Her Husband's Army Buddy (McLeod Security Book 1) Read online

  EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ®

  www.evernightpublishing.com

  Copyright© 2018 Doris O’Connor

  ISBN: 978-1-77339-635-4

  Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

  Editor: Karyn White

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  For Sandy, enjoy 'your' men and Happy Birthday—again.

  HER HUSBAND’S ARMY BUDDY

  McLeod Security, 1

  Doris O’Connor

  Copyright © 2018

  Chapter One

  Male laughter washed over her, and Sandy grabbed the tray of after dinner treats tighter. Even so, the delicate china cups—a wedding present from the very man now occupying their dining room with his larger than life presence—rattled on their saucers, giving the tiny birds decorating the rims the impression of flight.

  The metaphor wasn’t lost on her as her husband’s laughter rang in her ears. This dinner had been her idea, after all. Ever since she’d spotted both men together, leaving Zane’s office, she’d known the truth. At the time, the bottom had dropped out of her world. As relieved as she had been that Zane’s preoccupation and distance hadn’t been due to an affair as her girlfriends had been so quick to assume, this … well, this was far more dangerous to their marriage.

  Zane didn’t miss his army career. Having been medically discharged due to the complete loss of hearing in one ear, he’d built up a successful security business, but he did miss his buddies. Sean, in particular.

  Sandy knew their history, had believed her husband when he’d said that part of his life was over. The day of their wedding had been the happiest one of her life. She’d ignored the warnings of her parents, her girlfriends. They loved each other. They could make this work, and they had done so successfully for the last ten years until … he left the service.

  Now, well, now she didn’t know what would become of them.

  Sandy paused in the doorway and took in that smile. It had been so long since she’d seen Zane like this. Happy, playful, flirting. As much as it had hurt to admit this to herself, he’d needed this. She wasn’t enough, not anymore. Had she ever been?

  Fixing a smile on her face, Sandy stepped into the dining room, and both men looked up. Her heart missed a few beats, being under the scrutiny of two sets of male eyes. Sean Manson was altogether too handsome, too virile, far too much of anything. Six feet five of tightly packed muscles, he towered over everyone, and had a good couple of inches even on Zane. With his military buzzcut, and the stubble on his jaw, he oozed dominance, power, leashed aggression, and above all, danger. Never more so than when he was smiling like he was now. It softened his harsh features, brought out the dimples in his cheeks, and made his steely eyes lighten to the bright color of a summer’s morning. That smile alone had the power to pull anyone into his charms, and Sandy was all too painfully aware that she wasn’t immune to him. She ought to hate the man for what he represented, but the opposite was true. Sean Manson intrigued her almost as much as Zane had done from the moment she’d met him.

  She’d instantly known Zane was her soulmate, but this man … he was a threat to her marriage, to everything she and Zane had built together, and she shouldn’t, couldn’t be attracted to him.

  “Let me help you with that, Sandy.” Sean pushed away from the table, crossed the short distance to her with a few long-legged strides, and tugged the tray out of her hands. “This looks delicious. I’ll have to hang around if you keep feeding me this well.”

  He winked at her, and when their fingers touched a current of electricity shot up her digits. She barely bit back her gasp, and Sean’s grin turned sinful.

  “You chose well, buddy.” He glanced at Zane, and the smoldering look that passed between the two men raised the temperature in the room by several degrees.

  “I know I did, Sean. My girl is one in a million.”

  Sandy’s heart cramped painfully, hearing him call her that, and she blinked away tears when he held out his hand for her. She was far too aware of Sean’s eyes on her ass as she walked toward her husband.

  “Am I, still?” she asked. She hated the wobble in her voice, hated the concern she read in Zane’s amber gaze even more as he pulled her down for a kiss. Not a peck on the cheek either. This was a full-blown assault on her senses, which made her forget where they were, as Zane’s familiar scent and taste pulled her under his spell. Nothing else mattered but the feel of her husband’s lips on hers, his grunt of approval when she opened up to him, and he deepened the kiss. She kissed him back with all the pent-up passion she felt, and whimpered in need when he pulled her down on his lap. His cock hardened under her ass cheeks, and she clung to him, pressing her breasts into the hard planes of his chest, as his hands fisted in her hair and tilted her head to his satisfaction.

  Loud throat clearing eventually pulled them apart, but not before Zane kissed a path along her jaw and growled his confirmation into her ear.

  “Always, baby, don’t ever doubt that.”

  His voice, rough with need, pitched her own arousal higher, not helped one iota by Sean’s deep grumble.

  “Damn it, you two, take pity on the lonely bachelor here. Get a room, will you?”

  Zane laughed, kissed her nose, and let her go.

  “I would, but it would seem rude to leave you sitting here all by yourself, and besides, don’t give me that lonely bachelor crap. I bet there’s any number of sweet pussy you could dial up at a moment’s notice.”

