She nodded, tears pooling in her eyes before she glanced back down. “I came to beg. And then my car got a flat, and I thought I could fix it—what a joke—so I started walking, and then it started raining, and I knocked and you weren’t here to tell me I told you so, and I’m wet and tired and I had nothing else to do and no way to get there, so I just laid down to wait for you to gloat and please, please, I’m begging to borrow a couch because I have to be out of my apartment tomorrow and my only other option is Mr. Masterson—”
He cut her off with a finger on her lips while a red haze began swimming in his vision. Mr. Masterson? Bud Masterson? When the fuck had she gone to see him? And why? If that slimy bastard had even laid one finger on her…
“Anna. Look at me.” He waited for her to do so, patient because he knew she was close to the shattering point. It must be killing her to be there, begging—not that she understood there would be no begging on her part—for a place to stay when she’d thought it was hers to begin with.
“You’re freezing.” Literally. Her whole body shook with a fine tremor.
She nodded again.
“Come on. Let’s get you warmed up.” His first order of business. She probably wouldn’t like what he was about to do, but no way in hell would he leave her alone in such a fragile state. If she didn’t like it, tough.
“I have to get my things. And I need you to fix my tire because I wasn’t strong enough.”
“We’ll deal with it later, baby. Hot shower now, then some food. I can hear your stomach growling.”
“Totally not polite to let a girl know that.”
He pushed her forward, keeping his hand at the small of her back as she shuffled to the door, and had her inside a minute later. She stopped right beyond the threshold and gasped. No doubt at the difference in her home from the way she remembered it.
“You can change anything you want, Anna.” Hell, he’d gut the whole thing and let her start completely over if it made her happy.
“No. I…like it. Trust me,” she turned to him, her cheeks a shade warmer than they’d been outside, “I would have had to bleach the whole house to get rid of Candy Apple.”
He had no idea who the hell Candy Apple was, but now wasn’t the time to delve into those issues. He had to get her warm first and foremost.
Colton ushered her through the living room and down the hall to the master bedroom. His room. Marc’s was across the hall. At least, it had been. Now, with Anna in the picture, he had a feeling at some point they’d be sharing a room. And a bed.
He forced himself not to look at said bed lest he lay her down and have his way with her. Inside the bathroom, Anna sort of collapsed on the toilet seat, a sopping wet mess of gorgeous female, hair a matted mess, dark bruise on the forehead, mascara running, and clothes sagging off her skin.
“I’m going to help you get out of those wet clothes, okay, Anna?”
“I can do it.” She stared at her lap but didn’t move. Her hands were clenched tight, either with nerves or sheer exhaustion.
Colton changed his mind. He spun around and twisted the faucets of the tub on, making sure the water turned warm before kneeling at Anna’s feet. He’d wrestle her if he had to, but she was going in, clothes or not.
He yanked his tie off and started unbuttoning his shirt.
This got her attention. “What are you doing?”
“Getting into the tub with you.”
Her eyes widened. “Pardon?”
“You heard me, Anna. I’ll leave my boxers on if you want me to, but I’m getting in there with you. You’re freezing and shaking and so tired you can barely keep your eyes open. No way in hell I’m leaving you in there alone to slip beneath the water and drown. Besides they say skin to skin is the best way to transfer body heat. Raise your hands, baby.”
She balked at him but her hands loosened from their fists, her tongue poked out to lick her lips, and her nostrils flared. One hard swallow later, she did what he’d asked and raised her hands in the air. It was almost as if she’d waged a battle inside her head and giving in had won.
Colton swept in and divested her of her shirt before she changed her mind. It took everything in him not to run his fingers down between her still-covered breasts and over her belly.
“Taking the bra off next, okay?”
She sighed and bit her lip at the same second those eyes peered directly into his. And into his soul. As if to say, please don’t hurt me.
He’d cut off his own fucking nuts before he ever hurt her.
She shocked the hell out of him when she reached for his hands and guided his fingers to the front closure of her bra.
He fumbled with the clasp, she’d made him so nervous, and slowly peeled the material back to reveal the tender globes beneath. It was like opening a Christmas present, and he wanted to savor the moment with everything he had.
On the other hand, he didn’t want to be a jerk.
Get her warm, asshole. He berated himself and stood, taking the silk with him, and then offered his hand to help her stand. Her legs wobbled as she did, whether with anticipation or fear. He could only pray it was the former making her unsteady.
“I will never hurt you, Anna.” He took her face in his hands, making sure she could see his face and recognize the truth, and then softly kissed her forehead. She leaned into him, melted into him really, reminding him of the need to get her in the tub quickly.
Without another word, he unsnapped her jeans, and with his thumbs in both the waistband of the denim and her underwear beneath, proceeded to push them over her hips. It took some doing since they were drenched and stuck to her skin, but he finally wrestled them off and stepped in the crotch to help her step out of the soggy material.
His pants and boxers came off much easier. By the time he got them both undressed, the tub had filled a good deal. Anymore and it would overflow when they got in. Colton didn’t want her to think too much. He turned off the faucets, ushered her to the edge, stepped in himself, and then pulled her in to follow him. They sank into the steamy depths together, his legs bracketing hers, skin to fucking glorious skin, and when he had them settled, he wrapped his arms around her belly and held her close. The chill on her skin sank into his as he took her coldness and returned his heat.
