“Don’t fall asleep.”
Her cheeky quip pulled a laugh from him, and incredibly, made his cock even harder than it had been.
“You are a smart-ass.”
“It doesn’t smart because no one has spanked me yet.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
“Don’t worry, baby. I predict you’re going to have a smarting ass before too long.” He wasn’t the control freak his best friend was, but he could be dominant if he felt like it.
“Are you going to spank me, too, lover?”
“Count on it.”
“Good. I had no idea just talking about it would excite me so much.”
She was going to make him laugh out loud again in a minute. Only one way to shut her up that I can think of. Jeremiah thrust in her hard and slipped one hand under her ass. The other he slid under her shoulders, and raised her head for his kiss.
Jeremiah drank from her with his mouth and plundered her with his cock, the two sensations merging into one. Heaven. He’d found a new definition of that age-old word just now, balls deep in Nancy Jessop’s body. He’d nearly given up hope of having her, of being able to get past her defenses to the sensitive and soul-deep beautiful woman he’d known her to be.
The friction of his cock moving inside her body got him hotter and hornier than he’d ever been. As if he hadn’t already had one fucking fantastic orgasm in his woman’s mouth, his greedy cock screamed at him to take and take and take, to race like the wind for the prize that was there—right there!
He moved his hips, working to brush the hair surrounding his dick against her clit. He lifted his lips from hers and met her gaze. “Let’s fly, baby. Come with me.”
“Oh! Oh! Jeremiah!” She found that spot herself and moved, rubbing her clit against him. Her hot womanly sheath contracted around his cock. And then, a tiny smile kissing the corners of her lips, she made those inner muscles milk him, a pulsing squeeze that sent his cock to nirvana.
“Yeah! That’s it, baby. Yeah!” His seed shot from him in great boiling spurts, a volcanic eruption so intense that he actually saw stars behind his eyes. He held on and held deep, his entire world in that moment the hot, beautiful woman who held him, without and within, her orgasm shivering and surging in concert with his own.
He wanted to lift himself off her, to spare her his weight, but he figured breathing had to be his first priority.
Slowly, his senses returned, and as he felt the stroking of Nancy’s heels on his legs, he knew he wasn’t squishing her.
Still, as soon as the ringing in his ears and the pounding in his chest eased up, he put his weight on his forearms and looked down at the woman he knew he already loved.
“Talk about hot to watch.”
Jeremiah blinked. He hadn’t even noticed Eli was on the bed with them. He met his best friend’s gaze and knew their one worry had been banished.
They neither one of them felt any jealousy whatsoever toward the other loving their woman.
He didn’t know how to make this work in the long term, but finding out there were so many ménage families in Lusty cheered him considerably.
He figured they could ask some of the men. That brought his thoughts back to the party earlier, and one particular surprise they’d received when they’d looked around at the guests.
He sensed Nancy was looking at him. He smiled at her, leaned forward, and kissed her.
“You okay?”
“Better than, I’m hoping.”
“Yep. A smart-ass.” Then he sobered. More than once over the years he’d seen her vulnerability. So he said, “You blew me away. I’ve never felt like this, Nancy Jessop. Thank you.” It was too soon for words of love and undying devotion. That vulnerability he’d always seen in her told him that she’d been wounded. They’d have to help her heal before they could expect her to admit her love—or be willing to believe in theirs.
He placed a kiss on her lips, a light, sweet kind of kiss. “Thanks for letting me stay all nice and snug inside you, baby.”
She mewed in protest when he left her and nothing had ever stroked his ego like that tiny little sound of disappointment had done. Eli’s gaze was on her, as if he couldn’t stop looking at her.
Jeremiah nodded his head ever so slightly in his friend’s direction. One of the things he loved about Nancy was her quick mind. She turned her head and then reached a hand out to Eli.
“Let’s get you under the covers, sweetheart,” Eli said.
