by Gigi Moore
“Dad’s signing off on some paperwork before y’all go to the funeral home to start making the arrangements. Jax and I have to get back to the ranch.” He reached out to grasp her shoulders, caressing them for a long moment as he peered at her. “We’ll see you once you’re all done, right?”
Tamara nodded, thought him a man who had his priorities straight and knew exactly what he wanted out of life.
Jeremiah came into the room that moment, and before Tamara had a chance to object, Jess leaned in to kiss her deeply on the lips, stopping just short of sliding his tongue in her mouth.
When Jess finished, Jax moved in to take his turn, kissing her just as deeply before pulling back slightly to caress her lower lip with his thumb. “Love you,” he murmured then headed for the exit.
Jess grinned and winked, squeezing his father’s arm as he followed his brother out.
Jeremiah wordlessly walked over and pulled her into his arms and the tears came to her eyes unbidden though she managed to stave off the worse of the sobs.
“You’ve got a lot on your plate now, a lot to think about,” he said, offering her a hankie once he pulled away.
Tamara accepted it, patting at her eyes then returning it, biding her time before she opened her mouth and said something she’d regret. Jess and Jax’s parting still had her reeling.
She knew what Jeremiah referred to when he said she had a lot to think about, knew that she couldn’t run away from Jess and Jax and their proposal forever.
“It’s all right feelin’ the way you do about ’em.”
“You really believe that?”
“I can’t believe anything else since I believe in love.”
“But Dad—”
“Pardon my expression, was a stubborn, stuck-in-his-ways old coot.” Jeremiah pulled her close in a one-armed hug. “I loved him, but you and I both know he wasn’t always right in his thinkin’. And you have to keep in mind, that’s all they were—his thinkin’, his opinions. You can’t let other people’s opinions decide the rest of your life for you, even if they’re those of a level-headed old man like m’self who loves you like a daughter.”
She looked at him, searching. “Will you still? I mean…if we all wind up together?”
“I’ll have even more reason to since you’re the woman who makes my boys happy.”
Would he feel the same way when she left and made his boys miserable?
* * * *
Jax considered all the time he’d spent playing around—on the rodeo circuit, on the football field, just plain playing the field with women and not settling down.
He’d had a lot of time in the last couple of weeks to think about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life and who he wanted to spend it with. The rodeo didn’t factor into that scenario, at least not seriously or as a career path.
Bailey’s death had brought things home to him, made him see what was important in his life—family and home. He understood now why his father’s friend had given up the rodeo, understood that he couldn’t have his cake and eat it too, and in this case, Tamara, and having her on the ranch, served as his cake.
He loved Tamara, did not doubt it, and he loved working on the ranch, especially teaching the young’uns the finer points of ranching and horsemanship. He liked making people happy and when those people were of the small and young variety, or those he loved, he got a special thrill.
The rodeo served as entertainment and excitement, but ultimately he considered it just a diversion. It wasn’t real life and not what he wanted out of life. It would always be there for fun and games, but he wasn’t kidding anyone. He would never be a world class rodeo champion, and with his past injuries and battered up body, he’d pretty much reached his prime if not outright past it already. Time for him to grow up and face facts. Time for him to settle down.
With the possibility of Tamara choosing New York over him and Jess and the ranch, he knew he would give it all up—the rodeo and football. He would change his wastrel past just to convince her to stay, just to convince her that he and Jess were worth the risk and loved her enough to make things work.
Dusk had fallen when Jax brought Cappuccino to a stop outside the stables and dismounted. He did have any clearer idea about his future with Tamara than he had when he’d finished work earlier and gone out riding to get some perspective. He wondered if his head and heart would ever be straight again.
He took the reins and led the horse back to his enclosure where he found Jess in the next stall grooming his animal. “What a shock.” Jax grinned.
Jess returned his grin and continued brushing Clipper’s coat to a high sheen.
Jax silently led Cappuccino into his stall and uncinched the animal’s saddle and other equipment before he took care of the animal’s feeding, watering and grooming needs.
After a while, he heard his brother finishing up with Clipper and wasn’t surprised when Jess stopped by and leaned against Cappuccino’s stall door.
Jax paused in his brushing and looked at him for a long time before he voiced what they both thought. “You speak to Tamara since this morning?”
Jess shook his head. “She and Dad only got back from the funeral home a little while before I got back. I checked with Maria.”
“So what are we going to do?”
Jess shrugged.
Jax couldn’t remember seeing his brother at a loss for words or what to do.
Jess was the consummate problem solver and planner, prided himself on his organizational skills and ability to get what he wanted.
Jax used charm and shot from the hip, never taking anything too seriously. Jess took most everything seriously, always cautious and straight-forward. Sure, they went about things differently but they both inevitably knew how to get what they wanted.
“We can’t let her leave,” Jax said.
“How are we supposed to stop her, short of kidnapping?”
