“I don’t think you’d let me,” she whispered against his bare shoulder. That’s when she realized that they were both still naked.
“No, I wouldn’t.”
He pulled her out of his embrace and stared at her. “I’m acting like a crazy asshole because I’m crazy scared of losing you. I guess my way of holding onto you isn’t working out, huh?” A wry smile appeared on his lips.
Edie brushed the wetness off her cheeks and smiled at him. “No.” She traced his cheekbone, gently smoothing out the worry and strain she saw there. His eyes returned to their dark blue shade, and she felt her smile get bigger. “You just need to realize that I don’t want anyone else.”
Seth captured her hand, and turning it over, placed a soft kiss on the palm, the inside of her wrist. She felt Jason come up behind them and grip her ass before pulling the shirt up and off her.
“Let’s show you how much you make us feel,” Jason said before he trailed kisses along the sensitive flesh on her neck.
Chapter Eight
“So I assume things went well last night?” Lena asked in a dry voice when Edie burst through the doors of the B&B.
“Why do you ask?” Edie straightened her shoulders, lifted her chin, and walked toward the stairs.
She caught her reflection in the mirror and grimaced. She wore one of Jason’s undershirts, and her hair looked frizzy and unkempt. And she had mascara smudges under her eyes. She turned and faced Lena, whose mouth quirked.
“Okay, fine. Yes, things went well after we fought things out.”
Lena raised an eyebrow. “And by fought things out, you mean?”
Edie walked up to Lena and took the pencil out of her hand and stuck it into the messy bun on top of her head.
“I mean, holy crap, Lena. It was the most intense sex I’ve ever had. Who knew make-up sex would be so totally mind-numbing?”
Edie headed for the kitchen, Lena on her heels. “See? I told you they were crazy about you.”
Edie rose up on her tip-toes to reach her favorite coffee mug and poured herself a cup. “Yes, you did. There. You got your ‘I told you so’. You’re welcome. I admitted it for once.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to sit straight for a couple days.”
“Sore?”
“Hey! That’s my line. But, yes, I am. They really have the best hands.”
Lena giggled with her. “I know the feeling. But seriously,” Lena put her hand on Edie’s arm, “things really went well?”
Setting her coffee mug down, Edie looked her best friend in the eyes. “Yeah, they did. After everything went down,” she cleared her throat for emphasis, “we talked things out, and they’ve come to the startlingly modern conclusion that women can indeed have friends with penises.”
“Well, golly, what progress.”
Edie rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. They apologized for being overbearing cavemen, and I told them that being a little untamed is perfectly fine with me. They just need to have more manners. There’s still the issue of what to do about their crazy ex, but I think that’s more my problem than theirs.”
“You know, I think that’s the perfect way to put it.”
Edie tapped her forehead with her index finger. “I’ve got it all up here, love.”
Lena winked at her. “Sometimes I don’t know about that.”
“Hey!”
“Please, you know it’s true.”
“There’s no need to rub it in,” she huffed jokingly.
Lena pointedly looked at her night-before attire and said, “Of course not.”
“You are such a total bitch.”
“Right back at you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I love you, too.”
“I know. Now get your ass to work before I have to fire it.”
“Oh, please. No one would want to fire this.” Edie rubbed her hip for emphasis and walked out of the kitchen to get changed. They had some plants that needed repotting and out of the two of them, Edie had the greener thumb.
As she rounded the corner and headed for the stairs, she did not pay attention to where she was going and ran into someone.
“Oh my goodness, I am so—” She broke off. She thought she bumped into one of the patrons, but seeing Cassandra in front of her, standing tall and looking haughtily regal, the apology she almost offered dried on her tongue. “Cassandra. What a surprise. I didn’t think you would want to come back after the scene last week.”
Edie fought to make sure her face stayed blank. Day after day, Jason and Seth constantly reminded her that her face was too easy to read. And while she realized her expressiveness turned them on beyond belief, it also worried them because people like Cassandra could use the emotions they saw there against her.
In that moment, Edie realized she never should have doubted Jason and Seth’s feelings for her. The problem was hers alone, not theirs. Just because they did not broadcast their emotions did not mean they did not care any deeply for her. People could bullshit words, they could bullshit emotions, but they could not fake their actions. And Jason and Seth always showed how much they wanted to shield her from the world because they knew how evil parts of it could be.
They did not want to betray her. They wanted to protect her, care for her, maybe they even wanted to love her. Looking at Cassandra, Edie realized women like her did not inspire love and devotion. They inspired lust and sex. Things that got old, tired, and boring. Emotions that wore off. Emotions that were not truly real.
Cassandra eyed her as if looking at a yapping dog, her perfectly polished brows raised a little on her forehead. “Really, darling, did you think I came here to see you?”
Bitch.
Still, Edie had good manners, and she intended to use them.
“Would you like some coffee, Cassandra? Lena just brewed up some South American organic fair trade. It’s medium roast. Really yummy.”
Stop rambling!
Moments of silence stretched between them. Edie refused to flinch away from the cold way Cassandra’s eyes flicked over her.
