They’d said it before but now, right now, she needed for them to say it again. She looked at Eli, and then Jeremiah. “I guess I just need to know that the bottom line is that I matter to you.”
“You more than matter,” Jeremiah said.
Eli got up, and with two steps stood in front of her. He reached out, and lifted her off the swing, holding her aloft high enough that she very easily could meet his gaze.
What she saw there in his eyes shifted the entire puzzle for her.
“Nancy, you not only matter, you are the bottom line.” He searched her gaze and must have liked what he saw. He grinned, and then sealed that smile against her lips.
Chapter 12
“So basically, it’s a case of the following generations of your family emulating the founders.” Eli sat back in his chair in Lusty Appetites and sighed, his appetite for food clearly sated.
Nancy noted the way he’d cleaned his plate and thought, not for the first time, how unfair it was that men generally seemed to have more robust metabolisms and were able to eat all of their food without consequence.
And if he did gain a little weight, that was unfair, too, because it didn’t seem to detract from a man’s attractiveness if he was carrying a few extra pounds. No, then he was referred to as “distinguished.”
And just maybe, cupcake, it doesn’t detract from a woman’s attractiveness either, except in her own mind.
Every once in a while her inner imp came out with something truly exceptional. She would have to ponder this new message. But she would do it later, when she was alone and could focus.
She looked at Eli. “That’s true, up to a point. But there have been lots of family members through the years who, for one reason or another, left Lusty, and the ménage lifestyle, behind. And there are those who stayed, and either never married, or who married only one person.”
Emily Anne came over to clear their plates. Both Eli and Jeremiah had practically licked the china, but Nancy hadn’t finished the food on her plate. She rarely did, even when what was on the plate was as good as it was in Kelsey’s restaurant.
“Was there something wrong with the meat loaf, Nancy?” Emily Anne, a concerned look on her face, picked the plate up as if it might bite her
“No! It was fabulous. I’m just exercising portion control.”
“Ah. I see.” Emily Anne nodded and gave her a sympathetic look.
Nancy couldn’t say what kind of look, exactly, she shot Eli and Jeremiah, but it sure as hell wasn’t sympathetic. In fact, if she were to put a name to it, that name would be accusatory.
“Now, what will you have for dessert? Oh, and the coffee is fresh, if you had a mind to enjoy a cup of that.”
“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly—” Nancy had been about to decline dessert. What was the point of exercising portion control if she turned around and ate dessert?
Eli gave her a look that shut her up as he steamrolled right over her. “What do you recommend for dessert, Emily Anne?”
“The Ladies Auxiliary provides the pies, and while they are all good, the pecan is usually the most popular. We have apple and cherry, too. Tracy’s pastry selections are a sure bet, as well.”
Eli looked right at Nancy. “Which do you want, sweetheart, pecan pie, or some of your cousin’s pastries?”
There was something about his tone of voice that told her she’d best be picking one of the two offerings. She met his gaze and realized he had interpreted her excuse of exercising “portion control” as being exactly what it was—another manifestation of her belief she was fat. Nancy sighed. She guessed she was never going to be able to pull one over on this man. Well if I’m going to be forced to eat something, it might as well be something exceptionally good. “I’ll have a pastry, please. I know that anything Tracy has created will be very good. And coffee, too, please, Emily Anne.” She would try to get Eli to understand that she really wanted to watch what she ate, but that was a discussion to be had in private.
The words that her inner imp had whispered just moments before came back to her. Those words might very well be true, but it wasn’t really a question of hear the truth, know the truth. A person had to bring that truth into their hearts and own it there.
The distance between heart knowledge and head knowledge really was a heck of a lot farther than just ten inches.
“I had some of Tracy’s pastries last night,” Jeremiah said. “I’ll have some of those, too, please, Miss Emily Anne. And a cup of coffee as well.”
Eli grinned. “I guess that makes all three of us, thank you.”
Emily Anne gave them all an approving smile. “Excellent, then. Your desserts will be right up.”
