He took the box back and they walked to the kitchen together. “I thought we must have put a pretty good dent in your freezer supply. I wanted to replace it.” He lifted a shoulder. “Wegmans, you know.”
The locally-grown grocery was famous for its ready-made foods. He set the box on the counter and handed them out to her—plastic quart containers of New England clam chowder, Italian wedding soup, shrimp and roasted corn chowder, and more. She took them and set them in her freezer. “Thank you,” she said. “Do you need some? Have you eaten?”
He smiled. “Now, what sort of guest would show up on your doorstep, uninvited and hungry, too?”
She smiled back at him. “My favorite sort, I guess.”
“I’ll take a beer. And I’ll fetch your wine glass, so you can refill.”
Jubilee nodded.
“It’s okay I came?”
“It’s wonderful you came.”
“Good,” he said.
Jubilee unwrapped the flowers from their protective plastic. They were very pretty—Wegmans did a good job at a lot of things. Keith came back and poured her wine, then he followed her with it and his beer as she carried the flowers to the living room.
She stopped as she passed by the entry, though, because someone else was at her door.
Through the glass, Brody looked back at her, although his gaze flicked to Keith once. She set the flowers at the entry table and opened the door.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hello, Jubilee.”
“It’s okay I came?”
“Of course.” Jubilee stepped back and he came in. He carried a box, too—six-packs of beer in it, and…flowers.
His pretty brown eyes looked down at her. He was taller than Jubilee by a good four inches. “I—”
Keith interrupted. “I thought you were back in San Francisco.”
Those brown eyes went there. “I was,” Brody said. “Now I’m here.”
He looked at Jubilee. “Hold this, please,” he said, and handed over the box. “You look good,” he added. Then, without asking permission, he slid out of his coat and boots.
He’d gussied up, too. Oh, he wore jeans still, but they were dressed up with a gray sport coat over a darker gray vest. He wore a white dress shirt under, closed with a prettily patterned gray and white tie. His sun-streaked long hair was brushed back. He looked…really good.
Keeping his eyes on her, he took the box back, and, after a moment, they all walked back to the kitchen. Brody set the box on the counter and handed the flowers to her. “For you,” he said, gaze lingering.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jubilee saw Keith put her wine on the island, settle there on one of the stools, and take a swig of beer as he watched the pair of them.
“Thank you, Brody,” she said.
He nodded and grabbed a six-pack of beer. He hefted it before he put it in the fridge. “This, I thought we owed you.”
The cut flowers needed a vase, so she took them to the sink. When she opened a cupboard and reached to a high shelf, he came close, reached up, and handed it down to her. “This one?” he asked.
“Yes. Thanks.”
Jubilee enjoyed arranging flowers, but this was a bit awkward. She filled the vase, then took it and the flowers to the island. Brody opened a beer and walked to the other side to take a stool—the two men pretty much locking gazes as he moved.
Using her kitchen shears, she made fresh cuts in the stems and worked on a good arrangement. She was aware that their attention was on her now and made more of the job than it required.
She looked up, though, gaze going from one to the other as they all appeared to hear it—her front door opening once more. After a little pause—no doubt, the amount of time it took to remove one more set of dress coat and boots, during which the two men’s eyes stayed on her—one word was spoken.
“Keith.”
“Henry.”
“Brody, I thought you were in California.”
“I was. Now I’m here.”
Henry wore black cords with suspenders, a white dress shirt with a black and brown patterned stripe, and a dark brown sport coat, collar flipped up, that worked surprisingly well with the black. He still had a flannel muffler with fringed ends slung around his neck.
Drop-dead gorgeous, he walked up to Jubilee. He set the two bottles of wine he carried on the counter and handed the bouquet of flowers to her. “I brought these,” he said, notably not asking if it was okay that he’d come. He looked at the two men on their stools, who looked back. “But I really came to do this.”
He took the flowers from her, moving slowly, and dropped them on the island. Then he put one hand on her hip and one at the back of her neck, brought her close, and kissed her.
