His Secret

  I heard a low buzzing sound and braced myself for what came next.

  Except it didn’t touch where I’d expected it. Instead, I felt a faint vibration against the bottom of my right breast. My hands convulsed at my sides as he circled my breast with the toy, letting the unfamiliar sensations travel across my nerves. When it touched my nipple, I gasped, arching my back. My nipple hardened into a tight little nub, and a shiver ran through me. Damn, that felt amazing. How had I not tried that before?

  He repeated the process on the other side, neither of us saying a word. The only sounds I heard were my own ragged breathing and the low hum of the vibrator, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or awkward. I didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with other noise or tell him what I wanted him to do. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t touching me with his flesh. We connected in a way that I couldn’t begin to describe or understand, but it was real, and that was all that mattered at this moment in time.

  The vibration moved between my breasts, and then down my stomach and over my belly button.

  I couldn’t help it. I giggled.

  “Really?”

  He sounded amused, and I wondered if he was smiling.

  “I’m ticklish.”

  He laughed. “We won’t explore that tonight, but I’ll file it away for possible future use.”

  Future use? Did that mean tonight wasn’t a one-off?

  I filed that away for my own future examination, then sucked in a breath when the vibrator moved lower. He moved it slowly, nothing like the frantic touching before, but his goal was the same.

  He was determined to make me come.

  When the vibrator finally touched my clit, I smacked my hands against the bed. I wanted to grab him, sink my nails into those delightful muscles of his.

  But I couldn’t see him, and no matter how amazing he was making me feel, I was still aware enough to know that if I tried to touch him while I was blindfolded, I’d probably end up stabbing him in the eye or something else as equally damaging and embarrassing.

  I squirmed, wanting to get away from the overwhelming sensations but also never wanting them to stop.

  “Stop moving.”

  He didn’t raise his voice, but I froze anyway.

  Then the vibrator was gone, and his mouth latched onto one of my throbbing nipples. I let out a wordless cry as a new rush of arousal flooded me. Using his mouth, he followed the path the vibrator had taken, licking and sucking, mixing in the occasional bite. The heat that had flushed my skin turned into a fire, burning a trail that had every cell in my body screaming for more.

  By the time he reached my clit, I was already hovering on the edge. Two quick flicks with his tongue, and then he pushed two fingers inside me. My entire body jerked. There was something about not being able to see what was coming next that made it all much more intense. He curled his fingers, and I knew what he was searching for. His tongue was still moving over and around my clit when he found it.

  I’d heard the expression ‘seeing stars’ before, but I didn’t see stars when I climaxed. I saw fireworks, an explosion of colors that rocked me to my core. I’d had great orgasms in the past, but there was something deeper about this one, something more primal.

  The mattress moved underneath me, but my brain was still misfiring enough that I couldn’t quite register what was happening until it shifted again, and I knew Blake was getting back onto the bed. He took my hands and moved them up over my head, holding them in place with one hand. He moved again, the heat of his body and movement of the mattress telling me he was straddling my shoulders.

  “Open your mouth.”

  I did and felt something hot and smooth trace along my bottom lip. I darted my tongue out, tasting salt and sweat and him. He made a pleased sound and then his cock was sliding into my mouth and across my tongue. He was thick and heavy, and exactly what I’d imagined.

  He leaned over me, tightening his hold on my wrists as he moved deeper. I wanted to touch him even more now than I had before, not to stop him from making those shallow little thrusts into my mouth, but to feel his power beneath my hands, feel the way the muscles would bunch and flex.

  “Snap your fingers if it’s too much.”

  His voice was hoarse, and I knew he wasn’t going to last long. I wanted him to go in my mouth, to feel him lose control and know that I was the one who caused it. Fortunately, I loved giving oral sex, and I’d always been someone who threw herself into everything she loved.

  I did so now with enthusiasm, sucking hard as he pulled back, then using my tongue when he pushed forward. It didn’t take long before his strokes became jerky and short, the grasp on my wrists tightening to the point of pain, and then he came.

  Groaning my name.

  Seventeen

  Blake

  This was so fucking far over the line.

  When I’d gone to bed last night, I’d been okay. Brea and I had spent more than five hours having sex. By the time we’d gotten to the last round, coming had almost hurt. I’d had encounters that had lasted almost that long in the past, but this had been different. I hadn’t been able to stop touching her. Rather than the times between sex feeling like something I’d had to force myself through, I’d enjoyed them almost as much as the sex. Almost.

  She’d gone home without asking to stay, or even hinting at it, really. And then I’d showered and gone to bed. I’d slept well and woken up this morning feeling like I could handle seeing my brothers again. I’d listen to what they had to say, then they would go home, and I’d be able to get back to my life.

  Except I’d barely been finishing my breakfast when I’d gotten a text from Jax saying they were pulling into my driveway. I’d hoped for a bit more of a warning, but I wouldn’t have been able to brush that off if it hadn’t been for what happened after I’d gotten into the car they’d rented.

