by Sylvia Ryan
Julia wrapped her flannel shirt around herself and hurried out the kitchen door. After stopping at the outhouse, she pumped three buckets of water and brought two of them next to the fire to warm for the men.
A few minutes later, Julia stripped in the half bath that was tucked in under the stairs in the back corner of the kitchen. With hands that moved at the speed of light, she took a washcloth and cleaned up with the cold water and thankfully-not-homemade soap.
She was shivering by the time she re-dressed herself in the flannel shirt and her jeans. She brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her hair, which was damp from the wet washrag treatment she had given it. She felt revived, happy—content.
Julia went to work making breakfast. During the week on her own, she had ground up some of their corn meal even finer in an attempt to make corn flour. After some persistence, she had produced a reasonable facsimile. She made some batter with it by adding water and then grabbed a jar of the canned applesauce she had made with Arden about a month before. She set three place settings on the table and wished she had some coffee to go with the homecoming breakfast.
Grabbing a cast iron skillet, she brought the batter and a spatula into the family room. The men were sleeping in the exact same positions she had left them almost an hour before. She paused, turned back to the kitchen, set down the breakfast supplies, then took a running leap, landing on her stomach in the middle of the bed between the men.
“Get out of bed, you lazy asses. I’ve got a whole list of chores for you bums,” she said, shaking both of them wildly.
Protest shot out from Ben’s side first. “Oh, I’m going to kill you, woman.” He grabbed her at her waist and pulled her to him on the mattress.
“Eww, you stink. Let go,” she said as she rolled away from him.
By that time, Arden’s eyes were open, and his head was turned toward them. He flashed a happy, relieved smile and scooted over to press his body up to her on the other side.
“You don’t smell any better, Arden. Now both of you get your butts up. Wash up,” she ordered, pointing to the buckets by the stove. “And get some clean clothes on. I’m not having breakfast with you two smelling like dirty ass.”
“Ah, my kitten has such an eloquent way with words.” Ben laughed.
Julia walked into the kitchen and out the back door. She grabbed the large galvanized tub they used for washing clothes and brought it just inside the entrance to the living room and left again to get buckets of water to fill it. After making a couple of trips, she poked her head farther in and found the two, partially dressed and cleaning themselves with wash rags like she had done earlier in the morning. Arden loudly griped about her “bossy ways,” fully knowing she was standing in the doorway behind him.
“Put your clothes in here to soak,” she said, pointing to the tub.
“Yes, ma’am,” Arden said sarcastically.
When they finished cleaning up, the men briefed her, detailing their trip over breakfast.
When they were through, she told them about Kaylee in short clipped sentences. The men sat silent for a few moments after her account of events. They attempted to console her, but she brushed them off. She told them she didn’t want to talk about it. She had pulled herself together in the last few days and knew it would be easier to move on if she didn’t have to live through the experience again by rehashing it with them.
Her corn crepes filled with applesauce were a success. After breakfast, Ben handed over a backpack filled with a winter jacket, gloves, boots, three pairs of white cotton panties, socks, and a pair of black sweatpants. Tucked inside the boots were tampons and rolled inside one of the gloves was a small bottle of rose-smelling perfume.
“Oh guys, thank you so much! I never thought I’d be so happy to own granny panties.” She looked at Arden then to Ben with genuine joy and walked over to give them both a kiss on the cheek. “I’m so glad both of you are home.”
Julia saw the men’s eyes meet for a brief second. Was it her imagination or was there an unspoken message between them? She brushed it off as nothing and started cleaning up the breakfast plates.
“Well,” Arden announced, “I want to go out back and set some traps, see if we can get any fresh meat for tonight or tomorrow. Ben, you want to come?”
“Nope, I’m officially declaring this a day of rest for me, bro.”
“Julia, wanna come?”
“No, I have some God-awful stinking laundry to do,” she said smiling.
