STORY EXCERPT

Emily Anne closed her eyes and relaxed against the divan as she battled not to feel embarrassment. Fat and frumpy. With those two careless words he’d opened up most of her deepest wounds. She’d believed he loved her, in his way. She’d believed he had accepted her just as she was.

Man, was I ever wrong, on both counts. Her mother had told her that even she could do better than Billy J. Now there was another thought that just needed to git. Especially in light of that disturbing phone call from her mother who had wanted, of all things, for her to give Billy J another chance.

I’ll give him a chance, all right. A fat chance.

She and her mother had just had the worst tussle over the phone, and it galled her that it was over her loser ex-boyfriend.

But she’d stood up to her mother, stood her ground, and let Irene Georgina Bancroft know, in no uncertain terms, that she would not be manipulated or cowed.

Emily Anne blinked when she opened her eyes. She calculated that she’d been sitting just letting her thoughts wander long enough. “I think I’m dry.” She checked her watch, amazed that a half hour had gone quickly. Even just resting here, on this lovely divan and listening to the female chatter around her had been a soothing balm.

“I think you are, too,” Chloe said. She came over and, even though Emily Anne could do so herself, eased the tissue out from between her toes and slipped her sandals onto her feet.

“There you go.”

Emily Anne got to her feet and looked down at her toes, poking out from her sandals. Just looking at those ten twinkling, bright digits made her feel better.

They said, “Here’s a woman who values herself.” That was very important. For too long, Emily Anne hadn’t been a woman who valued herself enough.

But now she was, and she did, and there would be no going back to the way she used to be.

No, sir, not ever.

Giving the conversation with her mother one last thought, she looked back down at her very self-confident toes.

So no, Momma, I willnot give that miserable excuse for a Texan man, Billy J, another chance and that, by damn, is that!

“Boy howdy, Emily Anne, I don’t know who you’re thinking about, but my money’s on you, girl. You go get ‘em, girlfriend.”

Emily Anne blinked, and looked around at all the women looking back at her. She’d had no idea she’d appeared so fierce. She didn’t even mind that she’d let her emotions show, either. This was Lusty, these women were her friends, and she was safe. “Don’t you worry about it none. If that miserable worm ever shows up here, you can be sure that I will.”

She nodded her head once, just to prove she meant it. Then she waved to everyone, paid for her pedicure—money well spent—and pulled the door open with perhaps more energy than necessary.

“God, I love a woman who’s burning with passion, don’t you, Connor?” Melvin Richardson said.

Emily Anne gasped, because she hadn’t even seen the men leaning back against the building, bracketing the door. But there they were, two of the most sinfully delicious men she’d ever laid eyes on in her entire life.

She remembered the first time she’d set eyes on the two. Mel, with his close-cut dark hair and sexy barely there goatee, and eyes that could smile so bright you didn’t even need a light to see by. Then Connor, his hair just slightly lighter and longer and looking tousled as if he just got out of bed. But, oh, such a serious man he was and so very deliberate in his actions. When Connor Talbot looked at her she felt he could see clear down to her soul.

Both men had seemed larger than life to her the first day she’d seen them, that day they’d walked into Lusty Appetites to meet with Chloe and Carrie Rhodes. They were the two private investigators who’d been hired by the Lusty Town Trust to try and locate the man who’d stolen the Rhodes sisters’ inheritance just after they’d been orphaned.

In the time she’d gotten to know them, she’d come to realize they were men like no others she’d ever known. If she had to characterize them, she would say that Mel was the lover, and Connor the fighter. Mel seemed more at ease, more laid back. Connor, she had no doubt, would be a very dominant man—and maybe a very dominant lover.

Emily Anne looked from one to the other of them. She’d been holding them both at arm’s length, doing her best to keep them dangling, as the old women used to say. And they’d proven themselves because they had not been easily discouraged, or chased away.

“I do indeed.” Connor Talbot stepped forward, and gently stroked her chin with one finger. “Angel eyes, you look as if you’re getting ready to do battle. Lead the way. We’ve got your back.”

We’ve got your back. It occurred to Emily Anne right then and there that she’d been making these two men pay for the transgressions of another.

Maybe it was time to take an entirely different approach.

