Chapter Twenty-Three
She closed her eyes and let her fantasy unfold.
Nick would hold her arms over her head, pinning her down while he bent over and kissed her until she was moaning so loud anyone within a mile would hear her.
Axel would kneel between her thighs, his head descending, his tongue hot and relentless.
Or Axel would look at them from the shadows, his engorged cock twitching in his hand, his eyes dark with hunger while he watched Nick make love to her.
Or both of them making love to her at the same time.
She could almost feel them, their exploring hands, their kissing mouths, their cocks filling her in every way possible.
“Oh yes!” she gasped, her fingers moving faster, her breaths coming in sharp little pants.
She was already close, so close! The pleasure was coiling tight deep inside of her. Her thighs began trembling.
Nick’s voice was whispering in her ear.
Come for us, baby.
Her back arched and her toes curled. She exploded on a broken cry and her vagina clenched around her fingers as she thrust inside like a miniature cock. She shook from the force of the convulsions and cried out as the shudders ripped her apart.
She stayed within the vortex for as long as she could, riding the bliss, the pleasure, until slowly it ebbed away, leaving her spent as the naughty spasms gentled.
Then they were gone and the emptiness of being up here alone without Axel pressed in around her, reminding her how alone she’d felt in her marriage to Tim.
How alone she’d felt until Axel had come back into her life.
Slowly an idea began form and she smiled. Excitement made her laugh. She peeled away the sleeping back and climbed out of the bed. The floorboards were cool beneath her bare feet as she reached for the shirt, socks, and old boots she’d worn last night.
Her body was humming with satisfaction as she dressed. Humming with a new plan as she ascended the stairs.
She found her cowboy hat on a peg just inside the doorway. She had no idea how it had gotten there, but she figured Nick or Axel must have found it in the tack room where she’d left it last night.
She placed her cowboy hat with a flick of her wrist, the brim casting a shadow over her eyes as she strolled outside. It was cloudy, cool but also bright. The air smelled fresh from last night’s storm, and she could smell the faintest smell of a musky scent of sex, of her.
Jenna licked her lips and her pulse quickened. She wasn’t just going to the house; she was stepping into whatever came next, ready, or not.
And she knew exactly what she’d say when she got there.
* * * * *
“Why didn’t you tell me Jenna is pregnant?” Axel’s question came right out of nowhere snapping Nick out of his breakfast rhythm. He paused mid-reach, bacon dangling from his tongs, and Daisy, who stood sentry at his feet, perked her ears up as if sensing a shift in here.
He’d known this moment was coming but hearing Axel say it out loud made the lie feel heavier than he expected.
He dropped the piece of bacon and Daisy caught it easily. In an instant it was gone.
“This dog eats like a garbage disposal,” he chuckled, although he felt the sound felt a little forced.
He turned casually, or at least he tried to, and faced Axel, who stood there with a frown that didn’t match the calm in his voice.
“She told you.”
“She did. Right after I made love to her.”
The words landed like a punch. Not jealousy exactly, but a sharp reminder of everything he wasn’t allowed to want or have.
“That must have come as a shock. And?”
“I told her the baby was ours. Hers and mine.”
Something twisted inside him. It was a mix of admiration, longing, and the quiet grief of realizing he’d never be part of that “ours.”
Well, if that wasn’t a declaration of possession, Nick didn’t know what else it could be. A part of him, the part he didn’t want to look too closely at because it would hurt like a son of a bitch, had hoped he could claim Jenna and the baby.
“Good,” Nick replied and turned back to the stove so Axel couldn’t read his face. He slid the spatula under an egg and flipped it over.
“And you set us up last night,” he heard the accusation before he turned to face him again. Axel was now leaning against the table, his arms folded across his chest, studying him with a look that was too perceptive for comfort.
Nick forced a grin, but his pulse kicked. Axel saw through him too easily, always had.
“While you were in the shower I went out to take a look at the tires. Same tires. No evidence of any punctures. Nothing. Figured something was up.”
“I did say someone could have let the air out. And I could have used Sam’s air pump and refilled the tires with air,” Nick replied, trying, and failing, to hide a grin.
“Not if Daisy was there. She would have heard something. You know it and I know it. You wanted Jenna and I to be alone.”
Nick’s throat tightened. He’d never meant to manipulate them, not really. He just wanted them happy. Even if it meant breaking his own heart.
“Oops, caught red-handed,” Nick joked.
