Overview
Luke Warner wants to chill out when he cashes in his stocks and returns to his hometown. But things heat up when he reunites with his best friends, Julia and Paul, and invites them both to share in a sexual adventure like they've never had before. . .
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940179697718 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Kate Pearce |
| Publication date: | 02/27/2024 |
| Sold by: | Draft2Digital |
| Format: | eBook |
| Sales rank: | 65,527 |
| File size: | 541 KB |
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kate Pearce was born in England in the middle of a large family of girls and quickly found that her imagination was far more interesting than real life. After acquiring a degree in history and barely escaping from the British Civil Service alive, she moved to California and then to Hawaii with her kids and her husband and set about reinventing herself as a romance writer.
She is known for both her unconventional heroes and her joy at subverting romance clichés. In her spare time she self publishes science fiction erotic romance, historical romance, and whatever else she can imagine. You can find Kate on katepearce.com.
Read an Excerpt
Some Like It Rough
By Kate Pearce Susan Lyons Anne Rainey
APHRODISIA BOOKS
Copyright © 2010 Kensington Publishing Corp.All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-3898-6
Chapter One
"Well, hell."Luke Warner leaned back and squinted up at the hole in the ceiling, certain he could see the blue sky beyond. He sure had his work cut out for him, but that was what he'd wanted, right? Something to do with his hands, something to connect him to his past. He grimaced as his gaze swept the broken countertops and shelves, the holes in the floor, the leaking pipes.
The old Warner family drugstore on the corner of Keystone and Main in Gulch Town, California had definitely seen better days. For some reason, he'd decided it was his job to put it right. It smelled of dirt and mildew now, but once, the store had its own distinct odor of popcorn, coffee, and candy. Luke remembered sitting on a high stool watching his grandpa weigh a handful of pills on the old scales, the way he'd wrapped them in brown paper and the clunking ring of the manual cash register.
His father hadn't wanted to run the shop, and it had been left to rot until Luke had shown up and demanded the key from his perplexed Aunt Josie. With a sigh, he picked up his sleeping bag and rucksack and walked to the back of the store. There was one room with a door that still locked and an outside toilet with running water and a sink. That would have to do until he got himself fixed up.
He laidout his sleeping bag, stretched out on it, and kicked off his dusty boots. It was a small town. It wouldn't take long for folks to hear he was back. He smiled into the gathering shadows. What would Paul and Julia do then?
Paul let himself in through the back door of Julia's small condo and found her in the kitchen stirring something on the stove that smelled like chicken. He came up behind her and planted a kiss on the back of her neck. She squeaked, and he wrapped his arms around her hips and nuzzled her throat. Strands of her silky brown hair tickled his face. She dropped the spoon into the pan and swung around to face him.
"Don't you ever knock?"
He touched the brim of his Stetson. "No, ma'am, I was brought up in a barn, remember?"
She leaned back against the countertop, her gray eyes serious, her normally laughing mouth a worried line. "That joke is getting old."
"Yeah, I reckon I've been making that one since kindergarten." He raised his eyebrows at her. "So, what's up? You seemed kind of jittery when you called."
"I just spoke to Roxanne. She says Luke is back in town."
Paul blinked at her. "Our Luke?"
"Well, he's scarcely 'ours' anymore, is he? We haven't seen or heard from him in ten years. But Luke Warner is definitely here."
Paul studied Julia's flushed face. "And?"
"And what?"
"What do you want to do about it?"
"About Luke?" She shrugged, and one of the thin straps of her blue camisole fell down from her shoulder. He noticed she had no bra underneath. "I don't know."
Paul stepped closer until his large body was only inches away from Julia's. Her nipples tightened through the thin cotton of her cami, and her breathing hitched. He put his hands on her waist and set her on the tiled countertop, reaching over to turn off whatever was cooking on the stove.
"You want to see him, don't you?"
She looked up at him, and he bent his head and licked a slow, lascivious line along the seam of her lips.
"He'll be hard to miss in a town as small as this."