“I’ll go down to the car and bring our bags in when I’m finished in the bathroom.” They hadn’t stopped to get a room, just headed straight to Lusty. When they’d seen the restaurant, they’d decided on a quick bite, first. Pure blind luck had them finding food and the woman they’d driven for three days to see.
“I can help,” Eli said.
Jeremiah shook his head. “Naw. You snuggle our woman. I’ll be back in a few.” He figured Eli needed the time to hold her close, and he needed the time to get his own emotions under control. They’d just made wonderful, mind-blowing, life-altering love with the woman they believed they were going to spend the rest of their lives with. But nothing was written in stone yet, and Jeremiah would be damned if he’d hang his heart out on his sleeve only to have it torn apart.
He was very aware of all they hadn’t told Nancy Jessop. He and Eli would have to tread carefully and figure out how the hell they were going to handle this situation. And sooner, rather than later, because the last thing they needed was for her to hear only half truths about them from someone else.
Chapter 8
Eli couldn’t recall when he’d slept so well. He’d awakened barely five minutes before, and for one heart-stopping moment, in that instant, he’d not known where he was. And then he’d inhaled, and the scent of his woman had made everything inside him even out and settle down.
He looked over and met Jeremiah’s gaze. He raised one eyebrow and nodded toward the bedroom door.
His best friend nodded back.
Nancy was sound asleep—and no wonder, as they’d both woken her in the night for more hot loving. He moved carefully, leaving the bed and tucking the blankets around her. She moaned, and turned on her side, and snagged his pillow.
Her sigh, as if everything was good in her world, made his heart turn over.
Eli had never been in love before, never even imagined what it might be like to be completely and forever in love. He’d had no idea that it would be a heart-pounding combination of wonder and fear.
He snagged his cell phone from the bedside table and stepped into the bathroom. No wonder she’s still asleep, it’s just six-thirty. Eli grabbed his chinos from the floor. Giving them a shake, he pulled them on, yanking up the zipper but not fastening the button. Beside him, and without speaking, Jeremiah did the same.
As they made their way back through the bedroom toward the hallway, Nancy slept on. We’ll have to try to remember not to be so greedy with her. They were supposed to take care of her, not wear her out.
Downstairs, they headed to the kitchen. It didn’t take them long to make themselves some coffee. Jeremiah inspected the fridge. Eli didn’t have to ask. The man was looking to make breakfast.
“Perfect,” Jeremiah said, and met Eli’s gaze above the open fridge door. “Bacon, sausage, and eggs. I could have lived with tofu but I’m glad I don’t have to. There’s bread—and it looks like homemade bread—and butter for toast, so we’re all set.”
“We’ll have to see if there’s a grocery store in town,” Eli said. There was no question that they planned to be there awhile, and no question that they’d be buying the food.
“First thing,” Jeremiah agreed. He closed the fridge and then sat at the table. “I’ll wait awhile to start cooking. It’s early, yet.” Then, quietly, he said, “We have a couple of unexpected problems to deal with.”
Eli knew exactly what Jeremiah was talking about. “Yeah, I recognized them last night. I saw by the looks they shot us, they
remembered us, too. I half expected the two of them to come right over—but I guess I can understand why they held back.”
“Professional courtesy. Don’t know how far that courtesy will stretch, though, once they find out we spent the night in their cousin’s bed.”
“That might get sticky, but it doesn’t have me worried nearly as much as what Nancy told us last night does.”
Jeremiah ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I wish to hell we’d known she’d had a break-in before we left DC to follow her.”
“I’ll reach out to Detective Ridgeway of the Metropolitan Police Department. He’s in burglary. His department would have been alerted to Nancy’s call. He might have some information on the suspect. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the MO will fit several like crimes in the area.”
“You don’t think it was just a random break-in, though, do you? I remember reading in the paper that there had been a few in Georgetown over the last couple of months.”
“I know there have been, and I know DC has a lamentable crime rate. But when I couple that with that other thing—” Eli didn’t finish the sentence.
