A Pair of Jacks (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (6 page)

“
Reno
!”

She was there, unable to stop if she wanted to. Her body gushed its pleasure while Reno’s insistent finger stretched her ass and his mouth worked at her until she collapsed with a long moan of satisfaction and her body clenched and tightened around the sensations that racked her core in a shuddering release.

Caught up in the feeling of Reno’s mouth against her pussy and his finger in her ass, her heart stuttered when a shadow fell across them. Jack walked past them on the porch, giving one bitter glance in their direction before he rolled his eyes upward with an angry shake of his head. He let the door slam behind him when he went inside.

“Fuck,” Reno whispered. His face dropped against her thigh for a moment and then he maneuvered up her body to give her a leisurely kiss. He stood up, pulling Marie to her feet. She scrambled into her jeans, zipping them with trembling fingers. “He’s pissed.”

“Why?” Marie’s gaze darted to the door. She half expected Jack to be standing there, looking out at them.

Reno’s eyes widened and he looked at Marie like she was crazy. “Why?” he repeated in disbelief.

“
Reno, get your ass in here
,” Jack shouted.

“Because he wants you, Marie. That’s why.”

“He doesn’t act like it.” Marie fought her conflicting emotions. This type of scene had been exactly what she’d wanted to avoid. And why did she feel guilty? She thought both men were attractive, but Reno had made the first move. She didn’t owe Jack anything just because he’d been kind to her. He was only doing his job, nothing more. If he had truly been interested he should have spoken up. But then, he wasn’t the type to do that. He had shown an interest in her, more than once. But he wasn’t the kind to verbalize his feelings, especially while working on an assignment.

“
Now, Reno
!”

Reno shook his head, sighing as he went to the door. “What the hell do you want?”

“You’re supposed to be protecting her, not fucking her.”

“For your information, I wasn’t fucking her. We were just fooling around.” He pointed at the screen door. “It could have been you, Jack. If you weren’t so…”

“So what? Professional?”

“Uptight. If you weren’t so fucking uptight, it could have been you.”

“We just got here, Reno. How the hell can you justify that?”

Reno gave a quick glance at Marie. “Don’t go away, we need to talk about your discipline issues.” Opening the door, he stepped inside, lowering his voice, but Marie could still hear the sympathy in his words. “She’s lonesome, Jack. She’s had a fucking stressful day. She needed to relax.”

“You fucked her because she’s lonesome, or because she needed to relax?”

Reno sighed. “I didn’t fuck her, Jack. We just…”

“I don’t want to hear it. Do what you want. She’s made her choice.”

“It’s not like that, Jack.”

“Sure as hell looked like it to me, Reno. You had your head buried between her legs and she was moaning like…”

Marie walked away, unable to listen anymore. Less than 24 hours and she’d already brought trouble to the ranch. The two men were arguing because of her. As much as she enjoyed Reno’s kisses, and the pleasure of his skillful hands and mouth, she felt like she’d let Jack down in some way.

Now, she just wanted to be alone for a little while. It had been a long day filled with painful experiences and she needed to think things through. She could still hear the angry voices of the men and blamed herself, wishing she could take it all back. Wishing she wasn’t attracted to both of them. Wishing she didn’t think it would be heaven to be a part of that little family no matter how unconventional it was.

The night offered her solitude and she took it, walking away from the ranch until she couldn’t see the house any longer. In the shadows of the pine thicket, the isolation felt right. Marie wondered if she was one of those people meant to be alone for the rest of her life. Heavy hearted, she sat down on a boulder, looking at the sky through a canopy of pine branches. The scent of pine and unfamiliar forest plants was restful and pleasing.

It seemed safe enough, she told herself, knowing Yuri couldn’t find them here, at least not for awhile. They had time to plan, time to decide how to handle Marie’s future if Yuri Yanukovich wasn’t killed. As long as he drew a breath, Marie knew the Russian would keep coming after her. Her life was pretty much fucked as she saw it for as long as Yuri Yanukovich lived.

She lost track of time as she sat thinking about her future, or the lack thereof. She thought she could have stayed all night if she hadn’t heard the stealthy padding of feet circling her in the underbrush. Marie didn’t have much experience in the wilderness, but she didn’t think an animal circling her classified as a good thing.

