“That lost, huh?” Caleb asked, laughing.
“I left in a hurry and just kind of took the first trail I came across once I got to the coast. I’m usually not like this.” She felt exposed under Caleb’s constant examination.
“Don’t mind him, he’s in a mood. There’s been a coyote stealing our foxes.”
“It isn’t the foxes,” Caleb said, eyeing his brother. Elijah glared at him and then looked back to Lucy with a smile.
“Spinach?”
“Yes. That looks delicious.” Elijah plucked a handful of baby spinach from a wooden bowl and dropped it into the omelet along with sautéed onions and bacon. He flipped it over and slid it onto a plate just as toast popped from the chrome toaster. He pulled out the sourdough and slathered it with strawberry jam before passing the plate to Lucy.
The aroma of food slid over her palate, making her mouth water before she took her first bite. As she cut into the omelet and raised her fork to her mouth, her stomach grumbled. Elijah’s cooking caressed her tongue as flavors burst inside her mouth. She groaned. “Oh my god, this is good.”
It was several moments before she could register anything but the superb food filling her empty stomach. Once she no longer felt completely famished, just hungry, she looked up at the brothers. Their eyes were on her, boring into her like lasers.
“Thank you for this. I’ve hardly eaten all day.”
“It’s my pleasure to cook for a beautiful woman. We see so few out here in the backwoods.”
Heat pricked her face as blood ran to her cheeks. She giggled, her eyes darting from brother to brother. Were they attracted to her? These two completely gorgeous, strapping, tall men could have any woman. Someone blonder and slimmer. She was sure they could find a few hot local girls to suit their needs. She blinked at them, their eyes still hot on her face, neck, and chest.
Looking down, she took another bite of her food. They were attracted to her. She could feel it in her blood. She certainly was attracted to them.
Chapter 5
After Lucy finished eating, Caleb showed her where to wash up in a beautiful full bathroom attached to a well-appointed guest room. Standing in the marble-and-granite bathroom, Elijah pointed out the jetted tub.
“You might slip into the tub and get all warm and clean. There’s towels in this cabinet. Let me know if you need anything else.” Caleb’s eyes ran over her chest. She could swear they glowed with desire. She gulped, still not fully believing a man like him could want her. Lucy was happy with her curves, but she’d never been with a man as perfectly sexy as Caleb or Elijah. They just didn’t exist in her world.
“Do you have a phone I could use?”
“No,” he said abruptly. His eyes grew dark, and he frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Um. Okay. Thanks.”
Caleb turned away and closed the bathroom door behind him as he left. Lucy drew her eyebrows together in confusion. They had a modern house with high-end modern appliances and a jetted tub, for goodness sake. But they didn’t have a phone?
Caleb might be as hot as the center of the sun, but he was strangely moody. Maybe he was just being a grump, as Elijah had said. She’d ask Elijah to take her to her car in the morning. She pulled out her cell phone and plugged it in next to her bed before going back into the bathroom.
Turning on the faucet, she sighed as the hot water filled the large tub. Lucy poured lavender bath oil into the water. After pulling off her filthy clothes, she dipped in her toe. Perfect.
She slipped inside, the warm, fragrant water covering her round hips and full breasts as she sank down. Turning on the jets with her toe, she gasped. The water pulsed against her body in all the right ways, brushing up between her legs and enticing her to arousal.
Her muscles relaxed under the massaging jets, and her mind drifted to an image of the two brothers. Water pulsed against her core, making her nipples prick even in the warm water.
She moaned and ran her finger over her swelling slit. A tingle of pleasure shot through her. It felt so good. It was so naughty to touch herself in the tub like this, with two strange men just feet away outside her room.
The thought only made her more aroused. She imagined them watching her touching herself as she slid a finger inside her slick passage and pressed her palm against her tight clit. She gasped, reeling with the pleasure of it.
