Carnal Christmas-epub (2 page)

Hake slid an indulgent look Mandy’s way. “Somebody was up before the rooster.”

“AJ, too. I think it was still dark when she started cooking.” Brent nodded toward the house. “She’s up there now if you want to…” He got an arrested look on his face and then his smile turned rascally.

Hake’s turned speculative. “She’s alone at the house, huh?” He glanced at Mandy, who nodded eagerly, and then focused on Brent and Joe again. “So I get to dive right in and be a bad guy.”

Joe’s flagging hard-on gave a kick when he saw Hake was already putting on his bad-ass Dom face, and damned if he didn’t have to work to draw a steady breath. It had been a while since he saw that face directed his way—since AJ came into the picture, in fact—and he had to wonder if the two of them had more planned for this weekend than the roleplaying scenario they’d discussed with him and Brent. According to Mandy, AJ never ran out of questions about the staged home invasion scene in
Carnal Deliverance
, which was based on a scene the four of them had done before they met her. Now Mandy wanted to give her the same experience—but take it up a notch.

It wasn’t lost on Joe that a gang-bang scenario could be turned against him just as easily as that scene had. Hake had reversed their roles so fast that Joe’d had no time to regroup before he was taking a fucking he’d felt for days afterward. And up till now, Hake had held off actually fucking AJ, saying he wanted the three of them to get their fledgling relationship off the ground first, but that was apparently going to end this weekend. Joe could vouch for the man’s skill as a top—sex with him could definitely tip the scales in the Stivers’ favor if AJ started missing Mandy more than she wanted him and Brent. Dammit.

But it was way too late now to go getting territorial. Steeling himself, Joe admitted, “There probably won’t be a better time. She’s already spoiling for a fight.”

Mandy’s brows went up. “Ariel is? Really?”

“She’s determined to save me from myself,” he said flatly.

“Well somebody’s gotta do it,” Brent murmured, grinning again when Joe flipped him off. “AJ was already wound up about having company for the first time, so she’ll probably go off like a bottle rocket.”

Hake looked at Mandy again. “In that case, you’d better text her some kind of heads-up. Ask her safe word. That’ll give her a couple of minutes to get her head in the right space.”

Mandy’s thumbs were already flying over the phone when she said, “On it.”

Then Hake aimed a slow, knowing grin at
him
, and Joe’s tension level shot up right along with his cock. It took all his concentration to keep from squirming. Damn, the man could turn that Dominant shit on and off like a faucet—friendly, mild-mannered farmer one second, scary-ass mind-fucker the next. Mandy was a schemer, sitting there next to him wearing a deceptively innocent smile, but only Joe seemed to be aware that Hake Stivers was the real wild card among them.

And he definitely had something up his sleeve.

“See you boys up at the place,” Hake said, somehow managing to make the parting pleasantry farewell sound like an order. Just before the window rolled up, he added, “And leave off the hick accents this time.”

“I think I’m offended,” Brent said, watching them pull away.

Joe shrugged. “You did lay it on pretty thick.”

“Me? You’re the one who sounded like you just escaped from the Wild West on an old swayback horse.”

“Fuck you, Festus.”

They stared at each other for a minute and then Brent grinned. “I could do a British accent—put false eyelashes on one eye and belt out Singin’ in the Rain while I fuck her.”

“You worry me sometimes, you know that?”

Brent laughed loudly, slapping him on the back. “Want to keep going? I don’t think either of them would mind a little time to mess with her head in private before we jump in.”

A gust of wind sent a cold trickle down the neck of his jacket and Joe shivered. “Hell no. I’m over it now, and my warmed-up is wearing off.”

Brent’s lips quirked. “Doesn’t look to me like it’s worn off much,” he said, his eyes on Joe’s fly.

“Yeah, well it’ll be
falling
off if we don’t get back to the house soon,” Joe declared gruffly, another damnable blush creeping up his neck.

“Come on, then.” Brent threw an arm over his shoulder and steered him back up the road. “Let’s go find us a good spot to watch for a while. That’d warm up a dead man.”