She didn’t know what she faced. Out here in the wilds, it could be a bear, a coyote, or maybe a wolf. She shuddered at the thought. Wolves terrified her. Ironic, she could face down an international assassin in the crowded slums of a city, but she grew close to losing it as she heard the stealthy footsteps of an animal to her hiding spot. Her panic continued to bubble inside her chest and her heart beat so fast, she thought she might pass out. Fainting would be bad, she thought.
Really bad
.

“Jack.” His name came out as nothing more than a choked whisper.

Through the trees, she watched the shadows darken and move with liquid stealth.
Oh, God!
Several shadows melted into the night.
It was a pack of wolves. She would be torn to pieces just like the two men in the story. Why hadn’t they attacked yet? If she remained frozen with fear would they still assault her? As if to answer to her unspoken question, one of the wolves snarled in a low threatening growl that sent ice through Marie’s veins.

“Jack!”

She screamed so loud, the shadows stopped moving forward, disappearing back into the thicket of trees. For good measure, Marie screamed again. Her throat muscles burned from the raw power of her shriek.

A wolf howled in the distant night and Marie leaped from the boulder, running as hard as she dared through the thick underbrush in the dim light. Tears blurred her vision as she continued to scream Jack’s name. She made it to the clearing before she heard the pounding of hooves bearing down on her and turned to see Jack galloping toward her on Ranger.

He was pushing Ranger to the limit as he ran him hard in her direction. As he drew close, Jack leaned over, scooping her off the ground with one arm, knocking the breath out of her as he pulled her up onto the saddle, settling her on his lap. Once she was secure in his arms, he gently eased back on the reins, pulling Ranger to a slow trot. The horse could sense the wolves nearby and it pranced nervously, jolting Marie against Jack with uncomfortable jerks that would have knocked her off the saddle if it hadn’t been for her clinging around his neck like a frightened child. Which was exactly what she felt like with tears leaking uncontrollably from her eyes and her heart beating much too quickly.

His large hand cupped the back of her head, pushing her into his chest, holding her tightly against him until he got Ranger slowed to a walk. “Good boy,” he encouraged the horse, turning him toward the nearby stream to let the animal get a drink of water after the long run.

“It’s okay,” he murmured into Marie’s hair. “You’re fine.”

She was trembling violently. Jack dropped the reins and put both arms around her. “They’ve gone. You’re safe. They were just curious about you.”

Marie nestled her head under his chin, feeling the stubble of a day’s beard beginning on his chin. She reached up to touch his face, running her fingers across the roughness, searching for something to bind her to normalcy.

“I’m afraid of wolves,” she confessed. “I know it’s silly, but I’d have rather faced a bear.”

Jack chuckled. “A bear, huh? Well, you don’t want to go tangling with either bears or wolves, okay? I told you to stay close.”

“I know.” Marie tilted her face up to place a kiss on the underside of his jaw, feeling the roughness of his beard stubble against the softness of her lips. “Thanks for coming for me.”

Jack tightened his grip on her and she felt a swelling in his jeans making a hard lump under her butt. She squirmed against him, trying to relieve the pressure, her heartbeat quickening for a different reason as she felt him strain against the material at her movement.

“I’ll take you back to the ranch,” he said hurriedly, the sound of his voice provocatively raw with need.

“Not yet,” Marie whispered, touching her lips to the stubble on his chin one more time. She licked her tongue across his jaw, enjoying the coarseness.

Jack swallowed, and she felt him tense as her hands began to lift the bottom of his t-shirt.

“Marie?”

“Shhh,” she murmured, running her hands over the warmth of his body under the shirt, and feeling the ripple of his muscles as they danced under the tips of her fingers.

* * * *

Jack told himself she was using him to erase the memory of the day. She needed the mindless escape of sex, and he could almost forgive Reno for giving her comfort at the ranch. Sometimes, just to feel was enough. No emotional attachment, just the physical touch of another human to chase away the thoughts. He could understand that, he’d done it more than once himself. But could he live with it this time?

