by Kaliana Cole
“Just fuck me, Brody. Fuck me hard.” Her hips hammered at him, demanding satisfaction.
He stopped, painfully ignoring his cock’s scream of protest, when she shut her eyes.
“No!” It was almost a shout as her eyes sprang open. A flash of fury was the only warning he had before she gave him an almighty shove and followed him as he rolled without breaking the carnal union of their bodies. Brody found himself pinned on his back, a redheaded Valkyrie astride his loins, hell-bent on orgasm. He knew he should stop her, knew he could do it all too easily, but he was poleaxed by the sight of Casey riding him as if she meant to fuck him into the ground. Her head fell back as her long slender throat arched in patent pleasure, her full breasts bounced with the reckless abandon of her ride, and he could see her cream glistening on his cock every time she lifted on its length. A torrid trickle of cream ran from her cunt to bathe his ever-tightening balls.
There were some fights you were never going to win and Brody accepted the inevitable—this was Casey’s round. She fought hard and she fought dirty, but right then, looking up at the woman riding his cock as if she meant to wear it to a stub, he couldn’t give a flying fuck.
His hands went to Casey’s hips to urge her on. His own orgasm wasn’t more than a wayward thought away and he wanted to see her fly first. He thought about touching a thumb to her swollen, slippery clit but he knew he’d sour her victory if he did. She’d won the right to take rather than accept.
“You want it, you take it, honey. Make yourself come.” It was more growl than recognizable speech, but Casey must have heard beyond the blood pounding in her ears.
One of her hands retracted its nails from his chest and cupped her mound desperately. He could feel her fingertips touching his shaft and her knuckles in the coarse hair at the base of his cock. He expected her fingers to attack her fevered clit, but she just curled them over the hot sodden lips and squeezed.
The way she tightened down on his cock brought tears to his eyes and a primal eruption he didn’t have a chance in hell of holding back. His out-and-out roar drowned out any sound that might have sprung from her wide, opened mouth, but he could feel the intensity of her orgasm around his spurting cock and in the way her body bucked and jerked above him. The savage euphoria upon her fire-lit face was intoxicating, erotic, and so fucking beautiful his chest ached with need. He’d do anything for Casey Buckley to be his.
But as the high of orgasm faded, movement behind her reminded him that Casey wasn’t solely his.
He’d always thought Luke was weak for wanting to find a woman to settle down with instead of playing the field, but a stark realization hit him—he’d been the weak one. He’d spent ten years running from a past that had nothing to do with the present. There was real strength involved in saying that this was the one, the one who he would give his heart and soul to instead of just his body. It was a risk he had never thought he would take again, but Luke had been willing to lay it all on the line from the very first time he had met Casey.
Brody couldn’t believe the woman who was now slumping in a satisfied, boneless mess atop his softening cock was that same abrasive, sharp-tongued Amazon who had left him at a loss for words amid the remains of his battered ego at the supermarket checkout. She challenged him every which way she could, more often than not winning, but Brody realized he didn’t want her any other way. She might be purring like a kitten now, but Casey had the claws of a mountain lion and no hesitation about using them.
Luke’s arms wrapped around her and she snuggled back against his chest. The love was plain to see in his brother’s eyes as he kissed her shoulder and whispered against her ear, but there was definitely a mocking twist to the smile Luke flashed him as he helped Casey lift off him. Brody couldn’t help but give a rueful grin as he secured the rubber. Everything between him and Casey turned into a battle. Without Luke as a mediator, nothing between them would work.
He disposed of the condom and found Casey ensconced with Luke beneath the second unzipped sleeping bag. “Is there enough room under there for me?”
Casey looked up at him and he could see a smugness in her mischievous grin that was thoroughly deserved. “Sure there is. Just slide right in behind me, that way I know it won’t be my ass hanging out in the cold come morning.”
Brody snugged in against her back, spooning her tight. He kissed her hair and settled down to sleep. Letting Casey get the last word grated, but some sacrifices had to be made. Discretion sometimes was the better part of valor.