“Okay, I won’t be gone too long,” Arden said as he shrugged on his coat, grabbed his rifle and headed out the back door.
Julia promptly got on her hands and knees with her homemade soap, glad she’d already found a good use for it, and scrubbed the men’s clothes.
Ben stepped over her in the doorway to the family room, and after feeding the wood stove, lay down on the mattress and fell asleep.
Julia experienced a tweak of disappointment. Somewhere in her subconscious, she had hoped Ben stayed behind to spend time with her. Then her internal dialogue started.
Maybe they talked out this whole triangle situation and worked it out between themselves. Julia’s stomach twisted. Come on, you’re upset if they do want you and upset if they don’t. You’re putting them in a no-win situation. Just accept, and go with the flow, and be happy they’re home.
The internal voiceover looped and replayed as she washed, and it cloaked the homecoming with subtle feelings of melancholy. She finished scrubbing the men’s filthy clothes and took them outside to wring out and lay over the railing of the porch. It was cold, and the heavy materials wouldn’t dry well outside, but she figured she could bring the clothes back inside by the wood burner after they had stopped dripping.
Julia looked around and saw Arden walking back toward the house. She waited for him to reach her, even though her clothes were wet and the cold was biting.
“Could you help me carry the wash tub out?” she asked him.
“No prob.” He placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her in front of him through the door. Together, they carefully carried the washtub, heavy with dirty water, out the back door and dumped it on the grass.
“Now I’ve got to get on some dry clothes.” Julia smiled, looking down at herself.
With the wood burner blazing, the small lower level of the house had warmed considerably throughout the morning, and Julia decided to put on the yellow dress she’d found in her gym bag the day of the EMP. She hadn’t worn it even though the fall weather was warm enough. It just wasn’t conducive to the physical labor that they had been doing to prep for the winter. She felt sexy when she put it on with nothing underneath, and she knew she’d get to the bottom of what was going on with them by the end of the night wearing this.
Julia smiled to herself. Careful, your horns are showing.
When she exited the bathroom, Ben was outside and looked like he was heading off toward his farm. Arden sat at the kitchen table.
“Ben going to his farm?”
“Yeah, he just wanted to pick up a few things from his root cellar.” He eyed her up and down in the yellow T-shirt dress. It hugged her curves and made it incredibly obvious that there was nothing between that material and her skin.
Julia cleared her throat. “Speaking of, could you go to the root cellar for me and get some potatoes? We can have them with either the fresh meat you catch in the trap or deer jerky tonight for dinner.”
“Sure. I’ll get them for you in an hour or so when I go back to check the traps. I used some apple for bait. I’m hoping for a rabbit. It shouldn’t take long to get something this time of year.”
“Mmm, fresh meat and potatoes. Almost too good to be true.”
Arden got up and went to the family room. He returned with his guitar.
“Any requests?” he said with a strum, then started picking and tuning each string.
“You choose,” she said, smiling as she leaned against the kitchen counter and crossed her arms.
He started playing the first chords, and Julia recognized the song immediately—Black Crowes’ “She Talks to Angels.” The kitchen was warm, the music beautiful, and her heart contented. They spent the next hour enjoying the soft, melodic strums of his guitar. Some songs Julia recognized, some she didn’t. There was something about a man and his guitar that was unbelievably attractive. Arden was turning her on. He was sexy playing his songs just for her.
When Arden put his guitar down and said he was going to go check the traps and grab the potatoes she’d asked for, Julia was totally blissed out, relaxed.
“Aww, I don’t want you to stop,” she whined.
“We have all winter to listen to the guitar. Right now, I’m starving again. Pray that I’m not back right away. It means I caught some dinner and it needs cleaning,” he said with an eyebrow wag and an unusual mischievous smile. “Later, kitten.”
Oh great, now he’s calling me kitten, too.
* * * *
Ben and Arden returned together, Ben with a bottle of vodka and Arden, as hoped, with a rabbit and potatoes.
