The crew scattered into the shade of the surrounding trees while Deke jumped down from the crane, shirtless, and joined his brothers. The three of them walked in step toward the porch, shoulder to shoulder, talking about the morning’s progress. They looked animated and happy, oblivious to the effect they were having on the women.
Incapable of speech, Marnie, Kylie and Holly watched their advance.
Eli glanced Kylie’s way and caught on her position on the porch immediately. She kept her feet up on the railing, short cutoffs exposing the backs of her thighs. This time, when she opened her knees she knew exactly what she was doing. And why. When Eli’s step faltered, she did it again, more slowly: a direct and blatant invitation.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noted her cousins weren’t far off from her own behavior. Marnie slid her fingers along her thighs while Holly pressed her breasts together.
Clearly, men in tool belts operating big machines, manipulating logs large enough to crush them in near ballet precision was a major turn-on. Not to mention the bare chests and hard hats.
“Gentlemen, start your engines…” It was Holly, naturally. She finished off with a low-pitched purr.
Kylie chuckled and did another butterfly that stopped Eli in his tracks. A hot spear of desire bolted to her sex as he narrowed his gaze from ten feet away. For a measured moment there was no one in the yard for her but Eli.
Her pussy melted for him as she let him look his fill as her knees opened and closed as delicately as fluttery wings. She had good legs and she’d caught him watching them before, so now that she had his attention, she meant to keep it.
She’d let go of her attitude toward him as the days and nights alone in the inn with him had worn on. He’d been polite and completely nonsexual all week.
But tonight would be different. Tonight would be hers.
He advanced to the porch slowly. At five feet away, he lifted his hard hat and ran his forearm across his forehead to swipe at the sweat on his brow. He replaced the hard hat, leaving her wondering how his sweat would taste.
Tonight. Yes.
She’d find a reason to call Eli down to her end of the hall. If she worked things just right, he wouldn’t leave again until they were both wrung out and useless.
A sexual shiver let loose inside as she realized his eyes were boring into hers. She accepted his look and gave it back tenfold. Tonight.
Eli watched Kylie’s curtain of ebony hair swing forward as she dropped her feet from the porch railing and stood. Whenever they were within yards of each other, she couldn’t move without him noticing. She laughed, he heard her. She walked, he saw it. She showered down the hall and he smelled the fruity soap she used, felt the steam when she walked out.
Problem was when she spoke, he more often than not disagreed. Maybe his back got up because he didn’t like hearing, seeing, smelling her twenty-four seven. Especially when he knew touching was out of the question.
The Himalayas were looking better every day. Maybe there he’d put her out of his mind.
As she stood, she wrapped a knot in her hair with a deft flick of her wrists and threw it over her shoulder. Even that motion irritated him. Did she never use a clip? The knot always eventually slipped south, until it disappeared and she’d have to do it all over again. The inefficiency and wasted effort piqued his anger.
With a sway in her hips and a determined gleam in her eye he’d never seen before, she walked toward him while his brothers skirted past her to get to Marnie and Holly. The gleam intrigued but couldn’t be good. She was up to something and Kylie on a mission was a dangerous woman.
His cock had twitched to life as she’d opened and closed her legs at his approach. Now, seeing her stride with her breasts fluid and unrestrained, his cock engorged to full. Her cutoffs were the shortest she’d worn since arriving and the bottoms of her pockets peeked out at the top of her thighs. Her nipples jutted like erasers, small and tight.
Even so, it was her gaze that caught his. He couldn’t look away as she approached.
“You should wear a hard hat,” he managed around his dry mouth. “This is a construction zone,” he said as she drew near enough to touch.
“I wanted to see the cabins up close.”
As much as she irritated him on every level, he wouldn’t expose her to falling logs. “TJ, toss me your hard hat for Kylie.”
The yellow hat sailed across the yard into his hands and he passed it to her. When she took it, she brushed the back of his hand. “Is this on right?” she asked.
