“I’ll give it to him.” Cody thought he sounded very noble.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it to me because I’m really confused here.”
Instead of a glib answer, Amanda sighed. “If Davey was a good ol’ boy who just liked it rough, I could handle him, but he’s not. My dad is…no good. He comes sniffing around once every decade for money.
“Davey won’t leave until he’s gotten it all, and he won’t threaten much either. Bad things will just start happening. Friends’ pets found hanging from porch railing kind of things. If Davey turns his eye on you…” Amanda shook her head. “With all you got to lose, you really should just take me home now.”
“And maybe you should stop insulting me,” Cody retorted. “I’m not going to leave you to handle this bastard alone. In fact, I don’t want you handling him at all. We’ll take care of your dad, Amanda. Don’t you worry about him. Worry about Knox. I’m going to do you a favor and not mention what you just said to Knox or he’d tan your hide redder than I would.”
“You weren’t listening—”
“I heard you just fine, Amanda.” Cody didn’t want to hear her again. “Your daddy is a big bully who goes around terrorizing people, and if you think I’m going to let him scare you, I’ll tan your hide when we get home. Hey, look at me.” He swept a hand under her chin to force her gaze up to his. “You’re important to me, Amanda. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“You don’t have to say that,” she whispered. “I don’t care more about Jace than you.”
“Ah, sweets, I ain’t saying it because of Jace’s stupid ass.” Cody took a deep breath and spoke slowly, holding his words even and steady. “I’ve been there before, Amanda, to the graveyard. I know what it is like to lose somebody you…care about, and I can’t do that again. Promise me I won’t have to.”
A smile tugged on Amanda’s lips and Cody started to see a little of the cloudy goodness in her gaze. She was looking at him like she had Jace earlier. “You won’t.”
“Good.” He brushed a quick kiss across her lips before spurring Oliver back into a trot. “Now let’s get you home, and we can get to the spankings you’re due.”
Amanda giggled, snuggling into his arms. Tucking her head into his shoulder, she brushed teasing kisses along his neck, making him flinch under the ticklish caresses. Cody knew what those frisky propositions meant, but her timing left a lot to be desired.
“Amanda.”
“Hmm?” Her hand slid down to cover the bulge in his jeans. “You know, we could always try and make Jace a little jealous.”
That wouldn’t be wise, but Cody wouldn’t suffer the consequences, so he kept his opinion to himself and let Amanda have her fun.
Chapter 28
Jace welcomed the sight of the ranch blooming in the horizon. He could feel every one of his thirty-two years in the ache of his body. Not that the pain came from a hard ride. Not today.
Today, all of Jace’s discomforts could be laid on Amanda’s head. For the past hour and a half, she’d intentionally made a spectacle out of her and Cody. Snuggling into his brother, making out with him, groping, doing just about everything two people could do on a horse without stripping down to naked. Jace got the message because her gaze never left his.
Focused on him the whole time, she’d panted loud enough to torment him. Cody’s the greatest…best she ever had…her master. Too outrageous to be taken seriously, Jace knew Amanda’s game. She wanted him jealous.
Not the cutest of all traits, her game could be quite dangerous if Knox got a whiff. He’d have every right to be mad. Amanda had to realize in a ménage relationship, some lines couldn’t be crossed. Jace figured on teaching her that lesson the second they got home.
He planned it all out. Dismounting before Cody could, catching Amanda before her feet hit the ground, Jace planned it down to the smallest detail of tossing her over his shoulder. No romantic carrying over the threshold for his Amanda. She got lugged into the house like a sack of feed.
Jace didn’t know what happened to Cody and he didn’t care. Probably taking care of the horses, because his brother didn’t follow them into the house. Getting no resistance from Cody didn’t shock Jace half as much as getting none from Amanda.
All Amanda did was laugh as he carried her down the hall toward his bedroom. A bubbly joyous sound, it vibrated through his back, telling him he thought she won the round. Just wait until he got her naked in the bedroom.
