by Anya Nowlan
“That other guy sure didn’t,” Tex joked, receiving scathing glares from both Thatch and Madeline. “Sheesh, tough crowd,” he muttered, sitting down with a plop next to Madeline. He made a point of not being too far from her.
“Madeline, they saw your face, they’ll find you from the passenger list. We can’t let you walk out of here for your own good, and for your family’s sake. We’ll set you up with a new identity, and you’re going to have to keep away from your parents and everyone else you know. Long enough at least so we can find who those men were and catch them. I promise you, we will catch them.”
Tex watched as Thatch rubbed his thumbs over Madeline’s hands and her eyes flicked down to watch the motion, her lips parting a little. Spirits above, she was perfect. Even disheveled, nervous, and wound up like hell, she could get his blood pumping a mile a minute and his cock straining against his pants. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but Tex had been watching her sleep the whole entire time, and it had nothing to do with being tasked to do it.
“But my mom and dad… I can’t disappear on them like that! They’ll look for me.”
Tex shared a look with Thatch and his stomach twisted. He hated that part. But Thatch was cool as a cucumber, always in control of the message. The epitome of a comms guy.
“No, they won’t. There were explosions on the train. You saw the Marines, and the guy who Tex took care of. There were a few other victims. What your parents know is that you were one of the half-dozen victims from a freak engine explosion on the train. They’ll get your remains, cremated, and that’ll be that. They won’t look for you. It’s to protect them too, so the guys after you won’t have any reason to go and talk to them.”
Tex could hear the sob before it rolled over her lips. But Thatch was there, cuddling her up in his arms, setting himself to sit on the couch while she heaved teary gasps into his chest. Tex raised the hot chocolate mugs at Thatch and mouthed “Seriously?!” at him. He could have been the one with the pretty girl in his arms, letting the confusion out.
Tex knew as much as Thatch did that her crying had little to do with the actual outcome of the situation. Yes, Madeline had every right to be shaken and Tex was sure that the boys at The Firm would grill her relentlessly before they let her get on with her new life somewhere certainly not in Louisiana. But it was mostly the pent-up fear and wealth of emotion that had to come bursting out. They’d seen it plenty of times. Usually the one doing the crying didn’t make his pulse quicken, though.
When she pulled back from Thatch’s chest, nestled between the two of them on the couch, Tex gave her the mug and threw his arm over the back of the couch, beating Thatch to it by a few seconds.
“Drink that, you’ll feel better,” Tex said sagely, sipping on the other one before handing it over to Thatch.
“It all sounds so… impossible!” Madeline finally said, the glassy look in her eyes clearing. “Who are you two and how did you… why were you… um. Explain, please,” she finally said, obviously flustered.
The annoyed little blush she got on her cheeks was the cutest thing he’d ever seen.
“We belong to a private military operation,” Tex said, going for the rehearsed tale they sometimes got to tell when the target was about to go into questioning anyway. Though he wouldn’t have been surprised if those gray eyes of hers would make him spill all the details of their past that he shouldn’t tell anyone. “We were on a job on the train. No details, simply told to keep an eye out. Guess this time it meant ‘be prepared for bombs and terrorists.’”
He grinned, an easy smile that came naturally to him, keeping Madeline’s gaze.
“And how do I know you’re actually the good guys? I mean, no offense, you’ve got a great little setup here, but all I know is that I saw you blow some guy’s head off and then I wake up in a place I don’t know. Great hot chocolate though,” she finished, nodding appreciatively at Thatch.
Smug bastard, he smiled right back.
“Well, a few things. You’re still alive, so that’s a good sign. If I remember correctly, the other guy tried to shoot you. I didn’t. So one point for us. Secondly, everyone that wasn’t dead on the train by the time we found you is still alive. We don’t have a TV here but trust me, if we did you’d be seeing news coverage of a horrific train accident where dozens of people walked away unscathed.”
“And we make great hot chocolate. Ever known evil geniuses who put cinnamon in their hot beverages? I don’t think so,” Thatch chuckled.