After Joe left, AJ sank onto one of the low oak bar stools at the island and propped her chin in her palm with a sigh. She shouldn’t have gotten so upset. She knew Joe hadn’t meant to remind her that she would never be a mother, any more than he’d meant to remind her of her father in his final days. She
knew
that. But it had still felt like a sucker punch to the throat. And the idea that he didn’t need her to take care of him…

Grrrrr.
Why were men like that? She wasn’t ashamed to admit she needed Joe and Brent to take care of her sometimes. And Joe certainly hadn’t minded her taking care of him when he had the flu last spring. How was this any different? She wanted him to be healthy, dammit! He had a pretty good head start on her in this game of life and she’d already lost too many loved ones because they wouldn’t take care of themselves or let anyone else take care of them.

“Okay, pity party over,” she said, jumping up from the stool. “Time to frost the cookies.”

The buttercream frosting she’d whipped up earlier was in the refrigerator, but she still needed to make the red, green and black. She’d been rushing around all week trying to get the house ready for Mandy and Hake’s first visit, and it felt critical that everything—including the cookies—be absolutely perfect. Which was silly because they’d both always liked and accepted her for herself, and they probably wouldn’t care if the house and her cooking were no more perfect than she was, but still...

Once she’d made the colors, she filled a disposable plastic pastry bag with white frosting and began piping little white ruffles on the gingerbread men’s arms and legs.

The fairly mindless activity wasn’t enough to keep her mind from straying to Mandy and Hake, and the coming weekend. She and Mandy had talked a lot on Skype lately, and Mandy seemed…different somehow. More intense, more interested, more…something. AJ couldn’t put her finger on it, but whatever it was, it made her stomach jump with nerves and excitement. It felt like something big was on its way, like the approach of Christmas had felt when she was a kid, only bigger.

But she refused to speculate about what it might mean, because that would be one surefire way to set herself up for disappointment. She knew what
she
wanted to happen, and it involved the five of them spending a lot more time together than they did now—which
couldn’t
happen with Mandy and Hake living two states away in South Dakota.

“Stop thinking about it,” she chided herself.

Easier said than done when they were on their way here and would soon be touring the house. She was seriously considering turning on the radio as a distraction when her phone chirped its text tone from the counter by the sink.

“Thank God,” she muttered, setting down the pastry bag and brushing her hands on her jeans. Nobody texted her but Mandy—Joe and Brent still refused to give up their flip phones and move into the twenty-first century, so they always called.

AJ picked up the phone with trepidation. It was surprising not to have heard from Mandy earlier. Had they gotten a late start this morning? Was the weather holding them up? What if they’d decided not to come…?

Taking a deep breath, she swiped the screen and then just about dropped the phone.

Safe word?

She blinked at it, her heart tripping into a faster rhythm. Okay, that wasn’t exactly what she’d been expecting. Was that why Mandy seemed different? Were she and Hake planning some mind-blowing scene for her? If so, what? And who was doing the topping? God, the possibilities were endless, since she was the only one of the five of them who was a total submissive.

Punching in her password, she typed
Red. Where are you?

She’d never had to use the safe word before. Never even come close. Did they really think she was going to need it?

Why wasn’t Mandy answering?

Too anxious and excited now to focus on decorating, she quickly put lids on the bowls and put the pastry bag into a plastic zipper bag, then stuffed it all into the fridge. After she’d wrapped up all the cookies and dumped her utensils into the dishwater, she went into the half-bath behind the kitchen to get cleaned up. She couldn’t decide if Mandy and Hake would be here soon or if they just wanted to do a little advance fucking with her head, and the fact that Mandy hadn’t answered wasn’t any kind of clue.

Where was Joe? And Brent? She could call and ask them, but if they were in on it, they probably wouldn’t be any more forthcoming.

As she washed her hands, AJ checked the mirror for unsightly frosting smears and didn’t see any. Maybe she should go put on some makeup and change into the new sweater she’d bought, just in case their guests arrived earlier than she expected.

Then she heard the garage door open and heavy footsteps in the hall. It must be Joe—she’d have heard Brent’s pickup pull in.

