“All right. You can ask. I can’t promise I’ll grant them.”
Cord grinned. “The first favor is this. If you need to talk about anything, anything at all, come to us, please. We like you, and we care about you.”
“I thought you just wanted to play naughty dog.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, Tinker Bell. We’re definitely going to play naughty dog with you. We like you and care about you and want very much to get you naked and into a bed between us.”
There was no hurry. Neither of them said it, but the fact that they didn’t want every single detail of her life to date, and their teasing attitudes, told her that.
“Noted for future reference. What’s the second favor?” They hadn’t slowed the progress of their horses as they approached the ranch buildings. She saw movement, and recognized the Benedicts’ foreman, Ricoh Stone, as he stepped out of the barn and watched them approach.
“When we get to the barn stay in the saddle for a moment until we can help you down.”
“Jealous?”
“Oh, definitely,” Jackson said.
“But the larger truth is that when your legs give out we want it to be one of us who catches you.”
Ari thought for certain the men were just teasing her. Until she tried to get off of the horse.
* * * *
Dwight Gilmore focused his Nikon D90, using the special zoom lens he’d purchased recently. He could make out the men. He’d studied The Wonder Twins enough that he knew them on sight.
Jackson Benedict sure as hell didn’t look “disabled” to him.
“I knew you were scamming us all, you son of a bitch.”
Gilmore hated Jackson Benedict with a passion. The man had gotten him fired from his job with American Teammates, one of the top magazines in the country. What the fuck was it with these celebrities? They sure as hell liked the fame and the money, but didn’t want to pay the piper and play nice with the media in return.
He’d made The Wonder Twins his subject and had planned an entire spread, which his editor had approved.
But apparently, Benedict hadn’t liked being followed, having his picture taken, being filmed at restaurants or at his siblings’ apartments or that stupid ranch he lived on.
Jackson didn’t like him trying to get an interview with his sister. Veronica, that had been her name. She’d acted all hostile and in his face when he’d approached her. Crazy bitch.
So Jackson had bitched to Dwight’s publisher and the bastard had fired him.
He’d been doing all right after getting fired—hell, even a little bit better than when he’d been a staff photographer and writer—shooting freelance and selling his pictures to anyone who’d pony up with the price.
And then the news had broken in July that The Wonder Twins were “retiring.” The headlines had hinted at medical reasons. Apparently Jackson had gotten his bell rung pretty good during training camp, and boo fucking hoo the doctor said he had to retire.
That was the story, but Dwight wasn’t buying it one bit. The clincher for him was that both brothers had retired. He figured that they were actually negotiating with another team—and he had to believe, now, one of the Texas teams—for more money.
Who the hell walked away from a golden career when he was still in his prime?
No one, that was who. Dwight returned his attention to the tableau unfolding before him. The men had each dismounted, and then both gone to help the woman off her horse.
“Now that is interesting.” It looked to him as if both men were copping a feel. He couldn’t focus on her at all, not enough to zero in on her facial expressions. He thought she was Jackson’s girlfriend—maybe the guy wasn’t gay after all—but then it was Cord who scooped her up and sat with her on his lap.
Cord waited with the bimbo while Jackson and one of the ranch hands took the horses into the barn.
Dwight was getting bored, waiting for the story to unfold. He took a couple of shots to test the light, the angle, and the distance. He looked at the results. They were not as good as he’d like, certainly not real high quality.
He’d see what he could do once he got back to that motel room out by the interstate. He’d brought his laptop, of course. He could download the pictures and clean them up using his own photo program. In the meantime, since this seemed to be where the two were holed up, waiting to meet with some official from one of the Texas NFL teams, he’d do best to camp out so he could catch the action on film when it happened.
He didn’t need to be right there. A photograph showing them meeting with any of the Texas teams reps would be all he would need. He’d boned up on the major players so he’d know them when they arrived.
He’d bet his granny’s pension that “The Wonder Twins” were nothing but lying, cheating little bastards. And he figured the perfect shot would not only ruin them, it would make him famous.
He’d be the man who toppled two of football’s biggest icons.
Chapter 6
“I am aching in muscles I didn’t even know I had.” Ari wasn’t angry about the fact that she had indeed nearly landed on her ass when she’d gotten off the horse. Jackson and Cord had warned her and they had both been there to catch her.
“We probably should have limited your riding time the first day,” Cord said. “Our fault entirely, Red. We’re sorry. We were both just enjoying being with you so much, we honestly didn’t think about it until we were nearly back to the barn.”
Cord carried her toward the house with Jackson walking beside them. At the porch Jackson stepped ahead to open the door.
“So what’s your plan, here, cowboy?” She figured they could probably take her anywhere and she wouldn’t object. Somehow over the course of the afternoon, her emotions had settled and her mental wrangling had quieted.
“Well, first, you need to soak in a nice hot tub. But don’t worry. We share a bathroom between our rooms, so it’ll be private. And that tub is a Jacuzzi, so that will definitely help.”
“I’ve heard some talk about Benedict, Kendall, and Jessop-sized hot tubs and showers and beds.” She gave them a look that let them know she was on to them. Ari had never been able to tease or be teased. Yet with these men, teasing seemed to come naturally. She slid her arms around Cord’s neck as he began to climb the stairs.
