by Bianca D'Arc
She smiled, charmed easily by his tender side, he well knew, though he would have been more than uncomfortable with any other woman seeing and feeling his innermost thoughts.
“No, I don’t think you have, but it’s nice to hear, especially when I’m still feeling so fat and unattractive.”
“Unattractive?” He dropped to his knees, facing her. “Now where would you get a silly idea like that? I know you can feel how much we all love you.”
She shrugged one shoulder, her breasts rising and falling as Harry sucked like a starving man. Jane’s voice was a mere whisper when she answered.
“None of you seem to want me anymore.”
“God, Jane! You’ve got to be kidding, right?” He cupped her cheek. She was reluctant to meet his eyes and embarrassed, judging by the flush on her cheeks. “We’ve been staying away from you because you just had a baby!” He saw tears in her eyes and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “We don’t want to hurt you, Janie.”
“Really?” She looked so unsure of herself, so hopeful, he was shocked. This woman had always been able to read the O’Hara men like a book. Why now was she suddenly so unsure of them?
He nodded, kissing her with a bit more passion this time.
“Really. But, Jane, you should know this. Why couldn’t you feel it?”
“Her hormones are all out of whack.” Mick spoke from the door, leaning against the frame, watching them. Justin had been so caught up in Jane’s turmoil and his son, he hadn’t heard his brother come to the door. He was glad to have Mick’s medical insight into Jane’s odd behavior. “Could be the normal upheavals in a woman’s emotions and body after giving birth are interfering with her natural empathic ability.”
“Aw, Janie, I’ve been taking for granted you knew how much I—” He found it hard to say how much he wanted her, loved her and missed her sweet body while she watched him with such hopeful eyes.
Mick walked further into the room, cupping Jane’s cheek in one calloused hand.
“I think we’ve all been taking it for granted. I’m sorry, sweetheart. You’re the most beautiful woman on the planet to me, in all your seasons.”
Damn, Justin swore, he’d never known his studious brother was such a poet, but even he could see the love and desire in Mick’s eyes when he looked at Jane. Maybe Caleb hadn’t been so wrong in assuming Mick would’ve married Jane in the old days, given half a chance.
Callie started fussing, so Justin picked her up, soothing her as he watched Mick stare at Jane and his son. Harry’s slurping was growing lighter as he became sated, and Callie was getting antsy to have her meal. Justin traded babies with Jane, rubbing Harry’s back with gentle motions to bring up any air he might’ve swallowed.
Mick watched, his eyes deep and mysterious, though Jane didn’t seem to mind. Still, Justin worried about the intense look on Mick’s normally affable face.
“What’s up, Mick?” He tried to sound causal.
“I just came to see if Jane and Harry were getting on okay.”
Mick was more or less the family doctor, so Justin was thankful for his concern.
“I’m proud to report, your nephew is most definitely a breast man.”
“Takes after his old man, eh?” Mick smirked.
Both men looked at Jane’s swollen breasts with appreciation.
“A veritable chip off the old block,” Justin agreed.
“Hmm, I can definitely see the appeal,” Mick acted as if he were contemplating the question seriously, “but I’d have to say I like Jane’s pretty ass best. I love watching her walk and seeing that little jiggle and bounce.”
“Great!” she said with blushing laughter. “Did you have to remind me how fat my butt is?”
Mick’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve told you before, Jane, you’re not fat. You never were. Sure, you gained weight for the baby. That’s only natural. And it looks great on you. You have nothing to be worried about.”
“Except that none of you will touch me.” She paled as the words left her mouth and her shocked expression made Justin laugh. He’d bet anything that she hadn’t wanted to say those words out loud.
“Sounds like frustration talking to me, wouldn’t you say, Mick?” Justin finished with Harry and placed him in the crib they’d made for Callie. It was big enough to hold both infants for now, though they might have to make some additional furniture as the babies grew.
Mick nodded conspiratorially at Justin. “I told you her hormones were out of whack. And I’m also pleased to report she should be just about ready to resume all normal activities.”
