Tag and Release

Liberty Springs, Wyoming 3 

Tag and Release Brody and Luke Marshall are used to getting everything their own way when it comes to women, playing a carnal game of tag and release as they rock from conquest to conquest, but a new neighbor sits their perfect world on its head. Casey Buckley, tall, strong, and flame-haired, is everything they’ve never had in a woman—brazen, bold, and nobody’s doormat. Casey thinks she can indulge in a little carnal gratification and walk away, but her heart is in danger of being snared by their seductive charms. Luke knows she is something special, the one to end all others, but his domineering brother has been burned too badly to trust anything with two X chromosomes. Before Brody can accept they’ve caught the one too special to release, tempers flare and passions boil as they scorch the sheets in an effort to win Casey over before time runs out. Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western Length: 81,809 words 

 

TAG AND RELEASE Liberty Springs, Wyoming 3

Kaliana Cole

MENAGE AMOUR

Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer. WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. If you find a Siren-BookStrand e-book being sold or shared illegally, please let us know at [email protected]

 

A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

TAG AND RELEASE Copyright © 2011 by Kaliana Cole E-book ISBN: 1-61926-040-9 First E-book Publication: November 2011 Cover design by Kaliana Cole All cover art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers Dear Readers, If you have purchased this copy of Tag and Release by Kaliana Cole from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book. The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment. This is Kaliana Cole’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Cole’s right to earn a living from her work. Amanda Hilton, Publisher www.SirenPublishing.com www.BookStrand.com

 

DEDICATION This one’s for B. You’re still my everything. And for the good people at Siren. Thank you for helping me bring Liberty Springs to life.

 

TAG AND RELEASE Liberty Springs, Wyoming 3 KALIANA COLE Copyright © 2011

Chapter 1 “My lord, Em. This view is just spectacular.” Casey’s voice was filled with awe. “The mountains are really something, aren’t they?” “What mountains?” Emma turned from where she had been unpacking boxes to see what the hell her little sister was on about. She followed her blue gaze southward and over the boundary fence to where Brody and Luke Marshall were putting up trusses on the framework of their new barn. Shirtless. Yep, that was a fine view all right, but she had her own men waiting for her at home. All three of which could hold their own against the Marshalls in the eye-candy stakes. “Ty’s got a better chest,” she sniffed. Casey put her hands over her ears and winced. “Some things I don’t need to hear. That’s my brother-in-law-to-be that you’re talking about. Looking at any of them would be like incest.” She turned her attention back to the sweaty, bare-chested men. “What’s the story with these two? Are they sold separately or do they come strictly as a two pack?” “From what I have heard, when they’re not at the club, they go solo until they’re onto a sure thing and then invite the other in.

 

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They’re players, Case. They only chase the quick thrill and they’re gone by the morning. It’s strictly tag and release for them.” “I bet it would be a hell of a night, though. It’s been a while since I’ve let myself have a little fun. I’d say I’m about due.” Emma shook her head. Casey was right—there were some things you didn’t need to hear. “Happy hunting then.” She glanced down at her watch, “I’ve got to get going. Are you going to be all right by yourself?” “I’m a big girl now, Em. I’ve lived in the big city for a few years all by myself. I think I can handle middle-of-nowhere, Wyoming. I want to head in to town this afternoon and pick up a few things anyway.” “Pick up some condoms while you’re there if you want to play with those two, maybe some disinfectant as well. You’d never know where they’ve been.” The sexual speculation on Casey’s face said that she thought it might be kind of fun to find out. Emma left her to her neighbor watching and headed home to her men. She didn’t have to worry about where they had been. She’d seen the doctor’s certificates that proved it. **** French vanilla or mountain mist? Casey hesitated over the air fresheners in the cleaning aisle at the supermarket. “Go with the mountain mist. Anything vanilla is bound to be boring, even if it is French.” The voice was deep and a little raspy with a playful, conspiratorial edge promising nefarious diversions and wicked delights. Casey turned to find her eyes level with a sinful pair of lips wearing a smile that matched the pledge in that voice. Milk chocolate eyes crinkled roguishly in a tanned face and sparkled with mischief. His dark blond curls with sun-bleached highlights appeared from

 

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under a Wyoming Cowboys cap and kissed the wide, bronzed neck below. She instantly recognized the darker curls peeking from the neck of his T-shirt. She had spent more time studying them than anything above his shoulders. Casey took a deep breath and held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Casey Buckley, your new neighbor.” Her hand was engulfed by his large, firm grip. His palm had sandpaper-textured calluses on it. She damn near creamed at the thought of that roughness against skin more sensitive than her hand. “Luke Marshall, and I’ve got to say, Casey, you’re a hell of a lot more attractive than our last neighbors.” “My sister would disagree.” “You’re Emma’s sister?” The incredulity was to be expected. They didn’t look a thing alike. “Half sister,” she clarified for him. “I noticed you two building today, is it a hobby or a profession?” “Building is our trade, but we seem to be doing more repair jobs than construction lately.” “That’s good to know. I’ve got a few projects in mind for my new place. Ty gave me carte blanche to make improvements.” “How are you settling in?” God, he was smooth! His eyes gave her good contact, giving her his whole attention and not wandering lower. He even sounded like he was actually interested in the answer. “Really well. It has only been a few days, but I am getting everything sorted.” She held up the cans of air-freshener. “There’s just a smell in one of the rooms that I can’t get rid of. I think a small animal died under the floorboards or something.” Luke laughed. “I bet it is the second room on the right heading up the hall.” “How did you know?” “That was Colby’s room. He’s not particularly well housebroken. You’re smelling a few years’ worth of accumulated odors from

 

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sweaty socks, abandoned pizza boxes, and God knows what else. I’d advise shutting the door and leaving the window open for a year or two, and possibly pulling up the carpet. It might be safe to breathe in there then.” His gaze was intimate as he effortlessly built a rapport. He was a damn smooth operator. Casey wondered just how many had fallen for his easy charm. “I’ll take that under consideration.” She tossed both cans of spray into her cart. “I noticed the earthmoving equipment. They must be some major works you’re planning over there. When you’re finished with the contractor, send him our way. We could do with a decent operator for our projects. Who have you got? None of the contractors around here have got equipment of that caliber.” Casey gritted her teeth as he dug himself deeper and deeper with his chauvinist surmising. Why did men always assume you had to be a man to operate heavy machinery? You didn’t need a dick to pull levers or change gears. “They’re mine, actually.” His eyes sparkled with appreciation. “A savvy businesswoman, huh? Who’s your operator?” She guessed you had to be aware you were actually in a hole before you woke up and stopped digging. “I am. The Bobcat, the excavator, the truck? I’m the only one who sets foot in them.” Watching him squirm when he realized his faux pas was as utterly satisfying as eating the chocolate his eyes matched in color. And it wasn’t even fattening. Casey bet that not too many people had seen this man wear a blush like the one that was now creeping up his cheeks. “I’m sorry, Casey. It was rude and arrogant of me to make that assumption.” At least he had the good grace to apologize. “That’s okay, Luke. I find foot-in-mouth disease runs rampant in men when it comes to me.

 

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My sister has grabbed the only three men who didn’t even blink an eyelid over my chosen business.” “Like they would be game to with her about.” “There you go again,” she laughed. “It’s going to take forever for you to get that foot out of your mouth. I’m going to keep on with my shopping and leave you to sort yourself out. It’s been real interesting meeting you, Luke.” It had, too. He was gorgeous in that bumbling puppy kind of way. There had been no malice behind his assumptions and he had apologized and stood his ground. Most men hightailed it when they made a fool of themselves, even charmers like him. No, Luke Marshall definitely had potential for a little down and dirty fun. You just didn’t take a man like him seriously. She was picking through the canned goods section when a familiar voice on the other side of the stand pricked her ears. “…you should see her, Brode. She’s even better up close. All those machines? They’re hers, man. She drives them. Could you imagine that tall, redheaded drink of water climbing down outta that truck? My dick’s getting hard just thinking about it. I put my foot right in it and pissed her off a bit, but before that she was looking at me like she wanted to try me on for size.” Casey grinned a little over Luke’s admission of getting hard. Men would be men. “Casey’s not your type, though. She’s even taller up close. She’s gotta be five-ten and she’s built strong. Not heavy, but she looks like she works out at more than aerobics.” “What are her tits like?” The second voice didn’t have the lighthearted inflections of Luke’s. It was drier, darker. She guessed that was Brody. “Real nice, but I didn’t get a chance to do much appreciating. It’s damn hard to cover up which way you’re lookin’ when a woman’s that tall.” “What do you think? Is she worth throwing a loop over?”

 

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“Hell, yeah.” “It wouldn’t be bad to have options a bit closer to home. I’m sick of heading down to the Kat every time I feel like getting laid. She doesn’t sound anywhere near biddable enough for anything long-term, but from what I’ve seen of her over the fence, I wouldn’t mind saddling her up once or twice.” Is that right? An easy ride next door? Casey’s ire went through the roof. “Anyway, Luke, you charm her and I’ll just come in for the grand finale before we cut her loose. I haven’t got the patience for all that shit. Just make sure you leave enough buck in her for me.” Casey felt anger heat her face enough to match her hair. What arrogant, conceited assholes! And she had thought they might be likely candidates for a bit of fun? A rattlesnake had more chance of being welcomed into her bed than either of those two did now. She violently jerked the cart around and headed for the checkout. She could live without whatever she hadn’t picked up yet. The girl at the checkout was cheerful and efficient. Casey felt like a dragon for only giving her abrupt, yes-no answers, but she wasn’t capable of any polite small talk at the moment. She ground her teeth as she handed over some cash and the Marshalls pulled into the checkout behind her. “Hi, again, Casey. This is my brother, Brody.” She turned to see a dark-haired man standing beside Luke. He was slightly heavier in build—downright bulky through the shoulders, and an inch shorter, probably around six-one, and just as handsome with a dimple on his chin and near black eyes. Why did assholes have to come in such eye-catching packaging? “Hi, Brody.” She kept her voice level and even. They were her neighbors after all. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Casey.” He put a barely noticeable emphasis on “pleasure,” and his dark, flashing eyes swept from her head to her booted toe and returned. Not in his favor, but

 

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better than starting from the bottom up. Any man that did that was instantly doomed to failure. “Luke tells me you might have some work for us coming up. You should come over for dinner one night, Casey. We would love to go over some plans with you. When would suit you?” His eyes heated and left no doubt that he had more in mind than dinner and work. Casey fought the urge to sit him on his conceited ass. She took her change and docket from the checkout girl who was openly drooling over the Marshalls before turning back to the idiot standing there with such self-assured confidence. She stepped in close, running a fingertip provocatively over the rise of his well-developed chest, watching it swell further and giving him a sultry look. “How about never, Brody? Is never good for you?” She flicked his chin with her finger. “It’s such a shame. I was looking forward to a little fun, but I would line up for a voluntary root-canal before I’ll be a convenient fuck next door for the likes of you.” She gave them an overly saccharine smile and carried her bags out of the door, leaving them blinking in stunned amazement.

 

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Chapter 2 Casey felt like there was a two-year-old playing in a pots-andpans drawer cutting loose inside her skull. The fruit punch Emma had made for her welcome party had been downright lethal. She was sure there had been more vodka than juice in the volatile brew, and she was paying the price now. The insistent light fracturing her skull behind closed eyelids spoke of some rude time closer to dawn than noon. It was bright, damn bright. Noises coming from outside promised company, but welcome company if the opening and closing of the trash can was any indication. If she feigned sleep, would the cleanup continue without her? She hated to think of the mess outside. Emma and Marley had stuck it out until near dawn. Ty had escorted them to his truck and poured the pair of them in with remarkable patience. He had even ensured she would be fine on her own before he had taxied the drunks away. Why couldn’t she find someone like him instead of being a magnet for assorted jerks and assholes? She lay in a semicomatose state until she heard a soft knock at the front door. “As long as you can make coffee, you can come in. Black and strong.” She heard a masculine chuckle and laid her head back in the pillow. Emma must have taken pity on her and sent Colby or Zach over to clean up. She knew Ty wouldn’t leave Em’s side if she was suffering as much as her. The pottering around the kitchen continued until the aroma of freshly brewed coffee reached her makeshift bed on the sofa. “The Tylenol is in the cupboard above the fridge. Don’t be stingy now.”

 

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The sound of a door opening and closing preceded the heavy tread of footsteps crossing toward her. She attempted to sit up, but the best she could manage was to roll onto her back within the warm cocoon of the quilt and blink stupidly up at the tall form looming over her. A tall form with blond, curly hair licking about a wide tan neck. “I come bearing caffeine and painkillers. Surely you won’t kick me out for that?” Luke’s raspy bass wound its way around her anger. “Not for the moment. Gimme.” Her hands reached for the cup and the pills. Three pills and half a cup later she was feeling somewhat human. “Sit down. Stop looming over me like that.” She watched him look around at the lack of options before he sat gingerly on the edge of the sofa next to her hip. “Sorry for coming over without an invitation, but I thought you might like a hand to clean up.” “Did not-so-charming Brody come with you?” Brody Marshall was a human Slinky in her opinion—totally fucking useless, but it would put a smile on her face to push him down a flight of stairs “No. I’m here by myself.” Casey raised her eyebrows questioningly. She knew he was holding back. “He actually sent me over to complain about the noise last night, but he’s just pissed he wasn’t invited. I’m really sorry for what you heard in the supermarket the other day. Brody has had a rather hard time of it. He has trouble seeing women as anything but temporary bedmates.” “And you see them as more?” “I do. But I was raised to back my brother’s play, Casey. I’m not proud of the things I have done to uphold that, but to tell you the truth I hadn’t met a woman that made me reconsider his stance.” “And you’re in my house because?” She hoped he picked up on the venom in her tone. “You seem different from other women I’ve met, Casey. I really think I like you.” His chocolate eyes pleaded. “I think we could be great friends if we can get past the rocky start.”

 

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He was attacking her when she was at her weakest, hungover and tired, but her brain just couldn’t find a reason to send his likable ass packing. “You’re not so bad, Luke. But that brother of yours leaves a lot to be desired.” His warm, brown eyes crinkled endearingly as pleasure warmed his face. He was like a small boy in his inability to control his expression. The joy on his face almost made Casey smile despite the splitting headache the Tylenol was only just beginning to get on top of. “Don’t let that go to your head, though. I have a record of liking some really strange people.” “Do you want another coffee?” “You’ll really start to grow on me with offers like that. Make yourself one while you are there.” He stretched up to his full six-two height before taking the empty cup from her fingers. “I don’t drink coffee, but I love the smell of it.” The corner of his mouth kicked up in a half grin, “I’ll just sniff yours.” She watched him walk away with a small frown playing on her forehead. Not drinking coffee was a serious mark against him—that just wasn’t natural—but with an ass like that she could forgive nearly any sin. The faded fatigues he wore sat low across his hips and his tight ass filled them out nicely. Too nicely. Casey wanted to tear them off him and see if the bronzed skin of his upper body was natural, or if he would have lily white buns beneath. The energy that would take, however, was too great for the possible reward in her present state. He wandered back in a few minutes later with a fresh cup. Casey had dragged her carcass a little more upright without her brain pounding its way out of her skull. She even managed a sleepy smile as he held out the refilled cup. “Thanks.” “You’re welcome.” He sat back down on the sofa but this time took a deeper seat. With her knees raised, her calf rested against his side and neither of them moved away from the contact. “Nice doormat, by the way. I nearly missed what it was with all the mud ground in to it.”

 

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“It’s great, isn’t it? Bailey gave it to me as a housewarming gift. Apparently she makes stuff like that all the time.” “Yeah, I can see Bailey making that. She has never had much time for men unless they happen to be Jory. From what Brody told me, she might have finally caught him.” “You can mark that one down as confirmed. He was all over her last night, and she had a smile from ear to ear.” “So who was up with you to all hours? Bailey is usually the one who will party all night.” Casey was relaxing as he talked, struck anew at the way he gave his absolute attention. She had thought it a careful ploy in the supermarket, but perhaps that was just the way Luke was. “Marley Richards and Emma. And Ty of course. Though he was sober. He took them home this morning.” “I don’t envy him that trip. Marley can be a little hard to handle when she’s drinking. She’s got Andy bluffed anyway.” “I take it Andy is the tall, built, and handsome deputy with the big, brown, puppy-dog eyes?” “I know you’re quoting Marley there. The first thing everyone new notices is the scars. You haven’t met Andy yet?” A smile curled his mouth and Casey had an insane urge to lick the corner of his lips where a small crease formed. “No. He must be blind if he is running from her. She is drop-dead gorgeous.” “She is that, but no one else has even got a look in since she set her sights on him about ten years ago.” “Ten years? She doesn’t give up. I can’t understand wasting that many dreams on a man.” “You don’t believe in love?” he tilted his head in inquisitive amusement. “I believe it happens to other people. The way Em is with Ty, Zach, and Colby damn near makes me sick, but it is love.”

 

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“I never thought I would see Zach or Colby walking around with those smitten looks on their faces either. Maybe there is hope for Brody yet.” “But not you?” “Oh, I fall in love with nearly every woman I meet. It doesn’t matter if they’re five or ninety-five.” His grin was self-deprecating, but Casey could taste the truth of his words. “I mean romantic love, not the kind you feel for your grandmother.” “I fall in lust quite regularly. Is that the same?” “That’s about all I manage, too, so I can’t hold that against you.” She went to shove some hair back from her face, but her fingers stopped short in the hopelessly tangled mess of her hair. “I can’t believe I am lying here looking like something the cat dragged in, having a conversation about love and lust with one of the two men I swore I would never so much as look at again.” Luke threw back his head and laughed. “You don’t look too bad, Casey. You’re a lot less prickly when you’re hungover than I thought you would be. I expected some shouting and directions to a very hot place at the least.” “Believe me, it was only self-preservation that held it in. I hope I don’t look half as bad as I felt earlier. Besides, you make great coffee.” She reached over and gripped the corner of the quilt to throw it back, but Luke grabbed her wrist. “You might want to rethink that, Casey. I’m not a prude, and I would love to get an eyeful of you, but for the sake of our new friendship, how about you wait until I get out of here?” She followed his gaze to the floor and flames heated her cheeks. Jeans, sweater, bra, and socks lay on the floor beside the couch. Why did she always hate wearing clothes when she was drunk? She had one fleeting moment of panic about whether she had undressed in front of Ty but pushed it aside. Ty was gentleman enough not to mention it if she had.

 

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“Thanks, Luke. I’m as embarrassed as hell, but I appreciate it just the same. Give me a few minutes to get decent and I’d like you to have a look at the project I’m starting this week if you have time.” “Sure, Casey. I’ll wait outside. Take as long as you need. There’s no need to tell anyone about my gentlemanly behavior either. You could seriously undermine my reputation if word got out that I passed up a chance to ogle a beautiful naked woman.” He winked roguishly before he rose and walked away. Casey suspected that all those women he professed to love loved the big charmer right on back. **** “A six-person hot tub?” Luke ran his hand along his raspy beard thoughtfully as he sized up the corner of the shed Casey indicated. “You realize there’s snow on the ground near five months of the year around here?” “I know. I’m going to keep the closed-in end of the shed as a gym. I work out all year round, and I like to soak afterward. It’s called a ‘hot’ tub for a reason, cowboy.” Luke’s lips curled at the acid creeping in to her voice. Casey was as volatile and capricious as all the old adages about redheads promised. Her fire warmed him from the inside out. If only Brody hadn’t fucked up at the supermarket they could have found out just how hot she could burn. For now he was happy just to get to know her. One day Brody might wake up to himself and quit burning bridges, but until then, Luke decided he’d go solo where Casey was concerned. “Have you got measurements of this monster?” “Yeah. Pete and Zach measured up last night and they assure me it will fit. It should be arriving midweek. If I get you the particulars, can you give me a quote for the decking?” “It will be materials only, Casey, neighbor’s rates.” He held up a hand when she made to protest. “I expect the same consideration

 

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when I ask you to come over with the excavator and clean out the tank in the back pasture that is all silted up. Does that sound fair?” Luke watched her face as suspicion and obstinacy warred with the trust he was endeavoring to build. She had that same stubborn tilt to her chin as her sister, but where Emma was petite and curvy, Casey was tall and strapping. Though the same strength of character imbued the pair of them, he suspected Casey would take down anyone threatening her with her bare hands instead of relying on firepower. “Okay. I can live with that. When do you want the dam done?” “Not until I’ve finished your job. I’m gonna need a hand with this from time to time, and I suspect you don’t want Brody making himself at home over here. We haven’t got much on at the moment so I can work around your schedule.” “Yeah, Brody can stay right where he is.” The way her eyes narrowed made him glad he hadn’t been the one to fuck up. “I haven’t got much on either, just some trail maintenance for the forestry up near the caves booked in for Monday and Tuesday. I’ll be here on Wednesday when the spa arrives.” A wide smile grew on Luke’s face. “You must be the only person to move to a place renowned for its natural hot springs and proceed to build an artificial one.” “Emma told me about these springs. They’re a little public for my preferred state of dress when I soak.” Luke looked over toward their house, which was clearly visible despite the cottonwoods growing along the creek that separated the properties. “This isn’t real private either.” Casey’s eyes flicked up toward the house. “No one’s ever accused me of being shy.” Luke grinned at her brass. “Not all of them are public. Some are on private land. Me and Brode have our own right up there at the head of that valley.” “Really?” There was a little incredulity in her tone

 

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“Yep. It’s not that big and your hair feels like steel wool when you get out, but the minerals are ace for soaking out the aches and pains.” “Sounds like heaven.” “I can take you up there if you want. There’s a shortcut across from the back corner of your place. Feel free to use it whenever you want, but I’ll show you where we leave the horses. If there’s one tied up at the rail, it’s already occupied.” He had a thought. “Do you ride?” “Not so much for the last couple of years, but I used to do a fair bit when I was younger. “ “Feel up to a ride this morning?” “I’d prefer to have a shower and get some food in me first.” She was still looking a little worse for wear. “How ‘bout I swing by this afternoon with a spare mount and take you up there?” “Okay, Luke. I’d enjoy that. But tell me, it’s not much more than half a mile away, why not just walk?” “Cowboy rules, you don’t walk where you can ride, and you don’t ride where you can drive.” “Now I get it. I’ll see you later.” The smile she gifted him with before turning away was tentative but real. Luke bathed in the glow all the way back to his house. Right up until he ran in to Brody. “Where have you been?” Luke took a deep breath, determined not to let his brother rain on his fine morning. “Over at Casey’s.” “What? She didn’t shoot you on sight?” Brode kicked back further in the chair on the porch, swinging his boots up to rest on the table. For all his nonchalant ease, Luke could see the tension in his jaw. Being shot down so spectacularly, not to mention so publicly, by Casey had hit him hard. He was like a cocky prizefighter that had

 

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finally taken a blow, lying on the canvas deciding if it was worthwhile getting back up. “No. She was quite agreeable. I made her a coffee and had a pleasant conversation with her.” “Did you complain about the noise?” “Do you think I’m an idiot?” A smile quirked Brode’s lips for the first time in days. Luke rolled his eyes. “Before you answer that, dickwad, did I mention she was wearing nothing but her panties while we had this conversation?” “She was? She what?” he spluttered. “Lovely command of the English language there, Brode.” Luke sank down in another chair and looked out across the valley toward Casey’s house. “I kid you not. I sat right beside her while she drank two cups of coffee in her panties.” He braced one ankle on the opposite thigh and sat back. “She looks all soft and cuddly when she’s hungover, too. That flame-red hair of hers damn near reaches her ass when it’s out of that braid she wears.” “That woman is not soft and cuddly. She is a redheaded Femzilla who feeds on male egos.” “Femzilla?” Luke chuckled. “She is a feminist Godzilla, a ball-busting bitch. She is bad news, Luke. She’s just building you up so she can tear you down.” “I guess I’ll find out this afternoon. I’m taking her riding up to the spring. Oh. And I’m building her a deck to go around the gigantic hot tub she’s putting in the shed down there.” Brody blinked. “You mean the one we can see right in from here?” “That’s the one.” “Man! That’s gonna be hard to ignore. Does she know how clear the view is from here?” “She’s got a fair idea. I did sort of point it out, but she told me she ain’t shy.” Luke knew his smile was a good match for the evil grin on

 

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Brody’s face. Some things no red-blooded man knocked back, and a chance to perve on a naked, gorgeous neighbor was one of them. “You’re not going to go all noble and build a screen for it, are you?” “Not in this lifetime.” Luke turned and looked straight at his older brother, “I really like her, Brode. Don’t fuck this up for me. Just keep your mouth shut and behave for once.” Brody just looked at him as if he had sprouted a second head. **** Dressed in old jeans and a loose cotton shirt, Casey crossed one booted foot in front of the other and leaned against the porch rail, watching Luke ride toward her leading a second horse. He sat the sturdy buckskin like he’d been born in the saddle. His battered old cowboy hat sat low over his eyes, shading his face from view. The silhouette of him in the saddle etched itself into her brain. It was a soul-stirring picture of the quintessential cowboy. So tall and strong with endless legs that molded to the animal beneath him, the pair moving in perfect harmony with effortless grace. Casey hoped her own hat afforded her the same anonymity as she felt herself flush with more than the heat of the sultry afternoon. Why were cowboys such wet-panty material? Luke drew rein on the other side of the boundary fence, tugging the ugly Appaloosa he led up beside him. “Come over here and meet Spot. He ain’t half as ornery as he looks.” Casey pushed away from the porch. “Spot? No marks for originality there, Luke.” She climbed through the rails and the found the Roman-nosed animal to be a lot bigger up close. There was also a towel tied behind the saddle like a bedroll. A glance proved Luke was similarly equipped. The stirrups looked about right, so she took the reins Luke held out to her with a grin and swung up into the saddle. On the taller

 

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animal she was eye to eye with him. “Anything I should know about Spot?” “No, he’s harmless. Spot’s my usual mount for around the ranch. Checkers here is a roping horse. I usually try not to ride him outside of the arena.” Casey ran her gaze over the attractive quarter horse. “Why is that?” “He gets excited out on the trail and jigs and jogs and makes riding plain miserable. I’m hoping Spot will keep him calm, but if he upsets me too much I might trade you mounts for the trip back down.” “In my delicate state I can do without that. I’ll stick to Spot.” She patted the sturdy neck of the Appaloosa and reined him to face up toward the hills. Luke gave her a smile before falling in beside her. Their stirrups and knees brushed every now and then as he directed them along the boundary. “The southwest corner of your place is just up here. I brought some pliers to cut the wires holding the gate shut so you can use it rather than climbing over it.” “Why was it wired shut?” Casey knew from her sister that there was a bit of an antagonistic history between the Marshalls and the younger two Whelans, but Em had not known the actual specifics when she’d queried her. A deep chuckle vibrated through Luke, and his grin looked slightly embarrassed as he stretched his neck as if a nonexistent collar was too tight. “I shouldn’t be telling tales out of school. I don’t want to stir up Zach and Colb now that we don’t have to live beside them anymore. How likely are you to go and tattle to your sister?” “Emma and I aren’t real close. I’ve had more to do with her in the past two weeks than I have my whole life. I’m not going to upset what she’s found with tales about her lovers’ pasts.” “That’s pretty noble of you.” “Stirring up shit for the sake of it isn’t my way, Luke.”

 

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“Okay, then, I’ll tell you, but it stays between you and me. Brody doesn’t need to know I told you either.” He halted next to the gate fixed shut with overzealous intent. No fewer than ten hitches of heavy-gauge fencing wire held it closed. She raised her eyebrows questioningly. “When Brode does something, he does it properly. Particularly when he’s a touch cranky. ” He swung down from Checkers and handed Casey the reins. “So what got Brody in a knot to start with?” “A woman. What else would it be?” His milk chocolate eyes sparkled with mischief when she gave him the look that comment deserved. He pulled a pair of pliers out of his pocket and started clipping wires. “We were all young and dumb. I was still doing my apprenticeship. Brody had this girlfriend he’d brought back with him from a trip down to Texas. Cherry, her name was.” He dropped to his knees to cut the lower wires, and Casey had trouble staying coherent. In fatigues his ass has been great. In worn, old Wranglers it was fucking spectacular. She had to run her tongue around her dry mouth before she could talk “So what happened? Did she find out you two like to tag-team?” She expected Luke to startle at her knowledge of him and his brother’s proclivities, but he just laughed. “No, that wasn’t it at all. We went strictly solo back then.” He unlatched the gate and swung it experimentally a few times. It screeched like a tortured cat but loosened up after a bit. “You won’t be able to sneak in, but you won’t have to climb it anyway.” He tucked the pliers back into his pocket and reached for the reins. The brush of his hand against hers sent pulses of sensation shooting up her arm. Casey resisted the urge to wiggle in the saddle like a shameless hussy, but the corner of his mouth kicking up told her he hadn’t missed her reaction. He swung back into the saddle with lazy grace and turned northwest toward the head of the gully he had pointed out earlier.

 

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“I’m still listening eagerly,” Casey assured him when he made no effort to resume his story. “You’re not going to give up, are you?” “It’s not likely.” Luke shook his head, and his lips tightened down on a grin before continuing. “Brode had taken Cherry to the spring for a little private time so she knew where it was, but he hadn’t told her that our neighbors used it, too. It turned out Cherry preferred two men rather than one. Zach and Colby had come up for a soak after work, and to hear them tell it, she all but threw herself at them. Brody turned up to see his little Texas cutie being double-teamed by the pair of them. “She told him two was always better than one. Brody pinned the blame on Zach and Colb rather than on the faithless little bitch, Cherry, and I lost two of the best friends I’d ever had.” “But since then you two started sharing, I guess?” “Oh, yeah. Brode was adamant that we would never lose another woman for that reason. He signed up for membership at the Kat the very next day, right after he packed the little bitch off. I had to wait nearly twelve months ’til I was twenty-one.” “I bet you’ve had some fun since then.” Casey watched the smile light up his face as he looked sightlessly at the far horizon. It was full of sinful knowledge and more mileage than his thirty-one years should have shown. “We’ve had our share.” His eyes met hers, his gaze weighty. “You’re not blushing or stammering, Casey. Most newcomers to Liberty Springs that don’t move here for the alternative lifestyle at least show a little reticence about what goes on around here. What’s your story, Case? Too worldly for that or just intrigued?” “I was braced for it when I moved here. Emma didn’t hold anything back when she told me about her little town, much to my earlier discomfort. But I have to admit a little healthy curiosity.” She cursed the blush that crept up her cheeks as she made that admission.

 

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Luke just winked and turned his horse to a rail stretched between two pines at the edge of a steep descent. He dismounted and wrapped the reins securely around the hitching rail before unnecessarily holding Spot while she climbed down. Casey could feel his gaze rake the length of her, and she contained a small thrill. She kept telling herself Luke Marshall was just a goodtime guy who wasn’t worth a second look as she followed his lead and untied the towel from her saddle, but her libido disagreed. Her mind was in league with it, too, coming up with more and more reasons to forgive his earlier transgression. It might have been the day-after-a-heavy-night lassitude imbuing her, but to be honest, she was finding it impossible to hold the sins of his brother against him. “If there’s a horse, an ATV, or a snowmobile here, I’d advise giving a holler before heading on down. But otherwise just head straight down. Be careful at the top bit. It gets a touch slippery.” Luke jumped down atop a large boulder and reached up, offering his hand. She didn’t need it, but Casey took it anyway, wanting to know if the electricity of their earlier touch had been a one-off. It wasn’t, but this time his firm, dry grip kept hold of hers while the shivers played up her arm and over her body. He hadn’t been immune either, if the intensity that crept into his eyes was any indication. He loosened his hold on her with obvious reluctance, and her fingers trailed from his grip. He followed the steep path, and she fell into step behind him. They skirted a precarious-looking monolith perched on the side of the mountain and the spring came into view. Casey caught her breath at the sheer beauty of the hidden jewel. Nestled amid craggy, gray, lichen-covered rocks was a small pool colored a clear, vivid aqua. “Wow! What makes the water so blue?” “It’s something, ain’t it? It’s the dissolved limestone in the water. That’s also why your hair will go all stiff and scratchy if you get it wet. It sits at eighty degrees all year round at the bottom. In summer it feels cool, but in winter it’s so warm.” Luke stepped down the last

 

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ledge and threw his towel over the branch of a scrubby-looking pine struggling for existence between the rocks. “It would be amazing to be in there in winter.” “Oh, it’s that, all right, but getting out is a bit of a shock to the system.” She watched as an involuntary shiver shook his body. “A bit shrivel-inducing, huh?” “You have no idea.” He kicked his boots off and started on the buttons of his shirt. “Are you coming in, or are you going to stand there and watch?” More than a hint of a dare colored his words. In answer Casey unbuttoned her own shirt. She looked down to toe her boots off and heard a splash. She turned in time to see Luke rising up through the surface, water streaming down his hard, burnished torso. Curls were plastered back to his head, leaving his face unsoftened. The lines that normally showed a roguish handsomeness were brought into stark relief, conveying a startling male beauty that she had completely missed. He shook his head and water sprayed as his curls sprung free. He blew out his breath noisily, “Lord, it feels a bit chilly today.” He moved to the other side of the small but deep pool. “If you’re gonna jump in, do it right in front of where you’re standing. It’s about eight-feet deep there.” He settled against the rocks on the far side in the now-opaque water and didn’t even have the good grace to look away when she reached for her jeans. Casey lifted her eyebrows imperiously, but he just grinned. “I told you this morning I’m not a prude. You have already used your ‘get out free’ card today. Get ’em off and get in here. I’m not going to molest you.” Casey was trying to work out if that was a good thing or a bad thing as she made short work of slipping out of her jeans. A rattle of pebbles cascading down the rock face to the left had her looking about, but she shrugged it off as subsidence from their descent. She left the shirt on until the last moment, dropping it to reveal the black racer-back crop top that matched the boy-leg bottoms she wore.

 

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Studiously avoiding Luke’s face, she held her breath and plunged in feet-first in the spot Luke had indicated. **** “Holy shit!” Luke cursed as Casey disappeared beneath the surface. He knew his face must have been white as a ghost because every red blood cell in his body was trying to fit into his cock at once. Casey Buckley had the body of an Amazon goddess. The pale skin, dusted with freckles, did nothing to detract from the sculpted body beneath. The woman had a fuckin’ six-pack for Christ’s sake! Luke ran his hand over his face, trying to recover from the mulekick of pure desire that had caught him hard and low before she came up. She broke the surface and pushed water off her face. Big blue eyes blinked rapidly before fixing on him. “This is eighty-five degrees? It feels fucking freezing.” He coughed to clear his throat before answering, but his voice was still thick with lust. “It’s all about the ambient temperature. If you come here on a cool day it feels warmer.” “Are you okay? You’re looking a little pale.” He could feel the flush creep up his neck as his cheeks heated. “I’m fine. Just some blood-supply issues for a moment or two.” He mumbled. “Sorry?” “Nothing. I’m fine, really.” “That’s good. I’d hate to have to haul your heavy ass up that trail if you passed out on me.” The way she was built, she probably wouldn’t even raise a sweat, but he kept that comment to himself. “If you want to sit down rather than tread water all afternoon, there’s a ledge that runs along this side,

 

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and one flat-topped rock just there.” He pointed to the submerged boulder two feet from where he was sitting. He was hoping she would take the boulder. It was shallower than the ledge, and he was betting her breasts would sit at the right height to bob distractingly at the surface. She reached for her straw hat lying on the edge, all curled and worn, and popped it on her head. “I bet you have to be careful of the sun with your skin.” “I turn a nice shade of lobster if I don’t cover up. I’m resigned to being white. Even expensive fake tan makes me look like a candidate for a liver transplant.” “Instant jaundice?” She settled on the rock. “Like you wouldn’t believe.” Luke had been right. Her Lycra-covered breasts were buoyed by the mineral-rich water, exaggerating their surprising fullness. He had never seen a woman as toned and trim as Casey have such lush breasts. They weren’t overly large, just two good handfuls he ached to feel against his palms. Suspicious, he squinted and looked for the telltale outer edge of implants. “They’re real.” Her voice was dry and mocking. “I thought so, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure,” he drawled, brazening it out. Luke braced himself for a tirade. She had caught him out fair and square. But to his surprise she only laughed. “You’re not the first one to question them. Other women even ask me where I got them done. One girl didn’t believe me. She had to feel them.” And there went all his blood southward again. “Would that work for me?” “It might. Your big, rough hands would feel heaps better. Hers were soft and smooth. It just felt like I was touching them myself.” Yep, every last drop was once more trying to fit in his cock. Her blue eyes sparkled from under the brim of her hat as she leaned back against the edge of the pool. The wench was daring him.

 

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He knew it, but he wasn’t sure if she was baiting him just to shoot him down in flames or if she would actually follow through. Some things were worth taking a gamble on. “How ’bout it then? Can I conduct my own appraisal?” “That would depend. If you’re trying to get yourself laid, then no, but if you just want to play with my boobs, go for it.” “You’re serious?” “You’re offering to give me pleasure that I don’t have to return— that’s a no-lose situation for me, Luke. Do you always look a gift horse in the mouth?” Fuck! He’d never had an offer like it waved under his nose. Certainly not one offered by a redheaded Valkyrie with a body to die for. He slid off the ledge and stood between her knees in the water that came nearly up to his shoulder. He watched her carefully as he reached for the straps of her top, waiting for her to break and run, but she watched him right back from beneath hooded lids as he slid them down her shoulders. “Brody might turn up.” He warned “I told you I wasn’t shy.” A purely feminine smile touched her lips as she bent her elbows and slipped her arms free before leaning them on the rock ledge at her back. Her lips parted softly as her breathing heightened. Luke found his own breath coming faster as he ran his fingers across the edge of the top clinging faithfully to the twin mounds. Hard points pressed against the material, begging to be touched, and he had no intentions of disappointing them. His thumbs grazed across the insistent peaks, his calluses catching faintly on the damp fabric. Her breasts swelled before his eyes, pressing more firmly into his touch. “Do you always play with your presents before you unwrap them?” Her voice was breathy, but he could detect no censure. “Are you complaining?” He dragged the tip of one finger along the sensitive underside of her still-covered breast. “Hell no. Just surprised.”

 

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Luke couldn’t help but give a chuckle at the genuine astonishment in her voice. “I’m not some quick-on-the-trigger lad, Casey. I like to savor life’s little pleasures. You told me I could play, so by God, I’m gonna play, sweetheart.” He fought back the need to follow her tongue’s path across her bottom lip with his own. Kissing her would be too intimate. She was seeking some lighthearted pleasure, a chance to let her hedonist out to play, nothing more. When he finally tasted her it was going to be her chasing his kiss, her demanding the touch of his tongue, and it would be happening sooner rather than later if he had any say in the matter. “Well stop teasing and start playing, cowboy. I’ve only got so much patience.” It was obvious she’d tried for a demanding tone, but a certain breathiness that was more sex-kitten than woman-of-theworld kind of spoiled it. Luke smiled at her sassiness. The women he and Brode had been playing with at the club were all submissive to the core. Biddable little things that simpered and went along with whatever they desired. Casey was brazen, cocky, and full of fire. Luke loved it. He tugged the material down in one go, watching her blue eyes smolder and her mouth open on a gasp at his sudden move. He held her gaze as he settled the stretchy material beneath the freed globes. Silken skin caressed his fingers, tempting him sorely to look at what he had unveiled. He managed to keep their gazes locked for a staggering ten seconds, hungrily soaking up every nuance of expression that crossed her face, before he broke and just had to look at what he had revealed. Lush, creamy perfection. Hardened strawberry tips. A dusting of golden freckles upon the upper curves. Luke’s mouth watered as he reverently cupped Casey’s breasts. “Oh, fuck. Remind me to breathe every now and then, sweetheart. These are enough to take a man’s breath away.” He weighed them in his palms and tested the firm resilience with a gentle squeeze. Christ, a fantasy rack! If he didn’t get them in his

 

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mouth he was going to go insane. He glanced up and the heat in her eyes scorched him. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth and her blue eyes fairly blazed. “Are you going to restrict me to hands here, Casey? Or am I allowed a taste?” “You can do whatever you like, cowboy. Just remember—you ain’t getting your end in.” The corners of his mouth lifted as the carnal predator within him exulted. Five minutes is all it would take to change that stance. He would make sure she was the one regretting the laws she was laying down. “Ever come from having your boobs played with, Casey?” “That’s a myth. It’s not physiologically possible.” “I do like a challenge.” Luke bent his head and rasped his jaw from the upper slope of one breast through her deep valley to the other. She shivered beneath the assault of his three-day-growth. He nuzzled down between them with his hands holding the perfect orbs captive. A flick of his tongue against the warm, satiny skin between the lush mounds made her gasp. He was dragging out the anticipation for all he was worth, but the insistent throb of his tongue aching to taste the strawberry-colored nipples became more that he could bear. He flicked one with just the tip of his tongue, gauging her response. The tightly furled bud grew tighter before his eyes and she pushed her chest closer, demanding a heavier touch. Perfect, he thought, nipples sensitive enough to feel the slightest touch but an appetite for so much more. He captured the whole areola in his mouth and drew harder and harder on the firm little bud, waiting for her to cry off. He worked the peak against the roof of his mouth with his tongue as he rolled his eyes up to search her face. Casey’s head was thrown back, mouth open and slack. Russet lashes hid her eyes from view. His dick surged to greater dimensions as every effort to increase the pressure on her nipple only heightened the all-pervading ecstasy on her face. Closing his teeth gently, Luke nipped at her before going for the other breast.

 

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Fucking hell! Brody was going to be in heaven if ever he got his hands on Casey. He liked a rougher edge to his loving, giving out a little pain with the pleasure, and by all signs, Casey would lap it up and look for more. He fully suspected his brother was perched somewhere on the canyon face watching them anyway. Rocks seldom fell without the help of a hapless foot. He suckled the other side in earnest, taking deep rhythmical pulls that her body began to writhe in time with. His fingers rolled and pulled at the other nipple, doubling her pleasure. He slid his free hand up along her spine and tugged on her hair, encouraging her to lay back with his arm protecting her delicate skin from the harsh rock. She melted into his arms like the sweetest candy, offering her breasts up for his touch. Strong fingers kneaded her scalp, drawing her whole body into the rhythm set by his pillaging mouth. The carnal beat with an ever-escalating tempo stoked the fires of her arousal ever higher. The silken slide of smooth, feminine skin kissed his flanks as her thighs instinctively wrapped him. Hot and swollen, her cloth-covered mound pressed into his hard stomach below the surface, gyrated once, twice, and he lifted his eyes in time to see her come apart in his arms. A soundless scream echoed in her throat, exploding mutely from wide-parted lips. So quiet that if he hadn’t been watching her face he would have missed her climax altogether. As much as he would have loved to hear her cries spill out across the valley, her silent ecstasy held him enthralled. He relaxed his grip on her hair, surprised at how harsh it had grown, and reluctantly gave up her nipple. It popped wetly from his mouth and he couldn’t resist giving it one last swipe with the rough of his tongue. She writhed and shuddered before her eyelids opened lazily. An inky darkness rode the sky-blue depths—passion-stained eyes. Luke felt his lips curl and knew he couldn’t hide the smugness bubbling up at having brought her to orgasm so quickly, or the satisfaction swelling in his chest when she didn’t immediately

 

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disentangle their bodies. His cock was as hard as it had ever been and there was no relief in sight, but he still felt more satisfied right then than after any encounter he’d had in the last year or two. “Some myth, huh?” “Oh, God! This is once that I don’t mind being proven wrong.” There was a hint of shyness to her smile, but not much. “You cured my hangover, anyway. I feel fine now.” “Fine? I thought I’d done better than that.” “Fishing for compliments?” “Nah, my ego is secure.” With one hand he tugged her top back up over her breasts, hiding their beard-reddened fairness from his view. His dick was demanding some action, and the sight of her strawberry-topped breasts bobbing around with her breathing was only provoking the monster. He stood up a little straighter and watched as she became aware that she still had her ankles locked behind his back. The embarrassed little smile as she pulled them free was cute as hell, as was the blush that crept up her cheeks and replaced the rosy flush of orgasm. He slid his hand from her back as she contorted her arms to go back through the straps of her top, but he couldn’t resist reaching out to pull at the material to settle her breasts more evenly. She ducked her head and did her own adjustments, tucking and wiggling until they sat up perky and even once more. Casey looked around and must have seen the shadows lengthening as well. “I’m at a bit of a loss here, Luke. Do I act like nothing has happened and get out and dry off, or what?” “We both need to dry off. Sittin’ in a saddle with a wet ass just ain’t fun. But there is nothing to be embarrassed about, Case. We’re both grown-ups. I’m not expecting anything in return, so just relax. We’ll dry off and head back. No big deal.” He turned away from her and put his hands on the smooth rock where he had jumped in, launching from the water and climbing out. He picked up his towel and began drying off, feeling the touch of her

 

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eyes on his back before the sound of water shedding from a sleek body alerted him that Casey had, too, climbed out. He turned to face her, drying his chest. A grin stretched his lips when her ears turned red and she studiously looked everywhere but at him. “That’s a lovely blush you got going there, Case.” “You could have told me you were naked!” “Would it have made any difference? You can’t see in the water as soon as the sediment is stirred up, and I can usually be trusted to rise above the urge to dry-hump a woman’s leg like a stray mutt.” He winked and reached for his jeans. “Besides, I’m not the one who has to try and pull dry jeans over a wet costume.”

