DoubleDilemma

by Tara Nina

  * * * * *

  David paced the waiting room. What was taking her so long? He thrashed a hand through his hair and wished she’d hurry up. A hand landed on his shoulder and he turned to face Shelley.

  “It was in this hospital you offered your friendship to me when Jack lay shot and in the operating room. You stood by me and let me lean on you for strength. Why don’t you lean on me now?” She smiled and sat on the arm of the couch.

  One look around and he noticed Jack had stepped out, leaving them alone. Did Shelley ask him to so they could talk? He didn’t get the chance to ask before she continued.

  “I know my cousin can be difficult, but she’s a good woman.”

  “She’s more than that,” David replied. “She’s everything I’ve ever wanted.” After the words left his lips, he realized he meant them. He wasn’t just saying them to get the girl so to speak. He truly meant them.

  “So you’re in love with her then.” Shelley stated a fact he couldn’t deny. From the way she looked at him, he knew it must have shown on his face.

  “Yeah, I’m in love with her.”

  “Have you told her?”

  “Yes.”

  “And?”

  “She loves us both.” David watched her for any ounce of surprise, but received none. It appeared as if this tidbit of information didn’t shock Shelley.

  “I see,” she said as she stood. She smiled as she captured his face in her hand and gave it a sisterly pat. “The question here is can you handle that? Can you accept the fact Emma Jean loves both you and Earl?”

  “I don’t know.” David shrugged. “I’ve never been faced with something this complicated. I was raised to believe relationships were one on one, one man, one woman.”

  “Relationships are whatever the people involved make of them. It took me awhile to get used to being in love with a younger man, but look at us now. Jack’s helped me handle the transition quite well and it works for us. I think you’ve faced and handled much worse than this.” Shelley moved slowly around him. “I know all about what happened with your former fiancée, LuAnn Jenkins.”

  “How?” David stiffened. He thought that tragedy was long behind him, but here stood someone who knew.

  “LuAnn’s best friend Tiffany worked at the courthouse and liked to spread gossip.” She must have noticed his face drop when she quickly added, “Don’t worry. I’m the only one she told that tale. I threatened to have her fired for slandering a reputable detective if she repeated it again.”

  “Thank you,” David replied, relieved Shelley had stepped up and protected his reputation, even when she hadn’t known him. “Does Emma Jean know?”

  “Not to my knowledge,” Shelley said. “But there’s one thing you should have realized by now about my cousin.”

  David met her intent stare and swallowed hard. Shelley smiled, breaking some of the tension in the air that threatened to stifle him at any moment. She hugged him and added on a hushed voice near his ear, “My cousin may love and want the two of you in her bed and that’s her decision. It’s up to you to decide if you can abide by her wishes in order to love her. I can guarantee she’ll never fuck you over like LuAnn.”

  She planted a sisterly kiss on the side of his face and stepped out of the hug at the same moment Jack returned. “You ready, Shelley?”

  “Yes.” She turned to David. “See you in the morning. Remember what I said.”

  “Yeah, I will.” David nodded in her direction.

  He slumped onto the couch and rested his head in his hands. In the deafening silence that surrounded him, he sifted through his thoughts. Like Earl, he had a former fiancée. Except his former fiancée, LuAnn Jenkins, got caught in a sexual predicament that didn’t include David. At least Earl’s died in his arms knowing she was loved. And wasn’t that what everyone in love wanted, to know they were loved and not being cheated on?

  He pressed his hands to his temples, then threaded his fingers through his hair as he shoved them to the back of his head to intertwine at his neck. He blinked repeatedly trying to make the vision behind his eyes dissipate. It refused. Instead, the scene reenacted in his head as fresh as the day it happened. As an afterthought, he should have known something was wrong when he pulled into the driveway of LuAnn’s townhouse and noticed the curtains were drawn. Since she frequently complained of migraines, he chalked it up to another bout with one.

  Thinking back, he never should have answered the phone that day. But then again, he’d be married to the cheating whore if it hadn’t been for his mother’s concern over LuAnn not keeping their lunch date. Without calling, he popped in to check on her. He used his key, entered and heard noises coming from the back bedroom.

