Riding Red (10 page)

“I’m right here,” she said finally, her eyes never leaving him as she lowered her head and closed her lips around his flesh. The slight flicker in his eyes told her he wished to probe deeper, but when she swallowed his entire length in one smooth motion, she knew the demands of his body crowded out all thoughts of questioning her further. When his lids slipped shut and his hand tightened in her hair, she concluded just forming a thought had become a monumental challenge for him.

Teresa empathised as she bobbed her mouth on his thick, pulsing cock. Her clit throbbed, and she stroked her wet, swollen nub until her fingers were coated with her sticky desire. Pleasure stormed through her, budding her nipples until they were tight and hard, until every inch of her flushed with erotic heat.

Desire pounded inside her, bursting within every cell, as she sucked Jeff’s flesh harder, faster, deeper—her wet tongue gliding across his veiny shaft.

A hot, salty flavour burst on her tongue and she swallowed it down, savouring Jeff’s pre-cum, delighting in his mounting arousal.

He groaned, his body flexing against her, his cock thumping against the roof of her mouth. She could feel he was close—his entire body trembled with tiny quakes. She quickened the pace of her mouth along his shaft, but it was not enough for him. As he’d warned earlier, he wanted
more.

Grasping her head between his hands, Jeff held her completely still, as he pummelled her mouth with hard, short thrusts. It was all she could do to grasp the clenching muscles of his ass while he shafted her mouth.

She knew her lips would be puffy and swollen from his punishing strokes, but she savoured his hot taste, the slide of his dick pressing farther into her mouth. When he surged forward, burying his cock deep, she gasped in surprise, in pleasure. The slight movement took him all the way to the back of her mouth, to the tip of her throat, and he shattered on a long, ragged groan.

Hot streams of semen jetted out of Jeff’s throbbing cock to slide down her throat, and she swallowed his warm seed, licking up every pearl of fluid until he softened between her lips. With a trembling sigh, he pulled out of her and hoisted her to her feet. Before she could take her next breath, he claimed her mouth, groaning when he tasted himself on her tongue.

It was an erotic, sensual moment—one Teresa indulged in by deepening their kiss. She didn’t know why it happened, why she had allowed thoughts of the past to intrude upon what she now shared with Jeff, but for just an instant she’d recalled how her ex had never wanted to kiss her after he came in her mouth, how he would refuse until she brushed her teeth.

Yet, as Jeff tongued her deep, it was as if he could not get enough of the taste of himself on her lips. She could almost imagine he enjoyed it because his essence was stained across
her
lips, because
she’d
been the one to bring him such pleasure.

Their kiss went on for a long while until pleasure reignited within their bodies, but the shower turning cold instantly subdued their lust.

Jeff chuckled as he turned the water off. “I think that’s a sign.”

When her stomach growled, they burst into laughter.

“And that was another,” he joked. “This will have to be continued
after
breakfast.”

Teresa nodded in agreement as she let him help her out of the tub. They quickly dried off and dressed. Just minutes later they entered the kitchen together.

Jason smiled when they walked in. He was already fully dressed in a T-shirt and jeans.

“Good, you’re both up. I was just about to leave a note before I headed out.”

 She didn’t miss the suggestive wink in his eyes and her cheeks heated as she glanced away.

“Where are you off to?” Jeff questioned as they both took a seat at the table.

“I want to take one of the horses out and ride around Cottonmouth to scope out the damage.” He looked at her then. “I was going to check on your place too—”

“I’ll come help you,” Jeff offered, already standing, but Jason shook his head, and with a firm hand on his shoulder, pushed him back down in his seat.

“No. Stay here and eat. It will take me an hour, two at the most. Besides, you know I like the peace and quiet when I’m out riding alone.”

Jeff nodded, and Teresa did not mistake the look that flickered between the two brothers. Jason was giving him time alone with her—time Jeff seemed to want, because he appeared almost relieved that Jason hadn’t insisted he join him.

“Well, keep your cell on you, just in case you need to call me,” Jeff said finally.

