Torn Between Two Brothers [Billionaires: Too Hot to Handle 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Jan Bowles

  “I used to think that a woman could really only love, really only give herself to one man. That was before I came to work as your personal assistant at MAT. From the very first moment I laid eyes on you both at the interview, I think I already loved you. I know it sounds crazy, certifiable even, but a woman can’t help who she falls in love with, Reed. You and your brother are so very different, yet so similar, and I hate the way I have driven a wedge between you. It breaks my heart to see you avoiding each other. It breaks my heart to see you mistrusting one another. You built MAT from nothing into the successful multimillion-dollar business it is today. You didn’t do that on your own, Reed, and neither did Shane. You did it together.”

  Jessica had a point but was also missing the point. “We both want to share in the success that MAT has become, but I know my brother as well as he knows me, and believe me when I tell you that neither of us is willing to share the beautiful woman who stands naked before me. I won’t, and he won’t, so I strongly suggest you prepare yourself for the mother of all battles when Shane returns from Montreal.”

  “No, Reed. No. Please don’t. One or both of you could be killed. I just couldn’t bear that.”

  “No alternative, Jess. Shane and I have compromised on many things over the years, but neither of us are willing to give ground when it comes to you.”

  Full firm breasts rose and fell rapidly with his warlike words, and Reed was just about as pumped up as it was possible for a man to be. “In the meantime, I’m going to take what is rightfully mine. I’m going to take and control what belongs to me and me alone. You, Jessica, you.”

  Feeling as though he had the power to move mountains, he effortlessly lifted her from the floor before plonking her cute little ass on his desk. “Mine. You’re mine and only mine. You belong to me and only me.”

  “Yes, oh yes.”

  He enjoyed the confirmation, but Reed was worldly enough to realize that Jessica had given the same assurances to his brother. Why wouldn’t she? He believed her when she said she loved them both equally.

  Feeling and acting like a wild animal, he ruthlessly spread her creamy thighs wide before burying himself deep inside her pussy. It felt wonderful and life affirming to take control of his destiny, and he loved the way those big brown eyes widened with incredulity as she tried to accommodate his considerable length and girth.

  She pulled him closer as best she could, sharp manicured fingernails digging painfully into his shoulders. “Reed, oh God, that feels so good.” Full red lips breathily parted and he couldn’t resist the urge to kiss them. Jessica’s warm, sweet breath mingled erotically with his own as he took what was rightfully his.

  She said she loved them equally, but he was determined to change her opinion on that point. He’d fuck and control her so completely that Jessica would find it difficult to recall his kid brother’s name once he finally took his rampant prick from her silken wet cunt.

  Her eyes were closed and her mouth open as he powered inside her, and Reed couldn’t resist hooking his forearms under her thighs and authoritatively pulling her even further onto his cock.

  “Oh, Reed, you’re so deep inside me and your cock is so huge it almost hurts.”

  “Hurts good, baby.”

  “Yes, oh yes, hurts good, hurts wonderfully.”

  Her slender yet insistent fingers, digging deep into the soft flesh of his shoulders, also hurt wonderfully, and when she opened her eyes and held his gaze he realized they connected on every possible level.

  “Woman, you are too beautiful. Too edible for your own good.” Sweat dripped from his forehead and trickled between their hot, naked bodies before pooling erotically at the very core of their sexual union.

  “Reed, you and me, we need each other. I need you to control me absolutely, and you need me to be your vulnerable, insecure submissive, a woman you can do with as you please. You’re the man in charge and that’s the way it should be.”

  “The natural order of things, Jess. It’s been that way since the dawn of time.”

  “Yes, the natural order of things.”

  He ducked his head and teased her blood-filled areolas with his tongue, all the time impaling her with his mighty weapon. Faster. Harder. Faster. Harder. Faster. Harder.

  “Reed, please.” The way those sexy red lips remained parted made him dig deep into his reserves of energy as he endeavored to make Jessica his and his alone.

  “What’s my name?”

