Ravenous

by L. L. Collins

  Right now, Janie sat with Tiffani and some of the female teachers just a few feet from Trent and me. She nursed a beer and seemed completely at ease.

  “I know she is,” I finally answered Trent. I hated lying to him, but I couldn’t tell him the truth.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”

  “We just started seeing each other. Nothing official.” Everything about what I said was true.

  Trent shook his head. “Well, damn, Breck. That is some secret. I think all the women here just died. Tiffani’s going to give you the third degree later, you know this.”

  I punched his arm. “Stop it.”

  We laughed. “Well, it’s true,” Trent said. “You’re like ‘Most Eligible Bachelor’ at work, man. I’ve overheard way too many conversations that involve you.”

  “You’re full of shit.”

  “I’m not, man. You don’t even know.” Trent drained his bottle and stood up when he saw Tiffani headed his way with a sleeping Toby. “Seems like I’m headed out.” He glanced over at Janie and then back at me. “Have fun, Breck. You deserve it.”

  As he walked away, Janie glanced at me. Noticing I was alone, she excused herself and made her way to me.

  “Your friends are nice,” she said, settling on the sand next to me.

  “You fit right in with them.”

  Janie shrugged, staring out at the water. She tapped her fingers on the sand as she stretched her legs out in front of her. I couldn’t stop myself from following the lines of her beautiful body.

  As it grew closer to dinnertime, the crowd began to thin. Janie’s hair was now up in a bun, a few tendrils framing her face. Her skin appeared sun kissed but not burnt, thanks to her olive complexion. She dug her toes in the sand, working her lip between her teeth. I wanted to know so badly what she thought.

  A few people waved to me as they headed out, and within minutes, Janie and I were just two of a handful of partygoers remaining.

  Unable to stop myself from doing what I wanted to do all day, I reached out and traced the indentation of Janie’s tricep as she leaned back on her hands in the sand. I moved down her arm and stopped as I reached her hand. I covered it with mine and waited. Waited for what kind of reaction I would get from her. I wondered if she would move away and call it a night, or if she experienced the same heat I’d felt the whole day and would respond in kind. Her sunglasses were on top of her head, so when she turned her head slightly and met my eyes, I saw exactly what I wanted to see emanating from her.

  Desire.

  I hoped it was mirrored in my eyes, as well, because I felt it like a palpable being between us.

  God, I wanted her.

  Janie blew out a small breath, and I watched as the pulse in her neck jumped and her chest heaved slightly. I affected her. I fought the urge to whoop with victory.

  I was way, way out of my element here, but I couldn’t stop myself, because it had been too many weeks of wondering and wishing to have a chance with this woman who captured my attention. I silently thanked Porter for not pursuing her after that night, because I wasn’t sure my need for her could be sated, and I certainly didn’t want to get into a pissing match with my brother over a woman when I would more than likely lose.

  Her gaze dropped to my lips as I scooted closer. I lifted my hand from hers and gripped her chin gently. She licked her lips instinctively, and it was all I could do not to lift her into my arms and run to the car to show her just what I could do with that mouth.

  “Breck.” The whisper of my name from her lips made me harder than steel and solidified my resolve to follow this through. For once in my life, I had to take action for something I wanted. It was way out of my comfort zone, but with her, I wanted to push the envelope. I didn’t understand it, but I had to act on it.

  Just a slight movement on both of our parts and we would be kissing. I tilted my head, ready to close the distance between us when something flew between us, hitting Janie right in the face.

  7

  Raven

  One second, my heart thumped and my pulse raced at the thought of Breck kissing me, and the next, it seemed like my head just exploded. My hands flew to my face as the object fell between us in the sand.

  “Shit!” Breck jumped up, the offending object in his hand. In the next second, he was back down on the sand next to me. “Are you okay? Let me see.”

  My eyes watered and tears dripped down my cheeks as I held my nose. One second I thought I was about to light a fire under the desire that simmered between us all day, and the next I was pummeled back to reality.

