“So what if I was? Either, or. Does it matter?
She really didn’t like the way those two quarterbacks looked at each other, as if they were having some sort of psychic conversation in their heads about her.
“No,” Jackson said. “It doesn’t matter, because in a way, they’re the same thing. And don’t get your panties in a twist, Tinker Bell. Cord and I both feel the same way.”
“Tinker Bell?” No one had ever called her anything so…whimsical before.
“Well, we already established you weren’t Ariel the mermaid. So you must be Tinker Bell. Now come on and dance.”
“With you?” Who else, dummy. You said you wanted try them on for size. Well, dancing is a good place to start.
“No, actually.” Cord nodded toward the dance floor, and the several triads who were all lost in their own little worlds. “That looks interesting. Let’s the three of us give it a try.” And he extended his hand to her.
“This is probably not a good idea.” In fact, Ari was pretty certain it wasn’t a good idea at all. Nope, she was having second thoughts about trying them on. She should probably write the day off as a one-time-only aberration and just go home.
“No ‘probably’ about it,” Jackson said. He got to his feet and held his hand out to her, too. “So let’s do it anyway.”
Ari stared for a long moment at their outstretched hands. She didn’t do what she knew she should. Instead, she let them have her hands, let them help her to her feet, and let them lead her to the dance floor.
The small band began to perform their rendition of the Dustin Lynch song from last year, “Cowboys and Angels.”
“Perfect timing and perfect song,” Cord said.
“I am no angel,” Ari said. Funny how I said that and not that they weren’t cowboys. Of course, they were—she knew they’d been born and raised on a Montana ranch. They just weren’t Texas cowboys—well, not yet, anyway.
“Ain’t that the truth.” Jackson said that just loud enough for her to hear. And Cord, too, if his choked-back laughter was any indication.
“I do declare, y’all make my little head swim with all that sweet talkin’ of yours.”
“That is the worst Texan accent I’ve ever heard,” Cord said.
“It should be. I’m not from Texas.”
“Tinker Bell? Let’s just shut up and dance.”
“Maybe I’m too chicken to shut up and dance.”
“You don’t have to be afraid, Ari.” Cord pulled her closer into his arms. She felt the heat and the solidness of Jackson press against her back.
Inside, where no one had ever reached, she felt a warmth and a softening she knew was dangerous—and yet found too alluring and too delicious to resist.
“We’re right here,” Jackson said. “And we’re not going to let anything bad happen to you.”
Here lay the real danger to her heart and soul, and she’d better be damn careful going forward. That promise given—maybe in good faith and maybe as just words spoken in the atmosphere of the moment—was a promise she’d already had broken by those who were supposed to protect her.
A shiver coursed through her. She laid her head on Cord’s chest, and let these men lead her in a dance that was not only simple, but sweet. Jackson stroked his hands down her back and Cord leaned forward and placed a kiss on top of her head. The press of two male bodies flush against her let her know they were aroused. But for the moment, they seemed only interested in dancing.
And the sound she heard wasn’t the music of the local country band, but the cracking of the ice that had, for so very long, encased her heart.
Chapter 4
Jackson made himself a coffee using the single-cup coffeemaker his cousins kept at the ready on the kitchen counter, and made his way, quietly, out to the front porch. Everyone had partied hearty last night, and he didn’t want to wake Chase or Brian or their pretty little wife.
He had a hell of a lot on his mind, and he appreciated the quiet of a Sunday morning to try and sort some of it out. He heard a sound behind him and knew Cord had just made his way downstairs.
He didn’t resent his brother joining him, not one bit. Time spent with Cord was as good—better, actually—than time spent on his own. He made himself comfortable in one of the chairs and watched the early-morning light play across the land.
“September the eighth and it feels like August back home,” Cord said. Coffee in hand, he settled in the chair next to him.
“I don’t think I anticipated all the differences I would find here,” Jackson said. “And the weather is kind of the least of it.”
