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Kennedy…

Kennedy couldn’t believe it. The repairs to the roof had been completed. Being unable to see the late afternoon sky was a miracle. The scent of the new wood tickled her nose, delicious and green. The people on the mountain hadn’t been able to destroy her family. Inside the mother’s room, Terry was sweeping the floor and humming under his breath.

Just as she was about to switch out for the waiting mop, Red and his mother stepped onto the threshold of the barn. The pair had been outside, saying goodbye to the last of the volunteers while she and Terry swept up. Ringed in gold by the late afternoon light, his shadow stretched toward her across the floor. Red announced, “Everyone has headed home to dinner. It’s time for us to go as well.”

There was no way that was happening. Kennedy rested her broom against the wall and stepped toward the stubborn man and his mother. “You aren’t leaving,” she announced.

“My mom’s friend has her truck started. Girl, I wasn’t asking your permission. Mom needs to get home before it’s dark.”

“So send her home with her friend.” Kennedy placed her hands on her hips and refused to budge from her place in front of him.

Around the head of his cane, his calloused fingers tightened. “I have work in the morning. I already took today off. Things will go to hell at the shop if I’m not there on time tomorrow.” Red shoved his hand through his hair. “And I’d rather not get a lecture about not texting you back in front of my mother. Can’t this wait?”

Kennedy tilted her head. “You are infuriating.”

Red’s mother turned her face uncertainly, listening to them, and placed her hand on her son’s back.

Gesturing to the surrounding barn, Kennedy said, “You made all of this happen and you think I’m going to yell at you?” She stepped closer and pressed one finger against the center of his chest. His lean body radiated heat. “You risked your life for me. On the mountain, I watched you try to trade your life for mine more than once. It’s a miracle you are alive.”

His mother smiled and gently pushed Red forward. He took a step into the barn. Hooking his thumb toward his mother, Red said, “She arranged it. Not me.”

“I don’t care. I’m giving you the credit,” Kennedy said stubbornly.

Pink flushed into his cheeks. “That is unnecessary.” Terry watched the exchange, grinning.

Kennedy stepped closer to Red. “Have you decided what to name the baby?”

Shock registered across his lean face, and he turned to guide his mother toward the door. He asked, “Can you find the truck by the sound of the engine?”

His mother’s smile was huge. “I’m sure I can.” She found the door’s edge with her hand and pulled it closed behind her as she stepped through.

Red pointed toward Kennedy after flicking a glance in Terry’s direction. “I’m not holding you to that nonsense. You thought I was going to die. It’s understandable that you wanted a dead man to return to the dirt with a full heart, but I lived, so things are different.” He looked to Terry for help.

Terry lifted his hands and waved them together while shaking his head no. He refused to take part in their argument.

Red looked at his ring brother with disbelief. “Don’t do this to me. Help me convince her to do what is right. I couldn’t have…”

Kennedy canted her hip. “So what you are telling me is that your big stubborn ass hasn’t even thought of one name? What in the hell have you been thinking about? New recipes for a venison roast?”

“You should be so lucky, brat. My venison roast is the best in the county.” He leaned in toward her. “You do not know what I’ve been through.”

The taste of a recent change enriched his scent. Kennedy took a deep breath. “You’ve changed recently.”

He pushed his stubborn chin forward. “I did, and I came back.”

Kennedy challenged him. “Why?”

He bristled. “Because none of these other dumbass punks can keep their brain functional when their dicks are hard.”

She smirked and reached out and cupped his cock through his jeans. He thickened against her hand. “Not all of you is broken.”

“Something is wrong with you, woman.” He gripped her wrist and pulled her hand away.

“Aww, come on, don’t you want to know about the baby?”

Holding her wrist, he hesitated and then pulled her closer to him. “Know what?”

Kennedy swayed her body, moving further into his space, brushing against him. “Whether you are naming a boy or a girl?”

Red released her wrist and reached down to touch the slope of her belly.

“He needs a name. Something strong, because that little werehampster flips me every few days like he is making pancakes.”

