After that he’d acted strictly on instinct. If Eric hadn’t interrupted he would have had his hand over her breast and her lips on his. He didn’t know how long Jocelyn was in town for. Exactly how long does it take to research family history? At least theirs and the McLean’s family history was so convoluted and the many stories were equal parts fact and fiction. Hopefully that would slow things down because he wanted to have Jocelyn between him and Eric as soon as possible.
“Have you thought about what I asked, Jocelyn?”
Her breath caught, and her gaze shot to him immediately. Her cheeks went pink, and he knew she was remembering him asking her what she wanted. Good. She was aware of how close she’d come to knowing him on a more intimate level.
“I don’t recall not answering any of your questions.”
More. The word hung between them, adding to the erotic tension he felt surrounding them. Not that having Eric there watching would have stopped him. If anything, being watched would have spurred his seduction along. Hell, if the fates had been kind he could have been balls deep in her right now. Considering she had been sneezing like crazy inside and the day hadn’t really gotten any warmer than this morning, perhaps it was better if he waited to seduce her in more comfortable surroundings. He was going to have to concentrate on chipping away at that cool persona of hers.
He lifted his arm and rested it along the back of the bench seat as if he was getting comfortable. The moment his fingers brushed the back of her shoulders she sat straighter in the seat, pulling away from him. Matt glanced at his cousin, who was obviously fighting a grin at her reaction.
Eric broke the tension filled silence. “Would you like us to take you to the church? It’s been around for at least a century, and they have lots of information on the local families.”
“That would be very helpful. Do you know if they have digitized their records?”
“I’m not certain, but Matt and I would be happy to help you look through any reference material they might have.”
A church was not where Matt wanted to take Jocelyn. He would have preferred the library or another less dusty empty house. He might not be the most religious guy on the planet, but even he couldn’t see himself seducing her on a pile of old family bibles. He lifted his arm from the back of the seat and gripped the wheel. His cock deflated slightly as if it knew that there wouldn’t be any immediate relief.
Jocelyn’s posture relaxed and she sat back again. He met Eric’s gaze over her head for a moment and caught his cousin frown at him. Okay, maybe I’m rushing things a bit. But he couldn’t help feeling like Jocelyn was it for them. She was the one. His dad had told him a long time ago that he knew his mom was the one the moment he set his eyes on her. He’d heard the story told so many times, and it always ended with his mom and dad looking at each other as if they were newlyweds. A nauseating sight when he was thirteen, but as an adult he was in awe that after three decades they were still deeply in love with each other.
In order for this to work, she needed time alone with each of them. He and Eric would have to talk about their plans for her. There was a big family dinner planned next week. I’m taking her home for dinner.
They drove around the area for another hour as he and Eric pointed out some of the local highlights and stories, the road where the McLeans had stolen the gold meant for the Confederate soldiers and the stretch of property that one of their ancestors had been cheated out of. Not every stop had to do with the local history. They pointed out the high school they had both gone to and told her stories about some of the trouble they both got into before taking her to the church.
It turned out that Reverend Lansdowne was away at a meeting in the city, but his wife was happy to show Jocelyn to a room filled with old books. Matt watched Jocelyn’s eyes light up with pleasure. She pulled a notebook out from the large pocket in her oversized coat. What else does she have in there?
“I thought you’d be disappointed when Mrs. Lansdowne said that nothing had been computerized before nineteen seventy?”
Eric was lifting a large box down from a rack for her. “I bet you’re happier to look through these old books and files, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely, this is wonderful.” Jocelyn’s eyes sparkled with delight when his cousin lifted the lid to the first box. “You can get a feeling for the time period by the handwriting of the person, or the ink they used, or even their mood sometimes.”
Jocelyn’s prickly demeanor fell away as she lifted out the first ledger and opened it on one of two large tables that ran down the center of the room. She put on a pair of white gloves before turning the pages.
“Why the gloves?” Eric asked.
“I don’t want to ruin the pages. The natural oils in my skin can damage old paper and make it brittle. Since we don’t know how old these books are and what order they are in, I didn’t want to take any chances.” She ran her finger down the page. “This looks like a church census done in the eighties or so.”
She paused on a page and grinned up at him. “Matthew Zebediah Ezekiel Baldwin? Wow, that’s a mouthful.”
Eric jabbed him in the kidney, stopping him from making a comment about his mouthful. “Yeah, allegedly I was in grade five before I could finally spell my own name correctly.”
Dammit, we should have gone to the library. Matt could tell the moment she got lost in the names and numbers on the pages in front of her. He moved a chair over and gently pushed it against the backs of her legs. She murmured her thanks but didn’t stop turning pages and making notes as she sat down.
After fifteen minutes of silence, he and Eric shrugged and searched through boxes looking for older and older books. When the pages looked too faded to read, she pulled a magnifying glass out of her coat pocket and leaned over the book. That gave him a nice view and he paused to enjoy it.
There was something beautiful in the curve of a woman’s ass. He loved the way their backs dipped in at their lower back and then curved around. Jocelyn was a little thin, but she had potential for an amazing ass. Eric was going to love reddening that curve. He glanced over at Eric to see if he noticed, but his cousin was completely distracted by his own view. He’d been sitting across the table from her when she leaned over the ledger she’d been reading, and it looked like her T-shirt had gaped enough to allow Eric a view down the front.
