by Tara Rose
“Yeah,” said Jimmie, “but what a way to go.”
“How about the hot tub?” asked Ethan. “It’s finally working now.”
Savannah smiled weakly. “As long as all I have to do is soak in it.”
Jimmie grinned at her. “Really? That’s all you want to do in it?”
She laughed and put her arm around Jimmie’s waist as the four went inside. Once they were in the room facing the back of Ethan’s house where the tub was located, Ethan dimmed the lights and then closed the blinds. “Too many neighbors across the lake now.”
“It’s a big lake,” said Noah. “You think they’re all over there with binoculars, spying on us?”
Ethan shook his head. “Not worth it. We just had a three-way Savannah sandwich on my front porch. No use in inviting more trouble.”
Noah shrugged. “Okay. Your house. I’ll go and get the clothes Jimmie and Savannah left in plain sight on the porch.”
Ethan chuckled at the sarcasm in Noah’s voice, and then ran the water in the tub.
“Do you think anyone saw us?” asked Jimmie.
“I doubt it. Don’t worry about it, okay? We’re adults. What we do in this home is our own business.”
“You’re right. I worry too much. Maybe the shrink can help me with that, too?”
“So, you’re going to see a psychologist, then?”
“Yes. It’s time to deal with this like an adult.”
“That’s wonderful. Good for you.”
Jimmie shot him a look of gratitude. Savannah asked if she should open a bottle of wine.
“Great idea,” said Ethan. “Jimmie, will you watch the water while I help Savannah with that?”
“Sure.”
Noah passed them on the way to the kitchen, and Ethan asked him to put the clothes in his bedroom. “Savannah and I will join you and Jimmie in the hot tub in a moment. We’re bringing wine.”
Once he and Savannah were alone in the kitchen, Ethan asked her if Jimmie was all right. She relayed the conversation to him that they’d had before starting to make love.
“Oh, so you two weren’t at it that long then before Noah and I showed up?”
Was he jealous? “No, not at all. Moments only.”
Ethan gave her a long, searching look as he opened the bottle. “You love him, don’t you? I mean really love him.”
“Yes.”
He looked so unsure, and that was completely unlike him. Savannah placed her hand on his, and he stopped for a second. “What is it?” she asked quietly.
“If I tell you, you’ll think I’m a wuss.”
“No I won’t. Never.”
“I was jealous. When we pulled up and I saw you and Jimmie on the sofa like that.”
“I don’t know what to say.” His words eerily reflected part of the conversation she and Jimmie had before they’d begun making love. “Jimmie asked me if I was in love with you and Noah, too.”
Ethan raised his brows.
“I told him I wasn’t sure, but that I did care for you two very much. And then he asked me if I could fall in love with you both as well, and I told him yes. I said I believed that was a very real possibility.”
Ethan let go of the wine bottle and corkscrew to pull her into a tender embrace that nearly brought tears to her eyes. “Savannah, I have a confession. I’m fairly certain I’m already in love with you.”
“Oh…”
“It’s all right. You don’t have to say a word. I merely wanted you to know. These things can’t be forced. They either happen or they don’t.”
She pulled away to look into his eyes. “Ethan, are you okay with all this? I mean really okay with it? I know you said it was a fantasy, but this has turned into so much more than merely watching another man fuck me.”
He smiled. “Boy, it sure has, hasn’t it? Yes. I am okay with it. I really enjoy having Jimmie here. When you get him one-on-one and just talk to him, he’s articulate and insightful.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“And he adores you. That man would take on this entire town to defend you if he had to.”
“That’s who Jimmie is. Once you have his loyalty, you have it forever.”
Ethan nodded several times. “Exactly. Yes. That’s him in a nutshell.”
“And what about Noah? You like him, too, right?”
“Yes, I do. And I respect him as an RT. I’m okay with this, sweetheart. I really am.”
