Teacher's Pets [Unlikely Bedfellows 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Jenna Stewart

  And she truly was miserable. She looked at Steve and Beau as more than sex partners. Over the past few weeks she’d come to love them, to need them. They talked a lot. Okay, we talked some. But they laughed a lot. She missed their laughter. She missed their touch, their sweetness, the way they cared for her in every way.

  She missed Steve’s cooking.

  What she hadn’t missed was gathering material for the book, the thing that had been her focus for weeks and weeks. Tenure and the desire to prove to her parents that she could succeed in her chosen field was why she had slept with Steve and Beau to begin with, but it was the last concern on her mind now.

  Dashing into the house, she rushed for the answering machine. The little red light blinked. Thank heaven! She pushed the button that would rewind the tape, then she pushed a different button to play.

  “Leah, love.” Just hearing Beau’s voice made her heart beat faster.

  “It’s been two weeks since we had our disagreement.” Disagreement? She had practically accused them of war crimes. And Steve had accused her of murdering America’s soldiers.

  “Steve is stubborn. You should know that as well as anyone, and you two do seem to butt heads.” That was true. But she liked stubbornness and someone who challenged her.

  “But you both need to get past this. What happened before is in the past. I’m concerned about our future. And Steve is, too, though he won’t admit it.” Their future. Beau thought they had one. It wouldn’t be easy, but could she find it in her heart and mind to ignore her past beliefs?

  “We want you. We need you. We miss you more than we can say. We want to marry you, Leah. But we have to come to terms with whether we’re all looking forward or backward.”

  She clamped her hands to her mouth. They wanted her to be with them forever? She had thought this would be an experiment that would be short-lived. The notion of falling in love had been far from her mind and not in her plans. Robert Burns had said it in his way. She paraphrased with life threw monkey wrenches into the best laid plans.

  “I’m not going to call anymore, Leah. Now you know where we stand and what we want. You will have to accept that whether we’re actually in the service or not, we’re Marines, and we always will be. But we’re also the guys you fell in love with. The ball is in your court. We hope you’ll come to us. We love you.” The message ended.

  What should she do? If she gave her life and love to two military men, she would lose friends on campus and the cachet that went with it. Inwardly, she cringed at using her mother’s term, but intellectually, she had to admit that influence and position did make a difference. She might never make tenure if she made this move. She would give up the only chance she had to prove to her family that she had the same ability to succeed as they.

  Without thinking further, she picked up the receiver and dialed a number she knew by heart.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Evelyn, it’s Leah Morris. Is my uncle Joshua around?”

  “Hello, Leah! How nice to hear from you.” In the background, Leah heard a crying baby and a toddler making a funny noise like an airplane. “Harve,” Evelyn said, “can you get Joshua? It’s his niece.” She covered the receiver, but Leah heard her whisper, “She sounds a little strange.”

  Seconds later, a click and slight echo told her an extension had been picked up. “It’s okay honey, I have it.”

  “Bye, Leah,” Evelyn said. Then another click told Leah she had her uncle all to herself.

  “Leah? What’s wrong?”

  She gave a nervous laugh. “Nothing. Why would you ask that?” How could she tell him that she loved two men who seemed diametrically opposed to her principles?

  “Well, good,” he said hesitantly. “What’s up? Are you doing well?”

  “Fine, yes. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

  “No, not at all.” A shuffling of papers said that he was assuring her just to be nice.

  “I need some advice. I–I seem to have fallen in love.”

  “Leah! That’s wonderful! Who’s the lucky man?”

  “You mean, who are the lucky men.” She chewed her bottom lip waiting for his response. He didn’t speak for several seconds. Long, painful seconds.

  “I see. Are you sure? It’s not an easy thing, being in love with two men. There are just two, aren’t there?”

  She laughed. “Yes. Just two. But they are Marines, Joshua. Military men and they aren’t going to give it up.”

