A Sweet Deal for Karen [Hardwick Bay 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Morgan Henry

  She started to scramble out of the covers.

  “Whoa there! Let me help.” Allan slipped his muscled arm around her shoulders and pulled down the covers, moving aside some of the pillows to allow her out of the cocoon.

  “I can do it,” Karen protested, irritation making her voice prickly.

  “Humor me.”

  Allan’s arm supported her as they walked the few steps to the bathroom. Karen was secretly glad for his help as her legs weren’t quite working properly. He guided her to the toilet and his hand grasped the waistband of her shorts.

  “Whoa there, yourself!” Karen pushed his hand away with almost a smack. “I can manage the rest of this.”

  “Are you sure?” Allan hadn’t removed his arm from around her waist.

  “Been peeing on my own since I was, what? One? Go away.” Geesh, that sounded whiny even to her own ears.

  “Please,” she added more politely.

  Allan stepped out of the room. She was sure he was waiting right outside the door. She looked after her needs, washed her hands, and exited the room.

  Yep, Allan was waiting.

  He again wrapped his arm around her waist and silently escorted her back to her room. To her shame, she was shaking by the time she was back in the bed. Allan didn’t remark on it, just tucked her in, supporting her giant hand with pillows again. His hands and arms were so strong from his work, yet they were so sure and gentle as they moved the covers and pillows and her body around.

  “Do you need anything else?”

  “Don’t shink sho.” Was that her voice slurring? The medication must be starting to work. She was so tired. Her hand was still throbbing a bit, but she didn’t really care anymore. The last thing she felt as she drifted off was Allan’s lips brushing her forehead.

  This time when Karen woke, she could hear the sounds of the street outside and there was light shining in around the blinds of the window. She looked over at her bedroom clock to find it was 11:36 a.m. Good Lord! She had slept half the day away. Oh my God the store!

  She started to try and scramble out of bed, again thwarted by the pillows around her body. She shoved several of them aside and they tumbled off the bed, but she was still trapped by the sheet. Why was it so hard to get up? Normally getting out of bed did not require this much effort.

  “Hey, let me help, Karen.” Zander strode into the room and started to help disentangle her from the wild mess of sheets and pillows that were threatening to swallow her like a boa constrictor.

  “Don’t you work?” Karen blurted out.

  She was so shocked to see him she ceased struggling and let him hold her as he worked on the sheets.

  A snorting chuckle left Zander’s lips. “We’re on holidays. There.” The last of the sheets fell away and she was free.

  As soon as she was free, her worries about the store came flooding back. Anxiety gripped her, heart thudding, and her chest seized up as though she was being squished in a garbage compactor.

  “I have to open the store,” she pleaded, desperation making her voice sound wheezy. Zander held her down as she tried to get to the bathroom and get ready.

  “Karen, Karen, the store is open. Marg is there and she’s working on rearranging the schedule. She wants to go over it with you later.” Zander stroked her back as he spoke calmly, soothing her.

  “It’s open,” she repeated, sounding stupid even to her own ears. She felt her body relax a fraction.

  “Yes, it’s open. And we’re here to look after you.”

  The adrenaline surge abruptly left her body and she slumped. The throbbing in her hand asserted itself. Her brain worked to process the last eighteen hours again, now that the immediate concern of her store was gone.

  Hurt hand, yep.

  Two big, handsome, sexy men in her apartment looking after her, yep.

  Store open, but not sure how to run it with one hand for… Oh my God, six weeks! Crap.

  Zander’s hand was still on her back, rubbing gentle circles. What next? What next? she kept asking herself, not coming up with any easy answers. Her stomach chose that moment to rumble, giving her at least one answer to what next.

  “I think we need to feed you,” Zander stated. “Lunch or breakfast?” He caught her eyes and held them, waiting patiently for an answer.

  “Um, breakfast?”

  “Are you sure?” he teased, a tiny smile on his lips.

  “Yeah, but I can get it…” She trailed off as Zander shook his head at her.

