by Becca Van
Codi’s hand finally moved the last couple of inches and covered her breast. Her areola puckered. Her nipple filled with blood, and the ache increased until it was almost unbearable. When his thumb brushed over the turgid peak, an involuntary sob escaped her mouth and she arched up into his touch.
“That’s it, baby. Let me touch you. You’ve been so tense. Let me help you relax.”
The deep, gravelly cadence of Codi’s voice washed over her, causing her to shiver. Her head bumped against his shoulder when he pinched her nipple between thumb and finger. The slight pain was almost erotic as he squeezed harder and then rolled her nipple.
“Yes, Nyssa, just feel, baby. You’re so responsive.”
Whimpering with disappointment when he lifted his hand, she moved hers to clutch at his arm, not sure if she was trying to make him continue or remove his touch from her sensitive, overheated body.
“Shh, Nyssa, relax for me. Let me take care of you.”
Her body shuddered in reaction to his words. She wanted, no, needed him to touch her again, except this time she hoped he would touch her skin instead of her robe and shirt. She wanted nothing between his hand and her body, wanted to feel his slightly calloused hands causing friction and pleasure when he caressed her.
“Stand up, Nyssa,” Codi demanded firmly.
She did as he said and began to step away from him, rejection causing her shoulders to slump in defeat. He didn’t really want her after all. Maybe he wasn’t attracted to her, as she had been beginning to think. Why would he be? No other male had really wanted her. Why would such a masculine, handsome man want little mousy Nyssa?
A large arm wrapped around her waist, stopping her before she had taken more than four steps. His other hand landed on her shoulder and gently turned her around. He scrutinized her face and seemed to be able to read her with no trouble, and that just made her feel more vulnerable.
“I want nothing more than to lie you down on that table and fuck you until neither of us can walk.” Codi cupped her cheek. “But there are a few things you need to know before I—we can touch you.”
Codi guided her back to the chair, and she stared up at him, not sure she wanted to hear what he had to say. Did he say “we”? Does that mean Linton and Bryden want me, too?
Butterflies were running rampant in her stomach. Nyssa wanted to pull his mouth back down to hers. She wanted him to make love with her and damn the consequences, but she could tell by the steely determination in his eyes that it wasn’t going to happen. Pressing her thighs together and trying to relieve the ache of her dripping pussy and throbbing clit only made the pleasurable ache worse.
Her imagination went haywire. The thought of having three sets of hands and mouths on her increased the pace of her breathing and she quickly looked away, praying he hadn’t seen her reaction.
“Stay right where you are, baby. I’ll be back in a minute.” Codi pinned her with his gaze and frowned at her, obviously trying to make her do his bidding. If she hadn’t been so turned on, she would have giggled at his serious expression.
Watching the muscles in his back, shoulders, and arms ripple as he walked away from her made her sigh. Codi and his siblings were the epitome of masculinity. She was practically drooling.
She looked at her half-empty coffee cup and took a sip, grimacing at the temperature, and went to tip it out and refill it. As she was walking back to sit at the table, she heard a rumble of male voices. Oh God. Did Codi tell his brothers what we were doing? Heat suffused her cheeks, but her pussy clenched with excitement and more of her cream leaked out onto her already-drenched panties.
“Hey, honey.” Linton planted a kiss on her cheek and then went to the coffee. When he came back he pulled a chair up close to her and sat down. His denim-clad thigh connected with her bare flesh, causing a jolt of arousal to run through her. Codi sat back down and pulled his chair closer until their knees touched. Bryden sat across from her and smiled before taking a sip of his coffee.
“Honey, we never apologize for wanting to take care of someone.” Linton drew her gaze. “And we want to take care of you.”
“What?” she squeaked.
“First, we have a few things we need to tell you, and you need to sit here and listen without interrupting. Do you think you can do that?”
Is he patronizing me?
“I’m not a child.” She frowned.
