“I haven’t been parking in years.” Then she frowned. “Can you even do that in the front seat of a pickup truck?”
“We brought a blanket. It’s a nice night. We thought we’d show you our own little piece of Texas. We don’t have a house there yet, but it’s all ours.”
The smile she gave him weakened his knees and stiffened his cock, all at the same time. She gave the same smile to Barry, and then sighed. “That sounds like the perfect date to me.”
He could only hope that he and his brother could live up to her expectations.
Chapter 8
Charlotta could see well enough to get an idea of the landscape. The moon spawned silver light over the grass covered, somewhat uneven and rolling field so that she could see a wooded expanse to the southwest, and open pasture dotted with various bushes and smaller trees.
“It’s different from what was for us,” Jesse said, standing beside her. His voice quiet, she sensed his heart was in his words. “We’ve ridden over most of it, and have some idea where we’d like to put the house. But that’s for later. For right now, this seven hundred acres is enough, added with Cord and Jackson’s and Chase and Brian’s land, it’s enough to add the second herd of cattle. It’s enough to begin our future.”
“There’ll be horses, too, you said?”
“Yeah, the cousins wanted mostly to breed and train horses—good quarter horses for ranching, rodeo—you name it.” Barry stood on her other side, a blanket folded over his arm. “You don’t need the acreage for horses the same as you do for the cattle. We figure we’ll have to supplement their feed, of course. But we can do that.”
“Benedicts came to Montana from right here, just at the end of the Second World War,” Jesse said. “Our grandfather Emerson Benedict arrived with a pocket full of money and very definite ideas on how he wanted to organize his ranch. His sons—our father, George, and our uncles Carter and John, each bought up land there, and carved an empire out for themselves. Each son added to the portion granddad gave them, but operated their holdings separately, as individual enterprises. All according to Emerson Benedict’s master plan, and all well established now. We had the option of being a part of Dad’s business, which we have been, with land we could use personally, but never own—not until we inherited it, or bought extra for ourselves. That never bothered us. We’re ranchers, and the land was ours by birth, if not by title.”
“This is Benedict land,” Charlotta said. It was difficult keeping that part of her that was trained counselor under wraps. She’d heard a lot of pain and a lot of self-recrimination earlier, as these two good men told her of what was likely the most painful part of their past. She didn’t hear excuses for their behavior, or any kind of prevarication. They owned their actions, were deeply sorry for them, and had been trying—from their hearts and from their souls—to make amends ever since.
For the time being, Charlotta would keep her feelings about all they’d shared with her to herself. She wasn’t their analyst, she was their girlfriend, and soon, she would be their lover.
“Yes,” Barry said. “This is Benedict land.”
“It’s been Benedict land since Caleb and Joshua married Sarah,” Jesse said. He smiled, and ran his hand down her back. “We felt the connection the first time we rode it on horseback, almost as if they’d been right here, telling us about their adventure themselves—and welcoming us home.”
Barry spread the blanket out on a slight rise, and they settled themselves down. Charlotta didn’t feel any kind of tension now from either of them. She knew their sense of guilt over the way they’d treated their sister—when they’d only been kids themselves—wasn’t gone. But being here, on Benedict land, soothed them.
Much like her uncle was soothed by being on his land. Her father, not so much. He’d returned from being a soldier, carting her and her mother all over the world, and while he’d gone back to ranching and working with his brother, there’d been no solace there for him.
War had changed him, and made him even more hard edged than he had been—or so her Uncle Leroy said.
Jesse and Barry had been honest with her, but she hadn’t been honest with them. They’d opened their closet to reveal their skeletons, but her closet door remained firmly closed. She hugged her legs and wondered why there was such a wall of fear inside her. Why couldn’t she just say the words? Oh, by the way, I paid my way through college by being an exotic dancer. No big deal, but my daddy said I was a whore and disowned me. And mamma? Why, she never has a thought that daddy doesn’t have first.
“Shh, baby.”
“It’s okay, princess.”
