“Then we would have come up with an excuse why you needed to go back to the city this weekend. I told Gordon we were going to talk to you, and that makes everyone relax a bit more.”
“So you two don’t mind helping to set some things up right?”
“Of course not. In fact we would love to have something to do.” Marcario wasn’t used to a sedentary lifestyle and all this waiting for his shoulder to heal was starting to grate on his nerves.
“Jelani, don’t let him overstrain that shoulder.” Mai pointed at Marcario and frowned. “You need to take it easy.”
“I think that it’s tightening up because I’m not doing anything with it.” He walked over and wrapped his arms around his little sister. “Don’t worry about me, Maibee.”
She grinned at his use of the nickname he gave her as a kid. “Are you going to think up silly names for the baby?”
“Probably. Now let’s get going before Jelani starts complaining about the cold.”
Chapter Seven
By that evening, Marcario’s shoulder ached, but it felt good to finally be useful. It took most of the day to get everything the way that Helen and Ann liked it. Both women were thrilled when he and Jelani had arrived with Mai to help. The day before a contract company had come and built a large temporary pavilion in the Roberts’ backyard. Snow had been shoveled out and a false floor laid down. Heaters hung from the ceiling around the large room, and large windows allowed in lots of light. Jelani had spent most of the day sitting under one of the heaters doing various jobs that Helen gave him. There was tons of catered food delivered that Mai, Ann, and Helen had helped set up.
He helped move tables and hang colourful banners across the room, careful to avoid a fire hazard with the heaters. It felt good to do something creative with his hands. He was careful not to overdo it, and thankfully his brother ran interference whenever their sister started fussing over him.
“You keep rubbing that shoulder and Mai is going to be over here fussing again,” Jelani commented. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“God, don’t you start.” Marcario hadn’t realized that he was rubbing it again and moved his hand before anyone else noticed. “It’ll be fine. Instead of worrying about my shoulder, look at that ass.” Marcario smacked his brother’s arm and nodded toward a woman standing with a group of people. A tight pair of blue jeans hugged her nicely rounded cheeks. He could almost imagine how those globes would shiver under his hand. He followed the luscious curves where they dipped into her waist. She wasn’t short, but she still looked graceful from the back. Her arms waved dramatically, as she was obviously telling a story. Blond hair curled down around her shoulders and bounced softly as she moved. She was wearing a hooded sweatshirt that hung to her hips and masked her upper body. He wanted to know what she looked like under all those clothes. Damn, this was the first time he felt an instant attraction to a woman in months.
Ever since that night in Toronto his thoughts had revolved around one woman. A woman who accepted comfort from them but was borderline terrified of them. He now knew some of the things that happened to her. Mai kept him and Jelani updated while they were back in Africa, but it wasn’t the same.
At least now it looked like Jessica’s tight grip on his thoughts must be loosening. The idea of that partially bothered him. When he and Jelani agreed to help out for this celebration, he hoped he would see her at some point. They had been here all for two weeks and not caught even a peek of her on the rare times they ventured out. This morning, though, Mai told them that Jess had been in Toronto with Gordon and was planning on coming to this event tonight.
Jelani hadn’t said anything yet and he glanced over at his brother, wondering if he even heard his comment. “Hey? You with me here?”
“You don’t recognize her?”
“Dude, I would never forget a woman with an ass like that. I think she’s a nanny or something. I think I might have seen her with Gordon’s kids earlier.” Marcario glanced back over, feeling guilty that he might have forgotten her name. In that moment her face turned and she started to look around the room, avoiding looking directly behind her. He could almost see the way her body tensed up. “Holy shit. It’s Jess.”
Desire slammed into him like a freight train. She had changed in the past few months. So much so, he hadn’t recognized her right away. Of course, five months ago she didn’t have the softness to her figure, and he never saw her with her hair down. She didn’t look as sculpted as she did in the fall, but that didn’t take away from her at all. This was a different look, and one he heartily approved of.
