by Zoey Marcel
He really did amuse himself sometimes. Killing her would be a treat if it came to that. Nothing would keep him from finding Melanie Laurie. All who stood in his way would be annihilated.
Chapter Two
Melanie walked into the kitchen once she finally found it again and saw Hunter preparing finger foods on a tray.
“I’m sorry. I would have made you some lunch after I finished the bathroom,” she apologized.
He washed his hands. “Don’t be. I’m making this for you.”
His thoughtfulness touched her, but the quantity of food was a bit daunting. “Thank you. That’s a lot of food, though.”
“I’ll share it with you. We can eat in my room.”
Her heart slammed into her ribcage, and her lungs felt like they had shrunk down to half their original size. Of course it was possible that he simply wanted the intimacy of eating with a woman in his bedroom without any funny business, but she figured the chances of that were pretty slim.
He gave her a warm smile that told her nothing in regard to his intentions. “You ready, sweetness?”
She swallowed and nodded. “Lead the way.”
Her heartbeat went erratic and her hands began to shake, from nervousness she told herself. Her churning, flip-flopping stomach—also nerves. The warm moisture seeping into her slit—that was what was known as ovulation. It had to be.
And as to her pebbled nipples…well, she had nothing there. There was no reason for them to crinkle on such a comfortably warm day. Also nerves, perhaps?
Of course it was. She only liked Jake. True, she might notice that Hunter was a fine-looking specimen of nature, but no harm in admiring that perky butt as it walked or taking in his manly scent as it wafted gently into her nose whenever he passed her or she stood a little too close to him.
Hunter led her into his room. “Go ahead and shut the door.”
Okay, well there was no reason for that unless…
She closed the door, getting anxious and excited when he set the tray and two glasses, one with ice and the other full of water, on his nightstand.
“Are we going to watch TV while we eat?” She knew it was a downright stupid question, but talking disrupted the awkwardness and the carnal urges that seemed especially strong in this moment with him.
“I don’t have a TV in here.”
He closed the distance between them, his appearance and demeanor tranquil and pleasant rather than predatory and wicked. It didn’t exactly make it any easier to try to see him as a threat.
“I’ll only go as far as you let me.”
Mellie believed him, but she wasn’t sure she trusted herself to be alone with him when she wanted him so badly.
“Hunter,” she whispered, lowering her eyes from his mesmerizing gaze. “Jake said he loved me this morning.”
“I know. He told me before you mentioned it.”
Well, so much for that obstacle.
The titillating glide of his work-roughened hand sweeping slowly down her arm evoked a pleasurable tingle that was somewhere between a tickle and a caress.
“Then why are you hitting on me?” she asked.
It was flattering to be sure, but she couldn’t hurt Jake like that now that he’d confessed the truth of his feelings to her.
“I’m not hitting on you, angel. I’m stating plainly that I want to feed you from my hand…in my bed.”
This time the hush in his voice was deliberately sexual. She was sure of it. His kind, sexy eyes had suddenly become green fire that burned with forbidden passion, and to her surprise, some kind of deeper longing.
“But what about Jake? I feel guilty for wanting you.” Her eyes widened and she fumbled for a quick save to somehow undo the mistake she’d just made. “Not that I do.”
He smirked, clearly doubting her.
“Why don’t you feel guilty?”
His finger traced the bone running through her shoulder with an almost weightless touch, inducing shivers and a sudden tightening in her abdomen that didn’t seem to be from nerves after all like she’d wanted to pretend at first.
“I don’t feel guilty because Jake doesn’t mind. He’s fine sharing you with me…and Emmett.”
She blinked at him, certain he must be lying, though he didn’t strike her as a dishonest person. True, Jake had shared her with Hunter and Emmett last night, but that was before he told her he loved her. But was it also before he had realized the depth of his own feelings or after?
“I don’t…” She snapped her mouth shut.
Calling her boss a liar could end up with her getting fired. She wouldn’t sleep with him without proof of his claims, but she wasn’t crazy enough to call him a liar to his face when her job was at stake.
Hunter seemed to know this. Sometimes she wondered if he was good at reading people. Emmett seemed to be, too.
“You don’t believe me,” Hunter said for her. “Your loyalty is admirable, but I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“I wasn’t calling you a liar. I just—”
“Don’t believe me?”
Melanie winced, fearing the echo of Donald Trump’s words, but she relaxed when she saw Hunter’s reassuring smile.
“Well, I’ll tell you what.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Why don’t we call Jake and ask him? See what he says?”
She nodded. “That sounds good. I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem.” He waited. “Hey, Jake, it’s Hunter. You got a minute? Good. Melanie has something she wants to ask you.”
She gulped when he handed the phone to her and didn’t leave the room. Was he really going to stand there and listen to her ask his brother for permission to sleep with him?
“J–Jake?”
“Baby.”
Jake sounded so excited on the other end it calmed her and gave her peace, but at the same time it choked her up a little that he was so far away. Odd that she felt so much in such a short time.
