Cowboy Cravings

by Morgan Ashbury

  Grant picked up the tale. “We headed back to my place because Jesse’s folks weren’t expected back until later in the day. They’d gone to Cheyenne to celebrate their wedding anniversary with a weekend at a fancy hotel, and a night on the town.”

  Though it had been his parents who died, Jesse knew Grant suffered from their loss, too. Grant had been as close to his folks as he was to Grant’s.

  “We knew Mom would fix us something for our hangovers,” Grant continued. “Then the house came into sight with the sheriff’s car in the driveway. We set our heels to our horses and raced for home.”

  “But I knew,” Jesse said. His voice quieted as it inevitably did when speaking of that morning. “Call it intuition, call it what you will, I knew the moment I saw that black and white car sitting there that something bad had happened to my folks, that they were gone. Later, when the shock wore down, I thought it was right they’d died together. Maybe that sounds strange, but I don’t think either one of them would have wanted to go on without the other. They were that much in love.”

  “I’m so sorry you lost them. From what you’ve shared, you must have been a very close family.”

  Annie’s words were a balm on a wound not quite as healed as he liked to believe. When she stroked his arm and then linked fingers with him, he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it.

  “I’ve never lost anyone I loved like that.” Annie’s declaration fell into the silence. Other than to tell them she’d been widowed when they first met, she’d never talked about her past.

  Jesse caught Grant’s gaze. He hadn’t planned it, but after the lost look he’d seen on Annie’s face so many times in the past, the opening was just too good to pass up.

  “You’re a good woman with a good heart, Annie. You’re warm, and giving, and passionate as hell. But when we first laid eyes on you, the wounds you carry with you were almost visible. They’re there, they’re real, and Grant and I can both see them. Tell us about him, Annie. Tell us about you, and about what happened to put that haunted look in your eyes.”

  Her admission had been involuntary. He knew that even before she closed her eyes in the wake of his request. Would either of them push her if she refused? One look at Grant and he knew the answer to that, for both of them, was no.

  She opened her eyes. Embarrassment played across her face. “I don’t know how to answer that without…well, without risking your respect for me.”

  “There is nothing you can say that would do that,” Jesse said.

  “Not one damn thing,” Grant agreed.

  “Let’s see if you say that in a few minutes.”

  Jesse hated like hell to see the trace of fear in her eyes. He still held her hand. He rubbed the back of it with his thumb, squeezed her fingers, the only way he knew to let her understand that he was there for her, and not to judge her.

  “I married Jim to escape my father’s house.”

  “I happen to know for a fact you’re not the only woman to have ever done that,” Grant said quietly. “I can name at least three girls we went to high school with who did the same.”

  “Yeah, but did they discover they ended up marrying a man just like the one they were trying to escape?”

  Neither he nor Grant said anything, just let their patient silence speak for them.

  “Well I did, but I didn’t know what I could do about it. My mom just took the garbage her husband spewed, and I’m ashamed to admit that for a long time, I did the exact same thing.

  “When we moved to Queens, things just got worse. Jim had been a successful jewelry salesman in Albany. He thought that in New York, he’d immediately rise to the top, that in the more cash heavy market his commissions would naturally soar. Only that didn’t happen and he started to drink.”

  When she stopped talking, when a single tear slid down her cheek, Jesse’s heart broke for her. On the heels of that sadness came quiet rage.

  “Did he hit you, sweetheart?”

  Grant’s voice held suppressed fury. Jesse never doubted Grant was every bit as much in love with their woman as he. But it was good to hear the evidence of it.

  Annie’s nod was jerky, her eyes staring, unseeing he’d bet, at the ground. “Just once. Just once. He was dead a couple of days later.”

  “Once is one time too many,” Jesse hoped to hell she wasn’t suffering any kind of misplaced guilt because of that bastard’s death. And then a sudden thought had his belly clutching.

