Love Under Two Responders [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  Okay, maybe not for the rest of the night.

  “Hold still, beautiful. I’ll be right back.”

  She didn’t know how Edward could manage an entire sentence, let alone actually move. But he did and she thought she may have just dozed off for a moment because he was back in what seemed like only a couple of seconds, using a warm damp cloth to gently clean her up.

  At some point she’d closed her eyes. When Edward lifted her off his brother and cradled her in his arms as he carried her into the master bathroom, she could see no reason to open her eyes. She heard the sound of the jets and smiled.

  “I might go to sleep in here.” She sighed in pleasure as the hot water surrounded her.

  “Feel free, love.” Warren’s voice, followed by his kiss on her shoulder, let her know he was in the tub, too, and sitting close. “We’ll take care of you.”

  But instead of nodding off, Carol opened her eyes and sighed as energy and wakefulness flowed into her.

  “I think I already did sleep. When did my skirt and vest come off?”

  “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to us.” Warren reached for her and lifted her so that she was now sprawled across them both. “You were so into our loving you didn’t even notice when we ripped your clothes right off you as we were fucking you.”

  Carol grinned. She really hadn’t noticed. Then she sobered. “I love you both so much. Thank you for falling in love with me. For choosing me. I am so lucky.”

  “We’re the lucky ones,” Warren said.

  “We are.” Edward lifted one of her hands from the water and kissed it.

  For a long moment Carol let herself rest in the afterglow, in the warmth of the water enveloping her and the sensation of being completely surrounded by her lovers.

  “We’re both so proud of the way you handled going back to your family.” Warren’s words, quiet, sure, bathed her in the most incredible sense of acceptance. He leaned over and kissed her. “I feel as if we’ve each been through some rites of passage.” Warren sighed. “I’ve been having a few nightmares of my own.” He met Carol’s gaze, and then he looked at Edward. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget those moments, when Joe Davies had that gun pointed at you and I was trying to rescue you. I thought I was going to be too late.”

  “But you did rescue me,” Edward said.

  “Yes, you did.” Carol raised his hand and kissed it. “You’re the oldest, and yes, the head of our family. But I think you’ve always been a man to do what needed to be done. Darling, you were a first responder long before you ever became a paramedic. I think that’s one of the things I love most about you. And I think you’re right.”

  “About?”

  “About each of us having to negotiate our own rites of passage. Not alone, as we had each other, but definitely our own trials. And we did. Now here we are, together, solid, and on the other side of them.”

  Edward grinned. “I can’t wait until our Commitment Ceremony. We’re going to live a bona fide, Lusty-sized happy-ever-after.”

  “Do you really think so?” At that moment, euphoria filled her. She wanted to believe it would last forever. Sure, a lot of people got divorced—she had a sister and a brother who’d both ended marriages in divorce. She did not want that to happen to her.

  “I know so,” Warren said. “When I am a shriveled-up old man, and breathe my last, your name will be on my lips, and your beloved face the final image in my thoughts. And every moment of every day from now on, I will do my best to care for you and love you and give you everything you need and most of what you want.”

  “All that I want, and all that I need, is to spend the rest of my life making love under my two first responders. I love you, and I think our happy-ever-after has already begun.”

  “Sounds like paradise,” Edward said.

  “Come on, wife.” Warren tilted her chin toward him and gave her a kiss that felt reverent. “I need you tucked into our bed between us.”

  “I need that, too, husband. I need that, too.”

  Chapter 27

  Carol had never experienced the wonder of having a party thrown with her as a guest of honor. She’d be nervous as hell if it weren’t for the fact that everyone who streamed through the doors of Lusty Appetites was someone she knew.

  The first to arrive had been her coworkers, of course. “Blessings on you all,” Tasha said. “You look so happy together.”

  “Thank you, Tasha.” Carol hugged her. Of all the women Carol worked with, she felt closest to Tasha. The exotic-looking woman carried serenity with her as if it was an invisible cloak.

