STORY EXCERPT

Fearing a confrontation of some kind was at the heart of their request, Leah felt her heart quicken its pace as the meal drew to a close. Vincent rose from his seat and lifted his plate and hers. She glanced up at him and caught the way his eyebrows furrowed as he made eye contact with her.

“I’m not going to bite you, doll.”

She shrugged and tried for nonchalance. “I didn’t think that at all.”

“Then why are you so jumpy?” he asked as he took the dishes to the kitchen sink, which was filled with soapy water. She noted how clean the kitchen was already, not piled with dirty pots and pans. A mess to clean up might’ve made for a nice distraction.

“Honey?” James asked, laying a hand on her shoulder and startling her in the process. “You are jumpy. You have nothing to fear from either of us.”

“It’s not fear. Not really,” she said quietly as she rose from her seat and looked for her purse which was all the way across the house on the table by the door. “Thank you for the meal, guys. It was delicious.”

Vincent shook his head as he returned from the sink and she saw the determined set of his square jaw. Did he know how sexy he was, with those bedroom eyes and that neatly trimmed beard and cleft chin? A tremor rippled inside her and she couldn’t help the spear of arousal that darted through her lower regions at the purpose in his gaze. She evidently had a thing for very determined men because he certainly looked the part as he strode over to her.

“Not so fast, fluff.” Of the two men, he was the more assertive one and it was showing.

She froze in mid-step and the change in her was like zero to sixty. Or rather, sixty to subzero.

“Don’t call me that.” Her voice was barely a whisper and she wasn’t even sure they heard her.

“Don’t call you what? Fluff?” Vincent asked as he came toe-to-toe with her. He caressed her jaw and she couldn’t look away from him as the pain lanced through her chest. The last person to call her by that had been Patterson. He’d used it the last time he’d visited her at the store, the day of the accident. Vincent followed the direction she’d looked in earlier, correctly surmising her exit strategy. “You’re not leaving yet. We’ve barely gotten started.”

“Vincent,” James murmured, disapproval in his tone. He crowded in and she was surprised when he cupped her cheeks and his thumbs stroked hot tears from her face. His heart was in his eyes. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep the sob locked tight inside of her. “He doesn’t mean to be pushy, honey. We need to talk to you. This stalemate, the way things are between us right now, we want to get beyond it. The only way to do that is to talk about it.”

“I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?” Vincent asked, his tone sharper than James’s, but when she glanced at him, she could see the same need and pain in his eyes as in James’s.

“It hurts so much. Patterson…Patterson called me fluff. You know that. It hurts to hear you say it.”

“It’s just a word, fluff,” Vincent said, his tone slightly softer but no less powerful. “Look at me.”

She couldn’t. The pain was so close to the surface and the last thing she wanted was to rip the scab open. It would take her days to pull herself back together and she didn’t have time for that. The store needed her and she had that trip to take for her father.

Vincent finally tipped her chin so she had no choice in the matter unless she wanted to be childish and shut her eyes. She couldn’t keep him out like that but it still hurt when she looked into his beautiful green eyes.

“You can hardly look at me, can you?” The pain in his voice deepened the ache in her chest. “Why the walls, fluff?”

He kept picking at her like that and she knew it was on purpose but couldn’t completely blame him. He had a right to know why she’d been avoiding them. Could she get it all out without breaking down completely? Her strength began to wobble and she reached up to grasp James’s forearms for support.

Breathing rapidly, praying she could keep it together yet knowing it was an impossible task, she finally said, “He’s everywhere I look. I have nightmares about him dying every night. I can’t sleep. The only place I seem to function properly is at the store.”

“That explains the longer hours,” James murmured. She hadn’t realized they’d even noticed.

“You call me fluff and it’s like a knife in my heart. Your eyes, your features, your builds, your taste in music, even your voices are so much like his, it’s…killing me.”

“Why, honey?” James asked, his eyes now bloodshot.

“Be—because it’s my fault he’s gone!”

The wall shoring up her emotions fissured and crumbled before finally breaking under the pressure.

ADULT EXCERPT

Vincent wrapped his arms around her and she noticed the way he trembled just a little. His heartbeat was rapid under her ear.

Delicious heat closed in behind her and she moaned as James pressed close. Both of their cocks were hard, hot brands against her stomach and the small of her back.

Ready, fluff?

