Fire Me Up [Merricks, Montana 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read online

  Kate didn’t think Sarah would understand her. She wanted to settle down with someone who wanted to get married and have babies. A man that worked a nine-to-five job and didn’t feel the need to shoot something, blow something up, or jump out of something moving at a very fast pace. Sarah would say she wanted boring, and maybe she was right. Kate just felt that the man for her would be quiet, intelligent, and bookish.

  She might like to have a fling with the dangerous adventurous sort, but she would never marry a man like that. Kate wished Alex all the happiness and hoped he found the woman for him. It just wasn’t her. She knew he was interested. They had had dinner a few times and he had even kissed her, but she had made it clear that he wasn’t what she was looking for and they had remained friends.

  Kate changed the subject and they started to talk about other things. When they reached the cars, she climbed in the back with her parents. Her sister and her men rode up front.

  Her thoughts turned back to Sarah and the changes she had noticed in the few short minutes that they had spent together. Sarah had lost a little weight and was now more Kate’s size. They were both still chubby girls, but that had never bothered Kate. She liked her curves and the softness of her body. Sarah had always had issues about her weight that Kate just never felt. Sarah certainly didn’t have issues now.

  It wasn’t long before she was drifting to sleep, the highway flying past the truck as they sped along. She rested her head on her dad’s shoulder and let sleep take her. She was in Montana with her sister at her side. Her family was back together again.

  * * * *

  Kate woke when the truck pulled off the smooth road and onto a gravel driveway. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and discreetly wiped the small amount of drool from the corner of her mouth. They were approaching an old white double-story weatherboard house. Kate must have slept the entire drive to Merricks. At least now she would have enough energy to explore the ranch.

  Kate marveled at the cute, picturesque pond that sat behind a long wooden fence. She could see horses in a pasture behind the house. A small corral sat between the house and a huge red barn. Kate thought the ranch looked amazing, nothing like the farms back home, and she was bursting to explore.

  She had a hundred questions. What did they farm? How many acres did they own? Were the horses working horses, or did they use quad bikes? She hoped not. Kate loved horses, and a cowboy wasn’t a cowboy if he didn’t use a horse. Kate wondered why she had never bothered to ask Sarah before. Probably because all Sarah wanted to talk about was how great her men were.

  They pulled up to the house, and Kate jumped out without waiting for the men to help her. Her sister told her that her men demanded that she wait for them to open her door and help her out of the high cab. Kate wasn’t going to wait around just to appease Sarah’s men in what she thought was an archaic custom. She was more than capable of opening her own door.

  She smirked at her sister’s disapproving look and made her way into the house. She would use the facilities, and then she was going for a long walk. She needed to stretch her legs after all that sitting.

  “Are you hungry, Kate?” Sarah’s voice followed her inside. “I’m making something for mum and dad.”

  The house was beautiful, what she could see of it anyway. She found the downstairs powder room and then went to find her sister.

  She was in a large kitchen that was any woman’s dream. The colonial-style kitchen sported marble bench tops and a large island in the middle. The windows overlooked the pastures beyond. It was a well-used kitchen that made Kate feel at ease. It wasn’t one of those modern ones that looked like they were more for decoration than actual food prep.

  “Sorry, I was in a rush,” Kate said. “I’m not hungry. I’ll just go and explore if that’s all right?” Her sister and mother were making tea, whilst her father and the men took the bags upstairs.

  “Sure,” James said from behind her. “Just stay away from the pasture behind the barn. We have a bull there, and he is a nasty piece of work. Will attack anything.”

  Kate swung around in shock. She hadn’t heard him enter.

  “Why would you keep a nasty bull in your paddocks? Won’t he hurt the cows?”

  “Nah, he just likes little tourists wearing red pants.”

  Kate looked down at her red tracksuit pants and grinned. She would have to get used to their sense of humor, but she got it. Either way she would avoid the bull.