 

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Chapter 3 Casey shifted down through the gears as she passed down the drive beside her house. A smile lit her face as she saw Luke’s Chevy parked in front of the back shed. They had spent yesterday afternoon measuring up and marking out for the hot tub and decking to be installed. She had expected things to be strained between them after Sunday’s encounter at the spring, but Luke was as carefree as ever. He teased and flirted but didn’t take advantage of the intimacy she had allowed him the day before. The fact that he didn’t touch her made her all the more eager for him to do so. She swung the wheel and brought the Kenworth to a rest in its spot on the hard standing beside the garage. The five hundred horsepower engine rumbled sweetly as it idled down. She jumped down from the cab and shut the door softly, eager to see Luke and the plumbing supplies he was bringing. The smile lasted on her face until she rounded the corner and saw not one, but two Marshalls working on her project. Pipes and conduit stretched in every direction. Luke was spreading glue on fittings, and Brody was wiring electrical components. When Luke looked up with a smile, Casey gave him a “what gives?” look complete with a chin jerk in the direction of his older brother. “Hey, Casey. We finished up early today, so I got Brode to come and give me a hand. He’s better with electrics than I am.” Okay, she could live with that. With Luke’s devil-may-care attitude, him playing with high voltage was probably not a long-term prospect. “Hi, Brody. Thank you for helping out. I don’t know if I

 

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would be game to get in a hot tub that Luke wired up.” See, she told herself, I can play nice. “No problem, Casey. I’ve got a fair hole to dig myself up out of in the neighborly stakes anyway.” “Just as long as you don’t decide to get rid of me entirely and hotwire the tub.” “I’ll try to refrain.” The smile barely touched his face. Only the slightest curl lifted one side, but her ovaries went off like firecrackers. Traitorous little bitches! Brody was bad, bad news. A recipe for disaster. And so fucking lethal to her libido he ought to be outlawed. She shook her head to clear it and turned back to Luke. “What can I do? And if you send me to make coffee you will never walk again,” she warned. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Actually, can you fire up the excavator and pull that sling of decking off my truck? I do my level best to refrain from lifting anything heavier than a longneck when I can avoid it.” His languid drawl brought a smile to her lips. Luke played the part of a lazy layabout, but hard work and plenty of sweat had gone into forging that body of his. The back view of that magnificent body was forever etched into her brain. She wished to God she’d had the guts to do more than peek at the front view he had afforded her. “I can do that. Where do you want it?” “Just swing it in as close to the wall as you can. Try not to scratch my truck.” If the last hadn’t been accompanied by a teasing grin she would have done more than childishly stick her tongue out as she turned to walk away. It took longer for the Cat to warm up than it did to shift the sling of lumber. She snugged it right up against the wall, not missing the look of genuine admiration Brody had on his face when it came to rest half an inch from the inner siding. She walked the nine-ton machine the short distance to its spot and powered it down.

 

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Luke was adjusting his pants when she walked back in, and she did a double blink at the bulge filling out the front placket. A wry grin rode his face. “Don’t ask and I won’t tell.” Brody snorted in disgust and started loading tools into the truck. Luke gave her an eloquent “what can I say, I’m a man” shrug, a killer smile, and a lovely view of his fine ass as he bent over to continue joining pipes. Casey could only shake her head and smile. The man had an irresistible streak a mile wide. “I’m all done. You coming home or staying here?” Brody turned from loading the truck. “I’ve still got a bit to do. I’ll walk home later.” “No worries.” Casey took a breath to steady herself as Brody walked over to her. He stopped a comfortable distance away, not crowding her at all. His dark eyes were bottomless pools of ebony as he brought them to rest on her. A tightness rippled along his jaw as he clenched his teeth as though steeling himself for something painful. “You have no idea how much it is costing me to say this, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I fucked up big time, Casey. I apologize for making unwarranted assumptions and comments no woman should have heard.” He looked down at his dust-covered boots before the onyx orbs once again met her eyes. “Anyway, I’m sorry.” He nodded and turned, walking back to the truck. Casey watched as he drove away. Luke whistled softly. “Wow. I think that is the first time I heard Brode apologize for anything.” “It won’t hurt his pride to take a battering.” “Oh, you crushed that into the shiny, linoleum floor of the supermarket, sweetheart. Brode ain’t never had his ego smashed like that.” “I’d say he was due then.” Although she had no qualms about putting the arrogant, conceited asshole she’d first met in his place, the sliver of vulnerability she’d glimpsed in his blacker-than-sin eyes just

 

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then gave her pause. Was Brody a complete jerk, or was there a decent human being buried underneath? “I know you said you won’t fetch coffee, but is a beer out of the question?” Luke had a light sheen of sweat on his brow and a damp V on the front of his T-shirt when he rose from the plumbing. His look was optimistic but not overly hopeful. “They’re right there in the fridge beside you. I’ll have one, too.” “I thought this old thing was empty. I didn’t even think to check.” He reached in and pulled out two bottles of Corona. “I didn’t see you as a Corona girl.” “Colby left some behind at the party. I’ll drink anything as long as it’s cold.” “A woman after my own heart.” He popped the top and handed her a frosted bottle before opening his own. He held his up in salute, “To neighbors.” Casey clinked the neck of her beer to his with a smile. Brody and Luke were not her first choice of neighbors, but they sure were easy on the eye. “To neighbors.” The icy-cold beer slid down smooth. Casey took a healthy swallow before coming up for air. Luke’s chocolate eyes were burning into her like lasers as she pulled the bottle from her lips. “What?” “I don’t know what’s sexier, seeing you operate that machine or watching you down that beer.” Casey coughed and laughed at the same time, thankfully not spraying beer out her nose. “You’re incorrigible.” “No, I’m horny. There’s a difference.” He sent her into another choking fit. She eventually straightened up and had to lean against the wall for support. She had to look away to take another sip. If Luke caught her eye she would be off again. He leaned against the pole beside her, a wide grin on his cheerful face. “You are so cute when you’re embarrassed.” Casey looked

 

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down at the ground, knowing her cheeks heated more. “You’re not used to compliments, are you?” “No. Men are usually threatened by my occupation or think they should treat me like one of the guys. Compliments are rather thin on the ground.” “They shouldn’t be. You’re a beautiful woman and you operate a digger better than most men I’ve seen. And you’ve got this gorgeous little dimple that peeks out when you’re trying to hold back a smile. Yep, that’s the one, right there.” Casey lifted her head. Luke was so full of himself and a real cutie to boot. She shook her head in amused exasperation and took another drink. When she looked back at him a heat had entered his eyes, intent and promising. “What’s a guy gotta do to get a kiss around here?” His eyes held her captive. They were so much darker than the light, teasing inflections of his voice. Casey put her beer down on the wall batten and straightened up. She had to admit she’d been dying for a taste of him since his hands had first touched her breasts in the hot spring. “You could try asking.” “Nah, you might tell me ‘no.’ Get over here and give me a kiss.” The smile never left his lips as she closed the distance between them. She placed her hands on his upper arms, absorbing the feel of his obvious strength beneath her palms before running them upward to rest on his shoulders. Hot, rock-hard muscle lay beneath her hands, and she swept one to the back of his neck, making him tilt his head so she could reach him. He held her eyes as she drew closer to his lips, the chocolate gaze never wavering. His lower lip was firm and full beneath hers as she brushed a kiss across it. The scent of man and light cologne mingled with fresh, salty sweat delighted her senses, pulling her under into a sea of want. Her eyes closed in surrender, and her tongue crept from her mouth, flicking along his upper lip. A hungry groan rumbled from Luke’s throat as he opened his mouth and wrapped his arms around her. Their heat branded her as he

 

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pulled her body flush against his. Casey stiffened in shock at the intimate contact and then melted into his embrace. His kiss was everything she wanted. It was masterful and playful by turns and so sinfully carnal it stole her breath and made her cunt weep. Like rough velvet, his tongue licked beneath her upper lip. Casey gasped as the caress stroked hidden nerves and sent her arousal soaring. She captured his tongue, drawing on it gently when she wanted to plunder every hidden recess of his mouth. Hell, she wanted to crawl inside his mouth and never come back out. She drew back and gasped for breath, so lost in the kiss she’d forgotten life’s little incidentals—like the need for oxygen. “Christ, sweetheart! You don’t do things by halves do you?” Luke didn’t give her time to answer. He bent and took possession of her mouth once more. The malty taste of beer didn’t overpower the allure of his masculine tang. This time he took control, taking sips when she wanted him to devour, seducing when she wanted him to ravage. His teasing little nips had her all but growling in frustration. Her raw need triumphed. Casey tangled a hand into his golden curls, using her strength to hold him for her kiss. She licked along the roof of his mouth and bit at the fullness of his lower lip with sharp teeth. Her tongue dueled with his when he tried to spear it into her mouth, wet velvet sliding on wet velvet, before she drew rhythmically on the agile muscle. The deep rumble in Luke’s throat spurred her on. Her body pinned his to the wall, pressing harder against him, trying to merge them together. Hard and hot, the strength of his erection pressed into her lower body. Casey rubbed against it, endeavoring to bring them closer still. The ominous crack of timber stopped her in her tracks. She drew away, her breaths coming in pants. “What was that?” Luke blew out a big breath before replying, “The wall, sweetheart. You nearly pushed me through the damn thing.” His hands cupped her waist as he came away from the siding. Casey blinked her eyes to focus them, trying to see when all she could

 

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feel was the surge of heated blood through her body. The timber batten to which the iron was fixed was cracked and bent outward. Casey’s face flamed and she put a hand to her mouth, unable to believe she had done such a thing. “Hey, don’t go getting all embarrassed again. I need you to pull a splinter out of my back.” Casey was mortified. “Hey, I’m not kidding.” Luke turned around and pulled his shirt up. Sure enough, three good sized splinters were embedded in his bronzed back. She took a steadying breath before laying her hand on his bare skin. He was hot enough to scald and smoother than satin. Her womb clenched desperately, demandingly, but Casey concentrated on the task at hand. A slight tremor made grasping the slivers of wood between her nails a challenge, but she soon got enough control over her highly aroused body to accomplish the extraction. “All done,” she stepped away a bit unsteadily. Luke’s face was still a little flushed when he turned back around, but he wore a wry grin. “I wish I was.” He looked down pointedly at the bulge still straining his jeans. “I’m sorry, cowboy, but nearly putting you through the wall kind of ruined it for me.” “You know what the good part about that is, don’t you?” “What?” “I’m a builder.” He stepped closer and stamped a quick kiss on her lips, hard but all too fleeting. “I’ll bring a new timber over tomorrow. We’ll see if you can break that.” He gave her one last grin and headed home. Casey headed for a cold shower.

 

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Chapter 4 The hot tub arrived not long after lunch on Wednesday. Casey unloaded the delivery truck with the excavator and removed the protective packaging as soon as the driver left. She tore into it like a kid at Christmas. There was Bubble Wrap and Scotch tape scattered everywhere when she finished unveiling her baby. Using padded slings, she carefully lifted it into place. It slid into the supports above the half-completed decking like a hand into a glove. The hot tub was a lot larger than she had expected. It looked much bigger than the display model she had inspected before purchasing hers. She had gone for a six-person because the four hadn’t been long enough for her to stretch out in completely. It was a luxury item and she wanted the luxury it promised, not having to bend her knees up to fit in. Knowing Luke wouldn’t be arriving for a couple of hours at least, Casey decided to get changed and hit the weights. She would have ample time to have a good workout and shower before he finished work. With the way she lost her head around him, being physically drained might help her to resist the pull of his body. She headed for the house to get changed. Casey plugged her iPod into the speaker system in the corner of the converted shed and selected a hard-driving playlist to work out to. She hadn’t had to make many modifications to what the Whelans had left behind when they’d moved in with Emma. Her sister’s workout room was more like what you would find in an expensive gym in a large city. They had taken a few free weights to top up Emma’s

 

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supply, and that wasn’t surprising. Ty was built like a goddamn prowrestler. She started with some light weights on the seated rower to warm up and then moved on to the leg press before some lateral pull downs. She thought about loading up the rack and doing some real strength training, but she needed a spotter for that. Instead, she slipped on some half mitts and attacked the heavy bag. Falling into the rhythm of the music, she became lost in the moment. The gratifying impact of the weighted canvas beneath her blows, the frenzied satisfaction at belting the living shit out of something, was all-consuming and life-affirming. Sweat trickled down her spine. She welcomed the burn of muscle fatigue as the endorphins kicked in. Casey began to feel like she could fly. **** Brody pulled up beside the shed and glanced at the time on the dash. Luke wouldn’t arrive for another half an hour. He took a deep breath. Thirty minutes to watch what he said and not screw things up for Luke with the redheaded temptress. It would be a fucking miracle if he accomplished that. Casey Buckley was so much more than he had expected. A real woman of substance, not a trivial plaything like he had first hoped when she’d moved in. It had been a royal clusterfuck all round. He’d watched her come apart for his brother at the spring. The woman had a carnal streak a mile wide and a body strong enough to take whatever a man dished out. Just the thought of that toned body bending to his will had his cock poking its head up looking for action. Great, just great. Half an hour to not upset Luke’s new girl and he already had a hard-on. He slipped out of the truck and adjusted himself, trying to hide the obvious erection. In the end he just thought fuck it and untucked his

 

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shirt. The deep throb of a heavy bass was coming from the closed bay at the other end, but he checked out the newly delivered spa first, hoping to give his errant flesh time to settle before he ran into Femzilla herself. It was suspended perfectly in its mountings. There was not a scratch on the fiberglass base. There had been only an inch clearance all the way around and she had accomplished it without a guiding hand on the tub. The woman could sure operate a machine. He shook his head in admiration and went to find her. The personal access door was ajar and the music spilling out of it nearly knocked him off his feet when he pulled it open wide. AC/DC reverberated in the enclosed space, the late Bon Scott belting out “Highway to Hell” wrapping around him. He didn’t hear the other noise immediately, but eventually the heavy, irregular thuds reached his ears. The room was gloomy after the bright summer afternoon outside, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. He saw movement on the far side and picked his way past weight machines, benches, and an elliptical rower. The sight stole his breath. Casey was laying into the heavy bag, concentration on her face and sweat shining on her long limbs. She wore the same crop top she’d worn swimming and a pair of high-cut running shorts. The muscles on her back and shoulders rippled palely with each powerful punch. He watched the way the one-hundred-pound bag danced with each blow and was eternally grateful she hadn’t put him on his ass in the supermarket. The public damage to his ego had been humiliating enough without the added stigma of being laid out by a girl. He called out to get her attention as the song ended, but she didn’t hear him. Nickleback had started something with an addictive beat when he finally tapped her on the shoulder. He was ready to block a high punch. He’d fully expected her to swing without looking, but he nearly missed the low, straight left that she followed through with. “Easy, Casey! Jesus, woman! You’ll do someone some damage doing that.”

 

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He had hold of both her wrists, gripping firmly, and was waiting for her to come out of the exercise-induced haze and focus. Holding Casey was a challenge—she was as strong as a bull and fought like a mountain lion. He jerked her against him, blocking instinctively as her knee rose, and that was his biggest mistake. Hotter than hell and twice as damning, her body fell full-length against him. She aligned with him like a key in a lock. Like all she had to do was move and everything would tumble into place. He’d never held a woman so tall. Her eyes were mere inches from his. With her long, long legs, the heat of her mound sat flush against the cock that was once more sniffing for action. Her breasts pressed against his chest and through two layers of fabric he felt them tighten and the nipples poke into him. Her lips opened on a gasp and both of their eyes went to her breasts as he leaned back to look. The visual of those luscious breasts bare beneath his brother’s touch flared in his memory and Brody was lost. He swallowed her cry as he took her mouth, knowing she would curse him for it but too ridden with need to care. She tasted like a dream. Like the essence of sweet femininity spiced with the salty tang of her exertions. His knees threatened collapse when she forgot about everything and kissed him back. Her hands dug into the muscle of his chest, fingers scrabbling for purchase. He released one wrist and slid his hand to her ass. The shorts were loose and skimpy and he nearly passed out when his hand slid beneath to encounter bare, resilient skin. She was wearing a thong. Like a man possessed, he grabbed her cheek firmly, kneading deeply as he sank further into her accommodating mouth. Her lips were pure heaven as she dipped and slid into his kiss. She was far from passive. Casey took everything he offered and demanded more. Her eagerness cut the final threads of his control, and he gave in to the primal male within and kissed her with nothing in mind but forcing her submission. Hard, punishing kisses, the harsh scrape of teeth, brutally dominating.

 

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Brody tried to master her, strived to make her soft and pliant in his arms, but Casey clearly had other ideas. She lapped up every move that was designed to intimidate her. His cock throbbed fit to burst when she hooked her thigh over his hip and began to ride his body. She writhed sensuously and insistently, driving herself toward orgasm. The scrape of her fiery, pointed nipples against his chest was sending him insane. She tugged against his grip on her wrist, but her desire-ridden body assured him she didn’t have escape on her mind. He let her drag her wrist free and quickly put his hand to good use, threading his fingers beneath her sweat-damp braid and seizing control of her head. Brody felt her arch her body away from him. Her fingers fumbled, too thick with lust to work, on his shirt buttons. She gave a sexy little growl and ripped it open, sending buttons flying everywhere. Her hands swept up his torso like wildfire, burning him to the core with every touch. The scrape of her half gloves was an added stimulus to his overwrought body. Masculine satisfaction ran through him when her hands stopped on the thick slabs of his chest and she paused in her kiss momentarily, kneading deep into the heavy muscle with a heartfelt groan before resuming with even greater hunger. Her breath was coming in gasps and soft cries, escalating as she worked her swollen mound against the ridge of the thick erection that was sorely testing the tensile strength of his zipper. He pulled away from her mouth and nipped her jaw cruelly. “Do it, Casey. Come for me.” He jerked her head back, tugging on the roots of her fire-kissed hair forcefully. Her mouth opened and her whole body stiffened and shuddered. No sound came out, just a rush of strangled breath that was lost to the driving thump of the music that made the very air throb. The thick haze of lust fogged all reason from Brody’s mind. All higher thought processes were lost to the ache and need pounding through his fevered body and converging in the ripe flesh throbbing in demand at his groin. He jerked her from him, spinning her around and

 

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pushing her toward an incline bench nearby. His cock spilled pre-cum down its crown as she put her hands out to catch herself, inadvertently presenting her ass to him. One hand freed his raging cock while the other gripped the crotch of her shorts and ripped. The wet material gave way beneath his hand with a heavy sound like flesh being torn. Harsh fingers pulled her thong aside and he stepped in close, lost to the raging desire flooding his veins like a lethal drug. Hot wet flesh, slicker than any dream, bathed his shaft and jerked him up short. He froze, shaking his head, trying to see beyond the grip of lust. He looked down and his heart stuttered. Brody wrenched away, cursing soundly. He never took a woman without a condom. Never. What the fuck had he been thinking? She was Luke’s woman. The one that his brother had asked, for the first time in his life, for Brody not to fuck up for him. And he’d nearly fucked her. “Go, Casey. Get out of here.” His voice sounded harsh to his own ears. He tucked his protesting cock away and braced his arm against the wall, breathing deeply. Daylight flashed through the door as she opened it, but the music drowned out all sounds of her escape. He didn’t know how long he stood there, but the song came to an end and another didn’t come on to replace it. He turned around. “Well, that was interesting.” Luke sat straddling a sit-up bench in the corner, running something over the knuckles of his right hand like a coin. Brody ran his hand tiredly over his face. “How long have you been there?” “I was sitting here when you came in. My truck broke down. Danny gave me a lift home from the garage and I walked across. Case didn’t hear me come in so I sat down to watch her belt that bag around. And then you came in, and it got reeeal interesting.” He tossed the small item toward Brody, who caught it one-handed. “That’s one of your buttons. Casey doesn’t muck around, does she?

 

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She damn near put me through the wall when she mauled me yesterday.” “I can’t believe how calm you’re being about this. I nearly fucked your girl, Luke.” “I saw that. It’s not like it’s the first time that’s happened.” “Casey’s different. She’s not some throwaway quick thrill. I know you care for her.” “I do.” “So why haven’t you smacked me in the mouth?” Sometimes Luke’s laid-back attitude riled Brody to no end. “You didn’t do anything she didn’t want. Except stop. I don’t think she saw that coming.” Luke shook his head. “Hell, neither did I. What happened? ” “No rubber.” “Cherry’s still got you by the balls, hasn’t she? She’s been gone a decade and you’re still gun-shy. She was an unfaithful little whore, and you did well to get rid of her when you did. You’d be raising some other man’s kid and she’d still be screwing everything with a cock and a heartbeat behind your back if you hadn’t caught her out with Zach and Colb. Not every woman’s the same, Brody.” Luke got to his feet. “Now are you going to come and help me get this hot tub done or do you want to kick yourself some more first?” Brody felt a deep affection for his brother grow in his chest. Luke always knew how to make him wake up to himself. “You’re right.” “That’s the way, cupcake, suck it up and get over it. No harm done.” Brody followed Luke out into the bright afternoon. Unsurprisingly, Casey did not make another appearance but remained in the house. Brody was at a loss to see how Luke could assert that there was no harm done. How his brother was going to win her back after his loss of control was beyond him. His conscience hoped he hadn’t screwed everything up completely for Luke.

 

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His dick just wanted another taste of the wanton siren lurking beneath Casey’s ball-busting exterior.

 

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Chapter 5 Bang! The noise echoed like a shotgun blast. The problem was that it had come from beneath the shiny burgundy hood of the Kenworth. Casey cursed a blue streak as warning lights flashed on the dash and power was lost. That particular sound she had heard once before. Pulling to the shoulder and stepping out, she made quick work of the bonnet catches and lifted the hood. Yep, there it was. The turbo boot had blown clean off the turbo. Thankfully it was caught up inside the cowling. A quick inspection showed the large-diameter rubber hose was split and one clamp was missing entirely. Casey took a deep breath and resigned herself to being late for her date with her new hot tub. At least she didn’t need any help to get the truck to town. A twitch of wire stolen from the roadside fence and half a roll of duct tape later the truck was functioning once more. She fired it back up and headed gingerly for town. She pulled up in front of the garage on the outskirts of Liberty Springs, relieved to see a “specialist diesel mechanics” sign in the window along with badges of Cummins, Cat, and Detroit. Hopefully they would have the part in stock. She jumped down and headed in through the open workshop doors. Casey stopped dead when she saw Luke’s Chevy parked over a pit, but a quick glance proved he wasn’t there. The body clad in navy coveralls working on it was built more along the lines of Ty Whelan than either of the Marshalls. It was one of the strangest garages she’d ever been in. Half of it was so neat and tidy it looked like it was never used, and the other where the hulk was working on Luke’s truck was a typical busy

 

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workshop mess. Everything around the shop was color coded with either blue or red, some were spray painted while other tools had strips of colored electrical tape around them. She shook her head. It was weird. “Can I help you?” Turning to the source, Casey encountered a man who didn’t match the quiet, well modulated voice. He was, quite frankly, scruffylooking. He had straight, blond hair to his shoulders that looked like it hadn’t been touched by a brush in a couple of days and a darker beard that hadn’t seen a razor for a week graced his lean face. But the smile was friendly, reaching his oh-so-blue eyes and showing that he was more than a touch on the handsome side beneath all that hair. “You probably can. I’m looking for a new turbo boot and clamps for a Cummins ISX 500.” “That’s your rig outside?” “Yeah.” “Nice. I’m Jack Taylor, and you’re Casey Buckley, right?” “That’s right. Nice to meet you.” Casey held out her hand. He hastily went to wipe his own on the rag hanging from his pocket but grinned and extended it when he saw Casey’s grease-stained hand was in no better state. “I guess it’s a small town.” “It doesn’t take long for word to get around, that’s for sure. Have relations improved with your neighbors?” Casey flushed, wondering how he could have known what had happened. Jack must have noticed her discomfort. “I was on the checkout behind you the other week when you put Brody in his place,” he explained. “Nice work there. Many would have paid a handsome price to watch that. I’ll just check if we’ve got the part you want in stock.” Jack ambled over to the counter against the wall and started tapping away at the computer on it. Looking around the workshop, Casey noticed the other mechanic moving Luke’s truck off the pit. He stepped out and walked over. Casey didn’t feel dwarfed by many men, but this one made her feel

 

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positively delicate. He was as tall as Ty, a good six-four, but was built even heavier. He wouldn’t have given much change from 300 pounds. His lean waist yelled loud and clear that every pound was solid muscle. The black stubble on his face was longer than that on his head beneath the black bandanna tied around it. This was a bad boy if ever she’d seen one. “Want me to wire it so it blows when he starts it?” He had a slow, teasing grin that would wet panties the world over. “Nah, I’m more of a hands-on girl myself. I’d want him to know where it’s coming from.” That picked up his smile to absolutely devastating proportions. “I’m Danny, and the whole town knows you’re Casey.” His handshake was firm and completely engulfed hers. If she wasn’t so overrun by male attentions at the moment she would have been more than willing to discover just how far down that huge, hard body the tattoos peeking from his collar went. Jack’s voice jerked her from her man-molesting thoughts. “We haven’t got one in, Casey, but I can get it overnighted from Cheyenne and have it first thing in the morning.” “Shit. I’m meant to be on a job site at seven-thirty.” “That’s okay. Leave her here, and I’ll whack it on the moment it gets here. Pick it up at seven.” “That will work. You don’t mind starting that early?” “No. We only live next door anyway. It’s not much of a commute.” “I’ll give you a lift home if you like,” Danny offered. “It would be easier for me. I’m heading that way anyway.” Casey’s head spun around as she heard Luke’s lazy drawl. “You sure, Marshall? I truly wouldn’t mind giving Casey a ride.” The wink Danny gave her assured her he was only baiting Luke. “I bet you wouldn’t, Blake.” Luke’s grin never wavered. He caught the keys Danny tossed him easily. “Come on, Casey. I’ll get you away from these two. They’re more trouble than they’re worth.”

 

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If that wasn’t the kettle calling the pot black! “Okay, Luke.” She was going to have to talk to him sooner or later. “Thanks, guys. I’ll see you in the morning.” “Just let me know if you change your mind about that ride.” There was unveiled amusement in Danny’s voice. Casey shook her head. Men! You gotta love ’em. **** Luke held the door open for Casey to climb in the Chevy. He could feel both Jack and Danny’s eyes boring into him as he closed it and couldn’t resist giving flipping them the bird over the cab before he climbed in himself. Childish, he knew, but just so satisfying. Casey was sitting so stiffly beside him it was like she’d been dipped in starch. He waited until he pulled out on to the road to speak. “I missed you yesterday. I could have done with your help to fix the wall. You shouldn’t break things if you don’t plan on fixin’ them.” He saw Casey look out the window, clearly working out what to say. He wondered what stance she’d take. Pretend it hadn’t happened? Cry foul about his brother? Make excuses? “I fucked up, Luke. I still haven’t quite worked out how it all happened. I nearly fucked Brody. I’m not offering excuses, but it happened. It’s not Brody’s fault, it was just as much my doing as his.” Casey laughed bitterly. “Hell, he was the one who stopped. Thank him for that for me, by the way. I was mighty pissed off at the time, but I’m eternally grateful now.” She turned in her seat, finally facing him. Luke glanced at her once and saw the shame on her cheeks. He kept his eyes on the road, hoping she would find it easier to talk without his attention. “I guess I’m just as faithless as that Cherry you were talking about, huh?” “Whoa! Back up right there.” Luke spun the wheel and the truck bounced off onto the verge and came to rest beneath a shady maple.

 

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He wrenched it in to park and faced Casey with his arm hooked along the back of the bench seat. “Not another fucking word. You are nothing like that lying little bitch, Casey. Nothing like her. “I was right there yesterday. I saw every damn one of those buttons hit the floor, and you know what my only regret is? That you two didn’t finish. “Brody is a fuckin’ control freak. I have never seen him cut loose like he did with you. For the first time I had a bit of hope that he might be over what that bitch done to him. For a moment there, he was. It was so good to see.” “Christ, Luke. I know we haven’t professed our undying love or anything like that, but if I like a man enough to kiss him, I don’t turn around and throw myself at the very next guy that comes along. I’m not that type.” Her blue eyes were earnest, and her cheeks had begun to lose the first hot sting of color. “I know you’re not, sweetheart, and that makes what I saw between you and Brody all the more special. All I have wanted, from the very first time me and him shared a woman, was to have one of our own. Not as a plaything but a partner. With Brody, that has never been possible. He’s nurtured this ‘fuck ’em and forget ’em’ attitude for ten years, Casey. Unless they’re a sub at the club, he never makes a move on a woman. Sometimes I’ll pick up a good-time girl who’s here for the summer looking to live it up before she goes back to her boring little life, but Brody never does.” “So you’re happy I nearly fucked your brother?” The incredulity in her voice was thick enough to carve. “So happy it’s all I can do to sit here and not finish off what Brode started yesterday,” Luke admitted, watching shock and the quick flash of arousal cross her face. “He left you high and dry, didn’t he? Oh, I saw you come once, but you were even hungrier after. I bet you were too anxious to take care of it yourself, weren’t you?” A smile curled his lips when he saw her blush anew. “God, I’d love to see that. Just the thought of your hand slipping down between those long legs has

 

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me harder than hell.” He took his hand off the wheel and beckoned with one finger. “Come over here and kiss me, Case. The truck’s made of sturdier stuff than your wall.” **** Casey felt as if she was on an invisible line and Luke was reeling her in. Without conscious thought she freed the seatbelt and crawled across the seat toward him. His molten chocolate eyes held enough heat to scorch the very earth, but his grin still curled his lips enticingly. She had an undeniable urge to lick the tiny smile line that bracketed the left corner of his mouth. Her hands met the hard width of his chest and she gave into that desire, leaning in and flicking the very tip of her tongue across the offender. She felt it grow beneath her cheek as a full-blown smile erupted on his face. “Did you just lick me?” “Uh-huh.” “Well don’t be shy about it, sweetheart. I can’t think of any place I don’t want your tongue.” The places his lazy voice touched were far more intimate than any his hands had been. It danced along her spine and burrowed low inside her belly. Casey kissed him to shut him up. He tasted of man and spearmint and smelled like an open invitation to carnal paradise. Hot and wet, his tongue licked slowly along hers, as though inviting it in to play. Casey didn’t disappoint him, slipping hers into the welcome haven of his mouth. He drew gently on her tongue and she didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of holding back the moan that rose in her throat. The sensation was a decadent pleasure that caused her clit to throb in total empathy. Too easily she could imagine that sweet suction caressing the desperately swollen bud. She moved closer, straddling the thigh he had cocked along the seat. She needed the touch of his body against hers, needed to

 

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reaffirm the connection she felt with Luke. Needed to forget the spectacular lapse of judgment she’d had yesterday. His strong hand came to her waist, encouraging her closer still. He slouched and brought his lower back away from the door, until their bodies were flush. Casey found herself above Luke, in a position of power, and it was heavily addictive. She pulled away from his mouth and nibbled her way along his lean jaw from his chin to the prominent hinge. Salty sweat tickled her tongue. When she reached his ear she couldn’t resist nipping the lobe and lashing her tongue across the captured flesh. Luke shuddered and offered up more of his neck to her explorations. Casey kissed and bit her way down the thick cord of muscle all the way to the notch between his collarbones and then dragged the flat of her tongue up the same path. “Christ, that feels good. Too damn good. Come here.” Luke surged upright, bringing them chest to chest. He kissed her deeper, bringing one hand to rest on her drillcotton-covered ass. His fingers caressed and squeezed. Casey’s mouth grew ravenous as each knead of his hands made her sinfully wet pussy lips slide deliciously against one another. She could come so damn easily. All it would take is a couple of rubs in the general direction of her clit and orgasm was hers. She grabbed the hand he still had resting on her waist and shoved it between their bodies. Leaving no doubt as to what she wanted, her hand curled around the back of his and brought it to cup her mound. “Oh, fuck! I can feel you through the cloth. So wet and ready. Do you want me to make you come, sweetheart?” “I didn’t put it there for decoration.” Casey panted sassily. “Want me to draw you a map?” His grin was pure temptation, earthy and hot. “I think I’ve got it covered.” Did he ever! His big hand engulfed her swollen mound and his fingers pressed into the engorged lips, targeting her begging clit with uncanny precision. He kneaded with his whole hand only twice and

 

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Casey felt her world fall apart. Her whole body shuddered and jerked against his hard body. His lips ran along her jaw and down her neck as she threw back her head to ride out the pleasure. The sharp nip of teeth at her neck was accompanied by another deep massage of her convulsing, intimate flesh, and Casey came again. Her eyes flew open in shock as the bite of ecstasy swept through her once more. She could have drowned in Luke’s heated gaze as he watched her writhe. “So fuckin’ hot. I want to see you do that wrapped around my dick so badly, sweetheart.” The quick pulse of a siren had Luke swearing softly. “It’s a good thing you weren’t, though. Sit down there, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.” Casey glanced through the back window and saw the police cruiser pulled up a short distance away. Luke gave her a wry, crooked grin as he adjusted his cock behind the privacy of the open door before walking toward the other vehicle. She let her head fall back against the seat. What the hell was happening? She had fully expected never to see Luke again after her encounter with Brody. She debated what else to call it. An accidental near-fuck? She laughed at that description. At least she could laugh now. It was funny how an orgasm from Luke fixed things. Hangovers and major embarrassments were all cured by a bit of hot and heavy petting. She felt relaxed and stress-free. The need to hide was gone. “Andy’s timing sucks.” Luke stepped back into the vehicle. “Are you okay, Casey? You look ready to go to sleep.” “I’m fine, just a little mellow.” “You look like you don’t have a bone left in your body.” He put the truck into gear and forged through the summer-dry grass back onto the blacktop. He gave her a cheeky grin. “I much prefer that to the woman who was sitting prickly as a porcupine beside me earlier.” “Just pour me out in front of the hot tub and I will be ever grateful.” “I wish I could join you. Andy didn’t pull over just to interrupt us, though. Marley’s garage door isn’t closing properly and he wants me

 

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to go over there and fix it before she leaves for night shift at the hospital. The stubborn bastard could fix it himself in half an hour.” “He couldn’t find Brody?” “Nope, Brode has gone AWOL. Andy said he’s not answering the phone and he’s not at home. Brody has a habit of disappearing when he is not in the mood for company. He’d probably make an exception for you.” “Not going there.” “Where’s your sense of adventure? The two of us could show you a real good time.” His tone was joking, but Casey could feel the truth behind the words. This man wanted to share her with his brother, there was no doubt of that. “I told you before, Luke, I’m not that type of girl.” He pulled into her drive and drove straight toward the back shed. “You don’t know what you’re missing out on, sweetheart. If you change your mind, you know where to find us. You’re welcome over at our place anytime.” Casey stepped out and closed the door. “Thanks for the lift, Luke,” she said through the open window. “Anytime. I’ll pick you up around quarter to seven and run you over to the garage.” Casey nodded and watched him leave. Part of her was protesting that she was letting a good thing get away. The part that was still all slick and swollen from orgasm and still hungry for more. She’d been looking forward to getting in the new spa, but a plunge into some icy water was more apt. A frigid shower would have to do. Her resistance to Luke Marshall was disappearing fast, and it pained her to admit it, but she would gladly sell her soul for another five hot and heavy minutes with Brody. She had never been so quick to arouse as she was with either of these Wyoming men. Maybe it was the altitude. Whatever it was it was addictive as hell and twice as hot.

 

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Chapter 6 Luke Marshall was avoiding her. There was no doubt about it. For two weeks Casey had only seen him in passing. It was driving her crazy. Her body melted at the thought of being in his arms again. She wanted to touch him the same way he had touched her. She wanted to run her tongue up the long length of his spine, to grab his delectable ass in both hands and squeeze, to have him spread out naked before her and just plain feast. She knew they watched her from their house whenever she was in the hot tub. The glint of binoculars was hard to miss. Leastwise she hoped they were binoculars. The idea of being spied on through a rifle scope was a little disconcerting. She had to admit she found it more than a little titillating to know she was putting on a show whenever she went to the hot tub. She was lounging around the house on Friday night with music blaring, eating ice cream and immersed in a book that was doing nothing for her celibate state when a banging on the door reached her. Whoever it was sounded like they had been knocking for some time. Casey turned down the stereo and opened the door. Marley Richards was standing there with her fist raised in the act of knocking once more. “Christ, woman! Are you deaf?” “Just ignorant.” Casey assured her. “Come on in.” Casey liked Marley. She never felt too tall with her about. “What are you doing home alone on a Friday night? Your sister’s down at the Kat. You should have a hot date at the very least.” “Why aren’t you at the Kat?”

 

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“Because I will get pulled over for a sobriety test the moment I leave the parking lot and if I even look at another guy, bad things happen.” “He doesn’t want you, but no one else can have you, huh?” Casey laughed and headed into the kitchen to get another spoon. “Here you go. Now we’ve got a double date with Ben and Jerry.” “That’s the only time I get two men under my tongue. Pass it over. Don’t be stingy.” Marley popped the spoon in her mouth upside down and rolled her eyes back in apparent ecstasy. “That is so damn good. It ought to be illegal.” “Yeah, it’s the only way I’m getting my thrills lately.” “So I’m just imagining the fine choice of reading material on the coffee table then? Three For Fun. That sounds hot.” “Too hot. It just starts fires that there is no one here to put out.” Casey collapsed on the sofa. “Oh, I can think of two firemen who would be all too willing to put your fire out, girlfriend.” “They just want to have a bit of fun.” “And you don’t? Luke and Brody know how to show a girl a good time, from all I’ve heard. If you’re just looking to scratch an itch, they’re your huckleberry.” “What, so I just roll up at their place, strip off, and say go for it?” “That would probably work. They’re not big on subtlety. How come you’re not playing with them already? They sure as hell didn’t get hit with the ugly stick.” “No, but they hit every branch when they fell out of the arrogance tree.” Marley leant against the bookcase. “What’s a man without a bit of arrogance? A man that’s not sure of himself ain’t worth a second look.” “Okay! Jesus, have they got you on the payroll or something?”

 

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“In all honesty? Yeah. Luke wanted me to come over and point you in their direction. You were going to break down and do it sooner or later, so I didn’t see the harm. “I have never seen Luke so worked up over a girl. The Marshalls have got too used to just taking what they want and walking away. I think you’re just the woman to put them in their place. What’s the problem with getting your thrills and walking away?” “My libido doesn’t have a problem with either of them. It’s the brain that keeps throwing in a protest.” “Well shut it off and go and have some fun. Take all they’ve got to give and just walk away. You’ll have a smile on your face that should be good for at least a week and nothing will have changed. Just because you give into it once doesn’t mean you have to do it again.” Casey thought it over. Really, what did she have to lose? Absolutely nothing. Neither of her neighbors was a part of her life at the moment, so stuffing up a nonexistent relationship wasn’t an issue. As long as she just got up and walked away everything would be great. All she had to do was leave her heart at home on the shelf right alongside her inhibitions. That couldn’t be too hard. Men did it all the time and really, if a man could do it, how hard could it be? “You’re thinking too hard. Talk to me.” “I’m just trying to remember if I got around to buying that box of condoms.” Marley fished around in her bag. “Here. I’m always prepared.” “That’s a two-dozen jumbo box, Marley.” “Believe me, if I ever get a chance at Andy, I’ll need every damn one.” She stood and put her bag back on her shoulder. “My work here is done. Haul your ass up that hill before you change your mind. Do you mind if I take this with me?” She held up the half-full ice cream carton. “It’s all yours.”

 

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“You have fun. And I want some details. Unfortunately I do all my lovin’ vicariously.” Marley winked and let herself out. Casey made a beeline for the bathroom. A full-body makeover was in order. She didn’t want stray thoughts about missed patches on her legs crossing her mind tonight. She deserved a little fun and by God, she was going to take it tonight. **** “Tell me again why we are not down at the Kat having a bit of fun?” “Be patient, Brode. It’s not like you haven’t gone without before.” Luke sipped from the longneck bottle dangling from his fingers. “Casey will turn up sooner or later. If not tonight, it will be tomorrow.” “And you’re sure of this because?” Brody didn’t take his eyes off last year’s Super Bowl replay. He just didn’t have the same faith his brother nursed where Casey Buckley was concerned. He had shaken his head when Luke had made the spare-room bed up and stocked the drawers with the basic essentials—condoms, lube, and wet wipes. “Because my little friend Marley is paying Case a visit tonight and putting in a good word for us. She owes me for fixing that door the other week. I decided to collect.” “I don’t think it’s gonna work. Casey could give a mule lessons in stubbornness.” “She may be stubborn, but she catches fire all too easily. Curiosity will get the better of her.” “I’m telling you, what happened the other week was just an accident. She’s not interested in me.” “That must have been one of those imaginary orgasms I seen her have then.”

 

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Brody glanced over at his brother when a knock sounded on the door and saw a smug little smile settle about his lips. “I bet that’s Marley conveying ‘go to hell’ greetings from Casey.” “Go and open the door then.” He headed for the door, all set to tell Marley Richards where she could shove her message. “I’m telling you, Luke. Casey is too stubborn, too hardheaded”—he wrenched open the door and the breath exploded from his body—“too fucking beautiful…” Brody felt like he’d been hit between the eyes with a piece of four-by-two. Casey was standing there in an emerald-green, strappy dress that showed off every inch of her mile-long thighs. The damn thing was made of some gauzy, see-through material that left no doubt about her choice of underwear. His cock inflated in a miracle of internal hydraulics. She was wearing not a stitch beneath. Her smile held all the seductive knowledge of Eve as she tossed something at him and walked past. His hand caught it automatically and Brody was surprised she didn’t step on his tongue. He still hadn’t picked his jaw up from where it had hit the ground. His eyes widened with growing shock as she walked straight over and bent to kiss Luke. Her blaze of hair curled with soft waves and hung to the small of her back. Brody pulled the door shut by Braille. His eyes were fixed on the rounded bounty of one perfect ass cheek peeking out beneath her dress, and he cursed when he realized he jammed the material of his shorts in the door. He rectified the blunder and glanced absently at the package she had tossed him. He did a double blink and reread it. Twenty-four assorted condoms, eight colors, three flavors, and six patterns designed with her enjoyment in mind. Fuck! Willing his eyes to focus through the haze of lust swiftly building like a summer thunderstorm, Brody looked up at the woman who had just upended his quiet night. She rose from her kiss and left one hell of a smile on Luke’s face. His brother followed her, rising to his feet.

 

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“Damn, Casey. You have no idea how much I wanted to see you walk through that door.” Luke’s hands went to her slender waist. “You’ve been killing us sweetheart. I was starting to think you didn’t want us.” “I’m here, aren’t I?” “Yeah, but what are you here for?” “Everything.” “Everything, huh? I don’t think Brody believes you. He’s the one who needs convincing, not me.” Luke turned her and gave her a pat on the ass, sending her in his direction. Brody sucked in a breath at the look on Casey’s face. It was brazen and bold to be sure, but there was a barely glimpsed sliver of uncertainty and genuine shyness in her cerulean eyes. The chink in her man-eating façade set the Dominant in him to purring and tugged at his heart. There was more than a wildcat to be unearthed in this complex woman. He held up the box of condoms, his eyebrow quirking in question. She flushed softly but held his eye. “I didn’t want you to come up with any excuses to throw the brakes on this time.” She lifted her chin delightfully, challenging him to reply. Brody grinned, reaching out and gently taking her hand. He tugged her closer until the fabric of her dress grazed his bare chest. “And I thought you’d want my balls on a platter for daring to touch you. You tell me I’m allowed to touch you this time, Casey, and I won’t stop until you’re begging me for mercy.” “I was hoping you’d say that.” Her hips snugged in against the erection tenting the front of his shorts and her slim hand skated up his ribs to land on the thick swell of his chest. Brody kept his reaction to the instant punch of lust at her warm touch to a hiss between his teeth. Her pink tongue swept out and wet her lip. Brody knew it was a nervous gesture rather than a deliberate come-on, but his cock leapt and his mouth watered just the same. The woman kissed like it was an end in itself. He had never tasted another that kissed with such abandon, but this had to be her idea, her move.

 

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He leashed the part of him that wanted to pin her to the wall of his chest and plunder the sweet recesses of her mouth. “Prove it, Casey. Kiss me like you mean it.” In her strappy, two-inch sandals she didn’t even have to go on to her toes to reach his mouth. That pink little tongue darted out like quicksilver and lashed at his upper lip before she captured his bottom lip and nipped. The sting brought a growl to his throat he had no hope of restraining. He could feel her lips stretch into a smile and knew she was trying to get him to react. “You know what they say, ‘play with the cat until you get scratched.’” “Use your claws. I’m not scared of them.” The livewire nipped his lip again. “In fact I’d love to feel them down the length of my back.” The dare went unanswered as Luke closed the distance, effectively trapping her between their bodies. Her eyes glazed over, and Brody’s dick flexed involuntarily against her mound as unadulterated hunger swept over her face. He saw her trying to process the tactile stimulus of so much strength surrounding her. “Don’t question it, Casey. Just listen to your body. It knows what it wants.” Her mouth opened on a soft gasp as his brother dropped a string of kisses across her all but bare shoulder. Luke’s voice was a sultry whisper. “We only want to give you pleasure, sweetheart. You tell us what you want and it’s yours.” “I want everything. For one night I want to know what it’s like to be the Marshalls’ woman.” “You don’t want everything, Casey. Not the first time.” Brody cautioned her, ignoring the incredulous look Luke was giving him. If Casey hadn’t had two men before there were things that needed working up to. “Whatever you dish out, I can take.” She was plucky, he’d give her that.

 

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“We’ll see. Lose the dress. I’m scared of ripping it if I try and take it off.” Luke’s hands reached for the zipper, but she surprised them by grabbing the hem and lifting it straight off over her head. One long, flame-kissed tress fell over her shoulder and settled across her left breast. The peach-colored nipple peeked coyly from between the strands, and the sight held Brody transfixed. The other proud bud was right there for all to see, but it was the half-hidden one that held him in thrall. His hand rose of its own accord and the back of his forefinger stroked over the half-concealed nub. It puckered further until it stood proudly in its bracket of red, red hair. The color of her hair intrigued him. He had never been with a redhead before. His eyes lowered slowly, taking in the toned display of feminine strength along the way. His breath caught when instead of encountering a flame-colored bush, he found that smooth, satiny skin covered her mound. There was something about a shaved pussy that took him hard and low. Vulnerable and open to every touch, able to hide nothing, he could feel the slide of her fevered flesh beneath his tongue like hot, oiled silk, and he hadn’t even touched her. Brody shook his head. At this rate he’d take her on the living room floor and it would be lucky to last seconds. He dragged his gaze back up to her face. Her eyes were closed and her head thrown back. Brody smiled when he saw the cause. Luke was mauling her neck and shoulders, biting hard enough to leave teeth marks behind. He, too, loved the firm resilience of a woman’s flesh between his teeth. He lowered his head and treated the other shoulder to his not-so-gentle ministrations. The soft moan his first nip incited spurred him on, but he limited himself to three good bites of her unbelievably fine skin and tore himself away. They did have a bed for this kind of thing, he reminded himself wryly. He clipped Luke up the side of the head, “I think it’s time to find that bed you made.” He smiled when Luke had to blink a couple of times to focus. His little brother always got lost in the moment. At the club he often had

 

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to remind him to stay in control. Luke liked giving out pleasure a little too freely to make a good Dom, but as a pair they held their own. In fact, with the Whelans out of the picture, they were the undisputed masters. Casey’s eyelids fluttered open, revealing unfathomable blue, heavy with passion. Her fingers flexed where they sat on his chest and he could tell she was unsteady on her feet. He smiled knowingly, not caring if she knew just how damn good it made him feel that he could affect her like that. “Can you walk, or do I have to carry you?” She laughed openly at that suggestion, and Brody’s pride was pricked. He seized her waist and lifted her slowly, in a blatant show of his strength. The widening of her eyes was nearly as satisfying as the hot, silken slide of her thighs as she wrapped them around his waist. He hooked both arms beneath her ass and headed for the bed. With the sultry, wet kiss of her folds against his belly, it was all he could do not to sprint in his haste to get to the bed and have her rub it all over him. After she got rid of those heels, he amended, as one jabbed him on the back of the thigh. There were places he definitely did not want to feel their sting. **** Casey was astounded by the strength of the man carrying her. He had lifted her 170-pound frame as if it were a fuckin’ feather. No wonder he hadn’t been intimidated. She ran her hands hungrily over his upper arms and shoulders. He was hard as a rock and the insistent poke against her ass with every other step assured her that his muscles weren’t the only thing pumped up and rearing to go. His hold on her was firm but gentle. It grated that he was being careful with her. Casey didn’t want caring and gentle from Brody. She wanted him as demanding and out of control as he had been in her gym. A wild, male animal in rut.

