Riding Red

by Nadia Aidan

  “Thank you, Blake. I appreciate the offer. But the damage was so minimal, we should be back up and running by tomorrow.”

  Blake’s gaze darted between her and the man who stood like an immovable statue by her side. It was obvious by the narrow-eyed look he kept shooting Jeff that he wanted to say more, that he wanted to argue further and remain there, but Jeff wasn’t budging. Blake finally seemed to take the hint that it was best to retreat for now in order to fight another day.

  He tipped his Stetson with his hand, giving her a curt nod. “All right, Teresa, I’ll see you bright and early for work tomorrow.”

  She wanted to tell him to take the day off, especially when Jeff tensed beside her, but before she could, he was already marching away to where he’d parked his truck just off the side of the road.

  Jeff didn’t relax until Blake’s vehicle finally disappeared from sight, and the moment it did, she rounded on him.

  “Was that really necessary?” she demanded, brushing off the arm still wrapped around her waist.

  “That foreman of yours still has a thing for you, even though I’ve made it real clear he can just hang it up ‘cause I ain’t goin’ nowhere, but every now and then, I see he needs reminding.” Jeff shrugged, as if he couldn’t care less that he’d been a bit rude to Blake. Teresa figured he didn’t care at all, which was why there was no love lost between Jeff and her foreman. “Besides, I didn’t hear you complaining.”

  Teresa’s gaze shadowed him as he loped down the steps to gather his toolbox from his truck. When he returned, she still stood with her mouth agape and a glower on her face.

  “Like I said,” he continued, once he was planted before her. “A couple of nights with my brother is one thing. But I thought I already made it clear, I don’t share what’s mine.”

  Before she could utter a word, he crushed his lips to hers, robbing her of further protest and thought as he claimed her with hot strokes of his tongue inside her mouth. Just as quickly as the kiss began, it ended, with Jeff tearing his mouth from hers to disappear around the side of the house, where apparently he was going to start with the minor repairs.

  * * * *

  For most of the day, Teresa didn’t see Jeff as he worked on her home until it was almost sunset, for which she was grateful. She’d noticed the possessive glint in his eyes whenever he looked at her, just as she’d noted the answering current of pleasure that pounded through her.

  She told herself she didn’t want to belong to Jeff Downing—that she wasn’t ready, that she would never be ready to give herself intimately to another man as she’d done once before. She even believed the lies she told herself until Jeff stood before her later that day, his eyes gentle.

  “Have dinner with me tonight.”

  It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t a request—it was simply a statement, a confirmation of what was happening between them. They would have dinner together tonight because neither of them could stand to be parted from the other.

  Teresa shook her head, as if she could rid herself of the thought. She needed distance…she needed space, and desperately.

  “I’m kinda tired—”

  He cupped her cheek, effectively cutting her off, but when he lowered his head and she felt her eyelids growing drowsy, she finally took hold of herself.

  Stepping back, she put an arm’s length between them. She figured to make a bit of difference, she would need to put miles between her and Jeff, but for now, this would have to do.

  “I’m serious, Jeff. I’m tired and I want to spend tonight in my home…alone.”

  His eyes flashed and she knew he wanted to argue, but her firm tone must have stopped him.

  He nodded, but the look in his eyes did not suggest she’d brokered any type of concession. Jeff would leave her alone for now, but not for long. His determined expression revealed as much, and his next words confirmed it.

  “One night. I’ll give you that, but this isn’t over, Red.”

  She hadn’t thought it was, Teresa admitted, as her gaze trailed Jeff’s arrogant gait and stiff back until he disappeared into his truck.

  It wasn’t until he pulled out onto the road, his vehicle slipping from view, that she realised she’d been holding her breath.

  Jeff may have acquiesced, but he wasn’t giving up. She had a feeling he would never give up…and that was exactly what Teresa was afraid of.

  * * * *

  True to his word, Jeff allowed Teresa one night…but that was all.

