Saying Yes

by Edie Sommers

  He jumped back with a squawk and snatched away the hose.

  Cold droplets hit my face and drenched my T-shirt. I squealed, reaching out to grab the hose back.

  The hose slipped free and soaked the ground. I slipped on wet weeds. Jack grabbed me. We both went down, laughing.

  He stared down at me, eyes burning. The laughter stopped. He kissed me. My ass and back were soaked. I couldn’t give a happy damn.

  Once more my nether regions cried out. I wanted him so badly I ached.

  He rolled, putting me on top, him taking the brunt of the wetness. Grass clippings clung to us both. If we didn’t do something soon, the neighbors might call the cops. I grabbed his hand and hauled him to the nearest privacy—my shed.

  No sooner had I slammed the door than we were all over each other. Hands, mouths, bodies. Peeling wet fabric off our skin slowed us, but not by much. I turned and clutched the seat of my still-pinging mower.

  I wanted, now, now, now.

  Jack fingered my folds, spreading wetness, and teasing my over sensitized flesh. I sucked in a breath and pushed back. Wanton? Yes, but I was on fire.

  He pulled me upright, plastering my back to his chest, caressing my breast with one hand while he finger fucked me with the other.

  Felt good. Felt damned good. But not nearly enough.

  “I want you in me,” I whimpered.

  “Well, I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t give a lady what she wanted,” he replied in husky tones. He kissed the side of my neck, sheathed himself and slid inside. Where he’d gotten the condom, I was too far gone to ask.

  Then, oh dear God! Nothing else mattered but him in me. I shoved back against him while he held my hips. He spread me so perfectly, filling me completely, hitting me in all the right places, like, right there…

  I cried out when he found my G spot, and my knees nearly buckled. Good, good, good, good, good. Delicious tremors rocked me, and inside a spring wound tighter and tighter, threatening the tear my world apart when it broke free.

  We grunted and moaned through no easy coupling. Primal, savage.

  He bent and kissed my back. I gripped the mower harder to keep from falling off. He shoved into me, I matched him stroke for stroke.

  Harder and faster he pushed into me. My pulse roared in my ears, my damp hair slithered over my shoulders. So good, so right. So… Oh! I bit my lip to keep from crying out and sending the neighbors running to investigate.

  Jack’s barely audible cry joined mine. He froze, gripping my hips. Lightning zinged through me, and only his strong hands and our intimate connection kept me off the floor.

  Waves of pleasure slammed into me, rolled me, took me under, and then started anew. I came, and came, and came.

  The moment never seemed to end.

  Finally, with one last gasp, the aftershocks gentled. Jack collapsed onto my back, holding me. “That was a surprise.” He chuckled.

  “Tell me about it.”

  He righted himself, slipped out of me, and helped me turn and plop down on the mower seat. “You all right?”

  Was I? “I’m not sure.” My shaky knees might never hold my weight again. I couldn’t look at him. I’d been so… so… horny.

  He brushed the hair from my eyes and gave me a gentle kiss, tipping my chin up with strong fingers until I gazed into his eyes. The admiration I saw there nearly sent me to trembling again.

  “Need any help?” Jack asked.

  I shook my head, damp strands of hair plastered to my face. “Nah, I’m good. I think I’ll sit here for a while before I go back out.” Last thing I wanted was for the folks across the street to see us coming out of this shed together, adjusting our clothes. What had I been thinking?

  I stared at Jack through the scant illumination of what might laughingly be referred to as a skylight. God, he was gorgeous. So was Andy. And hot. And thoughtful in his own way.

  “You sure?” Jack tugged his clothes back on.

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  One last kiss and he slipped from the building, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

  No, I wasn’t all right. Might never be again, for I’d involved myself with two of the most wonderful men to have ever lived.

  And could only keep one.

  13

  My cellphone rang the moment I’d settled into my car after work. “Andy” appeared onscreen.

  No way to stop the smile that came unbidden to my face. “Hi, Andy! What’s up?”

  “Cassie? I need a favor.”