In her imagination, the brothers both took out their stiff cocks and began to rub them in front of her, over the tub where she touched herself. Lucy grasped her breast and squeezed. Her hand slipped up the wet skin of her breast until she gripped her nipple between her fingers and palm.
The brothers in her imagination had the most amazing dicks she’d ever seen, long and thick, and so hard for her. They ran their hands up and down their shafts slowly, pre-cum dripping from the slits in their heads. She wanted to lick it, and she stuck out her tongue, her eyes pressed tightly shut.
In her imagination, she went to them and licked the fluid from one cock after the other, her breasts bobbing over the bubbly water in the tub and resting over the ledge. They stroked themselves harder and faster as she brought her mouth from one to the other. She sank down over one brother as she gripped her fist around the other.
As she rubbed her clit furiously, her arousal grew volcanic. The pressure of her impending eruption rumbled in her belly and pressed against her core. In her mind’s eye, she saw the brothers coil their hands in her hair and pump their cocks into her mouth, barely taking turns.
Lucy’s orgasm exploded, her nipples tight points over her swollen breasts. She groaned loudly then bit her lip to keep back the sound. Whimpering, she lay in the bath as her pussy contracted in throbbing spasms of pleasure.
Holy crap. Did she just get off in the bath to a fantasy about the twins outside? She’d fantasized about sucking off a man who’d just claimed not to own a phone.
Shame burned in her cheeks as her climax still rumbled in her core. She let out a long breath and then stood from the tub, bubbles dripping over her curves. She grabbed a luxurious cotton towel from the rack and wrapped it around her body before stepping into the bedroom to dress.
She’d brought a change of clothes in her backpack. She’d planned to stay in a hotel tonight and drive back to Portland in the morning. Pulling on her clean underthings, a light T-shirt, and sleep shorts, she considered her options.
She’d just ask Elijah to drive her back to her car in the morning. They had to have transportation to get supplies from town. There was no way they were completely self-sufficient. Not with the way they lived in this mansion of a log house.
Lucy slipped under the down comforter and was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. Exhaustion crept up and claimed her so quickly that she barely remembered where she was when she woke gently to the sound of birds in the morning.
Sunlight streamed through the gauzy curtains. Young buds and leaves danced on spring tree limbs outside her window. She sat up and stretched, taking a deep breath to fill her lungs. A squirrel ran past her window, comically chattering.
Lucy smiled as she stood from the bed and pulled on her clothes. Grabbing her phone, she pressed the power button and waited for it to power up. When it finally finished loading, she checked her reception. Nothing. Damn it.
Grimacing, she set the phone back on the bedside table. She could smell coffee brewing downstairs. Opening the door, she could hear the brothers talking downstairs in the kitchen.
“I want her now,” said Caleb. She knew his voice by how tightly he held his jaw, so different from Elijah’s freer manner.
“I want her, too, but we can’t just bite her, Caleb. She has free will. You’d best remember that.”
“Damn you, Elijah. This woman is ours to claim and ours to mate. I say we take her, bite her, and then deal with the outcome later.”
“You are living in the past. Modern women won’t accept that kind of treatment. Least of all a human.”
Lucy’s heart thumped hard
in her chest. What were they talking about? Take her, bite her…? Elijah had called her a human. What did that make them?
Chapter 6
Lucy made a soft whimper as she stood on the balcony overlooking the living room. She was out of sight of the kitchen but not out of earshot.
“Lucy? Is that you, dear? Come down for breakfast,” Elijah said, moving into sight in the living room.
“Yeah, I’ll be right down,” she squeaked. Thoughts reeled through her mind, not the least of which was the fact that the brothers wanted to “mate” with her. Whatever that meant. She had a feeling it had something to do with sex.
Her core slickened at the thought, the images from last night in the tub flashing through her mind. She panted, her pulse buzzing in her veins. She had to calm down. Whatever they were talking about was probably completely innocent. How did she even know they were referring to her? They could have been talking about anything. She shouldn’t jump to conclusions, or she might embarrass herself.