  “I’ll tell Allan to get cooking and then I’ll get your hand covered so you can shower. How’s that?”

  At her nod, he left the room and Karen stood. She spied her pain pills and found someone had kindly left the cap off. She took a couple now that her hand was threatening to explode with its throbbing. She managed to gather a few clothes and get herself to the bathroom as Zander strolled down the hall.

  He had a large, heavy plastic bag and sturdy tape with him.

  “Here,” he said placing the bag over her right hand and wrapping the tape around her wrist firmly, but not overly tight.

  “That should be good enough for a quick shower. You need any more help?” He gave her a lascivious grin that she knew was meant to get a rise out of her.

  Karen hesitated. She didn’t want to ask for help. “Could you help me put my hair up?”

  “No problem. I was thinking we could help you wash it later, if you wanted.” Zander twisted her hair and put it up on her head, securing it neatly with a clip. She was surprised at his competence. Where had he learned to do that?

  “Don’t be too long, Allan’s making pancakes. Shout if you need me, I won’t be far.”

  He left Karen to do her own showering, for which she was grateful and pleasantly surprised.

  * * * *

  Zander strolled into the kitchen after listening at the door to make sure Karen managed to get in the shower. Allan was whisking the pancake batter and there were blueberries on the counter to add.

  The two men had already set the table for the three of them. The apartment was small and it was clearly a table for two, so it would be a tight squeeze. Hopefully Karen would see that she would be better off at their house.

  That was Allan’s plan, anyway. They weren’t going to push her too hard. They knew that would make her dig in her heels. They were just going to make sure she saw the awkwardness of the three of them in the small space. So, the table was set for three and instead of deflating them, they had the air mattresses stacked against the wall.

  “Smells good,” he commented to Allan.

  “How long do you think she’ll be?”

  “I have no idea. I imagine it’ll take her a bit with the one hand. I’m going to wait outside the door and make sure she doesn’t fall or anything.”

  “Good. There’ll be enough pancakes to start on by the time she’s out.”

  Zander wandered back down the hall. Surprisingly, he heard the water shut off. He couldn’t help but imagine Karen getting out of the shower, her body glistening with water droplets.

  The vision in his head made his cock harden. He wished he was in the bathroom with her, chasing the beads of water with his tongue. He would start at her neck, following the water down to her lush breasts. He wondered what her nipples would look like. Would they be pink or tinged with brown? He wanted to chase the water drops further down to her brown curls between her thighs. Or did she wax? Hmm, sweet brown curls, or bare folds? He couldn’t decide which he might like better.

  The rustle of clothing tempted him further. He was betting she wouldn’t be able to get a bra on with one hand. That was just fine with him. He’d enjoy the view of her unfettered breasts, though it would keep him hard all day.

  The door opened and Karen stepped out. She was wearing jeans and a loose cotton T-shirt in green. No bra. He smiled at her, careful to keep his eyes on hers. Mostly.

  “Allan’s ready for us.”

  Karen had removed the plastic bag and had it in her good ha
nd. He took it from her to dry it in the kitchen and escorted his lovely woman to the table.

  She looked around the living area, her eyes flicking over the air mattresses and alighting on the table. “Wow. You went to town, didn’t you?”

  The table was set with her dinnerware, which wasn’t expensive but still nice. They had gotten a small bouquet of brightly colored flowers to go on the table and purchased some placemats and linen napkins to go with them. The placemats were a wild red and white pattern to go with the stuff in her kitchen.

  She sat as Zander directed her, and Allan came out with a plate of blueberry pancakes and bacon. There was warmed maple syrup on the table along with butter. Zander brought her a coffee and glass of pink grapefruit juice.

  “Thank you. Thank you so much, this is wonderful.” Karen’s voice was a little tight, and Zander was pleased they had affected her.

  “You’re more than welcome.” Allan’s voice drifted out of the kitchen as he and Zander got their own plates and took their places at the table.

