by Lynn Stark
“Oh, here they come! Get out! Get out! Let’s sit boy, girl, boy, girl.” As she said this, Donna nearly shoved Ellen from the end of the booth. Ellen laughed and grabbed the table before standing up so she wouldn’t fall out on the floor.
Ellen didn’t even know if Kane, Chance, and Chase had planned on sitting down with them. She suspected they did so out of amused respect for her tipsy friends, but only after each took a turn kissing Ellen in greeting. Kane was now seated between Donna and Ellen. Chase was between Donna and Kristina, leaving Chance to sit between Kristina and Nancy. She could only hope her best girlfriends could keep their hands to themselves.
“Did you enjoy the show?” Kane asked Ellen as he leaned close. She could smell soap on him and knew he had showered. It made her think of the times she had licked beads of sweat from his skin.
“I did. It was very exciting. I didn’t know you were going to be in it.”
“That was a last-minute thing. Chance and Chase can be very persuasive when they want to be.” The look he gave the two men hit Ellen like a brick to the forehead. Up until this moment, she had only been giving a potential long-term relationship with the men half-hearted consideration. When she saw that look, however, she was reminded of all she had been missing since her husbands’ deaths. She wanted to be part of something again, where a simple look could mean so much, could mean everything between the people sharing it. “I should have known they would get me to dance.”
“You like to do it, and you know it,” Chase shot back, grinning.
“I do. I just wouldn’t want to do it all the time.”
The men’s presence at the table seemed to have tongue-tied Ellen’s friends. It was amusing, considering not a half hour before they were all but stripping the men naked in front of hundreds of people. Now they just sat and stared with googly eyes. Well, Nancy and Donna were. Kristina was leaning against Chase, sound asleep and snoring softly.
“So, these are your childhood friends,” Chance said, looking at each of the women and giving them a smile. “Do you have any stories about Ellen we should know about?”
“She used to stuff socks in her training bra,” Nancy offered.
“When I was eight and real boobs were a long way off,” Ellen defended with a laugh. “I just wanted to see what I would look like with them.”
“You about killed your dad when he saw you and choked on the cinnamon roll he was eating.”
They had had a sleepover at Ellen’s house. They had stayed up late, but that hadn’t been enough to prevent them from waking up in time for her mother’s homemade cinnamon rolls. She always put extra icing on them when Ellen’s friends stayed the night. Ellen could remember stuffing the rolled socks into her bra, impressed by the way they puffed out the front of her nightgown. She had all but strutted into the kitchen, subsequently causing her father to choke on a bite of the cinnamon treat.
“He never said a word,” Donna reminisced. “I was sure he would send you back to your room, but he didn’t.”
“He was a good father. He wouldn’t have dreamed of embarrassing me. I was embarrassed enough years later,” Ellen added, remembering how she would heat up like a torch whenever she thought of it, when she was old enough to realize what she had done and what her parents must have thought. “That was also the year my mother and I had ‘the talk.’”
Kane leaned close, his lips touching her earlobe. Pleasure shivered over Ellen’s skin, causing it to heat up. “Did it help?”
Turning her head, Ellen brushed her lips over his. “What do you think? She warned me about bad boys, boys who wanted girls to do naughty things with them.”
There was humor in Kane’s dark gray eyes. Fine lines crinkled at the corner of his eyes as he smiled. “I take it you didn’t listen.”
“I listened. I just wanted to know more.” She kissed him again, softly brushing their lips together. She could swear she could hear Nancy sigh from across the table. “She made it all sound so forbidden.”
“And you wanted a taste of forbidden fruit?” Kane kissed the corner of her mouth.
Ellen sighed with pleasure, her nipples puckering almost painfully beneath her blouse. “I did.”
“And did you like it? Your taste of forbidden fruit?” He kissed the other corner of her mouth, his tongue coming out to stroke her lower lip.
“I did. There’s nothing quite like it.”
