They put down their windows and for a moment they sat in the relative silence of the night.
Ari had spent all of her life in large cities, until she’d moved to Lusty. She had found the pace of living slower, and there’d been a kind of lessening of the daily stress of urban living. A small town was one thing, but she’d never even imagined being out in the country, in the proverbial middle of nowhere, let alone out in the country at night.
“Come on,” Cord said.
“Come on, where?” Ari asked.
“We just want to stretch our legs,” Jackson said. “And show you something.”
“Ah…this is where you play naughty dog.”
Jackson laughed. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. He kissed it sweetly. “You were the one who wanted to get naked.”
There was enough light to see his face, and the way he sent her his teasing leer. “Yes, but not out in the middle of nowhere with bugs and creepy-crawlies and who knows what. I’m not getting naked out there where those things can jump up onto to me and roam anywhere!”
“No, Red, we won’t get naked out there,” Cord said. “Not unless you ask us to. We do have a blanket in the back of the truck which we always carry—that’s a holdover from living where the winter storms can hit unexpectedly.”
“Your folks likely did the same, living in Indiana,” Jackson said. “Don’t worry, Tink. We’ll guard you. When we leave, we’ll even check you for ticks.”
He said that with a straight face, and she recalled the Brad Paisley song from a few years back. It was the right thing to say. She realized she was being more than a little silly. She couldn’t help her reaction to the idea of bugs. She guessed she was a girly girl and a city girl when it came right down to it. But she could trust them to take care of her. “All right. Lead the way, slick.”
“You know, you should really call Cord ‘slick.’ Because he is a whole lot slicker than I am. But no, you call him cowboy.” Jackson got out of the truck and held his hand out to her.
She used his help and then followed him. She could see fairly well, because without the bright lights of the city the sky seemed a carpet of tiny twinkling lights. “And you call me Tinker Bell,” Ari said. “So it all works out. All right, I’m out of the truck. What is it I’m supposed to be looking at?”
“This.” Cord swept his arm out to indicate what lay in every direction.
Ari looked as best as she could, even turning in a circle so that she could see everything. There wasn’t anywhere near enough light to see fine details. She mostly only got the impression of the shapes of some trees here and there—nothing like the large trees and forests of Indiana, but trees none the less.
She had no idea what it was they wanted her to see. “Okay, you’ve lost me.”
“No, we haven’t. You’re right here.”
“Now who’s being the smart-ass, slick?”
He laughed. “Last week, we had a meeting with Grandma Kate and Jake Kendall,” Jackson said. “You know that our grandfather, Emerson Benedict, left Lusty when he was twenty-five, just after the end of the Second World War.”
“Yes, actually, I did know that.” Ari didn’t want to tell them that she’d been more than a little enamored of Benedict family history since she’d come to Lusty. Very fresh in her mind was the story Grandma Kate had told her earlier that day.
“When he left, he was given his inheritance—a sum of money he considered at the time, and in later years, to be quite a generous amount.” Cord met them at the front of the truck. He leaned against it and took her other hand.
A light breeze kissed her face, and the sound of crickets and cicadas provided a unique kind of background music. Holding hands with two big, strong alpha males did wonders for her city-girl jitters. It was actually very pleasant standing here in the starlight, with the slightly cooler nighttime air caressing her.
“From what I’ve heard, your grandfather handled that inheritance wisely. The Montana Benedicts have done well for themselves.”
“Why, Tinker Bell, have you been checking up on our prospects?”
“Keep dreaming, slick. I’m just repeating what I’ve heard here and there ever since it was announced that the two of you were coming to town.”
Cord chuckled. “To get back to our tale…yes, Grandfather did manage his inheritance wisely, and made that money grow. Our father, and his brothers, did the same. We prospered, as it seems the Benedict gene for having a knack for making money blessed us out west as it did those members of the family who either stayed in Lusty, or moved elsewhere. It never occurred to Grandfather, or any of us, that there would be anything left in Lusty to claim.”
