They’d been awakened in the predawn hours by the sounds of passion coming from the master bedroom just down the hallway. Val had quickly surmised the kids weren’t home that weekend because Charity and Justin had left their bedroom door open, which meant they could hear pretty much everything.
Ransome had rolled over on the couch and made eye contact with him before putting his forearm over his eyes. Morning sex between Justin and Charity was energetic judging by Justin’s growling commands and Charity’s teasing noncompliance. She’d mewed and panted as the sound of their bodies pounding together had grown in volume, punctuated with the sound of Justin’s hand impacting with what Val could only guess was her ass. Because listening wasn’t painful enough all on its own, he’d also been able to imagine their exact positioning, with Justin fucking her from behind while he laid more smacks on her ass.
Val had grown painfully hard as her cries increased in volume. Justin had given her what she needed and she’d come with an enraptured-sounding whimper. Both men had lain frozen on the couches when Charity had quietly padded to the bathroom, oblivious to their presence. A little while later she passed within their sight again, her nude curves catching the silvery moonlight as she returned to the bedroom. The bed creaked slightly as she climbed back in and the soft sounds of their voices widened the empty feeling in Val’s chest as he listened to their relaxed, unintelligible cadence.
Charity had laughed and then Justin had strolled out, through the living room as though headed to the kitchen, still naked. He’d paused when he saw them, and probably the hard-ons they were both sporting. He’d had the audacity to grin, like them being there and hearing all that was okay.
“Looks like our house guests got here a little early, babe,” Justin called as he continued on into the kitchen.
“Oh crap!” Charity blurted and then after a few endless seconds of silence she began to giggle. “Sorry, guys!”
Val growled and murmured, “Didn’t sound sorry five minutes ago.”
Justin chuckled from the kitchen, “I heard that. And no, she didn’t sound sorry at all, did she? Want some coffee?”
She’d dressed and joined them a few minutes later, her cheeks glowing but she was obviously happy to see them as she gave them hugs.
Pulling him back to the present in the Dancing Pony, Ransome said, “It blows me away how easy Grace makes being in a ménage look. It’s been a long time and things have changed. He didn’t seem all that upset that we were listening to them make love. We could talk to Justin…”
Val knew what Ransome was thinking by the way his words trailed off. “Lucy Owen also made it look easy but you saw how territorial Patrick and Beck were at the ROT Rally and you remember what Justin was like way back when we were in high school.” He recalled again the fistfight and the harsh, decisive tone of Justin’s words that day all those years ago. She’s mine. I don’t share.
“I know.”
After taking another sip of his beer, Val said, “I’m not opposed to the idea. I’m just not willing to risk what we have. At least this way we get to see her and Justin, and the kids. I don’t want to fuck that up.”
“But the rally—”
“I know the ROT Rally gave you hope, man. It gave me hope, too. But they have kids and a life. We’ve changed and so has she. It’d be humiliating to find out that she never felt that way about us to begin with.”
Ransome shook his head. “No man. You saw the hurt in her eyes when we came to blows with Justin back in high school but there was something else there. She wasn’t just surprised. And she was really into us being there at the rally last year, watching, while she and Justin went at it. It made her hot.”
“She has a thing for public exhibition but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’d be interested in carrying it further. That may be why Justin wasn’t pissed about us being there this morning. He knew she’d enjoy knowing they’d been overheard. That was about Justin giving her what she needs. Remember what Justin told Beck, after his monumental fuckup over the body painting? Any man there could look at her, but only he gets to touch Charity. He said he’s the one she shares her soul with. That did not sound like an opener for a ménage discussion to me.”
He could shoot Ransome’s suggestion down all day but the truth was that he’d never met another woman like Charity. He didn’t want another woman. He wanted her. He flicked a glance up into the mirror and made eye contact with Charity in the reflection, and his heart sank a little further.
