A black Ford F150 pickup pulled up to the curb and parked.
“A friend of yours?” she asked Shelby.
Shelby fidgeted beside her Grand Am, strangely hesitant. “No. Yours?”
“No.” Who could it be? Then Billy jumped from the cab.
Holy crap. What was he doing here?
Shelby moved in front of her. “You want me to stay?”
Eden murmured, “No. I’ll be okay.” What a lie. She’d been an absolute mess since Billy left, just like ten years ago. If she thought she’d been hurt then, it was nothing compared to the total annihilation she’d experienced the night of the fire.
Tires squealed as Shelby roared away.
Billy stalked toward her. Did he have to look like he didn’t have a care in the world?
“What the hell is this?” He gestured to the boxes. “You going somewhere? I’ve been trying to call you, going crazy because you never answer.”
Maybe he wasn’t as blasé as she’d first believed. Deep circles marred his face, along with a scruffy beard. “Hello to you too, Billy.”
He stared at her. His eyes roved over every inch of her face. “Sorry. I-I—” He scrubbed his hands over the stubble darkening his chin. “Are these your boxes?”
“Yes.”
“Then you are leaving town,” he said flatly.
His anger surprised her. Why did he care? A sliver of hope unfurled and she called herself every kind of fool. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do. These boxes were for Shelby. She can’t wait around for the new community center to open, so she’s taking a job in Cheyenne with her cousin.”
A profound look of relief crossed his face. “Thank God.” Billy hauled her against his body, locked his mouth to hers and kissed the daylights out of her.
She pushed him away. “Stop. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for you. For us.”
“What? But you left.”
“For a lousy week.” Billy imprisoned her head between his hands forcing her to meet his eyes. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to go back to Chicago and hand in my resignation in person. So, I have a few things to say to you and you’ll damn well listen. No interrupting.”
“I don’t interrupt.”
He lifted a brow.
“Okay,” Eden said, “so maybe I do.”
Billy smiled and some of the tension in his eyes vanished. “First off, you never read my recommendation to the council or you’d have known I’d urged them to keep the community center right where it was.”
“You did?”
“Yes. And second, maybe if you weren’t so damn determined to think the worst of me, scared that I’m always going to leave you, you’d realize that I love you and I’m not going anywhere this time.”
Tears stung her eyes; she was too stunned to interrupt.
“I’d planned on telling you the night of the fire.” He brushed the wetness from her face. “Truth is, I’ve never stopped caring about you. It took being with you again to drive the point home. So maybe I was young and stupid and we’ve wasted ten years, but we have lots of years left ahead of us. I think we can make it work. I want to try. Robert and Jim asked me if I wanted to buy into Feather Light as a partner.”
“What did you say?”
“Yes, immediately, before they changed their minds.” Billy pressed his forehead to hers. “When I came back here, I saw you’ve built a support network of friends who’ve become your family. I want to set down roots with you. Be part of a community. I want a life with you, Eden.”
When she didn’t speak or move, Billy moved back so he could peer at her. “Say something.”
“You told me not to interrupt.”
“Smart ass. Please. Talk. Yell. I don’t care. Your silence is killing me.”
Eden let her finger trace the worry lines by his eyes. He looked so vulnerable, so unsure of her reaction it made her ache inside. “Oh God, Billy, I’m so in love with you—”
His lips slid over hers in a gentle kiss as tears fell freely from her eyes. “Say it again,” he whispered against her mouth. “I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life to hear you say it.”
“I love you. I’ve always loved you. I wanted to die when you took off for Chicago, even when I planned to track you down and kick your ass for leaving me again.” She wrapped her arms under his shoulders, taking refuge in him, his strength, his warmth. “Everything in my life went to hell in one night, but losing the community center wasn’t the worst of it. It was losing you all over again.”
“Didn’t you know I’d be back? I’d do whatever it took to convince you we belong together.” He placed her left hand on his chest. “We’ve always belonged together.”
