Fevered Hearts (5 page)

Darting a glance at him, she guided the vehicle onto the main road. Night had fallen and her headlights cut a path through the darkness. Being alone with Ward in the car surrounded by nothing but the velvety night added to that strange intimacy.

“Liam’s been going into the office and working on contracts and other paperwork.”

“You’re driving him there? How’s he getting to work?” The anger backlit her voice like a spotlight on a singer.

“Not me. His father comes to get him.”

She struggled not to cry. “It shouldn’t hurt so much that he’s doing all this without telling me, but dammit, it does!” She slammed the heel of her hand off the steering wheel.

Ward caught another tear, and another. “I know. But he wanted to give the work a trial run. If he’d failed and you’d known about it, he would have felt less of a man.”

She swung her gaze to Ward’s.

He nodded. “It’s true. Liam’s struggling with feelings of inferiority, but I’m sure you know that.”

She calmed enough to draw several deep breaths. “So you’ve been talking lately.”

“That’s right. About work and how to dig our fathers’ companies out of the trenches they’ve fallen into. Together, we’ve come up with some great plans for the future. We’re planning a partnership, a sort of co-op to help each other out.”

“And your fathers agree to it?”

Ward pulled his gaze away and stared out the window. “My father’s not in a good enough place with his health to care. But he trusts everything I do for Bose Timber. And Liam has convinced Ed that the best way to get the activists off the Mattsons’ asses is to work with me. We’re replanting, building more contacts, getting more work for our crews and more money in our pockets.”

Warmth filled her. This was what Liam needed—a purpose in life. If he was earning, he had self-worth, but she had never held it against him that he was laid up.

“That sounds great,” she said. “What else have you been talking about?”

“You.” His voice plowed through her barriers.

She slowed the car.

“Pull off here, Ivy.” He gestured to a seasonal farm stand that was still closed.

She stopped the car and Ward moved the shifter into the park position. Swallowing hard, she met his gaze. “Liam’s finished with me, isn’t he? He wants a divorce.”

Shock washed over Ward’s face, making it a mask. Then he made a noise of pain. “Of course not, sweetheart. He’s head over fucking steel-toed boots for ya.”

She buried her face in her hands. “I don’t think so. Not anymore.”

“Ivy, he talks about you so much, I’m almost tempted to tell him to shut up.”

She snapped her head up, searching for the truth in his eyes. The warm depths glinted with honesty.

She turned her face away, looking out the driver’s window at the twinkle of a porch light on a distant farm house. “What else has he decided without me?”

“Well, that’s the thing.” Ward sounded embarrassed.

She looked at him hard.

He continued, “Liam understands that he isn’t able to…satisfy you right now.”

“Jesus! Is nothing sacred?”

“Now don’t get upset. You should be glad he confided in someone.”

Yeah, but about her pleasure? Angry, hurt and confused, she twisted her hands. She just wanted her life to return to normal.

Ward reached out to brush her hair away from her face again, but she caught his fingers and squeezed. Their gazes locked.

“Ivy.”

She issued a low sigh. He tightened his grip on her fingers and with his other hand, caught that errant wave that kept floating into her eyes. Holding her gaze, he directed it behind her ear.

“You can’t touch me like this,” she whispered.

“I can with your permission.”

“You don’t have it.”

“No?”

She shook her head.

“Not even if I tell you that Liam has given his consent?”

“I-I don’t understand.” She knit her brows, shaking her head faster. What the hell was he talking about?

Ward traced a path over the crest of her cheek then turned his hand to cup her face. She resisted nuzzling his palm like a kitten. “Liam asked me to step in for him, to show you how beautiful and sexy and important you are. Those were his words.”

Her thoughts dulled, unable to move through the sluggish glue of her mind. She didn’t know what to focus on—that Liam had asked Ward to step in or Liam thought she was important. She still didn’t know what he meant by the former.

Ward took pity on her. “I can see you don’t follow what I’m saying, and that’s probably because I’m making a mess of it. Ivy, Liam wants me to take you to bed.”

A scream tore from her, unbidden. The ultimate betrayal. Giving her to another man?

She slapped Ward’s hands away, and he caught hers in one of his, pinning them to her thigh. His eyes loomed close and bright.