"That's not an answer." Paul slid a hand under her camisole and cupped her right breast, used his finger and thumb to twist her nipple to a hard, needy point. She sighed and shoved her hand into his hair, wiggled closer to the edge of the counter, until her sex rode the thick ridge of his cock in his jeans.
"You want to see him up close and personal, right?" he murmured between kisses and nips. He went still when she caged his face in her hands.
"Don't you want to know why he left?"
"Of course I do, but ..."
She smiled at him and unbuckled his belt and straining fly. "But, you're worried I'll run off with him?" She wrapped her hand around his cock and squeezed hard, just the way he liked.
"Yeah," he admitted, as she pulled down her shorts with one hand and let them fall to the floor. "You always liked him best."
His fingers plucked at her clit and then slid into the thick wetness of her pussy. He took her hand away from his cock and shoved himself deep into her slick heat, held still as she shuddered around him. Sometimes he liked it like this, hard and fast, Julia having to catch up, giving him every orgasm right around his thrusting shaft rather than against his fingers or mouth.
Tonight he wanted to fuck her hard, as if he could somehow slow down time and make her realize she didn't want to go anywhere near Luke Warner, that she wanted only him. She cried out and her pussy clenched around his cock. Paul kept slamming into her and only climaxed when she came again, squeezing every last drop of cum out of his balls.
She stroked the back of his neck, her fingers soft. "I don't like him best. I like you. You stayed, remember?"
He lifted his head to stare at her. "I had no choice. I couldn't go off and leave the ranch, now, could I?"
"My hero."
She smiled at him, and he had to smile back. "I don't mind if you see Luke, honey. I'd like to see him myself."
"You would?" Julia studied him and then her gray eyes narrowed. "Not if you're going to beat him up, Paul."
"I wouldn't do that." He pulled out of her and handed her his handkerchief to clean up. "I'd sure appreciate an explanation though. He was my best friend, too. We did everything together, had our first smoke, our first beer, our first mutual jerk off ..."
"Your first fuck."
Paul kissed her nose. "I prefer to think we were making love to you. It was so fucking sweet. You were so fucking sweet to let us."
Julia slipped down from the countertop and pulled her shorts back on. Her slow, dreamy smile indicated that she was as caught up in the past as he was. "If it was so sweet, why did Luke skip town right after?"
Paul tucked his cock back into his boxers and zipped up his jeans. "I don't know. That's one of the reasons I want to talk to him."
Julia washed her hands and turned back to the stove. "I hear he's staying at the old drugstore on Main."
"That wreck? Why the hell isn't he bunking with his aunt? Maybe he's out of money and came back because he had no choice." Paul sat down at the table and stared at the stove expectantly. It was a five mile drive back to his ranch, and he already knew he had nothing but beer and beef in his refrigerator. After Julia's call, he'd had no choice but to turn around and come see her. If he was staying over, he loved getting fed as well as fucked.
"I have no idea, but perhaps we should drop by tomorrow and see how he's doing."
Paul grinned at her. "Yeah, perhaps we should."
"Paul?"
"Yeah, honey?" Paul croaked and opened his eyes to find Julia propped up on her elbows looking down at him, her breasts grazing his chest, her long legs straddling his hips. He had no idea what time it was, only that he was in her bed and that it was still dark. Despite the fact that they'd already made love twice, his cock stirred against her wet, warm sex.
"That question you asked me. The one I didn't want to answer?" Julia kissed his forehead. "You're right. I would like to get up close to Luke again."
Paul carefully lifted her off him and rolled onto his side. He tried to sound casual, even though he knew she wouldn't buy it. "So, do you want me to stay out of the way at the ranch while you fuck him?"
"Why would you do that?"
He shrugged and tried to smile. "Because I'm trying to be the better person here. I'm trying to give you choices."
"That's not like you at all."
"I know." Hell, it was the hardest thing he'd ever contemplated, giving Julia up, especially to Luke Warner.
She reached out and touched his chest, stroked her fingers over his nipple. "I kind of thought you'd like to be there, too."
He studied her carefully in the dim light. "When you say 'there' do you mean like, physically there?"
"Yes."
