by Gigi Moore
“You’re insane.”
“Suit yourself. You can watch me enjoy myself then.”
And watch she did, feeling part voyeur and part honored guest at a Chippendale’s stage show when Jax finished pulling off his boots and proceeded to peel off his jeans.
Something unfurled and fluttered low in her belly at the sight of his long lightly-tanned legs, at the material of his black boxer briefs clinging to the lean tight muscles of his thighs.
Tamara just barely held in a gasp as Jax teased the waistband of his underwear before sliding his hands up to the buttons of his shirt. She glanced up at his face to find a wicked smile teasing the corners of his full, sensual mouth as if he knew she wondered whether he’d meant skinny dip when he’d invited her into the water with him.
Jax finished taking off his shirt to finally stand before her in just his underwear and a smile, and Tamara took a deep breath to steady herself.
He looked just as gorgeous as Jess, but then she hadn’t expected anything less. He had a few distinguishing marks, however, the most prominent being a jagged scar that ran six inches in length down his right knee.
The football injury she’d heard about years ago came to mind.
Jeremiah had called her in New York with news of Jax’s injury on the field. She had been buried deep in one of the biggest cases of her career at the firm. She hadn’t been able to come up for air to do things like eat and sleep, much less travel halfway across the country for a hospital visit. She’d had to settle for giving Jax a call after his surgery but regretted not coming to see him in person. She regretted missing so many significant moments in his and Jess’s lives—the boys’ baseball team taking the championship in little league three years straight, Jax’s first game as starting running back in high school, pageants, plays, graduations.
Damn, when she thought about it, she realized she’d been remiss with keeping in touch, and she regretted a lot of things that concerned her boys.
Her boys—she’d probably always think of them this way no matter how old they got. And she had allowed the differences between herself and her father to spill into her relationship with Jax and Jess when she should have been doing everything she could to preserve the relationship. They and her father and Jeremiah were all the family she had, after all.
Jax followed her gaze and smiled. “I know, it looks wicked, but it wasn’t that bad.”
“It looks like it hurt.”
“It did.” His expression turned solemn, but he instantly perked up, bending slightly to knock his knuckles against his shin. “Between football and the rodeo, I’ve got enough plates, pins and screws in this old body to make going through airport security a fun adventure.”
“Regular bionic man, huh?”
“To say the least.” He chuckled.
That he could laugh about it made her smile, though she knew how agonizing his injuries and the resultant rehabilitation must have been. She remembered how hard it had been for her when she’d suffered a knee injury that prevented her getting in her daily morning jog. And she would never be a professional athlete who ate, slept and dreamed a sport the way she knew Jax had with football. “Rodeo too?”
He shrugged. “Guy has to get his adrenaline rush some kind of way.”
Hers just happened to be the unexciting practice of law. Still, Tamara ran into some clients and opponents in the legal arena as ornery as an untamed horse or irritated bull though.
She’d never had any great weakness for the rodeo or its participants like so many other women she knew who fantasized about cowboys and the cowboy way. She’d grown up around cowboys and ranchers and knew each a job as well as a way of life. Tamara wasn’t impressed by cowboys and their way of life didn’t hold any romantic mystique for her. But just the idea of seeing Jax atop a bucking bronco or bull trying not to be thrown made her panties damp and her nipples tingle.
“Guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do,” she said.
“Change your mind yet?”
She looked out over the peaceful stream then back to him. “I don’t think so.”
“Suit yourself.” He turned and headed toward an outcropping of rocks past a cluster of aspen and other trees she had long since forgotten the names of. Tamara got a sweet view of the most perfectly round, tight ass she had ever seen this side of a brother.
Damn, but he looked fine!
It would probably be wise to stay on dry land and keep her distance. She was already wet enough and knew it could only get worse the way her pussy clenched and throbbed at the mere sight of Jax half-naked. If she got in the water with him, she didn’t think she could keep her hands off of him.
Hadn’t she had sex with what had to be the sexiest man in Colorado not several hours ago? How could she be so hot and ready for a go-round with his brother now? She’d never been this randy and hungry for sex before.
What gave?
Despite all her arguments against it, she found her feet following the path Jax had taken through the forest to where the stream ran deeper. She couldn’t help herself.
She watched as he dove into the water, cutting the water cleanly like a knife and looking so good and athletic doing it that he took her breath away.
Jax’s head popped up several yards away from shore after a few moments and Tamara laughed as he shook his head like a drenched pup.
He cupped his hands around his mouth. “The water’s great! You should come in.”
Somehow, she thought she’d be in for a rude awakening if she accepted his invite.
Jax struck her as an adventurer, someone who did things just for the hell of it and to get a rise out of people. Tamara considered herself a bit of an adventurer too, but she practicality made her draw the line at hypothermia. “I’ll pass,” she said, but continued to watch as Jax turned onto his back, closed his eyes and floated with the current as the late afternoon sun bathed his body. She could see why he had a tan, imagined he came out here as often as time allowed to catch some rays when he wasn’t working around the ranch shirtless any chance he got.