She hadn’t made a sound, so Jesse and Barry’s comments didn’t, on the surface, make sense. But in her heart, it told her they were tuned into her, tuned into her moods.
“You don’t have to say anything until you’re ready,” Barry said. “That was just us, needing to be open with you. We can wait.”
Jesse and Barry Benedict were being amazingly patient with her. She wished she could just open up. She couldn’t yet and that was all on her. She’d never felt as comfortable this early on in a relationship as she did right now.
She’d never trusted as much as she already trusted these two men, not ever.
She couldn’t show them it was so with her words, but she certainly could with her actions. She unlocked her arms, and then laid back, her arms extended above her head. Jesse sat on her left, and Barry on her right, and she knew she had their full attention.
“I seem to recall a promise of fooling around.”
Both men grinned.
“Well, now.” Jesse took off his hat, tossed it to the ground, and then leaned over her, tenting her. The heat from his body radiated down, seeping into hers. He smiled, and she could smell the coffee he’d had and a fragrance that was all Jesse Benedict. His smile evolved into a look so hungry, it made Charlotta’s insides melt.
She had to touch him, had to let him know she shared his hunger. The light stubble on his face tickled her palm when she caressed his cheek. “Kiss me, please.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He lowered his face and her eyes drifted shut as his mouth covered hers.
She knew the taste of him now, the feel of his lips on hers, even though there’d only been a couple of kisses. Her body recognized his, the connection visceral. Charlotta sighed, contentment warring with arousal. Giving herself over to the physicality of the moment, she let her thoughts go and just steeped herself in him.
Tongues thrust and parried, then slipped into a dance more erotic than the hottest tango. His flavor became hers, and she drank him in with reckless abandon. Her arms snaked around his neck and her fingers combed through his short, silky hair. She caressed his broad, muscular shoulders. His weight never quite settled onto her, but the brush of his chest against hers made her nipples stiffen into hard, needy nubs.
He lifted his head far too soon. And as he did, she felt movement on her right, another body pressing close, another blast of heat, and her hunger grew, expanding into a craving.
A finger on her chin drew her. She let loose of one lover and encircled the other. Charlotta had no time or need to ask for this kiss. Barry settled his lips on hers and plundered.
Hot and heady, lavishly lusty, Barry Benedict used his lips like a weapon, ensnaring her, dropping them both deep into a haze of sexuality. Drowning in him, Charlotta wrapped her arms around him, drinking in every drop, reveling in the dueling of tongues and the honeyed nectar of seduction.
“We need more of you, princess.” Barry’s words brushed against her moist lips.
“Me, too. I need more, too.” She wouldn’t deny the arousal singing through her veins. It had been so long since such need filled her.
They helped her sit up, and in a heartbeat had her T-shirt off. Jesse kissed her left shoulder as he deftly unhooked her bra, and then that, too, was tossed aside.
The light night breeze caressed her breasts, setting her nipples to tingling with the ethereal stroke.
“My God, baby, look at you. You’re perfect.” She’d grown inured to hearing compliments on her breasts—she’d always wanted to smirk because she’d had no hand in how they developed or how they looked. But Jesse’s compliment filled her with feminine pride.
“Gorgeous. My mouth is watering.” Barry nuzzled her neck, cupped her right breast, and ran his thumb across her nipple.
Jesse cupped the left, and the sensation of two lovers caressing and petting her at the same time, tugging on her nipples, made her clench her inner muscles. She felt a tiny trickle of moisture between her thighs. Charlotta loved these sensations. Letting her head fall back onto Jesse’s shoulder, she hummed with pleasure and gave herself the gift of revelry.
Then Jesse used a finger to turn her face toward his. He kissed her, his lips sliding, opening and covering hers, his tongue gliding, possessing her mouth. At the same time Barry licked a trail down her breast and then sucked her nipple into his mouth.
