STORY EXCERPT

There was something about this woman that got to him on every level imaginable. And that humming inside him that had grown louder as they’d driven from the store to here, actually began to sound like the Ode to Joy.

He sensed the tension in her. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. “Easy, little tiger. We mean you no harm. Bea sent us.”

Her glittering eyes darted from him to his brother and back again. It was the only movement she made, and Jeremy worried that they’d really frightened her.

He squatted down and wished his brother would give him a hand here because he didn’t know what else to say to this beguiling pixie.

Ryan chose just that moment to stop and copy Jeremy’s pose. Out of the corner of his eyes—both of them—he saw similar expressions of shock on Ryan’s face and the pixie’s. She feels the same pull, the same...magic as Ry and I do.

“Bea—that nice lady at the store—said you made the beautiful butterfly that we just bought for our mom. We...um, we wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Oh. Okay. I’m not used to...”

“To company. Bea said that. I’m really sorry if we frightened you.”

“Oh, you don’t frighten me. I just wasn’t ready for you yet.” Then she looked down at herself as if she just realized how she must look. “What I mean is I was in the midst of working up my garden.”

“We can help,” Jeremy said. He stood and offered his hand to her, to help her to her feet. “We were raised on a farm in rural Indiana. About thirty miles outside of Indianapolis.”

“Rural Indiana? Near Indianapolis?” She shook her head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like a parrot. I’m Meghan Clark.”

“I’m Jeremy—Jeremy Smith Jones. This is my brother, Ryan Jones.” He kept his hand out, even though he knew that the protocol between men and women was for the man to wait for the woman to offer her hand first.

Everything inside him shivered with awareness when Meghan sighed and gave him her hand.

The effect of her touch rocked him so hard he nearly forgot to help her rise. But he did, and then the only thing he could do was look at Ryan. His brother again read him to perfection. Ryan stepped forward and reached for her hand, too.

She’s not going to reach for him. Jeremy didn’t know how he knew that. He just did. So he carried her hand, still clutched in his, two inches to his right, over to Ryan. Ryan nodded and accepted his offering.

He watched his brother and saw he was as affected as he had been. And Meghan...Meghan looked resigned. Ryan stared at her, and she carefully pulled her hand from his.

Something is going on here. Jeremy was filled with the sudden, sure knowledge that this woman was key—to him, and his brother, and the answers they sought. “I think we need to talk, Meghan.” No, he couldn’t call her Ms. Clark, as he would any other woman he’d only just met. Somehow they’d leapt a chasm together and were on the very edge of intimate.

“You might need to talk, but I don’t need to talk. I have work to do. This garden needs tending.” She nodded her head vigorously. “To walk away now would be unconscionably cruel to the plants.”

“We’ll help you. We really were raised on a farm.” Ryan gave her his best smile, and then he tilted his head to the side.

“Why don’t I go grab the soda we just bought from Miss Bea, and then we can sit right there and talk.” He pointed to the gazebo. “And then we’ll help you with your weeding.”

Jeremy picked up on his brother’s suggestion. “You’ve a nice patio table and chairs in there, and we’re visible from the road. You’ll be perfectly safe.”

“I’m really not afraid of you.” She stiffened her back and jutted her chin and looked so damn cute.

Jeremy had to work hard at letting the way she aroused him not take over his thoughts. “I believe you. You’re not afraid of us physically. But something has your pulse beating fast.”

She met his gaze, and he read the question in hers. He tapped his neck. “That artery right there is pulsing faster than it was.”

Meghan opened her mouth and then closed it again.

She looked at Ryan. “What kind of soda did you get?”

“I got a six pack—two Cokes, two root beer, and two Dr. Pepper.”

“The Dr. Peppers are mine.” She turned her back on them and headed toward the gazebo.

ADULT EXCERPT

Questions burst to life in her mind and then fell silent when Jeremy kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her to her side and pulling her into his embrace. The seduction of his tongue, silkily sliding against her own, and the heat of his naked flesh pressed close to hers overwhelmed her with sensations. Her arousal burst into flames, hungry, questing flames that demanded to be fed. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself even closer to him. She felt the hot, hard presence of his cock against her stomach. Her hips writhed, an instinctive dance, as they searched for that erection so very close, yet so far away.