“I will.” He nodded. “But I should be fine. See you in a bit.”

 Moments later, Jason slipped out of the kitchen, closing the door behind him with a resounding bang.

After Jason left, she and Jeff ate in silence. It was surprisingly companionable and not filled with the awkwardness she would have expected. It was probably because she felt so comfortable around him that she felt at liberty to probe him with a question that had nagged at her for a while now—far longer than last night.

“So, do you and Jason often share women?”

Done eating, Jeff was just finishing up the last of his coffee. His hand stilled in mid-air, and without taking a sip, he set the mug back down.

Silence lingered between them, a charged quiet stillness that wasn’t entirely strained, but neither was it comfortable as it had been before. Teresa fought the urge to fidget beneath Jeff’s measured gaze, the intensity of which she felt all the way to the tips of her toes.

“Not often,” he eventually replied, his attention never once drifting from her face. “But I think you already know that.”

Teresa started at the knowing tone of his whispered voice, her gaze clashing with his. She wanted to deny his statement, but when he sharpened his eyes on her, she remembered then that he already knew the truth.

“How?” She wanted to know. “I never confirmed my suspicions in my diary. I wasn’t even certain the rumours were true.”

He leant back in his chair, and for the first time since she’d posed her question, his entire body relaxed, his expression easing into a small grin.

“How did I know that
you knew
?” He chuckled. “I think that should be
my
question, but I always suspected that you weren’t ignorant of such knowledge. I often wondered if that was why you kept me at arms’ length.”

She shook her head. There were many reasons why she’d always kept him at a distance, but that wasn’t one of them.

“Besides, you’re BJ’s
best friend.
I would have expected her to tell you, although I’d hoped she wouldn’t.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because you were already wary of me. Because you were already suspicious of my motivations. I felt that knowing my brothers and I had shared women in the past would only add to my long list of transgressions in your eyes.”

His lips were curved into a slight smile, but the eyes which stared back at her were sombre, and she did not misread the uncertainty flickering in their depths.

He
still
wondered if his past further sullied him in her eyes. She would have laughed at that had he actually spoken the words aloud. She’d sucked off his brother while he’d fucked her. Throwing stones from her glass house just didn’t seem appropriate at the moment.

“To be fair, BJ never told me outright, but when you and your brothers bought up Cottonmouth and started coming here often, people began to talk. Between the gossip rags and small town chatter, I finally asked BJ point blank. I knew there was some truth when BJ never quite denied it and she could hardly look me in the eye. She’s never been a good liar…

“So did you sleep with her, too?” Teresa asked after a lengthy pause, finally giving voice to her long held suspicion.

Jeff’s gaze never wavered. “Yes.”

“You and Jason, just like with me—”

“Yes.” He leant forward to rest his elbows on the table. His entire countenance was a conflicting combination of amusement and apprehension. “We’ve all slept with both of our brothers’ wives, but you already knew that, too, didn’t you?”

“It—it was a rumour,” she stammered. “Though I always wondered—”

“But instead of the knowledge repulsing you, you were intrigued by it.” He returned his back to his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “It doesn’t bother you that we shared Jacob’s wife, Jackson’s too, and now you?”

His question gave voice to her innermost thoughts. It should have bothered her. It didn’t. Well, at least not the part about having slept with his brothers’ wives.

What caused a small knot to twist in her belly was the niggling voice in the back of her mind that warned her that this was a pattern. It would seem all the Downing wives were shared between the brothers…as if it was a rite of passage, of sorts.

The night before, Jeff had called her
his woman.
He’d even admitted this time was different…

“But you’ve shared other women
besides
your brothers’ wives,” she said, desperately grasping for straws, as if hearing this was a common occurrence would somehow diminish the importance of what had happened between them.

She was just getting used to the idea of having slept with two men, two brothers—the brother-in-laws to her best friend—who she would always have to look in the eyes, knowing that they
knew.
She wasn’t ready to acknowledge that what she and Jeff had shared actually meant
something
.

