“I sold it, and I got a damn good price for it, too. So right now, I can afford to not work for a while.”
“This is where I likely would have made a snarky comment about the idle rich.”
“I’ve never minded your snark,” her father said. “Mostly it made me laugh—inside, mind you. I couldn’t very well let you see that.”
“Don’t worry, I think the snark is a part of my DNA.”
“Maybe from your mother’s side of the family?”
The question stopped Jacqui cold. She looked at her father, and she didn’t know what kind of expression she wore, but it made him set his coffee cup down, and put his focus on her.
“What is it, pumpkin?”
Pumpkin. He’d called her that as a little girl, and she’d forgotten. How could she have forgotten so much?
“It just occurred to me that that was one of the few times you’ve ever said anything even remotely negative about Mom.”
James shrugged. “Our marriage was a disaster, right from the start. The only good thing to come of it was you. Despite the failing of our relationship, Monica is your mother. Why would I denigrate her to you?”
That was a very good question. An even better one was, why had her mother felt compelled to do nothing but trash James Bethune to her very young, extremely impressionable daughter?
And what if there was no truth at all in anything Monica had said about him?
* * * *
Jacqui blinked at the sound of a door closing and a lock being shot.
“Oh. We’re home.” She looked up and encountered two smiling Kendall faces.
“What?”
“You just referred to this place—our place—as ‘home,’” Norm said.
“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to us.” Will’s grin stretched from ear to ear.
Jacqui shook her head. Then she smiled and walked toward Will. His arms opened, as she’d known they would. “If that’s the nicest thing I’ve ever said to you guys, then I have to tell you, you’re being seriously ripped off.”
“We don’t think so, sugar plum.” Will wrapped his arms around her, tight, and kissed the top of her head.
Then he set her back, but just enough that he could look at her. “It’s been a hell of a day.”
“Yeah. Turns out I’m a bigger hot mess than I ever could have imagined.” She stopped, and took a moment to brace herself. Something had to be said, and she was going to be the one to say it. “Listen, I will completely understand if you guys want to bail. I can’t even imagine trying to take on someone with this kind baggage, and I’m the one dragging the damn suitcases.”
She’d run a few possible responses through her head as they’d driven the short distance from the restaurant to here, but the one she got hadn’t even been on the radar.
Will narrowed his eyes, and he actually looked angry. “You just earned yourself a spanking.”
“You insult us if you think we’re so damn shallow that we’d walk on you just because you have some of life’s goop on you.” Norm looked as angry as Will.
“What the hell do you know? I’ve got attitude, and I’ve always known that. And now it looks like everything I believed that helped me build that attitude was a lie. So pardon me all to hell if I want to offer you a way out when what I’m going through threatens to cover y’all in shit.”
“You mean the same way you packed your bags and fled once you heard there was a drugged-out asshole maybe coming after us?” Will had folded his arms in front of his chest. The look on his face was not a pleasant one. Jacqui looked from him to Norm. It occurred to her, slowly, that she’d fucked up with them just now.
Big time.
Fuck, I hate the taste of crow. However, eating crow for the second time in one day sure as hell beat the possible alternative of losing these two men.
“I’m sorry.” Her emotions were so triggered, they began to riot inside her. “I’m sorry. I’m an asshole. I know it. But—” Her words were cut off when Will hauled her back into his arms. Norm pressed against her back, and for the first time in hours, she felt completely secure.
“Damn it, woman, don’t cry. And don’t call yourself names, you’ll just earn yourself another damn spanking.”
She thought she was the one shaking, but it came to her, slowly, that they were shaking, too.
“You listen to me, Jacqui Bethune. We’re here for the long haul. We are both so, so sorry that bad shit happened to you when you were just a kid. Scares the crap out of us to think you could have died.” He lifted her face and used his thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “Now, we’re going to take you upstairs and take care of you for the rest of the night. And you’re going to let us.”