 

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She let out an embarrassing squeal when he dumped her unceremoniously onto a bed. Brody grinned wickedly and caught hold of her ankles. She had no idea she was so sensitive there. His big hands encircled them completely with his long fingers meeting easily. Casey fought the urge to kick and see if she could get away. Her stiletto points could be lethal, and her plans for the night did not include a trip to emergency. Luke stepped in next to his brother. The white T-shirt he had worn was now gone, and his dark blond chest curls had her dying to sift her fingers through them. The brothers stood there side by side, so similar and yet so different. Luke was lighter in every way. His body not as bulky, his hair fairer, and the hungry but playful look in his chocolate eyes nowhere as intense as the raw lust blazing from Brody’s onyx gaze. The smile on Brode’s face was full of unholy joy as Luke took possession of one of her ankles and joined him in stripping her of her potentially harmful footwear. Their touch tickled and titillated her sensitive nerves, and it felt like an eternity before she heard a twin thud as her sandals hit the floor. The embarrassing squeal peeled forth again as Brody drew his finger firmly the full length of her foot. He chuckled and held her firmly when she valiantly tried to rip away, uncaring that she was flashing them both with her struggles. She froze when a decadent kiss was laid against the other arch. Sensation raced along her nerve endings and flew straight to her clit as Luke tantalized the susceptible point she’d had no idea existed. Chocolate eyes rolled to watch her closely as he strung kiss after kiss along her foot and on to the delicate skin of her ankle. Her other foot was placed on the edge of the bed, and Casey felt the mattress shift as Brody crawled upon it and toward her. There was a feral gleam in his blacker-than-sin eyes that clenched her womb and drew a gush of welcome from her pussy. Luke’s leisurely progress had him nibbling the inside of her knee when Brody propped himself on his elbow beside her. His big hand splayed across

 

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her belly, searing her with its heat. She saw his gaze was locked on their fiery point of contact, and the captivated look on his rugged face made her follow it. The contrast of tone and texture was riveting. His roughened, sundarkened hand looked obscenely large and menacing against the intensely pale smoothness of her lean stomach. She watched with bated breath as it rose ever so slowly to cup her breast. Her flesh peeked like slivers of alabaster from between his long, thick fingers. His finger and thumb extended and Casey braced herself for his touch, waiting to feel the rasp of his callused thumb across the ruched flesh. Instead he seized it, pinching the hardened nub between the work-roughened digits. Her eyes flew to his but closed in absolute ecstasy as he rolled it firmly. Of their own accord, her thighs fell open wide in blatant invitation. A cause and effect she had absolutely no control over. A hot brush of breath on her inner thigh was the only warning she had before Luke descended on her wantonly offered flesh. His tongue ran thickly the full length of her touch-starved folds. Her whole body jerked at the intimate caress, protesting that it was too much, but the second passage of his tongue had her moaning low and hungry as her nerves soaked up the erotic stimulation. Oh, Christ! That man knew how to please a woman. There was no blind poking and prodding. He made every touch count. The tip of that mobile organ circled her aching clit with pinpoint accuracy and curled upward into her opening with devastating potency to stroke deliciously against fevered intimate flesh. Surely he could tie cherry stems at an astounding rate. Casey swore she was going to lose consciousness when he worked back the hood of her clit and flattened his tongue, making it flutter against the demanding bundle of nerves. “Damn! And I thought that would make you scream.” Brody’s voice was rough but amused. “You’re not a noisy one are you?” All Casey could manage was to shake her head.

 

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“I love a challenge. I’m not going to be satisfied until we make you scream for us, Case.” He turned back to look down at Luke. All Casey could see was a tangle of sun-kissed curls buried between her thighs. “Hey, Luke?” Luke’s hum of acknowledgement buzzed her drenched folds and she bit down on her lip to hold back a cry. “Turn it up a bit. I want to get some noise out of her if it’s the last thing we do.” Brody grinned wickedly. Casey swore they were not going to make her scream. She loved her pleasure, but letting go enough not to care what came out of her mouth would be giving too much of herself. Her heart was intact because she never let anyone slip under her guard. A smile touched her lips when she reminded herself she had left it on the shelf at home. “I’m not doing my job properly if you can smile, sweetheart.” Luke’s words were teasing, but arousal had turned his raspy voice gravelly. Casey had no time to brace herself as he dove back down, this time latching on to her clit like a limpet and sucking ruthlessly. If ever she had felt the need to scream, it was then. Brody intensified his assault on her breast and fisted the other hand tight in her hair. His masterful grip tilted her head to his view, and looking into the inky darkness of his eyes, she came. The orgasm burst thought her body, radiating outward from her convulsing womb like the concentric waves from a boulder dropped into a fathomless pool. Her mouth opened wide and her breath exploded from her throat as her back arched and her body danced beneath the twin anchor points of Brody and Luke. “Silent screams don’t count, beautiful. We can do better than that.” “Much better.” Luke agreed with his brother before laying one last sucking kiss on her slick flesh and lifting his head. “It’s gonna be a long night, sweetheart. I’m glad you’re fit enough to take it.”

 

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She never got a chance to question him. He came over her on all fours and claimed her mouth. The musky tang of her juices upon his lips was an erotic shock. His tongue swept through her mouth twice before he lifted his head and smiled. “I believe that’s three–nil, sweetheart.” “Four–nil, actually. I think it’s time to do something about that.” Casey splayed her hands on Luke’s upper chest and shoved, following him as he rolled until their positions were reversed. Brody chuckled and ran a hand down her back to her ass. Casey shivered at the rasp of his callused palms along her tender skin. The tap he gave one cheek shot straight to her pussy and heated her alarmingly. No one had ever dared to do that before. Her visceral reaction must have been apparent because Brody’s chuckle dropped to a groan and he gave the other globe a light slap, too. “Don’t distract her too much, Brode. I think I’m finally gonna get lucky. You can beat on her ass later.” Casey thought about protesting, but she couldn’t see the point. She had never been a hypocrite before. She wasn’t about to start now by complaining about something that pressed all the right buttons just because the idea of it sat wrong. Instead she wiggled her ass invitingly and bent to sample the earthy flavor of herself upon Luke’s mouth once more. The faint saltiness had her hungry for brinier offerings. She pulled back from his mouth and nipped his bottom lip playfully, grazing her mouth over his beard-stubbled chin on her way lower. His broad chest distracted her from her ultimate goal. The crisp curls were heaven to nuzzle through. His warm scent was aroused man spiced with a masculine soap or cologne that should be outlawed as dangerous to a woman’s mental health. His tight skin was a magnet for the sharp bite of her teeth. Her tongue darted out to lick at the small brown disks adorning his tawny flesh and she reveled in his rough intake of breath. Sliding lower, Casey placed one knee and then the other between his hair-roughened thighs, nudging them wide. Luke’s stomach leaped

 

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and twitched beneath her mouth as she bit and licked at the resilient, silky skin covering his taut muscles. The narrow band of dark hair that started at his navel led her lower still. She reached the waistband of his shorts and backed off the bed until she stood at its side, looking down at Luke as he had at her earlier. He reached for a pillow to prop his head up, his smile one of anticipatory patience. He knew what he was going to get, and Casey couldn’t find the willpower to make him wait any longer. She grabbed his shorts and tugged them off. Luke’s hand was quick to intercede when they caught on the head of his cock and near bent it in half. Brody laughed outright and sat up to watch. Casey dropped the offenders to the floor and stared at what she had uncovered. His cock was a long, thick curve rising from the nest of dark curls at his groin to stretch over his belly. Casey caught her lip between her teeth, absolutely enthralled. It wasn’t just a regular sweeping arch—there was a real kick to it, a bend at the end that pointed the thick head in at the heavenly trail of hair dribbling from his navel. Her thighs grew wet with arousal as her cunt clenched in pure anticipation. That was a G-spot finder if ever she’d seen one. With her eyes fixed on the prize, she climbed back up to kneel once more between his knees. Casey trailed her long hair back and forth across the engorged flesh, tantalizing Luke with the feathery caress. His eyes were sparkling heavily, and his grin encouraged her to do her worst as he sprawled back against the pillow, giving her free rein to do as she wished. His lack of urgency spurred Casey on. She wanted to startle the laziness clear out of him. She wasn’t going to be happy until he was as wild with need as she was. Rather than go straight for his cock, she nipped the fine-grained skin on the inside of each hip, hard. Delight swept through her when he jolted and sucked in his breath. Lazy-ass Luke could be made to react.

 

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Casey flicked her long hair over her shoulder and went to work in earnest. She ran her tongue from the bottom of his fuzz-covered sac to the tip of his shaped-for-pleasure cock and poked it in the fissure atop the fat head, extracting the most primal essence of man. A moan rumbled in the back of her throat as she relished the illicit tang. Brody’s finger pushed her hair back further behind her ear to watch as she gripped the base of the thick shaft and her mouth engulfed the bloated crown. “Christ, that’s beautiful.” She felt Brody shift from the bed but paid it no mind. His husky voice was as potent as any touch. Casey suckled Luke with nothing in mind but savoring his heady flavors and exploring the myriad textures. The upturned head brushed the soft palate of her mouth when she took him deeper and elicited an encouraging moan from his throat. Her spare hand tugged and rubbed at his balls and massaged his perineum. Hands gripping her ass stilled her momentarily and she felt a hot, hard body insinuate itself between her ankles and spread her knees wider. Her teeth accidently raked Luke’s cock when the hands on her ass gripped at her cheeks and spread them wide. The hot spear of Brody’s tongue drawing a path of erotic fantasy from her clit to flirt with her anus and back had her lifting from Luke before she did him some serious damage. Luke reached out and caressed her cheek. She rubbed against the abrasive skin in search of pure sensation. “She likes that, Brode. Keep it going, just don’t do anything that is gonna make her bite me. Her teeth are too sharp to chance.” Casey knew her face was slack with desire, but Brody’s wicked tongue felt too good for her to care. When Luke threaded his fingers into her hair and gently pushed her head back down to his cock, she reflexively drew it back in when the weeping tip touched her open lips. Thought fell by the wayside as she became lost in the carnal spell being woven around her. The silken slide of velvet-covered steel

 

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between her parted lips, coupled with the tug and pull at the roots of her hair, warred for attention with the unashamed decadence of Brody’s intimate kiss and the harsh, controlling grip he had on her ass. Her overwrought consciousness was not able to process the sinful storm of sensation. Rather than fight for control, Casey ceded and absorbed it all, storing away each touch, each caress and every tactile delight beneath her hands and tongue for some cold and lonely night to come. Luke’s face softened as Casey embraced the pleasure. His eyes warmed with more than sexual need. “For all your size and strength, for all your prideful, stubborn ways, sweetheart, you are all sweet woman. A pleasure-seeker, soft and giving, and so fucking beautiful it damn near stops my heart.” He pressed her just a little lower than he had been and the tip of his cock kissed her throat, but she never gagged, just moaned around the meat of his cock and relaxed her throat even further. His hand in her hair was superfluous, she was going deeper and faster of her own accord, but the tight, rough kneading at her scalp was so damn luxurious. She should have been shocked at her brazenness. She had never boldly held another’s eyes while she performed so intimate an act. Luke’s gaze shifted so that he looked down the long line of her back. She caught his diabolical grin only a second before she froze in shock and the threatening edge of teeth grazed his shaft once more. Casey’s eyes opened wide, jarred from the haze of sexual indulgence. The head of his cock popped wetly from her mouth, and the string of saliva still connecting her lips to the shining head was a potently erotic visual. The instant kick of lust to Luke’s face was priceless. His grin said he knew exactly what had shocked her. Again, slick and wet, Brody’s tongue deliberately lapped at her anus.

 

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“What’s the matter, sweetheart? Is Brody being bad?” Her eyes opened even wider and her breath escaped in a pant as the wet velvet tip of that tongue pressed for entrance. “Haven’t you had your ass played with before?” “Not like this” Her voice wasn’t much more than a squeak. Luke smiled. “Get used to it, sweetheart. You said you wanted everything. There’s going to be a whole lot more than a tongue up there before we’re finished.” He guided her mouth back to his abandoned cock, “Wrap your lips back around this and let Brody play. Think about how good it’s gonna feel when we’ve got you between us, both balls deep in your body. There’s nothing Brode likes better than taking a woman’s ass for the first time.” His wicked words wrapped around her in a cloud of brutal desire. Casey took his cock to the back of her throat and sucked hard. Hot, slick syrup ran down her leg as her whole pelvic floor gathered in the precursor to the giant climax rising within. Brody withdrew his sinful tongue from her forbidden hole and nipped the inside of the cheek right beside the darker flesh. It drew a groan that echoed around Luke’s cock from her throat, but an answering one rumbled from Brody. “Christ, you’re wet. She is creaming so bad, Luke. There’s juice fair down to her fuckin’ knee.” “Don’t waste it,” Luke admonished. Casey took heart that his usual lazy drawl sounded more than a little harried. She wouldn’t be the only one going over this time if she could help it. She attacked his cock with renewed vengeance. Brody’s stubbled jaw grazed the inside of her knee as he licked up the trail flowing down her inner thigh. He didn’t stop when he reached the source but sealed his mouth over the desperately swollen folds and sucked while his fiendish tongue lashed her clit. Casey fairly screamed as orgasm struck, but it was muted by the hot seed spilling down her throat from Luke’s twitching cock. She swallowed convulsively at the briny flood, too lost in the pleasure for finesse. Brody kept up the sweet torture until it became too much on her

 

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oversensitized sex and she lifted her head and squirmed to get away, splaying herself across Luke’s heaving abdomen. She struggled to draw breath as her world put itself back together. Strong arms lifted her and her back struck a hot wall of solid muscle. Sharp teeth grazed her neck and bit erotically at her ear, making her pleasure receptors sit up and beg once more. “You gonna leave me hanging, Casey?” Brody’s voice was a harsh growl at her ear, hungry and dark. The length of his cock branded her folds, and she nearly passed out when she looked down to see the heavily reddened, blunt crown of his cock peeking out from the top of her shaven slit. She knew her pussy creamed anew. Brody didn’t miss it either, groaning deeply and slipping back and forward a little in the sultry welcome. “I think he needs a raincoat.” “Tell me about it.” Brody jerked away, and she turned at the tearing of cardboard and the rustle of foil. The condom he had snatched was vivid lime green and heavily ribbed, but it didn’t detract from the allure of the thickly veined, straight-as-an-arrow cock he rolled it upon. He had an all-over tan. No clothing lines crossed the muscle-bound body done in shadings of bronze. The faint whiff of mint reached Casey’s nostrils and she just had to know. She bent and swiped her tongue across the bullet-shaped head. Intense peppermint danced across her taste buds. Casey screwed up her nose. She much preferred the taste of unadulterated man. Brody pulled her up and spun her around, pitching her to land atop Luke once more. Her heart rate kicked up in excitement at the heavy handling. Brody was losing control and her body rejoiced, her juices gushing freely. She wanted him to finish what he had started over two weeks ago. His fingers dug into her hips and he positioned her as he liked. Casey opened her eyes to Luke’s liquid brown gaze. Her heart stuttered as reason tried to break free. Here was the brother she should have been about to fuck. Some part of her argued

 

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that he should be first. But he grabbed her hair and held her for a surprisingly tender kiss. “Don’t ruin it all by thinking now, sweetheart. Seeing Brody take you is going to make so many dreams come true. The night’s still young, baby. I’ll be inside you yet.” The blunt head of Brody’s latex-clad tip butted against the sodden portal of her pussy but did not penetrate. “Tell me how much you want it, Casey.” She tried to push back and impale herself on the hot spear of flesh but he effortlessly held her still. “That ain’t gonna fly. Tell me you want me inside you.” “I need you, Brody, please don’t make me beg.” Casey told him what he wanted to hear and was rewarded with the burning ecstasy as he stretched her wide and slid the broad head inside her. He felt so much bigger than she knew he was. He hadn’t stretched her sheath at all during foreplay except with his tongue, and two orgasms had only tightened her further. She felt him fight for every inch, heard his bit-off curses as he forged inexorably deeper, and welcomed the harsh bite of his hands as he pinned her to take his determined thrust. Beneath heavy lids, Luke watched her through it all. His rough hands, their touch worshipful, cupped her breasts and fondled their diamond tips when she lifted above him to push back along Brody’s scalding length. The brush of Brody’s balls grazed her clit a moment before his hips snugged in against her ass. The pressure against her cervix almost reached critical mass but he ran out of length a millimeter shy of her begging for mercy. He drew back and thrust back in forcefully, eliciting a gasp that accompanied the sound of flesh meeting flesh. “She can take you, Brode. Don’t hold back.” He was holding back? Oh, fuck! The sheer power he unleashed rocked her to the core. He hammered into her mercilessly. The fast, brutal lunges had his balls

 

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slapping wetly against her clit hard enough to sting. Casey found herself pushing back into every hard and fast thrust, demanding more, wanting the giant explosion that was rapidly approaching. “More, more, more…” The harshly whispered litany must have reached Brody’s ears. He released his grip on one hip and used the hand to slap at the ass he pounded against. The sting sent Casey wild. Animalistic groans spilled from her mouth and only escalated when Luke tugged and pinched harshly at her nipples, murmuring wicked words of sinful depravity. “That’s it, sweetheart. Love the pain. It is going to sting even more when it’s your ass he’s splitting wide. I’m gonna be able to feel everything he does to you, Case. I’m gonna be deep inside your pussy and feel him work every inch of that big cock inside you. I’m gonna watch your face while you work out if it’s agony, or the best thing you ever fuckin’ felt.” He tightened his grip cruelly and the pain blossomed into exquisite pleasure. “Come for him, Casey. Show me what he does to you.” Casey couldn’t have held it back if she’d tried. A gigantic wave of pleasure, brutal and violent, crashed down upon her. Her cunt clenched wildly at the thick flesh battering it and her womb contracted almost painfully. Brody thrust deep and bit off curses as he, too, met the wave of pleasure headlong. His strength pinned him so tightly to her it felt like he was trying to come out the other side. Casey’s muscles trembled and leapt with the power of the climax overtaking her and chocolate eyes watched throughout it all. Brody folded over her, his chest heaving for air against her sweatslicked back. Luke’s hand cupped the side of her face tenderly and Casey became a big puddle of satisfied woman between them. Luke smiled at her, his usual lazy smile as irresistible as ever. “Still not a scream. We gotta do better than that.” His arms came around her when Brody laid a kiss on her shoulder and slipped from

 

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her well-used body. “You are fucking amazing, sweetheart. Just lay there and catch your breath. We’re not finished with you yet.” Casey shuddered at the heated promise in his voice. She was done. She couldn’t possibly have another orgasm, could she? She had never managed more than three orgasms at her own hand, and those were downright pitiful compared to the big-ass mothers that had been wrung from her tonight. She was getting way more than she had bargained for from a night on the wild side with the Marshall brothers. Footsteps padding across carpet heralded Brody’s return. He ran his hand up the length of her back, and Casey closed her eyes beneath the comforting caress. “How does a shower sound? I’ve got the water running.” “I don’t think I can move.” “You’ve sapped my strength. Luke will have to carry you this time.” He patted her ass. “Come on, up you get.” Mumbling a protest, Casey peeled herself off Luke. She turned to walk from the room, but Luke snagged her back with an arm around the waist. He stooped and his other arm wrapped behind her knees and he scooped her up in his arms. Casey gritted her teeth to hold back the squeal that threatened and wrapped her arms around his neck, more than a little concerned about being dropped on her ass. “Put me down, Luke. I’m too heavy for this shit.” “Nah, you’re not. You feel too good to put down. Trust me.” His irrepressible grin had Casey rolling her eyes, but she let him carry her to the shower. She piled her hair up on her head and Brody produced an elastic band to hold it there. She dreaded to think of what the plain old stationery rubber band was going to do to her hair, but it was better than getting it all wet and straggly with no conditioner in sight. The black tile and glass cubicle had two showerheads and was big enough for all three of them to fit in, albeit snugly. The source of the sinful scent that clung to the pair of them became apparent when Luke

 

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squirted some bodywash onto his hands and started to lather her. It smelled like everything a man should smell like—bottled masculinity. The scent filled the steam-laden air as big, soapy hands swept over her body. Casey was not going to let a chance to explore either of their big strong bodies pass her by. Luke got the first taste of her curious fingers as she mapped his contours for her pleasure. His lean flanks with their thick roll of muscle narrowing downward toward his rapidly thickening cock held her captivated. She was going to sink her teeth in to the thick swell above his hip as soon as the opportunity arose, but the full-body caress of Brody behind her was too good to give into the impish urge right now. That hard chest was something she did want under her hands, and her mouth, and her tongue. She sunk soapy claws into Luke’s love handles one last time and turned to face Brody. His smile was warmer than any Casey had seen on him before. She couldn’t help but grin, too, as she leaned back into Luke’s arms and let her hands and eyes feast on the bulky muscles beneath the shower’s spray. She wouldn’t be distracted by his big hand cupping and hefting her breasts. She dug her fingers into the thick muscle atop his broad shoulders and kneaded, reveling in the resilience of the heated flesh. “You’re starting to look hungry again, Case. You had me worried for a while. I thought I’d been too hard on you.” “There’s such thing as too hard?” Casey teased, batting her eyelashes. She loved that hard, driven side of Brody. “You like it rough, don’t you?” “Apparently so.” “You’ve never had rough sex before?” he sounded surprised. “Never. I kind of like it, though.” Luke chuckled beside her ear, “We noticed. Are you gonna let us love you some more, sweetheart? There’s so much more we can do for you.” His hard cock sliding against the cleft of her ass left no doubt as to his meaning.

 

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Did she want that? She’d heard horror stories of unimaginable pain, but she had also read enough torrid erotica to be more than a little curious. “I’ve never let anybody do that before.” Brody’s gaze lifted the temperature in the cubicle by ten degrees at her admission. “We could make it so good for you, Case. Make sure you’re so hot you’ll take anything just to put out the fire. Say you’ll let us try. At any time you can say stop, baby, and we’ll stop. I promise you that.” Verity shone from his ebony eyes. Luke shifted against her back, his whole body caressing her as his cock slid teasingly between her ass cheeks, and Brody stepped closer so she was sandwiched between them. The all encompassing sensation removed any doubts from her mind. For this feeling she would put up with damn near anything. “You’re only getting one shot at this, so you’d better make it good.” A vibrating mumble from two male chests accompanied hungry groans. Casey could only shiver with anticipation. “You’re not going to regret this, sweetheart. Let’s get you out and dried off.” Hastily, water was shut off and Casey found herself bundled in a towel and every drop of water blotted from her skin. It was more fun to watch the men dry off. Erections were bobbing this way and that as they turned and bent to reach long limbs. It would have been almost comical if she weren’t so turned on. This time she walked back down the hall, albeit backward with Luke stealing kisses the whole way. Brody followed, clearly amused. Luke backed her right up to the bed and followed her down on to it, blanketing her body. He kissed playfully, nipping and licking rather than plundering. Casey fisted his damp curls and held his head still, stealing the deep, satisfying kiss she really wanted. He let her have her way for a minute, but Casey let go of his hair when she felt it about to give way in her hand. Did he not feel pain?

 

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He rolled suddenly, bringing her atop him. Casey gasped and writhed when the bare heat of his cock kissed her entrance with uncanny precision. “Sit up. Let’s fix that right now before we get too carried away.” Casey sat back on his thighs and reached for the untidily opened box of condoms. “Mmm. Extra thin.” “Save that one for Brode. Pass me the thickest one you can find, sweetheart. I’m gonna need it.” It was heavily ribbed and bright scarlet, but Casey watched enthralled as Luke rolled the rubber on. Seeing his big hand wrap around his cock as he gave it a stroke tightened things low inside her. Casey purred her appreciation. “Some other time. We’ve got bigger plans tonight. Come down here.” Casey straddled his waist once more and let him tug her back down. His big hands spanned her rib cage and lifted her higher until her breasts were sitting above his mouth. She watched as his tongue poked out and flicked at one nipple, bringing the peak to instant hardness. He grinned wickedly and repeated it to the other before sucking sweetly. Casey’s back arched as the gentle suction felt like it was pulling on a line tied directly to her clit. A roughened palm skimmed her back and came to rest on her rear. The bed dipped a little as Brody settled in next to her hip. He hand kneaded deeply. “That’s the way, baby. You just enjoy it and let us play. Stick your ass out a bit, honey. I want to be able to reach you.” His hand dipped to her folds to demonstrate. She tilted her hips obligingly and the tip of Luke’s cock grazed her clit. She wiggled until the contact was surer and writhed against it. Luke’s eyes rolled a little and he groaned around her breast. Brody echoed him when his fingers found her wet and eager once more. Her hips thrust in a slow dance and Brody slipped two fingers into her wet sheath every time she pulled back along the crown of Luke’s cock.

 

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The cold shock of lubrication being dribbled down the crack of her ass made her catch her breath, and Brody chuckled knowingly. “It’ll warm up,” he assured her as his thumb massaged the slick fluid over her anus. Casey tightened at the proprietary handling but soon relaxed as he made no move to penetrate the untried orifice. Coupled with the sultry slide of his fingers, the gentle rubbing was a dark but sexy turn-on. So slick and relaxed, her sphincter allowed his initial foray to the first knuckle before closing in alarm. Casey froze at the sudden violation, but his other hand rubbed at her back and kneaded her ass reassuringly. “Relax, honey. Just breathe and you’ll loosen up.” She pulled in a breath and Luke let her nipple pop from his mouth before he, too, used his hands to soothe her. He gave tiny thrusts with his hips that worked his cock against her clit, and she let her breath out and willed her body to relax. It didn’t hurt, but it was a totally alien experience. As soon as she relaxed, Brody withdrew his thumb only to slide it back in. He didn’t try to go deeper. He just rubbed against the nerve-laden outer reaches. Casey gasped and fell in to Luke’s rhythm as her body started to find a dark pleasure in the forbidden caress. She nearly stopped in shame when she realized she was pushing him deeper and deeper with every rock of her hips, but Brody caught her hesitation. “Don’t stop, baby. You have no idea how hot it looks to have you backing up for more. Not as hot as it will when I watch your tiny hole open up for my cock, but it’s still sexy as hell.” Casey bit her lip when she felt the webbing of his hand wrap her perineum and realized she had taken his whole thumb. The pressure along the thin membrane separating his thumb from his fingers was enthralling. And, she suspected, devastatingly addictive. He changed tacks, massaging deeply instead of thrusting, and there was no way in hell she could hold back the visceral moan that erupted from her throat.

 

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“That’s the way, hon, lap it up. Let me get a second one inside, and I’ll let you fill this pussy up with Luke’s cock. You’ll be so full. You won’t know where you stop and we begin, Case.” He kissed her rump as he slid from the bed to stand behind her. Casey felt another cool touch of lube being applied and then her first taste of erotic burn. The pinching made her jerk, but Luke pinned her hips and worked his cock harder against the swollen knot peeking out of her folds. The burn morphed into a euphoric pleasure as his other digit slipped through her ring and slid in beside the first. Sweat-dampened strands of hair clung to her face as she breathed roughly. Luke’s hand smoothed them away. Concern clouded the passion in his eyes. “Are you all right, sweetheart?” Casey nodded and pressed her clit harder against the rigid shaft beneath it. She could feel Brody stretching her, using his thumbs to prepare her for his cock. The overwhelming need to have something in her pussy assaulted her. She tried to wiggle enough to line Luke up with her entrance, but they wouldn’t let her move. She growled her frustration. “You want him inside you, don’t you baby?” “Mmm” “Reach down and take him then. Don’t let us stop you.” Casey slid her hand down between their hot, damp bodies and gripped Luke firmly. Holding him steady she sank slowly down. The pressure in both her ass and her pussy was unbelievable. She could feel Luke’s cock gliding tightly over the fullness of Brody’s thumbs. Pain and pleasure mingled. “Oh, my God.” “Keep your hand down there. You’re gonna want a finger on your clit in a minute, and you’ve had more practice than us. Give it a bit of a rub.” Brody’s voice had dropped a full octave, gravelly and rough. Circling her clit with the pad of one finger, Casey rocked on the hot shaft within her. The unusually aligned head massaged her whole front wall, kneading into the spongy tissue. The most expensive

 

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vibrators didn’t feel this damn good. Need built, ecstasy rising through her to turn her into a mewling creature of want. “I think she’s ready, Brode.” “Fuck, so am I. Let me grab a rubber.” The thumbs slipping from her ass left her bereft, grasping hopelessly on nothingness. A daunting pressure pushed for entrance as Brody’s firm grip held her cheeks wide. “Play with that clit, honey. Push out toward me and breathe.” Casey pinched her clit and tugged as the air left her body and the white hot burn of penetration swept over her. Her eyes flew open. Luke was looking at her in pained desire. “Relax, Casey. Let him in. You can do this, sweetheart. You feel so damn good.” Brody cursed loudly and pulled out before pressing forward once more. This time the burn was bearable. Casey worked her clit feverishly as she strove to rise above the pain. She gave up fighting it and embraced the pain the same as she would the burn of a good workout. Something fell into place and she felt Brody slide all the way in. Exquisite pressure, decadent pleasure, sinful sensations. Full, so very full. Luke pressed with so much force against her G-spot she thought she might come from that alone, but another pressure rivaled even that pleasure. Brody pushed against the inner face of her tailbone, sending rapture shooting up and down her spine. He bent over her and cupped her body with his. Casey shuddered, lost in the hedonistic pleasure of so much heated skin against her. Just when she thought it could feel no better, they began to move. Alternately, they rocked gently into her, one sliding out while the other forged deeper. Faster and faster they built up the rhythm. The pleasure buffeted Casey from every possible direction. In a moment of lucidity she remembered she still had her finger on her clit and gave it one shimmy.

 

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The mighty explosion blew apart every preconceived idea she’d had about what orgasm was. A woman’s scream reached her ears and too late she realized it came from her own mouth. Harsh groans and a heartfelt “fuck” came from the two men who forged deep and arched violently, joining her in the maelstrom of agonized pleasure. Their hands bit into her, but she was too far gone to be worried about bruises. Exhausted, Casey dropped to Luke’s chest. His heart beat a tattoo against her breasts that was echoed by the chest pressed to her back. Brody withdrew from her tender ass but settled back down, sheltering her beneath his body and holding her tight. A heavenly lassitude rode her soul, an afterglow of immense proportions, but reality intruded. Brody lifted from her and Luke rolled her to the side, disengaging carefully. He held her while Brody returned with a wet wipe and tenderly wiped her. Only when he was lying down with her in his arms did Luke head for the bathroom. Casey snuggled into Brody’s wide chest and was quite happy to stay there. Casey had never felt so cherished as when Luke slid in, pulling the blankets up and spooning her from behind. “That was worth waiting for.” Brody announced into the comfortable silence. “Which part?” Luke rumbled against her back. “The scream. I’ve never heard one so pretty.” “Mmm. I’ve gotta hear that one again.” Casey stiffened in alarm. “Not tonight, sweetheart. Even we’re not that good. Go to sleep. I’ll run you a big hot bath in the morning.” **** Casey awoke in the still of the night, sore but pleasurably so. A grin crossed her face when she thought about what they had done. She’d wanted a wild night, but fucking hell, this one had measured off the Richter. These men were the kind of lovers a woman would be mad to say goodbye to. The thought sobered her. She knew what had

 

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to be done. If she didn’t leave now, she’d find herself dumped as soon as they tired of her. She’d been warned they only played tag and release. Carefully she extracted herself from between their sleeping bodies and went in search of her clothes. She slipped the dress back on her aching body and picked up her sandals. She looked back at the shadowy figures sleeping soundly in the bed and felt a pang in her chest. A tear spilled hotly down her face as she slipped silently from the house. She’d give anything to have them hold her once more, anything but her self-respect.

 

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Chapter 7 Luke stretched deliciously, contentment riding his body like a second skin. Casey Buckley had been everything he’d ever dreamed of and so much more. He would give anything for her to be a permanent part of his life. He loved her sassiness, her fuck-you attitude, and her innate sexual siren with equal fervor. Losing her wasn’t an option. He hoped bonehead realized she was more than a spectacular lay, too. Brody was the one who was likely to bring his happiness crashing down. He lowered his hand and followed the one across his belly up a muscular arm. A hairy muscular arm. He cracked an eyelid to see Brody’s arm sprawled across him in sleep. His cloud of happiness was punctured, and he flung the arm away. “Hey!” Brody lifted his head, looking around groggily. “Where’s Casey?” “Gone.” “I hate it when they do that,” he mumbled. “I wake up next to your hairy ass.” “And how long since you actually fell asleep with a woman, Brode?” Luke wanted his brother to come to the same conclusion he had reached. “Fucked if I know. A while I guess.” He rolled onto his back and scratched at his belly. “Last night was something, eh?” “Yeah. It would be all right to have that all the time. But like she said, we only had one shot. It’s over now.” “Why am I feeling a little used and abused here?” Brody groused. “I usually can’t wait to kick ’em out of bed.”

 

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“I thought you’d be celebrating. It saves you the effort of shoveling their emotional shit when you show them the door.” “Casey’s not like them, Luke. Last night was fuckin’ awesome. It was more than just the sex. I don’t know. I thought it might have meant something to her.” He looked around, his jaw working like he had a bad taste in his mouth. “We’ve been used, Luke.” Luke started laughing his ass off. “You remind me of that guy in American Pie that wakes up after a night with band-camp-chick and she’s gone.” “Hey, at least he woke up with a toy dinosaur. I’d prefer that to your hairy ass.” Brody sighed. “What do we do now? I don’t want to let her get away.” A euphoric smile built on Luke’s face. Brody was hooked, too. Now they just had to convince Casey they were serious. For the first time both of them were cursing their ‘love ’em and leave ’em’ reputation. “Here’s what we’ll do…” **** “No.” “Come on, Casey.” “What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand, Zach?” “It’s your sister’s birthday—can’t you just come out for a few hours?” “I’ve got to work in the morning.” She didn’t actually have a job on, but she did have to catch up on the office work. Casey tried to concentrate as she transferred receipt numbers to her laptop. What was wrong with paper accounting? “So? I’ll have you home by ten. Just come out for dinner with us. You’ve been hiding for a week. Em’s worried about you, and you know how that goes.” “Yeah, I know. Ty gets worried, too, and goes all grumpy on your ass. Don’t bat your eyelashes at me, Zach. It won’t work.”

 

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“You’re a tough woman, Casey.” His stormy eyes managed to look injured. “Does that sad face work on Em?” “Nah, Colby’s the only one that can pull that off. I thought it was worth a try, though.” “You lot are fucking impossible. I don’t know how Emma puts up with you.” Casey sighed resignedly. “Can you give me a few minutes to get ready?” “I knew I’d wear you down. Take all the time you need. I actually allowed another half an hour to talk you around.” Casey ignored his victory smile and headed down the hall. Twenty minutes later she was changed and bumping down the badly sealed road toward town in Zach’s truck. “Where are we going?” “The bistro at the Kat.” Casey groaned. She had done her best to avoid the place since she had moved to Liberty Springs. She had her hands full enough with work and, for the last week, avoiding problems of the Marshall variety, to invite trouble by frequenting any bars, let alone a recognized D and s club. It didn’t matter where she went or what she did, one of them always appeared in the vicinity. She knew it was cowardly, but she hightailed it as soon as she saw them. It would have been selffortifying to label them stalkers, but she’d once been told that the only way to be chased was to start running. If she stood her ground they might be able to have a sensible conversation like grown-ups, but Casey was feeling too emotionally raw. Her night in their bed had touched parts of her she’d held aloof for years. She wasn’t into selfpunishment enough to think anything could come of it. Brody and Luke Marshall weren’t into happily ever afters. Zach turned one street early for the Kat and then turned the wrong way again. He kept looking in the rearview mirror. Casey looked at him questioningly. “What’s happening?”

 

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“Have you done anything to piss Brody off?” “Not recently. Why?” “He normally wouldn’t miss a chance to blow me off the road as he went streaking past, but he’s followed us the whole way. I even turned off, but he’s still right back there behind us.” “Just ignore him, that’s what I do.” “Something going on that I should know about?” “Nothing I can’t handle.” “If you say so, Casey. If you need a hand, though, just holler. Colb and I kind of miss having Brody and Luke to spar with.” He pulled into the parking lot and pulled up right beside Ty’s big black Dodge. “Make sure you smile for your sister. She worries about you.” “I’m a big girl now.” “That’s what worries her.” Zach escorted her through the main bar and through the archway with its sign proclaiming the restaurant. Emma was already seated at a table for five with Ty and Colby. Ty looked like a giant hulking beside Emma, and Colby was full of sparkling blue eyes and winning smiles. Greetings were exchanged all around. “I told you I’d get her here.” Zach pulled back a chair, and Casey took the proffered seat. She pulled it in herself rather going through all that awkward shuffling that happens when someone tries to do it for you. “Happy birthday, Em. I’m sorry I haven’t got you a present. I clean forgot about it.” Casey had been so wrapped up in avoiding Luke and Brode that it hadn’t even crossed her mind. Only Zach turning up on her doorstep had jolted her memory. “Don’t worry about it. How’s your business going?” “Great. I’ve got more than enough work to keep me out of trouble. I’m ordering a snow blade for the machine to keep me going through winter, too.”

 

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She noticed a few raised eyebrows and surprised blinks happening around the table, but the itching between her shoulder blades told her it wasn’t on account of her new purchase. She could feel them. Awareness feathered down her spine and she knew she blushed when her nipples drew into hard points with a rapidity that was downright embarrassing. It wasn’t fair. Just one night in their bed and they had branded her body as theirs. Casey took a deep breath to settle her, but that was her greatest mistake. The ‘fuck me’ scent of their bodywash reached the receptors in her brain and zapped along neural pathways all the way to her ovaries, setting them off like it was the Fourth of July. “Are you okay, Case?” Emma had true concern on her face, but Colby and Zach looked more than a little amused. Even Ty had a tiny smile curling the corner of his lips. “I’m fine.” “Are you sure, Case? You’re looking a little, um, peaked.” Casey restrained the urge to tell Colby to go to hell. She knew damn well he wasn’t talking about her color. “Oh, look! There’s your neighbors, Casey. How’s things going with them?” Emma appeared oblivious to the byplay going on all around her. “Fine.” “You’re blushing! You didn’t!” Casey knew her scarlet face answered for her. “Tell me you walked away afterward.” Colby looked so excited, positively drooling. “I did.” “Oh, Casey. I’m gonna love you forever, baby.” Colby and Zach were pretty much rolling around with laughter, held up only by leaning on each other’s shoulders. “It finally fuckin’ happened.”

 

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Casey saw Ty lean down and rumble something in Emma’s ear. A shudder passed through Emma, but she nodded and rose. “Come on, Casey. I need to go to the ladies. Ty can order for us.” Casey found herself ushered through into a spacious powder room that thankfully was in the opposite direction from which she could feel the Marshalls eyeballing her. Emma fanned at her face, checking it in the large mirror. “I hate when Ty whispers like that. Now I gotta go through the night with wet panties.” “TMI.” “What?” “Too much information.” “Okay, I’ll spare you. Now, what’s going on? Ty thinks you didn’t look pleased with the whole walking away thing. I was too busy watching those other pair of idiots to notice. You’ve made their night. Regrets?” “Not as such. I had a good time. A damn good time.” “What’s the problem then?” Casey took a deep breath and leaned against the bench. “It was too good for one night and I don’t think I can do the whole fuck-buddies thing.” “Oh, no. You fell in love, didn’t you?” “Not enough to doom myself to eternal heartbreak by going back for more. You told me yourself, they’re players. I just have to get over it and move on.” “I wish I could tell you otherwise, but nothing I’ve heard about the Marshalls supports a happy ending. However,” Emma raised her finger, firmly in lecture mode, causing Casey to grin, “I bring to your attention two pieces of interest. Firstly, Colb and Zach were bigger womanizers than that pair ever were, and look at them now. And secondly, I haven’t heard of the Marshalls following one of their conquests around afterwards.” “How do you know they are following me?”

 

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“When we head back out, take a look at Brody’s shirt and Luke’s boots, if he still has them sticking out from under the table, and tell me those boys didn’t dress in a hurry.” Emma’s smile was impish as she sauntered back out the door. Casey followed, gathering her courage before exiting the bathroom. She knew they were sitting straight ahead. Their gazes locked on to her the moment she stepped out, looking at her with equal parts hunger and longing. That wasn’t what she wanted to see. She wanted to see the cocky, arrogant bastards who had thought she’d be a convenient fuck next door. At the moment she had trouble not laughing despite the hangdog look on their far-too-handsome faces. Brody’s shirt was buttoned up two holes crooked. One side of his collar was halfway down his chest. Luke had concrete-spattered rubber boots on. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he’d left home barefoot and grabbed the only footwear in the bed of Brody’s truck to wear inside. For men who usually dressed with an eye for impressing the ladies, they were a fucking mess. She gave them a polite but distant smile and sat back down. Colby and Zach still had the occasional giggle escaping their control, but they were for the most part coherent throughout the meal. To Casey’s surprise, Ty offered to take her home afterward, leaving Emma with the giggling duo. Ty had just opened the passenger door for her when hurried footsteps sounded behind them. “Hey, Casey!” The raspy voice sent desire shooting down her spine and wrapping around her womb. Steeling herself, she turned. Luke halted before her, his eyes shining softly in the parking lot lighting. “We can give you a lift home if you like. We have to drive straight past your place. It will save you a trip, Ty.” “That’s entirely up to Casey.” Ty folded his massive forearms atop the open door and settled in patiently to watch. Casey envied him his calm assurance. She felt like her heart was looking for a way out of her chest.

 

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“We need to talk, Case. You’re avoiding us.” Brody stepped up beside his brother, looking painfully earnest despite his obvious wardrobe malfunction. She folded her arms across her chest, trying to cover up her body’s primal reaction to them. “I thought you’d be smart enough to pick up on that hint.” “Avoiding us won’t fix the problem, Casey.” “What problem, Brody? We scratched the itch, had a bit of fun. It was good, but now it’s over. Get over it and move on.” “It was more than that and you know it.” “It was sex. That’s all. You guys have had enough of it to know that. Go and find someone else to play with.” Casey climbed up into the truck. “Take me home, Ty.” “You heard the lady.” He shut the door softly and walked past the Marshalls to round the cab. Casey breathed a big sigh of relief when Ty drove out of the lot. “You want to talk about it?” his voice was a deep rumble in the dark vehicle. “Not much to talk about. You heard enough then to know what’s going on.” “What I heard and what I seen are two different things. Just keep them hanging for a while longer. Make them really work for it. Men don’t appreciate things they don’t have to work for. It will do them good.” “I’m not going to give in, Ty. All those two were after was a bit of action. They got that. I wasn’t sticking around for them to dump me afterward. It was just sex.” “You keep telling yourself that, darlin’. You might even sound convincing one day.” Casey fumed in silence. She hated it when a man was right. ****

 

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“What the fuck do we do now?” Brody watched Ty’s taillights fade from sight. “I don’t know, Luke. Following her around like a bad smell didn’t work. Who’s fucking idea was that anyway?” “Well, I thought if she saw us around enough, she’d cave. I think we need a different approach.” “Ya think?” Brody really hoped dumb-ass picked up on the sarcasm. “Take those boots off before you get in my truck. I can’t believe you left home without shoes.” “Hey, at least my shirt’s straight.” “What?” Brody looked down in question and cursed. “Fuck, Luke. I’ve been sitting there all night like this? You could have told me, you prick. How can you expect Casey to take us seriously when we’re getting around like this? No wonder those fuckwits were laughing their asses off.” Brody shook his head in disgust. “Get in the truck.” Brody started the big engine up and roared from the lot. He didn’t bother trying to catch Ty. They knew he would take Casey straight home. How were they going to win her over? “We need a plan that is actually going to work this time. There’s got to be a way to reach her.” “There’s one thing she’s not denying, Brode—she liked it.” “And this benefits us how if she won’t stand still long enough to even exchange a few words?” “Think about it. She’s got needs, just the same as us. And we get her hot, there’s no question of that. We stop chasing her and just let her look for a bit. “It’s a bit like trying to catch Checkers when he don’t want to be caught. If you chase that horse, he’ll run for days. Just stand around and ignore the bastard and he’ll have his head over your shoulder in less than a minute.” “Casey is not a horse, Luke.”

 

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“No, but I’m betting that if we spend enough time just lazing around ignoring her, she’ll get curious. I think it’s time we started back on that barn. That’ll give her something to look at. And she still has to come over and clean out the tank. I’m sure we can come up with a reason to be around while she does that.” Brody thought it over. Luke may have stumbled across a workable plan. Casey had healthy carnal appetites. If they could whet those enough, she might just come looking for another taste. The barn was good for an appetizer—they’d both felt her appreciative gaze when they’d been working bare-chested on that. But Brody had another plan he’d keep to himself for now. He’d noticed Casey sneaking off up toward the spring every time the mercury nudged ninety. He’d also noticed her heated reaction to something Luke had done the other night. The next time Casey headed up to the spring, he’d give her a show she wouldn’t forget in a hurry.