Reaching up to both of them, she slid her fingers around the nape of Vincent’s neck and kissed him while rasping her fingernails through the short sandy brown hair at the back of James’s head and reeling him in for a kiss as well.

Her body vibrated with growing arousal, climbing ever higher as she inhaled their combined scents and shared that moment of communion with them. Her body clamored to be made love to and she pulled back from James, looking into his eyes and then his brothers’.

“I’m ready.”

She slipped from between them and climbed onto the bed, which was made up with luxuriantly smooth sheets in a chocolate brown color. They joined her as she turned to lie in the center with her upper body propped up on the mountain of pillows. “I sleep with lots of pillows plus a body pillow. I hope some of these are mine.”

James said, “You can have as many as you want but you also have us to cuddle up to now.” He’d left the statement open-ended but she noted his speculative tone.

The men closed in on either side of her, just gazing at her, before laying their hands on her. Vincent enjoyed himself, playing with her breasts, cupping them, and patting them until the nipples were tight rosy peaks.

James seemed fascinated with her bellybutton and spent long moments teasing her with light, tickling touches that made her shudder with pleasure, before his fingertips strayed to her mound.

Heat swirled outward from his touch as he stroked her. Her heart jumped at his groan as he parted her enough to see the throbbing pink flesh within. He licked his lips and then leaned forward oh so slowly. She moaned in anticipation as he flicked his tongue out and dipped it between her lips to taste her juices. His gaze stayed fixed on her eyes as he savored his first taste of her and delved a little deeper. A tremor jolted her and she would’ve thought it was a mini orgasm, except the knot of tension inside her grew tighter instead of abating.

The place between her legs throbbed and she felt such a great need that she finally made it known as she wrapped her hands around both of their biceps. “I want this…now. I’m ready.”

James laid a hand on her upper thigh and murmured, “Open for me?”

She nodded at her his querying tone and complied, reaching for the pillows or sheets or something to hold on to. Vincent took her hand and squeezed it as he scooted down so he lay alongside her, flat on the bed, which would afford him a front-row seat.

He kissed her as James moved between her spread thighs and kissed a path up to her pussy, shocking her as he didn’t move over her to push his cock inside of her. Instead, he brought his mouth down on her and slid his tongue between her lips, taking a deep taste of her.

“You—you don’t have to do that. I’m not…”

James didn’t remove his lips from her oversensitive flesh as he spoke to her. “You’re perfect, honey. I’ve wanted to taste your sweet pussy for so long. Don’t deny me now.”

He licked his lips and demonstrated his sincerity as his eyelids slowly slid closed and he buried his face in her slippery hot flesh. His groan sounded so…pleased…that she couldn’t deny him. Gently pulling her outer lips apart, he licked her all over with broad strokes of his tongue until her pussy clenched with each touch, demanding more. He sucked at the flesh around her clit, tugging it into his mouth, until her breathing turned to panting and she thought she’d explode from sheer raw pleasure. Just a little more.

“Oh, James,” she whispered as she caressed the back of his head, the short-cropped strands of his hair tickling her fingers. “I’m so close.”

He held her captive with his beautiful green eyes, and even though his mouth was busy, she knew the moment he smiled because it sparkled in his eyes. She teetered on the edge until he slid two fingers into her opening and delivered short, teasing thrusts. She froze and an incoherent cry came from her, a begging sound, and he slid his fingers deep and pumped in and out with smooth strokes. Control shattered and she came undone with a loud cry. He rode each wave of pleasure with her until she finally stilled, looking up at him, and over at his brother in wonder.

Looking very aroused, Vincent leaned forward and kissed her as he caressed her breasts, tweaking at her nipples while James busied himself sheathing his cock. Her pussy throbbed and ached to feel him inside her.

“James can’t wait to fill your sweet little cunt, Leah. He wants to fuck you as much as I do. I can’t wait to be inside you.”

She clung to the hand she’d been holding all along and said, “I want it, too. Want you both so much.”

James stroked her thigh and she turned her attention back to him, reaching frantically for him. His weight was solid over her as he came to rest between her spread thighs. He kissed her, and she could taste her tangy essence on his tongue, and her cunt clenched with need as she rubbed against him. “Please, more,” she whispered as he centered the head of his cock in her opening. The pleasure and anticipation combined to shove her right back to the precipice yet again but she needed him inside her this time.

“James!”