  The ringing of her doorbell the following evening was so late, and so unexpected, that she did not even think of her state of undress until she flung open the door with a scowl on her face.

  Who the hell could possibly be at my door at this time of nig—?

  The thought died an abrupt death when she saw who stood on her front porch.

  “You should never open your door without looking through the peephole first,” Jeff chastised as he pushed past her into her home with Jason on his heels.

  “You can say that again,” she grumbled under her breath as she shut the door and faced them. “What are you two doing here?”

  The smouldering looks which darkened their eyes reminded her that she’d answered the door wearing a thin satin gown and matching robe that clung to every rounded curve of her body. The buds of her nipples pebbled against the soft material, and when Jeff’s eyes dipped to her chest, she could not restrain the shudder powering through her at the animalistic look shimmering in his gaze.

  “We brought dinner,” Jason interjected, disrupting what Teresa decided had to be a magnetic field which seemingly descended upon the room whenever Jeff shared her space.

  “I…already ate,” she managed to stammer out, her attention finally settling on Jason.

  She realised too late what her statement suggested as he set the large brown bag down on her coffee table.

  “In that case…”

  Jason’s long legs had already closed the distance between them before she could shake her head and hold her hands out, warning him to stop.

  He halted within inches of her trembling body, the gleam in his eyes as predatory as his brother’s.

  “W-what happened before… That was only supposed to be while I was staying at Cottonmouth. Once I left, I assumed that was it.”

  She glanced at Jeff, expecting him to be in agreement. After all, hadn’t he said so himself that he would never share her again?

  “I said after my brother leaves I will never share you again,” Jeff corrected as if he’d heard her thoughts. “But Jason is still here.”

  She shook her head when Jeff inched closer, her palms still facing outward. “N-no, I was only prepared for those two nights.”

  Her protest, even to her ears, sounded weak and feeble. The tremors jolting her body made it nearly impossible to say a thing without her voice shaking. Both men had to be able to glimpse her waning inner resolve.

  Teresa almost snorted at the thought. For her resolve to wane, she would have had to possess some type of resistance against them in the first place.

  But when Jeff enfolded her into his arms, bracing her against the wall of his chest, she accepted that she’d barely put up any resistance at all.

  He dipped his head to the sensitive spot within the crook of her neck, his tongue gliding across her flesh. She could not resist him as she lifted her hands and plunged them into his soft, dark locks.

  God, if he only knew that when he looked at her…touched her, pressed his lips against her skin…she was powerless to deny him anything. For a fleeting moment she wondered what he would do, what he would think, if he ever learned just how vulnerable she was to him.

  Her heart did a tiny flip-flop. She imagined he would do as he’d promised—he’d stake his claim on her as he desired. That was, if he hadn’t already. By the way she clung to him, the soft sighs trembling past her lips, she was fairly certain Jeff’s possession of her was absolute. He just didn’t know it.

  The thought terrified her, but she
could no more deny it than she could cease her longing for the man she now held against her.

  He drew away from her just long enough to scoop her into his arms and carry her up the stairs to her bedroom. The heavy tread of footsteps told her Jason followed closely behind.

  Once inside her room, he set her down, and within the space of just a few heartbeats, he’d removed his clothes to stand nude before her. His body rippled beneath the moonlight, but instead of taking her into his arms again, he stepped back.

  She watched in confusion as Jason stalked towards her, his powerfully muscled body as perfectly sculpted as his brother’s beneath the silver rays filtering through the window.

  “I want to watch him fuck you,” Jeff said finally, in answer to the question brimming in her eyes as he took a seat in one of her chairs nestled in the corner.

  He palmed the thick, hard length of his cock, pumping it with slow, sensuous, measured strokes. She was mesmerised by the pearl of liquid, which glistened along the broad crown of his dick, until the touch of rough fingertips grazed her shoulders.

