They shared an incriminating glance.
“I knew it!” she exclaimed. “You did something stupid, and now you don’t want to tell me. Well, I have news for you. If you think you can just act like jerks because—”
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down, sweetcheeks,” Jackson said. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but we got you something.”
“That’s what all you men say. ‘I was just going to get you this, babe,’ or ‘Look, let me distract you with something shiny so I can go screw my mistress.’”
“Lily, babe, I don’t know what’s gotten into that head of yours, but that’s not the intention. We just wanted to get you a gift. Right, Ethan?”
“Right,” Ethan responded, sounding perfectly smug.
“And besides, only wimpy men in tuxedoes have mistresses.”
“Jackson Stone, I swear I’m going to slap you one of these days,” Lily spat.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world as if he had recovered from his momentary lack of finesse. “You better calm down or you won’t get your gift.”
Lily glared at them. “A gift? What kind of gift?”
“What, two guys can’t get the woman of their dreams a token of their affection?” Jackson laid his palm over his heart. He was aiming for stricken, but his acting skills were subpar.
“I know all about you and your wiles. You like to let ’em down easy.”
“I would never do such a thing.”
“Not with me you won’t.”
“Hey, hey, hey. We just wanted to spoil you a little. Who said anything about letting you down easy?”
She fiddled with the end of her braid. “The two of you have been sneaking off for hours at a time lately. Avoiding me, going out alone…It’s like you have this big secret or something.”
“Babe, if you only knew,” Jackson said, sounding exhausted. “But it has nothing to do with us leaving you or any other crap your overactive imagination cooked up.”
“Oh, so my mind produces crap?”
“Would you stop playing devil’s advocate and listen to what I’m trying to tell you? Ethan and I got you a gift, and we would like to give it to you.”
Her glance darted over to Ethan, and she shifted her weight before saying, “Okay, fine. I’ll believe you. But just so you know, you two have been acting strange lately.”
Ethan just smiled. “You’ll know why in a sec. Now cover your eyes.”
“Oh, please. We’ve played this game before.”
“It’s not that kind of present. Get your mind out of the gutter.”
“As if I could. And anyway, y’all are the ones who put it there in the first place.”
Ethan just gave her a pointed stare even though he was fighting a smile. “Hands.”
“Fine, fine.” Lily closed her eyes and covered them with her palms.
“Oh, so you’ll believe him,” Jackson complained.
“Of course I will. Ethan is the nice one,” she shot back in the general direction of Jackson’s voice.
“What does that make me?” Jackson asked.
Lily snickered. “The bad one.”
“Bad,” he said as if rolling that round in his mind. “I can work with that. Chicks dig the bad boys. Especially good little girls like you. Come on. You’re gonna love it.”
* * * *
As he and Ethan each took Lily by her elbows and lead her out toward her “brand-new” Mustang, Jackson fought down the need to pin her against the wall and show her just how much he and Ethan did not have the urge to do the things she had accused them of doing.
Get hard for another woman? Sneak around and make a fool of her? Hell no. What really stuck in his fucking craw, though, was the fact that if she thought they were messing around on her, then maybe she thought they were not as exclusive as he and Ethan thought they were.
Jackson glanced over her head at his twin, who looked like he was floating on a cloud of joy. He sighed mentally. If he was honest with himself, then he would have to admit that it bothered him on a very deep, caveman level that she was still suspicious of his and Ethan’s intentions. True, she had no idea the extent and grandiose level of the surprise they had cooked up for her, but the idea that she felt they would not shower her with gifts just because—or in this case because they had some making up to do—did not sit well with him.
She was theirs, damn it, and that came with certain special treatment benefits. Those included orgasms, sex, after-sex cuddling—which was very hard to come by with him—and conversation, and visible tokens of their undying love. Hell, all women liked gifts. The smaller and shinier, the better. But, no. He and Ethan had to go pick out the one woman in all of Liebling, hell, all of Texas, who did not fit that mold.