The night he met her and carried her to the cab haunted his dreams, only in his dreams she was naked, and the inside of the cab was a luxury hotel room where he and Jelani could explore every inch of her body. He took the opportunity to get a good look at her. Five months ago she had a picture-perfect body that came heavily sculpted from a lot of time in a gym. Now from what he could tell, her body looked softer and much more appealing. His cock stirred in his jeans, and by the way Jelani shifted on the spot, he suspected that his brother felt the same way.
She had to sense them watching her because she continued to dart looks around her. Only her expression wasn’t that of anticipation, but more of fear.
“We’re making her nervous,” Jelani said as he got up from the table. “Let’s go talk to her.”
Marcario nodded and pushed himself up off the chair. As soon as they both moved, Jessica’s head turned and she looked directly at them. Her face wasn’t as angular as it was before. She looked more beautiful then he remembered. Her thick sweatshirt still hid her curves from him, making him fantasize about what she was hiding.
“Marcario, if you don’t stop looking at her like that we will never make it out of the bar in one piece. You look like you’re on the hunt, man.”
“I’m starting to feel that way.”
Jess didn’t move as they crossed the room toward her. She looked wide-eyed at them and didn’t move except to glance back and forth between them. She looked like a deer caught in headlights, and that rankled. He wanted to see the personality he’d been watching. He looked past her at her friends. The woman looked confused and the two men glared at him and his brother.
A sick feeling punched him in the gut. What if she’s here on a date? It was a distinct possibility, and he hoped that the Fates weren’t that cruel.
“We’ll convince her that we are a better choice.” Jelani answered his question as if he had spoken it. That always seemed to know what the other brother was thinking. Thank god for Jelani’s never-ending optimism. Beneath it all he knew his brother was deciding which one of the men might have escorted Jessica.
The younger one with long red hair moved closer and draped an arm over her shoulders, whispering something in her ear. It stole her attention away from him and his brother and he saw her visibly relax. He wanted to be the one to reassure her. He wanted her to turn to him and his brother when she needed comfort.
Jelani reached out for her first and captured her hand in his, bringing it up to his lips. “Hello, beautiful.”
Jessica blushed slightly as Marcario claimed her other hand and stepped closer to her. Words crowded his thoughts and he couldn’t figure out what to say first, so he simply smiled and pressed her knuckles against his lips. Her hand felt like silk under his fingertips, and he could have happily stood here all night staring into her big brown eyes. There were so many things floating around her expression, and he wanted her to tell him and Jelani all of them.
A deep clearing of a throat drew his attention and he looked at the man with his arm draped over her shoulders. If this guy thought he was going to have an easy task stealing her from him and his brother, then Marcario would happily dissuade him of that assumption.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m being rude.” Jessica addressed the other people standing with her. “This is Marcario and Jelani Bennett, Mai’s older brothers. I met them a few months ago in Toronto”
“
You’re not rude in the slightest, Jess.” The redhead looked back and forth between him and Jelani. “You didn’t barge in and interrupt a conversation.”
Jessica tensed up slightly and tried to pull her fingers from Marcario’s grasp. He held on slightly for a moment longer and then let them go.
“Sloan, stop instigating.” The other woman reached out and tugged on a chunk of his hair. He nodded slightly at her but didn’t move from Jess’s side.
“Jelani, Marcario, this is Carol, and two of her husbands, Jaxon and Sloan Henderson.”
It took a moment for Jessica’s words to permeate his brewing temper. He glanced at his brother and in a moment of clarity, his mood lifted.
“I’m sorry, did you say husbands?”
Sloan leaned forward and shook each of their hands as well. His grip was a bit tighter than need be but Marcario didn’t care if that meant that he didn’t have any sort of claim on Jessica. “Yes, Carol is married to me and my two brothers. Kaden is helping Gordon bring in some more food.”
