Anita's Triple Temptation [Men of Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (24 page)

James let his other hand rub up and down her arm lovingly. “I’m sorry that I let you see you made me sad earlier. I hadn’t meant to. But I meant what I said then, and I mean it now. I love you. I always will. We promise that if there are problems we are going to sit down and discuss them before they get to the point that resentment rears its ugly head. We never want you to feel the way you did before with Craig, unsure of our feelings for you.”

Anita nearly jumped when Kevin kissed the shell of her ear. “I love you with all my heart, little one. You have made me one of the happiest men on earth. We have known for a long time that you had feelings for us even though you fought them. We know you are an independent woman but you are our responsibility now, so we don’t want you to fret over how much money you spend or if we are going to like something in the house. It is your house. You are our queen and we want to make you happy.” Then a shiver ran through her when he lowered his voice to barely a whisper. “Though the bedroom is our domain, as will be the basement when we make it into a dungeon.”

Feeling her face turn crimson as heat seemed to rise from her chest to her face, she tried to hide her face, especially since her friend and her men were sitting right across from her. Chuckles emanated from a few of the men though she wasn’t sure if they were hers or Lyndee’s.

A thumb wiped away the tears that remained on her cheeks as she sniffled. When Trey stood up from his seat and stood near Lyndee, setting a hand on the woman’s shoulder, Anita gazed up at him. She noticed the sullen look upon his face as he looked down at his woman and nodded.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop suddenly even though the warm welcoming fire burned a few feet away. Lyndee leaned forward a bit, the smile that had been there previously gone, replaced by sadness and concern. “Honey, who was the man you met with yesterday at the restaurant?”

Her men tensed on both sides of her and beneath her. She was going to mention it to them but they had sidetracked her with their mouths and hands. Now guilt swept over her as they probably thought she was keeping secrets.

“Scotty was Craig’s friend from work. He asked me to meet him because he had some information about the accident, but then when he came in, those two men that you confronted followed him inside,” Anita answered. “He was acting really strange. He told me to go to the post office and pick up a letter.”

Realization dawned on her as she struggled to get out of Kevin’s arms but he held fast.

“What is it, darlin’?” Dave asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to get my purse. I forgot all about it. Please, I need to get up!” She continued to struggle against Kevin but he held fast. When she couldn’t get free, an agonizing plea escaped her. “Please!”

Dave was on his feet in seconds. Rushing into the kitchen, he grabbed her purse off the counter where one of them must have left it after bringing her home from the clinic. Handing it to her, he returned to his place on the couch. Foraging through the large bag, Anita pulled the letter out and began to slide her thumb through the flap when it dawned on her that Lyndee had asked about Scotty for a reason. Stopping the motion, she looked at her friend who was watching her sadly.

Swallowing the lump in her throat that suddenly rose up, she whispered, “Lyndee, why did you ask about Scotty?”

She didn’t want to hear the answer as her hands began to tremble, even being held by warm strong ones. Lyndee stood somberly, letting Trey gather her back against his solid frame. She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but he was found dead this morning in his home. It looked as if it was a burglary.”

Tears threatened Anita’s eyes again but she took a deep breath. This was all becoming so surreal all of the sudden. Continuing the action she had stopped a minute before, she opened the sealed letter and removed the contents. Her hands were shaking so badly that Dave took if from her, unfolded the tri-folded piece of paper, and held it up so he could read it.

Clearing his throat, he began. “Anita, if you are reading this, then most likely I am near the end of the line. Craig’s accident wasn’t an accident. The guide lines on the yarder had been tampered with. I set them myself the day before. When I work the yarder I always set my own lines just to make sure they are good and tight. When I finally made it to the yarder later in the afternoon after Craig had been taken away, I found the guidelines had been cut. If it had been an accident, they would have had breaks in different spots along each of the individual cables that make up the line.

“I took pictures of the cables and you will find them enclosed on the memory card included in the message. To be safe, I have mailed a set to the inspector in Helena since he seemed to have seen something different then me which I believe by the time he got there the lines had been removed altogether. I have also mailed a copy to you via general delivery in Polson along with the first set of reports I was able to see in the office before Virgil or one of his henchmen moved them. I believe the reports may have been either doctored, or the inspector was in on it.

“Either way, I wanted you to be aware of what was going on, especially since you deserve the insurance money that you should have gotten. If something happens to me, please see that the police get the information I sent. I love you and the boys, and should something happen to me, since I don’t have a family, you are my beneficiary.”

The lump was back in Anita’s throat by the time Dave finished reading the letter and tears were pouring from her eyes. She was unaware until that moment that Kevin had cuddled her to his chest and was trying to soothe her by caressing her thigh. A hand at her back, moving up and down, she knew belonged to James.

“I can’t believe they killed him,” she wailed against the hard chest beneath her cheek. “He was so sweet, he wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“We’ll find out who did this,” Lyndee said compassionately.

Storm must have risen from his seat as well since his voice was closer. “We’ll make the arrangements, though there will have to be an autopsy for the investigation.”

Sniffling, Anita nodded. She was surprised that Scotty had named her his beneficiary but she never imagined she’d have to go through all this again so soon after Craig’s death.

“We’re going to get going now,” Trey said. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”

Feeling the crumpled envelope in her hand, Anita straightened up. Opening her eyes, she looked inside to double check the memory card was still inside. It was. Handing the item to Lyndee, she smiled sadly. “You’ll need this. Also, can you pick up what he sent at the post office for me? I’m sure they’ll let you get it since it is police related.”

“We’ll head into town right now to get it,” her friend said as she reached for Storm’s hand. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Reaching her hand out, Anita patted Lyndee’s arm. “Thank you. I will.”

