Sophie Oak - Siren Beloved

“Yes, and then you left him to go to college, and then the Army, and now you’re back and in control of the ranch with not one, but two potential lovers. He doesn’t understand where his brother went,” Lucas explained. “He misses his brother. You might consider not being so hard on him.”

“Lucas, you can’t expect me to just let that go.”

“It was merely an observation.” Lucas started back out the door.

“Wait. I’ll think about what you said.” Aidan stood close. Lucas could feel the heat from his body, but he couldn’t give in to it. “Can you come out and help me in the barn? My foreman hasn’t come in to work, and obviously Bo isn’t going to be helpful. I need an extra set of hands.”

Ranch work. Yeah, he knew a little bit about that. Some hard physical labor might calm his cock down. Between cuddling with Lexi and being so close to Aidan, he was pretty damn frustrated. He held up the coffee mug. “I can do that. Let me feed the beast, and then I’ll go with you.”

Aidan’s lips quirked up as he looked at the mug in Lucas’s hands. “Be quick. She’s deadly before she has her coffee.”

Lucas’s heart seized a little. This was what he wanted. He wanted the camaraderie of a threesome. He was self-aware enough to know that he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. There was a component of getting everything he wanted sexually in there, but it went beyond that. He wanted to not be alone. Even in a traditional relationship, there was a certain amount of loneliness. If he married Lexi, no one else would know what it meant to be her husband. Oh, but if they had Aidan, he would always be there, backing Lucas up and laughing over all of Lexi’s adorable quirks. When she confused him, he could lean on Aidan. When she was hurting, they could surround her.

“Lucas?” Aidan’s hand came out as though he realized Lucas was getting emotional.

Lucas stepped back. He couldn’t. Not yet. Sex was fine, but he wasn’t ready for that true, pure intimacy that came with comforting another human being. “I’ll be ready in a minute.”

He didn’t miss the way Aidan’s face fell.

Aidan wanted to scream. Every time he thought he was getting close to making a breakthrough, Lucas pulled away. As for Lexi, well, she’d made herself plain the night before when he’d shown them to the room he’d renovated with every bit of savings he had. He’d taken the master bedroom and turned it into something comfortable for them.

And Lexi had slammed the door in his face.

“You can make me come out here, but you can’t make me sleep with you,” she had said.

He hadn’t expected to, but it rankled that Lucas was on the other side of that door and he wasn’t. Would they have sex now that he’d gotten them together? Aidan was well aware that they hadn’t had intercourse. Would they use the big bed he’d had made for the three of them to remedy that little problem?

Jealousy had burned through his gut. He wanted to be with them. He had to be patient. Lucas was the smartest man he knew, and Lucas had been patient. It was time to take a cue from him.

Aidan watched Lucas walk away and promised himself he wouldn’t fuck up again. He’d lost them once because he’d been an idiot who couldn’t handle his own emotions. He’d been a slave to convention and terrified of what his father would have thought. His father, who had never once said he loved him. His father, who had told Aidan that playing the guitar was for wimps and real men ranched or went into the Army.

Patience. He had to believe he could win them back. Bringing them out here was the first step. He just wished he had a nicer place to bring them to. Lucas had grown up rich, and Lexi’s stepfather was one of the wealthiest men in Texas. The ranch was falling apart around him. The land itself was worth a fortune, and he had a fine herd, but Aidan was putting almost everything he had into changing his practices so he could go organic. He had gone into business with Barnes-Fleetwood, but it wouldn’t pay for a couple of years. What could he really offer them?

The back door banged open, and Dwight came in. “Hey, nice to have you back, buddy. I thought you were staying in Dallas for a while.”

“My plans changed. I brought Lucas and Lexi back here.”

Dwight’s eyes widened, and he whistled through his teeth. “I hope Deer Run is ready for that.”

“I don’t care if they are or not.” The town could go to hell for all Aidan cared. This town was one of the reasons he’d walked out on the best thing he’d ever had. It was important to fit in. Small towns thrived on community, and flaunting one’s individuality didn’t work. He’d been horrified at the thought of bringing Lucas home with him, horrified that someone might find out he wasn’t “normal.” Normality could rot. Aidan wanted love.

Dwight put a hand on his back. “Well, I’ll stand behind you. You know I got your back.”

Aidan smiled. Dwight had proven a dependable friend. It was strange. They hadn’t really been close until that terrible day when Aidan had almost died in the sand, the sound of gunfire and barking dog filling his senses, the thought of Lexi and Lucas the only thing he could cling to. Since that day, Dwight had been by his side. Sometimes Aidan worried it was all survivor guilt that made Dwight follow him back to Deer Run. They were the only two of their squad to survive that terrible day.

“Where did you get off to last night?” Aidan asked, remembering Bo’s complaint from the night before. Dwight lived in the foreman’s house behind the barn. He was a loner. He didn’t have many friends aside from Aidan.

“Oh, I just went out for a beer and then, well, you know.”

Aidan grinned. “Which lovely young lady caught your eye?”

“One of the new waitresses at the Two Horse Saloon.”

“Ah,” Aidan said, happy Dwight was getting out a bit. The Two Horse Saloon was a bar on the edge of town. Deer Run was dry, but cowboys always found a way around little things like the law when it came to getting a beer after a hard day’s work.

“And I am really sorry about Karen. Did she find you?” Dwight said, his mouth turning down. “She caught me in a weak moment. I was talking about you to Darla, the waitress I hooked up with. I was talking about The Club and how nice you said it was. I didn’t realize she was sitting next to me. That girl is psycho.”

Well, at least he understood how Karen had shown up. He’d tried to explain to her that he wasn’t interested. He wasn’t sure she’d gotten the message. But that wasn’t Dwight’s fault. “Don’t worry about it.”

Once Karen saw him around town with Lexi and Lucas, she would get the picture.

There was a scratching at the back door and a little whine. Aidan walked across the kitchen and let in the only good thing he’d found in Iraq.

“Hey, Ike, how you doing, boy?” He got down on one knee, wincing at the pain, but he was used to it. The dog was a mutt, some odd mix of retriever and Great Dane. He was a huge monster, but sweet as the day was long after he’d settled in. He’d been adopted by Aidan’s squad. Though the Army banned pets on base, the truth was most officers looked the other way. Aidan had nearly cried the day his former platoon CO showed up on the ranch leading Ike by a leash.

Ike’s nub of a tail wagged, and he licked Aidan’s face frantically. It was like this every time he left. Though Ike didn’t mind Bo, he preferred Aidan to everyone else. Ike looked up and started to growl.

“Don’t,” Aidan commanded.

Ike growled at a lot of men. He’d done it in Iraq, growling and barking at everyone. It had taken Aidan awhile to get the dog to come to him. Aidan wasn’t sure why he’d tried. Maybe he’d just seen something in the dog that called to him. Ike had obviously needed affection, but he’d been too scared to take it. Yeah, he and the dog had a lot in common. Eventually Ike had calmed down, but despite the fact that he’d been around Dwight during their time in Iraq, the dog still growled when he got too near. Aidan really hoped Ike and Lucas got along. The last thing he needed was for Ike to hate Lucas.