She hugged him again, and then they finished opening the wine. They took the bottle plus four glasses back to where Jimmie and Noah were waiting, sitting in the hot tub at opposite ends. The hot tub had been designed to comfortably seat eight people, so there was plenty of room for each of them to stretch out and enjoy the warm, swirling water.
Once they each had a glass of wine and had chosen their spots, Ethan raised his glass. “To the most unconventional, sexiest quartet in Sin!”
They all laughed, chanting “Hear! Hear!” and drank a toast. Savannah closed her eyes and relaxed against the side of the tub, letting her doubts and worries drift away. The lightning had moved off to the east and never come closer, and she heard no thunder. Maybe the storm wouldn’t ruin the picnic, after all. Tomorrow would be a lot of fun, as Aunt Ruthie’s picnics always were. And everything would be okay. It had to be. She’d never been happier than she was with these three, and she wasn’t going to let anything ruin it.
She’d just made love to all three men in the most intimate way possible, and she couldn’t imagine how this could get any better. The nagging question of whether or not she loved them all—really loved them—tried to push its way in, but she tamped it down. That would have to wait. She couldn’t deal with that much emotion right now. All she wanted to do was have fun with them, and let whatever happened happen.
Chapter Thirteen
Jimmie and Ethan were bringing paper goods and plastic silverware to the picnic. Ethan told Jimmie he’d called Ruthie last week to ask how many people she was expecting, and she’d laughed, telling him she never knew how many would show up. Could be twenty, could be two hundred.
He and Jimmie had bought enough for two hundred and fifty people, and now they piled it into Noah’s SUV on a bright Monday morning. Noah had made Boston baked beans with a recipe he’d been using for years, and one which every picnic attendee always said was the best they’d ever tasted.
The aroma wafted up, making Jimmie’s stomach rumble. “I missed these when I was gone. Your beans, and the picnics.”
Noah clapped him on the back. “Well now you’re home for good and you can have them both all the time.”
“Yeah, you need to move in here and fix us those beans more than once a year though.”
“I’ll move in,” said Noah. “But only if Savannah does, too.”
“I haven’t asked her to,” said Ethan.
“Why not?”
“Ah, the subject never came up?”
“Well, maybe we should talk about that.”
“Okay. After the picnic.” Ethan glanced toward Jimmie. “You okay with that?”
Noah snorted. “Right. Like he’d say ‘no’ to her living here with all of us.”
“Are we picking her up?” asked Jimmie. She hadn’t been in the house when he’d woken, so he assumed she’d gone home last night.
“No,” said Ethan. “She’s already there to help set up. That’s why she left last night.”
Noah had stayed the night, sleeping in one of the guest rooms. “See?” he asked. “If she lived here, this would be easier. She wouldn’t have had to leave.”
Ethan smiled as they climbed into the SUV. “She didn’t have to leave. You both were asleep, and she told me she needed time to think, so I drove her home.”
“Was she okay when she left?” asked Jimmie.
“Yes. She said the conversations last night were very emotional, and she wanted to sleep in her own bed so she’d be rested enough for today.”
As they drove across town to Ruthie’s farm, Jim
mie thought about everything he and Savannah had talked over last evening before Noah and Ethan got home from work. Ethan had told him this morning that he’d told Savannah he was in love with her, and he’d told Jimmie her reaction. Jimmie had tried to explain Savannah to Ethan so the poor guy didn’t feel rejected.
“She’s always been like this. She likes to say her parents have a good marriage, but they’re as cold as ice toward each other. They’re like brother and sister more than husband and wife. Because they never fight or even raise their voices at each other, Savannah thinks their marriage is good. And I’m not saying it isn’t, but there’s no romance there. No spark. No passion. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them kiss or do so much as hold hands in public.”
“So she shies away from commitment because of that?”
“I think so. Maybe she doesn’t even understand it herself. She told me once it was because of what she does at work, but even when she was telling it, it didn’t ring true. I think she’s afraid inside. Way deep down inside where she never lets anyone in.”
