Stormbound (3 page)

Facing into the wind, Levi laughed. “Free. Doing whatever we want to.”

“More like what we
need
to.”

The way Levi stared at him, Briant believed his friend understood what he was trying to say. All their lives, they’d done right, sensible, and legal things. He couldn’t explain why they’d come to the same realization at the same time that those things no longer mattered.

“Maybe we need to get laid,” he heard himself say. “A little satisfaction, and we’ll be back to normal.”

“I can’t argue with the sex part, but I don’t think that’s all there is to it. Maybe…”

“Maybe what?”

By way of answer, if that was what Levi was doing, he looked skyward. Snowflakes started plastering his face. Wanting what Levi was experiencing, Briant did the same. Even off balance, he couldn’t make himself move. The weather was all around him, a blanket, full of challenge and promise, wild.

Turning him hungry for a thousand things, one predominant.

The longer he presented his face to snow and wind, the more connected he felt not just to the storm but to his body. It wanted, needed. Craved.

“I’m tired of me,” Levi said. “I want to be someone I’ve never been.”

Me too.
“Who?”

“I’m not sure. Primitive. Yeah, primitive.”

“Like an elk in rut.”

When Levi didn’t respond, Briant stopped studying the snow kaleidoscope and again focused on his friend. Levi’s head and shoulders looked like he had a world-class case of dandruff, but that wasn’t what caught Brant’s attention. Levi seemed both older and younger than he had this morning. He stood taller, and his shoulders were back as if he were ready to tackle the whole damn world.

“Yes,” Levi said at length. “Rut time.”

Nothing else.

Making sex everything.

SEX WAS HIGHLY overrated. Okay, the moment when everything turned red and her body shook was pretty damn good, but the truth was, she didn’t understand what all the excitement was about. Foreplay—well, to her way of thinking, that was a lot of work and time to spend in order to reach the red-world moment. Making sure a man got what he needed could be a royal pain, especially since she couldn’t read his mind. If he’d tell her how to handle his various body parts, maybe she’d approach her role with confidence. So far, that hadn’t happened.

The front door opened, and cold galloped in. Seeing Briant and Levi standing there, she understood why she’d been mulling over the things she had. Damn, double damn hot! A nod, a pig-simple word from her, and they’d be all over her, ripping off clothes and pawing and fucking her until the top of her head exploded.

Oh holy wonderful crap!

It was going to be the three of them until the weather let up and the rest of the crew could be flown back in. Not a soul in the outside world cared what happened in here.

Briant closed the door behind him, but although he must be chilled to the proverbial bone, he made no move to head for heat. Neither did Levi. Instead, they looked at her as if they’d never laid eyes on her before—either that, or they’d never seen her in this light.

That cut both ways.

Every inch of her skin felt alive. There wasn’t a molecule of her being that hadn’t connected with the two men. In a vague way, she knew the storm had a lot to do with it. The elements had wrapped around her and brought her to life in ways she’d never experienced.

“If you could do anything you wanted,” Briant said, “what would it be?”

To fuck both of you.
“That’s a crazy question.”

Levi shrugged. “Maybe. That’s what we were talking about out there.”

Their faces were storm-reddened, and Levi had goose bumps on his strong, still-tanned forearms. Beneath their jeans, two erect cocks demanded her attention. Neither man made a move to shield his arousal from her. Her belly contracted.

“I don’t fantasize,” she came up with. “What’s the point? The world’s what it is.”

“That’s sad.” Leaving Levi to lean against the door, Briant approached her—stalked her, really. He stopped when he was only a couple of feet away. “You mean the whole time you’ve been alive, you’ve never considered doing something and damn the consequences or logistics?”

“A few times.” Coolness radiated off him, yet the heat at his core called to her.

“What kind of things?”

Getting down and dirty. Just getting.
“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does.”

She’d been so intent on Briant, she hadn’t noticed that Levi had joined them. Added his cold/heat to the air. “Why?”

“Because today’s about the truth,” Levi said. He swept his hand over the bulge in his jeans. A heartbeat later, Briant did the same.