Hell. He and Ethan had their work cut out for them.
“But why is my gift outside?” she asked as they led her through the pathway to the street. “Oh, wait. Did you get me a pony?”
“Your enthusiasm is contagious,” Ethan retorted, his voice devoid of any expression.
Lily’s laughter bubbled out from her mouth, and Jackson found himself chuckling along with the sound.
“You’re such a comedian, Ethan,” Jackson joked. “We need to line you up a stand-up routine.”
Lily snorted. “Oops! Sorry.”
“How ladylike.” Ethan shook his head, looking dismayed. “Now cover your eyes. No peeking.”
Lily rested her hands against her face. “They are covered, and I would never peek,” she said through the small space between her wrists.
“Yeah, and I would never…Well, that list is pretty short,” Jackson said.
“Yes, I know,” Lily huffed.
Jackson caressed the soft skin of her inner elbow with the tips of his fingers. “Is that a hint of jealousy I detect?” He really should not have prodded her, especially at a momentous occasion such as this, but he could not help himself. There was just something about the way she got all feisty on him. He did not think he would ever get tired of it.
He and Ethan drew to a stop. “Okay, Lily. Open your eyes.”
Jackson’s gaze fixed on her so he could catch every nuance of her reaction. At first, he panicked. She just stood there, her arms dangling at her sides. Then she blinked. Shook her head. Blinked again.
“Oh. Oh–oh my…” She covered her mouth with her hands and went utterly still. She said something, but her palms muffled her words.
Ethan wrapped his hands around her wrists and pulled gently. “Lily? Everything okay?”
She sniffled and nodded.
“Uh, was that a yes or a no? It was a bit of a mixed response,” Jackson said as he sidled up behind her.
When she wiped at her cheeks and looked at them, Jackson’s heart seized in his chest. For a horrible, interminable moment, he thought she was upset. The idea made him sick. “Lily…”
He and Ethan closed in around her, and when a sob broke free from her lips, they looked at each other in abject horror. Neither of them was good around a crying female, least of all him. Especially when the female in question was Lily. He could deal with her angry, pissed, and beyond pissed. But tears? Oh, good Lord, have mercy. Anything but that.
Without thinking, he rubbed her arms slowly, letting her know he was there for her even if he did not have the right words to say so. Ethan whispered something against her hair, and she sniffled before looking up at the car.
“It’s beautiful.” She said the words in a hushed whisper, but he heard the conviction behind her words. The vise around his chest loosened. “It’s absolutely beautiful. Oh my God, look at her! So shiny and new and…” She broke free of their arms and rushed over to the Mustang and circled it, listing off its attributes. Loose strands of her hair fluttered and floated around her face, making her look like an angelic mad scientist. And when she started flouncing around like a five-year-old on her birthday, Jackson felt himself relax.
He and Ethan shared a job-well-done glance and then got a good eyeful or two of wa
tching the pure, unadulterated joy on Lily’s face. She was so breathtakingly lovely when she smiled. True, Jackson had a soft spot for the fire her eyes spit at him when she was angry, but there was something so disarming and genuine about her smile. Her blue-black eyes sparkled with joy, her smile was so wide her cheeks dimpled, and her entire face was so radiant, Jackson found himself staring at her like an awestruck teenager.
While she cooed and clucked over the car, the two of them made their way over to her.
“I think we did a good job,” Jackson told his brother.
“I told you she’d love it.”
“Yeah, but this goes beyond my expectations.”
Ethan stopped and looked at him. “Doesn’t she always?” he said then continued on.
Jackson halted in this tracks and thought about the implications of that statement. He had to admit that Lily did, in fact, surpass every single one of his expectations and more.
“This looks almost exactly like the one my brothers, dads, and I worked on,” she said over the hood of the car. An expression of clarity spread over her face. “How could you two remember…”
Ethan rested his palms on the passenger-side door. “We asked your brothers.”