  My smile fell at the panic in his voice. What now? Did he want me to forget the whole “date us for a while thing?” I tried to keep the fear from my voice. My chest tightened as I waited for the worst. “Sure, what’s up?”

  “It’s Grandpa.”

  My heart dropped to my stomach. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve been calling and he doesn’t answer. Jack and I are at the car sale, five hours away. If we left now we wouldn’t be home until nine.”

  Damn. That was a lot of words for Andy, each one laced with sincere concern. “Where is he, at home?”

  “Yes. He was doing some packing today. I hate to bother you, but would you mind checking on him?”

  “Grandpa? Of course not! I’m leaving work now and can be there in about a half hour.”

  Relief poured through the phone. “Thanks. Call and let me know he’s okay, please. It’s not like him not to pick up.”

  “Sure. And Andy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I…” What the fuck? “I love you” nearly tripped off my tongue. “I’ll be sure to call.”

  A moment’s hesitation, and then, “Okay.”

  I hung up the phone. Where had declarations of love come from? Oh well, no time to think of it now. Saying the words might just muddy the waters at this point.

  Besides, I’d more important things to worry about. Grandpa didn’t answer when I called, so I headed the Mazda south and wasn’t a stranger with the gas.

  Grandpa’s Tahoe sat in front of the barn in its usual spot. Buttercup and the other horses peacefully munched grass in the corral. “Grandpa Getsinger?” I searched the main barn, his truck, and the stables. Nothing. I ran toward the house.

  The front door stood open. “Grandpa Getsinger!” I called through the screen. No answer.

  Creepiness settled over me about entering without be invited, but this was Grandpa Getsinger, and I’d been to this house often enough. Besides, Andy sent me.

  Grandpa could have fallen, even now be lying hurt somewhere.

  “Grandpa?” I opened the door and poked my head inside the old farmhouse. The grandfather clock in the parlor ticked off the seconds. He wasn’t sitting at his roll-top desk. I stepped into the foyer. The TV in the living room was off. No sounds emerged from the house.

  A board squeaked when I made my way down the hall. Motion from the kitchen caught my eye.

  Grandpa Getsinger sat at the table, a bottle of beer in front of him and a glass, darker in color, directly across. “Bout time you got here.”

  “You’re okay!” Intense relief brought tears to my eyes, and I fought not to squish him in a hug.

  “Of course I am.”

  “Why aren’t you answering your phone?” His cellphone sat on the table by his beer.

  “Would you have come if I had?”

  I’d been played. And well. Twisty, tangly feeling settled in my stomach. What was this about? “You ignored your grandsons’ phone calls to get me to visit?” Oh, dear. He’d told the guys if he’d been younger he’d be after me. Please let him not have decided to throw his hat into the ring.

  “Well, not exactly.” He had the good graces to look away. “First, I wanted to see who they’d call. But I’d hoped it’d be you.”

  I dropped down into the chair next to the waiting glass and took a swig of the wine he’d poured for me. He drank Coors. He’d planned this meeting to a T. “I don’t get what you mean.” If my heart raced any harder it’d burst from my chest and
charge out the door.

  “They got cousins around here, but when they needed something, they called you. They trust you, are willing to depend on you. That’s a good thing, and rare too. Now, why don’t you text them and tell them I’d left my phone in the truck, I’m all right, and then we can have ourselves a chat.”

  Fingers numb, I texted Andy. Grandpa had gone through a lot of pains for this conversation. If he’d gotten wind of me, Andy, and Jack, I might not like what I’d soon be hearing.

  “Thank you!” Andy texted back a moment later.

  I put my phone on the table and met Grandpa’s gaze. “What did you want to see me about?” Ker-thump, ker-thump went my pulse in my ears.

  He took a sip of his beer before answering. “They told you I’m leaving soon, right?”

  “Yes.” They’d also told me I’d lose one of them as a neighbor. I swallowed hard, even without taking a drink of my wine.

  “Well, it’s been me and those boys since their grandma died. We’ve always depended on each other. Before I go, I need to make sure they have someone else to turn to when they need it. You’ve been a good friend to them ever since you moved in next door.”

  “I’ve tried to be. They’re good guys. I… like them a lot.”

