Definitely a different man.
“What’re we gonna do about the cats?” Darrell asked, glancing back into the house.
“I’ll talk to Mom,” Grant told him. In fact, Grant had already spoken to his mother. She had agreed to come home after some scolding from Grant. Sandy wasn’t blameless in all of this, although she wasn’t responsible for Darrell’s gambling addiction. But Grant knew she needed help, too.
She had agreed. And while Darrell was in rehab, Sandy had agreed that she’d be involved in his program while she would also seek counseling on her own. Grant had told her that they couldn’t fix this on their own; it had long surpassed that. Surprisingly, she had agreed with him then, too.
“Okay, then,” Darrell said, glancing once more inside the house. “I think we’re ready to go then.”
Lane and Gracie turned to walk down the steps toward the truck while Grant waited for his father to lock the door behind him.
“I’m proud of you, Dad,” Grant told Darrell when he turned around.
“I wouldn’t go that far yet,” Darrell said softly, walking beside Grant as they headed for the truck. “And anyway, shouldn’t I be the one telling you that I’m proud of you?”
“Don’t know. Are you?” Grant asked, shooting a sideways glance at his father.
“Yeah,” Darrell said, looking at the truck and the two people who were in the backseat. “I’m real proud. You’ve made something of yourself.”
Grant was shocked by his father’s words, but he tried to hide it.
“You’re a better man than I’ll ever be,” Darrell added as he reached for the door handle.
“They make me a better man, Dad. Sometimes you need someone else to make you see reason.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Two weeks later
“We’re gonna be late,” Grace murmured against Grant’s lips when he pressed her up against the wall in her living room.
“No, we won’t,” he said, sounding incredibly sure of himself.
“I think we will,” she countered, not believing for one second that if they started this, they would make it to her father’s surprise birthday party in time.
“Look, Lane’s already naked,” Grant said, causing Grace to glance over to see that, yes, Lane was definitely naked.
God, the man made naked look so freaking good.
He was sitting on the couch, stroking his cock as he watched the two of them. She kept her eyes locked with his when Grant lifted her dress, easily pulling it over her head and tossing it onto the chair.
“Come here, cowgirl,” Lane said, his deep voice sending tremors through her. The way he looked at her, as though she were dessert and he had just finished dinner, made her knees weak.
Grant took her hand and led her the few feet across the room until she was standing in front of Lane. While she stood there, blatantly admiring his beautiful body, she could see in her peripheral vision that Grant was making quick work of disrobing.
Lane reached for her, his thick arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer.
Straddling his thighs, she smiled at him. “Is the door locked?” she asked, directing the question more to Grant than Lane, but Lane nodded and winked.
Yes, they made sure that they locked the front door these days. There was no way in hell they would risk someone walking in on them ever again.
“I want you to ride me,” Lane said hoarsely, his eyes trailing down to her breasts, which were hovering directly in front of his face.
“Mmmm, I think I can handle that,” she responded, leaning in and pressing her mouth to his. The hunger sparked, and then a full-blown inferno broke out as Lane slid inside of her, shifting her just right so that… “Oh, God.”
Yes, she found that she definitely liked this position best, riding Lane while…
“Where’s Grant?” Grace asked, her lips brushing over Lane’s as she tried to search the room behind her.
“Who knows. Who cares,” he said on a strangled laugh as she tightened her internal muscles. “Oh, fuck. You’re killin’ me, baby.”
That was the plan.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Grant reappear. He was holding a condom and the lube in his hand, which meant only one thing.
“Mmm… We’re gonna tag team you, aren’t we?” she asked Lane, a tremor of excitement erupting in her core.
“God, I hope so,” Lane mumbled, putting his big hand on the back of her head and pulling her to him. He eased over onto his back, moving her with him so that he was still lodged deep inside her.
Grace leaned forward, her breasts crushed against the hard planes of Lane’s chest as she started to rock slowly. The sofa shifted behind her, and she felt Grant’s leg brush up against her bottom.
“Fuck,” Grant groaned behind her. He hadn’t moved, so she knew he had to be watching, and that stirred her up that much more.
“You better hurry, cowboy,” Grace said, smiling.
For the past week, they’d done it every which way from Sunday, and Grace found that she happened to really like this particular position — her riding Lane while Grant fucked Lane’s ass. It was… Lord, it was freaking hot.
Lane thrust his tongue into her mouth, holding her closer, and Grace gave herself over to the moment. No more thinking. The only thing she wanted to do from here on out was to feel.
■□■□■□■□
Grant wasn’t sure how easy he could actually be. Watching Gracie ride Lane made his cock throb painfully every damn time. And for the last hour, Lane had been teasing him relentlessly as he sat on the couch completely naked.
Forcing Lane’s leg up to rest on the back of the couch, he opened the man up perfectly. Using the lube he’d retrieved from the bedroom, Grant coated his cock, stroking slowly so as not to tempt fate. He wanted this to last at least a few minutes.
Cupping Lane’s balls and kneading them firmly, the other man did exactly what Grant hoped he would do. Along with a deep, rumbling moan, Lane spread his legs farther apart, providing Grant with perfect access.
