by Sophie Oak
Hope was pierced by the sweetness of being skin to skin with James. She’d dreamed of it, but it was better. He was so much more tender than she’d imagined, his lips tracing a line from her forehead to her nose, stopping briefly at her lips before lightly touching her chin. In her dreams, she’d imagined him as demanding and overwhelming. She’d longed to pleasure him, but never dreamed she would get so much back. He held her, kissing her over and over as though he couldn’t get enough.
This wasn’t the “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” of his legend, tearing his way through most of Southern Colorado. This wasn’t crazy sex, despite the bondage and the butt plug. This was making love. James was making love to her, and the only thing missing was Noah. She looked his way, and the longing in his eyes cut through her. She was just about to open her mouth to beg with James, but Noah shook his head.
This was James’s time.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the man in her arms. James kissed his way down, stopping to suckle her breasts and play with her navel. He took his time as though he wanted to learn every inch of her. She was in a near frenzy by the time his mouth finally hovered over her pussy. She could feel his heat and his control. Such control. She knew his cock must be aching, but he remained disciplined.
“This is what I’ve been waiting for. I missed my lunch, baby. This will make up for it.” His tongue danced a slow stroke down her pussy, delving into her juices. Hope nearly came off the bed. She spread her legs wide as James settled between them, his head buried in her pussy. He teased and licked and speared her with his tongue. Every inch of her female flesh lit up and went on high alert. She had to clutch the silky comforter beneath her or she would have sunk her hands in his hair to force him to fuck her harder.
Over and over he licked and sucked, keeping her on the thin edge of orgasm. She held on to the comforter, giving over to him. He wouldn’t leave her like this. He wouldn’t torture her with no hope of release, but he would push her. And she would let him because she trusted him. It was stupid, but she did, and she would lie here underneath him, giving him everything he requested.
“Such a good girl,” he murmured. “A good girl like you deserves a treat, baby.”
She loved the way he called her baby in that dirty, decadent way. He might call her baby, but he treated her like a woman. He’d used her mouth, allowing her to pleasure him. He’d made her a part of their lovemaking rather than treating her like a china doll. Even as he held her down, his big hands clamping down on her thighs, she felt sexier and more like a woman than ever before.
James pressed two fingers up into her cunt and sucked her clit hard. Hope’s vision swam as the orgasm took her. Before she could even process the feeling, James was moving up, covering her with his big body. He found her lips, their chests rubbing together. She tasted her tangy essence, but this time it was mingled with his. She opened her mouth, allowing him to dominate her. She loved his weight on top of her, pressing her into the silky softness of the bed.
He moved briefly to his knees, and Hope watched with a pleasant lethargy as he reached over to the small nightstand and grabbed one of the condoms that had been thoughtfully left there. James opened the condom and sheathed his dick. His bright blue eyes found hers as he lined his cock up to her pussy and started to press in.
“So tight. God, baby, I can feel the plug. When Noah…” He stopped himself, shaking his head as though to rid himself of the thought. He twisted his hips, working his way in. “I love the way the plug feels. When the time is right, I’m going to take your ass. I’m going to fuck you every way I can. There’s not going to be an inch of you I don’t cover because you’re mine, Hope. You’re fucking mine.”
But she knew what he’d been thinking. He’d been thinking about Noah. He’d been thinking about sharing her with his brother. Noah had been right. James might not be willing to share now, but he wouldn’t be able to help himself in the long run. If she opened herself, and if Noah continued to make amends, she might have what she wanted.
She wrapped herself around James. “I need you. I need you so much.”
She did. She couldn’t imagine leaving now. She held James close as he finally worked his way all the way in. Between the plug and James’s cock, she could barely breathe she was so full. She held him. He’d given her so much pleasure she didn’t expect she could handle more. She would let him take his pleasure and be perfectly satisfied.
But James wanted more.
“Give it to me, Hope.”
