by Niki Green
One by one the pink sponges were pulled from her scalp and flung across the kitchen toward the trash can. She missed more than she made, but Brent realized Jocelyn honestly didn’t give a shit if she made the shot or not. True to her word, when all of the curlers were removed her auburn hair was as straight as it ever was.
“See, told you.”
He couldn’t help laughing at the face she made. Jocelyn, for all her hell-raising ways, was a good kid. A kid who was rapidly becoming a women. Or already was one. Brent guessed her father realized that fact himself and that was the main cause of the crackdown that had been happening lately.
“So you still grounded?” Grounded wasn’t the word for Jocelyn’s predicament. House arrest was more like it. Taking a sip of coffee warmed his insides and the caffeine helped keep the beating in his head at bay.
“I’m not grounded. I’m just doing and going where Daddy says I can without causing you guys and him any more trouble. It’s not fair. I mean, I’m twenty-two years old and he is hell bent on still treating me like a child. Do I look like a child to you?” Jocelyn spread her arms out to the sides, making Brent understand why his stepfather had put his foot down. Jocelyn was gorgeous. She was a long-legged, willowy carbon copy of her father. She had the same auburn hair and green eyes, minus the beard Harrison sported and plus a set of breasts. A father’s walking nightmare was what she was. A daughter that every male for miles drooled over and wanted to drool on.
“No, you don’t look like a kid. You’re not a kid, but you are your daddy’s little girl. That may have a lot to do with his decisions. That and the fact that you tend to wreak havoc wherever you go.”
“If you’re referring to that incident at Peyton’s a little while back, that was not my fault. Those good ole boys should have minded their own business. And Jason should have just stayed out of it. I had it under control.” Huffing and running her fingers through her hair did not help calm her temper. Brent could tell. He could see her fire boiling under the surface. Jason didn’t help ease her temper either, by any means. Brent thought at times he actually helped it along.
“What did you have under control?” On cue Jason, strolled through the kitchen door, scratching his bare chest and yawning along the way. Brent watched Jocelyn slant her eyes in his direction and return to her cereal, which was surely a soggy mess by now.
“You still pleading innocent? Or have you just decided to plead the fifth and not incriminate yourself.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Brent watched the show unfolding before his eyes and thought a time or two about stepping in and stopping the argument that was sure to follow, then decided against it. It was too early for that.
“The hell you don’t.”
“It. Was. Not. My. Fault,” Jocelyn growled in Jason’s general direction.
“The hell it wasn’t. You can’t go out dressed like you do and dancing like you do and not expect a man to look in your direction. And you sure as hell can’t expect to ignore that man once you’ve got the attention you wanted. And you did want it. They have a name for girls like that, Joss.” Jason took a sip of the coffee he’d poured and winced as it burned his tongue on contact.
“And just what would that be?”
Brent cleared his throat, hoping that Jason would take the hint and leave it be. But in his brother’s usual form, he didn’t let it go. Instead, he sat directly across from Jocelyn at the table and stared her down.
“Well, since you asked I’ll tell you, but I’ll clean it up a bit for your young ears. Most girls who act like that are called a tease, pure and simple. You figure out the word that goes in front of that, little girl, and you’ll know exactly what you were acting like.” Brent inwardly winced and then covered his eyes, peeking like a kid between his fingers, and waited. He heard the chair Jocelyn was sitting in scrape the tiled floor and then heard it smack against it as it turned over.
“I am not a cock tease! You take that back.”
“Not goin’ to happen, doll. You act like one, you should be ready to be called one.” Brent saw Jason take another sip of his coffee before placing it back on the tabletop, scratch his chest once more, lean his chair back so it balanced on two legs and then smile Jocelyn’s way.
Silence filled the room.
The only noise Brent could hear were the long, deep breaths Jocelyn brought in and out of her body. The seconds ticked by and Brent waited for the ticking time bomb to explode.
Brent watched as she rolled her shoulders, took a deep breath and smiled sweetly in Jason’s direction. She bent at the waist, returned her chair to its original position, grabbed her bowl and spoon and walked with the dirty dishes to the sink located directly behind Jason’s chair.
She brushed invisible crumbs off her hands as she moved slowly and with purpose toward Jason. She placed her hands on the back of the reclined seat and leaned in close to his ear and then retaliated, loud enough for Brent to hear as well as Jason.
“I think you’re just jealous,” she said into Jason’s left ear. “I think you’re jealous because it’s not your cock I’m teasing.”
Brent saw Jason suck in a chest full of air, watched as his eyes widened and blazed. He struggled to set all four legs on the floor and grab at the little imp grinning over her short-lived victory.
He never made it.
Jason lost his balance and crashed to the kitchen floor, making every plate, bowl and glass they owned rumble and tumble along with him.
The look he gave Jocelyn told her to run and run fast. And she knew it. Before Jason could get to his feet, Jocelyn was out the door and running at her full speed toward the main house.
“No wonder Harrison has her on a leash.” He growled from the floor. He pulled his body from the tile and took a seat in the chair. He was quiet for only a minute before his temper got the best of him. “Damn it. I am so sick of her…her…her temper tantrums.” He took another sip from his mug, burned his tongue once more and swore a line of profanities until Brent figured the sting subsided.