He could have come up with a hundred retorts about keeping her fine ass warm, but he smiled and kept thoughts of just what he wanted to do to that ass to himself. The only time she hadn’t challenged him was when he’d been taking it. Come hell or high water he wanted her sandwiched between them again, her hot satiny ass around his cock and Luke forging in her slick cunt. The thought of the orgasmic scream they’d wrung from her then echoing off the canyon walls had his cock stirring bravely.
Next time he wouldn’t forget the damn lube.
Chapter 12
“Ahh-choo! Whose bright idea was it to sleep out with one sleeping bag to cover three people?”
“Hey! It wasn’t your ass hanging out in the cold all night,” Luke called through the door. He had spent the night huddled up to her for warmth, but it was Casey who had ended up with the flu. Brody was a cover-hog of grand proportions.
“Where is he-who-must-be-obeyed anyway?”
“He headed over to Sheridan to get some cold and flu tablets for you. The pharmacy in town doesn’t open on Sundays.”
“He worries like an old woman. I’m fine, Luke. It’s just a cold.”
“Humor him, sweetheart, he’s blaming himself for making you sleep at the spring.”
“Making me?” Luke winced as he heard her tone fire up again as her blood reheated with anger. “Nobody makes me do anything!”
“So we’ve noticed.” Luke’s drawled dryly.
“Who does he think he is?” Casey went on undeterred. Her ire was plain to hear even with the door closed. “I won’t be told what to do, Luke. He is being a patronizing, arrogant prick and I won’t tolerate it. It’s bad enough that he sent me to bed like a little kid with a sniffle, but to tell me I’ve got to stay here or he’s gonna spank my ass? I’d like to see him try.”
So would I, Luke thought, but he had the good sense to keep it to himself.
Once again he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Brody had told him that under no circumstance was Casey to get out of bed. He was to wait on her hand and foot. The second he would have done anyway, but Brody had completely missed the boat with his first demand. Casey wasn’t the kind of woman you laid down the law to. Nothing would get her back up faster than being told what to do. He could have said, “Rest up, honey. I’m just going to get you some medicine,” but no, Brody had gone all dominant-alpha-he-man on her ass. As soon as she’d stepped out of the hot shower, he’d greeted her with “get yourself into that bed and don’t move a muscle until I get back.”
Predictably, that had gone down as well as a pubic hair on your dinner plate, and Casey had told him to go to hell. Brody had gone the caveman route and scooped her up over his shoulder and carted her off to bed.
Luke still winced when he thought of the language that had echoed down the hall. He’d watched from the safety of the hall as Brody had thrown her on the bed and told her if she moved from there he was going to put her over his knee and spank her lily-white ass rose-red. Brody had marched from the house and left Luke to deal with the aftermath. He’d definitely had jack of cleaning up Brody’s fuckups.
He rubbed his forehead, feeling the lump growing just left of center. Next time he’d duck. He’d had no idea a bottle of lube made a damn fine missile. Casey had grabbed the nearest item to hand on the bedside table and hurled it after his retreating brother. Unfortunately, he’d been the one on the receiving end. With an arm like that she should have been pitching for the Casper Ghosts.
&n
bsp; He shifted, trying to get comfortable. He was sitting on the floor behind the closed door to Casey’s room. He’d been the one to shut it as a matter of self-preservation, but she had made no effort to open it. He wasn’t game to stick his head in for a peek. He knew damn well there was a whole cupboard of trophies and buckles in that room that would make more lethal projectiles than the contents of the bedside table.
“Are you gonna take my head off again if I open the door, sweetheart?”
“What do you mean ‘again’?”
You cracked me right between the eyes with that first throw, sweetheart.”
“I did? Are you okay?”
Luke smiled with relief as real concern entered her voice. She wasn’t going to hold the sins of his brother against him. “I don’t know. There’s a knot the size of a walnut, but I don’t think it’s bleeding.” He was going to milk it for all it was worth.
