She heard the alarm but couldn’t stir. Male voices, indistinct yet reassuring, let her go back to sleep.
She heard those voices two more times, and could barely rouse herself.
A slight tickle on her ear finally got her attention. She batted at it. Masculine laughter pulled her awake. She turned and looked at the bedside clock, shocked to discover two hours had passed.
“Sleepyhead,” Gord said. “How do you feel?”
“That’s my question.” Tasha met his gaze and returned his smile.
“I’m good. Clay woke me up when your alarm went off.”
“Good. Guess I need to learn to be more alert.”
“Why?” Clay asked. “I was here. Isn’t that going to be one of our best—well, after the sex—bonuses? Being here for each other?”
“Yes, you’re right. That is one of the best bonuses.” Tasha yawned, and then her stomach growled. “I’m starving. The kids will be back soon, and they will have already eaten. I’ll make dinner for us.”
“We’ll make dinner together,” Gord said.
Tasha had to admit she really liked the sound of the word “together.”
Downstairs, they worked together to make a simple meal. She loved everything about Gord’s house, including the kitchen.
“I want us here, every night, from now on—all of us, together,” Gord said. He seared the pork chops in a big, cast iron skillet. “But that’s my heart talking. My head is telling me we need to take our time—for the kids.”
Clay looked up from preparing the pasta. Gord had announced that he was going to make a tomato-basil sauce for the meat, so Clay had volunteered to make the pasta, and Tasha thought biscuits with garlic butter would go nicely.
She couldn’t help but notice how well they worked together, as if they’d been doing it for years.
“I think that’s a good idea,” Clay said. “I’d like to make it a done deal, too. But you’re absolutely right. I want them to grow into this decision we’ve made. They’ve proven themselves to be pretty adaptable. But there’ve been two major changes in their lives in a year.”
“Let’s include them in the dialogue some,” Gord suggested. “Let them feel that they have a say in things. Let them see we value their opinions.”
Tasha tilted her head to the side. “I have a question. Which of the two of you is older?”
“Clay is, and that suits me just fine.” Gord reduced the heat under the skillet and then turned around to face them. “We didn’t talk about this part, Clay. It is tradition that the older man becomes the legal husband.”
“I hadn’t thought about one of us needing to be Tasha’s legal husband,” Clay said, “Because in my heart, we’ll both of us be her husband.”
Tasha thought she understood what Gord was getting at. “You think it will be better for the children, too, don’t you, sweetheart? If I take Clay’s last name.”
“I do. I think it might give them a bit of security—a sense of being settled.”
“I’m more than okay with that,” Clay said. Then he tilted his head to the side. “Or maybe we can all have a new last name.”
“You mean like Colt and Ryder, and Drew and Dev?” Gord shrugged. “Down the road,” Gord said, “that might be something for us to consider.”
Clay shook his head. “You once told me that you thought I would have to give you pointers on how to be a dad. You already put the children first. That, my friend, is being a dad.”
Dinner was eaten and a pot of decaf coffee had just been brought into the great room when the door burst open and three children raced in. Bernice, Caleb, and Jonathan followed the children into the room.
Tasha smiled when all three of the children ran over to Gord.
“Are you all right, Uncle Gord?” Shaun asked.
“I’m okay, Shaun. It takes more than a bump on the head to keep me down.”
“I hope that man pays for what he did.” Mark said. He looked fierce, and Tasha thought she was getting a tiny glimpse into the protective man he would one day grow up to become.
“Your uncle saw to that as soon as he knew he had backup,” Clay said. “He managed to untie himself and then tackled the bad guy at the exact right time.”
Shaun folded his arms in front of his chest and nodded his head. “Good. I think we all should stay here tonight, just to make sure you’re really okay. My mom…my mom once told me that bumps on the head need special care.”
“You’re supposed to eat lots of chicken noodle soup and Jell-O,” Bonnie said. “Until you’re better.”