“Are you sure?” Hope lit her pretty eyes.
“Well, it’s been enough time, but you’ll have to decide for certain what you want, Jane. I’d like to examine you again, but everything was healing nicely last time I looked.”
Mick loved everything about Jane’s body. He’d loved watching over her through the pregnancy and calming her fears as each new change came over her body. He’d loved rubbing her aching back and marveling over the formation of the baby as it started to move around and kick. And he’d absolutely loved helping her through labor and delivery, receiving that squirming bundle of energy that was his niece into his hands. It had been one of the high points of his life so far, and he knew it could only possibly be exceeded when he caught his own biological son or daughter from Jane’s sweet body, in just the same way.
Mick’s blood heated as he looked at her hopeful face. Callie finished nursing and Justin took the baby, rubbing her tiny back in the way he’d learned. Mick was glad Justin was dealing with the infant for now. His mind was full of scandalous thoughts about her mother. He held out his hand to Jane.
“Want me to take a look?”
Jane nodded, rising from the rocker with his help. She spared a glance for Justin, who was efficiently dealing with both babies, though his eyes followed as they left the nursery. Mick led her to his room, wanting to see her reclining on his bed for the first time in quite a few weeks.
He helped her off with her jeans and panties, then assisted her onto the bed, settling between her legs. He had a few things he might need already laid out on his bedside table.
“I see you’re prepared, as usual,” Jane said with a smile that sent shockwaves through his eager body. “My very own boy scout.” She stroked his golden hair as he moved within reach to kiss her gently, with reassurance.
“It’s all I can think about, Jane. I want you so much.” His whisper was desperate, and he felt her answering quiver. Mick backed off, giving her room in case she wasn’t ready just yet. He’d die rather than force her into anything she wasn’t ready for. “But I can wait. I enjoy watching you, Jane. I mean that. I can watch you and know at some point, maybe not today or tomorrow, but maybe in a week or so, I’ll be able to show you how much I love you and bring you pleasure.”
He loosened the hold he usually kept on his emotions and let her feel the pureness of his love. He knew she needed that from him, and he knew he’d done right when a joyous smile broke over her lips and her eyes filled with happiness and love. It nearly killed him when she looked at him that way, and he drank it in like a man dying of thirst.
“I want you so much, Mick. Take a look and tell me if it’s okay. I’ve missed you.”
Prodding him toward her feminine core, she spread her legs eagerly. Mick couldn’t help but enjoy the sight. He was sure a stupid grin lit his face as he watched her pussy cream, waiting for his examination. Mick took what he needed from the table and forced himself to be as clinical and deliberate about this as he could. He’d never do anything to hurt her and he’d be damn well sure she was healed and ready for them before he gave his medical stamp of approval, such as it was, to letting her have sex again.
For the next few minutes, he noted the improvement in her condition since the last time he’d examined her. She was almost fully back to normal now, though she would never be exactly as she had been before the birth. She was even more beautiful to him now, in an odd way, having g
iven life to such a precious child. She glowed, not just with the pregnancy, but with the power of a life giver.
“If you feel comfortable, I’d say you’re ready. You healed up beautifully. You’re a natural mother, Jane, and I couldn’t be more in love with you.” He kissed her again, longer this time, while one of his hands couldn’t refrain from brushing lightly over her feminine curls. She began to writhe in the beginnings of pleasure as he pulled back.
“Are you sure you’re ready, Jane?”
She nodded, but still he held back. “Caleb should be first,” he bit out, knowing she was still Caleb’s wife, no matter the concessions they’d made to the new world they lived in.
Jane shook her head. “He and I discussed this. Mick, you need me. We both want to give this to you. I want you to be the first since Callie came. The others can catch up the next time.” She laughed with a shrug. “If such things matter. I can’t believe how you men like to keep score! Caleb knew you’d be this way.” She giggled and pulled him down for a deep kiss.
