Two Times the Trouble (6 page)

“Fast and hard, Ivan! Fuck me!” She rocked upward as he thrust inside again.

As much as watching them tore at his soul, Liam couldn’t look away. His balls tightened with every movement. Frozen in place, he stared at their bodies slamming together, listening to their frantic cries and matching the rhythm with his hand until Ivan threw his head back. His yell blended with Jolán’s orgasmic song, making Liam tense and shudder as cum erupted from him and reality punched him in the solar plexus.

Ivan collapsed beside her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her forehead. She rested her cheek on his chest as her breathing slowed from ragged panting to satisfied sighs. They linked their fingers at his hip as if they’d been lovers for years. The silence wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable.

Their easy familiarity sliced open Liam’s heart. He could’ve had that kind of relationship with her and held her after she shared herself with him. He could’ve had
her
if he hadn’t panicked and pushed her away. Now, she belonged to someone else. She and Ivan would find the happiness that eluded Liam, and he’d have no choice but to stand by and watch it happen—just as he’d watched them make love.

He was so screwed, and not in a good way.

* * * *

The steady
ka-thump, ka-thump
in Jolán’s ear should’ve comforted her as she came down from the high of her orgasm, but a persistent nagging in the back of her mind wouldn’t fade. Something was missing. Yes, Ivan had done and said all the right things, and he’d held her afterward instead of rejecting and insulting her. What could be wrong?

A flash of movement in the drooping limbs of the willow caught her eye. Someone was sneaking away from hers and Ivan’s private spot.
Liam.
She could identify him in a crowd after her encounter with him in the barn. His broad shoulders and long, lean legs had sent her pulse racing then—and now. His light brown hair shown almost white under the light of the rising full moon, and a cloudy, deep blue aura surrounded him as he hurried toward the bridge.

He’d seen everything—or at least enough to know what she and Ivan had done.

Her heart constricted. She saw the tinted mist around her family members on occasion, whenever someone experienced extreme highs or lows in their emotions, and had learned to read the colors. That shade of blue signaled sadness and misery. Why would Liam be sad or miserable when he’d told her didn’t want her?

Guilt and confusion threatened to smother her. She shouldn’t be thinking about another man while lying naked in the arms of her lover. Ivan was the perfect mate for her. He was passionate, sexy, and kind. She should be thrilled to have found him.

He’s The One.
She barely suppressed a snort at the subconscious murmuring of her ignorant instincts.

Shut up. You think they’re
both
The One. Sorry, but one and one makes two.

What if Liam regretted treating her like she meant nothing to him? No matter the effort, she hadn’t been able to keep from stealing glances at him at lunch and supper. Why couldn’t she simply forget him? Ivan deserved better than a mate who was faithful in body but not in heart.

His whisper broke into her thoughts. “I think we might be on top of an anthill.”

Concentrating on the sensation of tingles that had spread over her skin when she’d come, she sat straight up. The pounding of her heart and the ragged breathing had diminished to slow, even inhales and exhales, but the prickly feeling had moved from her legs to her arms and neck.

She sprang to her feet, brushing her palms along her shoulders. “Oh, no! Help me get them off!”

“I can’t! They’re all over me too!” Ivan scrambled up from the blanket, swinging his arms and smacking his legs. He grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the path. “Come on. We can wash them off in the fountain.”

Running along behind him, she almost tripped as they crossed the bridge. A door slamming somewhere ahead of them reminded her of their proximity to the trailer. “Wait! We can’t go to the fountain. Liam might see us.”

The moon illuminated Ivan’s stricken expression as he stopped and turned to look at her. He opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it again. Pulling her down with him, he knelt at the stream. “We’ll have to wash them off here.”

Water splashed, and he rubbed his arms and chest. She repeated his words over and over in her mind, the sudden realization of how he might’ve interpreted her alarm abrading her conscience. Did he know that she’d shared her body with Liam first? Did Ivan think she cared how Liam would react? Or had she broken the wonderful sense of connection by bringing up the outside world?

She scooped up the water and let it rinse the ants from her skin. A lump formed in her throat from a return of confusion and guilt. While allowing Liam to see her and Ivan together might soothe her wounded ego, hurting him wouldn’t heal the sting of his rejection—if he even gave a damn. His comment about sleeping with every man she met hit closer to home than she expected. “I’m sorry. I checked the ground for sticks and rocks before I spread out the blanket. I didn’t notice any anthills.”

Ivan didn’t respond, only continuing with the removal of critters. His stiff movements spoke for him. Her actions most likely suggested premeditated seduction, confirming what Liam had implied. That she was slut. That she was too aggressive. That no man wanted a woman like her for more than a single encounter.

A call cut through the quiet tension. “Jolán? Are you out here?”

Her cousin had saved her from another embarrassing scene. Jolán straightened, gauging the quickest route to the mansion without having to pass the construction site. “I have to go.”

Cutting through the flowerbed, she leapt across the creek and sprinted past the lily pond toward the north wing of the house. She splashed through the shallow end of the wading pool on her way to the bathhouse. Grabbing a towel from the shelf just inside the door, she quickly wrapped it around her and tucked the end between her breasts. She sucked in a deep breath before jogging to the courtyard outside the study.

Her lungs burned by the time she stopped in front of her cousin. “Ilona. I was...out for a...swim.”

“Rebeka would like to see you if you’re not busy.” Ilona’s brows furrowed. “You’re not dressed. What happened to your clothes?”

“Oh, um, I left them at the pool. I’ll get them in the morning.” Jolán slipped through the open French doors, hoping to escape further questioning.
Goddess, I’m so ready for this day to end.

