by Jenny Penn
“Not likely,” Lindsay spoke up, sensing the two brothers could go on like that for a while. “Not with the smell of fried chicken making my stomach grumble.”
“Well then, your stomach is in luck because Sally makes the best fried chicken,” Nick assured her, settling down to her right and effectively caging her in between him and Cooper. “Of course she’s not going to be too happy when she wakes up and finds her fresh baked banquet missing, so we might all be eating oatmeal tomorrow night.”
“Oatmeal without brown sugar.” Cooper nodded in agreement as he heaved a deep sigh. “That woman can be so mean.”
“I thought your aunt was lovely.” Lindsay felt compelled to speak up. The brothers might just be teasing but Sally had been kind to her. Loyalty dictated that she return the favor. “She seemed concerned and considerate when I met her.”
“She’s a tyrant,” Cooper retorted absently as he eyed the fingers she had buried in the hem of her skirt. “You seem a little tense. Is there something wrong with your outfit?”
Lindsay’s hands froze, the cotton falling free as her gaze cut to catch the arrogant amusement glinting in Cooper’s crystalline gaze. Heat seared her cheeks and she could actually feel the blush racing across her skin all the way to the tips of her ears.
“No.” Clearing her throat and lifting her chin, Lindsay tried to take comfort in the fact that neither Cooper nor Nick knew the real reason for her embarrassment even as she wondered anew what insanity had possessed her to take a razor to her pussy. “I just prefer shorts, that’s all.”
“Really?” Not even bothering to fake surprise, Cooper reclined back on his elbow, munching on apple slices like he didn’t have a care in the world. “Then maybe you should have cooperated, than you could have picked out your own clothes?”
“Fried chicken?” Nick shoved a plastic container full of the delicious smelling bird under Lindsay’s nose in a blatant attempt to distract her from Cooper’s not-so-subtle taunt.
“Thank you.” Lindsay offered Nick a smile as she pointedly ignored Cooper, not that he’d let her get away with snubbing him.
“Plate?” Cooper offered her one with a look that dared her to be rude.
“Thanks.”
Lindsay lifted her chin and met Cooper’s challenge, even managing a real smile as she did. The gesture took very little effort. All it required was the thought of him restrained and at her mercy. She wondered how long it would take the tough guy to beg and just what she had to do to bring him to that state.
Whatever it was, Lindsay knew what would come next. She could already imagine him glistening with sweat while his muscles bunched and flexed as he strained against his binds. Making him sit there and watch as brother mounted her, rode her, made her scream out Nick’s name—that would be the perfect revenge.
Just the thought of Cooper’s hungry gaze taking in every intimate moment while Nick and her stroked, licked, kissed, and sucked their way into a frenzy of fucking excited Lindsay. She could only imagine what it would do to Cooper. He’d probably end up tearing straight through his binds. She didn’t dare to imagine what would happen then, but her cunt pulsed with eager anticipation to find out. If she ever did manage to tie Cooper down, she’d remember not to cinch the knots too tight.
“Well, now, that’s a ‘cat who ate a canary’ kind of smile.” Cooper eyed her with an open curiosity that reflected in his tone. “Kind of makes me wonder what you’re thinking about, lil’ bit. Nothing good, no doubt.”
“Actually, I was just thinking that everything smells so good.” Not about to give him any warning of his coming fate, Lindsay turned her attention to the wide selection of containers Nick had spread out across the blanket. “So? What do you have?”
“Quite a bit actually. Sally’s been on a kind of tear, so over here we have leftover meat raviolis and a three cheese sauce. Beside that we have some mini apple-and-cheese quiches. Then there is the leftover chili. I got crackers to go with that. Over there are the breaded pork chops. I didn’t reheat them.”
Snapping back into action, Nick continued on to present Lindsay with an endless litany of dishes but her gaze stayed fixated on the ripple of his muscles. The soft cotton of Nick’s T-shirt stretched tight over his chest, highlighting the graceful flex of his arms as he gestured to each dish and left Lindsay aching to take a bite out of something other than raviolis or pork chops.
