"Hush, baby, I'll go slow. You'll see that we fit together just fine." Jack didn't let up.

Sam moved in beside her. His hands began smoothing back her hair. "It's all right, baby. You're so beautiful. I wanted you the minute I saw you. I took one look and said I am gonna make that woman mine."

Abby relaxed as Sam talked to her, and his hands caressed her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Jack's patience was paying off as he managed to thrust in to the base of his c.o.c.k. Jack held himself still over her, waiting for her to adjust. After a moment, she moaned. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. It was an insistent plea.

"It feels good, Jack." Her eyes were half closed, and a dreamy smile came to her lips.

"That's right," Sam said happily. "Give yourself to us. We'll make you feel so good, Abby."

46.

Abby's hot p.u.s.s.y was a vise around his c.o.c.k. Jack needed to move. "Wrap your legs around me."

Abby wrapped her legs around his waist as he started to thrust and twist his hips. He sought the perfect angle to make her fly.

"Oh, Jack," Abby cried out. Jack looked into her eyes. She was close. It was a good thing, too, because his b.a.l.l.s were starting to draw up. He nodded to Sam to let him know he was close. Sam's talented fingers tugged on her nipples. Abby's head fell back as she came.

Jack picked up the pace, content he'd taken care of her and could seek his own release. Jack spread her legs apart, hooking her knees over his elbows, leaving her completely exposed. He thrust forward, and he could feel his tight b.a.l.l.s against her a.s.s. He pulled back and thrust again. His body tensed, and he exploded inside her. He continued to thrust until he emptied himself, then fell forward into her arms. His chest heaved like he'd just run a race. He breathed in her smell.

Jack's hands wrapped around her waist, hugging her as he laid his head on her chest. She felt perfect in his arms. He kissed her breast reverently. Jack felt one of Abby's hands tangle in his hair. He saw she was doing the same to Sam, and he was perfectly satisfied that they hadn't scared her off. She'd liked everything they had done to her so far. After a moment's sweet rest, Jack rolled off her, and she protested the loss of his warmth.

The minute Jack got up to dispose of the condom, Sam was on top of her. Jack laughed at the speed with which his partner took over. He was on top of her before she knew what was happening.

"My turn." Sam had the smile of an eager puppy.

"I'm in trouble." Abby laughed as her arms wound around Sam's waist.

Weren't they all? Jack asked himself.

47.

Chapter Four.

Sam's head came up as he heard the door slam. He sat up in bed and looked for Abigail.

"d.a.m.n it." He rolled out of the big bed, and his hands went for his jeans. "She's running, Jack."

He poked his partner's back. Jack was asleep on his stomach and didn't look too concerned that Abby was making a break for it.

Sam looked down at the bed they'd shared with the glorious redhead. He looked at the clock. It was just past seven. It was way too early to be up on a Sunday.

"I'm going after her," Sam said loudly. Jack stirred at the sound.

Jack waved him off and pulled a pillow over his head to drown out the noise. "What is she thinking? We're miles from town." Sam knew he was mostly talking to himself. He zipped up his jeans and reached for a shirt. He came up with Jack's, but that didn't matter. He pulled it on. Where were his boots? He couldn't go running after her barefoot.

The driveway wasn't paved. "That highway is dangerous. There's no place for her to walk. She could get run over, d.a.m.n it."

"She isn't walking," Jack grumbled.

Sam heard the distinct sound of a car door slamming and then Jack's big black truck purred to life. Sam sat down on the bed as the truck screamed out of the driveway.

Jack's head came up as he heard the truck's gears strip. "I swear if she wrecks my truck, I am gonna paddle her bottom raw." He smiled a little.

Sam didn't get Jack's calm demeanor. He was panicked, but Jack just yawned and settled back down, pulling the quilt over his body.

48.

Sam suddenly felt very worried. He'd been sure Jack had been as crazy in love with Abby as he was. Last night had been the best s.e.x of his life, but what if it hadn't been the same for Jack? Sam had spent the last five weeks of his life chasing after Abigail every free minute he had. He thought after last night that the relationship was settled. It looked like he was wrong.