“She makes you want to smile right back, doesn’t she?” Jeremiah said. “How is she related to you, exactly, baby?”
Nancy shook her head. “If you’re talking about blood, then I have to tell you she’s one of a few folks in town who isn’t. My understanding is she was just driving through when she stopped, came in, and asked Kelsey for a job. The funny part of that is Kelsey had been looking for a waitress, but wasn’t finding much success. Emily Anne’s husbands aren’t blood kin, either. Mel Richardson met Caleb Benedict when he joined the Texas Rangers. Caleb was his training officer. He eventually became a private detective, and then last year took on Connor Talbot as a partner. The two of them fell in love with Emily Anne, and now they have a new house, just on the outskirts of town.” Nancy thought about her Grandma Kate, who wasn’t even technically her grandmother. “Of course, not being blood relations, that doesn’t make them any less family.”
“The private investigators are her husbands, right? Your grandmother was filling us in on some of the names and faces last night.” Eli frowned.
“I know it can be confusing. More often than not, husbands tend to be brothers. There are a few happy triads where the husbands aren’t brothers. My cousin Julia Benedict married two men who were best friends and Navy SEALs. So did Susan Benedict—marry men who were best friends, that is. And of course in the case of a bisexual ménage, the men aren’t kin to each other, either. So the fact that the two of you, who weren’t raised in Lusty and aren’t brothers, are interested in sharing me, isn’t as strange or unusual as you might think.”
“We knew what we wanted was a little off the wall, but we’ve both wanted you, and to have you between us since shortly after we met you. I guess it’s just the way we’re wired,” Jeremiah said.
“Discovering Lusty has been like a huge sigh of relief for us both. We can each of us do this and no one will be scandalized.” Eli picked up her right hand and Jeremiah, sitting beside her, took her left.
She couldn’t deny that it felt really good having each of these men hold one of her hands. She snuck a look around the restaurant when they then proceeded to kiss those hands. The people who saw the gesture smiled.
“I do have one question.” Jeremiah leaned in closer. Nancy wondered if he was trying to ensure that his voice didn’t carry. “How is it done? Y’all refer to the men in the ménage as both being the woman’s husbands, yet a woman can’t legally marry two men.”
“No, she can’t. Our tradition is that the oldest man becomes the woman’s legal husband in a small actual marriage ceremony. And then, there’s a Commitment Ceremony, usually at the community center, where all three people in the triad pledge themselves to each other—the men declare their vows to their new wife, but they also promise to be there for each other, to be husbands and fathers, together.”
“That sounds damn near perfect,” Eli said.
“Nothing and nowhere is perfect,” Nancy said. “But it’s what I’ve always known, what’s normal to me, and really, it’s who I am.”
“Y’all want to make some room, there? You’re going to need your hands for eatin’, anyway.” Emily Anne’s laughing question and quip made them laugh, too. Once Eli and Jeremiah let go of her hands, Emily Anne set dessert plates in front of each of them. One cream puff and one chocolate éclair comp
rised each serving. She placed containers of cream and sugar down. Next, she set a mug out in front of each of them and poured from the pot of coffee that had also been on her large serving tray.
The door to the restaurant opened, and Emily Anne looked over, and smiled. Then she set a fourth mug in front of the empty chair beside Eli, poured, and walked away.
Jordan Alvarez-Kendall sauntered over and took the last chair at their table.
“Hey, Jordan.”
“Hey, Nancy. Gentlemen.” Jordan took a minute to fix his coffee up. Then he sat back.
Nancy noticed that both Eli and Jeremiah had stiffened at the arrival of their unexpected fourth. Men. “Gentlemen, this is Jordan. He’s married to Tracy—creator of these fantastic pastries—and Peter. They have a little guy, Cameron. How old is Cameron now?”
“He’s a year old, and now that he’s settled into sleeping through the night, he is the most adorable baby in the entire world. Of course, I have pictures that I know you’re all just dying to see.”
