Six Degrees of Desperation (Dirty Tricks) Read online

  "Don't listen to her," Kendall Mason called out from the other side of Audrey. "She'll be giving you sex education lessons before you know it, and then all hell will break loose."

  Lacey pouted toward her former housemate, Kendall. "You know you loved it. Admit it."

  Kendall grinned. "You bet. And the best part is that I got my cowboy."

  Bella tugged on the strings at Charli's back. "Just rub it in, why don't you? Ed Judson is quite a catch. I wouldn't mind having him give me a few sex education lessons as well."

  "Watch it." Kendall's eyes narrowed. "He's all mine. Plenty of cowboys are out there tonight for you to choose from, so keep your paws off my man." Her words sounded harsher than the smile on her face belied.

  "Wouldn't do you any good anyway, Ed's only got eyes for Kendall." Audrey glanced around at the women assembled. She wore a similar dancehall-girl costume in opposite colors. Where the staff had red corsets and black skirts, Audrey's corset was black, her skirt red. "I don't guess any of you are really listening to my instructions, are you? Just do your best and watch for your cue to dance. I'll be there to help anyone who starts feeling overwhelmed."

  "Are you dancing tonight, Audrey?" Lacey asked.

  "No, ma'am." Audrey shook her head. "I hung up my dancin' shoes when I bought this dump."

  "That's a shame. I've seen you dance and you're one of the best. You even make me hot." Lacey lifted the hem of her shiny black dancehall-girl skirt and tucked a couple dollar bills under the edge of her red lace, thong underwear, making certain the greenbacks showed when she moved.

  "Lacey, honey, what are you doing?" Bella asked.

  "Priming the pump, baby. Priming the pump." Lacey flipped her skirt and turned, flashing her might-as-well-be-naked behind at the group of woman. "If that doesn't get me some tips, these cowboys are all gay."

  "Keep it clean, this isn't stripper night at the Ugly Stick Saloon. We’ll have all we can do to keep the drinks flowing and the customers happy."

  Greta Sue leaned into the storeroom door. "It's time. You want me to open the doors?"

  "You have the extra bouncers in place?"

  "Cory and Nick McBride are my backups should I need help." Greta cracked her knuckles loudly. "Not that I ever need help."

  "Just the same, being everywhere at once is going to be hard. Jackson will be there as well if you need him to step in and settle an argument." Audrey walked toward Greta and patted the large woman's shoulder. "We just don't want to end up in a brawl like last year. The damage to the place eats away at any profits we hope to gain.

  "Yes, ma'am. I'll run a tight ship."

  "You do that. In the meantime..." Audrey flung out her arm with a flourish. "Let 'em in."

  The other waitresses and Libby, the bartender, hurried out to the barroom floor.

  Charli hung back. "Audrey, can I talk to you a minute before we go out?"

  Audrey looked back, her brows pinched in a hint of a frown. "Can you make it quick? They'll be pouring in before we get into place."

  "It's just that I need your advice."

  "About?" Audrey glanced over her shoulder as a loud whoop echoed through the empty saloon, and a flood of men in boots trampled in, filling the tables and chairs.

  "Connor."

  Audrey's gaze returned to Charli. "What about Connor?"

  "I think I love him."

  Her boss smiled. "Good, then tell him." She looked back toward the barroom. "I think we'll set a record attendance tonight. If all goes well, I can pay off the second mortgage on this place." Audrey's attention moved back to Charli. "Anything else?"

  Charli's hands twisted around and around. "What do I do about Original Sin?"

  Audrey's brows rose. "You haven't told Connor about your mystery cowboy?"

  "No. Not yet." Charli's eyes filled and her throat tightened. "And they'll both be here tonight."

  Audrey's eyes widened. "Both? In my place?"

  With a nod, Charli brushed the single tear that escaped the corner of her eye. "What should I do?"

  "You have to break it off with one and tell the other." Audrey shook her head. "God, I'm glad I'm not single anymore."

  "And to think I was bored here in Temptation." Charli laughed, the sound not even funny to her own ears. "I need some of that boredom right now."

