Mel laughed. “Not really regulars. We’ve only been here on a couple of occasions, but as I said before, I know one of the owners.”
Emily Anne did recall that Mel had said that earlier this afternoon.
“You should also know that we’ve never brought a woman here before, angel eyes.” Connor had ducked his head so that his lips nearly brushed her ear as he said that quietly.
She didn’t think anyone else heard him. Today was proving to be unlike any date she’d ever been on, and the difference wasn’t just that she was on a date with two men instead of one. The difference was that these men saw her, and it appeared as if they got her. “The two of you seem to be able to do a good job of anticipating my concerns.”
The men exchanged a look, and then Mel said, “It’s partly because we’re investigators, honey. We pay attention and notice things—little clues that another person might miss. But it’s mostly because it’s you.”
“We’re really tuned in to you. That’s not a line, though I know it sounds like one.” Connor gave her a slow, sexy smile that did wonderful things—and scary things—to her insides.
Mel led her into the heart of the club. Emily Anne’s eyes took in the large dance floor and the DJ booth against one wall, lit up to reveal a man inside wearing headphones and moving to the beat of the music. Couples filled the floor, and it amazed her that on a day she’d quickly come to think of as a day of rest because Lusty Appetites was closed on Mondays, this night club in the town of Divine was definitely a busy, popular place. She recognized the song from last year by a Canadian artist—“Jumped Right In” by Dallas Smith. The music was loud, and the sound quality really good.
They chose one of the high bistro-type tables back from the dance floor—almost, but not quite in a corner. Connor held the chair for her as she quite literally climbed up. She didn’t mind these kinds of chairs once she was up on them. The added height helped her see out over the club better.
They didn’t have to wait long for service. She appreciated that neither of her dates said anything when she set her driver’s license beside her on the table, a silent invitation to the waitress to inspect it if she cared to do so. The law was the law, and being a waitress herself, the last thing Emily Anne ever wanted to do was give some gal a hard time just for doing her job.
“Hi, folks, how are you doing tonight?” The waitress had peered at the ID and then nodded to let Emily Anne know that all was well.
“We’re good, thanks. How are you doing, Corinna?” Connor asked.
“I can’t complain,” the curvy, well-endowed waitress replied with a smile as she set paper coasters in front of each of them. “What can I get you folks?”
“What would you like, sweetheart?” Connor asked.
“A glass of sangria, please, with ice.” It was the only red wine she liked, and she figured she could sip at her drink and make it last a long time.
“I’ll have a Shiner Bock,” Mel said.
“Same here.” Connor reached for his wallet, and Emily Anne ducked her head, fighting the smile that wanted to escape.
The last time she’d gone on a “date” had been with Billy J, and he had always held back paying for a round of drinks, expecting her to pick up the tab.
Something told her that if she even tried to reach for her purse for anything other than checking her makeup or heading to the ladies’ room, there’d be hell to pay.
“What are you grinning about?” Mel leaned closer to her at the same time Connor did. Emily Anne had the distinct sensation of being cosseted. She understood that these two men had sensed her slight trepidation at being at a night club, and they reacted by letting her know she didn’t have anything to worry about.
Both men were smiling at her, and not for the first time she found herself comparing them to Billy J. It occurred to her that part of the reason for the huge difference between her former boyfriend and these two investigators was age. Billy J had been only a year older than she. She knew—because she’d asked—that Melvin and Connor each had quite a few more years on her than that. Mel was thirty-eight, and Connor thirty-seven.
“I was just remembering the last time I was at a nightspot on a date. And I guess that was the mental image I had before we got here.”
Melvin tilted his head to one side. “Let me guess. Your date offered for you to buy his beer.”
She reacted to the twinkle in his eye. “He was a prince.” And she knew they both understood she meant exactly the opposite.
“We should be feeling a bit guilty because we’re both of us, really, too old for you,” Connor said.
“I was just thinking about the age difference between us,” Emily Anne said. “I can remember my Grandmother Marta used to say ‘it’s better to be a young man’s slave than an old man’s darling.’ She didn’t approve of young women dating older men.”