“Th–they helped you with this?”
“They weren’t exactly thrilled to find us on their porch, but when we told them what we wanted to do, they started coming around.”
“Slowly,” Jackson put in.
“So, all of the phone calls…” Lily’s stare grew in intensity.
“Were either from your brothers or Devin Callahan,” Ethan answered.
She looked at the Mustang again. “No wonder she’s so pretty. Devin does the best restorations I’ve ever seen, and my dads used to drag me to a lot of car shows when I was younger and—” Her words came up short, and her lips started trembling. “I can’t tell you two h–how much th–this means. I can’t even think of the right words to say.” She swatted at the tears that spilled over her bottom lashes. “God, and now I’m all red, I bet.”
Jackson rounded the hood of the car. “Nah. You’re beautiful.” He pressed a kiss to her nose, and she giggled then buried her face in his chest.
“Thank you.” Her words were muffled, but he heard them loud and clear.
He bent his head and rested his cheek against her neck and breathed her in. “I know it can’t make up for the one you lost, but we hope it shows you how sorry we are and how much we want to make things right.”
Lily lifted her head, and a few wisps of hair tangled in her lashes. “I think the fact that you two went to my brothers to do this is the best gift of all.”
Ethan, who had been watching them with unbridled satisfaction, came up behind her. “It was time.”
She nodded. “It really was.”
“So, are you ready to take her for a spin?” Ethan asked.
“I’ve got the keys right here.” Jackson grinned and patted the small bulge in his front pocket, right next to the big one pushing against his zipper.
Lily fished the keys out of Jackson’s pocket, which made him turn from sentimental to ready-to-go in half a second. “Do you even have to ask?”
She opened the driver’s side door and stuck her head in. “It even smells new! Uh, why is there a rope in the backseat?”
Ethan grinned. “For later. After LiebFest.”
“Later. What’s going on later?”
“You’ll see. We’ve got something planned.”
“I’m assuming this is a surprise of the more physical kind?”
Ethan just regarded her, gave her another grin, and ushered her into her seat. “You’ll see.” He pressed his lips against hers, and a warm wave of heat rolled through Jackson at the flushed look on Lily’s face. The look Ethan gave her promised a few treats she had yet to experience.
“I’m going to hold you to that, Ethan.”
“I hope you hold more than that.”
Chapter Seven
As Lily pulled up to the fairgrounds in her sweet Mustang, Ethan in the passenger seat and Jackson riding in the back, she could not help but feel like a happy-go-lucky teenager, like this was destiny finally coming to fruition. Ten years ago, she was meant to come to LiebFest in this exact car to get the attention of two smoking-hot twins. Instead, a stupid teenage prank ensured that that would never pan out.
So her fantasies as a teenager didn’t turn out as she had hoped, but if they had, she probably wouldn’t have appreciated it anyway. As they say, youth is wasted on the young. Now, Lily realized waiting ten years for this day to happen was exactly how it should have been, and, best of all, it was Ethan and Jackson who had made it possible. Replacing the car they had totaled and getting her brothers to help them restore it was beyond thoughtful. It was her best birthday ever.
Lily had never felt happier, and her future had never seemed more open and hopeful. It was like being a teenager all over again, except without the angst and acne. The two boys she had loved as a girl were now grown men and she was a woman, and they could carry on just like lovesick teenagers but without having to sneak around and hide in the woods—at least not out of necessity. Her cheeks warmed as the image of her fucking her two men surrounded by a grove of oak trees and nothing but moonlight and stars to illuminate the night sky flashed in her mind. Have mercy. Lily knew exactly what they would do as soon as the carnival ended.
The smell of the fairgrounds was intoxicating with its mixture of all manner of fried delights, damp hay, and buttery popcorn. LiebFest coincided with the Liebling Rodeo. There were rides, games, and more handsome cowboys than any girl could shake a stick at. Not that she really cared about the cowboys. She already had her hands full with two studs of her own.