"What the h.e.l.l are you panicking over?"Jack's eyes were sleepy.

Sam looked at Jack. "I'm not panicking," he lied.

Jack rolled his eyes and yawned. "I can feel it from here, Sam, and it's disturbing my sleep. Don't worry about Abby. She'll be back in this bed tonight. She might run, but she won't get very far. She's got a shift at the cafe starting at nine."

"How do you know that?"

Jack stretched. "I stole the schedule from Christa's office," he said with a satisfied grin.

It was a reasonable thing to do in Sam's mind. He sat down on the bed, still surprised at Abby's exit. He had expected to cuddle and make love again and have breakfast with her. "Why did she leave without waking us up?"

Jack sat up, his back against the headboard. "Because she's scared. We were a little overwhelming last night."

"You don't think we hurt her?"

"No. She's scared because she feels for us," Jack said. "To tell you the truth, I'm happy she ran. I'd be worried if she'd gotten up and fixed breakfast and acted nonchalant. She's a forever kind of girl, and this morning she's worried she had a crazy one night stand."

Sam's eyebrows came together in perfect consternation. "But we told her how we feel about her."

"And no man ever lied to a woman like Abby to get what he wanted." Jack yawned. "She's no untried girl. Abby's been through a lot. She doesn't trust us yet, but she will. Right now, she's coming up with a whole bunch of reasons to not see us again. We just have to get rid of those reasons, and then she won't have anywhere to go except

49.

straight back to us. I'll get her for us, Sam. You do your good cop routine, and I'll be the big, bad boy. No woman can resist it. Have I ever let you down before?"

Sam released his worry. He would trust in his partner. He had ever since the day when he was fifteen and had been placed in group care.

Jack Barnes had quietly threatened the other boys in the house with egregious bodily harm if one of them touched the young, terrified Sam Fleetwood. Sam had just lost his mom and dad, and he'd stuck by Jack ever since. Jack was bigger and tougher than anyone he'd met before or since.

"Not once, Jack," Sam said with a grateful smile.

Jack's years in foster care had given him street smarts that Sam hadn't possessed. He knew what could have happened to him if Jack hadn't been there. He knew because most of it had happened to Jack.

"It's gonna be all right," Jack promised. "Now get some more sleep. Chasing that woman is going to be d.a.m.n tiring work."

Sam laid back down with a smile on his face because Jack was in charge. He didn't have anything to worry about.

Abby answered her cell phone without bothering to look at the number. It was a mistake she made because she was so fl.u.s.tered she wasn't thinking straight.

"You get out of town, you wh.o.r.e!"

Abby sighed and clicked the phone shut again as she maneuvered Jack's enormous black truck onto the street across from Christa's house. The thing drove like a tank. Those phone calls were becoming more and more frequent. She would have to change her number soon.

She had been surprised at the reception she had received from the town she'd been driven out of twenty years before. She had expected a cold reception from everyone but Christa and Mike. She had been pleasantly surprised to discover a portion of the town was happy to 50 see her. She was something of a legend for her escapades with Adam Echols as a teen, but now the men and women of town laughed and told the stories with a smile for the recklessness of youth. When they talked about Adam, they spoke of youth cut down in his prime, but they didn't blame Abby the way his family did. Abby remembered the fight she and Adam had before his accident. It had been loud and public. Adam had driven off, swearing they were over. Now it was hard to recall just what the fight had been about. It no longer mattered. Adam had gotten drunk and wrapped his car around a tree.

The citizens of Willow Fork who remembered Adam Echols remembered how wild he was. Some of her old cla.s.smates who came into the cafe on Sunday afternoons had even patted her hand and told her they were happy she hadn't died with Adam. They had wondered what took her so long to return to town and asked politely after her daughter.

As for the older generation, they still looked at her with disdain.

They let her serve them at the cafe because Christa had sent out the word that people who didn't like Abigail working there shouldn't bother to come in. They didn't tip, though. Abby could handle it.