  “How did he die, Annie?” Jesse had to ask, because he realized he didn’t know. But if Annie had fought back after being attacked and the result had been her husband’s death, he’d move heaven and hell to help her see she should feel no guilt for that.

  When her answer came, her voice sounded nearly toneless. Her hand turned cold, and he rubbed it gently.

  “During a holdup. Jim worked at one of those tony stores in downtown Manhattan. The kind that always had lots of expensive baubles. But the last time I saw him was the night he hit me.”

  “Because you walked out on him?” Grant guessed.

  For a long moment, Annie didn’t answer. Then she said, quietly, “No. I was in the hospital because his punch sent me down a flight of stairs in our apartment building. I’d hit my head in the fall and was unconscious for a couple of days. I was seven months pregnant.”

  She looked up and the misery on her face burned a hole in his gut. “I awoke from surgery a widow, my baby dead, and my womb sterile.”

  Chapter 13

  Annie didn’t fight it when Grant scooped her up into his arms. She hadn’t meant to let the memories pull her into the vortex. Though it happened less and less, there were still times when remembering would simply break her. She never knew when it would happen, either. She would literally be fine one moment and weeping uncontrollably the next.

  She wished it hadn’t happened now. The last thing she wanted was to reveal her past to her lovers. The past belonged in the past, and her lovers were the here and now. They were today.

  “God, sweetheart, I am so, so sorry.” Grant’s words, just above a whisper, brought unexpected comfort, comfort she hadn’t realized she craved. In the aftermath of her loss, there’d been no one to hold her.

  Until today.

  “Shame the bastard’s dead,” Jesse said. “Deprives us of the pleasure of beating the shit out of him.”

  With shock, Annie realized this was the first time anyone had not only offered her sympathy but had stood staunchly at her side, on her side. Her mother hadn’t even bothered to visit her in the hospital. Finally free of an abusive husband when Annie’s father died six months before, her mother behaved even more the prisoner, rarely leaving her house.

  No one in Jim’s family came to visit her, either. How they’d managed to get that memorial service done and the bastard buried without her was something she’d never know. But it had been the first kind thing they’d ever done for her.

  Of course, his brother had still been in jail, thank God. If he’d shown up to visit her, she would have had hospital security throw him out.

  Annie shivered, the image of the car that had driven slowly past her store just as she flipped the sign coming front and center in her thoughts. That’s why she’d been unnerved. Something about that driver’s profile reminded her of her former brother-in-law.

  Grant must have felt her shiver because he tightened his embrace of her. “We’re sorry you went through that, sweetheart. But we’re very glad you survived, that you’re here.”

  Jesse’s warm hand caressed her back, stroking gently.

  Annie pushed to sit up and Grant eased his hold of her. Jesse handed her one of the unused napkins left over from their pizza feast. She used it to wipe her eyes.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart like that.”

  “Hell, don’t apologize, Annie.” Grant stroked her leg. They each had a hand on her and she found she liked it a hell of a lot.

  “Did you completely burn your bridges moving here?” Jesse as
ked.

  “Yeah.” Because of the comfort they gave, she found a small smile to offer them. “My mom and I pretty much don’t communicate. Haven’t for a long while. As for Jim’s family, he only had a mother and a brother. His mom thought he walked on water. As for his brother, if I never see him again, it will be too soon. He’s in prison. It’s where he belongs.”

  “You don’t need anyone else. You have the town of Branchton, if the number of bunches of flowers lining your shelves the week before last was any indication. And you have us.”

  Annie rested her head on Grant’s shoulder. Her hand found Jesse’s and she linked fingers with him.

  “Good thing. Actually, it’s kind of funny now. But earlier today, just for a split second, I thought I saw Rick Rutherford.” And saying that out loud coursed another shiver down her spine.

  “Really?” Jesse asked.

  “Yeah, but it couldn’t have been him. As I said, he’s in prison. And the car had Wyoming plates. Must have just been my imagination playing tricks on me.”

  “Did he hurt you in the past? The brother?”

  Trust Grant to ask that. How could she answer?

