A Wicked Woman (Mail Order Bride of Slate Springs 3)

***

Knox

“Where are you going?” I asked.

She was halfway up the stairs to the second floor of our house when she turned back at my words. For once, she was taller than both of us.

“I assume you want to bed me.” She pointed up. “I assume the beds are up here?”

My cock came to attention at her words, but I frowned at their casualness.

I leaned on the newel post. “They are, but we don’t need a bed to take you.”

One brow arched, then a little V formed in her brow.

“Don’t think so hard. We’ll show you,” Jed said, holding out his hand.

“We want to bed you, sweets, no question, but we want you begging for it, not treating it like a transaction at the bank.”

I saw her cheeks flush and she looked down at the worn steps. We’d purchased the house from an older couple who moved to Golden to be closer to family. It had seen five children grow and while it was too big for Jed and me, it had been the only house available at the time. Now, it seemed fortuitous since we now had a wife. Soon, children would come.

That thought had my cock swelling further. I had to will it down because Eve had no notion of how it should be like between us. I wanted her hot and wet, panting and literally begging for my cock. She’d only do that when she was aroused, soft and swollen after coming a few times.

While I knew she was attracted to us, we were strangers. As a good girl, she wouldn’t just give over, no matter the passion simmering beneath that prim surface. It would take coaxing. Lots of coaxing. My cock didn’t need any, but she needed to know we found her appealing, desirable. Fuckable. She also needed to know she wasn’t just a quick tumble. If we’d wanted that, we’d have steered clear of her entirely and made our way to the Frightful Fawn, Jasper’s sole brothel.

“Oh,” she murmured. I saw her knuckles turn white where she grasped the bannister.

I crooked my finger and she came down a few steps so we were eye level. Reaching up, I tugged at a loose curl. “Your hair, it doesn’t like being pinned up, does it?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s impossible.”

Tilting my head, I took in her clear green eyes behind her glasses, her pert nose, the hint of freckles across it, the full bottom lip that was so damn kissable. Her wild hair that fluffed about her head like a halo. Stroking her cheek with my knuckles, I took hold of her nape, found the hard press of a hairpin, pulled it free. One after another, I let them fall to the steps until she had a long mass of curls down her back.

Jed grunted behind me. While it could have meant anything, I knew he liked the unbidden, untamed look of her with her hair down. This was the first glimpse of the real Eve, her well maintained facade lowering, one pin at a time.

She stood as still as a statue, but I could see the thrum of her heartbeat at her neck and I couldn’t miss the quick rise and fall of her breasts as her breaths quickened.

“I’m going to kiss you.”

I didn’t want her panicking from my lips brushing hers. It didn’t bode well if she feared even that, so I offered her the opportunity to say no, or at least to prepare herself. It wasn’t something she’d done before an hour ago and until Jed and I accustomed her to kissing and kissing often, there was no doubt her mind would make her question herself.

Meet, marry and bed two men within hours of meeting? It was quite the struggle to surpass for a virgin.

When I leaned in and touched my mouth to hers, it wasn’t a startle I felt, but a shiver, a frisson of arousal. I was gentle, just the slightest of contacts, kissing from one side of her mouth to the other, learning the feel of her. When her palms settled on my chest, so small yet warm and soft, I deepened the kiss. My tongue flicked over her lower lip and she gasped. When her mouth opened, I angled my head, cupped her jaw with one hand and boldly tasted her.

Coffee and whiskey and the subtle flavor that was just hers beneath.

Her hands tightened on my shirt as I plundered. She wasn’t retreating. She wasn’t pushing away. No, she was melting. Before her legs gave out, I wrapped an arm about her waist, pulling her into me. Our bodies were aligned and I felt every soft inch of her. When she gasped against my mouth once more, I knew she felt every hard inch of me, especially my cock pressing against the juncture of her thighs.

Turning, I continued to kiss her as I pressed her into the wall at the base of the stairs, one hand sliding beneath her ass to hold her up.

I wanted to keep kissing her, but I heard Jed clear his throat.

Pulling back—it took quite of bit of effort on my part, for I had never shared a woman before—I set Eve back on her feet, stroked a thumb over her wet, swollen lower lip. Her eyes were closed, her glasses slightly skewed, her cheeks flushed.

Oh, yes, she wasn’t immune. Thank fuck.

I stepped back when Jed put a hand on her hip to steady her. He looked to me and I gave him a curt nod. While he didn’t need my permission to kiss her, this was new territory for us. We shared, but never a woman. Leaning against the newel post again, I watched my brother kiss Eve. When little whimpers came from her, I had to shift my cock, forcing a hiss through my teeth. My balls ached and I wasn’t sure if I was going to last.