by Marla Monroe
“Good thinking,” Caleb said.
“Getting her to give it to us may be a problem though.”
“Not if we agree to knock off a little of the price for putting in those bookshelves she wants for her office,” Caleb said.
“I like how you think, partner.”
They finished up the countertop and cleaned the kitchen so it would be ready for staining the cabinets the next day. As they were putting away their tools, Phillip walked in.
“Hey, Phillip, counter is done. We’ll come back tomorrow and stain the cabinets. Don’t stir up any dust in there,” Caleb told their friend.
“No problem. We’ve got the coffee pot set up in the downstairs bathroom and plan to eat out until the kitchen is finished,” Phillip said.
“Where’s Jasper? Haven’t seen him all day,” Austin said.
“Out clearing some of the brush and vines away so we can have a decent-sized deck for barbequing,” Phillip said.
“Guess a deck is our next big project for you guys,” Caleb said.
“Yeah, but we plan to help on that one. I think we can hold our own with working on that.” Phillip grinned. “Besides, it’s going to take some work to get the area cleaned up and leveled to some degree, so you should have time for another project before then.”
“We’ve got a few projects contracted right now. Never expected to have more work than we can do when we moved here,” Caleb said.
“That’s because you’re master craftsmen,” Phillip pointed out.
“We’re out of here. See you guys tomorrow.” Austin punched Caleb in the arm.
Caleb knew his friend wanted to call Barb and get Selena’s phone number as soon as possible.
Once they were in the truck, Austin started it and backed around to head down the drive. He looked expectantly at Caleb.
“Well? Are you going to call or what?” he asked.
Caleb shook his head at his friend’s lack of patience. Truth be told, he was in the same boat.
“I’m calling.” Caleb had Barb’s phone number in his contacts since they’d used her to locate the mountain they were now living on. She’d been a little surprised when they’d stated they wanted to be able to buy up the entire mountain. Okay, he thought, a little surprised would be an understatement.
“Hey, Barb. It’s Caleb. Are you still wanting shelves built in your office?” he asked with a grin.
“You know I do. I’m just having to save up first,” the woman said.
“We have some downtime between jobs right now. How about we go ahead and build them, and you pay us what you have available, and we’ll bill you for the rest when you have it?” he asked.
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds. He almost asked if she was still there, but she squealed so loud that he had to pull the phone off his ear.
“Yes. I’d love that,” she said in a slightly less enthusiastic voice.
“So, we can get started on Monday. Would that be good for you?” he asked.
“Perfect!”
“Hey, would you have Selena’s phone number? We were talking to her at the diner about building some shelves for her, but we failed to get her number,” Caleb said.
“You sneaky bastards,” Barb said.
“Hey, I resent that. We’re amazing sneaky carpenter bastards,” he said with a huge grin.
He watched as Austin shook his head with a small smile. He knew his friend could hear both sides of the conversation.
“I should hold on to the number and make you stop by her house on your way up the mountain. Bet you’re too scared to do it.”
“We just figure that calling her is less stalkerish than showing up on her doorstep,” Caleb said.
“Fine.” Barb rattled off Selena’s cell phone number and made him promise again that they’d start work on her shelves on Monday before she ended the call.
“Well, are you going to call her now that we have the number?” Austin asked.
“Let’s wait until we get home so I can put her on speaker and we’re sitting down and not in a moving truck.”
“Good point,” Austin said as he steered along the snakelike road toward their house.
* * * *
Selena put away the last of her dishes and groaned as she stood to stretch. Bending over to reach the bottom cabinets was hell on her back. But it was all finished. She could concentrate on writing now that most of the boxes were unpacked. She still needed to unpack all of her books, but she needed more shelves for that.
Briefly she thought about the card from the men at the diner and contemplated calling them to get an estimate, but she put it off. She needed to work first, then worry about the shelves. They’d be underfoot for at least a couple of days. Selena wouldn’t be comfortable enough to write with them in the same room. Something about the two men affected her in a “let me strip and worship your bodies” sort of way. The fact that she was attracted to both men had her head spinning.
Why would she react to both men at the same time? That wasn’t normal. Had she been without a man for so long that her radar was screwed up? It was the only explanation she could come up with. That and the fact that she tended to write ménage books, so maybe it was just hard-coded into her brain right then.
I’m a fool to think about those men. They aren’t attracted to me. They’re just hoping to drum up some business.
A small part of her hoped that wasn’t true, but a much larger part of her knew it probably was. Besides, like she’d said, she couldn’t seriously think about both men at one time. It just wasn’t normal.
When have I ever been normal?
Selena valued her privacy and didn’t enjoy going out like most women did. She preferred to keep to herself. That was probably why she tended to move so often. Once people started noticing her and trying to get to know her, she picked up stakes and moved, starting over in a new town.
She had never much needed to be around other people, but she’d changed after the debacle with her ex. When she’d realized he wasn’t husband material, in that he tended to have wandering eyes as well as a wandering dick, she’d ended it. Unfortunately, he’d spread rumors of her infidelity and how she was after his money. He told their friends that he’d figured it out and dumped her, turning her so-called friends away from her.