“Here, try some of this. It’s good.” Cooper plopped a glob of thick, white potato salad onto her plate. “Besides you need to eat more than chicken. Meat is not a balanced diet.”
“Really?” Lindsay eyed the goop on her plate with less than enthusiasm churning in her stomach. “And since when did they make mayonnaise part of the food pyramid?”
“Right after they added alcohol,” Cooper informed her without pause as he lifted a bottle in her direction. “Can I pour you a glass?”
“Uh…” Lindsay faltered. “I guess, maybe, half a glass.”
“You don’t have to act like I’m setting a trap,” Cooper assured her, misreading her hesitation. “I wasn’t planning on getting you drunk. Trust me, I like my women sober.”
“I don’t doubt that.” Lindsay didn’t. Cooper liked control. What fun would it be to dominate a woman if she wasn’t alert and aware? “But it’s not like I had a lot to drink over the past few years.”
“Guess they weren’t big on getting the patients drunk at the asylum, huh?” Cooper asked in his naturally tactless way.
Lindsay didn’t object. She preferred his honesty to all the politely worded allusions other people made. Besides, he wasn’t wrong.
“They had better drugs than alcohol at The West Field Retreat,” Lindsay assured him before turning her less than enthusiastic gaze back on the big pile of mush sitting on her plate. “And way too much potato salad.”
“Eaten enough of it to last a lifetime, huh?” Nick prodded as he began loading up his own plate.
“Along with boiled chicken. We ate that every Thursday.” Weighed down by the reality behind those words, Lindsay gaze dropped to the drumstick on her plate. “We never had fried chicken. It was always boiled. Fifty-two Thursdays a year for six years, that’s three hundred and twelve boiled chicken Thursdays.”
“I take it West Field had a pretty standard meal plan?” Cooper asked as he passed a fully filled wine glass to her.
“There was meatloaf Wednesday,” Lindsay recalled, finding something to smile about as she considered that she’d never have to endure eating another greasy plate of burger meat soaked in ketchup. It wasn’t all bad, though.
“Then there was ‘build your own burger’ Fridays, and Mondays were soup days, something not even West Field could screw up. Tuesday was ravioli day, not that they looked half as good as your aunt’s.” Lindsay accepted the container Nick passed toward her, breathing in a deep breath of the deliciousness. “These smell wonderful.”
“Wait until you smell breakfast.” Nick shot her a smirk. “Trust me, we all wake up drooling around here.”
“Really? Your aunt puts out a spread, huh?”
“Homemade biscuits, crispy bacon, fluffy eggs…mmmm,” Nick sighed.
“Forget the biscuits,” Cooper interrupted before Lindsay could answer. “It’s the coffee. That’s what really has all the ranch hands showing up on time every morning. You like coffee, don’t you?”
“Of course…when it’s flavorful,” Lindsay retorted, catching the amusement in his tone. “My favorite breakfast is cereal, though. Cold-cereal Sunday.”
“Cereal?” Cooper lifted a brow sounding disgusted by just the idea. “That’s what you love?”
“Sugary cereals,” Lindsay qualified as she nodded, not embarrassed in the slightest by her admission. “West Field wasn’t big on giving us candies or desserts. Even on a patient’s birthday, we were lucky to get a cupcake or a scoop of ice cream.”
“I can imagine your pain.” Cooper’s voice quivered higher as he shared a look with Nick.
T
hey were laughing at her but Lindsay didn’t take offense. There were worse things than being denied sugar and she’d suffered through some of them but they didn’t need to know that. Lindsay would rather be amusing than pitied.
“So is that where you met your admirer from earlier this evening? At West Field?” Mr. Smooth, Nick managed to slip that probing question in without a hint of the tension she could feel gathering in Cooper.
What good spirits had existed moments ago faded under the heavy weight of all that remained to be resolved between them. As much as Lindsay would have liked to put off the coming confrontation, she’d clearly run out of time. The fun and games had come to an end. The inquisition was about to begin.
Lindsay took a healthy swallow of her wine, finding it helped calm her nerves before she began to weave an artful tale that hopefully didn’t lead to Cooper and Nick’s demise.
