Chapter Seventeen
Moments later, a couple of sleeping bags were set beside the door outside her home as she locked the back door. Then as quiet as a mouse, gun tucked away in a pocket in her robe, and a flashlight thrust in the other pocket of her robe, Jenna stood still, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness.
The cool night pressed close around her, thick and watchful, every shadow a reminder of the intruder still out there.
After a few minutes, she started forward. A tinge of anxiety closed in around her as she moved quickly toward the barn. Up in the loft, she spied the tiniest bit of light in the window and her shoulders loosened. They were awake, safe, close.
She moved faster now as she was out in the open, an easy target if someone wanted to shoot her.
Moments later she breathed a sigh of relief as she quietly let herself into the barn.
She heard a couple of horses nicker back in the stalls, probably knowing she was in here. She couldn’t go say hello because then she’d never leave them, always finding some reason or another to stay and talk to them. She’d just go up to the loft and drop off the sleeping bags.
She headed for the wooden steps. She was fully intent on knocking on the wall before proceeding up the stairs, when she heard a soft moan coming from overhead. The sound froze her mid-step. It was soft, intimate, and completely out of place in the quiet barn.
She stood still, unsure what to do.
Low, guttural moans followed. Her breath caught, her pulse stumbling as confusion slammed into her.
“Yeah, just like that, Nick. Keep going,” Axel muttered.
Jenna held her breath. What were they doing? She knew the answer even before the question was finished in her mind.
Should she go up? Take a peek?
She didn’t want to interrupt. But she couldn’t resist.
She placed the sleeping bags on an old chair beside the open doorway and looked up the narrow staircase. The dim light flickered like a heartbeat up there. It drew her forward despite every instinct telling her to turn back.
Each step felt like crossing a line she couldn’t uncross, but she couldn’t stop herself.
Thankfully, as she made her way up the stairs, each step was silent. The old wood didn’t groan or squeak beneath her weight because she knew to keep to the side to prevent creaks. She’d learned to do that when Tim was up here sometimes, and she’d wanted to surprise him.
With every step, the sounds from above became clearer. She could now distinctly hear slurping noises echoing from the loft.
She moved forward, unable to resist the urge to uncover what was happening between the two men. She ascended more quickly, feeling as though she was a moth drawn toward a flame. Her heart pounded so loudly in her chest that she worried the men upstairs might hear her approach.
Reaching the top of the staircase, Jenna was able to peer directly into the loft.
The room was dimly illuminated. A single battery-operated lantern was perched atop a nearby crate.
It cast enough light to reveal the scene unfolding in between the bales of hay and on the makeshift hay bed tucked in the corner.
The sight hit her like a physical blow. It was shocking, intimate, beautiful, and utterly disorienting.
Nick was on his knees, on the bed. His broad, tattooed shoulder faced toward her and glorious muscles flexed in his arm with his every movement. His hands gripped the thighs of the man she was once to marry.
Axel.
Oh my gosh.
Axel stood on the makeshift bed, his eyes scrunched closed, and he was completely enjoying what Nick was doing to him. His lips were parted as he panted and moaned and swore softly.
Her mind scrambled to catch up, her body reacting faster than her thoughts. Exquisite heat, shock, longing, disbelief. It all tangled together as she watched.
Nick’s head was buried between Axel’s muscular legs; his mouth was working with a hunger that made Jenna’s throat go dry and her pussy pound with arousal.
As Nick’s head bobbed, she caught sight of Axel’s thick, veiny, cock move in an out. It was glistening with saliva as it disappeared into Nick’s mouth again as he took him deep, his throat bulging with the effort.
One of Nick’s hands slipped off Axel’s thigh and then wrapped around the base of Axel’s swollen shaft, stroking him in time with his bobbing head.
Axel’s fingers were tangled in Nick’s dark hair, guiding him, his own hips bucking in short, needy thrusts.
“Shit, Nick,” Axel groaned. His voice sounded like a rough growl. Just as he’d sounded when she and Axel had made love.
Nick pulled back just enough to speak, his lips shiny and swollen.
“Come, man. Come into my throat,” he demanded, his voice a dark purr that smoothed over Jenna’s senses like bright lightning.
Her breath hitched as she realized her body was reacting in a naughty way she’d never expected. A flush crept up her neck. She shouldn’t be watching, shouldn’t be feeling this, but she couldn’t look away.