“Yeah.” Jackson grinned. “The first time we got a look at our cousins’ master suite here, our jaws hit the floor.”
Ari blinked. “Oh! That’s right! You wouldn’t have amenities like those back home.”
“We never even dreamed such things existed,” Cord said. Then he gave her what she could only call a cheeky look. “Having said that, we’ve both got king-sized beds in our rooms, and that bathroom situated between them is certainly nothing to sneeze at, size wise. Not as big as Chase, Brian, and Carrie’s, but big enough for more than one person in that tub, if we’re creative.”
“Uh-huh. So this is where we start to play naughty dog.”
“Nope. Judging by that wince we both saw when you tried to stand up a few moments ago, we’re going to play a totally different game, denying ourselves the naughty dog option—at least until we’ve taken care of your aches and pains. The game we’re going to play is called ‘licensed massage therapist’ which, in case you were wondering, has absolutely nothing in common whatsoever with playing doctor.”
Ari wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She was more than a little aroused at the moment, something she’d never fully believed she would ever be.
“What did you do to the poor woman?” Chase Benedict stood at the top of the stairs. He moved back into the hallway as Cord reached the top of the steps.
“We lost track of time during her first riding lesson.”
“Oh, ouch. Do y’all have any liniment?”
Jackson nodded. “Yeah, we both have knees that need a little help now and again, so we’re never without that.”
“Okay, then. Brian and I are headed into Lusty to have dinner at the restaurant and
ogle our wife when she comes out to restock the buffet.”
“If we don’t make it in before Lusty Appetites closes, we’ll just make ourselves something to eat here.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He grinned and tipped his hat to Ari. “A hot soak and some medicated liniment really will make you feel much better, and you’ll be able to walk tomorrow if that’s done right away.”
“That would be a good thing, since I have to work tomorrow.” Ari thought it was cute the way Cord turned with her in his arms so she could continue her conversation with his cousin. She would have thought that she’d be embarrassed, carrying on a conversation with someone while being held in a man’s arms. But she wasn’t at all. “Of course, I get to sit a bit at work, but I also am up and down a lot.”
Chase looked sheepish. “Carrie’s on her feet most of the day, and we actually did the same thing with her, during her first riding lesson. In all of our defenses, let me say that when you’ve been raised in the saddle, you sometimes forget the effect that being in the saddle can have in the beginning.”
Chase nodded to her again and then headed down the stairs. Jackson had proceeded on ahead of them, and as Cord carried her down the hallway, she could hear the sound of water running.
Cord sat down on a padded bench in what seemed to her to be a very nicely appointed bathroom. The shower stall looked big enough to hold at least two people, if not three. The bathtub could probably hold three if they were willing to get really familiar with each other, but it wasn’t the same kind of spa tub as the one Ari knew Chloe had in her house.
She’d been distracted looking around, so it took her a moment to realize that Jackson had come over and knelt by her feet. As he began to unlace her shoes, Cord tugged her T-shirt out of the waistband of her jeans.
“Um, so tell me again the difference between playing ‘licensed massage therapist’ and playing ‘doctor’?”
“The difference is real simple,” Jackson said. “A massage therapist sees you naked and works to make you feel better, but there is no internal exam involved.” He raised both eyebrows, giving her a lascivious leer.
Ari laughed. “You just made that up!”
“Pretty good, huh?” He’d pulled her shoes and socks off, and then got up to turn off the water. Cord unsnapped her jeans, and then Jackson returned, and knelt before her once more.
“Decision time,” Cord said. “Option one is we undress you, set you in the tub, and serve as your personal bath attendants. Then we get you out of the tub, dry you off, lay you on one of our beds, and work on those tight muscles with medicated liniment. Then we dress you, feed you, and take you home.”
“And what is option two?”
“Option two is that we stop now and bring you a robe to put on after you’ve undressed and bathed yourself, and then, when you’re ready, we work on those legs.” Jackson worked on the arches of her feet as he spoke, giving her the kind of foot rub she’d only ever dreamed of in the past. It was all she could do not to melt into a puddle right then and there. “Then we let you get dressed, feed you, and take you home.”
“Is there an option three?”
The brothers looked at each other for a long moment. She could feel Cord’s erection pressing against her hip, and could see evidence of Jackson’s woody, despite that fact that he was still kneeling in front of her.
“Option three would be option one, a couple of rounds of playing doctor, and with an extra meal thrown in—breakfast.” Cord ran his hand down her arm, and she thought she could feel him tremble, just a little.
Decision time indeed. Ari tilted her head to one side and looked at each man in turn. She really wasn’t surprised that she wanted them. If she were to be completely honest with herself, she’d wanted them the moment she’d laid eyes on them. That was why she’d thrown up that extra protective wall of sarcasm against them.
This desire she felt was so uncharacteristic for her, that the impulse had frightened her at first. But she’d gotten to know them a little over the last couple of days. The way she felt when she was with them was different from anything she’d ever known.
She didn’t let herself talk herself out of what she wanted, and she didn’t let her inner imp say one word. But even in this moment, she would be completely honest with them.