When Ben walked in and caught sight of Julia in that dress, the familiar blatant look of lust in his eyes appeared along with a low groan. He looked at her with so much burning determination that she had no doubt he would get what he desired. Then, as quickly as it revealed itself, the look was gone. “I’m going to go put another log on the fire,” he said and walked straight through to the family room.
Arden grabbed a roaster pan with a lid and prepared the rabbit to be cooked on top of the wood burner.
Julia washed the potatoes, cut them into quarters, and dropped them into the pan with the meat.
Arden came up behind her, looking over her shoulder. “We should put a little salt on the potatoes since we have some.” He leaned into her to grab the salt shaker on the counter and pressed his erection into her ass as he did. When her body straightened ever so slightly, he chuckled low in her ear then picked up the roaster and the lid and carried them over to the wood burner.
Julia gave an internal groan of her own.
They ate the delicious rabbit and potatoes and drank some of the vodka that Ben had brought over from his root cellar. They talked, joked, and Arden played some more guitar. They celebrated the success of the raid and that they were all back together again, safe and sound.
Julia looked between the two of them, talking and laughing. She loved these guys. They took care of her, treated her with respect, they were fun…and sexy.
She was surprised for a moment because she realized she liked being taken care of by these two. Hardass Julia Costa liked being taken care of. Go figure.
The heat from the wood burner combined with the vodka and the near darkness of the candlelight made Julia drowsy. “I’m ready to go to bed,” she said as she stood up and walked toward the back door. She pulled on her new boots, shrugged into her new coat that was hanging on a hook by the back door, and ran out to use the bathroom.
When she got back, the kitchen was empty, and the candle on the table was out. She walked through to the family room. By the dim light of the coals and small flame that remained in the wood burner, Julia found both men lying on opposite sides of the mattress with about as much space between them as humanly possible.
She laughed to herself as she climbed in the opening between them and covered just the bottom of her legs since it was so warm in there. Neither man acknowledged her entry into the middle. They were fast on their way to sleep already.
After a minute, Arden rolled over and spooned against her back. Her heart tripped and her breath quickened. He was hard again and pressing into her rear. She could feel his hot, even breath against her cheek and the back of her neck. Julia didn’t move, partly because she wasn’t sure he was awake, but mostly because she liked it. An avalanche of feelings covered her, suffocated her. She was happy, excited. She felt loved and safe. It felt so good to be held, even if it was just in his sleep.
Julia opened her eyes to see if Ben was awake. He was lying on his side, facing her. His eyes were open, and she could feel the heat and craving in his look clinging to her skin. Julia breathed through slightly parted lips as if taking in more air might still her mind and body.
Arden began stroking the top of her thighs and continued lazily up to her waist. She knew that even if Ben couldn’t see the motion, he could hear it. But Ben’s eyes weren’t even trying to see where the movement sounds were coming from. His eyes met and locked with hers. He reached up, caressed her cheek with his thumb, and ran it over her bottom lip then back over the curve of her shoulder.
Her stomach twirled. She closed her eyes, shutting Ben’s greedy stare out. They were both caressing different parts of her body. Julia’s heart was pounding hard. This was it. The competition between the two men was going to come to a head, and she would be in the middle.
Shit! Their hands are going to meet. This is bad, so bad.
Julia’s mind raced, but her body was caught up in the sensations of both men’s caresses. Her skin ached for them, and she was on the brink of releasing a moan of absolute pleasure. Her mind fought to process possible solutions to avoid the inevitable collision of hands.
Arden broke the silence with a whisper in her ear. “It’s okay, Julia. Trust us.”
Chapter 13
Julia was stunned.
They both knew the other man’s hands were touching her.
She didn’t respond. She couldn’t think. Her body answered for her. She shifted, slightly placing pressure on Arden’s cock by leaning hard against him with her ass. He grunted with want.
