“So multiple births run in that family, too?”
“Yes. The first Benedicts to settle in this area back in the 1890s—my great-great-grandfathers—were twins, Caleb and Joshua Benedict.”
“The multiple births in the Jessop-Kendall branch of the family, before they split off again to Jessops and Kendalls, come from a couple of sources. Amanda Dupree, who married Adam Kendall and Warren Jessop, had twins in her family, and Warren did as well.”
“And there you were, lover, not a womb mate in sight.” Cody could have been saying that to either of them, but Rebecca knew he was talking to Greg.
“Hush. Now is not the time for delving into my psyche. I’m here to give our woman a back rub.”
“I was hoping that after you did that, you’d fuck her. I’m feeling a little voyeuristic.”
“Hey, don’t I get a say in this plan of yours?” Rebecca figured there should be at least a token protest. The fact that it felt as if her cunt had just gushed with that suggestion would be her little secret.
Greg must have poured some lotion on his hands, for the scent of almonds filled the air. She heard him rubbing his hands together, probably to warm the cream.
Then he put his hands on her midback and moved them slowly up toward her shoulders. He leaned over her and said, “We can both smell your arousal, baby. But yeah, of course you get a say.”
“Good.”
“You get to say if you want me to take you from behind, or while you’re flat on your back.”
Rebecca sighed and giggled. The sensations of Greg’s hands on her flesh felt fabulous, and his words tickled her sense of the ridiculous.
She lifted her head to look to her right, so she could see Cody. It had been his suggestion, but she needed to see he’d be okay with it.
“If this is going to work, there’re going to have to be times when Greg and I are together, just the two of us. You’ll want that, too, some one-on-one time—hopefully with both of us.”
“Yes.” She reached out her hand to him. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. “There’s no doubt at all that I’ll want one-on-one time with you.”
“Good. I’ve changed my mind on being a voyeur. I’ll do that another time. For right now I’m going to go and throw together a meal for us.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Then he stretched up and kissed Greg. “Have fun, kids.”
He snagged his boxers and T-shirt from the dresser where he must have set them before getting into the spa earlier. Then he was gone, the sound of his bare feet hitting the stairs as he went down echoed faintly.
“Is he all right?”
Greg sighed. “I think he needs some time to process everything.”
“Like the reality of family in Lusty as well as moving from having one lover to having two?”
Greg eased off her and lay beside her. She turned so she could lay her head on his shoulder.
“You’re a pretty clever woman.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her snugly. This was something she’d never guessed could feel so damn good. She liked being held by Greg Benedict.
Rebecca reached up and stroked his face. “You don’t have to make love to me if you don’t want to.”
He moved faster than she would have believed possible. Laying her flat, he loomed over her and said, “Flat on your back it is, then.” His smile sobered. “You’ve been a hunger in my blood, all these years. I wasn’t going to allow myself to be with anyone, and then Cody broke down my resistance. But even then, I knew that to be complete, I needed you, too.”
“You can have me. You could always have had me. You just needed to tell me that you wanted me. That you needed me.”
“And you waited for me.”
Rebecca thought to deny that, but she didn’t want there to be any lies between them. So she opted for total honesty. “I didn’t realize at first that I was doing that.”
“Thank you for waiting for me.” He looked off toward the door, where Cody had so recently disappeared. When he turned back and met her gaze again, he said, “Thank you for waiting for us.”
“Love me, please.”
“I will. I do.” He lowered his lips to hers.
Rebecca let her eyes drift closed as she experienced the wonder of his kiss. His mouth moved on hers, a graceful slow dance kind of sliding, warm and wet. She loved his taste, loved the way his mouth sucked on hers just a little. His tongue met hers and here their dance turned to a hot and steamy salsa.
Rebecca’s heart swelled with joy to finally, finally be here, beneath him, naked and needy. Sighs and subtle sounds—moans, hums, and a slightly hissed breath serenaded and seduced.
Hands caressed and cupped, fingers gently flitted, teasing and testing and treasuring.
