STORY EXCERPT

“He’s a good man, Bree,” Jackson said, his breath caressing the side of her face. An airy kiss touched her cheek. “I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. I know him very well.”

“I don’t doubt that, Jax.”

“I know you’ve done somethin’ to him.”

Brianna’s serenity faded. She straightened off the comfort of Jackson’s shoulder and looked up at him. Jackson shook his head, his thumb strumming her lower lip.

“Yeah, you have, honey. He’s like a short-circuitin’ flip switch. The man doesn’t know which way to turn.”

The stitch between her brows deepened, her lips falling apart. She didn’t want to hear this. She fought to convince herself Rylan hated her to save her sanity. She loved Jackson, loved him with all her heart.

Until the big, bad sheriff came into her life.

“Why are you tellin’ me this?” Brianna asked. “We’re here to make that deal and we’re leavin’.” She stopped swaying, her hands dropping from his shoulders to his chest. “Aren’t we?”

Everything about his expression should have led her to believe he was genuine when he answered. “Yes, baby. Deal and gone.”

But she had come to learn Jackson’s expressions, and something lingered now that made her doubt his intentions. Would his loyalties to his friend, his old hometown that he never “fit into” become a conflict of interest?

“Jax, you know what this deal means to me. You know I need this promotion,” Brianna said.

“Bree, I know everythin’, but you don’t need a promotion to cut ties with your mother.” He touched her temple, followed by her chest. “Here and here, my love. That’s what counts. Be happy in your heart. Be sound in your mind. Don’t prove anythin’ to anyone, only to yourself and you’ll be free.”

He cupped the back of her head and laid her cheek to his shoulder once more. “As for Ry, let me just say that I think he’s got an eye for you like no other.”

“You’re up to somethin’.”

“Not up to anythin’. Pointin’ out a fact is all.”

She pressed her lips together for a long moment. “Really, Jax?” A short laugh escaped her. “I think I know you better than that. You’re simmerin’, and probably with those thoughts about threesomes we’ve joked about.”

His smile held a pronounced mischievousness. His eyes darkened, shadows casting through his expression. She knew that look, knew it meant he had something edgy and inappropriate, maybe even a little dangerous, coming together in his intriguing brain.

Her thoughts were disturbed when someone reached for Jackson. Rylan leaned into his friend, his head turned away from Brianna, and spoke close to Jackson’s ear. Jackson responded, his words muffled by the music. Rylan straightened up, shaking his head even as Jackson tugged him up to Brianna.

“I’ll be right back. Ry’ll teach you a thing or two about dancin’,” Jackson said. He pecked her cheek and sidled through the crowd, disappearing in a mass of cowboy hats, tank tops, and T-shirts.

Brianna shot Rylan a confused look, a rush of weakness pouring down her legs. He shrugged, holding out his hand.

“What do you want to know about country dancin’?” he asked. She glanced at his hand and recalled the strength in those fingers, the heat that permeated her flesh from his palm. Guiding her gaze along his bared forearms, the thick muscle and defined veins, to the bunched thermal sweatshirt at his elbow, she lost the ability to swallow. “Or do you?”

Her full attention flew up to his face, catching at his lips for a brief moment. He was watching her, those shadowed eyes peeling apart each molecule of her being in the most invasive and—god help me—erotic way.

“What are you willin’ to teach me, Sheriff?” Brianna asked, easing her hand in his. Her voice dipped, a sexual husk filtering into the last few words. Rylan’s lips curled ever-so-slowly, a seductive motion that demanded her full, unfettered focus. The shadow of a dimple formed in his left cheek, his fingers folding around hers. He angled his head slightly, his eyes narrowing enough to leave her heart racing in her chest.

“Some valuable lessons that come with bein’ part of Ryder.”

“Ryder the town? Or Ryder the family?”

Rylan led her in a slow circle under his arm. As she came back to face him, his smile had grown. She didn’t miss the sharp edge that accompanied it when his other arm slinked around her waist and brought her close.