* * * *
Grace leaned toward Charity as the conversation between Lily Cook, Rachel Wolf, and Jayne Carter continued while Lydia Carlisle and Maya Warner made a trip to the ladies’ room. She nudged Charity and said, “They haven’t taken their eyes off of you practically since we got here.”
Charity averted her gaze from the two men she hadn’t even realized she was openly staring at across the night club. “What? Who?”
Grace snorted and rolled her eyes. “Okay, I may be the innocent, oblivious sister but even I noticed the way they were watching you while we danced.”
Charity shrugged, wishing away the heat creeping into her cheeks. “They were just watching over us, same as the rest of the guys do, sis.”
Grace gave her a sad smile and let out a deep breath as she sat back in her chair, absently stroking her palm over the tiny bulge at her middle. She’d blossomed right along with the spring, but Charity knew she was tired. It’d been a stretch for her to come out that evening. Grace peered at her and bit her lip before saying, “I want to remind you of a conversation you and I had a few years ago.”
“You can remember our conversations from that far back?”
“Life-changing ones, yes,” Grace responded with a nod. “Remember the night you met my guys for the first time?”
Charity grinned. “Yes. I was so disappointed that I didn’t have a front-row seat for Owen’s beatdown after he hit you in the face. I also vaguely remember you trying to climb Adam like a tree the first time you kissed him.”
Grace gaped and then laughter burst from her until she hiccupped. “In my defense, he was hot. Still is. Anyway, that’s not what I was trying to remind you of. You asked me how I felt about the three of them.”
Charity nodded. “And you told me that you cared for all three but you could never choose.” Charity remembered vividly because she didn’t want Grace to miss out on the chance the way she had. She’d never regretted her relationship with Justin but she was sometimes a little envious of what Grace had, thanks to the fact her men were able to share.
“I could barely even voice that out loud. But you pushed me to talk about it. Get it out in the open. You said it would be crazy to miss out on a chance to be happy just because what made me happy didn’t fit into a nice neat mold like the world says it should. You told me sometimes you have to take the opportunities life gives you and enjoy the love that finds you even when it’s a little unorthodox.”
“Pretty impressive memory, sis.”
Grace laid a gentle hand on her arm. “I remember because you were right. You said it would be sad if the guys never knew I loved them or they never took the chance to tell me themselves.”
Charity chuckled, remembering her slight duplicity that night, speaking those words to Grace but intending them for Jack, Ethan, and Adam who sat right outside an open kitchen window. They’d heard nearly every word that was spoken but they’d been afraid to make a move for fear of alerting Grace and embarrassing her.
Grace said, “And it worked out for me.”
Charity recalled the certainty she’d felt once she’d realized the guys could hear what they were talking about. She knew Grace was so shy, she’d never tell the men who’d obviously adored her, how she felt on her own. And who knew how long the three of them would take to clue her in, if ever. Yeah, she’d been meddling a bit but it’d all turned out well for Grace and the guys. Better than all right. Grace was the picture of happiness if one overlooked the pregnancy-induced exhaustion and li
ngering nausea.
Grace sipped her ginger ale and said, “What I recall best was your reply when I told you that I hadn’t acted on the attraction because there was no way I could choose one over the others. Remember?”
“I said a lot of stuff. We consumed a bottle of sangria during that conversation if I remember correctly,” she fibbed, remembering her exact words.
“You said, ‘I’d be on them like white on rice, any way they wanted me.’”
Charity sighed. “But I also remember telling you that they’d have me eating out of their hands if I wasn’t married with a family. Sis, I know where you’re going with this but I’m married. I’m the mom of nearly grown kids. Look at those guys. They’re virile, in their prime. They’ve already been approached by a couple of women just since we got here. Why would they want a woman fast approaching middle age?”
Rachel snorted with laughter and then butted in. “Middle age? You, Charity? What a crock of horseshit. There isn’t a hotter woman in here. You’re in your sexual prime and they’d have to start working out”—she shot a glance at the guys—“or working out harder just to keep up with your sexy ass. Please do not say shit like that and not expect to be called on it.”