Billy’s heartbeat thundered beneath her palm. She gazed into his eyes, wondering how she’d ever doubted this man’s feelings for her.
“Marry me. Right now. The courthouse is open until five.”
“Yes, I’ll marry you, but not today.” She skimmed her hands along the ridge of his pecs. Her future husband had the most remarkable body, but it wasn’t nearly as remarkable as his heart.
“Why not?”
“I have a job interview in an hour.”
He frowned. “Already? With who?”
“The Patnoe family. They own the land beneath the rubble of the community center. Seems Jim White Feather showed them the tape you made and my passion for keeping the center there. They were so impressed they’ve vowed to rebuild as soon as possible. They want me to run it. Of course, I’d planned on turning them down.”
“Why?”
“Because I was headed to the Windy City.”
“You’d have left all this behind for me?”
“Without question. But now it seems I have the best of both worlds.”
Billy kissed her again, slowly, sweetly, with love. “Me, too.” His mouth wandered down her throat. “I missed you, baby. Let me show you how much. What do you say we go inside?”
“Mmm.” She arched her neck, giving him full access to all the good spots. “I say what’s your hurry? We’ve got all the time in the world.”
He groaned. “I deserved that.”
“I know.” Eden whispered, “But think about all of the delicious ways you can make it up to me. I’m thinking it’ll take hours.”
“Wrong. I’m thinking it’ll take years.” Billy hoisted her over his shoulder and barreled up the steps, amidst her shrieks of laughter.
“Well, then. We’d best get started right away.”
About the Author
To learn more about Lorelei James, please visit www.loreleijames.com. Send an email to [email protected] or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Lorelei! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoreleiJamesgang
Look for these titles by Lorelei James
Now Available:
Rough Riders:
Tied Up, Tied Down
Cowgirl Up and Ride
Rode Hard, Put Up Wet
Long Hard Ride
Running With the Devil
Dirty Deeds
Beginnings Anthology: Babe in the Woods
Coming Soon:
Rough Riders:
Rough, Raw and Ready
Ménage and More:
Wicked Garden by Lorelei James
A Question of Trust by Jess Dee
Nice and Naughty by Jayne Rylon
Look for these three novellas together in print in Three’s Company
Coming Summer 2009
How do you choose between love and honor?
A Question of Trust
© 2008 Jess Dee
Madeline Jones is having the time of her life with Gabriel Carter, a man who fulfills every one of her sexual fantasies. She’s sure it can’t get any better than this…until Gabe introduces her to his best friend.
When Connor Regan enters the mix, sparks fly. Suddenly Maddie wants more than just Gabe, she wants Connor, too. The two men seem happy to oblige.
>
But threesomes have a way of getting complicated. Hearts can be broken. Although Gabe and Connor play by a strict set of rules designed to minimize the damage, true love does not always adhere to the guidelines.
Sometimes, to fulfill the dream of having the love of a lifetime, even the most comprehensive codes of honor have to be challenged.
Enjoy the following excerpt for A Question of Trust:
I’m coming after you, Madeline Jones.
He walked towards Gabe’s room.
I’m coming now.
Anticipation tightened his stomach. Would Maddie invite him in—or slam the door in his face?
He paused outside the room, adjusted his shirt so it covered his aching dick, and then opened the door. The sight that greeted him almost brought him to his knees. It would have sent any other man running, but Connor was not any other man.
Gabe knelt naked on the bed, his head thrown back, his mouth open. Crouched before him, on all fours, was Maddie. Her face was nestled in Gabe’s lap, her head bobbed up and down. Her clothes were scattered on the floor and her bare butt stuck up prettily in the air, facing him.
The scent of sex permeated the air.
Connor’s tortured lungs searched for oxygen. Christ, hadn’t he been able to breathe just a few seconds ago?
Maddie had a perfect backside. Her ass was round and plump. Not skinny or scrawny or muscular, but soft and inviting and feminine. Connor clenched his fists at his side, repressing the need to run his palms over all that womanly flesh. He drew in a shuddery mouthful of air, groaning in frustration when it did not reach his chest.
