He groaned when she cupped her own breasts. And arched her back against his chest.

Then Rory sat on his right thigh and placed her hands flat on the floor, dragging her pussy up and down that rigid muscle. The cant of her hips showcased her ass. She arched and rolled like a cat, each pass making her pussy wet and her nipples harder. She stood and pressed her butt against his chest as she leaned into a forward bend with her hands around his shins.

“Holy hell, you’re flexible.”

“All the better to use my body to twist you into knots.” Rory mounted his other leg and rolled and shimmied. Her hair swinging, her booty bouncing, sweat started to bead on her skin.

His deep voice cut through her concentration. “I can feel how hot and wet your cunt is. Let me touch you and bring you off.”

“Tempting, cowboy, but I’ve only just started. I’m gonna get a lot wetter and a lot hotter in the next two songs.”

The music ended.

Rory spun around and pressed her pussy against his shaft when the next song started. The chair’s low proximity to the ground allowed her to raise and lower herself easily, so she kept constant pressure on Dalton’s cock as she moved up and down. And the extra bonus? With her hands on those broad shoulders of his for balance, her tits were in his face. Right in his face.

The sneaky man tried to move his head back, out of range, but she just moved her hands to the back of his neck and held him in place.

“You’re killin’ me.”

“That’s the plan.” She slowed and shifted her hips side to side instead of up and down.

His belly muscles quivered. His arms were stiff by his side, probably because he was clenching his fists.

Then a wet, warm tongue lashed the side of her breast and circled her nipple.

Rory stopped mid-grind. “Hey. Keep your mouth to yourself, buddy.”

“No. God, I love your tits.” Dalton kept his eyes locked to hers as he enclosed her nipple in his hot mouth and sucked hard.

“Dalton! What are you doing? You oughta lose by default.”

Dalton licked and sucked and growled against her flesh. “So indignant and bossy. And yet, you’re not getting these hard nipples outta my face.”

Of course he’d noticed that. She slid her palms to his cheeks and tipped his head back. “Stop.”

“No. You said no touching with my hands. You didn’t say a damn thing about not usin’ my mouth.”

“That was assumed.”

“Not by me. But whatever. Unless you’re—” his eyes gleamed and he flashed his pearly whites, “—afraid that my mouth on you is too big a distraction?”

Cocky man. Rory brought her nipple right up to his lips and said, “Have at.”

Someplace in the foggy haze of being face to face, chest to chest and groin to groin with him, so close she could smell his skin, feel his heartbeat, she realized she’d sort of lost control of the situation.

But if she retreated now, forcing him to stop the delicious assault on her breasts, Dalton would think she was backing off because she was losing.

Hell. No.

Rory writhed against him more forcefully. Faster. Pumping her pelvis in time to the crescendo of the music. If she kept up this pace much longer, she’d be coming, not Dalton. Especially if he used his teeth on her neck. Right. There.

Not fair. The sneaky man had abandoned her nipples for her neck, completely aware that made her lose any coherent train of thought.

Needing a breather, she stopped and slid back until she balanced on his knees.

The music changed again.

Dammit. She had three minutes left to make him come. She wanted this victory.

But as Rory stared into Dalton’s gorgeous face, seeing those beautifully expressive eyes and the secret way he was smiling at her, she understood they’d both won.

The sultry sounds of Faith Hill singing “Breathe” flowed through the room.

Dalton’s eyes were on her as he reached up to curl his hand on her neck. He stroked her jawline with the edge of his thumb. “I remember this song.”

“You do?”

“We danced to this at Keely’s wedding. The way you wrapped yourself around me, and how your head just seemed to fit perfectly on my shoulder, I never wanted that song to end.”

“It was one of those moments,” she said softly. A perfect moment.

“Aurora, you’re beautiful, you’re sexy, you just gave me the best goddamned lap dance I’ve ever had, but can we be done with this now, please?”

“Call it a draw?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, yes.”

Dalton picked her up, took her down to the floor, stripped her yoga pants off and impaled her.

The sweetness of their conversation didn’t translate to sweet lovemaking. He pounded into her. Hot, sweaty and hard. Demanding. Clasping her right hand in his left, he pinned it above their heads. Pulling her left leg up high, around his hip, opening her fully so every time he thrust, his pelvis connected with her clit.

