Love Brewing (Love Brothers #3) (5 page)

Then

As he climbed quickly down the tree outside Jen’s window,
Dominic cursed under his breath over and over again for giving in and letting
his dick do the thinking the night before. He’d gone home and had a huge fight
with his father after skipping his brewery work in favor of going hunting with
Diana. A dumb move and he knew it. He deserved getting reamed out over it, but
as usual what could or should have been a fairly simple,
you’re a
thoughtless piece of shit. I hope you don’t expect to get paid for work you
didn’t do
guilt session devolved into something worse.

Much worse.

He slunk to the side of the house facing the barn and waited
for Mr. Brantley to emerge with the horse so he could make a clean getaway down
the hill where he’d hidden his bicycle the night before. As he was making the
dash for the barn he spotted Diana climbing up on the horse and heading out for
a ride.

The vision froze him, as it usually did. He took in the way
she bent and spoke to the animal, then gripped the reins like a pro, all so
very much part and parcel of what Diana Brantley meant to him.

“Hey,” her father called out. Dom ducked out of sight behind
a row of honeysuckle bushes. “Don’t be gone long, Di. Cleanup is required
still.”

She waved and Dom noted the man’s sparkle of pride. She’d
always claimed her father had wanted a son, that Jen had been the beauty queen
sister and Diana, the tomboy. But to Dom, Diana’s, wiry, energetic beauty
exuded a sort of sexy attraction that he found harder and harder to resist.
Frankly, he was sick of kissing and light petting with her.

So, when he’d escaped after coming to blows for the third
time in a month with his father, his jaw aching and his knuckles raw, Dom had
come straight here, ditched his bike in the woods and slunk to the house,
determined to do something proactive about shedding his virginity. His nerves
had been humming and his stupid rookie dick already hard when he tossed pebbles
up to Diana’s bedroom window.

“Hey,” he’d whisper-yelled, desperate for solace, to be
where people loved him, but mostly to get laid once and for all. “Let me in.”

He’d wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, hovering at the
ragged edge of bolting into the woods. As he had been just about to do that,
the side door creaked open, revealing a female figure, backlit from the dying
kitchen firelight, long hair blowing in the winter night wind.

He shivered, recalling how shocked he’d been to find Jen,
not Diana, tugging him inside, pressing him against the kitchen wall and
kissing him until he was blind, dizzy with lust, and single-minded in the way
only a teenaged boy can be. He’d shoved his hand up her shirt, fumbled her bra
clasp open and grunted in shock and embarrassment when she clutched his
dick—considering he came within about five seconds of that new and thrilling
sensation.

She had put her finger to her lips, never taking her gaze
from his. “Shh. Zip it up, Dom. Let’s go upstairs.”

“B-b-b-but....” He’d nearly caught his dong in the zipper,
he’d been so confused and lust-addled. “I’m not….”

“Shhh.” She put a finger to his lips. “It’s okay. I don’t
want you to be my boyfriend. Diana can have you for that. But I want more of
this.” She stroked him through his jeans. “And I have a few things I wanna
teach you, too.” She ran her fingers up his shirt and found the ring he’d put
through his nipple. “Game?”

He had been. And then some. Which led him to this exact
moment of regret, hiding and spying on Diana, wincing at the memory of her
hurt, angry expression that morning. He’d swear he loved the girl. He certainly
loved being near her, hanging out with her, kissing her. But Jen had shown him
some things he wouldn’t be able to live without, now that he’d tried them.

Shifting as his raw dick stiffened, he clenched his jaw.
Fury at his craven, selfish behavior toward the girl everyone assumed was his
girlfriend, with her sister of all people, forced a decision to formulate in
his brain.

He ran alongside the horse path out to the larger field,
keeping behind her, although he knew the horse sensed his presence. They burst
out into the field and Diana gave the animal its head, letting him run full out
across the grassy stretch, her long, blonde hair flying out behind her, leaning
into the wind, her strong thighs giving the horse direction, Dom had to sit
down when he knees threatened to give out.

Diana was simply gorgeous. Like the hunter goddess she’d
been named for. She yanked on the reins and headed over to him, still
half-hidden in the weeds. He froze, observing her approach, throat closed up
with something he didn’t understand or like very much.