“Hey. We’re not that old.” Mel laughed.
Emily Anne batted her eyelashes at him, but she could tell by the twinkling in his eyes he knew she was pulling his leg. A quick look at Connor assured her he knew it, too. “I always reckoned that Granny didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.” Then she sat forward and took a moment to meet each man’s gaze. “Age is just a number. I’ve seen men as old as my daddy who weren’t any more mature than your average teenager. I haven’t dated a great deal over the last few years, but always—until now—guys my own age. Truth to tell, until I met the two of you, I was about ready to give up on men completely. I’ve been responsible for myself—paying my own way—since I was sixteen. It’s not that I’m a snob, or anything like that. It’s just that I never could understand the allure of partying until dawn, getting stupid drunk, or finding excuses to just sit back and do nothing.”
“Precious, I think you’ve dated the wrong men,” Melvin said.
“There haven’t been that many—and those were the only kind I’d find who’d even ask me out—the wrong kind. But mostly they were the only kind I let myself even look at.” She looked down at her hands for a moment. Emily Anne wasn’t a woman used to speaking her mind. She’d always been shy, and quiet, and willing to put up with a lot of crap. But since moving to Lusty and meeting so many women of strength, she’d begun to change. She still had a long way to go, no question about it. She didn’t know what the future could possibly hold, but she knew one thing without a single doubt.
She had real feelings for both of these men. She didn’t want to make any mistakes with them. So she inhaled deeply, and said, “It wasn’t until I came to Lusty that I began to understand why that was. I’m a bit of a misfit in my family, you see. I’m an only child, but there’re plenty of aunts and female cousins—mostly on my mother’s side. I’d been teased and taunted all my life because I’m the only one in the family who’s fat. And I let the fact of my size, and their taunting, diminish my self-esteem. But that isn’t going to happen anymore.”
She hoped.
Chapter 3
“You are not fat, Emily Anne.” It was all Mel could do to keep his temper down. Someone had taunted her, teased her? Because they thought she was fat?
“And anyone who tells you that you are is going to have to deal with us.” Connor sounded equally ticked.
“Um, it was mostly family who’ve spouted that line over the years—and female family at that.”
“Don’t matter,” Connor said. “Anyone ever says anything like that to you and I hear ’em, they will wish they had kept their mouths shut.”
Mel thought the blush that kissed her cheeks was pretty as hell. She ducked her head down for just a moment. Then she looked at him and then Connor. “I am fat. I’m just not going to let that fact make me think of myself as unworthy or less than any longer.”
Mel leaned closer and slid his arm around Emily Anne. “You’re so damn sexy, woman, that every time I’m near you, I have to work at keeping my cock from poking out of my pants at you.”
Connor leaned closer on her other side, and Mel liked—a lot—tha
t they had her so snugly situated between them.
He could hardly wait until they had her between them in bed.
Connor said, “I just breathe you in and I’m hard, baby. So that means we think you’re perfect, just exactly the way you are.”
Mel heard the opening bars of a song he recognized, and decided it was time—way past time—that he held Emily Anne Bancroft in his arms.
“Come dance with me, precious.”
He helped her down, and when he offered her his hand, she took it and followed him onto the dance floor.
Hunter Hayes’s voice came over the sound system as he began to sing the first verse of “Wanted”—a song that fit the moment perfectly. Mel eased Emily Anne closer, the tempo good for a slow, close dance.
She fit into his arms like a dream. Her head tucked into his chest and her womanly curves pressed close. He could feel the softness, even as her scent—something light and floral and Emily Anne—teased his senses. He thought it very likely he could get high from dancing with her alone.
He bent his head over her so he could sing the lyrics of the chorus to her, and since his lips were so close, he placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. When she looked up, he gave her a light kiss on her lips.
“Do you feel how hard I am? That’s all you, Emily Anne. I can tell you I have never reacted to a woman this strongly—not even the woman I was engaged to marry.”
