by Jenny Penn
“Like my new outfit?” she asked, doing a turn before she realized how wanton her behavior was. Instantly, Janie blushed and tried to play the moment off. “Tex picked it out.”
“Yep.” Tex heaved a heavy sigh, drawing her attention to where he was brooding by the coffee pot. “That may have been a mistake.”
“Why?” Janie felt the heat in her cheeks flame all the way out to her ears as her discomfort returned. “Does it look bad on me?”
“You look beautiful, honey.” Brick smiled slightly after offering her that compliment. “Don’t mind, Tex. I don’t think he got a lot of sleep last night.”
Tex grunted at that and shot Brick a dirty look.
“I don’t think the couch agreed with him,” Brick continued on, barely bothering to spare his cousin a glance. “How about you? Get a good night’s rest?”
“Not really,” Janie confessed before daring to bring up the subject that had kept her up most of the night. “In fact, I was thinking, maybe, we should reconsider this…living-together plan.”
Tex perked up at that, his frown darkening as he turned his glare onto her. “What’s wrong with living with me?”
“Nothing,” Janie lied, feeling instantly cornered. “It’s just…your bed isn’t…mine.”
“What?” Tex blinked that in as if she’d spoken in a foreign language. “Of course it’s not. It’s my bed, and there is nothing wrong with it.”
“Except for the fact that it’s not in my house,” Janie countered.
“Are we back to that?” Tex groaned, sounding more than a little aggrieved. “The plan is the plan.”
“But–”
“No, buts!” Tex crossed his arms over his chest and glowered down at her as if he was some lord or master over her. “Now you’re going to go to work and gush about how great I am and how in love we are. Understood?”
Janie didn’t dare respond to that, afraid she might say something she regretted. Instead, she just returned his glare and allowed that to speak for her. Not that Tex seemed the least bit concerned by her attitude.
“Oh, and make sure to tell everybody I’m the best lover you ever had. I have a reputation to keep up.”
“Trust me, I know all about your reputation,” Janie assured him, though the truth was she was just guessing. Tex didn’t know that.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Janie didn’t answer with anything other than a pitying smile before she turned toward Brick. “Do you mind giving me a lift to work?”
The big man simply shook his head and shoved off his seat, following Janie toward the front door as Tex hollered out after them.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Chapter Four
Brick smiled as he slid in behind the steering wheel. Whether she knew it or not, Janie had just won that round. Not many people did when it came to Tex. His cousin tended to be cutting enough to assure that most people didn’t try, but Janie was different. Brick could see it. She’d gotten under Tex’s skin. He couldn’t blame his cousin for that. Janie had gotten under his skin, too.
Sliding a glance at the woman sitting primly in the seat beside him, Brick couldn’t help but wonder how much sass she was actually hiding beneath her prudish expression. One thing for sure was that her grand-mom clothes had been hiding a lot.
Brick tried not to ogle Janie as he turned the engine over and eased the car away from the curb, but it was hard. The truth was Janie had a killer body, all lush curves and smooth-looking skin. She smelled like a dream, a hot, wet one that filled his head with thoughts he shouldn’t even be entertaining.
“So?” Janie glanced over at him with a smile as Brick quickly turned his eyes back onto the road. “Are you going to be watching over me today?”
“That’s Logan and Bruce’s job.” And Brick would be making sure they did a good job because nothing was going to happen to Janie. If it did, somebody would end up seriously hurt.
“Oh, yeah. Your other cousins.” Janie paused, but Brick didn’t have anything to say to that, and she eventually continued on. “Am I going to get to meet them?”
“Maybe.” Brick doubted it, though. After all, their job was to not be seen while they were seeing everything.
“You don’t talk much, do you?” Janie asked after another long moment of silence.
Brick shrugged at that. “Not much to say.”
“Hmm.” Janie fell quiet again for another few minutes before she pressed him once again. “So…what do you like to do in your free time?”