  “Don’t edit it for us, Annie. Give it to us straight.” Jesse’s tone, though gentle, sounded lined with steel.

  “You guys aren’t going to let me get away with even a shred of my dignity intact, are you?”

  “From where I’m sitting, sweetheart, you haven’t lost so much as an ounce of that. Spill it.”

  “It only happened once. I was at home, alone. A Friday night. Waiting for Jim to get home from work. Rick showed up. He…he made a pass at me and when I pushed him away, he tried to force himself on me. If Jim hadn’t come home when he did….” She would not finish the sentence, or even the thought.

  Jesse hissed in a breath. Beneath her, Grant tensed.

  “You’re sure it wasn’t him you saw this afternoon?”

  “Just my mind playing funny games. Besides, the car did have a Wyoming license plate.” This was so not where she wanted to be right now. She turned on Grant’s lap, so that she straddled him. Her gaze went from him—he moved his chair back just slightly from the table to accommodate her action—to Jesse, who’s dark gaze met hers.

  “Could we change the subject now?” she asked. And decided the matter by whipping off her t-shirt.

  “Feeling a little frisky, are you?” Jesse asked.

  “I am. Question is, what are you two studly cowboys going to do about it?” She felt brazen and more than a little frisky. Jesse and Grant could turn her on with just a look—and wasn’t that a marvel?

  “Whatever you like,” Grant murmured. He reached around her with a lazy kind of nonchalance and unfastened her bra. Jesse plucked it from her body.

  “See, now that’s just it. I’m not really sure yet what all I like.” Annie let the coquette in her emerge. Her arousal needed no more than the heated looks being sent her way to fan it into flames.

  “Is that a fact?” Grant’s tone, half teasing, half distracted as he used one finger to trace around her left breast, put a smile on her face and moisture on her panties.

  “That is a fact. Any suggestions?”

  “Since you ask,” Grant said. He leaned forward and captured her nipple into his moist, hot mouth and suckled strongly. Annie arched her back, a zing of heat zipping through her body, gathering low in her belly and tickling her pussy.

  Her gasp came involuntarily. She felt Grant’s smile against her flesh.

  He stood, wrapping his arms around her. Her legs dangled just off the ground. Jesse came up behind her, reached around and opened the snap on her jeans. The slide of the zipper sent a shiver across her skin. One strong tug and she was naked.

  “Let’s move this party to the bedroom.”

  Annie wrapped her legs around Grant’s hips. “Yes, let’s.”

  * * * *

  A sense of wonder filled Grant as his hands trailed down Annie’s body, mapping her. Soft and silky, lovely and lush, the sensation of her flesh under his fingers filled him with so many emotions. Hunger. Lust. Love.

  “Let me look at you, baby. Let me look and touch and taste.” He made his words soft, his tone reverent because anything else would be wrong.

  He loved the way she blushed when he adored her, when he let her see what being with her like this did to him, meant to him. Propped on his elbow, naked on the bed beside her, he stroked and caressed and set about arousing them both.

  They were alone in the bedroom. Jesse would join them, but after. This was their first time alone together. Tomorrow, Jesse would experience the privilege of having their woman all to himself.

  Grant enjoyed the time the three of them had spent together in love play. He looked forward to many more sessions in this big bed, or wherever else they happened to be when the need overwhelmed them. But he rejoiced that there could be times like this, too. Times when it would be just him and his lady. Together and alone.

  “You make me feel so special,” Annie said. The pink decorating her cheeks warmed his heart and infuriated him at the same time. She deserved to be cherished. That she hadn’t been, that she’d been abused, wounded him. He wouldn’t think about that now. Thinking about all that she’d shared with them earlier would just make him angry. It wasn’t his anger Annie needed right now. One thing was certain, though.

  No one would ever hurt her again.

  Grant pushed all else aside. Only Annie mattered. One response came to mind, and he needed her to know the truth. “You are special. You’re wonderful.”