She wrapped herself around him and let her fires burn, no thought to rush, no need to control. As Greg kissed his way down her body, she arched so as to make his reach easier. He tasted her everywhere, his lips and tongue languid at first, burning a trail of passion across her flesh.
“More.” She sighed her need, not worried that he would use that need, that aching vulnerability against her. When he urged, she rolled over, and he kissed and licked a line from her neck to the dimple above her ass.
Whimpering, she tried to urge him to do more than just kiss, and he chuckled, his laughter warm and wet against the flesh of her bottom.
He moved up and to the side and she knew he snagged a tiny packet of protection. Her heart raced as she heard the sound of the tear, and then the glide of the latex over his swollen cock.
He turned her once more. Her back hit the mattress and her hands reached for him, need spawning a sense of urgency.
Now, hurry, now. She needed him to rush, because she knew what it was to have, and then lose.
He seemed to sense the emotion behind her rush, and he kissed her. Slow and deep, long and languid, his mouth and tongue consumed her.
He moved and his cock slid into her in one solid and powerful thrust. “You’re mine. You’re ours. I’ll never be without you again.”
Rebecca clasped him, arms and legs, and moved her hips against his. She relished the friction of his cock moving inside her, of his groin rubbing against her clit. She shivered as the arousal spiraled up and up. Faster, deeper, his movements lost their finesse. He, too, seemed desperate to take and give and hold.
Perspiration drenched her and gathered between their bodies as they raced together toward their climax.
“Rebecca.” He thrust hard and held himself deep. She felt his cock pulse, felt the heat of his seed in the condom and came with him. Shivering, quivering, crying his name, she came and came and came and wished it would never, ever end.
Chapter 13
Why in the name of all that’s holy did I agree to this?
“No, you may not turn tail and run.” Greg had moved closer and put his hand on Cody’s back, a physical way to underline the words he’d just said.
“You said a small family gathering at the restaurant,” Cody said. “I was picturing a table for ten, tops.”
Above the buffet was a sign that read “Welcome home Greg and Cody.” Cody was still trying to take that in, and the fact that the entire restaurant was the scene of this event.
Greg had the nerve to laugh at him. “Trust me, there are a lot more Benedicts, Jessops, and Kendalls in the family than there are here tonight. And I don’t believe I’ve even mentioned the Parkers, the Joneses, and the Parker-Joneses.”
At least the venue—Lusty Appetites—was a little familiar. In the week he’d been in the vicinity of Lusty, they’d eaten here a few times. And come to think of it, most of the faces he could see—people gathered around in small groups, chatting, smiling, and laughing were somewhat familiar, too. To quell his nerves, he began to put names to faces—something he usually did very well. He recognized Greg’s brothers, the twins, Chase and Brian, and their new wife Carrie. He’d met Carrie’s sister Chloe, and her two huge fiancés, Grant and Andrew, who were also Rebecca
’s brothers. He’d met Rick, Trevor, and Kevin, his lover’s triplet brothers, and their lovely wife Maggie. Cody had felt more than a little sympathy for his man when he’d seen how well each set of brothers interacted—with each other and with their wives.
He’d bet that the bite of loneliness Greg had lived with all the years of his youth simply from the way he’d been born had been the major factor that had kept him roaming all these years.
Cody returned his attention to naming all the people present. Of course, he knew the sheriff and his brother the lawyer—Adam and Jake—their spitfire wife Ginny, her son, the pistol—Benny, and a couple of new young ones, and Rebecca’s other two brothers, the Drs. Jessop and their wife Jillian.
He hadn’t yet met any of the older generation, though. He’d been told, just after they stepped into the place to a round of applause, that Greg’s parents, his aunts and uncles, Rebecca’s parents, and Grandma Kate would be attending tonight.
The current generation was all well and good, but it was with the older set—people of the same generation as his own parents or older—where there might be the problem of, and the potential for, shit hitting the fan.
