STORY EXCERPT

She gasped and jumped when a loud thud sounded behind her. She twirled and bit back a scream. She knew it was Lucas’s brother in theory, but the huge, dark-looking man looming in the kitchen doorway sent a streak of fear down her spine.

Jase held out a hand. “Whoa, easy, honey. It’s only me, Jase. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t know you were standing there until the last second.”

She flattened a hand on her galloping heart and tried to smile. She saw he was being truthful from the remorse on his face.

“It’s fine….” Her words stuttered to a stop when he took a giant step toward her.

They both looked at each other for a long silent moment.

A prickle of awareness hit her core and spread rapidly through her body.

“Do I get a hug, sister?” he asked, and held out his arms.

She became even more agitated, but took the few steps so he could enfold her in his arms. She tried to keep some space between them, but he just tightened his grip. She became aware the only thing she was wearing was Lucas’s shirt when the heat from Jase’s hand bled through the thin material, and a growing penis against the very top of her stomach.

She pushed away from him, took a few steps back, and crossed her arms over her breasts, knowing he could probably see her nipples through the fabric. She took a sliding step toward the kitchen doorway. “I…I’ll go tell Lucas you're he—”

“No need, love.” Lucas swept past her and pulled his brother into a hard hug. They both emotionally thumped each other on the back before taking a step back.

“You look good, Brother,” Jase commented. He’d never seen his brother this happy in his life, and he knew it had a lot to do with the tiny woman standing a few feet beside them.

“You don’t,” Lucas said and chuckled. They both turned when Cat sucked in a startled breath at the insult.

“Hey, you don’t have to worry he’s going to hurt my feelings. He knows I’m way more handsome than him and it eats at him.”

Both men chuckled and started talking.

She looked back and forth between the two. She could see the similarities right away, but also the differences. They both had very dark hair. Lucas’s was longer, touching his collar, where Jase’s was still military short.

They both had muscular bodies, but Jase was an inch or so taller than Lucas, making him way over a foot taller than her. Lucas’s skin was darkly tanned from the hours he spent outside.

Jase wasn’t as tan, but that could be the effect of being in the hospital for a few weeks. Her eyes roamed over him, trying to find the injuries Lucas talked about. Jase had been hit by some shrapnel in his right side that faced her. Although she could see some small wounds that were still healing, he didn’t seem to be in any pain, but then men were good at hiding it.

Lucas didn’t have any marking on his body. He had scars because ranching is dangerous, but she saw the tattoos and scars that littered Jase’s arms and neck, making him look even more like the powerful masculine animal he was.

She started edging toward the kitchen doorway again. She needed to get away and dress and give herself a minute to take a breath and settle.

Before she made it to the doorway, her arm was gripped, and she was pulled to stand in front of Lucas with her back to his chest and his arms tight around her waist.

His brother, Jase, stood very close and didn’t bother to take a step back to make room for her between them. She knew if she had taken a deep breath, her nipples would have brushed against Jase’s chest.

“I was just going to go upstairs and change into something more appropriate,” she said, and tried to stay calm and break his grip on her.

Lucas leaned down and nuzzled her neck. “I want you to stay and meet my brother.”

Cat cleared her throat and peeked up at Jase through her eyelashes and bit back a gasp. She saw his focus was squarely, fervently concentrated on her. She’d seen the same look on her husband’s face more times than she could count, and it almost always led to him stripping her bare and taking her any way he wanted until they were both exhausted.

Cat tore her eyes from Jase and closed them. She unconsciously dug her nails into her husband’s wrists as the heat from the two massive bodies surrounding her made it nearly impossible to take a breath, much less talk.

“Um, we’ve already sorta met,” she mumbled.

“Oh?” Lucas asked with his eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face for his brother that he knew she couldn’t see.

Cat chanced another quick look. The look in Jase’s eyes caught and trapped her gaze. The sense of power, of danger about him, overwhelmed her senses. Her husband was a masculine animal, but this man was intense and would be hard to be around.

She felt an overwhelming certainty that life as she’d known it was no more. The emotion caught her by surprise, and the fact it didn’t freak her out made her even more apprehensive. She’d talked to this man at least a hundred times while he’d been gone, and they got to know each other through the calls, but having him in front of her, feeling his heat and seeing him face to face was wreaking havoc on her senses, and made a desperate flash of pure lust race through her.

ADULT EXCERPT

Jase took a shaky step back. “Jesus Christ. I want to dive right into you and eat you alive, but I’m terrified I’ll hurt you.”

Cat levered herself up on her elbows. “You’re not going to hurt me.”

He wiped an agitated hand down his face. “You’ve got to promise you’ll tell me if you’re in any kind of pain.”