“And there is?”
“After a fashion,” Jackson said. “Apparently, Sarah Benedict didn’t like the idea of having cut Emerson or his descendants off from the family, as it were.” He shook his head. “She must have been something.”
“Grandma Kate told me that she and Amanda Jessop-Kendall pulled strings to have her sent here during the Second World War because their grandsons Gerald and Patrick Benedict had met her in Arlington, and fallen for her. She was in the Army Nurse Corps at the time.”
“Huh. I didn’t know that. But that would play with what I’m learning about the original matriarch of our clan.” Cord stayed quiet for a moment. He seemed to be taking in his surroundings.
Ari let the silence lay for a while. She’d never been the sort who needed to fill every moment with talk. But after a few minutes, curiosity got the better of her. “So…what is this ‘inheritance after a fashion’?”
“Sarah set aside several parcels of land,” Jackson said, “all around Lusty, stretching out from here, toward Oklahoma and west toward New Mexico. Each parcel can only be sold to a descendant of either Benedicts or Jessops or Kendalls.”
“This particular piece of land that we’re standing on is six hundred and fifty acres, suitable for ranching or farming. It’s a place to start, if one wanted to start over.”
“Wait a minute…I thought all the land in Lusty was owned by the Town Trust and could not be sold.”
“That’s right. But this parcel isn’t in Lusty. The town is about five miles that way.” Jackson pointed. “Now the land does have a covenant attached to it. It cannot be sold to anyone who isn’t in the families. And if we die without heirs, or our heirs die without heirs, then the land would have to be sold back to whoever holds the title of Sarah’s legacy.”
“I bet right now, that’s Grandma Kate.”
“You’d win that bet. The terms of the legacy were such that she couldn’t tell us about it until we moved here, and indicated we wanted to stay. Just as we can’t tell our brothers or sisters, or our cousins back in Montana about it.”
“Is this what you want? To settle here, to have a place to start over?”
“It shouldn’t surprise you, Red. Everyone has the right to a place to start over—a place to belong.”
“Yes. Everyone does.” Ari understood in that moment, as she hadn’t understood before, that she had indeed been looking for a place to start over and a place to belong. That was probably why she began to change after she moved to town.
She’d been drawn to come and apply for the position at Chloe’s spa, and compelled to accept the offer of employment when she had thought she would turn it down. Now she understood why. Her subconscious must have felt that Lusty could be where she belonged.
“Are you going to buy this land, then?”
Cord and Jackson looked at each other, and for once Ari didn’t feel any vibes coming her way from their psi-thing.
“We haven’t really decided yet,” Cord said. “We had reasons for wanting to move to Lusty—several reasons. We didn’t know how we’d feel about being here, or how well we’d fit in.”
“We sure as hell didn’t expect to be welcomed like a couple of prodigal sons,” Jackson said. “That said, we’re trying to be logical about the situation. That’s the Montana Benedict in us. This is a he
ll of a decision. An important decision. There’s really no hurry. Both Kate and Jake assured us of that. Our only commitment so far is the promise we gave not to tell anyone back home about the legacy. We aren’t actually supposed to tell anyone, period, but we wanted you to know.”
Ari felt her heart swell. They’d needed for her to know, but hadn’t asked her to keep the secret, because they trusted her to do just that. Ari looked out over the trees and fields surrounding her, with, she thought, different eyes. “From everything I’ve learned about the woman, Sarah would have wanted her descendants to come back because this was where family was. This was home. She wouldn’t want them to come back just to gain something.”
“Yeah,” Cord said. “Like we said, she sounds like she was one hell of a woman.”
“Kate is, too,” Ari said. And she thought of the story Kate had told her—some of which had been quite personal. She looked from one man to the other, and believed she understood, exactly, what had moved Kate to take that fateful horseback ride that autumn day in search of her two Benedicts. “I’ve changed my mind,” Ari said. “I want you. I want you both. And what better place for us to have each other than right here, under the stars, on land your ancestor owned.”