By the time he’d finished his smear campaign, everyone in town thought of her as a pariah, no longer welcome in the town she’d grown up in. Thank goodness her parents hadn’t been alive to witness her fall from grace, as it was. Nothing mattered after that, so she’d picked up and moved, starting over in a town two states over. From there she moved every six or seven months, ensuring that no one ever got too close again. If she didn’t have friends, they couldn’t turn against her.
“What do you think, Maggie? Should we take a short break and eat a snack?” The fat cat gave her a yowling meow.
“I take it you agree with me. Cheese and crackers it is.”
Selena pulled out the cheese and sliced several pieces off, making sure to cut a few edges off to feed Maggie. She returned the cheese to the fridge and got out the crackers. Sitting at the little table, she ate her snack while feeding small chunks of cheese to her companion. The cat scarfed them down faster than she could slip them to her.
“You’re such a pig, Mags. Slow down and taste it first.” Selena couldn’t help but smile as the feline ignored her and swallowed the last bit of cheese, then looked up expectantly. “Nope. No more. You’re already fat enough the vets want you on a diet.”
The ringing of her cell phone startled her. Why would anyone be calling her? She didn’t know anyone in the area and doubted anyone else from her previous homes would be calling. She figured it was a wrong number, but she located her phone and answered anyway.
“Hello?”
“Selena? This is Caleb and Austin. We met at the diner the other day. Hope you’re settling in fine.”
“Um, yeah. Just about all unpacked.” She had no idea why they
were calling her.
Just the sound of Caleb’s voice had her nipples hardening. How could a voice do that to her? She really needed some quality time with her B.O.B.
“That’s great. We were checking in to see if you were ready for those shelves yet. We figured you probably have a few boxes of books you can’t unpack until you get them built.”
“Oh, well yes. I do need them.”
“Great. We’ve got time over the next few days if you want to get started on them,” Caleb said.
“That’s great. Um, sure.” Where had her tongue gone? She was answering in stuttering, short syllables.
“How about we stop by in the morning around nine to see what you’re wanting done and to get an idea of what supplies we’ll need? Then we can run to town and be back after lunch to get started. Work for you?” he asked.
“Yeah, that sounds fine,” she said.
“Great. See you in the morning, Selena.”
“Bye.”
Stella hit End and stood there with the phone in her hand and her mouth hanging open. What had just happened? She’d agreed without even considering if she was ready yet. She’d already planned on focusing on her writing before she looked into having shelves built. Now she would end up too nervous to write with them in the same room.
Maggie walked all around her legs as she stood in the living room shaking her head. Just hearing Caleb had aroused her and left her a mumbling idiot. What would seeing them in person do to her in the morning?
That’s enough. If they’re going to be here in the morning, I need to get as much writing as I can done now.
She narrowed her focus and walked into her half-unpacked office and sat down to work. She needed to pound out at least a good five thousand words before bedtime. Maggie seemed to realize she was on a mission because she jumped up onto her bed on the table next to Selena’s desk and after circling three times, settled down for her pre-nap bath.
Hours later, word count reached, Stella sat back and relaxed. It was only temporary since visions of Austin and Caleb had her pussy dripping and her nipples pebbling at the thought of seeing them the next morning. Yeah, she was in trouble.
Serious trouble.
Chapter Four
Austin woke up well before dawn with thoughts of Selena fueling his head even as he acknowledged his morning wood. Somehow it seemed a little bit harder than normal. He knew going back to sleep for an hour or so wouldn’t happen, so he climbed out of bed and walked across the room to his bathroom.
Each of the four bedrooms had its own bathroom. The master suite, which stood empty waiting on the day they brought home their woman, had what could only be described as a spa with a massive walk-in shower and a soaking tub. What woman wouldn’t enjoy a massive tub created for whiling away an hour or so just to relax?
He turned on the shower and waited while it warmed up before stepping beneath it. Once he’d cleaned up, he looked down at his dick and grimaced. No way was he suffering with a hard-on when they arrived at the beautiful Selena’s place. He’d have to handle it himself.
He squirted a small amount of the liquid soap into his hand, grasped his shaft, and worked the slippery soap up and down the long shaft. He pictured Selena with her body laid out for him to feast upon. She would moan with each lick he gave her as he made his way down her body, worshiping her with his mouth and fingers.
Austin tightened his grip and pumped up and down his cock, seeing her in his mind as she blushed with arousal from her rosy cheeks down her body as he settled between her legs to taste her sweet honey. She would taste divine. He already knew it. There was no way someone that pretty with those amazing light-blue eyes could taste anything other than perfect.
His pace picked up so that he was pumping his fist around his cock faster and harder. He rubbed his hand over the head of his shaft, smoothing the drops of pre-cum across the mushroom top and then back down his dick. He could already feel his balls drawing up with the need to come. Austin pulled harder, faster. He used his other hand to massage his balls as the first spurts of his orgasm spewed from his dick, and he had to slap his hand against the back wall of the shower to keep his balance.