Jayne snickered and said, “Rachel sounded a whole lot like you for a second there, cuz, but she’s right. Nobody would ever guess you had two practically grown kids. Look at you. You take good care of yourself and you’re hot. What are y’all talking about?” she added, presumably as an afterthought, and hiccupped as she licked at the salt on the rim of her nearly empty margarita glass.
Rachel said, “We were doing our best to not observe the way Val and Ransome have been eye-fucking Charity from across the room in the mirror. And we butted in on Grace and Charity’s mostly private conversation about how she secretly has the hots for those two badasses and wants to get naked with them and Justin.”
Jayne choked on her drink and Charity was sure Grace was about to fall out of her chair, she was laughing so hard.
“Who wants to get naked with Justin?” Maya asked as she and Lydia returned from the ladies’ room.
Lydia’s eyes got big and she scanned the room and then glared across the club. “Is it that blonde gold digger in the corner? I wouldn’t put it past her. I still want to kick her ass every time I see her.”
Grace and Charity craned their necks, and Charity saw who Lydia was referring to. Presley Ann Woodworth was all wrapped up in the gaze of an extraordinarily sexy but unfamiliar cowboy who was dressed in black. “No, we weren’t talking about Presley Ann, Lydia, but thank you for being willing to protect Justin’s virtue,” Charity said with a snort. “And hey, private conversation here. Lower your voices, please. There’s really nothing to talk about.”
Lydia curled her lip and pointed at the couple, who had risen from their seats and were making their way toward the door. “Look at her. I’ll give her this much, she can spot a man with money. Someone should warn that rich cowboy that’s all she wants him for. He probably owns that big, fancy black rig out in the parking lot.”
Rachel patted Lydia’s shoulder and said, “Down, girl. He looks like he can defend himself. She was making him laugh earlier. Maybe he really likes her.”
Lydia growled, “Only if he doesn’t really know her. Sorry. I know I’m being bitchy, but you would, too, if she’d been eyeing your man and his twin brother, not really caring which one she landed. She makes me mad just looking at her in those designer heels and clothes that she doesn’t have to work to pay for.”
“One of these days she’d going to have a wakeup call,” Grace said. “I think inside she’s just a little girl who’s afraid to grow up.”
Lydia scoffed. “Well, I’d like to personally kick her inner child’s ass.”
Rachel and the girls chuckled and then she leveled her dark blue eyes on Charity and raised a brow. “Back to what we were talking about. Come on, Charity. You’re telling me that you wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to be surrounded by all that intensely sexual, long-haired masculinity? Their strong, rough hands stroking you until you can’t breathe anymore? You don’t want all three of their mouths all over you, licking, kissing, and sucking. You don’t want to know what it feels like to be wrapped up in them and touched everywhere all at once?”
Jayne said, “Way to go, writer-girl. Get us all hot and worked up and then send us home horny to our husbands.” She made a disgruntled sound as she looked into her margarita glass and realized it was empty.
The girls all giggled but Rachel still waited expectantly for an answer.
Charity took a deep breath, knowing she was on the precipice of voicing something that couldn’t be. “It doesn’t matter what I want. There are fundamental truths about our men that we don’t ask them to change.”
After sipping from her drink, Rachel said, “Explain.”
Charity leveled her gaze on her friend. “Would Eli share you?”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “Never.”
Charity gave a succinct nod. “Justin doesn’t share and I wouldn’t ever force him to. He’s been too good to me over the years to place him in a position where he’d feel obligated.”
“Obligated? Odd word choice.”
Charity looked at her friends. She knew they could be trusted. “Justin offered to fulfill my ultimate fantasy. If I tell him, he’d feel obligated to give it to me. Do you see? I can’t hurt him like that.”
Grace sat back and took another sip of her ginger ale but Charity saw the smirk she was trying to hide. “Don’t, sis,” she said firmly.
Grace’s blue eyes rounded with nearly convincing innocence. “What?” she asked softly.
“I know that look.”
