Love Under Two Jessops (5 page)

Usually his brother was quick with a comeback and smooth with a line. Something about Chloe Rhodes had rendered poor Andy speechless.

“We accept.” Grant kept his gaze locked with hers, so he saw the flare of heat those two words caused. His peripheral vision, always acute, caught the way Chloe’s nipples hardened and damned if he couldn’t actually smell her arousal as she no doubt just dampened her panties.

Something profound passed between him and his brother in that moment. Always before, as they’d danced their way through the sowing of their wild oats, Grant had been content to sit back and let his brother lead the way. No longer. With those two words just spoken he finally claimed the role of alpha that he’d been resisting—in the male-female tango—all his life.

“’Bout damn time,” Andrew mumbled. Then his brother reached out and stroked his hand down Chloe’s back. Their woman shivered, but she kept her attention focused on
him
which told him that she’d somehow sensed, when other women hadn’t, who, between him and his brother, was the Jessop in charge, and who the head of their little family was going to be.

Our woman
.

He heard the door between the kitchen and dining room swing open and sat back, releasing Chloe from the intensity of his stare. He gave her a small smile, pleased when that simple gesture seemed to help her to relax a little.

“Here you go, gentlemen.” Emily Anne set their Cokes on the table. She also deposited their utensils, a bottle of ketchup, and a small dish of mayo for Andrew. Then she grinned, and headed back to the kitchen.

His brother liked to dip his fries in the white creamy condiment, a taste that Grant had never acquired.

“Breathe, baby.” Andrew ran his hand up and down Chloe’s back. She exhaled heavily and shook her head.

“The two of you are pretty damn potent. There really ought to be a law against that.” She turned her attention back to her salad. He wasn’t certain if it was tension between them that put that worried look on her face, or the prospect of eating the unappealingly naked greens before her.

Grant chuckled. “You flatter us, sweetheart. The truth is, the only woman who’s ever claimed we were potent, is you.”

“Malarkey.”

Andrew grinned. “Damn, she’s cute, isn’t she, brother?”

“She is indeed.” Grant saw the fire sparking in her eyes and nearly grinned. He guessed she’d felt off-balance for the last few moments, and there was nothing wrong with that. He’d felt off-balance since meeting her—but that was about to change, some.

So they would eat, and they would all settle their hormones down a bit. Because as soon as they all finished their dinner, he and his brother planned to take Chloe to their bed.

Baiting her slightly and returning to their more customary verbal sparring would help her regain her mental footing. He wanted her to have no regrets—to know she was in complete control of the decision that was about to put her there where they all wanted to be the most.

“She doesn’t like to be spoken of as if she isn’t here.” Chloe didn’t raise her head to look at him when she said that, but he could fairly feel the snap and fire coming off her.

Their woman had a bit of a prickly edge to her that was pitifully easy to provoke. Grant really liked that about her.

“Doesn’t she?” He put on his best poker face and waited to see if she twigged to the fact she was being teased.

She jerked her head up and met his gaze. Because he was watching for it, he saw when that sparkle entered her eyes. And when she just shook her head, he chuckled.

Emily Anne returned with a tray laden down with food. She set everything out, even setting a small plate with a half a burger in front of Chloe.

Their woman didn’t protest, which told him she’d really wanted the burger. Maybe he should have thought to give her the entire thing instead of just half, but he’d leave that for now.

I’ll content myself with making her a big breakfast in the morning.

“Eat up, woman.” Grant waited until Chloe looked up. Then he grinned and said, “And don’t worry about the calories. I promise, before this night is through, you’ll work them all off.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes and he could see fire there, and that fire, even if it was anger, got him hot as hell.

“That wasn’t very romantic.”

“You want romantic?” God, it was hard not to laugh, to hang on to his poker face.

“Every woman wants romantic, you big lummox.” She gave his arm a light smack and he captured her hand in his.

“Okay.” He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. Just when he saw her expression soften, he said, “Eat up. We’re anxious as hell to take you home and fuck your brains out.”

Chloe burst out laughing.

After all the tension she’d been feeling for most of the day, the release she found in laughter felt
wonderful
. Nearly hyperventilating, she kept laughing until tears trailed down her face.

Andrew patted her back and Grant continued to hold her hand, rubbing his thumb over the back of it.

Finally, she brought herself under control. Grant handed her a paper napkin and she used it to wipe her tears.

It didn’t bother her that she might have smudged her makeup a little. She noticed the other patrons in the restaurant looking at them and smiling, and that didn’t bother her, either.

It occurred to her then that she’d already changed a lot, coming to this town that seemed to fit her like a glove. She felt…free.

I’ll have to think about that. But later.
Right now she focused on the two gentle giants she had in her life—one sitting across from her and holding her hand, and the one beside her stroking her back. She shook her head and met Grant’s gaze.

“If that’s your idea of romantic, darlin’, we’ve got some work to do.”

“Eat, baby girl.” He brought her hand to his lips again. The arousal that spread through her with that heated touch put food at the bottom of her cravings list.
Oh God, I want these two men so very badly.

Hell, truth was she’d wanted them since that night when Andrew picked her up and stepped into her sister’s apartment with her in his hands, and held off the ground. Yes, she had. But it wouldn’t hurt to let the anticipation build, just a little bit longer.

“Okay.” She tugged on her hand. Grant smiled, and oh, man, did she ever love the way that look on him made her feel.

The half burger Emily Anne had brought out and set down before her featured a thin layer of ketchup and another of green pickle relish—almost exactly the way Chloe loved her burger. The only condiment it was missing was the onion.