“Awfully barbaric behavior, Jace. What’s wrong?” The minx taunted him, not even trying for subtlety.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Jace lied as he kicked in his bedroom door. “Horny. Please note the difference.”
“Duly noted.” Amanda giggled. “And totally reciprocated.”
“Is it now?” Jace shouldered his way into the bathroom he shared with Knox.
“Yes, your brother certainly does know how to make riding a horse interesting. He’s left me with quite a need,” Amanda purred.
“And here all I have to offer is a shower.” He dropped her to her feet, watching as she swiveled her head around to take in the bathroom. Jace could see it in her gaze, the awe. Like most women when they saw it, the sight of decadence kept her distracted while Jace went to work.
“Wow,” Amanda breathed as he reached for the hem of her shirt. “That tub looks big enough for three people.”
Her words stopped, smothered behind the cotton of her T-shirt as he pulled it over her head. It gave Jace the opportunity to correct her. “Try four.”
He expected a saucy comment once he pulled her shirt free, but all the action revealed was a flash of pain. There and then gone, it slipped from her gaze as she forced a smile. So she does care.
It would be dastardly to use Amanda’s feelings against her, but given how she’d treated him since he confessed his love, Jace felt he was due a little bad behavior. Pausing with his fingers on the button of her jeans, he shot her a dirty grin.
“Sometimes five, it just all depends where the night leads. Like this one time…” Jace closed his eyes and let his smile grow. “Oh, what a great night.”
“It sounds like you had fun.” Icicles could have formed on her breath.
“You don’t understand.” Jace snorted with a hint of a laugh. “That girl was flexible.”
“I’m so happy for you.”
Jace sighed and went back to working on her jeans. “I wish I could do that over again.”
“Oh, shut up,” Amanda snapped.
“What?” Jace shoved her jeans and panties down her thighs in one single push while he looked innocently up at her.
“I don’t want to hear about you and some other woman.”
“What’s wrong? Jealous?”
Her eyes narrowed on him. Yeah, they understood each other now.
“No.” Amanda smiled tightly. “Not at all, just not interested.”
“Sorry.” Jace lowered his head to focus on undoing her sneakers. “Didn’t mean to offend.”
“With all the opportunities you’ve had in life, I would have thought you learned a little more manners.”
“Manners?” Jace lifted her ankle to pull her shoes and pants free of her leg. “Like what? Always apologize with a kiss?”
Before Amanda could respond, he leaned up to give her an open-mouth kiss right on her parted pussy lips. He lifted her ankle higher, bringing it to rest on his shoulder and leave her more vulnerable for his foraging tongue.
She was soft, wet, and tasted so damn good. He nibbled on the fleshy side of one fold and her gasp turned to a moan as he let his tongue come out to soothe the small wound. Licking his way upward, he lapped at her clit, teasing her into a frenzy. Only when she scraped her nails along his scalp and moaned his name, did he remember the game.
Time to stop.
It wasn’t easy, but he managed to lean back and force a grin. “Hmm, smooth pussies. My favorite midday snack.”
He stood up and f
aced a panting Amanda. She looked delectable with her puckered nipples and breasts heaving. The proof of her arousal lingered on his lips even as it kept her eyes glazed, her skin flushed, and her mouth pouted and looking delectable. Man, he wanted to kiss her.
Instead he grinned down at her and said, “Do you know how many cunts I’ve shaved right here on this very counter?”
It was outrageous, completely ungentlemanly, and the answer wouldn’t have impressed anybody, but she didn’t know that. Amanda couldn’t even understand the question at first. She just stood there blinking while he started the shower. When it hit her, she hit him, smacked him right across the shoulder.
“Jerk.”
“What the hell did you do that for?”
“I thought we agreed no more comments about the sluts you’ve been with before.”
“I’m sorry. It just slipped out.” Jace rubbed his hands down her back and did his best to sound sincere. “I promise no more. I’m going to focus only on you.”