Chapter 12
Cord couldn’t take his eyes off her. Bathed in starlight, wearing nothing but that intoxicating expression of hunger, Ari Stein was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her hazel eyes drew him in. The heat of passion he read in them enhanced the green, making them seem as if they were glowing.
“Do you like what you see, cowboy?”
Ah, and that smart little mouth of hers had to be one of his favorite parts of her. He looked at those lips and thought of another use entirely for that wonderfully smart mouth.
“I do, Red. And I like what I’m imagining, which is you on your knees sucking my cock.”
“You’d like that, would you?”
He loved that sneer, too. And the way those hot eyes tracked down his body and, hell yeah, the way that heated look made his cock get even harder than it already was.
“Well, duh.” Cord met her gaze. “Unless, of course, you’re too delicate a lady to even consider doing such a thing.” Cord flicked a glance over at Jackson. His brother had stripped and lay stretched out at the other side of the blanket they’d taken out of the truck. The breeze was light, just enough to keep any flying bugs from bothering them. The air was certainly warm enough for them to drop their clothes and not be the slightest bit chilled.
Cord found himself wishing they’d headed further onto the property where a stream ran through. A swim after loving might have been nice. Except, of course, they hadn’t checked it out in the daylight yet, and they wouldn’t risk Ari going there until they had.
He brought his attention back to their woman—and whether or not she was ready to admit it, Ari was their woman—and the fun little tussle they were engaged in.
Ari won the argument hands down when she stepped forward and reached out with her hands and fisted his cock.
“I may be a lady, but I never said I was delicate.”
His heart practically pounded out of his chest when she sank to her knees on the edge of the blanket. She pumped his cock a couple of times and he found he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He felt the telltale tingle and watched the result when a tiny drop of pre-cum emerged, glistening on the tip of his cock.
Ari turned her gaze up and met his, giving him the hottest fuck-me look he’d received from any woman ever. She held his gaze as her tongue slowly snaked out and slurped up that tiny drop. He felt his eyes cross as that hot, wet little tongue of hers made contact with the head of his cock.
She closed her eyes for a moment as she brought that sampled nectar into her mouth, as if her entire being was focused on tasting it—tasting him. She opened her eyes, smiled, and said, “Now you be sure to let me know if you don’t like this. I’m really not confident in what I’m doing here, because I’ve never done this before.”
And then she sucked his cock right into her mouth.
Wet, wonderful heat surrounded him. Pure instinct found him cupping her head and tangling his fingers in her hair. Arousal surged through him with every stroke of her tongue on his shaft and tiny suck her little mouth gave the end of his cock.
“Lord, Ari, you’ve got a great mouth. You’re a natural at this, honey.” Cord wanted to say more but his brain sighed in bliss and his own tongue tangled, incapable for the moment of forming words. He groaned, he growled, and he sighed.
“You look good with cock in your mouth, woman,” Jackson said. I’m looking at my brother’s face and I can’t remember ever seeing such pleasure on him.”
Ari whimpered around Cord’s cock and he had to bear down to exert every bit of his will so that he didn’t come right then and there. He hadn’t realized how much dirty talk seemed to excite their woman.
“That’s right, woman.” He forced his mind to produce words designed to get her hot. “Suck my cock…mmm, yeah, just like that. Oh, yes, what a talented little mouth you have.” Cord sucked in a breath because Ari increased her suction just a little, and once more he had to focus to stop from coming. It felt so damn good, he wanted more, much more before he came.
“I’m going to fill your mouth with my cum and you’re going to swallow every drop.”
“Fuck, I’m getting in on this.” Jackson moved, got on his hands and knees, and crawled over to them. He grabbed a condom and made fast work sliding it on. Then he closed in on Ari.
