by Vanessa Vale
“Ten, I think.”
“And now?”
I thought of her lush little body, how tight and wet her pussy was, and shifted in my chair. “Now she’s around twenty-five and hot as fuck.”
The front door slammed and Gus came in the room.
“Who’s hot as fuck?” he asked, settling his hands on his hips, grinning. He was a vet and shared a practice with two others, but I had no idea if he’d come from the animal clinic or if he had the day off. He wore the same thing—jeans, plaid shirt and boots—whether he was working or not. And if there was a hint of a pretty woman, he wanted to know about it.
The idea of Gus getting his hands on Kaitlyn had me clenching my jaw, my molars ready to crack. She was too innocent for the kind of kinky shit he did with his two buddies.
He might be the youngest of the three of us, but he was the biggest, an inch taller even than me. I had the bulk, but he was pure, lean muscle.
“Oh,” T said in response, glancing Gus’s way. Suddenly, his head whipped around to me, eyes full of awareness. “Oh.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, oh.”
“Who?” Gus asked again.
“Kaitlyn Leary,” I said, my voice lacking the enthusiasm his had.
“Kaitlyn Le… oh shit.” Gus’s arms fell to his sides, his quick grin slipping. He’d expected a tale of a wild night, but he realized he wasn’t going to get it.
“So you fucked her,” T commented with a shrug, then settled back into the couch. “Fine, then you got that pussy out of your system. Not the smartest lay, but if you didn’t know who she was…”
I stood up so I loomed over him, my hands going into fists. “Don’t say that shit about her. And I didn’t fuck her.”
I wouldn’t have, not then. Not in Jed’s office. I’d wanted to make her feel good, to have her come so she knew what it would be like between us. Just a taste of it. I’d had no plan to let my dick out of my pants because I’d wanted more from her than a quick fuck, but then she’d pressed her palms against our dicks and we’d been powerless to say no to her sexy hand job.
10
DUKE
* * *
Gus stepped in front of me, thinking I was going to jump T. I wouldn’t if he stopped talking shit about Kaitlyn, but I looked around Gus and glared anyway.
T held his hands up in front of him. “Whoa. You like her. I mean, really like her.”
“I’ve never heard you say that before,” Gus added, his voice quiet, perhaps because he was within punching distance and didn’t want to rile me. We’d beaten each other up before, more times than any of us could count. We were too big, too strong now, and we’d all end up with concussions, broken noses or worse. And we weren’t dumb enough to fight it out right before my mother showed up. “Where’s Jed in all this?”
“He was right there with me. As for today? Sleeping, like usual. Dad was right,” I said on a sigh. “I saw her and I thought she was The One. It was like I’d been hit by a fucking two-by-four. Jed, too.”
They smiled at me. Grinned like idiots, actually. “That’s great,” Gus said, slapping me on the shoulder.
“Not great,” I countered, dropping back in my chair. “She’s Kaitlyn Leary. Her father almost killed Mom and Dad.”
“Um, duh?” T countered.
Gus sat on the coffee table, remaining between the two of us.
“Doesn’t that bother you?” I was surprised I had to ask.
“Jesus, Duke, you know I hate that man.” T stood, went into the kitchen and grabbed a soda. Or three, as I saw he had one for each of us when he came back.
“Me, too,” Gus murmured, taking two of them and handing one to me. He twisted off the top of his and took a swig. “But you don’t have the hots for that asshole.”
“Wait a second,” T said, holding up his hand. “You said you didn’t know who she was when you met her last night. But you do now. Meaning you saw her again. You’re leaving stuff out.”
Gus nodded in agreement.
“Fine. It’s like this.” I told them about following her to her car—leaving out the finer details of what we did with her in Jed’s office—and how she’d freaked out and bolted.
“At the time, she didn’t know who you were either,” Gus said, taking another slug of soda.
“Are you kidding? She thought I was part of the male revue,” I replied, smiling as I remembered how surprised I’d been.