He settled his gaze over to the north. Just a few miles beyond the line of live oaks lay another piece of pastureland, six hundred and fifty acres, just waiting for an answer.
It’ll wait a bit longer, seeing as it’s waited all these years. And isn’t that a hell of a thing?
“That was some Ceremony yesterday,” Cord said.
“That was a surprise, too. I liked it. It felt every bit as binding, to me, as any wedding we attended back home.”
“And more…well, more sacred.” Cord sighed. “The whole thing made me feel good.”
“I don’t know if it’s genetic memory, or hell, if it is a sense of reincarnation, but since we came here I feel as if this is where we’re meant to be, and as you know I’m not one to wax poetic about anything.”
Cord raised his cup and stopped it just shy of his mouth. “Or romantic, either, judging by your behavior last night. I thought you said you liked Ari.”
“I do. I’m not sure what I would call the feelings I have for Tinker Bell, but to be honest with you, it’s a hell of a lot more than like.” Something about that woman hit all the right notes with him. He wanted to lay her down and plunder, and he wanted to cuddle her, and tease her…Jackson closed his eyes for a moment so he could picture the way she fit in between him and Cord last night.
The only word that came to mind was perfect.
“I do think it’s kind of funny, in a way,” Cord said. “Usually it’s women who get all romantic-minded at weddings, and the men who keep it light.”
Jackson laughed. “I guess we should have figured that if we ever met a woman who really turned us on beyond the physical that it wasn’t going to be an easy road for us.”
“Yeah, we should have.” Cord grinned. “She sure did feel fine between us when we were dancing. I’m kind of surprised she didn’t mouth off about my hard-on.”
“Or mine. I think she was just as turned on as we were.” Actually, he was damned sure of it.
“She was. Her nipples were drilling holes in my chest.”
Jackson shot his brother a look. “Lucky bastard.”
“Yeah, but you had her sweet ass tucked in tight next to your cock for two whole dances.”
“I did indeed.” And after the second dance, which had actually been an extension of the first, they’d both felt Ari’s panic. So they’d backed off, and spent the rest of the evening just talking. They saw to it she got some food from the buffet, and then they’d walked her home. “That was pretty fast thinking on your part, getting her to agree to come out here this afternoon when she was still in a mellow mood.” Jackson had never been more grateful that Cord had a talent for sensing the moods of others. He seemed to feel a special connection to Ari already, and that was good.
Jackson did, too, but that connection was to her more bratty side. He grinned just thinking about her bratty side. His palm fairly itched to get her over his lap so he could spank that sexy ass of hers.
“I felt her trying to pull back. I didn’t want to scare her or pressure her. I want her to want to spend time with us and get to know us.”
“Because you’re convinced that once she gets used to us, she’ll want more.”
“Like I said, she was as attracted and turned on as we were.” Cord sighed. He took a sip of his coffee, and then seemed to focus on something far off. “She’s got baggage.”
“Yeah, I know
. I was watching her when she was telling us about Carrie and the son of a bitch who abused her. There was a look in her eyes that kind of scared me, a little.”
“Especially in view of what Brian told me the other day,” Cord agreed. “All we can do is take it a day at a time and see what happens.”
“Yeah. She’s been hurt bad. But she didn’t let whatever happened to her kill her spirit. She fought back, and she took control of her life. It might be a challenge getting her to cede a bit of that control to us.” He turned to face his brother. “But I love a good challenge.”
“Of course,” Cord said, “she’s not the only one who has baggage and things unresolved.”
Jackson looked at Cord over his coffee cup. He didn’t have to ask him what he meant.
“You missed a hell of a good game on the tube Friday night,” Cord said. “That Texas A&M team has some damn good players.”
“I’m done with all that, Cord. You know that.”
“I know you can’t play football anymore. But there’s no reason you can’t watch the odd game, now and again. You missed a good time with some great people.”