  “Being a soldier doesn’t mean you stop being a man. Are they good men. Do they treat you right?”

  “The best. I only found out they were still in the military after we’d been together for a while. I thought they were wonderful then.”

  “They’re the same people now. What’s changed?”

  My perception. How I saw them. But not them, not really.

  “Nothing, really. But—”

  “But nothing. If you loved them before, what’s to stop you from loving them now?”

  “Just me.” She was every bit as stubborn as Steve. Could she get past what she had said, and what he had said? They were good men, and no matter what professions they took up, they would still be good men.

  “Then you have to decide if what they do as a career is bad enough to stop you from being with them. If it is, face it and try to move on. But if you can love them no matter what they do—as long as it’s legal,” he added forcefully, “then don’t deny yourself the love and happiness your parents have missed all these years.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Leah.” She could hear the sadness in his voice. “Don’t tell me you haven’t seen it. I would have cautioned you years ago not to follow in their footsteps had I known you didn’t see the way they’ve chased position and recognition at the expense of their happiness with each other.”

  “I had no idea.” But flashes filled her mind of episodes in her youth. Her father cancelling dinner with the family in order to attend a banquet somewhere else. Her mother’s traveling to conferences instead of staying home to attend her children’s recitals or school events. And they never expressed affection with each other. It was always air kisses or quick waves goodbye.

  “I expected your mother to announce a divorce for years after their marriage. But eventually, neither could afford a divorce. They needed each other for the cachet.”

  That word again! “I’ve tried so hard to please them, Joshua.”

  “Forget it, sweetheart. No matter what you do, you never will. With each step up the ladder of acceptance you climb, they add another rung. Do what you want to make yourself happy, and don’t regret a moment.”

  Her heart swelled and her eyes filled with tears. “Thank you, Uncle Joshua. I think I will.”

  “Now.” He sounded more jovial. “If you want advice on how to keep two men extremely happy, you should have a talk or two with Evelyn. But if you need advice on how to live with someone who’s the polar opposite of you and drives you crazy each and every day of your life, I can fill you in.”

  “I heard that!” Harve yelled in the background.

  “The man is enough to make a rabbi cry.”

  Leah laughed. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to have called you, Joshua.”

  “Me, too, honey. Let me know how things work out, okay?”

  “I will. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  She hung up and sat thinking. What would she say? How could she show Steve and Beau that she loved them and wanted to come to an agreement?

  Dashing to her bedroom, she chose her sexiest underwear, a matching garter belt and black stockings to match her black four-inch heels. Wearing only that, she slipped her raincoat on over all, and walked to the car.

  She would get them back, if she had to talk them to death or sex them to death. In the end, they would be hers.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Steve doodled on the paper before him. Midterm exams would be coming up in another few weeks, and he was le
ss prepared than he ever thought he would be. The longer Leah stayed away, the more his focus changed from where it was supposed to be to getting her back. But how? He wasn’t going to give up his principles, and they were entwined in the Corps. He believed in duty, honor, and sacrifice for one’s country. Surely Leah could see that and understand.

  “Hell with this.” He took to his feet and grabbed the car keys from the bowl by the front door. Yanking open the door, he was faced with Leah, hand raised to knock.

  For a moment they stood staring at each other. She was a sight to behold, a little thinner than she had been, maybe, but still as beautiful as an angel.

  “You’re here,” he said and then shook his head. “I mean, come in.” He stepped back to allow her room to get by.

  “Thanks.” Brushing past him, she clutched her shoulder bag as though it were a lifeline. She must be as nervous as he was hopeful.

  “Have a seat.” He placed his keys back in the bowl and gestured for her to go farther into the room.

  “Okay.” She went to the bar where she had sat a couple of weeks ago but then stopped and changed direction, heading for the living room couch instead.

  “Would you like something to drink?”

  “I’d like a double whiskey, but no, thanks.”