Taking deep, cleansing breaths, she stepped slowly down the stairs and turned into the kitchen. By the time she entered it, the smell of coffee made her forget she’d been worried in the first place.
Elijah passed her a steaming mug, ready with cream and sugar. She took a whiff and sipped carefully. It was prepared perfectly, and she could feel all the tension and worry she’d been holding in her body melting away with each sip.
“Thanks,” she said, sitting down at the island. Elijah slid a slice of French toast onto a plate, dusted it with powdered sugar, and pushed it toward her along with a jar of maple syrup. “Yum,” she groaned. “You spoil me.”
“It’s my pleasure to spoil you,” he said, looking her deep in the eyes. She took a sharp breath, getting his meaning. Her body gushed for him. Crap. She was so screwed. What kind of girl got all hot and horny in a weird situation like this?
She tore her gaze away and looked down at her plate. The French toast smelled like a dream and tasted even better. Elijah was an amazing chef. She’d let him bite her just for his cooking if she knew what he meant by biting.
Maybe the brothers were just into kinky sex. Could she do kinky sex with these two? She looked from Elijah to Caleb, who was drinking his coffee as he stood in the doorway to the patio, looking at the forest beyond.
She swallowed her bite of French toast. She had to admit to herself that she could indeed have kinky sex with these two men. If they didn’t scare the hell out of her before she got the chance.
After she finished eating and drinking her coffee, Caleb strode toward her and put his mug down on the table. “Come with me,” he said abruptly, taking her hand.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m going to show you our property. You’ll like it.”
“Okay,” she said, glancing back at Elijah. He smiled at her, showing perfectly straight white teeth. He gave her a little wave.
“Have fun,” Elijah said.
Caleb led her outside through the patio door. Anxiety gripped her throat. Caleb was more abrupt and demanding than his gentler brother Elijah. What did he plan to do with her outside Elijah’s sight?
“Come,” he said, leading her down the stairs and the stone pathway she’d only seen in the darkness the night before. In the daylight, their property was as gorgeous as the inside of the house.
A large shop sat off to the side of the house, and on the other side, a garden sprawled toward a meadow surrounded by forest. Caleb’s grip was tight but not biting. His skin against hers felt as comforting and warm as Elijah’s had been as he guided her through the forest the night before.
They passed through a wooden gate. “This is the garden,” he said simply. She nodded. Neatly lined rows of vegetables, melons, herbs, and berries grew in the almost half acre of land.
“Elijah and I both tend the garden. See over there, those are raspberries.” He led her farther down the path to a trellis, where berry vines grew up along twining mesh tacked between posts.
Caleb knelt and looked at the little white flowers until he came to several nodes bearing fruit. He plucked the berries so gently that it made Lucy’s breath catch in her chest. He grasped her hand and unfurled her fingers to drop the little red berries into her palm.
She popped them into her mouth. They were still warm from the sunshine and sweet as morning rain. She closed her eyes and smiled, taking in the vibrant taste of aliveness as the berries burst inside her mouth.
“Mmm. So good. They don’t taste like that in the store.”
“No, they don’t,” he said, still holding her hand in his. “There are a great many things that are better fresh from nature.” His eyes shone down on her with an inner fire that ignited her core.
“I believe you. That’s why I came out here yesterday. Speaking of which, I need to get back to my car. Could you or Elijah give me a ride?”
“No.”
Lucy narrowed her eyes at Caleb as he crossed his arms defensively.
“What’s this?” Elijah’s voice called over the still garden. A chicken clucked underfoot as he walked toward them.
Chapter 7
“I was just asking Caleb for a ride to my car, or a phone, really any way I can get back to Portland.” Lucy was beginning to think there was something definitely going on. The brothers didn’t want her to leave. Anxiety dropped in her stomach like a lead weight.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Elijah said. Lucy sighed with relief. Caleb growled at Elijah, who shrugged and said, “Tomorrow or the next day. The truck needs work. We’ll take you to your car as soon as we fix it.”
