“I’m sorry, Rosemary. We told you this was your home away from home. I can’t very well get mad at you when you sunbathe where the sun is best. I had no idea that’s what you’d be wearing. I’m really sorry I startled you and made you jump up because it’s my fault you were exposed. I saw David’s and Steve’s faces, and it made me angry that other men saw you like that. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. The truth is I love that tiny little bikini on you.” Just not when other men were around.
He must’ve done okay apologizing because she pressed her forehead against his shoulder and replied, “I’m sorry, too, Evan. I should’ve asked if there were going to be people coming over before wearing this. Next time I’ll stay in the backyard. I’m sorry I yelled back at you. They probably thought I was a real harpy.”
Evan grinned and said, “Harpy? No. Firecracker? Yes, probably.” Truthfully, he loved that she was a little spitfire. It kept life interesting.
Rosemary crossed her arms under her breasts again, so the red material was visible through the white cotton. “About that spanking you threatened me with?” she asked, looking at him pointedly.
Cautiously, Evan turned so he faced her on the bed. “I can imagine how you feel about that. Making threats like that was not cool at all, I know, but hear me out, okay?”
She scoffed lightly. “This should be interesting.”
Evan didn’t reply in kind to her comment because she had a right to question his intentions. “From time to time, we have customers who want to see the shop, see samples of what we can do. A lot of our business is done on the internet but not all of it. Customers come from San Antonio and Austin, sometimes from Mexico. We’ve always welcomed visitors, but that doesn’t mean we do background checks on them. What if someone showed up and you were here alone and exposed like that? What if the visitor mistakenly assumed that if you were willing to expose that much flesh you might also be available for some uninvited attention? We’d never forgive ourselves if something happened to you.”
“I can see your point of view, Evan. But what does this have to do with spanking me?”
Evan noted that while she was still determined to get to the issue that concerned her most, she didn’t seem like she was ready to walk out over it. Maybe she was more curious than concerned.
Forging ahead, Evan asked, “Would you agree, now that you see it from a different perspective, that seeing to your safety should be a higher priority than finding a sunbathing spot with premium sunshine?”
“Certainly, but—”
“I’m getting there, baby. It was a mistake on my part to threaten a spanking in front of the others, and I apologize for doing that to you. But now that you know you’re safer in the yard, if you ever endangered your safety like that again, I’d spank your ass bright pink.”
Her full, pink lips popped open in surprise. “You would not,” she whispered, her cheeks flaming with color. Evan noted that she didn’t immediately hop up and flounce out of his room. She sat there quietly, evidently thinking about what he’d said. Evan also noticed that she squirmed a bit where she sat. Was the thought of a spanking turning her on? He loved her enough that he’d risk offending her to keep her safe, but it hadn’t occurred to him when this discussion began that she might be intrigued by the idea.
“I would, baby, I promise. Your well-being and safety have become my number one priority. If you endanger either, I’d spank you to get your attention and teach you to be more careful. If I didn’t care about you, adore you, I wouldn’t care whether you laid out buck-ass nekkid on the front lawn. We’ll clear out some of the trees in the backyard to allow more sunlight for you if that’s what you want. Hell, we’ll put in a pool for you if it’s something you’d like back there, but I won’t tolerate you putting yourself in harm’s way.”
Uncertainly, she replied, “I’m used to taking care of myself and being on my own. I’m sure I’m going to do things you view as ‘endangering’ myself from time to time.”
Evan sensed that this was not the moment to equivocate. She needed the truth, and she needed to know where he drew the line. “Well, you’d better start considering some of those things, Rosemary. I’m not going to go looking for reasons to spank you. I don’t want you afraid of chastisement when we’re together. But you shouldn’t push it, either.” His last words drew her gaze to his, and he saw…something there before she looked away. Interesting. He could almost hear the gears turning in her head.
Rosemary gave what he said some thought then nodded. “Okay, but what if I misbehave and don’t realize it’s a spanking offense?” She gave him the innocent-eyed angel look, but he saw the way her full upper lip curled slightly as she suppressed a smile.