He adjusted it to sit more evenly on her head, aware of her fruity soap and underlying woman’s scent. Before he could pull his hand back, she turned her mouth to the inside of his wrist and pressed her lips against his flesh. An electric jolt snapped and crackled down to his groin.
“Thanks,” she said lightly. “Show me the cabin wall?”
He did but kept well away from her. This was not the time to touch her again, because once he did that, he’d be lost, unable to do anything but continue. Tonight. He’d touch her all he wanted tonight.
The invitation was clear in her eyes, her body, the way she moved, even in the way she smelled. He didn’t much care why or how this had happened. His raging hard-on was in full control.
“Do you have the floor plans?” she asked.
“Not here.”
“Because Holly says she hasn’t even seen them.” She crossed her arms under her breasts and his mouth went dry. “Can you show me the plans tonight?”
“Sure.”
“Good, I want to start work on a different theme for each cabin.”
“Themes, sure.” This must be like decluttering. “We can take a break and look at the plans right now. Holly and Marnie may already have themes in mind.”
“They’re leaving that to me. So far, they’ve been happy with everything I’ve done in the bedrooms.” Her eyes widened and said he’d be happy, too. His belly dropped as her message ricocheted through his chest. “We’ll look at them later. Alone.”
He cocked an eyebrow and grinned. Her nipples rose. “Chilly out here?” He said with an obvious glance.
“Not at all. It’s warm.” She lifted her silky tank top away from her chest and flapped it, giving him a glimpse of cleavage. “Some might say it’s hot.”
“Hot. Yes.” His brain shut down by degrees as control shifted south of his waist. “It’ll cool down tonight though,” he said. Her breasts jiggled with another shake on the material. His cock went into overdrive. A trickle of sweat slid down his temple to his cheek.
Out of the blue, she thumbed the bead. In brazen invitation she looked at her damp thumb, then licked his sweat clean off. “Mm. Tasty. I bet you’re tasty all over.” She moistened her lips and stared heated come-get-me into his eyes.
He pulled her thumb away from her lips to inspect it. “A blister. You need to take care of that.” She blinked when he kissed the spot with a feather-light touch of his mouth.
Her eyes drifted closed then open again. Her breath hitched. “It’s nothing. Proof of how much I want this place. I’m willing to work hard to get what I want.” Her green eyes darkened in promise.
He checked the rest of her fingertips on each hand, every blister earning another kiss. “No one should have to work this hard.” By the time he was done, she was shifting her legs and squeezing her upper thighs.
He loved the idea of her panties getting wetter with each tiny blessing of his mouth.
“Everyone should work hard for their dreams,” she murmured.
Amused at agreeing with every word, he said, “For once, you’ll get no argument from me.”
He had two choices. Drag her behind the log wall where the crew might see or walk to the inn. He chose the inn and took off at a quick clip, her hand firmly in his.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked as he strode across the lot. He should steer clear of her, but he couldn’t. She didn’t even like him. He wasn’t sure he liked her!
He dropped
her hand, letting her choose to follow or not. “I need a drink of cold water. In the kitchen.”
Her throat worked and her eyes pulled at him. That talk about working for her dream had set off a chain of thoughts he hadn’t had in years. He always thought he’d find his dream out in the wider world. But now, he wasn’t so sure.
“I’m thirsty, too,” she said with nod.
He couldn’t touch her again, not until they were alone, so he set off at an even faster clip. His balls tightened with each step.
His brothers settled their butts on the porch railing as they talked with Holly and Marnie. The women each had their feet on his brothers’ knees. The closer he got, the more he read the sexual tension between the couples. Deke, never a man to hide his sexuality, ran his hands up Holly’s calves.
Eli averted his gaze. “Must be something in the air,” he muttered as he bolted across the porch and into the cool quiet of the kitchen.
He pulled a glass out of a cupboard while Kylie walked in after him. He turned on the cold water faucet and slipped the glass under the stream. The water ran clean and cold. “In the third world a glass of clean water can be hard to come by.”
