by Marla Monroe
She felt like one of the old snow plows she remembered seeing pictures of when she’d been a child. She used her arms to widen the path that Jessup was making in front of her. She didn’t know how he was able to get through the snow in the first place, but he was doing a spectacular job of making a way.
Finally, they got to another wooded area and the snow was no longer deep. She looked back to Jessup, who had changed places with Evers.
“How much longer?” she asked.
“Another thirty minutes is all. Once we get through these woods, we’ll be at the house,” he said.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice that you asked him instead of me,” Evers said from in front of her.
“I figured you were too busy leading us,” she said in a near whisper.
“Right.”
Jessup chuckled. “You’re in for it now.”
“What did I do?” she demanded.
“Never mind, Holly. Watch where you’re going so you don’t trip on all these limbs. The wind did a number on the trees,” Evers said.
Thirty minutes later they emerged into a clearing where a large two-story house with a wraparound porch stood. The roof was lined with solar panels and there were more in the front yard with a path leading between them up to the front door.
“Walk up on the porch but go around to the back of the house, honey,” Evers said. “We don’t use the front door, and have it barred shut.”
Jessup followed her up the steps with Evers walking the sled around the house on the edge of the solar panels to meet them in the back. The back of the house had several cold boxes with padlocks on them and a large cylinder that she figured caught rain water. There was a large barn with a smaller chicken house to one side.
“What happened to all your animals while you were gone?” she asked.
“Neighbors took care of them. We’ll need to let them know we’re back. First let’s get you inside and this sled unpacked,” Evers said.
He unlocked the door and ushered her inside. The kitchen was much larger than the one she was used to, with a table and chairs to one side that was open into the large den area with a massive fireplace. The stove was a large wood burning stove that had obviously been put in after the house had been built and didn’t quite fit.
She unfastened her coat and removed all her outerwear, hanging it on the end of the coat rack before shuffling off her boots to sit in the boot tray underneath. It was all so nice. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected but this wasn’t it. She’d thought the two men would probably live in something like an old hunting cabin or something, but this was more like a palace to her.
“What do you think?” Evers asked.
“It’s amazing. You’ve really done a lot of work here. Those solar panels weren’t here originally, were they?”
“Nope. Neither was the wood stove and we widened the fireplace in the living room to allow for some cooking in there when needed,” he said.
“What all do the panels power?” she asked.
“Lights for at night to help us get ready for bed, the fridge, the hot water heater for baths and the freezers out back. We use the energy as sparingly as possible, so we don’t use the lights much at all,” Evers said.
“So, no late-night reading sessions,” Jessup teased.
“I’ll be very careful. The most important things are the freezers and the fridge,” she said.
Jessup said, “Right.”
“I’m going to go tell Keller and Jones that we’re back and see if there were any problems,” Evers said.
“I’ll check on the chickens and cows after I get her things inside,” Evers said.
Holly waited for Jessup to bring in her things. He carried them upstairs to one of the rooms in back.
“The sheets are clean. We changed them before we left. We were kind of hoping we’d find a woman when we left. We haven’t moved our things in here yet though. You can have whichever closet you want. We’ll take the other one,” he said with a smile.
“So, you haven’t been using this room?” she asked.
“No, we used the bedrooms down the hall. There are three other bedrooms.”
“Oh, okay.”
Holly proceeded to unpack then wandered downstairs to the kitchen to see what was available to make for supper. She settled on omelets from some of the eggs in the fridge and the cut-up meat in the fridge that smelled good. Since she didn’t know when the guys would be in, she left it all in the fridge and started a fire in the den. They had plenty of wood stacked next to the fireplace.
“Holly?” Evers’ voice called out.
“In here.” She walked toward the kitchen.
“I’m back and Jessup will be inside in a few minutes. We don’t have much in the way of food since we’ve been gone so long. I was thinking of scrambling eggs,” he said.
“Way ahead of you there. I was thinking omelets. You have some cheese and cut up ham that looks good in the fridge. How would that be?” she asked.
“Perfect,” he said.
Jessup walked inside with fresh eggs and a pale of milk. “They must have been milking the cows twice a day since there was milk tonight,” Jessup said.
“Yeah, they misunderstood. That’s okay. We can use it with Holly here now. She can make some into cheese and having more milk will be good if we end up with youngens around,” Evers said.
Holly had to bite her lip to keep from gasping. She hadn’t really thought about babies. Yeah, she’d thought about having a family, but not about getting one by having a baby. How did she think she was going to get a family? Clearly, she hadn’t been thinking very well.
“I’ll just start on those omelets now,” she said as an excuse to hide her flaming face. She knew it was red by how hot her cheeks felt.
By the time they’d finished eating, it was time to head to bed. Holly was so wound up she was sure she’d burst into tears if either man said anything to her the least bit sideways. Ready for bed?” Jessup asked.
Holly bit her bottom lip and stood. “I’ll go on up. Good night.”
She hurried up the stairs but heard them stomping up right behind her. The click of the hall light going on as she started down the long hall to the master bedroom surprised her. She hadn’t turned it on to conserve electricity. Once she was in the bedroom the light went out and the two men walked in right behind her.