“Oh, we have no doubt about that, darlin’.” Bryden reached over and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. “You are all woman. Such a sexy, passionate little thing wrapped up in a beautiful package.”
He thinks I’m beautiful? And sexy? Wait, did he say passionate? How would he know that?
“Nyssa, we have been in the military for over ten years,” Codi began. “When we first signed up, there were opportunities for us to volunteer for some experiments. We had nothing to lose, so volunteer we did.”
Codi placed a finger over her lips when she would have spoken. What experiments? Where is this conversation leading?
“We were injected with drugs and chemicals even our medic Wolf can’t pronounce. Those drugs made us different from the average human male.”
Linton kneaded her shoulder, and she turned to look at him. “We have enhanced abilities, Nyssa. Our sight, hearing, strength, speed, and stamina surpass a normal man’s. We’ve had extensive training. You could call us a combination of Navy SEALs, Marines, Rangers, and Green Berets.”
Nyssa glanced at Codi and decided he’d let her talk. “So you live on a military base?” she asked.
“No. We have a horse stud farm in North Dakota, between Belcourt and Langdon, which is in the middle of nowhere. As far as the local population is concerned, we are horse breeders. We live with our teammates. Including us, there are twelve men on our team, four separate families of three brothers each.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” She looked from Linton to Codi to Bryden and then back to Codi.
“We haven’t finished, Nyssa.” He sighed and took a sip of his coffee. “Our teammates are all in relationships, and since we were the only ones still single, we volunteered for this mission. Our leaders, Coulter, Trace, and Corbin, are married to Brooke and expecting a baby.
“Janie is engaged to Seton, Wolf, and Lander, and Alicia recently became engaged to Stedman, Ward, and Bronsin. They are getting married in just over a week from now.”
“All three…”
“There’s still more.” Codi gripped her chin gently between thumb and finger. “We are empathetic, Nyssa.”
Codi was staring at her as if waiting for something. Then his words registered. Empathetic. Does that mean what I think it does? Can they read my mind? Oh, frickin’ hell. Does that mean they’ve known how I feel about them all along? Can they tell when I’m aroused?
“Breathe, baby,” Codi demanded.
Until he’d spoken, Nyssa hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath. She sucked air into her oxygen-starved lungs, and her head whirled. Codi rubbed his hands up and down her thighs, trying to soothe her. Despite her shock, the action was far more arousing than soothing.
“You’re…emp−empathetic?” Shit! Was that my voice? It sounded like a squeak.
“Yes.”
“W−What does that mean exactly?”
Chapter Seven
Linton felt the tension creep back into Nyssa’s shoulders. She had begun to relax, but now she was taut as a bowstring. The muscles on her shoulders felt like rocks beneath her warm skin.
“Being empathetic means we can feel others’ emotions.” Codi’s voice was cool and bland, but Linton knew that Codi was waiting for the explosion. He, too, waited for a reaction from Nyssa.
She licked her dry lips. “D−Does th−that mean y−you can read my m−mind?”
As if realizing what she’d said, she pulled her hand from Bryden’s. Bryden said, “No, darlin’,” but Nyssa shrugged Linton’s hand off and pushed back her chair. She rose to her feet and stepped away from the table.
“We can only read emotions, baby, not minds.” Codi stood and took a couple of steps toward her.
Nyssa held up her hand for him to stop. When Codi held his ground, she began to pace her side of the kitchen, wringing her hands. Linton and his brother waited until she finally stopped her agitated pacing and turned toward them. Linton knew her question before she even asked, but he let her voice it anyway.
“Have you read my emotions?”
“Yes,” Codi answered.
“All of you?”
“Yes,” Bryden and Linton answered at the same time.
“But,” Linton continued, “we haven’t read you for a while now. Nor will we do it again.”
“Shit! How could you do that to me? Why would you do that? And especially without letting me know you could?” Nyssa’s voice rose in pitch with each question, and she looked mad enough to shoot steam from her ears and fire from her eyes. “Why the fuck are you telling me now?”