 

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Chapter 8 They were at it again. How frigging long did it take two men to put a roof on? Day after day, after work and all weekend, she would come home to the sight of them working shirtless beneath the summer sky. Obviously they didn’t sweat sun cancer. Luke spotted her walking onto the porch and gave her an absent wave. That had her worried, too—they had ceased following her around. Had she actually gotten through to them in the parking lot? She doubted it. They were up to something. What exactly, she had no idea, only time would tell. Until something resolved itself, Casey was stuck in a perpetual state of frustrated arousal that only built with every glimpse of their hard, sun-burnished bodies. It wasn’t fair. Masturbation only made it worse, leaving her momentarily sated but only fueling her need for their touch. She had to go over there tomorrow. Luke had left a message on her phone asking if she could come and clean out the tank before the rains predicted for later in the week. She had in turn rang their house phone when she had known they were not there and left a message saying she would do it on Tuesday. Luke had already pointed out which tank it was before things went pear-shaped. It was hot, too fucking hot. She switched on the air-conditioner, but the house was too hot for it to have much effect. She checked out the corner of the drapes to see if the Marshalls were occupied. It was time to cool off. Luke was nailing clapboard siding on, but Brody wasn’t in sight. His truck was down by the half-built structure, so Casey grabbed a towel and slipped from the back door. Her hot tub

 

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just got too warm on days like this, even with the heating function turned off. By the time she reached the spring she had worked up more than a little sweat. Her shirt clung to her back and she could feel perspiration tickling the backs of her knees. The spring water was going to feel so damn good. She couldn’t wait to just jump in and soak in the cool water. The path was familiar enough for her to move with confidence now. On light feet she jumped from boulder to boulder. Swinging around the jutting outcrop, she stopped dead. Her heart slammed like a sledgehammer against her ribs and her breath caught in her throat. No wonder she hadn’t seen Brody at the barn. He was lying beside the pool in the dappled sunlight, not twenty feet below her. Stark freaking naked. His hat was pushed back, screening his head from the sun as he lay face down. Casey breathed a sigh of relief when she realized he was facing the opaque aqua pool instead of her. She knew she should leave, but the sight of his bared body was absolutely captivating. Wide, wide shoulders, thick with muscle, led down to his strong waist. The swell of his ass arising from it had her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. That was one Grade A ass. Tight and round. Completely droolworthy. His thighs were heavy but shapely and his calves so defined she could see the separate halves of the tight, bunched muscle. She had an insane urge to sink her teeth into it like an apple. She sank into the shadows as he rolled over, her heart in her throat as she waited for him to spot her. But he settled that hat down over his face and lay there in full view. Oh. My. God. Casey gripped at the boulder to stay upright as swift arousal assailed her. Her cunt clenched in pure need. This wasn’t fair. She didn’t need this, but she couldn’t find the strength to look away.

 

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He was long and thick and growing harder by the second. Lolled against his thigh, his cock visibly grew, the veins plumping and the folds filling. Casey watched, amazed as it began to make vertical progress. It almost rolled, moving to lie on the golden-toned skin below his hip, and then worked further across his belly, thickening and straightening with every passing second. Straight as an arrow, the arresting organ came to a throbbing halt pointing at his bellybutton. Casey’s breaths came in quick pants. The sight of Brody’s cock coming to full erection floored her. Never before had she witnessed something so riveting, so enthralling, so fucking erotic. She glanced down to see her hands trembling. Christ, she’d never been this turned on. His big, beefy hand lifted from where it lay, grazed up his thigh, and rubbed low on his belly. She caught the wanton moan before it escaped her throat. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He did. Slow and leisurely, that big hand wrapped around the dark, engorged flesh. Unhurriedly, it stroked up and down his cock, caressing the full balls beneath at the bottom of each indulgent stroke. A shaft of sunlight fell across his loins and a glint shining on the tip attested to the fluid beading beneath his self-pleasuring hand. Casey’s tongue reflexively licked her lips, hungering to sample his musky salt. Ruthlessly, she held herself still. His deliberate pace picked up a little and he forsook the slow massage of his balls for a thumb stroke across the wide, wetly shining head. He lifted it higher, drawing the shaft further out from his body. The muscles rippling in his forearms and the ropy tendons of his wrist revealed how strong his grip was, how tight he squeezed with each long, measured pump of his hand. Casey pressed her thighs together tight and tried not to think about what those big, powerful hands could do. Her body remembered all too well. Caught in the ever-escalating pace of his shuttling hand, lust rooted Casey to the spot. Soon, it had to be soon. His chest was rising

 

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and falling swiftly, the muscles of his thighs clenched and released, clenched and released. His hips rose and fell, driven up and down by the bunching of muscles in that magnificent ass. A low groan reached her ears and then it happened. His whole body stiffened at once. Veins stuck out on the back of his hand, and jets of shiny seed spurted from the head of his cock, spattering his belly as he continued to draw forth more of the briny flood. Everything within Casey pulsed in sympathy, pushing her the closest she had ever been to orgasm without actually coming. Her blood sang through her veins, pulsing with the frantic pace. Her ears rang, deaf to all but the frenzied beat of her heart. Her knees trembled, and a small pebble dislodged from the path and tumbled down the precarious slope, tearing her from her arousal-induced fog. Startled, Casey bounded back up the path she had traveled before Brody decided to tip his hat back and have a look around. She wasn’t in a state to think coherently, let alone talk her way out of that predicament. Hotter than she’d been before heading for the cool spring, Casey headed for home and an icy shower. **** Brody pushed his cutter back with a grin and watched Casey’s long-legged form hurtle up out of sight. He rubbed his sticky fingers together ruefully. Only for Casey would he get cum all over himself—it was horribly sticky shit. He’d thought she’d get hot over watching him play with himself, but damn! He’d been able to hear her panting over the sigh of the hot westerly through the pines. He’d bet his right nut she was wet clear down to her knees. He’d never come across a woman who creamed as readily as Casey did. His mouth watered just thinking about it. It had been even odds on whether she would stay or run. He’d thought that if she stayed to watch she may have plucked up the courage to lend him a hand, but he knew that was wishful thinking.

 

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He got up and headed for the small stream that ran from the thermal pool. He really needed to wash his hand and his belly. A smile curled his lips as a realization hit him. Casey was running from herself as much as she was running from them. **** Walking a machine across open paddocks was bone-jarring work. The tracks rattled and banged across the rough ground as she headed toward the tank. She had the big mud bucket on the excavator as well as a smaller one inside it in case there was any actual digging to do. There was no telling how long the silt had been filling the dam for. It might be set like cement. She topped the rise above the tank and her shoulders slumped even as her nipples sat up and begged. Luke’s Chevy was pulled up beside the dam, and two men leaned against the hood. Even from that distance she could tell the brothers apart. Both wore jeans and dirtspangled, sweat-stained cowboy hats. One wore a white shirt, the other black, but the difference in physique and stance was readily apparent. Luke had that lazy, laid-back way of standing—he lounged no matter what position he was in, while Brody filled out every available inch of his white tee. That chest of his was stretching the cotton to capacity. Great, just fucking great. It was just what she didn’t need. Her body had been a hormonal, quivering mess since she had watched Brody jerk off yesterday. It hadn’t been that much better before it, but at least she hadn’t been a danger to those around her. She had left a job early today because she had nearly got someone hurt. A preoccupied mind shouldn’t be in control of heavy machinery. This was supposed to be an easy, thought-free job. Those two turning up shot that to hell.

 

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Casey squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. She could do this. Just go down there, say “Hi,” and get the job done. Simple. Yep, and about then a flock of pigs would go soaring by. She brought the machine to a stop atop the wide earth berm that formed the wall of the dam. Pulling her professional persona around her like a suit of armor, Casey jumped down from the machine and headed toward Luke and Brody. “Hi. Do you want the silt stockpiled or added to the wall?” There, that was professional, if somewhat brusque. “Just add it on to the wall, thanks, Casey. You don’t mind if we watch, do you? It is always interesting to see what’s living in the dams.” Luke was cool as ever, relaxed and comfortable. Brody she didn’t even look at. There was no way she could clap eyes on him and not have yesterday play over and over in her mind. “No problem, but stay near the vehicle where I can see you.” They might be the bane of her existence at the moment, but she would hate to injure one of them by accident. If Casey did physical damage to either of the Marshalls, she wanted it to be deliberate. She headed back to the excavator, more than a little conscious of the two sets of eyes following her every move. She soon forgot about them as she fell into a working rhythm, scoop the mud, slew around to empty the bucket, and return. She was grateful the berm was wide enough to comfortably support the nine-ton machine because she was able to work a lot quicker than if she’d had to lower the back blade for stability every time she inched forward. It was when she had worked her way halfway around the dam that it got a little hard to concentrate. Luke was poking through the first lot of mud and silt she had pulled out, looking about for toads and frogs and the like with a stick—without his shirt on. A glance the other way was no better. Brody was kicking back in the Chevy, his boots resting on the open door’s windowsill. The afternoon sun flickered against his golden skin where he, too, had lost his shirt. Not fair. Just not fucking fair.

 

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As if aware of her scrutiny, Brody stretched slowly, his muscles writhing beneath that burnished hide. There was a definite smile flickering at the corners of his mouth that he hastily concealed. That man knew exactly how hot that body of his looked and the effect he had upon her. Casey felt a bit of mischief spark inside her. Brody definitely looked like he could use some cooling off. She quickly calculated angle and distance and walked the machine forward two feet. She knew she would only get one shot at this. One she could possibly pass off as an accident. She slewed to empty the bucket and brought the digger’s arm back the other way so that it was traveling across the water toward Brody. When it had reached a suitable speed she dropped the bucket, sending a sheet of water with devastating precision straight in the open door of Luke’s truck. Spluttering and wiping water from his face, Brody came to his feet. He was covered with muddy water from head to toe. Casey could only imagine the state of Luke’s truck. She winced and looked in his direction, expecting him to be wild, but Luke was busy laughing his fine ass off. A quick flick of the bucket had him scampering to miss the deluge. It caught him down one shoulder, but he wasn’t anywhere as wet as Brody. It did wipe the ever-present smile off his face, though. So much for passing it off as an accident. She now had two Marshalls looking less than pleased with her. The water was more like dirt soup from where she had been digging around in it, and she could only imagine the horrible feel of it against her skin. “What the fuck was that for?” Brody could be heard even above the engine. She idled the machine down and lowered her window. “You looked a little hot.” “So did you yesterday, but I didn’t go throwing you in the spring.” Fuck! What was she supposed to say to that? She couldn’t believe Brody had known she was there.

 

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“Yeah, don’t go all red-faced now. You weren’t so embarrassed watching me jerk off yesterday, were you?” “Whoa! I’m missing something here. Who did what yesterday?” Luke was looking from one of them to the other as he walked toward them. “Casey came up to the spring yesterday. I was already there and her eyes were boring into me like hungry little lasers, so I rolled over and really gave her something to look at. She stayed for the show but bolted straight after. It’s a shame. I was up for an encore, and by then she was more than a little worked up herself.” Luke looked like he didn’t know whether to be jealous or pissed. “Casey just sat there and watched?” “She was hiding up by that boulder that sticks out. She didn’t make a move to leave until I had cum all over me.” “What was I supposed to do?” Casey was sick of them talking as if she wasn’t even there. She stepped down out of the machine, determined to sort this out. “I was told there would be a horse or a four-wheeler at the top if there was someone there. I didn’t want to have to talk to you. You just distracted me before I could leave.” Brody smirked a little. “Distracted? You sounded more than a little distracted, Casey. You sounded downright horny. I could hear you panting like a bitch in heat up there by that rock.” “You arrogant, conceited asshole.” Before she registered moving, her fist was in the air. She put her whole weight behind it. The power came all the way from her back foot, up her leg and through her shoulder. It was a mighty swing, but it never connected. Brody ducked back and seized her wrist, but he must have underestimated the strength behind the blow. The momentum turned them both in a full circle. Casey felt her foot slip and grabbed at Brody with her free hand for stability but it was too late. Cold, slimy, liquid mud met her ass as she fell. The last thing she saw before she went under was Brody’s black eyes open wide with shock.

 

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Brody’s body pinned her beneath the muddy water momentarily, but she was soon able to fight to the surface. It was about eight feet deep where she had just cleaned it, and she was forced to tread water. Brody bobbed up only a yard away, wiping muddy water from his face. Casey cursed herself. She had exhibited no more self-control than a two-year-old. She had actually swung at him in anger. That was unforgivable. “I’m sorry, Brody. I shouldn’t have tried to hit you. That was inexcusable.” “Don’t worry, it happens all the time.” They both turned to give Luke the look that comment deserved. He put his hands out innocently and backed away from the edge. Brody’s dark eyes came to rest on her, the sclera startlingly white in the mud-coated darkness of his face. “I was out of line, Case. I don’t know how to do this. I want you so fucking bad I can’t think straight. Why won’t you give us a chance?” Oh, fuck. The earnest, pained look on his face was one Casey couldn’t ignore. Before she knew it, the truth was spilling from her lips. “I’m not into self-punishment, Brody. You two would get tired of me starring in your little games and move on. If it was purely sex, I could do it, but you’re the one who is so damn adamant that it’s more.” “It is more. You know it, too, or you wouldn’t be running. At least start talking to us, Casey. Things have definitely turned to shit when the only way we can have a conversation is neck-deep in cold, muddy water.” A giggle escaped at the absurdity of the situation. Brody’s lips twitched before he chuckled as well. “Are you two gonna stay in there all afternoon, or do you want a hand out?” Luke was leaning against the boom of the digger, watching with amusement. Casey kicked over toward the bank, intent on climbing out, but the bank was too steep and slippery to get any purchase. Luke stepped

 

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closer and offered his hand. She had just taken a grip on his wrist when Brody brushed against her back. She shivered when his breath touched her ear. “I think he looks a little too dry.” “Reckon we ought to fix that?” Casey’s heart surged at having Brody no more than a wicked thought from her lips once more. Even covered in mud, he made her pulse race. “Go for it. I’ve got you.” Brody slid one arm around her waist below the water line for an anchor, bringing his body flush with her back. It took every bit of willpower to concentrate on the yank she gave Luke’s arm. He windmilled briefly before succumbing to the inevitable and plunging headlong into the dirty, cold water. He came up a few feet away with his blonde curls plastered to his head and his hat floating beside him. His smile was as startling a white as Brody’s eyes had been. “That wasn’t nice, sweetheart.” He drew closer. Casey tried to back away, but Brody still held her securely. Luke stopped right in front of her and she began to feel trapped and more than a little flustered. “What do you reckon, Brode? I vote we keep her right here until she promises to talk to us again.” “This much leverage, and that’s the best you can come up with?” Casey nearly laughed out loud at Brody’s disparaging tone, but the intensity in his eyes when he shifted to her side robbed her of breath. “Give us a chance, Case. Come over on Saturday and just spend some time with us. You think we’re only in this for the sex. Give us a chance to prove it’s not that at all.” “At all?” Luke looked incredulous. “Now, Brode, I can behave myself, but I’m not a fucking saint.” “For Christ’s sake, you can keep it in your pants for one day, can’t you?” It was too much for Casey. Laughter bubbled up and out. “All right! I’ll spend Saturday with you both. Just let me get out of this water before I drown myself laughing.” Two wet, muddy men assisted her from the filthy water.

 

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They lay on the bank looking like extras for some low-budget, Bgrade monster flick, but Casey didn’t care. A spark of hope was kindling inside her, albeit warily, that everything wasn’t going to end in tears.

 

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Chapter 9 “He did what?” “I kid you not. He turned his back and did paperwork all fucking night.” Marley took a sip of the vodka, lime, and soda from the glass sitting on the ledge of the hot tub. “To be truthful, I’m not quite sure if it was all night. I passed out around two.” Casey shook her head in disbelief. “You were butt-freakin’-naked and he didn’t so much as touch you?” “Touch? Casey, he didn’t even look once he got the cuffs on me. It was downright demoralizing.” She reached for the glass again. “God, this tastes good. I didn’t think I’d ever touch alcohol again after last night—keeping up with Bailey is bad news.” “You might want to steady up a bit. You could still have alcohol in your system from last night.” They’d had three or four drinks since Marley had turned up around five, but dusk had since fallen and the lighting around the tub glowed softly. Although Marley was on a par size-wise with Casey, she was already showing signs of intoxication. “I’ll be fine. I did remember one thing from last night that I have to check out, though. I think Andy has got himself an admirer. A tiny little brunette was sitting outside the station when he took me in last night. She had calf-eyes for Andy, but she was shooting daggers at me.” “Sounds like jealousy.” Marley laughed ruefully. “I wish she had something to be jealous about, but nada, nothing once again. Anyway, enough of Andy. I gotta ask, why did you tell me to sit on this side of the tub?”

 

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“The Marshalls have a clear line of sight from their front porch straight into this shed. I’d thought I’d spare you having them ogling you.” “So you let them look at you instead?” “Nothing they haven’t seen before.” “Hmmm, that sounds like you don’t mean only through a pair of binoculars.” “Gun scope, actually. But don’t worry, they’ve taken them off the rifles.” “And you know this how?” “I took your advice the other week. The scopes were lying on the table on their porch.” “So you did it? Just turned them inside out and walked away?” “I’m not sure who turned who inside out, but I did walk away.” Casey knew a smile had reached her face. Brody and Luke had done more than turn her inside out. “That is so not fair. Everyone around here is getting laid but me. So are you going back for more, or have you washed your hands of them for good?” “I thought I was done with them, but they have blackmailed me into spending tomorrow with them. They tell me they’re trying to prove that it’s more than just sex.” “Back up there, girlfriend. This is Brody and Luke Marshall we’re talking about here?” “I know—it’s a bit out of character.” “A bit? Honey, Luke will flirt with anything with two X chromosomes, but Brody does sex and that’s it. If he’s suggesting spending a day with you that doesn’t involve getting it on, he’s got gold rings and church bells on his mind.” “No, he’s just at a loss because no one has walked away from him before,” Casey disagreed. “He is always the dumper, not the dumpee. Just as soon as I’m following him around, panting after him like every

 

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other woman they’ve nailed, he’ll say ‘so long’ and it will be game over. I’m not going to give him the chance to do that to me, Marley.” “So, you’re not going to get involved at all?” “Hey, I’m a red-blooded woman with needs, and those two scratch the itch better than any vibrator I’ve come across.” Casey leaned back in the tub and let her smile grow. “I’ll enjoy what they have to offer, but you can bet your sweet ass it’s gonna be on my terms.” **** “Shit, I wish I could lip-read. That’s one dick-twitchin’ grin she’s got going there.” Luke smiled to hear Brody so animated. For too long his brother had nursed his grudge against women. It was a relief he was seeing beyond the actions of one traitorous little bitch and living again. He put down his beer and lifted his own scope to take a look. Fuck! Brody wasn’t wrong. Between her up-to-no-good grin and the tiny black triangles of the string bikini that didn’t cover much more than her strawberry nipples, his own cock started to stir. The flicker of headlights down their seldom-used road drew his attention. The lights stopped in front of Casey’s house. “Hey, Brode, someone else must be coming to join them.” “As long as they don’t sit in my line of sight, I don’t care.” “Do you want another beer?” “Grab me one if you’re getting one. I don’t want it bad enough to move.” Luke wandered inside. He wasn’t gone more than five minutes but what he saw when he headed back out galvanized him to action. Flames were licking up at the front of Casey’s house. He tossed the beers on the table and grabbed for his boots. “Look at the fuckin’ house, Brode! We gotta get down there.”

 

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The scope hit the ground as Brody jumped up and went flying down the stairs at his side. They sprinted across the darkened field and jumped the creek beneath the cottonwoods. Luke heard a splash and his brother curse, but he kept going. By the time he vaulted over the fence and rounded the building it was well alight and so was the vehicle parked by it. He put up his arm to ward off the heat as he looked around for a faucet and hose. He spotted it as Brody came up, wringing wet and still cursing up a storm. Luke tossed him his phone, yelling over the crackle of the flames, “Call Andy. He can organize the fire crew.” He turned the water on and directed the spray at the house. Although the vehicle was too far gone to save, so far the building hadn’t sustained too much damage. The water pressure was piss-poor, but it was having some effect on the flames. Brody came back with a second hose and a stunned pair of near-naked women. The real danger was the burning car. The last thing he needed was for the gas tank to explode. Casey exploded into action, bolting back the way she had come. A minute later the big Kenworth came rumbling past and parked out on the road with the hiss of air brakes. She grabbed something out of one of the tool boxes, and Luke threw his hose at Brody so he could intercept her before she could get any closer to the flames. “What the fuck are you doing?” “Throwing this chain over that bull-bar. I’ll pull it out the way before it blows.” She was cool-headed, he’d give her that, but there was no way he was letting her get closer to a vehicle that might blow at any second clad in nothing but a few strategically placed scraps of fabric. Luke took the heavy tow chain from her and let out a length. The hook was big enough that it could hook over the tubular steel bar if he got a lucky shot. He whirled it a few times to get a feel for the weight and sent it sailing toward the burning vehicle along with a prayer of hope. It didn’t hook over the bar. It went one better, wrapping right around

 

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and hooking onto itself. He quickly joined the other end onto the second length of chain Casey had attached to the tow hitch on the Kenworth’s chassis. He held the join while the slack was taken up and then moved right back, drawing Marley back from danger. “That’s my car, Luke.” “I know. There’s no saving it, Marley, but we need to get it away before it blows up and takes the house with it.” Luke heard the wail of sirens above the roar of flames and engine. The cruiser slid onto the verge sideways with its blue lights flashing. Andy came barreling out of it like a bat out of hell, looking about wildly. His relief was patently visible when he spotted Marley safe and sound, but instead of going to her, he turned and grabbed the other hose from Brody. Luke felt Marley slump beside him. “He’ll wake up to himself one day, Marley.” He spotted her shivering in the mild night air and knew it was more than a little shock taking hold of her. He stripped his shirt off, “Here, stick this on. I need to go help. You stay back from that fire.” The Liberty Springs fire truck came in the drive at a rate of knots. Half-dressed volunteers sprang from it, pulling on coveralls and helmets even as they started pumps and unfurled hoses. Luke fell in beside Brody as he discarded the small garden hose and headed for the fire unit. They were both trained volunteers. It didn’t take long to get the house blaze under control with decent water pressure, but just as the volunteers were starting to relax, a loud explosion sent them scurrying for cover. Luke didn’t run for cover. He went hurtling straight for it with Brody at his heels. “Casey! Casey! Where the fuck is she?” He looked about frantically. The Kenworth was pulled up quite a distance away on the other side of the ball of flame that had once been Marley’s car, but Casey wasn’t with it. “Brode! She has got to be about here somewhere, start looking.”

 

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They plunged into the darkness on the side of the road, calling madly for Casey. Luke actually trod on her before he saw her. She was lying a good ten feet from the edge of the road. “Fuck! Sweetheart, are you all right? Brode, get over here. I found her.” Luke dropped to his knees, his hands cupping her face. “Open your eyes, Casey. Look at me, sweetheart.” Her eyes fluttered as Brody dropped on the other side of her. “Thank God.” Brody put his hand up and yelled “We need a light over here.” Someone must have heard him because a spotlight on the truck was swiveled around to shine brightly upon them. Luke checked Casey over desperately. “Talk to me, sweetheart. Tell me what hurts.” “My ankle hurts, and my arm is fucking killing me,” she gritted out between clenched teeth. Brody lifted the arm she cradled gently, and they both winced. A nasty burn ran across the underside of her forearm, red and shiny. Luke felt a pang of sympathy—inch for inch, nothing hurts more than a burn. Brody ran his hand down her leg, examining her ankle. “I can’t see anything wrong with it.” “I think I trod on it,” Luke admitted. “We need to get her to the truck. They have first aid supplies for burns there.” He slid his hands beneath her and started to rise. “What are you doing? You can’t carry me!” “Sure I can.” Luke stood with her in his arms and made his way past the burning vehicle that the hoses were now directed upon. He felt guilty as hell for treading on her, but it was drowned out by the relief that she was alive. He hadn’t known what to think when the gas tank exploded. Marley came bustling over and took charge the moment they neared the truck. “Set her down there and get a blanket around her. Get me the water and ice from the truck.” Luke settled the blanket around Casey’s shoulders, glad to see Marley putting aside her own shock and letting her training take over. He grimaced when she tilted

 

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the arm up for inspection. It hadn’t looked as bad earlier. “You’re lucky, Casey, it’s not too bad. I bet it stings like a son of a bitch, but you won’t need to go to the hospital. Put it in this.” Luke saw the instant relief when she plunged the arm into the bucket of water and ice Brody had fetched. Marley chatted on, asking her what had happened, but Luke finally allowed himself to breathe easy and sat behind her instead of hovering anxiously. It felt like heaven when she relaxed back against him rather than sitting stiffly. Brody cradled Casey’s foot while Marley examined her sore ankle. The nurse declared it was only bruised but gave Brody an ice pack to hold on it. Her smile was more than a little amused as she looked at them cradling Casey between them. Andy’s face was the complete opposite when he came over. Luke couldn’t remember seeing the deputy looking so grave. He actually looked straight at Marley instead of avoiding her. “Is she going to be all right?” “A few bruises and a minor but painful burn. I guarantee she will be sore tomorrow, though. She got thrown a fair way by the blast.” “This could have been much worse. I need to know what happened from the start.” Andy got out his notepad and jotted down everything from Luke spotting the flames to when he arrived. “Was anyone else here?” Marley shook her head and so did Casey. Luke felt a sickening heaviness in his stomach. “The headlights. Brody and I saw a vehicle stop out front about five or ten minutes before we saw the flames.” The screech of brakes heralded another arrival. All three Whelans spilled out of Zach’s dual cab along with Emma. Luke felt Casey brace herself as her sister came barreling toward her with concern all over her face. He couldn’t help but grin when her whispered prayer of “lord, help me” reached his ears. Emma did look like a worried, blonde tornado hurtling toward them.

 

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They were saved when Ty snagged her arm, effortlessly holding her back from throwing herself upon Casey. “Settle down, darlin’. I think Casey’s got enough hands on her for now.” Emma glared at his hand until the big man dropped it slowly, but it had slowed her down. “Are you all right? What happened?” “I’m okay, just a few bruises. We’re trying to work out what happened.” The deputy cleared his throat to get their attention. “Luke, can I get you and Brody to come with me?” Andy turned to the three Whelan brothers. “You lot, too. I’m sure Casey will be fine with Emma and Marley.” Luke slipped reluctantly from behind Casey and couldn’t resist dropping a kiss on her temple. Brody looked like he was just as reluctant to release her leg from his lap, but they left the women together and followed Andy. He stopped on the other side of the fire engine, where a second man was waiting. Beneath the protective suit and the soot it could have been anyone, but there were only two men that big in Liberty Springs and Luke knew Ty was standing right beside him. “This wasn’t an accident, guys,” Danny Blake rumbled quietly. “At first it looked as if the car might have combusted and ignited the house, but the point of ignition is actually inside the house. Would that third window have been already open?” Luke looked at the window in question and realized it was Colby’s old room. The one she had been trying to air the smell out of. “Yeah, she leaves that one open. The room is completely empty.” Luke ignored the sharp looks Colb and Zach were giving him. “Well there’s broken glass on the floor now and evidence of accelerant. There is not much left of Marley’s car, but it could have only been a separate blaze. Now, a car can combust for any number of reasons, but not one that I maintain. I only had it in for a service last week. There was nothing wrong with that vehicle. These were deliberately lit. You have got an arsonist on your hands, Andy.” It

 

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was easy to forget that Danny Blake was more than a small town mechanic with a checkered past. His time in the military wasn’t talked about much, least of all by him, but the discreet Ranger tattoo rarely glimpsed on the big man’s shoulder told its own story. “Just what I fucking need.” Andy ran his hand tiredly down his face. “Okay, the last problem we had here was mainly because a certain little blonde was keeping secrets. How much baggage did Casey bring with her?” “Someone was sabotaging Casey’s machinery in Carson City. Dusting engines, stealing fuel, defacing equipment—that kind of thing. That’s why she moved here.” Zach shrugged. “Vandalism is a far cry from arson. Casey thought it was work-related, that someone was lashing out because she got their contract or something. It’s not something that should have followed her here.” “I’ll get some details from her and chase that angle up.” “It was Marley’s car that took the brunt of it. What if it was aimed at her?” Danny suggested quietly. “Marley doesn’t piss anybody off but me,” Andy grumbled. “Ty, I’m assuming you’ve got insurance and such?” “It’s all covered. I’ll make some calls and sort it out. The damage doesn’t look that bad. It’s mainly the siding and Colb’s old room. That’s no loss—fire’d be about the only way to get rid of the smell anyway.” “We can take a look in the morning if you want a quote for the insurance company.” “I’d appreciate that, Brody.” “You’re going to have to wait until I get an arson investigation unit here. Nobody was seriously injured, so it may take some time. It won’t get priority at all, and I have to maintain the integrity of the crime scene.” Andy was clearly pissed. “I don’t need this shit.” Danny gave the cheeky grin that would have got him in a lot of grief if he weren’t so damn big. “Casey won’t be able to live here for a week at least. Where’s she gonna stay?”

 

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Zach and Colb spoke up at the same time that Luke and Brody did, but Ty put his hand up. “When are you idiots going to learn? It’s Casey’s call, no one else’s. Let’s go and see what she wants to do.” The smothered, panicking look on Casey’s face as Emma hovered over her gave Luke immediate hope. Her eyes were pleading for him to get her out of the situation. Brody caught his eye and a small smile touched his lips, too. Casey was not happy with her sister’s overzealous attention. “Tell her I will be fine, Luke. I’m quite capable of looking after myself. There’s not that much damage to the house.” “Actually, sweetheart, you won’t be able to go back into the house until a crime scene crew does an investigation. And then we have to do an assessment. The fire is the least of the problem. The water damage will have affected the whole front of the house. None of your windows were shut.” “I can’t stay here?” “Not for a week at least.” “You can come and stay with us. We have loads of room,” Emma insisted, but Luke saw Casey cringe at the suggestion. “Our spare room is empty. You’re welcome to it.” “She can’t stay with you. She can’t even go in there to get any clothes out,” Emma was quick to protest, pointing at the charred and smoke-stained building. “And like your clothes are gonna fit me. It’s closer to home and it will be easier for me to come and get what I need. The last time I checked, they were still making clothes and such. I’ll head into town and get enough to get me through. ” Emma went to protest again, but Ty told her that Casey was a big girl now and she had made her decision. It didn’t go down too well, but between the three of them, the Whelan brothers managed to get her bundled back into the car.

 

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Casey breathed a sigh of relief when Zach’s truck peeled out. “Thank God for that. There is no way I’m staying in their little love nest. I can’t watch Em get all gooey over them, it’s sickening.” “Let’s get you home then. Can you stand on that ankle or do I have to carry you again?” “Help me up and I’ll see how it is.” Between them they lifted her to her feet. She placed weight on the injured ankle slowly but was soon standing on it. “It’s fine.” Marley came over with a gel cold pack. “Take this with you. Keep it on the burn, ten minutes on, ten minutes off until it doesn’t hurt anymore, and don’t pop the blisters.” “Thanks, Marley.” Luke looked around. “If you want a ride, come back to our place with us and one of us will run you home if you like.” “What, and miss an opportunity to rub Andy up the wrong way? You’ve got to be kidding.” Marley flashed him a big smile and headed in the direction of the beleaguered deputy. “Come on, let’s get to the truck before Emma changes her mind and talks those three into coming back to rescue me.” “You can’t drive like that, sweetheart. Where are your keys?” “In the ignition, Luke, and you are not driving my baby. I might let you touch me, but don’t even think of touching that truck. You’re lucky I’m even letting you in it.” Luke hung his head, suitably chastised, and helped her up into the driver’s seat. And he’d thought men were the ones with unnatural attachments to mechanical objects. **** “Ten minutes is up. It’s gotta go back on.” Casey smiled in exasperation. Since they had got to their place nearly an hour ago, Brody had been timing her ice-pack rotation to the second. By the way Luke was grinning he found it just as amusing as

 

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she did. “He’s like a frigging mother hen. I swear, if he wakes me up trying to get me to put it on or take it off once I go to sleep, he’s going to find that ice pack jammed where the sun don’t shine.” Luke’s smile warmed her through. He had one of those mischievous, little-boy grins that left you powerless to do anything but smile back. Lying down on their three-seater couch with her legs over his lap, she felt its full devastating potential “Here, he’s coming. You had better put it back on.” Luke passed the gel pack just in time. Brody strolled back in to the living room looking fresh from his shower and adding to the toe-curling, fuck-me scent of that decadent bodywash that permeated the whole room. His eyes went straight to her injured arm. Casey strove to restrain the grin playing at the corners of her mouth, but it was hard with suspicion so easy to see in his gaze. The sight of his bare chest didn’t help with her powers of concentration either. Brody’s eyes flicked lower than the hand lying beside her head on the arm of the couch. “That shirt looks better on you than it ever did on Luke.” Casey glanced down and saw her nipples straining the front of the soft T-shirt. “That’s a matter of opinion.” For her dime, she’d much prefer to see it molded to Luke’s lean, sculpted chest. “How is your ankle?” “It’s fine. It’s just bruised, Brody. There’s no real damage. The wrist isn’t much worse. In a couple of days it will just be shiny skin. You’re fussing over nothing.” Casey saw Luke roll his eyes a second before Brody exploded. It was hard keeping a straight face when Luke was just so amused by it all. “Nothing? A fucking car blew up and threw you ten feet, and it was nothing? My heart fucking stopped. I thought you were gone, Casey.” “As you can see, I am here and I’m a little bruised, but I’m okay, Brody. Sit down before you pop something. That vein on your temple looks like it’s gonna burst.”

 

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Luke was fit to burst, too, but it was mirth taking hold of him. “You’re not going to win, Brode. If Casey isn’t all upset over it, don’t worry yourself. Just plant your ass and settle down.” Casey watched him look around at the possibilities. It was clear he didn’t want to be too far away. The look he shot Luke was just plain jealous. Brode had been touching her ever since she’d said she would stay with them rather than go home with Emma. She suspected it was more for his reassurance than hers. There was nothing like a little mortal danger to make a man’s protective instincts to kick in, and for him to make more of that basic male impulse than what it was. He probably fancied himself in love. “For fuck’s sake, Brody, I’m not going to disappear if you stop touching me. Sit down here if you really need to touch me. You can have my good arm.” Luke clearly found it all hilarious, but there was real warmth in his gaze as he watched Brody sink to the bearskin rug and tug her arm around him until her palm lay on his chest. Crisp hair tickled her fingers, but the heat and hardness beneath caught her breath and closed her eyes. Luke’s chocolate gaze was all but melting when she opened them back up. His big hand caressed her ankle gently, the calluses scraping deliciously across the fine, pale skin. Even with arousal simmering deep within, Casey felt safe and protected. A girl could definitely get used to this. She swiftly shut her heart before it could succumb to the same after-danger folly that clearly held Brody in sway. Luke’s smile held an almost mocking twist, but Casey closed her eyes and allowed fatigue to overcome her. She wasn’t sure if she imagined or actually heard the rough whisper that followed her into sleep, “You just keep fighting it, baby. We’ll steal your heart yet, sweetheart, and we ain’t giving it back.”

 

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Chapter 10 Dawn had long since come and gone when Casey opened her eyes and struggled to get her bearings. She ached all over. Not acute, identifiable pangs, but a generalized soreness that felt as if not one inch of her had been spared. The night came back in bold relief. The fire, the explosion, and her subsequent move to the Marshalls’ house were easily remembered. Even in the harsh light of day she didn’t regret that decision. It had seemed the lesser of two evils then and it held up now—Brody and Luke were child’s play to put up with compared to an overprotective sister who was still in the gagging, upchuck, honeymoon stage with her three lovers. She looked around, slightly disconcerted. She remembered falling asleep on the sofa and had no recollection of relocating to the spare room—the very room in which she had first sampled the forbidden, carnal fruit Luke and Brody had to offer. Movement at the door snared her attention. Luke was propping up the doorjamb, his stance as lazy as the grin that curled his lips. Faded jeans clad his legs, leaving his chest and feet sexily bared. “Morning, Case. How are you feeling?” She stretched to ascertain the extent of her soreness. “A bit stiff and sore, but my wrist doesn’t hurt much anymore. How did I end up in here?” “Brode decided you would wake up with a sore neck if you slept on the couch.” “He carried me again, didn’t he?” “Yep. I don’t understand your reluctance about that, sweetheart. You might be a big girl to those boys you were used to back in Carson

 

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City, but you don’t weigh much more than a feather to us, Case.” He pushed away from the door frame and ambled toward the bed. “Now what would make you feel better, Tylenol or a rubdown?” He pushed her hair back from her eyes with a gentle touch, his smile tender. “How about both?” “Greedy wench, aren’t you? I’ll get pills and some oil.” Casey watched him walk away with more than a touch of avarice in her gaze. Luke Marshall was fucking irresistible, and he had the cutest ass on God’s green earth. He returned before long with coffee, juice, pills, and a bottle of baby oil, but Casey found her indolent gaze was reluctant to leave his broad chest with its dusting of dark blond curls. “Don’t be looking at me like that now. I’m trying to be a good boy and ignore that you look like a sleepy, little sex kitten just waiting to purr. Here, have your pills and a drink and I’ll give those sore muscles a rub.” Rolling to her stomach, Casey tossed the pills back with a few swallows of juice. “I’ll have the coffee later. I don’t feel like waking right up quite yet.” Luke smiled and put the tray aside. The mattress sank down as he knelt atop it. “Okay, sleepyhead, lose the shirt and you can go back to sleep.” Somehow, Casey doubted that. The last thing she felt like doing with Luke’s big rough hands on her was sleeping. Instead of reaching for her shirt, she extended her hands above her head in mute request. Luke chuckled as he complied and tugged her shirt off. It was a struggle with her lying down, but he was exquisitely gentle as he removed her burnt wrist from the soft material. Casey nearly melted when his hand caressed the length of her spine from the small of her back above her sheet-covered ass to her nape. He gathered her hair, twisted it into a long rope, and lifted it out of the way. She felt like purring just like the kitten he’d accused her of being as she buried her head deeper in the pillow.

 

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He must have warmed the oil because there was no jarring cold as he spread it over her back, just the heated touch of his callused hands sliding frictionless across her skin. Aches and pains melted beneath his strong touch as he worked every inch of her back and shoulders. Casey’s eyes fluttered closed as she floated in a pleasurable haze, absorbing his heavenly slow hands. They heated even as they soothed, enticing and lulling all at once. “God, you’ve got magic hands.” “My horses have always thought so. You’re a lot less hairy than what I’m normally rubbing down. You purr a lot more, too.” “Mmm.” It was the best Casey could do in the circumstances. “Are you sore all over, or do you want me to stop at your back?” Stop? Was he mad? “Sore everywhere.” “Everywhere, huh?” She could hear the heated amusement in his rough voice. “Everywhere.” Casey didn’t care what he did as long as he kept touching her. The sheet skimmed down her bare legs, and she could actually feel the hot weight of his gaze following. His breath exploded from his throat, “Shit, sweetheart. You ought to give me a little warning. Men have had heart attacks over less than this.” His hand stroked over the bare globe of her ass and a smile grew on her lips. It had actually slipped her mind that she wasn’t wearing any panties. Well, Luke was a big boy, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it before—he’d get over it. “I’m gonna kill Brody for that stupid promise he made. I can’t behave myself with you looking like this.” Casey felt the caress of his breath a heartbeat before he pressed a kiss to her ass cheek. “Oh, Christ! You smell so good, like warm, wet, woman. How the fuck am I supposed to be good now?” “You’re always good, Luke.” Casey wiggled her ass to try to entice his lips back. “Show me just how good you can be.” “This is so not fair.” “Hey, you guys made the rules, not me.”

 

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Luke gave a frustrated growl. “Brody is a fucking moron.” “What have I done now?” Casey turned her head to see Brody in the doorway with a couple of large carry bags in his hand and an immediately interested look on his face as he looked over the scene on the bed. “You promised her we wouldn’t be after sex. She smells like a wet and willing dream and I’m supposed to ignore it?” Luke sounded sulky and incredulous all at once. “Casey can have as much attention as she wants. You’ve just gotta keep it in your pants, little brother.” Brody dropped the bags beside the door and came to the bed. The smile that curled his lips was tender and warm as he picked up the bottle of oil forgotten on the bedside table. “I take it this started as a rubdown. Were you feeling sore?” “Just a little achy.” Casey stretched, writhing slightly. “Now it’s a different kind of ache.” “I bet. Do you want another set of hands to make it all feel better?” Looking up into his dark, dark eyes, all she could do was nod. His fingers danced down the line of buttons on the front of his shirt and Casey writhed in anticipation of feeling them upon her. Luke rubbing his stubbled cheek against the back of her thigh could have also had more than a bit to do with the anticipation wracking her body. It was an indolent need, though, selfish and lazy. She just felt like lying back and taking all the pleasure they could bestow upon her and giving nothing in return. “I like that little smile, baby. What’s got you so heavy-eyed and languid looking?” Brody leaned against the bed and flicked back a wisp of hair lying on her cheek. “I feel bone lazy. I just want to lie back and enjoy everything and do absolutely nothing.” “Then that’s exactly what you can do. Both our jeans are staying on and zipped. Lap it up, baby—we just want to make you feel good.”

 

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If Luke disagreed he didn’t say anything. His mouth was busy nipping at her derriere, taking teasing little bites, gentle but firm. The wet heat of his mouth followed the line where buttock met thigh, traveling ever closer to the slickness she could feel building between. “Roll over, Casey. We’ll take care of everything else.” Casey got as far as her side. Her thighs slid smoothly together, warm and silky where skin caressed skin. The feeling was indulgent and blatantly self-pleasuring. She pressed them together harder and lifted her knees toward her chest into a lazy sort of fetal position. Brody sank to his knees at the side of the bed. His big arm reached behind and pulled her closer. The way his gaze was fixed on her breasts made his intentions clear, but still, the feel of him nestling his head in against her cleavage closed her eyes. Luke grumbled until the hand he ran across her buttocks struck the shamelessly wet lips of her pussy, exposed by her raised knees. He groaned and wiggled and found a position that must have been right, because his next nip landed right next to her seat bone, in a place that was neither ass nor thigh nor more intimate flesh, but a sinful combination of all three. Casey could only moan softly as his rough hands joined the quest, gripping ass and thigh alike as he spread her wider to his mouth. The big hands cupping her breasts were reverent, absolutely worshipful, as Brody held her for his mouth. He had shaved this morning, and only the smooth glide of his freshly shaven jaw rubbed the swollen mounds, instead of the stubble that normally drove her wild, but the unholy heat and wicked suction more than compensated. Twisting at the waist, she offered more of her breast up to Brody’s mouth. Her hand rose of its own accord to thread her fingers through the short, thick strands on his head. She didn’t try to control his movements, just kneaded and caressed at his scalp, unable to hold back all reciprocal instincts. Brody hummed his approval beneath her touch and the vibrations played through the nipple deep in his mouth and headed straight for her womb.

 

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The bites Luke took of her skin were interspersed with deep plunges of his tongue in her syrupy cunt and thick, fat, swipes fair up the middle of her pussy lips. Every time he passed over her throbbing clit, Casey jumped involuntarily and pressed her thighs even tighter together. His biting was driving her crazy. She wanted it harder, ached for the edge of pain. When he targeted the delicate skin on either side of her divide her eyes rolled back in ecstasy. She couldn’t believe the decadent pleasure evoked when he bit the inner face of each ass cheek, ever closer to her asshole but touching the tight pucker with nothing more than his breath. She wanted to trap his head between her thighs and make him give her the orgasm that was building larger and more devastating with every touch and caress in the base of her spine, but she made herself give in to the rare lassitude riding her and just took the pleasure Luke was so freely offering. Brody eased her upper body further onto the bed and Casey went willingly. From heavily lidded eyes she watched him lower his head back down over the pink nipples straining toward his mouth. His lips parted, the gleam of white teeth showing, and he sipped first at one and then the other. His black-hued gaze came to rest on her parted lids. “Watch me love them, honey. You look so fucking beautiful, all soft and sleepy and horny as hell. I want to suck them when I’m so deep inside you, you don’t know where you start and I end. I’ll feel every flutter my mouth causes in that tight little cunt as you squeeze tighter and tighter around my dick.” His mouth engulfed half of one snowy mound, laving the tight, darkened nipple, sucking deep, and Casey was lost. His dark words skated down her spine and pooled in the ocean of want Luke was causing to ebb and flow in her womb. The two pleasures met and mated, multiplying in intensity. Luke buried his face in her pussy and ravenously fed, every part of his face caressing a part of her wet, greedy sex. Sensation rushed inward from every extremity, racing along nerves to join the frenzied pressure building so deep within her hot molten core.

