STORY EXCERPT

Marissa began taking items from the box, carefully checking them on the invoice before hanging them. “I already told you that Jimmy got visitation rights.”

“Yes, and I told you that we’ve already gotten you a new attorney. Jimmy does drugs and has no business being around either one of you.”

“He said he never did drugs and was holding them for a friend.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it.” Sloane clenched his jaw, his frustration and anger about the entire situation difficult to contain. “Just because he fathered Sammy doesn’t make him his father.”

Marissa glanced at him and continued her task, the unshed tears in her eyes like a fist around his heart. “The judge didn’t see it that way, and I don’t want you paying for a different lawyer. It’s going to make things look worse.”

Jimmy had been arrested for assaulting Marissa while she was pregnant and had just gotten out of prison months earlier.

Scraping a hand over his jaw, Sloane watched Marissa fold and hang items to put them on display, her hands shaking. “I can’t believe he got visitation rights. I can’t believe, after assaulting you, that he can visit in your home. Unsupervised! This new attorney is better than yours. He’ll make sure Jimmy doesn’t get custody.”

Marissa bent her head, a sob escaping. “The judge took Jimmy’s attorney’s word that his anger management classes taught him how to deal with his anger. Jimmy told them about us. Now the judge thinks I’m a whore because I started a relationship with three men..”

He strode quickly to her, her sob ripping him to pieces. “Don’t ever call yourself that again. Jesus, Marissa. We haven’t even had sex yet.”

She was so skittish and scared of confusing Sammy that Sloane and his brothers hadn’t wanted to rush her, worried that they’d scare her away.

He knew what other people thought and had moved to Desire, Oklahoma, with his brothers to have the kind of relationship where such things were respected.

They’d found the woman they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with, but Jimmy was causing problems they couldn’t ignore.

In a very telling gesture, she leaned into him before pushing away again. “And we won’t. We can’t. You and your brothers have to stay away from me.”

With a sigh, Sloane clenched his fists at his sides in frustration. “We want you, Marissa. We’ve made that clear. We’ve also made it clear that we’re gonna do whatever it takes to have both you and Sammy in our lives. That includes making it clear to anyone watching that you’re in a relationship with me, and Cole and Brett are just friends. It hurts to do that, but we’ll do whatever it takes.”

Shaking her head, Marissa eyed him again, her features pale. “Please. I’m afraid the judge will see through it. You, Cole, and Brett need to stay away from me. I can’t risk losing Sammy.”

Sloane pulled a business card from his pocket. “This is the lawyer. Anna Markinson. She’s already getting all the information on your case and is expecting your call.”

Leaning close, he took her hand in his and placed it on his chest, needing the contact. “In the meantime, it’ll appear that you’re just dating me. No one will think anything of my brothers coming around to check on you or being seen with you. I’ll talk to them and make sure neither one of them acts like your lover in public.”

Marissa’s pale features reddened. “We’re not lovers.”

Sloane saw no reason to hide his own feelings for her, and frustrated that she tried to push him away when her growing feelings for him shone in her eyes, Sloane bent forward and touched his lips to hers.

Filled with satisfaction when she sobbed and threw her arms around him, he deepened his kiss, keeping it tender and allowing only a touch of the passion he felt for her.

They’d had passionate kisses in the past, and when he’d caressed her breasts, her response had been even more passionate.

The same had happened with his brothers.

She wanted them, and knowing her as well as he’d come to, he realized that she wouldn’t feel that passion if she didn’t have feelings for them.

Reluctantly breaking off his kiss, he lifted his head to look down at her, seeing the love for him she so desperately tried to hide glimmering in her eyes. “We haven’t had sex yet, baby, but we’ve kissed and I’ve touched you. So have Cole and Brett. We’re lovers.”

Amused at her deep blush, he smiled and pushed an errant curl back, taking the opportunity to caress her silky, soft cheek. “Don’t look so surprised or embarrassed. Did you think Cole, Brett, and I don’t talk about you? There are no secrets between us, baby. There can’t be. We want this to work.”

Marissa’s eyes went wide. “I can’t.”

Her voice broke, sending a chill down his spine.

Closing his hands on her shoulders, he pulled her closer, holding her gaze. “I don’t trust Jimmy, and I’m sure as hell not leaving you to deal with him alone. What did he do to upset you today?”

She clenched her fists on his chest and abruptly dropped them and moved away. “Nothing. I can handle him. I can’t risk losing Sammy. Please. Just stay away from me.”

Not wanting to upset her any further, Sloane mentally sighed and nodded. He knew she was lying to him, but pushing her would just put more distance between them. “I’ll go for now, but this isn’t over between us, Marissa.”