“She seems so open. It’s hard to imagine that Savannah has a hidden side.”
Jimmie’s expression had grown serious. “She does. But you have to coax it out of her when she’s not looking. She doesn’t want a marriage where her husband never kisses her or holds her hand. I think that’s why she’s so affectionate, and isn’t afraid to be so. But she thinks if she settles down, all that will go away, and it will become like the marriage her parents have. No more silly fun, no romance, and certainly no wild sex or play. Merely polite conversation. Did you know they don’t even sleep in the same room?”
“Well, that’s not really all that odd, Jimmie.”
“But I mean I don’t think they even have sex anymore. Like never.”
“We don’t know that.”
“But Savannah knew it in school. She used to talk about it with me. She asked me how often my parents had sex, and I said I wasn’t sure, but every time I heard them I had to leave the house because it was embarrassing. They were always loud.”
Jimmie blinked several times as Noah poked him in the arm. “Did you hear me?”
“What? No. Sorry.” He’d been lost, playing over his earlier conversation with Ethan in his mind.
“I asked whether you got any backlash from your family yet about moving out.”
“Yes, but I’m ignoring it.” His cell phone hadn’t stopped ringing, and the text messages were out of control. If it hadn’t been for not wanting to miss a call or a text from Savannah, he’d have thrown the damn thing in the Stones River by now.
“Here we are,” said Noah.
They climbed out, and Jimmie helped Ethan carry the paper supplies to the backyard, where they spotted Savannah, Ruthie, and dozens of family members already done with most of the set-up. “They must know this routine by heart now,” said Ethan.
Noah chuckled. “You have no idea. This is the social event of Sin. In a few hours, everyone will be here. And I mean everyone.”
“Except the poor unfortunate souls who are stuck working, that is.”
Noah laughed. “Yeah. Except for them.”
Jimmie walked over to talk to Savannah and her cousins, while Ethan and Noah pitched in setting up the final tent. Savannah gave him a big hug and kiss, and Jimmie caught the surprised looks on a few of her family members’ faces, but he decided he’d ignore that for today. If Savannah wasn’t shy about it, he wouldn’t be either.
* * * *
As the band began setting up, Noah watched Savannah flit among the townsfolk as if she hadn’t a care in the world. There was a subtle, and at times not so subtle difference, in the way most of the townsfolk reacted to her. Either she was oblivious to it, or she didn’t give a rat’s ass. He suspected the latter. She might give the impression that she was clueless, but he knew better.
The four of them and their questionable relationship was huge gossip, and the fact that Jimmie had moved out of the pastor’s home and into Ethan’s recently only added fuel to the fire. Preston made his way over toward where Ethan and Noah sat, and after a few minutes of work-related small talk, asked the two how they were feeling with all the daggers hitting them in the back.
“I guess this means that you, Vivian, and Luke are off the hook now,” said Noah.
“Well, not entirely. After all, we are living in sin inside my house, but you four have the added dimension of someone daring to cross Pastor Bobby James. His own son, yet. It’s scandalous.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Noah. “He should have got his own place when he returned to Sin last year.”
“He couldn’t afford it,” said Ethan. “The Hendersons gave him that job out of pity, but they don’t pay him enough to live on. That’s the real scandal. That a man like Jimmie who wouldn’t hurt a fly, and who is only trying to live his life in the town where he was born, is treated like a pariah. Bunch of damn hypocrites, if you ask me.”
“You won’t get an argument from me on that one,” said Preston. “But we’re fighting small town mentality here. You know how it is by now.”
Ethan nodded. “Yeah, I sure do. And Noah has seen more of it than both of us.”
Noah rose. “Yes, I have. But this isn’t a day to let them make us feel this way. Come on. The band is nearly ready and that means Savannah will be giving the birthday toast for Ruthie soon.”
Noah made his way to the bandstand with Ethan, while Preston excused himself to join Luke and Vivian. Noah didn’t want to talk about the hypocrisy among most of the people in town right now. He only wanted to enjoy this day. No matter how much they moaned and griped about it, they weren’t going to change what was.