  Kate made her way out of the house and past the corral. There were men working with a horse behind the wooden fence, but she just ignored them and kept on walking. After a while her legs got tired, and the runners she wore started to cause blisters on her feet.

  Kate was just about to turn around when she came across a dam. It was smack bang in the middle of one of the pastures and dotted with small boulders and shrubs. Kate assumed that it was to water the livestock. She couldn’t think what other purpose it would hold.

  She made her way over to one of the larger boulders and sat down. She tucked her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. She would have to make her way back to the house soon, but she would rest here a while and enjoy the quiet of the country.

  Kate had never spent more than a day in the country before. She was a city girl and had grown up in the one place. She had gone to school at the same school she taught in and lived within walking distance from her parents’ home.

  She always wanted to travel. She just hadn’t gotten around to it. Well, she was traveling now. Montana had such a peacefulness about it, whilst it stayed wild and untamed. The landscape was like none she knew, and she loved it instantly. She would need to see more than this ranch, but right now there was no other place she wanted to be.

  Kate was lost in her thoughts when she heard footsteps approaching her. She lifted her head from where she had rested it on top of her knees to see Blake walking toward her.

  “Sarah sent me after you,” he said. “She was worried you would get lost. I have fond memories of this rock.” Blake slipped onto the rock next to her. He made her feel small sitting next to his great bulk.

  “I really don’t want to hear about my sister’s and your sex life.” Blake let out a laugh and nearly knocked her from her perch.

  “I know that you and your sister are close, so I just wanted to reassure you that James and I love her very much and will always put her needs first.”

  “Blake, please. You don’t have to justify your relationship to me. You helped my sister when she needed you most, and I will always be grateful.” She looked up at his stern expression. His face gave nothing of his feelings away. He had a hard face, a cop’s face.

  “Yes,” Blake said. “I can see you are, but I still sense that you are not comfortable with your sister’s and our unusual relationship.”

  “I guess that’s true. I hadn’t even heard of ménage families until my sister got involved with you and James. I suppose I need time to come to terms with it. I will always be on her side no matter her choice of lifestyle. I just don’t think it’s for me.”

  “That is your decision, too. I just don’t want Sarah to get hurt.” Blake’s voice had gone dark, and Kate heard a warning in its depths.

  “I never had any intention of telling Sarah who she should love. Like I said, it’s her choice and if she is happy, I’m happy. But I’ll stick to one man.” Kate jumped of the rock and wiped the dirt off her butt. She wasn’t going to sit around and be interrogated. Geez, she was on their side.

  “I’m glad we had this talk, Kate. I would hate for us to get off on the wrong foot. I can see that you are fine with our relationship. I just had to make sure. Sarah means the world to me, and I’ll protect her any way I can.” She looked back at Blake when he stood up.

  “Now that we have got that settled. I’m happy that you’re happy and all that. Can we go back and get something to eat? I’m starving.”

  “You’re not scared of me, are you?” Blake towered over her. He was trying to intimidate he
r again.

  “No. I’m not. Why, would you want me to be?” Kate tilted her head sideways and looked up at him. No, he wasn’t scary, big but not scary. Scary was the creepy, weird-looking men. Blake was dangerous, that she could sense, but not to her.

  “Most people are. Because of my size if nothing else.”

  “Nah, I’m sure you’re just like a big puppy. All bark and no bite.”

  “Oh, your sister knows how much I like to bite.” He laughed at his own joke. Kate just rolled her eyes and started walking back toward the house.

  “That’s just gross.”

  “I’m telling your sister you said that.”

  “Good.”

  Chapter Two

  Pierson Carter raced toward the barn, his oxygen tank heavy on his shoulders. This was the third fire this week. The other two were both arson, and Pierson didn’t think this one would be any different.

  The blaze was proving to be a hard one to extinguish, and the closer he got the hotter it became. The heat penetrated his protective gear and he started to sweat. Water started to gush from his hose, and he used all his strength to keep it on the fire.