 

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A hushed stillness, born of fevered anticipation, held sway but for a moment, and then all hell broke loose. Ecstasy rushed along those same neural pathways, ever outward, in an explosion of molten rapture. Her body bowed and shook beneath the onslaught of unadulterated pleasure. She swallowed the cry that wanted to spring from her lips, unable to give in entirely with ebony eyes watching every nuance of her climax. A knowing smile lit Brody’s face and he laid his head between her breasts, right over her heart pounding so fiercely. Luke drew away from her swollen sex with one last suckling kiss and drew her legs down. He snuggled in against her waist, his arm splayed over her hips. “How are the aches and pains now, sweetheart?” “Better than yours, I’ll warrant.” Luke snuggled closer and she could feel the tacky mess she had left on his face. “That’s nasty! Go and wash. Your face feels like a glazed donut.” “It’s twice as sweet as any donut, sweetheart, but if it bothers you, I’ll get cleaned up.” Casey could feel Brody smiling against the delicate skin of her chest as his brother left the room. “Are you going to let me up, or am I to stay in bed all day?” “You won’t get any complaints from me if you do, but it will be all so much harder for us to keep our word if you stay there looking like that.” He lifted up and ran his eyes over her breasts. Casey watched in amusement as the relaxed nipples contracted sharply beneath the passage of his gaze. Brody shook his head as he watched the phenomenon. “Go and have a shower, wench. I’ll have fresh coffee waiting for you.” Casey took care to give her ass an extra twitch when she rose from the bed and walked naked for the bathroom. Brody’s whispered “God give me strength” fell sweetly on her ears, but Luke stole the show. His eyes damn near popped from his head as he staggered into the hall wall and stared like a slack-jawed idiot as she passed. She couldn’t

 

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resist giving him a smile over her shoulder as she entered the bathroom. Laughter bubbled up as he tripped over his own feet. High on the heady effect she had upon the brothers, Casey kept the thought that popped into her head safely inside. I must only use my powers for good… **** “How do they fit?” Brody put the steaming mug down on the kitchen table as she entered the airy, timbered room. “Okay, I guess, they’re just so new. They’ll take a bit of breaking in.” He watched as she wriggled and adjusted the fit of the new jeans he had bought her that morning. It wasn’t by accident they were one size too small. Luke fully appreciated his lapse in correct sizing, too, if the way he had his head cocked to the side sizing up Casey’s ass was any indication. “Does the rest fit all right?” He’d been unable to resist buying lingerie rather than the serviceable underwear Casey normally favored, although he had made sure the bra was supportive enough for her to be active in. The color that tinged her cheeks delighted him. The woman who had walked brazenly past the pair of them as naked as a jay was blushing over wearing underwear he had bought. “It fits fine, Brody. Thank you.” “I was talking to Andy this morning while I was in town. The arson squad will be up on Thursday. You should be able to get back in there next weekend. He will meet us at your place later this afternoon so you can get the basics out, though. You’ll be needing your phone and the like for work.” “Thank God for that. I thought I would have to get a new phone. My wallet was still in the truck, but I can’t do business without a cell. I need to get a few other things, too.” Not to mention her birth control

 

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pills. Casey slid into the chair Luke held out. “Mmm, I don’t know what smells better, the coffee or the bacon. I’m starving.” Brody watched with amusement as Casey inhaled the food Luke laid before her. It was close to lunchtime and she hadn’t eaten for nearly twenty-four hours. The fire had interrupted any meal plans she’d had last night and sleep had robbed her of any later chance at sustenance. A body like hers would take plenty of fuel. He’d never known a woman who worked out as hard as she did for the love of it rather than chasing some magazine-perfect body. His preference had always been for soft, slender women who had never lifted anything heavier than a nail file, but Casey with her strength and stamina was a match for both of them. They didn’t have to be careful of their strength and coddle and protect her, no matter how much the dominant male in him screamed at him to do so. She sat back from the emptied plate and picked up the strong black coffee. “So, what have you got planned for today?” “We were headed over to a time-event jackpot day in Casper, but it would be half over by now.” “I guess the fire threw a wrench in everyone’s plans. I would have loved to go to that. I haven’t been to a rodeo in years. Were you two competing?” “Calf roping and team roping. We needed the practice, too, we haven’t done much lately.” Brody could see the interest in her eyes. “We could always run a few through our arena if you want to watch. It’ll be hot and dusty, though.” “That sounds great. Can one of you show me how to throw a rope? I’ve had a play-around before, but I could never get the hang of it.” Brody saw the smile that lit up Luke’s face and knew he’d get in first. “I’d love to show you. Grab a hat and meet us down at the barn. We’ll get the horses ready.”

 

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“Are you planning on getting her toes broken as well, Luke? I don’t think either of our boots will fit Case no matter how many pairs of socks she wears.” Casey had already solved the dilemma, though. “There’s a pair of ropers in the toolbox on the Kenworth. They’re steel caps, but they will do in a pinch. Can one of you grab them for me? There’s a pair of rigger gloves in there, too. Your gloves have about as much chance of fitting me as your boots do” “You’re letting us touch your baby?” Brody smiled. “Only the toolbox. Don’t even think about getting inside.” **** Her borrowed hat cast a big shadow as Casey swung a loop at the plastic calf’s head spiked into the bale of hay. The nylon rope hit the nose and slipped off before she could pull up the slack. Luke and Brody had headed off to get some stock in for practice, and Casey was determined to master the basics before they got back. She recoiled the hard rope, going with the “memory” built in to the stiff braid. Her lesson with Luke had been full of esoteric terminology and a lot more physical contact than was strictly necessary. She gave the rope a twisting flick and built a loop from toe to shoulder and then grabbed the rawhide-lined knot-loop through which the rope passed, which was apparently called a “honda.” The “spoke” was the distance from that knot to where she had to hold both the loop and the tail end together, approximately from hand to elbow in length. Twirling the rope around her head was easy once Luke had told her she should be kissing the back of her hand with each pass, but it had resulted in a lot of laughter and her hat being knocked off more than once before she realized that it was the position of her hand that mattered, not the contact of lips to the back of her hand.

 

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She lined up the practice target once more and pointed her finger as she released, showing the rope the way. This time it wrapped neatly around the “neck,” and Casey yanked it tight, letting out a celebratory “Woo-hoo!” She quickly looked around, and sure enough, Brody was sitting there with a foot cocked across the front of his saddle watching with an amused grin on his face. “Luke’s a better teacher than I thought. He must have been doing more than just the rubbing all over you I saw.” Casey flushed when she thought of the long, hard length of Luke pressed to her back as he showed her how to build a loop. “We’re going to start running a few, through. Come over and you can work the gate for us.” There was a plastic school chair fitted atop the forward-facing chute in which a steer stood waiting. “Climb up there on top of the box. All you have to do is pull the handle when I give the nod.” Casey climbed up into the seat and wrapped her hands around the rubber grip on the steel handle sitting up before the seat. She watched as Brody easily backed a coal-black horse into the corner of the box on her left. Luke was sitting Checkers on her right. Both animals sat back on their well-muscled haunches in the padded corners, eyes and ears locked forward, quivering with anticipation. Brody hefted his loop, his dark eyes intent and focused beneath the brim of his black cutter. He gave a nod and Casey pulled the lever. The steer tore from the dogging chute like a bat out of hell, but Brody held the black back before letting it explode from the box. Luke followed on his heels. Brody only swung the loop twice before it fell with devastating precision around the steer’s horns. His hand moved like lightning as he dallied around the rubber-wrapped saddle horn and turned his mount out to the left, with the steer forced to follow. Luke was swinging his loop with his typical lazy grace and, as soon as the steer was turned, sent his loop in underneath the animal. Casey watched as the steer brought both back feet down inside the rope. Luke pulled Checkers to a halt as he, too, dallied up. Brody swung the black

 

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around and they faced up with the steer stretched out between them, on its feet, but off-balance and helpless. Casey was amazed. They had accomplished it in a matter of seconds. They loosened the ropes, and the steer trotted off toward a pen at the other end of the sand-filled arena. Luke flicked his rope and it fell from the legs of the beast, but Brody had to wait until it entered the short race to lean down and retrieve his. They rode back toward her, coiling their ropes and looking like a Western wet dream. Casey clenched her thighs tight, more than a little aware of the seam of the ridiculously tight jeans pressing against her clit. Brody looked like the devil himself on the coal-black gelding, all dark, flashing eyes and a wicked grin. Luke was a study in gold. From Checkers’s glistening buckskin hide to the curls peeking out beneath his cream hat, even his skin held a golden sheen where his sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. The light and the dark, so very different, yet the set of their jaws and the half grins on their faces were identical. They were damn good, and they knew it. Alpha, arrogant, and more than a little conceited, but Casey found herself agreeing with Marley—what was a man without his pride? She managed to keep it together while they ran another two steers through, but it was tough going. Trying to concentrate enough to respond to the tiny nod Brody gave was damn near impossible when all she wanted to do was see if the slight regrowth of beard peeking through along his jaw was as rough as it looked. Luke had actually laughed when Brody had nodded not once but three times the last round. After they had released the last steer, Luke rode up next to the box and spun Checkers sideways. “Jump on. I’ll take you up to get Spot while Brody is running the calves in, and you can see how much you learned.” Casey took hold of his shoulders and slid her leg across Checkers’s wide rump. Luke moved him off before she settled, and she had to grab him tight around the waist and suppress an

 

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embarrassing squeal as he loped away. Brody just shook his head and held the gate wide so they could pass. Spot was already saddled, standing peacefully in the shady barn with one hip cocked lazily. Casey felt reluctant to disturb him, but Luke assured her the Appaloosa wouldn’t be doing much more than standing around anyway. They returned to the arena to see over a dozen fairly big calves in the pen behind the box. Brody was on foot waiting beside the chute. “Bring Spot around here and park him with his nose to the corner of the box. That’s it. Now, where’s your rope?” Casey found it hanging on the back of the seat next to her. “Got it.” “Okay, set a loop up the way Luke showed you.” Casey went through the motions and built a loop. “Not bad at all.” Brody approved. “Now, what you’re gonna do is drop your reins and stand in the stirrups. Spot won’t move now, no matter what you do. As long as you don’t pick your reins up, he’ll stand right there. He’s worn enough ropes up the back of his ears to know to keep his head down, so don’t worry about hitting him. Practice your swing, that’s it. “What we’re going to do is let a few calves out past you. Have your loop swinging and just give the nod. Hopefully Luke will be paying a bit more attention than you were.” His grin brought a fresh blush to her face. “Just throw a loop down on ’em. Don’t expect to catch any the first time ’round. A moving target takes a bit of practice. It’s all in the timing. Are you ready to give it a go?” Her first loop landed so far from the calf’s path he wouldn’t have even felt it passing. The second calf got a rope around its ass and kicked up bucking as the rope fell off. “That’s great, sweetheart, but you’re after the other end.” Luke got his hat flicked off for his comment since he was so handy in the elevated chair. The third calf was a big one and brought home the fact that no one had told her what to do if she did catch one. She had cast her loop what she’d thought was way too early, but the lively little red-andwhite longhorn-cross ran right through it. The loop tightened around

 

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its neck, and Casey’s victory shout joined that of Luke and Brody, harmonizing for a joyful instant before she was yanked clear out of the saddle. Only when she was lying face down in the sand did it cross her mind to let go of the rope. She rolled over and blinked up at Brody. His concern died as she giggled and a smile was twitching around his lips like he wasn’t sure of the reception he’d get if gave in to the mirth in his eyes. Luke had no such qualms. He was laughing his ass off atop the box. Casey laughed, too. She must have been some sight, flying through the air after the fleet-footed calf. It took two goes to grab the hand Brody extended, but he did pull her to his feet. “I’m not sure who caught who, honey, but you got a loop on him. You climb back on Spot and I’ll go get your rope.” His deep chuckle reached her ears as he wandered down the other end of the arena. Luke was still giggling when she climbed back up on Spot. The unfortunate-looking animal had stood there patiently throughout it all. Luke reached out and brushed some sand off her nose. “That, sweetheart, is one of the funniest things I have ever seen—nearly as good as seeing Colby piss on the electric fence last year at the roundup.” Casey winced at that. “Come here, you’ve got a bit more right there.” He pointed toward her left cheek and Casey leaned forward, but the hand that snagged the back of her neck held her still for the wet stamp of lips rather than any dirt removal. His kiss was joyous and playful. “You are gorgeous, sweetheart. Now if you catch another one, let the damn rope go. Brody is going to have a fuckin’ heart attack if you get hurt again.” The man in question was approaching with her neatly coiled rope. Casey didn’t think it was an accident that his body rubbed against her leg as he handed the rope over or that the hand he rested on the back of the saddle ran the full length of her thigh when he stepped back. The corner of his lips kicked up when her nipples responded, threatening to poke holes in both the lacy new bra he had bought her

 

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and the borrowed shirt she wore over it. It just wasn’t fair. They made her body sing for their touch without doing a goddamn thing. The only consolation was the way they both now filled the front of their jeans out. She wasn’t the only one affected. Casey managed to catch two more of the dozen calves remaining, letting the rope go cleanly on both occasions. She’d been disappointed when they had been forced to cut the practice short due to the rising temperature. She was proud of her accomplishment and couldn’t hold back the grin as she helped to run the calves back up to the pasture. “You look like a little kid, all puffed up and proud.” Brody brought the black in beside Spot. “And here I was trying to prove that I’m a big girl.” “You’ve got nothin’ to prove to us, Casey. We like you just the way you are. Dirt and all.” He wiped her cheek with his callused thumb. Casey fought not to close her eyes and purr like a kitten. Brody didn’t attempt to steal a kiss as Luke had done. He just gave her a smile loaded with cunt-clenching promise and loped away. Spot continued on at a more leisurely pace and for that Casey was glad. Her head was reeling and her jeans had to be soaked clean through. There was no future in it, none whatsoever. Brody would wake up one day soon and find that now that he’d caught her it was time to let her go, and Luke, being the loyal soul that he was, would follow his brother’s lead. She had until next weekend to sate the hunger that grew every time she even looked at Brody or Luke. A week to hold her heart aloof and indulge her carnal appetite at will. Because, unlike her heart, her body could take all the lovin’ use and abuse those two could dish out and still want more.

 

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Chapter 11 “I think you missed a bump, Luke. Want to go back and get it? No! I was only joking!” Casey jumped off the cargo rack of the ATV before he could act on her sarcasm. Brody pulled up beside them on a second four-wheeler, parking next to the hitching rail above the thermal pool. “How is your butt, Case? That looked like a rough ride.” “It was.” She punched Luke’s shoulder and rubbed her injured rear at the same time. “Ouch! Don’t be bruising me. I was just having a little fun.” “Yeah? You could tell who had the padded seat. I want to drive on the way back.” “You’re welcome to, but you can bet I won’t be shy about sharing the soft seat, sweetheart.” Luke flashed her the kind of smile that could wet panties from fifty paces. Casey realized she was doomed to a state of eternal arousal around the pair of them when she turned to Brody, who had that smoldering, bad-boy grin happening. He tossed her a duffel bag that was big enough to hide a body in and hefted the large Igloo he had on the rack of his bike. “Jump on the other end of this, Luke. How much beer did you put in here? It weighs a friggin’ ton.” “We’ll probably still run short. Casey can drink like a fish.” Casey shook her head and threw the bag over her shoulder. They had met Andy at her place earlier that afternoon, and she had been able to retrieve necessaries from her house and empty the fridge and freezer before everything went off with the power being cut.

 

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When Luke had suggested a picnic dinner by the spring to use up the contents of her fridge, she had been more than a tad flustered but had agreed when his elder brother had raised his eyebrows in clear challenge. The smile that had hovered around Brody’s eyes left no mistaking that he, too, was remembering her last visit to the spring. A lot of good natured bitching met her ears as they negotiated the precarious path with the cooler between them. A breeze had picked up, flowing down out of the Bighorns and bringing some welcome relief from the stifling heat that had sprung up in the later part of the afternoon. Carrying the scent of warm pine and summer, the gentle wind wrapped around Casey as she waited for Luke and Brody to negotiate the first drop-down. It was the kind of summer evening made for kicking back with friends and cracking a beer or two, for letting go of worries and living in the moment. She felt it was a real privilege to be able to do it in a heavenly setting like the spring, and it was no hardship that the “friends” were so damn easy on the eye. They reached the spring nestled in the head of the box canyon and sat the cooler down in the shade of the scraggy pine beside the clear aqua water. Casey squinted up at the orange ball low on the western rim and knew it wouldn’t be long before the sun sank beyond the rock lip above. She dropped the bag to the relatively flat gravel gathered between two protruding boulders and accepted the Miller Lite Luke offered. “Cheers.” Casey lifted the bottle in salute and then sighed as the icy-cold liquid flowed across her palate. Nothing hit the spot like a cold one at the end of a hot day. “The towels are in that bag if you want one to sit on, Case.” Brody kicked his joggers off and sat on the smooth rock surrounding the pool, dangling his feet in the water. She had been relieved that both brothers had changed into shorts and tanks after their shower. Her IQ suffered enough in their presence without having them naked. She grabbed the towels out of the bag and sat them on a rock by the water. Her belly did strange little flip-flops when, in addition to a

 

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picnic rug, she saw a couple of sleeping bags stuffed into the oversize bag. Brody had packed that one while she and Luke took care of the cooler. He had clearly decided to cater for all possibilities. She slipped the long-sleeved shirt off and sat on the side where her feet could rest on the ledge. She watched the water turn cloudy as her feet stirred up the fine limestone sediment. The calcium-rich mineral was the reason she had carefully pinned her hair up high. Luke had warned her, but nothing could have prepared her for the steel-wool feel of her hair when it dried without being washed first. It felt like a nightmare and left her looking like she’d been dragged through a knot hole backward. The weight of two gazes fell upon her and she looked up to see them both peering in the cloudy water. “What?” “Lift that left leg up.” Brody’s tone brooked no nonsense. Puzzled, Casey complied. Luke winced and Brody just looked mad. There was a purple rendering of the sole of a heavy-treaded work boot on her ankle. It was sore to touch but otherwise caused her no worry. “It’s fine. It looks much worse than it is. I bruise easily.” She looked from one brother to the other, a little amused at the consternation on their faces. “Really. It’s not bothering me, so it shouldn’t bother you.” “You’re not the one who put it there, sweetheart. I feel terrible.” “You weren’t so concerned about bruising my ass on the ride up here.” “Your ass is different. Bruising that gives me all sorts of excuses to kiss it better.” Casey choked on her beer. Luke was irrepressible. “Break out those potato chips. I’m starving.” Brody retrieved the chips from the cooler with his long reach and opened them up, laying them on the rock between him and Luke. “Come and sit over here if you want some.” Rather than get up and walk around, Casey stripped off her spaghetti-strap tank and faded cutoffs, revealing her black bikini beneath, and slipped into the cool

 

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water. Being careful of her half–full longneck, she nudged Luke’s foot off the submerged boulder and took a seat. If she leaned on Luke’s leg she had the perfect spot, central to the food source, somewhere to sit her beer, and something a lot more comfortable than the hard rock wall to rest her back against. Brody just grinned with amusement as she made herself comfortable. “I guess that means we’re on firewood duty?” “I’m not going poking around looking for wood. There’ll be snakes everywhere after the heat today, and they are not on my list of favorite wildlife.” “That makes two of us, Case. I don’t like ’em either.” “You’re a pair of sissies. Lean all over Brody instead and I’ll go and get some wood.” Luke got up and stalked off down the ravine. “And don’t eat all the chips.” Casey shifted around and made herself at home against Brody’s thigh. She leaned back so she could see his face, “Are you really scared of snakes, Brode?” “No. It keeps me out of getting wood, though.” “That’s what I figured.” She shifted against him, trying to get comfortable. “Hold still for a moment, wiggle worm.” Brody lifted one thigh clear over her so that she sat between them. Casey rolled her shoulders and ended up hooking an arm over each of his thighs so it was like sitting back in a big old armchair. “That’s better. Nice and comfy.” She tilted her head to take a drink and felt her piled-up hair brush against his belly. She wondered how long he’d last in that position. Her nipples had contracted sharply at the first touch of skin on skin and the way Brody was hissing through his teeth when she took a drink told its own story. He’d said his pants were staying on today, but Casey was wondering just how much coaxing it would take to get the big man out of them. ****

 

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Brody sat back and tried to think of job quotes, tax figures, February blizzards, and the Cowboys’ game stats from the last three seasons. Anything but the woman between his thighs. But her heat and silky skin could not be ignored. Nor could the scent of her shampoo drifting up, a heady combination of feminine gardenia and sassy cinnamon that had his blood migrating southward at an alarming rate. He had promised her he’d prove it was more than sex. He knew it was so much more, but right then all he could feel was the desire rising within, powerful and breath-stealing, like none he’d ever known. One hand wrapped his beer, clenching hard enough that the bottle should have shattered, while the other tried to bury into the sedimentary rock behind him in an effort to keep them from all the pale, freckle-kissed skin before him. He had a week to prove to Casey that he wanted her, not the sex, a full week. He’d end up with a bad case of blue-balls, that was a given, but Brody felt it was a small price to pay to see a smile on his brother’s face every day and have this woman in his bed for all time. Casey was nothing like the other women he’d known. She was brutally honest and she wouldn’t take anyone’s shit, least of all his. She was gorgeous and giving and burned hotter than any other woman Luke and he had ever had between them. Casey Buckley was perfect. He just had to convince her he was serious, and as to how to do that, he had not a fucking clue. She tipped the bottle up and her head brushed along his stomach once more. He swallowed the tortured groan striving to break free, but the resulting strangled noise sounded like a dying, waterlogged frog. Casey rolled her head to the side and looked up at him in question. “What was that?” “Nothing. I’m fine.” “You sure? You sound a little ragged.” She swiveled around sideways and this time Brody couldn’t hold back the groan as her arm

 

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caressed the fleshly pole making a tent of his shorts. He saw her surprise and the instant arousal as her pupils dilated and her lips parted on a soft gasp. “You make it so damn hard to be good, Casey. Luke’s right. I was a fucking moron to make a promise like that.” “I don’t know why you’re so worried about that. This morning proved to me that you can stay in control. I know you won’t fuck me no matter how much I want it, but I want to play a bit, Brody. Will you let me do what I want?” He looked down into her cerulean eyes and knew he was lost. He couldn’t deny her anything. “Do your worst, Casey. I’m just praying you’re not going to be cruel and leave me hanging.” She turned until she was kneeling on the submerged rock, and Brody felt his cock pound fiercely with the blood coursing through it. Casey looked hungry. There was no other word for it. Raw hunger burned in the blue depths of her eyes. “Relax, cowboy. I’ve got no intentions of leaving you hanging.” Her hands splayed across his thighs and pushed upward, sliding over skin and material alike until she reached his top. She tugged at it imperiously. Brody couldn’t help but smile as he put his beer down and pulled the tank off over his head, Casey had a real thing for his chest that he wasn’t about to question. He worked hard and his body reflected that. It was big and rough and unrefined, but that didn’t seem to worry Casey none. Her hands sneaked up his sides and spread across his bulky chest. They looked so pale and delicate against his dark, hair-spattered chest, but there was nothing delicate about her strength as she pushed him back with a shove. He caught himself on his elbows, and the look in Casey’s eyes said she had him exactly where she wanted him. She rose upward, letting her wet hands trail down across his stomach. Brody sucked in a breath as she teased the sensitive skin. They zeroed in on the button of his shorts. She seemed unconcerned that the way was blocked by a persistent piece of flesh standing at attention. She just bumped his

 

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cock aside with her wrist and kept on with her task. Brody thought about breathing in and making it easier for her, but he was more than a little enamored of the kiss of her knuckles against his belly and the nudges on his cock as she struggled. She would get there eventually. He had expected her to pause when the button finally gave in but the rip of Velcro quickly assured him otherwise. She spread the fly wide, leaving him proud and bare to the kiss of the summery wind. The way her eyes lit up had him digging deep for control. She looked bashful and brazen all at once, a shy seductress bent on pleasure. Her hands slid beneath his open shorts and cupped his hipbones, the thumbs stroking softly over the ridge of muscle girding them. Her gaze lifted from the thick length of throbbing flesh momentarily, hardly more than a flick up to his, but it was enough to spy the voracious wonder. His scrotum drew up in anticipation as she lowered her head. Hot, wet velvet ran from his balls to the wide, smooth cockhead, laying a trail of flames along his shaft only more of her touch could put out. The tip of her agile tongue darted into the slit, damn near rolling his eyes in his head as fissions of sensation streaked along his nerves. Her hot breath bathed him a heartbeat before the satiny wonder of her lips laid a suckling kiss right atop the wide crown. There was no way in hell he could have held back the fiery essence that trickled past his control. He felt more than heard the moan that rumbled through Casey as she swiped the flat of her tongue eagerly across the pre-cum he spilled. One of her hands crept to hold the base of his cock and Brody found his eyes glued to the strip of blood-darkened flesh where her fingers didn’t quite meet. His ego roared its approval of the sight. He knew he wasn’t small, but the knowledge that a woman with Casey’s strong hands couldn’t span him was immensely gratifying. He couldn’t wait to see her lips stretched wide around it. She lifted his shaft away from his body, holding him in position for her mouth. He saw the corner of her lips curl and the blue eyes

 

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that looked up at him held mischief and promised more than a little trouble. Boldly holding his gaze, she lapped at his crown, licking at him like he was an ice cream melting fast. Her lips parted wide and Brody thought he was finally going to feel the full embrace of her mouth. He’d seen her go down on Luke and he knew just how willing and eager her sweet mouth could be. Casey could deep-throat with the best of them, but she was intent on teasing him. Again and again she opened wide, only to take teasing little sipping sucks at the weeping head. Brody felt a growl of frustration building in his throat, “Come on, honey, suck it for me.” A crooked smile full of smug satisfaction graced her lips, and her tongue darted out again. “Make me.” Her blue eyes sparkled in challenge. Oh, Christ! Casey wanted to play that game? Every muscle in his body clenched and quivered in blatant anticipation at the mere thought of forcing Casey to do his bidding. No. Not here. Not now. No way. He curbed in his dominant streak ruthlessly. What Casey thought she wanted and what she actually wanted were two different things. He’d give her a taste, but he knew Casey wouldn’t tolerate him at his most intense. He wrapped his hand around her nape, making sure his thumb sat over the hinge of her jaw. That was one lesson he’d learned early and learned well. If you were going to take control of a woman’s head when a sensitive piece of your anatomy was between her only means of defense, you sure as shit made sure you were in a position to neutralize that threat. He wouldn’t be needing it with Casey, though. He had no intention of pushing her to the point where she was forced to retaliate. “Open up, baby.” Brody pushed her head down and felt her lips seal, denying him entry. Her damn eyes were still sparkling defiantly. “Come on, honey, you know you want another taste. I want to push it so far down your throat I can feel your tongue tickle my balls.” The

 

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torrid words had the effect he had hoped for, and her lips opened on a rough exhalation of breath. Searing heat engulfed him as she sank obediently down on his cock. Her lips stretched obscenely around his shaft as her slithering tongue played over the fat head buried in the moist haven of her mouth. Unmitigated ecstasy swept through him, branding his brain with the erotic vision. He brought her up to breathe and then pushed her slowly back down his length. He stopped her when he felt the head of his dick kiss her throat, giving her the threat of force rather than the reality. The hungry noises she was making in the back of her throat were goading him on, urging him to loosen the reins and let chaos rule, but he couldn’t. That was just fine for playthings, subs who got off on total domination, but Casey was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She was too strong and independent to want more than just a bit of rough play. She jerked away when he allowed her to come back up and nipped him just below his cockhead, hard. “Ouch! Fuck! What did you do that for?” “I said ‘make me,’ Brody, not ‘pussyfoot around.’” She snapped her teeth again. Goaded beyond reason, Brody showed no mercy. He seized her neck once more and shoved her down his length. He didn’t make any allowances this time. She had a hand to wrap around him and control how far he pushed her if she needed it. He’d never had a sub challenge him like that. Hell, no woman had ever dared to do that to him. Involuntary contractions of her throat caressed his invading cockhead as it forced its way past. Brody set a gliding pace, quick enough to bring him to orgasm, but not so fast that he couldn’t enjoy the ride. His hand guided her, but he found he wasn’t forcing anything. Her mouth opened willingly, and she arched her neck to

 

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take him deeper all of her own accord. Willing and wanton and hotter than hell. “Fuck, baby. That is so damn sexy. I’m not gonna last, honey. I’m gonna be shooting my load straight down that hot little throat of yours real quick. That’s the way, moan around me. Let me feel how much you want to taste me.” Her cheeks hollowed out as he spoke and diabolical suction joined the deep oral massage of his cock. His balls trembled, like an earthquake before a volcanic eruption, and he felt the hot surge of seed boiling up, as though it was being extracted from some place much deeper in his body. “Christ, Case! Here it comes, baby.” The brazen wench held his gaze through it all. He was transfixed, unable to look away, as she milked every drop of cum from his cock. It was he who lifted her head and watched while her tongue darted out and collected a late bead of fluid. She looked as if she would have been quite happy to suckle his softening cock all night. Feminine, sexy, and more than a little pleased with herself. “Scared of snakes, huh? I see that the one-eyed-trouser-snake is exempt from your phobia, sweetheart.” Luke dropped an armful of wood down in the clearing, his sarcasm thick enough to carve. Brody gave him a rueful smile, but the tenting of Luke’s shorts said he’d done more than just wander in at the finale. Luke liked to watch almost as much as he liked to join in. He wondered if Luke had seen her bite, heard her brazen little challenge. That had floored him. He’d had no idea there was a closet submissive, albeit one who topped from the bottom, lurking beneath Casey’s bold as brass exterior. He swept his thumb across her swollen lower lip. “You okay, hon?” She nipped his thumb. “Never better.” Pure mischief sparkled in her big blue eyes. “What’s the matter, Brode? Did you think you were dishing out more than I could take?”

 

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“I don’t know what to think. I think I’m still in shock. You fuckin’ bit me!” “You say that like it hasn’t happened before.” She reached over and snagged her longneck. Brody couldn’t take his eyes off her damn mouth. “Believe me, sweetheart, no one has done that to Brode before. If it hadn’t been so damn hot I would have been rolling around on the ground laughing.” Luke dropped his shirt to the ground and bombed into the deep spot of the pool, splashing them both. He came up shaking water from his head like a long-haired hound. “If you reckon we need more firewood, you can get it yourselves. I ain’t moving. Throw me a cold one and put that thing away.” Brody tucked himself back in with a grin when Luke didn’t waste any time in pulling Casey to him. He felt real warmth grow in his chest as he saw his brother whisper in Casey’s ear and heard her laughter peal forth. It could have had something to do with the lassitude of afterglow riding him, but he couldn’t remember anything ever feeling as right as seeing the two people who meant the most to him sharing intimate banter. Casey was worming her way under his skin and thawing the heart he had long since put on ice. It didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as he’d thought it would. Brody smiled as he cracked a fresh beer and slid into the water. The night was young, and Casey looked like she had more mischief on her mind than just the sample she had given him. She was trouble wrapped in silk and tied off with barbed wire. Luke couldn’t get enough, and Brody had to admit that neither could he. **** “I damn near passed out when you sassed Brode, sweetheart. All my blood tried to fit in my dick at once. That was so fuckin’ hot.” Casey’s laughter wrapped around Luke tighter than the arm she draped over his shoulder. As she leaned in to whisper back, her hard-

 

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pointed breasts scraped his chest, and her face teased the wet curls at his ear. “I wanted to shake him up a bit. He thinks he’s so in control.” “You did that all right. The look on his face was priceless.” Casey’s skin was so soft beneath his roughened palm. Luke couldn’t get enough of touching it, caressing her back between the low waist of her bottoms and the bow holding her top on. He thought about giving the trailing tails a yank and undoing her top, but he was happy just to have her buoyant body bumping and sliding against him for now. Casey was relaxed and joyous, comfortable with both herself and them in a way Luke had hungered to see. There wasn’t a trace of shyness in her now. Even when he’d walked back into the clearing and she’d still had his brother’s cum on her lips, she hadn’t been bothered in the slightest. “Would it have shocked you?” The saucy tilt to her jaw made him want to eat her from the mouth down. “You wouldn’t bite me. You know I’m too lazy to retaliate and that I might just like it.” “Do you want me to drink these for you, too, or can you manage that part yourselves?” Luke turned to take the bottles from Brody while Casey stayed right where she was like a redheaded limpet. Brody’s amused smile was decidedly on the tender side as he looked at the cling-on. “What’s up, Casey? You’re looking a little hot and bothered there, hon.” “I thought I could stir you up without being affected, but, damn, I haven’t been this horny since…” “This morning?” Luke supplied, laughing at the look on her face when she realized that indeed, it hadn’t been much longer than a handful of hours since she’d last come. “That’s okay, sweetheart. I think it’s been way too long since I tasted you, too. Go to Brody. I can remedy that right now.”

 

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Brody put his beer aside and pulled Casey back in against his chest. “You’re lucky Luke is the generous type. I would have left you hanging for hours after that stunt you pulled with your teeth.” Luke had to laugh when Casey leaned back and nipped Brode’s chin, taunting him again, “Stop fussin’, cowboy. You know you loved it.” Luke slid her bikini bottoms down her long pale legs and dropped them on the rock beside his beer with a wet plop. “Let her come this way a bit, Brode.” Casey was tall enough to reach from where Brody sat on the boulder to the shelf-like ledge. He saw her grab at Brody’s neck for purchase as he tugged her toward him, lifting her away from his brother until Casey’s head lay against Brody’s shoulder and her lower body floated along the surface of the milky blue water. He couldn’t help but grin wolfishly as he slid his hands along her silky legs—she looked like a willing sacrifice all laid out for his pleasure. Her head was tilted back, resting on Brody’s shoulder, but blue fire blazed forth from under her fine, ruby-tinted lashes. The smile curling her parted lips was anticipatory, and her breaths quick and shallow. Of her own accord, Casey lifted one leg and hooked it over his shoulder. Luke resisted the heel she urged him closer with just to feel her strength. Proving that two could play, he seized her hips and lifted her clear of the water. Her pussy was wide open before his gaze, the plump lips swollen slightly with her arousal. He spied her shiny little clit peeking out from beneath its hood and blew air over it, knowing it would be cold as hell on her water-wet folds. Casey didn’t disappoint him. She shrieked and squirmed, but he had a good grip on her and so did Brode, although his brother seemed more interested in getting the bikini top off her than worrying about her flailing arms. “That was nasty, Luke. Warm it up now.” He nearly died when her hand slid down to cup the bare mound inches from his face. His “fuck!” was in stereo, echoed by Brody.

 

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Those fingers swirled, caressing the swollen knot. “What’s the matter? Aren’t I supposed to touch myself?” The temptress’s smile said she knew exactly what her show was doing to them. “My fingers feel good, Luke, but your tongue feels a hell of a lot better.” She arched her hips in wanton invitation. Luke didn’t need to be asked twice. He put his mouth over her, fingers and all, and slipped his tongue between her wicked digits. Her intake of breath sounded like a hurricane, and she split her fingers wide, holding herself open to his mouth. Luke pulled back to look, unable to resist a chance to feast his eyes on a woman spreading herself for his touch. It was a punch of lust low and hard, an erotic dream he never wanted to wake from. Seeing Casey offer up her body to his touch while held in his brother’s arms was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. He didn’t need the imperious lift of her hips to lure his tongue back to the nectar building on the pink and red petals of her pussy. He was already there. Her fresh, womanly musk met his taste buds, as wet and wild as any August storm. Her swollen pearl felt like a slick marble as he rolled it beneath the flat of his tongue. Her hips arched and writhed in time with his slow, swirling rhythm. Luke was in paradise. He dragged his mouth lower and speared his tongue into her honeydrenched cunt, feeling the play of her internal muscles as she endeavored to pull him deeper and hold him captive. He hummed his approval, licking slowly and deliberately up the sensitive, swollen tissue inside her opening. “That feels fucking amazing.” Her voice was husky and thick with lust. Luke looked up along her body as he repeated the tantalizing caress and was rewarded with the mask of absolute ecstasy on Casey’s face. Brody was busy, too. For all his talk of leaving her hanging, he’d stripped the top from her and was cupping a breast in each hand and torturing the strawberry peaks. She appeared so pale and fragile in his brother’s hands, but he knew just how strong she

 

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was. As if she’d read his mind, her other leg hooked over his shoulder and she pulled herself closer, crossing her ankles in the middle of his back. He didn’t think he would be able to pull away from her if the thought had had the audacity to cross his mind. He licked a line back up to the pert bud framed by her long, slender fingers and flickered his tongue over it. “God, that feels good! Do it harder.” Luke captured her clit ruthlessly between his lips. If she could talk, he wasn’t doing the job properly. Her breaths turned into moans, and the leisurely circling of her hips grew driving and purposeful. He could feel her muscles tightening one by one beneath his hands. He felt her gather, begin to quiver like a good roping horse in the box, and he stopped. “No! I was nearly there, Luke!” Her heel struck his back. He couldn’t help the grin that grew at her indignation. Brody thought there had been nothing wrong with his timing either by the way he was smiling at the frustrated woman in his arms. “Come on, sweetheart. Say ‘please.’” “Not likely, sunshine. I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself.” Luke was struck dumb as her fingers began working over her clit, the pads of two fingers circling rapidly. Brody had no such problems finding words. “Son of a bitch.” His tone was downright worshipful. It felt like his cock was going to spontaneously detonate. The damn thing was throbbing so hard he could feel the fabric of his shorts move with every fevered thump of his heart. Watching her pleasure herself was going to be the death of him. She was so fucking beautiful. He wanted to see those long, slim fingers of hers slide inside the pouting, pink-lipped cunt they went so close to with every pass over her clit. He wanted to suck every drop of cream off them and send her back for more. But the redheaded Amazon was too damn quick for

 

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him. She threw her head back against Brody’s shoulder and her breath caught and held. He watched, spellbound, as her body arched and set the muscles beneath the fine skin writhing and twisting as she silently screamed her pleasure. His gaze met Brody’s as she came down from her climax and he saw the same wonder and conviction in his brother’s eyes that rocked him. Casey could never be anything but theirs. **** The dancing flames lit up the limestone cliff above the spring, sending shadows flickering and fading in the summer night. The narrow slice of clear night sky overhead was spangled with a million tiny points of light too bright to succumb to the fire’s glow. Listening to the crackle of the fire and breathing deep the smell of mountain air laced with pine and wood smoke, Casey couldn’t remember ever being so at ease. Luke was packing the leftovers from dinner in the cooler and Brody was gathering a bit more wood. With a sleeping bag to pad out the picnic rug, Casey was comfortable, well fed, and feeling mellow. Luke came to drop down beside her, and she couldn’t help but return his irrepressible grin. He was truly remarkable. Twice today he had given her pleasure and taken nothing in return. Even now she sensed he would let her curl up against him and go to sleep if that was what she wanted. But that wasn’t what Casey wanted in the slightest. She needed to feel the power of a man filling her, mastering her body with the simple expedient of superior strength. She had a week to soak up all the pleasure these two men had to offer her, and she didn’t want to waste a single moment. She rolled to her elbow in mirror of Luke, just looking at his long, strong form in the glow of the fire. His blonde curls glowed in a halo around his head, like some kind of fallen angel.

 

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It was too dark to see the deep chocolate of his eyes. Instead, they were sparkling points of darkness. Casey ran her hand up the strength of his arm and on to his shoulder. He’d pulled a long shirt on but not buttoned it over his bare chest. Her fingers went in search of warm male skin, burrowing beneath his curls at the back of his neck. She tugged him toward her, seeing the flash of white as he smiled and went where she asked. His lips were smooth and so very warm when they met hers, moving with lazy ease, as slow as molasses in wintertime. Casey rolled to her back, encouraging him to follow. She wanted him above her, in control. Luke deepened the kiss as her head touched down on the soft down-filled bag, kissing her as if it were an end in itself instead of a warm-up for bigger things to come. He tasted of the caramel tart they’d had for dessert, all sweet and creamy. His indolence was contagious, and Casey found her tongue stroking with the same lack of urgency his was showing. It was self-indulgent and decadent, and Casey could have done it all night long. The loud crash as Brody dumped his armful of wood down lifted Luke’s head, but he didn’t go too far. “Is he molesting you again, Casey?” Brody sounded amused. “No. I was molesting him. Can’t you tell?” “I’d believe anything was possible where you’re concerned.” He dropped down on the other side of her to his brother, sitting with his arms wrapped around his raised knees and his head resting winsomely on top. “I’m so glad you’re here, Casey. It means more to us than you could possibly imagine that you agreed to stay with us.” Casey felt a little uncomfortable with Brody’s intensity and fell back on humor to lighten the moment. “Yeah, well it was the lesser of two evils at the time, but I’m discovering there are a few perks.” Luke grinned widely. “Like orgasms on demand?” “There is that, but I was thinking cold beer and hot bodies—that’s about all a girl needs besides her truck.” “Well, I hate to disappoint you, honey, but we’re out of beer.”

 

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“I know. That’s why I was availing myself of the second.” Casey reached out and ran her hand up his back. “Are you gonna bring your hot body down here for me to play with, too?” “I’ve learned that’s a dangerous practice.” “I’ll be gentle with you, Brode. I promise.” Casey felt dwarfed as he stretched out beside her in a mirror image of his brother. They were both propped on their elbows, looming over her in the flickering light of the fire. One light, one dark, but both so much man. She reached up, sliding her hands along the strong lines of their jaws. Luke’s bristles were longer and softer, while Brody’s fresh regrowth was so smooth one way and like the rough tongue of some great cat the other. Her palms slid to the backs of their necks and she inexorably drew them closer. She lifted her head and kissed Brody unhurriedly, letting him feel the hunger building within her before turning to Luke. She was still licking Brody’s taste from her lips when Luke got sick of waiting and claimed her mouth. He still didn’t hurry, but the laziness was gone. Casey turned back to Brody. “I really hope you were a little boyscouty when you packed that bag.” “Honey, I’m always prepared.” Luke’s choking cough sounded remarkably like “bullshit.” They both ignored him. Brody turned away and she heard the zipper of the bag working, and he turned back with a small toiletry bag in his hands. “I threw that giant box of rubbers you brought in at the last minute, just in case you couldn’t control yourself.” “I can’t control myself.” “I noticed.” Casey plucked the box from his hand and put it aside. Everyone was wearing entirely too many clothes. She figured the quickest way to get them naked was to get that way herself. She was half-right. By the time she got hers off, Luke was naked. Brody was still sitting there staring. She rose to her knees and took hold of his tank, ripping

 

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it off over his head. The sight of his magnificent body bared in the firelight brought her to a halt. She wasn’t sure how long she sat there and stared, but Luke eventually interrupted. “Get your gear off, Brode. You’ve struck her dumb with that chest again.” Casey blinked and turned away, concerned she had offended Luke. His smile assured her otherwise. “I’m not bothered, sweetheart. I’ve seen how you ogle my ass every chance you get.” She splayed her hands on his chest. It wasn’t as bulky as Brody’s, but Luke’s mouthwatering, sculpted muscles were made for a woman to score nails down and sink teeth into. A body built for pleasure. He bent and met her halfway for a kiss, and Casey slid her hands down his lean flanks and grabbed his gorgeous ass with both hands. It was perfect. Full and firm and tight enough to bounce quarters off of. Brody’s heat reached her before the touch of his body, giving her half a breath to brace for the devastating impact of being sandwiched between two hard bodies. His chest touched her shoulder blades as his cock branded the cleft of her ass, pushing her into full-body contact with Luke before her. She forgot all about Luke’s kiss as her head rocked back. She felt like a moth caught between two flames, full of the knowledge that they would burn her up but unable to resist their allure. Their callused hands caressed her sides from knee to shoulder. She could feel gooseflesh spring up in their wake as her nipples drew into hard little points, scraping against Luke’s chest. Her whole body tightened, yearning for more even while it screamed that the stimulation was already too much. The scrape of teeth along her shoulder grounded her, focused her attention on the here and now. Brody dragged his teeth along her shoulder, nipping and bathing her in the warmth of his rough exhalations. Casey’s head fell back against his shoulder, affording him greater access. He trailed his sharp little nips up the side of her neck and teased her tender earlobe.

 

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“Tell me you like it, baby. Tell me you can’t get enough of being pinned between us.” His voice was as rough as his palms against her quivering flanks and just as arousing. “Nothing feels this good. Nothing.” “I think we can make it better yet, sweetheart.” Luke kissed her, licking along her bottom lip, before lowering his head even further. Her hands fisted in Luke’s hair as his mouth found her aching breasts. His curls were stiff from the water, a texture that urged her to squeeze and tug. His mouth was hot and wet as it made love to her breasts. He licked, kissed, and suckled as if he couldn’t get enough of them. The wet sounds of his mouth working her tender flesh rang clear in the summer night air, sexy noises interspersed with the hungry growls rumbling from two male chests. Casey knew there were sighs and moans from her own throat joining the erotic symphony, but she was too far lost to lust to care. The iron-hard thickness of Brody’s cock rocked back and forth in the crease of her ass, sliding in fluid of its own making. Casey ached to feel it against the slick flesh pounding between her thighs. Her pussy was dripping wet, pulsing with the need to be touched. She slipped her hand behind her and grasped Brody’s cock, delighting in the deep groan that rumbled through his chest and caressed her back. She arched away from him and tried to tuck him between her thighs so that he would stroke along her slick, fevered flesh, but Brody pulled away at the first blistering contact. Casey felt like crying with frustration, but she limited it to a complaining whimper. “What’s the matter, sweetheart?” Luke breathed against the upper slope of her breast. “Brody won’t touch me.” She heard the sound of foil being ripped. “I’m just suiting up, baby. I’ll be right back.” Her frustrated body wanted to hear none of his excuses. She took hold of Luke’s hand and pushed it lower, leading him to her core. The

 

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way his fingers slid so freely over her pussy lips took her by surprise. She had known she was wet, but damn! “Fuck! You’re so wet. You feel like you’re melting all over me, sweetheart. Stop mucking about, Brode. Casey wants it all and she wants it now.” He nuzzled at her jaw. “Tell me what you want.” “I want everything.” She wanted them both so deep inside her again that she couldn’t tell who was doing what. “Let me get a rubber, baby.” Luke rustled around at the bag. “Where’s the lube, Brode?” “I thought we wouldn’t be doing anything to need it.” “Boy Scout my fuckin’ ass.” Casey had to giggle at the disgust in Luke’s tone. “Sorry, sweetheart. We’ll have to stick to vanilla tonight. We’re not doing anything to hurt you.” Why was it that being told you couldn’t have something just made you crave it more? Casey wanted the heat of both men surrounding her, to feel them take control of her body as only they knew how. She seized Luke’s hair and drew him closer. “Do what you want to me. You’ve been pleasing me all day—it’s time to please yourself.” She felt him freeze, as if he held himself in check. “Tell me what you want.” She looked into his eyes, only inches away, lit by the dancing flames. She could see his hesitation. “Please.” “I want to take you from behind, but with the way I’m built, some women say it hurts.” “Let me try.” Casey released his hair and turned in the circle of his arms. Brody sat back on his heels, his gaze heavy as he watched her in his brother’s arms. Luke tucked in against her back, his latex-clad shaft slipping easily between her wet thighs, and Brody was lost from view as her eyes closed at the sultry contact. He held her upright, with one arm splayed up between her breasts and the other low across her hips. He rocked back and forth in the copious nectar slicking her pussy, fanning the fire and making her wild to feel him slide into the aching emptiness of her cunt.

