STORY EXCERPT

Carly slammed into something big and hard, knocking what little air she had in her lungs out as she began to fall. She tried to inhale but nothing happened and she began to panic as she went tilting toward the ground. She closed her eyes, waiting for the pain, but she never connected with the concrete.

Large, warm, callused hands grasped hold of her upper arms, and then she was pulled up against a big brawny body.

“Are you okay?” a deep male voice asked.

Carly’s hair had come undone from her braid in her frantic flight, and when she’d smacked into him and nearly fallen on her ass, the tresses had flown all over her face. Since she couldn’t see him or speak just yet, she nodded. Finally, she drew in a deep breath before exhaling and dragging in another and then another.

“Are you hurt?”

She shook her head and tugged her arms from the man’s hold, sighing with relief when he released her and stepped back. She tried to hide her trembling hands as she pushed her hair off her face and out of her eyes, but knew she hadn’t succeeded when she heard the man draw in a ragged breath.

And then her heart stopped all over again. She stared with disbelieving eyes up into a familiar, blue-eyed gaze.

“Carly? Carly Gregson? Is that really you?”

Carly nodded and tried to smile at Bruce Atkins. He and his brothers had been best friends with her brother, Shaun. They were older and even more handsome than she remembered, but now wasn’t the time to think those sorts of things. She needed to get away. To run and hide before she wound up in the clutches of Scott Gold, or even worse, dead.

“Carly, as I live and breathe.”

She glanced to either side of Bruce and sucked in a deep breath when she saw that his brothers Brock and Ridge were with him.

“You’re so grown up,” Ridge murmured as he looked her body up and down. There was a twinkle of heat in his gaze before he began to frown. His gaze skittered away from hers as he looked about with narrowed eyes.

“What’s going on, baby?” Bruce asked as he stared at her intently.

Carly shook her head and jostled her arms, trying to break the hold Bruce had on her biceps.

“Not happening, Carly,” Bruce stated in a firm voice. “What are you doing in Slick Rock? Where are your parents? Where is Shaun?”

And just like that the rein she had on her emotions broke. Tears welled and spilled down her cheeks and then she was sobbing in earnest. She gasped and wailed, too exhausted to hold the dam back. Large, muscular arms wrapped around her and tugged her closer. She buried her face in Bruce’s chest and cried her heart out.

Ridge or Brock moved up behind her. Body heat surrounded her as they pressed their bodies against her. Carly shivered and, for the first time in forever, felt safe. She was cocooned by their heat, muscles, and size, and the fleeting thought of never leaving that space passed through her mind. She tried to stop crying. She really did, but she’d been dealing with so much and keeping everything bottled up inside the outlet valve wouldn’t be plugged again.

When she was swept from her feet up against a big, muscular body she didn’t protest, not that she really wanted to. It had been months since she’d been held, and the cold which seemed to be permanently embedded in her bones began to dissipate. She shook and shivered, hiccupped and sniffed until the tears finally slowed and stopped. Her eyelids felt swollen, and her eyes were sore from her crying, but after wiping the moisture on her face away, she lifted her head.

She had no idea how or when they’d gotten her into their truck, but that’s where she was, in the back seat of a black truck, sitting on Bruce’s lap in the middle of the seat with Brock and Ridge squeezed in on either side of them. They were so big they’d left the doors open so their bodies wouldn’t be smashed up against them.

“Are you in trouble, Carly?” Bruce asked as he caressed gentle soothing circles on her belly.

Ridge and Brock where both caressing her as well. Brock was running his hand up and down her thigh and Ridge was stroking her arm. If she hadn’t been so scared she might have squirmed. Their light touches were enough to light her body up, but she wasn’t about to let them know how they affected her. They probably still saw her as the kid sister that used to annoy them when she hung around when they were with her brother. She’d had a crush on all three of them when she was younger but knew that they only ever saw her as the pesky sister of their best friend. Sometimes she wished she could go back in time and still be that innocent naïve child where everything was fun and she still had her parents and brother. She missed them all so much, and some days it was hard to put one foot in front of the other as the grief of her recent loss tried to consume her.

Carly took the handkerchief Brock offered her, and after wiping her face and blowing her nose, she remembered that she’d been asked a question. It took her a few seconds to remember, and when she did, she nodded.

“How did you get here?” Ridge asked.

“Bus.”

“Where’s Shaun?” Brock questioned.

Carly tried to control the trembling of her lower lip and chin, but she couldn’t. Her chest was once more tight with emotion, grief, and she wasn’t sure she could make her voice work to answer Brock.

“Carly?” Bruce nudged her chin up. The concern in his gaze had tears welling again.

“Dead,” she whispered her answer.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Let’s help her up,” Ridge said.