“Yeah. The fact that it happened about the same time that Senator Reese Davies was making inquiries about Nancy stretches the believability factor. I’m with you, brother. It’s fishy—and scary—as hell.”
“I know we’re not overreacting. Any interest he shows in anyone would only be for one of two reasons. Either he’s looking to make an ally, or he’s already got an enemy and is gathering intel to go after him or her with.”
“I didn’t really have to ask her to know Nancy would never consider working with a bottom-feeding piece of scum like Davies.” Jeremiah shook his head. “And I know we’re not overreacting, because Compton didn’t even hesitate when we told him we wanted out of the lobby group investigation—and that the reason was because Davies was asking questions about Nancy.”
“I think Compton knows something we don’t. I have an awful feeling we’re not out of that task force so much as we’ve been temporarily reassigned to a new division of it.”
Jeremiah shook his head. “I don’t like the implications of that at all.”
“Neither do I. I sure as hell don’t want the lines to cross between our professional and personal lives, not with her. She already doesn’t trust us. So we’d better keep our wits about us.” Eli took a sip of his coffee.
“I think we need to tell her the truth—about who we are,” Jeremiah said. “Do that first off, and maybe there won’t be any need to tell her about the other. But if we have to…” Jeremiah didn’t finish his sentence.
Eli understood completely. There might not be a connection between Nancy’s burglary and Reese Davies. “Yeah. But I think we need to pick our moment. It’s not something we can just blurt out.” When Jeremiah started to say something more, Eli held his hand up. Jeremiah snapped his mouth shut, and turned to look over his shoulder toward the stairs.
Five seconds later, Nancy came into the kitchen. Looking sexily disheveled, and wearing Eli’s T-shirt, she turned him on in two seconds, flat. In fact, she revved his engines more than any woman ever had.
He turned in his chair and held his arms out to her. When she walked right up to him and snuggled in, he sighed with pleasure. She’d come straight to him without a second’s pause, and he felt ten feet tall. He kissed her hair. “We wanted you to sleep longer, sweetheart. We were greedy pigs with you last night.”
“Last night was wonderful. I’m not tired at all.”
Eli considered it his good deed for the day that he didn’t laugh at that patently false statement—which ended with her very wide yawn.
He tilted her chin up and kissed her. Her taste and texture had already become necessary to him. He was addicted to her after only one night. That fact didn’t surprise him at all. He’d known since he’d first laid eyes on her that it would be this way.
Her body seemed to melt into him as her tongue danced a slow dance with his. Finally, he lifted his lips from hers. When she opened her eyes, he said, “Good morning.”
“Good morning.”
He turned her so that she could see Jeremiah. And grinned when she left his arms and walked right into Jeremiah’s, and snuggled down in the exact same way.
Eli was so damn happy she accepted them both—and that he truly felt no jealousy watching her with his best friend—the man who was, in his heart, his brother.
Jeremiah kissed her, and then set her back from him. “I’m making breakfast for us. And then I thought you could show us your town—starting with the museum.”
Nancy sighed. “You cook. That’s so nice. I manage, but I’m not as good as my mother.”
“We all have our talents, cupcake.” Eli recalled something he’d wanted to ask her the night before. “Nancy? Why did you look so startled the first time I called you ‘cupcake’? Is it because no one’s ever had a pet name for you—and no, sweetheart, ‘Hurricane’ is most definitely not a pet name.”
Nancy chuckled, turned around, and leaned against Jeremiah. “No, it’s because when I talk tough to myself, that’s what I call me.”
Eli grinned. He couldn’t help it. When she came out with things like that, he wanted to pick her up, carry her around, and keep her safe from anyone and anything that might hurt her.
He held out his hand. “While Jeremiah plays Julia Child, why don’t we go have a shower?”
Nancy tilted her head to one side. “Only a shower?”
Eli shrugged. “We’ll negotiate.”