At least it had always been so in Cody’s experience.
“Do I have to meet your grandmother? Really? I mean, I agreed I should meet your parents.” There was no way that Cody could figure to get out of that one, and when Greg asked to meet his, he was just going to have to tell him the truth. “But your grandmother?” Cody had vivid memories of his own grandmother. She’d been stuffy and starchy and miserable as hell. The woman had never smiled that he could recall.
She’d certainly been no friend to his older brother, Gene, when he’d needed her to be one the most. She’d sided with his parents, and condemned Gene to a three-month-long hell.
Greg rubbed his back, pulling him out of the dark and ugly past. “It’s going to be fine, sweetheart. Aren’t you the man who went intrepidly into some of the worst disaster areas on the face of the planet to snap a few pictures? Trust me, you’ve got this thing covered.”
Cody almost answered that that had been before the debacle in Syria. Of course he was still nervous, thinking of future assignments, of resuming the life he led before he’d been kidnapped. He hadn’t even been able to bring himself to pick up his camera. He told himself that was all only normal. It had barely been a month and a half since the incident. He was just now physically healed. Anyone would be leery of returning to one of the world’s hot spots after what he’d been through.
He didn’t need counseling and he sure as hell didn’t need a fucking shrink. All he really needed was time. And if he wanted the time—like a mini sabbatical—then right here with his two smoking hot lovers seemed to be as good a place as any to take that time.
For the most part, the three of them stayed on their own at the cabin. They ventured into town for meals occasionally, and once more for Robert Jessop to look at his shoulder—this time after that doctor had consulted the full medical records which had arrived, via e-mail, from the hospital in Turkey.
He looked at Greg. A good, sound, logical answer eluded him. So he said, “That’s different.”
“God, Harper, you’re such a guy,” Greg laughed.
Cody burst out laughing, too. “Yeah, I guess I am that.”
“I love my grandmother more than I love any other member of my family, and that’s saying a lot because I love them all.” Greg had bent close to say that. “It means a lot to me that my family wanted to welcome us—you and me—home this way. And it will mean a lot to me for you to meet Grandma Kate.”
“Well, hell, Benedict. Put it like that, why don’t you?”
Rebecca joined them, carrying three glasses of sweet tea. Cody reached out to help her, and her smile of thanks warmed him all the way to his toes.
“Come on, let’s grab a place to sit. Anyone wants to say hi to the wandering gypsies, they can wander over to us,” Rebecca said. “Nothing worse than standing here all centered out and everything.”
Man, he was beginning to really love this woman. It seemed to him that she just got him, so easily and naturally. “That sounds like a plan,” he said. “I won’t feel quite so on display that way.”
“We’re used to having parties here,” Rebecca said. “Most often, we’ve had engagement parties or just lately, baby debuts. Of course for bigger events, we use the community center.”
“See?” Greg gave him a light cuff on the shoulder. “It could have been an even bigger party.”
Cody nodded. “I’ve noticed a fair number of little ones in attendance.” He nodded over to the corner where Greg’s sister, Julia, and her two husbands each had a babe in their arms, next to another cousin, also married to two men, who had one baby. It took him a moment to recall that they were the Alvarez-Kendalls.
They’re a bisexual ménage, just like us. He still felt the shock of looking at them as they’d come in tonight, and recognizing that fact. He’d paid attention, of course. Despite the assurances he’d received from Greg and Rebecca, it had surprised him some the warmth and affection with which the Alvarez-Kendalls had been welcomed.
The restaurant’s owner—Cousin Kelsey—was there with a baby girl on her hip—cute little thing. Then, of course, were Greg’s cousins whom he’d just met today—Josh and Alex—and their wife Penelope who had almost the same rich shade of black hair his Rebecca had. It was too soon to know whether their daughter Ellie would have black hair, or not.
Cody had to admit the inclusion of the babies was different from any kind of function he’d ever heard of, or attended, growing up.
“There you are! Oh, I’m so glad you’re all here!”