  Breck moved my hands from my face. I was terrified that my hand was full of blood and my nose would appear that someone just punched me.

  “I’m so sorry!” A voice came from next to Breck. “Is she okay?”

  Breck turned, but I couldn’t look. It sounded like a kid, which meant it was more than likely a football or a Frisbee.

  “She’ll be okay.” His voice was gruff, nothing like the way he spoke to me just moments ago.

  “I’m really sorry. It was a complete accident.”

  “Be more careful, okay?”

  I peered down at my hands, amazed to see no blood on them.

  “Janie, are you okay? Did it hit your nose?”

  Janie. The impulse to tell him my real name was forefront in my mind, and that terrified me. I didn’t know what good could come of that, but if I thought I had an attraction and a desire to see Porter again, it was nothing compared to what I felt being with Breck all day. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, and I knew later when I went home I would be thinking about that for a long time. Two men, identical in a lot of ways, but the pull to Breck was something unmistakable.

  It scared me.

  I chastised myself internally for letting these men get me all twisted up. This was a job, a way for me to get Chrissy out of her situation. No matter how hot they were or what they made me feel inside, I couldn’t get attached.

  I pressed my nose gingerly, wincing at how sore it was. It wasn’t bleeding, but it would still probably swell. I should call it a night now and head home. It seemed I had a weakness for identical twin brothers with the last name Kingsley, and I needed to get my head on straight.

  “Yes,” I said finally. “What was that?”

  “A football.” Brecken glanced away for a second, then back at me. “It was a kid. Seemed sorry. Are you sure you’re okay? Can I get you some ice?”

  I shook my head, willing my eyes to stop watering from the impact of the ball into my nose. “Did it hit you?”

  “No. You were the only victim.” Breck smirked, and despite the throbbing in my face, something else more urgent began pounding at the way he regarded me. “Janie, are you sure you’re okay? That was quite a hit. Your eyes are still watering.”

  “What’s up with both of us getting hit with balls today?”

  We both laughed, lightening the mood.

  I touched my nose with my hand again. It throbbed with my pulse. Breck put his hand over mine and moved it away from my nose. He leaned so close I could see the blond stubble I almost felt against my lips a few moments ago. His breath wafted over my skin, making me wish he was close to me for another reason entirely. He shifted his knees so they were between my bent legs, and he leaned over nearer to me.

  My breath hitched in my throat when his lips brushed the sensitive skin of my nose. “We should get you some ice so it doesn’t swell,” he whispered, echoing my earlier statement when he got hit with the volleyball while staring at me.

  Our eyes locked and I froze, willing him to go back to what we were doing before. Forget about my damn nose. I don’t care if it swells to three times its size if you continue this.

  Kiss me, I willed him. For some reason, I wanted to know that he wanted this as much or more than I did. I wanted to believe this wasn’t just about him paying me to be here today. Or me being an escort. I wanted it to be about me, and that was ridiculous.

  Don’t think about
it, just go with it. Emma had fun with her clients, so I could do the same. That didn’t mean feelings had to get involved. I would’ve had fun with Porter had he not gotten called away to the hospital, but I tried not to think too much about the fact that I wanted to do the same with his twin brother. And you told Emma you weren’t interested in that. You spoke too soon, didn’t you? Now she’s going to razz you about it forever.

  It would be worth it.

  “Come home with me.” Breck’s lips were millimeters from mine, and he saw directly into my soul with those piercing blue eyes. It was almost identical to the words his brother spoke to me that night weeks ago, but his intensity had me even more knotted up, and I didn’t want to think too hard about why that was. “Let me take care of you.”

  I wasn’t sure if “taking care of me” meant getting me ice or meant making me forget my own name, but I had the impression the ice would be the last thing we would worry about once I got to his house. Please call me Raven. The sentence threatened to burst out of my mouth, but I forced myself to bite my lip until the impulse to be honest passed. I couldn’t get attached.