“That was my idea,” Tex grumbled.
“Sure it was,” Thatch jabbed back, making Madeline giggle between the two of them.
“Okay, all right already! So maybe you two aren’t complete maniacs.”
“Oh, I’d say we’re maniacs all right. Just the good kind,” Tex announced with a wide grin, winking at Madeline.
She shook her head, making her lush red curls bounce a little and sweep across her freckled cheeks. She was so hot that being alone near her was making Tex turn into some weird werewolf supernova. He’d never felt so damned attracted to anyone in his life, and the way Thatch kept staring at her like someone had sent her down from the heavens told Tex that he wasn’t alone in his fascination.
“So what happens now?” Madeline asked, finishing up her chocolate.
Her shoulders were relaxed now and she was breathing more evenly, easing into the madness. It was inevitable, usually. Shock, then acceptance. The real repercussions of everything that had happened and would happen would hit her later. But Tex, unfortunately, would not be there to help her through it. He knew the drill, though. If The Firm got involved, she’d be picked up from the safe house as soon as it was reasonable to do so, driven to a new location, information pumped out of her and new knowledge fed into her so she could take on her new identity. And then? Then Tex would never see her again.
That sounded like absolute torture.
“Well,” Thatch picked up. “You’re stuck with us for the night.”
Tex shot his brother a look and the slight flame of trouble behind his matching gold-flecked eyes assured Tex that they were both still thinking the same thoughts. Trouble. Always trouble.
Thatch put the mug on the small table in front of the couch, nudging it further from the edge. Tex’s rifle still lay in pieces on the kitchen table and Thatch’s was resting against the wall a few feet from them. At least one of them was always prepared, always ready. But this time, it struck Tex that neither he nor Thatch seemed to have much interest in being careful.
For a moment, Madeline looked like she was about to say something to diffuse the growing tense situation between the three of them, maybe even get up and walk away. But she didn’t do that. Instead, she surprised Tex for the umpteenth time that day. Her hand slipped onto Tex’s thigh, and glancing from one to the other, Madeline grinned slightly.
“I can think of a few things to do, then.”
Maybe it wasn’t him or Thatch who were the troublemakers this time.
CHAPTER SIX
Madeline
The first kiss alone made her toes curl and her world turn upside down even more than it already had. Her nails dug into Tex’s thigh as she leaned into Thatch and caught his lips in a kiss, slow, careful, and testing. But all of that melted away quickly as his tongue pushed into her mouth and Tex’s hands shifted her hips to the side slightly, so he could slip up against her tightly and brush her long hair aside to kiss her neck.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tex asked, his hot breath on her skin driving her wild.
“Yes,” she said immediately, half-mumbling it into Thatch’s mouth. “This day has been complete shit. I want something good to remember from it.”
She meant those words completely. Still reeling from what had happened, Madeline knew she was not in the right state of mind to make any lasting decisions. But Tex and Thatch had already made it abundantly clear that she would likely never meet them again and that was fine with her. Never the one to do anything she h
adn’t carefully considered or planned, going for what she wanted now felt like complete lunacy. And it was so, so delicious.
This was something she could control. Something she could want and demand for on her own terms, not driven by someone else’s needs or plots. There were no dangerous men in black, sneering at her and threatening to blow her head off. There was nothing to run from. Right then and there, Madeline could call all the shots and make the decisions for her and the two excruciatingly hot men she had the good fortune of sharing the couch with. Her future looked uncertain at best, but this? This she could handle. This she could enjoy.
She felt a slight tug at her hair, gentle enough for the time being, and she pulled herself away from Thatch. Tex’s mouth found hers immediately after, his kiss more forceful, his hunger more clearly defined and ready. Madeline moaned into his mouth as she felt Thatch’s hands slip the straps of her dress down her shoulders and reveal the tops of her breasts, still contained in the cream bra she was wearing.