  Zane’s unexpected crassness was as hot as it was dirty. Sandy gasped and attempted to scramble off her husband’s lap, but Zane’s hold on her tightened. “You stay right here, little girl, or else.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Sandy mumbled her reply, utterly unable to resist that tone of voice. It had been way too long since she’d heard that. Way too long since they’d last indulged in some kinky play.

  “Good girl.”

  His murmured approval lit up the dark spaces of her heart.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. Guess that’s my clue to make myself scarce.” Sean put the tray down on the table with a loud thump that further rattled the saucers, and Sandy jumped.

  “Don’t be an idiot, Sean.” Zane said. “We both want you here, don’t we, sweetheart?”

  Her heart missed a few more beats at the intonation behind those words. He couldn’t mean what she thought he meant, could he?

  A sharp tug to her hair focused her attention on her husband, and the steely determination in his eyes made breathing difficult.

  “Sir?” Try as she might she was utterly incapable of projecting her voice above a whisper.

  Zane smiled.

  Sean swore.

  “Fuck it, I didn’t come here for this, Zane. She’s your wife, for fuck’s sake. I should go.”

  Zane smiled, and twisted her head so that she had no choice but to look at his old buddy. The heat in Sean’s eyes took her breath away. Her already hard nipples tightened further, and she squirmed on Zane’s lap, as her panties grew damp.

  “She doesn’t want you to go, and neither do I. Tell him, baby girl.”

  The air thickened in sexual tension, as Sean drew himself up to his full height, crossed his massive arms
over his chest, and waited for her answer. He’d taken his jacket off earlier and rolled up his shirt sleeves, and she couldn’t take her eyes off the way his biceps strained the fine cloth of his shirt. The edge of a tattoo, similar to the ones Zane had on his shoulders, could just about be seen as Sean’s shirt sleeve rode higher, and she swallowed hard.

  “I … that is…”

  She dropped her gaze, unable to stand the intensity of Sean’s stare and promptly wished she hadn’t done so because it brought his groin into her eye line, and heaven help her, the man was huge. He was also as turned on as Zane was, his cock a hard, ridged outline along his tailored trousers. She licked her dry lips, and Sean groaned.

  “Fucking hell, don’t do that, or I’ll be tempted to take that as an invitation.”

  Heat flooded her cheeks at the implication, while Zane chuckled. A sharp tug to her hair focused her attention back on her husband.

  “She does have the best mouth, and trust me, Sean, she knows how to use it.”

  Zane’s voice had dropped further, taking on that delicious edge of command which made her want to sink to her knees and submit to him in all ways. His gaze rested on her lips, and every feminine cell in her body sighed in submission. Had they been on their own, she’d already be in position, and putting the mouth both men seemed so utterly focused on, to good use. Sandy had always loved going down on a man. There was such power in that act, the ultimate gift, especially with Zane, who always put her pleasure first.

  “I’m sure she does, mate.”

  Sean’s voice, too, had dropped to a guttural growl, which only served to pitch her further into a maelstrom of arousal. This was wrong, wasn’t it? She shouldn’t be this needy, wet, aching to be fucked right now.

  Sean stepped closer, and a shiver of apprehension went down her spine when his boots appeared in her vision. Scuffed and well worn, they suited him. Besides, the man had arrived on a motorbike, so the boots made sense.

  Heaven help her, he was every dratted bad boy fantasy come to life. She stopped thinking altogether, when his calloused digits grasped her chin and nudged her head up to make her look at him. The heat in his amazing cornflower gaze threatened to engulf her with silent promise. He ran his thumb over her lips, and she opened to him without any conscious effort on her part. When she licked that digit, Sean inhaled sharply, and Zane swore.

  “Fuck, seeing you two together is so damn hot. Kiss her, Sean.”

  A grim smile kicked up Sean’s full lips, and he shook his head, as he briefly tore his gaze away from her and focused on her husband.

  “I told you, I didn’t come here for this, and if we do this,” he glanced at Sandy again, and she didn’t dare breathe under his questioning regard. “I won’t come between you and your wife, Zane.”

  “You won’t. Tell him, baby girl. Tell him whose idea this dinner was.”

  Zane’s grip on her hair loosened. He slid his hand to her nape and massaged the tight knots forming there, as he nuzzled into her neck at the same time. His harsh breaths skittered across the sensitive skin under her ear, and she automatically tilted her head to give him better access. She felt his smile in the butterfly kisses he delivered before he bit down hard on her earlobe. That zing of pain shot straight to her clit, and she moaned her answer.

  “Mine, it was my idea, Sir.”

  “Good girl, now tell him why.”

  Zane withdrew, and without his reassuring warmth all her previous insecurities rushed back with the full force of a speeding train. Sandy shook her head and tried in vain to blink away her tears. Zane swore when he noticed, and Sean swiped away the lone tear trailing down her cheek.

  “Shit, I told you this wouldn’t work. I should go, Zane.” Instead of withdrawing, however, Sean’s digits lingered, stroked along her jaw, and tilted her head back up again. It was the concern in his gaze that made her blurt her answer.

  “Don’t go.”

  Sean gave a sharp nod and smiled.