Gabe lifted his head at the sound and found Connor watching them. Their gazes met and held. Gabe hid nothing. His expression was open, intense, and Connor raised an eyebrow. Gabe smiled the smile of an alpha male. Dominant, triumphant and confident.
Connor returned his grin with equal conviction. Maddie seemed oblivious to his presence.
In a tender move, Gabe scooped up handfuls of Maddie’s hair and bunched it on top of her head, giving Connor the tiniest glimpse of her lips wrapped around Gabe’s dick. Fuck, he’d commit murder just to have that mouth on his cock.
“Is this what you want, baby?” Gabe asked Maddie. “Just you and me in the room together like this?”
Maddie muttered something unintelligible.
Gabe glanced at Connor. “Or would you prefer it if Connor stood behind you, watching as you sucked my cock?”
Her low moan reverberated straight through to Connor’s spine. Maddie shifted, then squeezed her legs together and moaned again.
“Thinking of Connor watching us makes you wet, baby.” Gabe’s eyes glinted. “Doesn’t it?”
Maddie gasped. She shifted again, and this time drew her legs apart, affording Connor a most enticing view. Hidden between the soft flesh of her thighs was her pussy. It was pink and pretty and puffy—and drenched. As he watched, a trickle of cream slid down her inner thigh.
Connor did not move an inch. Not one single inch. He stood where he was, rooted to the ground.
Maddie released Gabe’s cock with a wet pop. She lifted her head and looked up at Gabe. “Yes. It makes me wet.” She licked his shaft, from the very bottom all the way up to the very top.
Gabe’s jaw clenched and he swallowed.
She pulled back. “But not as wet as the thought of him watching me fuck you does.” Another trickle of moisture down her thigh corroborated her words.
Connor leaned back hard against the wall. The soft thud echoed through his ears.
Gabe nodded and reached for a condom. “Do it, baby,” he urged as he sheathed himself. “Fuck me, while Connor watches.”
Still on all fours, with her butt perched in the air, Maddie twisted her neck to look at Connor.
Holy fuck. She’d known he was there all along. He could see it in her eyes, in the sinuous way she looked at him, in her heavy-lidded gaze. She’d deliberately opened her legs, deliberately shown him what thoughts of him did to her.
Maddie ran her tongue over her lower lip, then drew the same lip into her mouth with her front teeth. Connor felt it in his dick, felt the scrape of her teeth over his tip and he bit his cheek hard.
The impulse to reach out to her was overwhelming. The need to crouch behind her and bury his face between her cheeks almost choked him. He checked his actions, forcing himself to relax against the wall instead. Maddie might be turned on by the idea of her and Gabe doing it while Connor watched, but she had nothing on him. He wanted to watch her fucking his friend almost as much as he wanted to slide his own dick into her slick, wet pussy.
Maddie turned away from Connor. She pushed herself onto her knees and gave Gabe her full attention, leaning forward to kiss him. As their mouth met, Gabe drew his hands around Maddie’s hips and then down over her butt, drawing her cheeks apart, offering Connor another look. Then Gabe slipped a finger inside her.
Maddie let out a strangled cry and Gabe slipped another finger in. Connor could not tear his gaze away. He watched as his friend drew his hand down then pushed it back up again, clearly saw his fingers disappear into Maddie’s body.
Fuck, his jeans suddenly shrunk two sizes. Connor loosened the button and fly. He had no intention of touching himself, but if he continued like this, within the tight stricture of his pants, he’d lose the ability to ever perform again.
Gabe fucked Maddie with his fingers, while Maddie wrapped her arms around his neck and continued kissing him. Her juices streamed from her pussy, down over Gabe’s hand.
Shite, the woman was responsive. She threw herself into the act with no reserve. It didn’t take long before Maddie gasped. Tremors wracked her body and Gabe’s hand stilled—trapped, Connor imagined, in the tight clenching of Maddie’s vagina. Then her head dropped to Gabe’s shoulder and she sat panting, Gabe holding her weight.
