Joseph gave her a puzzled frown. “Why do you say that?”
“It’s peak ski season. Every room in every accommodation from here to Utah is booked out. Unless you’ve got serious dollars, there’s no way you’re getting a room with just thirty-eight hours notice.”
“Is it a problem one or both of us is loaded?”
A dawning smile stretched her lips, and his cock, still rigid in the confines of his snow pants, gave a little spasm. Damn, that was a gorgeous smile. The corners of her mouth curled first, creasing the sides of her lips just a little, before her teeth—perfectly white and even—came into view, followed by a tiny little crease just between her eyes. Eyes, he hadn’t failed to notice, a very piercing, very sexy shade of grey.
“Ahh,” she said, nodding as she moved away from the cold heater toward a bench under the shuttered window on the far wall. “That explains what loaded means.” She leant her butt against the bench and folded her arms over her breasts. Joseph felt his cock jerk again. Such a simple action, but it made him horny as a bloody dog. What would it feel like to place his hands on her breasts and cup them? Squeeze them gently?
“So, you’re the one with the money.”
Her question, delivered in the form of a statement, sent a rush of warmth to his face. He hated talking about his money. True, he had a lot of it, a bloody lot of it, but it didn’t define him.
“And Rob is the one without the sense,” she finished, the smile on her lips curling wider. She titled her head to the side, crossing her ankles in front of her. “Yeah, I can see that.”
Despite himself, Joseph grinned. His cock lurched again in his trousers, enjoying their tête-à-tête almost as much as he was. He liked her dry wit. And her accent. A drawling caress of vowels and consonants that made him wish she’d say his name.
“I guess I should ask your name,” he said, removing his own gloves and shoving them into his back pocket. “I should at least know who to address the thank you card to.”
She laughed again, and Joseph decided there and then he could seriously become addicted to the soft, throaty sound. “Anna McCarthy. Your local saver of lost Australian lunatics, yeah, that’s me.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “All Australian lunatics? Do you get many here?”
Her direct grey gaze leveled on his face, a small smile playing with her lips. Lips he wanted to kiss. Soon. Real soon. “No, you’re my first. But depending how it goes tonight, I might have to find some more to save.”
A low growl rumbled in Joseph’s chest at the idea of Anna McCarthy saving any other Australians but himself. “Hmm,” he said, “I think you’ll find saving Aussies is an exhausting, sweaty business.”
She cocked her own eyebrow, the finely arched line of dark blonde hair moving up her forehead with smooth ease. “Is it now? Then perhaps I should take it slow to start with? Saving too hard and too quickly at this altitude could be hazardous to my health, is that what you’re saying?”
Pulse pounding in his ear, dick so hard he thought it was about to explode, he held her gaze with his own. “Too hard and too fast definitely not the way to begin. Slowly, steadily. An exploration of the terrain, followed by a well-executed penetration of the area, that’s the way to begin when saving an Aussie.”
Her lips parted and Joseph could see the ragged way she drew breath into her body. “Then after the beginning it gets hard?”
He unzipped his jacket and shucked it off, placing it on the seat beside him as he took a step closer to her. “It’s already hard. Very hard.”
She swallowed. “Hard is good. I’m always up for a challenge. It’s why I like saving Aussies so much.”
“Glad to hear that,” Rob said, stepping into the cabin and swinging the door shut behind him. He looked at them both over the armful of broken branches and twigs he held against his chest. “Wait. We’re talking about sex, aren’t we?”
Chapter Three
Anna held her breath, trying—in vain, she realized—to slow her heart rate down to something close to normal. Her pussy throbbed and pulsed and generally carried on in the most disturbing of ways, telling her in no uncertain terms she was horny. Damn horny.
She swallowed again, her mouth dry, her throat thick. The sexual tension mounting between her and Joseph Hudson hadn’t abated a bit with Rob’s unexpected arrival. No, to the contrary, the moment he’d entered the cabin and made his presence known, she’d almost come there and then.
She studied both of them, knowing one of them was going to make the first move.
Joseph.
