Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Navy SEALs [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  She wasn’t going to nitpick about the fact that she was standing in front of them without her skirt on. All things considered, that would feel silly, even to her.

  “Okay, we’ll talk,” Dev said. “Provided you are done pretending we don’t exist, and that you’re done running away from us.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Julia ran a frustrated hand through her hair. “That wasn’t really working out for me very well, anyway.”

  She looked up in time to see both men fight their smiles. Julia shrugged.

  “How about I make us some coffee?” Drew asked. “We can sit in the kitchen. That’s a neutral enough place, don’t you think?”

  Julia knew she wasn’t going to win any awards for eloquence when she shrugged again. Dev bent down and scooped up her skirt. Since he handed it to her, she went ahead and stepped into it. She shook her head when he reached out as if to fasten the garment for her. Reaching behind, she did so for herself easily.

  Drew turned and walked off, and Julia followed him. It had been a lot of years since she’d been in this house. Her grandmother didn’t so much own it as it was one of the properties she supervised, even though she’d never actually lived here herself.

  Every member of the family, when they came of age, had the opportunity to move into any available house, with the permission of the Town Trust. But there tended to be more homes than people, and often folks would come to Lusty to work, and would then either lease a house or rent an apartment. Because there were more homes than the administrator of the Town Trust—Jake Kendall—could manage on his own, they were divided up amongst the older family members. Sometimes houses did stand empty for a time—as the one she’d just moved into had done.

  But whether a house was empty or not, it never fell into disrepair.

  Dev held out a chair for her at the table, and she sat. It would have suited her to make the coffee. She liked to keep busy when she was nervous.

  “You’re looking good, Julia, even with your clothes on.” Dev smiled. He tilted his head to one side. “We’ve missed you.”

  Julia watched Drew move around the kitchen. His movements spoke comfort in the chore and an utter familiarity with his surroundings.

  Since they’d only moved in the week before, she thought that was pretty impressive.

  “Did you miss us, too, honey?” Devon asked.

  “I thought I’d never see you again.”

  “We know.” Drew finished the chore of putting the coffee on to brew, then turned around and leaned against the kitchen counter, arms folded in front of his chest. Dev had taken the chair to her right. Both men appeared at ease, but Julia sensed that neither of them was completely relaxed.

  “Why did you leave New York?” Drew asked.

  “It’s complicated.” She wasn’t trying to be difficult, but she’d never done well in situations where she felt emotionally vulnerable. One of the side effects of having grown up in a family with so many bossy brothers.

  “We’re not going anywhere,” Drew answered. “And we really want to know. We want to catch up on all that we’ve missed in your life.”

  “Why? It’s not like we had a relationship, or anything.” It took a lot of focus for her not to cringe at the petulant sound of her own words.

  “The hell we didn’t,” Dev said. “Four committee meetings, three dates and one night that we will never forget. Honey, whether you like it or not, that makes for a relationship.”

  Laughter bubbled out of her that had nothing to do with humor. “It feels as if we’re speaking each others’ lines, here.”

  “Why did you leave New York, Julia?” Dev’s tone caught her attention. For the first time she imagined how they might have felt, coming back to the city, looking for her and finding her gone without a trace. She’d left no forwarding address. For all intents and purposes, she’d vanished off the face of the earth.

  What she’d said to them about their not having a relationship was kind of true, in a way, but then, so was what Dev said. The fact was she’d known deep in her heart that what they’d shared had been way beyond anything she’d ever experienced and everything she’d ever hoped for or dreamed of.

  The intensity of the emotions and the power of the lovemaking had combined to scare her spitless.

  She couldn’t just tell them that, though. Because while true, that was only a part of the reason she left. And if she told them that part of it right now, it would strip her bare and leave her feeling more vulnerable than she’d ever felt in her life. She was in no way ready for that.

  Julia realized she’d been silent too long. “Part of it was that I was tired living in a city where, no matter how hard I tried, I didn’t fit in. I missed my home and my friends and my family.”

  “Julia?” Dev’s tone shot right through the wall she’d been trying to shore up between these men and her emotions.

  She looked over at the coffee pot, not so much because she wanted to watch it fill as she needed a moment to gather herself, get her emotions under control before she dared meet their gazes again.

  But it was no use. These two men were going to be more like bulldogs than she had ever been in her youth. She’d sensed that about them in the small time they’d shared.

  “In the three years that I lived in New York, I only dated a few times. The men were pleasant enough for the most part, but my emotions were never engaged.”

  “Until?” Drew asked.

  “His name was Clarence, and he worked for a consulting firm that Benedict International hired in London. He came to New York to work with our people there, to try and get a sense of the entire business.”

  “Do we have to go find this Clarence and beat him up for you, kitten?”

  She looked at Drew. His sympathetic tone jarred her.

  “I…no.” Julia shook her head. “Everything that happened was probably my fault. Because he was there, my brothers had introduced me to him when I went to the office one day to meet them for lunch. And because they told me in no uncertain terms they would prefer it if I stayed away from him, when he called to ask me out, I did the exact opposite of what my brothers wanted, and accepted.

