Bottom line, basic truth, and the one truth that hunkered down within her, wrapping around her heart and soul.
“Yes, I’m yours. Take me. I’m yours.”
The press and the burn ended all thought. The need to give grew as flesh stretched, and stretched some more. Burning morphed to pain, a welcome pain that demanded her full focus. Tiny little electric shocks shot out all through her body, along every nerve end. Undiscovered pathways opened from her anus to her clit and her nipples, sending her arousal higher, and higher still.
“Relax, woman. Let go of that formidable control of yours and let me in.”
From one heartbeat to the next she understood what she was doing, how she was trying to keep one tiny tendril of control—and she let it go. She let it go and sighed, completely relaxing her hips and thighs. Her eyes fluttered closed.
“No, baby. Open your eyes. Let me see you.” Taylor’s commanding tone was every bit as compelling as was Preston’s. She hadn’t even realized he was watching her face. She opened her eyes and met his gaze, and felt his brother push all the way into her ass.
“Oh! Oh…Preston…I need.”
“You need to take what I give you now, kitten.” He began to move, slow at first, tiny little thrusts that made her tremble. Lust caught fire and she gasped, and somehow, keeping her gaze locked with Taylor’s made it even more salacious.
Every sensual nerve in her body broke free of her control, shivering, quivering, lapping up the cream of arousal as if it was ambrosia. She could only feel, only whimper. He moved faster, and faster, and her climax erupted, a powerful, hot volcanic eruption that took her and tossed her and tumbled her over and over until there was nothing, nothing, but sweet heavenly release.
Chapter 18
The scent of bacon, coffee, and sex. Was there anything better? Charlie didn’t think so.
Except for this. He buried his nose in Samantha’s hair and inhaled deeply. It didn’t surprise him one bit when the scent of her got him hard.
I’ll still be getting hard for her when I’m ninety.
He closed his eyes, his whole heart soaking up the experience of lying quietly in their bed with his woman, snuggled in close and sound asleep in his arms. He thought about the lovemaking, earlier, and how she’d seemed almost desperate for them.
Samantha had become progressively more stressed as the days had passed this week. He knew, as did his brothers, that she simply couldn’t imagine a world where she could have it all—a solid, committed family life and a thriving career.
This was where Lusty families held an edge over “traditional” families. And that edge would be particularly large for them, because there would be three men loving their woman. Three husbands and one wife.
Four people working together to be a family meant no one person ever became overburdened. Four parents working together meant each child had all the time and attention he or she needed.
The thought of Samantha, her body ripe with their child, made his heart smile. That was a picture he couldn’t wait to see in reality.
“What time is it?”
Her sleepy voice felt like velvet on his already triggered libido. “Coming up on ten.”
“I fell back to sleep.”
Charlie smiled. “Yes, you did. Our fault entirely and personally, I’m damn proud of the job we did, loving you into a coma.”
Samantha responded by chuckling, and rubbing her face against his chest—nuzzling him. Then she gave him an extra tight hug.
“Didn’t your dads say that court case was happening this morning?” She yawned and stretched, but then curled back into him again.
“Yes. The law firm your father recommended managed to have the matter brought forward with nearly unprecedented speed.” Charlie sighed. “Kind of wish I could be there to watch it all unfold. I love it when the law works. When what should happen, happens.”
“Is that why you three work from home? Because you get such satisfaction from seeing justice served, up close and personal?”
“Sweetheart, we don’t work from home. We’re usually in either the Dallas or the Houston office. We have other associates, of course, staffing those places, too. Grandfather Dalton has pretty much staked out the Waco office for himself, although the dads sometimes give him a hand, there.”
“Oh. I guess I just assumed you worked from home. You’ve been here in town all week, and then there’s that office at the New House.”
“We’ve been on vacation this week.” One good thing about being their own bosses meant they could take impromptu vacations when they wanted. Truthfully, though, they hadn’t had many days off in the three years they’d been practicing law.
“Oh. So next week you all have to go back to work, anyway.”
“Yes, we do. But do you know, there are such amazing things in these modern times as telephones, automobiles, and even airplanes? This means we can speak daily and see each other on the weekends. Pretty convenient, isn’t it?” He thought for sure she was going to call him a smart-ass. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d done so.
Instead, she sighed. Her tone was soft and serious when she said, “Darling, you make it all sound a whole lot simpler than it is.”
Charlie said nothing for a moment. Then he placed a kiss on her head. “No, darling. You make it sound a whole lot more complicated than it is, or than it needs to be.”
He knew she was marshalling arguments, just as he knew she had to. So he moved, and laid her flat on the bed, and kissed her.
Her response to him—to all of them—was immediate and hot. She kissed him back, and he drank her flavor down, sating himself in her taste, feeding this new addiction he had no intention of ever attempting to cure. When he lifted his head, the glazed look in her eyes fed his masculine pride. A man who could make a woman look like that with just a kiss was a man who held that woman’s heart in his hand—even if she didn’t quite know that yet.
It had to be enough for today.