* * * *
Nancy’s heart felt full to bursting. There’d been a horrible moment, when she’d awakened alone, when she’d been almost positive that Eli and Jeremiah had left.
Even as she’d found Eli’s shirt in the bathroom and thrown it over her head and raced down the stairs, she’d been formulating her response to discovering those two hunks had flown the coop. Face it, cupcake. You were positive they’d left.
The smell of coffee had been the thing that had arrowed through her fears. Her heart had been racing so hard, that as she’d approached the kitchen she couldn’t even hear what they’d been talking about.
“What’s wrong?”
They’d stepped into the master bathroom, and Eli slipped his arms around her from behind.
No way was she going to tell him the truth. She opened her mouth to say something mundane.
“I woke up alone and I thought you’d left.”
Eli tightened his arms around her, then opened them, and turned her to face him. “We would never do that, sweetheart. Why would we drive all the way from DC just to have a one-night stand?”
Nancy felt her cheeks heat. She hadn’t thought of it in those terms. In fact, she could admit to herself, she hadn’t thought at all.
“There’s another title I’ve earned from the family besides Hurricane Nancy.”
Eli lifted her chin. She hadn’t even been aware that she’d been staring at her toes.
“I’m beginning to wonder about this family of yours.”
Nancy shook her head. “No, they’re wonderful. I really have earned these titles all on my own. The second one is ‘conclusion jumping queen of Lusty,’ because, well, I am.”
“I see. But when you slipped my T-shirt on, you knew…” Eli’s voice trailed off, and she guessed he had his answer in the way her blush increased.
I hate having fair skin. Everyone can see my embarrassment.
“I’m such a dork.”
“Okay, clearly, we have to set some ground rules here. The first, and most inviolate of these new rules will be this—no negative self-talk.”
Nancy tilted her head to the side. “Calling myself a dork isn’t—”
Eli didn’t even let her finish. “That most certainly is negative self-talk. You have to stop doing that. You just open the door for bad karma.”
“You sound like Grandma Kate.”
Eli raised one eyebrow. “I’m glad to hear that someone else has been trying to get you to l
ose that self-destructive habit.”
Nancy shook her head. “No, you don’t understand. If my mother or fathers—hell, if anyone here thought for one moment that I wasn’t the same brash, self-confident woman who went off to college ten years ago—well, they’d sure as hell have something to say about it, beginning with demanding an explanation, and finishing with saying pretty much what you just said.” Nancy shrugged. “Grandma Kate knows, of course. You can’t keep anything secret from her. But the rest of them—they certainly don’t mean to offend me, or put me down, when they use those nicknames.”
Eli said. “All right. Give me back my shirt, please.” And he held out his hand, waiting.
“I guess you’re not the kind of guy to offer a friend the shirt off his back, huh?”
“Sure I am.” He grinned. “I just tend to think of it as a loan, instead of a gift. Come on, cupcake, give it up.”
Nancy hesitated for only a moment. Last night had been wonderful, and yes, she wanted more. And, all right, they’d already seen her naked. But the light had been…less. Right now, the brilliant Texas sunrise was streaming through the bathroom window. Sunlight was wonderful for flowers and grass, but merciless for seeing every flaw in a naked female body.
I’m being a dork again.
Before she could talk herself out of it, Nancy whipped the shirt off over her head and handed it to Eli.
“Thank you.” He dropped the shirt on the floor, and then skimmed out of his pants. In seconds he stood before her, naked and ready. “Now, how about some water sports?”
The sight of his beautiful naked body drove all other thoughts out of her head. She wanted to get her hands on him. “Oh, yes, please.”
“God, I love the way you look at me.” He bent down and gave her a very carnal kiss. Nancy let herself sink into the taste of him. She loved the way his mouth moved on hers, the way he held nothing back, just took her over and drank her down.
He ended the kiss, but only lifted his face a few inches away. His gaze met hers and held.
“I like that look on you, too.”
Love Under Two Undercover Cops [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 8