“Why?” A part of her had fully expected these two men to boot on her. And if they had, they would have broken my heart.
“Don’t you know why?” Will’s quiet question touched her eyes and cheeks just ahead of his soft kisses.
“Can’t you guess, sweetheart?” Norm ran his hand up and down her back, the gesture both soothing and quietly arousing.
Her heart began to pound even as she shook her head “no.” She didn’t know, though she did hope.
“We love you, Jacqui.” Will’s words rang with conviction. “I love you, with my whole heart. And nothing ever is going to make me turn my back on you. So you’d better get used to seeing me in bed next to you, because that’s where I plan to be every night possible for the rest of my life.”
“I love you, Jacqui.” Norm’s tone was no less heartfelt than his cousin’s. “I never knew I’d have a one and only, until I met you. I’m yours and you’re mine, and that’s forever.”
“Oh, God. I was so afraid to hope. I’m still so afraid to believe.”
“We know.” Norm put both hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently. “We’re not going anywhere. And we believe you’ll trust us, in time.”
“I am afraid to trust. But that didn’t seem to matter because I fell in love with you both, anyway.”
Both men sighed, and she guessed that hearing the words was as important for men as it was for women.
“That’s good to know, sugar plum. Now come upstairs with us and let us take care of you.”
Jacqui knew there was nothing more she wanted to do in the whole world than that. She could honestly say she’d never felt quite so shaky as she did just then. Will was right, it had been a hell of a day.
These revelations hadn’t just happened to her. They’d happened to her men, too. She thought back to the beginning of the day and her anxiety that despite the best efforts of law enforcement, Rick Wilde was still at large. Her worry and fear hadn’t been for herself—or rather, not just for herself. She could see how the current situation had begun to pull out her long buried memories, so that a part of her had been thrown back to her childhood and made afraid.
But she’d been sick with worry for both Will and Norm. What if that bastard actually made it to Texas? What if he managed to hurt or—God forbid—kill either of them, or both of them?
That was something that was completely unacceptable to her.
“Shh.” Norm cupped her face. They’d arrived in the master bathroom. They’d positioned her so that she was between them, this time with Will at her back.
“No more thinking, sweetheart. Now is just the time for feeling. Hot shower, then hot tub. And then, sweet Jacqui, we’re going to give you a full body massage.”
She’d been such a bitch to these men from the first moment she’d laid eyes on them. Now their kindness and their tenderness nearly undid her. She didn’t deserve them. “I’m really not very sweet.”
“Well, as the men who’ve tasted you—everywhere—we have to disagree with you on that one, sugar plum.”
“Is that right?”
“It is.” Norm’s voice held conviction.
Jacqui really didn’t get a chance to say anything more, not that she wanted, particularly, to speak just then. Norm cupped her face again
and gave her the lightest, sweetest of kisses. And then her men began to undress her.
She reached out, intending to help them get naked, but they stayed her hands.
“No, love. This is about us taking care of you.” Will’s tone was no less adamant than his cousin’s.
Since they seemed so intent on pampering her, she decided to let them. They already knew how much she loved having her hair and body washed. The sensations were pure erotica and pure indulgence, especially the way they performed the tasks. But she could tell, just from the way they handled her, that this time, they really weren’t bent on seduction.
They were taking care of her.
She didn’t make a sound, and she was sure the shower would have masked it, but they knew when she started to cry. So they rinsed her and then carried her to the hot tub. They held her, saying nothing, and just let her have her tears.
She must have dozed, because the next thing she knew, they were drying her. She tried to sit up, but again, she was shushed, and treated to a very chaste kiss.
“Go back to sleep, baby.” Norm kissed her again, and then continued to towel dry her hair.
“I don’t want to sleep. I want to make love to you. I want to make love to you both.”
“Nap first, Jacqui.” Will’s kiss was a little more like it and she sank into him—only to have him end it way too soon. “I promise you, we’ll be here when you wake up. Then you can have your wicked way with us.”
