She felt his warm breath caress along her skin.
“I think so. I don’t want to hurt you.” He reached for the tweezers first. His other hand remained on her hip, and she felt the warmth, the masculinity of his hold. Every feminine part of her reacted. Her pussy clenched, her breasts felt full, and her nipples hardened instinctually.
“It’s okay. Just do it so we can get back to help the others,” she whispered.
He stared at her through the reflection in the mirror and then looked back down at her back. She felt him begin to pinch around where the splinter was. He mumbled a few times under his breath and carefully pulled the first one out. He showed her the splinter and she made a funny face. It was bigger than she thought it would be.
“Two more to go,” he told her, rinsing the tweezers and brushing his forearm against her breast as he reached under her arms.
She felt his hips against her ass, and she found herself slightly bending over the sink and counter, imagining what it would be like to be fucked from behind by Jake.
His hand squeezed her hip, and he thrust gently against her but quickly pulled back, making her wonder if she imagined it. Her pussy clenched and she closed her eyes as he pulled the other two splinters out. He poured peroxide on the cotton balls and cleaned up her skin.
“That should do it.” He ran his palm along her back. She was shocked yet accepting when his arm wrapped around her midsection from behind and pulled her back against him.
She gasped as they locked gazes through the mirror.
“You’re a gorgeous woman. You have beautiful skin, and I am so aroused right now, baby. Just thinking about you rolling around upstairs in the attic with Billy has me wanting to do a lot of things to you and this body.”
“Things?” she whispered, and he bent her forward slightly as he held her around the waist and kissed along her neck.
“Lots of wild, crazy things.” He suckled her neck in a sensitive spot as he eased his jean-covered cock against her ass. She felt her pussy cream and nearly moaned aloud.
“Jake.”
“Shhh. Not a word. No denials. Not now when I’ve got you in my arms and am about to kiss you. That’s something I’ve been wanting to do since I met you.”
He reached up and gently turned her face toward him while remaining against her back.
He rubbed his thumb along her lower lip and she stared up into his blue eyes.
“Ah hell.” He pressed his lips against hers. She accepted his kiss and his tongue as he plunged it between her teeth and she turned in his arms.
He lifted her up. She wrapped her arms best she could up and around his shoulders as he continued to kiss her deeply. His hands were everywhere. On her waist, up her ribs to her breasts as he thrust his hips gently against her. She thrust back, feeling incredibly aroused and filled with desire. She’d never experienced these type of strong, combustible emotions. Not ever.
She ran her hands through his crew cut hair, and when he pinched her nipple, she moaned into his mouth.
They kept kissing until they both couldn’t catch their breath and he eased his mouth along her neck and collarbone. Michaela tilted her head back as he continued to use his mouth to explore her. His mouth went lower. She gripped his shoulders, never feeling so feminine and desirable and damn sexy. She was panting for air. He was pressing her bra down and licking across her nipple when he stopped. It was sudden, and she was so lost in the desire, she felt she wanted to demand for him to continue.
“What is this?” he asked, shoving her immediately back into the real world, back into her fucked-up past and life.
She looked down to where the scar from the gunshot wound was.
She shoved down and away from him, or at least tried to, but he lifted her up into his arms and pressed her against the wall. Instinctively she wrapped her legs around his waist but kept her eyes closed and her face turned.
“Look at me. Fucking look at me right now, Michaela.”
His firm, authoritative voice had her tilting her head back against the wall before she looked at him.
“This is a gunshot wound.”
“Please, Jake. Please don’t ask me questions.”
“Fuck that,” he barked at her and squeezed her tighter, grinding his teeth.
“After the kiss we just shared, the chemistry between us, and you think I’ll let you push me away?”
She felt her emotions getting the better of her. That kiss, his touch, Billy’s touch and kiss, was all so arousing and mind blowing. She wondered instantly what it would feel like when Hal kissed her. And she knew he would. Hell, these brothers came as a package. It was inevitable.
She swallowed hard. She had to stop this conversation from happening.
