“I’m glad you like it. I’ll cook for you anytime you want. I enjoy it.”
“You would spoil me rotten. I’m used to eating cold food and lots of takeout.”
Gage asked, “You don’t like to cook?”
Emma scrunched up her nose as she finished chewing and smiled at him. “Cooking is not one of my natural skills. I’m great with a sandwich or cracking open a container of yogurt but unfortunately I’m not much good with a stove.”
Gage took the plate from her when she was done, and they quickly became engrossed in the movie which had been on, playing in the background, since she got there. Duke smiled as he reached out and stroked the top of her hand where it lay on the couch cushion.
Emma slipped her colorful clogs off and pulled her feet up in front of her, with her knees pressed to her chest. Gage grinned when he saw that she wore cheery, striped toe socks with little smiley faces on the top of each toe.
“I hate this part,” she said with a giggle as she put her parted fingers over her eyes then looked through them.
On the television screen, the deep, guttural voice of the Mouth of Sauron spoke. “The halfling was dear to thee, I see. Know that he suffered greatly at the hands of his host.”
Gage smiled when she whispered on with the dialogue. She looked up at him and smiled, a twinkle in her eyes, as he and Duke both inched a little closer.
Emma peeked at the screen and whispered, “Come on, Aragorn. Cut off his head.” She shuddered as the hideous masked character grinned perniciously. Gage had to hold back a chuckle, she was so cute.
Because she was so into the movie, Gage and Duke let her watch to the end without distraction.
While the credits rolled, Emma asked, “Do you ever feel like you missed the adventure in your life?” Her voice was soft, and Gage could tell that her mood had mellowed from earlier.
They’d spent time with her Friday evening, but this was the first time she’d ever seemed introspective. Emma hummed softly for a second and said, “Like you’ve missed the chances you were supposed to take?” She hugged her knees as she looked from one to the other of them.
Duke replied, “Yeah, I think I know exactly what you mean.”
Gage wondered what Duke was getting at but held his tongue to see where the conversation went.
Gage noted that Emma spoke with her hands, communicating a lot about her emotions, as she said, “I graduated from high school early. I went straight into college and then medical school and finished early with my degree. I set up my medical practice and opened the clinic while many of my high school classmates were still in those years where they had the freedom to party and be social with few responsibilities. Don’t get me wrong, I consciously chose that course and I’m happy and proud of where I am today. I just wonder sometimes about what I missed.”
Gage noticed that her hands were trembling as she said, “I sometimes feel geeky and…socially awkward and I wonder…” When she paused, Gage kept silent because he could see the sheen of tears in her eyes and wanted to let her finish her thought. “It’s my own fault that people know me only as Doctor Emma. In social settings that’s who I am.”
Gage could relate to what she was saying. He and Duke weren’t exactly the suave and debonair types either. They were more comfortable playing Call of Duty online with their friends or going to the movies.
One little elderly lady in their apartment complex had even mistaken them for a gay couple because they usually did everything together. Since they’d corrected the misunderstanding, she’d been trying to set them up with her granddaughters. After finding out that the granddaughters liked to go dancing, they’d been making excuses. Neither of them knew how to dance.
Quietly, Duke asked, “When was the last time you went out with your friends and danced, or had a date, Emma?”
“Grace has invited me to The Dancing Pony, but I don’t go places like that by myself. My girlfriends, if you could call them that, don’t generally do those sorts of things. They…”
Gage gently prodded. “What?”
Emma rested her cheeks in her palms, which distorted her response in a way he found very endearing. “They quilt. And they have cats.” She hid her face in her palms and through her fingers she said, “I’m no good at sewing and cats make me sneeze. I’m not sure where my life is going these days. I’m thirty-three years old. I should have an idea by now, right? I dread waking up at forty-three and saying, ‘What the hell?’”
Duke nodded. “Yeah. I do know exactly what you’re talking about.”