Red-hot heat pooled deep inside her pussy. Her nipples were tightening against the thin cloth of her nightgown beneath her robe, and an insistent throb of need was starting between her thighs.
She almost reached beneath her clothing to touch herself. Knew if she did she would be sopping wet with her arousal.
She continued to watch, transfixed as Nick’s tongue swirled over the head of Axel’s plum-shaped cockhead before driving his shaft back into his mouth, taking him to the root.
The muscles in his jaw were bulging as they worked.
The muscles in his throat were fluttering as he swallowed around Axel’s big cock.
Axel’s hips began to thrust harder, and he let out a broken curse. His back arched and his fingers tightened in Nick’s hair.
“I’m coming!” he cried out.
Jenna’s pulse was a drumming at an insane rate in her ears. She had never seen Axel like this.
He appeared so wild and completely consumed by the pleasure Nick was giving him.
When they’d been together, Axel had been a controlled lover, always making sure she was fully pleasured before he let loose. But seeing him like this?
He was a raw animal. The way his shoulders rolled with every bob of Nick’s head, the way his ass flexed with his every thrust.
She should look away. But she couldn’t. She felt riveted. She wanted Nick to do oral on her too!
Then she heard Axel cry out as he came, his entire body shuddering.
Jenna came to her senses and realized she couldn’t let them see her. Couldn’t let them see her watching them like she was some sort of peeping Thomasina.
Her heart hammered as she backed away. She was terrified of being caught, terrified of what she’d just seen, shocked of what it meant.
Should she let them know she was here? Get back down to the doorway and knock and call up to them that she had sleeping bags for them?
Oh, no. It would be too embarrassing now. She needed to get out.
Now. Before they caught her.
She didn’t know how she managed to get down those stairs without making any noise. But she did.
Had she just seen what she’d seen? Or had she been dreaming?
The cool night air hit her like a slap, but it did nothing to clear the images burned into her mind.
She moved quickly along the path to her ranch house. Every step felt unreal. Her world had shifted, and she wasn’t even sure where she fit in it anymore.
Axel and Nick. Together. That way. Suddenly, all the glances, the quiet touches, the unspoken bond between them snapped into focus.
She wasn’t sure how she was going to wrap her head around this. But she knew she would have to, because her body throbbed with a need she couldn’t ignore. It was raw, urgent, and impossible to soothe with willpower alone.
But she would try to soothe it herself. She would go into the guest room. She’d close the door so the dog wouldn’t be disturbed.
She needed release. She needed grounding. Something to quiet the storm inside her.
She let herself into the house and headed for the bedroom without the dog.
* * * * *
Axel noticed Jenna had been unusually reserved at breakfast this morning after he and Nick had taken turns in the shower.
She’d barely touched her coffee and answered questions with clipped replies, her gaze fixed somewhere distant, like she was preoccupied with something. The change in her energy had hit him like a cold draft. It was subtle, but unmistakable.
It was the total opposite of last night when she’d seemed happy, energized, and carefree. He’d wanted to ask her if everything was alright, but he also wanted to give her her space.
He figured the full brunt of Sam’s death might have hit her last night when she’d been alone, and maybe that’s why she seemed off. Grief had a way of sneaking up on people. He knew that all too well when two of his grandparents had died within weeks of each other.
So he had kept quiet.
Nick had noticed too, casting concerned looks his way when Jenna wasn’t paying attention. He’d remained silent as well, and Nick had left for Sam’s place with Daisy at the same time Jenna had headed out for the horses, so Axel hadn’t been able to discuss this new development with Nick.
As he rinsed the last of the dishes and stacked them in the dish rack, he caught himself glancing over at her seat, now empty, wondering if he’d missed something.
Maybe it wasn’t Sam. Maybe she was she upset about something he’d done? Or perhaps something had happened that he hadn’t noticed? Maybe he would just come right out and ask her the next time he saw her.
The kitchen felt empty without the two of them and the dog here and he couldn’t wait to get outside.
He was free from prison and being outside in the fresh air was making him feel so much better than being inside where the walls sometimes felt like they were closing in on him causing a touch of anxiety.
The faint warmth of early morning sunlight shone through the window and glanced off the countertops as he pulled the stopper on the drain and headed out the back way.