“Promise?”
“We absolutely promise we’ll be here. We’re not going anywhere.”
“I know that. I meant, do you promise I can have my wicked way with you when I wake up?”
She liked the identical, wide smiles they wore. “Yes,” Norm said. “Anything you want.”
Will carried her to the bed and told her to lie on her stomach. She stretched out and then groaned when both men warmed lotion between their hands and then used those hands on her back, shoulders, arms and legs. They were treating her as if she was the most fragile of flowers.
“I’m not delicate, you know. You don’t have to baby me.”
“Maybe you’re not,” Will said.
“But we are.” Norm bent over her and kissed her shoulder. “Now close your eyes and enjoy it while we try to get our equilibrium back.”
Her last thought, as she began to slide down into the well of sleep, was that she was lucky, very lucky, to have them.
Chapter 18
Jacqui slowly rose from the depths of sleep. As her mind cleared, she realized she felt safe, cosseted and loved. And needy.
She was so very, very needy.
Memories of the night before returned. Lying on her side, she basked in the heat surrounding her, front and back, and without opening her eyes, she knew her men—her lovers—who surrounded her, guarded her, were also awake.
Unable to resist temptation she wiggled her ass, unsurprised when she encountered a pair of hands that held her close against a naked, erect cock.
Then she rubbed her face on the chest that formed her pillow. She inhaled deeply, and the light dusting of chest hair under her tickled her nose. The masculine scent she breathed in was all the data she needed to know that her head rested on Will and her bottom was being cradled by Norm.
“Feel better, sweetheart?”
“Yes, thank you.” She wouldn’t pretend that the night before her emotions hadn’t been stretched to their limit. She’d never felt such turmoil in her whole life as she had yesterday. Or at least, I don’t remember that kind of turmoil. She’d had more than a clue that she had indeed suffered worse stress as a child. But for now, she sensed those memories had receded. Her men had taken good care of her, bringing her back from the edge. Their pampering of her—their coddling, she supposed was a better word—had been exactly what she’d needed.
“What time is it?”
“Early yet. Not even seven.” Will placed a kiss on her hair. “Do you have any plans for today?”
“You mean, beyond indulging my wicked desires with the two of you? No, I have no plans.”
“Good. Then why don’t we spend the day right here in bed. We can see how many times we can make you come.”
Jacqui distinctly recalled their promise that she could have anything, do anything with them she wanted. Having them take control of her pleasure and flood her senses over and over again sounded like a damn fine idea to her.
“Yes, why don’t we?”
Will moved, and she found herself flat on her back, looking up. He stroked the side of her face, brushing her hair back, and the look in his eyes made her bones soften. He said nothing. He simply lowered his face to hers and melded their lips together.
His kiss seduced her better than candle light and wine, better than soft music and perfume. Slow and smooth, his tongue stroked hers, sliding back and forth again and again. The sultry rhythm felt as inexorable as the tide, the steady in and out of his tongue pulling her down, down, until she was in a world of sensual delights. His flavor drenched her, seeping into her core so thoroughly it wrapped around her, became a part of her. I would know this kiss in the dark. This kiss was not just the kiss of her lover. It was the kiss of one of her soul mates. Jacqui understood, then, that her soul mate was in fact two men, and that she needed them both to feel whole—complete. She needed them both to find the happiness that truly had always been meant to be hers.
As if attuned to her very thoughts, Will lifted his head, rubbed his thumb under her bottom lip, and then turned her head, so that she faced Norm.
Norm’s open mouth closed over hers. The wet, sassy way his kiss suctioned her mouth continued the journey into arousal that Will had begun. His taste, subtly different from Will’s, joined with his cousin’s on her tongue and gave her that nectar she craved. The taste of each of them fed her. The flavor of them combined thrilled her.
