Chapter Prologue
Summer—three years ago
“Heavens to Betsy! How much longer are you gonna stay up there, Maddy?”
Heart in my throat and my stomach doing all kinds of crazy things, I didn’t want to look down, but I had no choice. Prying my eyes open, I peeked down to see my twin sister, Riley Jo, standing with one hip cocked and her hand on the other, frowning, looking up at me from the bottom of the tree.
“Hold your darn horses,” I whisper shouted, taking a deep breath.
I could do this. My foot tentatively sought the next branch down. How my sister did this all the time was a complete mystery to me.
Just two more branches. We got this.
“Touchdown!” Giggled Riley Jo, throwing both her hands above her head as relief flooded my body having my two feet firmly back on solid ground.
“And you do this all the time?” I looked up to Riley Jo’s bedroom window.
“Sure.” Hitching a shoulder. “How else can I escape?” She snatched my hand, and we made a run for it.
Where were we running to? Well, according to my sister, this was the party of the year. A huge blowout bash at our neighbouring property. The Timberfell’s. Cody Timberfell had graduated with us. And from what I’d heard, his parents had given him the run of the property.
“Who’d you say is comin’ tonight?” Waiting for her to reply, I looked over at what she was wearing. Me and Riley Jo may have been twins... but as well as being non-identical twins, we were different in all kinds of ways. But secretly, she was everything I wanted to be.
“Everyone.”
Everyone? My heart did a crazy jump.
Biting the soft tissue of my inside cheek. “Do you think I’m overdressed?” I was wearing a pretty yellow sundress that rested on my knee, with lemon pumps and my blonde tied back in a sweeping ponytail.
Riley Jo gave me a quick once-over. “No, you look sweet.”
Sweet? ...Urgh. That was code for boring. I scrutinised what Riley Jo was wearing. “Are you wearing a bikini under that vest?” She also had on her favourite flower embroidered ankle cowgirl boots, with a cute pair of cutoff denim shorts and a bright yellow vest that did little to hide her ample breasts. Breasts that I'm sure when they’d been handing them out, she’d been given mine too! In truth, my sister had curves in all the right places.
“Sure am,” she said, with more than just a hint of mischief in her green eyes. Spinning around he lifted her vest and flashed me.
I gasped a shocked laugh at the tiny pieces of triangle material that barely covered her nipples. “Riley Jo, that’s not a bikini. That’s an advertisement for sin!”
Riley rolled her eyes adjusting her vest back in place. “You need to take that stick out of your ass and quit sounding like Mama.”
My feet froze. “Take that back. I do not.”
Two steps ahead, Riley Jo halted and turned. “Yea. Yeah, you do.” She cocked her head. “But don’t worry, I still love you.” She tugged on my hand. “Now c’mon. I’m fixin’ on getting there tonight.”
Dragging me along, I picked up my steps.
“You know who I heard gonna be there?” Her mouth lifted into a knowing smile.
“Who?” I asked, but already knew where this conversation was heading. The Reilly twins. It didn’t surprise me as they were best friends with the eldest Timberfell son, Johnny. The Reilly’s lived on our bordering property to the West of us and were almost four years older than me, I’d crushed on them for the last two years. Not that I’d told anyone—not even Riley Jo.
I’d known them my whole life, but only actually noticed them when they’d caught me and Riley Jo trying to steal one of their horses. Both Riley and I had been upset to find one of their horses near our land with an injury to its leg and our mama had always told us the head of the house, their father Hank Reilly was a mean ol’ bastard and would beat his horses. We’d almost done it too when Logan and Jackson had caught us clean in the act and to stop them from tellin’ on us, I agreed to kiss them both. I was sixteen at the time and they were my first kiss.
And since then, Riley Jo had teased me non-stop.
“Logan and Jackson.” she grinned, wiggling her eyebrows.
It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Stop doing that. You look crazy,” I huffed out. “And I don’t know why you think that would interest me.”
Riley let out an exaggerated sigh. “Pu-lease, don’t you go acting like you don’t think about doing all kinds of naughty them with them boys.”
“I don’t” Thankfully my voice was steady because my heart was dancing around like a fool.
“Pfft, you’re a damn liar, Maddy Lockwood.” Nudging her shoulder with mine. “But, you’ve heard the rumours, right?”