“Don’t give me any ideas.” Jax grinned, remembering his conversation with Pop weeks ago when Tamara first came back to the ranch. He’d wondered then what had been up the ol’ man’s sleeve, whether or not he had intended to keep Tamara hostage in order to make her stay. Now he knew just what kind of desperate frame of mind his father had been in back then trying to juggle what he considered best for his best friend and what he considered best for someone he saw as a daughter.
“Seriously, Jax. How do we keep her here?”
“I am being serious. And I really don’t know.”
“I used to believe honesty was the best policy,” Jess murmured.
Jax arched a brow. “You don’t anymore?”
“After all that’s happened, I’m not so sure. We’ve been honest with her on how we feel, what we want from her. But we didn’t tell her about Bailey.”
“You really think that’s an issue?”
“Damn it, Jax! Of course it’s an issue. At least it is for me. It’s eating away at me, has been ever since you told me about him.”
“Think about it, Jess. What good will it do her to know we knew about Bailey’s condition and didn’t tell her?”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to stay here because deep down she knows we’re not being honest with her. She doesn’t trust us. And telling her we love her and showing her we love her are two different things.”
Why did his brother have to go all deep on him? It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought of all this himself. He just wasn’t against telling a little white lie to protect someone if he had to. He guessed in this case, he protected himself and Jess now. Bailey certainly wouldn’t suffer for the lies they’d told. He’d gone to a better place now.
Lucky S.O.B.
“Even if we don’t tell her ourselves, she’s going to figure it out. Tamara’s a sharp girl and her mind won’t be clouded with grief forever. What do we do then?”
Jax wished he had an answer, but he didn’t.
“I’m going up to the house. You coming?”
Jax nodded, silent as he followed his bro
ther out of the stables and they both headed toward the main house.
The aroma of Maria’s famous Tex-Mex wafted to them before Jess even opened the back door and Jax took a deep whiff. He never got tired of Maria’s chili con carne.
He and Jess stood wiping the bottom of their boots off in the mud room when Tamara tramped in from the kitchen as if she had been waiting for them.
“I need you.”
Chapter 26
Jess didn’t know who moved first or the fastest, just knew that he had Tamara in his arms, face cradled against his chest and burrowing deep before he could blink an eye.
She took a deep breath as if to steady herself before pulling away to turn to Jax with an arm outstretched, beckoning.
Jax stepped closer, and Tamara pulled him against her in a one-armed hug.
“I need you both now,” she whispered, looking up at each of them in turn, her dark eyes so bright they made his heart melt and his cock instantly hard. “Make love to me?”
She sounded so uncertain, so unlike herself, as if she thought they would dare deny her.
Fat chance. “Try and stop us,” Jess said.
Tamara took her cue and grabbed them both by a hand to lead them out of the mud room and through the house to the back stairs.
Hunger no longer a factor despite the tantalizing smells of Maria’s cooking carrying through the house, Jess did wonder about her and his father briefly. But if Tamara and Jax weren’t worried, he guessed he shouldn’t either.
They all made it upstairs to Jess’s bedroom, Jess making sure to close the door tight and lock it behind them.
When Tamara turned to him and captured his gaze with hers, he nearly swallowed his tongue at the emotion he saw there.
He wanted to ask her so many questions, number one being what this moment meant.
Jess knew what the moment meant to him and Jax, but didn’t know if it meant the same for Tamara. Were he and his brother just convenient tools of assuagement and satiation to get her mind off her grief? She’d said she needed them, not that she loved or even wanted them, though he could tell the latter from the imprint of her hardening nipples poking against the material of her shirt.
Jess lifted a hand to cup one breast, circling the erect nub with his thumb before lightly pinching it between forefinger and thumb.
She leaned into his hand, closing her eyes and whimpering as he cupped one full breast and bent his head to kiss her lips. He slipped his tongue inside her mouth to lazily stroke hers, tasting her sweetness, swallowing her moan.
Tamara put her hands on his hips, drawing him close enough to rub her slit against his cock, and he shuddered in her grasp as a growl erupted from his throat.
He deepened the kiss, drinking and eating from her mouth like a starving man—a man starved for her taste and touch.
Jess pulled the hem of her shirt from her jeans and slipped his hand beneath, resting his palm against the warm skin of her belly as she panted beneath him. He moved his hand up farther, undoing the front latch of her bra and caressing a breast. He pinched and rolled the nipple, his mouth never leaving hers. He thrust and rolled his tongue, mimicking the sex act as he ground his pelvis against her.
Tamara ground back, sliding her hips back and forth and creating delicious friction that nearly sent Jess through the roof. When the pressure suddenly stopped, his eyes flew opened to see Tamara pushing her ass back against Jax’s pelvis, his crotch cradling her generous curves.
Jess went to work on her shirt, quickly unbuttoning then stripping her of it and her bra. He lowered his head to take one full breast into his mouth, sucking and licking around the sensitive goose-bumped aureole before pulling the hardened nub into his mouth and nibbling.
Jax slid his hands down Tamara’s body, unbuttoning her jeans and pushing them and her panties over her hips and down her long sexy legs before Tamara stepped out of them.