He shut off the water and leaned against the counter, facing her. He raised his glass and drank about half while she watched. God, she was fine. Fine. And tonight…
He let his eyes wander to her chest. “You sure you want to wait for tonight to go over the plans?” He dipped his fingers into the cold water and flicked droplets across her chest. She jerked at the cold shock. Before she could sputter and ruin the moment, he said, “You looked so hot, I thought you needed to cool down.”
She wet her bottom lip with her tongue, then she dipped his fingers in the water again. In a deft move, Kylie slid his water soaked fingers across her left nipple, then her right. Each one budded harder.
“In for a penny,” he said and snagged her upper arms. He dragged her close, slipped his hand into her hair and tugged her head back. When her neck tilted enough, he took her mouth in midgasp.
Kylie tasted like nectar and need as he slipped his tongue against hers. Blood rushed, leaving his brain on autopilot. She welcomed his tongue, lips firm and coaxing. She used her hips in a full-on body press and the metal edge of the counter bit his naked back. Her hands fluttered down his naked chest to land on the heavy leather of his tool belt. She moaned and pressed her soft belly against him.
Her softness pressed against his rising cock while she opened her thighs in invitation.
He kissed her deeply and allowed all the sensation he could muster. Grabbing her hair, he bent her head back to trail his lips down her neck to her collarbone. He cupped her breast and stroked her nipple with his thumb until she moaned assent and nipped at the skin behind his ear.
Kylie was tall and fit against him without adjustment. A first for him and the idea of stretching her out naked, her long limbs ready to entwine with his, made him harder still. He slipped his hands inside her tank top and lifted it to expose her nipples. Like black rosebuds, her nipples stood erect. “Teardrops, like I thought,” he murmured.
Heavy on the underside, her nipples slanted upward, inviting his mouth to suckle. He accepted the invitation and rolled first one then the other with his tongue and lips. Salty and warm, her tits filled his mouth and brought another slide of rocket-fuel heat to his back.
She responded with a gasp and slid one hand to the back of his head to hold him to her. Her other hand slid along his turgid rod. When she reached beneath and cupped him with a definite squeeze, he nearly lost control. She fondled him as he tucked a finger up the leg of her cutoffs to her crotch.
“You’re wet,” he whispered with a groan pulled from his deepest fantasies of her. Too many days of denial called and teased as he circled the prize of wet folds. She sucked his lower lip, mashed her full breasts against his chest and slipped her arms around his waist.
His cock rose higher, her scent came to him, jasmine-sweet and aroused.
“Unh,” she groaned with a nearly imperceptible movement downward on his hand. “Yes, do that.” She shivered in his arms.
“You’re ready to come so soon?”
“Close,” she muttered between kisses. “I’ve thought of this a time or two.” The confession rang true and must have cost her. She was so hot, so wet. Something had turned her on. Not that he cared what it was, he was just glad to be on the receiving end.
He set one finger to her center and pressed inside her slick heat. She shivered around his hand and gasped with urgent need as he worked his finger inside her. She shuddered again as another slide of moisture coated his hand.
She tugged at his fly, brushing against his erection with clumsy speed. “Yes, touch me there. I want—”
A hard rap on the glass startled them both. “Christ! It’s TJ.” Eli stilled his hand, while she groaned against his lips.
“Can he see anything?” Her voice was breathy and high.
He turned his head enough to catch sight of his brother’s ugly profile in the window. “No, he’s not looking inside, he’s looking at Marnie.”
Kylie sagged in relief as TJ’s voice barreled through the window. “Break’s over. Back to work.” TJ sauntered off the porch toward the cabin.
“Tonight,” Eli promised and released her.
She gasped again at the sudden loss of his hand between her legs. “Eli, you can’t leave me hanging.”
“If I don’t go now, TJ will come looking for me. One glance at you and he’ll know what we’ve been doing.”
“And what have we been doing?”
He chuckled as he washed his hands. “Finally agreeing on something?”