And, he wouldn’t say this out loud in front of Jimmie, but he was truly worried for him. This wasn’t over by a long shot. Jimmie’s father wasn’t the kind of person who simply let things go. If word got back to him that Jimmie had gone to the ADA, the shit would hit the fan big time.
Jimmie walked over from where he’d been talking to Luke’s family, and joined Ethan and Noah in front of the bandstand as Savannah walked onto the stage. She grinned down at them, and then blew them each a big, showy kiss. Noah wished he could be as nonchalant about this as she was, but he couldn’t.
He’d always been protective of Jimmie, and he had the overwhelming feeling that a massive shit storm was coming. Very soon, Jimmie would need all of them in ways he never had before.
She took the microphone from the lead singer of the band, giving him a wink and a smile. The band was local, and played mostly weddings and other events. They’d grown up in Shelbyville, just down US 231 a bit, and they’d been hired to play at Ruthie’s picnic now for the past ten years.
“All right y’all.” Savannah’s sweet voice rang out over the crowd. “Gather ‘round, and bring a cup of something to drink with you. We have plenty of beer, whiskey, sweet tea, Coke, and lemonade, so choose your favorite.”
She glanced around, and then motioned her great aunt Ruthie Patterson to the stage. As the woman climbed the three steps then walked across the stage, her step was as light and easy as if she were Savannah’s age. She wore a red flowered summer dress, and Noah thought it looked perfect with her snow white hair. The crowd erupted in thunderous applause and catcalls.
When they finally quieted down, and after Ruthie had hugged her favorite grand-niece for a long time, Savannah spoke again. “All right y’all. Raise your glasses to the coolest, most amazing great aunt any girl this side of the Mississippi could ever want. Today is Babe Ruth’s eighty-seventh birthday, and if she looks a day over fifty I’ll eat this microphone!”
The crowd cheered again, and then several of them whistled while everyone drank what was in their red Solo cups. Savannah hugged Ruthie again, and then she introduced the band. “You all know these guys. They’ve been playing at this picnic for ten years now and they kick ass!” She waited until the cheers died down. “So put your hands together and get up on your feet for Those Boys from Shelbyvill
e!”
She handed the microphone to the band’s lead singer, who launched into a very good rendition of Kenny Chesney’s She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy. Savannah scrambled off the stage where Noah caught her hands first. “Dance with me, beautiful?”
“You bet.”
As Noah twirled her around the makeshift dance floor, he didn’t think it could get any better than this. And he also knew one thing was an absolute certainty. That no matter what anyone in this town said or thought about it, including Jimmie’s father, he was head over heels crazy in love with Savannah. And nothing would change that. Not ever.
There was no point anymore in denying it. He’d always had a crush on her, and what they had now made everything perfect. If only she could love him one day, too, his life would be complete.
* * * *
When it was finally Ethan’s turn to dance with Savannah, first he pulled her close and told her how beautiful she looked. She had put her blonde curls into a loose ponytail, held back with a turquoise comb. It was both elegant and old-fashioned, but it suited her. Her dress was summer personified, with its simple lines and bright, bold flowers. She looked perfect in it.
She’d kicked off her sandals when she’d danced with Noah and then Jimmie, and she was still barefoot, which made her even sexier. Ethan was grateful this was a slow song because it was difficult to hide his erection in the cotton summer pants he’d chosen to wear. He should have worn jeans, like just about every other guy here.
The band was amazing, and he told her so. She made a noise that sounded like she agreed, and then pushed closer to him and sighed softly. God. She made it so fucking difficult even to think, let alone hold his composure in a crowd like this. Did the girl have any idea how damn seductive she was?
The three took turns dancing with her through no less than a dozen songs, and then the band took its first break. She put her sandals back on, and then told the guys it was time to eat. “I look forward to this every year. All this great food. The people in this town sure can cook.”
