Anita's Triple Temptation [Men of Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (7 page)

Letting her eyes move between the three men several times, she could see the love they spoke of in their eyes. The tiny throbbing in her pussy confirmed the affirmation that her body did belong to them as they had pointed out. But, she also knew in her mind it belonged to them, too. How could she turn away from them? Could she go on without them in her life?

“What are you thinking about, little one?” Kevin asked kindly, breaking into her mental debate.

Movement to her left caused her to cast her gaze upon Dave who took her hand in his. His eyes gazed upon her as if looking deep into her soul. She squirmed from the intensity of it, her eyes casting downward. What was she going to answer?

A ring of cold metal slid up her ring finger on her left hand. Shaky fingers propelled it forward until it stopped at the knuckle. Fear of the unknown swept over her. A rushing sound began in her ears while her heart fluttered in her chest. A sheen of sweat spread upon her pale skin. Her own fingers shook as Dave held her hand. The whole feeling was foreign to her. She had never felt this before even when Craig had purposed to her.

There was no comparison between these three men and her husband. These men paid so much attention to her and still showed her the respect a widow deserved. They provided their friendship to her and her family, slowly wheedling their way into her heart and soul.

These men appreciated her body as their hands still lay upon her. They sent warm fuzzy feelings to all parts of her body but mostly to her heart and pussy. The effort had been made tonight to make sure she saw what they could do for her and that she could enjoy their ministrations.

They had succeeded.

* * * *

James found he was holding his breath in anticipation of her answer. He had known it was going to be a difficult decision for Anita to make considering her husband had only passed away a few months previously. But, they knew it hadn’t been a happy marriage though she never spoke ill of Craig. She was a strong woman and she showed it every day.

That is why she had been working at the Tipsy Tavern, James figured. Money had been tight for her and her little family but their little woman would not ask for help from anyone. They had told her repeatedly that if she needed anything all she had to do was ask, but she didn’t. But, there was more than met the eye with the incident between her and Virgil and they weren’t going to let the man get away with what had happened. They just had to choose the time to get at him. They would get down to the bottom of it once Anita was safe.

Watching the warring expressions upon the sweet face of his beloved, he knew they wouldn’t have to wait long for her answer. It was a matter of her mind accepting what her body was telling her, what her heart was telling her.

Glancing at Kevin and then Dave, James knew they had come to the same conclusion. It was a matter of time before she would announce she was going to be their woman, even though she already was. She just didn’t know she had been since the moment he had seen her in the waiting room the day Craig died.

A slight nod of her head was the beginning of her acceptance. Her blue eyes moved between the three as the worry line across her forehead smoothed out and a smile began to form on her lush lips. Dave began to smile also as he raised his hand up to show his friends, his partners that her hand was squeezing his, the diamond they had chosen sparkling in the light.

Anita looked first at Dave. She tried to raise her right hand but a groan escaped her lips. James enclosed her hand in his, holding it down. “Don’t, my love. Don’t hurt yourself more.”

Holding her hand in his, he leaned over and kissed the back of it as she smiled at Dave. She swallowed slowly. “I’m sorry that I worried you. I didn’t mean for you to have to worry about me at all.”

“We know,” Dave said, letting his free hand come up to stroke her head. “You need someone to help you with your life. We want to be the ones to protect you.”

Kevin smiled at her. “We want to provide for you.”

Turning the hand he held, James placed a kiss to it, nuzzling it briefly. “And we love you very much. We love your children as our own, and we would like for you to become our wife.”

He watched her look from man to man with a smile on her face. Nodding her acceptance, tears began to flow again from her eyes. James knew they had finally won her heart. Now it was time to move forward with their lives.

Dave leaned in and captured her lips with his. After a moment, he released them and looked at Kevin. Moving back on the rolling stool, he let the man move in and the two men watched as Kevin leaned in for his own kiss. It was a long sensual kiss that had Anita gasping for air when they finished.

James stepped over and brushed his own lips upon hers gently as not to hurt her face. His tongue licked at her lips and slid within the warm depths when her lips parted. She tasted heavenly as he had imagined. He couldn’t wait until she was well enough for him to spend more time there and beyond. They had waited too long.

Pulling back, he peppered her lips a couple more times before standing back up. Looking over at Kevin, he smiled then looked over to Dave. Both men held large smiles upon their faces while they all looked down at their woman.

Though she was smiling with tears in her eyes, she still was injured and looked frail in the hospital bed. They would get through this with their love and when the time came, they would hurt the man who hurt her.

Dave was the one who, still holding her left hand, spoke for the three of them. “So, does this mean you will marry us?”

Thinking back on the four months since she first met these men of hers in the waiting room the day her husband died, she relished their companionship. At first she had been taken aback that they had paid so much attention to her, but soon she feel into the rhythm of the friendship and fate made its course.

They had helped her deal with her grief along with her children’s. They were there for her when she needed a shoulder to cry on, or to process the day-to-day living that needed to be done. The boys were doted over and given guidance since their father was no longer around. Dave, Kevin, and James had stepped in to help care for them and they had wrangled her heart in the process.

“Yes,” she replied, her voice cracking a bit from the emotion. “Though I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that.”

“We’ll work on all the details later,” Dave responded. “We’ll work on it once you are better. We need to concentrate on your recovery.”

Anita continued to smile though lethargy overtook her. The events of the evening were finally catching up with her as was the medication they had in the IV drip attached to her arm.

Guilt consumed James as he realized they should have waited to prove their point to her. She wasn’t in any condition to be dealing with what they were discussing at the moment. Glancing at Dave, their eyes met and Dave nodded to him.