Everything would have been fine, except the Echols family wouldn't let it go. She had started getting phone calls a week after she'd hit town. Abby had learned not to answer unless she knew the number.

Her old friends might be happy to see her, but the upper crust was firmly on Ruby Echols's side, and they wouldn't let her forget it.

Abby parked Jack's truck and tried not to think about what he'd done to her to her last night. It was impossible. Her whole body hummed happily, reminding her how well the men had used her. She had needed it. She was single and no longer had an impressionable teenager under her roof. She was free to play around.

Except last night hadn't felt like playing. It felt serious. The way they talked to her and held her made her think they were guys she could fall for.

51.

Abby let her head fall forward and hit the steering wheel. She was not going there. She wasn't seventeen and naive. She was thirty-seven years old. Jack and Sam were younger than she was. She had a certain reputation, and those men required the good will of the community to do business here. If the Echols family chose to, they could probably cut off Sam and Jack from vital resources. They could stop their feed supply or screw with their financing at the bank. They would do it, too, just to spite her. Even if she was brave enough to have a crazy relationship with two men, it would hurt them in the end.

She opened the door and jumped down. She knew that Jack would just ease out of the seat, but Abby practically needed to pole vault out of the thing. She'd felt so pet.i.te when she stood between Jack and Sam. It was their fault. She was a perfectly normal-sized woman, but they were practically giants.

Giants who had taken such sweet care of her last night, she thought with a sigh.

She would have to resist them next time, though. It was for their own good. She owed it to them to protect them. They just didn't understand how this town worked. Her friends could accept her all they liked, but without Ruby Echols's support, she was a pariah.

"d.a.m.n it." Abby looked at her car. She had been planning on leaving the keys to Jack's truck in Christa's garage so Mike could get it back to him. She would take her c.r.a.ppy, old Oldsmobile to work.

That plan was blown to h.e.l.l because someone had spray-painted Wh.o.r.e across the hood and slashed her tires. Luckily, the car was in the carport, and no one could see the vandalism from the street. Abby took a deep breath and banished the tears that threatened. She had promised Christa she could have Sunday mornings to spend with her family, and she meant to keep that promise. She wouldn't wilt away because some jerk thought it was funny to humiliate her.

She could go to the sheriff, but it wouldn't do any good. He would make an obligatory report and then nothing would be done about it.

She would ask Mike for advice later. In the meantime, she would be 52 driving the tank. It served Jack right since he was the one who had insisted on leaving her car behind. If he'd let her drive her own car, it wouldn't have been defaced.

Abby hopped back into Jack's monster truck and tried to pull away from the street. She closed her eyes when she heard the door sc.r.a.pe against Mike's trailer as she tried to make a too tight U-turn.

Jack was gonna kill her.

Maybe he'd just spank her. It might make her day.

Maybe, she thought as she pulled away from the scene of her crime, it wouldn't hurt to see them one more time.

If they wanted to see her again. No one had to know.

She could remember her time with them for the rest of her life. It would be a shield against all the lonely nights to come.

Two hours later, she smoothed down the skirt of her uniform. It was a pale pink waitress uniform that Christa had all of her wait staff wear. It was a little unforgiving, but she wore it anyway. Luckily, Christa also kept a few around in case a waitress spilled something.

Abby had been able to change into a fresh uniform.

The short-order cook shouted out that her order was up, and Abby grabbed the plates of scrambled eggs and pancakes and moved toward Kyle Morgan's table. He sat with his two young boys. Abby had gone to school with Kyle and knew he'd gone through a divorce a couple of years back. He'd kept custody and seemed to have survived with very little bitterness. He was a regular customer, and she liked talking to him. He smiled at her as she set down his breakfast.

"Thank you, Abby," he said, and both his kids thanked her as well.

"Do you need some more coffee? I think they made a fresh pot."

"I would love some." Kyle's hand covered hers as she turned to grab the coffee pot from the counter. He was handsome, but she'd never thought of him in a man-woman way. He was just a friend she hadn't seen in a very long time. "I was wondering. I thought maybe