“Jordan, this is Eli Barton and Jeremiah Winthrop.” Both men had relaxed, and they each shook hands with him.
Nancy smiled when Jeremiah took the pictures Jordan proffered. He looked through them and then stopped. “That Peter. I thought I recognized him last night.”
Jordan flashed his trademark grin. “Well, I can tell you he certainly recognized the two of you. Y’all can thank me and Tracy that we talked him out of going over to Nancy’s last night and pounding down the door.”
Eli grinned. “I half expected him to do that very thing. Or be there first thing this morning to pound on us.” He took the pictures from Jeremiah and duly inspected them.
“So, Jordan—not that I’m not glad to see you, because you know that I always am, us being cousins and all. But to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?”
“Baby, that wasn’t very nice.” Jeremiah slipped his arm around the top of her chair and nudged her shoulder with his hand.
Nancy just grinned at him. “It’s normal cousin-speak here in Lusty. I expect you’ll be hearing a lot of it.”
“It is,” Jordan said, “so please be assured I am not in the least bit offended. I was going to search y’all out about another matter. But I confess that I am right here, right now, sweet Nancy, because Aunt Anna called me. I think that was right after she spoke to brother Adam, which was likely about a minute after y’all had left his office this morning.”
Nancy could feel a Jessop-Kendall kind of zinger coming. “Did she, now?”
“She did indeed. And she asked me to do her a favor. You know, sweetheart, not a one of us can ever say no to Aunt Anna.”
“Mmhmm.” She decided to eat her dessert and sip her coffee and let Jordan wend his way, eventually, to his point.
With Jordan there was almost always a point.
“However, it’s also always best, with Aunt Anna, to verify the facts first, and so I called Adam and had a very interesting discussion with him.”
“It does my heart good to know that you and your brother have such a warm, close, and loving relationship.” Nancy gave him a smile and fully expected him to bless her heart.
“Actually, that’s the way of things these days, since all of my brothers are married men now, too. The united front of Tamara, Ginny, Tracy, and Mother is quite the motivating force when it comes to breaking much-loved habits like pounding on each other. Of course, the verbal zingers are still allowed. It’s hard for our women to protest them when they’re laughing so hard at them over dinner every Sunday.”
“I can just imagine.” She’d had more than one Sunday dinner at the New House, and so she really could imagine.
Nancy noticed the way Eli and Jeremiah were following the conversation between her and Jordan as if they were spectators at a tennis match. It was all she could do not to burst out laughing.
“So cousin mine,” Jordan said, “As a result of all this conversing, and communicating with your mother and my brother, I have one teeny tiny little question for you—before we proceed any further.”
“Shoot.”
“Funny you should say ‘shoot.’” Jordan picked up his coffee and took a slow sip. His gaze drilled into her and she had a feeling she knew exactly what was coming.
“How far away were you from the bastard who broke into your apartment when you fired your Walther PPK at him and missed?”
Eli turned in his seat slightly to look at Jordan, and then put his gaze on her. Jeremiah, too, set his eyes on her and she wouldn’t be surprised one little bit if half of the diners at Lusty Appetites were all doing the same.
“Oh, about twenty to twenty-five feet, give or take, I guess.” She felt her cheeks heat. “It was dark, I was half-asleep, and…and I’d never fired at a human being before. I might have pulled my aim at the last minute.”
“How often did you get yourself to a practice range after you left Lusty?”
Nancy knew when she was beat. She didn’t even try to argue with the man who was inarguably the best shooter in the combined families. “Not often enough, apparently.”
“That was a real smart answer, cousin.” He nodded toward her dessert. “Eat up. You’re about to spend the next couple of hours doing just that—spending time on the practice range.” Then he looked at Eli and Jeremiah. “You’re both welcome to come along, of course. Did you bring your weapons with you from DC?”
“Of course. But we didn’t bring a lot of ammo,” Eli said.
“That’s not a problem,” Jordan said. “We have plenty.”
