Love Under Two Private Dicks [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  Emily Anne spotted the large group almost immediately. Her eyes zeroed in on someone she hadn’t expected to see there—her best friend, Chloe. Flanked by her firemen, she was chatting with Grace Warner and looked to be having a good time. In fact, Chloe looked more relaxed than Emily Anne had ever seen her.

  She got herself some good closure today. That alone is worth everything we went through.

  In the past, Emily Anne would have been intimidated to approach such a group of animated, attractive people. Even though she didn’t recognize everyone sitting around that large mass of tables, self-consciousness was nowhere in sight. Tonight, all she felt was contentment—she was alive, in love, and now about to be included in what looked to be a very fun group.

  Emily Anne approached the tables with her hand held firmly in Mel’s. It pleased her to see the sheriff, Hank Stinson there. He was sitting comfortably next to a man with long black hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. Although he seemed engrossed in his conversation with the sheriff, his real focus was on the pretty auburn-haired woman sitting on his other side. His forearm, which was covered in very detailed, dark tattoos, rested on the back of her chair, and his hand gently stroked her arm in a way that said “mine.”

  She recognized the couple, of course, from the two times they’d been in Lusty—though she had never actually been introduced to them. Now, she looked from the man—Seth Carter—to Lucy. She thought there was quite a bit of family resemblance there.

  Then Ace and Ethan both got up and pulled some more chairs over, the entire group shifted around, and just like that, room had been made for her and her men.

  Grace Warner came right over to her. “I’m so glad you came, Emily Anne, and so glad you made it out of that mess today!” Grace had taken her hand. She looked down at the ring sitting so prettily there and then gave her a sly look. “Why, Emily Anne Bancroft, I don’t believe that little bit of bling was there the first time we met,” she said. “It looks like a Clay Cook creation to me.”

  Emily Anne grinned. It was really hard not to grin at Grace Warner. She was one of the most glowing women Emily Anne had ever met. She leaned in closer and said, “It wasn’t even there a couple of hours ago and yes, Clay Cook made it for us.”

  “Oh! You mean you got this just now?” She turned to the table at large. “Hey, ladies! Guess who got engaged! Come have a look at Emily Anne’s ring!”

  That was certainly an icebreaker if she’d ever experienced one. The women all jumped up and crowded around, wanting to get a look at her ring. In their eagerness they more or less moved Mel and Connor out of the way. Grace laughed as she looked at the two investigators. “Y’all sit down there. I’ll bring her back to you in a few minutes.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Mel said. He nodded to the sheriff, and then sat down next to Ace Webster. Connor left the chair next to Mel for her and settled in beside Andrew Jessop.

  She finally met Jayne Carter and her husband Seth and she blushed when they both said they recalled seeing her in Lusty. She also met Grace’s sister Charity and her husband, Justin Connors. Lucy admired the ring, and Emily Anne felt that even with their differences, they might someday be really good friends. Beck and Patrick were there too, of course and Emily Anne was happy to see them easily chatting with the Jessops. Summer and Chloe both duly admired her ring. Chloe gave her a hug, and so did Summer.

  “Have you set a date?” Grace asked.

  “No, not yet,” she said.

  “As soon as possible.” Mel and Connor had said that at the same time, and the other men sitting around the table chuckled.

  “Oh, don’t get in too big a rush. Her wedding day is very important to a woman,” Grace said. “She’s probably fantasized about that day since she was a little girl. Finding men who will give her that fantasy is a dream come true.” She smiled at Ethan and he laid a gentle kiss on her temple.

  “Emily Anne can have any kind of wedding she wants,” Connor said.

  “As long as she marries us,” Mel agreed.

  “You don’t have to worry about that,” Emily Anne said. She turned her attention back to Grace. “I like the way they do things in Lusty,” she said. “The commitment ceremony takes place at the community center, and just about everyone in town attends.” Then she looked around the table. “And there’s always room for more friends.”