She sucked in a quick breath, the taste of it mingled with Tex’s peppermint-and-chocolate mouth, as Thatch kissed her chest and kept going down lower, one hand snaking between her legs. Madeline had barely gotten used to the feeling of Thatch’s rough hand sneaking along her inner thigh when Tex’s hand joined his, leaving blazing hot trails along both her thighs, getting closer and closer to her aching pussy. She was already wet as hell, whimpering a little as Tex kissed her with urgency, his teeth grazing at her lower lip, his hands coiled in her hair.
They were both assertive and so, so strong. Tex seemed wilder, less tamed, while Thatch had that tightly wound power about him that made people gravitate to a leader. Either one of them alone could take her breath away, but two together? She was dizzy with excitement and squirming with each touch, wanting more.
Her hands reached for Thatch’s shirt, pulling at it, and he complied easily, ripping it off and making a few buttons pop. Madeline hadn’t even noticed that the white dress shirt was mottled with trickles of blood that weren’t his, and her dress was much the same, the splatter from Devs’ death having marred it. But it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered other than getting closer to Tex and Thatch.
Tex undid her bra with seasoned ease and before she knew it, it was on the floor, on top of Tex’s shirt. Strong hands lifted her into Thatch’s lap and automatically her hands went for his belt, undoing it with ravenous speed as she kissed him again and again, pockmarking his face with desperate pecks as his hands discovered her body. Tex took his shirt off and Madeline sighed with relief as she heard the telltale sound of a belt being undone and a zipper closely following.
When she blinked the lustful haze out of her eyes, she was treated to a sight so spectacular that she would have thought she must have been dreaming had it been any other day. Tex was standing next to the couch, his pants shucked off, his hard, jutting cock in his hand. Both of them were shirtless as well and the sheer perfection of their bodies was mind-boggling.
Carved, sculpted from nothing but muscle, they were the epitome of the perfect male body. Both thick and strong but still built for agility, with wide shoulders and slim hips creating the framework.
She must have been staring for a moment too long because Tex chuckled, flipping his brown hair off his face as his hand continued to slowly stroke up and down his monster cock.
“Like what you see, Madeline?” he teased.
She nodded mutely, the shock replaced with a wry smirk as she looked back at Thatch, who was eyeing her with pure lust in his eyes.
“I do,” she said, raising her hands so Thatch could pull her dress over her head and toss it aside like so much discarded fabric.
“You’re gorgeous,” Thatch said, his stern, calm features leaving Madeline no doubt that he meant every word he spoke.
She blushed a little, and when she wanted to dive in for another kiss to get over her awkwardness, Thatch wouldn’t let her, stopping her with a gentle hand on her chest.
“I mean it, Madeline. Don’t feel awkward about this. You’re pure perfection and we don’t want you thinking anything other than that.”
Thatch held her gaze until Madeline nodded, her core twisting and throbbing madly inside of her. She had always thought of herself as an attractive woman, curves and all. But never had anyone insisted on her knowing that quite so adamantly, like it could make or break the world for them if she didn’t know that they thought she was beautiful.
It made her giddy with need and her thighs clenched around Thatch as she reached her hand down again to free his cock as well, and planted a kiss on his lips.
The second her right hand went around his thick cock she could see Thatch’s eyes roll back a little, and his hands froze on her body, caressing her thighs. He heaved in a breath and Madeline grinned, deciding to do the same for Tex as well. She batted his hand off of his cock as she first cupped his balls and then curled her fingers around the base, so thick that her fingers barely met around it. They were definitely bigger than anyone Madeline had been with before—by a long shot—but considering how wet she was, she had no doubt that she’d enjoy every second of it.
Driven by her desire to put the day behind her and give into what her body and mind screamed for, Madeline reached forward, lapping the tip of her tongue over Tex’s head. A tiny drop of pre-cum dissolved on her tongue and she groaned loudly as she tasted the saltiness of it, her eyes fluttering closed. Then, her lips curled around the tip and she took him in her mouth, completely lost in the moment while her hand still worked Thatch.