The men didn’t have to do what they had for her to get the message. A small part of her brain insisted they weren’t having this conversation and doing these things, but she silenced it. She needed every word and gesture.

Before she could decide how to handle what she’d just learned about herself, the picture window shuddered. No matter how much she was drawn to the men—and hell yes, she was—she couldn’t ignore the storm’s call. With every step she took toward the glass, her legs felt stronger.

The clouds had let go. There was nothing restrained about what was going on out there. Nature had a statement to make about strength. Snow obliterated all but the barest outlines of the largest trees. The river no longer existed. With each windblast, she wondered if the building would survive the attack.

Good! Let nature attack! She’d applaud its power, worship its awesomeness. Become part of it.

Infused with the elements’ might, she faced the men. The world beyond the lodge had evaporated, disappeared. There was only male energy and female need. Wanting. “The truth,” she whispered, “lies in this room.”

Something he’d never felt before slithered through Levi. He was changing in some undefinable way, becoming different. Maybe dangerous.

“Let me get something straight.” Stepping into her space, he wrapped his fingers around her arms with enough strength that she couldn’t get away. “Are you saying you’re into threesomes?”

Her nostrils flared as she looked at what he’d done. “I don’t know. I’ve never been there.”

Neither have I.
Keeping her so close wasn’t a good idea, but his cock needed to feel her warmth, and his veins fed off her femininity.

“Interesting,” Briant said as he joined them. He bumped Levi’s shoulder as if testing Levi’s hold on Narah. “I’ve never seen this side of you.”

That makes two of us.
“Do you have a problem with it?”

“The question is, does she?” Briant ran his fingers into her hair, disturbing the ponytail. “Out with it, Narah. What’s your sex life like?”

Any other time they wouldn’t be having this conversation. But they were, and Levi almost desperately needed to hear his
captive’s
response. At least his cock did.

Something in her sigh told him she was making a decision. Maybe it’d help if he gave her some space. Instead, he shook her a little. “Answer him.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Her eyes widened. “Turning macho, are you?”

“Maybe.” What did he mean,
maybe
? Damn, but he’d like to rough her up a bit, no more gentleman and no asking himself where this side of him had come from. “You haven’t answered his question.” Releasing his hold, he slid his hands down her arms and grabbed her wrists. Studying her, he forced her right arm behind her. Instead of fighting, she breathed more quickly, and something he’d never seen in any woman flashed in her eyes.

“My so-called sex life’s a joke,” she ground out. “My sister says it’s because I don’t act like a woman, whatever that is, but I’m in a male-dominated career. I have to prove myself.”

“When deep down, you want to be taken.”

Levi had been so intent on Narah that he’d again forgotten about Briant’s presence until he spoke. Not letting up his hold, he looked over at his friend. He couldn’t say whether he wanted Briant here or for this to be between Narah and himself.

“That’s the truth, isn’t it?” Briant pressed. “You’re self-confident and determined. You’ve always been like that, yet part of you needs a take-charge man, especially in the bedroom. Deep down, you want what you aren’t getting.”

She’d started shivering before Briant finished. Her eyes glistened. “What makes you think you know so damn much about me?”

Briant started to shrug, only to smile. “Give her to me.”

Was this really happening? Levi pondered while he did as the taller man commanded. Settling his hands over her shoulders, Briant held Narah before him. In the world they’d left behind, she’d be fighting like an alley cat. Instead, her arms hung loosely. Breathing fast, she watched him.

Maybe Levi imagined it, but weren’t Briant’s hands less than steady as he reached for her sweatshirt hem? He started to lift it.

“Any questions?” Briant asked.

She licked her lips, and her fingers twitched. “No.”

“What about objections?”

Would she call a halt to the insanity? End what he needed as he’d never needed anything? Instead, she glanced at the window where Mother Nature’s fury tore at the wilderness. “No. None.”

A less than practiced move later, Briant had hauled the old sweatshirt off her and tossed it over his shoulder. Levi wasn’t seeing this. No way was Briant running a hand between Narah’s legs and pressing his fingers against her crotch. Nor was she sinking down a little and closing her legs. But she was. “Oh God,” she mouthed.