  Grandpa wasn’t fooled for a minute. “They’ve had their heads up their asses for a long time now. The moment you moved in it’s been ‘Cassie, this’ and ‘Cassie, that’.”

  “It has?”

  Grandpa busied himself peeling the label off his beer bottle. “You care about my boys, and I trust you to take good care of them. Be there for them since I can’t.”

  “Do you mind if I ask about their parents? What happened to them?” In all the time I’ve known them, they barely mentioned their father, and never their mother, no matter how much I spoke of mine. I knew their father died when they were young, but not much else.

  Grandpa took a few moments before answering me. “I’d rather you ask the boys. Let them tell you. You shouldn’t hear their story from me. I’m biased and might not tell it like they would.”

  “Fair enough.” Judging by Grandpa’s reaction, and the guys’ silences, the story must’ve been pretty bleak. My heart ached for my guys.

  My guys. Yes. They were my guys. For now, and I hoped for always.

  We sat in silence until the quiet grew oppressive. “I really like your grandsons, you know.”

  Grandpa smiled. “I know. I’ve seen it every time you’ve been here and wondered how they could ignore you and take out every other woman in the county.”

  I traced the rim of my glass with a fingertip, anything to avoid meeting the man’s eyes. Ever wise, it wouldn’t take much for him to see all the things I longed to keep hidden. “I’ve wondered that too.”

  “They wouldn’t hurt the other, that’s all. Believe me, they wanted to, both of ‘em.”

  I took a sip of wine. How surreal to be having this conversation so casually. Maybe Grandpa didn’t know of our arrangement, only worried for his grandsons.

  I answered with all the truth in my heart, “They’re my friends. I’ll be there for them. Always.” As long as they’d let me.

  “Good. That’s all I needed to know.”

  Work became a blur, moments spent between time with Andy, time with Jack, or time with Andy and Jack.

  We sat on my porch swing sipping sweet tea and watching the sun set on the world. “Tell me something about yourselves that you think might surprise me,” I said, a topic I’d gleaned from one of those silly “How Well Do You Know Your Boyfriend” polls in this month’s issue of Cosmo.

  Jack answered for Andy. Nothing unusual there. “In high school, Andy was captain of our junior varsity football team.”

  Really? Now there was a surprise. I turned toward the suddenly beet-red Andy, who said, “Jack was high school chess champion.”

  What? I whipped my head around to stare open-mouthed at Jack. Mr. Rugged Outdoors played chess?

  “Andy won an FFA scholarship but turned it down because he didn’t want to leave here.”

  “Jack was engaged once.”

  Jack and I both whiplashed to stare at Andy. Andy shrugged. “Well, you were.”

  Jack grimaced and closed his eyes. “That’s definitely something you don’t know.”

  I laid a hand on his arm. “Really, Jack. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” All I planned to share was the time I dyed my hair pink. By accident. This was so much deeper than a bad dye job.

  “That’s okay. I should tell you. It’s no secret. Everybody else in this town knows.” Jack sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face. “Her name was Debbie. I only took her out a few times. All she wanted to talk about was her ex-boyfriend, so I stopped seeing her. Two months later she said she was pregnant with my kid. I tried to do the right thing.”

  He told the story in a flat voice, totally devoid of emotion. The tightness around his eyes and firm set of his shoulders said he wasn’t as unaffected as he tried to pretend.

  If I’d been Jack, I’d have been livid at Andy for telling me without his permission. Jack said, “I should have told you already. It’s not like I held it back. It just wasn’t important.”

  “Wasn’t important? You were going to marry her.” A knife twisted in my heart, and instant dislike formed for this Debbie I didn’t even know.

  I remembered the night at the club, the woman who’d implied that Jack had been hurt. Her words made sense now.

  Debbie from Jack’s past had been pregnant. With Jack’s child. Having a son or daughter wasn’t unimportant.

  “Andy tried to warn me. I wouldn’t listen. I’d bought a ring, the marriage license, everything.” Jack stared at his hands. “Then I found out that she’d told three other guys they were the father, including the ex-boyfriend. They got married.”