  “I should though. I can guess what you must have been thinking, but I mean it. I would never come between you and Zane. I love him too much to fuck up his marriage.”

  Zane’s thigh muscles tensed under her ass, and this time, when she scrambled off his lap, he let her. Sandy hastily put some distance between herself and the two men, and it was only when she put the table between them that she looked at them.

  What she saw broke her heart all over again. Sean’s hand curled into her husband’s shoulder, the white-knuckled grip testament to how riled he was, whereas Zane looked up at his former lover with a look of love previously only reserved for her. Sean stared straight at her, brows drawn together in concern at her reaction.

  Finding her voice from somewhere, Sandy nudged her chin up.

  “Maybe you already have.”

  Chapter Two

  The barely suppressed pain in his wife’s voice served as an ice-cold shower to Zane’s arousal. He shook off Sean’s hand and glared across the table at the other love of his life.

  “How can you say that, Sandy?” The deliberate use of her name stung as he knew it would, because Sandy blinked away more tears. Sean swore and thumped his back.

  “Jesus, man, stop being an ass. She’s your wife. Your first concern is and should be to her.”

  Zane shot out of his chair and poured himself a generous helping of Scotch whisky and then downed it in one swallow. The burn down his gullet was a welcome distraction from the ache in his chest. When he turned back round to face the room it was to see both of the people he cared most about in this whole fucked up world looking to him for answers.

  Answers he wasn’t sure he could give.

  “Sir?”

  Sandy’s hesitant voice made his mind up for him. He knew he’d been a miserable bastard of late, and she deserved so much better. But the sudden reappearance of his old army buddy in his life had thrown him for six. Long suppressed feelings had reemerged. A part of his life that he thought long buried had come back to bite him on the ass.

  While Sean and he had parted company amicably when he’d met Sandy, and realized she was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with—rather than her being someone both men would share for a while—he hadn’t counted on what would happen years down the line. He’d thought himself happy with Sandy, and they had been … until Sean had walked into his office two months ago, looking for a job.

  To not take him on had been out of the question. Providing jobs for ex-special forces personnel was his company’s specialty, after all, and one of the reasons why his security firm was considered the best in the country.

  He employed the best, and thus his services were the best.

  What he hadn’t counted on was the fact that he wanted Sean in his life, in his bed with Sandy. Unable to determine how best to approach that hornets’ nest he’d withdrawn into his work and had kept both Sean and Sandy at arm’s length.

  He would never, ever cheat on his wife, and besides, Sean was too honorable a guy to let him do that—one of the many reasons why he loved the man—but something had to give.

  Sandy’s suggestion of inviting Sean to dinner had been the perfect opportunity to bring all of this out in the open. Especially when he noticed the way Sandy and Sean responded to each other.

  He knew his wife’s body inside out, and her instinctive responses to Sean’s dominant nature had been such a fucking turn-on. Without meaning to he and Sean had fallen back into the familiar pattern of wining and dining a woman they both wanted.

  It wasn’t wrong to want it all, was it? He was so sure he hadn’t read the signals wrong, that Sandy wanted this. He knew one of her secret fantasies was to experience a ménage, and who better to give her that fantasy than the one man he trusted with his life?

  Sean cleared his throat and grasped his jacket off the back of the chair he’d placed it on earlier.

  “Right, well, I’m going. Thank you for a lovely dinner, Sandy. I’m—”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, stay.” Zane interrupt
ed the other man and got in his way. “It’s late. You’ve been drinking, and your riding is bad enough when you’re sober.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and shook his head. “I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you. We have a spare room. You can crash in there for as long as you need to. I told you that before.”

  Zane had been outraged when he learned that his old buddy had holed up in a hostel. Sean had so far refused to take him up on his offer to stay at his place, however, and he still looked as though he would leave, until Sandy stepped forward.

  “Zane is right, you can’t go like this. I’ll just go and put some sheets on the bed.” With that she scrambled from the room as though the hounds of hell were after her, and maybe they were. The urge to go after her was strong, but Sean stopped him from doing so by his growled question.

  “What the fuck, man? This was just dinner, and you turned it into … fuck.”

  Instead of answering him, Zane poured two more generous measures of the amber liquid for both himself and Sean, and both men drained their glasses before they slammed them down on the sideboard.

  “Guess I didn’t handle that all that well.”

  “You fucking think so? Hell, man, she looks ready to bolt.”

  Sean stared off into the distance, hands fisted into tight balls next to his thighs, and he blew out a harsh breath.

  “I know how much you love her. You can’t blow this, man. I won’t let you.”

  Zane shook his head and sighed.

  “I have no intention of blowing it. And get off your high horse. She wants to fuck you as much as you want to fuck her.”

  The fist to his jaw sent him reeling backward. He blocked the next move and shoved Sean away from him. He crashed into the table, sending the cutlery flying. Had it not been for Sean’s fast reflexes, the man’s wedding present to them would have ended up a shattered mess on the floor. As it was it narrowly escaped that fate when Sean caught the cups teetering on the edge and placed them back on the table.