The Divine Creek Ranch Collection Volume 4 Read online

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  Emma removed her eyeglasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose as she walked along the sidewalk that led to her front door. Grace, the baby, and her men were all back at the hospital getting to know each other, and it was eight o’clock on Sunday night. One patient emergency after another had kept her at the hospital or her clinic all day. She’d only managed a few hours of sleep in the doctor’s lounge, so she looked forward to sinking into sleep in her own bed after eating supper. Emma stretched her stiff neck from side to side, replaced her glasses, and fished in her bag for her keys.

  The apartment was cool and dark when she went in and turned on the light. There was another note attached to her door, and she peeled it off before closing the door.

  Hi gorgeous,

  We have something for you upstairs. Regardless of what time you get home, come knock on our door. Come upstairs hungry and that would be even better.

  Duke and Gage

  Smiling, she rubbed her stomach after taking off her doctor’s jacket and hanging it up. She was starving. Grabbing her purse and keys, she locked the apartment and hurried upstairs, making sure her phone was in her pocket, in case she was needed.

  Duke yanked the door open a mere second after the second rap of her knuckles and greeted her with a big smile. The warmth in his eyes communicated itself to her, and her core turned warm and soft for him.

  “Hi. I got your note,” she said, waving it as she stepped over the threshold. “Sorry about last night.”

  As he closed the door, Duke said, “I’m not. Grace needed you. And you’re here now.”

  A moment later, she found herself wrapped up in his lean, strong arms. She was tall for a woman, at five feet and nine inches, and he was still taller than she, at six feet two or three inches. Duke surprised her with the way he’d taken charge of the moment.

  He tightened his arms, and her body came alive as though she’d been touched by an electrical current. He didn’t waste any time, groaning softly as he squeezed her to him and laid his lips on hers.

  She was shocked for a second, but her body willingly responded to him, and she lost herself in the kiss, parting her lips. Her pussy reacted with a rushing, swelling sensation, and she melted against him. If dating him was going to be like this, she would be a total pushover. There was no resistance in her for him.

  He caressed the back of her head, his fingers sinking through her hair to lightly rub her scalp and the base of her head. How did he know that’s where all my tension centers? She moaned blissfully at his continued rubbing and knew she was putty in his hands.

  Duke’s chest was muscular and firm with her breasts pressed up against it. She ran both hands up his arms, enjoying the definition of his biceps and shoulders, until she had her arms wrapped around his neck. The rigid line of his cock pressed against her mound, her pussy quivered with heat, and moisture pooled in her cotton panties. Duke gentled his kiss and trailed a line of damp kisses from her lips down her throat to below her ear.

  A powerful quiver shot through her body when she felt a second pair of warm hands settle at her hips and caress upward to her waist. Her pussy convulsed with want when Gage’s hands continued in their upward quest until they barely cupped the undersides of her breasts. His fingertips stroked in a semicircular arc beneath them until she would’ve sworn they’d swelled, trying to fill up his hands.

  The sensation was indescribable when Gage pressed against her from behind and she was engulfed in their reassuring body heat. She moaned when Gage pressed his lips against her shoulder, and fiery tingles coursed through her body as he traced his hot mouth up the other side of her throat.

  Rhythmic pulses raged through her cunt at the pure sensuality of the encompassing embrace, and she gasped in shock, wondering if she’d just had a small climax or not. How long had it been since she’d been this turned on in a man’s arms? She was hard pressed to remember her last date, much less the last time she’d ever felt like this.

  When they removed their lips from her throat, she almost complained because she immediately missed their closeness and warmth. To be embraced like that was unspeakably intimate and not at all what she’d expected when she’d come upstairs. She wanted more.

  Finally opening her dazed eyes, she found Duke gazing at her with satisfaction written plainly on his handsome face. Gage snaked his hands around her torso as Duke released her. The rumble in Gage’s chest could be felt against her back as he squeezed her gently from behind. She alternated her gaze between Duke and Gage and said, “Wow.”

  Gage chuckled and said, “Yeah. Major understatement.”