  “We’re going to a retreat,” Jax announced, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

  “Seriously? I thought we were going to some restaurant for an over-priced meal while we talked.”

  “We thought things would go a little easier if we were all comfortable,” Slade said.

  I glared at him. “Then we could’ve done this at my place.”

  “We wanted something neutral,” Cai said quietly.

  I folded my arms and scowled. “Figures.”

  “What does that mean?” Jax asked.

  I shrugged.

  “Talk to us, Blake,” Slade said. “That’s why we’re here.”

  I barked a laugh that didn’t sound anything like the laugh that came from my mouth when I was with Brea. “You want me to talk to you, but you just went and decided what we were doing without bothering to ask me.”

  All three of them looked like they had no clue what I was talking about, but that didn’t surprise me. They’d always been that way, making decisions and expecting me to tag along.

  Then we were turning, and I found something else to distract me from my brothers treating me like a little kid. The only turn this close to my place was the driveway next door.

  Shit. The retreat next door.

  “You booked the retreat that’s literally next door to my place.”

  “Was that a bad thing?” Slade asked.

  I glared at him.

  “I thought it was convenient,” Jax said. “The guy who’s opening it, his family used to move in the same circles as Grandfather. I happened to mention to someone that I was interested in booking a retreat, and they recommended I contact Kevin and Blair.”

  “Fucking nightmare,” I muttered.

  “It’s not that bad,” Slade said. “We figured you’d be more comfortable somewhere close to home.”

  I would’ve told them that if they knew me at all, they would’ve known exactly how shitty their idea was, but I’d learned a long time ago that it didn’t do any good. They’d see me the way they wanted to see me, project all their personal shit onto me just like they always did.

  “Let’s check it o
ut,” Slade said. “It can’t be that bad, right?”

  Leave it to Slade to try to smooth things over. He’d been doing that for as long as I could remember, trying to ease tension between all of us.

  I followed them inside because I knew if I kept arguing, it’d only delay the inevitable. Hopefully, once my brothers met Kevin and Blair, they’d realize they didn’t want to be here either, and we could go our separate ways. If they pushed it, I’d let them say what they felt they needed to say, then I’d go home.

  I hadn’t been here before, but it was a nice ranch. Too bad it was going to bring a ton of people here, and then they’d end up wandering onto my property.

  Slade kept talking as we walked into the retreat, and I finally noticed that he seemed…happier. Like for real, happy rather than the forced charm I’d seen so much of growing up. Something had changed. Considering all three of my brothers were here, I suspected it wasn’t only Slade who had something new going on.

  All of that flew out of my head, however, when Kevin and Blair came in, both beaming. They weren’t the reason my stomach was knotting. That honor belonged to the dark-haired woman behind them.

  Brea.

  She looked as startled as I felt but recovered quicker. My brain was still scrambling when she started moving toward me.

  “What the–” What I was going to say cut off when she grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side. I could feel the others watching me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Now that the shock was wearing off, I was getting pissed.

  “You’re my parents’ first group?” She kept her voice down, but it didn’t take away from the intensity I could see on her face. “A little warning would’ve been nice.”

  “Are you fucking with me?” I lowered my voice too, but that was more because I didn’t want my brothers knowing what was going on.

  How could I have been such an idiot, to think that someone like Brea would just show up out of the blue and want to be with me?

  “Why didn’t you tell me they were your parents?”

  “I assumed you figured it out when they told me they’d met you. Kevin and I have the same last name, and I was on their property when we first met.”

  I briefly registered that she called her father by his first name, but that wasn’t important. I was so stupid. How could I have missed it? I should have known even if Kevin hadn’t given me his last name when we’d first met.

  A horrible thought hit me.

  “Did they ask you to come over and seduce me to smooth things over about the retreat?”

  Her eyes widened, and I caught a flash of hurt before her face went blank.

  “If that’s what you think of me, then it must be true.” She gave me a brittle smile. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to open my shop. Don’t bother checking it out. It’s the same goofy stuff I sell in town. Nothing to interest you.”

  She walked away, and I let her. A heavy hand on my shoulder reminded me that I wasn’t alone.

  “Nice to see you’re charming the ladies same as always.” Slade grinned at me, but there was something in his eyes that looked a lot like concern. “Come on. We’re not here to get laid. Let’s check out our suite.”

  No, I could with certainty say, I wasn’t going to be getting laid any time soon.

  Eighteen

  Brea

  I hadn’t paid much attention to the direction I’d gone to get away from Blake, so I was in the kitchen before I realized that I had to go the other way to get to my shop. I was stuck now. I couldn’t go back through there and see him again. Not until I had myself under control.

  My pulse raced, and I could taste the sour tang of adrenaline on the back of my tongue. It had dumped into my body the moment I’d seen Blake and realized that he was one of the brothers who would be spending the weekend here. I hadn’t even known he had brothers.

  Because we weren’t a couple. Had never been a couple. We’d had one date and a lot of sex. That was it. That’s all we were to each other. It was my own fault for placing more importance on what we’d been doing than I should have.

  Not a mistake I’d make again.