  “I think I convinced myself that I should be falling in love with Clarence because he seemed so nice. At first. And then little things…he didn’t like a particular sweater on me. He thought my hair would look better if I wore it in a different style. We’d be going out to dinner with his business associates and he’d want me to dress really sexy, and then he’d want me to only speak to him. I guess I stuck it out because Richard, Trevor, and Kevin spared no opportunity to tell me that I was making a mistake, dating him. Which I found out later was a ruse on their part—a little bit of reverse psychology they pulled with me.”

  “That bastard didn’t hit you, did he?”

  Ice encased Dev’s words, and she shivered, even as she shook her head emphatically. “No! No, I didn’t let it get that far. I dumped him after a particularly nasty rant he had about how my family were all depraved, sexual deviants because we have a tendency toward ménage relationships.” Julia snorted. “Us, depraved? Not a man I know in any of the families here in Lusty would ever make a woman feel worthless the way he did his best to make me feel.” Then she shrugged. “But what he said was nothing more than what I’d heard others—the people I worked with, the casual friends I’d made, say. Oh, not about me or my family personally, you understand. Our way of life is looked on by those outside of it as kink—and just being all about the sex.”

  “So then we come along, a couple of sailors on leave, with our teasing and apparent competitiveness. After dancing around the topic every time we see each other, we finally talk you into letting us share.” Drew shook his head, then looked over at Dev. “Could we have fucked it up any better than that?”

  “Maybe if we’d tried harder,” Dev said. “Jesus, Julia. No fucking wonder you left before we got back.”

  “Hey, you didn’t have to talk very hard to get me naked between you,” Julia said. Because
they had both proven so perceptive, she smiled. “But then you were gone, which I totally understood, my brothers kept being bossy pains in the ass, and I really did miss my home.”

  “And you were afraid what would happen if we ever came back. We didn’t take the time to really let you get to know us. How did you know we wouldn’t come knocking on your door with friends in tow?”

  That possibility had actually never occurred to her. What had occurred to her was that they would discover that what they’d done for fun had been more than fun for her. She’d been worried that they’d think less of her when they found out—if they found out—that she’d fallen for them both. She’d fallen in love with them, and derision from them about her feelings would have devastated her. So in fear, she ran.

  She wasn’t particularly proud of her cowardice. She couldn’t compound that sin with another—with letting them believe she’d thought so little of them. But then neither could she tell them the entire truth.

  Talk about a wild balancing act!

  “I never thought that. Honestly. I just…I didn’t know what would happen when you came back. And I did let the memory of Clarence’s scathing attack influence me. For that, I’m sorry.” Whew. That was all truth. And if she didn’t want to tell them right now that she loved them, was that cowardice, really? She was pretty certain that millions of women worldwide would answer that question with a resounding, “no!”

  “You don’t owe us an apology for anything—well, maybe for not returning our phone calls the last week or so.” Drew smiled.

  Julia felt herself beginning to relax.

  “Now that we have all that cleared out of the way, let us tell you what’s going to happen next.” Dev’s tone invited no arguments. “Beginning here and now, we’re not starting over with you, so much as we’re continuing on. We didn’t court you properly before, but we will this time. So no more avoiding us. Deal?”

  Julia felt her one eyebrow arch, and knew she could do nothing about it. When Dev and Drew both just looked at her, she changed her lady-of-the-manor expression to a big smile that she doubted, seriously, reached her eyes.

  “Certainly. Just as soon as you go around town and tell everyone that you were only kidding about being my fiancés.”

  Devon and Drew exchanged a look, then turned to face her.

  “Now why would we do that, kitten?” Drew asked.

  “Especially considering that we are going to marry you.” Dev returned her smile, and Julia got the distinct impression that she was sunk.

  Chapter 3

  He’d said it, and by God, he meant it.

  The only thing Dev wondered was if scooping Julia up and taking her to bed could rightfully fall under the heading of “courting her properly.” Personally, he thought it was a pretty damn good idea. He just wasn’t certain she’d agree.

  As she’d told them with the kind of selfless honesty he admired, her body was there but her mind wasn’t, yet.

  He and Drew wanted all of her. Mind and heart, body and soul.

  “You know, I’ve lived my entire life with macho, bossy males telling me how my life was going to go.”

  “Good,” he said, nodding once to reinforce his single word. “You’re already broken in, then.” Dev had to work hard at not laughing.

  Julia’s pretty hazel eyes turned tiger bright and stormy. He’d seen those eyes sparkle in amusement, and just recently he’d seen them cloud over in sadness. He’d never forget the way they’d crossed and turned a pretty, vibrant green when she came. Now here was another facet, another color of Julia’s passion.

  “Good-bye.” She pushed back her chair and surged to her feet. Dev caught her around her waist from behind before she took a single step.

  “Christ, you are pitifully easy to tease, baby doll.” When she continued to struggle, he kissed her ear. “Okay, I’m sorry. I was kidding! Don’t go. Please.”

  She stopped struggling, then relaxed in his embrace. “You can’t be serious about wanting to marry me. You hardly know me.”