For his part, Mick was floored they’d discussed this. But he should have known. Caleb knew him better than anyone on Earth, including Jane, and that was saying something. Enough years separated them that Caleb had sometimes taken on an almost paternal role with him, rather than that of an older brother, and Mick loved him for it, though it could be annoying at times. This wasn’t one of those times, however. This was one of the times when Mick could have kissed him for his generosity.
“If you’re sure, then.” Mick lost himself in her kiss, bringing his body completely over hers, reveling in the feel of her beneath him once again. He felt as if she belonged there, under him, for the rest of their lives. He removed the rest of her clothes and hastily did away with his own.
“It may be fast, this first time,” he said near her ear, apologetically. “I want you so bad, Jane.”
She ran her hands down his muscled back, comforting him.
“I feel how you need me. You have no idea what that does for me, Mick. Take what I can give you. Let me do this for you.”
He moved between her legs, holding her gaze.
“My little Earth Mother. Always so giving, so understanding. I love you more than life, Jane.” His whispered words were punctuated by kisses that grew increasingly heated as he positioned himself and pushed inside.
Chapter Thirteen
Mick came minutes later with a hoarse shout of completion as Justin watched, scandalized from the doorway. The little fucker had gotten off and left Jane hanging.
“You little bastard!”
Justin swept into the room and stopped near the bed. Reaching down, he lifted Mick’s head from Jane’s neck by the hair. Mick yelped and jumped off her, spinning to face the threat Justin presented. But Justin was on the attack.
“How dare you treat her that way?”
Jane sat up too, watching them with unfulfilled desire and worry mixed in her wide eyes.
“Justin, I told him it was okay.”
Justin’s gaze shot to her, incredulous.
“Okay?” He pushed Mick away and dropped to his knees beside the bed, cupping Jane’s cheek. “Janie, it’s never okay to be selfish. Especially with you.” He turned cold eyes on his younger brother who sat dejected, confused and hurt on the other side of the bed. “We taught him better than that.”
“I was going to make it up to her, if you hadn’t interrupted.”
“Damn right you’ll make it up to her,” he ground out.
“What’s going on here? I can hear Justin growling from out in the kitchen.” Caleb appeared in the doorway and Jane groaned. Caleb’s anger was palpable. “Dammit! Did either of you shitheads hurt her?” Caleb rushed over to take her hand as Justin stood, his worry and anger showing clearly in the tight set of his jaw.
“I’m not hurt. Just mortified,” she said weakly, trying to cover herself with the bedspread. But Mick was sitting on a part of it and she couldn’t get more than a corner free until Caleb barked at Mick and pulled, wrapping her up tightly in his strong arms. He then turned to his brothers.
“I expect some answers from both of you,” he said in that low, dangerous voice they’d all learned to be wary of as teenagers.
“Don’t look at me,” Justin said loudly. “I didn’t jump her bones and leave her wanting.”
Caleb’s angry gaze swept to Mick, who was struggling to put on his jeans.
“Did you do that, Mick? To our Janie? Dammit, boy, I expected better of you.”
“Now just wait a minute.” Jane interrupted the brewing battle, trying to stop the recriminations all around. “I wanted him to do it. I told him to let go. I knew what I was doing.”
“Damn, sweetheart, don’t you think we know you would let us do whatever we wanted with you, regardless of your own feelings?” Caleb tried to soothe her. “You’re too empathically attuned to us, and we have a responsibility to take care of you as you take care of us. Jerkoff there knows that. We all discussed it. He knows better than to let you make such sacrifices for our pleasure.”
“But it wasn’t a sacrifice!” She was more than frustrated now. “I wanted to feel what he felt at that moment. I never feel everything he feels, Caleb, except when he lets go.”
Justin actually grinned for the first time since entering the room.
“So, what you’re saying, is that in your own empathic way…you wanted to watch?”
“Jeez!” Mick exclaimed from across the bed, and Jane’s smile told them she knew Mick liked the idea.
Caleb seemed stymied for a moment while he thought through the turn of events.