“Read.”
“Really?” Perking up at that, Janie shot him a big smile that had Brick’s heart doing a double beat. “Read any good books lately?”
“Yep.”
Janie waited, but when Brick didn’t elaborate, she pushed for more. “Are you going to tell me about them?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“Because then you’ll want to talk about them.” Brick shot her a smile, allowing that to make a joke out of his words.
Janie frowned before breaking into a grin and shaking her head at him. “You’re a weird one, you know that?”
“Yep.” In more ways than Janie was probably prepared to learn.
“You know it seems a little odd, you being such a book lover and me never seeing you around the library,” Janie commented as Brick turned his car into the library’s parking lot.
“I don’t like borrowed books,” Brick stated as he pulled up toward the employee entrance at the back. He brought the car to a stop, but Janie didn’t make any move to get out. Instead, she sat there staring at him in confusion.
“You don’t?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“They don’t smell right.” That was just the plain truth.
Brick liked his books to smell fresh and new with crisp pages. He could see that she didn’t understand. He could also see the questions forming in her eyes and knew of only one way to stop her inquisition. Before Janie could give voice to the words forming on her lips, Brick simply leaned forward and pressed his mouth to hers.
The urge to kiss her had been gnawing at him since Brick had first met Janie, but he’d known it was wrong. It would be a mistake. He didn’t make mistakes…until now. All the worries that had fortified his self-control melted away as her lips parted beneath his and her sweet taste infused him with a need that had him hardening in a rush.
Brick tried, he really did, to control the feral urges that filled him alone with her taste, but it was impossible. He responded to the shy stroke of her tongue with the primitive instincts that were so ingrained within him there was no overcoming them. Without thought, he buried a hand in Janie’s hair and all but pulled her across the center console as he took total command of the kiss.
His tongue plundered and ravaged the moist recesses of her mouth, dominating her tongue as the need for more all but consumed him. Brick’s other hand was reaching for Janie’s breast when her lips closed down over his tongue and sucked hard enough to make his dick leak.
In that instant, Brick knew he was going to fuck Janie. Right here and now if he didn’t stop this shit. That was easier said than done. It took every bit of strength Brick had to pull back. Janie didn’t make it easy on him. Her lips remained clamped around his tongue, forcing Brick to endure one of the most erotic caresses as he slowly slid free of her kiss.
His breath heaved out of him as he rested back against the door, staring over at Janie in amazement. She might look like a prude, but she kissed like a vixen. Right then, with her dark eyes glowing and her hair in wild disarray, she looked like a sex kitten waiting to be petted. Boy did his hands itch to give in to that urge.
“I think you better get out.” Brick didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but he was hanging on by a thread and could barely form the words to push her away.
He knew they hurt her. It was there in the way her swollen lips trembled, but she didn’t argue. Janie simply nodded and retreated, leavi
ng Brick to watch the sexy sway of her ass as she got out of the car and headed into the library. Not a second after the door closed behind her, his cell went off with a text message from Tex.
I saw that. You making a move on my girl?
Brick stared at those words, weighing his response before he gave in to the inevitable and punched back in his own response.
The plan needs to be amended.
* * * *
Janie didn’t know what was wrong with her, but she suspected she’d read one too many romance novels. Their tales of passionate affairs had always left her wanting something more. That desire had been what had broken her and Ken apart.
While pleasant, his kiss had been little more than nice. That paled to compare to the volatile mix of lust and want both Tex and Brick inspired in her. Still, she should know better than to fall for such simple seduction. Janie wasn’t looking for a quick, albeit hot, roll in the hay with either man.
Not that Brick was really offering to take her for a roll.
Even as Janie told herself that she should be thankful he’d exerted such caution, she couldn’t help but be more disappointed that Brick hadn’t pressed for more. She couldn’t help but wonder why. Was he not attracted to her? Had she been that bad at kissing?
