As she sat in the office waiting now, the sound of her heart pounding hammered in her ears, and her breath became shallow with anxiousness. One of the Rangers who picked her up at the train station said that the captain was busy on another case, but that her partners she would be working with on this case would be coming in soon to talk to her.
Gosh, she was actually here and soon would be working on her very first official Texas Rangers case. She could hardly believe it. She wondered who her partners would be. She hoped they’d be easy to work with.
Deep in her heart, she hoped that she would have seen Trevor and James when she arrived, but she figured they were probably away on another case. The odds of crossing paths with them would be slim. And the thought weighed heavily on her mind and heart.
Although several weeks had passed since she last saw them, her feelings for them hadn’t changed. If anything, they intensified, and she longed for them every night when she went to bed. She hoped this new job would keep her so preoccupied that thoughts of her loves would be buried and she could heal finally.
And just as she reflected on that hope, the door to the office opened, and two of the handsomest faces she had ever seen peeked in. She lost her breath at the sight.
When they walked in smiling, she barely whispered, “Oh, my God,” and ran to them as James closed the door. She jumped into Trevor’s arms, surprising him.
He had to take a step back to keep from falling backward. “Oh, I like that reception!” was all he said.
She twisted her head to look at James as he turned to face her, beaming.
He opened his arms, asking, “Do I get a hug, too?”
She laughed. “Yes, of course you do.” And she let go of Trevor to hug James.
“We’ve missed you, Belle.” He lifted her in his arms and twirled her around,
Tears had begun to trickle down her cheeks, and she sniffled. All her emotions flooded her at once. And she let them spill out into her words. She couldn’t keep them bottled any longer.
“I’ve missed you both, too.”
James gently put her down and wiped her tears. “Why didn’t you let us talk to you before we left? We wanted to explain everything to you.”
Honesty was her only crutch today, and so she took a deep breath and drew on it for strength.
“Because it hurt too much to be near you, to see you again knowing you’d be leaving for Texas the next day. I couldn’t bear it.”
“Belle, it doesn’t matter anymore. You’re here now.” He bent down and kissed her gently and sweetly on her lips.
“And we are never going let you go ever again.” Trevor hugged her from behind and kissed the top of her head.
She laughed. “Well, that’ll be hard since I’m going to be meeting my new partners in a few minutes and heading out on my first…” She paused and stopped breathing. The smug look on James’s face revealed everything.
“Oh, my God! You’re my new partners?” she inquired while covering her mouth with her hands in awe.
He nodded. “Uh-huh. We convinced the captain that we’d need your help for one of our unsolved cases, and once he heard everything you did in the LaRue case, he decided to personally come recruit you himself.”
“You did that for me?” was all she could reply.
“No, pretty lady, we did it for us. We need you, we love you, and want to spend every waking hour with you,” Trevor responded.
His words made her swoon. “Really?”
James agreed, “Uh-huh. We love you, Belle, and need you in our lives forever.” Then he grinned. “We also really do need your help on this case. We’ve been working on it for months and can’t make any headway on it.”
“Oh, what’s it about?” Her curiosity piqued.
“Well, the outlaw we need your help with has your name, actually.”
Her mind searched and then her mouth fell open when she realized who he meant. “No, it can’t be Belle Starr, can it?”
“The one and only,” Trevor responded, nodding.
She twirled around on the heel of her shoe with excitement. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe it.” Swallowing and taking a deep breath, she asked, “So what is it you’d like me to do?”
Trevor stared at James before saying, “We can talk about that later on when you’re settled in.”
James picked up her bags while Trevor extended his arm for her to take.
“If you’ll follow us, pretty lady, we’ll show you where you’ll be staying. I’m sure after the long train trip, you want to freshen up.”
She tittered, taking his arm. “That sounds nice.” Entwining her arm through his, they left Captain Peak’s office. Her feet hit the floor with every step, but she was riding on such a high that it felt like she floated on a cloud of happiness instead.
Trevor couldn’t wait until they arrived at the room. He and James discussed this several times in the past couple of weeks, and he hoped her reaction would be favorable. It was a big step for all of them, but both he and James were ready for it. Now the question if she would be ready for it, too, battered in his brain.
“This is where you’ll be staying, pretty lady. Hope you like it.” He glanced at her while he put the key into the lock.
Anxiousness flowed through his body, making his hands sweaty, and he needed to squeeze the knob tighter in his grip to twist it open since his fingers slipped. When he opened the door and saw her reaction, he couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.
“You like it?” he asked.
She stepped in, her eyes big, and twirled around, taking in every inch of the place.
“It’s beautiful.” She sighed,
The spacious room had a double bed, the curtains and bed cover were a burgundy-red silk. She skipped to the window, pushed the curtain to the left, and stared outside.
“The garden view is breathtaking.”
James walked over to her after placing her bags on the bureau and held her hand, guiding her to the side door.
Once he opened it, she looked confused. “Why is there another room?”
“This is our room.” James took her hand and kissed the palm while staring at her. “Trevor and I thought it was a good idea that we have adjoining rooms, so we can discuss the case whenever we want.”
“And discuss further matters of the heart whenever we want.” Trevor slid to her side and wrapped his hands around her waist from behind.
He pulled her hair to the side. A whiff of her sweet-smelling perfume enticed him. He nuzzled into her hair, reveling in her scent. Then he bent to the side to nibble and tug her earlobe and inched his way down her neck until he got to her shoulder. She moaned with delight, sending surges of arousal to his cock.
Weeks had gone by since he last touched her silky-soft body, kissed her full, warm lips, and made passionate love to her. He glanced at James while kissing her shoulder and saw the hunger in his eyes for her. They needed her and the way she panted, he knew she needed them, too.
He whispered in her ear, “We want to make love to you, baby.”
She opened her eyes, gazing at James, who leaned forward to kiss her on the lips. The kiss was brief, but she arched her head forward, obviously not wanting it to end.
Trevor took it as a cue. He dipped down to lift her into his arms, carrying her toward the bed. She took a deep breath as he crushed her body to his chest. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders to brace herself, she kissed him as she combed her fingers through his hair with apparent urgency. Sparks flew with their heated contact, making him intensify the kiss.
He snuck his tongue into her heavenly mouth, looping hers with his, probing every inch, teasing her of more to come.
She sighed with obvious rapture.
He couldn’t see where he headed, but when his knee hit the edge of her double bed, he gently placed her on