“And somebody’s got to wake you up in the night and ask you who you are and if you know what year it is,” Mark said.
The look on Gord’s face was priceless. These children, in their own way, had just made Gord Jessop theirs.
“Thank you, guys. I’ll rest easier knowing y’all are here look out for me.”
In years to come, Tasha thought she would recall this evening as the moment when their family truly began.
* * * *
“Are you all right?”
Tasha’s sleepy-sexy voice positively sent a shiver down Gord’s spine. “I’m fine, darlin’.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be right back.”
“’Kay.” Tasha dropped right back to sleep, turned over, and snuggled into Clay. He wasn’t stirring either, having spent most of the night before waking Gord up exactly the way Dr. Robert Jessop had instructed him to.
The headache he’d had yesterday and last night was gone now. He hadn’t developed any of the other symptoms Robbie had warned about, and that was one hell of a relief.
Gord was looking forward to the next forty or fifty years, and wanted every single one of them.
He’d gone to bed in his boxers—there’d been no sense in tempting fate since he still couldn’t love his woman the way he wanted to. Now he pulled on his robe and stepped out of the master suite and into the hallway. The house felt…happy. Now there’s a whimsical thought. He wasn’t a man given to whimsy, usually. Gord grinned. He could now attest to the truth of something he’d heard often in his life.
Love really did change a man.
Gord looked over to the other side of the hall, to the three opened bedroom doors. He amended his last thought. Love, and having a family, changed a man.
Those children were his now, like that woman asleep in his bed was his. And that man sleeping next to their woman was his brother just as surely as if he’d been born so.
Gord decided to check in on each child, beginning with the oldest. He smiled when he saw the boy’s tablet on the bed beside him, likely having tumbled from his hand as he’d finally dropped off to sleep. Gord set the device safely on the bedside table, and adjusted the blankets around the sleeping teen.
He’d likely be embarrassed if he knew he was being tucked in. Gord remembered being a teen, nearing wakefulness as his father performed this nightly ritual, making sure the blankets were well and surely covering him. Yeah, he would have been embarrassed if word had gotten out around town that his daddy tucked him in. But deep inside, it had felt good. He’d felt loved and cherished by his father.
Gord moved on to the next room. Mark snored, and lay sprawled on his stomach with his legs tangled in the blankets. He’s a restless sleeper. Gord worked carefully to untangle sheet and comforter from the boy’s legs, and then covered him up again. He’ll like as not kick them down again before morning. The house was warm. He’d be fine. He took a moment to run his hand over the sleeping boy’s hair. He’s a pistol, all right. At that age between being a little boy and being a teen, Mark had more energy than an eager puppy. He was already showing an interest in how things worked. Maybe for his birthday, Gord would get him his own tool kit. That was a thought.
Gord stood for a moment in the doorway of Bonnie’s room and just watched the little girl sleep. She still took a toy to bed with her—a stuffed dog that she’d introduced to him, the first day they arrived from Toronto, as Mr. Freckles. Even though sh
e was nine, Gord didn’t think it odd she still had a cherished sleeping companion. As far as he was concerned, she could sleep with Mr. Freckles for as long as she wanted to.
He took a moment to tuck her in, too. Bending over, he placed a kiss on her forehead. Love for all three of these precious children swelled his heart. He’d never been a man to worry about such things. He did what he could in his community and beyond. He’d gotten up each morning and carried on, never doubting his purpose in life.
But now—now he had so much more than he’d ever dared dream of. That woman, and these children, they added something to him. He’d never truly understood the depth of what he’d lacked, before. Now he did, and the difference, for him, was breathtaking. Whereas before he’d had a reason to live, now he had people to live for.
It was an amazing difference, one for which he would never stop feeling gratitude.
He couldn’t help but think of his parents as he left Bonnie’s bedroom. He missed them something fierce, and never so much as right now.