  “Your name is, Reed. Reed Masters. Reed Masters is the master. Reed Masters is my master.”

  “Again. What’s my name?”

  “Reed. Reed…Reed, I’m so close to…to…to… Reed, only you can make me…make me…feel this way.”

  He quit teasing her nipples and decided to torture them instead. He’d teach Jessica a lesson she would never forget. He’d teach her that he was her lover, her only lover, and not that bastard Shane.

  “That’s so painful, Master, so deliciously painful.” Rivulets of blood trickled and tickled their way down his shoulders and chest as she clawed at his naked flesh, and he knew Jessica now lay balanced on the razor-edge of orgasm.

  “Oh God, how I love you, Reed. I love you. I love you. I loved you from the moment I first saw you.” She wasn’t acting. Jessica’s words were heartfelt and sincere, and as he cemented their relationship by thrusting inside her like a man possessed, Reed instinctively knew that Jessica was a genuine and beautiful creation—a one-off. Having lost his virginity at the tender age of fifteen, the number of women he had slept with over the years was now almost incalculable. It ran into the hundreds, possibly even thousands. However, not once, even at the very peak of ecstasy, had he told a girl or a woman that he loved her. Reed Masters was many things, some of which he was none too proud of. But not once in more than twenty years of pleasurable fucking had he uttered those three little words that meant so much to the opposite sex. He hadn’t said them because he’d never felt the emotional need. Before Jessica, sex had been purely about the act of fucking and making himself feel good. Love and emotion had very little to do with it.

  Jessica was different, though. She was so very special and unique. The woman with a silky sheen of feminine perspiration now coating her flawless skin made him reassess his outlook on life and what was important.

  It was there in those expressive brown eyes, she so desperately wanted him to return her love and devotion.

  Teetering right on the very edge of letting go, she insistently hissed. “Did you hear what I said? I said that I love you, Reed. I said that I love you more than anything and anybody. Goddamn it, Reed, answer me, why don’t you?”

  His climax was also imminent, but he needed to be sure before he told Jessica that he loved her more than life itself.

  “So you love me more than anybody else, huh?”

  “Yes, oh dear God, yes. Nobody comes close.”

  “You love me more than absolutely anybody. No exceptions?”

  “Yes… Please, Reed, tell me that you love me. I need to know that you love me.”

  “I repeat. You love me, and only me?” He needed to know.

  There was a significant pause before the word “yes” filtered softly and quietly from her sexy rosebud lips.

  Her hesitation left him unconvinced as to her love for him and him alone.

  Fucking Shane.

  Right now he hated his twin, but at least they were now on equal terms. In short order, he would defeat his brother and claim Jessica as his prize. He loved her, but he’d hold back on declaring it until Shane was no more than a fading memory.

  “I want you. I need you. I adore you, Jess.” They weren’t the exact words she longed to hear, but as his lips covered hers with genuine passion, they were enough to send her into orgasmic bliss.

  “Oh God… God…Reed.” The way her exquisite face blossomed as the blood vessels just below the surface did as nature intended almost made Reed change his mind. Almost made him declare his unconditional love for her after all. Wi
th fortitude he resisted—just. The time would come soon enough, and as he thrust inside her one final time, the life-giving seed in his balls made its way inside the most intimate part of the most beautiful woman on God’s green earth.

  Chapter Ten

  Masters Retreat, 8:30 p.m.

  Jessica glanced at Reed as he idly flicked through a copy of Pilot magazine. It was obvious from the speed one page became another his mind was elsewhere.

  Even during the throes of orgasmic passion, it hadn’t escaped her notice that Reed had pointedly refrained from telling her he loved her. She’d opened her heart to him, and had so desperately wanted the gorgeous man who was deep inside her to do the same. He hadn’t, and that saddened her.