  There was something about these brothers that made me want to spill all my secrets, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. First Porter—which I narrowly avoided due to his call to go to the hospital—and now Breck.

  If I was honest, I hadn’t stopped thinking about Porter for weeks, though I refused to seek him out, and he didn’t pursue me after I brushed him off, which I knew was for the best, anyway.

  Now Breck spent the day setting me on fire from the inside out, and if I read him correctly, he would finish the job quite nicely. Dirty thoughts of being taken by the two of them flooded my subconscious, and my face flamed. I mentally bitch slapped myself for even allowing my thoughts to wander there. Never in my life had I ever done something like that, and why the thoughts were prevalent in my head now, I didn’t know. I didn’t think I could ever go through with it, but that didn’t stop the fantasy in my mind of having them both.

  “Let’s go,” I said, pushing the rest of the naughty thoughts from my head.

  I didn’t miss the shock on his face when I answered him quickly, but I wondered why it was so surprising that I would want to go home with him. Sparks flew between us all day.

  Breck stood and brushed the sand off his legs. He held his hand out for me, and I gripped it, pulling myself to an upright position. His gaze flitted over my face before zeroing in on my lips.

  “Before we go,” he said, his voice husky, “I need to do this.” Before I could think too long about what he might mean, he used our linked hands to pull my body to his. When my breasts brushed his firm chest, I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped my lips.

  Breck dropped his head and captured my lips with such gentle ferocity it literally took my breath away. Kissing Porter that night was amazing. I knew he would have been a great lover. But this…it was something otherworldly. When his tongue moved into my mouth and twined with mine, my knees buckled. He was equal parts aggressive and soft, his free hand moving to hold the back of my head as we deepened the kiss.

  I forgot all about the pain in my nose and that we stood on a very public beach with lingering coworkers of Breck’s nearby. I forgot I was an escort paid to do a job. I forgot about Porter and the thoughts of having twin brothers show me pleasure beyond anything I ever had before.

  All I knew was I was a woman who felt like I just got fed for the first time in years.

  After entirely too short a period, Breck began to pull back, brushing my lips with his one last time before he stopped entirely. I blinked up at him, my chest heaving with arousal. I didn’t miss the way his mimicked mine, also rising and falling rapidly, or the ridigity of his erection against my stomach. I forced myself not to step up and start kissing him again, because my body screamed for it. “Ride with me,” he whispered. “I’ll bring you back to your car tomorrow.”

  Tomorrow. He wanted me to spend the whole night with him. My heart thumped erratically in my chest.

  It might be stupid, but I trusted him. I didn’t see him as a client anymore. He felt like a friend. A friend I planned to get closely acquainted with tonight. I could leave my car here and be safe.

  I nodded and without another word, Breck grabbed my hand and pulled me with him across the sand. He walked so fast, his stride so wide and purposeful, I almost had to run to keep up with him. He waved to a few remaining co-workers, and we reached his Jeep in record time. He opened my door first and helped me into the vehicle. My cover-up slid up as I hit the seat, and Breck’s eyes zeroed in on my bare upper thighs.

  “Janie…” Breck’s voice was tight, and I fought myself again not to tell him my real name. It was Raven I wanted to fall from his lips when he entered me and when I made him lose control.

  No. You can’t.

  My thoughts stilled as Breck ran his fingertips up my inner thigh until he reached my bikini bottoms. I gasped immediately, a shot of desire shocking me like an electrical current. His gaze locked with mine as he waited for me to give him permission or shut it down. Our eyes had a silent conversation, one that I would never forget.

  We were in a parking lot in broad daylight.

  I knew there wasn’t any way in hell I would stop him.

  When I leaned over and took his lips with mine as an answer, Breck moved his fingers to the edge of my bathing suit. He groaned into my mouth when I slid my tongue against his, and my moan followed when his fingers hit pay dirt against my sensitive skin.