  It was crowded at the little table as each fixed his or her plate with what additions to the pancakes and coffee each desired. They were all rubbing elbows and almost on top of each other, but neither man said a word about it. Instead, they did their best to reassure her all would be well.

  “There are some more flowers for you down in the store. We haven’t had a chance to bring them up yet.” Allan attacked his huge mound of pancakes.

  “Marg wants to go over the schedule with you tomorrow. Hanna and Lisa are dropping by after work to visit tonight. Hanna says it’s your movie night, but she understands if you’re not quite up to it.” Zander was no less enthusiastic about his breakfast.

  “Oh, wow.” Karen paused in her eating, fork midstab. “Um, thanks for all that.”

  Zander watched her as she restarted her breakfast. She obviously enjoyed the pancakes, chewing each bite slowly, occasionally closing her eyes in pleasure. He and Allan knew they were her favorite, and Allan did make great ones from scratch. In between bites he could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she contemplated how to politely get rid of them.

  Allan headed her off. “I grabbed the stuff for Zander’s famous chicken casserole for dinner tonight. It’s quite good, if he does say so himself. There’s enough if Hanna wants to stay.”

  “You know, I really appreciate you two staying to help me out this morning, but you don’t have to be here forever.”

  Zander almost laughed. There she was, the Karen they knew and loved asserting her independence. “Suck it up, buttercup. We’re looking after you while you have that splint on your hand. It’s not negotiable.”

  “There’s really not enough room here for the three of us, though,” she protested.

  “Well then we could go to our place. There’s tons of room there and we can run you to work every day,” Allan offered this reasonable suggestion and got up to refill everyone’s coffee.

  “Oh, I couldn’t do that to you two.”

  “Well then, we’ll just stay here.” Zander added some cream to his coffee. “Do you want some more pancakes?”

  Chapter 8

  It was late afternoon and Karen was ensconced on her couch, a creamy decaf iced mocha by her side and her e-reader within easy reach. Allan and Zander had brought up the flower arrangements sent by various friends and allowed her to go to the store and check in with Marg. As Karen should have expected, Marg had everything in hand and this evening’s shifts were covered. She was working on a schedule for the next few weeks and it looked okay so far.

  Karen was feeling a little sleepy. She didn’t think she should feel so tired. She hadn’t really done anything other than eat breakfast late and briefly visit the store. Her hand wasn’t hurting too badly—Allan and Zander made sure she was taking her medication on time. Maybe the medication was why her ass was dragging.

  “Hey you!”

  Karen turned her head at the sound of Hanna’s voice.

  “Hi!” she responded enthusiastically as she saw both Hanna and Lisa make their way into the living room.

  “Looks like Allan and Zander are taking care of you,” Lisa observed, flopping into the chair. Hanna sat opposite Karen on the couch tucking her feet up and facing Karen.

  “Yeah, they’ve been pretty nice today. I keep telling them I’ll be okay and they can go home, but they don’t seem to want to listen.” Karen wasn’t sure what she was worried about, but it didn’t seem right to have them staying with her. No, that wasn’t true. It felt almost too right to have them around. That was what was so worrisome.

  Hanna gave a bark of laughter as she poked Karen’s calf with her toes. “If it was me, there’s no way Kent and Carter would let me be alone. They would baby me like no tomorrow. If we were in my tiny house I might have to shed blood.”

  “Ditto,” Lisa added. “They are going to fret themselves to death if they can’t take care of you. They’re not leaving you alone, so you may as well get used to tripping over them in here.”

  “Where are they? I thought they were behind you.” Karen frowned as she stretched her neck to look behind her friends.

  “They went downstairs to help out Marg while we chatted,” Lisa supplied. “Seriously, they are totally head over heels for you and they’re not going to leave. You know the men in this town, once they’ve decided to look after you, that’s it.”

  The knot of worry retied itself in Karen’s belly. “I’ve told them I can’t be in a relationship with them and I feel like I’m taking advantage when they stay here on their days off looking after me.”