She tilted her head in surprise. “We are.” Her hands grabbed his butt and she squeezed hard, then tugged his tool belt. “Wear this tonight,” she whispered in his ear. “I find it…inspiring.” Her breath warmed through to his belly and he grinned before sidestepping her to reach for the hand towel. He should have washed up before touching her but the moment had called for inspiration not logic.
“I’ll wear it. Anything to help inspire you.” He winked at her. “I love the scent of the fruity soap you shower with.”
She nodded and patted his ass as he walked out on leaden legs. Leaving her was the hardest thing he’d ever done.
17
TJ tossed his hard hat to Eli so Kylie could put it on. The sparks between those two would cause a lightning strike if clouds rolled in. He wiped his brow with his forearm and focused on his true objective.
Marnie. She sat with her feet on the railing, her chair tilted back and a look in her eyes that screamed come and get it.
The rhythmic trail of her hand along her thighs was a sure-fire sign that she wasn’t thinking of the cabins or the work being done.
He wasn’t sure what had triggered her train of thought, but he didn’t care. Fact was, she wanted him and that always brought on a firestorm.
Deke walked beside him and sucked in a deep breath. “I’m not sure we’re going to get much work done after this break.”
“You just keep your eyes on your own woman.” He cut Holly a glance. Whatever had affected Marnie had Holly in its grip as well. “What the hell got these women so—”
“Horny? Who the hell cares?”
He followed Eli onto the porch. Marnie dropped her feet to the floor to allow his brother to pass. The second TJ settled his butt on the railing she bracketed his hips with her feet. From this angle, he had a clear view up her creamy thighs to her crotch. Deke was in the exact same position.
“Those logs are big,” Marnie said. Her eyes looked fevered, her voice husky. “Slipping them into place like that takes a lot of strength.” Her knees drifted together, then apart. She let her gaze roam across his chest and down to his lap.
He braced his hands on either side of her feet.
Holly spoke next. “And I had no idea you were so talented with that crane. Such precision work. You really know how to handle those logs, Deke.”
&n
bsp; Suddenly Eli stormed across the porch and into the kitchen as if the hounds of hell were after him. But it was only Kylie, intent on catching up.
A look passed between Marnie and Holly, followed by suggestive smiles tossed at the men. Holly stood and held out her hand to Deke.
He dogged her steps around the corner of the inn, leaving TJ alone with Marnie. “What’s going on?” But the glow in her eyes was all the answer he needed.
For the first time since that summer all those years ago, he saw the light of admiration in her eyes. He’d bask in her appreciation all day if she’d let him.
He never wanted that light to dim. He wanted it in his life from now on.
She stood and flowed into his arms with a kiss that rocked through to his soul. “Thomas John. You don’t need instructions, do you?” Then she took his hand and tugged him along the porch and into Jon Dawson’s woodworking shop.
“Jesus, Marnie. The place is full of people…” The protest died as she shoved him against the closed door and dropped to the floor. She worked at the buckle of his tool belt, then looked up at him with a grin.
“I think I’ll leave that on.” She opened his tab and fly and yanked his jeans down to his knees.
Already erect, he leaned back against the shop door and closed his eyes with anticipation. Her mouth slid over his full tip and down his shaft in a smooth slide. Sensation rolled in waves up his back as he clasped her head to hold her there. Heaven! She suckled and tongued him and eventually opened her throat to take every inch.
“I love your taste,” she said between slides. “So salty. So you.”
He braced her shoulders between his knees and rocked into her mouth again and again in an easy rhythm. When her hand cupped his sac, he nearly lost it, but there was no time for finesse and he wasn’t going to come alone.
Not like this, not with her. Not today when he’d finally seen that look in her eyes.
He coaxed her off her knees. “Take off your shorts.” She obliged in silence while he draped a heavy leather apron across the top of the workbench. He lifted her naked butt to the bench and fitted himself to her entrance.
Men Times Three Page 20