  "Audrey?" A tall, dark-skinned, man with midnight black hair slicked back behind a black mask stood in the doorway. In his matching black shirt, slacks and cowboy boots, his head topped by a round-brimmed black hat like those worn by Mexican cabellero's, Jackson Gray Wolf looked like a throw-back to old Zorro movies still showing at the tiny hours of the morning in black and white. The Kiowa Indian stepped into the doorway of the storeroom. "Libby needs another box of Jack Daniels. They're going to go through a lot tonight."

  Audrey leaned up on her toes and pressed a kiss to Jackson's lips. "Thanks for helping."

  He caught her around the waist and dragged her close, deepening the kiss. "Wouldn't have missed it for the world," he said, his words muffled by her mouth.

  Charli eased past the constricted doorway, leaving Jackson and Audrey alone to their pre-ball groping. With a sigh, Charli trudged toward the barroom, wishing this night was over and that everything had already worked out. As she stepped from behind the bar, Charli's heart cart-wheeled. She braced herself for the onslaught of orders and the requirement to be prepared to flip a bottle or two to entertain the crowd. Slapping away wandering hands of drunken cowboys trying to feel her up, high on booze and adrenaline from their events at the rodeo, seemed the least of her worries tonight.

  With her gaze zipping left and right and constantly turning to see who came through the door, Charli spilled drinks, dropped bottles and tripped, landing in one toothless Mexican's lap to his utter surprise and delight.

  When she tried to get up, he refused to let go, pressing his fingers into her sides so hard, she was sure there'd be bruises left behind. Nick McBride, Greta Sue's backup, spun Charli out of the man's grip and onto the dance floor in time for the traditional Party Mixer Dance.

  The master of ceremonies Audrey hired for the evening took the microphone at center stage and shouted. “Grab your partner, but don’t get too comfortable!” Thirty seconds later, he called out, “Switch!”

  Audrey encouraged the waitresses to take a turn around the floor. With a men to women ratio of five-to-one during rodeo weekend, the waitresses helped to even the odds or at least give the men a chance to dance at least once.

  Charli spun from one man's arms to the next, her head spinning, her gaze trying to lock onto the men's faces, searching for Connor Mason's blue gray eyes behind the masks. On her third pass from arms to arms, she ended up in the embrace of a man wearing all black like Jackson, only pinned to his jacket was a soft yellow rose.

  He leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Love you…naked."

  With a gasp, Charli glanced up.

  “Switch!”

  With a deft move, her partner spun her around and into another man's arms. This cowboy had on the normal jeans and stiffly ironed white shirt of any of the regulars who showed up at the Ugly Stick Saloon on a regular basis. His cowboy boots were worn from use, but polished to a shine. He wore the black mask offered at the door for those who didn't have a costume but wanted to participate in the masquerade.

  Noting nothing special about him, Charli craned her neck to see where the man in black with the yellow rose had gone. As her dance partner two-stepped his way around the large oval dance floor, Charli panned the crowd, dread building with each step. She had to find Original Sin, break it off and then find Connor and tell him about her affair with the stranger before someone else had the chance to break the news.

  The master of ceremonies called out, “Change partners!”

  Charli braced herself, hoping to duck off the dance floor and get back to work.

  Instead, the cowboy holding her spun her out, right into another man’s arms. She looked up at her new partner, a man dressed
all in black, wearing the Zorro-style mask and sporting a yellow rose on his lapel. He smiled a secret smile and pulled her hard against his chest.

  Her heart ricocheting off her ribs, Charli opened her mouth to tell him she couldn’t see him anymore. Instead, the beat of the music kicked into high gear and the mystery cowboy took off, twirling her under his arm and back into his chest. Every time she tried to say something, he twirled her out again, until the M.C. shouted for the couples to switch partners again.

  “No, wait,” Charli cried, her voice drowned out by the raucous hoots of the cowboys whose boots pounded the floor.

  As the endless song continued, she was practically tossed from one man to another. And soon she was seeing more than one man in black with the yellow rose on his lapel. She blinked. Maybe she was dizzy from all the hand-offs and twirls. Surely there wasn’t more than one Zorro with a yellow rose.