I looked at her, not sure where this was going. “What rumours?”
She turned to me and whispered. “That they share.”
Share? I whispered back. “Share what?” I looked over my shoulder. “And why are we whispering?”
Riley Jo pulled back. “Maddy, don’t you go pretending. You can’t pull the wool over my eyes.”
“Pretending what? I’m not following.”
“Duh, Women—girlfriends” The pitch of her voice rose. “They share them!”
My jaw dropped. “Who told you such a thing?”
“I swear Maddy, you have your head buried so far up Mama’s ass that you don’t even see what goes on around you.”
“I do not.” It was true I was Mama’s favourite, but I didn’t know why. She and Riley Jo spent countless hours arguing over nothing most of the time.
Riley Jo swished my words away with a scoff.
Trying to ignore the upsurge of jealousy at Logan and Jackson being with another woman, I asked the question. “And how would it work, anyway? Is it some kind of rotation? She sees Jackson, Monday through to Wednesday and then Logan Thursday to Saturday and then she gets Sunday off as a day of rest?”
Riley Jo laughed for a solid minute, holding her tummy with one hand. “Oh heavens above, how innocent you are?” she looked at me with pity. “I’m talking about sex, together, Maddy.”
Eyes as wide as monster truck tyres, my stomach practically leapt from my body. “Sex? What both—At the same time?”
Much to my annoyance, Riley Jo laughed even harder. “You should see your face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen colour drain so fast.”
Sex at the same time—how the hell would that work? Although the last thing I wanted to do was think about either twin having sex, I tried to draw the image in my head.
“You’ve gone quiet—what ya thinkin’?” Riley asked.
Shrugging. “How what you say is even possible?”
Riley shook her head. “Sometimes, Maddy Lockwood, I don’t know how we’re related.”
“Okay,” I blustered. “Well, how ’bout you explain it to me—seeing as you know everything!”
She turned to face me but kept walking backwards. “You have a front door and a back door, you followin’ me?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Door?”
“You’re gonna make me say it, aren’t you?”
I stood there expectantly.
Riley continued. “Fine, the way I hear it, and this is from Connor. “You have one in your vagina and the other in your butt.” She tilted her head up in thought. “I’m guessin’ kinda like a sandwich,” her smile widened. “Or more like a man-wich.”
I spluttered a cough. “That’s unholy!”
Riley cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t knock it until you try it, I say.”
My feet stopped working. “What—you would do that? Let two men put—” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
My sister stopped walking and shrugged. “How can I say I don’t like somethin’ if I never tried it?”
Her expression told me she was serious and I guess there was some logic in that statement...but. “Hold on a darn minute! You haven’t had sex with one man yet!”
“No, but that could change tonight.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Keep walking.” Riley flipped back around and my feet started moving. “I’m not saying I will or I won’t, but I am here for a good time.”
My head was spinning. Had the world gone crazy? “Well, I can tell you right now. I will never let two men do that to me. Ever!” Not even the Reilly’s. “Things like that will get you sent straight to hell!”
Riley Jo shrugged. “Fine, I’ll try it then.”
“What?” I grabbed her arm, stopping us both from walking. “You mean with Logan and Jackson?” Jealousy churned my stomach from the inside out. “Don’t you dare, Riley Jo!” I clamped a hand over my mouth, but it was too late the words had already left my lips.
“I knew it!” Smiling triumphantly. “You do like them?”
“I never said that.” I was a terrible liar as colour spread across my cheeks.
“Fine. You’re obviously in denial, but seeing as you’ve no intention of being with them both—how about sharing?” She sighed. “I think Jackson is hot!”
What? Seriously?“They’re identical twins. How can he be hotter than Logan?”
“What does Nana say?” Riley bit her lip. “A man with the look of the devil in him.” I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “And that dimple of his sure looks devilish to me.”
“Can we quit talking about them?” I might not be ready to admit how I felt about the twins, but I knew I didn’t want my sister to be with either of them.
Riley Jo rolled her eyes. “Fine. Look over yonder, we’re almost here, anyway.”
Heading inside the main house, the party was in full swing. Music blared out making almost every wall vibrate. I picked the room furthest away but it was still crowded with faces from town and school and some folks I’d never seen before. I felt a little out of place as all the girls were wearing little to hide their god-given curves and from where I now stood overlooking the swimming pool out back, some of them were parading around topless.
