Oak, Sophie - Siren in Waiting [Texas Sirens 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (5 page)

And she didn’t want to be alone tonight. She’d been alone far too often since her father passed. The quiet had begun to eat away at her. It was all right when she had something to do, but at night when she was all alone, she felt the heavy weight of her loss.

“Besides, I’m meeting Clarissa at the honky-tonk after I drop you back off. I might not want to spend a lot of time talking to the girl, but she can sure dance.” Bo gave her a wink and opened the door.

Mouse sighed. It looked like she was in for a long night.

* * * *

Trev looked down at the menu, though he didn’t really need to. The menu at Patty Cake’s hadn’t changed in thirty years. He had it memorized, but staring at the menu meant he didn’t have to deal with his brother-in-law. Or the fifteen other people staring a hole through him. It was way too much to think that the good people of Deer Run were above reading tabloids.

“And now you’re going to run someone else’s ranch?” Bryce’s voice sounded nasal to Trev’s ears.

He glanced over the menu at his brother-in-law. Bryce Hughes was handsome in an antiseptic fashion. He was always fastidiously clean. Bryce had come up from Houston and started a real estate company. He’d done well for himself. Even when the market had fallen out, Bryce seemed to make money.

Trev had no idea what his sister saw in the man.

“It’s called being a foreman. I know ranching.” At least he used to. He’d spent a couple of weeks at a ranch in Willow Fork recently. He’d been happy that it had all seemed to come back to him. He’d even enjoyed the easy camaraderie he’d had with the other hands. He was genuinely looking forward to getting started at O’Malley’s ranch.

“Yeah, well, I would have said you knew football, too,” Bryce grumbled.

“Stop,” Shelley said under her breath. “You promised.”

It had been like this ever since he’d walked in the door of his sister’s house. Bryce had tried to cut him down in a million different ways. Bryce had come home and immediately asked if Shelley had hired a new lawn-care man because the truck in the driveway obviously belonged to the help and should be parked in the back of the house where it wouldn’t offend anyone.

Yeah, he just loved his brother-in-law.

“Football and I didn’t get along,” Trev muttered, looking back at the menu. That was how Leo had explained it to him. He had the talent for the game, but he couldn’t handle the pressure. Leo had tried to get him to understand that didn’t mean he was a failure. The words had always rung hollow to Trev’s ears.

“Trev always was a cowboy.” Shelley seemed determined to put a positive light on everything. “He used to ride the fences with Daddy every morning. He wasn’t even eight years old, but he would get up before dawn and help out.”

He’d liked that time with his dad. Everything was peaceful and quiet. Later on in the day, his father had a million responsibilities, but in the pale light right after dawn, it had been just Trev and his father.

Maybe if he hadn’t discovered he could throw a damn football, he would have been riding the fences that morning his father had a heart attack. Maybe his father wouldn’t have died and Momma wouldn’t have had to find him out in the south field, his old horse nudging him like the damn thing was trying to wake the man up. Trev had just started junior year two-a-days. He’d rarely talked to his dad after he’d started football, but the old man had come to every game.

“Trev was always a natural with horses, too. He always did ride better than me. I miss riding.” Shelley took a sip of her tea. “Maybe Lexi wouldn’t mind if I came out and went riding.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Bryce said, frowning. “We talked about this, babe.”

A little bit of Shelley’s light faded, but she smiled anyway. “Of course. I have things I need to concentrate on, anyway. I got a new client. The mayor asked me to redesign his office.”

Bryce nodded. “Yes, that’s right. You need to concentrate on your business. Hey, did you hear the Hobbes girl bought old lady Bellows’s place? I had really hoped we could snap that sucker up. I assumed the auction would be months out, but they got that will through probate damn fast. Who would have guessed the old lady would leave everything she had to a damn animal shelter?”

“I thought it was smart of them to just auction it all off. They made a bundle,” Shelley said.

Bryce’s eyes narrowed, his irritation plain. “I would have paid them more. It’s the perfect place to put a strip mall.”

Shelley rolled her deep-brown eyes. “Yes, tear down the gorgeous house to put in a strip mall. We need another dollar store.”

The bell rang as the door swung open.

“Speak of the devil.” Bryce turned to greet the newcomers.

Oh, but what walked in that door didn’t even vaguely resemble a devil. Trev felt every nerve in his body go on high alert as a brunette walked through the doorway. She was wearing a yellow dress that showed off an hourglass figure. The sweet-looking dress nipped in her middle and plunged exactly where it should, emphasizing her waist and her impressive breasts. Most women in his life didn’t have curves like that. Even at The Club in Dallas, he’d been surrounded by wealthy, fashionable women. They tended to be slender and well made-up. Most had had a nip and tuck by the time they hit twenty-five.

Not this woman. She was natural. As far as Trev could tell, she wasn’t wearing any makeup past a little mascara. Her skin was fair, with an almost translucent quality. No spray tan for that one. Trev let his eyes roam as she glanced around obviously looking for a table. A waitress approached, and the woman got the sweetest smile on her face. Her eyes glanced down before she forced them back up. She spoke quietly.

He’d been trained to look for signs, and every bit of that training told him he’d just hit the jackpot. There was a sure intelligence in her brown eyes that belied her obvious submissive nature.