“I’m glad you’re back,” she said, looping the hand towel back over the ring before turning. “Sorry I was so…”

Whatever she’d intended to say evaporated along with every lick of moisture in her mouth. It wasn’t Joe standing in the doorway of the tiny bathroom with his hands braced on the frame, hemming her in—it was Hake. And he looked like trouble with a capital
Oh shit
.

He leaned into the bathroom without letting go of the frame, glancing around and peeking between the hinges as if to make sure no one was behind the door.

Finally he turned toward the kitchen. “I’m sorry to bother you, miss, but my wife and I have run into some trouble and we need a place to…” he glanced over his shoulder at her, “stay for a few days.”

AJ followed him, struggling to catch up mentally as he looked around. “Oh, um—”

Hake spun around, pinning her with a hard stare. “Is anyone else here?” He took a step toward to her, looking much bigger and harder than she remembered, and she instinctively took a step back. “A boyfriend, maybe?” He moved closer, letting his dark brown gaze slide down her body.

AJ’s breath clogged in her throat. Oh holy shit, he was doing the home invasion thing, wasn’t he? And he was being way too convincing. No lip-smacking or overt leering, no cheesy Festus accent, no sidekick for comic relief like Mandy’d described in her hilarious but hot account of Brent and Joe’s roleplaying. Everything about Hake’s expression said he knew he could do whatever he wanted to her and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.

And it was every bit as exciting as she’d thought it would be. Maybe more.

“Where’s…” When only a whisper of sound emerged, she swallowed with difficulty and tried again. “Where’s your wife?”

“Oh, she’ll be around,” he murmured, raising his hand to touch AJ’s short blond hair. When she flinched, he dropped it, a glint in his eyes as he let them linger on hers. “So, boyfriend? Anyone else who lives here?”

“Boyfriends,” she blurted. “Lovers, I mean.”

“Boy
friends,
plural?” He raised a brow. “Funny, you don’t look like the type. In fact, you look like a luscious little country girl, ripe and ready for a good…plucking.”

The deliberate way he enunciated the word took her breath away as adrenaline snapped through her. He was almost
too
good at this.

“It’s true! I have two. They’re both—” She backed into a cabinet and gasped. “I mean they both live here. In fact, they should be back any minute.”

Hake stayed right on her, crowding her into the corner, bracing his hands on the countertop to trap her and leaning in way too close. He smelled like he’d been on the road all day—like hot male skin with hints of new-car scent and gasoline, mints and fast food, aftershave and Mandy’s perfume…

“You’re lying, country girl.” His breath drifted across her ear, making her shiver.

Gripping the edge of the counter, she strained backward, both to keep him from touching her and so she could make eye contact. Bad idea. The cruel amusement she saw there, the diamond-hard edge of pure determination, made her want to slide to her knees and beg for mercy—by unbuckling his belt, tearing open his fly and sucking his cock.

“I’m not,” she protested weakly.

“I think you are. I think you live here all alone.” He crowded closer, pressing his hard-on against her as he stared into her eyes. This was totally turning him on as much as it was her. “And this being a holiday weekend, I think nobody’s going notice what a handful of strangers are out here doing to that pretty little body.”

Yikes! Hake Stivers was either a hardcore dominant or the best actor ever born and AJ was having the deeply conflicted submissive reaction to prove it. She could hardly believe this was the same man she’d had such fun, relaxed sexual encounters with over the past two years.

He bent his head toward her again, that taunting smile still curving his lips, and she instinctively braced her hands against his chest to push him away. It was like trying to hold back the tide. He nipped her earlobe hard enough to send adrenaline screaming through her system, making her pant and strain harder against him. Desire was a live wire sending bolts of sensation from her nipples to her clit and back again—if her panties hadn’t been wet before, they sure as hell were now.

“Stop!” she cried, craning her head away from his seeking mouth.

“Are you using your safe word?” he murmured without backing off.

Still craning, AJ gave a breathless laugh. “You’re kidding, right?”

He didn’t bother responding. Instead, he seized her wrists and twirled her around so her back was to him with her arms crossed in front of her, then hauled her toward the garage.