When Seth pulled away from her, Jason used his hands to turn her around. He was even bigger than Seth, and his size intimidated her, but when she met his eyes, Edie saw the glacier-like color warmed to something so intense and inviting, she found herself lost in him.
He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her face toward his. The angles of his face made him look so harsh and beautiful. Jason leaned down and hovered over her lips. His presence engulfed her, overtook her. He brushed his lips over hers, then pulled back.
Looking in her eyes, Jason used his thumb to trace over her bottom lip before pulling it down a fraction. Then he plundered her mouth, taking her by surprise. The feel of him against her was different from Seth. Jason was bigger, more forceful. His hunger was carnal and untamed as opposed to Seth’s skillful, watchful, and practiced seduction. Jason dominated her, mastered her with only one kiss.
When he pulled back, his eyes held hers, and Edie knew this was the type of man who would want to watch as his lovers screamed out their orgasms. He would demand them from her, would demand she give him everything she had. And he would give her the same in return. Seth was the same, but different. Seth would use all of his practiced skill on her, would use his boundless finesse until she went wild for him. The thought had her pressing her thighs together, the space between her legs feeling so empty. Edie wanted them between her thighs. She wanted them out of control for her.
“So what are you doing with all this girly stuff, cupcake?” Jason asked when he pulled back.
Edie took a calming breath and tried to steady herself. It did not work. “Oh, we’ve got two couples checking in today, and I wanted to get them some special stuff to make their stay more comfortable.”
Jason’s eyebrows rose on his forehead, and Seth gave a soft snort behind her. “So you’re getting them soap?” Jason picked up a bar of soap and sniffed at it cautiously. “Smells all right, I guess.”
Edie snatched it from his hands and cradled it against her chest. “It’s a good idea, thank you very much. They’re couples celebrating their anniversaries, and I expect they’re not going to be leaving their rooms very much. Lena and I thought it would be a good idea to make their rooms as comfortable and luxurious as possible.”
“Celebrating their love, huh?” Seth wiggled his eyebrows at her, then took the soap out of her grasp and smelled it, too. He shrugged after he sniffed it and handed it back to her. “I like the way you smell better.”
The heat in his voice made her clit throb in her panties.
“We’re going to have to check these people out before we can let them stay in at your B&B,” Jason said.
Okay. That took the heat out of the moment. She rounded on Jason and poked her finger in his deliciously thick chest. “Excuse me? It’s my establishment. I can let anyone I want stay there.”
Jason looked unfazed by her vehemence. Instead, he uncurled her fingers and kissed her palm. “Of course you can.” He pulled her closer to his body. “Once we check them out and make sure they’re not sick bastards.”
“What?” she screeched. Edie tried to pull her hand out of Jason’s grip, but he just held on to her loosely, reminding her that her strength could never compare to his. “Don’t you dare try to tell me I can’t run my business as I see fit.”
“I’m not telling you that at all, but if you think we’re just going to sit by and let some crazy son of a bitch within fifty feet of you, you’re delusional.”
“These people aren’t crazy! They’re just some couples who want to get away for a romantic weekend!”
“All right, then. I’ll believe you.”
“Thank Go—”
“As soon as you tell me their names and addresses,” Jason interrupted. “And you wouldn’t happen to have their credit card information or social security numbers, would you?”
* * * *
After arguing with them for almost half an hour, Edie finally agreed to let Jason run background checks on her guests. She felt terrible and unprofessional about releasing their information to him, but with the two of them breathing down her neck about the whole thing, she would have talked herself to death before they left her alone.
They even bought the soaps and bath salts she planned on buying for her guests. She thought it was overkill. They told her she better get used to it, whatever that meant.
“Did you walk here, or did you drive?” Jason asked Edie after he took her shopping bags from her and put his hand on the small of her back.
“I walked. It was such a nice morning, and I wanted to see the wildflowers. They’re so much prettier here than they are in the city.” She liked the way it felt to have them so close, especially when Seth took her hand. It scared her to admit how much she liked the two of them touching her. She could only imagine how erotic it would be for them to put their hands on her when there were not any clothes in the way.
“We’ll drive you home, then,” Jason said.
“Oh, no, please. I can walk. Cedar Ridge is in the opposite direction.”
“No. We’re driving you. We’re seeing you home. The town’s not that big, anyway.”
Edie opened her mouth to argue, but remembering the scene they put on earlier, she decided to keep her mouth shut. She’d do well to remember to pick her battles.
“All right. Fine. Y’all can drive me back to The Sweet Spot. But you have to come inside and let me make you some lunch or something.”
“Sounds good to me.” Seth led her around the side of Jason’s FJ40 to the passenger door. He opened it and held her waist as she hoisted herself up.
“Thank you,” she started, but Seth leaned into her, his lips taking hers before she could think. She let herself sink into him, let him lead her as his tongue danced with hers. When he gently pulled away, Edie realized she clutched at his shirt.
“Whoops,” she whispered against his lips, “sorry. Here, let me—”
She started smoothing it out with her hands, but Seth caught her wrists in his hands and pulled her toward him.