Grant slid two fingers into Lane, pulling another thundering moan from the big man. But he didn’t play for long, wanting desperately to bury himself inside of him while Gracie rode Lane’s cock.
Without warning, Grant lined his cock up with Lane’s puckered hole, pulled his fingers out, and then slid deep inside of him, forcing Gracie forward just a little.
“Sonuva… Oh, yeah, that’s good.”
Gracie glanced over her shoulder, smiling when she realized just what he’d done. The way Lane bucked his hips was probably her first hint. But then Grant took over, leaning forward until his chest was resting along Gracie’s back. He began pounding his hips hard and fast, rocking her between the two of them, with a little help from her.
“You like when I ride you, cowboy?” Gracie asked, laughter in her voice.
“Yes, ma’am,” Lane answered breathlessly. “Love it, actually. Oh, God, Grant. Fuck me harder.”
The plea in Lane’s tone had Grant slamming into him, rushing the three of them to the breaking point. Gracie was partially right, they might just be late if he didn’t get on with it. Not that going to a birthday party for anyone was better than this.
“Come for me, Lane,” Grant bellowed, his balls tightening, the equivalent of a bolt of lightning starting in the base of his spine. “Come for me, Gracie.”
Gracie squeezed her hand between her and Lane, and Grant realized what she was doing. It wasn’t long before she was moaning along with them, the sound of their bodies slapping together nearly drowning out the roar of his blood in his ears.
“Yes!” Gracie screamed, her body tensing, her back bowing, pushing Grant up.
Taking the opportunity, Grant gripped Lane’s hips, slamming into him, one foot on the floor for better traction until… “Oh, hell!”
“Fuck yes!” Lane exclaimed at the same time, both of them exploding together.
■□■□■□■□
An
hour later
“Happy birthday, Dad,” Gracie told her father while Lane stood beside her.
“Happy birthday, Mr. Lambert,” Lane added.
“I think it’s safe for you to call me Jerry, Lane,” Jerry responded, holding out his hand to Lane.
Lane shook the proffered hand and smiled. “Yes, sir.”
The three of them had made it to the party just in time, minutes before Jerry had been scheduled to arrive. Everyone had been there, including the woman that Jerry was dating … Jan something or other — a woman Lane recognized from her past stay at the ranch.
Lane had been introduced to Jan at Sunday dinner, the first Sunday dinner he’d been invited to with the Lambert family. Yeah, that had been weird, all right. Weird but kind of cool at the same time.
Of course, spending any length of time with the Lambert sisters, Lane had been given a hard time, but that was to be expected. He’d taken it all in stride, thankful that Jerry’s girlfriend had been there, because had she not been, things might’ve gotten a little out of hand.
He noticed that the only person tonight, just like that Sunday dinner, who was notably absent was Mercy. Well, she wasn’t completely MIA. She was there, but she was doing her best impression of a shadow, sticking to the outer edges of the party. Rumor was that she wasn’t happy with the fact that Jerry was dating someone.
Lane could somewhat understand that, but he found it difficult to wrap his mind completely around because the other sisters seemed to be okay with it. Hope and Faith had welcomed Jan with open arms. Trinity was a little more reserved, and Gracie was doing her best to pretend she was happy. But Mercy… Mercy was making it glaringly obvious that she wasn’t comfortable with the woman at all.
No one seemed to be addressing the issue, though, which seemed a little strange.
But, in the same instance, they were all getting used to the fact that he and Lane were dating Gracie, as well. That had been a shock to them, Lane knew. He’d seen it on their faces when Gracie had insisted on officially telling them just last week, even though Lane was pretty sure they’d put two and two together already. It kind of made the fact that Jerry was dating a woman seem normal when Gracie had laid it on them that she was in love with two men and they were in love with her as well as each other.
As for the acceptance at the ranch, Lane had to say that he was seriously surprised. No one seemed to give a shit one way or another. And honestly, Lane had been more worried about how they would react to the fact that Lane and Grant were together. Considering no one was talking about it much, he had to believe that they were coming to terms with it slowly.
At least he hoped that was the case.
“Hey,” Grant greeted when he returned to stand by them.
“Everything okay?” Lane asked, glancing down at the phone in Grant’s hand.
“Yeah. It’s good. That was my mom. She just got back from her first counseling session. Then she went to see my dad.”
“Is your dad…?”
“No, he’s still in rehab. Gonna be there for a while. My mom told him that he can’t come home yet. And if he wants her to be there when he does come home, he has to get some serious help.”
“Do you think he’s gonna do it?” Lane asked.
“Yeah. I do. She’s never left him before, although she’s threatened a million times. She drew the line when he hocked the TVs and threatened to sell her car. But the final blow was when the abuse started again. Apparently they’d been doing fairly well for the last couple of years.”
“Can’t say I blame her there,” Gracie commented as she turned back to them to join the conversation.
Lane wrapped his arm around her as he stared out at the couples who were dancing in the center of the room.
“Hey, what about you? Did you talk to your dad?” Grant asked, glancing over at Lane.
