by Lora Leigh
"You're pushing me. I've never in my life killed a man without reason, Jaci, but if I keep seeing the damage Richard Roberts and his wife have done to you, then I might break that little rule."
An edge of panic flared in her eyes, causing him to watch her suspiciously. Why the hell would she care if his wrath fell on Richard Roberts?
"Annalee is a bitch. That's no reason to kill Richard. Besides, neither of them is worth the effort or the cost of a bullet." And before you start threatening others, consider how you affect me everytime you leave me in my bed, alone."
His eyes narrowed as she turned and moved farther away from him, the silk of her gown rustling against the silk that covered her legs. "That bed doesn't define us," he bit out.
"It will soon." The silk of her stocking rasped against her gown as she turned.
He had ordered smoky thigh-highs. Silk. Smoke and fire was the image he had in his mind, and that was the image that met his eyes when he saw her at the party. Jaci was pure stubborn. He knew it. Chase knew it. And Cam was determined to find a way around it.
Cam had to forcibly restrain himself from following after her, from pushing her against the wall, and thrusting as hard and deep inside her as possible. He had wanted her, until it was like a fire in his balls; but seeing her tonight, seeing the confidence and determination in her eyes when he glimpsed her across the ballroom, the challenge she had silently thrown to Annalee and given him as well, it was as though he had always sensed the woman he was seeing now. The hunger that tore at his guts was nearly painful in its intensity. He looked at Chase and acknowledged the fact she might be strong enough to defy him entirely.
This was the woman he had always sensed inside her. The woman that could walk away from him.
He glanced at Chase again, seeing the lust, the obvious anticipation. His brother would fight or fuck, whichever Cam chose in this battle he and Jaci seemed to be waging now. It was going to have to be the latter, because he'd be damned if he could think with this need clawing at his insides.
He swallowed tightly, his fingers going to the buttons of his shirt as he watched her nimble little fingers grip the tab of the zipper at her lower back.
The snug material parted, revealing the silken line of the thong he had bought for her.
He felt his mouth go dry, then water, as she turned to him, gave her shoulders a little shrug, and let the dress slip down her body until it pooled at her feet.
He tore the shirt from his shoulders even as he moved, striding across the room and jerking her into his arms. He heard her gasp as his lips covered hers, and he barely restrained his own primal growl.
She met him hunger for hunger, need for need. Her lips parted, her tongue mingled with his. Slender, silken fingers dove into his hair and pulled, jerking free the dark band that held it back.
His hands were on her ass, gripping the rounded globes and lifting her to him. Long legs wrapped around his hips, the heated folds of her pussy heated his cock, even through the layers of clothing, as he stumbled backward from the pleasure. He kept her in his grip, held her lips with his, and caught himself with his shoulder against the wall.
"Dammit, don't fall," Chase growled. Somehow his brother had actually managed to get in front of them.
Shit. Control. Where the hell was his control? He was going to spank that pretty ass for being so daring.
He was going to teach her to follow his lead. But hell, he'd have to release her lips to do that. He'd have to unwrap those gorgeous legs from around his waist, and he just wasn't willing to do that.
He could barely stand to pull his lips away long enough to taste her jaw, her neck, as he struggled to get to the bedroom. He was not going to take her on the fucking couch.
Then she moved. Her legs tightened around his waist, shifted, heat raked across his dick, and he found himself flat on his ass on the couch.
Okay, he could do this here.
He gripped her ass, moved her against his cock, and ran his lips over the upper swells of her breasts. She tasted like the finest sugar, sweet and lickable. Fucking addictive.
When she lifted against him, her legs drawing from behind his back to kneel astride him, her sweet nipples were just below his lips.
Berry ripe. They were tight and hard, tempting him to taste, to savor. How the hell was a man supposed to resist that temptation? A temptation he had denied himself for—how long now?
More than seven years. Long before she had turned twenty-one. He had noticed her when she was a sweet, tender sixteen, and he had known she was going to be his. He hadn't been more than twenty-one or twenty-two himself. He'd been a man for years by then. A soldier moving into the Special Forces.
