if they were, that Evelyn hadn’t run smack dab into any. Especially since she got together with groups of ladies on a regular basis who loved to gossip.
Erin narrowed her eyes on Dylan’s mother.
Holy shit. The woman knew and this was all an act. Erin would bet money on it. She expected Dylan to tell her without her having to ask.
“A relationship with three people is the same as with two,” Dylan said.
“Except with extra body parts and ho?—”
“Enough!” Evelyn scolded Dayne sharply. “As long as my children are happy, I don’t care how many body parts or holes it takes.” She turned her gaze to Dylan. “Are you happy?”
Now it was Dylan’s turn for heat to creep up into his cheeks. That had to be a first.
No one moved or said a word while they waited for his answer. In fact, Erin didn’t think anyone even breathed.
“Yes,” he answered. “I am, Mom.”
Her eyes softened and so did her smile. “That’s all that matters.” She clapped her hands. “I guess we should put out two more place settings, then.”
Their mother began to buzz around the kitchen.
Was that the end of the discussion?
It couldn’t be that easy.
“Danica, put out the extra settings and also some maple syrup on the table. Dylan, can you pile the bacon onto a plate? Dayne…” She shook her head and skipped over him. “Ford, honey, grab the creamer, juice and butter from the fridge. And Erin, sweetie…” She pointed toward the large kitchen table. “Just sit and relax. One stubborn man was enough for me. Dealing with two must be exhausting. One of the boys will grab you a cup of coffee.”
Well then…
It was obvious where the Lyons kids got their personalities and their open minds.
Evelyn had always been kind to her. While she and Dylan dated, after her son left Fisher Falls, and even after Erin married Kyle. She was a compassionate woman at her core. If Dayne wasn’t Dylan’s identical twin, Erin would think he was adopted.
Maybe it was true that one black sheep existed in every family.
After settling at the table, Ford dropped off a cup of coffee for her with a wink, then went to fetch the remaining items from the refrigerator.
Dylan brought the mountain of bacon, more than enough for six people—another hint that Evelyn had already known—over to the table at the same time Ford returned with the creamer and juice.
Dylan glanced over his shoulder before whispering, “I think we need to rethink you two staying over here.”
“Privacy would be good,” Ford agreed under his breath.
“Privacy from my family would be even better. If I had expected this to happen, I would’ve either designed the wings differently or scrapped the idea all together.”
Erin assumed this meant the threesome, not the fact his mother wanted to spend time with her adult children.
“Too late now,” Ford muttered.
“We haven’t been open about our relationship with any of the employees or with anyone in town. Maybe we need to get in front of this whole thing.”
Erin asked Dylan, “By doing what?”
“Not hiding it anymore.”
“Would you be okay with that?” Ford asked him, as surprised as Erin.
“Do we have a choice?”
They really didn’t. This morning was proof. “Your mom already knew,” Erin whispered. “Look how much bacon she made. Look at that stack of pancakes. She’s feeding an army, not just herself and her three children.”
Dylan stared at his mother fussing over something on the other side of the large kitchen. “You think?”
Erin gave him a nod. “Yes, and she recovered from the news too quickly.”
Dylan’s brow furrowed. “Maybe.”
“No, Dylan, she knew. That means rumors are swirling around town already. So, it might be too late to control them.”
“We control them by being open about who we are to each other,” Ford told them.
“We haven’t sat down and actually discussed where we go from here. I mean, right now we’re just living in the moment and not thinking about the future.”
“Well, the future is about to smack us upside the head, Dylan. So, like Ford said, we need to be the ones to be honest and open about it. We need to stop pretending.”
“I’m not sure I’d call it pretending,” Ford whispered. “It was more like burying our heads in the sand. We knew that this would come out, but we hid in our bubble.”
Dylan frowned. “Someone burst it.”
“No surprise since the resort is now the biggest employer in the area,” Erin reminded him. “We’re together too much now for anyone not to notice. It only takes one person mentioning it to someone else for it to spread like wildfire. Gossip is the most exciting activity in Fisher Falls.”
“What are you three whispering about?” asked Dayne. “What your after-breakfast romp will entail?”
“Romp?” Dylan echoed. He tipped his head as he took in his twin. “Funny how you don’t have anyone joining you this morning. Were you the one who told Mom?”
Dayne slapped a hand over his chest and gasped dramatically. “Me? No! I wouldn’t do that.”
“ Mmm hmm .”
Dayne lifted a hand. “I swear. I didn’t say a word.”
“Then why isn’t whoever you played with last night not here right now?”
Dayne leaned closer to his brother and whispered, “Because I was smart enough to glance out the window this morning after I heard you all talking out here. I snuck last night’s companions out the door before she could spot them. Unlike you, I don’t have anyone in my life important enough to meet my mother.”
Dylan’s lips pressed together as he glanced from Ford to Erin and back to Dayne. “Shit.”
Were they at the point they were ready to introduce their poly partners to their parents?
Dayne’s grin spread wider, and he whacked Dylan on the back. “Congrats.”
Apparently so.