It wasn’t a simple greeting. His lips brushed hers and then teased them open. She was very aware of their audience, so he had to work at it a good bit to draw her attention away from that fact.
He appeared perfectly willing to take all the time it required. And he had…skills. Before it was over, he had his tongue in her mouth, and she was kissing him back. Her hands had lifted to grasp his waist. When he raised his head, she was breathing unsteadily. His green eyes held hers, and she almost jumped when Brody spoke.
“Funny,” he said. “I came for the same thing.”
And then she did jump when he touched her shoulder. He was right behind her. “Jubilee,” he said. “Turn around and look at me.”
Henry’s eyes darkened, but he dropped his hands from her. She was still breathing roughly as she looked up at him. He gave her no signal, one way or the other.
Not really sure what she was doing, Jubilee turned. She stood still as Brody moved his left hand and twined fingers around hers. Then he cupped her face and kissed her.
She got a single breath out before it happened, a single “oh.”
His lips were soft and rough at the same time, somehow. And patient, like Henry’s, seemingly willing to wait forever for her to respond.
She was sure she wouldn’t. Yeah, it had been a while—the two years since Bill had died, and the months before that of his illness. Still, there was no way her lips should do anything but seal themselves closed as Brody kissed her while she was still heated from Henry’s mouth. While Keith…watched.
But it happened. She moaned and let Brody in. She lifted her free hand to curl in those pretty strands that nearly reached his shoulders. Each breath was audible, both his and hers. Their fingers grasped at each other in need. He dropped his head farther, tilting hers back so he had greater access.
Finally, with a long groan, he took his tongue out of her. He rested his head against hers as they both panted.
When Keith spoke, Brody’s fingers slowly loosened their grip on hers.
“Jubilee,” Keith said. “Come over here.”
She was still facing Brody, still felt the heat of his breath and the sharp pierce of his gaze. He took a half step back. She knew if she’d moved first, she’d have bumped into Henry behind her.
She looked at Brody and almost startled when Keith said her name again. Swallowing hard, she dropped her gaze, stepped from between the two men, and walked around the island to Keith.
He stood and looked at her.
“No one planned this, right?” he asked. But he didn’t wait for anyone to answer. “You didn’t know any of us were coming, or all three of us, and we didn’t either.” He looked her down and then back up and spoke the obvious truth. “But I think you hoped.”
Jubilee’s breath caught when he reached for her. She shuddered as he looked into her gaze and then dropped his eyes. He watched his hands as he unbuttoned her sweater and then pulled it open. “This happened, didn’t it?”
She knew what he could see. What they all could see, because they all watched her now.
Her nipples were hard, tightly furled against the silk of her white shirt. Partially visible, because they were only half-covered by the demi-bra she’d donned when she’d made herself ready for…for
them. For these three men. She didn’t meet Keith’s gaze, or the others’ either, as she thought of that. Last weekend, they’d all been so sweet, so attractive. So obvious about their interest in her, each in his own separate way.
She hadn’t dressed for one of them, hadn’t thought about which one she hoped would come. Really, it had been for all of them. Like she couldn’t identify any one of them whom she wanted there more than the others. In her mind, they were three.
He spoke again, his voice low, close to her ear. “You’re wet, aren’t you?”
That brought her shocked gaze back to his. He looked at her intently. “You want…us, don’t you? You want all of us.”
He touched her then, taking her right nipple with his left hand, gripping it with his fingers. Pinching firmly. His right hand, big and strong, grasped her ass. His fingers dug deep, pressing through her skirt into the sensitive tissue at her center.
Keeping the fingers of both hands active, he took her mouth.
There was no resistance this time, no need for him to coax his way into her mouth. She opened and welcomed him, sucking on his tongue as he fucked her mouth with it. His right hand brought her firmly against the stiff rise of his cock, and she barely held back a laugh of exultant pleasure.