He'd thought he knew what he wanted, thought he knew what life was.
How damned wrong he had been.
This was what life was all about. This woman in his arms, this fire burning inside him, unlike any fire he had ever known in his life.
"In the bed," he groaned, though he couldn't resist those nipples. He licked them, sucked them into his mouth, and made no move to leave the couch.
Behind her, Chase turned her head to the side and lowered his lips to hers as Cam devoured her breasts.
They were going to take her. Right here. Right now. They would still that defiant fire raging inside her, then attempt to reason the truth out of her. Maybe.
She was a fire burning through him, and he knew he was lost. This time. This time was going to be hard and fast, he knew it, knew there was no fighting it. He had waited too long this time. This time . . . this time, they'd take her on the damned couch.
He lifted her and bore her back onto the couch as Chase released her, watching as she stretched out beneath Cam, her witchy eyes glittering with passion, with lust, her face flushed with it, her breasts swollen, rising and falling with her quick, hard breaths. Beside the couch, Chase was undressing quickly, his expression a mask of desire and interest, as he watched the battle raging between Cam and Jaci.
Cam tore at his belt, the fastening of his slacks.
He rose long enough, just enough to shed his slacks and underwear and to notice that Chase had done the same, then, kneeling by the couch, he spread Jaci's legs, spread them wide, and ran his fingers over the damp silk, the wet silk that covered the soft swell of her pussy.
He was going to take her hard and deep. But first he was going to taste her one more time. He was going to grow drunk on the passion that flowed from her, from the sweetness and wild tang of her lust.
Jaci stared down her body, seeing the sheen of perspiration over her breasts, her stomach, on Cam's forehead as he touched the panel of silk that covered the aching flesh of her sex.
Where had she gotten the sheer bravado that had overtaken her when she entered the hotel room with Cam and Chase, the wild domination and lust clearly apparent in their gazes? It was as though her common sense had decided to go on vacation and leave only her hormones to guard the bastions of self-preservation. And they weren't the best guards. Hell no, they were jumping up and down, burning inside her veins and begging for more.
"I used to dream of this," she whispered. That seductive siren's voice couldn't be hers. "With nothing but a vibrator or my own fingers for pleasure, I thought of this."
Lassitude swept over her, a weakening sexual intensity that melted inside her pussy, prepared her, and left her shaking in need.
Her breath caught as his gaze lifted to hers. Green fire blazed in his eyes, lust and male force, sending a surge of trepidation tripping through her.
"You're not dreaming now," he assured her.
His fingers gripped the band of the thong and pulled. Just that easily, the thin silk was torn from her body, to be dropped carelessly to the floor.
Jaci arched involuntarily, a cry leaving her throat as he pressed her legs farther apart and his head lowered to the dark auburn curls below.
"You ripped my panties," she breathed out roughly.
"
You still have the stockings." His hands smoothed down the silk encasing her legs, as his breath whispered over her damp curls—just as Chase knelt beside the couch, the touch of his lips against her bare shoulder causing her to gasp in pleasure. The sheer sexiness, the eroticism of the moment, was enough to make any woman breathless.
In a burst of courage, hormones, or sheer insanity, she let the fingers of one hand trail from between her breasts to the top of her mound. And they watched. Cam's eyes seemed to glow.
"Touch yourself," he whispered, his voice like black velvet. "Show me how you dreamed of me, sweetheart."
She touched herself, and it was more sexually wicked than it had ever been. She let her fingers part the swollen folds, caress around her engorged clit, and felt fire lance through her womb as they watched.
This was hotter than any fantasy, any dream she could have conjured up.
"You're wet for us, Jaci," he growled, as she parted the folds farther, ran the tip of her finger along the drenched slit. "Sweet and wet. Hold yourself open sweetheart. Let me taste all that sugar."
The sound that slipped past her lips couldn't be her moan. That wild cry of need that echoed in the room as Cam's tongue flickered over her clit, then licked through the shallow valley, couldn't have been hers.