Jocelyn made another excited noise in the back of her throat and scribbled another line in her notebook. She made a few of those sounds, along with gasps and awe-filled exhales as they got into the older and older journals. With every noise his cock perked up, and he pressed the heel of his hand against it. The simple pressure was a source of pleasure, but his cock wanted the wet heat of her cunt squeezing him as she hollered out her release. The need to press his cock against the seam of her ass hummed through him. He wanted to trap her between him and his cousin, and then discover if she made the same noises during sex. When she sat down this time, she arched her back and moaned, twisting as she stretched out her back muscles. His cock reacted, but he was more concerned she didn’t hurt herself.
“How about a lunch break, Jocelyn?” Eric rubbed his hand in circles over her lower back and made her groan. Matt grabbed a box of books and walked a few steps away hoping to get his cock under control before she noticed the wood pressing against his jeans. “We can head over to our place, and make you something to eat.”
“Oh, god, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how much time had gone by.”
When Matt turned around, Jocelyn was pressing her hands to her lower back and arching out her chest again. He clenched his teeth together and tried not to groan as his cock pulsed heavily between his legs. He’d been given enough visual memories to keep his dick hard for most of the night.
“God, I’m stiff.” She moaned and arched her back again.
He and Eric looked at each other at the same moment, and he almost burst out laughing. Considering Eric was standing there with a box in front of his hips, he imagined Eric was feeling t
he same way as he was.
“Let’s get you some lunch.” Matt grabbed her coat and held it up for her to slip her arms into as Eric turned and put the box back on the shelf.
“You don’t have to do that. Why don’t I pick up the lunch tab for the three of us? You both have been so thoughtful helping me today.” She gathered up her notebook and magnifying glass and tucked them into the large pockets. “Minnie said the Bandit has really good food.”
“We were happy to help.” He pressed his hand against her lower back, needing some contact with her after all the teasing. Despite the thickness of her coat, he imagined he could feel a shiver dance along her muscles. Eric passed him his jacket and they escorted her out, waving their thanks to Mrs. Lansdowne on their way out.
* * * *
Eric noticed that Jocelyn was much more relaxed getting into the truck this time then when they’d left the old house. He should have known that Matt would push the attraction with her. He never did have much patience as a kid, something that he’d never grown out of. Now that he was certain he’d found the woman meant for him, he was rushing full speed ahead. Not that Eric really had much inclination to rein him in this time. He could have bit his tongue when he’d come out of the house and caught the two of them on the porch.
She’d looked like a seductive goddess standing there gripping the post behind her like a lifeline as Matt loomed over her, one hand a breath above her breast. When she scooted out from under Matt’s arm, Eric mouthed an apology to his cousin. Not that Matt would ever carry a grudge. The constant simmering tension between her and them was starting to feel like foreplay. He and Matt tried to catch her between them, and she artfully dodged them.
His cock was still half erect and aching. The view he’d gotten down the front of her shirt when she’d bent over earlier had almost given him a first-class ticket straight to hell. He didn’t care that they were in the back of the church rectory, he’d wanted to strip her bare and lay her out on that long table like a feast. He wanted to swirl his tongue around her nipples and suck much of her breast as he could into his mouth before he made his way down her body to other delicacies.
“Did you discover anything interesting about our families?”
“Aside from your family’s penchant for long biblical names, Eric Solomon Jebediah Baldwin”—she teased him with a grin—“and I know you were both born within two hours of each other.”
“That’s a long-standing joke in the family. “Aunt Katherine was already a week overdue with Matt when my mom went into labor, a week early with me. My Aunt was so mad, she went into labor, too. I’m still older, though.”
“We’re more like twins than cousins with all the time we spent together,” Matt added as he drove them to the Bandit. “Any time something broke we both were blamed.”
“That doesn’t sound fair.”
“Oh, it was fair.” Eric tried to ease the outrage in Jocelyn’s voice. “We were both a bit rambunctious as kids and never ratted each other out. If something broke, odds were one of us did it and the other was covering.”
“You both come from large families. I bet it was great as a kid to run around these parts.”
“I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything. There was always someone to play with or McLeans to get in a scuffle with as we got older.” Eric couldn’t imagine not having Christmas morning at his grandparents with all his cousins and aunts and uncles. It had always been the best kind of mass pandemonium.
“We used to go treasure hunting in the cemetery,” Matt added. “There were rumors that one of the McLeans buried stolen gold in a coffin, but we were too afraid to try to dig one up.”
“I would imagine if that was true, someone would have desecrated the cemetery long before you two were born.”
Matt pulled the truck into the Bandit Bar’s parking lot. It was almost full, forcing them to find a spot farthest from the door. “I’m going to pull up front and let you out at the doors, Jocelyn.”
“I appreciate your thoughtfulness, Matt, but that really isn’t necessary. A brisk walk across the parking lot isn’t going to break me.” She waved toward the parking spot. “By the time you drop me off, then park, we could be in and seated.”
