Takin' the Reins (The Sterling Brothers #2) (2 page)

Chapter Three

Lexi didn’t understand why she was so nervous.

Yes, you do.

Okay, so maybe she did, but that didn’t mean she had to show it on the outside, right? The fact she was standing beside Jace Sterling, one of the infamous brothers in Granite, had every part of her running high. The Sterling brothers had gotten their notorious reputation because they were known to go through women like days of the week. But they didn’t come off as assholes or bastards. They were respected in the town, to a point. The older generation of Granite residents didn’t care for the “man-whore” rumors that circulated around about the Sterlings, but she knew a lot of people turned a blind eye when it came to believing bad things about the brothers. They worked hard, were assets in the town, and after their parents died they’d stepped up.

But even if she’d come to Granite to see her family off and on in the last four years, she hadn’t seen any of the Sterling brothers, nor heard any new things about them.

She breathed in heavily as she continued to feel his gaze on her.

Come on, Sully.

She turned her head and looked over her shoulder. Alexandra and the other women were laughing, talking loudly, and making a scene. But Lexi smiled. This bar was all about making scenes, and maybe that’s why she tended to stay away.

“I’ll have one of the girls bring the drinks over, Lexi,” Sully said and gave her a shot. “But this one is on the house.”

She didn’t need to drink anything hard, but she wasn’t going to pass it up either. “Thanks,” she said, smiled, and took the shot glass.

“Bottoms up.”

She looked over at Jace after he spoke, knowing her face was red, but unable to control herself. But she took that shot, needing the liquid courage right now because she felt like she was about to fall over the ledge.

He made her nervous, plain and simple. Of course, it wasn’t just that he was gorgeous, muscular, or that the corner of his mouth lifting into a smile had the most intimate parts of her clenching. No, it was the fact for as long as she could remember she’d lusted after him. She could remember when she was just twelve years old and seeing him and his brothers in town. He’d been so much older than she was, in his twenties, but she’d seen him as some kind of god. He was confident, sure of his surroundings, and that made her drawn to him. Of course, at twelve, she hadn’t found him sexually attractive, but more like an idol, a man she wanted to marry for the sole purpose that he was this “hero” in town. At least she’d seen him as such.

And as the years passed and she grew, those innocent feelings morphed into something stronger, more carnal. They’d never even spoken in all the time she’d lived in Granite, and as much as she’d like to think he’d looked her way, or noticed her, she knew he hadn’t. She was as plain as they came, and the women the Sterling brothers went after were bombshells.

Lexi could be considered overweight, although she liked to call her curvy, size sixteen frame voluptuous and womanly.

She pushed the shot glass away, breathing through the burn.

“I bet that put hair on your chest,” Jace said, and she wiped away the water that started to form in the corners of her eyes. Yeah, she didn’t do hard liquor, and clearly couldn’t even handle one shot.

“I’m good.” She did look at him then, took in his blue eyes, the way his hair was short and messy around his head. He wore a button down shirt that was rolled up his forearms, showing the vein-roped and tanned flesh. He was bigger than he used to be, more muscular, the sinew and tendons pronounced.

“You left Granite for school?” he asked.

She nodded. “How did you know?”

He tipped his chin toward Sully, who was busy talking to one of the customers. “Sully and me go way back. He likes to talk.” Jace grinned, a flash of straight white teeth showing.

“Yeah, Sully definitely likes to talk.” She smiled and shook her head. Sully was older than she was, as well, but he’d lived on the same street as she did, and helped her parents out to make extra money. She’d seen Sully a lot, whether he’d been helping her dad paint the house, or helping her mom with the garden.

“I’ve seen you in town, well, before you left.”

Her heart picked up a beat when Jace spoke. “You remember me?” Lexi hadn’t meant to say anything out loud, but the words were there, out in the open, and she couldn’t take them back. Lexi also couldn’t help the flush that stole over her, the happiness that Jace had noticed her.

You’re being a fool. He saw you, that’s all. You lived in the same town.

“Lexi, what in the hell are you doing?”

Lexi turned and looked at Alexandra and the other women, all of them holding their drinks the waitress just brought over, and looking drunker than ever. She was glad Alex was having a good time. She deserved it. And here Lexi was, thinking about Jace in a way that would never happen.

“It was nice talking to you.”

God, did I really just say that? We weren’t even talking about anything of importance.

She turned and left, feeling her face heat so bad it was like it was on fire. Alex and the other girls greeted her, and for the rest of the night she tried not to think about Jace only a few feet from her, or the fact she still felt his gaze on her.

****

Lexi was intoxicated, but it felt good, freeing. The only thing she needed to worry about was getting into her parents’ house without looking like a stumbling drunk. They’d stayed at Dickie’s for a few hours, but by the time they left the bar was clearing out and last call was being shouted by Sully. She’d noticed Colton and Jace walking to their car, a woman hanging from Colton. This giddy part of her was happy Jace didn’t seem to have a woman with him, but then again Colton and Jace were wild enough that she didn’t put it past them to share.

When she’d left Granite she’d focused on her education. There had been a few guys she’d dated over the last four years, one that had just been a fling, and another that had been more serious. But things hadn’t worked out between them, they’d gone their separate ways, and she focused on her degree harder than ever. But here she was, back in Granite, working in a town that she hadn’t thought she’d grow old in because she’d only ever seen herself leaving for the “big city”.

Yeah, well look at you now.

She heard the car, which had dropped her off, leave. She’d been the last one to be taken home, but that was fine because she’d had a few minutes to herself, not having to listen to the chatter or excited screaming about the wedding. She was excited about Alex getting married, but Lexi had also been sort of an introvert. She’d never partied as hard as she had tonight, and she knew she’d be paying for it in the morning.