She gasped. Instead of waiting for that gradual buildup and the explosion, she felt as if this connection was one long body-shuddering orgasm.

“That’s it. I love seein’ you like this.”

“Dalton, I… It’s too much.”

“No. It’s perfect. So close, baby. Bring me with you.”

Rory arched up and tightened her cunt muscles around his pistoning shaft. One long hot kiss later and they hit the detonation point together.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Brandt and Tell were sitting in Tell’s favorite booth when Dalton dragged himself into the Golden Boot.

“Hey.” He shucked his duster and hung it on the wall hook before taking his spot on Brandt’s right side. He noticed they’d ordered beer for themselves but not for him. “You got another round comin’? Or am I buying my own beer tonight?”

“We weren’t sure what you were drinkin’ these days.”

“Cheap beer, same as always.” Dalton gestured to the bartender for a round. Then his gaze moved from Brandt to Tell. They’d both cleaned up and wore nonworking clothes. The old Dalton would’ve made a sneering remark about them dressing up to please their wives, but he let it lie. “So what’s up?”

“What makes you think something’s up?” Brandt asked evenly.

“It’s a Thursday night. You guys are both getting kids to bed and stuff during the week. I usually see you on the weekends.”

“Not lately, bro. You’ve been spending all your weekends with Rory.”

“And most weeknights,” Tell added. “We asked you out last week, but you had plans.”

“Rielle invited us over for supper. First time she’s acknowledged me’n Rory are involved, so it was kind of a big deal.” He didn’t know why Rory’s mom intimidated the hell out of him; she just did, which was ridiculous because the woman was the same size as a garden sprite. But her love for Rory—holy shit, talk about fierce. No doubt if Dalton somehow wronged her baby girl, she’d just bury him in her garden and no one would ever know the difference.

“So you’re not avoiding us?”

“No.”

“Just certain family members?” Brandt asked.

Meaning Casper. Maybe he oughta just buck up and tell them the truth so they could be done with this.

Lettie brought the beer to the table, mostly so she could flirt with Tell. Tell gave it right back to her in a way that had both Dalton and Brandt laughing.

Dalton took a drink of beer and settled into the booth. “How long’s it been since you guys hung out here?”

“Me’n Georgia used to come here all the time. No surprise Jackson’s arrival into our lives cut our bar time short. But we meet up with the gang at least once a month.”

“Hitting the bars never was me’n Jess’s thing, so it’s been a while for me.” Brandt looked around. “Nothin’ ever changes in here, does it?”

“Yeah, well, not all change is good,” Tell said.

Dalton decided to tackle that statement head on. “Hard not to feel that was directed at me, Tell.”

“And if it was?”

“Then I’d ask how far into this family shit you’re willing to wade. ’Cause it goes a helluva lot deeper than what you’re seein’ on the surface.”

That response jarred them into silence for a bit.

But Tell wasn’t a back-down kind of guy. “And that right there just proves my theory.”

“Tell, don’t,” Brandt warned.

“It’s all good, Brandt. I wanna hear his theory.”

Tell leaned forward. “You didn’t cut and run only because of Addie. And you knew that day you said goodbye to us that you wouldn’t be comin’ back anytime soon. So I gotta ask if staying away had to do with something me or Brandt had done to you.”

This was it. Dalton spun his bottle on his cocktail napkin. “You guys hadn’t considered that might be part of my issue until I pointed it out to you the day I left. Did any of it resonate? Or was the problem—aka me—solved when I bailed?”

“To be honest, it seriously fucked us both up,” Brandt said hotly. “You laid that on us, took off, and left us with such goddamned…guilt and no way to make it right with you. If your intent was to force us to stew in our own juices, then it worked.”

Dalton shook his head. “What I said to you that day, I said without malice or without an ulterior motive. Do you wish I’da just left without giving you any idea on why?”

“Some days, yeah. Those days that Brandt and I spent drivin’ around doin’ chores together, when we couldn’t talk about it because there was just another big hole in our lives, that no amount of talkin’ would ever fill. You think your leavin’ didn’t affect us? Fuck you. We’d already lost one brother and then poof, you were gone too. And we had to live with the fact that we played a part in driving you away.” Tell drained his beer. “Fuck. I don’t wanna do this. There’s part of me that believes talkin’ about this shit is actually gonna make it worse.”