After a moment, she took a seat on the grass, pulled her knees toward her chest, wrapped her arms around them and leaned her back against one of the lush-leaved trees. She lifted her face toward the sky, enjoying the tangy spring breeze blowing in off the stream, the scent of moist grass and aspen trees heavy in the air.
Looking at Jax so comfortable with his body and relaxed in the water, she wondered how sex would be with him. Would he be as good as his brother? Better? Certainly, he’d be different, but in what way and would she be able to tell their styles apart?
From what she knew of the twins, she thought Jax would be more inventive and playful, might even be open to some kink. He, more than Jess, would probably be more receptive to the idea of a ménage, not that she’d ever bring it up, of course.
It wasn’t like she had ever engaged in kink herself, unless she counted a lover licking and sucking her toes or her licking melted chocolate and whipped cream off of a lover’s cock. And she certainly had never engaged in a threesome, had never even thought about one—until now.
James had been so straight-laced in bed the idea of anything except the missionary position put him into a lather and not a good one. Public displays of affection proved another taboo for James so Tamara hadn’t even entertained dabbling in a little public or semi-public foreplay and sex. The idea of him going down on her totally repulsed him, though he welcomed the favor from her. What man, straight-laced or not, would turn down good head?
God, the more she thought about James and all his little idiosyncrasies, the more she wondered why she even bothered to stay in the relationship as long as she had, and the more she wondered why she accepted his marriage proposal in the first place.
Of course, her fiancé’s shortcomings and her realizations of same didn’t mean she needed to go out and have a mad torrid affair with a pair of too-gorgeous-and-young-for-their-own-good cowboys. She couldn’t make up for years of emotional and erotic
starvation with recklessness, or at least she shouldn’t. She had already made one of the biggest mistakes of her life jumping into bed with Jess without knowing more about him than his first name, and that had been false. She needed to take things slow, very slow, as in don’t go there at all.
But her body had other ideas, burgeoning and swelling in some places, moistening and warming up in others at the thought of the twins’ hands on her, at the thought of Jax entering her from behind while his brother molded his hands to her breasts and thrust his tongue in her mouth to muffle and swallow her inevitable cries of pleasure.
Tamara got so lost in her raunchy flight of imagination that she didn’t notice Jax when he swam over to the falls and pulled himself up onto the rocks to stand just under the cascade of crystal clear water.
Her heart fluttered at the sight of him in bas-relief, his virility reaching out to her, clutching her internal organs like a fist.
Jax tilted back his head, face aimed at the spray, chestnut hair plastered to his skull. Droplets of water glistened against his bronze skin and more sluiced down and over the hard ridges and muscles of his pecs and abs.
He looked like a Greek god, unaware of his surroundings, uninhibited, just enjoying the moment—one with nature.
And, God help her, she wanted to be one with him.
Tamara licked her lips at the thought. Her pussy convulsed when Jax lowered his head and turned to direct his gaze at her the same instant a wolf’s bay rose and echoed in the distance.
She felt like a butterfly pinned to the back of a display case, unable to move beneath the intensity of his sky-blue eyes except when the wolf’s howl made shudders ride down her spine.
Tamara had never felt so uninhibited and wild in her life, so in danger and dangerous. She didn’t know if it the idea of being caught by human eyes excited her. She didn’t know if the idea of having sex with Jax surrounded by nothing but trees and any untamed animals that might be in the area excited her. She didn’t know if the idea of having him take her, right there out in the open, just raw and primitive like the nature surrounding them excited her. She just knew she was excited.
Jax didn’t smile or wave or wink as she expected him to, didn’t make any motion of invitation, just stared at her as if waiting for her to come to the decision on her own.
She’d never been shy about her sexuality and saw no reason to be shy now.
Tamara grasped the hem of her shirt, only losing sight of him for the moment it took her to pull the garment up and over her head. She neatly folded and placed it on the ground beside her then reached for the fasteners on her jeans—first button, then zipper—before she started to peel off her pants.
Chapter 13
Jax’s heart thudded so hard that if he hadn’t been under the waterfall already, his hearing still would have been dulled by the sound of thunder crashing in his head. The mental roar of his lust and the blood rushing straight from his head to his cock—hardening his shaft until he could have pounded the stones around him into dust—made him lightheaded.
There’d be no way to hide his erection from Tamara, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to anymore. He’d been making a valiant effort all afternoon and evening, trying to keep his distance, trying to make sure that she didn’t know exactly how turned on he felt. But the longer he stayed in her company the more impossible this situation became.
Part of the reason he’d jumped into the stream had been to get away from Tamara and cool off the critter in his britches itching to start trouble. He’d been both relieved and upset that she hadn’t accepted his multiple invitations then just as quickly wanted to kick himself for trying to sabotage his own plans to keep his hands off of her.
This half-assed plan he had to get Tamara to forgive Jess might be harder to execute than he had first thought, especially with him panting after the woman with every intention of cock-blocking.