His cock reacted quicker than his brain, showed its appreciation of the idea by filling out hard and fast. In the beginning it had always been the three of them and they'd learned about sex together. Somehow, it had felt right and he couldn't shake the notion that it would always feel right. "Like, both of us?"
"That depends on Luke, doesn't it?" Julia's tentative smile cut through the darkness. "I always think of us as a threesome, don't you? Or does that make me some kind of voracious slut?"
"Not in my book, honey." He rolled on top of her and drove his cock deep, felt her curl her arms and legs around him and hold him tight. "I'm happy to do whatever you want as long as I'm part of it."
She lifted her hips into his thrusts and he kept on pumping, slid his hand between them to finger her clit and bring her off with him. He couldn't contemplate sharing Julia with any other man but Luke, and, to be fair, she'd never expressed an interest in fucking anyone else. And, as far as anyone knew, they'd been a couple since high school. The least he could do was give them all a chance to explore every aspect of their old relationship. That was only fair. He groaned as his cum exploded into Julia. Sex with Julia was always excellent; with Luke involved, it might be awesome.
Julia sipped her second cup of coffee and squinted into the sunlight filtering through the blinds of her small kitchen. Paul had gotten up early and gone home to his ranch. Since his parents had decided to retire to Florida, he never had the luxury of walking away from it completely. Despite having some staff to help out, something always required attention, even if it was as dull as repairing fence line or doing the accounts.
When it got really busy out there, during cattle drives, birthing, or branding, Julia often went out and stayed with him. She half smiled. Otherwise she would never see him. And she liked seeing him. Liked the way he used his big, strong, body too ...
With a sigh, she got off the stool and picked up her briefcase. Time to get to work and face another day of exciting fiscal challenges at the one and only bank in Gulch Town. Not that much ever happened. The most exciting thing this year was when Mr. Murphy's crazy sheepdog had gotten loose and chewed up a load of paperwork and a couple of chairs.
She'd been beyond excited to become assistant manager because it meant she could stay in her hometown, but it also meant she had to deal with Mr. Glynn, the complete asshole who ran the bank and who was slowly driving her nuts. Unfortunately he had at least four years before he was due to retire, so unless she wanted to change jobs, or be sent to prison for murder, she was stuck with him. And she'd never wanted to leave, had she? With an ever-changing cast of stepfather's, her only security had come from Paul, Luke, and Gulch Town.
As she walked to her car, she wondered how Luke was doing. How on earth was he going to survive in that wrecked old store his family had abandoned years ago? She knew that several offers had been made to the family to buy up the prime retail space, but they'd all been refused. Had Luke intended to come back all along? Had he been the one behind the family decision not to sell?
On that tantalizing thought, Julia got into her car and drove the five minutes to work. If Luke was moving back, surely he'd need funds? And, as Mr. Glynn preferred golf to sitting behind his desk, she was nominally in charge of the only bank in town. It looked like she might be seeing Luke even sooner than she had anticipated.
Chapter Two
"Is anyone home?""Yeah, in here." Luke leaned the broom up against the counter and turned around slowly. He knew that voice almost as well as his own. Standing in the doorway that opened out onto the street was Paul, his onetime best friend, and one of the reasons why Luke had left Gulch Town in such a hurry.
Paul touched the brim of his white Stetson and smiled. "What's up?"
Luke found himself smiling back. "Nothing much." He waited as Paul shut the door behind him and came closer. His buddy had sure filled out in the last ten years. At six-three, he had always been tall, but now he was all lean, hard, muscle, his blond hair cut close to his head, the skin around his blue eyes crinkled as if he laughed a lot or constantly stared into the sun.
Luke wiped his hand on his jeans and held it out. "It's good to see you, Paul."
Paul returned the handshake, his palm calloused from hard work. Luke wished he had some of those calluses; his hands were already blistered and bruised from just cleaning up the place.
"It's good to see you, too, Luke." Paul's gaze swept the dilapidated store. "Not sure what you're doing here, though. Did you lose a family contest or something, or are you just down on your luck and need a roof over your head?"
"I've wanted to fix this place up for ages and it just seemed like a good time to start."
"You're sure about that? It looks like a fucking mess to me."