“She’s wet,” Briant said. “And hot.”

Damn it, he’d been 100 percent wrong to think he could stand off to the side. Something that might turn into a growl if he didn’t clamp down on it rolled through Levi as he yanked Briant’s hand away and slid his own into the sweet space. Oh shit yes, her jeans’ crotch was damp, all right.

Suddenly angry, he withdrew. “What are you?” he demanded. “Some kind of damn tease?”

“Tease?” She glared. “You think I’m all hot and bothered so I can—so I can what?”

He didn’t know, didn’t know anything except he was no longer the man he’d been that morning. Grabbing her soft bare shoulders, he began propelling her backward. She stumbled, and he helped her regain her balance only to push again. “I was raised to respect women. I’d never, ever treat a woman like a whore.”

She stopped with a jolt. He tried to get her moving again only to realize they’d reached a wall. There was nowhere to go—and no stopping what was boiling up inside him.

He forced his knee between her legs. “I opened doors, said please and thank-you, sent flowers and chocolate, courted my wife. That’s it, I goddamn courted her, but it wasn’t enough. She whored herself to some bastard.”

“Levi, careful.”

Briant could go to hell. Levi wasn’t anywhere near blowing up.

Was he?

“Are you like she was?” he demanded of the level-eyed woman staring at him. “Laughing because a man’s walking around with a hard-on but you aren’t ready to put out?”

“Is that what you think?”

He could take anger or even fear on her part. He didn’t know how to handle her compassion. Dizzy, he ran his knuckles over the side of her neck.

“You aren’t talking to me,” she said. “A lot of stuff has been piling up inside you for too long. Today”—she looked confused—“for whatever reason, it’s all coming out.”

“Maybe.”

“No maybe to it.” Mimicking what he’d just done, she rubbed her knuckles against his neck with so much pressure, he wasn’t sure whether her intention was to caress or punish. “Finish what you were doing. I’m not going to stop you.”

Like she could. In case she’d forgotten, he outweighed her by a bunch. Of course Briant might decide to play white knight, or could he? Briant was a few feet away, his attention going from Narah to Levi and then back to her. Briant’s nostrils were flared, the lines between his eyes more prominent, his hands close to his crotch.

Forcing his mind, if not his body, off Narah, Levi glared at Briant. “I envy you.”

“Why?”

“You didn’t let yourself get tied down like I did. Your wife didn’t cheat on you.” Before he could decide whether he was done talking, Narah tightened her legs around his knee.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“Do you have to get into that now?”

Hell no. Who was he anyway? Surely not the divorcé he’d been this morning. That man had been replaced by someone who didn’t know the meaning of the word
civilized
. Right and wrong no longer mattered. A sexy woman was in his grasp and under his control. She wanted the same things he did—rough and wild. No boundaries.

“Damn it, I can’t think of anything except…” Her breathing picked up, causing her chest to rise and fall. Her bra was white and utilitarian without a bit of lace. Did she realize how insanely feminine she looked? More to the point, she couldn’t get away. He had her where he wanted her. Maybe where she wanted and needed to be.

“None of us are interested in anything except right now,” Briant said. “We need to acknowledge that and—hell, I’m not going to say it.”

Briant’s tone was changing, becoming quieter and more reflective. Wondering if Narah was aware of the change, Levi studied her. Her eyes were half-closed, her attention seemingly on his chest. He rubbed her upper arms, prompting her to let out a sigh.

Eager to test his sexual strength, Levi trailed his hand from her throat to her breasts. Her second sigh softened everything in him except for his cock. He couldn’t completely dismiss the inner voice demanding to know how she’d react when he reached for her bra and why he’d backed her against a wall, but the answer would have to wait until it stopped snowing.

“Answer me something, Narah,” he said. “Have you ever slept with Briant?”

The wind kept attacking the lodge. Levi’s solid form stood between Narah and the window, but she didn’t need to see out to know it was snowing in earnest. New attic insulation was due to be helicoptered in within a few days. That would cut down on the draftiness, but until then, the woodstove had its work cut out, keeping things warm.