“The object of the game is to write down some words.”
Jace leaned into her side, whispering his advice as if sharing a secret. The soft sound stirred the loose hairs around her face and made her shiver. This wasn’t the first time Jace accidently brushed into her.
Every little touch could have been written off as nothing, but Amanda could sense the tension. Jace was anticipating something, and that made her nervous. It made her even more nervous that the other brothers ignored what was going on under their noses. Cody and Knox weren’t ignorant, so Amanda had to wonder why they pretended to be.
“Time’s up.” Jace knocked down the little hourglass with a negligent flick of his finger. “Amanda?”
It took her a moment to respond. “I don’t have anything.”
“Say what?” Jace smirked with enough smugness to annoy Amanda. “Don’t tell me the mighty has fallen.”
“I’m just hungry.” More like horny enough to bite something. One could only imagine what the response would be if she turned and bit one of the brothers. Just the idea of how they’d respond made her shiver. “I can’t think on an empty stomach.”
Cody snorted, failing to cover his chuckles. “Sure thing, sweetness.”
Amanda’s eyes narrowed on Cody. “Here’s a word for you. Jackass.”
“Hey, the letters are actually there,” Jace laughed, “good going.”
Instead of being insulted, Cody acted confused. “Is that one or two words?”
“Good going?” Jace asked, sounding incredulous.
“No. Jackass,” Cody snapped, showing his older brother the impatience Amanda had been baiting Cody for.
Jace responded in kind, tensing up in the way men did before they got violent. “You calling me that?”
“I’m asking if it’s two words.”
Knox snorted. “And they let you graduate from college?”
Like a good youngest brother, Cody groaned at his brothers. “I just need to know how to score it.”
“You can’t score that,” Jace responded.
Cody shot him a look right back. “Why not?”
“Because it’s a curse word.”
“There is nothing in the rules says we can’t use curse words.”
Amanda and her empty sheet of paper had become totally irrelevant to the brothers’ argument. This is what it had been like all morning. They were either picking on one each other or picking on her. It was actually kind of fun, especially when Knox chucked the dictionary at Cody’s head on his instance they look the word up.
“Go on and look it up,” Knox snapped. “See if your picture’s next to it And you,” he turned his brooding gaze on Jace, “go get the damn woman some food so we don’t have to go through this bullshit for another round.”
Amanda cringed at Knox’s hard tone. He sounded like one pissed-off father ready to bring down the hurt on his disobedient children. Of course, he wasn’t any better than his brothers, just a little less polished and charming. Given what he did to her Friday in the carport, Knox could show a little softness and compassion. If nothing else, he could at least feel a little guilt. Instead, the man had the nerve to act as hard as ever. Amanda shot him back a look of equal measure. It said it all. Knox could go to hell, but the devil would probably kick his ass back out for having a bad attitude.
“Fine.” Cody shoved his pad across to Jace. “I’ll go get us all some sandwiches.”
Amanda watched him leave, feeling as if she were watching her safety line disappearing into the ocean, leaving her to face the sharks alone. Tensing with anticipation at just what awaited her, Amanda turned her head toward the table and almost jumped out of her seat when she found herself nearly nose to nose with Jace.
“Look what I got.”
He tilted his pad to show her words written in strong, even, masculine strokes across his page.
Lick. Suck. Caress.
Amanda swallowed hard.
“All the things I like to do.”
Oh, God, save her now. Jace hadn’t just said that right in front of Knox…No. No. No. Amanda would not weaken a second time in a row to these crass cowboys’ perverted ways. She had come here to redeem herself.
“I also like to bite, but those letters weren’t—Ow!” Jace’s smooth tone erupted into a sharp objection as his head swung around to Knox.
Amanda heard the scuffle of a foot and suspected Knox just kicked Jace. Thank God for Knox’s sullen disposition. Owing the man, though, was too painful an admission to make, but she would try. Amanda lifted a thankful look to Knox only to be stilled by the intensity in his gaze.
