Page 79 of Recurve Ridge

It served to highlight my earlier doubts about my own loyalty to Robe, and my—at the time—ridiculous attraction to Jon. As I leaned back into him, letting the large blond man’s roughened touch glide over my body, the thought no longer offered the same level of guilt.

My head cleared along with my heart. Did I want this? I turned my face to rub my cheek against Jon’s semi-bare chest where his shirt hung to the sides of his body, testing my theory.

The big man’s heart beat a little faster than I expected. I arched, pressing against hot skin. He removed his open shirt one-handed over his head, leaving his chest smooth with a smattering of fine golden hair over his heart. I hadn’t noticed, caught up in my own thoughts and the way his hands caressed me in an intimate, loving touch.

Lost in them both.

Robe held a charismatic power over everyone, and I was no exception. The intimacy turned up another notch, though, when Robe’s and Jon’s fingers interlocked around my body. My breath shortened as I overheated in an instant. The thick ridge of Jon’s denim-covered cock pressed into my lower back. I rubbed myself shamelessly against him, heady with their dual attention.

I discovered I had fallen in love with Robe, and now I was having a reaction to his best friend… the best friend welcome in Robe’s bed—and mine.

Too many hands—but not the wrong sort. Not the sort frombefore, clinging and twisting. I’d asked Robe to provide me with new memories to banish the old, and he was rising to that challenge. An untempered stillness filled the room, bringing with it the potential for chaos, raising the tension being built between us all too fast.

Jon shifted behind me to provide stability. As he rocked me back onto him, his erection pressed against my ass through his jeans, and the mad thought of what it would be like to take them both at once flitted through my mind. If he let me go, I might have swooned.

Jon drew damp hair back from my neck and grazed his fingers over my shoulders. “Tell her, Robe.”

“I’m scared of damaging you. That I’ll tear you worse than they did.” Robe’s voice broke.

I froze. Not at his words, but at the brutal honesty he displayed as he exchanged a glance with Jon over my head. I was no more than an object pinned between two men whose closeness meant far more than a few impassioned moments between a man and the girl he wanted to fuck.

“You won’t. We’ll go slow. Together.” Jon stroked my stomach in long, soothing caresses. His fingers passed my face to touch Robe’s cheek in a tender, sweet gesture, leaving me suddenly certain of the nature of their relationship. Jon leaned forward, his lips brushing my hair. “Don’t be scared of him, Mari. He’ll give you the most wonderful loving you’ll ever have.”

Desire shot through my body as my gaze connected with Robe’s. His lit an insatiable craving within me. Though I understood his fear, I wanted to do the best I could to give him new memories too.

I let Jon tilt my head back to look into my eyes. The warmth and understanding I found there left me high on the sensation of being safe in the arms of two men I knew who, without a single seed of doubt, would protect me—wouldkillfor me.

Two pairs of welcome hands roamed my body, removing the damage done there with each sweet, sensuous caress, begging off old memories, creating new ones to cherish. Together these men succeeded where everyone else had failed in breaking down the poor barriers I’d erected to protect myself, my heart, my mind.

And willingly, I gave all three.

19

ROBE

Mari’s headdropped back onto Jon’s shoulder in a stunning display of surrender. Heavy eyes dozy, swollen lips parted, she looked nothing more than delectable and nothing less than a treat to be devoured.

But, by a God who no longer spoke to me, she meant so much more than a moment’s sweet satisfaction.

I love her.

Pressure built in my chest until I choked on it. Jon’s gaze flicked once to mine. When I nodded, a single violent jerk of my head, he dipped his mouth to hers and kissed her.

Her reaction to him was instantaneous. Winding her arms backward around his neck, she arched to allow him to deepen the kiss. Mari gushed hot and wet, coating my cock in her arousal as I pressed against her entrance, teasing us both.

A bolt of pure lust sluiced through me as I watched them together. The cutest flush spread from the slender column of her throat over her chest, tracing pale pink flames to the tips of her lush breasts.

She moaned into his mouth, a languorous, blissed-out sound I craved. Her thighs relaxed around me, her needy scent permeating my skin. I could almosttasteher desire, for fuck’s sake. And when I could have drowned in jealousy, I took in her heady, sweet scent and let it flow over me, heightening my own arousal.

I slid my fingers between us, tracing over the soft curve of her toned abdomen from the hard work she’d put in dancing with Alan when she thought I hadn’t noticed, from the hours letting Miller knock her on her ass until she could do the same to me. Strength emanated from within her. Pure determination when she fought—sweet surrender when she let go. I hadn’t broken her, and she was ready. My fingertips were glossed with her slick need as I stroked the tender flesh I tortured in my desperation for her.

She bucked at my touch. Jon palmed her stomach, pinning her flat to his body as she rocked against my fingers spearing into her sweet flesh. A moan ripped between her and Jon, filling my ears with a roar that refused to die. I spread my fingers wide inside her, preparing her.

“Let me stretch you, sweetheart. I don’t want to hurt you. Not like that.”

She nodded once, her eyes wide as she pulsed her hands in a death grip on Jon’s forearm. Her fingers didn’t quite close all the way around the muscle there.

I grinned, sliding her pale thighs over my shoulders and bracing them there. Soft breaths came faster as I grazed the roughened patch of scarred skin that drew heady moans from her with every touch. My lips tingled, and I leaned forward to latch on to the tight bud of her nipple, teasing the peak with flicks of my tongue, working her with my other hand.

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