  “I’ll add my congrats in, too,” Sandra said. The licensed massage therapist didn’t spend as much time in Lusty as the rest of them, but she still was a part of the family that Chloe had made at the spa. “I think if anyone can make a go of a permanent three-way, it’s the three of you.”

  Carol chuckled. “Well so far, it’s all good.” She didn’t point out to the woman that there were an awful lot of successful ménage families in Lusty. The important thing was that even though Sandra didn’t understand the concept, she didn’t judge it, either.

  In the end, that was all anyone could ask of another human being.

  “Of all the women I would have expected to become involved in a ménage relationship, you would not have been one,” Ari said. Her coworker gave her an awkward hug. Carol knew the awkwardness was something inside Ari—a sense of needing to maintain personal space.

  “Because you don’t think I can handle two men?” Carol laughed, and Ari and Tasha both did, too. Sandra just shook her head.

  “I think you can handle anything,” Ari said. “It’s just that you’re so ‘girl next door,’” and then she let her gaze track to Warren and Edward. “But what am I saying? These guys are so ‘boy next door.’ Hmm, maybe you are made for each other, after all.”

  “We think so,” Edward said. He hugged each of the women, kissed their cheeks, and passed them on to Warren.

  “Well, if you’re happy,” Ari said, “I think that’s what matters the most.” She looked around the room. “I wasn’t sure when I first came to this town, and I’m sure as hell not looking for some romantic crap myself—no offence.” She added that last hastily as she seemed to realize that she was talking to a newly affianced triad.

  “No offence taken,” Carol said.

  “Good. Like I said, I’m not looking for romance myself. But this place is the first real place I’ve lived—ever. People don’t blow smoke, here. They say what they mean and mean what they say, and they let a person be themselves without judging or making them feel small in any way.”

  “I love it here, too,” Carol said, “for all of those reasons, and more.”

  Ari still carried a bit of a chip on her shoulder. But the part of that chip that had been created from fear was wearing down. Carol sensed something really bad had happened in her life to make her afraid to get close to people. She just hoped that the young woman would be able to claim more and more inner peace and self-confidence as time went on so she could finish healing.

  If ever a town existed that helped a person heal, Carol figured she was standing in it.

  Carol could see how pleased Warren and Edward were when Peter and Edna Gill arrived. The mentoring program sponsored by the Lusty Combined School was proving to be a great success all around. Edna had told her just last week that when their two sons realized that their father had taken on the students, they both decided to take a bit more of an interest in the farm, and their parents’ lives, too.

  “Thank you both so much for coming.”

  “You’re welcome, Missy.” Peter Gill had taken his hat off and nodded to her. He gently nudged his wife, who looked at him fondly and turned to her. “We were told that gifts weren’t necessary tonight. But you’ve done so much for us, we’d like to invite you to dinner. Just let me know when you have some time off, and I’ll make you my mother’s chicken and dumplin’s.”

  “That wou
ld be wonderful,” Warren said. “We’ll look forward to it.”

  Carol watched in a bit of awe as the people of Lusty took the time to greet and welcome the Gills. Soon the older couple was sitting at a table with Caleb and Jon Benedict and their wife, Bernice. They had coffee and some of Tracy Alvarez-Kendall’s cream puffs in front of them, and seemed to be getting along just fine.

  “I think it’s possible that your cover has been blown forever, cousin.” Grant Jessop looked dapper in his white dress shirt and dark blue denim jeans. His expression serious, he’d given her a hug—Good Lord the man was huge!—and then shook Edward’s hand, and then Warren’s.

  It was to Warren he’d addressed his comment, and the way her lover had been able to school his features and look more than a little, well, nerdy, was nothing short of uncanny.

  “I’m sure we don’t know what you’re talking about,” Warren said.

  “It wasn’t always an act,” Andrew said.

  Carol wondered if he wasn’t trying to convince himself of that fact. He certainly didn’t look as sure as his words sounded.