  Leaning over her, he traced a line from just under her eye to just below the sweet little bow of her mouth. Her lips parted slightly and her tongue, glistening wet, stroked her bottom lip.

  Drawn, he kissed her. Light, tasting, his lips sipped, his tongue caressed the trail hers had left. When she inhaled, when she opened, he drank in all of her. Warm, wet, her flavor burst in his mouth, a sexy-sweet confection he wanted to gorge himself on again and again.

  Heat shot up in him, waves of sexual heat that whispered demands, curled in sensual images so that he could do nothing else but touch her, love her. Annie responded to his touch, her nipple peaking, her back arching. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers playing through his hair as she returned his kiss. She knew just how to taste him now, understood that she could demand as much as he, and he found her slight aggression very arousing.

  Needing more, he broke the kiss. Rising up on his knees, he maneuvered so that he knelt before her. He lifted her legs, parted them, and splayed them on either side of him.

  He saw the moment she realized how open she was to him. For one instant, her legs tensed, as if she would close them, shield herself from his sight.

  “It’s all right, Annie. You’re safe. And this is so pretty.” He reached down, drew one finger from just above her clit, downward, stroking her pussy. He grinned as her labia convulsed in response to the teasing touch, those luscious lower lips seeming as if they would suck his finger right inside.

  “No one has ever said that,” Annie said. “No one has ever looked or touched the way you do. It gets me so hot.”

  “Yeah?” He’d been stroking his finger up and down in a light caress. He felt her moisture increase as it gathered, preparing her.

  He pushed forward, his finger going in, going deep. Sleek and sultry, her flesh closed around him, the ripple of inner muscles a siren call to his cock. Looking down, he caught sight of the bead of moisture on its tip, his own body’s way of preparing to plunge into female flesh.

  “Grant!” Annie bowed off the bed, her hips pushing forward, her sex chasing his finger when he withdrew it. When he pushed it into her again, she made a needy sound at the back of her throat.

  “Yes, Annie?”

  As a rule, he wasn’t much of a kidder the way Jesse could be, but he could certainly see the appeal in playing coy.

  “More. Give me more.”

  “You want two fingers? You’ve got it, sweetheart.”
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  She was hot enough and wet enough that two fingers slid into her easily. Once inside, he spread them, stroking the walls of her canal. Annie whimpered and panted, pushing harder against him in her need for even more stimulation.

  This kind of love play had one drawback. Grant didn’t know how much longer he could resist what he needed most—sinking balls-deep into her.

  He used his thumb to stroke her clit. The light abrasion coaxed the small bud out of hiding, until it stood erect and swollen. Annie pistoned her hips, her breathing ragged as she neared her climax.

  Grant leaned forward, his left hand snagging the plastic packet on the bedside table. His fingers continued to work her as he used his teeth to open the package. He rolled the latex on with one hand.

  “Do you want more, baby?”

  Annie focused on him, then reached for his cock. Her hand sliding against the condom sent shivers through him. His cock twitched, needy and greedy, and ready.

  “Inside me. Now.”

  Grant needed no further urging. Pulling his fingers from her hot, slick pussy, he leaned forward. Her hand guided him to her opening.

  He rode one long silky glide to heaven.

  “Oh, yes,” Annie cried out. She wrapped arms and legs around him, her limbs holding him as surely as her velvety tunnel throbbed and held his cock. He rode her orgasm, pulling out and sinking home, again and again as the waves of rapture drenched her. He felt that moment when her climax began to ebb. Sliding an arm under her bottom, he lifted her to him as his lips found hers and his hips began to thrust in rapid rhythm.

  Grant wanted a long slow climb. Instead, he came hard and fast, the explosion of his orgasm so fierce, it put stars behind his closed eyelids and made his ears ring. Nothing else mattered but the electrifying ride, the amazing sensation of being inside his woman, of coming inside her. All restraint left him, all control shattered. For this moment, for right now, he allowed his inner beast free rein and gave himself up to ecstasy.