STORY EXCERPT

“I owe you an apology, Mr. Benedict.”

Jason looked up into the kindest, softest brown eyes he’d ever seen. Leesa Jordan. Grandma Kate had told him that Leesa could sometimes have a bit of a temper, but it never lasted. Here was the proof of that. Not only the words just said. There was a tenderness in her expression. In that moment, surrounded by family, in a place he didn’t understand, he knew one thing.

He didn’t deserve Leesa Jordan’s tenderness. Not one little bit of it.

Then she set a plate in front of him. On it were two very delectable-looking pastries. “These are for you.”

“You don’t owe me an apology, Miss Leesa, but thank you for it. And for the pastries. This is my best friend, and my cousin, Phillip Benedict.”

She extended her hand, and Phillip, who’d gotten to his feet, accepted her offer, taking her hand in his. Jason had risen, too, and she turned to look at him. Neither of them spoke, but when she made the same offer to him, he accepted.

“If you bring me another plate, I’ll share this bounty with my best friend.”

“I’ll see to that right away. Meanwhile, why not sit and relax? I imagine you’ve put in a long day of travel.”

Jason sat down, his gaze following Leesa as she went to the buffet and returned with a clean plate and another fork. She deftly transferred one of the pastries and set that plate down in front of Phillip.

“Your cousin Tracy makes these, and they’re usually the first things that disappear from the buffet.” Leesa met his gaze and then Phillip’s. “Enjoy your evening, gentlemen.”

As he had the first time she’d headed off, Jason followed Leesa with his eyes. She didn’t go back into the kitchen but began to stop at some of the tables and chat.

“I told you she doesn’t hold a grudge long,” Kate said. “She’s only been with us a few months, but already, she’s a part of Lusty.”

Jason didn’t know if that was a warning or simple conversation. The only thing he did know was he’d been offered an olive branch, of sorts.

A smart man would accept that, no questions asked.

I guess I need to think about how smart of a man I really am.

ADULT EXCERPT

“I find myself feeling nervous, nearly as nervous as my long-ago first time,” Jason said. “You’re so important to me. I don’t want to mess this up.” He leaned in and gave her a very sweet and far too short of a kiss, this one on her lips.

“I feel the same way.” The emotional neediness sweeping through her tempered her voice and her response. “I think this is the most naked I’ve ever been, because I’m not only opening my body to you both. I feel as if I want, and need, to open my soul, as well.” It was far too soon for words of love, and she wasn’t even certain that they’d ever come. But she could give them some words, ones that were real and honest.

“You’re both very important to me, too,” Leesa said. “Nothing about this moment, this place, for me, is casual.”

“No,” Jason said. “This is absolutely not casual.”

Did he just receive a shot of confidence, of—well, the only word that came to mind was dominance? Had he been hiding a strong dominant side this entire time?

Oh, girl, be honest with yourself. You hoped he’d have at least some.

“Stop thinking, Leesa. Just feel.”

Jason moved, his body rising from the bed until, on his hands and knees, he was able to gaze down her body. He licked his lips, and then he covered her mouth with his own and began to woo her.

His kiss, warm, wet, and wonderful, consumed her as if he consumed her, as if he would drink her down in great greedy gulps until nothing remained. Her tongue became a willing slave to his, dancing with his to music only they could hear, music hot, sultry, and sexy.

Then his lips wandered, placing kisses, gathering the flavor of her as he caressed her cheeks, her eyelids, her chin. He nuzzled her neck, and she shivered. Unable to stop the motion, her hips rolled, a long, seductive roll begging for cock.

Jason’s sounds of appreciation as he sampled her body sent those shivers into overdrive. When he licked and then suckled her right nipple, a sound emerged from her. As truly untutored in this dance as she was, she still recognized the sound of her deep, feminine need.

“So tasty.” He released her nipple then moved once more. So fast, she thought, she barely kept track of his progress as he kissed his way down her body—until she felt him open her legs and settle down between them. His hot breath as he inhaled her then slowly exhaled warm breath on her made her very conscious of just how wet she was and how much she needed him.

“You’re so damn wet for us,” he said.

“Is that good?”

“Fuck, yeah. Nothing is better for a man than seeing the proof of his woman’s need for him.”

And then she cried out as he settled his mouth on her cunt.

Lips, tongue, teeth all worked together, feasting, drinking, sending her arousal into the stratosphere. She stretched her arm down, the fingers of her right hand just barely able to comb through, to grasp Jason’s hair.

Unable to deny the instincts racing through her, she pushed her pussy into Jason’s face. Her throat worked, and her lover’s intimate kiss pulled sounds from her soul, sounds that fueled her desperate need.

Phillip used a finger to gently turn her head toward him. Leesa needed to kiss him, and it was as if he’d read her mind. His mouth took hers, and his flavor, the heat of his possession, proved to be the missing piece when she hadn’t known there was one.

He covered a breast with his hand and began to gently, firmly pinch and tug on her nipple.

Then Leesa felt fingers stroke the lips of her pussy and gently ease in. They moved, those strong male digits, as if on a mission.

Jason stroked, Phillip tugged, and Leesa felt it, the rolling fiery ball of electricity as it raced toward her.

Jason’s fingers hit something inside her, and she jerked, a strangled mewl coming from her throat. Jason chuckled then sucked her clit into his mouth, and she burst into flames.