  Jason held her gaze as he slowly undressed her, his hands sliding down her arms as he peeled the robe from her body. When he slipped his fingers beneath the thin, spaghetti straps of her gown, a tremor raced through her. Although, Jason had touched her, had made love to her before, he’d never done so without Jeff, and definitely not while Jeff watched. For the first time since she’d embarked upon this hedonistic adventure with the two Downing brothers, she felt apprehension churning in her belly, wondering of the repercussions of allowing Jason to make love to her—

  “It’s all right, Red. Let him pleasure you,” Jeff rasped out in a husky voice.

  Her gaze locked with the man who sat across the room from her, his deep baritone enveloping her as if it was a warm, reassuring blanket.

  It would please him to watch Jason fuck her, and knowing that it would please him, sent a thrill of pleasure jolting through her.

  God, she had it bad. His pleasure was hers, and as she stared deep into his eyes, she finally understood that her pleasure belonged to him as well.

  The swish of her gown at her feet reminded her that Jason now explored her body with his hands—cupping her breasts, stroking her belly, her hips—but at no point did she tear her gaze from Jeff’s. Nor did she have to when Jason positioned her atop the bed on her hands and knees, facing Jeff.

  It was deliberate.

  Jeff wanted to watch Jason fuck her, and he wanted to see every emotion weave a path across her face. He wanted to glimpse the pleasure in her eyes, and drink in the sight of her orgasm the moment it came upon her.

  From behind her, Jason lowered his head to her pussy and slid his thick, wet tongue through her glistening folds. She moaned out a hoarse, needy sound, and with her eyes fixed on Jeff, she could almost imagine it was his tongue thrusting into her cunt.

  Teresa lost herself in the sensation of Jason’s hot mouth against her core as her tunnel gushed with her desire. He thrust two fingers inside her and at the same time his lips closed around her clit. She cried out, her passage flooding with wetness as a rush of heat ploughed through her shaking body. Jason brought her to the brink with his lips, his fingers, his tongue probing hard and deep. She could feel her orgasm shuddering through her, clawing inside her belly, ready to be released, but at the moment of her climax, he drew away.

  A ragged protest tumbled from her lips, only to die on a keening cry of pleasure when he slammed into her on a single, brutal thrust. His grunts drowned out her cries as he surged through the clenching heat of her pussy. Gripping the bedcovers, Teresa took his hard, pounding thrusts to the depths of her cunt. Her ass jiggled with each stroke, her heavy breasts swayed as his flesh slapped against hers.

  She snared Jeff’s gaze then, sharing with him her pleasure, as he conveyed his own with his shadowed eyes. His hand pumped his flesh harder, faster, and he fisted his cock tighter. When he swelled before her eyes, the veins straining against his ruddy flesh, she knew he was about to come.

  No power on Earth could have forced her to wrench her gaze away from him, and at the last moment, Jeff shot to his feet to press the hot tip of his dick against her lips. No words were spoken, not one was necessary. She simply parted her lips and took him inside her hot, wet mouth.

  He groaned, the sound blending with Jason’s own primitive grunt as he slammed into her one final time and erupted. She felt the stirring of his hot seed within the confines of the condom, and that single erotic act triggered her release. Her pussy fluttered around his still-spurting cock as she drowned him in her wet warmth.

  Trembling from the force of her climax, Teresa’s eyes slipped closed, while pleasure continued to thunder through her, battering her as mercilessly as the storm just days before had battered her home.

  She’d plunged so deeply into her own orgasm, that it took her a moment to distinguish the harsh, guttural sound of Jeff’s impending climax.

  Her eyes flew open at the same time Jeff seized her face between his rough palms and buried his cock in her mouth on a heaving thrust. With a strangled, desperate groan, he exploded, his semen filling her mouth, bathing her throat as she swallowed his essence.

  Their mutual climaxes mingled and meshed as one, leaving the three of them satiated. It was all Teresa could do to roll over and collapse atop her bed as the languorous after-effects of her orgasm lulled her into a deep slumber. She fell asleep long before Jeff and Jason could nestle her between them, and she did not stir until the morning when Jason pulled himself from her bed.