“Late morning, I assume?
Edie felt a flush start on her cheeks.
“I don’t see how any of that is your business.”
“I honestly don’t see how you continue to fool yourself into believing that they care about you.”
“Cassandra, why did you come here? Because if you came to taunt me, then I’ll just have to be forced to remind you that you weren’t the one with them last night, but I really don’t want to do that. It’s a little rude, don’t you think?”
A Cheshire cat grin made its way across Cassandra’s pouty red lips. “They took you to their office, did they? You know, I think I prefer Jason’s desk. There’s less clutter on it, wouldn’t you agree?”
Edie clenched her hands into fists and tried to take some calming breaths. Never before had she been tempted to hurt another human being. But this bitch was pushing it.
Images of Jason and Seth putting their hands on Cassandra’s perfect body rushed before Edie’s eyes. She wanted to lock herself up in her room and scream until her voice gave out. Instead, she squared her shoulders and said the first thing that came to her mind.
“You know, Cassandra, if things were really as hot and heavy between the three of you as you claim they were, then why haven’t they taken you back yet?”
Cassandra opened her mouth to speak, but Edie pressed on. “And why do you keep coming here to throw everything in my face? Is it because you’re the type of person who just likes to make other people miserable? Because I can totally see that in you. But do you know what I really think? I think you keep coming here to taunt me because you hope I’ll get so jealous and insecure that I’ll screw things up with Jason and Seth. You think that you’ll be the one they turn to when your high-school-level plan works out.
“Well, you know what? I think you need to just step off because that’s not happening. You’re the one who’s really jealous. Not only do they not want you bac
k because they care about me, they don’t want you back because you’re a frigid bitch.”
Cassandra did not even bat an eyelash. “You do have some fire in you. I was starting to wonder what with you being such a pacifist and all. With you it’s always fair trade this and farmer’s market that. Please. You’re a phase for them. They like you for now because you’re sweet and cute, and they like the novelty of having sex with someone as inexperienced you. But they’ll get sick of you.”
She forced herself to roll her eyes and appear nonchalant. “Keep telling yourself whatever you think is necessary for you to live in that happy place of yours. I have things to do. You can show yourself out.”
With that, Edie walked around Cassandra, making sure she straightened her back and lifted her chin. She might not be wearing a thousand dollar dress, but she was wearing Jason’s favorite undershirt, and the intimate places between her legs ached erotically from their insatiable loving. She refused to let Cassandra’s words sink into her mind and overshadow the happiness she felt that morning.
It was she whom they would come to see later that afternoon, not Cassandra.
She just had to keep reminding herself of that.
* * * *
Seth checked his watch for the hundredth time that afternoon. It took longer than usual to drive the cattle from the pasture and back toward the ranch. He glanced over at Jason, who sat on his brown-and-white paint horse. He looked just as distracted as Seth felt.
Damn, that woman had them worked up. Especially after last night. Who knew a woman so shy at first could show such heated passion that he—yes, he, Seth Chisholm—almost melted from it.
Who in the hell knew he was capable of being so vulnerable when it came to another person? Especially one half his size. If Edie walked out of their office last night, he would have chased her through the club bare-ass naked. He would have begged her to give them another chance.
Seth thanked his lucky stars Jason stopped her. Otherwise, he would have been a ruined man. Jason would have been, too, but his older brother had a way of hiding everything he felt. Sometimes, even Seth did not know what his brother truly felt. Seth did not have that gift. Perhaps the military training made Jason such a hard ass. Or maybe Jason had always been like that.
Only Jason’s eyes ever showed what he felt, and that was only part of the time. But whenever Edie was near, Jason’s eyes went all soft and gooey and mushy. Puppy dog eyes. Seth held back the scoff threatening to come out of him. He never thought he’d live to see the day. Jason never looked at anyone like that.
Edie probably did not realize it because Jason’s eyes were such a cold-looking hue, but his heart was in his eyes every time he looked at her.
Seth’s was always in his throat. Or his stomach. Or his dick. He could not exactly pinpoint where it was, but it always sped up whenever he saw her, smelled her, thought of her. And it always felt like his body warmed up just a few degrees. Just enough to make his jeans tight and overly warm against his skin.
At long last, almost an hour after they planned to leave, Seth rode shotgun in Jason’s FJ40 toward The Sweet Spot. He wanted to see Edie so much, he felt like he would burst out of his skin.
Which was weird.
He’d had women before, and he’d shared a few of them with Jason, but he did not remember ever feeling quite this way. He never had this feeling before—this painful rush of tenderness that made his chest tight whenever Edie writhed beneath him, whenever her eyes went blank and her mouth opened on a scream, whenever she looked at him and smiled and her eyes sparkled. Sometimes, he’d just look at her when she was lost in her thoughts, and all of a sudden, this painful rush of something he was too scared to name would make his chest tighten.
That woman did strange things to him. Like making him wonder what it would be like to wake up beside her next week, the week after, and the week after that.
Seth felt like banging his head with a blunt object.