In the past she might have relished the testosterone-heavy scent of anonymous rugged men passing through with the rodeo, but not tonight. No, if she had anything to do with it, she’d have the sweet odor of her masculine men wafting into her nostrils twenty-four-seven for the rest of her life. Ethan and Jackson were everything to her.
She had decided she wanted to stay in Liebling over the past few days, but for whatever reason, she wanted to surprise them with the news. Perhaps it was because she wanted to be completely sure she would be staying for something worthwhile. After seeing the lengths to which they had gone in order to prove to her that they—Gulp!—loved her without saying it, she realized the deal had been sealed. Now, she just had to figure out the perfect moment to give them her special surprise.
“It looks like they’ve done it again,” Ethan said, awe softening the richness of his voice. LiebFest was Liebling’s official and festive way of signaling the end of summer, a way to get everyone together, young and old alike, before the start of another school year. Even for those without summer break, the season still held a lazy magic as if no one could completely let go of that feeling of freedom and limitless possibilities that always marked the beginning of summer vacation.
“Ah, do you smell that? That is the unmistakable scent of foot-long corndogs and deep-fried Twinkies—both served on a stick, I might add,” Jackson said from the backseat. Lily could practically hear him salivating. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
“Not as beautiful as this.” Ethan held Lily’s hand just after she put the car in park and kissed her open palm.
“You’re even cornier than the corn dogs, brother,” Jackson teased as he climbed out of the car.
Ethan laced his fingers with her own as he escorted her from the driver’s side, closing the door behind her. She didn’t miss the way his other hand grazed her ass in the process nor the way his eyes twinkled upon contact. She was beginning to think her time might be better spent riding her men than carnival rides. And then she saw it. The Ferris wheel in all its twinkling glory, slowly spinning round and round.
“Come on, slowpokes, let’s head to the Ferris wheel before the line gets even longer.” Lily grabbed each twin’s hand and raced toward the ride as fast as her legs could carry her.
Sev
eral people were ahead of them in line. Lily clapped her hands as butterflies of excitement fluttered in her belly.
She could not wait to get to the top and give them her big news. Way up there, they’d have no choice but to hear her out.
“I’ll go get the tickets,” Jackson said. “I’ll find you two in line.”
Ethan shook his head as his twin disappeared into the crowd. “He just wants to get some corndogs. That sneaky bastard. I hope he brings us back something.”
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some funnel cake.” Lily’s stomach gave an approving rumble.
“I think I’ve got all the sweetness I need right here.” Pulling her close to him, Ethan looked at her adoringly. He was always the sappier of the two, but Lily wouldn’t have it any other way. She eagerly accepted the kiss he placed on her lips like a warm drop of molasses. She wrapped her arm around his waist and stuck it in his back pocket, tucking her head into his broad chest as they waited. Even though she was excited to reach the head of the line, she realized she could wait like this wrapped in Ethan’s arms forever.
“All right, you two.” Jackson elbowed between them, a corndog in one hand and funnel cake in the other. “I’ve got three tickets in my pocket, and I’m not saying which one but you’re more than welcome to figure out, sugar.” Jackson grinned at her devilishly.
“Well, at least you got me my funnel cake.” Lily went to grab it when Jackson lifted it out of her reach.
“Hold on there, sticky fingers. Who said I got this for you?” Again with that grin of his. She wanted to smack it off his face and then kiss him to bring it back again.
“Don’t be an ass, Jackson.” Ethan swiped the paper plate from over Jackson’s head and gallantly held it out for her.
She put a piece of the decadently greasy confection into her mouth. She didn’t care what it did to her hips. It was a once-a-year opportunity to eat like a kid again, a time before she worried how she looked in a bikini. “Oh, it’s so good.” They shared it and easily finished it by the time they got to the front of the line.
Mitchell, Ava and Holiday, Sydney - Corralling the Stones, Part 2: The Taming [Liebling, Texas 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 9
