Divine Phoenix [Divine Creek Ranch 10] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Heather Rainier

  “I’d still like to adhere to the standards you set, even if the rule doesn’t really apply anymore. I don’t want to rub this in her face. My heart tells me that’s a bad idea.”

  “Okay, but I doubt she appreciates your consideration.”

  Lily smooched his welcoming lips one last time, whimpered in frustration, and then turned to put her purse away. He caressed her ass, and she recalled how it felt when he’d awakened her with his hands stroking all over her that morning.

  As he’d roused her, she’d turned to him and had encountered the solid, hard, length of his cock pressed against her abdomen. He’d made love to her slowly and sweetly as the pearly dawn brought light to the darkness outside.

  Afterward, he’d been careful to give her the robe she’d left lying on the floor to cover up with before she left his bed. Desire to eradicate the tattoo had grown exponentially ever since. She was definitely talking with Grace and Maya about tattoos that weekend. Her only concern was the lengths the artist would have to go to cover the mark up.

  She went out to greet Tabitha and let her know that she was in the workroom and then returned to her bench and put on the work apron Clay had ordered for her. She lined up her tools as she perched on her stool and went to work on the latest personal jewelry orders.

  “How is that design coming along? The one for the ring we talked about the other day.” She noticed that the drawing he’d kept on his bulletin board that had frustrated him was gone.

  She saw Clay’s slight grin as he kept his eyes on his work. He seemed to weigh his words carefully before he finally spoke. “I’m going to start on the first piece soon. I have some orders that are ahead of it, but I’m itching to begin. I’m also going to start the last step on Lydia’s statue soon, too.”

  “Really? I wish I could be there to watch you.” Clay was using the lost wax method for casting the final version of Lydia’s bronze. She’d seen the photographs it was based on and couldn’t wait to see how it turned out. Lydia was beautiful, her face very expressive, and Lily thought the clay version of the statue had captured her essence perfectly.

  He’d created a plaster cast “negative” from the clay statue, then created a wax statue from the plaster cast, which was layered with many coats of ceramic to form a second “negative.” The ceramic had been fired, and all the wax lost in the process, leaving the perfect ceramic “negative” behind. The firing had also given the ceramic the resiliency to withstand the heat of the molten bronze which had been poured into it recently. The statue was currently at the fine arts foundry where the bronze had been poured. Lily hoped she could be there for the big reveal when the ceramic was broken away.

  “I’ll wait until you’re there to do it. How did your test go?”

  “Just fine. I felt well prepared.”

  “I talked to Del. He’ll be by to pick you up at five. He’ll follow you to the house so you can take your car home and then you’ll go with him from there.”

  “Do you think someone could be watching me?” She’d worried that she was being paranoid, but the thought of someone recording her movements gave her the willies and had her glancing in her rearview mirror the whole way over to the shop from the salon.

  “It could be, I suppose. You can bet we’re going to be much more vigilant. I’m glad the two of you will have some more time together. I’m not sure what’s going on with Del. I thought we’d see more of him in town. I think something happened he’s not talking about. Maybe you can help him talk about it, you know? Work your magic.” Clay rose from his seat and headed toward the hallway that led to the kitchen. “I need a snack. You want anything?”

  “No, thanks. It’s probably good I left all of Del’s food at the house. There’s no room in the refrigerator or freezer here. You should eat some of those Girl Scout cookies you have stuffed in the freezer. I’m curious, Clay. It doesn’t make you uncomfortable that I’ll be alone with him? No jealousy?”

  Clay stopped in the door to the hallway and looked her in the eye. “No. You’re good for him, just like you’re good for me. I guess I’ve taken on the ‘Divine mindset’ about relationships.”

  “What’s that?”

  He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest, still maintaining warm eye contact with her. “The real issue is what’s good for you. That’s how all the guys feel. They want what’s best for the woman they love.”

  “Oh.” That thought warmed her core more than she cared to dwell on.