Emma said, “You know I can’t talk to you about patients and all that, but you’re both friends with the Warners and Ethan and Adam. You should see Rose Marie.” Emma held her hands before her as if she were holding the tiny little infant. “She’s perfect and so precious. I watched them become a family and it just hit me, how truly empty my life is. All my accomplishments are tied to my life as a doctor. Above and beyond that, with the hours I keep, who could put up with me?”
Duke closed his hand over hers on her knee. “I could.”
“I could, too,” Gage replied, nudging her shoulder and smiling at her, hoping she would smile back.
She grinned, removed her glasses, and wiped carefully with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be so depressing. The end of the movie just got me thinking. If I reach the end of my life and look back, knowing this is it, will I be satisfied that I took every chance that life gave me or did I squander them? My friend, Jane…”
“The quilter with cats?” Duke said with a chuckle.
Emma nodded and said, “Yes, that one. It seems like she’s resigned herself already to be a spinster. She acts as though she’s given up. And her friends…ugh.”
“More quilters?”
Emma nodded. “If all they did was get together and quilt, that would be great. But they like to gossip. It’s silly, what they do, and not what I want.”
Gage said, “I think I know what you need.” Emma and Duke looked at him expectantly as he continued, “You need a bucket list.”
Emma gasped and said, “Actually, I have one. I was at a seminar a couple of years ago and we had to brainstorm a list of fifty things we wanted to do before we died as one of the activities for the weekend. I still have it. Do you have a list?”
Gage laughed and said, “Yeah, I made one after The Bucket List came out. It’s in my bedroom. You, Duke?”
Duke nodded, “I made it one day while we were on a surveillance job. Do you know where your list is, Emma? I have an idea.”
“I think so.”
“Go get it.”
Emma smirked and said, “Uh-oh. What have I gotten myself into?”
Duke nudged her. “Some fun. That’s what. Go get it.”
Emma grabbed her keys and trotted out the door.
Gage turned to Duke and said, “What are you up to?”
Duke chuckled as he went down the hall to his bedroom, calling, “You’ll see. Get your list.”
Emma came back with a large brown envelope and dug through it as they rejoined her on the couch. Gage had found the list on his yellow legal tablet in his desk, and Duke had his in his planner. Duke’s looked more recently compiled.
“Here it is,” she said as a folded piece of paper fluttered onto the couch at her feet, which were once again in front of her on the cushion. She seemed to enjoy being bunched up in a little ball in the middle. Gage liked the grouping but hoped to see her a little more relaxed between them someday.
Duke said, “This is what I propose. Let’s compare our lists. Whatever items are duplicated on each other’s lists we will do together, if at all possible.”
Duke rose from the couch and beckoned them to come to the dinner table. Emma unfolded her list, and they lined them up together. Looking over Duke’s shoulder, Emma suddenly squealed and slapped her hands down on her list.
“Oh, my God! Don’t look! Let me have it!” She was hunched over Duke with one arm over each of his shoulders
. Gage envied Duke the position he was in, with her full, round breasts pressed against his back.
Gage chuckled when Duke looked up at her with pure evil intent in his eyes. They’d both already seen one of the first items on her list.
Duke said, “Too late.”
Emma cringed. “Oh, no.” But she didn’t have any real fear in her eyes. “I wrote this list two years ago after Grace got married and Teresa…and Rosemary. Oh crap!”
Duke could not have looked more triumphant. “You want a threesome.” Ever sanguine, Duke took up his mechanical pencil and mouthed, “Bow-chicka-wow-wow,” then began writing. “That’s going at the top of the list.”
The color rose in Emma’s pale, soft cheeks as she looked up at Gage. He didn’t glance away but held her gaze instead. She averted her eyes quickly but then looked back at him. Duke’s hands stilled on the paper. He laid the pencil down and circled both of her wrists gently with his hands. She stood, but he didn’t release her wrists, and he gazed up at her and then turned to Gage.
Gage could see what was in Duke’s eyes. They were talking about bucket lists and living life with no regrets. The time to start was in the present, but Gage thought tonight was much too soon to fulfill the number one item on their list. Emma looked ready to bolt. He could hear her breathing.