“Ellen is really crummy at playing strip poker,” Kristina woke up long enough to blurt out.
There was laughter around the table at that. “Are you crummy at strip poker?” Chance asked curiously. “We might have to get up a game.”
It was all pick-on-Ellen after that. The only time her friends and lovers let up was when someone was performing on the stage. Ellen, however, wouldn’t have it any other way. She loved them all, she thought as she nestled close to Kane’s side.
Her world came to a screeching halt as she realized what she had just admitted to herself. Of course it was too soon. She couldn’t possibly love them. She had only known Chase, Chance, and Kane a few days. It had taken a lot longer than that for her to fall in love with Jerry and Mitch. Over a year, in fact, and almost as long before she had sex with them.
Was the suddenness of the intense emotions she was experiencing, due to the years she had been alone? Ellen had to wonder about that. It was a strong possibility. There was no doubt about the men’s charm and likeability. They were also fun and damn good in bed. Yes, it was the last on the list of pros she had to worry about. Fantastic lovemaking abilities didn’t necessarily mean the men would be good husband material.
Okay, they probably were, Ellen conceded, chewing her lower lip. There wasn’t one thing she knew about them that she didn’t like. That brought up the fact that she hadn’t known them long enough to know much about them at all. What if Chase liked to clip his toenails while he was watching TV? She shuddered. What if Chance had a habit of scratching body parts at the supper table? Kane’s fingers stroked Ellen’s upper arm. They were all touchers. She liked that. Did Kane have any annoying habits? Maybe he picked his nose when he believed no one was looking.
Okay, so she was letting her imagination get the better of her. Ellen knew she shouldn’t be worrying about such petty things. There were probably things about her that would annoy others, things she was completely unaware of doing. She would worry about her relationship later, when she was alone. At the moment she knew she had to focus on what was happening around her. It was the shock of realizing she was falling hard and fast for the three men that had caught her completely off guard.
The entertainment ended at ten thirty, giving everyone in the audience and the employees of the club plenty of time to get home or to parties they would be attending for the New Year’s Eve celebration. Nancy, Donna, and Kristina, were all going to be with their families. Ellen’s daughters were with their in-laws. That meant Ellen would be alone, unless she invited herself to spend it with Kane, Chase, and Chance.
“We have reservations for the party at the Silver Star Hotel,” Kane told her as they stood with her as she and her friends collected their coats near the entrance. “Would you care to join us? Unless you have other plans, of course.”
Ellen smiled at the men. Donna, Kristina, and Nancy each gave her a look that told her if she didn’t do so, they might dump her as a friend. She couldn’t really blame them. Who chose to spend a night alone when they had the option of spending it with three sizzling hot and eligible bachelors? She wouldn’t disappoint her friends, who had jokingly told Ellen they were living vicariously through her.
“That would be lovely,” she told Kane. Chase and Chance fist-pumped behind him. Her friends clapped before hugging her.
Wrapped up in her coat, Ellen hurried outside with the others. There were large passenger vans idling at the curb, courtesy of the Silver Edge, to transport everyone safely to where they needed to go. Because the Silver Star Hotel was only a couple of blocks from the club, Ellen knew they would walk
the short distance, even in the bitter cold. Hell, it wasn’t as if she wasn’t used to icy wind blowing up her skirt and flash-freezing her girlie bits. She chuckled and pulled the collar of her coat up around her ears. Chance put his arm around her to pull her close to his side, as they hurried along the sidewalk. Chase and Kane gallantly walked ahead, blocking the worst of the wind.
The party in the hotel’s ballroom was in full swing when they arrived. Her coat was whisked away and Ellen excused herself to go to the ladies’ room to tame her hair and reapply her lipstick. She rejoined the men in the crowded lobby. They each gave her a brilliant, heart-stopping smile. They were dressed in dark suits. The cowboy boots were gone, as were the hats. The three of them looked as if they were ready to pose for an ad for men’s clothing. Yeah, they were that handsome.