“I had things to do.”
“I hear the principal of the consolidated school here in Lusty asked you to consider joining the staff as the director of football. Nice.”
“We haven’t even decided if we’re staying here, in Lusty. And if we do, I’m going to be far too busy helping to build our ranch to fool around with childish games.”
Just then Cord’s phone rang.
Saved by the bell. He couldn’t blame his brother for touching on sore spots. He just wished he’d leave it alone. Give a guy a chance.
Cord dug his cell phone out of his pocket and looked at the call display. When he smiled that soft smile of his, Jackson figured he knew who was calling.
“Hey, Nika. What are you doing awake so early, sweetheart?”
Their baby sister, Veronica, was the only one who would call them at the butt crack of dawn. Hell, it’s not even dawn yet in Montana. Jackson wasn’t worried, though. Nika was an author and could have been up and working for hours already.
He and Cord had been extra close to their youngest sibling, ever since the day, when they were sixteen, they’d caught Neil McLean harassing her. He’d backed her into a corner and was bullying her.
She’d only been eleven at the time, and that little bastard had been fourteen, and the younger brother of another bully, one Jackson had already set on his ass.
He would never forget the way she’d just stood in the corner by the school, arms wrapped around herself, a look on her face that had broken his heart and fired his temper like nothing really had since.
Well, nothing except the way that asshole boyfriend of hers treats her. That thought triggered his big-brother alert. “Put it on speaker,” he said to Cord.
Cord nodded. “He’s fine, Nika, and he’s right here. Hang on, I’m putting you on speaker. Okay, now we’ll both be able to hear you.”
“How are you, baby sister?” Jackson focused all his attention on the sound of her voice.
“I’m good. I just…I was just thinking about you both, being there like you are in Lusty, and I was wondering how you were doing. You’re really all right, Jackson?”
Jackson thought she was working a little too hard at sounding cheerful. For all of her creativity as an author, Nika—the nick name only he and Cord called her—was not a cheerful soul.
“You know, if you’re really worried about me, you could come on out here. Just you. No need to bring Bubba the knuckle-dragger with you. I mean, there’d be nothing for him to do, no one to drink with, and from what I’ve seen of the size of the men around here, no one for him to pick on, either, as they’re all big, strapping real men.”
“Jackson.”
“Veronica.” Did she sound a little less ticked than usual? It was nearly 7:00 a.m. in Lusty, which made in nearly 6:00 a.m. in Billings. Maybe her asshole boyfriend didn’t even bother to come home last night, which could explain why she was up so early.
He didn’t know if the bastard actually cheated on her or not, but he sure as hell wouldn’t put it past him.
Nika sighed. “I actually was thinking about coming out to Texas. I have always wanted to see the infamous place where grandfather was born and raised. I’ll have to see what I can do. In the meantime, tell me about being there. What are the people like?”
Jackson met Cord’s gaze. They were often on the same page about many things, but never so much so as when it came to their favorite sibling. It was hard to remember that Veronica was twenty-nine and that she had a right to do what she wanted, have a relationship with who she wanted.
Even an asshole like Bubba the knuckle-dragger.
“We went to a wedding yesterday—or what passes for a wedding here,” Cord said. “They call it a Commitment Ceremony.”
“Oh, that sounds cool. Was Grandma Kate there?”
Jackson smiled. He knew that Kate and Nika had always had a special kind of bond going between them, and while, when he’d been a jerk-faced know-it-all of twenty he thought that couldn’t be good, he sure as hell did now.
“Was she there?” Jackson asked. “Baby sister, she officiated.”
“Wow. I guess I just think of her as being the quiet-spoken sweet older woman who always came to visit us.”
“Well, let me tell you what I have learned about Grandma Kate,” Cord said. “Did you know she is going to be ninety-three on her next birthday?”
“Get out of here! She is not that old!”