“It was sneaky, Nick.”
“It worked.”
“And what’s your agenda? Have Jenna fall in love with me all over again, so she’ll keep us both?”
Nick shrugged, but his shoulders felt too tight.
“Your plan could have backfired,” Axel went on. “She could have said she wanted nothing to do with us and sent us packing back to prison.”
The thought chilled him. The idea of Jenna sending them away, of losing this fragile new life they were building here, terrified him.
“The fact she didn’t do it after you did oral on her, kind of clinched it for me, Nick admitted.
“Besides, you love her. She loves you. End of story.”
“Is it?” Axel asked, grabbing the package of bread. He opened the bag and slid four slices into the toaster.
“What else is there?” Nick asked.
“I heard what you said. Up in the loft.”
Nick froze. Heat shot up his neck, and his mind scrambled for a lie he knew Axel would see through instantly.
“You wanted to join us. Or were you joking?”
Axel’s voice was quiet, but there was no judgement in it. Just an opening. Or a way out.
Nick swallowed. If he lied, Axel would let him go where Jenna was concerned. And he would go on carrying a torch for a woman he could never have.
“I wasn’t joking.” The truth slipped out like a confession. It was freeing and terrifying all at once.
“I see,” Axel murmured.
He didn’t look angry. He didn’t look surprised. Why would he? Axel already knew Nick’s want for Jenna.
Nick waited for him to say something else, but he remained silent and went about gathering the utensils and began to set the table for breakfast. Axel’s calm unsettled him. There was no judgment, no disgust, just… acceptance? Nick didn’t know what to do with that.
Well, that went well. Not.
“Mind if I join you?” Jenna’s voice echoed through the kitchen from the hallway.
Nick’s breath caught at her question, and he almost dropped the plate of eggs and bacon.
Oh shit. He hadn’t heard her come in and she had heard him up in the loft. Heard what he’d said.
His heart lurched. The words he’d meant to keep buried were now hanging between them, undeniable.
Jenna stood at the end of the hallway, right by the entrance to the kitchen.
She was framed by the early morning light.
She looked like a dream and a dare wrapped into one, and he felt his pulse hammer in his throat.
The sight hit him low. Intimate, domestic, a reminder she belonged to someone else… and yet her gaze was locked on him.
She wasn’t dressed. Well, not really.
She wore Axel’s flannel shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, the fabric hung loose over her shoulders and the hem was mid-thigh. He almost let out a low whistle as his gaze trailed the longest, most naked legs he’d ever seen.
She wore Axel’s prison-issue brown socks and an old, tattered pair of work boots.
His gaze swung upward to her dark brown cowboy hat that sat perched prettily on top of her bedroom tangled messed up hair, the red strands catching the light like embers. Her blue eyes were heavy lidded, still soft with sleep.
Her lips were slightly parted, and her cheeks held the faintest flush, like she’d been fucked and not that long ago.
Nick’s breath caught as realization hit him. She’d been masturbating. The thought sent a fresh wave of arousal crashing through him.
As she strolled into the room he swore he could smell Axel on her. He knew that musky scent. Had lived with it in prison.
The combination of knowing she’d slept with Axel and had masturbated afterwards told him she wanted more. It took every ounce of his self-control not to groan aloud.
“So? May I join you?” she asked again. The words wrapped around him like a challenge, soft, smoky, and impossible to ignore.
This time he dropped the plates onto the table with such a clatter, that Axel laughed from where he’d just seated himself.
“Woah, there my man. What’s got you so clumsy all of a sudden?”
Nick didn’t answer him. His face burned. He felt exposed, like every thought he was trying to hide was written across his skin.
Hell, he could barely walk back to the toaster to retrieve the toast that just popped, his cock was already quite hard.
Hearing her repeat the phrase, her gaze locked onto his with an intensity that made his skin prickle.
He knew. She’d heard. And she was throwing his own words back at him, daring him to react.
Nick’s throat went dry. He swallowed hard, his fingers curling into fists at his sides.
“Uh. Yeah. Of course you can join us, Jenna. Start in on breakfast and I’ll get you some coffee.”
His voice came out rough, strained, and he cleared his throat, forcing himself to look away from her. From the way the flannel shirt gaped just enough to hint at the curve of her breasts, from the way her nipples were already hard, pressing against the fabric.
Oh man.
He heard the soft thuds of her boots against the floor as she strolled toward the table.