And they wanted her.
Ellen’s heart skipped around in her chest like a happy child. There wasn’t, however, anything childlike about the way she felt about them. Kane held out his hand as she approached and she placed hers into it. Strong fingers wrapped around hers, giving them a squeeze. Ellen almost laughed aloud as that squeeze pulsed through her body, to her heart, and the flesh between her legs.
Music, champagne, and dancing in the arms of three handsome men, was the stuff dreams were made of. Ellen tried not to think too much about the future as she helped celebrate the end of one year and welcoming the new. Living in the moment was exciting, as were the looks, the smiles, and the touches she received from three special men.
Ellen danced with each man, held close in their arms, her head against a strong shoulder, luxuriating in the sensations being created by fingertips stroking the small of her back. The music took them away. She imagined them on a beach, dancing in the sand, moonlight bathing them.
“What was that sigh for?” Kane asked when the music, along with her fantasy, ended.
“I was imagining us dancing on a moonlit beach.”
The smile Kane gave Ellen set her pussy on fire. She wanted him, right then and there. Had they still been at the Silver Edge, she might have jumped him. As it was, she kept a firm grip on her control.
“That sounds perfect. We’ll have to see what we can do to make that fantasy come true,” he told her as they walked off the dance floor to their table. Chase and Chase stood politely. She liked that about them. She appreciated good manners in everyone, not just men. “Ellen wants to dance in the sand on a moonlit beach.”
“Sounds like fun to me,” Chase said as he leaned toward her, giving her a soft kiss on the mouth. “We’ll need to tie Kane up and throw him on a plane. Other than that, it shouldn’t be too hard to get away for a few days.”
They were taking her seriously. Ellen blinked and swallowed. Should she let them continue to discuss her little fantasy, or should she put a stop to it? After all, she didn’t know where this relationship between them was going. She had been giving a lot of thought to what she wanted, and gave equal consideration to what the three men had told her they wanted. They needed to talk again. No sex, just talk. They needed to learn so much more about each other, and they needed to do it soon. Investing more of her heart and soul to these men would make a break-up between them more painful than it already would be.
Ten minutes before midnight, they chose to go outside for the fireworks display, rather than remain inside the ballroom. Ellen had been there for many before. It would be a beautiful, exciting celebration, but she loved fireworks. Chase and Kane walked on either side of her as they headed toward the lobby. Chance had gone ahead to get their coats.
“Silver seems to have something for everyone,” Kane commented as he helped her with her coat, sliding it up over her shoulders. His hands lingered there, gently massaging her through the layers of clothing. Ellen nearly melted right then and there. “Christmas was the same, several parties around town.”
Ellen felt pride sweep over her as they walked out of the hotel and across the street to the large, snow-covered green that was the center of Silver. There was a band in the gazebo, as well as several carolers in Victorian costume on the steps. It was beautiful and picturesque, with the snowflakes and the white lights strung through the limbs of the trees and around their trunks. The crowd was a large one, everyone enjoying the music as the waited for the main event. Most were dressed more appropriately for the weather than she was.
Ellen smiled and waved to people. She was a lifelong resident of Silver, knew all the good and the bad about it, although the bad was very limited, and was pleased Kane had recognized the town for what it was—an excellent place to live.
“It’s the way we do things here. No one wants to be left out, and most of the people here make an effort to be certain everyone who wants to be is included. Of course, Colt Redford sees that it’s done with style, but he is only a part of it.”
When the wind pushed a cloud of snowflakes in their direction, Ellen shivered and nearly changed her mind about standing out in the cold. Chance moved closer, as did Kane. When she felt a body behind her, she knew where Chase had gotten to. Smiling, she mentally put her big-girl panties on. She could take the cold for a while longer. Then she would see if she could get a volunteer to warm up her feet between big, callused hands. Her house was close and it was now devoid of houseguests.
Perfect.