"I need you, Cam." She arched, digging the heel of one foot into the couch, the other into the floor, and lifted herself to his lips, his tongue.
Cam. He was finally here, hotter than her wildest daydream, his lips and tongue taking her, stealing her senses with kiss after kiss, as she dissolved beneath him. And Chase, his lips feathered over a nipple, his tongue licked, and a second later she was crying out in burning need when his lips covered the tip and drew it into his mouth.
With each touch of their tongues, each stroke, each male groan against her flesh, Jaci felt herself flying higher. She forgot to hold herself open, because Cam was doing that for her. One hand slid into his hair to hold her to him while she curled her other arm around Chase's neck to hold him in place as well.
It was exquisite. His lips between her thighs, Chase sucking at her nipple—and still it wasn't enough.
Her head tossed, her hips rocked beneath their caresses, and fractured moans tore from her throat.
"More," her weak cry was desperate. "Cam. Please."
Pleasure was tearing through her, raking over her nerve endings, drawing her tight. Lips and tongues spread the fire through her, drew her clit tight and hard, and caused her vagina to pulse, to clench with need.
Every muscle was tight, straining. Oh God, she ached, she needed. She was so close, and yet the pleasure she had always dreamed of was so damned far away.
"Oh, yes." It was closer. Closer in the form of the feel of Cam's finger dipping inside her, pressing into the torturous depths of her pussy, stroking and caressing as his tongue licked at her clit, his lips kissed it with gentle pressure.
As he kissed and stroked, she felt another finger easing lower, teasing, stroking, caressing.
"There you go, sweetheart," he crooned, as she twisted beneath him, the feel of his finger inside her, another pressing, stroking against her rear. Preparing her.
It was so good. she had never felt anything like this, never known such pleasure as she felt with Cam.
Then he drew her clit into the heat of his mouth, suckled at it firmly, stroked it with his tongue, and sent her screaming into orgasm.
Jaci lifted into the violence of the pleasure, let it consume her, let the intense burning pleasure tear through her with an ecstatic cry.
It rose and rose inside her, built and raced through her in a succession of bone-jarring explosions that had her crying out his name in desperation. And Cam had no mercy. The second the intensity of the pleasure began to ease, the violence of the shudders began to dim, Cam moved over her.
Jaci forced her eyes open, forced herself to focus on his, as she fought to pull oxygen into her lungs.
"There, sweetheart." His expression was tight, savage with lust, while beside her, Chase rolled a condom over the impressive length and thickness of his erection.
"Another of those will kill me," she panted, her hands moving to the hard muscles of Cam's abs, feeling them flex and ripple beneath her touch.
"I'll keep you breathing, darlin'." Cam's voice was rough, grating with need, as he came over her, one elbow bracing his weight, while he used the other hand to guide the head of his cock into place. "Just hold onto me, Jaci. Hold onto me tight."
Her fingers clenched on his shoulders, her legs lifted as he shifted her beneath him, then her lashes fluttered in the most exquisite pleasure yet.
"Look at me, Jaci," he ordered roughly. "Look at me, let me see your eyes."
She forced her lashes to lift, met his gaze, and whimpered at the sensations flooding through her.
The feel of his cock working inside her was ecstasy, pleasure and pain combined, as the delicate muscles stretched to accommodate his length.
She had taken nothing larger than her dependable vibrator, and she hadn't anticipated needing a thicker one than the one she had. But Cam was much larger, harder, and so much hotter.
"So good." Her head tossed against the couch cushions. "So good, Cam."
He slid deeper, stretched her, burned her.
"Later. I'll spank you for making me this crazy later," he swore.
For some reason, she wasn't the least bit frightened of that promise.
"Okay. Fine. Later." She lifted her head, kissed his shoulder. "Later." Then she bit him.