“I can’t.” It was almost too much. He ground his hips down on her clit, as though he sought to fuse them together. Hope shook her head, but there was no denying it. There was no stopping it. James’s cock slid inside as he thrust deep, and she screamed as she came. This orgasm caused her body to shake. It started in her pussy in that perfect place that James’s cock had found, and it drove outward like an earthquake. Her vision blurred, and she held on to James for dear life.
He groaned, gritting his teeth above her as he came.
He thrust into her one last time and then allowed his body to drop on top of hers. His chest heaved, and his body shuddered. He buried his face in her neck, his breath hot on her skin. She let her legs fall from around his waist, but she couldn’t bring herself to let him go.
His head came up slightly, his blue eyes sleepy but content. “See, that wasn’t all that bad. We’re going to play, Hope. We’re going to play a lot.”
“She needs aftercare.” Noah’s soft voice cut through the afterglow. Noah. He was still here, still watching.
James’s eyes hardened. He rolled off her, and she missed his warmth. “You think I don’t know what I owe her?”
“I don’t know how much you’ve played lately. You could be out of practice.” Noah’s face was flushed, his breath heavy. He turned his eyes away from her.
James didn’t seem to have a problem with nudity, but Hope suddenly felt hers. She pulled the comforter around her.
“I haven’t had a lot of time to play,” James said, his voice sharp and biting. “I had to take care of the ranch, and I had to take care of my father, so no, I haven’t been trolling clubs the way you have. But I still know damn well how to take care of my sub.”
Noah flinched a little but didn’t back down. “Her backside is probably aching. That’s all I’m saying.”
Hope forced herself to sit up and wished that Noah hadn’t said anything. “I’m fine. It’s just a little sore.”
She actually liked the ache. Every muscle in her body felt pleasantly used. Her blood was still humming through her system, but the amazingly sweet fog that had encompassed her brain was fleeing.
“Okay, then. I was just worried about you.” Noah pushed off the wall. “I’m going to go back to the main house. Am I still allowed to stay at the house or should I go into town?”
James shook his head, his hand scrubbing his scalp. “Just take the guest room.”
Noah walked out without looking behind him. The door closed with a quiet snick.
James stared at it for a moment, his shoulders set. He was silent.
“James,” Hope began.
He turned, and for just a moment, she saw the look of naked pain on his face, but he wiped it away in favor of a devilish smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Alone at last. I think he has the picture now, baby.”
Noah was walking away. Hope felt a little panicked. “James, you should go talk to him.”
He huffed and crawled back on the bed. “I’m not going after him when I just got rid of him. Don’t worry. Noah always bounces back. He’s the smart one after all. He’ll get over this, too.”
She wasn’t sure Noah was going to get over being estranged from his brother, and James was only putting up a good front. “Please, I don’t want to come between the two of you.”
James crowded her, climbing up her body after he dragged the comforter away. “You won’t. I’ll make sure of it. Hope, this is not your problem. And this is my time. I don’t w
ant to talk about Noah. I want to concentrate on you and me.”
He lowered his lips to hers, and Hope stopped thinking.
* * * *
Noah took a deep breath of the rapidly cooling Colorado air. It filled his lungs with a sweet ache. He wasn’t used to the altitude. It wouldn’t take him long. He’d been born in these mountains. When he’d sat in his small Manhattan apartment, he’d dreamed of them. He would close his eyes and feel the wind that rushed from the mountains into the valley, caressing his face. He would hear the aspens shake and smell the dirt.
He’d made a mistake. More than one. And now he had to wonder if coming home had been the biggest one of all.
Noah walked out of the guesthouse. Everything had changed. The guesthouse had been a place for friends to stay, and now there were plans to make it bigger than the main house. His childhood playground was gone, burned down in a fire he hadn’t even known about.
Maybe he’d burned down his whole connection to James when he’d walked out. Maybe he didn’t deserve to come home.