“I like to bite, too.”
“He really just nibbles,” Jace murmured directly in her ear, making her shift in the wooden chair.
“That’s enough!” Amanda snapped. “Nobody here cares what either one of you likes.”
“Just making conversation.” Jace shrugged, retreating back to be centered in his own seat. “You’re free to share what you like.”
“I like men who treat women with a little dignity.” Amanda might be sinking in a tide of her own desire, but damn if she would go down without a fight.
“The kind that pulls out your chair and tips his hat?” Knox made it sound like a ridiculous request.
Amanda narrowed her gaze on him before responding as coldly as she could. “The kind that knows how to behave himself in public.”
“That’s why she’s with me,” Cody announced as he sauntered back in bearing a tray loaded down with sandwiches. “Because I’m a perfect gentleman.”
A perfect gentleman who fucked her for the viewing pleasure of one of the two other bastards sitting around this table.
“You boys aren’t being rude to my date, are you?” Cody asked as he placed the platter down in the middle of the gaming table.
“Far from it, brother.” Jace grinned. “We’re doing our best to make Amanda feel quite wanted.”
There, you have your answer. Cody didn’t say anything.
Jace leaned forward to snatch a sandwich, his arm accidentally brushing against the side of her breast. The small touch set off a stream of sizzling flames down her spine. She knew her breasts swelled, her nipples hardened, and she cursed the light cotton sundress she donned earlier for their trip to the Lord’s house.
Oh, God, I do have my answer, and now I’m deep, deep trouble.
“Want one?”
Jace held a sandwich up to her as if he expected her to eat from his hand. With a steadying breath, she sent him the best annoyed look she could drum up under the circumstances and reached for the food with her own hands.
A bite later, she forgot for just a moment to be annoyed with the brothers. This was no ordinary ham and cheese sandwich. The chicken held between the slices of white bread was perfectly seasoned, moist, thick, not lunch meat at all.
“Wow,” Amanda breathed, “one of you sure knows how to cook.”
Cody laughed as if she’d made a joke. “As if it wasn’t a challenge for any of us to boil water. We didn’t make these.”
“You didn’t? Then who?”
“Lydia. I guess you could call her our housekeeper. We keep her around to play mommy, clean up after us, do our laundry, cook, that kind of thing.”
Cody’s tone changed from light to dark, receding into a sound that clearly said he didn’t want to go further with anymore words.
Amanda knew why.
She’d known enough about Sharon Arnold to know she’d been an amazing cook. So good, in fact, she’d gotten a scholarship to some fancy school in New York City. Sharon’s mom was named Lydia. Amanda guessed the cooking skill was a “like mother, like daughter” kind of thing.
She and Cody had never, ever discussed Sharon. It was one of the reasons she’d never let him in. They both had their scars, but where she’d delicately prodded the subject of Sharon, Cody had never once asked about her family. Whenever the conversation drifted into any intimate direction, Cody shut down. Now she felt the withdrawal
from all angles, confirming the suspicions she had yesterday evening with Jace. It hadn’t just been Cody’s Sharon.
Had it been Knox’s Sharon? He was the only one who didn’t withdraw, didn’t even blink. Of course, Knox hadn’t exactly been open before, either. With his normally removed attitude, he barely seemed to notice the mood had shifted around the table. Knox must have, though, because, strangely enough, he made an effort to ease the moment.
“You cook?”
Amanda offered him a small smile of gratitude for breaking the thickening tension. “I can do more than boil water, but I wouldn’t say I can do much.”
“You should learn.”
Knox said it with just the right touch of arrogant authority to erode her charitable feelings and leave her annoyed again. “Oh, I should? And why is that?”
Knox shrugged. “A woman should know how to cook.”
“Well, I know enough not to starve,” Amanda shot back. “After all, I don’t have a nanny to take care of me.”
Knox’s head snapped up, right along with every one of his brothers’. “I don’t need a woman to take care of me.”