  Even though I didn’t necessarily need tea, I could use a cup. I went to the cabinet where I’d stored my tea and took out my favorite mint blend. The motions should’ve been comforting, but even they couldn’t quiet the chaos my mind had become.

  While I waited for the water to boil, I took my cell phone out and called the shop. It was only Lamb’s second time at the store by herself. She could need me to come back for something. My parents had agreed that what I did here wouldn’t hurt my store in town, which meant I could leave if I had to.

  “Grow ‘n Heal, Lamb Woodall speaking.”

  Better than when I’d called yesterday. She’d stumbled over the words until she’d barely been able to speak. I’d tried to tell her that she needed to relax, that I’d rather she simply answered with a ‘hello’ if she couldn’t get the whole thing out, but she’d insisted that she could do it.

  “Hi,” I said, wincing at how falsely bright my voice sounded. “It’s Brea.”

  “Hi!” She somehow managed to sound happy and nervous at the same time. “Did I get it right?”

  “You did,” I said. “How are things going?”

  “I sold some tea and willow bark to a couple tourists a few minutes ago.”

  “Tourists? Rawlins doesn’t get tourists.”

  “That’s what I said.” She laughed. “And do you know what they said? ‘Well, it was Grandma’s turn to throw the dart, and she was aiming for Vancouver.’”

  I opened my mouth, but there was nothing I could say to that. Could anyone have said, anything to that?

  “Apparently, three weeks ago, this family of five piled into an RV, put a giant map of North America on a wall and chose where to go by throwing darts at it. Each person had a chance to throw one, and then they’d drive to wherever that was.”

  Any other day, that story would have delighted me. I would’ve been laughing about it for days, telling my parents about it, daydreaming about doing something similar for vacation someday. Right now, however, I was laughing, but my heart wasn’t in it. I couldn’t quit thinking about what had happened with Blake.

  The asshole.

  No. I couldn’t go there. He’d handled things badly, but it wasn’t all on him. If I’d truly been thinking of my time with him as having fun without expectations, I wouldn’t have been so hurt when he’d gone off on me earlier. I could’ve just written it off as him behaving like a child and left it at that. He’d go back to his life, and I’d go back to mine. We’d spent plenty of time in the same town without running into each other. We could do it again.

  We would do it again because I was going to make sure that I didn’t waste another second of my time and energy on Blake Hunter.

  Nineteen

  Blake

  If anything could’ve made me more pissed at my brothers, it was watching Brea walk away and feeling guilty about it. I didn’t have any reason to feel guilty. I hadn’t done anything wrong. She should have told me that her parents were the crazy people next door. The fact that she hadn’t, made me think she was hiding something. If it wasn’t about her parents and the retreat, it was about something else, and I didn’t need that shit.

  “Not bad,” Jax said as he came out of the bedroom he’d claimed. “But there are only two bathrooms for the four of us, so we’re sharing.”

  “It can’t be as bad as sharing one with a curious four-year-old,” Slade said, shaking his head. “At least none of you will peek at me while I’m in the shower and ask me if your penis will grow to be like mine.”

  That statement pretty much stopped everyone in the room.

  He grinned. “My girlfriend has custody of her four-year-old brother. I love the kid to death, but that question threw me for a loop.”

  “Your what?” I stared at him.

  “Girlfriend.” He sat down on the couch and kicked his feet up on the table in front of him. ??
?Cheyenne Lamont. Austin’s the kid. You’ll love them.”

  I’d intended to spend the next few hours pretending to listen to them while they said whatever the hell it was they felt like they needed to say, and then I’d go home. Trying was more than I usually did anyway.

  Except Slade had a girlfriend with a brother who was a kid and he was around enough that he’d shared a bathroom with them. And he was acting like I was going to meet them. I hadn’t met any of Slade’s girlfriends since Lizann. Hell, I didn’t even know if he’d had girlfriends since Lizann.

  “I know, I know,” Slade said. “Me with a kid. I never would’ve thought it either. I mean, I never had anything against kids, but I hadn’t exactly been thinking about having a ready-made family.”

  A sharp stab of something went through me, and Brea’s face flashed through my mind. “And now you are?”

  The smile that settled on my brother’s face was different from the ones I’d seen before. It was softer, somehow, but not weaker. “Yes.”

  I glanced at Jax and Cai, both of whom had taken seats in the empty chairs across from Slade and me. They looked different too. What the hell was going on with them?

  “I know what you mean,” Jax said. “I never even considered settling down, but when I met Syll, I knew she had to be mine.”

  “And now you’re engaged,” Slade said.

  Jax nodded. “I didn’t see any point in waiting to ask. You know how it is. You see something you want and delaying the inevitable is pointless.”

  “You do have to admit what you want first,” Cai said, the corner of his mouth curving up.

  “I think all of us have learned that over the last few months,” Jax said ruefully.

  “How are things going with the move?” Slade asked Cai.

  “Good,” Cai said. “We’d thought about just getting someplace small to start, but after talking about it, Addison and I decided to wait until we found somewhere perfect.”