* * * *
Eli had to admit that Lusty certainly did have an ample supply of ammunition. He and Jeremiah both carried the Glock 22 that was now standard issue of the FBI. Their weapons took a .40 caliber bullet. Jordan pointed to the cabinet marked “40” and handed him a key.
He certainly approved of the way this indoor facility was secured, with double locks to get in, and every cabinet—both those holding weapons and those holding ammo—also locked.
Jordan gave everyone ear protection, and then led Nancy over to one of the alleys. He handed her a Walther PPK that he’d taken out of storage and a box of ammunition.
Eli watched her handle the gun. Clearly, she knew what she was doing. Nancy expertly ejected the clip, checked it, and then began loading it—six rounds was the magazine’s capacity.
Eli and Jeremiah both stood back to watch their woman take her first shots. He’d never before considered that a woman in firing stance was a sexy sight. But when that woman was Nancy Jessop, sexy was the only word for it.
She used a good two-handed grip, and kept the gun to single-shot action, taking about three seconds between each shot.
Jordan worked the controls, and the target she’d fired at came sliding forward.
“You were letting the recoil win,” Jordan pronounced. “You used to have better control than that, cousin.” Then he gave her what Eli thought was a superior look. “It’s only a Walther, after all, not a Glock 22 like all the G-men in town are carrying.”
“Hey! Recoil is recoil when you’re sadly out of condition.”
Eli raised one eyebrow. “That’s quite an admission, cupcake.” He’d have thought that if only for pride’s sake she’d argue with the man, cousin or no.
As if she sensed his thoughts, she turned and met his gaze. “I can’t ever lie to my cousins. They’d all know the truth, anyway, so it’s a waste of time and energy.”
The door to the facility opened, and a lone man came in. Tall, with the dark good looks of his Hispanic ancestors, Peter Alvarez looked like he could take on the biggest bad-ass and win. Peter Alvarez-Kendall, Eli mentally corrected.
Peter came over to them and nodded, but his attention was on Jordan. “How’s she doing, babe?”
“Pitiful. Just pitiful.” Jordan shook his head to underscore that judgment.
“Everybody’s a critic,” Nancy said.
She changed the target paper and sent it back, reloaded her gun, slammed the clip
back into the Walther, and put her ear protection in place.
Eli realized she was going to fire that weapon now and quickly slipped on his own ear protection just as Jordan tossed a set to Peter.
Eli caught Nancy’s quick glance and grinned. She’d made them move, but she’d checked to make sure they were all ready before taking the safety off and raising her gun.
Nancy took her six shots, with only a second in between, and when the target was brought forward again, they all saw that this time, she’d aced it.
“So if the way to get you to shoot straight and fast is to piss you off, how come you missed the damned perp in your apartment?” Peter asked.
“Not you, too? Crap, I think every member of the family’s going to be razzing me about that for the foreseeable future.”
Peter laughed. “Don’t expect too much sympathy from me, cousin. Do you have any idea how long I had to take being razzed about getting shot, right here in Lusty, twice within a couple of months?”
Nancy nodded. “I hear the situation was so bad, that the very next time there was even a hint of danger, you sent your big brother out to take the next slug for you.”
Peter scowled, but Jordan laughed, slapped him on the shoulder, and looked over at Eli and Jeremiah. “You have to have a sense of humor to live in this town.”
“And a good supply of bandages, too, apparently,” Jeremiah said. Then, because his best friend had an insatiable curiosity, he asked, “So how did you manage to get shot twice in such a small, peaceful town? Hunting accidents?”
“I suppose, in a manner of speaking. The first time was in the line of duty and by a drug dealer, and the second time was by a hired gun when a contract was put out on me because I’d scotched that drug deal. Now, I should qualify the telling of that tale. The first time was just a little dustup,” Peter said. “The bullet barely grazed me. And I didn’t mind the second time so much, as I drew fire to ensure that bastard didn’t hurt either of my lovers, who were dangerously close to me at the time.”
Love Under Two Undercover Cops [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 12