  “You just let us know when,” Ethan said.

  Emily Anne sighed as she took her seat between Connor and Mel. She loved the way that both men reached out for her, discreetly put a hand on her, as they chatted with the people around them.

  With them, she never felt left out, or not good enough. With her men she always felt as if they saw her, all of her, and cherished her just as she was.

  She noticed something in the table next to Chloe. Her friend saw her looking and lifted up the large jar, so she could get a better look.

  “Isn’t this wonderful? Lucy, Beck and Patrick gave this large jar of honey to us as a part of their wedding gift to us.”

  “That looks like real liquid gold to me,” Emily Anne said. She’d seen the way her friend’s eyes had misted, and caught the pleased smile on Lucy’s face.

  What she’d wanted to have happen earlier that morning as she’d gone to Lucy’s spa had happened faster than she ever could have imagined.

  A waitress came to the table, her tray loaded with drinks. Emily Anne recalled the woman’s name was Corinna. She chatted with them as she set the beverages down.

  “We ordered you a glass of sangria when you were being swarmed,” Connor said.

  “I wasn’t being swarmed. I was showing off your good taste in rings.”

  “Matches our good taste in women, don’t you think?” Mel asked.

  Emily Anne blushed. “Thank you for ordering me a drink. I appreciate it.”

  Ethan excused himself, lifting Grace off his lap, kissing her cheek and whispering something in her ear that made her blush and laugh.

  Emily Anne recalled seeing Grace with one of her other husbands, Jack, the last time. She thought, then, of all the people she knew who were living their lives in what some would call “alternative lifestyles.” She’d never been one to judge a person, even before she came to Lusty. But thinking of all those people—all those happy, loving people—how could anyone find fault with how they lived?

  “Relax.” Connor stroked a finger down her nose, then up again, to erase the frown she’d known had formed there.

  “Okay. I love you.”

  “Damn good thing. I love you, too.” He’d leaned close so that they were practically nose to nose, and for that heartbeat of time, for Emily Anne, no one in the world existed for her but her men.

  She breathed in one lover while the heat of the other blanketed her back, and she was in her own version of heaven.

  The moment likely didn’t last as long as it felt but when she sat back, she blushed when Grace winked at her.

  Each of her men had a bottle of beer in front of him, but Emily Anne didn’t even concern herself with the thought that one or both of them would overindulge. They were men, not boys, and had no need to prove anything to anyone.

  Luke Bryan’s “Crash My Party” had just finished playing. The DJ had been doing a good job of changing up the music and keeping the songs coming. Now however, a slight hush fell as everyone turned toward the DJ booth. Emily Anne looked to see what everyone was staring at.

  Ethan stood just outside the booth with a microphone in his hand. “This is Lucy’s song,” he said.

  The heavy guitar riff of Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman” began to blast out of the sound system.

  “Oh hell, yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!” Lucy jumped to her feet, shoving her chair back.

  “Show us no mercy, sweetness,” Beck said. Then he tossed a wink toward Chloe, who just laughed.

  “Well let’s shake it!” Charity Connors also got up and laughed when her husband stroked his hand down her bottom as she left his side.

  “Hey,
Chloe!” Lucy held out her hand and signaled for the woman to come to her. “Let’s do it! We make a good team.”

  “Come on, Emily Anne.” Summer was tugging at her hand. Looking toward the dance floor she saw that people had moved back, and into the void that suddenly appeared, the women who’d already left the table sauntered in as if they owned the world.

  She realized that just that fast, she was the only woman at the table left sitting.

  “This is one of those times when we women show our men just how lucky they are,” Summer said. “You could call it a Divine tradition.”

  A girls’ dance! Emily Anne had never been invited up to dance with the girls at any of the parties she had ever attended—not even her own high school graduation dance.