Eric helped her out of the truck when a bitter wind gusted across the lot. Jocelyn pulled her coat tighter around her neck as a cool breeze swirled around them. He immediately wrapped his arm around her and tucked her closer to his body as Matt stepped nearer and blocked the wind as well. Jocelyn stiffened but didn’t try to step away or say anything about them backing off. He didn’t let go of her until they crossed the parking lot and made it to the front doors.
Matt opened the door, and Eric slid his arm from around Jocelyn’s shoulders, across her back, laying his hand just above her ass. They let her enter first and then followed behind. It was busy with the lunch crowd, but they found a small table in the middle of the restaurant part of the bar, which was fine with Eric, as he had no qualms with staking his claim for everyone to see. Jocelyn was new to town and beautiful, which would draw a lot of attention. He and Matt might share with each other but not with anyone else. This was as good as a warning to every other horndog that lived in this town to back off.
He knew he had no business comparing her to his ex, but Brittany would have insisted on being let off at the door and been inside and had a drink ordered for herself on his tab before they got the truck parked. Eric was willing to bet that thought never crossed Jocelyn’s head and if it did she would have a beer waiting for each of them.
They’d just gotten settled at their table when someone came up behind him and ruffled his hair before kissing him on the temple. “Hi, boys.”
“Hi, Mom!” Eric got up and gave his mom a hug. His dad stood behind her and smiled before pulling him in for a hug, slapping his back a couple times. He knew his mom would be giving Matt a hug as well. Something in his dad’s expression seemed off as he let go of him. “Is everything okay?”
“No, I’m wondering what happened to all the manners we tried to beat into you as a child.” His dad looked directly at Jocelyn, and Eric’s concerns disappeared.
“I’m sorry. Jocelyn, these are my parents, Joseph and Belinda Baldwin,” he said, introducing her. “Jocelyn’s writing a paper on historical families in Montana. Matt and I were showing her around.”
Jocelyn stood up and shook both their hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Matt and Eric have been very generous with their time today.” Her cool, professional tone was strictly in place and he wondered if this was how she spoke to her conservative parents. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated their patience and help.”
“Don’t be afraid to slap them if they get out of line, Jocelyn,” Eric’s mom commented and then looked back and forth between them. “You two had better be on your best behavior.” Eric fought the urge to shake his head. Thirty-five years old and my mother still has the ability to embarrass the hell out of me.
“Don’t you worry about that, young lady,” Eric’s father continued. “I wouldn’t want you to hurt your hand. If they need it, you come and tell me and I’ll put them in their place.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Eric was desperate to get his parents away from them or distract their attention.
“That’s very sweet of you, but I’m sure it won’t come to that. Would you both like to join us for lunch?”
Eric snapped his gaze at Jocelyn, wishing he was psychic so she would hear him screaming no in his head. Matt wore a horrified look on his face as well that no doubt reflected his. The only good thing about seeing them here was his cock had deflated and was on the verge of hiding. It would make it much easier to focus on Jocelyn without constantly thinking about stretching her out along the table.
“Thank you, Jocelyn, but Joseph and I just finished our lunch and we’re heading out to do some shopping,” his mom responded. The noise in the bar covered Matt’s muttered, “Thank god,” but Eric saw his lips moving.
“Eric, if you have
some time later today, can you pop by and help your dad move some stuff out of the yard and into the sheds out back?”
“Belinda, I said I can do it,” Joseph responded, obviously annoyed by her question. Eric knew his dad had a stubborn streak a mile wide, and if his mom was asking for help he wasn’t about to say no. Besides, it would give him a chance to see if he could get his dad to open up about what was wrong.
“Of course. I’ll come over after lunch.”
“I’ll come help, too, Uncle Joseph.”
Joseph patted Matt on the shoulder. “No, that’s fine. Eric is more than enough help. If I have you both there we’ll get talking and nothing will get done.”
They said their good-byes, and Eric and Matt sat back down. Jocelyn picked up her menu and glanced over it again as he watched his parents head for the entrance. He gave them a wave when they looked back. The moment the door closed behind them, Jocelyn let loose with a hysterical giggle followed by an unladylike snort. She really did have the strangest laugh he’d ever heard, but it made him smile and lit up a part of his soul. He was starting to crave it.
“Oh, my, you should have seen the looks on your faces.” She twittered and tried to cover her mouth as she snorted again. “You were positively terrified they would stay, and you’re both blushing so intensely.”
He looked across the table at his cousin. Matt nodded his head at Jocelyn as if to say “can you believe her?”
“You have lovely parents. I don’t know why you didn’t want them to stay.”
Eric clenched his teeth, not in anger but in defiance. He was not going to add fuel to her fire by laughing along. He was probably going to get a dozen questions from his mom about his and Matt’s intentions toward her. He’d never lied to his parents and wasn’t about to start now. They knew about Matt and his preference for sharing ever since they’d gotten caught with Becky-Sue O’Conner behind the bleachers at a homecoming game. The biggest mistake he’d ever made in his twenties was deciding to continue dating Brittney after Matt said he wanted nothing to do with her.
Trust in Sanctuary [Sanctuary, Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 6