  He’s talking about the other husbands as though he were one of them. Is he falling in love with me? Clay is really open to sharing, if it’s what I want? Surely I’m imagining what he just said.

  Clay turned down the hall like they were having any ordinary, everyday kind of conversation, and she heard him rummaging around in the kitchen.

  He came back with a box of Thin Mints and a cup of coffee. “I forgot there were so many of these in the freezer here. I ran out of room for them at home.”

  Lily tried to suppress her snort of amusement. “Yeah, I saw your deep freeze. There must be at least fifty boxes in there. Those little girls see you coming, don’t they?”

  Clay chuckled. “What?’”

  “They see the sign on your forehead.”

  “My sign? And what does my sign say?” he asked with teasing good humor.

  Lily laughed. “It says SUCKER. I’ll bet you take one look in their big, innocent eyes and you’re held in thrall while they sell you every box they have.”

  Clay groaned, “Is it that obvious?”

  Lily nodded. “But generous guys like you help to make their dreams a reality, so you just keep on giving until it hurts…or you run out of freezer space.” She pointed at the cookies. “Those Thin Mints are gonna take time to thaw out.”

  Clay banged the sealed plastic sleeve against the workbench. “I know. Maybe I’ll just dump them in my coffee and get a spoon. Want some?” He went back in the kitchen for a second and returned with the necessary implement.

  “No, thank you.”

  “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” He popped a broken piece of coffee-soaked cookie in his mouth.

  “Am I in trouble?”

  “Hell no! You’ve done a great job with the personal jewelry website and thanks to you and your work with Duke and Gage, the main website is looking good as well. I really appreciate it. That bartering arrangement for Emma’s ring was worth it.”

  “Thanks. I’ve actually been giving the website a lot of thought lately. I’d like to reshoot the personal jewelry photos using better lighting and models, wherever that’s possible. I’m going to be talking to the girls about it at the sleepover. Grace seemed to think that Rosemary would be particularly interested, and possibly Maya Warner, too.”

  Clay nearly choked on his cookies and coffee and said, “Knowing Evan Garner personally, I can tell you that he’s one husband you’ll want to talk to up front. Rosemary has a history of begging forgiveness afterward when she should ask permission beforehand. So when she strips off her clothes and asks for the biggest clit clip you’ve got, tell her she’ll have to cool her jets until Evan signs off on it. That woman is a little firecracker.”

  “I’ll ask all of the men first if you think that’s best. Do you think he’ll say yes?”

  “Hell, no! But that won’t stop her. At least you’ll have covered your bases.”

  “Won’t it piss Rosemary off to have to get her husband’s permission to pose?”

  “Oh, yeah. But she’ll also obtain it.”

  “I don’t get it, I guess.”

  “It’s the game they play, baby. The semblance that her men are in control somehow. All you can do is ask.”

  Clay didn’t talk about Rosemary’s unique situation as if it were really a marital problem so much as a bone of contention. This whole scenario was so far away from anything she had ever experienced married to JT she didn’t know what to think.

  It had embarrassed her the night
before when Clay had stilled her from serving him. She supposed twelve years of marriage had ingrained some behaviors that she would need to take a good, hard look at now.

  JT had taught her from the beginning how he liked her to move in whatever position they were in. In particular, he liked to see her breasts moving when they’d had sex. Sex had always been a strenuous workout, and Clay had nailed it on the head when he mentioned that he didn’t want her to approach it as work. JT was her first, and the habits she’d learned were going to be hard to break.

  The big difference for her was that because the service wasn’t expected, she wanted to give to Clay even more. JT had abused what she’d freely given, twisting her desire to serve him into servitude. Lily could tell it had bothered Clay and had respected him all the more for stopping at a point in their interlude when it was probably very difficult and painful for him to do so.

  Using the soft-grip pliers, she twisted the end on a cock ring she was making into a small curlicue then set about polishing it.

  “How does your knee feel?” Clay asked mutedly as he peered through the magnifying light at what he was working on.