  She knew the reason why, though. Reed was a proud man and the thought of sharing her with his twin brother was a step too far. After all, if she was unwilling to give her overflowing abundance of love solely to Reed, then surely it was unfair of her to expect him to compromise. She’d been as honest as she could. She hadn’t woken up one morning and thought right then, I’ve decided to love two gorgeous multi-millionaires today. I’ve decided to love them equally. No, that would be ridiculous in the extreme. Like so many things in life beyond her control, it had just happened. Where events and circumstances would now lead her was unclear, and this realization alone unnerved Jessica. She checked her watch. Shane would be returning from Montreal in less than forty-eight hours, and then what would happen? She shivered involuntarily, because Shane was as uncompromising as his brother, and when he discovered that she had slept with Reed while he was away on MAT business, she knew that bloody confrontation was almost inevitable.

  On a primitive level, the thought of two all-powerful alpha males fighting to the death over her was exciting and life-confirming. It proved she was a human being of value—something she’d rarely believed when growing up. However, she wasn’t living in the Stone Age, and as a twenty-first century woman, the thought of Reed and Shane beating the crap out of each other made her sick to the stomach.

  “Are you cold, Jess?” Those all-knowing blue eyes forensically assessed her, leaving her nowhere to hide.

  “Cold, no. Why do you ask?”

  “You keep shivering.”

  “Do I? I’m sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry. Even in the state of Texas, shivering isn’t a hanging offence. So you’re on safe ground here in Massachusetts.” He winked at her, letting Jessica know that everything would be okay.

  But will it? And why do I feel so frightened, if everything is okay?

  Reed tossed the glossy magazine to one side and then stared directly at her. “Tell me some more about yourself, Jess. Tell me about your parents.”

  She shivered again. “I thought I already had over breakfast a few weeks ago.”

  Reed leaned forward in his chair then thoughtfully ran his hand over his chin. “Yeah, I remember that. If I recall correctly, you gave Shane and I the bullshit version of events.”

  “Bullshit version? I’m really not sure what you’re suggesting.”

  Reed was a highly intelligent guy, a man with a measured IQ the far side of 160. He was also extremely perceptive. Clearly pissed with her evasive attitude, he jabbed an index finger in her direction. “Don’t ever make the mistake of underestimating me, Jessica.” He made a point of using her full name, something he rarely did. “You can’t be a shit for brains and head a business as large and complex as MAT.”

  The dominant side to his character could emerge at any time of Reed’s choosing, and when it did her levels of insecurity and vulnerability always escalated.

  “I would never underestimate you, sir, and I apologize if my choice of words has offended you.”

  Reed leaned back in his chair and casually placed his hands behind his head. “Let’s have the honest version. And if at any point I think you are keeping things from me, or even being economical with the truth, then I will have no alternative but to lay you across my knee, pull down your panties, and then spank your bare ass until it reaches a color I like.” He winked at her, letting Jessica know that although he was being serious, Reed also had a mischievous side to his personality. “I’m waiting, Ms. Hyde, and you know how I hate to be kept waiting.”

  She took a deep breath to compose herself. “Okay, I’ll leave nothing out. I’ll tell you exactly how it was back then.” Jessica had come so far, and learned so much from Reed and Shane, that somehow her past didn’t have the same hold over her anymore. She’d been just a child so it wasn’t her fault. Besides, she’d carried the guilt her worthless parents should have been burdened with for far too long. It was time to unload the emotional baggage that was stopping her from enjoying life.

  “It’s not a pretty story, Reed. It’s about as far from The Waltons as possible.”

  He smiled and spread his arms wide. “Come over here and sit with me, baby. I have broad shoulders, shoulders that are strong enough to take my worries and yours.”

  That was the thing with Reed. He had the capacity to be both ruthless and compassionate. However much he verbally berated, or even physically disciplined her, Jessica knew she could turn to him when the need arose. He was the complete package and that was why she loved him so much.

  She snuggled into his warm, comforting embrace and sighed resignedly as she laid her head on his shoulder. “So you want to hear the story of my dysfunctional and fucked-up childhood? I’m guessing you and Shane have good parents. Am I right?”

  “Had good parents, not have good parents.” He gently teased his fingers through her hair, letting Jessica know her mistake was not the end of the world.