She jerked and moaned when Jackson slipped his hand between her legs. “I knew your cunt was dripping, baby. I could smell your juices. Ease up on Cord. How about if the three of us come together?”
“Mmhmm,” Cord all but purred. “Baby, your mouth surrounding my cock feels nearly as good as your hot little cunt. I can hardly wait until we get your ass ready to fuck. You’re going to have us both inside you, fucking you, this way. But soon, we’ll take you, cunt and ass, and we’ll make you scream and cream and beg for more.”
Ari shivered, and he knew she was getting close to her own orgasm. He called on every bit of his strength to hold himself back. He tried reciting the names of his teammates, in numerical order of their jerseys. And he watched, avidly, as Jackson gently spread Ari’s knees, making just a bit more room between them for himself.
Jackson edged closer, his hand on his cock, guiding it to their woman’s cunt. Her moan, long and loud, very nearly put paid to his control.
There was no longer a single doubt in his heart, mind, body or soul. Heaven was having Ari, needy, naked, and whimpering, between him and his brother—his best friend.
* * * *
Ari shivered again as Jackson’s latex-covered cock brushed the lips of her cunt. Live wires carrying electric bliss sizzled through her, tingling every nerve ending. Her nipples hardened painfully, and as Jackson thrust into her, her hungry little pussy squeezed around his cock, grabbing it firmly, devouring it.
“Mmm.” The sound came out muffled around Cord’s cock, and he rewarded her by giving her another little sample of the jism he’d soon shoot.
Nothing had ever felt like this. One lover clutched her head, the other grasped her hips, and she relished the sensation of being between them.
A breeze caressed her, making her incredibly conscious of her nudity, and of the juices that coated the lips of her pussy. She didn’t feel battered as she had that first time all those years ago. This had no similarities whatsoever to that. She didn’t feel cheap, as she had with her first two chosen lovers—men she’d made the decision to have sex with because she thought it was something she should do, believed it was something that would help her finally get over the other.
She felt special. She felt cherished. And yes, though they’d not come out and said the words, she felt loved.
She wasn’t a means to an end. She was the center, and the focus.
“God, woman, your cunt is so hot and wet. Let me feel your clit, baby.” Jackson rea
ched around and found that nubbin. “Standing straight up like a miniature cock. Are you horny, Ari? Do you want to come?”
Unwilling to release Cord’s cock even long enough for a one-word answer, Ari made a humming sound of agreement. She did want to come. Arousal had become a fire burning in her blood and raging in her soul.
“You can’t come until I tell you,” Jackson said. “If you do, I’ll spank you.”
Don’t come? She didn’t know if she could stop herself from coming. She moved her hips slightly, thrusting back to let Jackson know she didn’t quite agree with that command. And to spite him, she began to draw long and hard on Cord’s cock. Urgency filled her. She needed to drink Cord’s cum, taste this most basic essence of him.
She thought she had a pretty good hold of Cord but in the next heartbeat, he slipped his cock from her mouth—a short second before Jackson’s hand landed hard on her bare ass.
“Oh, God!” The bite of his slap turned to molten honey, coating her inside and out with a different kind of thrill from the one already nearly overflowing her nerve endings.
“My way, woman.” Jackson’s tone brooked no argument. The tone should have pissed her off—would have pissed her off if uttered by anyone other than this man or his brother.
Instead, it wove its way around all of the other sensations bombarding her—the scent of sex, the touch of hands, the kiss Jackson placed just then on her ass where he’d smacked her, and the sight of Cord’s erect cock, wet from her saliva and harder than she’d ever seen it.
Every sense had its own version of arousal, and they all combined to nearly make her defy him and come on her own.
“It’ll be better if you hold off, Tink. I promise. Let’s come together, babe.”
Jackson’s tone had gone from demanding to cajoling and Ari knew that either way she couldn’t deny him what he wanted.
Love Under Two Quarterbacks [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 13