Her hair was pulled back in a bun. If she was his, he would walk straight up to her and tangle his hands in it. He would force her hair to spill over her shoulders, drowning her in brown and gold velvet. From the massive size of that knot at the back of her head, Trev would bet it reached almost to her waist. And it would be soft, like the woman herself. She would be silky and sweet. She would kneel at his feet, and when she looked up at him, he would feel ten feet tall. He wouldn’t feel like a failure. He would feel like her Master.

This woman was soft, so soft it practically poured off her. When her lips turned up in a shy smile, Trev wondered what they would feel like on his cock.

Fuck. It had been too damn long since he’d had sex. He thought about the small bag he’d brought with him. Julian Lodge had given it to him the day he’d finished his training and was allowed to work with subs in The Club. Leo had laughed and told him never to be caught without his kit. At one point in time, Trev had always carried around an athletic bag. Now he carried a small leather one with lube and ropes and a whip.

You never know when a little sub is going to need some discipline,
Leo always said.

He imagined her tied up and spread on his bed, awaiting his pleasure.

And then he noticed the man beside her. A tall, strong cowboy in Levi’s, a western shirt, and well-worn boots. Blond hair curled out from under his Stetson.

Bo O’Malley.

Just the person he didn’t want to see. He owed Bo O’Malley one of those long, rambling apologies he never seemed to get good at. It was something every addict got used to, but Trev wasn’t looking forward to it. He’d forced himself to apologize to so many people, but he was pretty sure Bo O’Malley wasn’t going to listen.

Bo put a hand to the pretty woman’s waist and started to lead her to an empty booth on the opposite side of the diner. The woman’s head turned. Her eyes trailed back and locked on to him. They widened in recognition.

Trev felt his stomach knot. He couldn’t change his face or his past. He just hated the way people looked at him now.

Except she smiled shyly, as though she was just looking at a stranger and trying to be polite.

Damn, but he wanted to eat her up.

“Do you know Mouse?” Shelley asked, an expectant look on her face.

“Mouse?” Trev had to force his eyes away. The woman with the brown hair scooted into her booth. She faced his way, but looked at Bo. Was she his wife?

Bryce snorted. “Mouse Hobbes.”

He searched his brain, trying to connect that face to a name. “Bethany Hobbes?”

A vision of a ridiculously shy girl from his high school whispered across his mind. She’d been younger than him. She’d been smart, but quiet. Utterly ignored. He couldn’t ignore her now. He hadn’t reacted this way to a woman in years. His hands tightened around his coffee mug. Despite the ache in his groin, it felt damn good to want something, anything besides a drink.

 
Bryce continued. “Poor girl’s been chasing after that cowboy since they were kids from what I hear. I have no idea why he lets her hang around. She’s been his shadow for years.”

“She’s not his girlfriend?” Trev’s cock had been at half-staff, but the idea that she was unattached had an effect on him. His cock hardened to the point that he could probably pound nails with the damn thing.

Submissive
. The word floated in his brain like a butterfly. That girl right there was submissive, and she probably had no idea. He could show her. He could train her.

Now Bryce outright laughed. “Mouse? Mouse doesn’t have a boyfriend. I don’t think the girl has ever even been kissed. Who the hell in this town would kiss old Mouse?”

Trev could think of a couple of places he’d like to kiss her. Those full lips. Her round breasts. She probably had a plump pussy. He could put his mouth on all of those places. Never been kissed. Never been fucked. Never knelt at her Master’s feet. Trev knew that little fact should have sent him running. It didn’t. It just made him think about the fact that she knew absolutely nothing. And he could teach her.

But apparently she was in love with Bo. Hadn’t he taken enough from Bo?

“Her name is Bethany,” Trev heard himself saying. He didn’t like the nickname. It smacked of a put-down. He might not get to know the woman, but he wasn’t about to allow anyone to put her down around him. He knew the way things worked. If she was submissive and no one watched out for her, she could get ground beneath everyone’s feet.

Bryce snorted. “Good luck with getting that to change. She even calls herself Mouse.”

If she was his, everyone would change or they would have to deal with him. And that included her sweet ass.

“So, do you really want to order from a Podunk, piece-of-shit, hole-in-the-wall?” The waitress stared down at him. He hadn’t seen her walk up. He’d been far too taken by this sweet little Mouse. Bethany. Her name was Bethany. He was going to give her the respect she deserved.

Damn
. The waitress’s words reached his brain. He’d really called this place a shit hole in fucking
People
magazine. He’d said a lot of things in the tabloids he shouldn’t have said. The reporter had practically cackled as she wrote the story. And he’d fucked her. And gotten high with her.

He turned his face up to meet the waitress’s glare. Patty’s hair had more gray in it, but she still looked like she could kill a man with just her glare. “I am sorry, ma’am. I’ve always loved this place, ever since I was a kid. I didn’t right know what I was saying at the time. I pretty much hated myself, so I said awful things about everyone.”

She simply stared. “Well, I could certainly see why you would hate yourself. Do you want to order something, or do we small-town idiots not even know how to make a burger?”

He wasn’t going to win with her. “I would love a burger.”

Hopefully she didn’t spit in it.

Shelley ordered, her mouth tight and tense. Bryce simply sighed and chose not to eat.