Maybe he owed it to his brother to walk away.
With a heavy sigh, he walked into the house. He walked through the living room and into the kitchen, wondering if James still kept a bottle of whiskey under the counter like their fathers had for years before. He and James had found it and gotten into some serious trouble for giving it a try.
Noah walked in the kitchen and was assaulted once again by the fact that everything changed.
Beth sat in Trev’s lap, her head on his shoulder as he sipped a cup of coffee and looked through some paperwork. It was an intimate scene. It cut through Noah like a knife.
“Sorry.” He started to step out. One more place where he wouldn’t be welcome. There seemed to be a lot of those.
Trev’s eyes came up. “I thought you were with James and Hope.”
“They need time alone. I was just going to get a drink and go to my room. Don’t mind me,” Noah said.
Beth sighed and slid off her husband’s lap. She pressed her lips to his. “I have to go. Bo is going to drive me out to the valley. I’ll be home before supper.”
Trev smiled at her. “You tell Bo to take good care of you. And you tell Nate that I’m not going to let him work you into the ground.”
Beth’s eyes rolled. “I’ll be sure to tell him.” Beth winked at Noah as she walked by. “Don’t you worry about him. His bark is worse than his bite. His bite is actually quite nice.”
Trev watched his wife walk away with a smile on his face. Noah started to back out of the kitchen. Maybe he would go for a ride. It had been forever since he’d been on a horse. He needed to figure out what to do now.
“The sheriff found out Beth is damn good at home renovations. He and Zane are going to add to their cabin, and they want to consult with Beth. If I know my Beth, she’ll figure out how to make a mansion out of that cabin. Hey, why don’t you sit down? I’m going over some records for Red, but it’s all in vet speak, so I don’t understand much of it. There’s a whole lot of Latin in here. I would love to know if any of this explains why he’s such a difficult horse.”
Noah hesitated. “I don’t know. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’m going to be here for long. I think I might head out tomorrow.”
Why not now? A little voice pestered him. Why wait? It would be for the best if you just never saw Hope again.
“Please sit down, Noah,” Trev asked politely, but there was a hardness to his eyes that let Noah know he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
Noah pulled a chair out and sat. He’d been an asshole to Trev. If Trev wanted a piece of his hide, maybe he should give it to him. “Just say what you need to say.”
Trev let the papers in his hand fall. “I’m not going to insult you, Noah. I am going to tell you that you made a mistake by walking out of that playroom. You did exactly what James thought you would do.”
Noah leaned forward. The last thing he needed was yet another busybody sticking his nose in. “What the hell do you know about this?”
If Trev was upset by Noah’s show of temper, he didn’t show it. “I know way more than you think. Bo and I didn’t just meet and decide to share Beth. We had a past, and I was the one in your shoes. I had hurt the hell out of him, and I had to make amends. You hurt your brother.”
He hadn’t meant to. “I was in love.”
“And that gave you the right to walk out on your obligations?”
“At the time, it felt more important than anything. It really did.” Noah felt old. Weariness began to settle into his bones.
Trev sighed and took a sip of his coffee. “I do know what you mean. I really do, but you have to understand James’s perspective. I think he’s going to make a horrible mistake, and you’re the only one who can stop it.”
“He’s going to force Hope to choose.” It had been there in James’s eyes. This was going to be his revenge. He was going to take Hope. “I won’t let that happen. I’m not going to put her in the middle of this. I think Jamie loves her, and I know she’s crazy about him. I’m going to make it easy. I’m going to let them be.”
Trev clapped his hands and pointed briefly Noah’s way. “Ah, so you’re going to go the martyr route.”
“I’m trying to help my brother,” Noah explained.
“No, you’re running away and trying to ease the guilt in your gut. I know this sounds awful, but you’re still being a selfish little shit. If you walk out, Hope and James will fracture. There’s a reason they weren’t together before you came home, and it’s not just about the ranch. He’s fooling himself. This was about you.”