Evan chuckled and leaned into her space a little. “Well, misbehavior is something totally different. If you were a naughty girl and needed a spanking, I might have to pull down your panties and spank your little heinie over my knee until you promised to be a good girl.”
She gasped and squealed when he reached for her and began tickling her on his bed. Rosemary was very ticklish, so it didn’t take long for her to beg him to stop.
“So am I forgiven?” he asked, poised over her on his now messy bed.
Beautiful and breathless, she nodded. “If you’ll forgive me for yelling at you like that. I’m really embarrassed they saw my chee-chees.” She giggled when he rolled his eyes at her use of his juvenile term for breasts while they were growing up.
Evan gathered the hem of the T-shirt he’d given her and tugged it up to reveal the breasts in question and growled, making her giggle again. “Damn, woman, but these are some fine breasts you have here. I can’t believe I was so hardheaded for so long. I could’ve been feasting on this bounty all these years.”
Rosemary scoffed playfully, but there was a tender quality to her words. “I know. But I saved them for you, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did, now when are you going to break down and let us make love to you? I’m available at a moment’s notice.” He pressed his solid erection against her hip while kissing her cleavage. He understood she had her reasons for wanting to wait to have sex, and he couldn’t rightly blame her. The reason was mostly his fault. It had been a few weeks since she’d come back into their lives as part of their threesome, but she hadn’t spent the night yet.
Evan supposed Rosemary was waiting for the other shoe to fall. Waiting for the first confrontation, the first argument, to see how things went. He thought they’d handled it like adults, apologizing and compromising. Evan knew he and Rosemary were both a little hotheaded, and he was not so foolish that he believed because they’d handled this little setback well that it would all be peachy-keen from there on out. Life for them was going to be a series of confrontations and, hopefully, reconciliations until they figured out ways to avoid all but the most important conflicts. Rosemary needed assurance that what they had wasn’t going to flat-line at the first sign of difficulty.
As for her little crack about misbehavior, Evan had a feeling he and Wes were going to see plenty of it, judging by her reaction and her words. While he’d been tickling her on the bed, he’d caught the scent of her arousal as she wiggled and squirmed beneath him. Her fragrance made his mouth water for a taste, but he was going to do like Jack had suggested and put her in the driver’s seat. As much as his cock hated him for it, if she knew she was in control of the timeframe and didn’t feel pressured, she’d come to them sooner rather than later. His cock thought that was a stupid-ass plan and wanted in, now.
“Soon, big boy. I don’t want to go there until I’m ready.”
Evan nodded in understanding. He knew first hand, once you flipped that switch, it was damn near impossible to unflip it. Even though it had infuriated him during that fateful Christmas break, the sight of them in bed together, glowing with satiation, had been riveting. It made his cock twitch and his balls draw up now, thinking how much he’d missed her and the three of them together, and for how long.
If he hadn’t had his hea
d up his ass, or more accurately, if he hadn’t been thinking with his dick, they probably would’ve been long-settled by now. The thought made him sad and renewed his desire to earn her trust.
“Don’t be upset, Evan. I just need a little more time.”
He nodded and smiled, encouraged that any trace of her earlier upset was gone.
“I want to do one thing for you, now that we’ve worked things out,” Evan began carefully.
“What’s that?”
“Give you a safe word.”
“A safe word? Why?”
“Because you seemed interested in the idea of erotic spanking. Wes and I won’t do that unless you’ve been provided a safe word.”
“Oh, okay. I trust you. I don’t see why it’s necessary.”
“You need to have a way of calling an immediate halt to whatever kind of play we’re involved in, especially spanking. The safe word would apply to any kind of spanking. Not just play spanking.”
“You mean if you were punishing me, I could—”
“Call an immediate halt to it. It needs to be a word that you don’t normally use in conversation.”
She paused and thought for a few seconds. “Boomerang.”
“Boomerang it is. If we’re ever doing something together and you want it to stop immediately, say ‘boomerang’ and it stops.”