Mom would be over the moon if she were here to see this. Gord knew without a doubt that his mother and his father would have fallen in love with Tasha, likely as quickly as he had done. His parents had always loved Clay. As for these children—hell, if his parents were alive today they’d already be thinking of these three as their grandchildren.
A sense of peace settled on him, and for just a moment he felt his mom and dad as if they were standing right there beside him. He had no doubt, in that instant, that they were both looking down on him, happy that he’d found his place, and his family, at last.
Gord smiled and headed back to bed. He dropped his robe on the floor and crawled back under the covers. He sighed as the warmth and scent of his woman settled around him.
“Everything all right?” Clay’s voice, a bare whisper, let him know the other man had been aware of his absence.
“Yeah. Just checking on the kids. Mark was in a tangle but I fixed it. They’re all sleeping peacefully.”
“I figured that’s what you were up to. It’s nice to have a partner guarding the ramparts.”
“That’s what brothers are for.”
Clay was silent for a moment. “Yes. That’s what brothers are for.”
It was a good thought to carry him back to sleep.
Chapter 24
Tasha had carefully arranged her recent appointments and switched a couple already made, booking the afternoon off. At two minutes after twelve, as she tidied her manicure station at the Lusty Glow Day Spa, she could feel the eyes of her coworkers on her.
She knew they knew why she wanted the time off, but so far, no one had said a single word.
It was a week ago today that her world had come to a heart-pounding, though thankfully temporary, halt when Adam had announced that Gord was missing.
This morning he’d had a checkup at the clinic, and as they’d hoped, he’d been given the green light to resume “all normal activities.”
She, Clay, and Gord planned to steep themselves in certain normal activities for the rest of the afternoon, just as soon as they got to Gord’s house.
It felt like forever since she’d made love with her men. Despite Gord’s daily urging that she and Clay spend some one-on-one bedroom time, they’d both been adamant in their refusal.
They’d get to that, but not while Gord was recovering from a concussion. It would be, she knew, a principle by which they would manage the rest of their lives.
The staff and clients present in the spa all wished her a good time as she headed out. Tasha waved behind her as she left. Her smile widened when she saw Gord’s pickup truck idling by the curb. Clay had already gotten out of the vehicle. Standing by the open door, he gave her a very nice leer as she approached.
“I hope you’re going to deliver on that promise, handsome.”
“Oh, you bet your very fine ass I am,” he said.
Gord actually peeled the tires as he pulled away from the curb. Tasha giggled. They were all feeling more than a little bit frisky.
“I have to figure that by now anyone who sees the three of us heading out of town together very likely knows where we’re going and what we’re going to be doing once we get there,” Clay said.
“True.” Gord shot them both a quick grin. “But half of ’em will wish it was them, and the other half will adopt our very good idea as their own and do the same thing.”
“I’ve heard it said that the residents of this town proudly earn the name, time and time again.” Tasha sighed. “I never thought I’d be one of them.”
“Darlin’, you belonged to Lusty the moment you moved here. You just didn’t know it until now is all.”
Because Tasha knew the people of this town, she understood Gord spoke nothing but the truth.
“Damn, man, I think that’s a record,” Clay said. It hadn’t even taken them a full five minutes to reach Gord’s place. The truck stopped in the driveway and Clay already had the door open.
“Don’t see any reason to waste any time.” Gord threw his own door open, and was out of the truck before Tasha had set her feet on the ground.
She giggled when Gord jogged around the vehicle, picked her up, and put her over his shoulder.
“Hang on, darlin’!”
Any lingering fears she might have had about his medical condition vanished as he carried her up the stairs. He wasn’t even winded, but she was breathless.
His actions gentle, he set her on her feet. Then he cupped her face. “I love you. Thank you for saying yes.” He laid his mouth on hers and gave her the most lavishly lusty kiss she’d ever enjoyed.
With mouth and tongue he drank her, seducing her with such reverence that she began to tremble—not just in need, but in response to the beauty of the moment. This was more than physical, more than just for now, and his kiss told her that in a most eloquent way.
