Fox, Morgan - Discovering Temptation [Texas Stallions 1] (Siren Publishing Allure) (16 page)

Her brows sprung up. “Have sex with your brothers?” She gasped, wondering where this conversation was headed.

He nodded.

The truth might seem awful and perhaps make her appear a little promiscuous, but what would lying do? If she wanted honesty from him, then she knew she needed to be honest in return. Besides, she needed to stop being afraid of the passions that called to her. She had to stop allowing fear to keep her hidden away and trapped, unable to live her life as she so desired.

Swallowing hard, she admitted, “I’m sexually attracted to both Cooper and Hunter. I’ve tried to ignore it, even after they kissed me. I can’t help how I feel, and I can’t explain it.”

She witnessed a flash of pain and anger dance in his eyes. He started to turn away from her as if he planned to leave her side, but she gripped his arm, forcing his gaze back to her. “There’s something else you should know, Tyler, and maybe I’m setting myself up for disappointment by telling you this, but…I want more than sex from you. It’s true that I have physical desires for your brothers, but it’s nothing compared to what I want with you.”

His gaze narrowed, and he swallowed, brushing the backs of his knuckles over her cheek. “I want that, too, Abby. I want a future with you.” His voice cracked as he asked, “Can you dismiss your sexual curiosity for my brothers?”

She wanted to say yes immediately, but couldn’t. Yes, she loved Tyler and wanted a relationship with him, but she still couldn’t fully ignore her strange lustings for Cooper and Hunter.

It was her turn to glance away. “I wish I could tell you that I could, but as hard as I’ve tried to distance myself from that connection I feel with all three of you, I’ve only managed to make the need stronger.”

“I see.” There was no condemnation in his words, but it didn’t stop her from feeling its hidden force.

This time, when he moved away from her, she didn’t try to stop him. The space beside her no longer held the warmth of his body. The sudden chill had a shiver charging up and down her spine. She pulled the covers tighter over her body as she watched him sitting at the edge of her bed, his hands in his hair as he leaned his elbows on his knees.

“I’m sorry, Tyler. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but I don’t want to lie to you, either. Your brothers mean a lot to me. They’ve taken care of me, became my family, and became men I admire.”

“Men you want to fuck,” he said with a growl in his voice. She felt the sting of jealousy buzz in the air and slap her as if it had been the open side of his hand.

She sucked in a gulp of breath. The air was suddenly unable to fill her lungs. He might have sounded harsh, but he spoke the truth. “Yes, Tyler, the men I want to fuck.”

He rose to his feet, his naked body set aglow by the flickering lightning in the distance. “How can you want me and them? How does that even work? I don’t want to share you, Abby, especially with my brothers.” He spun around, arms folded over his chest. The broad stance had him seeming larger as she gazed up at him. The muscles of his back flexed as the waves of tension filled his body. She could see the strain wreaking havoc on him. She might not have been able to see his face, but she knew it would be one that would have her pulling the comforter closer around her, keeping her protected from his fury.

She didn’t fear he would strike her, he never would, she knew that, but she didn’t want to throw herself in front of a moving train, either. Better to be safe than sorry.

Tyler stalked into the bathroom and returned wearing his jeans. Looming in the doorway, he glanced over at the box that sat in front of the window. Moving with determination, he grabbed the box of her father’s letters and brought them to her.

Setting the box down between her spread legs, he reached down and ripped the comforter from around her and gripped hold of her breast, while his other hand wrapped around the nape of her neck, forcing her to face his. His mouth fell upon hers with so much passion and fury she couldn’t help but feel the excitement of his touch blazing through her body, burning her flesh. His power and aggression glided along her spine and had her humming with renewed life.

If disagreements with Tyler ended like this, she hoped he would have them with her regularly.

Breaking the kiss, his warm breath on her face, he told her, “Stop stalling and read your father’s letters. Maybe he can offer us a little insight to what we’re supposed to do next.” He kissed her again, biting her bottom lip as he eased away. “I’m going to lock down the ranch for the night, but don’t bother getting dressed. I’ll be returning to your bed this evening.” He took her mouth hard, and this time her lips felt swollen and raw from his touch. She reveled in his desires for her and appreciated that he wasn’t afraid to show her she meant something special to him.

With his shirt tossed over his shoulder and his boots in his hand, he left her room, but not before he glanced back at her for a long, heated moment. She didn’t cover herself up. She loved that his eyes seemed to possess her so thoroughly. The wild excitement of his touch and stare made her wonder what other little things she would discover about the cowboy who had won her heart and enticed her body.

* * * *

Hunter growled low in his throat as he watched his oldest brother leave Abby’s room. It was obvious by Tyler’s appearance that he’d been intimate with her again. The jealousy that had fueled inside of him earlier roared to the surface. Damn, why did his brothers have to have all the finesse and luck? Just once he wanted to beat his brothers out and not fall second or third to them. Being the youngest sometimes sucked majorly.

He wasn’t normally the kind of guy who gave up easily, but staring after his brother, knowing she’d chosen to be with him, he figured he didn’t really have any other option.

That’s the second time in one day where he spied Tyler having sex with Abby, or at least he believed that’s what they were doing. Waiting for Tyler to return from his room with a smug, satisfied grin on his face was not something he cared to see. So instead of waiting for his brothers to join him, he slapped his hat on his head, stalked to the back door and left.