“Not now, Jake. Everyone is here working. Not now. I’m not ready.”
He stared at her. His blue eyes were filled with so much emotion. Did he think she was a criminal? Did he really care for her or was this just lust, curiosity, or interest in the new woman in town? Crazy thoughts were going through her mind about whether or not she could trust him and his brothers. After just two lethal kisses and here she was debating about baring her soul to them.
Then Jake lowered his mouth to her chest and pressed his lips gently against the scar.
A tear escaped from her eye. There was no stopping it. This man, these men, in the last twenty-four hours had shown her more compassion and empathy than she’d ever experienced in all of her twenty-four years of life.
She reached up and ran her fingers along his hair and then placed her palm against his cheek as he lifted his lips up and stared at her.
“Are you for real?” she whispered.
“This is real,” he replied, letting his other hand cup her ass as he pressed his thick, hard cock against her crotch. Despite the layer of clothing between them, she felt the heat, the hardness, and the desire.
“These emotions, this attraction between all of us, is most definitely real, Michaela. I want to know everything about you. I want to share everything about me with you, but mostly, I want to earn your trust, make you look at me and my brothers and know that we can protect you, be honest with you, and maybe even love you.”
His mention of love shocked her. She shook her head and pushed and wiggled from his arms.
He allowed her to step down, and pull her tank top into position.
“Michaela.” He grabbed her hand and pulled it up and against his chest. They locked gazes.
“Friends first,” he told her as they heard their names being called by Hal.
Friends first? Is he out of his mind? The last type of relationship on my mind after that is to be friends. I’m in a bit of a situation here. What am I going to do? How am I going to explain things to them?
* * * *
Hal was helping Michaela set up the machines that would help pull the smoky smell from the house despite the fact that they replaced all the walls where the fire was. The electrician and Ike rewired all the main wiring around the house that had been altered by the previous homeowner. It appeared that most of the house had its original wiring or new wiring done by a licensed electrician and to code. That gave Hal and his brothers as well as Michaela some relief.
With everyone’s help they had been able to tear down the Sheetrock and replace it with better insulation and new Sheetrock. They knocked down the wall in the kitchen as Michaela had wanted, and they helped demolition everything and leave a clean start for the rest of her construction.
He was impressed with her knowledge of construction and building work, and also the fact that she wanted to salvage the older qualities of the home, restore it to its original design in some aspects, starting with ridding the place of all the carpeting and allowing the hardwood floors to show. She had lots of plans and great ideas, as she showed him a picture of the kitchen she wanted to do.
They were both leaning over the table looking at the designs as she pointed around the room showing him where everything would go. Their arms rubbed against one another and he stopped looking at the design to absorb her beauty. She was sweet, strong, and stunning. She didn’t mind getting dirty or breaking a nail, and she didn’t back down from challenges, instead seemed to take those challenges on with determination and strength.
Even as the electrician’s friend, a builder, told her about the process of restoring the original staircase, she just nodded her head, appeared determined, and said thank you for the information. He caught the guys watching her as well and had to set them straight about him and his brothers’ interest. Word would spread fast that the McCurran brothers were staking a claim to Michaela. Now they would have to convince her to let her guard down and let them in.
She stood up and smiled at him. “What do you think?” she asked, still focused on her designs and what she just told him, but he was too absorbed in watching her and the need to kiss her.
He reached up and placed his hand against her cheek. “I think that you’re amazing. I love the designs and your determination to restore a lot of the great character of this house to its original form.”
She smiled as she placed her hand on his waist and began to say thank you. He took her touching him and leaning forward as an invite to kiss her. Moving his hand under her hair to the base of her head, he leaned down and kissed her.
That kiss grew deeper and deeper as he lifted her up by her ass and placed her on the last counter that remained in the room. It shook slightly but he had a good hold on her. That possessive feeling and need to protect her and watch over her was so strong. Their tongues collided as they dueled for control of the kiss until he cupped both her cheeks in his palms and took complete control.