“It has to be.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Biting her lip, Marissa moaned at the feel of his tongue and lips against her slit, the pleasure stunningly intense. “Sloane!”

Her plea for more came out on a husky whisper, the intimacy of Sloane using his mouth on her in such a way taking on a dreamy, erotic quality.

Her clit burned and throbbed, every stroke of his tongue over it taking her higher.

His callused hands moved over her belly and higher to her breasts, the roughness of them made even more erotic by the tenderness with which he caressed her.

Every erogenous zone in her body screamed with pleasure, drawing harsh cries and moans from her.

She’d never known such need.

Such pleasure.

Still, she reached for more, for something that remained just out of reach.

A bliss she’d heard about but had never experienced.

Her nipples tingled and ached with awareness and need, and when she arched, he gave her what she needed and gave them his attention just as the heat at her clit seemed to explode.

White-hot ecstasy surged through her, radiating from her clit outward until every inch of her body sizzled with heat and sensation.

Her body tightened with a pleasure that overwhelmed her, the loss of control over her own body terrifying her.

Stunned and alarmed by the strength of the pleasure, Marissa panicked and kicked at Sloane in a frantic attempt to escape. “Please! Oh God!”

Sloane immediately dropped her legs to the bed and covered her body with his, smoothing her hair back from her damp forehead with a tender smile. “Easy, baby. I’ve got you.”

Embarrassed and still unnerved, Marissa ducked her head, her face burning. “I’m sorry. I don’t know…I didn’t expect…”

With a tender smile, Sloane lifted her chin and bent his head to brush his lips over hers. “You’ve never had an orgasm before, have you, baby?”

Feeling more than a little vulnerable, even while her body still hummed with pleasure, Marissa closed her eyes. “I guess not. Can we not talk about it? Please just take me.”

Sloane smiled again, his smile a combination of satisfaction and affection. “Not yet, baby. Now we start over.”

Marissa moaned as he took her mouth with his again.

Once again lost in the dizziness of his kiss, she slid her hands to his shoulders for something solid to hold on to.

The feel of his hard cock against her inner thigh made her pussy clench with the need for him to take her.

Writhing beneath him, she moaned when he broke off his kiss to nuzzle her neck. “I need this, Sloane. I need you. I need to forget about tomorrow and just think about tonight.”

She needed to know what it felt like to be taken by a real man, one who wanted and respected her.

A man who’d been gentle and patient with her despite the hunger she’d seen so often in his eyes.

She needed the memory to warm her on the lonely nights ahead.

Sloane lifted his head to stare down at her, his eyes glittering. “Then we’ll just think about tonight. But you’re not alone, Marissa.”

He ran his callused palm over her breast, lightly caressing her taut nipple, his eyes flaring at her cry of pleasure. “That’s it. Right now, tonight is all that matters.”

Bending his head, he closed his mouth over her nipple, licking it and then lightly sucking and creating a pull that went all the way to her clit.

The feel of his hard cock against her thigh had her lifting against him.

“Please, Sloane!”

Sliding a hand behind her neck, he brushed his lips over hers with a deep groan. “I can’t deny what we both want any longer.”

He bent to touch his lips to hers again while reaching for the condom he’d tossed on the bed.

Shifting his body over hers, he leaned to the side and lifted his head again as he rolled on a condom. “One day, very soon, you’re going to be mine.”

Marissa didn’t want to think beyond the moment. Holding her face between his hands, she smiled up at him, her pussy clenching with the need for his possession.

She got more than she expected.

With a hand beneath her head and the other sliding beneath her bottom, Sloane held her to him as he poised the head of his cock against her pussy opening and slowly began to enter her.

It had been years since she’d known a man’s possession, but she remembered enough to know that this was something…more.

His cock was thick and as hard as iron, his slow thrusts filling her with a heat that made her feel taken as never before.

His firm hold made her feel safe and intensely feminine while the look of heat in his dark eyes made her feel wanted like never before.

Holding on to his shoulders, she wrapped her legs around him, moaning as every slow thrust went deeper and stretched her more and more.

He filled her completely, each stroke of his cock like magic.

“Mine.” Sloane bent his shoulders to take her mouth with his again in a passionate kiss, one filled with a possessiveness that made their lovemaking even more magical.

Kissing him back with a passion she hadn’t been aware she possessed, Marissa moved with him as much as his hold allowed.

Swallowing every moan, Sloane continued his slow thrusts, taking a piece of her soul with every stroke.

It was like being in a dream.

Better.

The sizzling heat and pleasure were far too real for any dream.