“You keep doing that, and I’ll take you right here.” His breath rasped against her ear and made her shiver. Or maybe it was the dark, erotic tone in his voice.
A stupid “Oh” was all she could manage.
“‘Oh’ is right, Edie,” Seth said when he stepped back. The heat in his eyes scorched her. “Don’t be fooled. We might have good manners, but we won’t for long.”
With that, he shut the door and got in behind her.
The short ride to the B&B was full of tension. Seth made small talk about the goings-on at Cedar Ridge, and Edie chatted with him, but Jason drove in silence. The vibes that man gave off made her clit throb and her pussy ache.
Sex, raw and potent, came off him in thick waves. Never before had she been so aware of someone else’s body, of the tiny movements they made. But sitting next to Jason and watching the way his legs moved when he switched gears and the way his chest rippled when he pulled on the stick shift made her want to hop on him right then and there. She did not care if they crashed the truck in the process. All she knew was that she wanted them to fill her, to make her come bucking and screaming until she was raw with it.
She needed to get those thoughts out of her head before they smelled her arousal. They were more aware of her body than she was. It scared and intimidated her that these men would know her on more intimate levels than she even knew herself. And it was her body. Or rather, it was hers until they claimed it, and she had no doubt they would go beyond claiming her.
Edie snuck one more peek at Jason out of the corner of her eye. How well he handled the SUV amazed her. True, he’d been driving these roads for years, but there was something about the way he handled the steering wheel and the focus on his face that told her Jason was a man who controlled everything around him. He was the type of man who never missed anything, who always figured out everything before anyone else. He was sharp, calculating, and intense. She could only imagine what he would be like between h
er legs when all of his control went out the window.
And Seth. Seth was flirtatious and charming, but there was something cold underneath all that flash, something made from the same steel his brother was made of. There was something hard hidden under all the smiles and the mischievous glint in his eyes. A certain ruthlessness that marked the corners of his lips. Seth might look like an overindulged, oversexed playboy with a sexy five o’clock shadow, but something about him said “You really don’t want to push your luck, buddy.” Seth would be ruthless with her, she knew. His cocky gait and that damn sexy grin of his screamed sex master.
“Whatcha thinkin’ about so hard, Edie?” Seth pulled on her dress straps, and she tensed.
“Nothing.”
She felt Seth perk up in the seat behind her. He took a strand of her hair and twirled it around his fingers. “Liar,” he whispered to her. He brushed his lips over her shoulder. “You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because you can’t hide anything. There’s always something in your voice or your posture. Your body language is always a dead giveaway. But do you know what the most telling thing about you is?” He kissed his way from her shoulder to her neck, then grasped her chin lightly and turned her to face him. With him this close, she could see his pupils dilate when he looked at her. Her heart slammed in her chest. “Your face.”
Edie jerked in her seat and broke her eye contact with Seth to look out the window. They were parked in front of the red gate and thick, green shrubbery of the B&B. She turned back to them.
“My face?”
Jason’s fingers trailed from her cheekbone, down to her jaw, and under her hair. He pulled her toward his body, eyes locked on hers the entire time.
“When you say something that isn’t entirely true, you break eye contact and look down and a little to the left. And your voice wavers just the tiniest bit. That’s how we know you’re lying.” Jason brushed his lips over hers. “But when you’re turned on, like you are now, your eyes widen and your pupils get bigger.” He kissed the corner of each of her eyes, and lingered next to her. “Your cheeks flush a delicate pink. And your lips, cupcake, are the sexiest part. They open just a fraction. Just enough for us to see the tip of your tongue flick out and wet your lips so they’re ready for us.”
Holy crap, she did all that?
He kissed her fully now, his lips slanting over hers and taking them with the raw sexuality she felt coming from him earlier. He smelled dark and lush, like coffee mixed with his own masculine musk. And his mouth tasted faintly of cinnamon. She parted her lips when his tongue asked entrance, and she moaned into him, lust and sex and heat rushing through her blood like the headiest red wine.
“You taste good, Edie. So sweet and delicate. And ours.”
There was heat in his crystal gaze now, and promises of delicious things they planned to do to her.
Oh, goodness.
“Oh, look, we’re here.” Edie scrambled out of the SUV and up the steps toward the little red gate, but a pair of big hands on her hips stopped her.
“And just where in the hell do you think you’re going?” Jason’s deep voice stopped her in her tracks, even more so than his hands gripping her tight. He spun her around and pinned her with his electric gaze. “Why did you run from us?”
The reasons swirled around in her head, making her dizzy.
Because you intimidate me, because I’m scared of losing myself in you, because I’m scared I won’t be able to please you.
Instead, all that came out was “I–I...”
Jason’s hands moved to her shoulders, and he gripped her harder. Not enough to be painful, but to let her know she was not going anywhere until she gave them answers.
“You what, cupcake?”