The pleasure was burning, ecstatic. She forgot where Chase was. She didn't care. She had Cam now, and it was incredible. It was brutal and overwhelming. As her teeth sank into his shoulder, she heard his ragged cry and felt his muscles bunch. A second later, he moved. He lifted her, pulling her against his chest as he went to his back, drawing her over him as she felt Chase behind her.
Her eyes locked with his. They always did. She needed this connection with him to accept the connection with Chase. She needed to hold onto him, somewhere deep inside his soul, as she felt Chase preparing her. Felt his fingers opening her, stretching her. She felt the slickness of the lubrication, and torturous minutes later, felt the broad head of his cock pressing against her.
She couldn't scream. She cried out Cam's name, she clenched him tighter, bit him again, and felt the final thrust inside her rear bury the full length of Chase's cock inside her.
There was barely enough time to draw in a ragged breath, before they were moving again. Deep, hard strokes buried them inside her over and over again, stroked nerve endings that had only been revealed by their touch, stroked liquid flames inside her, and sent her exploding into a thousand, a million brilliant pinpoints of light.
She felt Cam jerk, shudder, felt his release inside her. She heard him growl her name at her ear, felt his lips, his rough kisses at her shoulder, as Chase jerked and shuddered, his cock throbbing inside her.
Cam possessed her, heart and soul. There was pleasure in the touch of both brothers, but in Cam's touch
—in his hands, in his kisses—there was so much more than pleasure. And instinctively she knew, for him it was so much more than just the pleasure of sharing her. For now, it was more than just a need. It was a defense.
In a whisper of insight, she knew that part of Cam, the part he kept so closely guarded, saw this as a defense. If he shared her, if he let his brother have her as well, then in a way, he was holding a part of himself safe. There was no chance of releasing whatever he held so tightly bound. And in that moment, she swore that one day she would find out what he hid, and she would break into that heart. Because he owned her, and by God, she deserved to own him as well.
"Don't leave me, Cam," she whispered. "Not this time."
As soon as he could get his breath back, damn, as soon as he could find his brain rattling around in his head, Cam managed to ease Jaci into Chase's embrace so they could get her into the bedroom.
/> She whimpered in protest as his cock pulled free of her body, her fingers tightened at his shoulders then slipped and lay against Chase's arms, as Cam rose slowly to his feet and then lifted her from his brother.
"Don't leave her, Cam," Chase ordered. "Don't do that."
She cuddled against him, trusting, exhausted, as a bitter smile pulled at his lips and he carried her to the bedroom.
Pulling the blankets back, he laid her on the bed before carefully removing her stockings and covering her up. He stood there, refusing to crawl into that big bed with her to let her curl against him. It was a risk he couldn't take. Not now, not yet. He heard the door close in the front room as Chase left. He fought it. He had to.
Reaching down, he brushed the hair from her cheek, then whispered a kiss over her brow, before straightening and staring at that big bed once again. He wanted to stay until it ached inside him. But the fear of those emotions slashed too deep.
Shaking his head, he left the room, extinguishing the lights behind him and once again entering the sitting room. Long minutes later, dressed and ready to leave, he sat down on the couch, penned a short note, then collected his jacket and left the hotel room. Hating it, hating himself for his inability to give in to that need.
As he drove away from the hotel he felt the guilt that tugged at his chest, and calculated the risk he had taken in walking away from her. Women liked to be cuddled by their lovers, and he knew she considered him her lover; and it pissed them the hell off when a man up and left before they awoke. But he knew Jaci. If he had awakened her, she would have questioned him. Those too perceptive eyes would have seen too much right now, things he couldn't risk. Besides, he had work to do. Preliminary reports had come in from England on the investigation into Jaci's link with the Robertses, and he needed to get on that. He had to find out what the hell had happened, because he had a feeling Jaci was up to much more than just thumbing her nose at the congressman and his wife.
Cam was well aware of the very shadowed rumors that circulated about the congressman and his wife and the games they played with their secretary. There had been no rumors that those games had gone any further, but Jaci had stayed in the Robertses' mansion for a week, after they'd hired her to redesign the layout of the mansion. It was at that time that the Robertses had targeted her.