  “Oh, my God! She didn’t!” That bitch! Dang! How horrifying. “Are you sure the child wasn’t yours?” I couldn’t imagine pulling such a trick on a man. Especially not a loving, wonderful man like Jack.

  “There was no child,” Andy offered, shrugging again. “Debbie lied. She’s a bit of a sociopath.”

  A bit? “I’m so sorry.” I put my arm around Jack. What the woman had done was beyond despicable. Good thing Jack hadn’t married her. He deserved so much better.

  “Don’t be sorry,” Jack said. “I learned a valuable lesson. But hey, did you know that Andy made Dean’s list in college?”

  Yeah, time to change the subject.

  Andy shoved his foot against the porch, setting the swing to moving. We sipped our tea in time with bullfrog croaks from the Evans’ pond down the street. Cricket chirps blended with katydid calls to form a perfect summer harmony for the fireflies’ mating dance in the front yard.

  The air held hints of a neighbor’s barbeque and magnolia blossoms from the tree behind the duplex.

  Peaceful. Relaxed. “A moment” my mom used to call them. Those seconds in time that buried themselves deep in our memories, to be pulled up later when we needed a reminder of the goodness of life. I secured my glass between my thighs and held out a hand to each of them. They took the offering and I sighed. Yes, a moment to be savored.

  I wanted nothing more than to hug Jack right now, take away any leftover pain. I wanted to hug Andy too. He’d not confessed to heartbreak but sharing intimate details of his life wasn’t his way.

  Jack pressed his leg against mine, while Andy leaned in and dropped a kiss on my cheek. We were friends. We were lovers.

  Lovers.

  The chilled glass did nothing to cool the heat starting within. As casually as if discussing the weather, I asked, “Y’all want to go inside?” I held my breath and waited for their answer, heart beating a sharp staccato in my chest.

  We left our drinks on the porch and didn’t say a word as we slipped inside, Jack still holding one hand, Andy the other, heading straight for my bedroom. Halfway there I stopped. What the hell was I doing?

  “Are you sure about th
is?” Jack asked.

  To take two men to my bed at the same time? No. To express my feelings physically to the two men I came to love more with each breath? “Yes,” I whispered.

  Jack settled against my back, while Andy hugged me from the front. I soaked up their comfort. “Are y’all sure?” I asked.

  “Yes,” came from two directions.

  Jack trailed his lips across a shoulder bared by my tank top, while Andy nuzzled my cheek. I’d never felt so wanted, desired.

  I toed off my sandals, setting things into motion. They wouldn’t rush me, they wouldn’t set the pace, they’d look to my comfort zone, ever the gentlemen.

  Leaning up and standing on my toes put my mouth within kissing distance of Andy’s. Our lips touched, the kiss slow and chaste—not what I wanted right now. Threading my fingers through his hair, I opened my mouth, inviting his tongue inside.

  Andy moaned, twining his tongue with mine, deepening the kiss until my knees grew weak. Only Jack’s firm presence behind me kept me standing, his hands splayed around my waist. That wouldn’t do.

  I grabbed one of his hands and brought it to my aching breast, then the other, my nipples so hard they hurt. He thumbed the swollen nubs through my T-shirt, making it my turn to moan. My pussy throbbed. I wanted them. Wanted them both. Wanted them… now.

  Keeping Andy’s lips pressed to mine, I reached back, rubbing Jack’s hard length through his jeans. Damn. Full. Hard. Big.

  For me.

  Fire raged through me, all consuming. I wanted… no, I needed, their hands on me, my skin against theirs, exploring each other with eyes, hands, mouths.

  Gentlemen took too much time! I stepped out from between them, barely registering the confusion on Andy’s face before the world disappeared when I yanked my tank top over my head. Both men stood in wide-eyed fascination as I stepped back and unzipped my shorts. Sliding my thumbs under the waistband, I tugged, sending the cutoff denim over my hips, down my legs, and onto the floor.

  My purple lace demi-bra held my breasts high, nipples peeking out, and the matching thong left my ass exposed and longing for the caress of my lovers’ hands.