“Come in and I’ll have a look at it.”
He got to his feet and cracked the door an inch, peeking warily through the gap. She was sitting in the middle of the bed, arms and legs crossed like a sulky child. He opened the door wider, being careful to suppress his amused grin. He didn’t want her lobbing things at him again.
“Oh, fuck! I’m so sorry, Luke.” She clapped her hand to her mouth but he couldn’t tell if it was in shock or to cover an inappropriate grin. Knowing Casey, he’d put his money on the second. “Oh, my God!”
Yep, there was that grin. “Don’t be laughing at me. You did it, sweetheart. Now I’m going to be getting around with an egg on my head.”
“I’m sorry. I just can’t believe I hit you. It was meant for Brody.”
“Well, you might have plenty of power, but you’ve got lousy aim. How could you miss someone his size?”
Her smile was as warm as her fingers when she took his hand and tugged him down to sit on the bed. With a gentle touch she softly felt the lump on his forehead. Luke winced deliberately and was rewarded by the instant sympathy on her face.
“You poor thing. I’m so sorry.”
Luke was glad she clutched his head to her shoulder because she wouldn’t have approved of the triumphant smile on his lips. “Sorry enough to lie here and hold me for a while?”
He was hoping she said “yes.” Casey looked tired, and he could see the flu was getting a hold on her. He was betting if he could get her to lie down she’d be asleep in five minutes tops.
“Okay, but it’s only because you need it. I don’t want Brody thinking that I’m doing it because he said.”
“Oh, I’ve got a feeling Brody is coming to realize that what he wants and what he gets are two completely different things. Now come here and hold me, my head’s throbbing.” He couldn’t help but laugh as her eyes dropped instantly to his groin. “Not that head, you little miscreant. Get over here.”
Luke tucked her head under his chin and felt her relax against him. It was worth the lump on the head to feel her arm snake around his back and hold him close. He’d walk through hell itself to hold Casey in his arms. Unfortunately, until Brody woke up to facts, he suspected that was exactly what it was going to take.
* * * *
Brody returned with every cold and flu remedy known to modern science and a stolen rose. He braced for a tirade as he entered the house, from either Luke or Casey. He knew he was deserved of both their wrath.
He wasn’t used to dealing with women like Casey. Hell, he wasn’t used to dealing with women at all. For ten years they’d been a plaything or a pleasant diversion. He had no idea how to treat Casey. Their father had been away more than he was ever at home, so he couldn’t even fall back on the basic grounding that most adults have of how to function in relationships.
Everything in him screamed at him to protect her, to cherish her and hold her close, but Casey launched on the defensive every time he tried to guide her in any way. Granted, his method had been a little abrupt earlier, but he just wanted what’s best for her. She was sick and would get sicker if she didn’t look after herself. Why she’d had to go off the deep end he didn’t understand. He had a feeling Luke would be making him understand very shortly.
All was quiet inside and he had one brief moment of panic until he realized he had parked right beside her Kenworth. If the truck was there then Casey was there. She wouldn’t leave her baby behind.
Brody headed down the hall and gingerly peeked around the corner into Casey’s room. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her wrapped around Luke and sleeping softly. Luke wasn’t asleep and the glare he got off him promised he would be hearing about it later. He wondered how Luke had got that painful looking lump that was all blue and raised like a third eye in the middle of his forehead. No doubt he’d hear about that, too.
He laid the rose on her pillow and ignored Luke as he gently stroked her hair back from her face. Her long, russet lashes rested softly on cheeks that were even paler than usual. He ran the back of his knuckle down her cheek once and resolutely walked away.
He wouldn’t be welcome in her bed right now, and he had some serious thinking to do.
* * * *
The sun was sinking on what had become a wet, dreary day as Brody sat on the porch and watched the rain come down in sheets. Three hours had passed since he’d left Casey curled in his brother’s arms and he still didn’t know what he was going to do. Casey was a strong woman who thrived on her independence, and Brody didn’t know if he had what it took to allow her that freedom.
