by Marla Monroe
Erik was proud that Dax was showing so much restraint when he could feel the other male’s anxiety that their mate might not accept them.
“I don’t understand. You barely know me. We’ve known each other for what, a few weeks now? How could you know that you like me that much in such a short time period?”
“It’s how it is for us. Look at your boss and her men. They just met and fell in love almost immediately. Do you believe in love at first sight? We do.” Erik wished he could will her acceptance of them on her, but he couldn’t. It was all in her hands.
“There’s no such thing, Erik. That’s just in books and movies. It takes time for two people to fall in love.”
“What about three people?” Dax asked.
“I-I don’t know. This is all so strange to me. I can’t help feeling close to you guys, but it doesn’t make sense.”
Erik could tell the mating heat was slowly affecting her. She wanted them physically, but emotionally she was still fighting it. How could they mate with her if she wasn’t completely on board?
They couldn’t.
Fuck.
“Let’s go for a ride while our meals settle. We don’t want the night to end yet.” Erik finished the last bite of his pie and signaled the waitress for their check.
“I can’t be out too late or my sister will worry.”
“We won’t keep you late. Just a little while longer to talk. Spending time with you means a lot to us, Jeanie,” Dax told her.
After paying for their meal, Erik stood and watched as Dax helped Jeanie from her chair. He helped her up into the cab of the truck and then walked around to the driver’s side while Dax scooted in next to her.
“Have you ever been out to the lake when the moon is out?” Erik asked.
“No. I really haven’t been much of anywhere. Once Mom got sick, my sister and I pretty much kept close to home to take care of her. I worked at the factory until it closed down and then ended up working where you met me.”
“Don’t even think about that anymore. That’s in the past and not worth mentioning ever again. You’ve got a new life ahead of you now. We hope you’ll count us as part of it.” Erik maneuvered the truck through the streets and out into the country that separated the two towns.
He pulled up in the parking lot that bordered a small park next to the moonlit lake. He could tell that Jeanie was a little nervous and wanted to alleviate her fears that they were planning to have sex with her as if they were randy teenagers intent on scoring.
“Come on. Let’s sit on the picnic table and talk. Nothing else, honey. I promise.” Erik waited while Dax helped her out of the truck and then took her other hand in his to walk the short distance to the tables.
Once they’d all climbed up on the top and were sitting with Jeanie between them, Erik leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. She didn’t pull away, but he could feel the nervous energy thrumming off her in waves.
“You said you don’t have any dreams or wishes, Jeanie. Now’s the time to make them. What would you like to do if you could do anything in the world right now?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought past Mom getting well and my sister getting to go to college. That’s all I want out of life right now.” She shifted between them and looked up at the night sky. “It’s so pretty here. I can’t believe I’ve never noticed how many stars there are.”
“Hard to see them in town with all the lights,” Dax told her.
“Worrying about your mom and sister is part of what makes you, you, Jeanie. But you’ve got to think about yourself some as well. Do you want to go to college? Own a store? Become a singer?” Erik wanted to make her dreams come true, but if she didn’t have any, what could he do to win her over to them?
“Really, I don’t know. I want to enjoy my job and have fun doing it.”
“I think that’s a given.” Erik smiled and pulled her into a quick hug. “I think the bar is going to be a big hit. There isn’t a decent one within the three cities surrounding town.”
“I hope you’re right. I don’t mind waiting tables but would rather bartend. I did some of that when I went to college.”
“What did you major in?” Dax asked her.
“General business courses. I wasn’t sure what to do at the time.” Jeanie looked back up at the night sky. “I better get home. I don’t want my sister to worry.”
“No problem.” Erik jumped off the table, and then he and Dax each took a hand to help her down between them.
“Will you let us take you on a picnic out here tomorrow?” Erik asked.
He prayed she’d say yes. He needed to spend more time with her. Claiming her tomorrow, as they’d planned, wasn’t going to happen. She was much too skittish, and rushing into it would scare her away for good. He wasn’t sure how they would manage the mating heat riding them.
“I don’t know. I need to relieve my sister and let her get out some.”
“How about you talk to her tonight, and we can come over tomorrow and find out? If she’s going out, we can keep you and your mom company for a little while. We’d love to meet her. She sounds like a very brave and strong woman.” Erik hoped she’d agree.
“She doesn’t know.” Jeanie’s hurried statement startled them.
“About us?” he asked.
“About what I did. She can’t know.” Jeanie’s frantic stare from Dax back to him broke his heart.
“That’s behind you, and we’d never bring it up in front of your family, Jeanie. Never.” Erik’s heart broke for her.
* * * *
Jeanie hated that she’d blurted that out. It had happened before she could stop it. They wouldn’t say anything in front of her mom. She was sure of it, but fear drove her to say it.
“If you really want to stop by for a little while, that would be fine. I want Tilly to have a chance to get out some, as well. She stays home with Mom all the time with me working. It’s not fair to her.”
“We understand, honey. She deserves a life as well. We’ll stop by close to lunchtime and visit with you, then Tilly can take some time for herself. Will that be okay?” Dax asked.