“Easy there, Holly,” Evers said. He touched her shoulder making her jump a foot. “We’re not going to jump on you, honey.”
“I can’t help it. I—I’ve never been with a man before and there are two of you, so I don’t know how this works.”
“Nothing’s going to happen tonight, darling,” Jessup said. “We’re all exhausted and need the rest. We’ll talk about it more tomorrow. Tonight, we’ll just sleep. Okay?”
“Just sleep? Really?” she asked.
“Really,” Evers said. “Let’s get undressed and into bed.”
Holly swallowed hard as she slowly peeled off the first layer of clothes followed by the second layer. She was down to her underwear which consisted of panties and a wrap cloth used to keep her breasts tight against her body.
“What in hell is that?” Evers asked.
“A breast wrap,” she said.
“Why would you do that to yourself?” he asked.
“You can’t get bras anymore and the ones you can find are all dry rotted, so you have to wrap them, or they flap around,” she said.
“Fuck, that’s got to hurt,” Jessup said, shaking his head.
“You get used to it.” Holly shrugged.
“Take it off,” Evers said.
Holly drew in a deep breath and began unwinding the cloth until she stood completely naked in front of them.
“Holy hell, you’re beautiful. I thought you were a handful but you’re a fucking bounty,” Evers said.
“What he said,” Jessup said as he walked closer to her. “Can I touch them?”
“Um, sure.”
He cup
ped them in his hands as if weighing them then ran the pads of his thumbs over the nipples. Holly gasped and went up on tiptoes when he did it again.
“Does that feel good?” Jessup asked.
“Yes,” she said in a breathy whimper.
Evers had been undressing but had stopped when she’d unwrapped her breasts. Now he stood behind her and pulled her gently against his naked front so that their bare skin touched. As Jessup played with one breast, he played with the other one.
“I can’t wait to suck on these ripe little berries,” Evers said in her ear. “I’m going to suck and bite them until you go crazy in my arms.”
“Yes,” she hissed out as they both pinched her nipples at the same time.
“We need to stop, Jessup. As it is, I’m going to be trying to sleep with a raging hard-on. I figure you’re going to be in the same boat,” Evers said.
Jessup sighed and stepped away from Holly. He didn’t look the least bit happy about it but did just the same.
“Better get in bed, sweetness. Neither one of us has much control right now,” Jessup said, working on the buttons of his shirt.
Holly could see the lust in the darkness of their eyes and quickly climbed beneath the covers. She scooted over to the far side of the bed, but Evers chuckled.
“No, you don’t. You’re sleeping in the middle. I’m not sleeping next to my brother. Scoot back, baby doll.”
Holly slowly moved back to the center and curled up to try and keep warm. She had no doubt that once the guys got into bed, she’d get plenty warm. Even now, just thinking about them lying next to her, close enough to touch, was heating her pussy to the point that she ached down there. In fact, after the petting they’d done, she was also wet down there. Her little pussy already knew what it wanted. Now Holly had to get on board with what she wanted, as well.
Chapter Five
Early the next morning Holly woke cold and stiff. She stretched, realizing that she was alone in bed. To her surprise, she’d fallen asleep almost instantly the night before between the two furnaces who’d been perfect gentlemen and hadn’t mauled her the instant they climbed into bed next to her. Now with them gone, the sheets were cold, and she shivered.
Holly judged the time to be close to eight from the early morning sun pouring through the window. She slid from beneath the covers and grabbed clothes to put on. It didn’t take long for her to dress. The minute she had her clothes on she scrambled downstairs to where she knew they’d have the fire going in the den. Sure enough, a blazing fire warmed the large room.
“Hello?” she called out. No one answered.
She figured they were out doing chores. She cast one last glance at the warm fire and walked into the kitchen to fire up the stove to make coffee and breakfast. To her surprise, the stove was already going, and coffee simmered. She poured herself a cup then checked to see what was available for breakfast. Fresh eggs and milk were in the fridge. She had no idea when the men would return so she scrambled herself a couple of eggs and ate, then surveyed the pantry.
The sound of the back door opening had her sticking her head out of the pantry to find Evers stomping his feet on the rug in front of the door.
“Morning,” she said.
He looked up and smiled. “’Bout time you woke up, sleepyhead.”
“The bed got cold. You should have woken me when you two got up,” she said.
“Figured you needed some recouping time after the trip over.” He pulled off his coat and gloves.
“Thanks. I am a little stiff this morning.”
“We’ve already eaten breakfast but would love an early lunch. Say, in a couple of hours?”
“I can do that. Do you have any meat thawing anywhere?” she asked.
“There’s a piece of deer steak in the stove thawing. Might want to check on it so that it doesn’t cook before you’re ready for it. I was just coming in to do that in case you weren’t up yet,” he said.
Holly walked over to the oven and opened it to find the deer meat thawed and sizzling. She grabbed some pot holders and pulled it out, setting it off to the side of the stove.