“Oh my God…”
Colton smiled. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and moaned. He’d have to be dead for the sound and their positions not to affect him. His cock jerked in the small space separating their bodies. Either she didn’t notice or pretended not to because she never moved. He’d count it as a little victory.
She may not have noticed, but he did. Her rounded breasts, their rosy nipples perky still from her fight with the elements outside, practically pleaded to be plucked and sucked. Colton palmed Anna’s stomach to avoid the temptation.
Sainthood would find him soon.
Her eyes were closed, her body relaxed against his, and he couldn’t take it one more second. He grazed her long neck with his lips and nipped the skin with his teeth right where her neck met her shoulder. Right where he’d mark her someday. Her head lolled to the side, affording him more space.
With his thumb, he traced the underneath of one breast, delighting at the sight of her chest turning a pretty pink. The heat of the water played a small part in the change of her skin color, but based on the way her right leg grew restless and her knee fell to the side, opening her core and granting him access to her pussy, he’d have to say he definitely had some kind of effect on her.
Marc would kill him if Colton so much as touched her without them all being together their first time. And he would never do that to his brother, the man he’d share Anna with forever.
He sucked in a long, hard breath.
“So tell me what’s going on.”
Chapter Seven
Anna slowly came out of the hazy stupor she’d been in and realized exactly the position she’d put them both in. Sheesh. She’d gone to the house to beg for a couch to sleep on,
and here she was, nekked in a tub with a very obvious erection pressed against her back.
What in the Sam holy Hill is wrong with you?
Furthermore, why did it feel so right and yet so wrong at the same time? She was tired of feeling these conflicted emotions. She only knew she sure as shit had never taken a bath with Peter—it would have been beneath him—and that she liked the feeling of sharing a tub full of hot swirling water with a man.
Now if only he’d slip that hand of his a little lower.
It’s like you turned into a whore, Anna. She even had her legs spread wantonly open. Beg for a couch, not sex, you idiota.
Anna slipped her knee below the waterline in an effort to display at least a portion of modesty. Nearly impossible while a thumb rasped just under her left breast, wreaking havoc on her senses and sending goose bumps across her exposed skin. Just a bit higher and he’d be where she wanted him…
No.
His free hand snaked out and caught her leg before she could straighten it, and pushed her thigh back where she’d had it resting against his thigh.
“Leave it,” he whispered, his palm caressing ever so close to her core. Her clit did a happy dance, though he wasn’t close to touching the tiny bundle of nerves.
Oh God. Besides being intimately twined together as they were, he’d yet to really do anything but look. And rub not nearly close enough to any parts that mattered.
She cleared her throat and let reality crash around her. She couldn’t live a fantasy right now with the world conspiring against her.
“I’ve looked just about everywhere within the driveable limits for a place to live, and seriously, my only option isn’t even negotiable.”
“If you’re referring to Bud Masterson, you’re right. Non-negotiable.”
Anna snorted. “You don’t have to worry about him. I think I may have even told him I had to leave because I’d forgotten my mother was dying. Or maybe I just thought it, but still I would have shamelessly used the excuse, if needed.” Remembering the few-toothed man with his dirty wife-beater shirt made her whole body shudder in disgust. She could only imagine taking the place and waking up to see him standing over her in the dead of the night. Getting himself off, no doubt, while she slept unaware. Those were the kind of squicky vibes she’d gotten from him.
“Anyway, there aren’t any empty apartments in town. I tried to go out of town today, but you know how it is. We’re surrounded by tiny little cities. Most of them are a quarter of the size of Trenton. There aren’t any complexes in places where most of the buildings were built back in Laura Ingalls’s time, not within a suitable driving distance for me.”
He snorted and gave her a squeeze. One she took as more reassuring then sexual, and she let herself sink more fully into his arms. “Are you saying Trenton is old?”
“Most of the houses have either fallen in or are about to. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely part of the old-time charm. It’s one of the reasons I love living here. I can move to Chilicothe, but I don’t relish that long lonely drive day in and day out, and I certainly don’t want to go back to Kansas City because I just got this job—”
Anna found her face turned and Colton’s lips covering hers mid-sentence, an action she was coming to learn meant shut up. She did tend to ramble when nervous, and if there was ever a time to be nervous, naked in a bathtub with an equally naked, sexy man made nervous an understatement.
He ended the oh-so-tender kiss a few seconds later, and it took her long, many pounding heartbeats to recall what they’d been talking about.
“Don’t forget the prank phone calls.” Oops. Based on the sudden stillness behind her and the way his fingers stopped stroking the delicate skin of her inner thigh, she’d said the wrong thing.
“What prank phone calls?”
She licked her lips. “Not really prank, per se. The one this morning I didn’t get to before they hung up.” Remembering why she hadn’t gotten to the phone made her cheeks heat. “It wasn’t a number I knew, and I…” she squirmed in the space between his legs. No way would she tell him why she hadn’t gotten to it in time. “I was busy and forgot to call it back.” She rushed out the explanation, hoping he wouldn’t press her for more. “Then later it was an unknown number and no one answered.” She shrugged.