“Because we like you, Nyssa,” Linton said.
“That’s an understatement if ever I heard one,” Bryden drawled.
“We think you could be the one woman we have been waiting for. We didn’t want you to feel pressured to be with us while you’re under our protection. We didn’t think it right for us to make a move on you, to make you feel at a disadvantage while we kept you safe. Nyssa, we were waiting for a signal or move from you, honey.” Linton walked toward her and slid his hand down her arm and then clasped her hand. Without giving her a choice, he guided her to the table and back to her seat. He saw the desire in her eyes when she glanced over at Bryden, who winked at her, and then Codi, but his older brother looked away. It didn’t matter that Codi was still wary after the Katlynn incident. As far as he was concerned Nyssa was already theirs. If Codi was going to act like an ass he wasn’t going to push. He knew that his brother would eventually come around. The yearning on his older sibling’s face was as plain as daylight to him and no doubt Bryden, too.
“What?” Nyssa’s voice was breathless.
“Wait a minute, one thing at a time.” Codi took his seat. “We have read your emotions from the beginning, baby. We needed to know if you were involved with the assholes in the black-market organ-smuggling ring.”
“I’d nev—”
“We know you aren’t involved, Nyssa. I have another confession to make.” Codi gripped her hand more firmly but not enough to hurt her. “When we first started this mission, months ago, we rescued four women from a dungeon-like basement in Oxbow, Canada.
“Brooke, Janie, and Alicia have been at the stud farm ever since. But Katlynn was an enigma. I have to be honest. We were attracted to her and thought she was attracted to us. But it turns out she was involved in the ring.
“She worked at a clinic just like you and used the information the patients gave her to scan their medical history to see if they matched what those bastards, who wanted to harvest organs, were looking for. We were taken in by her supposed attraction and innocence, and since then I have questioned my own instincts regarding women.”
Linton waited to see if Nyssa would forgive them for reading her so often. Now that Codi had explained what he and his brothers had been through with Katlynn, hopefully she would understand why they had done what they had.
His muscles tensed when she pulled her hand out from Codi’s, and he waited for her to start yelling. What happened next assured him that she was definitely the right woman for them.
Nyssa placed her hand on his and then touched Codi and Bryden. “I understand why you would have reservations, and although I don’t condone what any of you have done, I forgive you. But…” She held up her hand when Codi opened his mouth. “I don’t like being compartmentalized because of your experience with one woman. I don’t like being compared to someone else you were attracted to. What did you mean about me…being the one you were waiting for?”
“We want to have a relationship with you, honey.” Linton stroked a finger down her cheek. “Once this is all done with, we want you to come home with us.”
“I’m not sure if that’s possible. I−I have my whole life here. I don’t know what to do. What to say.”
“Then don’t say anything, darlin’.” Bryden rose to his feet and walked around the table until he was behind Nyssa.
Linton waited to see what Bryden was going to do and her reaction. He didn’t have to wait long. His brother tilted her chair back until it was resting on the two back legs, and he bent over her and lightly kissed her lips. Nyssa reached up and clutched at his hastily donned shirt in her semi-upside-down position. Linton breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t pushed Bryden away. Then he heard her moan when Bryden deepened the kiss. Nothing had ever sounded so sweet. The moan turned to a whimper as Bryden slowed the kiss then slowly lifted his head.
Nyssa’s lips were red, moist, and swollen from Bryden’s kisses and Linton decided then and there that he and his brothers would do everything they could to get her to agree to coming home with them. He could imagine her in their house and beds and he knew she would fit in with the other women without any problems.
Bryden lowered Nyssa back down until the chair was once again on four legs and gave her a smile. He stepped back.
“What would it take to convince you to come back home with us, Nyssa?” Linton asked.
“You don’t have to answer us now.” Bryden shot him a look, and Linton tried to rein in his impatience.