“Helen has been cooking up a storm again.” Carol smiled at him and relaxed back against her husband. “Gordon insisted on having some of the food catered in so Helen wouldn’t be too overwhelmed. Everyone pitches in to help for the spring festival. Around here we like to celebrate the first day of spring, even if it doesn’t look like it outside.”
Jelani laughed. “That snowstorm we had a few days ago sure didn’t make it feel like we are changing seasons.”
“Nothing like winter getting in hopefully its last good punch.” Sloan rubbed his hand along Jessica’s arm, and Marcario slowly breathed in and tamped down the wave of jealousy that pounded against him. This was a friend, and from what he knew didn’t have any designs on her. He and Jelani had a long talk with Gaspar and Vencel today about this town’s proclivity toward multiple relationships. It was one thing to talk about it and another to see it so open.
I could live here. No sooner did the thought cross his mind that he could sense Jelani’s gaze on him. He glanced over and his brother quirked an eyebrow. Looks like we are on the same page again.
“The last time we spoke, you were both headed back to Africa with MSF to work on some projects.” Jessica’s soft voice drew him in like a moth to a flame. He would happily stand here all day and listen to her talk.
“What’s MSF?” Sloan asked.
“Médecins Sans Frontières. It’s the Canadian chapter of Doctors Without Borders.”
“Are you both doctors?” Carol glanced back and forth between them. “We could use a couple of doctors up here.”
“No, we’re not.” Jelani replied “I’m a nurse-practitioner, which means I do many of the same things as a GP but I don’t write prescriptions. Marcario is an architect.”
“But I’ve always preferred doing the actual building than the planning part of it all,” Marcario added. Being called an architect always sounded so stuffy to him when he much preferred the construction side of things. “Jelani did as much as the doctors there, but you don’t have much choice out in the middle of nowhere.”
“There is always a registered doctor on site as well, but sadly her time was often filled. So I was able to help out where I could.”
“Mai told me there was an incident there, and that is why you came back early.”
“The Congo’s a dangerous place.” Marcario’s voice deadened and Jelani knew he was replaying the incident in his head again. Neither of them liked to talk about it, and he certainly didn’t want it to turn into small-town gossip. There were some wonderful people who continued to risk their lives down there, and he was feeling no little bit of guilt for not going back yet.
“Marcario is good with his hands and can build almost anything,” he added, trying to change the subject. Carol and her husbands took the hint and followed along, but he watched Jess stare at his brother. She looked as though she was fighting the urge to ask him details, but thankfully she didn’t.
“Marcario and I have spent so many years overseas that it’s strange coming home again and getting used to the cold. A few weeks ago we were in one-hundred-degree weather and dealing with mosquitoes the size of dinner plates.”
“You’re kidding me.” Carol shivered. “I hate mosquitoes.”
“We have to line the deck with citronella candles in the summer to get her out of the house in the evening.” Jaxon kissed Carol’s temple and she laughed.
“I’m going to go and get another beer.” Sloan disengaged himself from between Jessica and Carol and looked at him and Marcario. “Can I get either of you one?”
“What are you drinking?” Marcario asked.
“I think it’s an ale of some sort.” Sloan held up a plain brown beer bottle. “There’s a new microbrewery opening up a few miles from here. They don’t have their marketing finished, but they offered to donate the beer for the festival. It’s pretty good.”
Marcario glanced over at Jelani and nodded slightly. “We’d love to try it.”
“I’ll set us all up.” Sloan gave Carol a quick kiss and headed off in the direction of the bar. Jelani understood that he and Marcario had passed some test the other man had in his head. With all that red hair he wondered what kind of animal he would be.
* * * *
Jess watched Marcario closely. If she understood one thing, it was that past horrors could stick around in your thoughts for a long time. Jelani’s gaze shifted slightly, too, and she wondered exactly what happened to the two of them. Mai didn’t know all the details. Other than Marcario had been physically assaulted in an attack on the clinic they were helping in. She said her brothers didn’t want to worry her or their mom so they didn’t tell either of them the specifics of the emergency evac out of the country. The Hendersons might not see it but Jessica noticed new shadows in their eyes. That she could understand, since she noticed the same trait in her own gaze at times.