“She most certainly is,” Cord said. “Of course, you can’t tell by how busy she is. She is considered the head of what they call the combined families—Benedicts, Kendalls, and Jessops…um…”
Jackson stepped in. “Parkers, Joneses, and Parker-Joneses.”
“Right. They have a museum here you would not believe,” Cord said. Then, more quietly, “Everyone here adores her.”
“What are the cousins like? The ones you’re working with?”
“The ones we’re working for you mean? Chase and Brian are great—younger than you by a couple years, but hard working. And their wife is very nice.”
“Their wife? Singular? As in one wife they share?”
“Nika, there really are a lot of ménage families here,” Jackson said. And then he thought of the perfect line of reasoning to get her to come and visit.
“You know, if you’re serious about changing the genre you’re writing—from sweet romance to erotic romance—then coming here and seeing ménage marriages in action might help.” Then he laughed. “Um, not that you see them in action. You know what I mean.”
Veronica was laughing, a light and carefree sound, and Jackson looked over at his brother. How long had it been since they’d heard their sister sound light and carefree?
“You know, that’s a good point. I want more readers, so it makes sense to write what the readers want to read, doesn’t it? And if I am going to go outside of what I know, then research would be key.”
“Makes damn good sense to me,” Cord said.
“Okay, I will think about coming out there. Um…Jackson?”
“Yes, babe?”
“You’re taking care of yourself, aren’t you? Making sure you don’t put yourself into any situations where you might get a concussion?”
“What, are we reversing roles, here? I’m the big brother and I’ll do the caretaking around here.”
“Jackson.”
It occurred to him that he and Nika had a hell of a close relationship if she could say his name so many different ways, with so many different meanings.
“I’m okay. Don’t you worry about me. Cord makes sure I have a safety harness and hard hat on every-fricking-where I go. Next week he plans to make sure I’m diapered and bibbed, just in case.”
“Oh, he does not! Okay, I get the message. You know your own limitations, and you don’t have a death wish.”
“I sure as hell don’t have a death
wish. I want to live long enough at least to dance in celebration when you dump the knuckle-dragger.”
Veronica sighed heavily, making both him and Cord smile. “I love you, too. I’ll be in touch.”
When the sound of the call being disconnected echoed on the porch, Cord reached out and made sure the call had ended. Then he said, “We have to get her out here. I don’t like that she’s all alone back there with that asshole.”
“Neither do I. But all we can do is invite her…well, and nag her and beg her…”
“Yeah.”
Jackson looked over at his brother. “I have an idea. Maybe we could have a chat with Grandma Kate. Maybe if she invites Nika, then Nika will come.”
“That is a fucking brilliant idea, bro.”
Jackson grinned. Thank God I’ve got him focused on Veronica, and not me. “What can I say? It’s a gift.”
* * * *
“You have done some really dumb things in your life, Ari Stein, but this is probably the dumbest,” she spoke aloud as she navigated her blue, very old Ford Taurus along the rural road that led to the Benedict North Ranch. It hadn’t taken her long to get into the lingo of Lusty. There was the Big House, which was kind of big, and the New House which was not new at all, and just as big as the big house. There was the Main Ranch, run by Steven Benedict, which had only been called the Main Ranch since the twins—Chase and Brian—had opened up the ranch land beyond the north end of the town. Which made where she was headed the North Ranch. Why am I reciting trivial information in my thoughts as if it’s a litany?
She should have called yesterday a one-off experience and left it at that. She should have accepted that even if being squished between those two quarterbacks felt good, it wasn’t good for her and left well enough alone.
They didn’t squish you. They very tenderly and sweetly cuddled you between them and it felt way better than good and you know it.
“Oh, you just shut the fuck up, you rotten, no good inner-imp. Why do you want to go getting me in trouble?” There was no doubt in Ari’s mind whatsoever. The double shot of Jackson and Cord Benedict was trouble of the life-altering kind.
Love Under Two Quarterbacks [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 5