“This is a lie. You’re trying to get under my skirt,” she cried.

“No, I swear it. Ivy, I swear.” The vehemence in his oath sliced through her. “I’m only here because Liam has asked me to do this—to give to you the pleasure he’s failed to give for so many months. At least until he can return to your bed.”

“I don’t understand. Why are you saying these things? Men don’t just…give their wives to another man to fuck!”

“Because he loves you. He wants to see you happy and fulfilled.”

“And you’re the man to do that?” She laughed, but her voice sounded snarky, bitter.

The fever in Ward’s eyes lessened a degree. “I thought…” He swallowed. “Liam and I thought that you might…” he looked away, “have some interest in me.”

Interest in the form of thigh-clenching lust each and every time the man walked into the room? Yeah, but it was wrong on so many levels, and she was a horrible person for even fantasizing about him.

Ward still didn’t meet her gaze. “I thought there were some sparks. Liam thought he saw the sparks too, but maybe you didn’t feel them.”

Ivy’s stomach churned. “My husband thought I was interested in you so he suggested you give me the hot flesh injection and that by letting you into my bed, I’d be happier in my life—in my marriage?”

Ward licked his lips. “When you put it like that, it sounds like a fucked-up mess.”

“It
is
a fucked-up mess!” She pushed him back, and he allowed her, collapsing into the passenger’s seat again. “I can’t do this, Ward.”

He fished in his jeans pocket and came out with a cell.

“Who are you calling?”

He eyed her, mouth grim, a flutter in the corner of his jaw. He punched a number and held the phone to his ear. “Liam? Yeah. I’ve got Ivy and we’re on our way home.”

Dizziness claimed her. The car revolved slowly around her like some funky amusement park ride hell-bent on making her feel as if she were tripping on a mind-altering drug. From a distance, she heard Liam’s voice.

“Ivy, you okay? Hell.” Ward got out of the car and came around the driver’s side. She stared straight ahead at the headlights canvassing the landscape on the side of the road.

Ward’s warm hands roused her from her shock.

“You called Liam. He does know.”

With a sudden movement that dizzied her, he grasped her by the upper arms. His personal musk stole her senses—undiluted male. “It’s crazy, but I know you’re aching. You deserve so much, sweetheart. Passionate kisses that make your knees weak. Love bites on your neck, on your belly, that make you arch off the bed. My fingers trailing over your bare flesh, through the goose bumps I raise. Caresses that cause those sweet little nipples to bunch up tight as gumdrops for me to suck. I want you beneath me, feeling a man’s weight again. Feeling me move within you, stretching your throbbing pussy until you can’t hold back another minute and you scream with pleasure.”

Her head fell back with every word he spoke, desire welling up in her core, overflowing until her panties grew slick.

Ward hovered over her, his lips inches away, but she couldn’t forget the vows she’d made.

“Whose name do I scream when I reach that pleasure, Ward?”

With a half sob, half groan, he dropped his forehead to hers. “I’m doing this because Liam asked me to, but I can’t deny that I want you, Ivy. I’ve wanted you from the first moment I set eyes on you.”

The scents of musk and pine made her heart skip, and his words sent her pulse racing.

“Come on, let’s get you into the other side. I’m driving now.”

As she allowed Ward to ease her into the seat and fasten the safety belt around her, she tingled with the relief of finally giving up control—of letting someone else drive again.

With a triumphant cry, Liam dropped the phone on the side table. Ward had done it—told Ivy.

Liam had guessed that his friend would be the one to take initiative. From the beginning, Ward had said the advance needed to come from him. Part of Liam wished he’d been there when Ward made his move. Giving up control to his friend stung a little, but he was doing this for his relationship. If he didn’t try, their marriage might last another six months at most.

As Liam rolled to the bedroom, his sweaty palms slipped on the wheels. He paused to tear off the bandages of his mostly-healed hand.

That small fire was back, low in his belly. Even if it was all in his head, he clung to the feeling. “In his head” was more than he’d known for over a year.