  “It feels better. I took a pain reliever. I think it was just inflamed.”

  Clay glanced at her. “Did you get on the elliptical?”

  Lily shook her head. “No. Not since our talk.”

  “Good.” Pointing at her computer monitor, he asked, “Did you see the sales report for last month on the personal jewelry?”

  Lily nodded as she focused on her work. “I did. What do you think?”

  “I think I wish that you’d rolled into town a long time ago. You’re good for business, Lily Valentine.”

  “Yeah, I’m just rockin’ the clit clips, aren’t I?” She couldn’t help her snicker. “I got us off track. What did you want to talk to me about?’

  “Since you’re doing so much of the work, I’m increasing your commission percentage so you’re getting paid more for the sales plus for the crafting.”

  “Good! That means I’ll be able to pay for the home improvements that much sooner. Thank you for showing me how to make some of the pieces. I feel fully involved in the process and I love being busy.”

  “You do very well out front, too. A customer called me and complimented me on your good customer service this morning.”

  “Really? What did you say?”

  “I agreed.” He quietly rolled his stool so close it touched hers. “And told them that I though you gave good service, too.” Hot shivers ran down her spine to her pussy when he tilted his head and laid an openmouthed wet kiss on her throat below her ear. “You smell good.”

  Lily panted and swayed toward him. “Thank you.”

  Just as quietly, he rolled on his stool back to the cutout in his workbench and kept on with what he was doing. Heat crept up in her cheeks when she glanced over and caught him watching her through his thick brown lashes.

  He licked his lips and whispered, “Yum.”

  Her pussy responded with a wave of wet heat as she saw the lust in his eyes. He shifted in his chair, rearranging an erection, and the heat increased in her cheeks. It was all she could do not to throw herself at him like she’d done in there a few days before.

  Tabitha chose that moment to come sweeping through the workroom doors. Lily was grateful she hadn’t caught him kissing her. “Lily, you have a customer waiting.”

  Lily’s heart clenched at the frosty tone Tabitha used, and she nodded as she laid her tools aside and removed her apron. Tabitha waited in the doorway, so Lily didn’t dare spare Clay a glance. He caught her eye as she turned and winked at her playfully. She smiled at Tabitha and followed her out to the front, wondering if Tabitha had been watching them through the small windows in the doors.

  It was no surprise to her that the customer waiting at the rear sales counter was picking up an order from the personal jewelry website. Tabitha ignored the customer as she swept by, and Lily smiled at the tremendously tall, dark-haired man.

  “Hi, I’m Lily. How can I help you?”

  The man switched his gaze from the solid gold jewelry in the display case to her, nailing her with eyes like pale-blue laser beams. The smile that crossed his lips was genuine and friendly as he replied, “You sure can. I’m Richard Warner. We ordered a couple of custom-made pieces for our wife, Maya.”

  He gestured with a thumb over his shoulder as two other men walked up and flanked him. She stood there, behind the counter, blinking for a couple of seconds at the two tall, equally handsome blond-haired men. One of them had a playful twinkle in his eyes, and the other seemed much more serious, judging by his intense gaze. There were subtle similarities in their facial structures leading her to believe they were relatives.

  “Warner? Oh! Warner! You’re related to Jack, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Richard replied. Gesturing to the left at the playful-looking cowboy, he added, “This is Kendall.” He gestured with the other thumb. “This is Boone. We’re brothers.” Both men nodded and smiled at her.

  “I’ve met your wife before, at Doctor Guthrie’s office.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Richard affirmed discreetly, glancing over at Tabitha, who was dusting a case.

  “Maya’s very sweet and she’s a good nurse. Let me find your order.”

  She knelt down to search the cabinet hidden beneath the display area for their order.

  Three gorgeous men, all to herself?

  What must that be like? Standing there with them, she’d felt afloat in a sea of testosterone.

  How does Maya make a relationship with three men work?

