Siren in the City

Texas Sirens, Book 2

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About the book

Jack and Sam married Abby. It was supposed to be for forever, but lately Abby wonders where her alpha male has gone. Jack has retreated and life has become decidedly vanilla. It isn't the true marriage she and Sam wanted. Sam and Abby know the time has come to fight for what they need.

A call from his mentor forces Jack to revisit the club where he discovered his sexuality. Jack's half-brother is in the city and interested in a little blackmail. Can Jack handle two defiant subs and a brother in need of some tough love?

Sometimes all it takes to find the way home is a little love and a lot of mischief.

Come back to the beginning and revisit some of your favorite old characters or find new ones to love. Siren in the City has been revised and new scenes added. And if you look closely, you’ll find not only the beginnings of the Sophie Oak world, but also the seeds of how McKay-Taggart began…

Excerpt

“Open, Abigail.” Sam Fleetwood’s voice had gone dangerously low.

Abby Barnes sat back. That deep tone of his was a sure sign that her husband number two was rapidly getting irritated with her refusal, but it didn’t matter. She was done taking his crap. It had been going on for far too long. He’d been shoving stuff in her mouth for days. She simply wasn’t taking it anymore. This was her bedroom, not some prison cell. He was her husband, not her jailer. Her hand toyed with the magazine lying on top of the comforter.

She had to figure out how to handle Sam. Then she could figure out how to handle the real problem in her life.

“No.” There was really only one way to handle Sam. He had to be handled head on. She eyed him, giving him the sternest look in her repertoire. She crossed her arms and sat back against the headboard of the bed. It was time to make a stand. She wasn’t spending one more day with him like this. She was done obeying him.

“I swear to god, Abby, if you don’t open that pretty mouth of yours and let me inside, I’m going to turn you over my knee,” Sam promised. His gorgeous face was turning an amusing shade of red.

It would be a bad idea to laugh though.

Abby primly pulled up the comforter. She was settled in for a nice long fight. “I don’t think Jack will like the idea of you turning me over your knee. You’re supposed to be taking care of me.”

Jack Barnes was her legal husband. They had married in a civil ceremony six months before. Together with Sam, they’d formed a happy threesome. Jack was an alpha male, and beyond that, he was a Dom in every sense of the word. Abby was more than happy to be his wife and his submissive. Jack took very good care of her, and he also took care of Sam.

Well, he had.

Sam’s blue eyes narrowed, and he cocked his head to the side, studying her for a moment. “That’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to take care of you like Jack requested. You’re the one being extremely stubborn. Come on, baby. Don’t you want to be full?”

The last question was asked with a low growl.

She rolled her eyes. She wasn’t giving in simply because he used his sexy voice. “I’m full enough. I don’t need you to fill me up. I’m fine. I’m perfectly satisfied, so you’ve done your duty. Why don’t you go see if Jack needs help? You’ve been in bed with me for three days. I can’t take anymore.” And if Jack Barnes didn’t agree, he could come and tell her himself.

“You’ll take as much as I give you.” Sam leaned forward aggressively. “Now, Benita made this chicken soup, and you’re going to eat it. It’s supposed to be good for colds.” He held out the spoon once more. “Open up.”

“No.” She was sick of eating no matter how delicious the soup was. She wasn’t sure what Sam’s health care plan was here, but it definitely had something to do with stuffing her way past full. She. went back to reading her magazine.

The way she viewed it, she was well on the path to recovery. The bacterial infection that had settled into her lungs was almost gone thanks to antibiotics. It wasn’t as though she didn’t have some skill in this case. She was a registered nurse who’d served over a decade in trauma ERs. She wasn’t coughing anymore, and her head felt clear. She was tired but feeling better.

Now she just had to convince Sam to get off her back. He’d been playing nurse for days, and it was starting to drive her crazy. She’d been a nurse for ten years and never once had she ridden herd on a patient the way Sam did.

Sam stood up. He moved the tray off the bed and stood over her. Abby glanced up at the man she thought of as husband number two. Though she was annoyed with him at the moment, she couldn’t help but sigh. Sam Fleetwood was a gorgeous man. He had sandy blond hair that curled around his ears. His blue eyes were the most prominent features on a handsome face that also boasted sensual lips. His chest was what had her attention now, though. He was wearing nothing but a faded pair of Levi’s, and it left his perfectly cut torso on heart-stopping display. She wanted to reach out and run her hands down those muscles to his six-pack and lower, but she had a point to make.

“Go away, Sam,” she said dismissively, as if she didn’t want to throw him down on the bed and have her way with him. That would only reward his overbearing behavior.

