Their Reluctant Bride (Bridgewater Ménage 6)

“I believe you, too. It was self-defense, plain and simple,” I added.

“But I pushed him down the stairs, made it look like he fell.”

Xander stood and walked over to her, pulled her back into his arms, his hand stroking up and down her spine. “That was smart. Most men, sheriffs, judges even, don’t see the gray area in the law. What you did was wrong, but you saved yourself.”

Xander knew from experience that some lawmen did not work for justice.

“We’d have killed him if we’d known how he’d hurt you. The Bridgewater men would have, too.”

She looked surprised, hopeful even. “You don’t hate me?” she asked, her voice querulous.

I stood, too. “Hate you?” I tugged her from Xander’s arms, pulled her into mine. “We admire you. You’re so strong. So brave. You shouldn’t have had to carry that alone, baby.”

“There should be no secrets between us,” Xander said.

Emily reached out her arm and Xander grasped her hand. “Ralph. He knows. I don’t know how, but he knows what I did. He threatened to tell you. To ruin us.”

I ground my back teeth together. How I wished Quinn hadn’t dragged him away. I’d have hit him with more than a frying pan.

She’d said “to ruin us.” The sound of it soothed something inside me, the place where I worried that she wouldn’t want us, that Xander was too rough, that I was too mild, that we weren’t what she needed. But the use of the word “us” indicated that she considered us to be a family, a unit. She felt she was already ours.

Looking to Xander over Emily’s head, I could read his thoughts. He’d caught that, too. But that wasn’t all. There was Ralph and he could affect us. The bastard would be back. He wouldn’t stop with just fifty dollars if he could have more. Bribery, extortion. It wasn’t beneath the likes of him.

CHAPTER NINE

EMILY

“Morning, sweetheart,” Xander murmured from between my spread thighs.

I looked down my body at him, his eyes hooded perhaps from sleep, but more likely with arousal. Just the sight of him there, his hands on my inner thighs, was so decadent. Frank had never put his mouth on my pussy, ever. If Tyler liked my breasts, then Xander definitely liked to lick my pussy.

His finger was curled deep inside of me, pressing against that special spot, rubbing it so that my hips arched—directly into his mouth. How had I slept through him settling between my thighs? How had I been unaware of his blunt finger sliding into me? I could feel their slick seed still deep within. His beard rasped against my newly bare pussy and when he flicked my clit with his tongue, then sucked on it, I came.

My eyes fell closed and I cried out. He could work my body so easily; I was so responsive to him. I wilted against the bed, ready to fall back asleep.

As Xander kissed his way up my body, he murmured, “So sensitive after last night. I love the way your body responds.”

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Sitting back on his heels, he grabbed my hips and flipped me over onto my belly. I gasped at the surprise, but I was getting used to his more aggressive touch. Smoothing a hand over my bottom, he commented, “Not even red this morning. Is it sore?”

Coming up onto my elbows, I looked at him over my shoulder. I was too sated and sleepy to feel embarrassed. “Are you referring to the plug stretching me or the spanking last night?”

Xander had spanked me. I’d… I’d loved it. At first, it had surprised me, but his commands, his deep voice was like a rope keeping me tethered to safety. I’d been lost, overwhelmed, completely blanketed by guilt at what I’d done, what I’d subjected the men to. But Xander’s commands had altered my focus. The first spank had been like a bucket of cold water, jolting me from my thoughts and forcing me to focus solely on him. The sting of his palm, the tingling heat of my skin.

I’d been able to think only of that instead, to give in to it. Xander hadn’t stopped. I couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but accept he had taken over. The truth had slipped from me easily then. Like my body, I’d handed the problem over to them. I’d thought they would hate me, but they hadn’t. In fact, from the looks on their faces, they’d have killed Frank themselves, and not by accident.

He gave me a light, playful swat and grinned.

Tyler came into the room then with a tray, closing the door behind him. “Leaving me out?” he asked.

“After last night, you feel left out?” Xander asked.

They’d both taken me, one after the other, again and again. While they’d each been given time to recover, long enough for the other to fuck me, I’d had none. They’d given me orgasm after orgasm and even now, I could feel their seed seeping from me. To say they’d filled me was a gross understatement.

“We can’t leave the room before noon,” Tyler said. “My mother will think we aren’t attentive enough toward our new bride otherwise.”

Xander laughed softly and shook his head. It was clear to me he wasn’t used to a mother any more than me.