Leaning a bit too far away from the men currently occupying all of her personal space and stealing her oxygen, Jessica indeed fell through the wall, or at least the opening to her bedroom that had been closer to her than she'd expected.
She landed on her rump and spider-crawled backward until she bumped into the bed.
When she looked up, both men had their gazes trained on the top of her mattress.
"Going somewhere?" Charles leaned on the doorframe and glared at Jess in annoyance.
Shit. Her suitcase. It sat on the comforter, jammed with the essentials and waiting to be zipped shut.
Reese eased past Charles, entered the room, and leaned over Jessica's body to investigate. "You were really going to leave? Just go?"
"Uh-huh." The sound was soft, but no one missed it. "I can't do this," she managed to say.
"Still?" Reese looked hurt, his mouth straight, his eyes narrow. He crouched beside her on the floor. He touched her cheek and then the bob of her hair. His fingers tangled in the strands until he had a good grip, and then he leaned in to kiss her firmly on the mouth. His tongue darted inside with no hesitation, a starving man who'd not gotten his turn.
His taste was unique. Minty, as though they'd both reached into the same packet of mints a while ago, but a hint of coffee and chocolate tempted her taste buds as he explored for the first time.
Jessica's arms wobbled from holding herself awkwardly off the floor. Reese must have known because he reached behind her to steady her frame and take her weight into his own embrace.
The kiss turned urgent, demanding. The moan that rent the silence was his. Well, maybe mixed with hers.
She lost purchase on the floor with her heels as they slipped out from under her.
When Reese finally pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers, he mumbled through gasps of air, "This is far, far from finished. You aren't going anywhere, sweetheart. And … you taste heavenly." His genuine smile made her heart beat faster.
Charles kneeled on the floor beside Jessica. "Please. Let us love you. I need to taste more than your mouth. I need to lick my way across your nipples, taste the expanse of your body until I can bury my mouth in your pussy." He glanced at Reese before continuing. "We can smell your arousal, the cum leaking from your orgasm."
Jessica's body betrayed her. A new flood of arousal eased out of her to soak her panties. Her jeans felt too tight. A pulse point she'd not known existed throbbed against the crease of the denim.
No. No. No. A voice in her head screamed. Remember what happened to your parents. She flinched and then jumped to her feet, untangling herself from both men.
Pressed against the bed, she finally found her voice. "No. I can't do this. I. Can't. I don't want to." After a pause, she said, "I won't."
God. They had to get out of here before she lost it. She couldn't think straight in their presence. Her intentions got skewed. Warped.
Darting between the men, she headed for the front door. She opened it and savored the clean, fresh air. Even the freezing temperature didn't bother her. She needed deep breaths of any atmosphere that wasn't permeated with the scent of the two horny wolves chomping at the bit to ravage her.
Both men stepped behind her. All her fears jumped to the surface when she noticed she could already sense them. Not just their presence, but she could even distinguish one from the other by their smell, one distinctly more outdoorsy-Charles. The other, Reese, with a stronger hint of his particular soap, some masculine bar of something she'd rather not have ever been in the presence of since she'd never shake it from her conscience.
She could almost feel-or hear?-their heartbeats without touching them. They often beat in sync. And fuck all, if she wasn't mistaken, the essence of their thoughts was even niggling into her head.
"You have to go." She spoke without turning around. Hugging her arms around herself, she intended not to ward off the welcome chill of the evening air but to put up a wall that kept out unwanted intruders of the heart.
"Swear to us you won't skip town." Reese spoke inches from her right ear. "Promise you'll sleep on this. Revisit it tomorrow. If we don't have your word, we won't leave you."
They both stepped around her and gazed deeply into her eyes. She glanced back and forth between the blue, piercing depths of Reese's eyes to the deep chocolate brown of Charles'. They burrowed like a mole into her soul.
Breathlessly she let a small squeaky "yes" slip her lips, followed by a nod of consent.
Charles tipped his head and gazed into her with a scrutiny unlike anything she'd ever experienced. "Jess, don't run. We'll give you a day to think. We'll come by tomorrow night and talk again."
Jess laughed, a chortle of sarcasm combined with a snort. "Talk? Like we talked tonight?"
Both men smiled, their faces softening at her quip.
"Tell you what," Reese began, "you promise not to leave town with that packed suitcase, and we'll promise to keep our hands off you tomorrow until you call uncle. 'K?"
She nodded, biting her lower lip to keep from smiling.
Charles touched her lip and pulled it from between her teeth. "Stop that. It drives me crazy. I can't even think when you do that." His words were so soft, his tone so low, she wouldn't have heard him at all if she'd not been lupine.
Releasing the offensive lip from the grip of her teeth, Jessica backed inside, shut the door, and leaned against it to gather her wits.
Several minutes went by before she realized the error of their conversation. Tomorrow? She was supposed to go to Kara's tomorrow for a Christmas celebration. And two very naughty wolves would be there also. Would they tell everyone? Would she survive the day?
She was fucked.
* * * *
It was nearly eight o'clock when Reese slipped in the back door behind Charles and the two of them made their way to the room Charles had occupied for most of his life. The house was big, thank God, because on numerous occasions one or more sibling had actually stayed at or lived in the house with their mates when the situation warranted.
"Jesus, guys. Where have you been?" Alyssa's hissing voice jagged through the darkened room and wrapped around Reese like a thorny branch. He jerked in his spot as Charles soundlessly shut the door behind them.
"Shit. You scared the crap out of me." Reese turned toward her voice and found her sitting in the dark in the window seat where she'd apparently been staring out into the night. "We-"
Without waiting for excuses, she cut him off and continued. "Your parents and your brother Michael tiptoed around me, attempting to avoid eye contact so I couldn't see how sorry they were for the weird behavior of their asshole of a son and his friend. I finally had to proclaim exhaustion and retreat to your room to escape the looks. And then I had to sit here in the dark and do nothing but wait for you to return so they'd think I was sleeping."
Reese flinched. He really was an ass. No doubt about that.
"You're gone most of the day, breeze through here for like one minute this afternoon, and then don't show again until way after dark. People are suspicious, and I feel like a heel lying to everyone. Do you want me to go?"
"No. Sorry." Charles spoke sheepishly and crossed the room to her side. "It was … unavoidable, and unexpected."
"Whatever." Alyssa glanced at both men in turn.
Reese himself felt like a heel now. "We-"
She held up a hand and stopped him again. "Why did you bring me here if you were just going to dump me and run? I thought … Well, I'd hoped … " She looked down and fidgeted with her fingers.
"God, what does she expect from us?" At least now, Reese could communicate with Charles in front of Alyssa. There was a shining pot of gold.
Charles sat on the bed and turned in her direction. "Alyssa, you are so young. I'm sorry if you thought this would … whatever." He swung a hand through the air, motioning indistinctly. "We want to help you. Truly we do, but you are going to have to give us a bit more information. Soon. Like yesterday." "She expected us to mate with her. She clearly wanted us also. Why? What woman would want to mate so quickly with two men she barely knew and wasn't immediately bonded to? I don't get it. What isn't she telling us?"
Alyssa turned to face the window once again but not before Reese noticed the fear in her eyes. Deep sadness mixed with it, making the huge orbs glisten with unshed tears. And her lips were literally buttoned. "She's like a scared doe. And she has a pile of secrets tucked behind those eyes."
Her face tugged at his heartstrings. Reese had no idea how to respond, nor did he have the inclination to even try at this moment. All he could think about was his hard-as-nails dick and the cold shower he needed to tame the fellow into submission. If that were even possible.