Chapter 22
Nick watched as Lindsay gulped her way through one glass of wine and asked for another. It was clear that along with being a virgin their lil’ bit hadn’t drunk much either. Nick filled her glass up halfway but, when she began to giggle over just about everything, he refused her a third.
“You like that wine. Don’t you, lil’ bit?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She smiled, glowing with a pleasantly relaxed shine.
“You know you’re supposed to sip it,” Cooper commented as they both watched her upend her glass in an attempt to get every last drop.
“It’s like a spicy fruit punch.” Lindsay clinked her glass back down as she grinned widely at his brother. “It’s really good. I’d like some more.”
“I don’t think there’s any left.” Cooper moved the half-full bottle behind his back and out of sight as he smiled at her.
“Yes, there is.” Lindsay scowled at him as she nodded toward where he’d hidden the bottle. “Come on, give me some more.”
“No.”
“No?”
One perfectly arched, honey-brown brow lifted as Lindsay smirked at him, clearly not taking Cooper’s rejection seriously. His brother was fully prepared when she finally lunged for the bottle. He jerked to his right, blocking her. Lindsay’s chin cracked into Cooper’s shoulder as she lost her balance and fell face first into his lap.
“Goddamn it!” He shot to his feet as Lindsay tipped over. Her skirt flipped up and suddenly Nick could see every deliciously pink detail of her cunt. She was soft, wet, and fully exposed. The naughty little vixen had removed the curls that should have hidden her creamy folds.
“What?” Cooper asked as Nick stumbled to his feet and began backing away. “You see a spider or something?”
Or something juicy and ready for the fucking. In that instant he went from hard to hurting. It was all he could do not to reach out and roll the sexy little temptress over and spread those legs so he could settle down to a nice long feast.
“Bad boy.” Lindsay shoved herself out of Cooper’s lap to wag a finger in Nick’s direction. “You’ve gone and ruined my surprise, haven’t you?”
“What surprise?” Cooper asked, trying to keep up with the conversation.
“Will you please just pull your skirt back down,” Nick begged in a strained tone as he clenched his eyes closed. He couldn’t, wouldn’t give in because he was pretty sure that was what she wanted. This was just a distraction, an attempt to keep them from asking questions she didn’t want to answer.
“Her skirt?” Cooper glanced down but Lindsay had already smoothed the hem back down over her things.
That didn’t help Nick. The image of her intimate flesh was already burned into his mind. Stumbling backward, he finally crashed into a chair. His knees hit the edge and a second later his ass hit the seat. That’s where he stayed with a good ten feet separating him from temptation.
“Does someone want to tell me what is going on here?” Cooper asked, looking Nick to Lindsay for an answer.
“No,” Nick cut Lindsay off before she could taunt his brother, knowing Cooper wouldn’t have the self-control to focus on the task at hand.
“Oh, spare me your glower.” Lindsay waved away Nick’s frown. “You know you liked what you saw. The only question is whether you’re man enough to come over here and claim it.”
“When we’re done talking about what happen tonight we’ll move on to talking about what you did, lil’ bit, and then I’m going to claim my revenge,” Nick assured with a growl.
“What you got under that skirt, lil’ bit? You got a tattoo…or a piercing?” Cooper’s eyes bugged out with excitement at that suggestion and he reached for the hem of her skirt only to have his hand smacked.
“No peeking!” Lindsay denied his brother in a move designed to set Cooper off.
“Don’t,” Nick stopped him before Cooper got caught in Lindsay’s trap. Hard and crisp, his words cut through the air like whiplashes. “She’s trying to distract us, aren’t you, lil’ bit?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lindsay denied with a smile big enough to prove her guilt. “I’m just having a pleasant dinner.”
“No. You’re getting drunk. Then you plan on taunting us. If we give in you’ll cry that we took advantage of you and if we don’t then we’ll suffer all night.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lindsay’s snort almost felled her.