“Good, because my patience is at its end,” Amanda muttered, pouting. “I’ve had a really bad day, and if it’s too much to ask for a little sympathy, then I’ll go find Cody. I’m sure he’d be happy to scrub my back.”
Low blow. Blow, what a great word. It gave him an idea. It was cruel and normally the worse thing a man could do, but this had turned into open warfare. He’d show her jealousy was an emotion best left unprovoked, and he just might get her to reveal some truth about her emotions while he was at it.
“No need to find him, baby, really. I’m going to take good care of you.” Jace backed his pledge up with a little kiss to the tip of her nose and then a more thorough one on her lips.
Again he got lost in Amanda’s taste, in the feel of her naked and soft in his arms. For a moment, the game was forgotten and the passion fueling his soul took over. Only the need for air drove them apart and returned some measure of sanity to his brain.
“Go on, baby, the water should be warm.” Jace turned with her until she faced the oversized stall and gently pushed her through the arched doorway. “I’ll be there in just a minute.”
With that promise, he retreated around the curved wall encasing the stall and steadied himself for what came next. I have to make this point to her. Amanda has to get it, truly get it. Keeping his mind focused on the ultimate goal, Jace stripped out of his clothes.
Pausing to ask God not to let this gamble end in his broken heart, he pushed in the shower door and headed into battle. The first round went to the grumpy Amanda who’d already soaped up her body. Lifting sudsy hands to her head, she cast him another one of her quick little sexy smiles over her shoulder, a challenge as much as it was an invitation. God, I am in love with this woman.
“Here, let me.”
Jace brushed aside her hands, taking over the task of massaging the shampoo through her hair. He knew just how to touch, where to touch, how much pressure to exert to make her moan. She melted before him, slumping into his chest as she gave herself completely over to his control.
He didn’t disappoint. In a repeat of their first shower together, Jace worked his sudsy hands down over her neck and shoulders, moving slowly as he worked out the tension gathered in her muscles. Soon nothing was left but a sweet, vulnerable woman.
It was time to strike. May Amanda forgive me for this. Jace turned her around and took her lips in a kiss. Sweet-tasting, soft-feeling, her tongue dueled with his in a dance as old as time. Playful and fun, the kiss brightened the desire tensing his muscles.
Until Amanda sucked the sweetness right out of him. Locking her lips around his tongue, she pulled his savage desires up to the front. Not in the mood to be teased, Jace broke their kiss so he could push her lips downward. Neither kind nor gentle, Jace kept enough pressure on her head to force her to her knees.
His dick bobbed in the direction of her breath, drooling against her lips as he thumbed her in the mouth. The silent command earned Jace not the kiss he wished, but a teasing, tormenting tongue. Leaving a wake of searing pleasure trailing behind her wicked lips, Amanda slowly, gently explored his cock.
Her touch was so light it was almost ticklish, igniting every cell of his body in a glorious dance as she worked her way down the length of his dick, to the very base. Then she sucked. Jace sighed, letting his back arch as Amanda sucked a trail of pure ecstasy right up one side of his cock and down the other. Swirling her tongue around his balls, the little vixen made him jerk hard under the lash of pleasure.
He couldn’t control the tremors working their way through his muscles as she rolled the tender sack around her lips, applying just enough pressure to bring him to the edge of his control. Jesus, I’m ready to shoot now, and she hasn’t even begun to blow me.
Jace didn’t know if he’d survive this experience, but what a way to die. He slumped back into the smooth stone surface of the shower stall when Amanda released him, taking the moment to catch a breath.
The relief lasted barely a moment as she feathered kisses back up his length, only to rake her teeth across the sensitive head. The slight sting, the instinctive warning of that small action had him jerking upright, only to groan as her tongue came out to smooth his hurt.
“Mmm, talk about tasting good,” she purred against him, letting him feel the words move across his flesh in their own kind of caress.