The air was thick and sticky with humidity and so heavy it felt as though his lungs wouldn’t fill with breath. He glanced out into the near distance. The gloomy, gray sky appeared to be closing in specifically on the ranch. At least that’s how he felt. It might have just been an approaching storm, but it felt more like a hurricane of hellfire and winds.

Groaning in frustration, Abby’s face once again filled his mind. Shaking the thought away, he tried to focus on securing the livestock and not on how he wanted more than anything to be the one making love to her. He wanted to be the one she called out to as he caressed her body and kissed her sweet mouth.

Mounting his horse, he rode off as quickly as he could in the direction of the barn. A flash of lightning lit the darkening sky drawing his attention up. A startling pain shot through his head and neck as something hard struck the side of his face, knocking him from his horse, dropping him roughly to the ground.

Blinking back the pain that thrashed around in his head, he rolled from his chest to his back, struggling to understand what had just happened. He hadn’t fallen from his horse since he was a child. After all, he was an expert rider, and the only possible way he had managed to tumble off that horse was if something helped him. A sudden realization that someone had struck him had him swallowing hard, blinking his eyes even faster to see who was around him.

Struggling to move, his chest was tight each time he tried to inhale. His searching eyes finally found a dark figure moving closer to him, crouching down beside him. The faint outline of a broad-shouldered, towering man knelt alongside him. The shiny shimmer of silver twisted around in his hands. Hunter knew immediately that the man beside him held a blade that could easily gut a wild boar.

He swallowed the rising bile in his throat and prayed he had the strength to fight back. Staring up at the man in black, he knew it was the one who had come to hurt Abby. He wasn’t about to let anything happen to her, and he certainly wasn’t about to let anything happen to himself.

“Well, what have we here,” the gruff voice of the man in black said. “I think we have a young cowboy who’s fallen off his horse.” He chuckled. “You mustn’t be a very good rider if you can’t even stay on your saddle.”

“Who are you,” Hunter asked, his fingers digging around on the coarse ground for anything he might use to defend himself.

“Don’t you know already? I’m the man that plans to kill your precious Abby…but don’t worry, little Hunter, I plan on killing you, too.”

The blade of the taunting silver knife raised in the air directly over Hunter’s chest, just as he managed to grab a rock the size of his palm. With all his strength, and just moments before his attacker could strike, Hunter whirled all his weight and struck the man in the head with the rock, knocking him back on his ass.

Hunter scurried to his feet and charged for the barn. He knew his way around well enough to lose the man who sought to kill him. He just hoped he had enough strength to kill him first.

* * * *

Royally pissed off, Dexter rose to his feet, breathing hard, and fuming like a dragon. He spit blood from his mouth. Dragging his tongue over his teeth, he felt that a few had come loose.

Surprisingly, Hunter had managed to strike him and get away, but not for long. He was going to make the little fucker pay for what he’d done. Sure, he had already planned to gut the son of a bitch, but now he planned to make his pretty face one that no woman would ever care to stare at again. Frankenstein’s monster would be seen as a beauty queen when standing next to Hunter Boyd.

He stepped back into the shadows of the trees and made his way toward the barn. Spending days and weeks planning his attack on Paradise Ranch had given him plenty of time to make arrangements for situations like this. Now that Hunter was in the barn, his plan was moving forward as predicted. All that was missing was his other brothers. The barn was ready for detonation…a blaze of orange and golden flames would easily fill the night sky, and no amount of rain would put out the fires that were sure to rise up from the numerous accelerants he’d applied.

There was no place to hide. No place they could run to get away from him. He was going to kill them, and then the fun would truly start.

He smiled as he considered how long he’d been waiting to see Abby Blake up close and personal. She was going to be the most exquisite creature he’d ever had the pleasure of seducing, and not in the romantic sense, of course, but more along the lines of showing her all the horrors she brought upon herself.

Tracking her may have started out as a simple contract assignment, but it quickly became something more to him as he’d spent so much time observing her, getting to know her and understand her. She was a lot like him, and he intended to make every ounce of their likeness work to his advantage.

He’d enjoy breaking her down only to have her beg him to end her life. He worshiped the idea of making her suffer for being what she was, punishing her for being a spoiled and selfish whore.

Abby Blake was no different than his filthy trash of a mother.

Dexter hated women who used their bodies to get what they wanted, using a phony smile, a subtle but playful laugh and touch. He despised the damsel-in-distress routine. Everything about her was screaming for him to punish her, and punish her he would. Just like he punished and tortured to death his own mother.

Like suckers, the Boyd brothers had done exactly what she wanted them to do, but he was soon to show them what a mistake they had made. Soon he would show them who the true master of their fates really was.

* * * *

“Where’s Hunter?” Tyler asked as he returned to the living room, dressed and ready to lock down the ranch for the evening.

His mind was solely on returning to Abby as quickly as possible, as well as discussing a few things with his brothers. He knew this was going to be a conversation that had his guts knotted and his fists clenching. He had an idea about what he should do about Abby’s desires. He only hoped his brothers would understand what he was doing.

Glancing up from the stack of papers on the table, Cooper eyed his brother. “He was just here.”