Marie looked up at him. Her cinnamon colored eyes were still luminous with the aftermath of tears. Jack’s heart slammed against his chest trying to avoid the inevitable. He wasn’t going to escape this without getting hurt. He told himself he couldn’t have fallen for her this fast. But the shaking of his hands let him know he was only lying to himself.

Gathering her face in his hands, he used his thumbs to wipe away the last traces of moisture before lowering his mouth to kiss the corner of her lips. His kiss was gentle this time, tasting the salt of tears that had gathered in the corner of her rosebud mouth.

She wrapped her arms more tightly around him under the softness of his t-shirt and her hands stroked his back with encouragement. He moved his lips over her mouth, nudging her with his tongue and slipping inside as she opened for him with a sigh of enjoyment. Jack felt her body relax, melting into him. She was as pliant as a kitten when his hands found her breasts and caressed them, feeling the weight and the firm softness.

He didn’t want to wait any longer. While she placed kisses on his face and neck, he unbuttoned her shirt, opening it wide for his viewing pleasure. His breath caught when he found the center clasp of her bra and freed her breasts to the moonlight.
God, she is beautiful.

He simply stared at her for a moment, watching her nipples harden under the cool night air. Dipping his head, he flicked one taut nipple with his tongue, and she flinched with the sensitivity of a woman already aroused.

Sitting back in the saddle, he watched her face as his fingers rolled her nipples gently, playfully squeezing them between his thumbs and fingers. It was erotic to watch her eyes flicker shut as the sensation became so strong she shuddered with the joy of it, arching her back, inviting him to do more.

Jack dropped his head to take her in his mouth, sucking hard as he steadied her with a firm hand on her back. She dropped her head back against her shoulders, moaning softly as his teeth scraped across the swollen tips of her full breasts.

When he withdrew his mouth, her hands found the buckle of his belt.

“Wait.”

He pulled her into his arms and dismounted, dropping lightly to the ground like she weighed no more than a feather. He kissed her once before setting her feet on the ground so that he could pull a blanket out of one of the saddlebags. With an expert flip of his wrist, he tossed the blanket onto the grass.

“C’mere, Marie.” He held his arms out to her as he settled onto the woolen blanket. She melted into his embrace, drawing a sigh of contentment as he lowered them both to the ground.

Rolling half on top of her, Jack kissed Marie from her mouth to the rosy tips of her breasts, pulling at each nipple with a deliberate tug of his lips while his tongue rolled her against the roof of his mouth. She bucked up against him, moaning his name softly, nudging him with her hips.

Jack lifted her enough to slip her shirt off her back before he began unbuttoning her jeans. She was impatient, moving under his hands, pushing against his fingers as he combed through the tangled softness of her triangle, brushing one finger against the swollen nub of her clit.

She sucked in her breath and stiffened, wanting more, but Jack left her pussy to tug the jeans down over her hips, giving his hands freedom to roam where they pleased. When she was naked, he drew back from her, enjoying her beauty as he pulled his t-shirt over his head, tossing it down on the hat he’d set aside.

Next, he toed out of his cowboy boots and shucked his jeans, leaving him naked and ready for her touch. His cock was so hard, it hurt, pushing upward, straining with the need to thrust inside of her.

Fuck.
She held up her arms for him and his heart did a double flip of anticipation.
She is so fucking beautiful
. He hadn’t wanted a woman the way he wanted her in a very long time. It was more than her beauty. It was her spirit. She’d been devastated by Xavier’s death, but she held up and didn't make herself a burden. When she told her story, she didn’t see herself as a victim of a lonely childhood. She had inner strength that Jack admired. Not to mention the woman had sexy in spades. And here she lay with her arms upraised and her angel face waiting for his kiss.

Jack lowered himself to her, taking her mouth with his while his hand cupped her pussy, feeling the moistness of her need and the heat of her desire. His fingers traveled the seam of her body, gently pushing her apart so he could explore.

He knew the second he hit the right spot. She gasped, arching her back, shoving her hips tighter against his hand as his fingers did a slow, stroking exploration of her. She twisted and sighed, breathing out his name as her hands cupped the back of his head, drawing him into a nearly painful kiss.