 

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“You tell me if it hurts, sweetheart. The last thing I want to do is cause you pain.” He lifted her a fraction higher, and his cockhead butted against her arousal-drenched gate. He slid in an inch and hissed, “So fuckin’ hot and tight.” His arms relaxed, and Casey felt him slide further inside her, but it wasn’t enough. She arched her back, tilting her hips and encouraging him deeper. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. The bend in his shaft made him feel twice as wide as he really was and pushed his cockhead up and down her back wall with every stroke. The decadent caress was reminiscent of having her ass filled with cock, the pressure directed rearward, making her feel so full. If only she could get him deeper it would surely stroke her tailbone. “Let me go.” He stopped moving instantly and made to withdraw. Casey sank her nails in to his hip to stop him. “It doesn’t hurt, Luke. I just want you deeper than you can get like this.” She gently unpeeled his arm from her chest and bent forward, pushing back along his cock as she went. There was no way in hell she could hold back the moan as his upward-pointing head stroked along her sacrum and sent waves of pure pleasure radiating up her spine. She laid her upper arms down on the sleeping bag beneath her and rested her head on top in a pose of absolute submission. “Slow and deep, Luke. Let me feel you move.” Thick and slow he stroked within her. Casey couldn’t hold back her moans anymore than she could stop her hips from rolling to meet each sumptuous thrust. His big hands stroked her, sliding up her back and over the cheeks of her ass, squeezing, stroking, and rubbing. His knees nudged at hers, parting them further, and the kiss of his balls against her engorged clit brought an edge of hunger to the sensual opulence. “Harder, Luke. Please. Oh, God…” She trailed off in a groan as the thick slap of flesh meeting flesh heralded his compliance. He didn’t rise above the rhythm set by her writhing hips and Casey, lost to the pursuit of pleasure, backed up to him, making his

 

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balls mash against her fevered clit with every devastating thrust. Closer and closer orgasm swelled as he shortened his strokes, staying deeper and increasing the unholy feeling of fullness that bombarded her spine, as well as hammering her clit faster and harder. Control of her pleasure was ripped out of her hands as the whirlwind took over. Upward, ever upward, tension buoyed her, had her rising up the face of an endless wave. “Oh, God. More. More, more…” Luke slammed into her, and his balls slapped hard into her clit as his cock found the end of her cunt with brutal force. Her mouth opened into a rictus of the sweetest agony as the wave broke and dashed her onto the jagged rocks of ecstasy below. Her body felt as if it were shattered into a million pieces when Luke joined her with a deep, dying bellow. He shuddered against her, grinding deep as her cunt contracted wildly around the flesh impaling it. Ever so slowly, the cry died into a low groan and his body relaxed. Luke’s lips touched her shoulder and he wrapped himself around her as her body slowly remade itself in the shelter of his arms. “My God! Sweetheart, that was amazing. Are you okay?” His voice was husky and breathless against her back. “Lord, yes. When can we do that again?” Casey couldn’t keep the purr out of her voice. Luke’s chuckle vibrated right through her. “One day when I’ve recovered enough to walk and Brody isn’t waiting to love you, too.” Casey opened her eyes. She had forgotten all about Brody. He kneeled back out of the way, his big hands gripping his thighs as if to hold himself still. His cock rose straight and hard, but his face was tender despite the sensual hunger in his eyes. The flickering firelight played across his powerful body. He looked like a primitive warrior, an alpha male in his prime. His gaze was magnetic, pulling her in. Luke kissed her shoulder and gently withdrew as she rose up on her hands. His hand gave her ass one last gliding caress as she crawled, boneless, toward his brother.

 

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**** Brody watched Casey crawl toward him like some pale, lithe cat hell-bent on seduction. He sat back and let her come to him. Her palms were hot and strong against his thighs, and he watched her run her hands, ghostly white, up their dark, muscled length. The blue of her eyes was muted by the shadows of night, but he knew she watched her hands’ progress as surely as he did. They feathered over his hips and glided up his sides. His lats trembled beneath her touch, dancing under his skin, and his chest clenched in anticipation as she moved inexorably closer to his pecs. Her fingers fanned out hungrily just as he had known they would, swirling and kneading like a cat in its bed as she tested the meaty, hair-spattered resilience beneath her palms. His nipples drew into hard little points beneath her caress. He normally didn’t allow a woman to play with them, had a real aversion to them being singled out for attention, but beneath Casey’s touch, the sensations spread outward, firing his blood rather than making his skin crawl. The firelight played over one side of her face as she rose up, her hunger painted in the sensual slackness of her ruby lips. He wanted to seize her, to conquer her and make her his, but he dug his fingers in tighter on his thighs and waited her out. He needed her to come to him, to take what he offered and make demands of her own. She wasn’t getting a chance to say that it was only sex again. Warm breath and silken lips caressed the stubble on his chin. His gaze stayed heavy upon her half-closed eyes as she made her heated way to his mouth. He was dying to taste her, to have her strong body crushed to his and her mouth a willing sacrifice to his lust, but he ruthlessly held himself back as she laid wet, little kisses against his lower lip. Her hands slid to his shoulders and she lifted higher. Her lips pressed to his top lip, bestowing hot pinpoints of pleasure as she

 

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strung kiss after kiss along its length. Then her tongue darted out, a hot, slick spear of passion, and flicked beneath the bow. His arms sprang up to hold her close before he’d even known they’d moved. She was all feminine strength and satiny curves, twining her body about his like a briar rose—a sweet-scented wild beauty with plenty of thorns. Brody felt her wrapping around his heart as surely as her thighs clasped his flanks. Casey was well and truly under his skin now. “Kiss me like you mean it, Brody.” Her ragged whisper rose above their fevered breathing. Like he meant it? He’d never meant something so much in all his life. He couldn’t hold back the animalistic growl that trickled through his throat as his lips took charge of hers. He kissed her slow and deep, imbuing it with every bit of burgeoning emotion he felt. He felt her struggle, as if she was trying to deny the eloquent message he was sending her. You’re mine, Casey, my everything. Let me love you. Let me give you everything that I am. Amusement rose, along with a healthy kick of lust, when she tried to take his loving kiss and make it something else. She drew on his tongue, encouraging it into the hot welcome of her mouth, and suckled rhythmically. Unbidden, the picture of her sucking his cock flashed in his mind’s eye. He quashed it immediately. That was just what the wench wanted. He took back possession of his tongue and she bit him, again. His lip throbbed and the metallic taste of blood drifted faintly across his tongue. Fuck, she has sharp teeth! “That’s nasty, honey. What’s the matter? Don’t you like my kiss?” She lifted her hips, going in search of his cock standing thick and proud against his belly, but her held her still, pinning her against the throbbing organ. She writhed and made desperate, frustrated noises that tugged at his balls and shot up his spine. Her slick pussy lips kissed the head of his covered shaft, branding him with the allure of

 

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her slick heat. “Do you want me to make love to you, Casey? Want to feel it deep inside you?” “Shut up and fuck me, Brody!” He ignored Luke’s loud snort of laughter. “No. I’m gonna love you, honey, slow and deep.” He pushed into the blistering, sodden paradise of her tight cunt. Even well-loved by his brother, her muscles flickered as they stretched around his girth. He sheathed himself fully, in one long steady thrust, and his balls kissed her ass as her eyes opened wide, only inches away and on a level with his. He’d never known such devastating intimacy. But neither had Casey, if the way she shut her eyes and averted her head was any indication. “Look at me, Casey! Look at me and I’ll fuck you as deep and hard as you like it. If you look away I’m gonna stop.” Slits of darkness appeared between her shadowed lashes “That’s it, honey. Hang on to me now.” Brody leaned forward, lowering her back to the soft cloth beneath them and blanketing her. He’d never had such a tall partner, one that he could be deep inside and kiss without bending his spine in half. Or one strong enough that he didn’t have to hold every ounce of his weight up off her. He slid one of his thighs to the outside of hers and encouraged her other thigh to his hip. He sank to one elbow and, looking into her eyes, began to move. Her whole body caressed him, her silken skin slid against him, her diamond-hard nipples felt like points of fire as they rubbed his chest. Her strong hands kneaded the muscles of his back and shoulders and the scorching grip of her clenching cunt set his cock aflame, but it was her tentative gaze that held him captive. Uncertainty and trepidation warred with passion as she searched his face. He tried to put all the surety, all the conviction, all the rightness he felt in his heart into his eyes as he stroked hard and deep, finding the end of her with every measured thrust. Her head tilted back and only the glimmer of reflected flames let him know she still

 

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complied with his edict, but then her tongue swept her lips and he dropped his gaze and kissed her. He supped at her lips, heartfelt dips and tastes in time with the deep thrusts that took him to her molten core. Desire-filled emotion entwined with raw intimacy, building an inferno within Brody, not just of carnality, but of heart and soul as well. “Look at me Casey, see what it means to me,” he pleaded, unable to prevent his body from picking up the pace. He wanted to see the rapture building on her face erupt into ecstasy, watch pleasure drive all thought from her mind, but Casey was refuting his claim. She shook her head, the denial clear to see. “Just fuck me, Brody. Fuck me hard.” Her hips hammered at him, demanding satisfaction. He stopped, painfully ignoring his cock’s scream of protest, when she shut her eyes. “No!” It was almost a shout as her eyes sprang open. A flash of fury was the only warning he had before she gave him an almighty shove and followed him as he rolled without breaking the carnal union of their bodies. Brody found himself pinned on his back, a redheaded Valkyrie astride his loins, hell-bent on orgasm. He knew he should stop her, knew he could do it all too easily, but he was poleaxed by the sight of Casey riding him as if she meant to fuck him into the ground. Her head fell back as her long slender throat arched in patent pleasure, her full breasts bounced with the reckless abandon of her ride, and he could see her cream glistening on his cock every time she lifted on its length. A torrid trickle of cream ran from her cunt to bathe his ever-tightening balls. There were some fights you were never going to win and Brody accepted the inevitable—this was Casey’s round. She fought hard and she fought dirty, but right then, looking up at the woman riding his cock as if she meant to wear it to a stub, he couldn’t give a flying fuck.

 

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His hands went to Casey’s hips to urge her on. His own orgasm wasn’t more than a wayward thought away and he wanted to see her fly first. He thought about touching a thumb to her swollen, slippery clit but he knew he’d sour her victory if he did. She’d won the right to take rather than accept. “You want it, you take it, honey. Make yourself come.” It was more growl than recognizable speech, but Casey must have heard beyond the blood pounding in her ears. One of her hands retracted its nails from his chest and cupped her mound desperately. He could feel her fingertips touching his shaft and her knuckles in the coarse hair at the base of his cock. He expected her fingers to attack her fevered clit, but she just curled them over the hot sodden lips and squeezed. The way she tightened down on his cock brought tears to his eyes and a primal eruption he didn’t have a chance in hell of holding back. His out-and-out roar drowned out any sound that might have sprung from her wide, opened mouth, but he could feel the intensity of her orgasm around his spurting cock and in the way her body bucked and jerked above him. The savage euphoria upon her fire-lit face was intoxicating, erotic, and so fucking beautiful his chest ached with need. He’d do anything for Casey Buckley to be his. But as the high of orgasm faded, movement behind her reminded him that Casey wasn’t solely his. He’d always thought Luke was weak for wanting to find a woman to settle down with instead of playing the field, but a stark realization hit him—he’d been the weak one. He’d spent ten years running from a past that had nothing to do with the present. There was real strength involved in saying that this was the one, the one who he would give his heart and soul to instead of just his body. It was a risk he had never thought he would take again, but Luke had been willing to lay it all on the line from the very first time he had met Casey. Brody couldn’t believe the woman who was now slumping in a satisfied, boneless mess atop his softening cock was that same

 

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abrasive, sharp-tongued Amazon who had left him at a loss for words amid the remains of his battered ego at the supermarket checkout. She challenged him every which way she could, more often than not winning, but Brody realized he didn’t want her any other way. She might be purring like a kitten now, but Casey had the claws of a mountain lion and no hesitation about using them. Luke’s arms wrapped around her and she snuggled back against his chest. The love was plain to see in his brother’s eyes as he kissed her shoulder and whispered against her ear, but there was definitely a mocking twist to the smile Luke flashed him as he helped Casey lift off him. Brody couldn’t help but give a rueful grin as he secured the rubber. Everything between him and Casey turned into a battle. Without Luke as a mediator, nothing between them would work. He disposed of the condom and found Casey ensconced with Luke beneath the second unzipped sleeping bag. “Is there enough room under there for me?” Casey looked up at him and he could see a smugness in her mischievous grin that was thoroughly deserved. “Sure there is. Just slide right in behind me, that way I know it won’t be my ass hanging out in the cold come morning.” Brody snugged in against her back, spooning her tight. He kissed her hair and settled down to sleep. Letting Casey get the last word grated, but some sacrifices had to be made. Discretion sometimes was the better part of valor. He could have come up with a hundred retorts about keeping her fine ass warm, but he smiled and kept thoughts of just what he wanted to do to that ass to himself. The only time she hadn’t challenged him was when he’d been taking it. Come hell or high water he wanted her sandwiched between them again, her hot satiny ass around his cock and Luke forging in her slick cunt. The thought of the orgasmic scream they’d wrung from her then echoing off the canyon walls had his cock stirring bravely. Next time he wouldn’t forget the damn lube.

 

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Chapter 12 “Ahh-choo! Whose bright idea was it to sleep out with one sleeping bag to cover three people?” “Hey! It wasn’t your ass hanging out in the cold all night,” Luke called through the door. He had spent the night huddled up to her for warmth, but it was Casey who had ended up with the flu. Brody was a cover-hog of grand proportions. “Where is he-who-must-be-obeyed anyway?” “He headed over to Sheridan to get some cold and flu tablets for you. The pharmacy in town doesn’t open on Sundays.” “He worries like an old woman. I’m fine, Luke. It’s just a cold.” “Humor him, sweetheart, he’s blaming himself for making you sleep at the spring.” “Making me?” Luke winced as he heard her tone fire up again as her blood reheated with anger. “Nobody makes me do anything!” “So we’ve noticed.” Luke’s drawled dryly. “Who does he think he is?” Casey went on undeterred. Her ire was plain to hear even with the door closed. “I won’t be told what to do, Luke. He is being a patronizing, arrogant prick and I won’t tolerate it. It’s bad enough that he sent me to bed like a little kid with a sniffle, but to tell me I’ve got to stay here or he’s gonna spank my ass? I’d like to see him try.” So would I, Luke thought, but he had the good sense to keep it to himself. Once again he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Brody had told him that under no circumstance was Casey to get out of bed. He was to wait on her hand and foot. The second he would have done

 

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anyway, but Brody had completely missed the boat with his first demand. Casey wasn’t the kind of woman you laid down the law to. Nothing would get her back up faster than being told what to do. He could have said, “Rest up, honey. I’m just going to get you some medicine,” but no, Brody had gone all dominant-alpha-he-man on her ass. As soon as she’d stepped out of the hot shower, he’d greeted her with “get yourself into that bed and don’t move a muscle until I get back.” Predictably, that had gone down as well as a pubic hair on your dinner plate, and Casey had told him to go to hell. Brody had gone the caveman route and scooped her up over his shoulder and carted her off to bed. Luke still winced when he thought of the language that had echoed down the hall. He’d watched from the safety of the hall as Brody had thrown her on the bed and told her if she moved from there he was going to put her over his knee and spank her lily-white ass rose-red. Brody had marched from the house and left Luke to deal with the aftermath. He’d definitely had jack of cleaning up Brody’s fuckups. He rubbed his forehead, feeling the lump growing just left of center. Next time he’d duck. He’d had no idea a bottle of lube made a damn fine missile. Casey had grabbed the nearest item to hand on the bedside table and hurled it after his retreating brother. Unfortunately, he’d been the one on the receiving end. With an arm like that she should have been pitching for the Casper Ghosts. He shifted, trying to get comfortable. He was sitting on the floor behind the closed door to Casey’s room. He’d been the one to shut it as a matter of self-preservation, but she had made no effort to open it. He wasn’t game to stick his head in for a peek. He knew damn well there was a whole cupboard of trophies and buckles in that room that would make more lethal projectiles than the contents of the bedside table.

 

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“Are you gonna take my head off again if I open the door, sweetheart?” “What do you mean ‘again’?” You cracked me right between the eyes with that first throw, sweetheart.” “I did? Are you okay?” Luke smiled with relief as real concern entered her voice. She wasn’t going to hold the sins of his brother against him. “I don’t know. There’s a knot the size of a walnut, but I don’t think it’s bleeding.” He was going to milk it for all it was worth. “Come in and I’ll have a look at it.” He got to his feet and cracked the door an inch, peeking warily through the gap. She was sitting in the middle of the bed, arms and legs crossed like a sulky child. He opened the door wider, being careful to suppress his amused grin. He didn’t want her lobbing things at him again. “Oh, fuck! I’m so sorry, Luke.” She clapped her hand to her mouth but he couldn’t tell if it was in shock or to cover an inappropriate grin. Knowing Casey, he’d put his money on the second. “Oh, my God!” Yep, there was that grin. “Don’t be laughing at me. You did it, sweetheart. Now I’m going to be getting around with an egg on my head.” “I’m sorry. I just can’t believe I hit you. It was meant for Brody.” “Well, you might have plenty of power, but you’ve got lousy aim. How could you miss someone his size?” Her smile was as warm as her fingers when she took his hand and tugged him down to sit on the bed. With a gentle touch she softly felt the lump on his forehead. Luke winced deliberately and was rewarded by the instant sympathy on her face. “You poor thing. I’m so sorry.”

 

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Luke was glad she clutched his head to her shoulder because she wouldn’t have approved of the triumphant smile on his lips. “Sorry enough to lie here and hold me for a while?” He was hoping she said “yes.” Casey looked tired, and he could see the flu was getting a hold on her. He was betting if he could get her to lie down she’d be asleep in five minutes tops. “Okay, but it’s only because you need it. I don’t want Brody thinking that I’m doing it because he said.” “Oh, I’ve got a feeling Brody is coming to realize that what he wants and what he gets are two completely different things. Now come here and hold me, my head’s throbbing.” He couldn’t help but laugh as her eyes dropped instantly to his groin. “Not that head, you little miscreant. Get over here.” Luke tucked her head under his chin and felt her relax against him. It was worth the lump on the head to feel her arm snake around his back and hold him close. He’d walk through hell itself to hold Casey in his arms. Unfortunately, until Brody woke up to facts, he suspected that was exactly what it was going to take. **** Brody returned with every cold and flu remedy known to modern science and a stolen rose. He braced for a tirade as he entered the house, from either Luke or Casey. He knew he was deserved of both their wrath. He wasn’t used to dealing with women like Casey. Hell, he wasn’t used to dealing with women at all. For ten years they’d been a plaything or a pleasant diversion. He had no idea how to treat Casey. Their father had been away more than he was ever at home, so he couldn’t even fall back on the basic grounding that most adults have of how to function in relationships. Everything in him screamed at him to protect her, to cherish her and hold her close, but Casey launched on the defensive every time he

 

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tried to guide her in any way. Granted, his method had been a little abrupt earlier, but he just wanted what’s best for her. She was sick and would get sicker if she didn’t look after herself. Why she’d had to go off the deep end he didn’t understand. He had a feeling Luke would be making him understand very shortly. All was quiet inside and he had one brief moment of panic until he realized he had parked right beside her Kenworth. If the truck was there then Casey was there. She wouldn’t leave her baby behind. Brody headed down the hall and gingerly peeked around the corner into Casey’s room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her wrapped around Luke and sleeping softly. Luke wasn’t asleep and the glare he got off him promised he would be hearing about it later. He wondered how Luke had got that painful looking lump that was all blue and raised like a third eye in the middle of his forehead. No doubt he’d hear about that, too. He laid the rose on her pillow and ignored Luke as he gently stroked her hair back from her face. Her long, russet lashes rested softly on cheeks that were even paler than usual. He ran the back of his knuckle down her cheek once and resolutely walked away. He wouldn’t be welcome in her bed right now, and he had some serious thinking to do. **** The sun was sinking on what had become a wet, dreary day as Brody sat on the porch and watched the rain come down in sheets. Three hours had passed since he’d left Casey curled in his brother’s arms and he still didn’t know what he was going to do. Casey was a strong woman who thrived on her independence, and Brody didn’t know if he had what it took to allow her that freedom. Allow? Who was he trying to kid. Nobody “allowed” Casey anything.

 

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She was her own woman, a successful businesswoman and accomplished operator. She didn’t need them for money, a roof over her head, or a name for her child. None of the reasons for which he saw women go to men applied to Casey. She had no deep desire to submit to a man that had the club bunnies lining up in droves. He could think of no reason for her to be there with them other than lust or love. Casey Buckley drove him mad. He was sure there was more to her attraction to them than basic biology, but whenever he tried to prove it she maneuvered him as easily as she steered that big truck. He’d started off making love to her last night, letting her see parts of him that no one, least of all him, thought existed. But she’d turned it all on its head and made it nothing more than the joining of their bodies, something beautiful and erotic as hell, but not very profound. She taunted him and pushed him to his limits and yet he found he wanted more. “Reached any deep and meaningful conclusions yet?” Luke slipped out on to the porch. “I’m an idiot.” “That’s a given.” Luke stretched out in the deck chair. “Anything else?” “Casey isn’t going to put up with me telling her what to do?” “Christ almighty! And you call me slow.” Luke sat forward and rubbed his sleepy-looking eyes. “Brody, I don’t know what’s been going through your thick skull for the past three hours, but the situation really isn’t that hard to figure out. Casey is your equal in every way. She won’t tolerate high-handedness or any of your alpha macho bullshit. If you want her to do something, ask. She’s not totally unreasonable. “And what you tried to do last night scared the shit out of her. The revelation that you love her might have hit you like a bit of four-bytwo, but she’s still in denial. Don’t rush her or she’ll run so far and

 

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fast we won’t see which way she’s gone. Back off and give her some space, Brode.” “Why is this so fucking hard?” Luke’s smile had just a touch of pity in it. “Usually, by the time a man gets to your age he’s loved and lost a time or two and knows how it all works. Things always hurt a little the first time.” “I’ve been in love before.” “That’s horseshit and you know it. You were twenty-one and still wet behind the ears. Cherry saw you coming a mile away. ‘Oops, sorry the rubber broke’ and slam, she’s pregnant. I was younger than you, but even I knew enough to know it takes more than a week for a pregnancy to show up. She suckered you and you built all these illusions of love and forever around one scheming little bitch. “I’m glad you came across Zach and Colb riding the ass off the little slut because it opened your eyes up to what sort of girl she really was. It’s great that Casey has got you over her, but now you just need to get the fuck over yourself. Casey comes first in this relationship, not your ego. Let it go and just love her—it’s not fuckin’ rocket science, Brode.” Brody looked at his brother as if he’d turned green and croaked. Wisdom from Luke? He’d always assumed Luke thought as slow as he talked and walked—he always gave you the urge to line him up with a post just to see if he was moving—but there was real depth to his reasoning. “Just love her, huh?” “That’s it. No more, no less. You don’t have to prove anything, just love her and time will do the rest.” “How do I fix the mess of things I made this morning?” “Go in there and just hold her for a while. She wakes up pretty cuddly and soft, but if she throws anything at you? Duck, man. She’s got a wicked arm on her.” Brody saw the wound on his brother’s head in a new light. “What did she chuck at you?”

 

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“She was pitching a bottle of lube at you as you stormed out this morning, and I wore it.” “A bottle of lube?” Brody couldn’t help but chuckle. “Hey, I’d prefer that to the butt plug she pelted at the door afterward. That thing’s made of glass.” “She threw it? I only just bought it for her.” “Well, before you snuggle up with her I’d be moving it from in reach. You may be acting the ass, but the plans I heard for you and that plug this morning, you don’t want to know.” **** Casey was snuggled so far down in the bed that if a flame-colored tress hadn’t have been sticking out, he wouldn’t have known which way was up. Brody shucked off his clothes and pulled some boxers on. It was going to be hot as hell under the blankets, but being naked around her was a bad idea for so many reasons. She was curled up into a little ball so he spooned her the best he could without disturbing her. He propped himself up on the pillows so he could look down at the face he had uncovered. She was flushed, and he laid his palm on her forehead. He didn’t know if it was hotter than it was supposed to be, but his Ma had always done that. He mentally shrugged. His Ma had used whatever knowledge she’d gained from the cursory touch to tell them to stay in bed or get their ass to school. Telling Casey anything wasn’t a viable option. The rose he’d plucked from a roadside garden was none the worse for lying on her pillow. He toyed with it absently. It was a little ragged around the edges, but the red with its blush of orange on each petal was still the same red as her hair. Brody placed it lower so that Casey would see it when she woke but not so close that she would startle at a big, red blob in the middle of her sleep-hazed vision. She stirred and snuggled back tighter against him with a sleepy little wriggle and a sigh. Her eyelashes fluttered, and he watched her

 

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blink and reach for the rose. She ran her fingers down the stem he’d painstakingly stripped the thorns from and caressed the delicate petals. “A bribe?” Her voice was thick with both her ailment and sleep. “A peace offering,” Brody clarified. “How did you know it was me?” “You feel different. Luke holds me like he’s scared I’ll get away.” That was an apt description if ever he’d heard one. Brody decided he liked soft-and-sleepy-just-woken-up Casey just fine. Now he just had to make sure he didn’t piss her off again. “How are you feeling?” “In all honesty? Like shit.” She tucked her head tighter against his chest. “I’m aching all over and my head’s all stuffy. I haven’t had a cold for years.” “I got you cold and flu tablets, cough medicine, more Tylenol, and those lemon-drink thingies Marley gets her aunt to send over from Australia. What do you want?” “What time is it?” “Nearly seven.” “It’s dark early.” “The rain hasn’t stopped all afternoon. The forecast says it could be here for a few days.” “At least I don’t have to worry about missing work anyway. It’s going to be too wet to get on any of my jobs for a week.” She rolled to her stomach and rose on her elbows. She still had a tightness around her slightly reddened and puffy eyes that told him he was by no means forgiven. “I’ll have a lemon drink if I’m allowed to get out of bed.” “You can do whatever you want, honey. The error of my ways has been pointed out to me. I’m just going to ask you to look after yourself so that I don’t feel compelled to do it for you.” “So you’ve sent the Neanderthal back to his cave?” “As much as I’m able to.”

 

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“I hope you didn’t send him too far. He might be kind of fun to play with when I’m feeling a bit more lively.” Brody groaned inwardly at the speculative little smile curling her lips. Casey was a menace to his self-control. The thought of her ass blushing beneath his palm had held him in sway since he had threatened her with it that morning, but he knew he’d have his hands full if he attempted it. He and Luke had better brush up on their sparring skills, cause while they were quite used to copping things square on the chin, neither one of them had ever learned to duck. **** Three days later Casey was lying on the sofa, swaddled in blankets and watching the men working on her house across the valley. The sun was back out again and the heavy drapes were thrown wide. The arson squad had come earlier than expected, and as soon as they’d left, Andy had called to let Brody and Luke know they were fine to begin repairs. Ty’s vehicle was pulled up at the front as well, and she could see his big form moving about, helping. Her flu had mostly cleared, or the cold and flu tablets were doing such a good job of masking it that other than a deep cough every now and then, she didn’t feel too bad. Luke and Brody had hovered around her making sure she had everything she needed and generally smothering her with their concern, especially Brody. She didn’t quite know what to think of the quiet, caring, and downright doting man who was such a contradiction to the one who had thrown her over his shoulder and threatened to spank her ass. For one thing the caveman was real. That was the Brody she had come to know. He could be tender and gentle, but his core was of steely dominance. She loved seeing him like that when sex was on the cards. All he had to do was grab her hair and she creamed like a bitch in heat. It was slightly demoralizing, but she had to admit the truth— she loved that he was man enough to dominate her. She felt

 

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compelled to challenge him at every turn just to watch the steely heat enter his ebony gaze. But outside of the bedroom Brody needed to be enrolled in Relationships 101. She wouldn’t be pushed around by anyone, not even someone who was sneaking in and stealing her heart no matter how adamantly she denied it even to herself. She had to keep reminding herself they were good-time lads. Nothing was ever going to come of it long term, no matter how in love Brody fancied himself. His emotional compass was just addled by a woman who didn’t blush and simper and hang on his every word. He’d wake up and smell the roses one day soon, and Casey planned on having an intact heart when he did. Luke was a different story. That man was so easy to love and live with, perhaps too easy. There was a small part of her that acknowledged that Luke by himself wouldn’t hold her attention for long. If things were too easy she lost interest. While Brody was too much, Luke wasn’t enough, but together they were a devastating combination. They balanced each other out. There was no way she could live with Brody alone, any more than she could take day after day of lazy, laid-back Luke. But the two of them together tempted her heart more than she’d ever thought they could. She was waiting anxiously for them to finish the repairs on the house so that she could move back in. She needed to get away from them before she, too, started thinking it was more than it really was.

 

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Chapter 13 The rumble of the big Cummins in low gear came through the open windows, filling the cab with the sweet, raw sound of barely restrained power. It put a smile on Casey’s face for the first time since she’d returned home. Her flu had disappeared as fast as it had arrived, her healthy lifestyle and natural resistance winning through. The steep mountain descent down into the Liberty valley was a roller coaster to navigate, but driving was such second nature that her mind still lurched like a punch-drunk prizefighter straight back to Friday afternoon. Her throat tightened when she thought of the looks on those guys’ faces when she had walked out of their house. Luke had damn near torn her heart out. Those big chocolate eyes had become pools of sorrow as she’d thanked them and carted her meager possessions to her truck. He hadn’t begged her to stay, or ranted and raved, he’d just watched like some heartbroken little boy as she’d loaded up and given her a sad little smile as she drove away. Brody had stood there and watched as well, but it had been him that slammed the door and stormed inside. He’d have a temper tantrum and they’d all get over it. It would have been so damn easy for her to stay there with them. She was sure it was more than the sex. Besides the first day, they hadn’t so much as touched her other than to give comfort while she had been sick. The temptation to let them all the way into her heart was rich and real and alluring as hell, but the reason her heart was still intact was that she didn’t take stupid risks with it. She’d put in a major toy order to try to allay the physical downside of leaving them, but nothing could help the emotional void.

 

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An old but well-loved Ford skewed sideways into the drainage ditch snared her attention. She didn’t need to see the faded signwriting on the door to know it belonged to the unkempt but thoroughly gorgeous mechanic, Jack Taylor. She pulled the truck to the narrow shoulder and put her four-ways on. The vehicle hadn’t been there when she’d headed toward Sheridan only hours ago. She jumped down from the cab and checked out the Ford. No one was in it, but the hood was still warm. A good look into the interior showed no sign of blood or any other indication of injury. She glanced down at her cell, wanting to ring the workshop and make sure everything was okay, but it was out of service. Casey jumped back in her truck and headed on toward Liberty Springs. She hadn’t even gone five hundred yards when she came across a forlorn figure standing beside the road. The tires skipped as she braked too hard, but she was past giving a shit about costly flatspots. It was Marley, looking dazed and pale, standing by the road. Casey flipped the air brakes on and jumped from the truck. “Marley! Are you okay?” The tall brunette was looking more than a little rattled. “I’m not hurt, just a bit shaky. I don’t know what happened, but the brakes stopped working at the second switchback.” Casey could only imagine the terror that must have gripped her on that wild ride. It was a miracle she had reached the bottom alive. “Fuck! No wonder you look like you’ve seen a ghost. Come on. I’ll give you a lift to town. We’ll give Jack an ass chewing together.” She held open the door to the Kenworth and assisted Marley up. Her legs didn’t look stable enough to accomplish the climb alone. Sliding behind the wheel, Casey gave Marley an assessing glance. She was pale and still shaking, but no more than was to be expected under the circumstances. She put the truck into gear and headed off. “I wish I had a stiff drink to offer you, honey, but you’re going to have to wait until we get to town.”

 

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“I’m okay. It’s just that all I could think about on the way down was that I hadn’t nailed Andy. How stupid is that? I thought I was gonna die, and all that kept going through my head was that I hadn’t fucked him.” “You really do need that drink.” A reflective glimmer caught Casey’s attention as they topped the small rise at the base of the pass. She squinted toward the forest. “What’s that?” The words had no sooner left her mouth than a starburst of cracks erupted in the center of her windshield. “What the fuck?” She looked at the hole in the middle of the pattern in confusion. Fear gripped her as realization sunk home. It’s a fucking bullet hole! “Marley! You okay?” Casey put her foot down. The big engine roared and the truck jumped away like a bee-stung grizzly. “Talk to me.” “Yeah, I’m okay. Was that a shot?” “Looks like it to me. I’m getting out of here. It might have been a hunter, but I’m not taking chances. Bad things happen when I’m with you, girlfriend.” “Hey, never a dull moment.” Marley’s poor attempt at levity convinced Casey the nurse was fine. She fished in her pocket and brought out her cell. “Here, we’ve got some service. Call Andy. He needs to know about this, and if I use the radio everyone will know. I’m not stopping until I put you in his hands. Just put it in the hands-free cradle when you dial. He might be a bit more reasonable if he’s talking to me.” It took Marley two goes to punch in the number with her trembling fingers, but she got it in the end. A woman answered on the second ring. “Liberty Springs’ sheriff’s office. Jane speaking.” “Jane, this is Casey Buckley. I need to speak to Deputy Calhoun urgently.” “Patching you through.”

 

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There was a clunk and a rustle of static before a gruff “Calhoun” came through loud and clear. “Andy, it’s Casey. I’ve just picked up Marley from the bottom of the pass. She’s had an accident.” “Is she okay?” The concern in his voice was deep and instant. “She’s a little shaken but she’ll be fine. But that’s not why I’m calling. She’d only been in the truck two minutes and someone shot at us.” “You’re shittin’ me!” “I am not shitting you, Andy. There’s a great fucking bullet hole in the middle of my windshield. If you want to get someone for speeding, head out on the Sheridan road. I’m hauling ass until we’re safe in town limits. We’re heading straight for the cop shop.” “You’re sure she’s okay?” “I’m fine, Andy,” Marley spoke up. “We’ll be there in like, two minutes with the way this madwoman’s driving.” “I’ll be waiting.” The line went dead. “See, he does care for you.” “Oh, I know he does. That’s the reason the bastard won’t sleep with me.” “There’s some kind of twisted male logic involved there somewhere, I take it?” “Some martyred moral code that I’m just dying to rip to shreds,” Marley agreed. “You planning on slowing down sometime soon, or are we going down the main street doing eighty-five?” Casey glanced down at the speedometer in shock. She never drove that hard! The burble of the engine-brake resounded in the cab as the vehicle steadied up. She’d backed it off to fifty as they passed the mechanic shop on the outskirts and had reached a respectable thirtyfive by the time they entered the town proper. Andy was pacing on the sidewalk with a phone to his ear when they turned down the street the station was on. “Brace yourself,

 

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Marley. I think that man means to make sure you are all right himself.” “He’s all show and no go. He won’t touch me.” She sounded resigned. “Run him over and put him back in the hospital for me. He can’t run away then.” Casey had to laugh as she pulled up in front of the station. Marley had sounded half-serious. “There’s a law against that kind of thing. Go on, get out, and show him you’re okay.” Casey followed a little slower, aware that her own legs were a trifle shaky. She’d never been in the path of a bullet before, and she discovered the experience was more than a little unsettling. She mentally changed the subject when nausea threatened. Throwing up all over the concerned deputy wouldn’t be something she would be able to live down in a hurry. She had a firm grip on the handrail, taking a few deep breaths, when two separate squeals of tires jerked her attention. A big black Dodge came barreling around the eastern corner and she knew damn well it was Luke’s blue Chevy sliding around the western corner. Both screeched to a halt around the truck. She breathed a sigh of relief when Ty got out unaccompanied by her sister. That she didn’t need right now. She tried valiantly to ignore Luke and Brody as they gave her a thorough once-over with worried eyes and went straight to where Andy, too, was running nothing but his gaze over Marley. Ty glanced at the windshield of her truck then at the commotion flaring up around the deputy before coming straight to her. “You’re looking a bit pale, kiddo. Do you need to sit down?” His slate gaze was concerned but calm, nothing seemed to rattle him. “I’m okay. It’s just hitting home how close that shot came. A foot either way and it would have got one of us.” “Come over here and sit down before you fall down. I don’t want to be picking you up off the ground, your sister’s heavy enough.”

 

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Casey couldn’t help but smile as she allowed him to walk her to his truck. Ty could probably carry her and Emma under each arm and still not break a sweat. It was a small relief to sit on the tailgate he lowered for her. “Thanks, Ty.” “You’re welcome, darlin’.” He glanced over to where Brody and Luke were still talking to Andy. “You want to tell me why those two are over there instead of over here holding you?” Casey looked at her feet swinging above the ground. “Dunno.” “That ain’t gonna fly. What’s going on? Did they stuff up?” “No. I just moved back into my house as soon as I could. I think they were under the impression that I was going to stay.” “So were the rest of us. What happened?” “Nothing, Ty. I’m just not into setting myself up for a fall.” “The only ones falling anywhere are those two idiots. Tell me now, is there any reason for me to stop them from marching over here and hauling you back where they can keep an eye on you until Andy sorts this out? Because I’m telling you now, the only other option is for me to take you home and make sure you’re safe behind Emma’s walls.” “You’re kidding?” “Nope, I’m entirely serious, Casey. We don’t know what is going on. What happened with Emma shook this town up pretty bad, and now, with the fire and then this, we’re not taking any chances.” “There are no other choices?” They turned as Andy’s voice rose and Marley started up with some pretty inventive cursing. “Well, there was one, but I’m pretty sure there’s only one holding cell.” They both watched as Andy manhandled a protesting Marley through the front doors of the station. “Make up your mind, Casey. They’re coming now. Them or Emma?” Fuck! She was so not going either of those routes. “Them, but on my terms.”

 

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“Good luck with that, darlin,” he rumbled quietly before turning to face Luke and Brody. “She’s all yours, boys. Don’t make me regret it.” **** Casey sat in the middle of the bench seat, staring out into the darkness cut by the wide swath of the Chevy’s headlights. She resolutely ignored the men on either side of her. Luke had taken possession of her hand three hours before and had yet to relinquish it. Brody hadn’t touched her or said a direct word to her. His body was tight as he sat stiffly in the driver’s seat, and his knuckles were white where he gripped the steering wheel. He radiated a suppressed rage like a visible, dark red aura. His only reaction as she’d shown Andy where the shot had originated from had been the rhythmical clenching of his jaw. The ball of muscle at the hinge of it had danced and writhed, but still he’d said nothing. She sat up in alarm as they drove straight past her driveway. “I said I wanted to go home. If you want to watch over me like some oversized guard dogs, you do it at my house. Are you hearing me?” “Oh, I’m pretty sure he heard you, sweetheart. Brody’s just electing to ignore you.” She tried to rip her hand away from where Luke held it against his leg but his hand didn’t even budge. Brody swung the wheel and headed up their drive. “I’m not staying here.” “I can pretty much assure you that you are.” Casey glared at Luke, but his unwelcome, lightly-spoken responses were better than Brody’s unnerving silence. There was going to be a big explosion there when he finally vented. Casey’s anxiety was climbing fast. “Look, it was probably some hunter with lousy aim.” “Sweetheart, around here no one hunts that forest with a .22. There’s too many big, unfriendly critters that need a lot more stopping

 

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power than a small-caliber rimfire. That bullet was meant for you or Marley. Until we find out who the target was, you don’t get out of our sight.” He turned toward her, his face eerily lit by the light reflected from the garage siding and pinched with anger. “Your safety is a hell of a lot higher on our list of priorities than your pride, your dignity, or your personal liberty, so don’t fuckin’ argue!” Casey flinched as is he’d slapped her. She’d never heard Luke sound so forceful. Brody wrenched the vehicle into park and glared at her briefly before climbing out. Luke didn’t give her a chance to linger. He stepped out and gave her no choice but to follow. Casey only had time to grab her phone and wallet from the dash as he removed her from the vehicle. Silence reigned as she followed Luke up the stairs onto the porch with as much dignity as she could muster. If she let them know they were getting to her it would be much worse. Brody opened the door and stood back while Luke led her inside. She felt the burn of his gaze as she passed him. Despite her trepidation, his barely contained fury awoke the part of her that his dominant streak called to, the part that just had to challenge him and absolutely reveled in the repercussions. She tried to quash it as Luke stopped and flicked the bright kitchen lights on, but he glanced at her and froze. His brown eyes fairly blazed. “Don’t even fuckin’ think about it. You have no idea what you’re playing with, Casey. You go there, and I won’t be stepping in, I’ll be right behind Brody all the way.” Oh, fuck! Two of them with an alpha bent? Her cunt wept at the mere thought. The stress of the day’s events weighed heavily on all of them. Pressures that needed releasing before it all blew up fast. If she’d been at home, Casey would have headed straight down to the shed for a session on the heavy bag, but here there were much more attractive ways to burn off the tension. A niggling little voice cautioned that she might be biting off more than she could chew, but she ordered it back

 

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in its box. She was a big girl, and she could handle anything these two could dish out. Her chin went up and her nostrils flared as she drew an empowering breath. Luke’s muttered “oh, fuck” fell sweet upon her ears as she turned her gaze on Brody. His face looked like a thundercloud bent on devastation. She jerked her hand away from Luke, and this time he didn’t even try to hold it. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” She stabbed Brody’s chest with a finger of her newly freed hand. “Not one fucking word from you all afternoon. At least Luke asked if I was okay. All you’ve been doing is making autocratic decisions on my behalf. Where I can go. Where I can sleep. Who died and made you king?” When Brody spoke his voice was tightly controlled, carefully even, as if holding onto his temper by a thread, “You could have been killed today. My heart damn near stopped when I saw that hole in your windshield, Casey. Nothing matters but keeping you safe. I don’t care if you hate me. As long as you’re alive at the end of it, nothing matters. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe, best you remember that.” “I won’t put up with you running roughshod over me. You can take your caveman routine and shove it clear where the sun don’t shine. I’m a big girl and I can look after myself. I’m going home.” “Take one step toward that door and I’ll have you over my knee quicker than you can blink. And I won’t be responsible for what happens once you get my blood up, Casey. You’ve been warned.” Excitement flared like a phosphorous grenade, burning bright and hot with no end in sight. Her whole body was afire with anticipation. She wanted this, needed release so badly. She hoped he didn’t see her excitement shining in her eyes. “Fuck you, Brody.” She made to step past him. The arm that wrapped around her was like a cold-forged iron band, hard and strong without an inch of give to it. She was tossed over a wide shoulder that was no more giving than his arm had been.

 

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Heat curled low in the pit of her belly at the blatant display of strength. “I tried to warn you, sweetheart. You are in so much trouble now.” There was a gleeful edge to Luke’s slow drawl. She got glimpses of his sock-clad feet as he followed Brody. He dumped her unceremoniously on the bed. Casey bounced once and came up swinging, but Brody was ready for her. He seized her wrists before she could make contact. “Use that knee and I’ll double your punishment.” Casey couldn’t resist trying. He twisted easily to the side and she only connected with his thigh. His eyes flashed and color rose on his cheeks. He bore her back to the bed and straddled her hips. She couldn’t get any leverage to toss him off her with her legs over the edge of the bed. Casey’s breath heightened as she watched his icy calm disintegrate. “Luke, get up here and hold these.” The bed sank down behind her and Luke’s hands wrapped around her wrists that Brody had pinned either side of her head. She tried to struggle but Luke’s grip wasn’t any more yielding than his brothers. “You can’t do this. There’s a law against this kind of thing.” “No one in Liberty Springs is gonna jump up and down because we spanked your ass, Casey. It’s just up to you whether this happens easy or hard.” Brody’s eyes bored into hers he sat back further, pinning her thighs. His hands tugged the tails of her work-shirt from the cotton drill trousers. “I think I owe you this.” He held her gaze as he jerked, sending buttons flying. Her pussy throbbed at his proprietary handling, and the flare of satisfaction in his eyes as he bared her lace-covered breasts clenched her womb. She was wearing the bra he had bought her. “Goddamn, that’s a beautiful sight.” Luke’s voice was gratifyingly husky.

 

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Brody’s hands were jerky as he went to work on her pants. She could see lust mingling with his barely controlled wrath. “Don’t even think you’re going to fuck me, Brody.” “Honey, by the time I’m finished, you’ll be begging me to put out the flames.” His hands jerked her pants over her hips, “Do you think I’m stupid? You engineered this little scenario with one thing in mind. You want us to fuck you so bad I can smell you creaming from here. You’ve got too much pride just to ask for it, haven’t you? You’ve got to manipulate and scheme so that you can hold your head high and say, ‘hey, it wasn’t me who started it.’ “Well, you may have started it, honey, but we sure as shit are gonna be finishing it, and not until we’re good and goddamn ready.” He rose up and jerked her pants off, panties and all, while she was still spluttering in indignation. How dare he read me so easily! “Oh, look at them panties! I can see how wet they are from here. I think Casey likes the idea of getting her ass spanked.” Luke sounded positively gleeful. “Let her go.” Casey went to roll away, but Brody moved damn fast for his size. Her breath left her with a whoosh as she landed across his knees. She had just sucked in life-giving air when the first slap landed with a resounding smack against her bare ass. She kicked and struggled and, when that didn’t work, attempted to bite his calf. He moved it away with alacrity. “What is it with you and those teeth? Luke, slip that shirt over her head and bind her with it.” Luke was chuckling as he complied. He pulled the back of her long-sleeved shirt over her head and half way down her arms. Fighting him did absolutely no good. He tied the tails of the shirt around the wrists that were still encased in the sleeves. She might be able to work them loose, but it would be happening no time soon.