Rosemary rolled her eyes at him and smiled. “All right. But I think it’s unnecessary.”
“People wiser than us said it should be non-negotiable that you have a safe word.”
“Who?”
“Ethan Grant and Grace Warner.”
“Oh.”
“Why don’t we go find Wes and let him know everything is fine?” Evan said, rising from the bed and offering her his hand.
They found Wes still in the office with the door closed, working at his desk. He looked up from his laptop cautiously. “So? Are we all okay?” Evan felt guilty at the guarded look on Wes’s face.
Rosemary smiled at Evan when he released her hand and directed her to his brother, sensing that was what she was waiting for from him. She reached for Wes, and Evan watched his brother relax as his arms slid around her hips to pull her to him.
“Yes, honey. We’re all okay. I’ll be more careful in the future, and I won’t be sunbathing anywhere besides inside the privacy fence. Evan said he would clear some of the post oaks out of the yard so it gets more sunshine back there.”
Wes pressed his nose to her belly and inhaled. “Sure, baby. We can do that. We probably should’ve taken care of that already. They get pretty thick around here.”
Evan smiled as Rosemary stroked her fingertips through his brother’s hair, reassuring him with her touch that all was well. “You don’t have to clear them all. I love oak trees, even post oaks. Just clear enough so I can sunbathe.”
Evan crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door jamb. “I told her we’d also see about putting a pool in back there. She liked that idea.”
Rosemary turned her face to gaze at him and said, “You spoil me. Skinny-dipping is sure going to be fun!” She laughed out loud when they rolled their eyes and groaned.
Chapter Five
Rosemary was willing to admit it was morbid curiosity, balanced with a huge portion of mistrust, that had her sneaking out to the workshop in the afternoon of the following day. Not mistrust in her men, but in the woman who belonged to the disembodied voice she’d just heard. Though she was pretty sure she didn’t know the owner of that voice, she definitely recognized the sexy, dulcet tone as the woman walked past the house on the other side of the privacy fence from Rosemary. That was the sound of a woman on the prowl.
Rosemary was currently up to her elbows in landscaping mix, fortifying the soil in the empty flowerbeds that lined the back veranda before planting Mexican heather. Wes had mentioned to her earlier that morning that they were expecting a visit from a supplier in San Antonio. Evidently, the account representative was a woman who’d visited with Rosemary’s men on more than one occasion, judging by her familiar tone.
Rosemary frowned and took notice when the woman dropped a not-so-thinly-veiled innuendo after Evan mentioned that Wes was tied up in the workshop. Rosemary heard a seductive laugh and a comment concerning what she’d do if she had either of them tied up in the shop. The Mexican heather could wait a few minutes.
For Evan’s part, it seemed that he ignored the comment. Rosemary slipped to the fence and peeked through the slats. She watched as the woman stroked Evan’s arm as they walked along talking. Evan’s hands were down in his pockets, and he did not look at the woman but sidled a few inches farther away as he walked with her to the shop. Rosemary smiled at his subtle reaction.
The woman didn’t seem to notice and kept on talking. If this was a business contact, Rosemary wouldn’t want them to brush her off too brusquely unless she was more overt once she got in the shop, behind closed doors. Rosemary dealt with her fair share of friendly suppliers and account representatives working at Cheaver’s. They were a mixed lot. Some were super friendly and helpful professionals, and then there were some for whom the job was a chance to socialize and network, sometimes taking the contact further than necessary.
Evan and the woman disappeared through the wide double doors of the workshop a moment before Rosemary quietly raised the latch on the side gate of the privacy fence and slipped through. She convinced herself she had a right to know how the men handled someone like this because she was sure this was not the only female account rep they had to deal with. Stopping beneath one of the opened windows on the side of the shop, she leaned against the exterior wall and listened to the woman make her pitch.