Her gaze slid to the taller man, her pulse quickening when she looked at him. Damn, he was stunning. He made Brad Pitt look ugly. Not just tall and lean, but broad shouldered and slightly scruffy, the bristles on his jaw and chin adding to the overall charm, the messy tumble of sandy-blond hair falling over his forehead heightening that charm until the crotch of her panties were sodden.
Oh boy, Anna. You got it bad already.
The loud thud of branches hitting the floor made her start, and she blinked, her gaze snapping to Rob just in time to see him remove his gloves and step over the pile of dead wood at his feet to close the distance between them. “Let me begin to show our appreciation for saving us,” he said, his fingers skimming her cheek as he cupped her jaw in his hand.
A flutter of disappointment danced in her belly for a brief moment, like a hundred butterflies had suddenly taken flight, but she forgot it as soon as Rob’s lips brushed hers.
The kiss was gentle and yet, at the same time electric. His breath mingled with hers, the tip of his tongue touching the inner edge of her bottom lip, a slow caress charting a path deeper into her mouth.
She parted her lips, meeting his tongue with hers, her nipples growing hard, her pulse racing away from her.
Oh…
She’d been kissed before. Many times, in fact. As far as looks go, she knew she’d been generously smiled upon. But there was something about the Australian’s kiss…a delicate passion she hadn’t expected. Almost sad.
The notion made her heart quicken. She moaned, the sound vibrating softly in her throat only to be swallowed by Rob’s kiss.
He slid his hands up into her hair, his fingers tangling in the strands, her ponytail preventing him from doing anything more than hold her head. It didn’t matter. At this point, the feel of his lips on hers, his tongue on hers, was enough to make her pussy weep.
“Ah, fuck.”
The growled curse scraped at the heated desire rolling through her. She pulled away from Rob’s kiss, her gaze moving to Joseph where he still stood at the chair. He stared at them both, his nostrils flaring, his jaw clenched tight.
“Think we need to get some heat happening quickly,” Rob murmured, his hands slipping from her face as he turned back to his friend.
Anna nodded, unable to find anything to say. Her body ached for more, set alight by Rob’s simple, tender kiss. And yet, it was Joseph’s hands she hungered. Joseph’s lips she wanted to taste next.
God, woman. You’re a—
The sound of Rob unzipping his jacket squashed the unsettling thought and she turned away from both of them, sucking in a long, shaking breath. Resting her hands on the bench, she stared hard at the old maps of Wolf Creek pinned to the wall before her. Be sure you know where this is going, Anna. Be certain before you commit.
“Why Wolf Creek?” she asked, needing to hear something apart from the rustling sounds of the two men behind her moving about. She didn’t know if they were undressing, rearranging the cabin’s meager furniture or preparing to reenact the Battle of Gettysburg, although seeing as they were Australians, that was unlikely. The battle of…of…damn, did Australia even have any battles?
You’re babbling in your head. Do you know that?
“There’s a Wolf Creek in Australia,” Rob answered, his voice calm, relaxed. “Well, a Wolf Creek Crater. Thought we’d see the reverse of ours over here.”
“The snowboarding’s better here though,” Jo
seph continued, his voice almost a facsimile of Rob’s. Almost. “Not as rocky. Or dusty.”
Rob laughed. “Or hot.”
Hot. Anna touched her hand to her throat at the word, her skin flushed beneath her fingers. Was it hot in here? Or was it just the surreal situation she’d found herself in?
“That oughta do it.”
A dull clunk followed Rob’s statement and she turned around, surprised to find them both standing beside the heater, stripped of their jackets and holding out their palms to the heater’s flue.
She gazed at them, or rather, the lean muscled strength of their torsos revealed by the snug tautness of their thermal T-shirts. Her mouth went dry and it took her a while to realize the air in the cabin was no longer icy cold.
“You got the heater working?”
Joe gave her a lopsided smile, rubbing his palms together in such a way his shoulder and arm muscles rippled. “Yeah. The pilot light just needed a little encouragement.”