“Sure.”
Jeanie couldn’t understand why she felt so aware of them. She barely knew them, yet something about them had her swaying toward them every time she looked up. With the three of them touching in the cab of the truck as they drove her home, Jeanie felt as if there were sparks of electricity firing all along her skin. Her body felt alive with the flecks of energy that seemed to burn in her bloodstream. She actually wanted them to touch her.
On the way back home, Jeanie found herself thinking about what it would be like for them to kiss her. Who would do it first, and why wasn’t she freaked out that there were two of them? Maybe it was because Kay had two men in her life now. Jeanie wasn’t sure, but she wanted to feel their lips on hers almost more than her next breath. What was going on with her?
“Here we go. Looks like your sister is still up. We didn’t keep you out too late.” Erik parked the car out front and turned toward Jeanie. “Thanks for letting us take you out to eat, Jeanie.”
“I enjoyed it, and the food was delicious.” She honestly meant it, too.
“I want to kiss you. Will you let me?” Erik asked her.
“Um, I’d like that,” she admitted.
Erik leaned in and cupped her chin in one hand as he brushed his lips across hers in a light caress before pressing a little more insistently so that she moaned against his mouth. When he retreated, Jeanie felt her body sway toward him, following his mouth with hers.
“Dax will walk you to the door. Good night, Jeanie. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Erik’s smile had her heart fluttering.
“Here we go.” Dax had opened the door and was reaching inside to help her down. Jeanie turned her attention from Erik to the other man and smiled down at him before letting him help her out of the cab.
“You don’t have to walk me to the door,” she told him.
“We’d never allow you to walk anywhere alone, honey. You mean too much to us to take a chance something might happen.”
“Like I trip or something?” she teased.
“Anything.”
She couldn’t help but like that they were so attentive. It bordered on obsessive, but to be the object of so much attention felt good after never feeling like she mattered outside of what she could do for a man’s needs.
That’s behind me. They even said it. I don’t need to ever think about it again.
It was one of the many things she appreciated about Dax and Erik. They didn’t seem to hold her past against her. They’d even told her to forget about it. If only she could. She still had nightmares about the night she’d believed she’d seen one of the men appear to start to turn into some kind of monster right on top of her. His eyes had changed to a sort of glowing amber.
She brushed that thought away and concentrated on Dax as he walked her to the front door. When they reached it, she was glad that her sister had left the porch light on. She could see the smile Dax wore as he pulled her into his arms for a warm hug. Then he dipped his head and kissed her much as Erik had. A soft brush of lips followed by a more solid press against hers. He kissed her forehead and took the key from her hands to unlock the door for her. When he handed it back, she swore his fingers lingered on hers just a moment longer than was necessary. It was almost as if he couldn’t stand the idea of letting her go.
Jeanie liked that. Liked that both men seemed to want to spend time with her despite her dire straits. She wanted to spend time with them as well. Somewhere between dinner and right then, Jeanie had fallen a little in love with them. They treated her like a lady, and more importantly, like their lady.
“Lock up behind me, honey. We’ll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams.” Dax opened the door and eased her inside before closing it behind her.
Jeanie locked the door and then leaned against it as she contemplated the night. They’d been perfect gentlemen and hadn’t pushed her in any way. She really liked them and enjoyed the time they’d shared, but was it enough for there to be more? She wasn’t sure. The hard part was knowing what their intentions were. She couldn’t stop how her heart had begun to beat for them. It was much too late for that. They’d wormed their way into it somehow.
“Where did you go?” Tilly walked into the living room wearing her pajamas with a smile on her face.
“They took me out to eat. I really enjoyed it. I don’t know what to think about them though.”
“Isn’t it weird there being two of them?” Tilly asked, walking over to the couch to sit down.
Jeanie joined her. “For some reason, it’s not. I don’t know why, but I like both of them the same way.”
“They seem nice enough. Do you trust them?”
“Yeah. I do. They’ve been perfect gentlemen and haven’t pushed me. They’re coming over tomorrow to visit. You can spend some time out doing whatever you want to do. Maybe you can visit with some of your friends. I know you haven’t been able to do that with Mom sick and me working.”
“That would be fun, but I won’t be out long. Most of my friends are either at school or working. How’s the bar looking?”
“Great. We’ll be open soon. Kay says if they do well, they may open up for the lunch crowd before long. Then I bet you can get a job there cooking if you want to.” Jeanie smiled. “I’d really like it if you could go to school to be a chef or at least get a degree in hotel administration or something.”
“I don’t want to cook fancy food. I just want to fix good home cooking. I’ll be perfectly happy with the bar if she does open it up for lunch. There isn’t anywhere in town to eat other than the truck stop outside of town.”
“We’d both better get in bed. I was out later than I’d intended. How was Mom today?”
“She had a good day. We drove over to the lake for a little while and watched the geese. She talked about taking popcorn or bread to feed them next time.”
“Do you think she’s getting stronger?” Jeanie asked.
“Yeah. I think she’s going to be fine. Her color is better.”