  “Okay.” He sat in the chair across from her. “Did you come to talk to me, or do you want Beau here, too? He’s in the library.”

  “I’d hoped both of you would be here, but I wouldn’t want to disturb him.” She twisted her hands in her lap.

  “Look, Leah. Don’t be so nervous. It’s just me, Steve. There’s no need to be afraid of anything. I’m sorry I hurt you by what I said.”

  She leaned forward. “No. I’m sorry for what I said. Can you forgive me?”

  “Honey, I can forgive you anything. I’m asking the same of you.”

  She nodded her head. “Yes.” She leaned back, looking more relieved. “You understand, we didn’t know what you knew when we protested. We marched because of what we were told was happening over there. There was no way to understand your true conditions or your feelings, though I do believe in certain cases we were lied to by military and government officials. Still, if what I did caused harm, I’m truly sorry.”

  Steve nodded. “And I got carried away when I heard you had been part of the protestors. I know neither the government nor the military is always right, but I still believe in the flag some people burned over here. I stay in the service because it’s my way of serving, but I’m not a mindless robot, following whatever orders I’m given. Do you understand?” He hoped she did and could live with his feelings.

  “I do see. You protect and serve, like my uncle, but in a different service.”

  “Leah, I love you. I know when we disagree we fight like demons, but it doesn’t stop my love.”

  She smiled, thank God.

  “I love you, Steve, very much.” And she sighed. “We’ll always have Beau to calm us down.”

  For the first time in weeks, laughing felt right. “I think we scared the life out of him.”

  “Congratulations on winning the best chemistry student award.”

  He couldn’t hide his surprise. “How do you know? It isn’t going to be announced until midterm.”

  “Beau has called me every day, leaving messages about what was going on with the two of you.”

  “He did?” Well, damn. He owed Beau big time for that good thinking. “Thanks. Turns out, instead of distracting me, I did my best work while we were involved. If you stay with us, I could win the Nobel Prize for chemistry.”

  She laughed. “I’ve missed this,” she said. “I’ve missed you and Beau.”

  As though she spoke of the devil, Beau burst into the house. He focused on her right away. “I saw your car out front and could hardly believe it.”

  “Your phone messages finally did the trick. I’m sorry I was such a jerk.”

  “Not you,” Beau said.

  “He means I was the jerk,” Steve said dryly.

  “Yes,” Beau agreed. He looked from one to the other. “So, are we a family again?”

  “Yes,” Leah and Steve said in unison.

  “Hot damn.” He looked at Leah. “He’s been a royal pain in the ass to live with.” Beau sat on the sofa, near but not beside Leah.

  “Before we go much further, one thing I learned from this episode is how little we know about each other. For instance, I don’t even know what you’re doing after graduation. What are your plans?”

  “We’ve been too busy with other things,” Steve said, winking at her. “Maybe I was trying to make up for lost time in that department.”

  “And I loved it, but I need to know. Are we staying together?”

  Beau spoke up. “The Corps paid for us to finish our degrees. Even though we’re in the reserves now, we still owe them something for our education. That probably means working in the D.C. area. I have interviews at the end of the year with the DoD. Geography is used in military planning and in war games. I know that might make you uncomfortable, but war games are necessary for the protection of the country. When we do go to war again, I want to help ensure there are fewer casualties.”

  “War changes a man, there’s no question. I know my knowledge in chemistry can help the military—in good ways,” Steve quickly assured. “Chemistry can make better materials, lighter in weight and more useable. I already have a position in the DoD as soon as I graduate.”

  “So you’ll be in the Washington area, too?”

  “Looks that way.”

  “To answer your question, Leah,” Beau said, “we definitely want you in our future. Forever. We want you with us.”

  Leah sank back into the sofa and closed her eyes. Steve looked at Beau, who stared back. He raised his brows in a what now? look. Steve shook his head. He had no idea how this would go.