  I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but I knew I was powerless to stop it.

  “You make me crazy,” he murmured. “I can’t seem to stop myself from doing this.”

  “Don’t stop,” I whispered. I somehow knew this was out of his character, despite only meeting him today. But it was out of mine, too.

  I still didn’t want him to stop.

  Breck rubbed his thumb against me while two of his fingers worked inside. My legs fell open to allow him more freedom to move, and he took full advantage. He nipped and sucked at my tongue as he continued to work me, sending me dangerously close to an orgasm within moments. My body writhed against the leather of his Jeep.

  I wanted to touch him, but the way he stood made it impossible for me to get to him. I threw my head back as my legs began quivering with my impending release. Breck increased his pressure against me until I knew it would be the best orgasm of my life, and it was just with his hand.

  “Everything okay?” A foreign voice filtered through the haze of my desire, but I didn’t even realize someone walked up to the car until Breck’s hand left me. I opened my eyes, bereft at being left hanging on the precipice of bliss. Breck moved the car door so it covered me sitting there, my legs spread.

  “Hey, yeah, we’re cool.” Breck shut the door, and my hands shook as I pulled my cover-up back over my legs. He smiled at the stranger and walked around to his side of the vehicle. I felt his gaze on me the whole time. Holy fucking shit. That was the hottest thing I’d ever done in my life.

  I waited for shame to wash over me at letting him use me like that in a parking lot, but it never came. The only thing I thought as Breck opened the Jeep door and slid in next to me was hurry the hell up and get to your house.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have put you in that position. Someone could’ve seen us. I got carried away. I just couldn’t stop myself…”

  I shook my head. “Don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to do.” I leaned over, my hormones on overdrive at being left seconds from orgasm. “Breck.” The second his name left my lips, his pupils dilated and his mouth parted. Before I could stop myself, my hand covered his erection.

  “Janie.”

  I cringed inside, hating every second of that name coming from his lips. I hadn’t figured out what the harm was of telling him my real name, but I still couldn’t make myself say it. He wasn’t a stalker or a psycho murderer.

  “I-I want you to know something.”<
br />
  There are so many things I want you to know, too, Breck. My hand moved slowly over him, and his eyes fluttered. “What’s that?” I knew I laid it on thick, but I was beyond the point of no return. I had to have this man, and as soon as possible.

  “I don’t do this,” he said, groaning as I squeezed him tightly through his board shorts. “I don’t want you to think this is the norm for me. You just do something to me I can’t seem to stop.”

  “It isn’t for me, either,” I said. “And I don’t want you to stop. You do something to me, too, Breck. I want to figure out just what that is.”

  Breck ran a finger down my chest to my leg, and I shuddered.

  “Let’s get out of here.” I wanted to ask how far his house was from here, but I couldn’t make myself say the words. I didn’t want to seem desperate, but I kind of was.

  “You have to stop that or I may wreck.” A smirk played on his lips, and I had the intense urge to take him in my mouth and show him exactly what I could do.

  But instead, I sat back and pretended to watch the scenery fly by. We didn’t say a word the entire time he drove. I tapped my foot on the floorboard and held my hands together in my lap, the release I wanted so badly and the words I said about him doing something to me keeping me on edge.

  8

  Brecken

  Shit, I wished I didn’t live so far from the beach. I forced myself to back my foot off the gas pedal so we could make it to my house in one piece, because I had to have this woman. I was rather sure I could cut glass with how hard I was from the thoughts of finishing what I started with her before we left the beach and the way her hand squeezed me with promise.

  I wasn’t sure what had come over me, but I had to touch her. When she gave me the green light and her mouth opened in silent pleasure, I might’ve died a thousand deaths. The second my fingers touched her soft folds, I knew I was lost. I would never get enough of Janie. If that stranger hadn’t interrupted us, I would’ve seen her lose control. I felt her tightening up on my fingers and starting to unravel. I did that to her.