That thought depressed her more than Janie would care to admit. The urge to call Brick up and ask him if it were true was nearly overwhelming, which went to prove that she was losing her sanity. With the force of pure, iron-hard will, Janie managed to stop thinking about Brick and Tex for all of about two seconds.
It took that much concentration. That didn’t leave much for her to use to focus on her job, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by her coworkers. Neither had the gossip about her and Tex. It wasn’t long before Lydia sidled up to her by the counter and offered Janie a devilish smile.
“Nice outfit.”
Janie looked down at the skirt that came a good two inches over her knees and frowned. “You really think so?”
“You look stunning,” Lydia assured her in a way that left Janie feeling far from comforted. “Love the hair.”
That actually sounded sincere, prompting Janie to smile and nod. “Yeah, but I think it’s going to be a lot of maintenance.”
Janie wasn’t a maintenance kind of woman. Unfortunately, she didn’t think the same could be said of Tex.
“A little effort isn’t so bad…especially if it lands you a guy like Tex Holmes,” Lydia tacked on slyly, her grin returning to its evil roots. “Now there is a prime specimen.”
“Uh,” Janie hesitated, feeling her face heat as she fought to find an appropriate response. “Yeah.”
“Yeah?” Lydia laughed at that. “I can see the guilt coloring your cheeks. You’ve been up to no good, haven’t you?”
Janie felt the heat filling her face flame even higher at that comment, which seemed to be all the answer Lydia needed.
“Oh, honey, you should see yourself now.” Lydia shook her head at Janie. “Not that you have any reason to be embarrassed. It’s about time you got out there and had some fun.”
Janie wanted to tell Lydia that the last thing she was having was fun, but that didn’t go along with Tex’s plan. Not that she could bring herself to brag, much less lie. Instead, Jamie simply went with the truth.
“He’s a really good kisser.”
“I bet that’s not all he’s good at.”
Janie bet that most women in town knew what Tex was good at. After all it seemed like he’d been showing off his talents to more than half the town from the way the women all flirted with him while Janie had been getting her make over.
It was kind of insulting that not only had none of the women appeared to consider Janie’s standing as Tex’s new girl as an obstacle, but that the man himself had all but said she wasn’t good enough for him. Lydia clearly would agree with that, given she thought the only way Janie could land or hope to hold a man like Tex was by dressing up like a slut just for his pleasure.
Lydia wasn’t alone in that opinion. Janie spent most of the day fending off similar comments from not just the rest of the ladies who worked in the library but a good number of the patrons that came in to apparently gawk at her and catch up on the latest gossip.
Of course, that was just life in a small town.
More than that, the response to the rumors of her and Tex’s budding romance was just what Big Bob wanted. He wanted the rumor mill to go wild and send Ken into some kind of frenzy. That was the plan. Knowing that didn’t help Janie’s growing irritation one bit, but it was her friend Irene’s late afternoon visit that finally sent Janie over the edge.
Irene was a little woman. No taller than five feet and with a mass of raven locks that fell almost to her knees, she looked a lot like a pixie, but was much sweeter than those mischievous creatures. Or so Janie thought, but she soon learned otherwise when halfway through their conversation Irene pulled out a book from her massive purse and pressed it into Janie’s hand.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Irene assured her as Janie glanced down to stare at a cover that depicted not one man wrapped up in an intimate embrace, but two men.
Janie’s eyes widened instantly as her gaze snapped back to meet Irene’s, but her friend’s grin held no shame.
“Like I said, you don’t need to say anything,” Irene whispered as leaned across the counter to wiggle her brows at Janie. “But I heard about you and Tex, and everybody knows how the Holmes cousins like to have their women.”
With that bit of wisdom imparted and another knowing look, Irene turned and flounced back out of the library, leaving a stunned Janie to do nothing but stand there silently panicking. Everybody knew how the Holmes cousins like their women?