Sneaky Emily Anne
.
Or was it sneaky Carrie?
She had no doubt that the waitress had filled the cook in, and that the cook would be calling her in the morning, demanding details.

Chloe wouldn’t have thought she’d be able to eat, under the circumstances. When Andrew edged the chips toward her with the one word, “carbs” coming out all deep and sexy sounding, she grinned, and dutifully grabbed one, scooped some salsa onto it, and popped it into her mouth.

“Did you walk here, tonight, Chloe? I didn’t see your little dinky toy out there along the curb. Or is it, maybe, in your purse?” Grant asked.

He’d commented about her little Mini Cooper ever since the first time he’d seen it. She loved that little car, had wanted one since she’d been a teen. When her baby first came to her, she’d been in rough shape. Chloe had gotten it for a steal and had put a lot of love and time and money into making the little car look just as cute as can be.

I think a new vehicle is in my future.
No way in hell either of these big, strapping Jessops would ever be able to get into the thing. And if they did, they’d likely need the Jaws of Life to get out of it again.

“I left my car at my place today. I walked to the spa this morning, and then came straight here when I was done there. It’s not a very long distance from here to my house, and I like the exercise.”

Grant nodded. “We have a new form of exercise in mind for you, woman. Are you about ready?”

“No, but that doesn’t matter. I don’t think a woman could ever be ready—at least, not ready enough—for the two of you. And that doesn’t matter, either.” Could she just say it flat out? Chloe thought that with these two men, she could. “I want you. I want you both.”

“Jesus.” Andrew’s one word, just above a whisper, made her skin pebble as if he’d stroked her flesh with a feather.

Grant reached into his pocket and dropped a couple of twenties on the table, a lot more money than necessary to pay for their half-eaten meals. The look on his face told her that he was very close to losing control and what a boon that was for her self-confidence. She looked down at the money for just a moment.

This is Emily Anne’s lucky night. Mine, too.

Yes, it was definitely Chloe’s lucky night.

Grant tugged on her hand. She hadn’t even noticed him getting to his feet. “We need to go.
Right now
.”

She let him pull her to her feet. Chloe had already made her decision. It really was a no-brainer. She’d go wherever these two men wanted to lead her.

She’d never seen their house before, hadn’t even known where it was. Just around the corner from the fire hall, the large Victorian so did not look like what she’d expected them to have.

They seemed more like the cabin-in-the-woods kind of guys to her.

The brothers Jessop didn’t really give her a moment to appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the house, either.

Grant pulled his Dodge Ram to a very jerky stop in the driveway. Sandwiched as she was between the two of them on the bench seat, the warmth and the aroma of them both surrounded her, enveloping her in a haze of arousal. Something about them, about the heat and the scent and the feel of them against her stoked her fires like they’d never been stoked before.

She’d never been so horny in her entire life.

Her arousal sizzled through her blood, snapped along her flesh, making her feel as if a simple thought would hurl her over the edge of the precipice into a free fall of orgasm.

“Do it. Oh God,
yes
, please just do it.”

“Do what?” Grant asked.

The gazes of both men branded her. “Do what?” Andrew asked.

“Fuck my brains out.”

“Christ.”

Both doors popped open, and both men moved. Andrew grabbed her and before she could blink she was over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“Hey!”

“You have to know this is what they call a fireman’s carry. And we’re both firemen.”

Chloe giggled. Upside down, bouncing as the man whose shoulder she draped all but ran up the porch steps, hovering a hairsbreadth away from climax, she could only laugh.

For a large man, Andrew Jessop sure as hell could move fast.

She barely blinked and he levered her off him, laying her flat on an enormous, perfectly made bed. She hardly inhaled, and both men had their hands on her, peeling her jeans and panties down, and then off.

Grant reached out and she heard the sound of a drawer sliding open, and then the crinkle of a foil packet.

He didn’t even take his denim jeans off. He just opened them, pulled out his cock, and sheathed it.

“You’ve got us too damn triggered.” He reached down, spread her legs, and knelt between them. He brushed the back of his hand over her pussy and Chloe whimpered.

“Do that again!”

He did, and then he said, “Thank God you’re sopping wet and ready for me.”

Chloe wanted to say something clever, but at that moment she felt the heat of Grant’s cock brush her wet folds and her mind shut off.

He pushed into her and Chloe felt a slight burning as her pussy lips stretched, opening incredibly wide to receive him. Slow, deliberate, unrelenting, he pressed and pressed until finally he slid all the way in. The tip of his cock hit her cervix, his balls brushed the bottom of her slit, and Chloe erupted into orgasm.

A high-pitched cry of bliss tore from her, because the intense pleasure wouldn’t be held in. Grant gathered her in his arms, pulling her snug, and then covered her mouth with his, drinking in her essence and the rest of her scream.

His tongue devoured her, sweeping and caressing with broad, commanding strokes. Chloe wrapped her arms and legs around him and shivered as her orgasm continued to sizzle through her. Her hips began to pump, and she rode his cock as he held still within her. Her tongue slid against his and she reveled in the bounty of this rapture that consumed her so completely.

The last tiny vibrations seemed to leave her body, floating into space. Weak and pliant, her arms slid to his shoulders and then to the bed.

He eased his lips from hers and laid her gently back onto the mattress. “Hell of a first kiss,” he said.

Chloe opened her eyes when the bed dipped. Andrew stretched out beside them, completely naked. Above her, in her, Grant continued to hold himself perfectly still, his smile both tender and fun-filled.