  She laid her hand almost shyly on Gage’s cheek and drew his lips to hers for a kiss as she turned in his embrace. Wanting the same thing with both of them seemed right. She didn’t feel any qualms for giving Gage the trust and passion she’d also given Duke.

  When she gazed up at him, Gage smiled at her. He was slightly more reserved than his cousin, but she could see the heat in his eyes. The stiff cock pressed against her communicated that he wanted her just as much. The thought thrilled her instead of intimidating her. Emma laid her head against his chest and he held her for a few seconds.

  She didn’t want him to let her go at all. Instead she wanted more kisses and touching and to forget about work and life for a while and just be with these two men.

  She murmured, “I’m sorry about our date getting messed up.”

  Gage chuckled and replied, “It doesn’t feel messed up right now. Can you stay for a while?” He released her, and she stepped up to the counter and took a seat on the barstool he offered her.

  “Yes. I’m on call but I can stay. Oh! These are beautiful!” she said as she admired the flower arrangement on the counter. The pink roses were so pale they were almost white.

  “They’re for you,” Gage said as he sat down beside her. When he stroked her thigh gently she wanted to lean in to him so he would hold her again.

  Duke said, “We’re making you supper. Hope you’re hungry and you like sirloin steak.” He lifted a steak from its wrappings with a fork and turned to her.

  Emma smiled and replied, “I’m starving, and I love steak. I’m definitely a carnivore.”

  Duke gave her his crooked grin and asked, “How do you like your meat?”

  Chapter Four

  Gage’s cock hardened further behind his zipper as Emma moaned again. He loved watching a woman enjoy her meal, and Emma was clearly enjoying the steak Duke had grilled for her. Gage sometimes wondered if Duke had missed his calling as a chef because the guy could cook. And the ecstatic sounds Emma kept making as she ate were beginning to get to him. He kept imagining her making those sounds as she took something besides a bite of food into her mouth. He glanced at his cousin and found Duke watching Emma eat her medium-rare sirloin with something bordering on fascination.

  “Duke, this is so good.” She sat on the couch with them as they watched the third movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King. Duke sat on one side angled slightly toward her with a knee resting on the couch cushion, and Gage mirrored his posture on her other side. This way they could see each other and her.

  “I’m glad you like it. I’ll cook for you anytime you want. I enjoy it.”

  “You would spoil me rotten. I’m used to eating cold food and lots of takeout.”

  Gage asked, “You don’t like to cook?”

  Emma scrunched up her nose as she finished chewing and smiled at him. “Cooking is not one of my natural skills. I’m great with a sandwich or cracking open a container of yogurt but unfortunately I’m not much good with a stove.”

  Gage took the plate from her when she was done, and they quickly became engrossed in the movie which had been on, playing in the background, since she got there. Duke smiled as he reached out and stroked the top of her hand where it lay on the couch cushion.

  Emma slipped her colorful clogs off and pulled her feet up in front of her, with her knees pressed to her chest. Gage grinned whe
n he saw that she wore cheery, striped toe socks with little smiley faces on the top of each toe.

  “I hate this part,” she said with a giggle as she put her parted fingers over her eyes then looked through them.

  On the television screen, the deep, guttural voice of the Mouth of Sauron spoke. “The halfling was dear to thee, I see. Know that he suffered greatly at the hands of his host.”

  Gage smiled when she whispered on with the dialogue. She looked up at him and smiled, a twinkle in her eyes, as he and Duke both inched a little closer.

  Emma peeked at the screen and whispered, “Come on, Aragorn. Cut off his head.” She shuddered as the hideous masked character grinned perniciously. Gage had to hold back a chuckle, she was so cute.

  Because she was so into the movie, Gage and Duke let her watch to the end without distraction.

  While the credits rolled, Emma asked, “Do you ever feel like you missed the adventure in your life?” Her voice was soft, and Gage could tell that her mood had mellowed from earlier.