  “Kitten, we’re serious as a heart attack.” Drew turned back to the counter and brought down some coffee mugs from the shelf. The coffee had been ready for a few minutes, but they’d been too involved in their conversation to notice.

  Dev wanted the coffee, but he didn’t particularly want to let Julia go. He solved his dilemma by sitting back in his chair with her on his lap. Drew brought filled cups to the table and smiled when he saw where their woman was.

  “I said we’re going to court you properly, and I meant it. That way you can get to know us, the kind of men that we are, and we can get to know you better, too. It will also give us a chance to get to know your family, and your friends and your roots.”

  “Roots are important to us,” Drew said. “Did we ever tell you how we met?”

  “No.” She looked over her shoulder at Devon. “You can put me down. I won’t leave.”

  “But I like having you on my lap.” He grinned at her, giving her his best smile.

  Julia sighed. “Don’t I get a choice in anything?”

  Dev shifted her and used his hand to gently lift her head so she could see his face, meet his gaze and, more importantly, so he could see hers.

  “Yes, of course you do. If you can look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want to get to know us, that you’re not interested in having a relationship with us,”—Dev inhaled and mentally crossed his fingers—“if you can tell us you don’t already love us, then yes. Say the word and we’ll leave you alone.”

  He saw the truth in her eyes before she uttered a word.

  Thank God.

  “Damn you,” she said. Despite the words, he heard no real heat in her curse.

  “Kitten? We might be bossy sometimes—” Drew stopped in midsentence because Julia snorted. Drew smiled and shrugged. “Okay, we may be bossy most of the time. But we’re not interested in bossing you. We just want to love you.”

  Dev decided to relent. He kissed her ear again, then set her on the chair she’d occupied before he’d teased her nearly out the door.

  “How can you be so sure I’m what you want?” Julia looked at Drew, then back at him again. “How can you be so sure that you love me and that you want to marry me? Do you have any idea how seriously I take relationships and marriage?”

  Dev nodded. “Very seriously, if your lack of dating in New York is any indication.”

  “But I didn’t really meet anyone who appealed to me, except that one asshole.”

  Dev grinned. “But you see? If you didn’t take these things so seriously, you’d have gone out with anyone who asked, just for shits and giggles. But you didn’t. And yes, Clarence is an asshole. He better hope we never meet him.”

  Julia shook her head. “You confuse me. You overwhelm me and confuse me so I don’t know which end is up.”

  “Maybe we should answer your last question first.” Dev looked over at Drew and waited for his nod of approval. When he got it, he met Julia’s gaze again. “Maybe we should tell you how it is we can be so certain that you’re it for us.”

  “Maybe you should. Maybe then I might have some insight into what’s important to you.”

  Dev had never found it easy to discuss things of a deeply emotional nature. He knew that between them, he and Drew could love Julia into agreement. But they’d rather have her totally on the same page with them.

  “Our last mission went bad. Our team was ambushed, and then pinned down in-country. Drew and I thought we were going to die—as three of our team already had. In those hours before dawn, before we were rescued, we thought about you. Julia, what we’d felt with you was more real, and more powerful than anything we’d ever experienced before. And we made a vow to each other that if we survived, we would find you, and woo you, and wed you.”

  “But was that real? Or was it only made to seem so by the desperation of the circumstances?” That she would even ask that proved to him that their Julia was a woman of substance, a woman who listened, and a woman
whose morality ran deep.

  “It’s been more than six months since we were rescued, sweet Julia, and neither one of us has changed our minds,” Drew said.

  “All we’re asking for right now, is that you let us be with you. What do you say, baby doll? Why not give us a chance?”

  * * * *

  Julia waited for her heart to stop trying to burst out of her chest. While she’d been fretting over her reactions to and feelings for Devon Wakefield and Drew James they’d been in harm’s way. They’d nearly been killed. That thought chilled her to the bone.

  “That…that must have been an awful experience for both of you, to lose three of your team members that way. I can’t even begin to imagine.”

  She watched the emotions chase over their faces, running so fast, one after the other she could barely keep up. And because she was watching so closely, she saw the shutters come down, and the gentle smiles come out.

  “It was hell, but it’s over now. We survived, and we’re here with you.” Dev’s response didn’t surprise or offend her. It was actually kind of reassuring to have these big macho men act a little like the men she’d grown up with.

  There wasn’t a one of them in her family who could easily be emotionally open with anyone except his wife—and that, quite often, only after a long, drawn-out battle.

  Not that she would let these two get away with that kind of malarkey for long. It was just kind of reassuring at the moment to realize they were very much like her fathers and uncles and cousins.

  “Yes, now you’re here with me, in Lusty, Texas.” Julia took a drink from her coffee. Both men were focusing on her as if she was the only thing in the entire world. That kind of attention was a little unnerving. She suspected that with the team of Dev and Drew, she would likely be subjected to this kind of singular scrutiny a great deal.

  She’d survived every form of torture that her brothers—all six of them—had been able to devise. More often than not, she’d emerged the victor. These two Navy SEALs would be no match for her.