Sophie caught Nora’s wistful expression as she gazed at Jessie, her face soft with longing before turning bland. “Are you coming back to the ranch tonight?” She would like the company if Adrian remained temperamental. Even she, who didn’t know the group well, could see how much his constant mistrust hurt his friends and cousin.

  “I probably will,” Rachel said. “But I’m not sleeping with that jerk again.”

  “And how many times have I said that?” Nora returned, her tone dry with sarcasm.

  “At least Jessie is nice and fun. Wyatt’s always moody, and either pissed off at the world or down in the dumps when he’s drinking, which is all the time.” Her gaze flicked to Wyatt with longing. “Why did I think I could change him?”

  “We should have learned from Nicole and Adrian’s mistake when they traded friendship for sex. Nothing good came of their relationship, and so far, the same has held for you and me, Rach.” Nora took a swig of her beer before turning to Sophie. “And now you’re with Adrian, who is lately the biggest jerk of the four of them.”

  “Does that bother you, considering Nicole was your friend?” She hoped not as she valued their friendship.

  Jessie returned with Sophie’s drink in time to hear her and asked, “Does what bother her? Ask me. I’ll know.”

  “She wants to know how we feel about her and Adrian. The answer’s no, it doesn’t bother any of us. We’re hoping he’ll mellow out now that he’s getting laid again, and see the error of his thinking,” Nora said.

  Sophie doubted she held any influence with him but didn’t offer her opinion. Jessie frowned, as if not sure about this new development, and he didn’t mind saying so.

  “He should have stuck with playing at Spurs for a while. Sophie isn’t submissive like Nicole.” His voice conveyed caring and concern when he addressed her. “Don’t get me wrong. If you’re happy, that’s great. I just don’t want to see him hurt you. If he’ll abuse a thirty year friendship, he’ll end up causing you pain. He hasn’t thought straight since losing Nicole.”

  “You can’t blame him for that,” Wyatt said, moving to stand next to Sophie.

  Downing her drink, she listened with half an ear to them arguing over whether Adrian had cause for his beliefs while mulling over Jessie’s comments. Was she in jeopardy of getting her heart broken? Sophie hadn’t considered that a possibility when succumbing to the fierce lust Adrian inspired. After she experienced the respite from her emotional pain his hard swats offered, there had been no second-guessing or going back for her, only worry about losing her job and what she’d gained from crossing that line with her boss.

  She handed Jessie her glass for a refill, pondering the depths of caring she never imagined the cold, brooding millionaire she first met would possess. It should have told her something when she never considered him suspect in his wife’s death after hearing about her infidelity.

  Sophie realized she was imbibing too much by the time she finished her third drink. The tension between the two couples added to her own over worrying about Tink, her desperate desire for Adrian taking hold. She stood to leave, grateful when Rachel took hold of her arm to steady her against the spinning room.

  “Thanks. Wow, those really hit me.”

  “That can happen,” Wyatt said, eyeing her with a dispassionate, blurry-eyed gaze.

  “You should know,” Rachel shot back.

  “Please.” Sophie held up a hand, wanting to get out of there.

  Rachel kept hold of Sophie’s arm. “Come on, I’ll drive you back to the ranch. We can return in the morning for your car.”

  “We’ll see you there,” Nora called out.

  Wyatt stood and stumbled against the bar. He held out a hand with a pleading look. “Rachel…”

  “Save it,” she snapped, steering Sophie to the exit.

  “I’m sorry,” Sophie mumbled, hating the dizziness as she slid into Rachel’s passenger seat. “I can call Adrian, if you’d rather stay.”

  “I’m more than ready. I don’t know why I came here in the first place.”

  Sophie was thinking the same thing when she entered Adrian’s home and found herself looking for Tink. She should have remembered alcohol had never dulled her senses enough to forget. Then Adrian came out of the office wearing a black T-shirt that molded around his broad shoulders and thick upper arms in a tight fit, his quad muscles bunching with his long-legged stride across the marble floor.

  Rachel flicked her a grin. “Uh-oh. I’m going up. You’re on your own.”