  Pierson loved being a fireman, even if it was just a part-time gig. There weren’t too many fires in a small town like Merricks. This week was the exception. Thank god. He filled the rest of his time working at his brothers’ security firm. Carter United Special Services offered a range of security services, catering to corporate and private needs. They did everything from alarms and body guarding to private detective work and belongings retrieval.

  His older brother Grayson was an ex-cop, whilst his younger brother Brock was a computer specialist. Hacker was a more appropriate term, but Brock hated that label. Still, Pierson loved to rib him about it at any opportunity.

  Grayson was the eldest at thirty-seven, and he had the family dark-brown hair and dark-brown eyes that resembled their parents. Pierson, at thirty-five, also had the same dark brown hair and eyes. The only difference was Grayson kept his short in a military-style cut, whilst Pierson left his longer and shaggy. Poor Brock, the youngest at thirty-three, had light-brown hair and green eyes. He was also the shortest, and Grayson and Pierson were forever teasing him about being adopted. It had started more than one fistfight over the years.

  It took Pierson and the other firemen a lot longer than he would have liked to put out the blaze. The barn had been filled with hay and used to store old parts, so at least no animal stock had been lost. But something niggled at the back of his mind.

  Why would someone be targeting old barns? It was the same with the other two fires. They were both old barns used for storage and had nothing of value, so why bother to set them on fire? Pierson wasn’t investigating the fires, as that was the sheriff’s job, but he couldn’t help but wonder. He would have to get his brothers to look into it on the side. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it in his gut.

  He packed up his gear and went over to talk with the chief. He looked tired. He was close to retirement and hated to be pulled from his warm bed. He would be extra foul tonight. This was the third time this week, in what would normally be a quiet fire season.

  “Hey, Chief,” Pierson said. “What’s happening?”

  “You know very damned well what’s happening, Carter,” the chief replied. “Some prick is ruining my serenity. When I find the bastard I’ll have him drawn and quartered. No one sets fires in my town and gets away with it.”

  Chief Maxwell Balzac liked to swear. That rant was mild compared to when he really got going.

  Balzac was well into his sixties with gray hair and a gray goatee. The years had been kind to him. Pierson had heard many a lady comment on how the old man was still considered good-looking and in his prime. He wasn’t even going soft around the middle, like a lot of men tended to at that age. He was fit, and according to one lady, he could go all night.

  Pierson didn’t want to think about that. The chief had lost his wife to cancer a few years back, and whilst he was happy the chief was able to move on, he didn’t want to hear about his sexual conquests.

  “Are people still drawn and quartered these days, boss?” the rookie Payson asked. John Payson had moved from Helena at the start of the year, when the firehouse had an opening. Apparently he wasn’t getting as much love from the bigger firehouses in the city as he wanted. Pierson didn’t mind him, but he was annoying as hell and never stopped talking.

  “Shut up, Payson,” the chief snapped. “Load the truck. I want to get back to bed and the lovely lady I left there. Carter, you can stay and report to the sheriff. Take my car back to the firehouse. Your shift will be over by then. Sign off and get the fuck home.”

  Pierson made his way over to Sheriff Hammond to file his report. The fire investigator would come out tomorrow to determine if it was another arson attack, but he had no doubt that it was. Both other fires were lit with gasoline. The red can remained, but no other evidence was found.

  Sheriff Blake Hammond was a big giant of a man and towered over most people. Pierson was a good two inches shorter and nowhere near as solid. He was still in great muscular form. Being a fireman, he needed to keep in shape, but Blake’s muscles even had muscles.

  “Hi, Blake. How’s Sarah?” Pierson asked the sheriff.

  He looked up from the pad he had been writing on, and a small smile flashed across his face. Pierson didn’t want to know what had brought on that smile. He had seen Blake and his brother James at their BDSM club, Silk Ties. Sarah was a beautiful woman. Just the type that Pierson and his brothers were attracted to. She had a curvy body, big breasts, and a full ass. She was a little shy for his taste, but she was slowly coming out of her shell.