“Then I choose option number three. But you need to be warned. I’ve been told, the two times that I attempted to ‘play doctor’ in the past, that I’m not very good at it. So I guess the two of you have a decision to make, too.”
“We want you.” Cord turned her face toward him. “We’ve wanted you from the first time we laid eyes on you.” He ran his finger across her bottom lip.
Reacting without thought, Ari parted her lips and used her tongue to stroke his finger, tasting him. Cord sucked in his breath, and she guessed that was a good sign.
“If you’ve been told you weren’t good at it, the blame lies at the feet of the men who said it.” Jackson ran his hands up her legs until he bracketed her waist. “Because, Tinker Bell, you respond to us, to our slightest touch. You’re wet right now, and I know that because I can smell you.”
“We want you, and we’re going to have you, just as you’re going to have us. But first, we are going to take care of you.” Cord brushed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then tilted her face up.
His words echoed and she felt something inside herself shift. It would be wonderful to hand over the reins once in a while and let myself be taken care of.
“No one ever has.” She hadn’t thought she was going to say that out loud. But having someone take care of her—oh, not twenty-four seven but certainly once in a while—was a secret dream. A dream she’d rarely even mentally acknowledged, and certainly never spoken of, until now.
“Their loss.” Cord lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers. The touch felt featherlight, warmly moist, and as she inhaled, she took into her head the scent and the flavor of him. That barely there aroma and taste was enough to make her heart pound and her blood heat.
A sound emerged from somewhere deep within her, a sound she’d never made before. But he heard, and he understood. And then, yes, Cord settled his lips on hers and kissed her.
She opened her mouth wide under his. His tongue traced her lips, her teeth, and invited her tongue to dance. From a waltz to a tango, he led and she followed. His heat and his essence became hers. When he cupped her chin in one hand, she felt immeasurably cherished. Her nipples tightened into tiny hard points and she felt that moisture Jackson had sworn he could smell seep out of her body, just the slightest bit, to coat her pussy lips and drench her panties.
A growl, both strange yet familiar, sent a shiver up her spine. Cord eased his lips from hers and directed her attention to Jackson.
He still knelt there before her, but he’d straightened his back and as she met his gaze she saw they were eye to eye.
His gaze glittered with a heat and a hunger she had no trouble interpreting. She’d never been susceptible to a look before, but his got to her, not just physically, but in a way she wanted to call spiritually.
“Watching the two of you kiss was one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen. Hot and right. Give me your mouth, Tinker Bell. I need to taste you, too.”
This man would never beg or cajole for anything. The instant he cupped the back of her head with his firm male grip, she knew she would never want him to. This kiss felt and tasted different from Cord’s, yet there was a facet to it that filled a need within her. Hot, demanding, this kiss Jackson gave her was more than a kiss. It was a claiming.
His tongue took her mouth and the rhythm he set, stroking her tongue with his, put her in mind of a different kind of delving yet to come, and a different kind of stroking.
He wrenched his mouth from hers and she had the sense that Jackson Benedict had just come very close to losing control.
“Good God almighty, woman. You pack one hell of a punch in your kiss.”
“So do you, slick.”
&nbs
p; His eyes widened and then he laughed. The sound resembled a bark, and in her peripheral vision she saw Cord’s pleased smile.
“Let’s get you in that tub, Ari.” Jackson stroked the side of her face. “Your legs will cramp up if we wait much longer.”
Had any woman ever been stripped of her clothes as if the men undressing her were automatons, and not sporting impressive hard-ons and about to become her lovers?
She didn’t have a stopwatch but she’d bet it took them less than a minute to divest her of T-shirt, jeans, bra, and panties and dump her in the water.
Someone turned on the jets and the water began to churn around her. “Ah.” The heat and the movement of the water immediately set to work on her aching calf and thigh muscles, and it was as if her entire body sighed in relief.
Okay, so they didn’t dump me in the water. Jackson very carefully lifted me and set me into the bathtub.
Neither man stripped himself except to whip his own T-shirt over his head and off.
“Here.” Jackson rolled a towel, eased her upright, and then placed the towel behind her neck. “Now lie back, close your eyes, and let us take care of you.” Cord knelt on her right and Jackson on her left, and they proceeded to do just that.
She’d had two voluntary lovers in her life to date, and each one had acted like a slathering hyena once she’d been naked. So it was a very nice change of pace for her, having these two men on their knees bathing her.
Ari blinked her eyes open. “Wait, you can’t! Didn’t you tell Chase that you both had bad knees? You can’t kneel on this hard floor and bathe me!”
Cord gave her the sweetest smile. “It’s all right, sweetheart. This doesn’t hurt them.”
“No, hitting the ground knees first when you’re running at full tilt with a three-hundred-pound tackler on your back—that hurts them.” Jackson grinned. “Thank you for being concerned, baby. Now hush, and relax.”
Ari found it impossible to do anything but relax. They used soft cloths and a very light-scented soap and actually bathed her. They didn’t let their hands wander, trying to cop a feel or grab at her breasts.
Love Under Two Quarterbacks [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 7