Then, hearing about his past, the reason for his abrupt and hard demeanor had my heart aching for him. What he’d gone through must have been awful for him, a man so desperate for control. I understood now why he wanted it when we were together, when he’d told me the other day he wanted me to submit.
I wasn’t submitting to him like I had with Frank, with nothing in return. I was giving myself to Xander and he took that as a gift and cherished it.
I’d said I didn’t love them. I didn’t, but after Xander’s confession, I knew it would happen given time. But would they ever love me? Xander spoke of hating liars. I was one. I hadn’t told them about killing Frank. Keeping that secret was like keeping a lie, for they would never know the kind of woman they married. I was the lie. While I hadn’t tried to pin my crime on an innocent person, I’d definitely gotten away with it.
“A treat, sweetheart,” Xander repeated. His voice, while still commanding, had lost the hard edge. He was still full of intent, but it had shifted. “Not a candy or anything, although I’ll find it very sweet.”
I frowned, not sure what he meant.
“Hold up your skirt for me. More. More.”
I lifted the fabric so the bottoms of my legs were exposed. First my ankles, then my calves, then higher and higher until I knew to what he spoke.
I felt Tyler at my back as his hands cupped my breasts. Only for a moment did he squeeze and fondle them, for he moved them to work the buttons down my dress so that my breasts were revealed to their gazes, so he could play with them without the dress in the way.
Xander dropped to his knees before me when I held the fabric up around my waist, just as it had been only the day before. Instead of the unforgiving hard door at my back, I had Tyler, all rippling muscle and hot skin. Xander pushed my thighs apart, kissed the soft skin there on one side, then the other. The rasp of his beard made my skin tingle, a sharp contrast to his soft lips. He glanced up at me, his dark eyes filled with arousal and a hint of pleading. “I won’t be gentle in this, Emily, but I will pleasure you.”
Through my instant haze of arousal, I saw the kiss for what it had been. Gentle. Xander didn’t see it or even know he had it in him.
When his fingers slid inside of me as his mouth latched onto my clit, I knew he would pleasure me as he’d said. There was no question. In fact, he didn’t tease, didn’t start off slowly, but curled his fingers over a place inside of me that had my hips bucking and a gasp escaping my lips.
His tongue slid over my newly bare flesh and I had to admit it was much more sensitive. When he flicked against my clit as he sucked on it, working me up to the peak within seconds, I would never doubt them again.
When Tyler tugged on my nipples, then pinched them, I couldn’t hold back. I was so easy to arouse. I came with a breathy scream.
“Xander, yes!”
I wilted against Tyler, my breathing ragged, limp like a rag doll. I realized that my fingers were tangled in Xander’s dark hair and holding his face against my pussy.
Releasing my hold, he pulled back and glanced up at me from his intimate spot. His lips and beard gleamed with my arousal. Slowly, he slipped his fingers from me, then licked them clean.
“So sweet,” he murmured before standing, then lacing a hand behind my neck. “Taste.”
He lowered his head and kissed me, his tongue dipping into my mouth and I tasted Xander’s personal flavor, but my own as well. I was sweet and musky and the combination was heady.
“I hope you’re not hungry, for I want to get home as quickly as possible.”
Tyler grunted in reply. “We would fuck you now, baby, but I doubt Brody and Mason want to give up their office for the rest of the day.”
With awareness came embarrassment. “Oh, I’m sure they heard me. What are they going to think?”
I covered my face with my hands.
“They’ll think you have two very skilled lovers.”
I peeked between my fingers at them. They stood before me with open arousal and, when I glanced down at the front of their pants, very hard cocks. It was their grins, however, that had me pulling my hands back and laughing with them. It was amazing, the change in my mood after a husband-induced orgasm.
***
“Of course, I’m thrilled!” Tyler’s mother exclaimed when I was introduced.
We’d ridden to Helena and made good time, arriving at Tyler’s parents’ house before the sun set. Xander said it was a good halfway point to the ranch and where we would spend the night.
I knew the Bridgewater men were wealthy. I even knew Tyler and Xander had money—if it hadn’t been Xander giving Ralph fifty dollars directly from his billfold, it was the information Olivia had shared about her cousin’s ranch. But the mansion in which Tyler was raised was much more obvious. So far I’d counted three servants, all of whom Tyler knew by name.
I’d expected a stodgy older woman with a diamond-covered chip on her shoulder, but I was very wrong. Mrs. Tannenbaum was relaxed and delightful. She hugged the ever-stiff Xander and even coaxed a smile from him. Instead of eating a late meal in their formal dining room, we sat at a well-used table in the kitchen.
“I knew the two of you would find a bride together, but not this week.” She was pleased and overwhelmed with the news. “I am sorry your fathers are not here to see you. They would have stalled their meeting in Billings had they known.”