“Christ,” he yelped, jumping up and out of the way of the
horse’s hooves. She slid off the saddle, leaving the horse stamping with
displeasure at the sudden cease in activity. She marched straight up to him,
and shoved him so hard he stumbled and landed on his ass.

“No, don’t get up.” She loomed over him, blocking the sun.
“You’re a pig, Dominic Love. I don’t know why I thought any different. I didn’t
realize my sister was such a slut, of course, but I’ll deal with that later.”
She held out a hand. He reached for it, thinking the lecture was over and they
could go near the status quo, with a few adjustments once he showed her how
much fun—

When he’d gotten about halfway up, she let go, dropping him
onto his butt, which hurt like hell considering the soreness under his zipper.

”Don’t be a bitch,” he muttered, getting slowly to his feet,
wishing those words back the second he uttered them. She raised her arm and
slapped him so hard his head rocked back.

“I hate you,” she spat. Her eyes were completely dry. The
wind whipped her hair around. Panic nestled deep in his chest when she whirled
and headed to the horse.

“Wait, Diana, I’m sorry.” He ran after her, grabbed her arm
and tried to turn her around, but she took the reins and climbed up into the
saddle, jerking the animal so it very nearly stepped on him. “I won’t go away.
I know you don’t want me to.” The expression on her face at that moment gave
him a taste of his newfound control over the situation. He took a deep breath
and kept talking. “Come on down. Let’s talk some more.”

The horse pranced above him, coming way too close to
stomping Dom’s feet. Its tail and mane smacked his face. Finally, he snagged
the reins and stilled the animal. Dom touched Diana’s calf, feeling her
twanging like a live wire and the power blossomed in him, filling his every
pore. Making him invincible.

As if sensing his sudden shift into extreme ego-land, she
jumped down off the side of the horse opposite him and lit out running across
the field, her long legs pumping, her bare arms swinging. Dom smiled, and stroked
the horse’s nose. He pulled the animal over to a tree and tied it in the shade,
giving it enough lead to reach the small, spring fed creek before following her
at a fast sprint.

He hesitated at the edge of the woods, listening for female
sounds. His heart pounded, but not because of the burst of physical activity.
Years of basketball and working for his father at the brewery meant he was
always in great shape. A chill ran down his spine. Chalking it up to being in
shade, he advanced farther into the tree line.

“Diana?”

The usual forest sounds filled his head. Nothing to indicate
she might be anywhere nearby. But he knew better.

“Di—oh shit,” he grunted when she wrapped arms and legs
around him, covering his lips with hers. Clutching at her hips and trying not
to fall over and drag her with him, he kissed her and braced against a tree so
he could yank her shirt up and off and unzip her shorts.

“Wait. Wait,” she gasped, grabbing his arm before he dove
into her panties. But he was deaf to her, gentle but firm, finding her warmth
with his fingertips. Using his months of practice with other, willing girls
under bleachers and in family basements, plus the skills Jen had taught him the
night before, he teased and stroked, keeping his fingers on the right spot as he
tugged her nipple to a hard peak with lips.

She clutched at him, making soft, breathy noises. He turned
them so she leaned on the tree, and resumed his finger work. They were both
breathing heavily by then. She had hold of his arm and his shoulder, had tilted
her hips, giving him more access. He shuddered, and starting mentally counting
down from a hundred to keep from blowing in his jeans. Luckily, he’d had three
orgasms in the last twelve hours or so, which gave him a modicum of control.

She shivered and pulsed against his fingers as she emitted
an adorable sound somewhere between a sigh and a squeak. He eased his hand out
of her pants.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, his voice hoarse. He tingled
from his scalp to his toes, but something held him back. His gut hurt, his neck
ached, and his dick was leaking all over the inside of his underwear. Sweat
trickled between his shoulder blades as she calmed. “That was beautiful.”

She shrugged and brushed her hair off her face. “I’m still
mad at you.”

He grabbed her arms, slid his grip down to her fingers,
kissed them then pulled them down to his zipper. “Don’t be mad,” he whispered,
closing his eyes when she gave him a few tentative strokes through the denim.
“Unzip me.” His voice dropped lower as a crazy, blind urge to flip her around
and fuck her so hard she’d cry gripped him.