  “At least I don’t think it was always an act, was it?” Andrew, like his brother, had given her a hug and shaken the hands of his cousins. The fact that these four men saw each other every day, worked together every day, had no bearing on the enthusiasm of their greeting.

  Carol had learned there were certain traditions involved in the informal Lusty engagement party, and she looked forward to witnessing every single one of them.

  Tradition number one of course, was that the party was held at Lusty Appetites, the town’s one and only restaurant. Carol had been surprised that the cost of the event was something the town itself paid for.

  The second tradition was that every man attending was obliged to make his loyalty to the bride to be known, primarily by teasing or threatening the grooms to be with dire consequences if they didn’t take good care of their woman.

  Edward laughed, and the sound rolled through her like sweet honey. “It was never an act,” he said to his cousin. “We went over this. Our social awkwardness only raised its ugly head when we were placed in difficult or unnerving situations.”

  Grant winked at Carol. “That’s defined as any situation not involving their work as paramedics.”

  “It’s true.”

  The firemen moved to make room for their brothers Robert and David and their wife Jillian. It was David who had spoken, and of the two, he had the fastest smile, and the quickest wit. But in moments of crisis, it was his brother, Robert, who instilled absolute confidence.

  She should know. She’d been the recipient of his care recently when she’d been stung by that bee.

  “The first time I saw them working,” David said, “I wanted to know who they were and what had they done with our cousins, the nerds.”

  Carol shook her head, and shared an amused look with Chloe and Jillian. Then she looked at all four of the Jessop men who would soon be her cousins, too. “Best to be careful with that labeling thing y’all do.”

  “Not labeling, love,” Warren said. “Terms of endearment.”

  The rest of the men just grinned at her, and she got that teasing was probably the number one pastime in Lusty. Well, next, of course, to the obvious.

  “One thing I’ve never quite understood,” Jillian said. “I know that Josh and Alex are the Benedict geeks, and Warren and Ed are the Jessop geeks.” She smiled at Carol’s men. “And I mean no offense by that.”

  Her men both looked highly amused. “None taken,” Warren said. He slipped his arm around Carol, and she liked the feel of that, even as she liked the sensation of Edward stepping closer on her other side.

  “But my question is, who are, or maybe who is, because there are so few of them, the Kendall geeks?”

  “Adam and Jake.”

  All of the Jessops standing close to her said that at the same time.

  “I don’t think so,” Chloe said. “In fact, I know so.”

  “No, really, they are,” Robert Jessop said. “They’re just a lot better at hiding that fact about themselves than the rest of the family geeks are.”

  “And I need to point out to you, that it isn’t that there are so few Kendalls, exactly.” Warren’s voice had taken on its earnest tone. “It’s that there are so few of them actually living in Lusty.”

  Edward nodded. “Every now and then some of the others wander this way. They usually don’t settle down, though. Not in the long term.”

  Chloe whipped her head around and pinned Carol’s fiancé with a very direct stare. “There’re more Kendalls? How come I didn’t know that?”

  Warren laughed. “I don’t know, almost cousin. Why didn’t you?”

  “I’ll have to talk to Grandma Kate, later.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “Unless you’re just yanking my chain as payback for leading you to think that Bradley Long was interested in asking Carol out.” She folded her arms across her chest. “That was all a ruse, by the way. And it’s one that I am very proud of.”

  “About that,” Edward said.

  “Yes,” Warren agreed, “about that.”

  They each, in turn, kissed one of Chloe’s cheeks. “Thank you for that,” Warren said. “We needed that kick in the ass.”

  “We did, and for the record, Bradley was interested in Carol, he was just a little slow to make his move.”

  Carol loved her men for the look they’d just put on Chloe’s face. It was clear her boss and friend and almost cousin was touched by their gestures.

  She laid a hand on each of her men’s backs and stroked them. “It wouldn’t have mattered if he did,” she said. “I already knew you were the only ones for me.”