Jayne chuckled. “I do, too. I remember it from a couple of summers ago when you two invited me to that Fourth of July parade.” She raised her empty glass in a toast to Charity. “Your karma has done come home to roost.”
Charity shushed her cousin and said, “That was Grace’s doing. And you got the man of your dreams as I recall.”
Jayne hugged her glass to her cleavage and giggled dreamily. “Did I ever. So…you should just give in. Let Grace work her mojo. And Rachel is right about Val and Ransome. Their eyes are talking dirty to you from across the room even as we speak, cuz.”
“No,” Charity said with a shake of her head, resisting the urge to look over at Val and Ransome. “This is my marriage we’re talking about. I may be a total freak in many aspects of my life but I take our wedding vows seriously.”
Grace frowned and placed her hand over Charity’s on the table. “No one is talking about breaking any vows, sis. Nothing has to be broken in order for you to be truly happy and you know that.”
“What would you have me do, sis?”
Grace grinned like the Cheshire cat. “I’d have you do what you told me to do. Seize the day, baby!”
“Oh, bite me!”
* * * *
The table across the club erupted in laughter and Ransome flicked a glance at the mirror. Charity’s arms were crossed over her chest and there was a high flush in her cheeks, making them glow. She always got that way when she was put on the spot and it stirred his protective side, or at least that was what he told himself as he stood from his chair at the bar.
“You heading out?” Val asked as he nodded at the bartender when he offered a refill on his beer.
“Not yet. I’m asking Charity to dance.”
Val raised an eyebrow. “You’re playing with fire.”
Ransome pushed the chair in. “It’s just a dance. She won’t say no.”
“That’s not what worries me. It’s the direction your thoughts are taking that concerns me.”
“I’m just dancing with her. Chill.”
As he approached, the ladies at Charity’s table turned their attention to him. Jayne Carter got wide-eyed and then looked away while Rachel arched an eyebrow and elbowed Charity to get her attention.
Rachel said, “Hey, handsome. I heard you and Val are ba
ck in town permanently. I’m glad to hear it and I know Eli will be, too.”
“Yeah. We’re thinking we’re going to make it stick here in Divine. How’s the little man?”
Rachel pulled out her phone to show him a picture of two-year-old Levi sitting with his father astride Eli’s Harley. “Growing like a weed.”
He could feel Charity’s gaze on him as he smiled and said, “How’re you ladies doing? Grace, you hanging in there?”
Grace patted her abdomen. “This one’s tiring me out but I’m doing well, thanks. It’s good to hear you’re moving into the area. Have you found a place to stay yet?”
He took the opportunity to gently lay his arm around Charity’s shoulders and felt the tremble that ran through her as a result. “We’re bunking out at Justin and Charity’s for now.”
Grace beamed and said, “I’m sure they’re happy to have you.”
Ransome nodded and then turned his gaze on Charity. She bumped his ribs lightly with her elbow and asked, “You two having a good time?” With just her velvety voice she could make his cock tingle.
“Yeah. Want to dance?”
Charity slid a quick glance Grace’s way before looking up at him and nodding. “I’d love to.”
All the ladies at the table smiled broadly and Ransome felt like a bug under a microscope but was content that she’d accepted his invitation. The vocals and guitar started for the next song and Charity looked up at him, nibbling her lip as “My Kind of Crazy” by Brantley Gilbert played on the sound system.
He wasn’t going to complain if the DJ had picked a slow dance song, and this one seemed just right for Charity. He spotted Val watching them in the mirror but didn’t concern himself with Val’s worry about ruining the status quo. Ransome was listening to his gut this time.
She turned to face him on the dance floor and he thought he glimpsed uncertainty in her eyes. They’d always danced to fast songs before, and he wasn’t sure he’d have gotten away with this if Justin was around. But she smiled and slid her arms around his waist without hesitation. He struggled to keep his breathing steady as the girl—the woman—he’d wanted practically all his life snuggled to him.
Divine Charity [Divine Creek Ranch 18] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 4