  She nearly refused. She wasn’t a good dancer and she was on the heavy side. She opened her mouth and understood, at last—none of that mattered. She was with beautiful, confident women who were going to shake what their mommas gave them for the men they loved. And it was all just fine, because she was a beautiful, confident woman, and man, was she ever gonna shake it for the men she loved. It took her no time at all to stake out her own little piece of the dance floor.

  She’d never danced before in front of anyone like this—though she had a few times, alone, in front of her mirror. Music was too much a part of her for her to have not done at least that much.

  But never like this where others could see her. Not until now.

  The beat of the song entered her blood stream and she longed to let herself go. She watched the others, wondering what to do…how to start…and then it hit her. Each woman cast a sultry gaze at her men as they moved closer to the dance floor to watch her. She moved for them alone. There were no correct or learned steps, just a woman’s body following a sensual rhythm she instinctively knew her men would respond to.

  The heavy drum beat and guitar riff throbbed through her body and she sighed with pleasure as the muscles in her hips finally loosened up. She felt positively wanton as the vocals began again and she became the uninhibited woman of the song.

  She lifted her arms in the air and swung her hips back and forth with the beat and then let one hand slide down her side. She gloried in the moment as her earlier awkwardness gave way to the pleasure she took in dancing for Mel and Connor. The men—her men and the others who belonged to these beautiful, confident women she was with—stood at various positions near the dance floor so they could see the woman they loved, and to a one, their eyes were focused only on the one that was theirs.

  Mel and Connor stood side by side, equal looks of pride and lust on their faces and in their eyes. She brought her other hand up to match the first, and then moved them both slowly down her body, teasing her lovers as her fingers trailed near her breasts and then down toward her pussy.

  She danced for them alone, giving them a picture of what the future was going to be like.

  She danced as if her spirit had finally and at long last been set free. And she knew in that moment that it had been.

  Their love of her and faith in her had liberated her.

  * * * *

  Their role here outside of Divine was nearly done, but they both wanted to see it through. They’d been on the road for nearly two hours and were only a few minutes from their destination. As they’d promised Emily Anne they would, he and Connor had talked, of course they had. Mostly, they’d talked around the real issue—and he believed it was only one issue—that was making them both hang back from joining together to give her the kind of full commitment she wanted, and deserved.

  It was time to stop pussyfooting around. Mel nearly laughed out loud at his unintentional mental pun.

  “Our woman could have died yesterday.” That fear had played heavily on his mind since he’d learned that Baxter had grabbed her. He’d tried to approach that whole nightmare yesterday in professional cop mode and had failed, dismally. What had happened yesterday hadn’t been about detached professionalism or police procedure. It had been about that rotten motherfucker grabbing his woman. Their woman.

  Connor exhaled as if he’d been waiting for Mel to speak. “Fuck, I know. Everything inside me went cold, and in an instant, I understood as I hadn’t until that point, that Emily Anne is my world.” Connor flicked him a glance. “Kind of underlined for us what’s important, and what’s not, didn’t it?”

  “It sure as hell did.” Mel slid a look over to him. “Being naked with you making love to our woman gets me hotter than I have ever been, and I have to admit…”

  “That a part of you wonders if what’s making it hotter is looking at my cock.”

  “Yeah, fuck. That’s it.”

  “And that’s partly why I’ve been worried about the ultimate sharing experience with you. I’m worried that I’ll feel your cock inside her body, and that will be the big turn-on.”

  “Yep, we’re on the same page, all right.” Mel put the SUV’s signal on and pulled off the road, shoved the shifter into “park.” He unbuckled his seat belt so he could turn and face the man who was at that moment—and likely would be for the rest of his life—the most important man in his world.

  Connor did the same. He clearly wanted to get this resolved as much as Mel did.

  Mel inhaled deeply and plunged ahead. “So here’s a question for you. So what if it does? So what if seeing or feeling each other’s cocks adds to our arousal? I’m not turned on by you, alone.”

  “Good to hear, because buddy, I ain’t doing you.”