“What’s up? God, I miss you,” he told her.
Her heart warmed. “I miss you, too.”
“Why’d you call? Not that I mind. You can call me anytime you want to. I love hearing your voice.”
She wished she could yank him through the phone and hug him to death. “Thanks. I like hearing yours.”
She was stalling and Hunter still stood there waiting for her to ask. Apparently she was going to have to do this with him in the room. He would probably just follow her if she left the room.
“Hunter…wants to do some things.”
Hunter looked amused and she blushed.
Jake’s voice turned suggestive, though he sounded like he might laugh. “What kind of things, baby?”
Oh god, how could she tell him something like that over the phone and with his brother standing there?
“Just things, like we did.”
“You mean he wants to fuck you.”
She squirmed, knowing by the slight twitch of Hunter’s lips that he could hear what was being said on Jake’s end, too. Jake did talk loud sometimes when he was happy and this was a cell phone after all.
“Yeah.”
“I know. He told me.”
Hunter told Jake that he wanted to fuck her without him there? What kind of strange family was this?
If she had liked the same guy as Kendall and asked to screw her boyfriend back then her sister would have punched her lights out. Mellie would have smacked Kendall upside the head back then if she’d wanted to mess around with her boyfriend at the time. Hell, even now if she had a boyfriend.
And these men were okay with sharing their love interests with each other?
“You want him, don’t you?” Jake asked seriously.
“He’s a nice-looking man, but—”
“You’re adorable.” He chuckled. “But seriously, honey, do you want to sleep with him even though I’m not there?”
The words sounded incriminating to her even though he said them quite cheerfully.
“Uh…”
“Let me put it t
o you a different way. If I hadn’t said those things to you this morning, would you fuck him?”
Her face burned, and she couldn’t look at Hunter. “Probably, but—”
“No buts, honey. If you want him, have at him. You have my blessing. I told you that before I left.”
Her spirit sank and her libido soared. She felt a pang of sadness in her chest. “Why aren’t you jealous?”
Because he doesn’t really love me.
Jake just must be one of those people who referred to lust and infatuation as love. He was probably one of those people who believed that once the profound, comfortable part of love came it meant that he’d fallen out of love and would then end the relationship in search of the next big high emotionally.
The possibility depressed her deeply.
“Because I love you, Mellie, and I love my brother,” Jake explained. “I want you both to be happy and have pleasure. Having sex with each other will make you both real happy and give you guys a lot of pleasure, so I’m good with it.”
His reply was strangely moving and baffling as hell. Melanie cared about whether or not her sister was happy and had pleasure, but good heavens, that didn’t mean she’d ever let Kendall sleep with one of her boyfriends just so she could have pleasure.
Danny had suggested bringing Kendall into bed with them before. It had irritated Mellie rather than broke her heart, further proof that her twisted need to stay with him hadn’t been about love. She’d refused, of course, but she didn’t want to be with a man that wanted to bang her sister. That along with all the other crap relating to his addictions had been the beginning of the end.
“What if I like him better? Don’t you worry about that?” she asked.
Hunter grinned.
Jake laughed on the other end. “Oh hell no, he has less experience than me, and even if he had more I wouldn’t be worried. I know you love me.”
Her heart skipped a beat. He knew she loved him. She hadn’t told him that she had, but somehow he knew, even though she was too afraid to call it love when she’d only known him for a few days and in business e-mails before that.
“Have fun, honey. Oh, Greyson is coming.” Jake sounded mildly frantic. “I’ve got to go. Think of me when you come, but not too much. I want you to be in the moment with Hunter.”
And her brain broke.
“I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Okay. Good-bye.”
Jake made a kissing sound into the phone and then hung up.
Melanie stood there for a second in shock before pushing the off button and giving the phone back to Hunter.
“Feel better?” Hunter asked, setting his cell phone aside.
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I just had to make sure. I had to hear it from him just in case there was a miscommunication between you guys.”
The pad of his index finger felt like sandpaper pressed against her lips. Hot sandpaper.
“You don’t have to explain anything to me, sweetness,” he murmured. “Your loyalty is commendable.”
“I thought he loved me,” she whispered.
Darn, that wasn’t supposed to be said aloud, but she was still in a state of shock.
“He does love you, angel.” He angled her chin so she looked up at him. “That’s why he’s sharing you.”
It did seem like a sacrificial thing for Jake to do, but at the same time it seemed like an “eh, you can play with her, too” kind of thing. Was it really possible to love someone deeply and be fine sharing them with someone else just so they could be happy and have pleasure?
The concept was touching and downright puzzling, but she decided to just go with it if Jake was truly fine with the situation.
Hunter obviously was. His breath fanned against her face as he drew near her without kissing her.
“You don’t have to do anything to me,” he said in a hush that served as a narcotic for her sex drive. “Just let me feed you from my hand like the precious thing you are. Let me give you pleasure, angel.”