“That leaves us with a few things to resolve,” he said finally, in his methodical way. “First, Mick, you’ve got to stop shutting Jane out. She needs the emotional connection to all three of us—especially during sex—and if you cut her off, she’s liable to do something like this, just to satisfy her empathic need.” Mick looked properly shocked and chagrined, but Caleb wasn’t done as he turned Jane in his arms, comforter and all. He shook a finger in her face, but not threateningly. “No more of this self-sacrificing bullshit from you. You tell him what you need and when you need it. Hell, Jane, I taught you that the first week we were married. All of us need honesty if we’re going to keep this relationship working, agreed?”
Jane nodded soberly. “Agreed.”
“And now, finally,” Caleb sighed dramatically, “someone here needs to come.” All eyes focused on Jane, now blushing fiercely under the comforter. “I take it Dr. Sensitivity over there has cleared you? You’re healed enough?”
Jane nodded, and Caleb and Justin’s eyes turned to Mick.
“She won’t be fertile again for a bit, but we should start thinking about precautions until she wants to get pregnant again. Otherwise, she’s good to go.”
“Well then.” Caleb grinned, turning Jane in his arms until he plopped her down in the middle of the bed once more. He unwrapped the comforter like she was a Christmas present, letting them all savor the sight of her creamy skin as it was unveiled. When she was bare, Caleb looked at Mick.
“You get to sit and watch how it’s supposed to be done, bro.” He then turned to look at Justin, a few steps to his right. “Shall we show him?”
Justin grinned, already palming the hard-on in his pants. It had been too long since he’d been inside Jane’s sweet body. Too long since he’d been able to show her his love and appreciation for all her sacrifices for the O’Hara brothers. Jane was the center of it all. Without Jane there would be no reason to continue, but with her, the possibilities for the future were endless.
Caleb moved around to the other side of the bed, making Mick scoot to the foot of the wide mattress as he knelt at Jane’s side and removed his clothes, kissing her. She was still excited, Justin could see, from her squirming. He stripped as he watched Caleb bringing her back to that receptive place where Mick had left her wanting. He shot a glance at Mick, letting him know with a short mental push that while they were disappointed in him
, they still loved him and expected him to participate in Jane’s pleasure as soon as she’d come at least once.
The agenda for the evening suddenly changed to pleasure. Jane’s pleasure. And the brothers’ pleasure as well, but she came first for all of them. She had to. Without her, there was no O’Hara family, just a small collection of lonely men. And now the babies. Jane had done that. She had brought new life both figuratively and literally to the O’Hara clan. She’d given so much of herself to them, it was only fair they spend the rest of their lives giving back to her. Starting here and now.
Justin stepped closer to the bed, naked now and straining to be near the woman he loved more than life. He knew his brothers loved her just as much, needed her just as much, and that was the only reason he was able to share in this odd arrangement. He knew she deserved all the love they had inside them and more, and he was more than willing to show her and let her feel every last emotion hidden deep in his soul if that would nurture her.
Jane’s empathy was so deeply a part of her, it wasn’t surprising she’d forgone her own pleasure in order to feel Mick’s. That wasn’t something Justin was happy thinking about. Jane needed to be protected. She always had. And the O’Hara men had the joyful duty of doing so. If that meant protecting her from herself or from them, then so be it.
He touched her hand as Caleb moved to kiss her neck, whispering of his own love for his young wife near her ear. Her gaze shot to Justin as he purposely sent her the emotions clogging his heart, making it hard to breathe. He would expose his last weakness to her if it would bring her pleasure. He could see from the dilation of her eyes how deeply she needed the connection. She shuddered as he sat on the side of the bed, bringing her hand to his thigh, smoothing gently and letting her feel everything that was in him in that moment. The next move was up to her and he wasn’t disappointed when she turned her hand and wrapped it around his cock.
Justin sucked in a breath and let her know how deeply her touch affected him.
Caleb turned to Mick, who watched them all with growing arousal.