  She nodded, good with Rachel’s quick departure, her eyes glued to Adrian’s pewter glare. God, I’m such a perv. Her body went hot under his intense regard, her breasts growing heavy, her nipples erect, imagining all that testosterone-laden aggression focused on her. Stopping in front of her, he fisted his hands on his hips and leaned down, getting in her face. If his intention was to intimidate her, he failed.

  “At least you have enough sense not to drive after drinking.”

  “Problem, boss?” Her breathing grew shallow with his nearness. She couldn’t figure out why he appeared annoyed with her but didn’t really care. “You did tell me to go out without you so you could pout and wallow alone with your suspicions of your friends.”

  Ooops! That might have goaded him a little too far. Adrian clasped her upper arms and hauled her against him, his big body vibrating with emotions she couldn’t begin to figure out or understand. Then his cool, firm mouth covered hers, and nothing else mattered except giving herself over to him again.

  Adrian could feel Sophie’s heart pounding against his, her hands gripping his waist, nails digging in as she moaned into his mouth. A nagging sense of worry had started plaguing him as soon as she’d left for the Drop In tonight. No, he didn’t trust his friends or Ashe, as much as that bothered him, and he realized too late he shouldn’t have encouraged her to go without him. Seeing the signs of excessive drinking and now her desperate, clawing urgency for what he could do to her confirmed his mistake. Instead of spending the evening nursing his doubts about Tink’s mishap, he should have been there for her. Everyone knows how fond she is of the cat.

  He ground his mouth on hers, stabbing at her tongue and releasing her arms to grip her delectable ass. Worry wasn’t the only thing driving him. Damn it all to hell, he’d missed her, and that was the crux of his problem. He wasn’t prepared for this to go so deep, so fast, something he’d already acknowledged but conveniently set aside earlier.

  Sophie tore her mouth from his, her ragged breathing harsh in the semi-dark foyer. “Would you make up your mind? Your mood swings are driving me crazy.”

  “Good, because you’re driving me crazy.” He kept her pinned in place with his gaze as he yanked down her zipper. “It’s time I introduced you to something other than my bed, like my favorite bench in the playroom. How’s that for making up my mind?” Adrian didn’t give her a chance to answer, just tugged her down the hall and into the converted den.

  Without releasing her hand, he lowered the bench from the wall and adjusted the back end higher than the front. Facing her, he took in the spark of interest in her eyes then lowered her zipper and shoved down her jeans. “Same safe word. Kneel over and place your arms in the armrests at the sides.”

  Adrian loved the small shudders that went through her slender body when she couldn’t resist a command. Sophie didn’t hesitate, not that he’d ever thought she would, and shimmied out of her pants before getting into position on the padded bench. He strapped her arms down then her thighs, a ball of heat rolling through his belly, eyeing her soft, plump buttocks propped up, her orifices bared and his to use as he pleased.

  “Sophie?” He ran his hands from her cheeks down her thighs in a soothing caress.

  “I…I’m good.”

  Her dripping pussy gave credence to her breathless assurance. “Then let me see what I have to shake you up a bit.” Going to the cabinet on the opposite wall, he went through the options and selected a tawse with three-inch strands that was a good start for a newbie. Returning to the bench, he tickled her shiny pussy lips with the thin leather strands. “Ready, baby?”

  She didn’t lift her head to mumble her reply. “For what?”

  “This.” He swatted one ass cheek then the other, hard enough to sting and leave a row of pink lines before doing the same to the back of her thighs. She gasped, her hips swaying but not away from his strokes. Releasing his engorged cock into his hand, he stroked his hot flesh, delivering one more strike between her legs.

  Sophie squealed, her head coming up then going down again with a sigh when he dropped the toy. The tense evening he’d spent waiting for her return pushed him into moving on rather than continuing to toy with her. There would be time for further exploration later, he mused, donning a condom. Her abundant slick cream eased his way as he slid inside her, her muscles stretching to accommodate his size much faster now. “Deep breath,” he instructed, his way of warning this was going to be rough and hard, the way she liked.

