Dawn, Dakota - Blessed Times Two (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (22 page)

A rapacious grin suddenly pulled at his lips. Troy stepped away from Branda, allowing Trey to take his place. Cupping her neck, he pulled her to him and lowered his lips to hers. Full, firm lips slanted across hers hungrily. Opening to him, she let his tongue make love to her mouth. One hand continued to hold her neck while the other moved around to her lower back and pulled her hips to his. Fully erect, his penis pressed firmly into her stomach.

Need clawed at her pelvic muscles, making her clit throb. Little mewling sounds poured out of her throat as she kissed him back. Lordy be, how could he do this to her? All she wanted to do was drop to the floor, spread her legs, and beg him to fuck her. His hips ground into her. His cock was so hard, so tempting.

Insanity took over, making her beg. “Please, take me, Trey. I need you now.” Her hands went to his pants and started unbuckling them.

Stepping back, Trey held her at bay with outstretched arms. “Whoa,
tesoro mio
. We can’t make love right now. Remember, the family is waiting on us.”

Disappointment scrunched her face. “That’s not fair for you to make me want you that badly then say no.”

Running a hand up and down her arm, Troy remarked, “Turnabout is fair play, darling. When you dress so appealingly, we want you as badly as you wanted Trey a moment ago. I believe we can all agree that it is a most uncomfortable feeling. Perhaps you can forewarn us the next time you plan on dressing up so invitingly.”

Breasts heavy, clit still pulsating painfully with need, Branda snapped, “Point taken. Now let’s go get dinner over with so you two can take care of my throbbing nipples and clit.” On that note, she stalked out of the room.

Dinner was murder. Oh, everyone complimented her cooking and
Nonna
’s training. Between the spaghetti with pinot grigio and seafood, and the chicken saltimbocca, they had an abundance of flavors present at the table. The first was a mixture of pasta, shallots, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, white wine, arugula, shrimp, and clams. The flavors had simmered into a delicious blend. The second was chicken cutlets pounded to evenly flattened perfection then stuffed with pepper, prosciutto, spinach, and parmesan cheese. They’d been browned in olive oil then set to simmer in chicken broth and lemon juice. She could almost eat her weight in those things, but the meal was definitely not what had her stirred up. Troy and Trey were the ones to blame for her discomfort.

Smiling, she tried to have a good time, but she really just wanted the meal to end. The problem was that no one else seemed to want the evening to end, so they kept eating in an unhurried fashion, drinking wine, and telling stories. All she wanted to do was go home, strip, and let the twins have their way with her. They had been teasing her all through the meal. She was seated between the two devils. They kept leaning in and brushing her breasts with their shoulders as they innocently talked to one another. Innocent her ass. They were doing it on purpose. If she didn’t want them so badly, she’d refuse to have sex with them. But the problem was that she needed them as badly as they needed her. They were driving her crazy, stroking her thighs under the table and leaning into her. She wanted to scream. She could have kicked herself for not being bolder. If she were wickedly bold, she could have been stroking their dicks and making them squirm the way they were making her squirm. How could they laugh at something their uncle said while their fingers were thrumming the junction of her thighs?

She turned toward Trey and let all her misery show in her eyes.

Granting mercy, he leaned in and whispered, “Go to the bedroom and I’ll be there shortly.”

Standing, Branda excused herself.

Two minutes later Trey closed and locked the door. “Take off your panties. Get on the bed and spread your legs.”

His demanding tone had her body trembling with desire. Lordy, she loved it when he took control. Weak-kneed, she took off her panties then stumbled to the bed, barely making it there. Eyes trained on him, she spread her legs.

Climbing onto the bed, Trey knelt between her legs. Passion-filled eyes scorched her senses. “Spread your legs wider.”

Quaking thighs widened. Blood rushed to her clitoris. “Please, take me.”