She trembled once, and then sighed. He saw the heat in her eyes, but more, he saw a flicker of hope there.
When she laid her head back down on his chest, he felt like the luckiest man in the world. His thoughts went back to earlier in the day, and their meeting with Jake Kendall. He and Connor had brought the manager of the Lusty Town Trust more than just an informational update on the case they’d been hired for.
They’d recovered some photographs that had once graced Donald Rhodes’s desk in his real estate office. They’d had them reprinted, and framed, in two sets of four. The one that had gotten to Mel the most was the one of Donald and his wife, Alice.
Instead of looking into the camera, the couple had eyes only for each other. That picture touched him, making him ache for the unspeakable loss the young family had suffered. It underscored for him the tragedy that, for these two loving people, life had ended suddenly, but together, and their girls had been forced to go on and grow up without them.
The kind of love he saw in that picture was his ideal kind of love. It was the love his mom and dad still felt for each other after nearly fifty years of marriage.
It was the kind of love he wanted for himself. The kind, he suspected, he was beginning to feel toward the warm and wonderful woman in his arms.
Emily Anne sighed again, and for the rest of the song he contented himself to hold her close and enjoy the moment. His gaze met Connor’s and he knew his friend wanted to hold her, too.
Mel led her back to their table, where their drinks awaited them. Grinning, he lifted her. Emily Anne gasped, and he laughed outright as he held her off the floor. He kissed her lips lightly and then set her on her chair.
The club started to fill up, even though it wasn’t even eight o’clock, yet. Mel figured it would be another good night for his friend and that man’s business partner. He looked over at the bar but couldn’t see if the man on duty was Ethan, or not. For all he knew, he had the night off. The feeling of being stared at settled on him and he turned to see where the sensation was coming from.
He grinned and nodded in that direction so Connor could see who was approaching, too.
The men were familiar, but the voluptuous woman who walked between them was not. Of course he knew who the pretty blonde had to be. He and Connor both got to their feet as the threesome approached.
Mel shook hands with Ace Webster and Kemp Whittier.
“You couldn’t have picked a better place for a night out,” Ace said. He put his hand on the woman’s back. “This is our wife, Summer. Kitten, this is Mel Richardson and Connor Talbot, from over near Lusty.”
“Nice to meet you, gentlemen.”
Mel could see that both men were completely besotted by their wife. He got the same good feeling from them as he did from many of the ménage families over in Lusty. “I’m pleased to meet you, Mrs. Webster,” he replied even as he reached for Emily Anne’s hand. “This is Emily Anne Bancroft.” Then to the men, he said, “Would you care to join us?”
“Kitten?” Ace asked Summer.
“Sure, that would be fine.”
He and Connor grabbed a couple more chairs, and noted the way Ace and Kemp saw to Summer’s comfort before taking their seats.
The DJ began to play a song that both women seemed to perk up at. He tilted his head to one side to let Emily Anne know he didn’t recognize the song.
“Luke Bryan.” She all but sighed the name. Her eyes fairly sparkled with humor. “The name of the song is ‘I Don’t Want This Night To End.’”
“Neither do I, angel eyes,” Connor said. “Come and dance with me.”
Connor took her hand and helped her down from her seat.
“Have fun,” Mel said.
“That’ll be us, too,” Ace said as he took his wife’s hand. “We’ll be right back.”
Mel looked over at Kemp who smiled and shrugged, and then let his gaze follow his woman. It was clear to Mel that Summer liked to dance, and Ace and Kemp both liked to see Summer happy.
Mel let his gaze wander to his partner, and the woman they both hoped to share. He looked over at Kemp. Their gazes met for a brief moment of mutual understanding.
He knew exactly how the other man felt.
* * * *
Connor held her every bit as sexily as Mel had, and the shivers that ran through her were just as potent. The music—not just the beat but the lyrics—became like a tonic in her blood. Emily Anne had never before felt this kind of seductive warmth and erotic lure, simply from being held in a man’s arms. Not until tonight, and she’d experienced it with both of these hot men.