The heat and the solidity of Clay pressing against her back sent shivers through her. Gord released her mouth, and she tilted her head up and back.
Clay kissed her, his tongue strong and dominant as it took possession of her mouth. The slide and the glide, the subtle suction, stirred her arousal and made her burn for more.
“Let’s get you naked,” Clay said. “We both want you very badly.”
Tasha turned so that she could caress both men’s faces at once. “I need you both, too. I need you both inside me at the same time.”
“Tasha.”
“Are you sure?” Clay’s fingers trembled as he ran his hand down her back. “Sweetheart, be sure. It’s a lot for us to ask of you and…”
“You’re not asking, I am. Please. I need to feel connected to you both at the same time.”
The two men looked at her, and then each other. “We talked about this,” Gord said. “Because we had questions, and we weren’t sure of the answers. We talked to Mel and Connor, and Dev and Drew.”
Tasha immediately understood. This would be a profoundly intimate joining, for all three of them.
As if echoing her sudden insight, Clay said, “It’s going to be an interesting first for us all.”
“Is that a yes?”
Gord cupped her face with one hand and gave her a fast, smacking kiss. “It is.”
They worked together, these men she loved, to remove the clothes from her body. She might have thought they used magic, her clothes were on the floor that fast.
Gord cupped her breasts in both hands and nuzzled her. “Have I told you how beautiful your breasts are? They’re so lovely and lush. I love the dark color of your nipples, and the way they harden into tasty little points like they just did whenever I’m near.” He bent his head and drew her left nipple into his mouth. He suckled her, his draw strong, coaxing her arousal from the softly glowing embers it had been near the base of her belly into a livelier, dancing flame.
Tasha rolled her hips in appreciation, and to help fan that flame.
From behind her, Clay smoothed his hands over her bare waist, bringing them together
on her belly and moving them down toward her pussy. “I love that you keep this nude,” he said, rubbing his fingers back and forth over her mound. “It’s soft, and your pussy is never hidden from my view. Did you know when you’re aroused, your clit stands up, and I can see it. I can see our effect on you—see it, and like now, I can smell it and feel it.”
He gave her clit a slight brush with one finger. Tasha gasped and tilted her hips up, a silent plea for more. She raised her arms and laced her fingers behind Clay’s neck. “I can’t believe how hot you two get me, when you’re still fully clothed yourselves.”
“That’s only fair, darlin’.” Gord lifted his head and met her gaze. “I can see you across a crowded room and I’m hot for you. Your power over us is absolute, my love. Never, ever doubt it.”
Her smile felt sexy and sultry. “I’ll never doubt anything about my own appeal ever again. I need you both naked now.”
They stripped in record time. Gord reached for the sheet and blankets, whipping them down in one powerful tug. Why is that act so sexy to me?
Tasha had no more time for introspection. Clay lifted her, and brought her down to the bed. He followed her down, stretching out on her right, while Gord reached into the bedside table drawer, and removed a condom and the lube. He tossed them to the foot of the bed and then came to her, lying down on her left side.
“Mmm, yes, I’m the filling in a man sandwich.”
“Not nearly to the extent you’re about to be.” Clay turned her face to him. He placed a sweet, far-too-brief kiss on her hips. “Now hush, baby. Feel what we do to you. Take what we give you. Give us all we demand.”
He can be pretty dominant when he wants to be. And then her brain was short-circuited when he and Gord put their hands and lips on her.
Tasha’s eyes closed as she relished the sensations. Lips and tongues and teeth kissed and lapped and nipped. Hands smoothed and caressed, fingers pinched and pulled, and, oh yes, delved.
Arousal exploded into life, the actions of these men granting it a will of its own. Clay laid his lips on hers, his tongue surging into her mouth, an act of claiming. Gord mimicked his actions when he set his mouth on her cunt.
Love Under Two Introverts [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 24