The big mans face softened as he felt the child move. “Little trouble maker.”

Kennedy’s breasts brushed against Red’s chest. “Maybe you need some distraction. To clear your head. So you can remember.”

Red slid the back of his knuckles up her ribs and cradled her breast in his hand. “Ripe,” he whispered.

Looking up, she gave him a cat like grin. “Want a taste?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

When he growled in response, a tingle of anticipation spread through her body. Behind them, Terry lit the lamps that sat outside of the mother’s room, making the room glow.

“I’m not in a gentle place, woman.” Red’s fingertips brushed along her throat. “What if I hurt you?”

“Then we will fight as we fuck.” She pulled his face down to hers. With both of her hands cradling his rugged face, her lips brushed against his as she spoke. “I am mad as hell at you, but you are spending the night with us. You are not leaving.”

Voice laced with amusement and desire, he answered, “Yes, mam.” Red gripped the back of her neck, and pressed his mouth to hers, quieting anything more she might say. Electricity prickled through her body and goose bumps chased down her arms. As he drew back from the kiss, Red walked her backwards toward the mother’s room.

The low approving growl Terry released spiraled heat down into her thighs. Her body stopped with a jolt as the back of her legs hit the side of the bed. Lust turned Red’s voice into gravel and rocks when he told Terry to get on the bed. Cane dropped to the barn floor, his heated gaze never left hers as he tangled his scarred hands in her dark hair. Terry slid onto the bed behind her and pulled his t-shirt up and over his head. Kennedy felt the weight of the big man sink the mattress downward as he settled his legs on either side of hers. With a wall of man behind her, and a seasoned hunter before her, Kennedy’s body hummed. Both of them were hers and she wanted them.

“Have they been using you properly, little girl?”

Fire rolled in her, fear, worry, anger. An uncontrollable wave of emotion rose. She struck Red’s cheek solidly with the flat of her palm, and his head barely moved. “Well, I know, you haven’t been.” Behind her, Terry hissed with surprise at the slap, but the man in front of her just smiled.

Red touched his cheek. “Brat, you are going to have to hit me harder than that if you want me to spank you.” He dropped his hands to his belt and began unfastening it.

“Fuck you, you thick headed asshole.” His erection was obvious and distracting. “How dare you hide and skulk at your mother’s house? You changed without any of us there to protect you. Do you know how many times I tried to call you just this week?”

“Forty seven.”

Kennedy closed her mouth and swallowed as he pulled his shirt free. New scars crisscrossed his chest in a horrifying pattern. When his right arm hesitated as he lifted it upward, she reached out to help him.

“I can fucking do it by myself.”

Her fingers curved into claws and instead of easing his shirt higher, she raked her fingernails down his chest, leaving superficial scratches. His gaze narrowed, and he snatched both of her wrists. Her bones compressed against each other. The growl that came up from his chest made the hair on the back of her neck rise. He spun her roughly toward Terry. The Doc’s powerful arms steadied and supported her.

Behind Kennedy, Red hissed, “Bend her forward.” Terry’s big hand slid into her hair and gently gripped the back of her head. He drew her down without a sound, and Kennedy’s heart began to jump and flutter. Red reached around her and unfastened her pants and shoved them roughly down to her knees. The cool evening air kissed the back of her thighs, the curve of her exposed ass. The wetness gathering between her legs made her squirm as Red leaned over her. His fingers sank into her hips as he held her in place. “You want something from me?” He bit her back through her shirt, hard enough that she yelped. His hot, rigid cock brushed along the seam between her thigh and ass cheek. “I want to hear you say it, brat.”

“I was scared.” Kennedy trembled as he slid the head of his cock against her, painting himself with her wetness.

“I know.” He pressed forward just enough that he seated against her, and she arched her back and tried to press toward him. Red hissed softly. The two men held her in place, keeping her from getting what she wanted. Red’s voice was soft, rich with longing. “Say it, Kennedy.”