Sam’s Texas accent was thick as he explained his world view to her. “You don’t seem to understand the order of things. Let me explain a little geometry to you. You seem to think we’re a triangle, with Jack at the top and you and me on equal planes at the bottom. We aren’t a triangle. We’re a straight line, baby. Jack might be at the head of this household of ours, but I’m on top of you, and that’s exactly the way I like it. Jack gives the orders to me, and I give the orders to you.”

Now Abby felt her eyes narrow. She loved him. Oh, how she loved that man, but Sam didn’t have a dominant bone in his body. Jack might be at the head of the household, but she would be damned if Sam wasn’t on the same level she was. Sam was her playmate. Sam was her best friend. He was not her keeper.

Abby got to her knees on the big bed. She was wearing a cute set of green baby doll pajamas, which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was feeling distinctly better. If she hadn’t she wouldn’t have put on some sexy lingerie. As she leaned forward, she couldn’t help but notice Sam’s distinct interest in her breasts, bouncing without the support of her bra. She kept her voice low so he would know she was serious. “Is that right, Samuel Fleetwood? Do you think simply having been born with man parts gives you the right to top me?”

That seemed to give him pause. His hands went to his lean hips and his handsome face screwed up into what she liked to think of as his thinking face. Yes, she watched as he thought about his answer, and then still got it all wrong. “Yes, Abby, yes I do. I’m the man in this relationship, and you should obey me.”

She hurled a pillow toward his head. “You’re the man? Who are you kidding? Jack’s the man. You’re the…” She struggled to find a word to describe him. Sam was fun and playful. He wasn’t demanding in any way except sexually. Sam was the indulgent one. She settled for truth. “You’re the Sam in this relationship, and that means you follow Jack’s orders just like I do.”

They did follow Jack’s orders, when they couldn’t find a way around them. Though lately there hadn’t been all that many orders to follow.

Sam’s blue eyes lost some of their luster as he broke contact with her and seemed to suddenly find the comforter endlessly interesting. Shit. She’d handled this morning’s confrontation all wrong. Her heart softened toward the man who formed one half of her world.

“Baby, that didn’t come out right,” she tried.

Sam took a step back, his handsome face marred by a frown. He waved off her worry. “It’s no big deal, darlin’. I get the message. You’re feeling better. You don’t need a keeper. I’ll go get dressed and find some work to do. Jack’s been on his own for days.”

He turned to leave.

She was off the bed in a shot. There was no way she could allow him to leave like that. He was sensitive. Oh, he would say he wasn’t, but when it came to her, Sam Fleetwood was one big teddy bear and she’d hurt him.

She wound her arms around Sam’s waist, knowing he would never do anything so impolite as break her hug. He stood still for a moment, and then all of his instincts took over. He relaxed against her as his hands curled around her body and found her backside.

“You honestly feeling better?”

Abby didn’t bite, not yet. “I feel like crap, Sam, and not in a physical sense. I shouldn’t have talked to you that way. You are so important to me. You know I love you.”

He laughed softly. “I know you love me. You wouldn’t put up with me if you didn’t love me.”

There was the trouble. She kissed the well-defined muscles of his shoulders softly. He smelled like soap and some masculine smell she couldn’t quite define. “You aren’t hard to put up with. I love you, Sam. Jack loves you, too.”

She knew exactly where Sam’s insecurities lay.

Though there was no legal way to marry Sam, she considered herself his wife as well. Jack and Sam owned a highly lucrative cattle ranch together. They’d been friends and partners for years. Jack had grown up in foster care. Sam had spent a portion of his teen years in the same group home Jack had been assigned to. From the day they met, they’d been inseparable. They shared a home, a business, and now a wife.

And Sam wanted more. He wanted to be a true threesome, not merely a pair of friends sharing a woman. Sam wanted Jack, wanted him in every way a human being could want another.

“I know,” he said, but she could hear the sadness in his voice.

It made her ache for him. Made her ache for them. She’d thought the day they’d married they’d become complete, but something was missing. Something deep.

If only they’d been able to go on their honeymoon like normal people. If only the day hadn’t ended the way it had…

On their wedding day, Jack had taken a bullet meant for her. A woman with a long-held grudge against Abby had shown up as they were walking out of the courthouse and taken a shot at her. She could still remember how it felt to look down and see a hole in Jack’s strong chest, to know how close he was to death. To know that she could lose him just when she’d found him.

It was funny how the world worked. The same woman who’d shot her husband had been the one who’d sent her out into the world alone at seventeen and pregnant. It had been Ruby Echols who’d fueled her desire to prove her hometown wrong. If Ruby hadn’t driven her out of town, she didn’t think she would have chosen nursing as a profession, wouldn’t have been so deeply determined to reach the top of her field.