“Like I said, not often, but when we did it was mostly Jason and myself, rarely Jackson, and
never
Jacob.”

There was something about the way Jeff mentioned his last brother, his eldest brother, that begged her to question, “Why not Jacob?”

“Jacob was never a ladies’ man, so to speak. As the oldest, he’s always had a lot on his shoulders, so he had little time for relationships and on the rare occasion when he did get into one, it was always a serious, long-term affair.” Jeff’s grin took on an almost nostalgic glimmer. “He’s always been extremely possessive about the few women he’s ever committed to, and I’m sure that, had he realised he had feelings for Camille at the beginning of our arrangement, he
never
would have shared her from the start.”

“I take it the rest of you aren’t as possessive when it comes to your women, then? D-do… I—I mean, did you share BJ after she married Jacks—”

“No. And you’re wrong—” Jeff’s eyes hardened until the possessive glint now shimmering in his gaze was all she could see.

“The four of us are
all
possessive of our women when we stake a claim on her. Make no mistake, Red, you’re
mine
and Jason knows this. I allowed him to touch you only because I wanted you to fulfil a fantasy, and I wanted to be the one to give that to you, to share that experience with you. But after this week, once he’s gone, I will
never
share you with another man ever again.”

Chapter Seven

Teresa awoke the next morning, her eyes squinting against the bright glare of sunlight. The storm had completely passed through most of the southern gulf coast, including Hockley.

Like the morning before, Jason had already risen and was presumably starting on repairs around the ranch. Despite Jason’s assurances upon returning from his inspection of both ranches that the damage was minimal, Teresa was eager to return to her home and see for herself. While she believed him, she saw no reason to stay at Cottonmouth another night, and had decided just before falling asleep that she needed a reprieve from the two men…Jeff especially.

Just recalling all the things the three of them had done last night suffused her cheeks with warmth.

When Jason had returned to the house, she’d experienced her first moment of uncertainty. Jeff’s words over breakfast had haunted her throughout the day. Once this week came to an end, he would never share her with his brother again, so she’d wondered if maybe what had happened between them had been a one-time encounter.

Teresa had soon learned she was mistaken.

“You’re nervous,” Jeff had noted as he slipped behind her, his hands settling on her shoulders. “Why?”

 She’d been sitting on the couch across from Jason, while Jeff worked at the desk in the sitting room. They’d all been poring over the list of damages Jason had written down, and calculating the costs of repairs, but she’d barely managed to get through the first items on her list. Her gaze had kept darting between the bowed heads of the two men.

Before she’d answered, Teresa slid her tongue across her lips, wetting them after they’d gone dry from his question.

“I don’t know. I guess I just wondered…what’s next?”

Jeff’s brows had lifted at the same time he’d urged her to stand. With his hands around her waist, he’d pulled her flush against his hard, chiselled frame.

“What’s next?” he’d repeated.

She’d gestured helplessly between the two brothers, avoiding Jason’s eyes, which were now fixed on her. “You know, between us, the three of us. I mean. I’m staying another night and—”

“And you wondered if last night was just a one night experience.” His lips had quirked into a grin. “As I said earlier…as long as Jason is here, he will have you, but once he’s gone”—Jeff’s eyes had hardened—“never again.”

The look in his eyes had stolen her breath—hot, hard, unrelenting…much like the owner of the possessive stare.

“I understand.”

“Do you, Teresa?”

Something had lurked in his voice, echoed by the swirling darkness in his eyes. Somehow she’d understood the meaning behind his words, his stare, and with gentle fingers, she’d smoothed the creases in his brow.

“Trust me when I say I do. I do not desire Jason, not in the way I desire you.” It wasn’t the declaration he’d wanted, she could tell by the disappointment which flickered across his face.

As for her, it hadn’t been an entirely honest declaration either. It wasn’t just that she didn’t desire Jason in the way she longed for Jeff. In her eyes, Jeff was incomparable. Her body didn’t respond to
any
man the way it responded to him, her heart didn’t beat for any man—had
never
beat for any man, not even her ex-husband—the way it now beat for him.