  “Yes,” she hissed, rocking against his pumping hips.

  The problem with rough and hard was it ended too fast. He plowed her contracting depths with vigorous plunges, holding her hips immobile for a better, deeper aim after a few strokes. She grunted as he slammed against her crotch then screamed when he slid a thumb between her cheeks and pushed into her ass. That’s all it took for her vaginal walls to clamp around his pistoning flesh and release his cum from his balls. The penetrating damp heat from those spasms made him wish he could ride her bareback, feel her slick ripples without the latex barrier.

  He was still seeing stars, enjoying her contractions and soft cries as he pulled out of her snug hold when a sound drew his attention to the door. Seeing Wyatt, Jessie, and Nora standing there appearing indecisive, he cursed not hearing them enter. Unsure if Sophie would welcome an audience, Adrian tossed the condom in the trash and zipped up, making sure he shielded her from their gazes.

  “Sorry. Should we have called first?” Jessie asked.

  “No, just give us a minute.” They moved out of the doorway, and it was then Adrian took note of Wyatt’s inebriated condition. Stifling his irritation, he freed Sophie from the restraints and helped her down. “Sorry about that.”

  She leaned against him with a contented sigh. “Don’t be. I don’t want you or anyone else changing how you come and go here. It’s your house. Besides”— she disengaged from his hold and flipped him a cheeky grin, reaching for her jeans—“I was too busy enjoying that to get flustered over an audience, at least for now. Later, when I see them again, might be a different story.”

  “I keep forgetting how eager you are to embrace anything new,” he murmured.

  “So far, anyway. Excuse me, I’m going to head up via the elevator this time. Good night.”

  Adrian nodded and would have followed right away if he didn’t think she needed a few minutes to regain her composure despite her claim otherwise. Her red face wasn’t solely due to climaxing. He escorted her to the elevator then found his friends in the great room where he took in Wyatt’s condition with waning patience for his destructive way of dealing with his issues.

  “I see you haven’t given rehab much thought,” he drawled with a dose of heavy sarcasm before addressing Jessie. “Ashe isn’t with you?”

  “No, haven’t seen him tonight. If you’re finished, do you mind if we use the pool or the playroom after I take Wyatt up?”

  “I’m not a fucking kid who wants to be tucked in,” Wyatt snapped, his voice slurring as he glared first at Jessie then Adrian.

  “Then maybe you should quit sulking and acting out like one. Go ahead, Jessie, Nora. I’ll see him up and you in the morning. Rachel is already upstairs.” Adrian took Wyatt’s arm and assisted him to the stairs, noticing he leaned on him instead of pulling away.

  “Good night,” they called out, and he could almost believe things were normal between them again.

  Halfway up, Wyatt paused with a despondent sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m letting everyone down, including myself.”

  “Yeah, you are, and only you can change the course of your life.”

  When they reached the second floor, Wyatt’s gaze shifted to the bedroom Rachel used, the door shut tight. “She’s given up on me.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.” Steering him into the other bedroom, he debated whether to encourage the relationship or not since Wyatt could very well be the one who had a hand in Nicole going over that edge. Every time he tried imagining one of them in that scenario, he couldn’t wrap his head around it, which had kept him second-guessing his beliefs all this time while searching for the truth in her journal. “If you want to salvage whatever you two have going, you know what you have to do. See you in the morning.”

  Hell, he thought, crossing the hall to Sophie’s room, maybe all these months he’d been wrong. She opened her door to his knock, and he cocked his head, wondering at the return of sadness in her eyes.

  “Don’t mind me,” she said with a rueful twist of her lips. “I couldn’t help thinking about Tink, and…then other things.”

  “That means I didn’t do a good enough job of distracting you. My room or yours?”

  “Yours,” she replied with gratitude.

  He took her hand and walked to the other staircase, the brave, determined front she put on tugging at his heartstrings. Determined to take her mind off her heartache, he stripped off her jeans and sweater as soon as they reached his room. Her laugh as he tossed her on the bed chased away his own sour disposition.