Her skill had saved Jack that day, and oddly her skill was wrapped up in Ruby Echols.

Jack had spent time in the hospital and his recovery period had been long and hard. Physically, he’d come out stronger than ever. She wasn’t so sure he’d recovered emotionally yet. He’d been very close to death. As a nurse, she’d seen what facing your own mortality could do to a person.

For some people, it was a wake-up call. The revelation that they weren’t immortal spurred them to do things they never would have before.

There was another portion of the population that retreated into themselves. It was as though they’d never thought of themselves as fragile and couldn’t handle it even though they’d come back. Jack had been a bit like that.

It wasn’t that he held himself apart. He was generous with everything. He told her he loved her. He made love to her most nights and a whole lot of the mornings, too. But there was something missing. The outrageous dominance Jack had always brought to the bedroom before had disappeared. Jack liked to be in charge, but coming close to death and being weak for so long seemed to have humbled him in a way she didn’t like. It had also caused him to stop the playful experiment he and Sam shared before the incident. Sam had been close to getting what he wanted, and now it seemed a million miles away.

When they were in bed together, Jack avoided Sam physically, and it was starting to wear on them all. Cracks were forming where she would have sworn there was a solid concrete foundation.

“He needs some time,” Sam said quietly.

“Or he needs a good, swift kick in the ass.” She rubbed against Sam’s back, the warmth of his skin comforting. Of course there was something else that was comforting, too. Something they hadn’t done for a couple of days. She ran her hands down his chest to the front of his jeans. His cock was already erect, but that wasn’t surprising. A slight breeze could get Sam erect. It was one of the things she loved about him. He was always ready to go. She cupped that big cock of Sam’s and felt him sigh.

“You going to give it to him, baby?” Sam’s voice went low and husky. He pressed himself into her hands.

She could feel the heat coming off Sam’s body. “I think our Dom needs to be reminded of who he is. When was the last time he punished me? I stayed out until three in the morning at Christa’s three weeks ago and forgot to call. He was panicked by the time he found me. Did he toss me over his knee and spank my ass? No, he very politely requested that next time I text him when I’m going to be out late. Seriously? That is not the man I married. He walks like Jack, and he looks like Jack, but I want the real Jack back.”

Sam shook his head. “I tried to talk to him, but he always says he’s fine. We haven’t been in the playroom for months. I bitched about it, and he said we’re married now and should show you more respect. I married you because I wanted to do all sorts of dirty things to you. I love you, and I respect the hell out of you. I respect how smart you are and how funny you can be, and I also respect your blow job skills.”

“Good to know.” She sobered quickly as she considered the problem. Jack was wrestling with something. He wasn’t willing to talk about it yet. Maybe what he needed was a shake-up. Though he wouldn’t admit it, Jack considered Sam his own, just as he believed she belonged to him. Sam was as much Jack’s sub as she was, but he didn’t feel it. When the Dom lost control, it was up to the subs to force him to take it back. None of them were truly content with the current situation, and they wouldn’t be until things got back to their weird version of normal.

“See, you are a bad girl, Abigail Barnes.” Sam groaned as he gave her cheeks a good squeeze. “I can feel you plotting from here. This better be good, baby. When he comes back to us, I don’t think he’ll come back quietly.”

“Oh, I intend to make that man roar.” She stopped rubbing him and walked around so she could look into his eyes.

They were at a crossroads and she could see her choices so clearly. One road led to more of the same. Maybe Jack would come out of it. Maybe he wouldn’t and his new, quieter personality would become permanent and something precious would be lost between the three of them.

She could face him and give him an ultimatum. They all went into therapy or she would have to think about leaving. But that wasn’t fair and she couldn’t travel down that road. Ever.

Or she could gamble. Sometimes a wake-up call was needed. Sometimes a woman had to push the boundaries and see what happened. He would explode and they would at least talk about what was happening. Or he would do nothing and she would know.

“I’ve been thinking, and I came up with a few things.” She dropped to her knees in front of Sam. It was time to prove to him that she was definitely worthy of his respect. Sick time was over. She was also done with sitting around waiting for Jack to get over whatever he needed to get over. She was walking a dangerous line and was probably in for the spanking of a lifetime. Luckily, she liked spankings. Her hands ran up Sam’s thighs to play with the fly of his jeans. “I’ll handle everything. But first, you promised to fill me up.”

Sam tore open his jeans. He shoved them to his knees, freeing his big, beautiful dick. She took it in her hand and stroked the soft skin covering his hardness. It was already weeping. There was a pearly drop of him right there waiting for her. She gathered it on her tongue and sighed.