“Easy, little tiger. I want you to come first.” He laid her flat and kissed a path down her body. He squeezed one breast in his hand while he licked and then suckled her other nipple into his hot mouth.

Meghan moaned as the flames of her arousal began to grow higher and hotter. Her hands caressed his head, pressing him closer to her nipple as she arched her back. He made sounds of pleasure against her breast, and then one hand caressed down her body to brush the tiny strip of hair above her pussy.

His seeking fingers found her slit, separated her folds, and toyed with the opening they guarded.

“You’re so wet, baby.” Jeremy met her gaze as he let his fingers play there.

She shivered when he touched her clit. I was sure mine was broken. She’d never been so grateful to be wrong in her life.

Then he inserted a finger inside her. She felt a nudge and a twinge of pain.

Jeremy sucked in a breath. “Do you have any idea what the thought of being your first does to me?” He stretched up and placed a kiss on her lips. “It wouldn’t have mattered, not one bit, if you’d had lovers. But this...this gift! It inflames me and humbles me at the same time.”

She didn’t know if he expected her to answer him or not. But before she could even think of what she would say, he slithered down her body, made a place for himself between her legs, and then shot her a grin that made her want to smile right back at him.

“I think this is going to be even better than chocolate chip cookies and ice cream.”

What an odd thing to say. And then Meghan cried out with the sharpness of the pleasure as Jeremy put his lips and tongue to work on her pussy.

The flames of her arousal roared, stealing her breath and her thoughts as it shot her high and then higher still. Tiny little explosions of sensation rocked her body and her world, and the promise of something beautiful beckoned. Megan arched her back as every muscle in her body tensed, as if braced for...

“Jeremy!” Reality shattered, her black and white world suddenly awash in colors so brilliant, so glittering, they had to be born of magic. This was the purest magic, the greatest power she’d ever encountered. Wave after electric wave of bliss shuddered through her, taking over every single atom of her being. Heart pounding, breath rasping, Meghan felt totally overwhelmed and completely sated.

Jeremy kissed his way up her body and then lay down on top of her. She felt his cock—his latex-covered cock—nestle between her very wet folds. The scent of her musk on his face drew her. She opened her eyes to encounter his very hot gaze.

“As I drank your orgasm, I wished I had a condom handy and then I had one on.” He grinned. “I’m liking this whole ‘think things into existence thing.’”

“Mmm.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and then, because it felt natural to do so, she wrapped her legs around his waist. “But some things are better if you just do them yourself.” And she rolled her hips to caress his cock with her pussy, just to prove her point.

His cockhead brushed her clit, and she shivered. His face glistened with her juices. She licked her lips, letting him know she needed to taste them, together.

Meghan saw the flare of heat in Jeremy’s gaze. There was no mistaking that he understood what she wanted and that what she wanted turned him on.

He lowered his face toward hers. Meghan accepted the offer, stretched up, and kissed him. Musky, salty, and unbelievably erotic, she drank down her own nectar wrapped in his flavor. The combination reawakened her arousal, setting it burning once more.

Jeremy continued to kiss her, his tongue’s movements slow and sexy. She felt one hand slide under her bottom and the other under her shoulders.

Then he moved his hips, and the tip of his cock began to penetrate her body.

Just a little sting, baby, just this once. His words echoed in her mind, an apologetic warning as he brushed against her hymen and then pushed through it.

She jolted with the pain, sharp but not unexpected. It began to fade almost instantly.

Jeremy held himself inside her and lifted his head. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. Having you inside me feels so good.” She turned her head to look at Ryan. He lay facing them, his head propped up on his hand, the expression on his face rapt. “I’m going to need to feel you inside me, too.”

“This is your first time. We should let your body heal, first.”

“No.” She softened her refusal with a smile that felt more than a little self-deprecating. “I need you both more than anything.”

“My little tiger.” Jeremy grinned. “You’re so fierce, and so convinced you’re always right.”

She grinned back. “I’m only convinced of it when I am. Now, Jeremy...let’s get back to less talk and more action.” And to underscore her words, she flexed her inner muscles to squeeze his cock.