“Both, Miss Cabot.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“You haven’t even seen what I’m gonna be teasin’ your ass with,” Jackson said, lifting a dark-purple butt plug between them. She looked at the tapering object with its smooth surface. My, was she going to have some fun. “Haven’t used one of these lovelies on you yet.” He caught her chin and tipped her face to look at him. “I’m lookin’ forward to drivin’ you mad, honey.”

“You don’t have to look far.”

Brianna grabbed the waist of his jeans and shimmied them down his muscled thighs. He watched her go on her knees and untie his boots. One at a time, she pulled them off, followed by his socks and finally his jeans. She followed the contours of his thighs upward, reached around back, and grabbed the hard globes of his ass. Turning her eyes up to his face, she flicked out her tongue and licked the length of his cock. The taste of her musk mixed with the flavor of his juice as she crested his crown.

Jackson grabbed her under the arm and lifted her to her feet.

“Jax, please,” Brianna begged, catching his cock in her free hand. Jackson tsked. He crossed her arm over her chest, guiding her into a tight circle away from him. She relinquished his cock and stood, facing the bed. Her gaze dropped to the plug with its wireless remote and the tube of lubrication lying on the comforter. A subtle wave of tingles coursed along her spine.

Jackson gathered her hair and draped it over her shoulder. His lips brushed along the back of her neck. She dropped her head forward, exposing the erogenous zone that made the flutters in her core soar and the coils of tense anticipation hum.

“My sweet Brianna,” he whispered along her skin. This tip of his nose caressed the tendon along her neck. His lips drew a moist path along that same tendon, his breaths setting her on fire. He placed a kiss at the crook of her neck. His fingers slipped in the straps of her thongs and began to run them over her hips. Another kiss graced her shoulder. “You’re tremblin’.”

“Yes,” she breathed, closing her eyes, drowning in the feathery touches and kisses. “I–I don’t know how much more I can handle before I break.”

He pushed her thong down her legs. “Step out of this wet little number.”

She did, barely able to hold her balance long enough to lift each foot from the floor. Jackson crept up her back, his teeth nipping her ass, her hip, and the thin stretch of skin over each rib. His palm followed her spine, forcing her to lean over.

“Crawl onto the bed. I think we should see what our little toy does to you.” Jackson reached past her and gathered the plug and the lube. Brianna fought against the trembling and climbed onto the bed, hands and knees. Her cunt throbbed relentlessly, the deft pulse in her clit demanding a touch, a suck, something to ease the aching pain. “When I have this naughty toy set, I’ll give you a treat.”

Jackson ran a lubed finger through her crease and spread her cheeks. She pressed her ass back. The rounded tip of the plug nestled against her anus and she instantly relaxed, imagining the numerous times Jackson fucked her rear hole.

Would Rylan take me this way? Or would he be the one to lie beneath me, filling my pussy?

“Ahh,” she sighed, her throat swelling with the very notion of Rylan being part of this. Of them. She dropped to her elbows, resting her head on the bed as the pressure from the plug filled her, waking those neglected pleasure nerves. “Jackson.”

She received his thumb against her clit and nearly split apart.

“Jackson, touch me.”

“I am, but I don’t want to touch. I want to feast.” He gave the plug a small twist. “How does it feel?”

Brianna rolled over and sat up, testing the plug and enjoying the sensation of fullness. “Don’t make me wait any longer for you.”

She fisted the base of his cock and sucked his tip between her lips before he could stop her. The taut, velvety skin smoothed over her tongue. His wide head hit the back of her throat and she moaned, drinking him down as far as she could. Her hips rolled against the bed, trying to provide friction along her clit and failing miserably.

“Enough, baby. I’m gonna come in your mouth, and that’s not what I want to do.” Jackson stepped back, depriving her pleasure of his penis. She followed him, sucking and licking, until he was out of reach. He pointed to the bed. “Lie back.”

Brianna obeyed, splaying out in the center of the bed. Jackson climbed between her legs and pushed her thighs open, giving her no time to prepare for the swift claim he made on her pussy. He licked her from cunt to clit once, twice. Electric spears of sheer bliss shot through her. Ripples of preorgasmic tension seized her legs and her belly.

“Yes, Jackson. More.”

“Give you everythin’.”