They stared at me for a second, then started laughing.
“She thought you were a stripper? Classic,” T commented, grinning. “Yeah, she had no fucking idea who you were.”
“What? I could pull it off,” I countered, only slightly offended.
That only made them laugh louder.
I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, when I told her my name, it was like I told her I had leprosy or something,” I replied, moving away from the idea of me as a stripper. “She bolted faster than a fucking rabbit.”
“So you were all clueless. Just… into each other. She had the hots for you—a guy whose name she didn’t even know—if you had a little high school make-out session. And if she got it on with both you and Jed, then she either wanted a wild time or truly was hot for a threesome.”
T had toned down his words about what we’d done. Hell, we’d shared details about the women we’d been with in the past, but Kaitlyn was different and T seemed to realize that now.
While I’d been horny as fuck as a teenager, I’d never gotten to third base like that in high school. Back then, I’d have ensured I got off, not her. I hadn’t been selfish, just clueless. And while Jed and I had agreed we’d claim a woman together, we hadn’t spent the night with one together until college.
I thought of Kaitlyn, the way her eyes had gone all out of focus behind her glasses at our kiss, the way she’d said, “Okay,” on an excited little breath right before I slipped my finger inside her tight heat and found her wet and hot for me.
“Yeah, not quite high school, but she’d been right there with us, like I said, until I told her my name.”
I expected both of them to make some stupid-ass comment, but none came.
“After that, you still didn’t know who she was.”
I shook my head. “She didn’t say before she bolted. I was up half the night wondering what the fuck happened and how I was going to see her again. Jed was pissed he had to keep slinging drinks.”
Gus sat his soda down on the table by his hip. “But you figured it out.”
I offered them a tired smile. “Turns out, she was my remodel appointment this morning. She’s living in her old house.”
“Oh shit,” T muttered.
“Exactly. Just pulling up to that place made me want to puke. I thought someone had bought it, planned to fix it up, and I’d intended to tell them I couldn’t take the job, would refer them to someone else. Instead, Kaitlyn answered the door. She told me the truth of why she ran off the night before.”
“Because she’s a Leary and because you’re a Duke.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“You’re telling me she ran scared because she realized who you were, and that you’d, what, hate her or something stupid like that?” Gus asked, speaking slowly as if I were an idiot.
My heart thumped once, then stalled. I stood, went over to the big window, my back to my brothers. My property lined a field, the tall grasses green and waving in the setting sun. I rubbed the back of my neck, winced at what Gus was insinuating. What was obvious now.
I was an idiot.
“Oh shit.”
“Oh shit, what?” Gus asked, his voice sounding grim, like I’d drank the last soda and was afraid to tell.
“That is exactly what she thought,” I said. “I confirmed it for her this morning by listing everything her father had done, telling her how she’d fucked up my seventeenth birthday and ending with telling her—”
I snapped my mouth closed, remembering the words I’d used. I’d actually said I hate you.
“Your sev
enteenth birthday? Are you fucking shitting me? Jesus, she was ten years old,” Gus snapped.
“Did she slap you? She should have,” T added, shaking his head as if he were disappointed in me.
He had reason to be. I was disappointed in myself.
I remembered how she’d met my eyes, took in every single one of the mean words I’d said. She hadn’t flinched, hadn’t looked away.
I ran my hand over my head. “No, she didn’t defend herself, tell me off or anything. She just agreed with me,” I replied, staring out the window, processing. After a minute, I turned and faced them, put my hands on my hips. “I was a dick. I admit it. What’s the worst of all is that she actually thinks I should hate her—all of us should—for what her father did. She’s willing to live with that. She’d never have gotten near me at the bar if she’d known who I was. Hell, I bet she wouldn’t have gone to ladies’ night if she knew Jed owned Cassidy’s.”
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” T asked.
Yeah, I was.
“I think I just blew my chance with her.” And that thought made me want to puke and punch my fist through a wall. “And Jed’s.”