She licked her lips, the room’s rising temperature making her skin prickle. Or was that the layers of clothing she wore? Or the sight of Joseph and Rob with less clothing than her?
Damn, they were good looking.
And complete strangers. So why did she feel so safe with them?
Why was she just about to do the unthinkable with them?
Her gaze slipped to Joseph again, knowing he held the answer even if she couldn’t decipher it yet.
“How ’bout we help you with your clothing?”
Rob’s murmur tickled her ear and she started, more than a little stunned to discover he’d somehow moved to stand behind her without her even noticing.
Too busy staring at Joseph?
Warm hands smoothed up her back, over her shoulders. His fingers slid up the sensitive column of her neck, brushing at her nape before skimming back down to the neckline of her jacket. There was a slight tug, and before she knew it, her jacket slipped from her body, falling to her feet in a crumpled heap of fluro-magenta.
She watched Joseph watching her, his nostrils flaring again, the muscles in his jaw bunched.
I want him to kiss me.
Rob’s hands travelled her shoulders, barely touching her. The slight caress of his palms on her arms through the thin material of her thermal sent a shiver up her spine. She pulled in a shaky breath, her nipples once again hard. Oh, God.
“C’mon, Joe,” Rob spoke against her neck, his lips warm on her flushed skin. “Don’t make me say it.”
Say what? Anna wanted to ask, but she couldn’t. The way Rob’s hands moved over her shoulders, her arms, down to her palms and back up to her shoulders again seemed to have stolen her words. It was a gentle caress that somehow still spoke of urgency.
Joseph swallowed once, twice, his Adam’s apple working up and down his throat. And then he was standing right in front of her, so close she could feel his body heat seep into her. “You don’t have to, mate,” he said, holding her gaze with his cookie-brown eyes. “Not at all.”
Joseph lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. The kiss sang of such sweet hesitation her heart stopped for a still moment, only to burst into fevered flight when he snaked his arms around her waist and yanked her against his body with a growl.
His mouth crushed hers. His tongue plunged past her lips, mating with hers, battling it with possessive hunger.
So, there is an Australian battle after all. And I’m a part of it.
The surreal, absurd thought wafted through Anna’s head, and she whimpered, curling her arms around Joseph’s neck to press her hips to his. His cock rammed against the flat plane of her belly, a rigid, stiff pole not even remotely hidden by the bulk of his snow pants. Its size and width made her head swim, or perhaps that was the feel of Rob’s hands working their way down her waist to the band of her own trousers.
“You have a fucking hot body,” Rob told her, his fingers working their way between her and Joseph until they dipped below the elastic band of her pants. “I saw it last night in the bar. Couldn’t miss it thanks to the tight jeans you wore.” He slipped his fingers closer to the mound of her sex, his other hand holding her hip as he pressed his groin to her ass. “The tighter T-shirt.”
Rob pushed his hips forward, his erection—as long and as impressive as Joseph’s—nudging the crevice of her ass cheeks through her snow pants. “Still,” he whispered against her ear, lips nipping her earlobe as he did so, “I think I’d like to see more of it.”
With a gentle but insistent tug, he pulled her back to his hips as his fingers moved to her waistband. He inched it down over her hips. Her thighs.
Joseph broke the kiss and stepped away from her a step to stare at what his friend had revealed. “Jesus Christ,” he said, the words choked. “I knew you would look like this.”
She stood between them, her torso covered in a thin, shell-pink thermal top, her legs bared to their hungry inspection. Rob stroked the back of her thigh, his thumb tracing a languid line over the curves of her butt cheeks. Her panties—skimpy and black—offered little protection from the slow contact, and she let out a ragged breath, feeling her crotch grow damp.
Joseph’s nostrils flared again. “I can smell your desire, Anna.” His stare roamed her body, the thin space-age material of her top was so stretched against her nipples it felt like a caress. “I can see it.” He raised his hands and took her breasts in each, rolling the pad of his thumbs over her puckered nipples. The contact caused her bra—a silky little thing that was highly unsuitable for skiing and matched her panties perfectly—to scrape against each one. She hitched in another breath and gazed up at him.