“Pull your knees in to your chest.” He watched with a look of satisfaction on his face as she pulled her knees up and more of her juices dripped from her pretty pink opening. “Good, now spread your thighs wider.” Reaching out, he lightly patted the swollen, sensitive nubbin she had so obediently exposed to him.

Gulping air into her lungs, she wiggled beneath him trying to climax as quickly as possible.

“Easy,
tesoro mio
.” The softly spoken words were spoken against her clit.

A jolt of sweltering heat coursed from her pelvis and flamed throughout her body. Branda turned into a quivering mass of need. She was so hot she needed him to put the fire out.

It was obvious he knew what she needed when he slid two fingers into her slick canal and licked her taut clit at the same time.

A keening wail erupted from her throat.

Scissoring his fingers, he stretched and caressed her velvety walls.

She wiggled and cried out.

Fingers grazing all her tender spots, he lapped at her sensitive clit until she moaned incoherently. Once she was totally lost in the pleasure, he sucked her quivering clit into his warm mouth. His tongue flittered and his mouth sucked.

Her writhing frame seized. She burst into a raging fire. The flames licked at her, nipped at her. After one last fiery burst, she floated slowly back to her body, one quenched cinder at a time, until she was whole again.

Coming back to reality, she saw that Trey was gently drying her off with a soft towel. Taking her hand, he helped her off the bed and into her panties.

At the door he unlocked it. “Before we go back, I want you to know how beautiful you look tonight. I’m sorry for being a hard-ass earlier. Part of me loves your sexier look and part of me wants to hide your beauty.” He kissed her tenderly and briefly before reluctantly stepping back. Opening the door, Trey ushered her back to the family.

Troy looked at Branda then at Trey. A knowing and approving smile passed over his handsome face. “You look sinfully relaxed, darling.”

Blushing to the roots of her hair, Branda took her seat. Now that Trey had taken the edge off her sexual hunger, she felt much better. Tonight she’d show them how thankful she was. For now she would kick back and enjoy being around such good people and such good food.

Glancing at the table, she noticed that everyone was eating dessert. Chocolate-hazelnut ravioli. Picking hers up off her plate, she looked at Troy and thanked him for getting her and Trey some dessert. Biting into the warm, gooey goodness, she groaned in chocolate bliss. Earlier she and
Nonna
had put small spoons of chocolate-hazelnut in wonton wrappers, sealed the edges then fried them to a light golden color. They had been completely cooled then put in the refrigerator. While Branda was in the bedroom with Trey,
Nonna
must have heated and sugared the dessert. Damn, they tasted good.

Trent held up his glass of wine. “I want to toast the most exquisite pastries I’ve had in a long time. To Branda and
Nonna
. Salute!”

Everyone at the table raised their glasses in concordance. “Salute!” Taking a sip, Branda felt herself falling deeper in love with her new family.

Chapter Fifteen

Two days had passed since
Nonna
had given her the cooking lesson. Yesterday she had worked on an unexpected cookie and fruit arrangement and had joyfully collapsed on the couch after sending the excited customer on her way.

Today was
Nonno
, Emilio, and uncle Gabriel’s day to teach her something. Troy told her the whole family would teach her something. It was their way of bonding with her. She liked that. Stepping up to the Cortinos’ front door, she rang to doorbell. Shortly, Gabriel swung it open and ushered her in. “It’s good to see you today. I see you wore comfortable clothes just like we asked, good. Come back here with me. We have someone we want you to meet.”

Branda walked warily through the house. Although dressed in a sweat suit, she hoped they didn’t want to do aerobics with her. She truly hated aerobics. Walking, fine. Aerobics, no.

Gabriel led her to the spacious family room in the back of the house. Furniture was pushed back, and a large area of the wood floor was covered with a thick mat. Uh oh, this couldn’t be good for the home team. Seeing a lean man dressed in sweats talking to
Nonno
and Emilio, she wanted to groan in misery.

Getting
Nonno
’s attention, Gabriel injected, “Sorry to interrupt, but Branda has arrived.”