Nyssa looked between the two of them. “I don’t know.”
“What do you have here that would make you want to stay?” Linton questioned.
Linton watched Nyssa’s eyes as her mind worked. He could see loneliness in them, but he also saw caution. The way she had responded to him and his brothers over the last eight weeks assured him that she was as attracted to them as they were to her. He’d often caught her staring at his brothers when she thought no one was watching, and the yearning he had seen almost made his heart break. Little Nyssa Mathis was all alone in the world, and he wanted to have her in his home as well as his bed. She’d already unwittingly worked her way into his heart. How many women would have volunteered to help them break up a criminal ring? As far as he was concerned there were only three others, and they were living safely back home at the Elite Dragon Stud Farm.
“I don’t want to be hurt,” Nyssa said in a voice so quiet it was almost inaudible, even with his enhanced hearing.
“We would never hurt you, darlin’.” Bryden took one of her hands again. “That’s the last thing we want to do.”
Nyssa once more removed her hand and rose to her feet. “You may not want to or plan to, but that’s what will happen in the end.”
“What do you mean, darlin’?”
“Everyone I ever met has ended up hurting me.”
Linton stood and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up against him. “Tell us who hurt you, honey.”
“My boyfriend.” Nyssa licked her lips. “I dated a man, or should I say boy, a few years ago. I thought he loved me and I loved him. I gave my body to him after we’d been dating for about six months. As soon as he had what he wanted, he dumped me, said I was a lousy lay, too plain looking for his tastes, and he’d only pursued me because of a bet.”
Linton placed a knuckle under her chin and tilted her face up. He looked deeply into her eyes and saw the hurt and insecurities in their depths.
“You are the prettiest, sexiest woman I have ever seen. You make me hard just by breathing.” He clasped one of her hands and pulled it down to his crotch, showing her he wasn’t lying. Biting back the groan of pleasure and holding still as her little fingers explored his length was one of the hardest things he’d done, but he didn’t want to break her concentration or scare her, and he wanted her hand on him for as long as possible.
Two chairs scraped on the floor, and then Codi and Bryden were standing at her back just off to her sides. Codi reached out and took the clip from her hair, letting the silk
y strands fall down around her shoulders. She startled and removed her hand from Linton’s aching cock. He held in a frustrated groan, but just barely.
Bryden placed a hand on her shoulder and then rubbed it down her arm. “We want to make love with you, Nyssa. Will you let us?”
Linton held his breath as he waited for Nyssa to answer. By the tense way his brothers were holding themselves, they were just as anxious as he was.
“How…how will that…? How will you…?”
“You won’t have to worry about a thing, honey. We’ll do everything. All you have to do is let us pleasure you.”
“Won’t you be jealous of each other? That is, if I agree to this,” Nyssa hastily added.
“No, baby.” Codi kissed her on the head. “We have known for a long time that we would share a woman. Because of all the training we’ve had and the missions we’ve been on together, we are closer than average. We never get jealous.”
“If I ask you to stop, will you?”
“Immediately,” Linton replied. “We don’t want to cause you any discomfort, Nyssa. Do you trust us, honey?”
Nyssa licked her lips again, leaving behind a glistening coat of moisture. “Yes.”
“Can you let go with us, baby?” asked Codi.
“Yes.”
Bryden wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back against him. “Will you let us make love with you, darlin’?”
“Yes,” Nyssa answered on a shuddering sigh.
Bryden released her and stepped back as Linton moved in again. He leaned down and placed a light kiss upon her lips. “You won’t regret it, Nyssa. We are gonna make you feel so good.”
Chapter Eight
Nyssa shivered with excited apprehension as Linton carried her down the hall. She’d wanted their touch for what felt like forever, and now that the moment she had been waiting for was here, she was as nervous as a young girl starting a new school. A bubble of hysteria rose up in her chest and she knew if she opened her mouth she would start giggling.