She hesitated, but he guided her hand, urged her to move her
palm up and down.

“I…I don’t think I can do this.” She stroked him awkwardly,
but finesse didn’t matter much to him at that point. “Dom….” she said, a
distinct hitch in her voice. “Let me just….”

He reached into her hair, fisted his fingers and tugged,
making her gasp. Her nipples were hard again, teasing and tempting. He sucked
one of them into his mouth, groaning along with her. She moved faster as he
suckled first one then the other nipple, his hips thrusting forward, his spine
tingling in a familiar way.

“No.” He rose from her breasts. “I want to be inside you,
Diana.” His entire body quivered. This was not what he’d felt earlier with Jen.
That had been primal and raw and nothing more—a release of his virginity,
finally. This…this felt like a much deeper, more painful urge. It scared him,
but his body’s requirement to consummate, to connect, to fuck, screw, insert itself
into hers slowly deafened him.

“Diana,” he gasped, gripping her arms. “I have…a condom.
Pull it out of my pocket.”

Shaking all over, she gave it to him and he ripped it open
with his teeth, put it on, then kissed her in a way he hoped showed confidence.
Because that was the exact opposite of what he felt. He tugged her down to the
forest floor. No blanket, no backseat, no smelly basement couch, not even a
darkened bleacher’s underbelly…just him, and her, and the ground. He loomed
over her, then eased between her legs.

“I want this so badly, Diana. I know you do too, right?
Baby?”

She blinked fast, then nodded.

“Let me in, please. I won’t hurt you. It will be perfect. I
promise.”

It wasn’t of course. It hurt her. She cried. God help him as
long as he lived his sorry-ass life, he would never, ever forget how hard she
cried.

After he’d thrust into her, inept, moving too fast and
making her burst into tears, he’d come quick, with a grunt and a shiver while
she laid there, sniffling. He had zero frame of reference for the emotions
roiling through him as he got on his knees, tugged off the bloody condom, and
tossed it as far as he could throw.

He zipped up, noting that he’d not even managed to get all
the way out of his jeans and that seriously bad grass stains graced both knees
that he’d have to get pretty damn creative to explain to his eagle-eyed mother.
Diana remained prone, shirt yanked up, breasts exposed, pants off, crying. He
gulped, then tried to pull her up and get her redressed.

“Get away from me,” she screamed, curling onto her side.
“Just…go.”

He stood, shaky, confused, and a little scared over what
he’d just done. “I’m not leaving you here. Come on, let’s get up.”

She let him help her. After he’d fastened her bra and pulled
her shirt down, he lifted her hair and kissed the back of her neck. She let
him, thank the Lord. She pressed her face into his chest, her arms encircling
his waist, wetting his already sweaty shirt with yet more tears.

“That hurt.” She sniffled, then met his eyes, breaking his
heart with her pure beauty—that he’d just defiled in the woods like some kind
of rutting animal. Guilt slammed him square in the chest.

“I can tell.” He kissed her nose. “But it does, the first
time. I mean, I did make you…you know….” He raised an eyebrow. She blushed and
lowered her gaze.

“Yeah, I guess so. That was nice. Felt funny, but good.”

“So, about your sister.” He made himself say it. “It was
nothing, for either of us I swear it. Please don’t…think I don’t love you.
Because I do. I was weak for a minute and I shouldn’t have done it but I’m—I
was—so pent up, you know? Baby?” He tried out a new smile on her, one full of
sincerity mixed a tinge of naughty confession.

“I guess, but I’m gonna have a different kind of
conversation with her, I promise you.”

He grinned, satisfaction and relief oozing across his every
nerve ending. This is good. This would be good. They would learn together how
to make each other satisfied. A brief vision of a girl in his chemistry class
floated through his head. Renee Reese had been flirting with him for weeks,
with her all-American curvy perfection, sexy the way no seventeen-year-old girl
had a right to be.

He held Diana—his girlfriend, he reminded himself—tighter as
they emerged, blinking into the sunlight. They rode to the farm together, and
he took the opportunity to cup her breasts and kiss her neck before the barn
rose into view.