Janie certainty didn’t, but she was starting to catch a clue. She knew just who to ask to confirm her suspicions. Without a word to Lydia or anybody else, Janie walked right out of the library and headed back down to the salon where Gigi was gushing over some old biddy as the two gossiped away.
It took Gigi a moment to notice Janie, but she finally glanced up as Janie stormed around the receptionist counter and right up to the old biddy’s chair.
“Janie?” Gigi greeted her with a genuine look of concern. “Is everything all right?”
No. It wasn’t. Janie didn’t have the patience to explain that fact. Instead, she simply cut to the point, or tried to.
“Do Tex and Brick…do they…” Janie couldn’t say it, couldn’t get the words out, but she could hold up the book Irene gave her.
Gigi’s eyes cut to the cover with a wrinkle of confusion marring her brow that quickly lightened as the other woman started to laugh. Laugh and nod, that’s all the answer Janie needed to start stumbling backward, shocked to her very core.
She didn’t know what to do, what to say, how to respond and so she fled. Turning around, Janie rushed back out of the salon and down the street toward the safety of the library, but there was no escaping the thoughts racing through her mind.
They were dirty, wicked thoughts.
They plagued her as she flew through the library’s glass doors like the devil himself was chasing her. He was. He was tempting her with ideas that should have appalled Janie but instead left her feeling half aroused and more than a little curious.
“Janie!” Lydia’s eyes widened at the sight of her all but running across the lobby’s marble floor. “Honey, what happened?...Oh.” Lydia’s look of concern turned into a sly smile as her gaze darted over Janie’s shoulder. “I get it. Had a little afternoon fun, didn’t you? I was wondering where you’d run off to.”
Janie blinked, lost and confused by Lydia’s comments, but it was the wink the other woman tossed her that had Janie tensing with a sense of dread. Her thoughts still in chaos, she turned slowly to find Tex sauntering into the library, and it hit Janie instantly what Lydia really thought she’d been doing.
“Oh, God, no!” Janie whipped back around, but Lydia was already gone.
“Oh, God, no, wha
t?” Tex asked, coming to a stop beside her to shoot her a concerned look. “You okay?”
She was far from it, but Janie would be damned if she’d let him know that. “I’m fine.”
“Yeah,” Tex snorted as he ran a critical gaze down her length. “You sound as happy as ever and look just as annoyed. You know, nobody’s going to buy this happy-couple routine if you don’t learn to smile at me.”
Janie glared at him for that one before forcing her lips to curl up. “Better?”
She guessed not, given the way Tex laughed at that question. “Well, work on it, honey. Now go grab your purse. It’s quitting time.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Janie muttered, feeling more harassed by her own thoughts than by Tex’s attitude. Not that she let that stop her from taking it out on the big man. He was, after all, at the root of her problem. “It’s not time to leave. It’s only…oh.”
Janie frowned as she glanced up at the clock hanging over the receptionist’s desk. Somehow, at some point, the hands had moved until the little one rested on the number five and the big one on the twelve. It was time to leave.
“You sure you’re all right?” Tex asked. “You seem a little distracted.”
“I’m fine,” Janie snapped as she stormed off to go retrieve her purse. She didn’t make it two steps before Tex muttered back a response that was pointedly loud enough for her to hear.
“’Scuse me for asking.”
There was no excusing Tex. He was inexcusable, and so were the thoughts that flooded her head every time she sneaked a peak at him. Janie wanted him—and she wanted Brick. Apparently, she could have everything she wanted.
That didn’t make it right, she reminded herself as she shoved the book Irene had poisoned her with into the bottom of her purse and marched her way back around the counter. Janie didn’t stop when she reached Tex but kept on going, leaving him to sigh and follow after her.
He fell in step beside her, even managing to reach the door first. Tex opened it with a gallant flourish that had Janie rolling her eyes and grinding her teeth. The damn man was way too cute—way too funny. He was almost irresistible. Almost.