My mama would say this was a den of sin.
Keeping myself to myself, practically hiding, I stood with the bottled beer Riley had thrust into my hand. I never drank. Mama always said a lady had to stay alert when at public functions.
As my eyes snuck around the room for the umpteenth time and I would admit I was a little sad that I hadn’t seen the Reilly’s. Although you would never hear me admit that out loud.
I spoke too soon as I spotted one of them making his way down the staircase dodging giddy inebriated teens and I also didn’t miss the girls fluttering their pretty eyelashes at him either.
Not sure if it was Logan or Jackson, my entire body tensed as I let my eyes go to town.
Tall, head and shoulders above most in the room, he oozed testosterone. A perfect male in his prime, his muscular body was shown off to perfection in the snug jeans he wore, and the pale blue striped, cotton dress shirt rolled up to the forearms and a few buttons undone at the neck with a wide leather belt circling his slim hips and hard stomach.
God, the man was sexy and made my heart beat all that much faster.
Once at the bottom, he came into the room where I was. He propped himself against the wide, wooden arched frame, and I knew I was looking at Logan Reilly and his casual posture screamed confidence. Not to mention mouth-wateringly sexy.
Johnny Timberfell nudged him, handing him a beer, and I watched him bring it to his mouth and drink. I sighed at all that hard muscle as he went back to his position of pressing his shoulder against the wooden arch, forcing me to my tiptoes, allowing me to see all of him.
Not one inch of either of the Reilly brothers was disappointing. Logan shifted to stand with his ankles crossed. It was also hard to miss those jeans hugging his more than impressive male bulge.
Oh. My. God. I was staring at his crotch. What the hell was wrong with me?
Eyes darting to my feet, I smoothed my dress out with one hand and my other hand gripped the bottle-beer tightly. “Damn!” I quickly placed the bottle on the shelf closest to me.
And as if a beacon signalled me out, I could somehow feel his eyes on me and I lifted mine.
I wasn’t wrong as a slow, cocky smile spread across his lips as pushed off the beam and wove through the folks between us. Strangely, Jackson was nowhere to be seen, which was unusual.
Act cool. Act cool. My body felt anything but cool, with my face burning hotter than the midday sun and heat pooling in my lower belly, coiling down lower, lower, lower to touch the intimate place between my thighs.
“Hello Princes,” his deep southern tone warmed me even more. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
I tilted up my chin trying to act indifferent to his charm. “Why not? You don’t think I go to parties, Logan Reilly?”
He chuckled, not at all flustered by my terse tone.
“Good girls don’t come to parties like this one,” he simply said.
He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t want to be the good girl tonight so instead I asked, “Where’s your shadow?”
“Jackson?” He flicked his chin up. “Crazy fool agreed to a drinking challenge with Johnny.”
Oh. I bit on my lip nervously as I watched him take a long drink of his beer, but apparently, it didn’t taste all that nice as he grimaced.
“Sumthin’ not to your liking?”
His hand passed by my face, placing the bottle next to mine on the shelf, easing back, his grey eyes travelled down my body. “Oh, everything is definitely to my likin’ Princess.”
I shuddered, the breath in my chest froze. “You know I was talking ’bout the beer?”
“Ah-huh.” He leaned in so his lips brushed my cheek and I bit back a whimper. “I was hopin’ you would come, Princess.”
“Yeah? And why’s that?” I would tell no one this, but I often rode out to Critter Creek, the land that bordered our two properties, hoping one or both of the twins might be out there too. More often than not, I was disappointed, but on some occasions, one or both would be there and they’d flirt outrageously with me.
Logan moved slightly, and beneath his cowboy boots the wood creaked with his shift in balance and the weight of his muscled packed body came so much closer.
“You need to ask, Princess?”
My body sucked in the heat from his and it forced me to look up and watch his mouth... that stupidly beautiful mouth and those lips... Lips that I’d dreamt of kissing, ever since that day they traded their silence for a kiss. “Well, it can’t be because you lack female company.” I glanced around. “No doubt every girl in this room would give you the time of day.”
“Maybe” He dragged his full bottom lip between his teeth. “But there’s only one woman I’m interested in.”