“You think?” Gus added, shaking his head.
I put my hands on my hips, thinking of what she’d done after I stomped off, only thinking of myself. Was she okay? I’d hurt her, I was sure, even if she hadn’t shown it.
Fuck, she was brave. Caring. Concerned. I still knew barely anything about her, but I knew enough. She was perfect. Fucking perfect and I’d stomped all over her with my dirty fucking work boots.
For the first time all day, I had my head on straight. Knew what I had to do.
Grovel.
“I’ve got to fix this. It wasn’t her fault her father was a fuck-up. Shit, she was ten. I’ve got to go.”
“Call Jed. He’ll want to be there so you don’t fuck up again,” T said.
I cut right past both Gus and T, grabbed my keys off the table beside it and opened the front door.
My parents were coming up onto the porch, which forced me to stop. I was beyond restless to get to Kaitlyn, to make things right, but I couldn’t ignore them.
“Where are you rushing off to?” my mother asked, tilting her head to the side so I could kiss her cheek.
The top of her head didn’t come up to my shoulder. Where she was petite, my father was tall. He’d shrunk a little, but still had the tall, proud bearing of a Montana cowboy. It was my mother who had the grit. She might be gray-haired, but not only was she a member of the city council, but she had a keen intelligence that shouldn’t be underestimated.
My father gave me a hello pat on the shoulder. “Forgot the dessert?” he asked on a laugh.
“I have to go fix something.” I dashed toward my truck in the driveway, not wasting any time to explain. I pulled out my cell to call Jed. To tell him what I’d done and get him over to Kaitlyn’s house, too. Pronto.
“Will you be back for dinner?” my mother called.
I glanced over my shoulder. T and Gus stood with my parents on my porch.
“I hope not.”
11
KAITLYN
* * *
I heard a vehicle pull up and the engine turn off. From my perch on the roof, one corner of the blue tarp held in place beneath my knee, staple gun in hand, I saw that it was Landon. I couldn’t miss the big pickup truck, the words Compass Construction and the company logo on the side, or the big man who climbed out. My heart lurched at the sight of him, all broad shoulders, thick muscles and long legs. He settled his cowboy hat on his head. He hadn’t seen me and I took my time taking him in. I remembered the way he’d kissed me, the way his hands—God, his hands were like magic—had touched me, coaxed an orgasm out of me in less than a minute. I even remembered the scent of him.
A second pickup drove up, parked behind Landon’s and shut off. Jed climbed out so fast, he didn’t even close his door.
He approached Landon at a fast clip, settled his hands on his hips. From this far, I could tell by their stances alone they were both tense. Nothing like the loose-muscled way they’d been last night after I’d gripped their cocks and stroked them off. I remembered the feel of their hot cum as it had landed on my skin, the scent of sex—even though we hadn’t actually done the deed—thick in Jed’s office.
I could hear them talking, but was too far away to pick up the words. Jed looked pissed and the way he ran a hand over his face, it might have been Landon who’d made him feel that way.
While I hadn’t moved, hadn’t even breathed since they’d pulled up, Jed somehow saw me. Did a double take. “What are you doing up there?” he shouted from the street, hands on hips.
Landon whipped his head around, eyes widening at the sight of me kneeling on the roof.
I hadn’t thought to see them again, especially not here at the house. Maybe in passing on Main Street or something, but not like this. Their arrival was intentional. It was clear Jed had learned the truth of who I was, of what had happened this morning. Was Jed here to yell at me, too? While I deserved anything he wanted to say, I didn’t like to be yelled at. Who did?
But if Jed wanted his turn, I’d let him have it, and then hopefully they’d go away for good. Leave me alone in peace, or some semblance of it.
Setting the staple gun down on the corner of the tarp, I stood, made my way over to the ladder.
“Be careful up there!” Jed shouted, practically running toward me, Landon hot on his heels.
