Free Van, Becca - Slick Rock Cowboys [Slick Rock 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Becca van Page B

heart.
    Tara washed her hands at the sink and set about making omelettes and salad for lunch with warm crusty rolls from the oven. By the time Clay and Johnny entered the kitchen, everything was set out on the table ready to eat.
    Tara sat and ate quietly. She wasn’t interested in making small talk to the two men seated at the table with her. She kept her eyes on her plate, not willing to have the confrontation she knew would come if they could discern her thoughts. When Clay spoke, it seemed that wasn’t necessary anyway. He seemed to be able to read her mind.
    “Celia meant nothing to us, Tara. We used her and she used us. She knew from the start nothing would eventuate from a relationship with us. She was a means to scratch an itch, to fuck. You mean so much more to us than that,” Clay stated as he leaned over the table, placed a finger beneath her chin to make her look at him.
    “And that’s supposed to make me feel better? You have a lot to learn about women if you think that explanation is supposed to make me feel better,” Tara stated with ire, rose from her chair, and left the dining room.
    Tara couldn’t believe how callously he had treated that woman. Didn’t that mean they treated all women the same? Including her? She waited until she heard the slam of the back door then went to clean up the kitchen. She gave a sigh of relief to find it empty and set about putting the kitchen to rights and preparing food for dinner. Once that was done, she went on a cleaning frenzy. By the time she had to put dinner in the oven, the house was spotless. Tara had cleaned the whole house from top to bottom, including the bathrooms and the floors. She put the chicken casserole in the oven and set the rice boiler to start in about forty minutes, and then she went to shower.
    Tara was back in the kitchen ready to serve dinner when Clay and Johnny entered the back door.
    “You’ve got five minutes to clean up. Dinner’s ready, and if I hold it off any longer it will start to spoil,” Tara stated without turning around. She heard their footsteps as they left to shower and change.
    Tara served dinner and was just placing the plates on the table as Clay and Johnny returned. She wanted nothing more than to pick up her plate and hide in her bedroom, but knew she would be hauled back to the dining room, so she didn’t bother. She sat down and picked at her food, listening as Clay and Johnny talked about the ranch. When Tara couldn’t stomach the thought of another mouthful of food, she picked her plate up, stood, and took it over to the kitchen. She was just about to scrape the food into the trash as a large hand plucked the plate from hers, put it down on the counter, and turned her around gently by the shoulders.
    Tara felt Johnny’s finger beneath her chin, lifting her gaze to his. She knew he could see the pain and sadness, which was not there this morning, back in her eyes and face. He picked her up in his arms and carried her back to the table, sat down with her on his lap within the circle of his arms.
    “Talk to me, Tara. What happened between our horse ride and now to make you so sad?”
    Tara kept her eyes on the table, not wanting him or Clay to know she was envious of their previous and or current lovers. She’d felt as if her heart was breaking all over again when she had seen Celia hanging off her men and talking to them.
    “Celia,” Clay stated from next to her. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it, baby?”
    “Is Clay right, sweetheart? You have nothing to worry about, Tara. You are the one we want. The women we had previously in our lives, before you showed up again, meant nothing. They were just a fuck, Tara, they didn’t mean anything,” Johnny explained.
    Tara pushed Johnny’s arms from around her waist, rose to her feet, and moved a few paces away. She turned back to face Clay and Johnny head-on. She’d had enough of this shit.
    “So was I just a fuck, too? Another warm body to relieve an