  “Well, they don’t see it that way. Besides, we know there’s no good reason why you can’t be involved with them.” Hanna looked sternly at her friend.

  “Oh, Hanna, just let it go. I can’t and that’s it.”

  “Being busy is no excuse. Yes, you have a store to run, but there are enough hours in the day for love, no matter what you say.” Lisa huffed a little.

  “Karen,” Hanna chimed in, “working yourself to death to make the store bigger and bigger is not going to make your parents love and respect you more. I’m sorry to say it, sweetie, but that’s really the heart of this ridiculous notion that you don’t have any time.”

  Hanna had delivered her pronouncement as gently as possible, but Karen still felt the stabbing emotional pain that went along with the truth. Why does it hurt more when it comes from a friend? She couldn’t face that right now, so she changed the subject.

  “I’m not sure I’m up for our usual movie fest tonight,” she said apologetically to Hanna. They had a standing monthly date for cheesy movies and wine. Karen was just feeling too crummy for that, and besides, Allan and Zander weren’t leaving, making the apartment even more cramped.

  Hanna and Lisa exchanged glances rather obviously.

  “I didn’t think you would be,” Hanna assured her. “I’ll be over to help you on my days off. You can teach me how to make ice cream and stuff while the other women look after the customers.”

  “I’ll be by on Wednesday mornings, I’ve already told Marg,” Lisa added cheerily. “She’s shown me how to work the till before, so I can do stuff out front.”

  “Thank you. That doesn’t seem like enough to say somehow.” She sniffled, the gratitude inside her burbling up and overflowing her tear ducts.

  “Don’t go all soft on us, you marshmallow! You’ve helped us out plenty of times in the past. Besides, who turns down the fun of working in a chocolate shop?” Lisa’s eyes were full of mischief. “Can we make more chocolate poop?”

  That got the three of them laughing and Karen’s tears eased. It wasn’t too long after the two women left and Allan and Zander came back upstairs.

  “You getting hungry?” asked Allan as he settled on the couch and grabbed her feet, starting to massage them.

  “A little,” she admitted, trying to pull her foot back.

  “Dinner’s close to being ready,” Zander announced. “I’ll just set the table.”
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  Allan grinned at her as they engaged in a little war over her feet. She finally gave up. His arms were stronger than her legs and feet.

  He grabbed some lotion that appeared beside the couch and started rubbing it into her dry heels. His strong thumbs rubbed circles on the bottom of her feet, transporting her to nirvana. He worked his way up to her toes and made sure there was lotion rubbed thoroughly into each one. He then made his way up her ankles and calves, stroking and kneading his way to her knees.

  She gave a sigh as he released her right leg and started in on the left. It received the same thorough treatment. Karen felt like she had been reduced to a puddle of goo on the couch.

  Allan smiled a little too smugly at her as he rose and scooped his arm around her to help her to her feet. “I’m starving. You’re going to love the chicken, I promise.”

  “’Kay,” Karen mumbled, still in heaven from the amazing foot rub.

  They sat down to dinner, crowded again. Zander served dinner from the kitchen since there wasn’t enough room on the table for everything. They again rubbed elbows, but Allan and Zander didn’t say one word about the crowded area.

  They grinned and chatted with her, cutting up her chicken when her clunky splint got in the way. They would have tried to feed her if she hadn’t growled and hung on to her fork with a death grip.

  After dinner, Allan cleared the table and washed the dishes. Karen tried to help but was firmly pushed out of the kitchen and back onto the couch with Zander. He sat and pulled her down on top of him. He carefully placed her right arm around his neck so her split was out of the way and protected. With his arms firmly around her, he snuck a quick kiss and called “She’s ready, Allan!”

  Ready for what?

  Allan exited the kitchen with a huge sundae and two spoons. It was a decadent concoction of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and crushed peanuts. He handed one spoon to Zander and kept the other for himself. Allan pulled up her ottoman and sat on it, facing the two of them.