Her nipples hardened and her inner muscles rippled, a hungry quest for a lover to clasp. As she continued to suck Norm’s tongue into her mouth, stroke it with her own and rejoice in his presence, she felt Will move.
He closed his teeth around her left nipple and tugged it before sucking it into his mouth. His bold action made her juices flow and seep. She rolled her hips, clenched her pelvic floor muscles again, and her arousal began to build in earnest.
Norm lifted his head and met her gaze. “You’re always so hot for us. You have no idea how amazing it feels, being here with you. Or what a thrill it is, seeing the way you respond to us, together, or alone.”
“I know how amazing you make me feel.” She curled her hand around his neck and pulled him closer. “I need more. I need to taste you and feel you. Give me more, please.”
He placed soft kisses on her cheeks and chin, and then licked his way down to her right nipple. The moment he suckled her in, Will pulled his lips from her other breast and moved south.
Norm ran his hand down her body, between her breasts and across her stomach and then lower, to her thigh and then her leg. Raising his head, he met her gaze as he caressed her right leg and pressed on it, letting her know he wanted her to open wider.
Then his lips took hers, as if he couldn’t go another moment without the taste of her. She moaned into his mouth as Will took up the space she’d created when she’d spread her legs and placed his mouth on her cunt.
He didn’t waste time teasing or seducing. Oh, no, that smooth-talking image consultant just went wild, as if he only had a minute to feast on her feminine flesh.
His tongue lapped and delved, and then he sucked her swollen folds into his mouth. Using two fingers he caressed up and down her slit. Then he inserted those fingers into her, moving them, scissoring them on a search mission. It didn’t take him long to find her sweet spot. He stroked that inner button and her arousal skyrocketed and exploded into orgasm.
“Oh! Oh, yes!” Jacqui’s climax streamed out of her, one long, pure gush of pleasure that licked every nerve ending on its way past. Will sucked on her clit, and the orgasm resurged, a sudden w
elling of sensation that drew her nipples into tight little peaks, and made her juices flow like a river.
When she opened her eyes she realized that Norm had watched her face the entire time his cousin had pleasured her. His smile, masculine smugness incarnate, couldn’t have been bigger if he’d been the one between her thighs.
“That’s one,” he said. And then he moved back from her and nodded to Will.
Because he did, Jacqui turned her attention back to the man who’d just given her such oral ecstasy. Will locked his gaze with hers and then slowly prowled up her body. She felt the brush of his engorged cock against her wet folds and then he thrust into her.
His balls brushed the bottom of her slit. Jacqui loved the twin sensations. Nearly purring in pleasure she wrapped her arms and legs around him, and tilted her hips up, silently begging for him to just take her. With each thrust of Will’s cock, Jacqui maneuvered so her anus felt the caress of his scrotum and her clit felt the brush of his groin. He grinned, showing her he knew exactly what she was doing.
“Someday, sugar plum, it’s going to be my extreme pleasure to tie you down so you can’t move. Then you’ll take what we give you.”
“Mmm, promises. Yes, please. Would this involve that spanking you mentioned yesterday?”
His grin, sexy as hell, raced her heart. “We’ll negotiate.”
Will began to thrust harder, taking back some of the control she’d stolen. Without reservation, she surrendered. He rewarded her so that with every second or third stroke, he added a little swirl, stimulating her clit’s fevered demands.
“Please.” Her arousal kept climbing, and she knew her body needed more for a second orgasm. She wanted to come again so badly.
“You do please me. Except when you try to rush me, sugar plum. Then you challenge me to make you wait even longer.” The speed of his thrusting slowed, the depth diminished, and he smiled his devil smile. He lowered his head and kissed her, feeding her the combination of their essences.
Knowing what he wanted, she kissed him back and then relaxed, letting him do with her as he would. The hum of masculine pleasure filled a place in her heart that had been empty, it seemed, forever. Submission made her feel powerful.
Love Under Two Extroverts [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 16