Austin’s ass cheeks squeezed to the point of pain, and he went up on his toes as the last vestiges of his release shot onto the ceramic tiles of the stall. He rested his forehead against the cool tile as he fought to catch his breath. He cleaned up again, washing away the evidence even as he acknowledged that his dick was still semi-hard.
Fuck.
I might as well get used to it. She’s going to keep me hard until I can bury my cock so deep inside of her she tastes me.
He dried off, then dressed before rushing down the stairs to make coffee. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised to find Caleb already sipping a cup at the massive bar. He looked up and smirked.
“Let me guess. You’re too excited to sleep because we’re going to see Selena today,” Caleb said.
“Fuck you.”
“I’d rather do that with Selena.”
“Shit, same here. I can’t think of anything else but her beautiful blue eyes and her amazing breasts. I want to bury my face between them, then maybe fuck them,” he admitted.
“All I can think about is that bitable ass of hers. I want to see my handprint on it and lick every inch of it,” Caleb said.
“We’ve got it bad. What if she isn’t interested in us?”
“She has to be. She’s perfect for us.”
“But what if?”
“Then we work to get her interested in us.”
Austin liked that his friend was so positive about Selena, but he was the realist of the two of them. There was a good chance she wouldn’t want anything to do with them. Especially since there were two of them. Few women were interested in two men at one time for more than a once-or-twice experience.
“Who’s cooking this morning?” Caleb asked him.
“If I cook we’re having cereal,” Austin said with a smirk.
“Dammit, Austin. You can cook just as good as I can. Besides, it’s your turn and we’ll need more than cereal today if we’re going to win over Selena with our good looks and monster building skills.”
Austin sighed. He hated cooking. “Fine. I’ll scramble eggs and make toast. If you want bacon, you can damn well put it in the oven.”
“Good.”
“Asshole.”
Caleb chuckled. “I need to tattoo that on my chest since you call me that all the time.”
“If you want that bacon with your eggs, you’d better get to setting it up.” Austin turned on the oven for him though.
They worked in companionable silence, then ate quickly. By the time they’d washed up the few dishes and put them away, it was only eight. They weren’t supposed to be at Selena’s house until nine. As much as he wanted to go on down the mountain right away, he was smart enough to know that arriving early when she wasn’t expecting them could have sour consequences.
“So, I wonder if she wants a whole wall of bookcases or just a few?” Austin said, thinking out loud.
“Either way, we make them special. We’ll use some of that scrollwork you do so well and stain them to match whatever other furniture she has in the room.” Caleb perched on the edge of the coffee table while Austin flipped through the morning shows to settle on one discussing the weather for the area.
“Looks like no rain for the rest of the week. That’s good news. Nothing to interfere with finishing her shelves, then getting to work on Phillip and Jasper’s deck. With them helping, we should be able to get it knocked out in two to three days,” Austin said.
“Have you heard anything from the others about working on their places? I know Kyle was chomping at the bit the last time we talked to him. Quinn wanted to wait until after winter for some strange reason.”
Austin nodded. “I think he’s wanting to do a bigger renovation than Kyle was planning. Kyle is a let-it-be kind of guy whereas Quinn likes things perfect. How they work so well together and plan t
o share a woman has me confused. They’re exact opposites in personality.”
“We aren’t exactly matched up either, man. I like to get things done and go after what I want, while you stand back and think about things before you’re willing to move on something.”
“Guess we balance each other out. Maybe that’s how Quinn and Kyle work,” Austin said.
“It’s a quarter to nine. By the time we get down the mountain, it will be close enough to nine that she shouldn’t be annoyed,” Caleb said, proving Austin’s point.
Austin grinned and shook his head. His friend really was chomping at the bit where Selena was concerned. Hell, he wasn’t all that much better—he just hid it easier.
They locked up, then jumped into Caleb’s truck since it had most of the carpentry tools locked in the back. If they needed anything else, it was a short trip back up the mountain to get it.
They arrived at Selena’s house at five till nine. Austin took his time climbing out of the truck to make Caleb wait. The other man huffed out a breath as he waited on Austin to walk around to meet him. Together they walked up the short walkway to the front door. Caleb immediately knocked once they stood at the door.
Long seconds later, Selena opened the door with an absent smile on her face.
“Hi. Um, come in.”
“Morning, Selena,” Caleb said.
“Hope we aren’t too early,” Austin added.
“Nope. You’re right on time.” She took a step back and opened the door wider. “Come on in, guys.”
* * * *
Selena had to fight to keep her jaw from dropping open at the two hottest men she’d seen in a very long time. Maybe ever. They wore loose-fitting jeans that still managed to show off their strong thighs and delectable asses. Each wore a T-shirt that stretched across his massive chest, making her want to peel the fabric off so she could lick their nipples. She was sure they’d be perfectly round disks sensitive to her touch.
Good God, where are these thoughts coming from? I can’t be thinking about them like this or I’ll spontaneously combust right in front of them.