 

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She snapped her teeth at Luke when he tried to caress her face but he only laughed. “She’s gonna fight like hell, Brode. I’m gonna slip this bra right off, I want to watch those beauties dance.” His nimble fingers made short work of the bra clasp. “Look at those hard little points. They’re sitting up like berries ripe for the eating.” Brody brought his hand down again, this time on the other side. “Ouch, fuck! I’m going to kill you, Brody.” “Who are you trying to kid? There’s cream running down your thigh.” He ran his hand over the fiery point of impact, and Casey held back a wanton moan of pure need. It was so fucking wrong that this made her hot. Someone had definitely misread the directions when they’d done her wiring. She tried to bite him again, but he grabbed her braid and held it in the hand he pinned her back with. Her face was tilted up whether she liked it or not. Luke stood back a little and Casey cursed her weaknesses when he rubbed the heel of his big hand over the growing bulge behind his fly. If he pulled his dick out and started stroking it, she was gone. The game would be over before it had a chance to begin. Luke must have read her mind. “You can drool to your heart’s content, sweetheart. My jeans are staying on until you start begging pretty, real pretty. I’m waiting to see how much of a blush Brody can work up on your lilywhite skin. Course, it will be a whole lot more interesting once he plugs that ass and then beats on it.” Casey blanched even as her cunt wept anew. She’d seen that butt plug, remembered vividly hurling it at the door. But she’d never had one in her ass before, let alone been spanked with one in. “You’re not getting anywhere near my ass, Brody.” “That’s okay, hon. I was going to get Luke to put it in, anyway. He hasn’t had a taste of your hot little ass yet.” Luke’s smile was Lucifer incarnate. “God, I’m going to enjoy this.” He moved to the bedside table and she heard the opening and closing of the drawer.

 

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Electricity skated up and down her spine as the idea sent fissions of apprehension through her even as it aroused. She’d had anal sex with Brody and wasn’t scared of the actual act, but the intimacy of being openly exposed, of being on display and under the scrutiny of two sets of eyes, made her squirm. She felt another hand stroke across her cheek before it gave a light tap that had her involuntarily arching up for more. “You hit like a girl.” “But she likes it like that.” “Casey will take whatever she’s given. She brought all this down upon herself. You’ve got to at least leave a handprint.” “You son of a bitch!” Casey cussed Brody as he demonstrated, the sound of his palm impacting her ass resounding in the room. It was truly embarrassing how readily the sting morphed into pleasure as heat shot straight to her pulsing, wet pussy. Her clit was throbbing with a will of its own, crying out for direct stimulation. With the way he had her over his knee, she had nothing to rub it against. A hand followed the crease of her ass down, heading toward the pulsating bundle of nerves. She could feel how wet her thighs had become even without Luke’s groan when his fingers slipped in the slickness. Her legs opened wider of their own accord as he ran fingers along the seam of her thigh, caressing the superfine skin with his work-roughened hands. His intentions became clear when Casey tried to put her knees back together as he abruptly withdrew his hand. The bastard had planted his foot between them to stop her from closing her legs again. “Christ, she’s wet enough for a man to drown in.” Luke’s fingers slid through her juices and circled around her opening. She tried to wiggle to bring him in contact with her aching clit, but he chuckled and easily avoided her maneuvering. She could feel the bottle of lube pressed to her back where his other hand rested, a cold reminder of what he had planned. A little consternation traveled through her. How could he just go there

 

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without knowing if the way was clear? There was more than one reason people thought anal sex was dirty. How did one give voice to that fear? His finger passing over her desperately clenched rosebud galvanized her to action. “You can’t, Luke. It could be yucky.” His hand caressed her back soothingly. “There’s no reason to be all uptight, sweetheart. We weren’t born yesterday.” She gasped as he slid two long fingers inside her sopping cunt and stroked upward, along her back wall. “This is all it takes to know that everything is going to be fine, love. I can do this with absolute confidence.” One slick digit slid straight into her ass despite her defensive clenching. “Fuckin’ hell! How the hell did you get your dick in here? She’s so damn tight.” Casey’s back arched, both protesting and savoring the forbidden penetration. “With great fuckin’ difficulty. If you reckon that’s tight, wait ’til you feel this.” Brody’s hand came down where buttock met thigh and a cry sprang from her lips that was not pain or pleasure but a heady mixture of both. Luke’s finger felt like some great invading force, so much bigger than she knew it really was, as her internal muscles tightened all about it reflexively. The burn radiated not just to her pussy this time but encompassed her ass as well. “Christ almighty! It feels like the top of my finger is going to come clean off.” “Imagine having the head of your cock in there and laying a few good ones on her. Casey likes it when we play hard and dirty, she just doesn’t like that she likes it. Isn’t that right, baby?” He slapped her ass lightly. The traitorous bitch of her body reacted to the lust-roughened, heated words as much as the heavy pat, but the reckless part of her that couldn’t leave well enough alone had to goad him. “You’re hitting like a girl, Brody.”

 

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“Well, well, well. You haven’t given in after all. I was getting worried you were going to make this too easy. We’ll find out how sissy you think my arm is after Luke plugs your ass, honey.” She felt Luke move and then the cold shock of slick fluid running down her divide. His finger slid slowly from her body and she couldn’t hold back the groan of protest. He didn’t give her time to dwell on the loss, however. His finger pushed straight back in, spreading the lube it had collected. Again and again he worked her open as he lubricated her dark hole. The tight bite of the entry of a second finger made her buck and dance across the solidness of Brody’s thighs. One of her hands broke free of her makeshift bindings, but, to her disgust, she only clenched his muscled calf with it. The other, still wrapped in her mangled shirt and hapless bra, she rested on the floor, supporting her weight as she arched against him. She sucked in a breath as the pinch and burn became the wicked fullness that she loved too well. “Was that a moan or a groan, Brode?” Luke sounded amused, but the rough edge to his voice said he wasn’t immune to the depraved picture she was sure she made. “I don’t know. Slip that plug into her and well find out.” Teeth nipped her ass cheek as the fingers withdrew. “Relax, sweetheart. I don’t want to hurt you.” Luke’s warm breath caressed the wetness left by his mouth. The kiss of cold, slick glass against her star made her tremble. Casey took a deep breath, steeling herself for the pain to come, but Luke surprised her. He held the plug with one hand and slid the other to her dripping folds. His big hand rubbed soothingly over her pussy lips, setting the nerve endings aflame despite his gentle touch. His thumb slid into her touch-starved cunt just as his fingertips circled her clit. Her whole sex was held in the tender strength of his callused hand. The tension fled from her body as he massaged so intimately. There was no pain as the thick plug was pushed through her quivering ring and the wide base lodged safely in the grip of her muscles.

 

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The weight of the glass was devastating. Every twitch and writhe of her body sent unholy pleasure streaking through her stretched tissue as the movement was magnified by the heavy presence in her ass. The guttural groan it drew from her was embarrassingly loud and shockingly sexy. “Look at that! Have you ever seen something so fucking sexy?” Brody’s tone was as worshipful as the finger she felt him trail around the clear glass impaling her ass. Sinful sensations followed in the wake of his diabolical caress. She loved being nothing but a vessel for pleasure, having the choices taken out of her hands and being the sole subject of their lustful attention. Her body cried out for their touch, pleaded for them to take total possession of her. She didn’t want tenderness or words of praise and love. She wanted unadulterated carnality, hot and hard sex and fleshly pleasures. “You gonna fuck it, or sit around looking at it all night?” “Look out! She’s found her tongue. That was a bit breathy to be convincing, Case. Wanna find your tough-girl voice and try again?” Affectionate amusement shone through Brody’s lust-clouded rumble. He slapped her rear, making her grip the plug with her innermost muscles and causing it to shift alarmingly. The resulting erotic blast along her spine had her groaning out her disbelief. She didn’t have a chance in hell of holding on to her sanity, let alone her bravado, once he started spanking her properly. She figured it was probably her last chance to goad him before she became a slave to her own body and the men who so easily made it their own. She took a deep breath and braced herself to endure the resulting maelstrom. She’d sown the wind. The whirlwind was hers for the reaping. “You’re all talk, Brody Marshall. You haven’t got the balls to tame me.” ****

 

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Shock assailed Luke and his gaze rose from the bounty before him to his brother’s eyes in disbelief. Did Casey have any fucking clue of the kind of hell Brody could rain down upon her if he was provoked? But he saw something on his brother’s face that was more shocking than Casey’s blatant provocation—completely unveiled amusement. He was all but laughing his ass off. The couple of times they’d played with subs who challenged and tried to top from the bottom, Brody’s reaction had been swift and ruthless. They’d been left in no doubt of who was, in fact, in charge. Yet here he was acting like a kid a candy store every time Casey mouthed off. Glee shined from his eyes, unholy glee to be sure, but a genuine happiness that left Luke bewildered. “What do you reckon, Luke? Should I spank her right where she is, or plant her on your cock first? She’s that wet and ready you’ll be balls deep in one go.” That one didn’t take any thought whatsoever. “You know where my vote is. I won’t pass up that kind of offer.” Luke stood up, nearly ripping his shirt in his haste to get out of his gear. “Why don’t you go around in front of Casey and give her a little show? We know she likes to watch.” He punctuated the last with a sound smack to her blushing ass. Luke didn’t need any encouragement. Watching Casey’s hungry gaze eat him up was a heady rush not to be passed up. Fire flashed in her sapphire blues as he stopped just out of reach in front of her. Color was high on her cheeks, a fevered blush that extended down her chest to where her full breasts danced freely. Her heated glare faltered as he reached for his belt, lingering on the fingers that toyed with the buckle. Her tongue swept her lips and his cock lurched higher, trying to find a way past his zipper. “What’s the matter, sweetheart? You’re awfully quiet there. You haven’t run out of sass, have you?” “Screw you, Luke.”

 

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“Anytime, baby, anytime.” He let the open buckle fall to the side and reached for the button on his waistband. Christ, she looks hungry! She was struggling to maintain her you-and-the-horse-you-rode-in-on attitude, but it was a bit hard when she kept licking her lips and devouring him with her eyes. “Keep wetting those lips, sweetheart. I can think of one or two uses for you to put them to.” He laughed when she snapped her teeth together warningly. “You won’t bite me. You’ll bite Brode, but I know I’m safe.” He released the button and peeled his jeans open. The force his cock was placing on the zipper made it give without touching the tab. Her eyes caressed every inch of his misshapen cock. He’d always been self-conscious about it until he’d learned about G-spots. He now knew it was a woman’s best friend, but he had to be careful how he used it. Casey was the only woman he’d taken from behind without complaint. The fact that she’d loved it gave him hope that she’d handle him anally. Only one woman ever had, and she’d been too much of a pain slut for them to take on more than once. She’d wanted things that had left even Brody blanching. He dropped his jeans to the ground and stepped out of them. Casey watched every movement of his bobbing cock like a Labrador does a tennis ball. He smiled widely as he turned from side to side and her gaze followed faithfully. When he wrapped his hand around it and pulled it away from his body, milking a pearly drop from the tip, she groaned and stretched out her neck as far as Brody’s grip on her hair would allow. “Do you want it, sweetheart?” He tilted his cock down so that the trembling bead of moisture was nearly in her reach. Brody brought his hand down on her ass. “Luke asked you a question.” His voice held none of the wicked joy on his face. “No!” She tore her gaze away but was unable to keep it from straying back.

 

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Luke collected the drop of pre-cum on his finger and gripped her jaw while he painted it across her bottom lip. She fought it until the first taste hit her tongue and she was lost. Her tongue swept her lip and then licked the remaining traces from his finger. He wouldn’t let her suck it. While he would trust in her conscience preventing her from biting his vulnerable cock, he knew damn well she wouldn’t have any such qualms about his tougher finger. He fisted her hair and gave a nod for Brode to release her braid. He felt a rush of adrenaline like he did every time he gave the nod in the roping box or the bucking chute. That aura of not knowing what was going to happen was half the fun. Casey didn’t disappoint him. She tossed her head and shook it to avoid the thick flesh he was trying to work into her mouth, but he could see the hunger and wild excitement in her eyes. Her mouth opened wide and her eyes glazed over as Brody let her have another stinging smack. Luke used the opportunity to press his advantage. He didn’t push in to her mouth, he just rubbed the wide tip against the ruby satin of her lips. Teasing Casey would accomplish a lot more than force ever would. The first hot lash of her tongue brought a rush of heat like a blowtorch running up his balls. He groaned and her eyes flashed open at the first sign of weakness, like a predator who had just caught the first scent of blood. A vixen’s smile lit up her face as she opened her mouth and took his cockhead between her teeth. The sharp edge of her pearly whites threatened as she growled, but Luke held her gaze. “You don’t want to hurt me, Case. You want to taste my salt on your tongue so bad. Let go of Brode’s leg and wrap your hand around me. I’ll give it to you as hard and as deep as you want.” A hungry growl heralded her capitulation. Her hand felt like watered silk after his sandpaper grip while her mouth was complete and utter heaven. Her eyes closed as his cock passed over the velvet of her tongue and he leaned into her, letting her say when he’d gone deep enough. The touch of the back of her throat had him throwing back his head in pained pleasure. His wildest

 

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fantasy, a woman with no gag reflex and a tongue like hot greased lightning! He felt his cock jerk and a mini almost-orgasm sent a little spurt of seed barreling up his cock. He let her collect that and then pulled away from her hot and willing mouth. Brody would never let him forget it if he blew his load at this early juncture. He chuckled as her tongue tried vainly to reach him. “Later, baby. Brode’s got some plans for that ass of yours first.” “Big plans.” Luke watched her eyes grow hazy as Brody spanked her again to emphasize his words. He would never have thought that strong and independent Casey Buckley would get off on having her ass spanked. Or that my-way-or-the-highway Brody would enjoy having a woman defy him at every turn. But there was no mistaking the mirthful satisfaction in his face as Casey recovered and started spluttering curses and threats once more. Luke just smiled and reached for the box of rubbers he’d dropped on the side table. He chose one without looking, his eyes on the skirmish unfolding between Casey and Brode, and was more than a little startled to find Cookie-Monster blue encasing his cock when he glanced down. A shocked snort of laughter also came from the wench writhing in his brother’s lap when he turned around. “Oh, God! It’s a horny Smurf!” Brode was no better. “Man, I’ve heard of blue balls, but that’s fuckin’ ridiculous.” Seriously, how was a man supposed to cope with that? A lesser man would wilt under the mockery, but Luke held his head high and his cock followed suit as he sat down. “You won’t be so full of cheek in a minute, sweetheart. You’ll be begging for my blue friend before long.” He grabbed her hand and freed it from the remains of her shirt. “Toss her over here. I was going to give her something to sit on while you quit mucking around and really

 

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reddened her ass, but after that little episode, I’ll wait until she begs for Papa Smurf.” “You’ll be old and gray before I beg for either one of you two.” “Keep telling yourself that, honey.” Brody rumbled and lifted her wriggling form. Luke took possession of her other hand as well, and Brody positioned her straddling his lap. She struggled and squirmed like a fresh-landed catfish, but all it accomplished was to rub her ripe, dripping-wet pussy all over his sheathed and eager cock. She froze abruptly when a smack rang out and her clit slid along his length. Smoky sapphire burned hotter than the summer night as her breath caught in her throat. Luke smiled at her raw hunger. “That one was just for fun. You’ll be lucky to make it to ten before you’re trying to skewer yourself on old bluey here.” He lay back, holding her wrists to his chest and giving her the choice of whether to stay upright or follow him down. As it left him with a glorious view of her dancing above him or the feel of those firm breasts rubbing all over him, it was a no-lose situation for him. She stayed upright and Brody nipped at her shoulder, moving in close. Focus faded from her eyes and her mouth lost all tension. Luke didn’t need to hear Brody to know where his hand was. “What’s the matter, honey? All the fight goes out of you when that plug moves in your ass.” He knew Casey would hate to know just how submissive her gesture was when she arched her neck, baring her throat to Brody’s questing lips and teeth. “I think you’re all talk, Casey. Your safe word is ‘Gargamel.’ When you can’t take it anymore, you just yell that out and we’ll all know you’re all talk.” Gargamel? It took Luke a little while to realize it was the bad guy in The Smurfs. Brody must spend a lot more time than he did watching The Cartoon Network, but with Casey sliding all over his dick like a hot, slick dream, his mind was a little sidetracked to begin

 

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with. “It’s Gargamel or Papa Smurf. Your choice, sweetheart.” He rocked his hips and watched her eyes glaze over once more. “Don’t do that, Luke. She’ll come before we get her to say anything.” Brody gave her a short, sharp tap and Luke sucked in a breath as her hands dug into the muscles of his chest. Her head went back and her breasts thrust out, just begging to be touched. He loosened his grip on her wrists and, when she made no move to remove her talons from his chest, released them completely. Her white flesh beckoned, and his mouth watered in anticipation. He cupped the weighty globes and caught a sharp, distended nipple between the thumb and forefinger of each hand. The unadulterated pleasure that infused her face as he rolled and pinched them had him digging deep for control. She wanted to come so damn bad. He wished he could give it to her, loved nothing more than watching her come apart, but Brody was depending on him to prove they could master her pleasure as well as her body. When Brody pushed her down upon his chest, he made no move to relinquish the responsive, engorged peaks he had claimed. He heard the solid sting of hard palm meeting feminine flesh and the raw ecstasy on Casey’s face made it apparent Brody was working the sweet spots. The line where buttock met thigh was made for heavy handling. There was plenty of flesh to take the blow and the proximity to her fevered, swollen sex tweaked all the right nerves as the burn spread insidiously. Luke could hardly restrain his grin as he realized Brody was as full of shit as Casey was. There was no way in hell he would give her any pain that wasn’t designed to bring her pleasure. For all his talk of teaching her a lesson and not being responsible for the repercussions of her actions, Brody was in complete control and loving every second of her submissive body and defiant mouth. He was like some savage dog on a chain, all snarling threats and posturing, but became a playful puppy when the chain snapped.

 

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Casey and Brody were bringing out sides of each other Luke had never even glimpsed. Some part of him recognized that he should be feeling left out, isolated by the way they sparked off each other, but he could also recognize that Casey gave him something special, too. He could play with the best of them, had been tutored and mentored in all the ways to bring a woman more pleasure than she could possibly find by herself or with an average lover through delayed orgasm. But with Casey, he could just be himself. He was a generous lover at heart. He knew he was good for two, maybe three times with the right partner, but he saw no reason why a being capable of multiple orgasms shouldn’t be allowed to experience the full potential of their abilities. Nothing was more beautiful, or more satisfying, than watching a woman climax, but it was so much more when his heart was involved as much as his dick. He wanted to see Casey come even more than he wanted to hear her beg for his cock. The blows Brody rained down upon her shifted her against his shaft and had her rearing back in rapture. Luke pinched her harder to get her to focus on him. It took quite a bit of force for her to stop riding the wave of pain and break free. “Ask for it and I’ll let you come, sweetheart.” He watched the fog clear as she focused on him. “Just ask. I don’t need to hear you beg.” Her fingers loosened and her soft hands stroked up to his shoulders. Casey lowered her head and her panting breath touched his ear. “I want you inside me so bad Luke, but if I give in, Brody wins.” “No, baby. We all win.” He arched his back and lined the tortured head of his cock up with her dripping entrance. “Just ask and it’s yours.” He pressed against her fevered tissue, teasing her with the promise of his flesh. He felt her smile where her cheek pressed to his and then she licked wickedly up the shell of his ear. Over the fierce pounding of blood her busy tongue inspired, he heard her whisper “just call me Smurfette,” and then the incredible liquid inferno of her snug cunt enveloped him.

 

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**** The moan torn from her throat was downright greedy, with a real “gimme more” quality to it that even Luke’s god-help-me groan couldn’t disguise. Brody shook his head affectionately. Luke just couldn’t help himself. Casey was perfect for his brother. She would take every scrap of pleasure as her due and had the strength and stamina to make even Luke cry for mercy. His brother had earned a hell of a reputation as a ladies’ man even in high school. Ever since Sara-Lou Baker had shown him how to double strum a clit, he’d been obsessed with dishing out pleasure. Blue balls hadn’t bothered him, and so long as he got his date off, he’d come home with a smile on his face. Even buried in the most welcoming pussy Brody had ever enjoyed, Luke was totally focused on giving her release. Casey’s head went back and she lifted up enough that he had no doubt that his brother was making a meal of those creamy, pink-tipped breasts with their sprinkling of freckles. Rather than riding Luke’s ridiculously blue cock, she was grinding down in short, sharp circles in blatant pursuit of orgasm. He couldn’t keep his hands off her writhing ass. Proof of the spanking he had bestowed had reddened the tight, creamy globes to a deep blush, and the base of the heavy plug parted the cleft and left her erotically exposed. He wanted to tear that plug out and sink into the satin-smooth clasp he’d so thoroughly enjoyed before, but first she had to beg. Luke was a pushover, but he was made of sterner stuff. He loved that she challenged him. Any who had tried before had been so thoroughly cowed when he retaliated that he’d been disgusted by their weakness. But Casey was different. He’d been terrified today. It had felt like someone had wrapped their hand around his heart and squeezed when Andy had called, but it had been nothing to the fear that had gripped him when he had seen

 

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how close that bullet had come to ending all of the hopes and dreams that had wound themselves around him regarding Casey. The need to protect her had been magnified and strengthened by how close he had come to losing her. If he hadn’t seen the spark of need in her sapphire gaze when she’d let fly with that “Fuck you,” he had no idea what he would have done. Her need had called to his own, a need to celebrate the fact that she was alive. Casey’s penchant to be dominated surprised and delighted him. She wanted him at his worst, wasn’t happy unless she was provoking him, but the very fact that she loved that side of him tamed it. He could be as strong and forceful as he wanted, give absolute reign to his dominant streak, but, like throwing the reins at a bolting horse, by ceding control he was actually maintaining the upper hand. The only difference between bolting and galloping as fast as you can was whether or not you were trying to stop. Brody had no intentions of even reaching for the reins. He gripped the base of the plug and tugged it halfway out. Casey cried out as he moved it within her tight grip. She reacted so sweetly to having her ass played with, and that he had been the first to fuck it was heady knowledge. He watched her back arch as he fed the slick glass back in, an arch that told him Luke had got impatient with waiting and was helping her over the edge. Brody pushed against the base of the toy and gave her the contact of his chest on her back as she came. It was a lovely, drawn-out moan, but he knew they could do better. He pulled the plug from her orgasm-tightened body. “Oh, put it back.” Casey’s plaintive wail brought a smile to Brody’s face. He nipped the back of her neck and held her back against him. The wet peaks of her breasts let him know that Luke certainly had been feasting. “What’s the matter, baby, feeling empty without it? I’ve got something bigger here if you want it.” He ran his naked cock up and down the crease of her ass, grimacing when her relaxed pucker

 

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caught at his tip. She was so ready for him it took his breath away. Her body trusted him implicitly. Luke’s eyes followed every movement of his hands over Casey’s ripe breasts. Luke had absolutely no shame when it came to loving. Brody had been a little self-conscious when they’d first started sharing women, but he’d quickly realized that Luke loved to play the voyeur, and although they were up close and personal, his brother’s attention was solely on their woman. Luke would even go down on a woman while Brody was fucking her when Brody wouldn’t even contemplate having his head anywhere another man’s groin. But because it didn’t faze Luke in the slightest, he didn’t let it faze him. Luke always made sure there was plenty of clearance between his mouth and Brody’s bits, and Luke’s eyes were something he had gotten used to. The skin of her neck was salty beneath his tongue, tangy with sweat. He bit down on the delicate muscle cording the side and chuckled when she pushed back against him, looking for something to fill the hungry void he had created. “Ask me to fuck it, and you can have it all, Casey. Tell me you want my cock in your ass.” “Anything, just let me have it now!” “Uh-uh, not happening. Ask me nice.” Brody reached for a condom and donned it without moving away from her back. If he stopped touching her she’d be able to think again. “Come on, baby. Do you want it?” “Oh, God, yes!” He was ready to dive right in until he realized her impassioned plea was in response to Luke. He looked down her arched body and saw the fingers that held her clit and were milking it gently. “Fuck, Luke! How the hell is she supposed to answer with you doing that?” “It’s the only way I could think of to get her to say what you want to hear.” Luke’s color was high and his voice rough but relaxed. He had an uncanny ability to hold off his own orgasm.

 

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Brody shook his head. He rolled her nipples, making her writhe against him, her lithe body strong and lean beneath her silken skin. “I want to be inside you so bad, Casey, but I have to know that you want it, too. Tell me you want it.” Her head dropped back on his shoulder, her frantic panting sweet against his neck. The warm touch of her lips sent coils of pleasure down his spine as they ghosted up his jaw. And then she bit him. Hard. Right on the earlobe. “Fuck me like you mean it.” His cock was halfway up her tight little ass before he registered moving. Sweet mercy! She drove him crazy. Her wail of tortured pleasure rang throughout the room, accompanied by Luke’s deep groan and his own hiss of breath. His cock felt like it was on fire. Hot, tight pressure blasted it from every direction. Luke’s cock was a shifting, solid presence fighting for room on the other side of her fragile and slender tissues, her tailbone was an unyielding barrier against which he butted, and her muscles twitched and danced along his shaft as she writhed. “Fuck, honey! Hold still.” She squeezed down upon him, tightening further. “Don’t do that. Breathe, relax and let me in.” he pushed her down into Luke’s waiting arms and ran his hands along her back to try and relax her. He had worked his way in last time, but he’d prepared her well and she’d been captivated by the novel experience instead of demanding her pleasure. This time he was fighting all the way. He pulled back an inch and looked down. Brody reckoned the most powerful vision for any man was the sight of the woman he loved bending over to take his cock. Her ring wrapped him tightly, stretched thin and showing pink where he pulled back against her powerful grip. His cock looked obscenely large protruding from between her cheeks. He reached for more lube and poured it over their joined flesh, rocking back and forth just enough to work it in to her. He wasn’t game to pull out in case he couldn’t get back in.

 

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He could hear Luke urging Casey to relax and let him in, but it was her whispered response that had him digging deep. “Burns. Burns so good.” He watched as she shoved her hand down between her and Luke’s bodies. “Need more. Move, damn it!” She began fucking herself on Luke’s deeply buried cock, and Brody couldn’t help but join her in the rhythm she set. She pushed back against him, taking more and more of his length. She was glorious in her passion, uninhibited and wild. Guttural cries filled the air and Brody found himself swept along, unable to resist the tight grip of her ass or her unrestrained desire. “Fuck me, fuck me, oh, God, harder, deeper.” Demands rather than pleas fell from her lips, and Brody’s balls pulsed in warning. He wasn’t going to last. “Come for me, Casey, right now.” He brought his hand down on the side of her ass and was rewarded by a moan of undiluted rapture. He cut loose, determined to bring her to orgasm before he disgraced himself and shot his load. Harder and faster he smacked at the sides of her ass while he fucked it. The ringing of flesh on flesh joined the cacophony of moans, grunts, and gasps ringing in the desire-filled air. Clear and high, a scream rang out, a cry of agonized ecstasy that jerked the seed from his balls and flung it up his pistoning shaft. A bellow erupted from Luke, and Brody found his cock squeezed tighter than ever before as they both forged to the hilt and her muscles seized and violently gripped them as she shook with orgasm. The sweet bliss rode him as blood roared in his ears and pounded through his body. Unending spurts caused his cock to jerk in her unholy grip, making her writhe and Luke groan and thrust again. Around and around the pleasure chased them until Brody pulled from her clasp, too sensitive to endure more. He kept his chest pressed to her back, unwilling to break contact in the foreseeable future. Holding Casey felt like home. ****

 

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Sandwiched between her two lovers, Casey felt like purring in pure satisfaction. Their heat and strength surrounded her, making her feel treasured and smaller than she actually was. Freshly showered and smelling like sin, Luke held her against his chest while Brody curled around her back. It felt so secure, so right. Their bodies were passive with sleep, the hard muscles relaxed and softened. It was a sharp contrast to the unrestrained strength of only an hour before. It shook her to the core how deeply these two men could possess her. Their power over her body should have terrified her, but she was woman enough to glory in it without reservation. She’d gained nothing in life by being meek and mild. Between Luke’s fixation on her pleasure and Brody’s domineering bent, they awoke a side of her she’d buried deep out of sight. She had always loved sex. Right from the first time she had found pleasure, and she hadn’t been afraid to embrace that sexual side of her nature. But Casey hadn’t slept around, far from it. Instead she had rationed herself, allowing a blowout every six months when masturbation just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Her work had always come first. But the sleek and stylish young men she’d picked up to scratch the itch couldn’t hold a candle to the two rough and ready cowboys who had taken her body and made it their own. They were both everything she had ever wanted in a lover and, at the same time, everything she promised herself she would never fall for—arrogant, pushy, and controlling, but generous, caring, and strong. In their arms, her body burned like wildfire, her boundaries were brought crashing down, and her will captured. If ever she was convinced she held their hearts, she would release the bonds protecting hers. In their game of carnal tag and release, they’d caught her twice. The first time she had escaped before they had a chance to set her free. She steeled her heart as she realized that both the strength and the will to walk away a second time were lacking.

 

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She was gonna get burned. How badly she would get burned was in the hands of the men holding her so sweetly between them.

 

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Chapter 14 Shattered windshields, flames, and little blue men chased each other around in Casey’s sleep-fogged head. She groaned and buried her face into the pillow. Why couldn’t she have normal dreams? The deep ache riding her body told her that last night’s events hadn’t been imagined. Her memory flashed back to a bright blue rubber and she couldn’t help but smile. She’d never look at a Smurf in the same way again. The stupid grin was still in place as she rolled to her back. “I hope that smile has got something to do with me.” Luke’s easy drawl came from the doorway. She knew without opening her eyes he would be propped against the frame as if it weren’t capable of holding itself up, all long lazy lines and practiced ease. He didn’t disappoint her. His damp curls hung over his broad forehead and a small dimple bracketed his mouth where it lifted in a smile. He was wearing decent jeans and a longsleeved shirt that was actually buttoned. He wasn’t dressed for home or work. “Hey.” Her voice was scratchy with sleep. “Where are you going?” “We are all going to town. Andy wants to see us at the station. We were just waiting for you to wake up.” “You should have woken me earlier.” “Oh, I wanted to, sweetheart. I had some big plans for waking you up, but grumpy ass sent me out to feed the horses. He seems to think he was too hard on you last night and you would need the rest.”

 

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“Christ almighty! When is he going to get over himself? I’m a big girl, Luke, and if I don’t want something, I sure as shit won’t put up with it. Brody didn’t do anything I didn’t want him to.” “Hey, you and I know that, but Brode’s a little slow on the uptake. Come on. Get your ass out of bed before I crawl back in there with you.” Casey felt her womb do a little flip-flop at the thought of some of Luke’s loving attention. “That’s a bad thing?” His chocolate eyes sparkled with devilment. “Very bad if Brody catches me. Come on, I’ve got coffee made for you.” He straightened up. “Just put some clothes on first, if you walk out there naked I know exactly what I’m having for breakfast. Brody won’t be able to tell me no twice in one morning.” He gave her a grin that had pleasure coiling in her belly and turned away. She watched his ass until it turned the corner. Loving Luke Marshall would be so damn easy. She sighed and climbed out of bed. She salvaged her bra, but that was all that was wearable, so she went in search of clothes. Brody’s closet yielded a T-shirt and a pair of track pants that fit with the waist tied tight and rolled over. She was making sure they took her home to get some clothes before they went anywhere in public. The woman in the mirror was not remotely presentable when she scrubbed her teeth and washed her face. Luke didn’t seem to mind as he gave her a steaming mug of coffee and nuzzled her neck. His big hands wrapped her waist, making her feel tiny, as he snugged his body in tight against her back. “Mmm, you smell good.” “I smell like your deodorant.” “It smells better on you. Brody’s shirt fits you a lot better, too.” Casey took a sip of the rich brew and sighed. Luke made a damn fine coffee. “What’s for breakfast?” “I’d prefer you, but Brody said something about cereal or PopTarts. We have to get over to Andy sooner rather than later.”

 

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“I’ll have Wheaties. I don’t know how anyone eats Pop-Tarts for breakfast.” “I do.” “That doesn’t surprise me.” With the amount of sugar Luke consumed, Casey was surprised the ants hadn’t carried him away. He released her with one last nuzzle into her neck that had her wishing she was wearing panties. It didn’t matter that her mind was still half-asleep, her libido was wide awake and rearing to go. She sat down at the table before she embarrassed herself and demanded that he finished what he’d started. Brody came in as she was halfway through her bowl of cereal. His gaze went to his shirt she had appropriated, and her nipples stirred in response. She cursed them for brazen little hussies as her cheeks reddened. “Good morning, Case. How did you sleep?” She restrained the “with my eyes shut” that so desperately wanted to escape. What was it about Brody that had her inner smart-ass firing on all cylinders? “Good, but you should have woken me up if we have to get into town early.” “I did offer.” “Your method would have set us back at least half an hour, Luke.” Brody’s tone was arch. “Hey, I’m good for longer than that!” Luke was indignant. “Settle down, Smurf boy.” Casey nearly shot milk out of her nostrils as a snort of laughter gripped her. She choked and coughed and, if Luke’s laugh and the smile Brody had on his face as he passed her a napkin were any indication, amused the hell out of both of them. “It’s funny, sweetheart, but not that funny. For Christ’s sake you’ve got tears rolling down your cheeks. Are you always this easily amused?” Brody leaned against the kitchen bench.

 

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Casey managed to bring her laughter under some control. “I’m sorry. It’s just that Marley bought that box for Andy. It gives a new meaning to boys in blue.” “I don’t think it would worry Marley none. It could be pink with purple polka dots and she’d still wear it to a stub. I pity that man if she ever gets hold of him.” Brody straightened up. “If you’ve finished having hysterics, we’ll get going. We need to stop at your place so you can get changed. You are not going anywhere with those sticking out like that.” He eyed her pert nipples meaningfully and headed for the door. **** Thirty minutes later Casey was dressed a lot more respectably and was feeling a lot more in control after taking her birth control pill, as she stepped out of Luke’s vehicle in front of the police station. She glanced around somewhat nervously, but other than a petite, wellgroomed brunette sitting on the bench outside the building, no one was to be seen. Brody held the door for her, his face once more looking like carved granite. “Stay with me, Brode. Send the Neanderthal back to his cave. I need you.” His gaze softened a little as she let him see the fear and worry that had reappeared since leaving the ranch. Yesterday had shaken her more than she cared to admit. “I’m here, honey. Just belt me if I slip away from you again. Not too hard. I’d hate to cry in front of Andy.” Casey smiled, just as she knew he’d intended, and accepted the kiss he laid on her temple. Luke strolled around the vehicle to her other side so that she was bracketed between them. He touched her waist reassuringly and they headed inside. She noticed they were both moving like bodyguards, shielding her body with their own. It was no small measure of relief when they entered the building.

 

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She didn’t expect to see Danny and Jack in there or to see Marley on the wrong side of the bars behind the office area. She had thought Ty was joking about Andy locking her friend up. Casey left the men exchanging greetings and headed over to the leggy brunette. “What’s going on?” “I don’t know. If I ask Andy anything, he tells me to sit down, shut up, and let him work. You know, all I wanted to do before was have my wicked way with him, but now I think I’ll smack him around a bit first.” Casey laughed at Marley’s vehemence. “How are you feeling? We were both a bit shaken up yesterday.” “I was fine once Andy left and Jane smuggled me the fifth of whisky Andy keeps in his drawer.” “Andy doesn’t look like a drinker.” Marley laughed. “Jane calls it his ‘Marley bottle.’ Apparently I drive him to drink at times.” Marley’s startling green eyes looked over Casey’s shoulder. “Here he comes now. I might be allowed out.” Casey turned and saw the tall deputy coming toward them. His jaw was tight beneath the scars that marred his otherwise handsome face, and his shoulders were squared like a warrior before a battle. Or a condemned man before the gallows, Casey thought wickedly. He was holding a Styrofoam cup. “One cup of Earl Grey tea. Why can’t you drink coffee like a normal person?” “Because then I would be cranky and moody every morning until I get my fix. Kind of like someone else I know.” Andy didn’t acknowledge Marley’s dig at him. “Good morning, Casey.” He nodded before turning back to the tall woman swaying winsomely against the bars she held. “If you can behave yourself, you can join us. There have been a few developments we need to talk about.” “I’ll be good.” “That’s what scares me.”

 

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Casey doubted Marley heard the deputy’s muttered response, but she stood back and watched with amusement as Marley was released from her incarceration. When she turned back to the gathering around Andy’s desk the looks of deep concern on all the faces had her bracing. She knew they were going to hear something unsettling. The smile Danny bestowed on her was a shadow of its usual self, falling far short of reaching his eyes. “I’ll have a new windshield in the Kenworth tomorrow, Casey. Do you want anything else done while I’ve got it?” His eyebrows waggled. She knew he was talking about tweaking the motor beyond manufacturer’s specifications. “Run diagnostics and you’ll find that everything that can be done, has been done. There are a few more horses running loose under the hood than the five hundred she came with.” Jack shook his head. None of his customary cheer was apparent. “That thing is already overpowered. It’s ridiculous having a motor that size in a rigid truck.” He said it absently, as if his thoughts were someplace else. Both she and Danny looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “There’s no such thing as too much power, jackass.” Danny echoed her thoughts eloquently. “Casey, take a seat please.” Andy’s voice hushed them, sounding tired and strained. Casey noticed he stood as far away from the seat he’d held for Marley as was possible. She slid into the chair Brody pulled out for her and took the hand Luke offered. Brody stayed standing at her back, his hand resting on the back of her chair and his thumb playing along her spine. Andy cleared his throat. “Until this morning, we had been treating the fire at Casey’s house as suspicious and investigating it in relation to the acts of vandalism she had been the subject of in Carson City. We had assumed that Marley’s car was just a convenient target, or, possibly, had been thought to belong to Casey.

 

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“The events of yesterday have changed that. Casey, we believe you are not the target at all.” She felt the relief in the touch of Luke’s hand and the way Brody relaxed his death grip on her chair. “The brake lines in Jack’s truck had been tampered with. There is a small pool of brake fluid in the hospital parking lot where we suspect the tampering took place. However, Marley had parked in the only section of parking not covered by surveillance, so we can’t be positive. Once you leave Sheridan, the only place she would have touched her brakes, barring an emergency, was on the pass. We are now assuming that the shooter meant to take care of what their tampering didn’t finish. Someone wants Marley gone and doesn’t care how they accomplish it.” Casey saw the pinched fury in Andy Calhoun’s face and knew hell was going to rain down on the person responsible. Marley went pale, her emerald eyes slightly dazed. “I’m a nurse, for God’s sake! I’ve never given anyone a reason to contemplate homicide.” “That’s a matter of opinion.” Andy’s muttering rang clear in the silence. “As of right now, you are in protective custody. A full investigative team will be here this afternoon. Jack, Danny, can I rely on you two to help out the forensics team? They’ll need a base to work from.” “No problem. The truck is still up on the hoist.” “Luke, Brody, keep Casey away from Marley. She’s a dangerous person to be friends with right now.” “Who’s coming to babysit her?” Danny asked. “No one. I’m handing the investigation over to the state cops and she’s stuck with me on protective detail.” “If you need back-up, you know where to find us.” The hard intensity in Danny’s eyes that belied his casual tone took Casey by surprise. Even Jack looked primed and honed for war. There was obviously more to these men than just small-town mechanics with bad-boy reputations.

 

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Andy nodded. “You’ll be the first ones I call.” “Do I get any say in this?” Marley was indignant. “None. Ring the hospital and tell them you’re taking a leave of absence. You’re either with me, or you can visit your aunt in Australia. It’s your call.” Andy’s tone brooked no nonsense. He turned and looked at the three of them clustered close together. “Take Casey home and keep an eye on her until we get this sorted out. She still could be in some danger if the shooter believes she saw them. Go on, get. None of you want to watch the fireworks when Marley works out just what protective custody with me means.” “If you think you’re going to lock me up…” Marley was finding her stride as Brody hurried Casey outside with Luke close behind. “It looks like you’re stuck with us for a while longer.” Brody slid into the seat of Luke’s truck beside her. “Think you can handle it?” He smiled, but his eyes flinched as though waiting for a blow. The rare show of vulnerability gripped her. Brody was going out on a limb and asking instead of dictating. “I think I can cope with it. Course, it’s going to be awfully boring not being able to get out and about until they sort this out.” She gave him a teasing grin. “I think we can come up with one or two things to keep you busy. We’ll stop by your house so you can pick up anything you need on the way. Make sure you get your own deodorant.” He wrinkled his nose comically. “You smell like Luke.” She noticed he still pulled her close, though. As they pulled into her drive, Casey saw a large package in her mailbox and restrained a smile. She might be packing a whole lot more than they were bargaining on if her latest purchases were in there. **** “What’s that smile about?” “What smile?”

 

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“The I-know-something-that-you-don’t-know smile. You’ve had it for the last three hours, and let me tell you, sweetheart, it’s a wicked little grin if ever I saw one.” Luke strolled closer, wanting so bad to taste the cherry gloss shining her lips. Casey went back to grooming Spot. She’d got stir-crazy after an hour inside, and Brody had warned him off when he’d had a pleasurable suggestion for how she could spend her time. So they’d ended up down at the barn while Brody ran some errands. Sometimes Brody was worse than a mother hen. “Spot might have a heart attack. I don’t think he’s had this much attention in his life.” Luke leaned on the Appaloosa’s back and looked over the top at Casey. “That grin’s still there. Tell me what’s going on or I’ll torture it out of you.” “Torture?” “Uh-huh. I have methods of persuasion that are guaranteed to work.” Luke moved quickly, ducking under Spot’s neck and pinning Casey against the half wall of the stall. She shrieked when his fingers set about tickling every square inch of her he could reach. “Ready to tell me, wench?” She fell against him, effectively blocking his hands from reaching half of her but also giving him her whole length. His cock was not disapproving. Her mouth opened on a gasp as the flesh she was pressed against filled rapidly. “Tickling is not going to work. How about I kiss it out of you then?” Luke could only groan when her tongue swept out over the glossy fullness of her lower lip in blatant invitation. He didn’t have to close the distance that separated them. Casey did it for him. She kissed playfully, nipping and licking at him. Luke smiled and kept the kiss light. There were one or two things he wanted to talk to her about while Brody was out, and she stole his will quicker than any woman ever had. He couldn’t lose his head just yet. “You tempt me so much. Why won’t you let us love you?” “I thought I did that last night.”

 

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“You let us love your body, but you won’t let us have your heart.” He cupped the side of her face with one hand, holding her when she would have ducked her head. “Tell me what convoluted thinking is keeping us out.” He watched her take a deep breath and knew she was weighing up truth versus fiction. “The truth, sweetheart. I think I deserve that.” Her eyes softened and he knew he’d won. He brought out her softer side and he knew her conscience wouldn’t let her lie to him any more than it would let her hurt him deliberately. “It’s simple. It’s Brody. You would be so easy to love. I could imagine waking up in your arms every day for the rest of my life. You’d never hurt me, Luke, not deliberately, but I know you love your brother more. “Brody is going to get sick of me and it will be over. As soon as he gets over the novelty of having a woman that doesn’t bow and scrape to his every wish he’ll lose interest and I’ll get cast aside like every girl has since the infamous Cherry. I’ve got too much pride to let that happen.” He ran his spare hand over his face. “Am I the only one in this relationship who sees things clearly?” Luke resisted the urge to shake some sense into Casey. “Look, sweetheart. I have never seen Brody as head over heels as he is for you. He’s got the same problem you have, though. He puts too much store in his stubborn-ass pride. “Brody got burned bad, Casey. The part I didn’t tell you before is that Cherry tried to pass another man’s baby off as his. She laughed and called him a gullible fool when he asked her what was going to become of their baby when she was packing to leave. Brode had been willing to put his life on hold because he’d thought he’d gotten her pregnant, and she used that against him. “He used to be as easygoing and as open as I am, Case. You would have loved him. He’d laugh and knew how to have a good time. She killed the part of him that knew how to have fun, knew how to love.

 

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“In ten whole years, the only time I’ve seen a piece of the old Brody is with you. One of you is going to have to let go of your pride and trust in what we have together before we all end up old, gray, and lonely.” Luke let her see how much it meant to him, let her see how much of his heart she’d already taken. “I don’t know how.” For the first time ever he could hear tears in her voice. He slid his hand to cup the back of her skull and held her close. Her hands clutched at his shirt as she buried her head into his neck in as soft a display of femininity as he’d ever seen. He rubbed her back soothingly. “Loving somebody doesn’t make you less, Casey. It gives you strength. That’s a lesson Brody needs to learn as well. You can teach him that, sweetheart. Just give him a chance to let go of his pride and trust in you, too. I’d give anything to have you both happy.” “Did you have to give up your pride, too?” “Nah, my ego’s secure. It’s a good thing, too. You’d have stomped all over it last night otherwise with your horny Smurf comment.” She giggled, just like he’d intended. “Those condoms have got to go. It could have been worse. It could have been Kermit green.” “It’s not easy being green.” “Don’t start. I’ll end up laughing again.” “Are you going to tell me what that naughty little smile was about now?” “I don’t know. What’s Brody’s opinion on toys designed for selfgratification?” A thrill went through Luke. He’d seen the plain, wrapped package she’d carried inside. “He likes them as long as they’re in his hands. He kind of frowns upon women using them for themselves.” “What about you?” “I don’t care what you do as long as I get to watch. I’d love to see you having a little solo fun. Am I right in thinking that was a rather large package of toys in your mailbox today?”

 

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“Yeah, I went a little overboard. I might need a little help to work out exactly how some of them work.” Sexual anticipation swept through him and Luke knew he wasn’t imagining the teasing little glint in her eyes. “Now or later?” “I don’t know.” She gave him a speculative little smile. “When is Brody due back? If I want to rattle his tree we had better time it for maximum impact.” “You’re a bad, bad girl, but I love the way you think. Can I unwrap them? I love opening presents!” “You look like a kid in a candy store.” “Believe me, sweetheart. I’d pass up candy any day to teach you how to play with toys. Let’s get out of here before I decide to sample some sweets right now. Spot might get embarrassed.” **** “Oh, God! Luke! No, back where you were! That’s so good!” Brody’s eyes rolled back in exasperation even as his cock surged to instant attention. Casey’s voice ridden with lust was the sexiest sound he’d ever heard, but it wasn’t the first sound he’d expected to hear on walking back in the house. He’d been gone two hours and they were at it already. With Luke he truly shouldn’t have been surprised. His brother would drop everything for a chance to pleasure Casey. He put the groceries down on the table and padded barefoot down the hall. The sight that met him at the door sent every drop of blood migrating south in two sledgehammer thumps of his heart. Packaging was strewn all over the floor, and Casey was lying back with a pillow clutched to her face. It barely muffled her gasps and moans and was as effective as pissing on a brushfire against her squeals. Luke was kneeling on the bed with what looked like half of Aiden’s toy shop arrayed on a towel beside him.