Kevin and James smoothed down the gown and then pulled the blanket back over her, tucking it in at chest level, before James moved over to unlock the door. By the time he came back to her bedside, she was asleep. Both he and Kevin picked up the chairs that were in the room and brought them over, one to each side of the bed.

Sitting down, the three men began their vigil next to their woman’s side as was their place and would be for the rest of their lives. Each man kept a hand on her, reassuring her sleeping form of their love for her.

The next morning, the men entertained three young boys while Anita’s mother sat somberly in a chair in the waiting room on the third floor of the hospital. Anita had been taken down to ophthalmology about thirty minutes ago after a rough interaction with the woman.

As soon as the woman had pushed her way into the room, practically dragging poor Eli by his arm, she looked at Anita lying small in the bed. “You have got to be kidding me, Anita! I can’t afford to be missing a day of work anymore than you can.”

Anita flinched either at the sound of her mother’s irritated voice or from the harsh words, Kevin wasn’t sure. She already was down and here her mother was practically kicking her further into that disparaging hole. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, mother!”

Mrs. Massey pushed Eli into one of the free chairs while the twins came to stand next to the bed on the other side of her. The two looked on quietly with concern while the older woman continued. “I can’t believe that you would put yourself into the position of getting into a bar fight. That’ll ruin your reputation and there’s no telling what’ll happen to mine when the school hears of this.”

A sigh of exasperation seemed to emanate from Anita as she winced right before her hand moved up to her cheek. Tears were evident in her eyes even in the dim light of the room. “I was the one who was attacked! I was trying to defend myself. I don’t know why you have to be so upset about it.”

Not liking where this conversation was going, Kevin and James moved in behind the twins, resting their hands on their shoulders, while Dave went to stand next to Mrs. Massey. She ignored them as if they weren’t even there, as she had each time she had met them at Anita’s house. She had been furious and offended when she found out the three were trying to court her daughter.

“You may be able to deal with the stigma of what has happened because who you surround yourself with,” the woman said with distain as she looked at each of the men. “But I will not have you destroying your father’s and my good name. I will not have our reputations put on the line. We have worked hard to give you a good life and then when you married Craig and suffered every day because he couldn’t provide for his family. Now, you work in a bar and get into fights and are with three men. What will people say?”

“Mrs. Massey,” Dave began. “I know this is hard to take in right now, but this was not Anita’s fault. Virgil attacked her when she didn’t return his advances.”

“Well, there is nothing wrong with Virgil. He is a good man who Anita would be a fool not to be interested in,” Mrs. Massey said as she looked at Dave as if she wanted to deck him for even speaking to her.

“Mother, Virgil is a snake in the grass. He is a manipulative, smarmy man who is only interested in money. He is hiding something about Craig’s death and then he got upset because I didn’t want to deal with him at work. So, please do not talk to me about him.”

“Ma’am, we are serious with our intentions to Anita. She will be taken care of as will the boys. You have our word on that. We will not stand for anyone to speak badly to or about Anita, including you. So, if you don’t have anything nice to say at this point, Anita needs to rest as you can see by her injuries.” Dave went straight to the point as he firmly spoke to the woman who was upsetting Anita. Her stance became weary with his words.

“Why don’t you just go to work, mom? Eli can stay here with the guys and the twins can go to school. We’ll figure out what to do with them while you are gone.” Anita wouldn’t look at her mother, her temperament one of defeat.

Kevin would have liked to escort Mrs. Massey from the room himself, but he knew they needed to act civilized in front of the boys. Also, they didn’t need to upset Anita any more than she already was.

“No. I’ll be here for you. I’m sorry. The last few months have been too much.” Mrs. Massey took Anita’s hand in hers and Kevin saw the connection between mother and daughter, hoping there would be a change in the rift between them.

Since Mrs. Massey had come first thing in the morning, the boys had complained of hunger. Kevin had gone down and brought up a tray of food for all of them. The tray was mainly empty at the moment although a couple of Danish pastries and two cups of coffee remained. Now, as the boys played with Dave and James, Kevin picked up the items and sat next to Anita’s mother. Holding out a cup of the warm liquid, he offered it to her.

Slowly, looking from the proffered item up to his face, she gazed upon him with weariness. Taking the cup, she lifted it gingerly to her lips. After swallowing, she asked quietly, “Do all three of you love her?”

After a quick glance around for assurance that no one was, he looked back upon the woman and saw the strong resemblance between mother and daughter. Looking her directly in the eyes, he blurted the answer for all three of them. “Yes. We do. And, we promise to love and honor her and protect her until death parts us.”

“See that you do, young man. She needs strong men to help raise those boys,” the woman said matter-of-factly. “If you hurt her in any way, you will be answering to me.”

Chuckling, Kevin looked over at his partners and then back at Mrs. Massey. “Yes, ma’am. We understand.”

Offering her a pastry, he sucked in a deep breath as she accepted it. He took a drink of his own coffee before he asked the question that had been on his mind since they had intercepted Virgil beating on Anita the night before.

“What do you know of Virgil Cantrell? Do you know of any reason he would have done this to Anita?”

Mrs. Massey shook her head no as she stared down at the Danish in her hand. “Anita told me a few weeks ago that Virgil had been sniffing around. He was showing up all of the sudden, asking questions about the investigation into Craig’s death.”

Kevin’s chocolate-brown brows knitted together in thought. “But if it was an on-the-job accident. Virgil should know everything about the investigation.”

“She told me that he was asking if anyone else had been asking her questions and if any of the other workers had talked to her,” the older woman explained before taking a bite of the sweet pastry. After chewing and swallowing, she turned to Kevin, a horrified look upon her face. “You don’t suppose the accident wasn’t an accident, do you?”