  “Well I’m going to ask Grandma Kate about those nomadic Kendalls,” Chloe said. “I’ve been spending time at the museum. I guess I’m hungry for as much knowledge on the family as I can get because they are my family, too. Or will be in another week.”

  Carol understood completely. Having lost her parents at so young an age and then losing touch with her young sister, Chloe had grown up with a hunger for family.

  One thing about Lusty. If you married into the Jessop, Benedict, or Kendall clans, you had family out the wazoo.

  “The last Kendall who came to Lusty to settle down was Northrup.” Kate Benedict had come into the restaurant unseen behind so many tall and husky Jessops. She must have heard the conversation, and, being Kate, decided to answer.

  Of course every one of them recognized her voice and made room for her.

  “Isn’t he that one who lost his wife? He built that house that Ginny and Adam and Jake live in now,” Chloe said.

  Kate beamed. “He was, indeed. I would be happy to sit down anytime and tell you about those ‘nomadic Kendalls,’” she said. She stood beside Chloe and slipped an arm around her waist. “Though some aren’t so much nomadic as they are…lost.”

  Kate Benedict absolutely amazed Carol. Her ninety-third birthday was coming up yet if Carol had been asked, she would have said Kate could be no more than seventy, tops. She collected hugs from everyone. Then she placed her hand on Carol’s cheek. “I’m so pleased you’re going to be a member of our family.”

  “Thank you, Grandma Kate. Not just for welcoming me, but for taking the time and the trouble to go all the way to Abilene to see my folks.”

  “Well now, life is short, isn’t it? We should never let bruised relationships go untreated for too long. Just like a wound on the body that can become infected, sometimes those wounds to our spirits can prove fatal. Sometimes, relationships can be lost forever, and then regret comes to live with us for the rest of our lives.”

  “You’re absolutely right, Grandma Kate.” Carol looked at her men. “I’m very grateful that Warren and Edward encouraged me to make things right.”

  “We’re the ones who’re grateful.”

  Carol gasped at the sound of her mother’s voice. Kate grinned, and winked at Warren and Edward, which told her they’d all known her parents were
coming to the party.

  Easier now, she went straight to her mother’s arms. The hug was strong, and familiar, and filled a part of her that was special in a woman’s heart, a place set aside just for her mother.

  Her dad, too, gave her a tight squeeze. She quickly introduced her mom and dad and her sister Jane—a real surprise, that—to the Jessops standing close by.

  Her father shook her men’s hands. “I hear tell that I’m supposed to warn y’all of dire consequences if you don’t treat my girl right. But I’m seventy-five years old, and one thing that is good about being old is you can pick and choose the rules you follow, and sometimes, make up new ones.”

  “Oh, Mr. Ashwood, I do like the way you think,” Grandma Kate said.

  “Just call me Arthur, ma’am.”

  Kate stood next to Carol’s mom, and grinned. “I’ll do that, providing you call me Kate.”

  “He can be as stubborn as two mules, Kate,” Doris Ashwood said. “But he’s been a good husband and he has a good heart. Mostly.”

  Everyone chuckled at that, especially when Carol’s father sent his wife a scowl. Then he stepped up to her and took her hand in his.

  “As I was saying…I’m not going to give words of wisdom to your men, as I see there are plenty of older folks here about to see to that. I’m talking to you, missy.”

  “Yes, Daddy?”

  “There’s always talk at times like this about the tender hearts of the brides to be, and I ain’t arguing the fact. But we men, we have tender hearts, too. And maybe worse, we’ve got them wrapped up in our egos. You can’t care for one without caring for the other. And you can’t damage one, without hurting the other. You take care that you don’t bruise the hearts of your men. You take care to make sure they know how much you love them and need them. You do that, and they’ll treat you well.”

  Her father wasn’t one to spend a lot of time speaking. But Carol had never mistaken his lack of words for lack of thought.

  “I will, Daddy. Thank you.” She stretched up to kiss his cheek.

  “I am so thrilled that Carol is going to be my daughter, too,” Anna Jessop said.