He whispered into her ear, loud enough for Connor to hear. “Do it, baby. Now. While I watch Connor watching you as you come on my dick.”
She nodded then and swiveled around languidly. Her face was flushed, her lips full and swollen. Her hair was a mess of tangled honey. Connor couldn’t drag his gaze away.
He watched as she pushed up high on her knees and straddled Gabe’s waist, her back to his chest. He watched as she reached down and grabbed Gabe’s cock, positioning it just so. And he watched as gradually she lowered herself down onto him, her hips pushing lower, her pussy welcoming his cock, inch by slow inch until Gabe was buried deep, deep inside her.
“Oh, Christ,” Gabe gasped
Can one man satisfy Alexa’s appetites? Or will it take two?
Nice and Naughty
© 2008 Jayne Rylon
After a disastrous lesson in heartache, Alexa Jones confines her adrenaline rushes to intense boardroom negotiations. Her legendary control cracks and she indulges in a high-octane encounter on the hood of her sports car. She never planned to see the enticing stranger again. When she finds herself across the boardroom table from him, there’s suddenly more at stake than just her career.
Justin Winston got more than he bargained for on his summer drive, but he should have known nothing is ever that easy. He’s met the woman of his dreams yet he doesn’t know who she is. Luckily, he can always count on his practical brother for the things that matter, and this time is no exception. But, when a web of corporate espionage entangles them all, it’s clear Justin isn’t the only one who’s fallen for their mysterious siren.
In Justin and Jason, Alexa finds something as unique and rare as the patent they will risk their lives to secure. The freedom to explore—and satisfy—the full range of her desires. From naughty to nice. Can Alexa accept the love of two men?
Enjoy the following excerpt for Nice and Naughty:
“Kiss me,” she demanded.
He didn’t need to be told twice. With a low groan, he closed the narrow gap between them, sealing his mouth over hers. He dropped the hood in place and put his hand to better use, wrapping it around her hip, yanking h
er tight against the hard plane of his chest. His height made Alexa strain on tiptoes to return his kiss. Eager to help, he tucked his other hand around her thigh, just beneath the curve of her ass, and hoisted her up higher on his body.
Even as he bit at her lips, the growing evidence of his desire prodded the fly of her shorts. The denim she wore couldn’t prevent the thick ridge of his dick from imprinting the soft curve of her belly as it filled with each rapid beat of his heart, pressing into her. She squirmed against him, instinctively aligning them so her pussy rubbed against the bulge in his jeans.
They fit perfectly together.
Her hands tangled in his hair, loving the way the silky strands teased the sensitive crevices between her fingers. She kneaded his scalp, urging him to take her mouth deeper. His head angled over hers, intensifying the kiss as his tongue lashed playfully against the seam of her lips. She drew it inside her mouth and sucked. He tasted like peppermint.
She moaned with regret when he pulled away.
“I’m going to set you on the hood.” He rumbled in her ear in between nibbles of her neck.
“No! Wait.”
Though he looked disappointed, he stopped without hesitation.
The heat suffusing her face highlighted her discomfort with being so brazen. “I…I don’t want to scratch the paint. Take my shorts off first.”
Strained laughter burst from his chest. It transformed his features from rugged to unbearably handsome.
“Honey, you’re my every fantasy.”
Kneeling in front of her, he flipped up the hem of her shirt to place hungry kisses on her stomach as he unbuttoned her cutoffs. He lowered them down her legs, following the fabric with his mouth, kissing a trail of fire down her inner thighs.
Alexa shuddered when work-roughened hands grabbed her ass and placed her on the car like some erotic hood ornament. Guiding her feet, he rested them on the front fender, straddling his torso. Her arms fell back, braced behind her. Although the metal warmed her skin, bare now except for the sexy thong she wore, the shade kept it from burning her.
Wicked Garden: Menage and More Anthology Page 11