“And I want to taste it,” Rob said behind her.
Joseph’s lips curled into a lopsided grin. “Me too.”
He pushed her backward, her surprised shout turning into laughter as Rob scooped her off her feet, carried her over to the old cot in the far corner and dumped her there unceremoniously. “Now don’t think you’re staying there, Anna.” He grinned, dimple flashing. “This is just so I can take your boots off.”
With a flourish, he dropped into a crouch. His hands snared her right ankle to lift her leg up, gravity fighting him as it pulled on the awkward weight of her ski boot. Her pulse slammed in her neck as he flipped open the straps, one by one, each sudden release of pressure on her ankle an undeniable announcement of what was about to happen.
Her first ménage.
With two men from Australia, no less.
Well, you do believe in taking life by the balls and living the fuck out of it, don’t you?
Her breath shuddered from her in a trembling laugh, the sound becoming a soft groan when Rob at last slipped her boot from her foot. “One down,” he muttered, his thumbs kneading the arch of her foot for an agonizingly exquisite second.
“One to go,” Joseph murmured from his place beside the heater.
She slid her gaze to his face, the sight of him still standing in the exact spot he’d kissed her was for some reason the sexiest thing she’d seen. He watched her, his arms loosely crossed over his broad chest, his legs splayed slightly. Everything about him spoke of extreme confidence, almost ruthless poise, except his eyes. His eyes spoke of another Joseph. One burning up with want, and yet still tempered by hesitation. Whatever he did to be “loaded”, she didn’t doubt he did it well. His body language radiated utter control. But his eyes… If it was possible, the uncertainty in his eyes made his composed sang-froid so much more desirable. So much more goddamn sexy.
The sensation of her left foot being elevated turned her attention back to Rob, and she held her breath as he released the fasteners on her remaining boot and slid it from her foot. He pressed his thumbs into her arch before smoothing his hands up her now exposed ankles. He smiled at her as he hooked his fingers over the tops of her thick, woolen socks. “I will give you a foot massage later. One so good it’ll make you come, but for now…”
He yanked her sock from her foot, the abrupt action dislodging her semi-seated positio
n on the cot.
She dropped backward, the cabin’s toasty air kissing her newly bare toes a microsecond before Rob touched his lips to them. For an insane moment, all Anna could think about was how sweaty her feet would be after skiing for so long. And then even that thought was lost as the man snared the waistline of her trousers and removed them as efficiently as he’d removed her left sock.
“Oh, Jesus Christ, you look so good.”
It was Joseph who moaned the proclamation. Still from his place by the heater. The raw hunger in his voice flooded her pussy with fresh moisture, turned her clit to a nub of throbbing flesh.
“That she does,” Rob agreed, straightening from his crouch enough to kneel between her legs. His hands found her inner thighs and he inched them farther apart, the tips of his fingers teasing her folds through the sodden crotch of her panties. “And she is so very wet for us.”
Anna’s breath turned shallow. Choppy.
This was a kind of torture. She’d never wanted to come as badly as she did now, and all they’d done—all Rob had done—was remove her boots and trousers. For Pete’s sake, she was still wearing her underpants. How could she be so close to coming while still wearing her underpants? While still being essentially untouched by either of them?
“Please,” she whimpered, the word surprising her.
Rob chuckled, dimple flashing. “Please what, Anna McCarthy?”
She closed her eyes and arched her back, just enough to draw her crotch closer to his fingers. “Please…”
“I think she wants me to lick her out, Hudo.” Rob’s breath fanned her inner left thigh, just above her knee. A heartbeat later, his lips brushed the skin a little higher. “What do you think?”
“Fuck,” Anna heard Joseph groan. “I think you’re right.”
“Is that what you want, Anna?” Rob’s breath tickled the curve of flesh where her thigh dipped into her groin. His hands pressed gently on her knees, holding her still. “Do you want me to fuck your pussy with my tongue?”
She let out another ragged breath and nodded.
Triple Dare: A Red Hot Winter Story Page 3