STORY EXCERPT

Courtney Tyler finished paying for her order, slipping her credit card back into her purse before turning to meet her chauffeur and bodyguard’s cool, watchful gaze. “I’m sorry, Thomas. That took a little longer than I thought it would.”

Thomas’s expression never changed. “My job is to drive you where you want to go and protect you. It doesn’t matter how long it takes.”

Slipping her purse over her shoulder, Courtney started for the door. “Tell me, Thomas. What do you do when I’m not in Dallas?”

“I work in the main office and see to the Tylers’ security.”

She looked up at him as they walked outside. “Which job do you like better?”

Scanning their surroundings, he opened the car door for her. “I find both fulfilling. Get in, please.”

Courtney mentally shrugged and got inside the too-expensive car her husbands had bought for the purpose of Thomas driving her around.

Realizing that she’d be late for lunch with her husbands, she pulled out her cell phone and called their office phone so she could speak to both of them.

Law answered on the second ring. “Hello, darling. I put you on speaker so you can talk to Zach, too. I understand that you just finished your shopping. Did you find everything you need?”

Smiling at the fact that when he used that silky tone, a shiver went through her, Courtney leaned back. “And then some. I was calling to tell you I was going to be late, but it sounds like the tattletale you send everywhere with me already told you.”

Zach chuckled. “That’s his job, baby. He’s supposed to protect you.”

“But does he have to tell you everywhere I go?”

“Is there a reason we can’t know where you go?”

Courtney shivered at Law’s cool tone. “Of course not. It’s just a little like having a babysitter.”

And she couldn’t help but wonder if there was a reason they needed to know where she was at all times.

“I feel more comfortable knowing where you are, especially here in Dallas. It’s a big city, and you don’t know your way around.” Law’s voice lowered. “In case you haven’t noticed, our pictures have been in the paper quite a bit lately. We’ve garnered a lot of attention, and I want anyone who has thoughts of hurting or taking you to see that you’re protected at all times. This isn’t negotiable, Courtney.”

Staring down at her engagement ring and wedding band, Courtney turned them on her finger with her thumb. “I know. I’ll be at your office soon.”

She disconnected, dropped the phone back into her purse, and looked out the side window at all the traffic, relieved that she didn’t have to deal with it.

Law was right. She didn’t know the city well enough to be comfortable driving in it.

Although she doubted that anyone would kidnap her for ransom, she also understood their need to protect her.

They’d been raised in a town where people prioritized protecting women and prided themselves on making their women happy.

In Desire, she felt more confident about their relationship.

She fit in well there and had made a lot of friends.

In the town of Desire, she felt as if she belonged.

She felt close to them and, surrounded by others who lived the same way, could relax and enjoy life.

In Dallas, however, she felt awkward and unsophisticated.

And Rhonda Wells, their private secretary, only made her insecurities worse.

Tall, slender, always dressed impeccably, Rhonda always had her hair perfectly coiffed in a complicated updo.

She always had an air of confidence that surrounded her like the cloud of her designer perfume.

Courtney always felt unsophisticated and plain next to the other woman and had to admit, if just to herself, that she was more than a little jealous at the way Law and Zach depended on the other woman.

And the way Rhonda looked at them.

Irritated at herself for being jealous when her husbands continuously showed her how much they loved her, and feeling like a fool, she promised herself that she wouldn’t let the other woman get to her.

After all, what could she do?

Once in the private parking garage, Courtney got out of the back seat without waiting for Thomas to open the door for her and headed for the elevator.

Thomas stepped in beside her and entered the code that would take them to Law and Zach’s office.

When the elevator door opened, it was to the elegantly appointed outer reception area where Rhonda sat.

Rhonda’s high heels clicked on the marble floor as she rounded the desk, her forced smile grating on Courtney’s nerves. “Hello, Mrs. Tyler.”

Rhonda’s smile stiffened as her gaze slid to Thomas. “Thomas. You’re late. The Tylers have a full afternoon and dislike being kept waiting.”

Courtney blinked. “I don’t know why you would blame Thomas. It’s my fault we’re late.”

Rhonda turned her attention back to Courtney. “Your lunch will have to be cut short in order to accommodate their busy schedule. I hope you understand.”

Not liking the way Rhonda spoke for her husbands, Courtney smiled coldly, wishing she’d dressed in something nicer than the jeans and sneakers she wore. “Oh, I understand completely. I wonder how much my husbands will appreciate that you speak for them.”

“That’s my job. Besides, I’m just reminding you that your husbands are very busy men.”

Irritated that their secretary always made her feel like a country bumpkin, and not missing the emphasis the other woman put on the word husbands, Courtney headed for their office door. “Yes, they are, so I should get in there.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Courtney smiled, hoping her attempt at getting and holding their attention worked. “I wouldn’t want to bore you.”