He almost managed to get his thoughts about Edie under control when they pulled up to the B&B and saw her crouched over on the porch, a trowel in hand.
She was so damn beautiful in her white shirt and blue jeans with her hair thrown up and her feet bare.
Seth shifted in his seat, trying to control the hard-on that threatened to rage in his pants. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Jason did the same thing. Christ, Edie had the two of them—two fully-grown and fully experienced men—tripping over their own feet like imbeciles. How she managed to do it, he did not know.
They made their way up the stairs leading toward the house, through the little red gate, and toward the porch. Edie hummed to herself while she potted some lavender in a large watering can.
“Aren’t you supposed to use that to water the plants?” he asked.
Edie must not have heard them because she jumped a little when she heard his voice. She pivoted around on the balls of her feet, still kneeling next to her plants.
“You scared the crap out of me. I didn’t even hear you two. What are you, the stealth brothers?” She put her hand on her chest, and Seth could not help but think that he wanted it to be his hand.
“Well, cupcake, I‘d be worthless to the government if I walked all flat-footed.” Jason had a little smile on his face when he spoke to her. Then he leaned down and gave Edie a kiss that had her hanging on to his shoulders. Jason pulled her up with him when he straightened, and he brushed her forehead with a fleeting kiss before he took a step away from her.
Seth had to stop himself from shaking his head in disbelief. His brother, Mr. I-have-no-feelings, was a love-sick bastard.
Good thing I’m not in that deep, he thought to himself.
Then Edie turned to him with a big smile, and his head went blank. He pulled her to him and buried his nose in her neck, filling himself up on her scent and dropping a kiss on her shoulder.
Whoa. He managed not to push her up against the side of the house and bury his dick between her hot, wet folds. Yup, he totally had his feelings under control.
* * * *
“Why are you planting lavender, cupcake?” Jason’s deep voice made her whole body heat up. It made her remember how his hands roamed possessively over her body the night before, how they parted her folds for his tongue. She suppressed the need to shiver.
“Huh? Oh, the lavender.” Lord, she had to get it together. “It’s, um, supposed to be good luck if you plant it by your front door. Plus, it smells really nice, and the sun on this porch is perfect for it. I’m planting jasmine on the back porch. I think I might need some help with the trellis, though, if you’re interested.”
They must have sensed she was nervous, because they backed her against the door, and when they closed in on her, they looked like two towers of solid muscle—Jason’s body combat hardened and Seth’s sleek and tight. Together, they blocked out the sunlight.
“You know, cupcake, going around the back of the house sounds like a great idea.” Jason’s eyes were intense.
She snapped out of it. “W–what?”
Jason repeated himself while reaching up and pulling at the pencil holding her hair in place.
Edie’s mouth went dry, and all the moisture in her body went to her pussy at the look in his eyes.
“Cupcake?”
“Hmm?”
“You haven’t taken a shower since last night, have you.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Well—”
Jason wrapped his fingers around the ends of her hair. “Answer the question.”
“N–no. No, I haven’t.” She felt the heat rising in her cheeks and breasts. Her nipples strained against the cotton shirt, and her body started pulsing. She flicked her eyes over to Seth and saw his blue eyes turn black. His big chest rose and fell with his breaths.
She held back a groan as images from the night before slammed into her head—Jason underneath her, his thick cock thrusting in and out of her pussy as he lifted her up and down his shaft when she couldn’t keep up with the
pace. Seth behind her, fucking her ass in angry, passionate strokes that let her know just how pissed off he had been.
Jason leaned into her, and the action pulled her out of her reverie. “So you haven’t washed our scent off your skin yet?”
Her tongue felt heavy all of a sudden, and it stuck to the roof of her mouth. She shook her head.
Seth came to her other side.
“Tell me something, Edie.”
“W–what, Seth?”
“Do you ever touch yourself in the shower?”
She felt her clit pulsing. How in the hell did he know what she did in her personal time?
“Answer his question, cupcake.”
She nodded her head. “Yes,” she whispered as she looked into their eyes and saw the heat that sparked into live flames there. Desire, hot and potent, pooled between her legs.
“Do you use a toy, Edie?” Seth’s voice crooned in her ear. She felt his teeth gently nip her earlobe.
“N–no.” Jason’s fingers lifted the hem of her shirt, and his thumbs drew circles over her hipbones.
“No? Why not?”
How in the hell was she supposed to answer Jason’s question truthfully? And for that matter, why in the hell were they having this conversation against the front door of her business establishment?
“I don’t want to answer that question.” She brushed their hands away from her body, but they just closed in on her more, forcing her to look up at them if she wanted to see their faces.
“There’s nobody coming, cupcake. And besides, no one would see anything. Our bodies are covering yours. We would never let anyone see you when you’re like this. It’s just for us.”
She wanted to scoff at Jason’s comment, but she realized that he spoke the truth. The way her body reacted for them was truly theirs only. No one else ever made her feel this way, this turned on. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she knew that they would never let anyone see her when she was vulnerable to them, like the way she was now.
Edie Earns Her Saddle Page 12