My gaze softened as I was caught off guard by his words as my tongue darted out to dampen my parched lips. “Who’s that?” I whispered with a sigh.
Someone knocked into him and it forced us closer and my hand came up and curled into the front of his shirt.
“Easy Princess. I might almost think you want to touch me.”
I made no move to let go.
“Come outside with me. Somewhere quieter.” He cocked his head. “Out to the barn.”
“I think here is just fine.” Not trusting myself to be alone with him. And had his voice gotten sexier since the last time I spoke with him?
Sexier? I realised him being this close was making me crazy...or crazier than usual.
“I want to be alone with you, Maddy Lockwood.”
He did? “Why—why me?”
Dipping down his warm breath skated against the delicate shell of my ear. “I think you know.”
I swallowed to ease the dryness. “You want me?” It wasn’t a question, and he understood and answered with another question.
Easing his head back. “How long are we gonna do this dance, Princess?”
I hadn’t been completely honest with Riley Jo earlier. I didn’t know about them sharing, but Mama had insisted I stay away from them as she implied they were both less than honourable, just like their daddy.
But the way he was looking at me right now, I was torn between the good girl and the girl who wanted more. My mind was telling me to stay away, but my body and my heart seemed to have a different idea. “What about Jackson?”
“What about him?”
I didn’t know what to say. But another nudge from another passerby had us pressed together, no space between us, making my breasts brush the wall of his chest. And I may not be big-breasted like Riley Jo, but my modest handful flushed against the thin material of my dress.
His eyes widened as they looked down to see us touching, and I licked my lips nervously.
“Come to the barn with me?” he repeated, his finger gliding over my clasped hand, stroking lightly sending lustful sparks of fire under my skin as I leaned into him.
“Just us?” I asked, almost fearfully. “Not Jackson?”
“Just us,” he simply said and even more crazy I nodded my head and he reached down and took my hand, leading us outside. I looked at our joined hands. His were much bigger and rougher.
We reached the barn without saying a word, although the conversation in my head was a clear warning I should turn around and walk away. Not walk—run.
Opening the huge wooden sliding door, he gestured for me to go in first. As I stepped inside, he followed and pulled the door closed behind us. By the recumbent rays of the setting sun, I could see the light streaming through the aged timbers, which illuminated the dust like ethereal confetti. It looked beautiful.
“This way.” Heading toward the back of the large old barn. Hay bales were scattered in no particular order although some were piled high.
“Are you sure it’s okay to be out here?”
“No one will bother us here, Princess.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
He pulled us to the back where loose straw had been dumped, piled high in the corner, kinda shaped like a bean-bag chair that Riley Jo and I had as kids.
Without warning, I squeaked when he turned and pulled me into his chest. “You have no idea what you do to me, Maddy Lockwood.”
I’d lost the ability to speak, frightened of my own voice. Hell, frightened at my own thoughts.
“I promise never to hurt you, you know that, right?” He lowered his head until his lips brushed my ear and his hands smoothed up my bare arms, quickly being chased by my goosebumps.
“Is this okay?” He drew us closer to the straw, and my feet followed without hesitation. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” I swallowed thickly, nodding my head as his hand found my hip and pulled us flush, pressing his face into the crook of my neck, breathing me in before laying a soft kiss just under my ear. And this close, the outline of his erection pressed up against my thigh.
I knew I should push him away. But I didn’t. For once, I wanted to be bold like Riley Jo and ignore that nagging voice of my mama in my head.
Logan eased back just a fraction and shifted his hand under my chin to tilt my head up and his lips closed over mine, catching my breathy moan.
And unlike our first kiss from two years ago, this wasn’t a boy’s kiss—no, this was a man who knew exactly how to kiss a woman... kiss me.
His tongue slipped past my lips as my arms slowly drew up his, squeezing his biceps, and I let myself go as my tongue tentatively tangled with his, causing an eruption of crazy feelings.
“Lie down with me.” I did as he asked, thankful the straw was quite padded, if not a little spiky in places.
Logan settled beside me, with him on his side as his hand traced across my cheek. “You don’t know how much I want you, Maddy.” It seemed like he was trying to keep his voice soft, almost tender, before adding more fuel to the growing fire inside my belly. “How desperately I want to touch you.”
I trembled under his words and when his hand cupped my face, returning his lips to mine, he stole my breath and any willpower I might have had.