“Mmm…” Charlotta arched her body, pushing her nipple farther into Barry’s mouth. The need to hold, to brace and rock, found her reaching out, both hands grasping their arms, as her arousal soared. Shivering, quivering, the need to feed these incredible sensations drew a moan from deep within her soul.
The world tilted when they laid her down. The men moved, arranging her between them without lifting their mouths from her. Fingers strummed her stomach above the waistband of her jeans, and she arched her hips, a silent plea for more.
Trembling hands unfastened her jeans, lowered the zipper, but stopped there. Jesse tapered his kiss. Then he placed two butterfly caresses, one on each of her closed eyelids.
“We will not fuck you here, baby. But we’re going to make you come.”
“I want you to fuck me here.” That was the boldest demand she’d ever made. Charlotta generally didn’t have much patience for playing coy, and never more so than right now.
“That’s good to know, princess.” Barry placed a chaste kiss on her wet, puckered nipple. “But we really want our first time with you to be in a bed, one we can spend the night in with you.”
“Our first time is going to last for hours,” Jesse said. Then he met her gaze. In his eyes she read heat and determination. “Please let us give you this. We want to make you feel good. We want to watch you fly.”
“I want to make the two of you feel good, too.” She’d never had to argue for the right to give to a lover before. Maybe you’ve been with all the wrong kind of men. The uncomfortable thought gelled, and then evaporated.
“Shar, if I felt any better, I’d be coming in my pants.” Barry’s irreverent grin made her giggle. And then she gasped when he moved up, Jesse moved down, and they traded roles. Barry’s mouth settled over hers, and Jesse’s lips brushed over her nipple before sucking the swollen nub into his mouth.
Jesse laid his hand on her stomach and slid it slowly southward.
Their scents filled her, their flavors compelled her, and the heat from their bodies warmed her soul. Barry’s tongue danced with hers, sliding in and out of her mouth in a blatantly seductive rhythm. She loved the taste of him, loved the way he kissed her, the flavor an addiction she knew she’d never want to cure.
Then Charlotta jolted from an electric shot of arousal when Jesse’s hand rubbed over her pussy.
She broke her kiss with Barry, whimpered, and thrust her hips toward Jesse’s wickedly wonderful touch. “Seriously…do something! I don’t care that we’re on a blanket under the stars. I don’t need a bed! Just…God!” Before she’d finished speaking, Jesse chuckled around her nipple, slid his fingers inside her panties, and speared two fingers inside her. His thumb stroked her clit, and Charlotta’s climax erupted. Wave after wave of orgasmic bliss skittered up her spine and out to every part of her body.
Barry snuggled against her side, holding her close as rapture consumed her. Better than anything she’d been able to give herself, better than anything in recent memory, the orgasm rocked her to her core.
My God, if this is what I get with a hand job, what’s it going to be like to get naked and roll on the sheets with these two?
The climax ebbed and when Charlotta opened her eyes it was to the sight of Jesse sucking his fingers into his mouth. Then he smiled, moved up, and gave her the sweetest kiss.
“We both want you so damn bad right now, Shar, we’re on the verge of exploding. But we want that first time to be an occasion we can savor, one that will be special for all of us.”
Clearly, these men were not going to be moved. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. For all the talk these days of women being in charge and in control, she for one didn’t want a man—or men—she could push around.
She sighed, accepting the inevitable. “All right, you win. I’m free tomorrow night.”
* * * *
Barry smiled, having the damnedest time keeping himself from laughing out loud. It sure as hell didn’t hurt his ego one bit that Charlotta was eager to make love with them. Jesse was grinning, looking happier than Barry had seen him for some time.
“Well as it happens, we’ve been asked to invite you to dinner tomorrow at the Big House.”
“The Big House? As in, a prison?”
“Smart ass.” Barry really liked that tendency in Shar, that streak of irreverent humor in her that kept her from taking life too seriously.
It was a trait he shared.
“Big House as in the house that Sarah and her men lived in—Maddox had built the thing, a tribute, I’ve been told, to his ego,” Jesse said.