Greg practically leapt to his feet at the sound of the soft voice. Cody stood as well and turned around to see the woman who inspired such a look of affection on his man’s face.
She wasn’t very tall and looked fragile as hell, but the grin on her face invited a smile right back.
Rebecca’s painting certainly did this woman justice.
“Grandma.” Greg lifted the woman clean off her feet, and she laughed! He set her down gently, and then kept his arm around her.
“Grandma Kate, this Cody Harper. Cody, my grandmother, Kate Benedict.”
“How do you do, Mrs. Benedict?” Cody nodded, not sure if he should try to shake her hand or not.
“It’s Grandma Kate to you. I’m so pleased to meet you, Mr. Harper.”
“Just Cody, ma’am.”
“Cody, then.” And she resolved his dilemma by taking his right hand in both of hers. “I have to tell you I have been captivated by your pictures. I’d seen some of them in a few of the news magazines. But I have your book, too, and oh my, what an eye you have! You have a talent for showing us the reality of what some people endure—while also showing us they’re just like us at heart. That is a phenomenal talent.”
Cody was floored. In all his life, not a single member of his family had ever even said to him, “well done.” Well, except for his brother, Gene. And even that had been tepid, because the years stretched between them and the gulf that separated them was a direct result of the cruelty of his parents.
He’d only been twelve at the time, but he remembered, and couldn’t blame his brother for his hesitancy.
“Thank you, Mrs…Grandma Kate.”
“You’re welcome.” The older woman let her gaze drift around the room. “This must be overwhelming for you, Cody. So many boisterous, nosy people in one fairly small place!”
Cody couldn’t help but laugh as Grandma Kate took a seat. He and Greg both sat back down.
How did the woman know exactly what he’d been thinking before she came up, including the fact that he felt completely out of his element?
“It’s been a bit of a culture shock,” he admitted.
“I’m sure. Now, I was wondering if you’d had the opportunity yet to make it over to our museum?”
“No. I’ll be honest with you. I’ve kind of put it off.”
“Well now, if you’re not interested in seeing the story of this family—and there’s nothing wrong with that—you might, perhaps, be interested to see some of the earliest works of Jeremy Parker Jones.”
The name was familiar to Cody, of course, for he’d studied the history of photography as an emerging medium in America. Jeremy Parker Jones was one of the pioneers of photography…and had moved, in the middle of his life, from Virginia to Texas.
“Wait a minute…” He closed his eyes, then began to recite, “Benedicts, Kendalls, Jessops, Parkers, Joneses, and Parker-Joneses.” He opened his eyes and stared at Grandma Kate. “Jeremy Jones was a member of this family?”
“You have a lot in common with him, I think. I never met him, of course. He’d already passed on when I came to live here in 1942. But I knew some of his children. This family, of course, treasures his creations as a furniture maker, as much as his photographic work—the museum is full of the latter. As to the furniture, he was the one who designed the unique bedroom sets to be found all over Lusty. One of his descendants—his great-great-grandson, Carmichael Jones—still owns the furniture business, though he tends to produce only custom pieces specially ordered.”
Cody looked at Greg. “I have to go to that museum.”
“We’ll take care of that tomorrow,” Greg said.
Kate Benedict reached over and patted Cody’s hand. “Life sometimes hands us a damned hornet’s nest for us to navigate through, sometimes beginning with the family we’re born into. We do our best and get stung a whole hell of a lot. This town—these people—can be the best medicine, if you just let them be. I should know. They certainly were for me.”
She gave him a wide smile. “Now, I hope you’ll excuse me. There are so many babies here for me to hold!”
Cody got to his feet. “I’m very glad to have met you, Grandma Kate.”
“I’m glad to know you, too, Cody Harper. I’ll see you later. Enjoy the night.”
“Yes, ma’am. I will.” Cody watched the spry, elderly woman walk off, watched the way the faces of folks simply lit right up the moment they saw her.
Love Under Two Adventurers [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 13