“I—” she began again, but something penetrated her lust-filled, insecure haze. Underneath all that bravado and frustration, she sensed Jason’s hurt. She did not realize she, Edie Bishop, lover of fair trade coffee, potting plants, and painting, would ever have the ability to hurt his feelings. Sure, she knew he was a red-blooded male with wants and desires and emotions, but she did not realize until that moment that some of those things could revolve around her.
Mr. Gorgeous Navy SEAL might have a soft spot for her. Go figure.
“I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I didn’t mean to be rude or abrupt. It’s just that—well, you see, you’re the first guys I’ve seen in a while. And I’m just not really experienced with this whole dating, courtship thing, so I just got a little unnerved, you know?”
Jason regarded her for a moment, then smiled. It lit his eyes up, and she had to glance away before she did something stupid, like stare at him with her mouth hanging open. “What were those dumbasses in Austin thinking?”
Edie felt the heat rise in her cheeks.
“But what did you mean when you said it’s been a while?”
Crap. She really did not want them knowing how experienced she was. Ahem, inexperienced.
“Well,” she hedged.
“Yes?”
“Spit it out, Edie,” Seth commanded.
She let out a breath. “A while, okay? I dated this guy in college for about six months, and after we broke up, I went on a few dates here and there but nothing serious.”
“So you didn’t sleep with any of them, then?” Jason’s hands tightened on her shoulders.
That offended her, especially since she knew without a doubt that he and Seth did not keep their junk in their pants. She bristled. “What business is that of yours?”
His lips thinned and his jaw clenched. If not for the anger bubbling just under the surface, Edie would have been turned on by it. “What business of ours is that, you ask? You told us you wanted us, right?”
She did not answer. She knew fully well what she said earlier.
“Right?” Seth pressed.
“Yes,” she snapped at him.
“Well, we want you, too. And we’re set on claiming you.”
“By claim, you mean date, right? Because no matter how many times you manage to seduce me, and hey, you might even make me love you, but you’ll never own me. Let’s just get that straight.” She narrowed her eyes at both of them and sent what she hoped was the meanest look she could muster at them.
“Okay, fine, fine. I’m sorry. I overstepped my bounds. I’m sorry, Edie.” Seth held his palms up as if trying to placate her.
That’s more like it, she thought to herself, trying to hide her smugness from them.
“It’s all right. Just be more polite about it. Geez, I’m not demanding your personal history from you, am I? So just ease off mine.”
Right. Because there was so much to tell. One guy. One. The thought made her a little sad. How in the hell could she satisfy the raw sexuality of these two men?
“Well, how many are we talking?”
“Seth! Ease up, will you? I’ll tell you when I’m ready. Now would you two like to come in for a drink or something?”
She turned and opened the gate, but Seth got to it first and held it open for her.
“I have lemonade. Fresh squeezed, I might add. Lena made it this morning.” She turned her key and opened the front door, but this time Jason held it open for her.
“Thank you.”
Seth closed the door behind her and glanced around.
“Where is everybody?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. She took a step toward the kitchen to see if Lena was there, but Jason wrapped an arm around her waist and pushed her against the door, the stained glass pressing against her back.
Jason’s lips sucked on the sensitive flesh under her ear, and her pussy clenched. She buried her face between his shoulder and neck and moaned into his shirt.
“We don’t really want anything to drink, Edie,” Seth said from right next to her. “But we do want to see what you taste like.”
His words, his sex-filled voice, made her nipples harden and her clit pulse. Her
whole body ached to be touched, to be taken and mastered by them.
Jason’s hand followed the flare of her hip and headed slowly toward her thigh. Edie’s heart raced with anticipation, and her breath caught in her chest. His fingertips reached the edge of her hem and crept up her sensitized skin, closer and closer to her panties.
Heat blossomed under her skin, and she waited, breathless, as his lips kissed their way toward her mouth while his fingers brushed the inside of her thigh. She tried her best not to clench her legs together, but it did not work. When his fingers brushed over her clit through her panties, her thighs clamped shut.
It had been years since the last time another man’s fingers touched her there.
“Open up for me, Edie,” Jason crooned. “Just a little.” A groan escaped him. “That’s it, just like that.”
His deep voice sounded like gravel and caressed her senses like velvet.
She heard her own high-pitched gasp when his fingers pushed the crotch of her panties aside and brushed over her intimate flesh. She clutched at him, her nails digging into his shirt as he claimed her open mouth. His hot kisses absorbed her quiet gasps and moans as he teased her entrance, then slowly caressed his way to her throbbing clit.
“You’re so wet and hot for us, Edie,” Jason crooned against her lips.
Her knees gave out. “Oh, my God,” she heard herself whisper.
Jason gathered her close and lifted her in his arms as if she weighed nothing. He headed for the stairs.
“Which one is your room?”
* * * *
Fuck, he needed to get his raging hard-on under control.
It was impossible with Edie cradled close to his body and her scent, her softness, her warmth invading his senses.
She was so soft and wet and hot for them. Jason could only imagine what she would look like naked and writhing under them. He could not wait to taste her, to put his tongue between her delicate folds and feast on her pussy until she came against his face. He bet she tasted like heaven.
Edie Earns Her Saddle Page 5