By the time I got to the top of the wooden ladder, Jed had already climbed it, standing a few rungs down from the top, and we were almost eye level. He was right there with his hand out. The hand that so skillfully worked me to climax the night before. “Careful, baby. I don’t want you to fall. What are you doing up here?”
I glanced over my shoulder at the tarp. “Covering the leaking part of the roof.”
Jed looked down at Landon. “Call your roofer and get his ass over here in the morning to fix this fucking roof.” To me, his tone softened, he said, “You shouldn’t have to do this.”
I pursed my lips. “I can take care of myself. I have for years. This is just a simple roofing issue and the tarp’s temporary until I can get a contractor to do the repair.”
Jed’s eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. “You shouldn’t have to, baby. If Landon hadn’t been a fucking idiot this morning, you wouldn’t be up here.” His gaze raked over the roof, no doubt seeing the tarp and some of the loose or missing shingles in other areas, but didn’t say more. “All finished?”
I looked back at my patch job. “I have one corner to go with the staple gun.”
He climbed up onto the roof and I remembered how tall he was as I only came up to his shoulder. “Stay right here. Don’t move.”
With long legs, he went over to the tarp, took hold of the staple gun and got the remaining corner tacked down. In less than a minute, he was back at my side.
“Landon, get your ass up here,” he called.
Peeking over the edge, I saw Landon putting his cell away, watching me. He climbed halfway up the ladder, his dark eyes never leaving mine.
“All right, baby. Time to climb down. Landon will be below you on the ladder, I’ll be above. You’ll be safe.”
Jed was being ridiculously overprotective. We were only about ten feet off the ground, and I’d used this ladder many times before. While I didn’t want to fall off, there was grass to soften the landing if I did. But I didn’t argue; the look on his face—and Landon’s—told me they were going to be stubborn. Without saying anything, I worked my way down until I stood on the ground before Landon. Jed hopped down, skipping the last few rungs, effectively trapping me between them.
Nervous, unsure of what to say, I offered a simple, “Thank you.”
They were close. Real close. If I lifted my hand, I could set it on Landon’s chest. Or lower and cup him just like I had the night before. And if I took a half step backward, I’d be against Jed’s hard chest. And hard dick.
“Roofers will be here at seven tomorrow,” Landon said. “The whole thing will be finished in a day.”
“On a Saturday?” I shook my head. “No way. That’s not necessary. I… um, well, I can’t pay for the whole thing, especially at a weekend rate. You need to cancel or tell them to patch the section just under the tarp.” I grabbed the staple gun out of Jed’s hand and went toward the shed at the side of the house where tools were kept.
They were following, their footsteps heavy even in the grass.
“No,” Landon said.
I stopped, spun on my heel. “No? You can hate me. That’s fine.” I glanced at Jed, pointed. “You can, too. I’ll deal. I’ll stay out of your way. Skip Cassidy’s, wherever else you like to go. Hell, I’m already getting my groceries in Clayton. But you can’t come to my house and boss me around. You can’t have it both ways.”
I was mad now and that was so much better than sad. It helped to keep my tears away because I sooo didn’t want to cry in front of these two. I wouldn’t let them see how much I was hurting.
Realizing I didn’t give a crap about putting the stupid staple gun away, I skipped the shed, just turned and went toward the front of the house. It would be so much easier to avoid them if I shut the door in their faces, but my legs were much shorter than theirs and even at a hustle, they easily kept up, although stayed a step or two behind. Maybe they thought I was dangerous with the staple gun in my hand.
“You’re right,” Landon called.
I was right?
I made it up the porch steps, turned. We were eye-to-eye, both of them before me. Jed’s blue eyes were calm, level on me. Landon took off his hat and I could clearly see his dark ones held no anger, but something else. Something… torn.
“I’m… right?”
“About being bossed around,” Landon admitted. “But I like to be bossy.”
Jed rolled his eyes, punched Landon in the shoulder. “Duke is an asshole and he treated you like shit this morning. He said things he didn’t mean. Right?” Jed looked to Landon.