“You know me.” Sam thrust his hands in her hair. “I never like to disappoint a lady.”

* * * *

Jack Barnes wiped his boots off on the mat before he walked into the house. It was March, and it had been raining nonstop for a week. The weather outside matched his general mood, though he had no one incident to tie his malaise to. It was a general restlessness that he couldn’t get rid of. He pulled off his light jacket and hung up his hat before shutting the door.

“You’re early, Mr. Barnes.” A familiar voice greeted him. Benita, his longtime housekeeper, stood in the doorway that led to the kitchen. She had a carrot in one hand and a knife in the other. It was his habit to come in for lunch at noon. He would sit with his best friend and their wife. Today he’d knocked off a bit early because of a message on his cell. He couldn’t return it until he reached the quiet of the house. It was far too noisy to call someone from the back of a horse in the middle of a storm.

“Don’t worry about me, Benita.” Jack nodded to her as he moved through the house. He wouldn’t have time to sit and eat today. “I’ll get a sandwich later.” He stopped and backed up. “Is Abby eating better?”

He hated that cough she’d had a few days ago, hated any time she was sick.

The older woman smiled brightly. Jack knew she genuinely liked the new mistress of the house. “I believe you’ll find your wife is feeling much better this morning. She’s been giving Mr. Fleetwood hell. You won’t be able to keep her in bed for much longer.”

Jack nodded. She would be up and about before he felt good about it. A thought floated through his mind.

She wouldn’t be up and about if you tied her to the bed.

Instantly, his cock hardened at the thought of her spread out and naked. Then he winced and let it go. It might be what he wanted, but it wasn’t what she needed. He was a selfish ass. She’d been sick and he was thinking about his cock. Marriage changed things. Getting older changed things. He had to adapt or he would lose them both. “As long as she finishes out those antibiotics, it should be fine.”

That was what the doctor had told him. He should listen to people who went to medical school. He started back toward his office.

“Now how do you feel about triangles, Sam?” He heard Abby’s laughter as he turned down the hallway.

Sam groaned, and Jack could guess what his partner was doing. “I love ’em, baby doll. Triangles are the best. Don’t stop. God, Abby, you feel so good…”

He went still and listened for a moment. His cock got harder as he listened to the sweet sound of their wife sucking and Sam enjoying the ride. It was the kind of thing he ached to join in on. He should walk into that room and demand that Abigail remove his clothes and see to him, too. It had been days since he sank into his wife’s tight pussy. Since then, she’d been too sick for play. Now, he could walk in that room and calmly explain that he wanted them both to join him in the playroom. He wanted Sam to tie Abigail up, and then he would tie Sam up. Both of his subs would be bound and trussed for his pleasure. He could spend the rainy afternoon disciplining them and then rewarding them for their submission. He wanted it so badly, he almost couldn’t catch his breath.

Jack dragged air into his lungs and shook the thought off. When had he started thinking of Sam in those terms? Sam had always been the follower to Jack’s leader, but getting married had changed something in Jack. In fact, a lot of things had changed.

And what the hell would he do if Abigail didn’t want things to change like that? Sure she’d been the one to ask him to kiss Sam that night long ago, but kissing was different from sex.

He wanted Sam, wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out without taking him, and then everything would change and he wasn’t sure it would be for the better.

He turned away from the bedroom and forced himself to walk down the hall. He could still hear Sam and Abby’s lovemaking. He wanted to join them, but he knew what would happen if he did. He would burst in and start making demands and take over, just the way he always did. He was a selfish bastard, and he knew it. It was better to let them have their fun.

It was better to not push boundaries.

Sam practically bounced out of the room. Jack’s heart seized a little at the sight of his oldest friend in nothing but a pair of blue jeans.

Sam’s head was turned as he shut the door. “I’ll be back, baby.” He stopped and stared at Jack. “Hey. Abby needs some water.”

Jack nodded and turned away. It was easy for Sam to be happy. He didn’t have all the responsibility in the world on his shoulders. Jack wanted the responsibility. He needed it, craved it, but sometimes it was hard to make the decisions. It was hard to shoulder everything alone, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t burden his submissives with his problems. “Then you should take care of her. Is she feeling better?”

Sam’s hand came up and almost made it to Jack’s shoulder before he pulled it back down. Playful Sam seemed almost subdued. He shook his head, and there was a sunny smile on his face again. “She’s fine. Hell, she’s downright frisky. Come join us. You know it takes more than me to keep that woman satisfied.”