Duke said, “We’re ready when you are, Emma.” Still holding her gaze, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the tops of her fingers. Gage’s cock hardened at the way Emma bit her lower lip and sighed shakily.
“No regrets, ever, Emma,” Gage murmured, drawing her gaze. Her eyes were bright green with striations of gray around the pupils, which were now dilated. She was feeling it, too. “We aren’t after a one-night stand. We’ll do whatever you want.”
Gage could almost hear the wheels turning in Emma’s mind. She glanced at the clock, then at the lists lying on the table, at him, and then down at Duke. She stroked Duke’s chest and drew in a shaky breath.
“Can we start slow?” Her voice was low and quivered with emotion. “I’m…a little out of practice.”
Gage’s dick swelled to near-painful proportions at her whispered words, but his heart went out to her. She was embracing the idea of fulfilling her bucket list and stepping out of her comfort zone. Like him and Duke, she’d been playing it safe for a long time, and he didn’t for a minute doubt that she was sincere. They needed to take very good care of her, no matter what happened tonight, so she wouldn’t regret it later.
Duke rose from his chair, still grasping her hand to his chest, and said, “We don’t have to do anything tonight, Em.”
Emma smiled at Duke and then placed her hand on Gage’s chest. “Oh, yes we do. Who has the biggest bed?”
His dick pulsed, ready to explode, as Gage replied, “They’re both king-size.”
“Begin as we mean to go on, right?” she asked as she took her phone from her pocket and laid it on the table, eyeing it as though she was praying no one would call her tonight. “I want you both to make love to me. One at a time, if that’s okay?”
As if voicing her desire had unleashed something inside her, Emma removed her glasses and left them by her phone, then slipped her scrub top over her head. The expanse of her ivory torso and her cute little belly button were exposed and then the pink, stretchy sports bra she wore beneath her top. Her nipples were hardened little points, and he could see the flutter of her abdomen as she held the wadded-up top to her chest.
Duke exchanged a glance with Gage, and Gage saw the surprise in his eyes. They hadn’t even spoken about this possibility yet. Duke replied, “Whatever you want, Em. We have condoms in the medicine cabinet.”
The practical doctor said, “I’m on the pill but we’ll use condoms…for now. Whose bed is closest?”
“Mine,” Gage said. “Are you sure, Emma? This is going fast and we don’t want you to look back and regret it.”
Emma splayed her fingertips over the three wrinkled sheets of paper on the table. “Are we going to do these things together?”
“Yes,” Duke replied easily.
“Absolutely,” Gage said. They could start the list right now and tick off an item a day as far as he was concerned. The moment suddenly seemed like the great turning point in his life.
Emma smiled and said, “Then this is the perfect place to begin. I want to make love with both of you tonight.”
Chapter Five
A wave of anticipation swamped Emma, waiting for one of them to make the first move. She felt like she’d jumped off into the abyss as she’d voiced her need and now waited for one of them to catch her. As a unit, they took her hands and pulled her to the bedroom. Duke left and returned a moment later with a box of condoms as Gage turned on the lamp in the bedroom. Confirming her suspicion that he was a bit of a neat freak, she saw that his bed was made and everything had a place in his room. She’d be willing to bet his closet was categorized, too.
The scent of fabric softener wafted up to her as he turned down the burgundy-colored comforter and sheet. Not realizing she was so jumpy, Emma gasped when Duke laid his rough hands on her hips from behind. She closed her eyes and stifled a moan when his warm lips pressed against her shoulder.
“Shh, baby. We’re going to take good care of you.” She leaned against him and realized he’d removed his shirt when the comforting heat of his bare chest permeated her skin. Her pussy quaked with longing as he slid his hands from her hips up to her sports bra and slid it off of her and over her head. Duke’s hands returned to her breasts and squeezed them gently. “I love these.”