“Give me the number later, I’ll look it up.” He was still tense behind her, but his fingers began to wander again, and she found herself inching closer to those oh-so-tempting tips.
One hundred percent slut. And yet, neither of them has ever made you feel like a whore or anything other than cherished. Which was weird in and of itself since she’d only been in their presence a handful of times.
“Anyway you see my housing dilemma,” she said, getting back to the crux of the problems she had.
“So you’ll stay here with us.” He said this so matter-of-factly, it was as if he expected nothing less then her total commitment.
Part of her wanted to acquiesce.
“I feel so dumb.” Yet she relaxed into his chest as if they’d been a couple for a long time. “And if I didn’t know better, I’d think you orchestrated this whole thing so I’d have to come live with you.”
His bark of laughter disrupted the water and sent some splashing dangerously close to the edge of the tub. “Yes, yes we did this on purpose. Bought the house out from underneath you, made it so there were no apartments available in the area, had you semi-arrested, and caused your tire to go flat so you’d have to come crawling to us. All before either of us had even met you.”
“Well. When you put it that way…”
“I do.” He rubbed his cheek on hers. “It’s fate, Anna. Fate brought you to us and sat you in our laps. I know cops don’t believe in coincidence, but I’m not going to question the things that have happened in the past week leading you to our door. At least not right this second.”
“Does Fate have anything to do with the confliction of feelings I have?”
He stiffened behind her again, his arms wrapping a little bit tighter around her chest in an almost possessive hold. She had to admit she missed the fingertips, which had been a mere inch or two from her pussy. Something she should have been ashamed of. As in, smacking him in the face and scrambling to get as far away from him as she could.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t figure out why I’m not running as far and as fast as I can. Why it feels almost…natural to be sitting here in the buff with you when I know damn well I’d feel the same way if you were Marc holding me. Comfortable. I’ve never done this before, Colton. Never willingly, or unwillingly for that matter, gotten into a tub with a man. Hell, I’ve never gotten into a bed this easily with a man. Any man. Not even Peter and we were married.”
He squeezed her again, this time with his thighs as well. “How ’bout we make a rule that no other man’s name comes into play while you’re naked with me, huh?”
Anna smiled. “What about, Maaarrrcccc,” she cooed.
Colton growled, the rumble out of his throat pressing on the side of her neck so she actually felt it. “Don’t mess with me, little girl.” His lips traversed down the slope of her neck again, and this time his teeth settled on the spot he’d nibbled earlier. Sharp teeth teased the skin there, threatening to bite harder.
And damned if the thought didn’t make her want to see how far she could push before he actually did bite her. Mark her? Is that what the shifters called it?
“Is this an open party, or is three a crowd?”
Anna yelped and sat up, startled by the sound of Marc’s voice behind them.
“Definitely a party.” Colton pulled her close again, spreading her legs wide and getting comfortable as if another man hadn’t just entered the room.
Anna’s heart thumped hard against her rib cage. What the hell was she supposed to do now?
“I need a place to stay,” she murmured, dumbfounded and unable to move.
“You look pretty good right where you are to me.”
Colton chuckled. Anna elbowed him in the belly.
The slap of cloth hitting the floor made Anna turn. Marc had his fingers on the zipper of his jeans. His bare chest made her mouth water, and he moved toward her while toeing his shoes off.
“Umm…”
“Yes?” One of his eyebrows hitched. One of his very sexy eyebrows. The one on his face above a piercing blue eye.
Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t look down.
She looked down. At a really, really nice package. Long and thick and hard and— “Fuck.”
“We can.” Colton palmed her breast, tugged at a beaded nipple, and Anna squirmed in his arms.
She wanted to. If anything, sex with them was bound to be an instant stress reliever.
And she had stress built up in spades. Lots and lots and lots of stress. She was pretty sure they’d be adequate in alleviating some of it.
“I do.” She nodded. Yes, yes she did. She wanted to finally give in to the temptation staring her in the face.
She had to be out of her ever-loving mind.
Colton sat stock still behind her. So still the water didn’t even move. Marc hovered above them, also still as a statue, a look of astonishment on his face.
Time to do something for herself, for her own pleasure tonight. Tomorrow she’d worry about the other stuff.
So she enunciated very clearly for them. “I want to have sex with both of you.”
Sharp teeth scraped down her throat and settled at the crook of her neck in what she considered a warning bite.
“Be sure that’s what you want, Anna. There won’t be any going back once we have you.” Marc lifted her hand and placed a soft kiss on the palm.
There was always a way out.
Wasn’t there?
She sucked in a long breath and tilted her face up to his. “I want this. Both of you.”
Something flashed in Marc’s eyes. Deep, hungry, possessive. She swore the blues of his eyes were turning a tinge yellow too.
It turned her on, to know that she was getting to him.
Marc’s hold on her hand turned to a grip on her wrist and he pulled, lifting her out of the tub with Colton’s help.
Overcome Page 8