She stood naked between them, Jess worshiping each breasts with his mouth and hands as she burrowed her hands through his hair and held on tight. Her hot sweet musk drifted up to his nostrils, intoxicating him so much he didn’t know whether he was coming or going.
Eager to sink inside her, feel her heat surround him, Jess picked her up in his arms like a baby and carried her over to the bed. He put her down carefully, like the last card on a house of cards, and glanced across the bed to see Jax, bare-chested, already toeing off his boots and sliding his jeans down over his hips.
Jess toed off his own boots and removed his shirt, but paused at taking off his jeans. As much as he wanted inside Tamara, he wanted to savor her body, remember every inch, every moan and expression, more, just in case this would be his last time with her.
He didn’t want to be so defeatist, but when Jess looked at his brother again, saw the desolation beneath the love and desire he knew that Jax’s expression exactly duplicated the one in his own eyes.
Tamara reached for them, her upright nipples and female scent beckoning as much as the demand in her dark eyes.
Jax put one knee on the large bed, moving over Tamara’s torso, and lowering his head to nibble one breast.
Jess watched her writhe beneath his brother, the sensations riding her body plainly etched across her exotic features, even when she closed her eyes. The moan that she released tightened his groin and made his cock press against the crotch of his jeans painfully.
He had to let the critter out now, or he’d explode.
Jess got out of his pants and boxers, crawled up the bed to take Tamara’s free breast in his mouth, licking and sucking it as if he’d never tasted it before, each touch of her body a surprise and revelation.
He kissed and licked his way down her smooth curves, reveling in her soft, fragrant skin, dipping and swirling his tongue around her navel and through the ring piercing it until he reached her heated moist center. Her spicy-sweet scent lured him. Jess spread her labial lips, for a moment just admiring the way her juices glistened, licking his lips in anticipation of sampling her. “Christ, you’re so wet.”
“It’s all for you, Jess…you and Jax.”
Jax hadn’t lifted his head from her breasts, and the way Tamara had her fingers threaded through his hair, Jess didn’t think he could leave them if he wanted to.
She lifted her hips, appealing, inviting. “Please…touch me.”
Jess reached for the top drawer, opened it and removed two condoms. He passed one to Jax who took it without breaking from what he did and palmed the other one as he returned his attention to Tamara’s waiting pussy. He speared her with his tongue, thrusting as deep as he could to tickle the bundle of nerves at her entrance before drawing back and licking her vulva in long lazy strokes.
Tamara thrashed beneath them, one hand going to his head, the other remaining on Jax’s.
Jess moved between her thighs, hooking her legs over his shoulders as he prepared to feast. He brushed her folds with his fingers, blowing against her opening before sliding first one then two fingers inside her, thrusting in and out as he bent his head to suck her clitoris.
“Oh please, more. That feels so good…so good…” She pumped her hips against his mouth and hand, and Jess dipped his tongue into the hard kernel of flesh right before an orgasm ripped through her.
He replaced his fingers with his mouth, lapping up her juices as they flowed.
“I need you inside me now…both of you. Please, fill me…”
Jess’s chest constricted around his heart, making it pound harder just to pump blood through his system and to his already full cock. He sat back on his heels to roll the latex down his hard length while Jax donned his own condom.
Jess covered Tamara’s body, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her flush against him as he turned her onto her side with him. He nudged her opening with the head of his dick, his pre-cum mingling with her cream before he pushed through her moist folds.
“Mmm, yes. Oh yes…”
Jess circled his hips and plunged through her wetness until he got bal
ls-deep. He closed his eyes and buried his face in the crook of her shoulder, breathing deep, fortifying himself with her essence.
Before he could think about moving again, he felt the bed shift with his brother’s weight, and when Tamara’s inner muscles tightened around him, and she released a guttural moan, he knew that Jax had entered her from behind.
Jess buried his hands in her hair and lifted his head to peer at her closed eyes. “Look at me, Tamara.”
Her eyes drifted open, and she gazed at him with a lust-hazy expression.
Now that he had her attention, he didn’t know what to say, but he knew he didn’t want this to be their last time together, and he intended to do everything he could to convince her to stay. If that meant with his body or his words he would do it. “Don’t leave.”
* * * *
The smell of horses and two gorgeous, aroused men overwhelmed her senses, turning her on as she took a deep breath to fully appreciate the unique aroma that surrounded masculine, hard-working cowboys.
God how she would miss these two young men!
She wanted to assure Jess that she would never leave the ranch or them, tell them both that she wanted nothing better than to be sandwiched between them every morning when she woke up and every night when she went to bed. But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t lie.
She didn’t know what she would do.
Instead of torturing herself with reason, she concentrated on the sensations of being filled to bursting with two cocks—Jess and Jax’s cocks.
She remained still between them, panting as their members throbbed inside her, burning her inner flesh with need, intensifying her hunger and need.
Tamara couldn’t help wondering if she tried to bury the grief, soothe her pain and fill the void her father’s death had left behind, by being with the two willing young men who loved her.
Was she being selfish, knowing neither man would say no to her, knowing they loved her and she wasn’t ready to give them the same in return?