Carly wondered if he, they, had changed their minds since her revelation, but she kept her mouth shut. Bull, Rocky, and Ridge all got off the bed. Bull held his hand out to her, and she took it without hesitation, placing her smaller, paler hand in his larger, tanned one. Once she was on her feet, he guided her around to the end of the bed and all three of the men surrounded her.

“What—” was all she managed to say before Rocky was kissing her. The kiss they shared was rapaciously, wildly ravenous. She moaned as his tongue rubbed along hers before he stroked in deeply to explore her mouth. Hands tugged at her clothes, and the anxiety that tried to take hold of her dissipated as her desire grew.

Seconds later she was naked and Rocky broke the kiss.

“Fuck me!” Ridge growled from behind her.

Carly turned to look over her shoulder and held her breath when she saw that Ridge was eyeing her body over. When he lifted his head and met her gaze, the hunger in his eyes had the held breath exploding from her lungs.

“Sexy as all fuck,” Bull rasped from in front of her.

Carly turned to face him, and although she had the urge to cover her private bits with her hands and arms, she resisted. Bull was looking at her with such passion it caused her pussy to clench and cream dripped down onto her inner thighs.

“You are the sexiest fucking woman I’ve ever had the pleasure to see naked,” Rocky said in a hoarse voice.

“Sex goddess,” Ridge murmured.

Carly inhaled deeply when Ridge’s hands landed on her waist before caressing up and down her sides. When he reached her hips and his hands moved to cover her butt cheeks, she moaned. He squeezed those globes before kneading them and sliding his hands gently over the skin.

“Your breasts…” Bull exhaled gustily. “Fucking perfect.”

Bull’s arms moved and then his hands were cupping and weighing said breasts. She didn’t think they were anything special, but she’d had them for a long time. She guessed that since they didn’t have any that they would be a draw to them.

“I have to taste those sweet looking ripe berries.”

As Bull spoke he bent forward until his warm, moist breath wafted over her breasts. Her areolae crinkled, and her nipples hardened. Bull moaned just before he licked over first one engorged tip, and then the other, before sucking the nub into his mouth.

Carly whimpered and went to clutch at his head, but before she could reach her destination, her wrists were caught in big, warm hands and her arms were pushed back to her sides.

“Leave them there, sweetheart,” Rocky ordered.

She glanced down to find him on his knees staring at her curl-covered mound. Ridge caressed down her arms to her wrists, and when Rocky released his hold on her, Ridge pulled her arms behind her back and clasped her wrists in one large hand.

“I love this,” Rocky’s husky voice broke the silence. He threaded his fingers in her pubic hair, caressing the sensitive skin on her mound.

Carly gasped and then moaned when Rocky’s hand moved lower, caressing her pussy lips.

“Oh yeah,” Rocky growled. “She’s so fucking wet.”

“Let’s get her on the bed,” Ridge said.

Carly whimpered when Rocky drew his hand back from her cunt and Bull released the nipple he’d been sucking before lifting her into his arms and against his chest.

She clutched at his bicep as he lowered her to the mattress and released him when he moved away.

All three of them climbed up onto the bed and stared at her as if they were predators and she was prey. A quiver of desire skittered up her spine, causing goose bumps to race over her skin.

Ridge’s hands landed on her ankles and began to caress up and down over her skin, getting higher and higher. When he got to her knees, he nudged them open and then stared at her pussy.

“Baby, we are going to make you feel so good,” Bull rasped. He settled down next to and over her, and then his mouth slanted over hers.

Carly moaned, reaching out to him with one hand. When her hand met the warm skin on his chest, she stroked up and down, mapping each muscular ridge on his chest, torso, and stomach.

She gasped when Rocky pinched and plucked at a nipple as he suckled firmly on the other one.

When she felt Ridge press her legs wider, she tensed for a second, but the tension quickly waned when she felt his warm breath blowing over her clit. She whimpered and dug her nails into Bull’s chest when Ridge lightly licked over her clit.

“Mmm,” Ridge rumbled. “Sweet. Fucking delicious.”

“Oh,” Carly gasped when Bull broke the kiss.

“Give me that nipple, Rocky,” Bull ordered.

She cried out when Bull laved his tongue over her nipple and then sucked the hard peak into his mouth. Electrical sparks shot down from her breast to her pussy. Her internal muscles clenched, and her juices dripped. It was all so overwhelming. Too much, but nowhere near enough. She was shaking and shivering with need, the fire burning so brightly on the inside she felt as if she were melting.

Bull and Rocky were sucking on her nipples, and Ridge was licking her pussy.

Her legs moved restlessly, and even though she tried to stop them, she couldn’t. Carly was a mindless, aching mass of hungry need.

Ridge wrapped his arms around her upper thighs, spreading her legs wider, and he shifted between her legs, until he was on his stomach. She glanced down and found that he was watching her with a heated gaze. She panted for breath, and just as she filled her lungs, he pressed his tongue into her cunt.