“We’ve been blessed, Tilly. For the first time since Mom got sick, I feel like everything is going to work out.”
“Me, too.”
Chapter Seven
Jeanie answered the door at ten the next morning to find Dax and Erik on the doorstep carrying two cardboard boxes.
“Goodness. What do you have in those?” she asked as she let them inside.
“Lunch and a surprise,” Erik told her.
“Jeanie? Who is it?” a frail voice called from the back of the house.
“I’ll be right there, Mom. It’s the two men I told you about,” Jeanie yelled toward the bedroom where her mom was sitting up in a chair.
“Go see about your mom, honey. We’ve got this,” Dax told her.
“I’ll be just a minute. I’m bringing Mom in here.”
“We’re fine here. We’ll wait on you to get back. Do you need help? We could carry her for you.”
“Oh, thanks, but she needs to walk to regain her strength.” Jeanie was touched that they thought about how to help them.
Jeanie walked down the hall to where her mom sat on a chair next to the bed. Her mom’s smile had her heart singing. It was good to see so much energy in the woman’s face.
“Are those your young men?” she asked.
It had surprised her that her mom hadn’t questioned that she was seeing two men. It was if since her illness she took things as they came and didn’t worry about what was right or wrong. As long as it didn’t hurt anyone, she seemed okay with it.
“Yes. Are you ready to go?”
“Yep. Help me stand. I can manage the walk I think.”
Jeanie helped her mom up and then steadied her as she got her balance. They slowly walked from the bedroom to the living room where she settled her mom in the recliner so she could put her feet up. Without even needing to say anything, Dax took the comforter off the couch and draped it over the woman’s legs.
“Thank you.” Her mom beamed up at the man. “And who are you?”
“I’m Dax and this is Erik,” he told her.
“I’m very pleased to meet you. You’re the reason my daughter has had a smile on her face this morning. I appreciate that.”
“She’s the reason we have one on our faces, as well,” Erik said.
“Where should we put the food, Jeanie?” Dax asked.
“Here, let me take it.” Jeanie reached for the box Dax was holding, but he moved it out of her reach.
“I’ll carry it. Just show me where to unload it.” Dax nodded toward the direction of the kitchen.
“You can put it on the counter.” Jeanie followed him and patted the countertop. “What is it? It looks like a lot.”
“We wanted to be sure there would be plenty for all of us and some left over. It’s spaghetti with garlic bread and fixings for a salad.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of food. What’s in the other box that Erik has?”
“A surprise for you and the rest of the family.” Dax began unloading the food.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“Erik cooked it. He’s not the best one in the world, but he does this really well. I can’t cook worth anything. We’d starve if it were left up to me.” His smile lit up his eyes so that they shined. She loved how they seemed so relaxed around her. Just his smile had her heart singing.
“It smells delicious. What do I need to do?” she asked.
“Nothing. We’ll warm it all up in a couple of hours. Has Tilly already gone out?”
“Yeah. She left early to catch a few of her friends before they headed to school or work.”
Erik called from the living room, “Bring your mom a glass of sweet tea. She said she was thirsty.”
While Jeanie poured the tea, Dax unloaded the remainder of the dishes. They both returned to the living area and sat on the couch so that she ended up betwe
en the two men.
“What’s in the other box? You’ve got me curious now,” Jeanie confessed.
“Kay said you loved to read, so we got you and Tilly a few books by the authors that she said you read.” Erik opened the box and began pulling out book after book by some of her favorite authors. Some were rather risqué to be in the hands of two men who said they liked her.
“Goodness. How many books are there?” she asked, as they piled even more on her lap.
“We found about twenty. Most of them are used, but we didn’t think you’d mind.” Erik folded the box down and leaned it against the side of the couch. “Hope you haven’t read all of them already.”
“No. I haven’t, and Tilly will be ecstatic when she sees these. You shouldn’t have gotten so many of them. It couldn’t have been cheap.” Jeanie felt the burn of fresh tears behind her eyes.
“They were at a used bookstore. They weren’t much at all.”
“Even if I’ve read some of them, I’ll want to reread them. I love these authors. It’s been a while since I’ve had time to read. I can’t wait.” Jeanie looked through the books and shook her head.
“Thank you so much, guys.” She hugged first Dax then Erik before she even thought about it.
“Hand me one, Jeanie. I want to read. I haven’t read a book in years.” Jeanie’s mom leaned forward to look at the stack on the coffee table.
“Um, cowboy okay with you?” she asked.
“I love cowboys. That will be great to start with.”
Jeanie handed a book over to Erik, who handed it to her mom. The other woman immediately opened it and began to read. Jeanie just watched her for a few minutes, loving that her mom felt well enough to concentrate on something so trivial. Maybe she really was getting back to her old self again.
“Will we disturb your mom if we talk some?” Erik asked.
“You won’t disturb me, but why don’t you go back into the girls’ bedroom so you can have some privacy? I may end up taking a nap in the middle of reading anyway. I’m still regaining my strength.” Jeanie’s mom shooed them off.
“Just call if you need anything, Mom. I’ll have the door open.”