She hurried upstairs to her apartment, thankful to see no one else with judging eyes or ridiculous observations. Taking a couple minutes in the bathroom to clean up from her second disastrous sexual liaison, she considered the not-so-numerous ways to avoid Ivan and Liam.

Fake an illness?
Oh, yeah, because she really wanted to drink some nasty concoction that would
make
her sick.

She strode to the dresser for a tank top and a pair of underwear.

Volunteer for babysitting duty?
With her luck, she’d end up with cranky, teething babies to remind her she was a failure at mate-hunting and faced seven years of waiting to try again.

She tugged on her shirt and panties then grabbed a skirt from the closet.
Seven years won’t change anything.
Or would it? The last four Macska women to go through the joining ceremony had done so at the end of their second fertility cycles. Was the first time meant for experimentation? Had the Fates doomed her to failure until her twenty-eighth birthday?

But...but...what about Liam and Ivan?
The thought of giving either of them up to some other woman made her supper churn in her stomach. Adjusting the waistband of the skirt, she rolled her eyes. Horny and fickle. What a combination.

No wonder most of her female relations had put off taking a mate...or
mates
. All logic and common sense had abandoned Jolán the moment the day of her birth had arrived. Spending so many hours indoors with the threat of the ancient shifter’s attacks hadn’t helped. Her mind and body had gone stir crazy in the three months since Orsolya had temporarily defeated Kazmer. Even with the Protectors—Orsolya’s mates—on the estate, precautions had included staying close to the house and no going riding in the woods.

Jolán studied her reflection in the dresser mirror, but the changes to her weren’t visible. She was no longer a virgin, and no one would know except her and the two men who weren’t her mates. They didn’t love her. She didn’t know them well enough to love them. Without genuine love present in the hearts of both parties, conception couldn’t occur. Only true mates could produce a child.

As she left the apartment to go talk to her cousin, she vowed to allow her brain control over her hormones for the next week. No more mistakes.

* * * *

The image of Jolán lying naked in the moonlight had etched itself onto Ivan’s psyche. All his plans to work his matchmaker magic on her and Liam had gone up in smoke. He had no idea how he’d face his brother after infringing on his territory and breaking the unspoken promise of friendship. They might not be biological brothers, but they had become fast friends during the short-lived marriage between Ivan’s mom and Liam’s dad. That she hadn’t denied his request to stay with his stepdad and stepbrother after the divorce had cemented the relationship into something more than simple friendship.

I betrayed my brother.
Jolán had put herself between them, and Ivan couldn’t fight the draw of her. How had Liam walked away after becoming one with her? Was the guy an absolute idiot?

Ivan raked his wet fingers through his hair. He deserved worse than a bed of ants for what he’d done. Pushing up from the bank of the stream, he took his time walking back to the hidden alcove to gather his clothing and get dressed. As he tucked is dick inside his shorts his hand came away sticky.
Aw, fuck.

Never in his life had he gotten so swept up in a woman that he forgot to use a condom. Until Jolán. Was she on the Pill? Not likely, considering her family lived in self-contained commune with gardens, greenhouses, and great grandmothers.

What if he got her pregnant? Not only would he jeopardize his friendship and brotherhood with Liam, he’d risk their partnership and the job. He’d lose everything but Jolán—
if
she agreed to marry him.

Marriage?
That word wasn’t part of his vocabulary with other women, and for God’s sake, he was only twenty-three years old. Not that he wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment with the right person. But a baby? He had zero experience with kids. The one positive parenting role model in his life had been Liam’s dad.

Ivan raised his eyes to the golden globe hanging above the horizon. People acted crazy during the full moon, didn’t they? He lowered his eyelids, but the bright glow filtered through, turning his vision red. The hair on his arms and neck stood on end, and the sensation of being watched had him jerking his head toward the trees. Spots dotted his sight as his pupils adjusted to the shadowy darkness.

Nothing moved. Unable to shake the uneasiness, he aimed for the walkway back to the mansion, pulling on his shirt as he walked. The interior lights were off when he reached the camper, so he opened the door as quietly as he could.

“Quick date.”

His heart tried to jump out of his chest. “What’s with lurking in the dark tonight?”

Liam moved out from the black depths at the base of the new wing. He shrugged, but with the moon at his back, Ivan couldn’t make out his facial features. “I had some thinking to do.”

The usual smartass retort didn’t come. Ivan resisted the urge to roll the tension from his shoulders and neck. “Yeah? About what?”

“One of us needs to be in the office to work on bids for the next project. I don’t want to end up with nothing lined up when this job’s finished because we’ve both been gone for six months. I’m going to call Wes in the morning. He can—”

“You’re quitting?” A mix of anger and disbelief surged through Ivan’s blood. “
You
signed the goddamned contract! You’re not leaving me here to follow through because you decided you’re ready to move on to something else.”

Liam shook his head and strode past Ivan. “Seems to me moving on is the only choice I have.”

Grabbing his brother’s arm, Ivan yanked him to a stop. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Liam jerked away. “Fuck off. Oh, but then you already did, didn’t you?”

He knows.
A cramp stabbed through Ivan’s gut. “Shit.”

The night sky lit up Liam’s face, revealing contempt, hurt, and something Ivan had never seen from his brother, friend, and partner before. Distance. Then Liam continued toward the trailer. “Yeah.”

The smell of ham, eggs, and hash browns permeated the hall between the kitchen and the dining room, but the aroma of strong black coffee convinced Liam that he could survive eating breakfast with Ivan and Jolán. He aimed for the nearest empty seat, resisting the urge to scan the table for the couple. Seeing them together would ruin his appetite, and he needed all the energy he could muster to spend the day working on a roof in the blistering sun. He hadn’t slept worth a damn after last night’s X-rated show and the argument with his stepbrother.