Dave stood up and began to escort the foursome out but stopped when Austin spoke up. Anita had nearly forgotten he was there since he had been silent up until now. “We can show ourselves out. Stay with your woman. She needs you now.”

Anita snuggled against Kevin as four sets of boots retreated before disappearing altogether. When quietness settled upon the room, she felt herself being lifted as Kevin stood and carried her to her room. He laid her on the bed and then slid in next to her, but she tried to sit up only to find herself trapped by his arm.

“I don’t want to stay in bed. I’ve been in bed enough already,” she protested, nearly pouting.

Opening her eyes, she found the man looking down at her, an eyebrow cocked upward. Wondering what she had done to warrant such a quizzical look, she pressed a hand to his chest. “What?”

Kevin leaned closer to her and kissed the tip of her nose. “I don’t like to see you hurting, sweetheart. Please know that we love you.”

Letting her hand massage the fine hair that peppered his chest, she smiled at him. “Thank you. I love you so much.”

Glancing around, she found Dave and James standing at the foot of the bed, both of them with their arms crossing the chests. She saw the desire in their faces and the thought that they were going to wear her out crossed her mind.

“No, love,” Kevin said next to her. “We are not going to make love to you now. You still need to rest. If you don’t want to sleep, we can get you some books from your boxes, but we need to get some work done around here.”

Her body tensed when he mentioned work and her insecurity flooded her. The men must have noticed, for they all growled at the same time. Knowing she needed to be open and honest with them, she pushed herself up so she was half reclining against the headboard. Teasing her lower lip with her teeth, she finally had to be brave and just ask the question.

“Are you upset with me because you lost time from work today?”

Three gasps sounded at the same time as she felt Kevin tense up next to her. When she looked at the two men at the end of the bed, she found them scowling at her. Uncertainty overcame her and she felt perhaps she had asked one question too many.

Dave moved around the other side of the bed and knelt on the mattress next to Anita. At that moment he looked big and scary. Was she going to get that punishment they had threatened her with?

Her heart pounded in her chest as her nipples hardened beneath her shirt. Warm liquid leaked from her cunt onto her panties at the thought of her punishment but she would have to wait.

“You think we are going to punish you now, don’t you darlin’?” Dave asked, his hand reaching out to tuck a stray group of hair behind her ear. Nodding, she didn’t know what else to do. “No, you will not be punished, yet.”

An involuntary shiver ran through her body at his last word which was said with emphasis.

“If you are sick, or in danger, or for any reason, really,” James began, “we don’t mind missing work to be with you. If we want to come home in the afternoon and fuck our woman, we’ll do that gladly. The bosses understand, because they do it. We don’t need to worry about money or the loss of it, so you don’t need to worry your pretty little head. Is that understood?”

Looking at the fiery redhead, she saw his turquoise eyes flash with desire before he blinked it away. Dave and Kevin rose from the bed, leaving her in the middle. She really didn’t want to be in bed. Then a thought struck her.

“Can’t I sit in the great room? I can tell you which drapes to hang and where I want things put,” she said mischievously.

The men stopped near the door and glanced at each other before nodding at her. She bound from the bed and practically ran over to them. Dave took her hand and led her out to the great room where he pointed at the recliner closest to the fire. Without being told, Anita sat.

The rest of the afternoon she did exactly as she told them she would do. Pointing directions or verbally giving them, she had nearly the entire great room decorated by her command only by the time it was time to get supper cooked.

* * * *

The light in the site trailer was dim as Virgil stood and stretched his arms above his head. He was glad he was nearly done with the payroll for the pay period. Not trusting a bookkeeper with his money, he always did the work himself, though it was more like not trusting them to find out about the money he was skimming off the workers. With one less person on the payroll, Virgil was happy. Although he had to pay extra money to Jeremy for taking care of business for him, at least that was just a one-time payment.

Picking up the manila envelope with all the paychecks held within, Virgil turned off the one overhead light before going to the door and locking it up behind him. Tossing the envelope onto the secretary’s desk for distribution in the morning, he exited the trailer and locked that door behind him also.

On the landing of the metal steps that lead up to the trailer door, Virgil breathed in deeply as he looked out at the dark yard. No moonlight lit the sky yet so except for the one light that lit the parking area, the rest of the area was dark. Equipment and sheds dotted the area rising up against the horizon as if skeletons. He would be so happy when he could unload this albatross. He just had to keep things together until that day. He couldn’t wait to get back to the big city.

Climbing up into the driver’s seat of his Hummer, he was getting ready to close the door when he noticed headlights moving toward him up the dirt road that led from town. Sitting there, letting the cold night air into the roomy interior, Virgil waited for the vehicle to arrive.

Realizing the night watchman wasn’t roaming around, a fleeting thought hit him that perhaps it was just the man arriving, in which he would need to have a serious discussion with him. If it wasn’t, he had to wonder who would be arriving outside of business hours.

Finally, the large black pickup pulled into the lot and headed directly for Virgil’s Hummer. He hoped it was because it was the only vehicle left in the lot. Pulling up behind Virgil, the headlights remained on as two people climbed out of the pickup and headed toward the open door.

Sliding out of his seat, his boots hit the ground as he waited for the arrival of the two people. They hadn’t shut their doors either, so the interior lights from other vehicles and the headlights were the only illumination since the parking light was on the opposite side of the Hummer.

One man, the one who exited the passenger side, and one woman, the driver, walked directly up to him. The man appeared to be taller than Virgil while the woman stood nearly half a foot shorter than both of them. Both looked familiar to him, but he couldn’t place them immediately. Both of them wore badges on their chests.