  They’d spent time with her Friday evening, but this was the first time she’d ever seemed introspective. Emma hummed softly for a second and said, “Like you’ve missed the chances you were supposed to take?” She hugged her knees as she looked from one to the other of them.

  Duke replied, “Yeah, I think I know exactly what you mean.”

  Gage wondered what Duke was getting at but held his tongue to see where the conversation went.

  Gage noted that Emma spoke with her hands, communicating a lot about her emotions, as she said, “I graduated from high school early. I went straight into college and then medical school and finished early with my degree. I set up my medical practice and opened the clinic while many of my high school classmates were still in those years where they had the freedom to party and be social with few responsibilities. Don’t get me wrong, I consciously chose that course and I’m happy and proud of where I am today. I just wonder sometimes about what I missed.”

  Gage noticed that her hands were trembling as she said, “I sometimes feel geeky and…socially awkward and I wonder…” When she paused, Gage kept silent because he could see the sheen of tears in her eyes and wanted to let her finish her thought. “It’s my own fault that people know me only as Doctor Emma. In social settings that’s who I am.”

  Gage could relate to what she was saying. He and Duke weren’t exactly the suave and debonair types either. They were more comfortable playing Call of Duty online with their friends or going to the movies.

  One little elderly lady in their apartment complex had even mistaken them for a gay couple because they usually did everything together. Since they’d corrected the misunderstanding, she’d been trying to set them up with her granddaughters. After finding out that the granddaughters liked to go dancing, they’d been making excuses. Neither of them knew how to dance.

  Quietly, Duke asked, “When was the last time you went out with your friends and danced, or had a date, Emma?”

  “Grace has invited me to The Dancing Pony, but I don’t go places like that by myself. My girlfriends, if you could call them that, don’t generally do those sorts of things. They…”

  Gage gently prodded. “What?”

  Emma rested her cheeks in her palms, which distorted her response in a way he found very endearing. “They quilt. And they have cats.” She hid her face in her palms and through her fingers she said, “I’m no good at sewing and cats make me sneeze. I’m not sure where my life is going these days. I’m thirty-three years old. I should have an idea by now, right? I dread waking up at forty-three and saying, ‘What the hell?’”

  Duke nodded. “Yeah. I do know exactly what you’re talking about.”

  Emma said, “You know I can’t talk to you about patients and all that, but you’re both friends with the Warners and Ethan and Adam. You should see Rose Marie.” Emma held her hands before her as if she were holding the tiny little infant. “She’s perfect and so precious. I watched them become a family and it just hit me, how truly empty my life is. All my accomplishments are tied to my life as a doctor. Above and beyond that, with the hours I keep, who could put up with me?”

  Duke closed his hand over hers on her knee. “I could.”

  “I could, too,” Gage replied, nudging her shoulder and smiling at her, hoping she would smile back.

  She grinned, removed her glasses, and wiped carefully with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be so depressing. The end of the movie just got me thinking. If I reach the end of my life and look back, knowing this is it, will I be satisfied that I took every chance that life gave me or did I squander them? My friend, Jane…”

  “The quilter with cats?” Duke said with a chuckle.

  Emma nodded and said, “Yes, that one. It seems like she’s resigned herself already to be a spinster. She acts as though she’s given up. And her friends…ugh.”

  “More quilters?”

  Emma nodded. “If all they did was get together and quilt, that would be great. But they like to gossip. It’s silly, what they do, and not what I want.”

  Gage said, “I think I know what you need.” Emma and Duke looked at him expectantly as he continued, “You need a bucket list.”

  Emma gasped and said, “Actually, I have one. I was at a seminar a couple of years ago and we had to brainstorm a list of fifty things we wanted to do before we died as one of the activities for the weekend. I still have it. Do you have a list?”

  Gage laughed and said, “Yeah, I made one after The Bucket List came out. It’s in my bedroom. You, Duke?”

  Duke nodded, “I made it one day while we were on a surveillance job. Do you know where your list is, Emma? I have an idea.”

  “I think so.”

  “Go get it.”

  Emma smirked and said, “Uh-oh. What have I gotten myself into?”