“Apparently, you do.” Amanda gave him a shrug, enjoying returning the obnoxious behavior.
“I work hard, little lady.” Knox snapped at her bait, leaning across the table as he growled at her. “You know some of us don’t have the luxury of sleeping late and getting home early. Some of us get up at four-thirty and come in with the sunset.”
Amanda glanced up, meeting his hard gaze with her own, but gave him one more chance to avoid an all-out conflict. “Are you saying I’m lazy?”
“Spoiled by an easy life is more like.”
“Knox—” Jace growled out a warning, but Amanda clipped off his attempt to interfere.
“Spoiled as in having a few thousand dollars lying around to throw some over-the-top Fourth of July party?”
Knox’s head cocked instantly to the side, and his eyes seemed to drill straight into her soul. “You enjoy the party?”
Son of a bitch, I knew it was him!
“I found it to be a little dull and uncreative, actually. Sort of tedious and boring.”
That might have been more of an insult to Cody, but Knox took it as his own. “Maybe you’re just too unsophisticated to appreciate the event.”
“Unsophisticated? At least I don’t polish my social skills on cows’ asses.”
Knox’s ass lifted out of the seat with that one. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you are the most arrogant SOB I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”
“That wasn’t exactly the tune you were singing when your pussy was creaming all over my damned hand,” Knox snarled.
The minute the words broke the air, everything instantly stopped. Amanda’s eyes followed Knox’s and rounded with shock. He just broke the silent vow they all took not to mention anything about that part of the party. Before anybody could recover, Knox jerked out of his seat and stormed off.
A strange, uncomfortable silence filled the room, and Amanda imagined they were all thinking the same thing. What to say?
“Why don’t we just play Boggle?”
Jace offered up a distraction, and they all silently resumed the game. It didn’t take long, not even two complete rounds, before Amanda was back to Jace’s too-smooth advances. By the time they’d finished the third game, Amanda lost her nerve for putting up with anymore.
If the Reese brothers’ mission was to drive her insane, they were steadily succeeding at it. Right now, she’d had enough. All Amanda wanted was some peace to work things out. Peace, time, and space, that’s what she needed. Apparently, it wasn’t what she was going to get.
Alarm bells shot off as Jace rose and stretched. Cody suggested they head for her house, and Jace innocently said he would like to go for the drive. She didn’t trust either brothers’ looks for a moment. The sharp teeth of the bear trap were descending down on her.
Even as she climbed into Cody’s truck with Jace pushing in behind, Amanda could feel the predators circling. The slam of the truck doors sealed her fate. A fate she knowingly walked into. As Cody slid the key into the ignition, Amanda knew this was her last chance.
She didn’t make a sound as Cody turned the truck over but sat pinned between the two large cowboys, letting their heat and scent warm through her in the most delicious of ways. There could be no denying it. She wanted Jace. Worse, she wanted him and Cody, at the same time. After all the teasing and taunting, Cody managed to implant the idea so firmly into her head some sick part of her had begun to crave it.
The images were too hot, too erotic not to be desired. No matter how wrong and depraved it might have been, she secretly ached to discover the truth behind the fantasy. Would it be as hot as she imagined, or would it be awkward and difficult?
Amanda’s musing turned to tense anticipation when Cody turned the truck off the ranch’s main drive and headed out straight across the open field. Her head turned to the side, but Cody was still humming along to the radio and tapping out a tune as he maneuvered around a group of trees and began following what, even on its best day, could only be loosely called a trail.
The question pressed against the back of her lips retreated under the strange mixture thickening in the air. Excitement and anticipation seeped from the two silent men on either side of her. It twined and blurred with the rich aroma of dirt, leather, aftershave, and men.
The potent mixture infused her body and triggered her own excitement. The sensation was made all the more volatile as apprehension and anxiety were added into the mix by her overactive brain. Like too much liquor on an empty stomach, Amanda began to feel lightheaded and giddy at the possibility of what all this meant.