His touch, his kiss, his desire—all of it felt so incredibly good, she wanted to crow with the joy of it, the aliveness of it. She wrapped her arms around him, holding herself close to him, wanting him, wanting more.
Neither of them halted the first time Henry said Keith’s name. But he said it with greater force the second time, so Keith leaned back. Still, he looked at her, not Henry, and their breaths were in sync. Urgent.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m making love to her.” His gaze was still hot on her. “At least, I’m going as far as she’ll let me. As you’ll let me,” he said to her.
“But—” That was Brody.
“Jubilee.” Henry spoke softly. “Do you want us to leave? Brody and me?”
Jubilee didn’t answer right away.
Keith had been strumming her nipple, distracting her. He spoke first. “I think you should be over here, Henry, kissing her, before you ask that question. Brody, too.”
Jubilee drew in a sharp breath, the only sound in the suspended moment that followed. She was captured in Keith’s gaze, in the spell he wove with his fingers at her breast.
Then Henry was at her side. He put a knuckle along her jaw and turned her head to face him. He leaned in and kissed her, soft, sweet. “Do you want me to go?”
She should have said yes. Keith’s fingers were fondling her, torturing her, and his hard cock pressed against her lower belly. She liked Keith. He’d said he wanted to make love to her, and she wanted him to do exactly that. Desperately.
But Henry’s lips were on hers again, and he was so…enticing. So gorgeous and sweet and bright. She moaned as he took the kiss deeper.
Then Brody was there, too. She knew it without looking. His lips were at her neck, nibbling, seducing, making her moan again. His hand slid around her waist, his palm warm against her.
Jubilee turned her head and kissed him, too. Keith’s gaze was on her; she could feel it. And Henry’s forehead dropped down to her shoulder.
“What are we doing?” he asked, and Jubilee knew he’d lifted his head and was staring at the others. Brody broke from the kiss to look back at him. Henry kept going. “We’re not twenty-year-old kids in a frat. She’s not a…a puck slut.”
Keith reacted, anger in his voice. He softened his touch on her, reassuring now rather than inflaming. “No, she’s not. And if you say a thing like that again, I’ll have to invite you outside, where I’ll pummel you.”
“I didn’t say—” Henry took a deep breath and gave the barest as if roll of his eyes. He was quieter, calmer, when he spoke again. “Jubilee. This can’t be what you want, can it?”
Slowly, she shook her head, not agreeing with him, but not able to disagree, either.
“Honey,” Keith said, speaking gently now, touching her face. “We all know this isn’t normal for you, and it’s not for us, either. We’ll all go if you tell us to. Later, we can figure out a way for you to…choose, if that’s what you’d like. But none of us wants to leave you right now. And I don’t think you want us to go.”
“Is he right, Jubilee?”
She turned her face to Brody as he spoke, and stood still as he slid his hand around to cover her other breast. The pupils of his brown eyes dilated as he stroked his thumb over her nipple.
“Yes.” She said it in a whisper.
“You want us to stay.”
“Yes.”
She felt it as he nudged Keith with the back of his hand. Keith moved back a bit, and Brody slid his hand down her front, until it rested on her skirt at the top of her thighs. He pressed in, and she felt the heat of it as he circled over her clit.
“You want us to…do everything to you.”
Jubilee had to let a shudder quake through her before she could answer. “Yes.”
“All of us.”
Keith was back to working her nipple. She needed a minute…until he gave her a good yank, drawing her attention back to Brody’s question. Brody’s statement.
“Yes.”
“I’m in,” Keith said in the very same second.
“Me, too,” Brody said.
There was a little silence, and then Keith kissed her. “I think Henry might need persuading, sweetie,” he said.
Keith’s fingers were working their magic at her breast, and Brody had kept up that stimulation to her clit despite the hindrance of her clothing. She was hot and needy and…wanted more. She wanted Henry, too, and she stopped herself from thinking about anything more than that. Firmly closing the door on rational thought, she circled a hand around Henry’s neck and brought his mouth toward hers.