“And, as opposed to the New House, that Amanda’s men built for her in about 1890 or so.” Barry wondered if they were confusing her with all the family history.
“New, huh?” Charlotta relaxed between them. Barry nestled closer, as did Jesse on her other side so they had her tucked in well.
“Exactly. To this day the Big House is the home of the Benedicts, and the New House, of the Kendalls.” Jesse laid his hand on her stomach. Barry had his arm around her, so that her head rested on his shoulder.
Being close like this, with Shar and his brother, just felt right.
“So the Big House is where your aunt Bernice lives. I did wonder what she was saying to y’all as we left the restaurant.”
“It’s also where our Aunt Abigail lives, with all our uncles and our Grandma Kate.” Barry met her gaze when she jerked her head toward him. He bent over and placed a very chaste kiss on her lips. “You did say you’d like to meet her.”
“I did?”
“Well, it was implied. Don’t worry, princess. I can guarantee you’re going to love Grandma Kate.”
“I’m sure I will. You realize, of course, that you outnumber me in the family department.”
“I think we outnumber nearly everybody in the family department.” Jesse copied Barry’s gesture, kissing her lightly. “But I don’t believe you’ve ever given us a rundown. You grew up on your uncle’s ranch?”
“I did, from the time I was about ten. Dad had been in the service, and gone to war. Mom and I had always traveled with him, but this time we couldn’t go with him, so my Uncle Leroy and Aunt Bella took us in. Since Father planned on that being his last tour of duty, this move to Texas was permanent. They build a second house on the ranch when he got home. It meant that I didn’t have to switch schools anymore. I’d been all over—military kids become world travelers at an early age. I wanted to stay put. Dad’s tour ended up being two years, and then he retired from the service. Not long after, we moved in to our own house on the ranch. Uncle Leroy split the land with him.” Charlotta smiled. “It was the only time I ever knew of the two of them having a fight. The land had been my grandfather’s, and Leroy said it was only right, since Dad had served our country, that he get a share of what he’d fought for.”
“And your dad figured that your uncle should hold title as he’d worked it all those years?”
“Exactly. They’ve come to terms, of course. They’re both doing a lot less than they used to.
My cousins Donny and Tim—Leroy and Bella’s sons—do the majority of the work now.”
“So you have two parents, an aunt, an uncle, and two cousins?”
“And their wives and kids—two for Donny and three for Tim.”
“Well if it helps to balance the scales, you can throw them at us all at once.”
Charlotta looked from him to Jesse. “We’ll see. First I have to survive tomorrow night.”
“Do you know what I think?” Barry couldn’t keep his hands off her. He used a finger to trace an invisible line from her bottom lip to the tip of her chin. “I don’t think there’s anyone, or anything, that you can’t handle. You’re smart, and savvy, and you know your own mind and are comfortable in your own skin. I admire the hell out of you, woman.”
“What he said,” Jesse echoed. “You’ve got us both bowled over, Charlotta Carmichael.”
“That’s…that’s nice. Thank you, both of you.”
“So what do you say, princess? Will you throw caution to the wind and come for dinner tomorrow? Come earlier, and spend the day.”
“Yes. I think I’d like that. Not too early, though. I need to get some laundry done first.”
“Us, too.”
“And baby? Bring an overnight bag.”
“I can do that.” She looked from him to his brother, then directed her question to him. “So…whose bed will we spend the night in? Are we going to flip a coin?”
Barry laughed. “Nope. I think we’ll just surprise you.” He figured it was only fair. The woman had been surprising him since he’d laid eyes on her.
Chapter 9
“I’ll arrive Thursday afternoon, but I’ll have to leave in the evening on Friday to get back for my equine therapy sessions on the fifth.” Charlotta rubbed her right hand over her right knee as she relaxed into her conversation with Camilla. She’d looked ahead and blocked out most of Thursday. Hopefully, she could get on the road right at eleven, which would put her in Divine midafternoon.
Love Under Two Outcasts [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 8