“Come, sweet. Breakfast is nearly ready. We’ll shower and join the others.”
“You’re all very bossy sometimes, did you know that?”
Charlie grinned. “Thank you for noticing. We’re actually only bossy with you. Don’t worry, there’s no need for you to thank us. We’re pleased to be this way, just for you.”
Oh, he loved that flash of fire in his Samantha’s eyes, the way her cheeks took on that reddish hue. Because he could, he leapt from the bed, reached down, picked her up, and tossed her over his shoulder. Since they were both completely naked, he carried her into the shower enclosure, and turned on the spray.
Her scream when the cold water hit her, followed by her laughter, warmed his heart. He eased her off his shoulder and set her on her feet. Cupping her face, he kissed her again. Charlie knew he could spend the rest of his life kissing this woman, only this woman, and never, ever be bored.
“I love you.” They’d said it to her already, but it was Friday, she was heading to Austin on Monday, and it was damn well time she learned what it meant to be loved by Kendall men. “I love you with all my heart, Samantha Kincaid.”
“I love you, too. I love you—all of you—so much, I ache with it.”
“Did you ever stop to think, my love, that the ache you feel is the sensation of your breaking out of the mold you’ve poured yourself into for so many years? A mold that no longer is needed?”
She met his gaze. The intelligence he saw in her pretty green eyes appealed to his own intellectual side. He was looking forward to Sunday afternoons spent discussing theories and ideas, the more hypothetical, the better.
“But what will I have without that mold?”
Her question pulled him back to the moment. “Why, you’d have a new mold—one that includes the three of us.” Hope bloomed in his heart at the expression of longing that crossed her face with his words.
It occurred to him then that she wanted to believe in him—in them—but didn’t quite know how to get there from where she stood.
They had to trust her.
This was only day six for them. He had to believe that they would, in time, convince her by their actions that they were in it for the long haul. He had to believe that they would win her.
How much time is enough time? He told his inner voice to shut the fuck up. How much time was enough? Why, as much time as it took.
* * * *
Samantha closed her eyes as the warm, buttered, homemade biscuit fairly melted on her tongue. She’d never tasted anything as wonderful as this. She had a particular weakness for breads and biscuits and scones. Especially if they were served warm and smothered in butter and homemade preserves.
“I think she likes it,” Preston said.
Samantha heard the laughter in his voice. She swallowed and said, “Shh, I’m conversing with the angels.” Then she opened her eyes, turned to Taylor, cupped his face and gave him a sweet kiss. “Wonderful. Thank you for making them.”
“You’re welcome. You should have one with gravy on it,” he said.
“Taylor’s sausage gravy is exceptional,” Preston said. “Mother usually gets him to make it rather than making it herself—and she is a very good cook.”
Eating biscuits with breakfast instead of toast was one thing. Gravy at the first meal of the day was something else again. “I think I’m going to have to work up to the gravy,” she said. “It’s just not what I’m used to first thing.”
“You’re in Texas now,” Charlie said. “You’ll get used to it.”
“I know I will. So, gentlemen, what’s the plan for today?”
“We thought we’d head over to the New House after breakfast, and see if there’s been any news from New York,” Taylor said. He held out the platter with the biscuits, and she took another one. To hell with the calories.
“If the case was on the docket first thing, there should be news—unless there was a snag,” Samantha said.
“Do you think there will be one? A snag?” Preston asked.
Samantha met his gaze. It was on the tip of her tongue to remind him that he was the lawyer, not she. Then he said, “Things may be done differently in New York than I’d expect them to be done here. I thought that over the years, and the discussions you’ve had with your dad, you might have a good idea of what the chance was that things will turn out in our favor.”
“I think there is a definite tolerance limit for bullshit, even in New York City.” She shrugged. “They may get their backs up when people from other places make fun of them. But the extremes being experienced there are noted and disparaged by the locals themselves.”
“That is one thing,” Taylor said, “that you’ll find here that’s different. There’s a…a regionalism I guess you could call it, in Texas, an attitude that might be different than you’re used to. We tend to be more conservative, here, especially when it comes to the rights of the individual. Likely, you’ll figure it out as you go along, as you submerse yourself in the Texas legal culture. The firm you’ll be working for, Patterson, Virgil, and Knox, is well respected in Austin—actually, in all of Texas. They handle criminal law cases across a fairly wide spectrum, including a good number of pro bono cases.”
It hadn’t occurred to her to talk to these men about the firm she’d be working for, come Monday. Because I’ve been trying to avoid thinking about that time when I’d have to head off to Austin. When I’d have to leave Lusty behind.
“I’ve been told to expect long hours, at least until I begin classes in January. That’s not a problem for me. I’m used to working and studying at the same time, as I’ve worked since high school.”
“We did, too,” Preston said. “You may not realize it, but our family is rich,” he said.
Samantha felt her left eyebrow go up. It was kind of cute, the way Preston—the way they all—looked embarrassed with the admission. She nodded. He didn’t need to tell her that. “Your fathers hired MacDonald and Kramer to represent them in a simple civil suit. Even by New York standards, they’re pricey.” Of course, she’d had other clues, as well as the open admission by them, and their parents.
