“But you want him to stay and fight when the dragon appears,” Brandon said, “instead of tossing the sword in your direction and running away—leaving you with the responsibility for everything—again.”
Rachel closed her eyes, the relief rushing through her somehow zapping all of her strength. “Yes. Yes.” She exhaled, shakily, and leaned her head against Brandon. Her emotions swamped her. She didn’t know why she babbled, but she couldn’t stop. “I love my daughter more than life itself. I even tried to bargain with God that He give me the damn cancer and leave her healthy. I did everything I could to take care of her, and it truly didn’t matter to me what it cost, physically, materially, or emotionally. But now that the danger is past, now that she’s reached that milestone of one year-cancer free…I’m…I’m…” The words escaped her.
“You’re tired,” Trace said. “Now you can let your guard down, and you’ve just realized how much being on guard has exhausted you. You need a break. You need someone else to steer the ship for a while.”
Brandon stroked his hand over her hair as Trace’s words settled on her, and combined, it was the sweetest gesture she’d ever known.
“Baby, we’re not going to wrest control of your life from your hands and tell you to go sit in the corner and look pretty,” Brandon said. “But we are going to take that power to take care of you if you give it to us and use it to do what we believe you need.”
“And after a time, when you’ve rested enough, you’ll know it, and so will we,” Trace said. “And when that happens, then you’ll stand between us, with us, at the helm.”
“The picture you just put in my mind is my secret dream. Something that I would think about late at night to make myself feel better but that I’d convinced myself was really nothing more than a foolish fairy tale.”
“It’s not foolish, nor is it a fairy tale, Rachel,” Brandon said, “to need to lean on someone from time to time. We all need that, baby. Even Doms.” He kissed the top of her head. “That dream can be your reality. All you have to do is submit.”
She could hear the beat of his heart beneath her ear. The strong, steady cadence reached out to her, and she could have sworn in that moment that her own heart began to keep time with his. The heat of Brandon’s body surrounded her. The warmth from Trace’s body so near as he moved his chair just that much closer and stroked her hand meant she was cocooned, and that equaled, in her mind, a miracle. Together, they began to warm the frozen corners of that part of her that was woman. In that moment she sensed that, here and now, at this time and with these two men lay the answer to her deep inner cravings, so long kept locked away. So she gave them the only answer she could.
“Yes, please, Sirs.”
“Good girl.” Brandon gave her an extra little squeeze. “We’re going to begin right now, Rachel. What time do you have to be home tonight?”
“I don’t. Libby is staying at Bonnie’s overnight. And I need to tell you one thing more before we start.”
“What do you need to tell us?” Trace asked.
“When you go to Healing Rides tomorrow, you’ll meet Libby. She has been receiving therapy there for the last few months. But tomorrow, probably before her session, she’ll be starting a part-time job there, helping to take care of the horses.”
“Perfect. And…you’re okay with that?” Trace asked.
“Yes. You need to build your own relationships with her.”
“We’re not going to hide our relationship with you from her,” Brandon said.
“No. No hiding. I haven’t mentioned you to her yet.” Maybe she should have mentioned that she’d met them. Maybe—
“Why would you have?” Brandon asked. “The last time you spoke with her, we hadn’t begun yet. But now we have.”
Rachel squeaked when he stood with her in his arms. “All right, then. Let’s move this party upstairs, to the master bedroom.”
Rachel felt the butterflies, and it was such an unfamiliar sensation it took her a moment to remember the significance of that fluttering. Then she relaxed against Brandon and let him carry her wherever he would.
* * * *
It wouldn’t surprise or bother Brandon one bit if, at some point in the next half-hour or so, Rachel fell asleep. As he carried her upstairs, he could feel her relax completely against him. Rather than standing her up at the foot of the bed, he sat down on it, with her still in his lap.
“We’re going to take a shower first,” he announced.
She sat up and looked around the room. “Wow. That is some bed.”
“It is,” Trace said. He squatted down by her feet and began removing her shoes.
Brandon reached for the buttons of her white blouse. They’d brought her here straight from the restaurant, which meant she still had on her work clothes. Not a uniform, per se, but standard attire, because he’d seen each of Kelsey’s staff wearing the combination of a white blouse with dark slacks or skirt. Today, Rachel had been wearing pants. She sat still and alert as he finished opening her blouse.
Brandon got a sense of the tension that had crept back in as he’d worked. He took a moment to turn her face toward him. He waited until she met his gaze. “Just the thought of seeing you naked and showering with you has our cocks hard.”
She blushed, looked down for a moment, then met his gaze again. “I can feel it against my hip.” She sighed. “I don’t know why I’m feeling so awkward and uncertain all of a sudden.”
Brandon shoved the obvious answer to the back of