  Then one passed her on the dance floor. Before he got three steps ahead, another passed her with an identical outfit and a yellow rose. Just in case she thought it was all a hoax, the man winked and grinned.

  Charli’s knees buckled in the middle of a spin. Her partner caught her before she fell and was trampled by the crowd partaking in the merriment. “Are you okay?”

  “No.” Charli shook her head. “I need to get back to work. Do you mind?”

  He eased her to the side and escorted her off the floor, thanking her for the dance.

  She headed back in the direction of her tables, keeping a look out for the mystery Zorros. Now that she wasn’t dancing, she didn’t see even one. What was up with that?

  Any chance at a relationship with the handsome, gentle Connor Mason rode on Charli's ability to wrap up this mess tonight. The sooner the better. Unfortunately, she was there to work and her tables were yammering for drinks.

  Begging off the dance floor, Charli hurried back to her coverage area, snatching up empty mugs and bottles, taking orders for more drinks and munchies. By the time she reached the bar, she felt as if she'd run the gauntlet and only thirty minutes of the night had passed. She had another four hours to go.

  For the next hour, she worked filling orders, fending off advances and forcing a smile to her face when all she wanted was to scream and run from the bar. The condoms and lubricating jelly slipped to the very back of her mind as she worried about the confrontation ahead when she had to let Original Sin go and tell Connor of her transgressions.

  Never mind the package Connor had picked up at the jewelry store. God forbid he actually planned to propose tonight—in this madhouse, with all these people around. Charli prayed he didn't. Their relationship was too new. Too fresh, too uncertain, even though she knew Connor Mason was a keeper, she needed more time to make up her mind.

  "It's your turn. Go on break." Audrey took the tray of empty mugs and bottles from Charli's hands. "Go rest. It's going to be a long night and the show starts soon."

  Charli smiled at Audrey and slid behind the bar where she filled a clean mug half-full of ginger ale and hightailed it for the storeroom where she planned to sit on a stack of boxes with her feet up for the few brief minutes she had to herself.

  Jackson was leaving the storeroom with a case of vodka on his shoulder, headed toward Libby and the bar. "It's all yours. I snagged a chair from the floor for you girls to use during break."

  "Thanks." Charli entered the storeroom and closed the door behind her, reveling in the relative silence. Boxes of wine, cases of beer and staple foods stacked from floor to ceiling along the walls acted as additional insulation against the steady thrum of the country western band, whose speakers blared full blast in order to be heard over the shouts of the patrons of the Ugly Stick Saloon.

  Ears ringing, her feet throbbing in the stiletto heels she'd worn with her costume, Charli rounded a tall stack of corn chips to find the wooden chair Jackson commandeered from the overcrowded saloon. The column of chips acted as a wall, blocking the view of the door, making the room seem even more isolated from the hubbub. Charli sank into the chair and let the stress and strain of the evening leach out of her system.

  The door to the storeroom opened.

  Too tired to get up, Charli leaned back her head. "You can have the chair after my break, but right now, I couldn't move if the building was on fire."

  "Poor Charli," a deep, resonant voice preceded the man it belonged to around the stand of nacho chips.

  Charli jerked upright, all fatigue fading in a flash as the man in the black suit with the yellow rose stepped into view, the black cloth mask still in place, hiding his face from view. "You."

  A smile quirked on the corners of his lips as he plucked the rose from his lapel and drew it down over her eyelids and across her lips.

  Charli closed her eyes, her heart skipping several beats, breathing lodging in her throat as she sat frozen to her seat, unable to move or protest the tender assault.

  "We've missed you," he whispered.

  Chapter Four

  Her mouth opened on a gasp and he claimed her lips. Eyes wide now, Charli pulled back, her gaze rising over the stranger's shoulder to see three other men, all identically dressed, each sporting a yellow rose on his lapel. One by one, the men paraded in front of her, trailing their rose across her cheek, her neck, her shoulder.

  When they stepped back, Original Sin trailed his rose across the tops of her breasts. "Did you miss us?"