Luke's smile deepened. God, it was good to hear Paul's leisurely self-deprecating drawl and dry wit again. Some folks thought he was slow on the uptake because he didn't shoot his mouth off. Luke had learned long ago to listen when Paul did speak, because he generally had something useful to say.
"I'm going to restore it and open it as an old-fashioned soda shop and ice cream parlor. You know, kind of like it used to be in my granddad's day after he stopped doing the pharmacy part of it."
"Yeah?" Paul looked around again. "And you're going to do all the work yourself?"
Luke shrugged. "Most of it."
"Good for you." Something beeped in Paul's pocket and he pulled out his cell phone. "Excuse me." He read something and texted back, his big fingers surprisingly nimble on the tiny keypad. He looked up at Luke, his blue eyes considering. "Julia's going to be here in a moment. She's looking forward to seeing you."
Needing something to do with his hands, Luke picked up the broom and continued to sweep the floor. "She is?"
Paul put his cell phone away and studied his brown scuffed cowboy boots. "Yeah. Although, being a female, she'll probably want a few answers out of you."
Luke stopped sweeping. "And you don't? I walked away from you too, buddy. Didn't it bother you?"
"What do you fucking think?" Paul met Luke's challenging stare with one of his own and then looked away again, but not before Luke had seen the pain in his eyes. "I'll go see whether Julia's here yet. She works just up the street."
Luke stayed where he was, still clutching the broom like a talisman. Paul had as much right to be angry with him as Julia did, but he'd always been good at hiding his feelings, far better than Luke and Julia anyway. Inwardly, Luke groaned. Why had he needled Paul? He suspected it was because Paul seemed so accepting of the situation, so disinterested in rehashing the past. Luke needed to face what he'd done, and would almost have preferred it if Paul had walked in and punched him in the face. At least then, it would all be out in the open.
He stiffened as he heard voices in the street and deliberately turned his back on the door and carried on with his chore. Paul had looked even better than Luke had imagined him-would Julia be the same?
"Hey."
Luke turned slowly around and almost swallowed his tongue. Julia was dressed in a dark blue business skirt and white blouse. He'd unconsciously been expecting her to be wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She'd definitely grown up. The coltish legs, elongated by killer heels, and her face ... God, she was so fucking beautiful he wanted to kiss all her lipstick off.
"Hey." He nodded at her as if he'd never left and had just popped out to get a soda or something. God, he even felt like his eighteen-year-old self-stupid, inarticulate, and horny as hell. "How are you doing?"
She inclined her head a slow inch and a curl of her upswept brown hair touched her cheek. "I'm doing okay." She held up a basket. "Paul and I reckoned we'd bring you some dinner. Is that all right?"
He looked around the empty space. "Sure, but there's nowhere to eat in here yet."
"That's okay," Paul said. "I've got some camping supplies in the back of my truck. I'll go get them."
Luke watched Paul leave and reluctantly turned back to Julia, who was putting the picnic basket and cooler on the least damaged section of the countertop. He cleared his throat and she looked up at him, her gray eyes slightly wary.
He gestured at the basket. "Thanks for doing this. I sure as hell don't deserve it."
"That's true."
He'd always liked that about Julia, her no bullshit attitude to life. The way she'd nagged him and Paul to say what they thought, rather than relying on her to translate their pathetic man-speak.
"Your aunt Josie said you were back for good. Is that right?"
Luke shoved a hand through his hair. "It kind of depends on how things go here."
"Whether you can put this place back together again, you mean?" She frowned. "There's one of those new, pharmaceutical mega stores less than five miles away now. I doubt this place could survive or compete with their prices."
"I'm not thinking of reopening it as a proper drugstore. I was thinking more of a coffee and ice cream shop. I notice the town doesn't have anywhere for people to sit and relax anymore." Luke patted the countertop. "The bones are good, all I need to do is restore the parts that can function in the new design and get rid of the rest."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Some Like It Rough by Kate Pearce Susan Lyons Anne Rainey Copyright © 2010 by Kensington Publishing Corp.. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Some Like It Rough Kate Pearce....................1Private Eyes Susan Lyons....................75
Cherry on Top Anne Rainey....................179