A Pair of Jacks (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Blaze Ballantine Page B

her when they both had reached their limit.

Chapter Six
     
    Reno was waiting for them on the porch when they rode back to the ranch. Jack dismounted with Marie in his arms, refusing to put her down. He carried her up the steps and into the house like he might a small child.
    “She okay?” Reno asked worriedly.
    Jack pushed past him, heading upstairs to the bedroom. “She’s fine. Got a little scare from a pack of wolves.”
    Reno’s eyes narrowed when he got a good look at Marie under the house lights. “Yeah, I can see how scared she is.”
    Jack glanced down at Marie, giving himself away in the process. She didn’t look scared. She looked like a woman who had been well fucked and thoroughly satisfied. Her lips were swollen, her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes looked dewy and unmistakably content.
    “Leave it alone, Reno,” Jack warned, glancing at the man who had been his brother for the last twenty-five years. He knew Reno wanted her too, but hell, Reno wanted every beautiful woman he came in contact with. And he usually got her, too. Marie was different. Jack wasn’t going to let Reno have a fling and then move on like he always did. Except, in all fairness, none of the ladies Reno left behind seemed to complain. He’d stayed friends with most of them. Well, maybe not with Debbie Branson. She still wanted to cut his balls off, but she was the exception.
    Jack carried Marie all the way to her bedroom, setting her down gently, smiling once before he lowered his face to kiss her goodnight. “You get scared, or have bad dreams, you yell, okay? I’m next door.”
    “I’m on the other side,” Reno said dryly, standing in the doorway, leaning his shoulder against the doorframe with his arms crossed. “If you don’t want to wake up Jack, just thump on the wall, honey. I’ll hear you.”
    The men glared at each other, but it was a good-natured challenge. Marie laughed, stepping forward, hugging them both in turn. “I’ll be fine. Thanks for everything, guys. See you in the morning.
     
    * * * *
     
    Reno settled into bed, putting his hands behind his head. He should back off. It was obvious Jack wanted the woman, but damn, something about her made it impossible to just hand her over to his brother without a fight.
    He thought back to the times he and Jack had shared everything in their lives. He could remember being four years old and staying with his grandparents while his mother and father went to the hospital to bring him back a new brother. Reno was pretty excited about having a brother. He really wanted an older brother so he could hang around with him in the park and play ball without Mom watching him, but he’d take a younger one. In a year, when he was a big kid, he could take his little brother to the park by himself.
    It had been a miserable winter night, cold and rainy with a lot of snow coming down. That excited Reno even more because he knew it was close to Christmas and he’d get to show the baby all the lights and presents. His mom told him the baby wouldn’t understand, but Reno hadn’t known how anyone couldn’t understand what Christmas was.
    He lay awake for hours, worrying his grandma half to death by repeatedly asking when they’d be back with the baby. She finally got firm enough with him that he stayed silent, but as soon as she left the room, he went to the bedroom window, watching for the car to return.
    He fell asleep with his head on the windowsill when flashing red and blue lights woke him up. He first thought his dad had made a surprise for him, bringing the baby home in a police car. Sometimes Dad did stuff like that. He was a cop, and once in a while, he took Reno for a ride, letting him turn on the lights and siren when they reached the town limits and no houses were nearby for the noise to disturb.
    Reno jumped up, planning to greet them when one of the officers looked up at the window where he stood and it wasn’t his dad. A woman officer looked up at him with tears