She wasn’t expecting the hot tears that sprang to her cheeks, or the wash of need and fear that coiled inside her. Her body began to tremble violently in their hands. Terry’s thumb brushed across her cheek, one of her tears slid along the bed of his nail. She’d almost lost him. “I love you.”

The rugged man behind her froze in surprise, and she felt his hands tighten brutally on her hips. His fingers sank in until she cried out in pain. There would be bruises in the morning. With aching slowness, he slid into her, curling over her, his breath uneven. With each stroke, he sealed them more deeply together, bodies arching and pressing with need. She clung to Terry, weeping against his shoulder as she gave herself to Red.

Red took her with a brutality that made her body cry out with joy. His life, his strength, poured into her. When he came, he cried out her name. Trembling, held in their powerful hands, she swayed between them. When Red drew back from her, he sank to his knees. Panting, drunk with his orgasm, he threw back his head and roared. Kennedy’s skin prickled as she used Terry’s body to push herself to stand. Her legs shook. Kennedy kicked off her jeans and tattered tennis shoes before she turned to face Red, body humming.

He kneeled on the floor with his head bent. She peeled off her shirt from her sweaty skin, abandoned her bra to the floor, and reached for him. His broad, scarred shoulders shook. She sank to her knees, thighs parted, dripping his seed to the floor. Kennedy cupped his damp face. His tears fell silently, wetting her fingers as she cupped his face.

“Why did you say that?” he whispered.

Tenderly, she kissed his temple, and then his cheeks. Delicately, she touched her lips again and again to his face. His tears had ceased by the time he drew her to him and crushed her in his arms.

Against his cheek, she whispered, “Because I love you.” He rolled her to the floor and onto her back. Terry chuckled from his place, sitting on the edge of the bed. The big man pulled his shirt up and over his head. Their world had settled back into place.

*

Red…

Red enjoyed watching her move.

Kennedy fiddled with the stove. “Explain to me again how this goddamn thing works?” She tried one knob and nothing.

Red’s body ached from the things they’d done the night before, but he’d slept better than he had since the injury. The way she had ridden him, he’d had a moment where he wasn’t sure if she was going to break his dick off. He asked her, “Did you bother to turn on the gas outside? There should be a tank in the front.”

She was barefooted and her hair was tangled. All she had on was a tatty little apron she had found in the narrow closet of the trailer. Red grimaced as he took a sip from his mug. “Why are you insisting on doing this?” He looked down into his cup of bitter coffee. “If your food is like this mud, I should wait until I get into work and grab a stale Danish.”

Pointing her spatula at him, she said, “Asshole.”

Terry chuckled and stood up from the tiny couch in the small space. The top of his head brushed the ceiling when he didn’t duck. Bent forward, he headed toward the door without a word. Kennedy said, “See, he fixes things. He isn’t complaining about his coffee.”

Red grumbled into his mug, “He doesn’t talk and has no functioning taste buds.” Unable to resist, he added, “I’m beginning to see the wisdom in his silence. You vex him less. If there isn’t gas, we can head into town and hit the diner before you drop me off at work. My treat.”

“You don’t want to go by your mom’s and get a fresh pair of clothes?”

“Nope.”

“Your going to walk into work, doing a walk of shame? Are you going to carry your boots in your hand too?”

“I’m going to make them smell my fingers.”

“You are disgusting…” She snapped the burner nob toward ignite as she turned from him and there was a whoosh of ignition that startled her.

He reached out and placed a calming hand on her hip. “Your eggs will be fine.”

She slapped a skillet on the burner and adjusted the flame. “We don’t need to burn anything else down in this family.” Red gave her rump a light swat. The place shuddered as Terry came back up the steps into the trailer.

Red said, “Eric.”

Eggs held in her hands, Kennedy turned fully around. “Is that what I think it is?”

“If you like it. If you’ll have it. He’d be named after the best man I ever had the honor of meeting. The man saved my life.” Red stretched his right shoulder. “You can change your mind.”

She said the name, rolling it over in her mouth. Terry nodded and wedged himself into the table like an adult trying to sit in a toy chair. Careful with the sounds, he repeated it and gave an accepting nod.