Rosemary had only gotten a small glimpse of her through the fence, but it was enough to know that the woman was a statuesque blonde, dressed in a red pencil skirt that stopped at the knees and a snug, white knit top and tall, metallic heels. She was everything that Rosemary was not, dressed as she was in her gray yoga pants, thin, pink tank top, and wild ponytail.
The woman, whose name turned out to be Davina, covered all the pleasantries with Wes as he finished varnishing a table top. Wes and Evan discussed what they’d need from her employer and took care of business before Davina gradually dropped into a more flirtatious mode of conversation. It was obvious she found both men attractive and, in irritation, Rosemary missed some of what Davina said because she dropped her voice down to a lower, sexier pitch.
“Are you coming to the trade show and convention on the Riverwalk this fall?” Davina asked, her voice sounding as if she were moving around the shop.
Rosemary detected the barest hint of irritation in Wes’s voice. It sounded like he was still working on the tabletop. “I don’t know, Davina. It depends on how busy we are.”
Still moving, Davina murmured, “I’ll be in the convention center at our booth. You should stop by. We could go clubbing on the Riverwalk afterward. I booked a nice, big suite at the Aurora Suites downtown. Maybe the three of us could get together and have some fun?” she added in a clear invitation.
Rosemary’s heart raced, and her ears perked up, wondering what their response would be to that. She didn’t have to wait long.
“It’s nice of you to offer, Davina, but Evan and I are involved in a committed relationship.”
Rosemary almost snickered Bart Simpson-style, wondering if Wes was playing back in his head what he’d just said to her. Proving she wasn’t one of the sharper crayons in the box, Davina paused then said, “Wait a minute. I thought you were related.”
Rosemary rolled her eyes. This woman obviously didn’t know her men all that well.
When Wes replied, she could hear the smile in his voice, “We are, Davina. We’re brothers, but we’re involved in a relationship. We have a woman in our lives we’re very much in love with. If we went to the trade show and convention, we’d probably be spending every spare minute of it with her.” Rosemary’s heart flew at the happy, free tone he used explaining to Davina. “But we appre
ciate your offer.”
“Speak for yourself, big boy,” Rosemary mouthed silently to herself. She didn’t appreciate the offer one damn bit, but she sure did appreciate his words. They were turning down an easy lay for her.
“You mean you’re sharing her? As in a ménage?” Davina didn’t sound terribly put off by that notion. Rosemary wasn’t sure it was a good idea to share that information with her, but it did make both her men inaccessible to Davina.
Evan responded, “Yes.”
“Ooh. Lucky girl,” Davina said suggestively.
“We’re the lucky ones.” Evan’s tone held the barest hint of a defensive edge.
Sounding unconcerned, Davina continued, “She sounds like fun. Maybe you’d like to—”
Rosemary couldn’t believe her ears as she fought a full body shudder. Double fucking eww!
Wes quickly cut Davina off before all the words were out of her mouth. “No. Not happening, but thanks for the…thought.” Rosemary cringed and blessed Wes for cutting her off when he did. Now the thought of Rosemary sharing her men with another woman for a weekend was lodged in her brain, making her feel a little nauseous. Rosemary did not consider herself to be prudish at all, but a girl had to draw the line somewhere.
Davina’s tone remained light. “Oh well, you never know…I guess I’ll see myself out, guys. I’ll make sure you get what you need. Appreciate the business and good luck with your…girlfriend. I mean it. She really is a lucky girl.”
“Thanks, Davina.”
Evan’s succinct response said it all for Rosemary. Both her men were prone to use endearments with women they were friendly with. They were waiting for Davina to leave, not encouraging any further banter with her. One of the double doors swung open then shut, and Rosemary heard a growl then a metallic clicking sound.
“I’m calling Papillion,” Wes muttered. “Rosemary would be pissed as hell if she knew the extent of that conversation. I doubt Ed would be too happy, either, to know that his account representatives acted like that toward customers out in the field. I know we’re pretty casual around here, but damn, Davina’s over the top.”
Rainier, Heather - Rosemary's Double Delight [Divine Creek Ranch 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 5