“Maybe the leash is the reason she’s acting out the way she is. Maybe she just needs a little bit of freedom.” Brent walked to the counter and refilled his cup, all the while feeling his brother’s stare burning a hole in his back. When he turned, Jason’s scowl pierced into him. “What?”
“Maybe she needs a little bit of freedom? Acting out? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she just needs a little room to spread her wings.” Jocelyn wasn’t a bad kid. He frowned at the moniker. He needed to quit thinking of her as a kid. She wasn’t one. No more than Nick or Hayden were kids. There were only a couple of years separating Jocelyn from Hayden and even less between her and Nick. They both had turned twenty-two just months apart, leaving Hayden as the baby at nineteen, even though some days he seemed to be the ripe old age of twelve. One mark Jocelyn had against her was that she was female. A female living among a den of males, with her father being the alpha controlling her. As long as she lived in his house she went by his rules and so on and so forth.
“You have lost your mind. Telling Jocelyn to spread her wings and live a little is like telling a tornado, ‘yeah, go ahead and smash my house while you’re here’. You still drunk?” Brent tried to concentrate on what Jason was saying, but he just couldn’t. The remaining alcohol in his system coupled with the shock of caffeine was playing games with his mind and the direction of his thoughts.
Brent ended the conversation with his brother without another word. He left the kitchen, full coffee cup in hand, and headed up the flight of stairs to his bedroom. He didn’t realize Jason was on his heels until he heard his footsteps on the stairs behind him. “Why are you following me?”
“I saw you talking to Peyton last night, or better yet, I saw Peyton talking at you. I want to know what y’all talked about.”
“Nothing. We didn’t talk about anything.” Brent turned the corner on the landing and headed to the
far end where his bedroom was located. He tried shutting the door in Jace’s face, but that didn’t work—it never had and never would.
“You must’ve talked about something. You disappeared with Kelly and not ten minutes later Peyton lit out like hell was on her footsteps.”
“Why’d she leave so fast?” Why’d he care? She was a grown woman, someone else’s woman—she could come and go as she pleased.
“Beats me. All I know is that Reed showed up, they talked for a little while and then Peyton left. If y’all didn’t talk about anything then why’d she look madder than a wet hen when you left? What’s going on there? Is there something you’re not telling me? You messin’ around with Peyton again?”
“I wasn’t messin’ around with her in the first place.” It had been more than simply messin’ around. He had been head over heels in love with her and she had returned his feelings.
“That’s not how I remember it. As I recall you and her were pretty hot and heavy at one point in time. Hell, we all thought you were just about to go on bended knee for her, and then the next day she’s planning on marrying up with…”
The look Brent sent Jason’s way stopped his rambling. He was not about to have this conversation. It was already going to be a shitty day. He didn’t want to add to it by taking a disastrous trip down memory lane with Jason this early in the morning. Brent did the only thing he knew to do—he changed the subject.
“Jocelyn said something about Hayden being curled up with the beast we call a dog on the front porch. You might want to get him up and get some coffee in him before Mama makes her way down here. That’s the last thing we need today.”
“You’re changing the subject.”
Brent leveled Jason with his gaze. His eyes, his face and his body language all said one thing: drop it. Finally, it seemed Jace got the message loud and clear.
“Will do.” Jason saluted Brent and left him alone. Alone with his thoughts. Alone with his thoughts about Peyton, and her mouth, and her breasts and everything in between. Alone with his thoughts was not where Brent Kiel needed to be. Heading quickly to the bathroom that joined his and Jason’s bedrooms, Brent turned the faucet and then pulled the lever, releasing a spray of frigid water.
He shivered when he stepped under the showerhead, but the subzero temperature relieved him of his thoughts and of the raging hard-on that was forming. The last thing Brent wanted was to be wearing a boner the size of the state to his brother’s wedding. The tuxedo was bad enough.
Chapter Five
“He actually called you that?” Peyton curled her legs under her body as she reclined in the lounge chair on her back patio. She was sleepy and sluggish thanks to the little bit of rest she was able to get last night.
When she’d finally opened her eyes this morning her body had been covered with a thin sheen of sweat and was filled with want and desire.
Peyton had been left alone in the wee hours of the morning with only the thoughts of Brent Kiel revolving in her mind and her long-from-sated body. She still saw those soft, damp perfect lips latched to her breasts, first one then the other. Shaking her head, she concentrated, or tried to, on the young woman wearing a path in her backyard.
“Yes!” Jocelyn screamed. “Sorry.”
Peyton just shrugged her shoulders. As far as she was concerned Jocelyn could yell, scream, rant and rave as much as she wanted to. It wasn’t like anyone was going to hear her out here. Peyton’s cottage sat on the back part of her brother Murphy’s land.
Murphy wouldn’t care and Kathleen, his wife, didn’t roll over until noon anyway.
“How does a conversation like that come up this early in the morning anyway? I mean, it’s not like that’s normal breakfast-table talk.”
“I know. I wasn’t even talking to him to begin with. I was talking to Brent.”