Nonno
, Emilio, and the man walked over to them.

Nonno
made the introductions. “Ken, this is Branda. Soon she will be marrying my grandson. Branda, this is Ken, a friend of the family. He will be teaching you self-defense today.”

A snort of laughter burst from her before she could stop it. Her shock was immense. “You’re kidding me, right?”

Emilio shook his dark head, his green eyes way too serious. “No.”

Brow furrowed, Branda responded, “I’m not too keen on fighting. I’d rather throw cookies at them and run while they eat them.”

Ken laughed at that. “I’m sure that would work with some attackers, but not all of them. So I’m here to teach you how to handle the ones that don’t care for, sugar.”

Emilio gently guided her into the next room for a little privacy. “Branda, I can tell this is not something you want to do, but you must do it.”

Well, now she knew where the twins got their bossiness from. What a ginormous genetic flaw to have. Her face must have shown her thoughts.

With a mirthful voice, he went on, “You are so easy to read. Your irritation with me is plain to see. It is a good thing to let your feelings be known. Unfortunately, today I can’t give in to you.” Taking her left arm, he slid her sleeve up, exposing her scarred forearm. His thumb tenderly swept back and forth over the raised, pink flesh. Serious, penetrating green eyes bore into hers. “I know what happened to you. That can never happen again. From today on, I want you to be able to take care of yourself. The twins can’t be with you all the time. What happens when you have children? You have to be able to defend yourself and the babies. I need you to do this.”

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she nodded, not sure how this was going to work out, but determined to at least try. His eyes showed her how much he needed her to do this. There was no way she could have refused him. He had to love her a lot to bring in someone to teach her to take care of herself and her future children. His future grandchildren. Who could say no to that? Branda nodded her agreement, and they went back into the other room.

Ken got straight to business. “Good, you two are back. Let’s get started. You missed meeting Gina a minute ago. Gina is my partner. She will be helping with your training. Gina, this is Branda.”

Relief almost dropped Branda to her knees. A female. The heavens must be smiling on her today after all. All the tall men in the room looming over her was making her a bit nervous. By normal standards, she wasn’t short, but by their standard height, she was a shorty. At least Gina was equal to her height.

Keeping control of the training, Ken informed her, “The first thing we are going to do are a few warm-ups. After that we’ll show you how to position your hand for a blow. Then we will practice some moves. Emilio and I will demonstrate, then you and Gina will do the move. Once you have the move down, you’ll do the move on me. If you three will step onto the mat, we will begin.”

Two hours later, Branda was sweaty and her head was swimming with all the information they had given her. They had taught her to curl her fist starting with her pinkie and lastly placing her thumb tightly against her fingers. She had been told never to tuck her thumb into her fist because it could get broken on impact. That sounded painful.

Ken taught her to never hesitate. The instant a person showed any sign of attack she was to suddenly strike. Striking first and fast could end it right there. A sudden quick blow with a fist to the stomach or chin could very well give her a chance to get away. They had gone through the motions several times, always tightening their stomach muscles before taking a hit. When Branda had the move down, Ken put on a padded suit and had her do the same thing. Once in the padded suits, he had her and Gina do the blow to the stomach move with just a little force to each other. Then he had her do it to him with more force. She had been shocked to find out how much a small amount of force hurt and that she could hurt an attacker enough to double him or her over in pain.

While taking a break, Ken laughed. “A blow to the stomach hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, like hell,” Branda replied truthfully and with some mirth.

“A well-placed fist, especially a fast, unexpected one, will double an attacker over almost every time. That same move you learned for the stomach can be aimed at the breastbone or the groin. Trust me, a fast fist to the groin will take a male attacker down, giving you time to run like the hounds of hell are chasing you.” Ken was so into his job he continued the training by talking about self-defense through each break. Branda admired that about him. He wanted to teach her as much as he could in their short time together. She decided she liked them both. Gina made it fun as well as informative, too.