“Looks like it’s ready to cook. I’ll fix something up for you guys. What are you doing out there?” she asked.
“Feeding the cows, moving wood closer to the house, and cleaning out the garden best we can before the next snow. We’re going to have a rough go of it come spring since we didn’t get all the old growth cut back and the ground tilled. Nothing for it though. Just have to deal with it,” he said.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked.
“No. Just keep the house for us for now. There will be plenty for all of us when spring gets here. Right now, we’ll keep everything handled outside. You’ll have your hands full with cooking and cleaning. Be sure and let us know if you’re getting low on food in the inside freezer. We’ll get some out of the outside cold boxes and bring it in for you,” Evers said.
“Okay.”
“I just came in to get a refill of coffee for me and Jessup. Need to get back out there. We should be back inside in a couple of hours for lunch though.” Evers poured up the coffee into an insulated thermos then gave her a kiss on the cheek before pulling his coat, scarf, and gloves back on once again.
Holly watched him leave then walked over to the door to watch him disappear around the corner of the house. The cold from the outside had seeped in when he had opened the door. She shivered and hurried back to the stove to warm up again. She touched her cheek where he’d kissed her and smiled at the tingly feeling left behind.
The day passed quickly with her hours spent cleaning the house from top to bottom and cooking lunch then supper. The poor men were outside more than they were inside, dealing with catching up on chores from when they’d been gone. She learned that they’d been away for over a month. She’d also learned that the two men who’d helped them didn’t have a wife of their own. She wondered if they were good men and if so, would they be good men for one of her sisters?
“I’m beat,” Jessup said once they’d finished supper that night.
“Me, too,” Evers said. “Got to get up and do it all again tomorrow, though.”
“You didn’t have to remind me, asshole.”
“We’ve only got a few days at most until the next snowstorm hits. We don’t have time to pretend,” Evers said.
“Another snowstorm is coming?” Holly asked.
“Yeah. Cows are bunching up. Looks like it’s already hitting up in the mountains. I figure it will be here tomorrow late evening,” Evers said.
“That means it will get colder,” Holly said.
“Yeah. We’ll be okay though. If it gets too cold, we’ll move downstairs to sleep in front of the fire. We usually end up doing that part of the winter anyway,” Jessup said.
“Might not have to for as long with the three of us in bed, though,” Evers said with a wink.
Holly’s cheeks burned at his innuendo. It didn’t take much to make her blush. She wasn’t used to being around men and the least little thing had her face burning around them.
“Supper was good tonight, darling,” Jessup said. “Thanks.”
“So was lunch,” Evers added.
“Glad you liked it. Once I get the hang of where everything is and what you have to cook, I can make a variety of things. I wish I’d known you didn’t have any jellies or jams. I could have brought some from home for us,” she said.
“We don’t know how to can those things. Maybe you can do some of that come spring,” Evers said. “Would be good to have some.”
“Do you have any fruit trees around? Any berry bushes?” she asked.
“Got a couple of pear trees way out back and there’s enough blackberries and blueberries at the edge of the woods to choke a horse,” Jessup said.
“Then we can have pear preserves and blackberry and blueberry jam and jelly,” Holly said.
“Sounds good. My mouth is already watering,” Evers said.
“Mine
, too.”
“We need to get to bed. Dawn comes early,” Evers said.
“Don’t remind me,” Jessup said with a groan.
Holly bit her lip. Would tonight be the night that they consummated their relationship? She kept thinking of it as marriage despite the fact that they hadn’t had a ceremony or anything. That wasn’t done anymore. There were no churches or preachers out there any longer.
She stood and after rubbing her hands together in front of the fire one last time walked toward the stairs and started up them even as the two men followed behind her. With each step her heart pounded a bit harder. Her stomach clenched with the sound of their footfalls behind her. A thousand butterflies flitted around inside her as she reached the landing and continued down the long hall that seemed so much shorter now.
Once she reached the bedroom, Holly hurried to the bathroom to close herself in it first. She finished her business then walked out to find the men waiting on her already in bed. She looked from one to the other and contemplated how she was going to climb into bed with them already there.
“Um, Evers, can you get up so I can get in?” she asked.
“You need to finish getting undressed, darling. You’re not wearing that torture device to bed,” he said.
She sighed and slowly unwrapped the breast wrap then stepped out of her panties. She stood shivering as he climbed out of bed and lifted the covers for her to slip under them.
The moment she was all the way in the bed, Jessup pulled her into his embrace and wrapped his arms around her so that she was flush against his warm body.
“Feel better?” he asked.
“You’re warm. Feels good,” she admitted.
Then Evers settled in next to her and the warmth doubled. When he turned toward her, butterflies lit inside her stomach to fly circles at the lust visible in his eyes. This was it. He wanted to have sex. Was she ready? Would she ever be?
Holly had to be honest with herself. She wanted to know what it was like, but she was scared. There were two of them and she’d never been around men other than Mr. Johnson and that didn’t count.
“I can tell you’re nervous. Let’s just start with fooling around some, honey. Just tell us if you get scared or if something bothers you, okay?” Evers said.