He cast a look around the bedroom he shared with Ivy. After climbing from bed this morning, Liam had tugged the blankets hastily over the sheets in an effort to tidy up. He shoved off, rolling across the hardwood until his knees met the mattress. Then he smoothed the covers, too aware that within an hour, he might see Ivy arching off that plush pillow-top, pinned only by Ward’s mouth.

Liam licked his suddenly dry lips. He hadn’t properly thrust his tongue into Ivy’s sweet mouth in too long, but he wanted to. In fact, he planned to deliver the first mind-melting kiss—the caress that would steal all of her resistance.

If Ward hadn’t kissed her already.

No, Ivy wouldn’t have let him. She might follow the man with her eyes, obviously attracted to him, but Liam knew her values would keep her from allowing Ward’s kisses.

The hair on Liam’s neck and arms stood on end at the memory of that man’s scorching mouth. Ward’s hard lips working against his had always aroused him to the point of pain. Damn, he wished he could experience just one of Ward’s fiery caresses to see if he could get hard.

Except Ivy knew nothing of his former bedroom play with Ward.

Liam glanced out the window at the velvety night. The moon rode the hip of the horizon, casting a blue glow over the trees. Fear and excitement chased through his body—more feeling than he’d known lately. Within minutes, Ward and Ivy would pull in, and Liam would be faced with seeing the only man he wanted making love to the only woman he wanted for the rest of his life. That’s if he persuaded Ivy to agree.

Liam spun a tight circle and caught a glimpse of his reflection. Mussed hair, dark blond shadow of beard on his jaw that he hadn’t bothered to shave off this morning before his dad picked him up for work. Fevered eyes.

Yeah, he was more than ready. It was time to talk to his wife, slip his fingers around her neck and brush his lips over hers. Why had he waited? Why did he need Ward’s strength and presence to finally take the initiative?

Because Ward was a whole man.

For a long minute, Liam battled self-doubts as strong as a hurricane gale, and he was the lone sapling standing. Too easily he’d allowed himself to be whipped by that wind, but no more. He was going to give his wife pleasure, even if it was with another man’s cock.

And he would try the therapy on Monday, learn to walk. Hopefully the rest of his body would follow the training.

Headlights scudded over the window. Liam’s breath caught, and he held it until his lungs burned.

We’re on our way home.

With a whoosh, he released a gust of air and gripped the wheels of his chair. By the time he reached the front door, Ivy walked through it.

She stopped dead in her tracks, face flushed, eyes bright and glistening with tears she’d recently shed. Liam gave a shaky sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

Ward was right behind her, twice as broad, eight inches taller. The man dwarfed Liam’s little wife, but so did Liam. She had loved that about him. When they’d first started dating, she’d once told him that he made her feel safe in his strong arms.

Liam held her gaze, gauging her mood.

Ward closed the door and his boot scuffed on the hardwood.

“Talk to me, Liam,” Ivy said without preamble. Without looking away, she kicked off her heels. The fuck-me shoes toppled over on the floor, and he longed to see her panties atop them.

Heat clawed at him.

Rolling forward, he caught her hands. Her slender fingers were cold and stiff, and he chafed them until the digits relaxed in his hold and curled around his.

“Ivy, Ward and I have been talking…”

“About letting him fuck me?” A hard edge to her tone was only softened by the wobble. Anyone who didn’t know her as well wouldn’t have detected it, but Liam did. He took heart in the fact that he still
did
know her.

Tugging her hands, he yanked her into his lap. Made off balance, she fell heavily, but it felt oh, so good. Before she could sputter words, Liam claimed her mouth.

The first brush of his lips over hers dragged a harsh gasp from her. Liam closed his eyes and drank in her scents—coffee, woman. Hell, even the wool yarn she’d touched earlier had its own smell.

And he caught the trace of Ward on her.

With a growl, he angled his mouth and plunged his tongue between her parted lips. Behind him, he heard Ward’s groan, even as Ivy hummed her pleasure. She suddenly tasted salty, and he knew tears were rushing up.

Guilt filled him. If he had been a real husband to her, this kiss wouldn’t bring tears but passion.

He nipped at her lower lip then chased her tongue around her mouth. When she finally gave him what he wanted, he flicked her tongue with short strokes. She melted, wrapping her arms around his neck and clinging as if he were now the strong tree and she were battered by the wind.