Allow? Who was he trying to kid. Nobody “allowed” Casey anything.
She was her own woman, a successful businesswoman and accomplished operator. She didn’t need them for money, a roof over her head, or a name for her child. None of the reasons for which he saw women go to men applied to Casey. She had no deep desire to submit to a man that had the club bunnies lining up in droves. He could think of no reason for her to be there with them other than lust or love.
Casey Buckley drove him mad. He was sure there was more to her attraction to them than basic biology, but whenever he tried to prove it she maneuvered him as easily as she steered that big truck. He’d started off making love to her last night, letting her see parts of him that no one, least of all him, thought existed. But she’d turned it all on its head and made it nothing more than the joining of their bodies, something beautiful and erotic as hell, but not very profound.
She taunted him and pushed him to his limits and yet he found he wanted more.
“Reached any deep and meaningful conclusions yet?” Luke slipped out on to the porch.
“I’m an idiot.”
“That’s a given.” Luke stretched out in the deck chair. “Anything else?”
“Casey isn’t going to put up with me telling her what to do?”
“Christ almighty! And you call me slow.” Luke sat forward and rubbed his sleepy-looking eyes. “Brody, I don’t know what’s been going through your thick skull for the past three hours, but the situation really isn’t that hard to figure out. Casey is your equal in every way. She won’t tolerate high-handedness or any of your alpha macho bullshit. If you want her to do something, ask. She’s not totally unreasonable.
“And what you tried to do last night scared the shit out of her. The revelation that you love her might have hit you like a bit of four-by-two, but she’s still in denial. Don’t rush her or she’ll run so far and fast we won’t see which way she’s gone. Back off and give her some space, Brode.”
“Why is this so fucking hard?”
Luke’s smile had just a touch of pity in it. “Usually, by the time a man gets to your age he’s loved and lost a time or two and knows how it all works. Things always hurt a little the first time.”
“I’ve been in love before.”
“That’s horseshit and you know it. You were twenty-one and still wet behind the ears. Cherry saw you coming a mile away. ‘Oops, sorry the rubber broke’ and slam, she’s pregnant. I was younger than you, but even I knew enough to know it takes more than a week for a
pregnancy to show up. She suckered you and you built all these illusions of love and forever around one scheming little bitch.
“I’m glad you came across Zach and Colb riding the ass off the little slut because it opened your eyes up to what sort of girl she really was. It’s great that Casey has got you over her, but now you just need to get the fuck over yourself. Casey comes first in this relationship, not your ego. Let it go and just love her—it’s not fuckin’ rocket science, Brode.”
Brody looked at his brother as if he’d turned green and croaked. Wisdom from Luke? He’d always assumed Luke thought as slow as he talked and walked—he always gave you the urge to line him up with a post just to see if he was moving—but there was real depth to his reasoning.
“Just love her, huh?”
“That’s it. No more, no less. You don’t have to prove anything, just love her and time will do the rest.”
“How do I fix the mess of things I made this morning?”
“Go in there and just hold her for a while. She wakes up pretty cuddly and soft, but if she throws anything at you? Duck, man. She’s got a wicked arm on her.”
Brody saw the wound on his brother’s head in a new light. “What did she chuck at you?”
“She was pitching a bottle of lube at you as you stormed out this morning, and I wore it.”
“A bottle of lube?” Brody couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Hey, I’d prefer that to the butt plug she pelted at the door afterward. That thing’s made of glass.”
“She threw it? I only just bought it for her.”
“Well, before you snuggle up with her I’d be moving it from in reach. You may be acting the ass, but the plans I heard for you and that plug this morning, you don’t want to know.”
* * * *
Casey was snuggled so far down in the bed that if a flame-colored tress hadn’t have been sticking out, he wouldn’t have known which way was up. Brody shucked off his clothes and pulled some boxers on. It was going to be hot as hell under the blankets, but being naked around her was a bad idea for so many reasons.