While I spoke with intent and a surprising fervor, I hitched my voice low so no one else could hear.
"Yes," they both said at the same time, before taking bites of their meals.
They were eating with gusto, as if they'd just come off the trail. They were well dressed, well groomed and well spoken. They had all their hair, all their teeth and no dirt could be seen beneath their fingernails. Manners wasn't something they lacked, nor was boldness.
They were gentlemen, but their words said otherwise. What were they? Both? Gentlemen in public and something a little … rougher in the bedroom? Why did the idea of that appeal?
"Do you say this to all the women you meet?" Regardless of their brazenness, I couldn't deny they were the handsomest men I'd ever laid eyes on. I assumed that had served them well when flirting so boldly with other women.
"No." They echoed each other again.
Mr. Cooper-Landon-was dark haired and had a beard. It was short and groomed, yet full. I had to wonder if it was silky soft to the touch. No, I had to wonder if it was silky soft against my thighs since he'd said he liked them so much. Dear lord, I was as bad as them. I was fantasizing about something ludicrous. With Landon's head between my parted legs. Me, with them. Them!
Not Landon, or Mr. Bane, but both of them.
Was that done? I knew women in the whore houses did all kinds of things I'd never considered before, but being with two men at once? It wasn't inconceivable and for some reason, I found it … intriguing. Exciting. Arousing.
These two were all of those adjectives and more.
Where Landon was dark, Mr. Bane was fair. His hair was the color of wheat and it was clear it had lightened in the summer sun. He was quicker to smile than Landon, who seemed to be the more serious one of the two, although they both had the knack of speaking out of turn and beyond society's dictates. Both had caught my attention right away. Both had all but swept me off my feet with their rescue of the hotel room and the invitation to dinner.
Now, they wanted more. So, so much more. And I was considering it. I flushed at my own bold thoughts.
But I wasn't the woman they imagined. I hadn't lied about being a widow. I hadn't lied about anything. I just hadn't told them I was an outlaw. I was omitting the truth. A very big truth. I doubted they'd believe me and I doubted they'd want to marry me if they found out.
Marry! Why was I even considering it in my thoughts? I couldn't get mixed up with two obviously possessive men. I had a bank to rob!
"I … well, I'm flattered, but I will have to decline." I scooped some mashed potatoes onto my fork and took a dainty bite. It was hard to eat when it felt like I had butterflies in my stomach.
"Why?" Mr. Bane asked. "You said you were no longer in love with your husband."
True. It had been years since he'd taken sick and died. While I remembered him, his image was fuzzy in my mind. Time had altered my perspective on our marriage. We'd been happy, certainly, but love? I wasn't sure. Mutual respect, fondness, definitely. Youthful eagerness. I would always look back on the time we shared with a smile, but nothing more.
Mr. Bane pushed on. "Don't you find us attractive?"
I felt my cheeks flush. "Yes, I do." I didn't need to lie. They knew their appeal and I was sure it had worked on others in the past. I was not their first conquest, although it seemed if I might be the first they said they wanted to marry.
God, marry?
If I wasn't strangely intrigued by the conversation, I could have walked away. I would have done so before the meal was even served. I felt that they would have let me. While their knees pressed into my thighs, I didn't feel trapped. I felt … sheltered. The way they spoke in front of the waitress, I could have caused a scene and fled easily enough. The fact that I remained between them only proved to all of us that their not so subtle references to my breasts and thighs was stimulating banter instead of perverted mumblings.
"You are beautiful. Enchanting. Interesting," Landon added.
If he only knew.
"You can't doubt what you feel between us," Mr. Bane said.
"Mr. Bane," I countered, ready to list all of the reasons why this was a bad idea.
"Seth," he replied. "As Landon has given you leave, I shall as well. We're past formalities now, don't you agree?"
I nodded, because we'd gone far beyond the usual chitchat about the weather.
"Then tell us yours."
I cleared my throat. "Maddie."
Seth grinned and he looked so devastatingly handsome. He wasn't a city man, all slick and perfect. No, he was rugged and rough around the edges.
"As you said, you are a widow, an experienced woman. Aren't you curious? Curious what it would be like to be in bed with the two of us? To have two sets of hands on you? Two mouths?" He leaned in, tipped his voice very, very low. "Two cocks?"
Oh my. I delayed my answer by taking a sip of my water, this time very carefully as I'd been prepared for something stunning to be uttered by either one of them at any time. I hadn't been wrong. Two cocks?
"We want you," Landon said, stating the obvious. No one mentioned hands and mouths and cocks unless they were eager for a night of passion.
Yes, it was good I'd put my glass down, for my fingers shook. My defenses couldn't stand their verbal assault. They wanted me and seemed well armed to get me.
This was insane. I was a bank robber, not just a boring widow. I didn't have time for a marriage, much less a dalliance. Did I? The next, and hopefully last, robbery was tomorrow and then we'd have all the money we wanted back from Mr. Rollins and be done. We could return to the life of law abiding citizens.
I could spend the night in their company. Do things with them. Just this once. Nothing was stopping me. No little old biddies were judging or stopping me. No lightning strike would befall me, at least not for this. A widow could be wild. A widow could consider such blatant advances. A widow was allowed to seek pleasure where she desired. I wasn't in Mecklen where everyone knew me. Here, in Helena, I was anonymous. Forgettable. That boded well for bank robberies and an illicit dalliance with two handsome men.
I glanced between the two, felt my nipples harden from just their focused stares. They wanted me and that was heady. Flattering. Exciting. I wanted them. I wasn't going to deny it, even to myself. I wanted two men. It had been a long time, years, since I'd been with my husband, felt a man's hands on me, his mouth. Felt the weight of his body pressing me into his bed, the slow slide of his cock. The heat that came from the joining. I remembered what it had been like, ached for it late at night. I had a feeling a night with Landon and Seth would not be the same as it had been when I was nineteen, two virgins newly married.
I was curious about it, being with them. Interested. Needy. I wanted to feel like that again. I wanted to feel feminine and soft, desirable and worth loving.
They weren't eating any longer, their plates clean and my food barely touched.
Leaning in, I waited for them to do the same, then whispered, "What is it that you want?"
Yes, I was curious. Hearing their thoughts didn't mean I had to act on them.
Landon glanced at Seth, then at me. "You." His eyes blazed with that single word.
I put my cutlery down. "Yes, but … how?"
"Naked," Seth added.
My woman's core clenched and I was sure my drawers just got damp. Oh my. I hadn't felt like this in a long, long time. If ever. Why now? Why these two? Why was I so aroused by each of them uttering only one word a piece? You and naked.
"And?" I wanted more. Needed to hear more from them.
"And between us."
"In bed."
"Perhaps riding me," Landon said.
"Or on your hands and knees," Seth offered.
They went back and forth, all the while keeping their eyes fixed on mine, ignoring everyone else in the establishment.
"Just on your knees before me."
"Holding on to the headboard."
"No, tied to the headboard."
"Leaning over the side of the bed."
"Pressed against the wall."
I whimpered and they stopped talking.
"Does any of that sound appealing to you?"
Appealing? That wasn't the word I would have chosen. What didn't sound appealing? I'd never done some of that before. No, most of it. Orville and I had been so young when we married and we'd fumbled for the first month, not even trying various positions. Since he, too, had been a virgin, he'd been more eager than skilled. While it had been pleasant, it hadn't been … intense. Hot. Devastating.
That's what Seth and Landon's words made me feel and I was in a public restaurant. I could only imagine what they could do if we were alone and our clothes came off.
Was it suddenly warm in the restaurant? I knew my cheeks were flushed and I could barely look at either of them.