Law bent to kiss her nipple. “I never get bored when I’m playing with my toy.”

“Your toy?”

Law lifted his head, grinning down at her as he slid a hand down her body. “Yes. A delightful little toy.”

He ran a fingertip lightly over her bare mound. “Nice and smooth. Just the way I like it.”

Courtney sucked in a breath when he slid his fingertips over her folds. “Did your sophisticated women get waxed for you?”

Using his feet to widen her stance, Law gripped her wrists with one hand while sliding the other between her thighs. “I’ve fucked a lot of women in my life, but I’ve never had one of them shave or wax their mound for me.”

Furious and embarrassed at the thought of being compared to them, Courtney bristled and pulled against his hold. “I’m sure you’ve had a ton of beautiful, sophisticated women, women who knew the score. Women who wanted to grab on and hold on to you and Zach.”

Law slid his hand at her back upward to cup the back of her neck just as Zach appeared at her side again, a glance at Law telling her he’d heard everything. “I can’t say what they wanted. I just know that I never met a woman I wanted to spend my life with, that is until I met you.”

Touching his lips to her shoulder, Zach flattened a hand on her belly, the other caressing her ass cheeks. “None of those women ever belonged to us. You do.”

Stripping out of his clothes and tossing them aside, Law held her gaze. “You’re the only woman we ever wanted to be ours.”

Courtney gasped when he turned her and bent her over the back of the chair and, without another word, plunged into her. “Law!”

Her juices eased his way, her body craving his possession.

From the beginning, their lightest touch had sent shivers of awareness through her.

She’d thought at the time that the awareness and pleasure she’d experienced at their touch would wane over time, but as the love and trust between them grew, along with the knowledge of each other’s bodies, it had continued to grow.

Law slid his hands over her hips and up, pausing briefly at her waist before sliding them higher to caress her nipples. “I don’t know what crazy ideas you’ve got in that hard head of yours, but if you don’t know how much we want you, we haven’t been convincing enough.”

Zach braced a knee on the sofa, lifting her chin while Law wrapped his hand around her wrists, pulling them downward and forcing her to arch with her breasts thrust out toward Zach.

He lifted the clip that Law had removed from her hair, and holding her gaze, he attached it to her nipple.

She gasped sharply, biting her lip to hold back a cry as the initial discomfort soon became a heady pressure that sent ribbons of heat to her slit. “Oh!”

“Yeah. You’ve always liked attention to those nipples.” Zach reached up to remove the other butterfly clip from her hair, bending to touch his lips to hers. “That’s why we made sure they were smooth instead of having teeth. Your nipples are far too sensitive for that.”

Lowering his head, he ran his tongue lightly over her nipple, lifting his head with a smile at her cry of pleasure. “See?”

Law withdrew almost all the way before plunging into her again. “She’s close to coming already.” He bent, touching his lips to her shoulder. “We can’t have that now, can we?”

Zach’s eyes narrowed, his gaze once again holding hers as he supported her weight with a hand at the center of her chest. “No. We can’t.”

She glanced at Zach, warmed by his thoughtfulness, but the clips on her nipples and Law’s slow thrusts made it difficult to focus. “What do you mean? I thought the purpose, oh God, was to make me come.”

She tried to move against Law in what she knew would be a futile attempt to get him to go faster. “Damn it. Why don’t you go faster?””

Zach ran his other hand down her back. “Because it seems we’re going to have to make some changes.”

Panicked, she reached for him, unnerved when Law thrust faster, the friction and fullness of his cock keeping her on the edge but not allowing her the release she needed. “I don’t want anything to change.”

Law withdrew abruptly and smacked her ass cheek. “Too bad. It’s obvious that we haven’t given you the attention you need or made you as secure in this marriage as we’d hoped.”

The rip of foil sent a shiver through her, the raw sexuality in the air intensifying.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Zach’s hand left her back to smack her other ass cheek. “Yes. You do. Something’s going on with you that makes you doubt what we feel for you, but you won’t discuss it.”

“Because it makes me feel stupid! Oh!”

Her toes curled at the feel of Law’s lubed finger slipping into her ass.

Zach moved to kneel in front of her again, lifting her hands to his shoulders and gripping hers. “You’re not stupid. You’re insecure, and that’s on us. Evidently, you’re not getting the attention you need.”

Courtney sucked in a breath when Law abruptly withdrew his finger. “You make me sound so needy. I’m not like that!”

The last thing she wanted was for them to think she was weak and needy on top of everything else.

Law poised the head of his cock at her puckered opening, applying enough pressure to make her bottom hole burn. “By the way you’re pushing back against me and trying to take my cock into your tight little ass, you’re more than a little needy.”