Her eyes cut to the side as she looked for any signs of what Jace was thinking. He gave nothing away as he stared straight ahead. Jace’s rugged features tightened, and his arm, resting along the open window sill, looked tense rather than relaxed.
Unable to help herself, Amanda’s eyes dropped, widened, and then quickly looked away when she saw the size of Jace’s erection tenting his jeans. No doubt he could rival Cody for the prize of Biggest Dick in Humble.
The very fact that Jace sat there, hard and horny, only made her go all soft and wet. Neither brother had to touch her for Amanda’s own needs to awaken. Sparkly desire shimmered through her, raining down a warmth that had her nipples puckering and her pussy quivering to life.
Oh, God, as much as she might fantasize about this, it couldn’t happen. It was wrong. More than that, it was amoral. There was no hiding the perverted truth. She was sitting here in her Sunday’s finest as her pussy cramped painfully with need to be split wide and filled with Jace’s hard cock—not Cody’s.
Her body itched with the need to be touched, to be filled. Worse yet, it began to smell. Amanda glared at her crotch as she tried to squeeze her legs together and hold back the scent of her arousal.
This is all Cody’s fault. The bastard’s twisted me into this wanton thing of need. He trained not only her body but her mind to constantly think about sex. Cody and his benefits. Amanda was insane to ever agree to his proposition. Not that she could have ever imagined where it would lead.
The truck came to a stuttering halt, breaking into her thoughts and drawing her eyes up. They were at the top of some hill. They could see the ranch in all its glory now. A sea of green pastures broken up by running lines of fence and speckled with not only cattle but men on horseback. The slow-rolling hills were peppered with patches of dried-up brown grass, and baled hay looked like tumors in the distance.
Cody left the truck idling with the radio on and the air conditioning blowing. Neither brother made any move to open their doors. Instead, they both sat staring out at their land, apparently lost in their thoughts.
Amanda couldn’t take it. She was primed and ready, desperately in need of a release that looked to be stalled out alongside the Reese brothers’ dilly-dallying.
&
nbsp; “What are we doing here?”
She hated the sound of her voice. Low, husky, it betrayed her need just as clearly as the scent of her pussy filling the air. Cody’s head tilted toward her with the smile he used right before he tied her in knots of lust. The look was generally followed by hours of pleasure Amanda hadn’t known she was capable of experiencing. Cody couldn’t be thinking about that, not with Jace sitting on her other side.
“Have I told you how pretty you look in your dress, Amanda?”
“No,” Amanda whispered, answering more than just his question. The minute the word slipped out, she hoped Cody would ignore it, take it at face value.
“You do. Pretty enough to make a man forget all his thoughts.” A lone calloused finger came up to gently trace the line of her jaw before dipping down to follow the line of her neck to where she knew he could feel her pulse pounding.
“Cody—”
“I haven’t kissed you today, either, Amanda, have I?”
“You did.”
“Too long ago.”
Before she could respond, his lips were on hers. Gentle, teasing kisses to start, nothing inappropriate in front of Jace. Softly, he traced the outline of her lips, sucking in the bottom one before letting his tongue forage deeper to explore the insides of her mouth.
Amanda moaned, unable to stop the sound of desire from escaping as his tongue teased her into action. The downward slope into wantonness was a steep one, and Amanda tumbled its full length within seconds.
The sweet, chaste kiss was lost in a fiery blast of need stroking to life inside her. Her fingers entwined themselves into his short, silky strands of hair, and she pulled Cody closer, opening her mouth to feed her growing hunger.
Their heads tilted, and their tongues dueled. Amanda pressed her lips down and sucked on Cody’s tongue. He groaned a rough, ragged sound that never ceased to prod her aggression to higher levels, and she lightly raked her teeth along the top of his velvet tongue.
Hard fingers gripped her knee, making her aware of Cody’s large hand resting there. He used his hold to pull her leg straight up onto his lap, opening her so he could caress his way down the length of her thigh.
Kansas Heat Page 18