  Chapter Eight

  “I have to go,” Jason whispered as he climbed out of bed and began to drag on his clothes. Teresa peeked at him through sleepy eyes, a yawning smile spreading across her face as she watched toned, tanned flesh disappear beneath his clothing.

  “I thought you were staying the entire week.”

  A slow grin spread across his face, as his gaze briefly flickered to the man curled behind her, before returning to her once again.

  “Jeff is staying the rest of the week, but I have to get back to Macon and tie up some loose ends before I head to Dallas for business.”

  “Oh…okay,” she muttered, and for the first time since they’d embarked upon this erotic journey together, she was at a loss for words. They were friends, but also lovers, yet once he left this room, they would return to being just friends. She wasn’t sure what was warranted. Should she simply say goodbye as a friend, or did she kiss him farewell as one would a lover, given that was what he’d been these past days?

  Jason must have sensed her hesitation and the reason behind it, for he ultimately made the decision for her.

  He leant down to brush his lips against hers in a kiss that was as fleeting as a gentle caress.

  “Goodbye, Teresa,” he whispered against her lips. He then left her bedroom, and with the resounding thud of the front door, departed her home.

  She experienced a curious combination of feelings that she and Jason had shared a special moment together, one they’d never share again, but she didn’t have long to dwell on her inner emotions because the man who was pressed firmly against her back chose that moment to stir.

  Teresa rolled over to face Jeff, her heart faltering in its rhythm when she met his heavy-lidded gaze that brimmed with sleep and the distinct glimmer of desire.

  “So when are you leaving?” she asked, as she made a valiant effort to tamp down the awakening heat in her belly.

  “Not until the end of the week, when Jackson and BJ get back.”

  She nodded, not knowing what else to say. She’d thought their affair would come to an end with the passing of the storm, but she’d been wrong. And she had a feeling, just because Jason had left did not mean Jeff had any intention of giving up his residence in her bed—not now. And she reasoned if Jeff had any say, he would admit he had no plans to leave ever.

  “I was hoping we could have dinner tonight.” Jeff’s whispered words washed over her as he gently caressed
her arm with his fingertips.

  Teresa could not think when he was near, let alone when he touched her, as the heat of his body coiled around her to warm her skin. His very presence was seductive and heady and she needed distance, needed space to figure out what was going on between them.

  That was why she’d declined his offer yesterday, why she’d been quick to flee back to the safe haven of her home—Jeff was propelling them headfirst into an affair Teresa wasn’t certain she wanted to be in.

  The idea alone sent her pulse pounding harder. Her body was quick to remind her it was all too comfortable with the road Jeff was taking them down, but her mind rebelled, and her heart screamed bloody murder as if its very existence was being threatened. Teresa conceded that in many ways, it was.

  In Jeff’s eyes she glimpsed his intentions, but she just couldn’t trust the emotions he so openly revealed in his gaze, because she just couldn’t trust him, not truly.

  So Jeff was a good guy now, his days as a player behind him, but that didn’t mean he was necessarily ready to commit to her. Despite everything he’d said, despite his seemingly possessive claim to her, Teresa knew she wasn’t ready to risk her heart again…no matter that he’d somehow already managed to steal a piece of it. And that was the crux of her dilemma. What she felt for Jeff, she’d never felt for any man ever before…and that terrified her.

  “Dinner? Tonight?” Teresa mulled over his words in her brain, before settling on the reply she had no choice but to give. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Besides, I already have plans.”

  She rolled away from him to climb out of bed. Wrapping her robe around her, she folded her arms across her chest as she peered down at him.

  The frown that crossed his face told her he wasn’t happy with her reply, which was the truth. She did have plans tonight. The determination flashing in his eyes reminded her just how relentless he could be when he wanted to, and she worried he was going to demand she break them, but he didn’t.