Julia signaled her approval to Ben by reaching forward and sliding her nails down his abs and curling them under the waistband of his briefs so that her fingertips brushed the top of his erection. He took in a deep breath as she lingered there.
“That’s my girl.” He exhaled.
She relished in the consuming relief that dawned on her. There would be no clash between the two men tonight. And now, relieved of the worry she’d carried with her for months, she could let her mind go and just experience. She was all in. Totally in the moment, without fear of ramifications.
Julia watched Ben take off his boxer briefs as Arden slid his hand down the outside of her thigh, underneath the hem of her dress, to the smooth, bare skin between her legs.
Feeling the bare flesh, Arden objected. “Oh, Julia, you’re killin’ me.”
“What? You don’t like it? Maybe Ben will like it then,” she pouted as Ben returned back to the mattress, now free of his underwear. Arden released her, and as if by unspoken synchronization, they pulled the yellow dress off her over her head. Arden left the mattress a moment to shed his shorts and watched Ben and Julia together.
Julia was lying on the mattress completely naked as Ben lay beside her up on one elbow. “So sexy,” he breathed as his fiery gaze traveled down her body. When he saw her bare pussy, he leered with a burning gaze that held a seriousness and intensity that smacked of ownership and told her that she was his.
He leaned in and lowered his head to kiss her. His kiss started softly and got more urgent and needy. He broke the kiss and placed his arm underneath her shoulders and cradled her off the mattress toward him. He kissed her again, exploring with his tongue, possessing her mouth.
When Ben guided his other hand to her breast, Julia arched into his grip. As her already hard nipple chafed against his roughened hands, Julia brought her hands up and tangled them in Ben’s hair. Arden returned to the bed as the two kissed. He caressed Julia’s thighs apart. He positioned himself between her legs and gave her one long, forceful lick from her rear to the tip of her clit. Julia yelped in response to the sudden stimulation down there.
She broke the kiss with Ben.
“Shit,” she exhaled, as Arden began a firm, rhythmic dance with his tongue. He flicked and sucked her clit with excruciating intensity. When she tensed, already close to orgasm, his tongue strayed lower and entered her. He moaned into her as his tongu
e attended to every inch of her soaking wet cunt.
Ben continued his control of Julia’s lips as he kneaded her breast. His mouth and hands brutalized her flesh. He was not gentle, and she didn’t want him to be.
When his mouth left her lips, Ben wedged his head toward her neck, nudging her so that she angled her head backward, until her jaw and neck were exposed. He took the sensitive skin at the juncture of her shoulder and neck into his mouth and marked her, sucking and biting the flesh. It was a delicious pain, pleasure, and badge of his ownership.
She was panting as he eventually brought his mouth down on first one nipple, then the other. Her nipples screamed for more of his sheer dominance of them. He pinched, sucked, and bit with lavish attention and pure ferocity. They were for him, and he took what was his.
Julia was in such exquisite pleasure with the men’s mouths on her. She was nearing the brink. There was too much sensation. She was almost frenzied in the pleasure storm. She moaned and squirmed under the relentless tongues and hands on her body. She was overheated, her body tormented to the edge of reason. So close, her muscles tensed, locked.
The men reacted to the change with renewed vigor in the treatment they gave her.
She peaked with a shuddering, uncontrolled cry. Her orgasm stretched with continued attention from Arden and Ben.
But Julia still wanted more. She wanted to give more and take more. She wanted them to feel the all-encompassing need that she had just drowned in. She found Ben’s cock with her hand and gripped it hard. She pulled up on his shaft and palmed the full length of him to the tip and lingered there for a split second before she lowered her hand and grabbed at the base again. His considerable mass felt good in her hand, hard and needy yet soft as silk to the touch. “I want to taste you, Ben. Put your cock in my mouth.”
In one quick move, he released her and turned her over so that she was face down on the mattress. The sudden absence of attention from both men had her crying out for them.
“Get on your hands and knees,” Ben ordered with a voice that was as deep and low as rolling thunder.