“The thing is,” Preston said, “we’ve always been expected to make our own way. And by ‘we’ I mean every Kendall, Jessop, and Benedict born here in Lusty.”
“And Parkers, Joneses, and Parker-Joneses. Since their ancestors came to Lusty and threw in with ours, everyone prospered,” Charlie said. “And everyone was held to the same high standard of behavior.”
“And all of the women of that first generation here—Sarah, Amanda, and Phyllis—they were adamant that their children and grandchildren be taught a good, strong work ethic, and to—well, basically, to not act like rich assholes.” Taylor grinned. “Any of us begin to live like some of the rich and famous you see in the headlines of the country’s scandal sheets, or if we begin to display an attitude of entitlement—well it only happened once, that I am aware of, and the response of the adults sure wasn’t pretty.”
“Christopher Benedict,” Charlie said. “He was the second to youngest son of James, Jacob, and Rosie O’Toole Benedict. In the end, he wound up leaving Lusty, and he never came back except for his mother’s funeral.”
“He was a first cousin to our uncles Gerald and Pat,” Preston said.
“His family chased him away?” Samantha couldn’t hold back the shock she felt. She never could have imagined anyone here evicting one of their own.
“Oh, no, no! He was a teen when he got all high and mighty—during the Second World War, I think. Grandmother Sarah gave him a put-down that certainly changed his attitude—or so we’ve been told,” Preston said. “This is all just legend, as it happened before we were born. Anyway, when the war was over, he headed north—I think he settled in upstate New York, as a matter of fact. You could check with Aunt Kate on that. She’s made it her hobby to track down all the family members who no longer live here.”
“She’s been writing to most of them, too,” Charlie said. “Grandmother Chelsea says that Kate is a lot like Great-Grandmother Sarah.”
Preston nodded. “It’s often the women who marry into our families who become our families’ fiercest champions.”
Something in the way he looked at her and said that made her feel a little funny inside. She didn’t want to think too closely about that, so she said, “And what about the women born into the families?”
“There haven’t been that many,” Charlie said. “Mostly, Kendalls, Jessops, and Benedicts alike tend to have boys. Now, the Parkers and the Joneses, they’ve had more luck producing daughters.”
“I see. Your mother had only sons.”
“Northrop first, and then us,” Taylor said. “We’re the youngest, and we were the end of the line for her. I wonder if we kind of spoiled her. You know,” his eyes twinkled, “our being such perfect sons, that any other children would only have paled by comparison. So, she didn’t have any more.”
Samantha had to work at not laughing. Instead, she acted quite serious when she said, “I don’t think that was an issue for her.”
Charlie gave Taylor a shove, and Taylor, laughing, pushed back. Preston tsked as he shook his head and popped the last bit of a biscuit into his mouth. He chewed, and grinned, and Samantha had a sudden sense of rightness, as if this very tableau was as her life was meant to be, how it would always be. That feeling solidified for just an instant, and then faded away.
“Everything will work out, kitten. You’ll see.”
It didn’t surprise her that Preston had been able to discern her thoughts. They all did, for that matter, which just made the confusion and the struggle within her seem just that much more brutal.
Chapter 19
“Who do we know from Pennsylvania?” Preston asked. He brought his Buick to a stop in the driveway, his attention focused on another
vehicle parked there.
Samantha looked at the blue Chevy, unfamiliar because she’d never seen it before. She hadn’t, however, noticed the plates. What she did notice was more of a feeling than anything concrete. The brothers Kendall, all three of them, went on alert.
“No one that I can think of,” Taylor said. He was out of the car in a heartbeat, and at the front passenger door, opening it for her before she could comment on his speed.
The brothers were always gentlemanly in their manners, but this was more—proven to her when Taylor took her right hand and led her over to Charlie, who took her left. Preston nodded and began to walk, ahead of them, toward the house.
“Is there cause for concern?” She wondered if maybe something had happened in the past, something to make them leery of strangers who came calling from out of state.
She supposed it could just be a countrified kind of caution. Lusty was a very small and very rural town. Like the denizens of other such communities, they might very well be naturally suspicious of strangers or anyone they perceived to be from the “city.”
“There’s always cause for concern,” Preston said.
“Kendalls tend to take the protection of their women very seriously,” Taylor said.
“It’s how Kendalls do things,” Charlie said.
Samantha couldn’t prevent her smile. “I bet that’s the Benedict way, as well.”
Preston turned at the top of the porch steps, met her gaze and grinned. “You’d win that bet, and yes, Jessops are like that, too.”
How could she fault them for their chivalry? Perhaps she needed to set them at ease. “I do appreciate your care, and your protection. You should know, however, that I hold a first-degree brown belt in judo. I intend to resume that pastime once I’m settled in Austin. I’m very capable of defending myself, if need be.”
The brothers looked at each other for a long moment and she marveled at how well they knew each other, that they could communicate with just a look or two between them.
Their Lusty Little Valentine [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 18