“I am right now,” she said with a smile. “At least I’m looking at one…a pain in the ass.”

She screeched as he dove for her and giggled hysterically. “Stop, Jase. I hate being tickled. Stop!”

Jase grinned and levered himself up on his elbows on either side of her shoulders and pinned the lower half of her with one of his legs. His smile slipped from his face. “God, you are so beautiful.”

Cat’s hands roamed over his chest, tracing over the tattoos that covered a lot of his chest, arms, and upper back as far as she could reach. “I think you're pretty, too.”

“Darlin’, you don’t call a man pretty that looks like me. There’s nothing pretty about me.”

Cat ran her hand down his cheek. “But to me you are. I could look at you and Lucas all day. I love the way you both walk and move. You’re harder and bigger, but you’ve got a grace about the way you move,” she said, and then blushed.

Jase smiled. “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever told me.” His lips pressed against hers before she could reply. His tongue immediately took possession of her mouth, touching and tasting. Only when they were out of breath, did he raise his head.

“Jase, why aren’t you taking your pants off?”

He bent to nibble on her ear and then slid down to her neck.

“Oh, God,” she whimpered.

Jase chuckled.

“Lucas told me your neck was really sensitive.”

Cat’s nails sunk into the muscles of his upper back. “Jase, your pants?”

“Baby, if I take off my pants, I won’t last,” he mumbled against her upper chest as he made his way down until got to her breasts. He’d wanted to suck on these for years. “I have to warn you. I have scars on one of my legs.”

Concern pinched her brows together. “Do you hurt?”

“Not hurt. I ache sometimes. I’m afraid if you see them it will disgust you.”

Cat cupped his face with her hands. “That would never happen.”

Jase slowly lowered his head and pressed his lips sweetly against hers. “You’re amazing.”

“Not really. I’m so proud of everything you've done for our country. And I’m very glad you came back alive.”

“Jesus, woman, what you do to me,” he growled, and bent his head to her breasts.

He smiled when she withered under him as he licked, sucked, and tormented her nipples.

“Please. I don’t care if you last. You can make up for it later.”

Jase bit back a curse word as he stood and peeled out of his jeans, boxers, and socks, before landing on her again. He made sure he wasn’t laying his weight on her. He attacked her nipples again as one of his hands slid down her torso to delve between the lips of her pussy.

They both groaned as he pressed one big, blunt tipped finger into her.

Oh, God. His finger was large. She could feel herself stretch to accommodate just that. He slid out and added one more, gently stretching her as he went. She’d only gotten a glimpse of his cock, and although she felt some trepidation, she knew he was only a little bigger than her husband, and she fit him inside her just fine.

“Come on! Please, Jase.”

Jase studied her expression and saw the savage need he knew was reflected in his eyes before he mounted her, spreading her apart wide enough to take his hips. “Remember, if you feel any pain…”

“I know you’ll be gentle.”

Jase aligned his cock with her opening and slowly slid forward. An inch in, out, and then he added some more of his solid, heated length until she was withering under him and he was gritting his teeth at the sensation of her squeezing him just short of pain. How could she not feel any discomfort?

When he looked at her, he saw nothing close to pain. She lay mewing and begging under him, digging her heels into his backside and poking her nails into his shoulders. Jesus, he’d never had to work so hard to control himself before in his life. His body demanded he start driving into her as hard, as fast and as deep as he could go.

He bent to her ear keeping his thrusts slow and shallow as she pleaded with him for more.

“Ssshhhh, kitten, I’ll take care of you.” He nuzzled his cheek against hers. “Just relax for me.”

Cat breathed in and out and calmed under him. She knew she wasn’t going to get him to do what she wanted at that moment.

Jase’s mind and body splintered when he felt her fully submit and it almost blew his control. He gritted his teeth so hard, he was surprised they didn’t break. “That’s right, sweetheart. Just relax.”

He pushed in slow and deep until he had his cock seated as far as he could go inside her. His curses grew when she could no longer hold back and went wild again. The feeling of her pussy becoming even tighter broke his control. He thrust desperately into her. One of his hands gripped the back of her head, and the other snuck in between them. He needed to get to her clit and send her over because he was a minute away from losing it.

He pressed down on the bundle of nerves as his thrusts grew faster. “Come now,” he demanded.

It was all too much for her. She screamed as wave after wave of incredible sensations ripped through her. She was vaguely aware of him pounded into her as she drifted down from the high he’d just thrown her through, but all she could do was hang on and ride out the storm.

A deep groan came from Jase as he pounded once, and another time, before he stayed locked inside of her. His head collapsed on the pillow beside hers. He took a few steadying breaths before he gently pulled out, rolled to the side, and pulled her into his arms.