  The closer he got, the sicker his stomach churned as recognition overwhelmed him. He stood in the open doorway. His fiancée bounced on some guy’s cock and two more unidentified men waited at the sides of the bed for their turn. It wasn’t until they pointed him out to her that he got a view of the fourth guy at the head of the bed. From the looks of it, his cock had been in her mouth until she turned to look at David.

  Apparently the only cock she made wait for access to her pussy was his. Last he’d heard of LuAnn, she’d moved to L.A. David shivered and shoved that cold learning lesson to the back of his brain. Now there was a woman no man could trust in his opinion.

  But Emma Jean…

  Emma Jean floated into his thoughts, warmed his soul and shooed away the horrid memory. Here was a woman who reignited the sex drive he thought had died. He tried dating other women, but none turned him on like Emma Jean. Everything about her primed his libido and made him want to try any sexual experiment her little heart desired.

  “You okay?”

  Her voice touched his soul and snapped him out of his momentary self-pitying stupor. It’d been months since he’d thought of LuAnn. Looking up, he saw the reason why. The most beautiful woman he’d ever met stood looking at him in a way that made him feel lucky to be alive. Not only was she physically beautiful, she was beautiful inside. Her essence washed over him as she entered the room and he knew from that moment forward LuAnn was a distant memory that would never resurface.

  Whatever it took to keep Emma Jean in his life, he planned to do it. David stood and gathered her in his arms. “Yeah, I’m fine. How’s Earl?”

  “Not happy they’re keeping him.” She leaned back in his arms and looked up at him. He read the tiredness in her eyes and knew she must be exhausted.

  “You ready for me to drive you home, now that we know Earl’s all right?”

  “Thanks for the offer, but I told him I’d stay. You okay with that?” Emma Jean cupped his cheek in her palm and he couldn’t help but smile at her.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” He captured her mouth in a passionate kiss. Her murmured umm as they separated warmed his soul. He lifted her hand and examined her knuckles. Tiny bruises and swelling decorated her skin. “You sure your hand’s all right?”

  “Yeah. It’s just a bruise. It’ll pass.”

  He placed tender kisses to the marks. “I’d take you into a fight anywhere. You’re quite the scrapper.”

  The smile that brightened her face warmed his heart and helped lighten the dark circles under her eyes. “You want me to bring you a fresh change of clothes?”

  “Would you mind?” Emma Jean replied. “I really don’t want to leave him alone for long. Being in the hospital seems to really bother him.”

  “Not a problem. As long as you don’t mind me being in your house without you.”

  She picked up her purse from where she’d left it on the chair beside the couch. After she dug for her keys, he held his hand out and she dropped them in his palm.

  “If you can’t trust a cop, who can you trust?”

  * * * * *

  Shower clean and in fresh clothes, Emma Jean settled into the reclining chair in Earl’s private room. Surprisingly, the chair was comfortable. She adjusted the pillow and blanket the nurse had provided and settled in to
keep watch over Earl. It appeared as if he slept peacefully on his side. She lay on her side facing him. The bandage on his head and the bruised cut upon his cheek couldn’t take away from his good looks. Instead it gave him a wounded warrior appeal. Emma Jean smiled.

  Without warning, he reached for her through the metal railing on the side of the bed. Emma Jean gathered his hand in hers and tucked it to her chest.

  “You feeling all right? Do you need pain meds?”

  “I’m okay. Just needed to touch you.” His voice came out graveled and weak.

  Warmth spread through her system at his words. Never had she felt this wonderful. Earl needed just to touch her to know that he was safe. David told her he loved her and kissed her goodnight when he dropped off her clothes. How would she ever choose between them, if they insisted? God she hoped they never did. She loved and wanted them both.

  Emma Jean eased onto her elbow and leaned toward Earl. His eyes opened and she smiled. Gently, she stroked his brow and simply lay there looking at him for several seconds.

  “You didn’t deserve this,” she said in a soft, soothing tone.