“I don’t understand.” James wanted him gone.
Trev shook his head, leaning forward and obviously warming to his subject. “Can’t you see? Do you know that James has spent the last couple of years sharing good-time women with his friends? I know for a fact that he’s shared women with both the deputy and Wolf Meyer. He’s been trying to replace you for years because he’s scared that he won’t have the life he was promised.”
Their parents. Their family. Their childhood. Every moment of their upbringing had taught them to share, and Noah had walked out on that. He should have known. How could he have a relationship with a woman when he’d left half of himself behind in Colorado? He’d been so damn lonely, and he’d missed James. “I don’t think he wants me here.”
“Oh, I assure you he doesn’t want you here. But he damn well needs you, and it’s time to man up and do what you need to do. He’s your big brother. Did he stand by you? Did he protect you?”
So many times. James was his big brother, his hero. Noah nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
“Then you better pay him back,” Trev proclaimed.
That was so much easier said than done. Noah felt frustration well up inside him. “I don’t know how. I thought Hope could bring us together, but she’s tearing us apart, and I don’t know how to stop it. When I try to talk to Jamie, he says he doesn’t want to. I’ve tried to apologize, and he just looks through me. I thought I could give him some time, but he’s going to push this. He’s going to hurt Hope.”
Trev’s eyes went sympathetic. “He’s going to hurt everyone because he can’t see past the nose on his face. So, he doesn’t want to sit down and talk about the past, you make him fight for the future. Hope is a big girl. I don’t know her real well, but I bet she’s been through more than you think. I bet she can handle a little bit of a fight.”
“I don’t even know how to start,” Noah admitted. But Trev was getting through to him. What if James didn’t know what he wanted because he was too angry? Was Noah willing to leave him because it was easier than fighting?
Trev slapped at the table causing the paperwork he’d been reading to jump. “You have to break through that wall surrounding James. You can’t do that if you walk away. You can’t do that if you take a step back. You can only do that if you make him believe that you’re not leaving again, and that you’re here for the long haul.”
Noah was really starting to like Trev McNamara. “I want that. I want to try this thing with Hope.”
“Then you’re going to have to figure out how to break James down. Look, I really like James. He’s my business partner, but he’s also my friend. We clicked the minute we met, so I think I understand him. You’re going to have to get him to get emotional about this. It’s going to be way easier to get him mad than it will be to get him to discuss the real issue. Get him talking. Let him beat on you. You shouldn’t mind. You’re doing that martyr thing.”
Noah wasn’t sure about that. James could really hit hard. But if he could get his brother back, it would be worth it. “I am real good at making him mad.”
Trev nodded. “Then all you have to do now is wait.”
Wait for his brother to finish fucking Hope. He could wait for a good long while. He could sit here and think about all the horrible things he could say in order to get his brother good and mad. Or he could go through a bunch of paperwork.
Trev’s hand tapped against the stack of papers on the table. His brows arched as he waited.
“Fine.” Noah grabbed the paperwork.
There was a loud banging on the door.
Trev’s eyes narrowed. “Saved by the bell. I wonder who that could be. I thought we would be isolated out here, but there are always people coming in and out. I hope the new hands didn’t screw up. Ranch hands aren’t what they used to be.”
Trev got up and walked toward the door.
Noah picked up the paperwork and tried to focus, but a vision of Hope swam before his eyes. She’d been so damn beautiful when she’d submitted to James. Watching his brother spank Hope had gotten him hard as hell. For a moment, it was almost like it used to be. He’d been with his brother sharing a woman—except better because this time it was the right woman. He knew it deep down to his soul. Hope was the woman who could make them complete. Hope was the woman they could share a life with.
She was strong enough to handle them and sweet enough to love for an eternity. Noah wasn’t afraid the way James was. He wanted that connection, longed for it. He wanted everything his parents had had, but he was terrified he’d thrown it all away.