“Yeah.” Lane had talked to his father. Three times in the last week, in fact.
After all the shit that had gone down in the last couple of weeks, Lane had come to one conclusion. He was not going to let anything come between him and the two people he loved. Gracie and Grant had taught him a few things. One: he needed to stand up for what he believed in. Two: wearing his heart on his sleeve wasn’t the worst thing in the world. And three: don’t ever take for granted what you have.
After Gracie had broken down and shared her feelings about her mother, Lane had realized just how much he had done just that. So, he’d made the first move, approached his father directly, and surprisingly, the old man wasn’t holding as much of a grudge as Lane had thought he was. Maybe it was his father’s age, or maybe they’d just come to a point in their lives where it was okay to admit that they had both been wrong. Either way, Lane was happy to say that he and his father were working on their relationship. It wasn’t perfect yet, but he didn’t expect it to be.
He was still battling some of his own fears, but telling his mother about his relationship with Gracie and Grant had been a first step. And no, he hadn’t yet broached the subject with his old man. But he would.
Baby steps.
Gracie leaned against Lane, smiling as she put her arms around him and Grant.
“So, do y’all want to dance?” she asked, glancing back and forth between them.
“With each other? Or with you? ’Cause I like him and all, but I’m not much for dancin’ with a guy,” Lane teased.
“Well, I was actually thinkin’…”
Lane followed Gracie’s eyes until he noticed Maddie standing just a few feet away from them, grinning expectantly.
“Oh, you meant with her?” Grant asked. “I’ll definitely dance with the prettiest six-year-old in the room.”
Maddie giggled excitedly, and Lane watched as Grant moved toward her. She took her place on his boots, her fingers linked with his as he moved forward and back. Not an easy task, Lane knew, since he’d already danced with Maddie twice tonight.
“How ’bout you?” he asked. “Would you like to dance?”
“I’d love to,” she said, taking the hand he held out to her.
Lane pulled her against him, pressing his lips to the top of her head and holding her close while he watched Grant.
It was safe to say Lane had never been happier than he was right then. Well, maybe a couple of other times in the last week, but right there, surrounded by so many of his friends and the two people he cherished, Lane knew that nothing could ever beat this.
Epilogue
The middle of October
“Exactly why do you have so much shit?” Lane smarted off as he helped Grant carry some of the boxes from the back of his truck.
Grace held her coffee mug with both hands as she stood on the front porch watching the two men.
She still couldn’t believe this was happening. They were both moving in with her today. It had been almost two months since Grace had sprung the news on her father that she was in love with two men and that they loved her. In the days that had followed, with business booming and the days getting shorter, Grace had been able to spend a little more time with Lane and Grant than was normal for them.
In fact, they’d actually started dating. What a strange concept that was, especially since their relationship had started off mostly on a sexual level. Since they’d officially come out, Lane and Grant had taken her to the movies twice, to the local dance hall once, to the bowling alley — which they both promised never to do again because she had creamed them at bowling — and then to a local fair that had been set up in the neighboring town.
“Just get another box and quit complainin’,” Grant demanded with a rough chuckle when he and Lane returned from inside the house.
“It would help if you weren’t a damn hoarder,” Lane remarked, making Grace laugh again. She loved listening to them give each other a hard time.
She had to admit that dating them was fun, but this was even better.
On the nights they stayed over at her place, Grace rarely got any sleep, but she couldn’t very
well complain since she was often the one to wake them up in the middle of the night trying to feel them up. That was when the real fun began.
But over the course of the last two weeks, they hadn’t been able to spend nearly enough time alone. Enough being the key word. Grace wanted to spend every available minute with them. Sure, they made a point to have dinner together every night, if possible, but even that had been interrupted by the sheer number of guests who had converged on the ranch. As it turned out, Hope had come up with a Halloween-themed adventure, and people from all over were coming to stay just to check it out. That left very little time for them to enjoy much alone time.
The sound of horns honking had Grace turning away from the two sexy cowboys currently lifting boxes out of Grant’s truck in time to see Hope’s and Faith’s trucks pulling up in front of her house.
Great. To what did she owe this honor?
“Hey! We thought we’d come help,” Trin said when she hopped out of the passenger side of Hope’s black Chevy.
“Oh, my goodness!” Grace squealed when she noticed the little girl who followed closely behind her. “Maddie! What’re you doin’ here?”
Grace placed her coffee cup on the railing and made her way down the steps in time to reach out and catch the little girl who practically propelled herself into Grace’s arms.
“My daddy and I came to stay again. This time we’re gonna be here for a month.”
“A whole month?” Grace asked, intrigued.
“Yep,” Maddie answered.
“Ben surprised her,” Hope said as she ambled over. “Hell, he surprised us all,” Hope added under her breath, a smile tipping the corners of her lips.
Yeah, it was safe to say that Hope was happy about that, although it was clear she didn’t want anyone else to know it.
“What’re y’all doin’ standin’ around?” Mercy nagged as she passed by, a box in her hand. “You said we were comin’ to help them move in.”
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