  “All this time I carried guilt in my soul for Charlotte’s death.” His lower lip trembled and she caught the single tear with her fingertip as it left his eye. “I couldn’t let it go and blamed myself for what happened.” He sniffed and Emma Jean knew he struggled not to cry. “She was a wonderful person and I loved her.”

  “She was lucky to have had you in her life.” She lifted the hand she still held and kissed it tenderly.

  “Emma Jean, can you forgive me for not telling you about my past?” His eyes darkened and the plea in his tone nearly broke her heart.

  “Earl Lightfoot, you listen to me and you listen good,” she stated as she leaned over the rail, releasing his hand as she moved. “Your past is just that—the past. It’s what makes us and builds us into who we are. What we take from our experiences makes us stronger. A crazy woman did this to you because she took advantage of your period of mourning. Everyone mourns differently for the people they love. You’d just lost the woman you’d planned to spend the rest of your life with and Kimberly pounced at a time of weakness, nothing more.”

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?” Emma Jean questioned softly.

  “For loving me.” His eyes closed and she knew he needed to rest.

  Emma Jean sat for hours, stroking his brow and holding his hand as he slept. Her heart ached. Two magnificent men, each different in their appearances, their backgrounds and the way they loved. Closing her eyes, she prayed they understood her need and desire to love both of them. As she sorted through her emotions, she realized what she thought at first to be a sexual fantasy wasn’t that at all. She’d fallen in love with both of them and didn’t want to have to choose.

  A smile split her lips as the awakening to the truth spread until it settled in her heart and soul. This was how it was supposed to be. Dreams of sex with two men led her to the decision to pursue both Earl and David and she was glad she followed that path. The idea of the perfect relationship formed and she planned to do whatever it took to convince these two wonderful beings to both stand at her side and take life day by day.

  It was all she could ask of them, Emma Jean decided as she closed her eyes and let the vision of her perfect threesome coexistence lull her to sleep.

  * * * * *

  Three weeks later…

  Earl walked onto Emma Jean’s front porch and found David waited for him in the swing as expected. Since David’s phone call earlier, anxiety bloomed in Earl’s chest, yet he knew this meeting was inevitable. The front door was open and he could see through the screen door. Emma Jean sat on the couch reading the Sunday paper. She looked comfortable and it appeared as if she hadn’t seen him yet. He noticed she wore earphones and knew she must be listening to music as she read. He veered to the left to greet David.

  The past weeks were busy to the point he’d had little time to spend with Emma Jean, alone. During the onslaught of legal issues, David had always been there. Not only had Emma Jean supported him at the preliminary hearing and the police station during repeated questioning, David stood behind him as well lending moral support. And for that he was thankful. David defended Earl’s character when Kimberly’s lawyer tried to tarnish it with misguided information given to him by a psychotic woman.

  But could he share Emma Jean with David?

  This question lingered unanswered in his thoughts. From the look on David’s face, Earl knew it was time for the conversation they’d both been avoiding. This rotation of nights with Emma Jean had grown tiresome quickly. He hated not waking every morning with her at his side. The first few nights out of the hospital, he had Emma Jean’s undivided attention. She’d stayed at his small apartment, but slept on the sofa out of fear she’d hurt him.

  After a week and his condition improved, the threesome fell into a silent agreement of sorts. He and David spent alternate evenings with Emma Jean. On the nights he was not with her, he missed her terribly.

  “How are you feeling?” David asked, sliding over on the swing so Earl could sit.

  “Better.” He ran his hand across the area where the hair had started to grow back, and hoped it would hide the scar eventually. Silence fell between them for several minutes before David spoke. His directness didn’t surprise Earl. After spending so much time with him over the past weeks, he felt he knew the man well enough to call him friend.

  “Earl, we’ve got to come to some sort of agreement over Emma Jean,” David said as he leaned forward, placed his arms on his knees and held his hands together. “I love her and I know you do as well.”

  “I do,” Earl replied with conviction. If there was anyone he wanted to know that fact as much as Emma Jean, it was David. “So where do we go from here? We both love her and we know she loves both of us.”