  Fully prepared to say no, Charli's mouth opened and nothing came out. She knew Connor was the sure thing, the man a woman could bet her life on—a man a woman could count on to love, honor and commit. Whereas, the men standing in front of her, looking so incredibly sexy, made her so hot with the possibilities, she couldn't work words past her throat.

  "I'll take that as a yes." He held out his hand.

  Charli placed hers in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet and into his arms.

  "I've longed to hold you, to kiss you and to witness the ecstasy in your face as we make love to you."

  She swallowed hard, pushing words past her constricted throat. "All of you?"

  He smiled. "All of us."

  "I'm only on break for fifteen minutes." She glanced at the watch on her wrist. "Make that ten."

  A low chuckle rumbled in his chest, reverberating through hers. "What more do we need?" He lifted her skirt, his hands sliding beneath to cup her ass.

  In the back of her mind, Charli knew this was all wrong. Connor would never understand. Any relationship she'd hoped to have with him would be beyond repair if she let Original Sin do all the naughty things his gaze told her he would do in just under ten minutes.

  No matter how wrong, Charli couldn't say no, couldn't tell him and his buddies to take a hike, couldn't resist the lure of all four men making love to her in the storeroom, fast and furious.

  "What if someone enters?" she asked.

  "The door's locked." He lifted her legs to wrap around his waist and he nodded at the man who'd moved behind her. "Unlace her."

  "Do you know how hard it is to get into this thing?" Was that really her breathless voice? She should be telling these men to leave, not arguing about how difficult it would be to get dressed in the limited amount of time.

  With four tall, handsome men filling what little empty space was available in the storeroom, Charli barely had air to breathe.

  Then Original Sin slid a finger past the thong of her panties and into her creaming pussy and that's all it took.

  Charli's sex drive shot from nil to max in a nano-second, her resistance flying out the door. She tightened her legs around Original Sin's waist and clung as his fingers thrust into her again and again. Then he eased her away from his body.

  Two of the men slid alongside Charli ducking beneath her arms, each taking a thigh to spread her legs.

  Original Sin tapped her clit with the juices he'd acquired from his foray into her vagina, smearing the liquid over her bud, stroking in long languid strokes.

  "Faster."

  "Say please."


  "Faster, please, damn it," she said through gritted teeth.

  His finger paused. "You're a wild and wicked lover, Charli, worthy of many long, hot nights in bed."

  Charli bucked, arching toward that magic finger. "Don't tease me. I'm so close."

  He stroked her again, drawing all the sensations to the very tip of her clit, then leaving her hanging, high and unsatisfyingly dry.

  "You're kidding, right?" With her skirt hiked up around her waist, her corset hanging down so that her boobs bobbed free, she couldn't imagine how it would look if Audrey were to walk in at that moment. And frankly she didn't give a rat's ass if anyone came in, as long as her mystery lover finished what he'd started before she exploded from need.

  "Oh, please," she wailed, sure her voice carried over the band’s tune in the next room.

  With deft fingers, the mystery man slid down the zipper of his trousers, his cock springing free. He held out his hand and the man standing at his side slapped a foil packet into his palm.

  "Oh, thank God." At least he'd been foresighted enough to know they needed protection.

  Original Sin ripped open the packet and slid the rubber over his engorged cock. Then he nodded to the man who hadn't touched her at all. "Now, you."

  The man smiled. "Are you sure?"

  "She won't want to miss this."

  Charli's eyes widened, her heart thundering in beat with the lively polka in the saloon. "What won't I want to miss?"

  The man beside Original Sin slid his dick out of his trousers, cloaked it in a condom and maneuvered around to the other side of the men holding Charli's thighs. His hands smoothed over her butt cheeks, his fingers seeking the crease between and the tight round hole of her anus.

  Her butt muscles clenched in anticipation of what he was about to do. "We only have five minutes leeeeeffft,” her voice rose as the man behind her poked his cock into her anus. “Oh, dear. Oh, dear.” Charli took swift, shallow breaths, bracing herself as O.S. closed the distance between them, pressing his member to the mound of curls at the apex of her thighs.