Her shoulders dropped, and she blinked with confusion, looking from one brother to the other. What game were they playing with her? Was this all a way to prepare her for kinky sex? If they wanted a threesome, they should just come out and say it. Keeping her from contacting the outside world was not cool. Not cool at all.
“Let me show you the rest of the farm,” Elijah said, taking her hand in his. Caleb growled behind them as Elijah led her through the garden gate and around the front of the house. “Down past the tree line, beyond that meadow, is a creek. We can visit that later.”
Elijah walked toward the large workshop on the opposite side of the house and opened a sliding metal door. He waited for Lucy to enter and followed her inside, with Caleb not far behind.
Inside, she found piles of leather and furs. Looking around the small warehouse, she saw everything from bearskin rugs to finely crafted fur coats and leather jackets. No wonder the brothers could afford such a nice house. These garments were one-of-a-kind masterpieces.
“Wow. I had no idea you did this when you said you were hunters and trappers. I was expecting a bunch of animal heads mounted on boards.”
“We don’t keep trophies. We find them offensive,” said Caleb as he walked toward a workbench.
“Who designs the coats and jackets?”
“Elijah does the designing and sewing. I do the curing. Getting a good cure on a skin or fur is just as delicate a process as sewing a coat.”
“I believe you,” she said, walking farther into the studio.
Caleb rubbed oil into a skin with a rag and then wiped his hands. He grabbed a pelt from a shelf and brought it to her. “Feel this,” he said. He ran the soft fur against her cheek. It was as soft as downy feathers on her skin.
“So nice. But don’t you feel bad about killing all these animals?”
Caleb grunted. “Most of these animals are considered nuisances by the local farmers. If we didn’t trap them for fur and food, they would be hunted and disposed of in a ditch somewhere.”
“Oh.” Lucy ran her hands over the soft furs she found displayed along the shelves and brushed over the gray-and-brown fur coat on a mannequin.
“These are all special order for our clients,” Elijah said, stepping closer to her. His hand grazed the small of her back. She turned to him, heat rising up her spine. Over his shoulder, she could see a MacBook Pro sitting on a desk in the corner.
“Is that a computer?” she asked, walking toward it.
“Yes. We use it for record keeping.”
“Do you have Internet?”
“There’s a line down from the last storm, so the Internet is down. Come, let’s take that walk down to the creek.”
“No phone, no Internet? What’s going on here?” Lucy demanded, digging her heels into the floor. Elijah turned to her and sighed.
“You caught us at a bad time, Lucy. We’ve been a bit stranded out here for the last few days. Luckily for us, we still have electricity from our solar panels, and we are almost completely self-sufficient. I’m sorry we can’t get you out of here more quickly. Please accept our hospitality until we can get you safely back to civilization.”
Suddenly she felt like an ass. If that was all true, she’d suspected them for no reason. Maybe it was all in her head. There had been a harsh storm that passed all the way over Portland a few days ago. It had rained buckets and had flooded the sidewalk outside her apartment building. A storm like that could have definitely knocked down some Internet and phone lines on the coast.
“Let’s make a picnic lunch, and we’ll go down to the creek. It’ll be nice.”
“All right,” she said. Questions still ran through her mind, but she was tired of being suspicious. Going down to the creek for a picnic sounded much nicer than questioning everything Elijah and Caleb said.
Chapter 8
She followed Elijah back up the porch stairs and into the kitchen. He pulled fresh-baked bread out of a cabinet and cut it into thick slices. He opened a can of pesto spread and slathered it on the bread. After piling thin slices of turkey on the sandwiches, he added lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese.
He wrapped them up in butcher paper and put them in a picnic basket with homemade potato chips, sliced raw veggies, and dressing.
Shifter Overdrive (Paranormal Romance Boxed Set) Page 31