He saw the error of his arrogance. He thought he could be in her company extolling the virtues of his brother without falling prey to the very same impulses that led to his brother’s downfall in the first place.
Jax watched her approach on long shapely legs that slowly disappeared beneath the water as she came farther out into the stream before diving beneath the water.
He held his breath until she emerged several moments later a few yards from him.
She scissor-kicked the last several feet, closing the distance between them before climbing up onto the rocks to stand before him.
Her mink brown hair dripped water onto her shoulders and down her back, the copper highlights shimmering beneath the fading sunlight.
Jax reached up a hand to take a wavy tendril between his forefinger and thumb, enjoying the weight and soft texture. “Beautiful.”
“Cold,” she said through chattering teeth.
He laughed at her histrionics, wrapped an arm around and pulled her close. “Anybody ever tell you you’re a drama queen?”
“All the time. It’s an occupational hazard.”
“I can imagine.” He turned serious as he looked at her. “I brought a towel and you can wrap yourself in Cappuccino’s blanket if you’re still cold after you dry off.”
“Came prepared, huh?”
He shrugged. “Never hurts.”
She remained silent and he wondered what went through that sharp mind of hers, wondered if she knew exactly how prepared he’d come. She was a smart girl after all, and he could just see her wheels spinning.
“Maybe we’d better start heading back now. The sun’ll be down soon. Don’t want to get caught out here in the dark.”
“There’s a couple of things I’d like to do first.” He just wanted one taste. He would take one taste, and he wouldn’t touch her again.
Jax knew he lied to himself as he lowered his head to kiss her. He watched her close her eyes and tilt her head to one side right before he closed his own eyes and tilted his head to the opposite side.
He teased her lips with his tongue first, running the tip of it along the seam of her generous, soft mouth before she parted her lips on a sigh and let him in.
Her acquiescence undid him.
Jax let instincts take over, plunging in his tongue to stroke hers, drawing a long mewl of pleasure from her that vibrated down through his toes.
He reached up to wrap his fingers in her hair, fisting the wet strands at the base of her skull and guiding her closer. His cock throbbed as he held her head just so, lavishing her mouth with nips and kisses and long slow licks that left them both breathless.
Jax circled her body with his free arm, bringing her closer and caging her in as he ground his hips against her center. She swiveled her hips and ground back, and he swore he could feel the heat of her slit through her lacey coral boy shorts and despite the cool water pounding down just to the side of them.
She pressed closer to him, flattening and rubbing her breasts against his chest. The lacey cups of her matching bra sent a little jolt of electricity through his nipples, and Jax groaned. He felt pre-cum forming on the tip of his dick. His balls turned heavy and tight, prepared ready for release. He grew close, so close—too close but couldn’t seem to stop himself from touching her.
Jax enfolded her in his arms, gathered her close and lifted her just as Tamara wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, clinging like a vine.
It appeared his little filly didn’t want to stop touching either.
Until she pulled her head away from him, panting as she stared down into his face. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Why not?” He steeled himself for her response. He didn’t know how he would feel if she said they shouldn’t be doing this because she still had feelings for Jess, even if hearing that should have been his number one priority.
“It’s too soon.”
“After Jess?”
She slid her legs from around his waist, and Jax let her slide down the front of his body until she stood on her own two feet to look up at him.
He didn’t release her though, unwilling to give her the distance she needed to totally shut things down between them, unwilling to deprive himself of her female heat.
“I never should have gone to bed with him the way I did,” she murmured.
At least she hadn’t said she shouldn’t have gone to bed with him at all. He had something to work with, something in his and Jess’s favor.
Looking into Tamara’s onyx eyes, he no longer remembered exactly what he planned when he’d first invited her out riding. He no longer thought about her as belonging just to Jess, and he knew what he did, what he thought and felt, wrong, at the very least unprecedented.
He and Jess had never shared a woman, never come close. He had his own likes and dislikes, his own courting style and so did Jess and never the twains should meet. But he could see falling for Tamara, half-way there already and could understand what had made his brother act so out of character and take Tamara to a motel to make love.
He had no illusions that’s what happened between them, whether either of them admitted it or not. He knew the truth, that it wasn’t just sex. He knew too that he felt the same way about Tamara as his brother did, and he wasn’t willing to let her go either.
Are you willing to share her?
Whoa, where had that come from?
Admittedly, he’d done some freaky things in the bedroom in the past—spanking his partner, engaging in some light bondage where he had cuffed his partner and other occasions when he had allowed his partner to cuff and even blindfold him.
He’d even briefly dated a polyamorist back in college, a bi-racial filly who proved more adventurous and daring than him when it came to sex. But he didn’t fully understand the philosophy of the movement or the depth of her boldness until long after he and Muse Meyers had parted ways and he’d bumped into her in Reno during his rodeo days years later.
He’d questioned and teased her about her move to the wicked city, and she’d confided that she belonged in the city, where people readily accepted her lifestyle if they noticed it at all. He thought at first she’d been talking about her penchant for white guys and interracial dating but learned her reasons went much deeper than skin color.