At the mention of his name, Peyton felt her stomach contract as well as other parts of her body that would not be ignored.
“We were having a perfectly nice and normal conversation before Jason showed up and put his two cents in. Asshole.” The last word prompted Jocelyn to begin with her pacing again.
“So he called you a cock tease.” Peyton could believe it. She had known Jason most of her life and knew from firsthand experience that one thing he did not do was mince words. No matter where he was or what he was doing.
“He called me a tease. I called myself a cock tease, which was what he meant to begin with.” Her steps stopped suddenly and she turned to Peyton. “You don’t think I’m a cock tease, do you?”
“No,” Peyton said shaking her head. Jocelyn was obviously upset, which would explain why she had appeared at Peyton’s door half an hour ago barefoot and in her pajama’s, shorts and a Longhorn T-shirt. “I think he was just…just…”
“Just what? Being an asshole?”
“Probably. He might have just had a bad night.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. They got to go out and have a rip-roaring time while I stayed at the house covering everything that would stand still with magnolias and tulle. And then, just when I could see the light at the end of the tunnel of hell, Lillian jammed me into a chair and slapped a thousand sponge curlers in my hair, which I forgot about and still had in this morning.”
“Why did she put curlers in your hair?”
“I have no idea. Why does the sun shine? Why does the wind blow?” Jocelyn stopped her pacing and plopped her frame in the chair next to Peyton’s.
“Ok, let’s get back to the reason you’re here to begin with. Jason. Cock tease. Go from there.”
“That’s where it ended. How anybody can get so upset over something that is none of his business is beyond me.”
“Well, I might have let my temper get the better of me.” Peyton saw Jocelyn chew at her bottom lip and concluded she had done more than let her temper get the better of her.
“How’s that?”
“I might have accused him of being jealous.”
“Jealous? Jealous of what?”
“I might have suggested he was jealous that it wasn’t him I was teasing. Not that I was teasing to begin with—”
“Wait a minute.” Wide eyed and unbelieving, Peyton faced Jocelyn. “You accused Jason of being jealous?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Jealous of not having his cock teased?”
“Uh huh.”
“And he got mad?” Peyton could barely contain her laughter and dismay.
“Well, that and the fact that I might have given his chair a little nudge.” She was holding something back.
“A little nudge?”
“A little nudge that caused him to flip it over and landed him on the floor.”
Peyton’s laughter filled the air. It doubled her over. The thought of Jason taken down by a slip of the girl tickled her to no end. “I would have paid money to see the look on his face.” Holding her sides, she tried her best to control the giggles coming from the pit of her soul.
“I can give you a pretty good description of it. It is the same one he always has on his face when he looks at me—like he wants to strangle the last breath from my body.”
“I thought y’all got along?”
“We do. We all do. They all treat me like an adorable little friend and stepsister who they can pat on the head and send on her way. I don’t want to be treated like that.”
“How do you want to be treated?”
“Like a grown-up. I want them to see me as a woman, someone who’s pretty and sexy and desirable.”
“Good luck. Even though y’all aren’t technically brother and sister, I wouldn’t bet on any of them ever looking at you that way. Their mama would kill them and your daddy probably would as well.” Peyton thought on what she had just said. Jocelyn was beautiful—stunning even, but the Kiel boys would never in a million years let on that they thought that. Or at least she didn’t think any of them would. But she had been proven wrong where they were concerned before, so it could happen again.
“I understand that. But they don’t have to act like we’re all buddy-buddy. I mean, they’re overprotective as hell. All of them. Especially Jason. He acts like I’m a pain in his ass. He treats me just like Daddy does and that pisses me off more than anything. I can’t even date without them sticking their noses where they don’t belong.” Jocelyn looked defeated. “Am I defective or something?”
“No,” Peyton said with a snort. “You’re not defective.”
“I must be. I can’t get a date, and when I do get one, they run them off soon thereafter. Jason hates me—”
“He doesn’t hate you.” Peyton was sure of that. Jason was acting funny where it concerned her, but he didn’t hate her. If he hated her he wouldn’t care what she wore, who she teased, who she dated or who she didn’t.
“They all ignore me until I bring someone home, and then they play the part of dutiful stepbrothers and run him off before I even get one single kiss. I’m ignored one minute and then covered with attention the next, but it’s not the attention I want.”
“I find it hard to believe Nick ignores you.” And Peyton did. Nicholas Kiel was as sweet as he was good looking, and as nice as he was sinfully sexy. He was the complete female dream wrapped in jeans and topped off with a Stetson—kind, sweet, caring and the owner of a great little apple tush.
“No, Nick’s nice. He’s always nice.”
“He always has been.”
“A true blue knight in shining armor?”
“Pretty much.” Peyton relaxed more deeply into the chair and let the fall sun caress her face. It was too nice of a day to stay indoors. It was the perfect day for a wedding. Peyton smiled to herself. Brent would just love that—pessimistic fool that he was. Peyton knew how Brent felt about Willa. She could remember the hell Brent and all of his brothers had gone through on Chase’s behalf after Willa disappeared. It had almost been their ruin. It had been her and Brent’s ruin.