She had a feeling a man like Hunter was a well-kept secret. Unlike Emmett, with his confidence that bordered arrogance and his shameless innuendos, Hunter’s seduction was more subtle, but no less potent.
He pecked her lips with his in a barely there kiss before indulging in several more whispering kisses that stole the air from her lungs. His lips had firmness that betrayed his gender, but they were smooth and kissable.
“Will you still respect me after this?” she asked.
He appeared surprised by the question. “I’ll always respect you, Melanie, and your wishes. If I was suited up and about to penetrate you and you asked me to stop, I would. If you went to bed with me and my brothers and our ranch hand, I would still admire you and regard you as the classiest lady I ever met.”
His words moved her.
It shamed her to dwell on the images that his words provoked. Good lord, what on earth would she do in bed with five men at once? That sounded like a catastrophe waiting to happen. All those limbs kicking everyone in the face just before the bedframe broke beneath them and they all ended up in a heap in the rubble tangled up like a big, scandalous pretzel.
The injuries they might sustain.
The raw, maddening ecstasy they would experience.
Nope. Not going there. Be good, Melanie.
His lips formed a crooked smile. “Well, I may respect you the most, but my mother was the classiest woman I ever met. Sorry, angel. She was British. It doesn’t get my classier than that.”
Melanie laughed. “That’s okay. Did she have an accent?”
“Oh yeah. My dad heard it and he had to have her.” Hunter grinned and shrugged. “Well, there might have been some feelings involved, but it was mostly the accent that got him.”
She grinned. “It is a great accent.”
The friendly banter faded into an awkward pause that eroded into overwhelming need and awareness.
“You hungry?” he asked, walking toward the nightstand.
“Starving.”
“Lie down and I’ll feed you.”
Her fingers trembled as she climbed onto his bed and leaned her head back against one of the pillows.
He got into bed with her and held a strawberry while she ate it from his hand. “Good?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Any food allergies I should be aware of?” he inquired.
“Just strawberries.”
His eyes bugged in panic, but he relaxed when she grinned. He tickled her ribs, making her laugh.
“You little troublemaker, you had me worried there for a second.”
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. Can I have another berry, please?”
He picked one up and then pulled it back from her reaching lips. “You can if you take something off first.”
Her body heated. She swallowed, slowly sat up, and then removed her top. His eyes roamed all over her upper body and he gave her an approving smile and then fed her the strawberry.
“Good girl.”
Her pussy moistened at the gentle hush of his praise. The strawberry was delectable and juicy. He’d picked a good batch evidently.
“Close your eyes and tell me what this is,” he instructed.
Melanie obeyed and squirmed in apprehension. “Please don’t feed me bugs.”
He snickered. “Bugs have protein in them.”
“I know, but so does chicken.”
“Don’t worry, sweetness. I wouldn’t do that to the bugs.”
She made a mock gasp of offense and slapped him, smiling when he chortled.
“But seriously, tell me this beetle doesn’t taste good to you.”
She shrieked when something oval and slick lightly brushed her lips. Her eyes flew open and she saw he held a black olive.
His entertained grin was a temptation unto itself. “You’re too much, Melanie.”
“And you weren’t spanked enough as a child.”
He laughed. “You shouldn’t bring up spanking when I have you right where I wa
nt you.”
Heat pooled in her stomach. Jake had made reference to spanking. She wondered what that might be like in an erotic context.
“Are you going to give me that olive?” she asked.
“Are you gonna take your bra off?”
Dampness oozed into her folds, and her areolas crinkled even more as she unclasped her bra and revealed her breasts to him.
He exhaled, almost a sigh, but not quite and fed her the olive. “Melanie, you just don’t realize how lovely you are.”
She felt like a happy puppy minus the wagging tail. If she had one, it would most definitely be wagging right now.
“Thanks. You’re sweet.”
“I’m just honest with good eyesight. Lie back.”
She resumed her lying down position, feeling her pulse race as her anticipation heightened.
“Close your eyes. There are no bugs. I promise.”
Mellie smiled and shut her eyes, wondering what he would feed her next. Something gooey and round wedged over her nipple, making the nub poke through. He did the same to her other boob.
“What is that?”
“What does it taste like?”
He fed her a chunk of what tasted like bananas.
“Banana.”
“Mmhmm.”
“You put bananas on my breasts?”
He sounded bemused. “Why not? The look suits you. You look great in yellow.”
She grinned, keeping her eyes closed. “Kind of a skimpy outfit.”
“As I said, you wear it well.”
She flinched when a cold hole closed over first one nipple and then the other. “Aah! What is that?”
“Guess.”
Something cold and smooth was placed in her belly button, but she couldn’t determine the shape. Humid warmth feathered on her belly just before silken lips enclosed on the food and briefly kissed her skin on his retreat.
She moaned, realizing he was eating off her body. A moment later a moist, heated instrument came down on her flesh, swirling around and inside her navel. His tongue. The oral stimulation made her cunt pulse and leak with honey.
“Any guesses?” he asked.
“No.”