 

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Where the fuck had those came from? Some packaging in the corner answered his question. He couldn’t believe Casey was responsible for buying the selection, but he had seen her get it out of her mailbox with his own eyes. “No, the other way, like this.” Brody’s breath exploded from his body as Casey’s hand reached down and took hold of the dildo Luke was working leisurely inside her. She rotated it around and then started grinding it inside her. Her hips lifted into the rhythm and the moment her breathing picked up, Luke snatched it from her. A smile as wide as the Rockies stretched Luke’s stubble-shrouded face. “No, we’re only playing, sweetheart. You’re not allowed to come until we try them all. It’s your fault for buying so many.” “Give it back. I like that one.” “It’s shaped just like my dick. I should hope you like it. I really want to try these clamps. Get those nipples all sharp and ready, sweetheart. Pinch ’em nice and hard, otherwise it will smart a bit.” Brody was held captive by her fingers tugging and rolling her strawberry nipples. He knew he should go in there and knock her hands aside and show her how to do it properly, but for the life of him, he couldn’t move. He stood there feeling every beat of his heart pounding in the swollen cock launching an escape bid on his zipper and stared. Casey’s Valkyrie body squirmed under her own ministrations, the muscles of her torso writhing beneath her pale skin. Brody felt like he should have been able to see tugging lines stretching from her nipples to her hips as each roll and tweak made her strong body rock in time. Luke bent and nipped at her thigh, looking as if he meant to devour the squirming feast before him, but he didn’t go any further. His brown eyes rolled up and he spotted Brody. An eager smile lit up his face and he glanced quickly at Casey’s covered face and then beckoned him over. Brody went willingly.

 

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Luke was so excited. He gestured at the staggering assortment of washed and prepared toys laid out on the towel and made fluttery, excited motions with his hands. Luke needed to settle down before he busted something. “Come on, Luke. You’re meant to be playing, too. They don’t get any harder than this.” Casey circled her startlingly lengthened nipples with long, slender fingers. Luke handed over the rubber-tipped clamps joined by a decorative chain. Brody took one look and tightened the adjustment screw a full turn—Luke never had them tight enough. “Hands back on your head and I’ll let you have them. You’re gonna squeal when these hit, sweetheart.” Luke nodded and Brody struck, clamping both nipples nice and low at the same time. The pillow hardly muffled the full-throttled scream that accompanied the extreme arch of her body as her hands scrabbled at the sheets for purchase. “Breathe, baby. Suck it up and ride the pain. You want to play with toys, I’ll teach you to play properly.” Brody tossed the pillow aside so he could watch her assimilate the erotic burn. Her mouth was open as she sucked in a deep breath. Even as he watched her nostrils flared and she embraced the pain. The corners of her mouth lifted in fierce joy. Blue eyes burning with unholy bliss appeared from behind heavy lids and locked on to him. “I knew it was you.” Her hand reached up and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. He went with a smile when she pulled him down and kissed him. “I’m glad you’re here. Luke plays like a pussy. He won’t let me have it hard or fast or any freakin’ other way I want it.” “Have you been teasing her long?” “I’ve hardly started, and that’s only three toys down. There’s still the rabbit and these balls and a pocket rocket and a skinny-ass plug.” “It’s a tickler, not a plug, dumb-ass. Pass me the balls.” Luke tossed over two joined balls. They were surprisingly heavy for their size. Brody gave them a rattle and smiled. “Ben Wa balls. Oh, baby,

 

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you are going to love these. They’ll thud and rattle inside you and you won’t know what way to turn.” “Put them in. I feel empty where Luke took my toy away.” She pressed her thighs together and rubbed them sensuously against one another. “Honey, these aren’t going in your snug little cunt. These ones have got a nice big stopper on the end of the retrieval string. I’m putting these babies in your ass. You’ll feel them so much better there.” Brody gave the chain between her clamped nipples a tug and watched her arch again. “Any objections?” “Hell no. You can do whatever you want.” Brody smiled at her breathy tone. He didn’t know who had replaced the spitting wild cat with this purring little pleasure seeker but he wasn’t about to complain. Neither was Luke. He was using Casey’s inner thigh as a pillow while he ran a ridiculously small vibrator around her swollen pussy. “Has that thing got batteries in it?” “Yeah, but I don’t know how long they’ll last. I stole them out of your remote control.” “Mine? What was wrong with yours?” “Mine were new. I put them in the rabbit.” Brody wasn’t going to complain. Luke had his priorities right for once. He grabbed a pillow and shoved it under Casey’s hips. He wanted full access for this. He settled down next to Luke, watching the progress of the small purple vibrator through her slick, naked folds. “So what’s the plan?” Luke whispered, still sounding excited enough to burst. Brody could only shake his head. One of the most erotic visions to be had was stretched out before them and Luke was bouncing around like a kid on Christmas Eve. It was just wrong. “Tease her ’til she breaks, shove those balls in her ass, the rabbit in her cunt, turn it up to max, and sit back and watch the show.” Okay, so now he felt like

 

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rubbing his hands together in glee. “Get the bendy one back. I think she likes that one.” Brody picked up the tickler and some lube. It was a nice size. They weren’t as secure as plugs, but the narrower flare of a tickler could be fucked in and out smoothly. He didn’t give her a chance to protest, he just pressed the slick latex to her star. “Push out, baby. I’m not going to stretch you first this time.” He watched intently as her ring relaxed and engulfed the toy he held against it. His cock jerked in sympathy. It knew exactly how tight and hot the grip was. Slowly but surely he fed the slick tickler into her ass. Her guttural cries filled the room but not once did she flinch away from the burning impalement. It sank fully into her embrace and the wide base snugged into her crease of its own accord. “That feels so fucking good!” Brody and Luke groaned in total concurrence as her low, ragged tone wrapped around their cocks. Her voice ought to be outlawed. Luke went to touch the humming pocket rocket to her glistening clit, but Brody pulled him up, “No, make her wait. She’ll come for sure if you do it now.” Luke gave him an eloquent look that said “Are you fucking mad?” “If you let her come now she’s not going to appreciate the rabbit. Keep her on the edge and she’ll come hard enough to buck the ears clean off that bunny.” “Oh, God! Stop teasing me. I want to come so bad. I need more.” “Let her have that G-spot finder, but keep your hands away from her clit.” Brody reached along her body and grasped the chain, just holding it and waiting for her to arch when Luke quit fooling around and fed the bent plastic cock into her wet and ready cunt. Her muscles flickered visibly around the toy, pink tissue stretching and grasping greedily. Brody knew damn well he had a wet spot growing on his jeans, but he couldn’t find the will to care. A sane man would have had his pants off and his cock buried somewhere in Casey Buckley, but right then, sanity was out of Brody’s reach.

 

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Casey lifted as Luke pushed that bent toy to the hilt and twisted it slowly, shifting the pressure inside her. Her shoulders went back and the chain grew taut in his hand. He realized she was deliberately pulling, stretching her ruby nipples and riding the burn. When Casey let herself go and just enjoyed what they offered instead of pushing and provoking, she was a real sensualist, a hedonistic sex kitten with a love for the darker edge of pleasure. Brody found himself holding back the urge to let her come right then just so he could watch her fly. He shook his head. Luke was the generous one—he made any lover work for their orgasm. He reached beneath Luke’s hand and twisted the soft plug from her grip, nearly withdrawing it completely. “No! Put it back!” “I think Casey likes having something in her ass. Tell me you like it and you can have it back.” “I love it. Put it back right now!” Her clenching muscles attempted to hold on to it, the pulsing clear to feel against the toy. “That sounded sweet, but I want you talk dirty, baby. Tell me what you really want.” She didn’t even hesitate. “Shove it in my ass, Brody, deep and hard.” Oh Christ! Fuck the wet spot—he was going to shoot his whole load in his jeans if she talked like that! He groaned as he complied with her heated order and couldn’t help but bite her inner thigh. Her silken flesh gave up its salty sheen of fresh sweat as he tested the resilience between his teeth. The tug on the chain in his fist encouraged him on. He pulled away before his teeth met, certain he was going to break the skin. Luke’s eyes locked on to the teeth marks boldly emblazoned against her pale flesh. “Holy shit! I gotta leave me one of those.” Casey writhed and moaned as Luke buried his face in her inner thigh. He left not teeth marks, but the biggest, messiest hickie Brody had ever seen. And the worst thing was that he looked proud of it.

 

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“You’re a useless cretin.” Brody laughed. “Get the rabbit. I think it’s time.” Luke grabbed the multifunction dildo and started playing with it, finding the switches and buttons that made it spin, pulse, and vibrate. Brody listened to Casey’s cry of disappointment as they abruptly pulled free both toys with anticipation riding him hard. He couldn’t wait to see her erupt when she was assailed from so many sensations at once. Luke slid the dildo into her pussy, abruptly cutting short her protest. He carefully lined up the ears with her clit, making sure the bundle of nerves was seated securely in their grip. “Flip her over,” Brody ordered, picking up the Ben Wa balls and lubricating them. Luke elicited a scream from her as he abruptly rolled her over and lifted her hips. He rechecked the position of the rabbit as Brody moved in behind her. “Do you want these balls, baby?” “Quit teasing and put them in. You’re driving me crazy.” “Not half as crazy as you’ll be in a minute, honey.” He took the first ball and pressed it to her star. She pushed back against him and he watched in wonder as her pink ring stretched around the heavy ball and swallowed it. The plastic cord connecting the two balls pulled tight as her body tucked the first ball behind her inner ring. “Oh, that’s so heavy, I can feel it moving.” Brody knew the heavy inner ball would be rolling with every movement inside its outer casing. “Just hold still until I get the second one in and then you can move as much as you want.” The second one was both easier and harder to insert. Her ring gave more readily, but the progress was slower as the first ball had to be pushed higher in her body for the second to fit. Two sets of eyes watched her body close slowly over the glittering ball. Once it was seated and Casey’s breathing was coming in harsh pants, Brody couldn’t resist giving the string a tug and setting the balls dancing and thudding inside her.

 

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“Good, so good.” It was barely more than a husky whisper, but it licked along Brody’s spine and drew his balls up tight. He knew the smile on his face was slightly frenzied when he looked to Luke, but he was beyond caring, “On three.” He reached for the clamps dangling from her breasts. “One, two, three.” He released the clamps and sat back as he heard a loud humming start up. **** Casey wailed as the blood rushed back into her tortured nipples and her whole body was set on fire by the bombardment of sensation between her legs. The dildo swirled deep inside her cunt, shifting points of devastating pleasure that had her pushing back against Luke’s hold for more. Her clit was trapped by the vibrating ears, unable to get away from the strong stimulation, bared and vulnerable to the intense barrage. But the balls in her ass consumed her. Their heavy presence was magnified every time she even breathed. Every miniscule movement sent them wickedly shifting in her most private place. She bucked wildly as the burn in her nipples escalated and she was lost, becoming a writhing, jerking being of need, oblivious to all but the storm of pleasure dangling just out of reach. Onward and upward she chased her pleasure, knowing it was there, so close, all she had to do was give in and stop fighting it. Her hands fisted in the sheets and she pushed back into the solid hold Luke had on the mechanical marvel inside her. The dull ache deep within her grew as the toy pressed hard against her cervix. A deep bruising feeling rippled through her body, but the pain sent her over the edge and into rapture. Her scream echoed back at her, shamelessly loud and full of primal victory. Heated words, carnal and shocking, encouraged her

 

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on, and a fiendish hand tugged at the string attached to the balls in her ass. A second wave of orgasm crashed over her before she collapsed, falling away from the still vibrating toy, too spent to go on. “Damn!” Luke sounded stunned. “I’ll say. You take care of the cuddle. I’ve got to clean up. I’ll take the toys with me.” Casey was passive as the balls were pulled from her ass and a damp cloth ran over her. Brody’s voice had sounded strained, embarrassed. She really wanted to roll over and look at him, but she was too sated to move. She heard him leave the room and Luke laid full length beside her, his hand caressing the length of her spine. “How was that, sweetheart? Do you like your new toys?” She did, but she recognized it was more who was using them than what was used. “I like you using them just fine.” Her voice sounded slumberous, as sated as she felt. “Where’s Brode?” “He’s, um, taking care of a wardrobe malfunction.” She could hear the amusement in his voice. “What happened?” “Brody’s jeans seemed to develop a rather large stain about the time that you screamed.” “He did?” She couldn’t imagine Brody coming in his pants like an overexcited teenager. “Oh, yeah. I’m never going to let him live that down. You should be proud of yourself. That’s the first time that’s ever happened to Mr. Control Freak.” Luke’s hand continued its comforting mapping of her spine. “That’s what he gets for always taking rather than just giving. I’m quite accustomed to blue balls. My little guy knows that if the pants stay on he’s not getting anything. Brody’s cock is a spoiled brat used to getting what it wants, when it wants.” “There’s nothing little about you, Luke. Do you mind if I have a little sleep? I’m all worn out.” “You go to sleep, sweetheart, I’m going to ride this feeling of superiority for as long as I possibly can.”

 

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Casey drifted off to sleep with a smile on her lips and a smug, warm male with magic hands wrapped around her. Life was sweet.

 

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Chapter 15 “Don’t you think it might be a little premature?” Casey suppressed an amused snort. Luke had been using words like “premature,” “early,” “hasty,” and “untimely” at every possible occasion for five days. It just didn’t get old for him. Brody, on the other hand, was past it, and he knew when to ignore his brother. “Andy shoved Marley on a flight out of Denver this morning. He just rang and told me the state police have found nothing to suggest that Casey is in any further danger. If we don’t get out of the house, we’re all going to go mad.” “You kicking me out, Brody?” Casey rolled her head back where it rested on Luke’s lap to look at the older Marshall. “No. I’m just saying we’ve got to get outside and do something rather than lying around the house watching movies and eating.” “I don’t know. I thought we’ve been getting plenty of exercise.” Casey giggled at Luke’s slow drawl. He was right about that. They’d been fucking like bunnies for damn near a week. Her stamina, not to mention her ability to walk, astounded even her. “Let’s get out of here, we’ll drive over to Sheridan and go out for dinner or something.” Casey looked back to Luke. His big chocolate eyes told her he’d go along with whatever she wanted. They did need to get out somewhere where they couldn’t just drop what they were doing and go at it. They’d christened damn near every available surface in the house and more than one wall. There was a dent in the hall wall and a crack in the shower screen to give testimony, and the coffee table hadn’t survived the experience.

 

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“That sounds great. Can I go home to get changed? If we’re going anywhere without a drive-thru, I haven’t got anything suitable to wear.” “That’s probably the best plan anyway,” Brody agreed wryly. “If you get naked again we’ll never get outside. Do you want a lift?” “No. I want to check if I can still walk anyway.” She got up and gave them a cheeky smile. “Is underwear optional?” “Go on, get out.” Brody held the door wide and swatted her ass as she passed. “You know we’ll only rip it off anyway.” **** Joy bubbled in Casey’s heart as she showered and dressed with wicked intent. She wanted to sit those two on their asses. They’d seen her in a dress the night she’d followed Marley’s advice and gone looking for entertainment, but they’d never seen her dress with nothing but seduction in mind. Every inch of her body was smooth and slathered with lightly perfumed body lotion. She had tamed her wild hair, and it hung in a sleek, shiny fall from an off-center part. Her makeup was barely there. Tasteful eye shadow, a lick of mascara, and plenty of the cherry gloss her men just couldn’t get enough of. Her men. It brought a smile to her face to think of them that way. Brody had become a different man. He could still be masterly and bite when she baited him by challenging him sexually, but he was now as easy to be around as Luke. She adjusted the strap on her baby-doll dress and smiled in satisfaction. Luke was going to be tripping over his jaw all night. The creamy peach material gathered under her bust and skimmed her hips before stopping at midthigh. The warm cream color brought out a delicate golden undertone in her skin and was perfectly matched by the open-toed pumps sitting beside the door. The two-and-a-half-inch heels would put her better than eye-to-eye with Brody and only a

 

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hair’s breadth shy of Luke’s height. It was going to stir Brody to no end having to look up even a fraction. Her sex warmed in anticipation. Tonight was going to be so much fun. **** Luke took one look at the woman who stepped out of Casey’s front door and tossed his keys to Brody. “You drive. There is no fuckin’ way I can drive sitting next to that.” “Amen.” Casey looked like a goddess, a goddess with all the knowledge of the devil. She stalked toward them on decadent high heels in a hip-swinging, come-fuck-me walk. Brody was spellbound. He’d known Casey was beautiful, but the creature walking toward them possessed a sizzling combination of ethereal, angelic grace and an attitude of sinful carnal knowledge. Part of him wanted to put her on a pedestal and worship at her feet, the other part wanted to pin her to the side of Luke’s truck and fuck her ’til they were both too sore to move. She accepted a hand up into the vehicle and settled herself with regal grace. Her brows arched haughtily, but her smile was more than a little amused. “Is anyone driving, or am I just going to sit here all night?” Brody tore his eyes away from her and looked to Luke. His brother looked like a poleaxed ox. “Pick your chin up and get in.” If Luke hadn’t already given him the keys he would have confiscated them anyway. He wasn’t fit to drive a billycart. Brody kept his eyes on the road with great difficulty. He’d recovered enough that he could nearly hold an articulate conversation, which was more that he could say for Luke. His brother couldn’t put a sentence together. Casey thought it was hilarious and he couldn’t blame her. She’d been naked most of the week, sleeping between them every night, and because of a pretty dress and a bit of makeup, they were staring and stuttering like adolescent boys.

 

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Brody gave a great sigh of relief as he pulled up in front of the restaurant and decided then and there that either Luke was driving home, or they were pulling up at the first deserted spot he found and putting out the flames. He knew damn well Casey was getting off on her little power trip, too. He could smell her subtle arousal over the spicy, sultry, bedroom scent she wore. He stepped out and breathed deep, replacing her alluring scent with hot blacktop and vehicle exhausts. His nose wrinkled in protest, but at least he could walk into the restaurant without his cock demanding he drop to his knees and taste what he could smell. Luke held the door while Casey climbed out, but Brody pulled rank and escorted her inside. He noticed she stood a little straighter so that he was looking up slightly into her sparkling sapphire eyes. His lips quirked when he saw the challenge in her gaze. She thought it would disturb him, being taller than he was. Well it did, but only in that he was convinced she was at the perfect height for him to hook one of her long thighs around his hip and drive right into her where she stood. They needed to be sitting down real soon where the bulge threatening his zipper would be concealed by snow-white tablecloth. A well-dressed waitress escorted them to a corner table and took their drink order. Casey looked more than a little surprised when he ordered champagne. He caught her wrinkling her nose. “You told me you drink anything.” “I do, but champagne makes me giggle.” “We can handle you giggling,” he assured her. She’d been doing a lot of that lately. She’d even giggled in the middle of sex yesterday, although the coffee table breaking in two beneath his ass could have had something to do with that. It had taken quite a bit of force to turn her giggles into screams and get her to come. Brody couldn’t remember enjoying a meal as much as he did that night. The food was superb and the company even better. Casey did giggle a little, but it was great to be out and enjoy each other’s

 

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company in a context where they had to behave. He wanted Casey to understand beyond a doubt that it was so much more than sex. He was reasonably sure she was seeing beyond that now, but she had her reasons for doubt when the longest they had managed to go without during waking hours was a paltry four hours. After flipping a coin to decide who had to go, they had sent Luke out for more rubbers. Marley’s jumbo box was long gone, and they’d gone through all in the house except one. Brody had been using that sole survivor when the coffee table met its end. Their dessert arrived and Brody was absorbed with watching Casey lick cream from her spoon. She was asking Luke about the camp-out ride they’d been planning, seemingly hanging on his every word, but the sensuous way she handled the silverware told a different story. He knew she was teasing him on purpose, but he couldn’t look away. She offered him a bite from her spoon and he couldn’t refuse, not because the gateau looked so good, but because the idea of having his tongue where hers had been seemed really important right then. He closed his eyes as the crispy chocolate and velvety cream hit his tongue, wishing he could lick it from her naked skin. They had to get out of here before he embarrassed them all. Luke just sat back in amusement. He put his hand up for the waitress to bring their bill when another trio entered the restaurant. Brody looked, looked again, and sat back like he’d disappear into the plush dining chair. He could feel his face icing over and his spine growing stiff. He sure as shit didn’t need this. **** Luke glanced at Casey and looked back to his brother. Brody was driving fast but paying such close attention to the road that Luke wasn’t concerned for their safety. What he was concerned about was his brother’s state of mind.

 

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He’d seen Brody retreat, seen him become what he had been before Casey had pulled him kicking and screaming from the wreckage of his past. A glance over his shoulder was all it had taken to ascertain the cause of his relapse. Bleached blonde hair teased into a wild mane and plastered with enough hairspray to lacquer an aircraft hangar hadn’t stopped him from recognizing the petite woman clinging to the two silver-haired, affluent-looking men she had entered with. The years had been kind to Cherry, but a stiffness in her expertly made-up face and breasts three cup sizes larger than he remembered were an indication she owed some of it to the surgeon’s knife. She’d sat down at a table facing them, one well-plucked brow raised at Brody in challenge. Luke had watched Brody carefully. He had gone from shock to embarrassment before settling on a cold, icy rage. Casey had surprised Luke. He’d expected her to launch a frontal attack and question mercilessly, but after flicking her eyes to the newcomers in the quiet restaurant, she’d watched Brody shut down with a resigned tilt to her jaw and sadness in her eyes. She’d valiantly kept the conversation going about the ride they’d promised to take her on up through the national forest behind their ranch, but her heart had no longer been in it. Silence reigned in the Chevy. Luke sat close to Casey, using the freedom to move the bench seat afforded him. She didn’t resist the arm he slid around her, but she didn’t relax into it either. Her stiffness was a slap in the face after the intimacy they had enjoyed. He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and, while she leaned into him a little, there was more than a little added starch in her backbone. He had to say something. The silence was killing him. “Have you picked up your truck yet, Casey?” “No, it’s still at the workshop. Jack said it’s ready to pick up, though.” “Have you got a spare set of keys on you?”

 

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The look she gave him was eloquent even in the dim glow of the dashboard lights. He ran his eyes down her with a grin and then the clutch bag that was barely large enough for her license and a tube of lipstick. If she had keys on her he wanted to be the one to go looking for them. “I’ll take that as a no. It’s a shame. This would have been a perfect opportunity to pick it up.” “You just want to see me climb in it in heels and a dress.” “The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.” And a bolt of lightning was going to strike him down for lying his ass off. “You sound so sexy when you lie,” Casey teased. “Danny left the keys where I can get them anyway. Just drop me off. I’m sure you two have one or two things to discuss.” Luke didn’t disagree with her. He had a feeling him and Brody were going to have more than words. It had been at least six months since they’d gone toe to toe, so he’d say they were about due. Brody pulled up facing the big burgundy Kenworth. He spoke for the first time as Luke slipped from the vehicle to allow Casey out. “I’m sorry, to both of you. I’ve ruined a great night.” “It ain’t over yet. I’ll be half an hour behind you. Sort your shit out before I get there, or it will be ruined.” Casey blew a kiss at Brody, pecked Luke on the cheek, and walked away. Luke watched her fish the keys out from beneath the guard and open the door. The smile she shot him before climbing up stole his breath and hardened his cock nearly as much as the long flash of thigh and the curve of one pert ass cheek peeking beneath the dress did. He gave her a grin and climbed back in the Chevy. He needed to sharpen his thinking a little if he and Brody ended up going at it. He relied on his speed to avoid the worst of Brody’s punches, but if one connected square, it was like getting belted with a sledgehammer. He was just cranky enough to land a few of his own tonight if Brody pushed the point, though. They’d fought for a lot of reasons over the years, sometimes just for the sake of it, but this time Luke was prepared to

 

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go all the way to stop his brother from fucking up the best thing that had happened to either one of them. Brody turned the Chevy around as soon as they heard the rumble of Casey’s truck starting up. They were five minutes from home before Brody broke the silence. “Well, are you going to say something about it?” “Nope, one of us carrying on like a dickwad is enough.” Luke watched Brody’s hands tighten on the steering wheel. Without Casey in the truck he was gunning the engine for home. “Why did it have to be tonight?” “Are you going to carry on like a whiny little kid, or get to the point? I thought you were over that bitch. For the first time in ten fucking years you were acting like a functioning adult. I have never seen you as happy as you are with Casey. You take one look at that slut of a thing and it all falls apart. What the hell is going through your head? “You’ve got some cold and lonely nights coming up, Brode, because I’m past caring about you. You can wallow in self-pity in your own time. Casey won’t put up with it and I sure as hell am over giving up a chance at love for you.” The vehicle screeched to a halt in front of the house. “I can see how seeing Cherry after all this time might throw you for a loop, but you’ve gotta decide whether you’re going to cowboy up or lie there and bleed.” Luke did duck the first right his brother threw. **** “Oh, Christ! How bad does Brody look?” Luke lifted his eyes in the mirror to where Casey stood in the doorway. He thought about offering an excuse but his black eye, split brow, and bruised and battered knuckles were kind of self-

 

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explanatory. “Not half as bad as he should.” Her eyes went to his torn and bloody shirt and she blanched. Casey walked over and took the face washer from him. Her touch was tender as she dabbed at the cut above his left eye and her expression guarded. “Where is he?” “He stormed out the back in a huff. He’ll cool down and wander back sooner or later.” “Can you tell me what’s going on, Luke? If it’s something I should be asking Brody, just tell me and I’ll let it go, but I’m more than a little confused.” “I bet you are, sweetheart. Come and sit down. I don’t think I’m in any danger of bleeding all over the sofa anymore.” “Let me put a strip on it first.” Luke stood back quietly while she got a wound closure strip out of the bathroom cabinet and applied it to his cut. The sadness in her face was threatening to bring him undone. He took her hand and led her to the living room. She sat beside him as he leaned back into the corner of the couch, half turning so that she faced him. He placed her hand on his knee and watched his fingers trace her knuckles. They were in much better order than his. Casey broke the silence. “Am I right in thinking the blonde was significant?” “Yeah. That was Cherry.” “She had gold digger written all over her. What was Brody thinking?” “He wasn’t. He was young and dumb, and any ambitions he had were governed from somewhere south of his belt.” Luke ran his other hand tiredly over his face. “Fuck, Casey! I thought he was over it. You have been the best thing to happen to either of us, and he’s throwing it away because seeing that little bitch has reminded him of what happened.

 

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“I did my best to convince him that you are different, but he’s hardheaded in more ways than one.” He glanced at his torn knuckles ruefully. “I don’t know if I can do this, Luke.” His heart clenched as he saw the tears shining in her big blue eyes. “I let go of my pride, let go of everything this week. I did it for you and Brody. I thought everything was going to be fine, that giving away my heart wasn’t going to be as painful as I thought. It wasn’t then, Luke, but it sure as hell is when you realize someone you loved is living a lie. “He nearly had me convinced this was the real thing, but if he is going to let the actions of one woman stop him from having a second chance at love, I’m out of here. Leaving you is going to tear my heart in half, Luke, but I won’t make you chose between your brother and me.” “Who’s talking about leaving?” They turned as one when Brody’s voice came loud and clear from the door. **** “What’s it going to take to convince you that I want no other woman but you? That I’m not going to let one scrawny little tramp with the morals of an alley cat ruin what we’ve got?” Brody pinned Casey with his gaze. His body was still pumped from the fight with his brother and his shirt torn and stained with blood from where the inside of his mouth had split against his teeth. The deep ache let him know he’d have a sore jaw for more than a day or two. He knew he looked wild and probably more than a little unstable, but Brody was beyond caring. Everything that mattered to him was sitting right there on that couch. “Tell me what I’ve got to do.” The tears unshed in her eyes tore him apart. “I don’t know, Brody. I really don’t know. I was ready to love you, to believe it is more than sex, but all it took was one look at her and you were back to being the

 

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cold, unfeeling bastard who thinks women are just there to fuck and forget.” “Where the hell did you get that from?” He just couldn’t find the logic in that. “Luke had the right idea. He knew I was wallowing in self-pity, but it isn’t what you think. I was fucking mad, mad with myself that I’d let her affect me for so long. She turned me into a cold, unfeeling prick, Casey, but you woke me up again. I have never felt as alive as I do when I’m with you. It’s been that long that I’d forgotten what it’s like. “You’re everything to me. And you know what? I’ve just thought of the perfect way to convince you I’m completely serious.” He walked over and took her other hand, raising her from the couch until she stood eye to eye with him in those damn high heels. “Why did I stop, Casey? That first time I kissed you in your back shed, what stopped me from taking you there and then?” He stroked her hair back behind her ear as watched her think it over. He could see it all fall into place as she put two and two together. “You were scared of getting me pregnant.” “You bet your sweet ass I was. I have been terrified of that for ten fucking years. I swore I would never give another woman a chance to trap me. But I’ll play the odds against your birth control pills. I don’t give a damn if you trap me, Casey. I can think of nothing better than being stuck with you for the rest of my life.” Blue eyes searched his, seeking the truth. He let her see every bit of the vulnerability he felt and the absolute conviction in his heart. He’d wasted enough of his life, the rest of it he wanted to share with his brother and the special woman who meant so much to both of them. He saw the faintest sign of her capitulation, barely more than a lessening of the strain around her eyes, but it was enough for him. He captured her lips, kissing her desperately as his hands cupped her face. This was his woman, his lover, his love. Her taste was sweet upon his lips, her moan of surrender sweeter still. The long, lean length of her body fell against him, hip to hip,

 

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chest to chest. Brody did what he’d been wanting to do all night and slid a hand behind her thigh and lifted the sleek length to his hip. The arch of his cock behind his fly lined up with uncanny precision against her mound and he knew he’d been right. She was the perfect height in those heels. He could slide right into her just like she was and fuck her until both of them collapsed. But Casey deserved so much more than a quick knee-trembler. He was going to make certain she knew how much she was loved, by both him and his brother. He drew away from her lips with reluctance. “What are you doing down there, Luke? Casey’s back is getting cold.” He knew his brother wouldn’t interrupt until he was asked, but Luke wasted no time in stepping up behind her, his lips going to her shoulder. His joy and relief was easy to see. “Just like the first night, sweetheart, but this time we all know just how good it’s gonna be.” Luke’s hands tugged the dress up her body. Brody leaned back just far enough to allow the creamy material to slip over her head and nearly passed out. She was wearing nothing but a smile and high heels beneath it. “Pick up your jaw, cowboy. It looks like you’re catchin’ flies.” She kissed gently along his jawline and then her head went back on a sigh. Brody watched indulgently as Luke mauled at her neck. Casey loved to be bitten as much as she loved to use her sharp teeth, but Brody couldn’t help but wince when Luke lifted his head. She was going to be pissed when she saw the size of that hickie. His brother just looked damn proud of his effort. “Dammit, Luke. I’ve got to go to work tomorrow.” “Turn your collar up.” Luke was unrepentant, but his mouth went lower to her shoulder and Casey crooned her approval. Brody watched her enjoy his brother’s mouth, rocking his hip gently against her mons. He was worried about the denim and zipper hurting her, but the way she pushed back against him convinced him otherwise. Her hands tugged the tails of his shirt from his pants and he knew what she was going to do even before he caught the little

 

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smile on her lips. As the buttons pinged around the room he made a mental note to himself to stock up on needles and thread. Buttons had a short life expectancy around her. She peeled it from his shoulders with hands that were drunk on Luke’s kisses, and when her soft palms pressed to his chest Brody knew he had to get them to her bedroom sooner rather than later. It was about the only room in the house that had stood up to their loving so far. He took her hands and placed them around his neck before he bent his knees and collected her other leg. He lifted her with her wrapped all around him. Luke took the drift and led the way down the hall. The soft glow of the bedside lamps illuminated the stretch of burgundy sheet Luke had slid the covers back to reveal. Brody lowered Casey to the heavy, crisp cotton, following her down and kissing her deeply once again before he lifted from her. He ran his hands the full length of her legs as he rose and slid the pumps from her feet. He massaged their length and watched her scrunch her toes to stretch them after the confines of the shoe. He had no idea how women wore them. Luke crawled onto the bed, kissing her thoroughly before making his way to the pink-tipped breasts heaving with every one of her hastened breaths. Casey’s long arm reached out for a pillow and she tucked it under her head with one hand while the other twined in Luke’s curls. Her eyes were slits of deepest blue behind smoky lashes as she watched Luke’s mouth work its carnal magic. He loved that she watched them. She was brazen and bold and everything he’d never thought he’d want in a woman. Now he couldn’t imagine having anything else. He bent his head and nipped at the inside of her knee and her eyes lifted and focused on him. A small smile of pure anticipation graced her lips and her breathing lifted as he nibbled ever closer toward her fragrant core. His eyes closed when the first taste of her hit his senses, like a wild August storm on the horizon and twice as wet. A single cry

 

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fell from her lips as he licked delicately between the lips of her pussy to stroke her clit. It was like a hard little pea beneath his tongue, but he knew the engorged tissue wasn’t anywhere near as swollen as it could get. He kept his caresses light, teasing with his breath as much as with the little laps he bestowed until she pushed into him, demanding more. “What’s the matter, baby?” He flickered his tongue over her again, tracing her protective hood. “You’re such a tease. Suck it before I send Luke down there to show you how it’s done.” “Hmm, that’s not such a bad idea. Reckon we show her how it’s really done, Luke?” While they’d done pretty much everything else in some variation, they hadn’t both gone down on her at once. “Hell yeah. I’m not going to pass up that offer.” Casey let out a squeak as he pushed her further up the bed and flipped her over, but a moan swiftly followed when his tongue found her. He pushed his head between her thighs and shouldered her knees apart until she was sitting atop his face. A man could happily drown in her spicy nectar, Brody decided as he plunged his tongue deep inside her. The agile muscles of her cunt gripped at his tongue with alacrity, striving to hold him prisoner. But he had no intentions of going anywhere any time soon. He curled his tongue and flicked it against her spongy front wall and breathing became a luxury as she demanded more of his touch. He sucked in gasps of air when he could and bestowed every bit of pleasure she demanded. All the air exploded from her lungs, and he knew without a doubt that Luke was treating her rosy pucker to the same treatment. Casey still had trouble accepting their lack of boundaries, but that wasn’t to say she didn’t enjoy the more iniquitous pleasures they offered. “God, sweetheart, I wish I was built different. I’d love to fuck this ass of yours.” Luke’s husky whisper was punctuated with Casey’s hungry moans.

 

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“I wish you would. I keep telling you, you won’t hurt me.” The breathy timbre of her voice spurred Brody on. If she could talk coherently he wasn’t doing it right. He wanted to feel her climax rain down upon him. He licked up the wet satin valley from her clenching cunt to her red, swollen clit. He gave it two slow licks and then pursed his lips around it and suckled. Her cry turned into a heartfelt “oh, fuck!” and died into a guttural moan. Ruthlessly he sucked, faster and faster, listening to her cries rising in pitch and volume until she shattered, spilling her nectar down upon him. He kept licking and laving until she pulled away, spent. “You okay, honey?” He knew she was. He just loved hearing her try and talk when she’d just come. “Mmmph.” It must have been a big one if that was all she could manage. Brody used her distraction to slip out of his remaining clothes. She rolled over just as his jeans hit the floor and her eyes locked on to his cock standing tall and proud. Her tongue swept her lips and he groaned in defeat. He was as good as lost. She rose to her knees and Brody braced himself but she surprised the hell out of him. She went for the far bedside table where they kept her toys and rubbers and things. She came out with a bottle of lube and tossed it to an unaware Luke. “At least you caught it this time.” Casey crawled toward Brody and all he could do was watch her come closer with his cock weeping in anticipation. Her hand wrapped around him, spreading fire where ever she touched and she looked over her shoulder at Luke, wiggling her ass provocatively. “Do you need me to draw you a road map?” Brody had to feel sorry for his brother as he looked from her ass to the bottle in his hand worriedly. “Luke, Casey wouldn’t be asking you if she didn’t think it was fine. I can lend you my map if you like.” His lips kicked up in a smile, “I think I can work it out.”

 

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Any reply Brody might have had was stolen by a lash of Casey’s wicked tongue. He fisted a handful of her carefully straightened hair and delighted in messing it, scrunching it in his hand as he held her as nice and tight as she liked. Her mouth was teasing, decadent, and demanding by turns, and when coupled with the erotic sight of Luke preparing her ass, certain to send him over the edge before he wanted to go. It took it as a small consolation that if he did disgrace himself again, at least he had his pants off this time. He knew he had to break the rhythm Casey was using to hurtle him toward orgasm when Luke started really stretching her. He made her stop and start, knowing she loved when he took control, while his eyes were glued on the three fingers his brother was turning in her pink rimmed star. The moans caressing his shaft sent waves of pleasure ghosting up his spine and encouraged Luke, but he looked like a man about to undertake some huge responsibility instead of an intimately erotic pleasure. “Relax, man. She doesn’t get any more ready than that.” Luke slipped his fingers from her body, but he still hesitated with his slicked dick pressed to her loosened hole. Brody pulled her away from his cock. A loud, wet pop rang out as it slipped from her mouth. “Tell him you want this, baby. You’re not going to get it otherwise.” “For God’s sake, Luke!” Her hand reached beneath her and appeared around his brother’s shaft. Two sets of male eyes watched in wonder as she fed the pulsating flesh into her own ass. She swayed and rocked, mesmerizing both of them, until the globes of her rear kissed Luke’s belly. “Oh, that feels incredible!” She writhed sensuously, tilting her hips as they swayed. “It feels like a fist wrapped around me. So tight, so hot.” Luke’s voice was rougher than gravel over ground glass. Brody’s cock wept in sympathy, and he knew he had to get inside her fast. “Lay back and take her with you. You don’t know what tight is yet.”

 

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Luke looked like he was in some kind of mortal agony as he lifted Casey against him and sank back into the pillows, but Casey was a wanton, writhing mass of erotic need. Her hands swept her own body, tweaking her sharp ruby nipples and sliding down to cup her mons. Brody grabbed the base of his cock and squeezed tight when her fingers slid through the syrupy lips of her pussy. He tugged his balls back down from where they were trying to climb up his spine before he knelt between the couple’s entwined legs. Casey ran her fingers wonderingly around the stretched tissue surrounding Luke’s cock and then drove two of them deep inside her cunt. Brody trapped her hand without thinking. Her eyes snapped open and she gave him a challenging look. But he didn’t push her hand away. He lifted it to his mouth and ravenously sucked her stormy taste from her captured fingers. Her mouth opened with carnal need, and Brody could wait no more. He took his thick cock in his fist and touched it to her dripping portal. Her slick juices scalded him with their molten heat. The sight of his bare cock sitting against her willing flesh was not just erotic but a symbol of hope. He could have a future with this woman. That was his heartfelt prayer as he slid into her. Fighting for room, he worked the head slowly inside her. He figured the high-pitched whining sound was coming from Luke, but Casey chose that moment to bring her fingers down and circle her shining clit and he forgot to care. He surged in deep, all the way to the hilt and stopped. Hot, tight, and wetter than any dream. He gritted his teeth as his head lolled back on his shoulder. It was unimaginable that one thin layer of protection could prevent so much sensation. He felt Luke move behind the thin membrane separating them and opened his eyes. Casey was arched back, splayed with carnal abandon on his brother’s torso and impaled fully on two spears of hot flesh. Her lithe, pale body was a sharp contrast to the large, sun-weathered hands holding her full breasts. He’d never seen a sexier sight.

 

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“Open your eyes, baby, look at me.” He held deep inside her redhot clasp while she struggled to raise passion-weighted lids. “That’s the way. Open them up and watch me, know who’s loving you, baby.” When her smoky eyes locked with his, he pulled back and thrust again, forcing her to ride the length of Luke’s cock buried in her ass. The wail that sprung from her throat was almost drowned out by two masculine groans. “Oh, God. I can’t wait. I’m gonna come.” “Come then, baby, come deep and hard and we’ll be right there with you.” Luke’s fingers squeezed and tugged at her nipples. Even when he was groaning like a dying man, he still strived to bring Casey pleasure. Brody began to ride her body in earnest, forging high and deep with every escalating thrust. Her cries lifted and her fingers worked feverishly, bumping against him as they slid in her slick cream. He was so close, no more than an errant thought would jerk the seed from his balls and send it hurtling down his screaming cock. Casey reached up and fisted the short hair on the back of his head and pulled him down violently. He caught himself before he crushed them both. “Kiss me, Brody.” She breathed against his lips. “Kiss me like you mean it.” He fell into her mouth, and she tightened around him as if someone had given another turn to the handle on the fleshly vise that held him. He swallowed her scream and gave her back a blatant roar as the tingle in the base of his spine erupted into an orgasm so big it felt as if his organs were being drawn out along with his seed. Luke was moaning, low and deep, a sound that was nearly more pain than pleasure. Her body was wracked by aftershocks, making them jolt and twitch and groan in pleasure until, exhausted, Casey melted between them like all her bones had dissolved. Brody lay with his head on her breast, too replete to move. Dimly, he realized that Luke was still making low sounds. Worried they were

 

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hurting Casey, and knowing Luke wasn’t in a position to withdraw unless he moved, Brody slipped from her body and lifted up. “Oh, thank God for that.” Luke sounded more than a little breathy. “Casey’s heavy enough by herself. You weigh a goddamn ton.” Casey just smiled sleepily. Luke rolled them to the side and gently pulled from her body, kissing her shoulder before padding softly to the bathroom. Brody sat beside her sated form, running his hands soothingly over her while he waited for Luke to return. He’d never felt a connection with anyone like he had inside Casey, naked and bare the way nature intended. She was the one, his everything. “Brode?” “Mmm?” “You’re not going to let me go now, are you?” “What are you talking about, baby?” She sounded more slumberous than awake. “You know, tag and release and all that. You always throw girls back once you’ve caught them.” Brody smiled and stretched out nose to nose with her, his big hand cupping her face, “Look at me, Casey.” Her blue eyes shone in the dim light. “We’re keeping you, baby. The others were all a little undersized.” “I love you, Brode.” “I love you too, honey.” He kissed her gently. “Just promise me one thing. Say you’ll never sneak out and leave me snuggled up to Luke’s hairy ass again.” The only reply he got was a smile.

 

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Epilogue Two weeks later… “Why have we got to take this old heap everywhere we go?” “Because my old heap has got bench seats.” Casey shivered as Luke’s hand slid from the wheel and along her thigh. “Aren’t you going to back me on this, Brode?” “Not likely, baby.” Casey shrieked as pulled her to lie across his lap. She looked up at him in the lights of the dash. He was gorgeous to her. There wasn’t one streak of the conceited arrogance that had branded him left. She put her hand up and ran her fingers along his smooth shaven jaw. “Thank you for tonight. I know it must have cost you to be nice.” “It’s time to let it go. I’d forgotten how much fun Zach and Colby could be.” “They still play a mean game of pool. They whipped our asses.” Luke sounded like he’d enjoyed every moment of it. Casey giggled, “Emma and I managed to beat them.” “That’s because your sister plays dirty. The only balls those guys were thinking about after she accidently rubbed against them a time or two were in their pants. They didn’t stand a chance.” Brody shook his head. “They’re not half as smitten as Jory.” Luke still sounded amused. “I can’t believe Jory Raines eloped with Bailey.” That brought a smile to Casey’s face, too. “I wish I had known the invite to the Kat was to celebrate their wedding. I would have gotten them a present at least.”

 

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“They just wanted their close friends there, the whole town turned out for it.” Brody circled his hand on her stomach where he’d worked it under her blouse, “Bailey wasn’t the only one missing Marley, though. Andy looked like hell, and it was more than not having found who was trying to hurt her.” “I can’t believe Jory has a sister. That just blows me away.” Luke shook his head in ongoing disbelief, “Did you see the way Jack and Danny were looking at Dale?” “What were you doing looking at Jack and Danny?” Brody voiced the question, but Luke was glaring, too. “Hey, I was only looking!” A lot, she silently added. Those two were they kind of eye candy a girl couldn’t help but look at and wonder what kind of center it had—soft, hard or a startling blast of flavor. But Casey had all the men she needed right with her in the battered old truck. They had her whole heart and she knew she had theirs. Brody had been hinting at marriage, but she’d been sidestepping the issue. Ty was right. Men appreciated things more when they had to work for them. “They were both drooling over that tiny thing though.” “Both of them?” Luke sounded more than a little surprised. “Isn’t that par for the course in this place?” “Not those two,” Brody snorted. “You’ve been in their workshop, honey. Did you notice the demarcation line and the color-coded tools?” “Yeah, it was a little odd.” Brody was silently laughing and Luke clearly found it hilarious. There was unholy joy in his raspy voice. “Those two can’t share a goddamn wrench. They don’t have a hope in hell of sharing a woman. It wouldn’t work in a million years.” “This is working out just fine, though.” Brody looked down at her warmly and she could see the love he felt for her in every inch of his face. “When are you gonna give in and let us put a ring on that finger?”

 

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“If I give in too soon, you’ll take me for granted.” Casey grinned as she teased. Neither of them would ever take her for granted. “Besides, I definitely like your methods of persuasion.” She slid her hand up on to the impressive swell of Brody's chest and kneaded. “Reckon you could try persuading me again tonight? I might just give in this time.” A deep groan rumbled through Brody’s chest as he leaned over her, and Casey met his kiss with her own, challenging the supremacy of his mouth just the way they both liked it. Luke's free hand caressed the length of her thigh and teased at her covered mound. God, she loved them. She knew unequivocally they were going to end up in a church sooner rather than later, but while the destination might have been certain, Casey intended to enjoy every inch of the ride.

THE END

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kaliana Cole is an Aussie girl who simply loves writing. She plunked herself in front of the PC when temporarily unemployed and hasn’t looked back. She lives with her two exceedingly feral boys and longtime, longsuffering partner in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, where her time is divided between being good (mother, lover, neighbor, cleaner, and cook), and being bad (writing raunchy romance and naughty ménage stories and dreaming up scenarios for upcoming works). Any time not taken up by this latest love is devoted to her horses, which all seem to have become fatter and naughtier since their owner started writing. Tag and Release is her fourth novel. She can be contacted at [email protected].

Also by Kaliana Cole Ménage Amour: Liberty Springs, Wyoming 1: No Bag Limit Siren Classic: Liberty Springs, Wyoming 2: Hook, Line and Sinker Ménage Amour: Good Horses, Fast Cars and Real Men

Available at BOOKSTRAND.COM

 

Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com