  Duke nudged her. “Some fun. That’s what. Go get it.”

  Emma grabbed her keys and trotted out the door.

  Gage turned to Duke and said, “What are you up to?”

  Duke chuckled as he went down the hall to his bedroom, calling, “You’ll see. Get your list.”

  Emma came back with a large brown envelope and dug through it as they rejoined her on the couch. Gage had found the list on his yellow legal tablet in his desk, and Duke had his in his planner. Duke’s looked more recently compiled.

  “Here it is,” she said as a folded piece of paper fluttered onto the couch at her feet, which were once again in front of her on the cushion. She seemed to enjoy being bunched up in a little ball in the middle. Gage liked the grouping but hoped to see her a little more relaxed between them someday.

  Duke said, “This is what I propose. Let’s compare our lists. Whatever items are duplicated on each other’s lists we will do together, if at all possible.”

  Duke rose from the couch and beckoned them to come to the dinner table. Emma unfolded her list, and they lined them up together. Looking over Duke’s shoulder, Emma suddenly squealed and slapped her hands down on her list.

  “Oh, my God! Don’t look! Let me have it!” She was hunched over Duke with one arm over each of his shoulders. Gage envied Duke the position he was in, with her full, round breasts pressed against his back.

  Gage chuckled when Duke looked up at her with pure evil intent in his eyes. They’d both already seen one of the first items on her list.

  Duke said, “Too late.”

  Emma cringed. “Oh, no.” But she didn’t have any real fear in her eyes. “I wrote this list two years ago after Grace got married and Teresa…and Rosemary. Oh crap!”

  Duke could not have looked more triumphant. “You want a threesome.” Ever sanguine, Duke took up his mechanical pencil and mouthed, “Bow-chicka-wow-wow,” then began writing. “That’s going at the top of the list.”

  The color rose in Emma’s pale, soft cheeks as she looked up at Gage. He didn’t glance away but held her gaze instead. She averted her eyes quickly but then looked back at him. Duke’s
hands stilled on the paper. He laid the pencil down and circled both of her wrists gently with his hands. She stood, but he didn’t release her wrists, and he gazed up at her and then turned to Gage.

  Gage could see what was in Duke’s eyes. They were talking about bucket lists and living life with no regrets. The time to start was in the present, but Gage thought tonight was much too soon to fulfill the number one item on their list. Emma looked ready to bolt. He could hear her breathing.

  Duke said, “We’re ready when you are, Emma.” Still holding her gaze, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the tops of her fingers. Gage’s cock hardened at the way Emma bit her lower lip and sighed shakily.

  “No regrets, ever, Emma,” Gage murmured, drawing her gaze. Her eyes were bright green with striations of gray around the pupils, which were now dilated. She was feeling it, too. “We aren’t after a one-night stand. We’ll do whatever you want.”

  Gage could almost hear the wheels turning in Emma’s mind. She glanced at the clock, then at the lists lying on the table, at him, and then down at Duke. She stroked Duke’s chest and drew in a shaky breath.

  “Can we start slow?” Her voice was low and quivered with emotion. “I’m…a little out of practice.”

  Gage’s dick swelled to near-painful proportions at her whispered words, but his heart went out to her. She was embracing the idea of fulfilling her bucket list and stepping out of her comfort zone. Like him and Duke, she’d been playing it safe for a long time, and he didn’t for a minute doubt that she was sincere. They needed to take very good care of her, no matter what happened tonight, so she wouldn’t regret it later.

  Duke rose from his chair, still grasping her hand to his chest, and said, “We don’t have to do anything tonight, Em.”

  Emma smiled at Duke and then placed her hand on Gage’s chest. “Oh, yes we do. Who has the biggest bed?”

  His dick pulsed, ready to explode, as Gage replied, “They’re both king-size.”

  “Begin as we mean to go on, right?” she asked as she took her phone from her pocket and laid it on the table, eyeing it as though she was praying no one would call her tonight. “I want you both to make love to me. One at a time, if that’s okay?”