  Lily had the sense that these three men, although they were brothers, were each very different individuals. How did Maya manage? Feeling a little flushed, Lily decided she’d find out when she saw Maya that weekend.

  She stood after locating the white velvet boxes and opened them for the men. One revealed a gold nipple ring set. The rings were joined by a gold chain from which dangled three sparkling ruby gemstones, set at even intervals, to add weight and movement to the piece.

  Richard looked at his brothers. “What do you think?”

  Kendall said, “I think she’ll love it.”

  Lily gestured to the matching gold clit hugger with ruby dangle in the other opened box. “I’ve had instructions typed up for this piece, since it can be adjusted for a snugger or looser fit, and there’s also a new FAQ section on our website. Of course, if you need help you can always call me or Clay.” She slipped a neatly folded pamphlet under the box.

  Boone said, “This is a big improvement from the last time we purchased something. I looked at the website and approve of the changes Clay’s made around here. I assume they have something to do with you, yes?”

  Lily couldn’t deny the urge to avert her eyes as she replied, “Yes, sir. Clay’s trusted me with this part of his business.”

  “Did you make these pieces?” His question was muted but carried a hint of authority in it.

  “I made the nipple dangles and the dangle for the hugger. Clay still makes the huggers himself but he’s teaching me.”

  “They’re very well done, Lily.”

  Why did Boone’s words fill her with such elation? “I hope so.”

  “What do we owe you, Lily?” Kendall asked as he pulled out his wallet.

  “The transaction was handled over the Internet already. I’ll just wrap these for you,” she said as she pulled out the supplies and began gift wrapping them in gaily printed foil paper. Glancing at Richard to give herself a chance to recover from the twittery-ness Boone somehow inspired in her, she asked, “I was wondering if I might ask a favor of you gentlemen.”

  Smiling at her as though he understood how she felt, Richard replied for the three of them, “Sure. Ask away.”

  “I’m redoing the photography for the website and I was planning to ask the ladies attending the sleepover if they might be interested in modeling some of the pieces. But I’d also want the approval of their husbands.
” At the glint that came into Boone’s eyes, she added, “It would be mostly the nipple ring designs and some of the other matching pieces.” Indicating the clit hugger, she said, “Nothing quite this personal.” He smiled and nodded, as though she’d satisfied his concern. “Would you mind if I asked Maya?”

  The men glanced at each other in silent communication, and Boone replied, “It would be fine with us, if it was from the neck down, and nothing too provocatively posed, if she’s interested.”

  Lily grinned and said, “How about if I give you proofs from the shoot and you get final approval. I’ll shoot them head to toe and crop all identifying features out for the website.”

  A broad smile appeared on Kendall’s face, and in his deep, Texan drawl, he said, “That sounds like a fair deal.”

  Smiling, Lily reached out and shook hands with each of them in turn. “Gentlemen, it’s a pleasure doing business with you.”

  The rest of Lily’s afternoon was back and forth between helping postholiday shoppers in the store and working alongside Clay, filling orders for Internet customers. She was jubilant that the improved website seemed to be drawing more attention. Tabitha’s mood was cool the rest of the afternoon, but Lily had grown accustomed to it, feeling grateful if she was the most difficult person Lily had to deal with nowadays. Tabitha was a walk in the park compared to JT.

  On her return from her latest trip up to the front, Clay smiled at her as he held his phone to his ear. After he ended the call, he said, “That was Del. He’s at the hardware store. He’ll be by to follow you home in about ten minutes. Are you done for the day?”

  She felt like she’d suddenly run out of time for all the questions that had been brewing in her mind. “Just about. Clay, what if…”

  Clay turned to her, watching her closely after her words trailed off and she had difficulty swallowing.

  What if something happens between Del and me?

  She felt perched on a precipice, and she was so afraid of making a mistake. The usual boundaries didn’t apply in Divine, but that didn’t mean she could count on a happily ever after just because so many women had found them there. In the past she’d learned she didn’t have that kind of luck.