Jack’s hand was on the door. Damn it, he couldn’t. He hadn’t slept in days and his control was shot. He would take over and possibly hurt his wife. He would wreck everything by asking too much of Sam. At the very least, his demanding behavior would drive them away eventually. He had to remember how fragile she was. There was a popping sound as Benita slammed the door to the kitchen. That door needed fixing and had for months, but it didn’t stop him from jumping.

Every time he heard a sound like that, he saw the gun in Ruby Echols’s hand and felt the bullet slam into his chest. The world seemed to go hazy, his peripheral vision fading. He needed to breathe but something was wrong with his damn lungs.

“Come on, Jack, let’s have some fun,” Sam cajoled.

“No, damn it.” The words came out far harsher than he intended, but he was sweating now, panic close to the surface. He needed to be alone, to calm down, to figure out how he was going to gently make love to his wife and respect his partner. He had to ignore this craving to utterly dominate them both. “Some of us have work to do.”

Sam’s mouth slammed shut, forming a stubborn line. “Well, we wouldn’t want to keep you from your precious work. I’ll take care of Abby. It’s all I seem to be able to do these days.”

“See that you do.” He practically ran into his office. He hated himself for the look on Sam’s face, but he couldn’t call him back.

His office was cool and dark. He didn’t bother to open the curtains. He sat down at his desk and pulled out his cell phone, needing to think about anything other than how pissed off Sam must be. His jaw tightened.

Maybe he was the one who should be pissed. While Sam rolled around with their wife, Jack was the one who couldn’t fucking sleep at night. While Sam got Abigail’s kisses, Jack got her worried glances. Anger felt better than the pity party playing in his head. He punched in the number on speed dial while thinking about the message Julian Lodge had left on his voice mail. It had been cryptic, with no greeting other than, “Call me yesterday, Jackson.”

Julian’s voice had been terse and tight with irritation. On the edge. A little like Jack felt.

And it wasn’t like the man would respond to a text. If Julian asked him to call, a call was what he wanted. Despite the fact that Julian had the best of everything—including technology—he was also slightly paranoid about how he used it. A simple text would have saved Jack so much time, but he knew that if Julian thought the conversation would be important, he wouldn’t allow it to be sent up to the “cloud.”

Julian Lodge had been the man to pull him off the street. Jack had been introduced to the wealthy club owner through a lover who appreciated his control. She’d thought he would fit right in at the underground establishment known only as The Club. After an interview and what felt like endless training sessions, Julian brought Jack in as one of the resident Doms.

It was a job he’d enjoyed, especially in those days. He’d quickly become a leader in the place. The Club catered to a clientele dedicated to the D/s lifestyle and ménage. Jack learned everything he knew about how to pleasure a lover from years of working there. He’d gained more than mere sexual knowledge. Though Julian was only a few years older, the man had been a mentor to him. Julian had taught him how to handle himself both in business situations and in personal ones. He’d taken a rough street kid and taught him that ruthlessness involved far more than one’s fists.

From Julian, Jack had learned the fine art of revenge.

His father had been the first recipient of Jack’s newly acquired knowledge. Julian had aided the young Jack in finding the biological father who knowingly left him to the wolves of foster care at the tender age of six. Senator Allen Cameron had a bright political future, and a love child who worked in a sex club could ruin everything. He had promptly found himself the satisfied owner of five million dollars in exchange for signing away any rights to future inheritance. He’d taken Sam to small-town Willow Fork, Texas, and bought his spread. Ten years and a whole bunch of natural gas reserve later, Jack was a very wealthy man.

“This is Lodge.” A tense voice interrupted his thoughts. Just the fact that Julian’s usually smooth voice was rough gave Jack pause. “Is that you, Jackson?”

“Yes,” Jack replied calmly. “I’m sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I was on the range. I had to get back to the house before I could call. What can I help you with? It sounded urgent.”

“You can get your ass up here and handle your business, Jackson. I need you here tomorrow. I’ll expect you sometime in the afternoon.” There was no mistaking the fine edge of Julian’s temper.

Jack found himself sitting up straight. He didn’t like anyone, including his old mentor, speaking to him in such a fashion. It brought out the alpha in him. He ruthlessly shoved the irritation down. “Would you like to explain yourself, Julian?”

There was silence and then a short laugh from the other end of the line. “Yes, that should do it. Use that exact tone on the little asshole, and it should have him crapping his pants.”

Jack took a deep breath. “Which asshole might you be referring to?”

“His name is Lucas Cameron,” Julian said with a sigh. “Jackson, he’s your brother, and he’s intent on blackmailing all of us.”

Copyright 2017 Lexi Blake