Oh, God. I’m going to embarrass myself. No. No. No. He had to remember the plan. Any hope he had of catching on to that thought was lost when her full, soft lips parted. They slid down over the flared head of his dick as she took him into the heavenly paradise of her mouth.
Jace’s breath shortened, coming in hard chops as Amanda took him all the way to the back of her throat before she locked those lips tightly around him and pulled back. Slowly, sensually, she repeated the motion until his eyes watered and the pleasure turned painful. Jace couldn’t take any more. His need overwhelmed him and he overwhelmed her.
Burying his hands in her hair, he flexed his hips and forced her into a motion matching the savage beat of his own desire. No longer was Amanda in control of the moment. He took that away from her as he fucked himself hard and furiously into her mouth.
Jace’s balls felt like they were on fire, burning with the need to unload. He fought to hold back, trying to hold out for just one more stroke before it all crashed on him. There was no stopping the pressure from bursting through the gates. Even as his seed spilled from his body, Jace didn’t stop the motions of his hands, keeping her head bouncing over his length until every last drop of his strength was exhausted and he collapsed into the wall.
“Oh, baby.” Jace swallowed, trying to find a voice that wasn’t scratchy and hoarse. “A—” The plan! “Abby!”
Jace closed his eyes even as he said the words, knowing the world would explode around him in seconds. Just as he predicted, Amanda went ballistic.
“What?” She had to be standing on her tiptoes. Her eyes almost reached his nose. “What did you call me?”
Jace blinked, playing the role of the confused man for one last line, one last strike. “I called you Abb…Ohh…”
“You are the lowest, most despicable man I have ever met!”
She hit him. He had kind of figured that was coming, just as he anticipated her storming out of the shower.
“You’re lucky I don’t have a knife on me or you’d be singing soprano.” She jerked her shirt off the floor. “I should have bitten it off!”
“Amanda—”
“Bring that thing near me again and I will!”
“Amanda.” Jace snatched up her jeans before she could grab them. “We need to talk.”
“I’m not talking to you! Don’t think I won’t walk out of here naked. Now give me my pants!”
Jace ignored her demand, not even bothering to play the repentant man. She’d turned this into a war and he intended to claim his victory. “What do you care if I called you by the wrong name? You’re the one who said this was just about sex.”
“No. I s
aid you were just interested in sex and I was obviously right. You with your fancy line about love and you can’t even remember my fucking name!”
She turned and stormed out of the bathroom wearing nothing but her shirt. He wasn’t about to let her get away. He caught her halfway across his room. True to nature, she turned on him with clenched fists. Jace knew he deserved the beating, but he didn’t intend to take it.
“Let me go, you cockeyed son of a whore.”
She tried to wrench free, tired to kick him, and when all else failed, she tried to bite him. That got him annoyed enough to lift her off her feet and toss her on the bed. Sometimes it was good to be the bigger, stronger one.
Before she could roll off the side, he was on her. Grabbing her arms, he kept both wrists locked in one hand as he forced her thighs apart and settled himself between them. She twisted, bucked, but could do no damage. Giving over to words, she lashed out at him, cursing and screaming, calling him just about every dirty word he knew and making up some creative combinations.
It took over ten minutes before she even began to show signs of settling down. Well, not calming down, but at least accepting nothing she said was going to get her free. When she fell silent, Jace still gave her an extra minute to stew before he spoke.
“I think perhaps it’s time for a little honesty here.”
“Do you even know what the word means?” Amanda sneered.
“I know you tried your damndest to make me jealous on the ride out here.” Amanda didn’t deny it, nor did she own up to it. Silence and a heated glare filled with rage and hurt were all the response she gave him. “And I returned the favor.”
“Oh, please.” That got her. “Are you actually going to claim this was planned?”
“I’ve never been with a woman named Abby.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Yeah, right,” he shot back at her in a mock of her disbelief. “Abby is the name of one of the dogs who works on the ranch.”
Kansas Heat Page 26