  Mel burst out laughing. Connor’s stoic, unsmiling delivery had been so spot on. So perfect for this moment. Connor grinned, and not for the first time, but perhaps for the most important time to date, it felt to Mel as if the other man really was his brother.

  “I ain’t doing you, either.” Then he thought for a moment. “Now that I think back, when we spoke first to your friends, Dev and Drew, and then to the senior Benedicts…in both instances they completely dismissed the concern, remember? They said that they never even noticed that when they were with their wives.”

  “Yeah, I do remember. That’s what’s sort of been hanging me up. Because despite what they’d said, I knew what I’d experienced in those moments so far.”

  “So maybe it’s an element of this relationship with our woman that is unique to us. Maybe, it is a small part of what we are, the three of us, together. Sort of like some added secret spice to the prize winning stew. So what? We both love Emily Anne. We each bring different things to her that she needs. Together, we will be her husbands. What happens in the marriage bed—I’ve always believed that should be special. Sacred, if you will.”

  Connor nodded slowly. “I’ve always felt the same way.” He exhaled. “Yeah, so maybe a little shading of what we have and do with her is that.” He chuckled. “But that doesn’t mean we are or will become bisexual.”

  “Not that there would be anything wrong if we did. I, for one, don’t feel I have the right to judge anyone for their personal lifestyle choices. I never have.”

  “I feel the same way. There would be nothing wrong if we were, but we’re just not.”

  “No, we’re not.” Mel fastened his seat belt and turned the key. He looked over at Connor. “So, we’re both okay with this now, right?”

  “Yeah. I think we really are.”

  Mel nodded, pulled out onto the mostly deserted country road, and continued the rest of the way to the outskirts of Divine.

  Mel got out of the car and looked over at Connor. They’d seen Sheriff Stinson’s car pull up just ahead of them, and knew he already had men in the house.

  “You know, all the way over here, there was one other thing I was thinking about. We could probably leave things as they are. He’s facing two charges of kidnapping, three of forcible confinement, and two of threatening death. I don’t think he’ll see the light of day anytime soon.”

  “Yeah, we could leave things as they are,” Connor said. “Hell, for all of that, the man is fucking crazy. I don’t believe he’ll be
out of jail—or a mental institution ever again.”

  “But,” Mel said.

  Connor nodded. “But I want him to fucking pay for what he did to Chloe and Carrie. Not just the money, but the way he deserted them when they needed him most. Do you remember the look in her eyes when we handed her those photos of her and her parents and sister a few weeks back? She’d been so excited, because she hadn’t even had any pictures of all four of them together. Do you remember the way she caressed those images and what she said?”

  Mel nodded. “I’ll never forget. She said that she was a teenager, looking forward to high school graduation, to shopping for her prom dress with her mom, to so many moments, normal moments in a teenaged girl’s life. And then she was alone. Alone, and hurt, and scared, and the only one left she could turn to flipped her off and walked away.”

  “Bastard should burn in hell for that alone,” Connor said.

  “I agree. So let’s do this. Let’s help nail this bastard for life.”

  “Yeah, let’s do this, and then let’s get back home to our woman,” Connor said.

  On the way home last night, Emily Anne had fallen asleep in the car. Considering everything she’d been through that day, neither of them had been surprised. They had been in solid agreement, he and Connor. They tucked her into bed between them, and just held her through the night.

  They really could have lost her. Mel had lain awake watching Emily Anne sleep. One thought had kept circling in his head. What would he do without her?

  Mel didn’t ever want to find out. He’d looked over at Connor then, unsurprised to find that man awake, too.

  They hadn’t spoken, not then. They’d simply nodded, one to the other. Now they’d taken the time to speak those thoughts and make a commitment to each other—because he recalled the ceremony he’d attended when Carrie Rhodes had married Chase and Brian Benedict. There is a special bond between men who share a wife, and the ceremony reflects that. Those men vowed to support each other in a very special quest. Because there was one immutable law when it came to the kind of ménage family they were building together.