  “Oh? Oh, I’m so very sorry, Reed. I didn’t know. Please excuse my ignorance.”

  “They were the best, the very best, and even after five years, I still miss them both.”

  “Can I ask what happened?”

  “Sure you can. It’s not a secret. They both died when a light aircraft piloted by my father crashed in the Rocky Mountains.” He took a long deep breath as though recalling the tragic event. “Right now, though, Jess, be it bad or good, it’s your story I want to hear.”

  Since starting as Reed and Shane’s personal assistant, Jessica had done everything in her power to hide, or at least to disguise her deeply unhappy childhood. Truth be known it embarrassed her, making her feel less than worthy of the responsibility that came with the job. As a result, and perhaps unsurprisingly, her self-esteem had always been poor. With an upbringing such as the one she’d had to endure that was almost inevitable. However, when she’d been given the job at MAT, her confidence had grown. After all, if Reed and Shane believed in her, then why shouldn’t she believe in herself?

  Much water had passed under the bridge since the two sexiest men in the world had uttered the words she’d longed to hear—“You’re hired, honey”—and the secret she wanted hidden from the world suddenly seemed less important.

  She knew her twin bosses far better now, having enjoyed everything their powerful masculine bodies could summon up. The monkey on her back, which had been there since Jessica was just a little girl, was now becoming increasingly heavy to carry. In fact, she wanted rid of it. Wishing to start a happy new chapter in her life, she took a deep breath and patted Reed’s hand. “Right then, where to begin?”

  Compassion oozed from every pore in his body. “Begin at the beginning, Jess. I find that’s usually the best way.” He tenderly kissed her forehead for reassurance.

  “Okay… Well, perhaps I should start by saying that my parents didn’t want me or any other child in their selfish lives. I was a mistake, plain and simple. I came about as the result of a drunken fumble. This isn’t simply my take on things, Reed. Both my parents would often tell me what a burden I was, usually while beating me black and blue, sometimes to the point of breaking minor bones. Crazy thing was, the more they beat and abused me, the more I figured I was to blame, and the harder I tried to make them love me. I was terminally fucked-up before I even started at kinderg
arten.”

  Reed’s body tensed against hers, and she knew his anger was rising. “They sound like the fucked-up ones to me.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. As an adult it’s blindingly obvious how inadequate they were and still are, but as a kid you do all you can to make your parents love you, and when they don’t, you blame yourself, and then carry that guilt around with you.” Jessica smoothed her hands over her forearms and tears welled in her eyes. “They’re almost gone now, Reed. The scars are barely visible.”

  A mixture of love and anger flashed in those wonderful blue irises. “Oh, Jess. Oh, baby, baby…baby. What did those fucking animals do to you?”

  She felt her bottom lip tremble and suddenly she was six years old and back in the cockroach-infested apartment. “I wasn’t a bad kid, Reed, truly I wasn’t. I was well behaved at school, and didn’t steal from the local store like many of the other children but…but…” Jessica felt so emotional she found it hard to choke back the tears. “But…but…”

  “Go on, baby. I’m right here.” He wrapped her in his arms, and his warmth resembled a big warm blanket.

  “But…it was as though my parents were always looking for a reason to hurt me, to punish me, even though I had done nothing wrong.”

  His fists curled into tight balls of steel. “What did they do to you, Jess? Tell me.”

  “It was worse when they were drinking, which they did until they passed out on the floor, or the vomit-stained sofa. They had no jobs. Neither of them worked a day in their pathetic lives, and as a result they drank. They drank away the rent. They drank away the food. They drank away every cent they received from welfare. They had no respect for themselves, and they had no respect or love for their only child who went to school with filthy hair and clothes.”

  “Jesus, it gets worse, Jess.” Clearly distressed by what he was hearing, Reed dragged a hand through his hair. “Fucking hell. Have these people no understanding of the word responsibility?”

  “They are chronic alcoholics, Reed. That won’t change now.”