Between a Ridge and a Hard Place Page 7

  Warning, this title contains the following: Blindfolds and bondage and sex—oh my. Ooh, and let’s not forget about the m/f/m ménage and the graphic language.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for The Strength of Three:

  Jon swiped his thumb across one of her pink cheeks, counting it as a victory when she didn’t flinch or pull away. He couldn’t wait to see them flushed with the pleasure he and TJ would grace upon her. Would she scream out one or both of their names? Was she the silent type, a moaner? Based on the rapid pulse at her throat, he could tell she wasn’t as unaffected by him as she would like to think she was.

  “The difference between your father and TJ and I is that we won’t drink, ever.” He enunciated very clearly, giving her no room to misinterpret. “If there’s ever a time you don’t feel comfortable, you just have to tell us.”

  She snorted. “I’m not comfortable. Back off.” She raised her hands and pushed at his chest in an attempt to create space between them. He gave her a modicum and laughed. They’d never get anywhere if they let her have her way every time.

  The shrill ring of a cell phone interrupted them. Chris never took her gaze off him. The phone rang again and she lifted her glass and sipped. TJ moved closer. “You gonna answer that?”

  Chris did a double take. “What?”

  “Your pocket is ringing, sugar,” Jon offered.

  “Huh? Oh. Oh, crap.” She fumbled in the pocket of her skirt for the slim pink flip phone he knew she carried.

  He just smiled. She was fucking gorgeous when riled, which was most of the time around them. They seemed to bring it out of her in spades. There was the flush, this time from frustration. Soon it would be courtesy of an explosive orgasm given by him or Teej.

  “Hello?” She stuck a finger in her ear to drown out the noise. “Carter? Is that you?”

  Carter. Chris’s younger brother, who, from Jon’s background search into the Marshall family, seemed to follow in Daddy’s footsteps. At least in the mean department. Christina had done the smart thing, getting away from her family.

  “No, I do not have any money.”

  TJ stood, exchanging a knowing look over her head with Jon. They both disliked the tone they heard in her voice.

  “Well, geez, I don’t know, Carter. Get a job like everyone else in the world maybe?” She paused and her eyes widened. “I will never fund your disgusting habit. I work too hard for the money I earn to waste it on you.”

  Shit. If the kid had a habit and needed money for a fix, things could get ugly fast. Faster if he owed money he didn’t have.

  A second later her eyes narrowed into slits. “You leave Mother out of this.” She paused. “I already regret it.” She slammed the flip closed and growled.

  “Carter’s bothering you again?” Aislinn asked across the table.

  “Again?” TJ and Jon barked together. Jon saw red. If the little punk had taken to messing with Chris, Jon would put an end to it really quickly.

  “He says he needs money to pay his rent.”

  “And you know he’s lying, right?” Aislinn came around the table, nudging Jon out of the way with a sharp elbow to his stomach. He stepped back with an oomph while TJ and Kyle snickered. He flipped them both off.

  “After last month? Yes, I know.”

  “What the hell happened last month?” TJ snarled. Jon wanted to know the exact same thing and more. Like how they’d missed her brother’s problems when running a background check on her, something they did with everyone who worked for their company. Chris’s had been a little more involved since both of them knew she would inevitably end up in their bed. With their past in the Teams, it was both a habit and a necessity. He, Teej and Kyle had pissed off more than one baddy out there who would stop at nothing to seek revenge. A loved one would be an easy target.

  Before Chris could answer, Aislinn said, “Carter drove all the way from Chicago and showed up at her door begging for money for some overdue bill he had. When she offered to take him to the phone company to pay it for him, he flipped out saying he could handle it on his own. Then he tore through her house, grabbed her wallet and stole all the cash she had in there.”

  “Motherfucker.” Jon wanted to put his fist through a wall. Or better yet, Carter’s face. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us?”

  Chris drew back, one eyebrow raised high. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why would I?”

  Damn. Why would she? They didn’t exactly have a relationship. Yet.

  Starting right now, they did and he’d be goddamned if he let her junkie of a brother run roughshod over her again.

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe so we could help?”

  “I think I can handle my own brother.”

  Jon snorted. “You handled him so well he ran you over to steal your money. How much did he get?”

  “I don’t see how it’s any of your—”

  “How much?”

  “A hundred and twenty bucks.”

  Feeling the muscle ticking along his jaw, he nodded once. “Do you think you’ve heard the last of him tonight?”

  “I don’t know. What does it matter?”

  “You matter,” Jon growled and leaned closer so she had no choice but to look him in the eye. “TJ and I are done waiting for you.” He saw the flash of heat flare in her eyes. Hell, he could smell the moisture pooling between her legs. She could deny it all she wanted, but her body craved what he and Teej could offer. “We’re not like your father or your brother and the only way you’ll see that is to let us close. Probably won’t be easy for you, but I can damn well guarantee it’ll be worth it.”

  Her eyes widened, her nostrils flared with each inhalation, and the pulse at the base of her throat sped up. He wanted to lean in and lick it, to taste her and leave his mark. Not here though. He straightened. If his dick got any harder, he’d be popping out of his jeans. Wouldn’t that be something?

  “I don’t”—she had to clear her throat—“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sex, Chris. Remember the conversation we were having earlier?” Aislinn butt in.

  “Aislinn.” Chris’s hissed reprimand made Jon laugh out loud. Oh God the woman was priceless. He’d wondered what they’d been talking about when she’d yelled out across the bar.

  “What?” Aislinn said innocently. “I’m just getting you back for a little incident that happened at work a couple of months ago. Remember there was something about a feather duster?”

  “That was your fault. You’re the one who asked Kyle if he had a duster but didn’t expound on what kind, or that we’d been imagining them wearing dusters, cowboy hats and nothing el— Oh my God.” Chris’s eyes closed. “Please tell me I didn’t just say that out loud.”

  Between a Ridge and a Hard Place

  Annmarie McKenna

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  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

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  Between a Ridge and a Hard Place

  Copyright © 2008 by Annmarie McKenna

  ISBN: 978-1-60504-032-5

  Edited by Sasha Knight

  Cover by Angela Waters

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: June 2008

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