  “In a hurry?” she asked with a grin of expectation.

  “Yes, for this.”

  Spreading her thighs, Adrian bent his head and lapped up the seam of her gaping labia, her wet heat coating his tongue. Sophie’s laugh turned to a low moan, her hands fisting in the comforter as she arched closer to his mouth. Using his thumbs, he spread her folds wider and feasted on her succulent flesh like a man starving. Which he was, he admitted, circling her clit with his tongue. With each passing day, he grew hungrier for her body, for the flash of her quick smile, to see her eyes free of painful loss, and for an end to his own dilemma.

  Pumping two fingers into her pussy, he nipped at her swollen bundle of nerves until her climax gushed into his mouth. With her cries ringing in his ears, Adrian vowed to find the answers eluding him thus far soon or set aside his mistrust once and for all. Not only for Sophie but for his own sanity.

  ****

  After Nora and Rachel took off early the next morning, Sophie had the house to herself and managed to get her work done and remain in an upbeat mood until she finished lunch alone. Jessie’s truck was still parked out front, and, as she left the house, she assumed he and Wyatt were hanging out with Adrian and Ashe for a few hours. Even though they were likely helping somewhere on the ranch, she grew warm thinking about them walking in on her and Adrian last night. She remembered the pinpricks teasing her skin from the small flogger lying on the floor afterward that took her mind off the embarrassing position of her elevated butt. After that, he was pounding inside her again, and nothing mattered except the stretch and burn of his rough possession, the same as every other time. Her embarrassment hadn’t prevented a titillating thrill at hearing other voices, or her surprise at the disappointment she’d experienced when they’d departed.

  If this is insanity, I’ll take it. Becoming a lust-crazed perv had to be better for her mental well-being than spending days on end fighting deep depression that threatened to suck her under. Strolling toward the stables, she admitted Adrian had snuck around her defenses in more ways than one, and she didn’t have a clue what to do about it.

  Hoping a ride would help clear her thoughts, she entered the stable to find all the stalls empty. Making her way around back, her shoulders slumped seeing all the thoroughbred mares grazing way out in a far pasture, and most of the hands appearing busy riding the herd of cattle or working in the barn. Left on her own, she set out on foot, opting for a hike before the forecasted cold front blew in this evening.

  Chapter Twelve

  Sophie veered onto the trail through the woods and followed the wide path that wound upward at a gradual slope and then along a ridge that overlooked a vast scenic view of a shallow valley. A gurgling stream rushed over rocks, and she spotted a doe drinking with her fawn. The dense trees helped to cut the cooler breeze more the higher she walked, the sun warming her face when she went through a break in the foliage. She reached a small clearing, a place where the drop appeared precarious enough to keep her away from the ledge. The small, ornate wrought iron bench on the other side of the trail drew her curiosity, and reading the plaque, In Beloved Memory of Nicole, she realized this was where Adrian’s wife had fallen to her death.

  As that sank in, her abdomen jittered with nervous twinges from a rustle in the trees, a creepy sensation of feeling watched raising goose bumps. Sophie didn’t delay any longer and kept going, moving faster, following the trail on its downward slope. Whether it was her imagination, the wind, or real, she could swear she heard heavy breathing in the woods, close enough to envision someone maneuvering through the trees alongside her and send a chill racing down her spine. Telling herself she was being ridiculous, the same as last time when she’d let her irrational terror send her fleeing to Adrian, she willed her pounding heart to slow and swallowed back the fear-induced bile threatening to come up from her roiling stomach. Out of breath, she burst from the woods into the wide open field over a mile from where she’d entered the forest, right where Adrian said the path would lead.

  Inhaling a deep lungful of fresh air, she started back, growing calmer and more rational until she neared the entrance to the old mining shaft and a whispery voice filtered through the trees with a return of her terror-filled alarm.

  “Sooophie.”

  Her only thought self-preservation and escaping that sinister, hair raising voice, she dashed toward the wood framed entrance to the deserted mine and ducked behind a worn, thick beam.