“That’s what I want, angel eyes. I want exactly what Luke’s lyrics are saying. I can hardly wait to feel your mouth on mine.”
The words, whispered against her ear, pulled her gaze up until it connected with his. Power, strength, and heat shimmered from Connor Talbot’s hazel eyes. This close, with some of the club’s lighting hitting them just right, she could see a hint of green, and a depth to them that invited her to get lost in them, and him. Lord have mercy, this man and his partner are dangerous.
Dangerous to her heart, and her equilibrium. She watched as he slowly lowered his face to hers, and felt powerless to stop him. She didn’t want to stop him. And when he gave her just the briefest of kisses, when she felt the light stroke of his tongue against her lips, she knew she was lost. She was lost in his heat, and Mel’s heat, and in whatever magic the two of them together were weaving around her.
She was completely enchanted by the music, and the night, and the two men who wanted her.
“I just felt your nipples go hard against my chest, baby. Can you feel how hard I am for you?”
She nodded slightly. “You and Mel are both trouble.”
Connor laughed softly and eased her back into his arms. Laying her head on his chest was easy and natural, and he made her feel cherished and safe.
“Oh, you bet we are, Emily Anne. We’re the very best kind of trouble. Are you going to let us show you how good trouble can be?”
Was she? Had there ever been any doubt? Emily Anne said the only thing she could. “I don’t think I can say anything but yes.”
“We won’t hurt you, Emily Anne.”
“I know you won’t intend to,” she said softly. “And I’m going to hope that in the end, you won’t.”
Connor kissed the top of her head and swept his hand in a comforting gesture down her back.
Too soon the music ended. When he led her back to their table, she didn’t complain. Probably a good idea to take a break and let my hormones settle down. She resume
d her spot, pleased when Summer Webster took one of the chairs next to her.
The waitress returned, and Emily Anne ordered a Coke. The sangria was good, but she wanted to have a clear head for whatever happened next.
“You’re from Lusty?” Summer Webster reached for her own soda, and Emily Anne felt immediately at ease with the beautiful woman. She’d sensed a hint of a connection with this woman from the moment she’d been introduced earlier. There was a height difference between them—Emily Anne was shorter—but Summer was very curvy, just like her. Emily Anne couldn’t help but notice the way the woman’s men appeared to adore her.
“I am, now. I moved there from up near Comanche about six months ago. I work at the restaurant in town—Lusty Appetites.”
“Catchy name,” Summer said. “I have a boutique that I own with my sister in Morehead called Discretion.”
“Oh! I’ve heard of your boutique! A friend of mine, Rebecca Jessop, told me about it.”
Summer smiled. “Yes, I know Rebecca! She came in with Lucy Carter. Lucy introduced her as an artist.” Summer leaned closer. “After I met her I looked her work up online. She’s good!”
Emily Anne grinned. “She showed me what she bought from your place. You’re good, too! I’m going to have to make a trip out to your boutique on my next day off. I could use a few new things.” And she couldn’t help the blush any more than she could help casting a sly glance at her two dates.
Summer’s eyes laughed when she said, “You come on in and I’ll fix you right up.”
Emily Anne gave in and laughed, shrugging her shoulders. What could a woman do when faced with the prospect of not one, but two hot lovers? Somehow, realizing that Summer not only understood but didn’t judge her helped her relax. She noticed the indulgent looks Summer’s men gave her as she laughed with Emily Anne and a thought occurred to her. The ménage relationship her new friend was involved in was permanent because Ace had introduced her as their wife, and Emily Anne could plainly see the big rock reflecting diamond fire from her wedding band. Everyone had a story, and Summer was probably not any different. It was very likely that prior to meeting her men, Summer hadn’t thought a ménage relationship was in her future. How had she felt, as a plus-sized woman, when she’d met two such handsome and powerful men? Probably very much like the way Emily Anne felt now. Had she struggled with feeling worthy of them?
Love Under Two Private Dicks [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 3