  Leah opened her eyes and divided her attention between Beau and him. “I don’t think I can get a teaching job if we’re going to be moving a lot.”

  Steve let out a breath of absolute satisfaction. She was coming back to them.

  “We should stay put, pretty much,” Beau said.

  “We aren’t full-time military, so we won’t be transferred like they are,” Steve added.

  “Reserves aren’t shipped overseas, anyway,” Beau said, smiling. “Steve and I might—I say might—have to go into the field for testing once in a while, but that should be the worst of it.”

  “Then I can apply for work in the D.C. area, too.” Leah seemed pleased. “I’m still not sure how I feel about the military or reserves. But I know how I feel about you two. I love you. Being without you was horrible.”

  “For us, too,” Steve said, and he meant it.

  “It sounds wonderful hearing you say you love us,” Beau said. “I love you. You’re my world.”

  “Just be aware that I will not always agree with you on the military or politics in general. Don’t expect me to bend to your opinions.”

  “Perish the thought,” Beau said, grinning.

  “I have a feeling you two are a bit more conservative than I am.”

  Steve couldn’t help his grin. “Honey, disagree all you want. We’ll make sure you don’t go to bed mad or unhappy.”

  “Don’t forget, you have the book to finish.” Beau smiled. “There’s still a lot of bedroom work to do on it, I hope.”

  “Oh! About that, the proposal was accepted. Whitestone Publishing wants it.”

  “Hey,” Beau said. “Congratulations! What can we do to celebrate?”

  She smiled. “Well, I’m a little horny. Can we celebrate by taking care of that?” She stood and removed her coat.

  Steve had noticed her black stockings and high heels right away. But he’d had no idea that stockings and a bra were all she wore. His cock immediately rose, long and hard. He wanted to be inside her in the worst way.

  “I think we can take care of that, sweetheart,” he said.

  “Absolutely,” Beau agreed.
He reached up and pulled her coat the rest of the way off her arms.

  She was beautiful. “We’ve missed you,” Steve said.

  Leah held out her arms, one toward him and one toward Beau. “I’ve missed you, too.”

  The men stood and stepped into her outstretched arms. Steve kissed her first then surrendered her lips to Beau as he bent and concentrated on her nipple through the lace of her sexy little bra. She twisted her fingers into his hair and held him in place.

  Using one hand, he undid the only hook holding her breasts encased in the lace, and then he sucked her nipple into his mouth. Scraping his teeth across the firm tip, he felt her tremble beneath his hands, which roved her stomach and hips.

  “Bedroom,” Beau muttered.

  “Right.” Steve picked Leah up and carried her to his room. As soon as he set her on her feet, Beau had her panties off. Steve grabbed two condoms. Tossing one to Beau, he moved back to tease her lips with his tongue. He heard Beau open the drawer in the bedside table where he’d put a jar of cream, and then Leah moaned into his mouth. Seconds later, as Beau pressed his advantage and eased into her ass, Steve took his cue.

  He lifted her foot to the edge of the bed and smoothed his hand up the silkiness of her stockinged leg. Her pussy was wet and hot, her clit extended and hard. Probing her passage with his cock, he rocked in and out of her sweet cunt.

  “Oh, yeah. Oh, shit, yeah,” he murmured. He felt Steve pushing from behind, and they soon found their rhythm. In less than a minute, her pussy gripped him. Her breathing was shallow and hard.

  “Oh, baby,” he groaned and shot off. Seconds later, he sensed Beau doing the same.

  When they pulled out of her, Steve captured her in his arms. “Welcome home,” he said in her ear.

  * * * *

  Eighteen months later

  “How’s Chicago?” Beau asked when he answered the phone.

  “Lonely without my three men,” Leah answered. She had arrived that afternoon and went straight to the hotel to rest before her interview on one of the local television stations later that night.

  “We’re lonely without you, too. Can you say hello to mama, Evan?” he asked of their infant son.