She was self-conscious of her large breasts and had always kept them tamed in a sports bra. He caught her turgid nipples between his fingers and pinched slightly as he dragged his fingers across them, pulling until she felt fiery tingles shoot from them straight to her clit. Her pussy responded with a pool of wetness that seeped through her swelling lips. She wanted them in the worst possible way.
Close to her ear, Gage whispered, “Emma, you’re beautiful. You know that?”
She flashed her eyes open to gauge his words. She didn’t need platitudes. She knew she wasn’t coyote ugly, but she was looking for honesty in his statement. Did he really believe that?
She’d developed early and had always felt uncomfortable with both her height and her woman’s body. Honesty shone in his eyes, and she did her best to not shiver at the way he looked at her, fighting the urge to go hunt down her top. She’d heard what he’d just said, but it was hard to believe it about herself.
Gage reiterated, “You know that, right?” Was he persisting so she would respond in the affirmative and he could move on, or did he really want the answer?
Duke never ceased his stroking. In her ear he whispered, “Answer him, Emma.” The gentle command in Duke’s tone made her cunt pulse again.
“Um…”
Gage’s eyebrows knit together. “You don’t believe that?”
Emma valued honestly, so she replied, “No. I don’t believe that. I’m passable.”
Gage pounced on her without warning, and his lips and tongue plundered her, his onslaught leaving her breathless and a little dizzy. He seemed upset with her. Her heart pounded as he took her jaw in his strong hands and slid his fingers around to the back of her head, lightly tugging at her hair. Instantly she felt the tension begin to dissipate as he took control of the kiss and she responded to him. She didn’t mean to piss him off, and she gave in to his kiss completely. As if sensing what she was trying to communicate, he finally backed off.
“You will. By the time we’re done tonight, you will believe it.”
Duke grasped her wrists, and Emma realized at some point she’d lifted her forearms and had used them to cover her chest. She allowed him to lower them, and he continued to play with her nipples as she watched Gage slip his T-shirt over his head and toss it to a chair. Duke had teased her nipples into hard points by this time, and as Gage stared, they tightened further until they almost stung.
Her nipples had
always been a source of embarrassment to her because they were very sensitive and hardened easily. They were also oddly colored, not quite brown and not quite pink, sort of a mottled mixture of the two colors. She’d had to wear a bra early because they’d darkened during puberty and had been easily visible under white tops, which she’d found embarrassing until her sweet mother had noticed her slouching all the time and realized the cause.
Gage captured her gaze, smiling slightly as he also stroked her nipples. He licked his lower lip as though he wanted a taste, and her pussy responded with another wave of heat and moisture. They were going to make her come just teasing her body like this.
A groan escaped from her when he bent down slightly and latched on to her left nipple. He tugged at it fiercely, licking and sucking as a wall of heat slammed into her. She hadn’t expected him to be so forceful, but she loved it. He released the suction after a minute, and her nipple tingled as he gently licked it and played with it before sucking it into his mouth again. Her juices were soaking her panties, and she desperately wished to be naked so someone could touch her clit, which throbbed incessantly.
Leaning back against Duke, she felt the ridge of his erection and smiled slightly as she rubbed her derriere against him. Duke slid his hand down to her hip bone and pressed her to him as he ground his cock against her. Duke slipped his fingers into the waist of her scrub pants and panties to pull them downward, and she trembled as his fingertips left a sensitized trail in their wake. Once the pants and undergarment were down to her knees, she wiggled out of them, brushing against Duke some more in the process. His cock felt very hard and hot through the denim of his jeans. She stepped out of the clothing as Gage switched to torturing her other nipple, leaving the one he’d been sucking on to throb and tingle as the cool air kissed it.
“I need to take my socks off.”
Gage released her nipple with a pop and said, “I’ll do the honors.” He dropped to his knees, and she gasped as she realized that lined his face up with her pussy. He stared hungrily for a moment then looked up at her, smiled, and slid his hands down her calves, catching one sock after the other and slipping them from her feet. “There isn’t a part of you that’s not beautiful.”
Rainier, Heather - Their Divine Doctor, A Holiday Ménage [Divine Creek Ranch 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 5