“Better?” Chase asked, his breath warm through the curtain of her hair. She nodded and tipped her head and turned to look up at him. “You’re beautiful when you’re cold,” he added, lowering his head to steal a kiss.
“Say that after my nose starts running.” Ellen laughed, turning back as the band in the gazebo finished playing and the carolers fell silent. “Watch,” she breathed, as quiet as everyone else in the crowd.
The anticipation, the excitement, was tangible. Then it began. Music and fireworks. The music was being broadcast throughout the town and at the fairgrounds, accompanying the magnificent display of explosions of brilliant colors. It went on for every second of half an hour. Ellen barely noticed her feet were all but numb, as she watched the amazing colors and forms with as much wonder as she always did.
Several thousand people in and around Silver would be standing in their yards, on their porches, and in the streets, to watch. It was pure magic Ellen wished would never come to an end.
Yet it did. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she turned to look up at three handsome men. Kane swept Ellen into his arms, pulling her close to his big body, as he lowered his head. The moment his mouth captured hers, the fireworks went off once more. She trembled and moaned, opening her mouth as his tongue teased her lips wider. Their tongues dueled, stroking and teasing, until they were both moaning and pressing their bodies together other as their need to be closer grew to a fever pitch. Even with their heavy coats, Kane’s sizeable erection was barely disguised.
“Come home with me?” Ellen asked when he raised his head to stare at her with dark, glittering eyes. It might have been some special emotion in them. Or it could have just been a reflection of the thousands of lights covering the trees on the green. She preferred to think it was something special Kane was feeling for her at that moment. The longer he looked down at her, the brighter the emotion burned.
Ellen wanted to know what it was. Her heart pounded in her chest. It was on her next breath to tell Kane, as well as Chance and Chase, what she was feeling, that she was falling in love with them.
Did she dare? It was what they wanted. Deep down, she knew it was what she wanted, too. She wanted love and everything that went with it. Passion and lust were there, too, very much a part of what was being forged between them.
Laughing when Chase playfully spun her into his arms, Ellen readily accepted the kiss he pressed upon her lips. Then it was Chance’s turn. She had the feeling that if they hadn’t been in public, he would have stripped her naked right there and made love to her. His eagerness only served to fuel the fires of her own desire.
“Let’s go,” Ellen urged when she could, becoming vividly aware of th
e cold now that she wasn’t distracted by searing kisses.
Chance swept her up into his arms. “You’re not walking. I know it’s not far, but we’ll take one of those shuttles. We could take our truck, but it’ll take time for it to get warm. The shuttle will already be warm. We can get our truck in the morning.”
Ellen didn’t argue. She was also grateful she didn’t have to walk on the frozen ground a moment longer. Next year she was wearing her lined winter boots instead of the dressy ones.
Or, she thought with more than a little hope, she and these men could just celebrate the arrival of the New Year in bed. She bet they could make fireworks of their own. The images running through her mind made her chuckle. Yeah, they could set the sheets on fire. There would be little to no chance of frostbite while in bed with Kane, Chance, and Chase.
Once they were in one of the shuttles, they were driven through town as others were taken to their homes and dropped off. Ellen enjoyed the ride, as she admired the colorfully displayed homes and yards throughout town. She knew everything would be removed by the second of January, put away until the next season.
The driver pulled up in front of Ellen’s house and they got out. It was Kane who carried Ellen this time. Chance hurried ahead to open the door she said was unlocked.
“That’s not very safe,” Chase scolded gently. “Anyone could just walk in. You could get hurt.”
Ellen sighed. “I know. I promise to try harder to keep it locked.” She grimaced as she was lowered to her feet. Chance took her coat and hung it up with theirs in the closet. “Sometimes I forget that in some ways, Silver isn’t the town it used to be. So many new people are coming here, tourists, people moving here, too.”
“You just need to do what you need to do to keep yourself safe,” Chase chided before sweeping Ellen off her feet. He gave her a quick kiss on the mouth and headed toward the stairs. “Now, to get you warmed up.”