“Yeah, right,” Nick grumbled, settling deeper into his seat as he glared at her. “We’ll deal with that lie later. Right now you have a few explanations to give, so why don’t you start with how it is a divorced woman is still a virgin.”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” Lindsay’s smile dried up in an instant as she appeared to withdraw into herself. The sudden transformation shocked Nick, leaving him concerned but unwilling to back down.
“Lindsay—”
“What’s the point?” Lindsay defensively demanded to know. “Tell me. Why do you need to know? Because you’re going to rush out and defend my honor? Please. You’re just going to get yourself killed, just like all the others.”
“Others?” Nick leaned forward in his seat, dismissing the rest of her tirade as nothing but drama. “What others?”
“Like poor Mr. Mathews,” Lindsay muttered, swiftly switching from snapping with outrage to looking sullen. “Stupid idiot. I knew better than to hire a dirty lawyer but nobody else would take on Carl. That bastard. It’s not like I wouldn’t give him the fucking trust if he’d just leave me alone, but no, Carl has to control every fucking thing.”
“Carl? Your stepfather?” Nick clarified, drawing a dirty look from Lindsay that he took as a “yes.” “He wants your money?”
“Money? Please.” Lindsay snorted. “Carl’s got money. Tons of it, and he’s good at making more of it. Hell, my trust was worth millions when he first started managing it but now it has billions in it thanks to that asshole.”
Billions? Nick damn near choked on his own breath. He’d known Lindsay was rich but not that she had that kind of wealth. She certainly hadn’t been raised to act privileged, but then Lindsay clearly hadn’t been an indulged child. She’d been a captive.
“If Carl is so good at making money, why did you cut him off?” Nick instinctively knew that Lindsay had plotted this entire revelation. The money might be important but that wasn’t where the real problem lay.
“Because, just like you, his help comes with strings attached.”
“That’s not fair,” Cooper instantly retorted. “I gave you my key and we’re not asking for anything in return, just the chance to help you.”
“Yeah, but I’m not free. Am I?” Lindsay taunted him with what Nick suspected was faked indignation. “That’s all I ever wanted to be—free. Instead I’ve spent my life locked up in Carl’s mansions, locked in the asylum that he sentenced me to, and now I’m here, carried in bound and gagged!”
“That was for your own safety,” Cooper snapped, his temper flaring as fast as the color rising in his cheeks. “If you weren’t so damn stubborn, you’d let us help witho
ut having to force ourselves on you.”
“Oh? It’s for my own good. Is that it?” Lindsay shot to her feet, wavering for a moment before her legs stiffened enough to hold her up. They didn’t hold her straight, though, and she wobbled with each breath, threatening to come crashing down at any second. “Well, let me tell you something, Mr. Know-It-All. Stay the hell out of my affairs for your own good.”
“That’s enough, Lindsay.” Nick rose out of his chair to catch her by the elbow, holding her steady as she glared up at him. “You’re not going to avoid telling us what is going on by picking an argument either.”
“You’re no fun!” Lindsay pouted, lifting up on her tiptoes to get right into Nick’s face as she poked a finger into his chest. “You were supposed to be the relaxed, easygoing, always on my side one. He”—Lindsay jabbed a finger in Cooper’s direction—“is the bossy, cranky one.”
“I’m the one who wants to make damn sure you’re safe,” Nick shot back, curling a hand around her finger and jerking her the rest of the way into his arms. Anchoring his other hand in the silky strands of her hair, he held her still as he dipped his head to brush the rest of his response across her lips. “And I will. By whatever means necessary.”
Before Lindsay could argue that point, Nick claimed her mouth with a kiss meant to conquer.
* * * *
Lindsay forgot all about her plans and her attempt to manipulate the brothers along with every other thought in her head as she gave herself up to the delicious warmth of Nick’s kiss. Parting her lips beneath the insistent demand of his, she fought the invasion of his tongue, getting lost in the sensual duel that had her clinging to the strong arms wrapping around her.
The kiss turned so hot, so consuming, Lindsay felt as if she were going up in flames. Nick’s mouth slanted over hers again and again, his tongue penetrating, stroking, retreating until she felt dizzy with a want that fueled her blood and sent it rushing through her veins.