ADULT EXCERPT

Emily Anne sighed and let her head fall back against Connor’s chest. Shivers swept her from the pleasure of having her breasts held and her nipples licked. The other night she’d wondered if it had been an aberration, her reaction to this kind of foreplay. But this was twice, now. Mel’s gentle touch proved to her that she could get pleasure from this part of her body, after all.

“You taste so damn good, woman.” Mel lifted his head and met her gaze. “I can’t wait until I can taste all of you.”

She understood what he meant. They’d mentioned it before, where they intended to put their mouths on her. Her cheeks heated, her fair complexion betraying her once again. Then she focused on his gaze and the emotions so open to her. She couldn’t deny the passion or the truth she saw on his face.

“I bet she tastes sweeter than anything. She smells sweeter than anything.” Connor nuzzled the side of her neck and kissed the shell of her ear. He inhaled deeply. “I can smell your arousal, angel eyes. You make me so damn hard. I feel like I’ve wanted you forever.”

 “The two of you make me feel beautiful and desirable. You make me feel sexy, when I never felt any of those things before.”

“You’re all of those things, baby, and more. Let us show you.” Mel leaned forward and laid his lips on hers.

Emily Anne’s eyes drifted shut. He kissed her with such sweet passion that she nearly wept from the beauty of it. His tongue, firm and determined, explored her mouth and coaxed her tongue into a slow and sultry dance.

One hand cupped her cheek as Mel continued to woo her with his lips. She leaned into him, her mouth open wide for him, her body and spirit both ready and willing to accept anything he offered, to give anything he asked.

Connor’s hands stroked down her arms, then around to her front. His thumbs brushed the underside of her breasts before his hands slid down. She felt his fingers settle on the snap to her jeans and she sighed into Mel’s kiss when Connor opened that snap, and slid the zipper down.

Connor kissed a trail down her back, his lips following the trail of the jeans and panties his hands pushed down her body. He placed a string of kisses across her bottom. He paused just long enough to lift each foot so that he could slip off her sneakers and socks. Then he pushed the clothing off her, tossing it out of the way.

When he rose to his feet again she was completely naked and quivering with need.

Mel released her lips and Connor tilted her head up and back and mated his mouth to hers.

One man’s lips and tongue seduced hers while another man’s hands caressed and petted her, and Emily Anne felt everything inside her begin to melt. Her nipples peaked, impossibly tight, awakening an invisible connection she’d never guessed existed between those pebbled points and her clit.

Mel fastened his mouth on her nipple and sucked. She couldn’t hold back her tiny groan of pleasure, neither could she stop her hips from giving a seductive roll, her body’s way of begging for more.

“You’re so hot and spicy.” Mel placed little kisses over her breasts.

Connor lifted his mouth from hers. “Hot and spicy, yes. Are you juicy, too, sweetheart?”

“Why don’t we see?” Mel held her gaze as he slid one hand down her body, a slow and sultry slide that would bring him to her cunt.

Lord have mercy, my pussy lips are trembling in excitement for him!

Mel slid his hand over her slit, and then rubbed back and forth as he let his fingertips penetrate her just a little. He sucked in a breath and then whispered, “Baby, you’re so hot and wet for us.”

Connor placed little butterfly kisses on her neck and shoulder. Emily Anne closed her eyes in reaction to the seductive thrill that gave her. Then she opened her eyes and looked at Mel just as he lifted his fingers to his mouth and sucked on them. He closed his eyes as if what he tasted was the purest, most intoxicating treat, ever.

Emily Anne’s heart began to pound in her chest at the same time that an army of butterflies fluttered in her belly. She licked her bottom lip and wondered how much longer her legs would hold her.

“Precious, you’re sopping wet. You’re ready for us, aren’t you? You want us.”

“Yes.” In fact she thought she might just die on the spot if somebody didn’t do something soon. “Yes, I want you both. Please don’t make me wait much longer.”

Connor stepped back. Mel lifted her in his arms and laid her on the bed, setting her in the middle of the large expanse.

He tented her, lowered his head toward her, and kissed her. Hard and wet and wanton, this kiss tasted of urgency. She sampled a hint of her own essence as well as his hunger on his lips and shivered. No man had ever wanted her like this, not ever.

He lifted his lips from hers and she realized he was still fully dressed. But before she could comment on that, he kissed a trail down her body, starting with her cheeks, then her shoulders and breasts. Finally he settled down between her thighs and gave her pussy a long, lovely lick.