She’d never done anything like that. Never even really thought about doing it. They were shifters, that much she knew, and she’d heard enough about Alpha twins to know that they shared everything, including women. Maybe that was why she felt so calm, so comfortable with them. A part of her told her that there was something more, a lot more, but she vehemently ignored that voice in her head and chose to focus on the immediate.
The dizzyingly delicious bodies pressed tight against her drove her wild and soon enough, she was bobbing up and down Tex’s cock with his hands in her hair, while he face-fucked her. Thatch sucked one of her nipples into his mouth, lapping at it with his tongue and letting his teeth cling to it just hard enough to make her gasp when he bit down harder.
A second later, her black panties were ripped to the side, the very obvious sound of seams coming undone letting Madeline know that Thatch meant business as much as she did.
She moaned softly into Tex, drawing a low growl from him, as Thatch cupped her ass with both hands and made her scoot up on his lap, hovering just above his hard, throbbing cock. He kept her there for a moment that seemed excruciatingly long, her mouth working Tex the entire time and her nails digging into Tex’s thighs. She was so completely wet already that waiting a second longer seemed like utter torture, but she loved the way they teased her, kept her on the edge and wanting more.
Thatch leaned forward, his tongue tracing a line up Madeline’s chest and neck, until he was at her ear, making her shudder all over as he slowly brought her down on his dick.
“Is this what you want?” he asked, low and growly, the question bouncing through her body and mind and lighting her up with pleasure.
All she could reply with was a little mewl, as she sucked on Tex’s rigid length while Thatch slowly split her open on his huge cock. Her mind went completely blank as he thrust into her, filling her, stretching her. Her body tensed and her nails scrabbled at Tex’s thighs, feeling his muscles tighten under her pleading hands.
Tex’s grip on her hair loosened a bit and Madeline pulled back, moaning loudly as Thatch sunk into her completely, making her feel incredibly full.
“Yes, please!” she cried out, her eyes watering slightly, her body rocking back and forth with shivers.
A devilish grin crossed over Thatch’s lips and he pounded into her a few times, sinking all the way in on each thrust. Madeline yelped with every movement, her skin burning and freezing at the same time, her pussy milking That
ch’s cock. Then, he suddenly flipped her off of him and positioned her on her hands and knees on the couch, getting behind her. Tex’s cock was in her face a second later and she took it willingly, damn near suckling on it, loving the way he pushed it as far as it would go in her mouth and throat with each thrust.
Thatch’s fingers dug into her hips and he entered her with the kind of force that would have left her on her elbows if Tex hadn’t been in front of her, shoving her further onto Tex’s cock. Hot and cold flashes raced through her body, the air thick with the heady scent of sex, her juices, their bodies coated in a slight sheen of sweat. Every sound Thatch and Tex made was music to her ears, driving the memories of the day further and further out of her head.
When Thatch’s thumb flicked over her clit a few times, moving with a steady rhythm, Madeline knew she was going to lose it. Her core pulsed and she could feel her pussy clenching around Thatch and her mouth closing around Tex, swallowing a long, lustful scream. A few more thrusts and she let go, dragging Thatch right with her.
Wailing and shaking, she rode her orgasm, only faintly aware that Tex pulled out of her mouth, breathing hard and fast, and Thatch’s thrusts grew erratic and short and he came with a roar that shook the whole damn apartment. When Tex took his place, slamming into her and dragging her backward on his lap, her orgasm was lit anew and she screamed out, thrashing as her nails dug into his thighs.
“Fucking hell, you’re tight, sugar,” Tex hissed.
She could feel the heat of Thatch’s cum leaking out of her as Tex plowed into her from behind, making her breasts bounce up and down and her lips quiver in an endless moan. Hands grabbed at her breasts, kneading them, pinching her nipples, and her eyes fluttered open to see Thatch crouching in front of her, grinning. She smiled back, not caring for a second about how she looked, knowing that both of the men with her were as turned on as she was.