  “Carter.” Blake nodded his head at him. “Sarah is great. Her family arrived for a visit today. It’s was all she talked about lately.”

  “So we won’t see you at the club for a while then?”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “How do you explain that to the in-laws? Have a nice night. We are just going down to the local bondage club. Don’t wait up.” Pierson couldn’t help the smile at the picture in his head. His parents would have flipped. It was one of the reasons that he and his brothers had moved from Denver. Their strict parents didn’t understand their need to share the same women, nor did they understand their dominant natures.

  “We aren’t going to hide who we are,” Blake said. “Sarah will have to keep her clothes on around the house whilst her parents are staying, but we can still go to the club.”

  “Her parents must be more understanding than mine,” Pierson sighed. He loved his mom and dad but couldn’t live in the same state as them. He had never been happier with his decision to move to Merricks. His parents refused to come visit a place where people lived in such sin, and that was fine with him. He still spoke to them on the phone, but it was mainly his mother filling him in on her comings and goings. That or telling him about a nice Catholic girl she had met. It was then he usually hung up.

  Pierson filled Blake in about the fire and then said his good-byes. He walked to the chief’s truck and started the engine. As he pulled out, he thought about Blake and his brother and their woman. He couldn’t help but be a little jealous. He knew that Sarah had come into their life under horrible circumstances, but he wanted the love they had managed to find.

  He was ready to settle down and start a family with his brothers and their woman. They just hadn’t found the right one yet. They often played with the single subs at the club, but had never wanted anything permanent with any of them. Maybe he was fussy. That would make his brothers fussy, too. He would know the right woman when he saw her, and then he wouldn’t wait around for her to be snapped up by someone else.

  He was a man that always went charging in and never failed to get what he wanted. It was the only way to succeed in life. When their woman came along, he would use that same take-charge attitude to woo her and make her theirs.

  He sighed again and pulled out onto the highway,
to head back into town. He didn’t know how much longer he could wait. He was borderline desperate to find the one. His brothers felt the same. He was off work tomorrow. Maybe they should head to the club and let off steam. Spanking a naughty sub’s ass should get his mind off love and happily ever after. Before his balls shriveled and he started waxing poetic.

  * * * *

  Brock heard his brother walk into the study, and he looked up from his computer. Pierson flopped into one of the leather chairs and flung his long leg over the side.

  “Another long night?” Brock asked his brother. He looked tired and was still covered from head to toe in soot.

  “Yeah, another barn fire,” Pierson replied. “Same as the others. We have a serial arsonist on our hands. I was wondering if you could check the net and see if there is anything similar on record. Maybe he has done something like this before in another town.”

  “Sure bro, I’m onto it. You go and take a shower and get to sleep. I’ll have a look and then head to bed, too.” Brock had been up all night on the computer. He did his best work at night, when it was quiet and nobody disturbed him. The firm was working on a case for the owner of Silk Ties.

  Wolf was an ex-marine and was trying to locate an old buddy. Wolf’s real name was Aiden MacBain. Wolf was a code name that everyone still called him. He hadn’t had much luck finding his friend through military channels, so he had turned to Brock.

  Brock knew it would be hard. If this ex-marine didn’t want to be found, the trail would be hard to find. So far he had turned up nothing. The man had a very small digital footprint. But Brock was up for the challenge. If he was on the net, Brock would find it. It was just a process of elimination.

  “Grayson up yet?” Pierson stood and made his way to the door. Brock didn’t bother looking up from his computer to answer.

  “Nah, he had a late night at the club. He said he would head into ‘CUSS’ this afternoon.” Brock heard Pierson walk out of the study. He quickly checked the police sites for any clue as to who might be starting the fires, but nothing turned up. Whoever it was didn’t have a rap sheet.