Getting her keys out and opening the front door was a little harder than it should have been. But when she finally got it the front door opened and she looked up to see her father standing there. Her father, Braxton, was a big man. He used to play football when he was in high school, but her father had fallen in love with her mother and the rest was history. That was the story her parents told her all the time, and their love was one that should have been written in romance novels, and a love Lexi hoped to find one day.

“You’re drunk,” her father said in his deep baritone voice.

“Yup,” was all she said and stepped inside. This was another reason why she really needed her own place.

“Did you girls have a good time?” Her dad shut the door, and although they were grown women, he always called them “girls”, like they were still those teenagers running around giggling about boys.

“We did. Drank too much.” She shrugged. “It was fun.”

She sat on the couch, feeling dizzy, the room spinning.

              “Braxton, leave the poor girl alone,” her mother’s voice came from behind her, and Lexi looked over her shoulder at her mom.

Her mother and dad had gotten a lot of shit when they started dating. Her father, being of African descent, had dark skin, and her mother was half Norwegian and had a pale skin tone and blue eyes. They’d gotten grief at first because they dated outside of their race. It was ridiculous, and despite the prejudice they both saw from all ends, they stayed together and were happier than ever. Lexi knew that was why they’d moved to Granite. They’d done it to escape all the shit. She’d never actually sat down and asked them about it all, knowing it was hard for her mother to bring that up, but from the stories they told her, how people would be cruel, say things to them as they walked down the street holding hands, and the other disgusting displays of ignorance they experienced, Lexi had put the pieces together and could guess on how they were treated.

“Sienna, I am not about to have my daughter come walking in at all hours of the night drunker than hell.”

Her mother scoffed, and Lexi leaned back on the couch fully, knowing it wasn’t funny, but smiling anyway.

“She’s fine, had someone drive her home, and she’s a grown adult.” Her mom came into the living room and grabbed Lexi’s father’s hand. “Come on, Braxton, let’s get back to bed. I’m sure having her parents harping on her is bringing down her buzz.”

Lexi couldn’t help it. She laughed. Hearing her mother say that, at this moment, was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. “Bringing down my buzz?” Lexi looked at her parents and smiled. “I’m fine, really.” Her father still looked stern and determined to scold her, like she was a little girl still. But she loved him for being so protective, for wanting to make sure she was safe. They were all she had, and Lexi was their only child. It had always been them against the world.

“Okay,” her father finally sighed out the word. He walked over and gave her a kiss on the head, and once Lexi was alone again she exhaled roughly. Ever since she’d left Jace at the bar he’d been on her mind. He’d watched her the entire time, his intense focus trained right on her. As it was that gaze alone had her feeling like he was actually reaching out and touching her, like he was pulling her close and forcing her to feel the things she’d buried deep.

Scrubbing a hand over her face, she stared at the ceiling. She could hear the muffled words of her parents talking in their bedroom. Lexi was confused, lost, in a way, and not sure how to push out of the way these emotions she had for Jace. It shouldn’t matter want she wanted to have with him, or more realistically, what she wanted to experience for one night. She knew he’d never give her the time of day, and she should be happy about that. Lexi didn’t want to just be another notch in his bedpost, and she knew if she gave in to her carnal desire, that’s exactly what she’d be.

****

Jace watched Colton stumble up the steps of his porch, and finally, after several minutes of trying to get in the house, all but fall inside. The woman he had with him was just as much the worse for wear, and Jace had a pretty good feeling that within the next half hour both would be passed out with their clothes still on. Jace could have stopped his brother from drinking so much, but they’d been busting their asses on the farm, and relaxing and helping the stress go away with some extracurricular activities was what they deserved.

He pulled away from Colton’s house and made his way to his. Once there he cut the engine, sat there for a second just staring at the house, and finally climbed out. His dick was hard because Lexi had been on his mind all fucking night. He didn’t know if he would have tried to get her in bed, but a part of him hadn’t been concerned about that. He hadn’t been focused on trying to get between her thighs because
she
fascinated him. Of course, there was no mistake that he wanted her like a fucking fiend, but he wanted to get to know her, and that was something he’d never cared about doing with a woman before.

Once inside he took off his shirt and tossed it in the laundry room. He smelled like beer and cigarette smoke thanks to the woman Colton brought back with him. Palming himself through his jeans, Jace felt like a damn teenager for what he was about to do. But he didn’t have a woman here—and in fact didn’t want one unless it was Lexi—so jerking off was the next best thing.

It’s the only option, you asshole.

Yeah, he wasn’t ashamed to jerk off thinking about Lexi, and in fact was getting harder just picturing what he’d do to her. He went into the bathroom, turned on the shower, and got undressed. Grabbing hold of his dick, he stroked himself for a few times, the pleasure already mounting. He wouldn’t last at this rate, and especially not with the filthy fucking images moving through his mind.

He thought about Lexi in that white dress, at the way her skin looked so soft, at the fact she smelled so damn good. Closing his eyes and groaning, he started to stroke himself faster, applying more pressure to his cock.

Her ass was perfectly curved, big and round, and so fuckable.

Yeah, I’d fuck her ass so good, make her know who she was with. She’d never forget being with me.

Her tits were perfect, her nipples slightly hard and pressing against the material. A harsh groan was ripped from him as the images in his head got dirtier. Jace could imagine tearing off her clothes, spreading her out on his bed, and mouth fucking her pussy until she came all over his face. He’d spread her pussy lips wide, feast on her even after she got off, and make her come again and again.

“Fuck,” he wheezed out, his balls drawing up as the pleasure heightened.