Other than kissing her hand, neither of them made a move toward her. Of course, having Sloan get overprotective didn’t help. Ever since she moved back up here, every man in town suddenly took to escorting her when she wanted to go out. She had a modest cottage a few miles away, but lately a steady stream of people happened to be passing by a couple times a day. She had accused Cris of spying on her and announcing on the radio where she was. How was she supposed to know when she was being watched if everyone was keeping an eye on her? She hated being the focus of attention.
She had stayed at Gordon’s for the first couple weeks after coming home. Helen and Ann made her feel safe and secure. Other than a few trips that Gordon took, she hadn’t left all that much in the past three months. He insisted that he didn’t need her at the Toronto office, and when he did she’d stayed at his condo. She didn’t have any contact with Geoff. Strangely enough he didn’t call her at work as was his habit, and she expected him to harass her there. It wasn’t until a few days passed that she learned the Gordon had all the numbers changed. It was a massive pain in the ass for him, but she appreciated it.
About three weeks after she left Geoff, a package was left for her at the office door. Inside was silk scarf that Geoff gave her for her birthday. It had been ripped into shreds and soaked in Jess’s favourite perfume. She’d been terrified, not certain what it meant. They’d called the police, but since there was no note or proof that it came from Geoff, the authorities couldn’t do anything.
Gordon closed the Toronto office that afternoon and moved them to a satellite office in North York. He had purchased a brownstone a few months ago and had Vencel renovate the downstairs for offices, and that gave them living space upstairs when they needed. He had it planned for a while. Ever since Willow was born he didn’t like to be too far away from his family.
She knew she didn’t look as good as she did when she first met them, and seeing her in this shape probably surprised Marcario and Jelani. After leaving Geoff she tried to change her way of life. Wanting to get back to the old her, she stopped working out every day and started enjoying things like wine
and ice cream and biscotti dipped in Vin Santo. That was her favourite.
Looking in the mirror now made her cringe. What the hell would they want with her looking like this? But I’m happier now. It was a continual battle with the inner voice that came out every times she looked in a mirror. She knew she didn’t meet the ideal image of the perfect woman, but she felt better not starving herself and working out so incredibly hard all the time. She missed listening to her inner animal. Being a doe meant that she had incredible instincts for danger. Now that she was listening to herself again she felt much happier. And that made her life better.
It took a while, but she convinced herself that what she had felt toward the Bennett boys was simply a backlash of adrenaline-stoked emotions from the stress of that evening. But seeing them today she realized she was full of shit. Those two men were her mates, and from what she heard they didn’t have any intention of sticking around that long. You really can pick them, can’t you?
Well, she had enough of letting her life be decided by others, and that included any mystical, endorphin-filled reactions to Marcario and Jelani. Every cell in her body ached to feel their touch, but she refused to allow it to rule her mind. There might be some shining examples of why it was wonderful to be mated to someone, but she had enough of being controlled by another person. She was going to make all her own decisions in life, and that included True Mates.
Sloan returned with a beer in hand and passed another one to Marcario before he snuggled against his wife and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Carol wrapped her arm around his waist as she talked to Jelani about the veterinary clinic. Jaxon’s arm remained around Carol’s shoulders. They were never out of physical reach of each other often, and Jessica envied their closeness. She needed to make up her mind what she wanted in life. All she knew for certain was she was tired of waiting and hiding…and her own wants contradicted each other.
She felt a hand brush across her lower back and it was then she realized that the Bennett brothers flanked her. They stood on either side of her, relaxed and content, but neither of them touched her more than that. They couldn’t be waiting for me to make the first move, right?
Obsessed with Fur [3xtasy Lake 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 7