I didn’t want to fight this or my feelings. I wanted him too.
Resting my hand on his shoulder, he moved closer and his denim-covered erection felt bigger. This wasn’t a soft kiss, it was an all-mind-bending kiss. Chemical bliss, for sure. Logan’s tongue teased mine, and I relaxed, drawing him deeper, digging my fingers into his shoulders.
Moving slowly, his hand tentatively moved from his cheek and I almost jumped when he brushed it against my breast. He pulled back, sensing my stiffness. “I won’t hurt you Maddy—do you want me to stop?”
Did I? Hell no! My head moved from side to side. “I don’t want you to.” I swallowed. “Stop that is.” With a shaking hand, I moved to a button on his shirt and undid it.
Logan nodded once and smiled, sitting up, quickly undoing the rest of his buttons, pushing his shirt from his shoulders.
I bit back a gasp at the sight of his well-muscled chest. His finger teased the button on my dress. “May I?” he asked ever so sweetly, and I nodded to watch him unfasten every single button.
Oh my heavens, we were really doing this.
Hearing him suck in a breath forced me to bite down hard on my lip. Parting my dress, his eyes feasted on me.
Shyness showed its face as I looked down at my boring white bra, fighting the urge to cover up, knowing I wasn’t anything special underneath my clothes—nothing like my sister. But his words stole my breath.
“You are so fucking beautiful, Maddy.” My jaw dropped as his words were so genuine. “I could stare at you like this and be happy for the rest of my life.”
My insides quivered like jello, having felt nothing like this before. Logan’s head dipped to kiss my throat, and I angled upward, allowing him more room to move along my collarbone. My eyes shut when he squeezed my small breast and my husky little moan of pleasure made him groan.
His lips moved like the lapping waters of the sea. The heat of his mouth sent my head into meltdown as he sucked my nipple through my bra before lifting his head. “Can I take this off?” he asked.
Oh. My. God.“I—I,” stuttering like an idiot. “I—don’t know if I—”
“Hey, hey.” Eyes seeking mine. “It’s okay, Maddy. We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
I wasn’t ready for that. But watching me relax, his head lowered again and kissed further down over my trembling belly before sitting up and moving between my thighs. He gentled them wider, with my dress now hung loosely at either side of my body.
Lowering his mouth, he kissed a trail up the inside of my thighs as his hands ran over the outside. I was so sure we would set the straw on fire as I sucked in a breath and held it there for god knows how long when his mouth moved over my underwear.
And God help me, I wanted more. Closing my eyes, I memorised every soft kiss to my burning skin, every sound he made, and every stroke of his fingers.
And then he stopped, and I opened my eyes and lifted my head. Looking over Logan’s shoulder, I gasped to see we weren’t alone. Propped casually against a large wooden beam stood his brother, Jackson, with his nostrils flaring.
And there was something else, too. His eyes burned with the same need I saw in Logan’s.
No. This wasn’t right, and I panicked and tried to scurry from Logan as a bomb went off inside my head.
The rumours were true.
"Maddy...”Logan’s voice sounded almost pained as I snatched the material of my dress, dragging it together to cover myself.
Logan’s head flicked over his shoulder. “God damn!” His curse was almost a growl aimed at Jackson. “Sonofabitch.” He pushed up from me as I sat upright, my eyes flicking between the brothers. “Get the fuck out of here, Jackson.” His expression was so angry I flinched.
Jackson didn’t budge, and I turned away, shaking my head, needing to escape.
I couldn’t do this. I was a good girl. Scrambling to my feet with Logan quickly following, stepping toward me.
“No.” One hand tightly clasped my dress, the other I held out to stop him from coming any closer. “No, Logan!” My voice wobbled, but I held my ground. “This isn’t right.”
With a lethal grace, Jackson started toward me, his eyes widening, fury lighting up those steely grey eyes of his.
Heat stung my eyes and the telltale sign of tears pricked my nose and I made my getaway, darting past both Logan and Jackson.
They both called out my name, but I was already at the barn door, throwing it open and running faster than my beating heart. I only stopped running when my legs threatened to give out and the Timberfell’s barn was nothing more than a foreboding shadow on the horizon.
And I was sure I was going straight to hell with what I almost just let happen.