He came to her and kissed her thoroughly. When he was done, he lifted up and looked at his buddies and then her. “I think we’re all fucking nuts.” Shouldering in, he took Jubilee up in his arms. “Still, if we’re going to go nuts…”
Keith grinned. “We may as well go all the way.”
Henry lifted a brow and sighed, but he turned and carried her up the stairs.
Chapter Three
Brody stood with Keith and watched Henry carry off the woman he hadn’t stopped thinking about for a week.
He hadn’t seen Keith’s rig when he’d pulled into Jubilee’s drive. If he had, he probably would have just driven on past. Keith and Henry had been his best friends for twelve years, since the three had first laced on skates and hit the ice in the Ritter. They’d had each other’s backs through four hard years of hockey on top of demanding classes, then Keith’s master’s and Henry’s doctorate, Brody’s stupidly naïve and short-lived marriage, the sudden deaths of Henry’s parents, Keith’s broken engagement, and Henry’s long-term mess with a drama-loving, two-thirds-crazy, finally ex-girlfriend.
They’d gotten through all that together.
And if he’d known that Keith had beaten him to the woman Brody had a wicked hard-on for, he’d have given her up. Well, he’d have bided his time, anyway, in hopes that his buddy might get shot down.
He didn’t think it would be wrong of him to hope for that. Exactly.
But this was happening instead, and, though he didn’t know exactly what this was, it was damn hot. He’d kissed Jubilee after Henry had kissed her, then watched as Keith nearly took her apart with a little T and A action—and watching? It was freaking hot. And it was better yet when he joined the whole fracas.
Clearly, the girl was looking for a walk on the wild side. They might be taking a little advantage of her loneliness and, he suspected, a significant dry spell for her. But she’d given consent. She’d had a chance to tell one or two or all of them to go, and she hadn’t done it. God only knew what the morning would bring, but, tonight, she wanted them. One might even say she needed them.
He damn sure wasn’t going to sa
y no.
An eyebrow raised, he shot a glance at Keith. “Serially, do you suppose, or all at once?”
Keith looked back with that glimmer in his eye that always led to fun. Brody should have reminded himself that the glimmer led to trouble, too, about half the time, but he didn’t.
“All at once would be my vote,” the guy said, and then he grinned. “We can save serially for later.” He took a couple steps, and Brody was right there on his six.
Upstairs, Henry had Jubilee on her feet near the big, four-posted bed in the master bedroom. They were sucking tongue, and Henry had his hands all over her. Neither of them had lost any clothes yet. But Keith, the systems thinker, had already tossed his sport coat onto a leather-padded chest at the foot of the bed. Brody looked around, found the switch for the gas fireplace, and turned it on before he joined the threesome. He figured there were going to be some naked bodies very soon. He lost his jacket, too, on his way over.
By the time he got there, Keith was lowering the zipper at the back of Jubilee’s pretty red skirt. He was kissing her neck and telling her how they needed to get some items of clothing out of the way. Brody liked the way Keith thought. When the skirt was gone, Keith’s hands cupped the girl’s ass.
Generally, Brody didn’t find a woman covered up in black tights all that sexy. Pretty much, that kind of garment just got in the way of what was truly important. But the tights were transparent enough to give them a glimpse of what she wore underneath…and it wasn’t a lot. The band of a little white thong ran right up the center of her ass.
Henry had gotten on board with the undress-the-woman deal. He’d removed her sweater and was lifting off the slinky white shirt under it.
Brody was near enough then for a good view. She wore only the tights and a very skimpy white bra that left her breasts half-bare. “Good look, baby,” he said, just before he turned her face for his kiss. She was nicely enthusiastic, like it was a welcome interruption, and she didn’t object when he slid his hand inside the tights.
She arched against Keith behind her, and that one helped out, holding her to his chest so her pelvis thrust forward. Brody got right to business, pushing down until he reached the thong, wriggling his way past it, and shoving his middle finger up her pussy.
Three Men and a Woman_Jubilee Page 3