  David’s heavy exhale let Earl know he struggled with how to say what was on his mind, but the words needed to be spoken if they were to proceed. “We share her,” David finally admitted.

  Hearing the words exit David’s lips eased the tension in Earl’s chest just a tiny bit. “I’ve never shared the woman I love.”

  “Nor have I.” David leveled his gaze on Earl’s and extended his hand. “But for Emma Jean, I’m willing to try.”

  Earl hesitated for a split second. This was a whole new direction for him and he knew it was foreign territory for David as well. If David loved Emma Jean enough to abide by her wishes, then so did he. He’d never loved a woman as much as he loved Emma Jean. If it meant sharing her with another man, Earl was damn glad it was a man like David. Trustworthy, dependable and honest, all the traits that he considered built his own character. No wonder Emma Jean loved David and couldn’t decide between them.

  Clasping David’s hand in a firm handshake, he stood, bringing David to his feet. Gazes leveled on one another, he spoke the words of his heart. “I love her, David, and will do everything in my power to make her happy. Even give this threesome relationship she wants an all out try to make it work.”

  “Yes,” David replied without a hint of hesitation. “Well, are you ready to go in and give Emma Jean the birthday present she’s always wanted?”

  Earl shook his head as the smile upturned his lips. “Never been in bed with another man before.”

  “Neither have I. I believe we’re in for the first of many sexual adventures.” David clapped him on the shoulder as they walked in the front door.

  Emma Jean looked up from the newspaper. A vision from heaven entered through the screen door. Two glorious men who made her heart pound stood inside her doorway staring directly at her. Butterflies filled her stomach as her abdominal muscles clenched. From the looks on their faces, she wasn’t sure if they had good or bad news to share with her.

  God, she hoped it was good. If either one left her life, she wasn’t sure if she’d survive. The more time she spent with each of them, the more she loved them both. She tugged the earphones ou
t and tried her best not to let her fears show. Forcing a smile to her lips, she hoped she sounded cheerful as she spoke.

  “Good morning. I wasn’t expecting you both for breakfast.” She turned her gaze solely to David. Had he planned this? When she noted the quick nod he sent her way, she knew he had.

  Earl extended his hand to her and she took it. He gently guided her to her feet. “We’ve come to an agreement.” He paused and looked at David who slowly moved to stand behind Emma Jean.

  “Is it something I’m going to like?”

  “Both of us love you, Emma Jean,” David said. The touch of his hand to her hair sent chills down her arms. He lifted the hair from her ear and leaned in close. His warm breath combined with words she’d longed to hear pearled her nipples. “Let us show you how much.”

  Her knees nearly melted when Earl captured her mouth in a hot kiss at the same time David lifted her hair from her neck and tenderly kissed the sensitive area along her upper spine. Instantly wet and willing, Emma Jean’s insides hummed. Her birthday wish was about to be fulfilled. Granted it was several days late but she truly didn’t care.

  Earl slid slowly down her body, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake. The sensation made her wish she were naked. David seemed to read her mind. In a gentle upward motion, he worked her t-shirt up, she lifted her arms in the air and he pulled it off and tossed it. The light brush of his fingertips to her flesh made her hunger for more. On his knees, Earl undid her jeans and guided them from her hips, down her legs and steadied her as she stepped out of them. She wore no undergarments and was damn glad at the moment she didn’t.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” Earl whispered against the soft flesh of her lower abdomen as he caressed the back of her legs. He nudged her legs apart and kissed the insides of her thighs making her shiver inwardly.

  David cupped her breasts from behind and tenderly massaged her sensitive nipples. Emma Jean couldn’t help but sigh in delight as both men worshiped her body. Kisses and nips came from two directions, in front along her thighs, hips and lower abdomen and from behind across her shoulders, up her neck to torment her earlobe. A multitude of phenomenal sensations flooded her senses, firing her synapses in every direction. Eyes closed, she took it all in at once and let the overwhelming rush of desire wrap her in a warm glow.