Three Men and a Woman: Evangeline (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Rachel Billings

  The kids kept better track of the rotation than the parents did. Every house seemed to be a favorite, and meticulous care was taken to make sure there was no deviation from the correct order.

  “Mikie’s.”

  Charlene and Ted’s. Maisy enjoyed the make-your-own pizza nights there, considering it a real treat to have pizza two nights in a row. In this case, it was pizza bagels, and the kids placed their own pepperoni and vegetable slices to form faces, which then baked into ghoulish treats.

  “Are Mikie and Winnie looking forward to going with you to kayaking camp after school is out?”

  “Winnie said Alexandra and Keith get to go to sailing camp.”

  “And so will you three girls when you’re nine. Two years ago, Alexandra and Keith did kayaking, remember?”

  “What did I do then?”

  “Hmm. You girls were five. You did gymnastics camp in Canandaigua, remember?”

  “Umm.”

  Maisy hadn’t loved gymnastics. She wasn’t quite the daredevil the other two girls were. Evvie often wondered if that was the influence of the fathers. The Victory men were all physical guys and expected their children, both boys and girls, to keep up. But Maisy did like the water, so Evvie hoped that kayaking would be a good choice.

  Mostly, she was very grateful for the welcome Maisy was given to join the summer activities. It made a great difference to her that she didn’t have to walk into a strange setting without her two best friends.

  Maybe, in another year’s time, Maisy would have more father influence, too.

  With that thought, Evvie nudged her daughter into the house. She’d better get some work done while Maise took her usual, post-sleepover nap.

  Briggs would be coming tomorrow and Tuesday. Gio would be back on Wednesday. Chase had switched his schedule in order to be off then, so they’d have a chance to all be together.

  She was going to be busy.

  * * * *

  Chase had to work a little to suppress the annoyance he had with Briggs. It wasn’t exactly Briggs’s fault that he had a job he could do from Evvie’s front porch, but the man didn’t have to be so damn happy about it, either.

  Briggs came back to Chase’s place each night, and Chase couldn’t quite force himself to make Briggs shut up about what had happened with Evvie that day. Briggs was smart enough not to share the details of what he did with Ev in the sack—or wherever—but Chase knew that Briggs had been spotted on the porch by Harriet.

  That was the sexy redhead, and she’d done her sisterly duty by poking her nose in when she’d discovered another strange man around Ev. And she was a damn fan, of course, all excited about having Briggs Henriksen himself hanging out on the farm.

  So Wednesday couldn’t come soon enough. He’d worked extra shifts to clear the week, and he was ready to see his woman.

  Gio was driving up from JFK, figuring he’d bring his truck up and center out of ROC now. Briggs was talking about buying a car so he could dump his rental. It was looking like his buddies were going to make themselves at home in his place on a permanent basis.

  He was fine with that, really. But the whole deal with Ev wasn’t settling in to something reasonable and rational as he’d hoped. And with Gio coming now, it was just going to get more complicated.

  He’d kind of enjoyed that moment when Ev had been forced to introduce him to the hot women of Victory Farms. He’d liked being the first to put a claim on her in that setting—her home, essentially. What they’d made of Briggs’s presence there was anybody’s guess.

  Clearly, if Evvie stayed involved with all three of them, well, the Victorys would inevitably become aware of it. Evvie and Maisy were just too connected with the Victory families for it to be otherwise.

  That was the thing that bothered him the most. Not the fact that they all three loved Evvie and were willing to share her love—and body. He wasn’t as cocky as Briggs, not so blithely unconcerned as Gio. He cared what other people thought—some, at least. And he cared about what others would think about Ev. And mostly, he cared about how that would affect her—their—daughter.

  Briggs was right—this whole crazy idea would go down better in California. But Ev and Maisy had a home here, family. He’d seen it, that day the three sisters had let him know that Ev was theirs. Evangeline had never really had family. She’d grown up starved for it, which was why she’d fallen in so completely with a group of idiotic seven-year-old boys.

  It seemed wrong to take her away from that. He wasn’t sure that giving up what she had at the farm for three oversexed men would be a good bargain for her.

  He pondered the question as he drove down to Gorham. Briggs was in the shotgun seat. At least, his body was. Chase was pretty sure his head was some whole other place in the multiverse. He was working on the screenplay for his first series, Chase knew, so it was probably Evensone or that damn desert moon off Timoran.

  Briggs could sure make stuff up in that head of his.

  They’d aimed for noon, knowing the drive from JFK was a long one, and there was no sign of Gio’s rig when they got to Ev’s place. Chase hopped out of his SUV and was on Evvie’s porch before Briggs got back to planet Earth. All good, since that meant Ev’s first greeting was for him.

  She was sweet as always. He totally loved the way she had of pulling him in to her heart. The fact that she did exactly the same for the others took nothing away from it. As much as anything, that convinced him this ménage deal could work.

  She seemed to have that much love in her.

  She was still into kissing him when Briggs nudged his way in. There it was again—that complete welcome, that complete taking into love. Briggs felt it, too—meeting his eyes and acknowledging it with a small smile.

  Ev never saw them without wanting to feed them, so of course she was busy in the kitchen. She had a shrimp and goat cheese flatbread deal ready to go in the oven, so she toasted that and got them started on it while she worked at a salad with grilled steak. Chase and Briggs sat at her kitchen island and enjoyed the show. She wore a little pencil skirt that clung to her ass when she turned or bent over the oven. And her halter top softly contained her breasts, but not so well that they didn’t get little glimpses of flesh as she moved, or couldn’t tell that her nipples were already hard.

  He was pretty sure that those two items of clothing they saw were all she had on. And he was entirely sure about it when Gio arrived.

  They all heard him drive up. Evvie paused midway through slicing a red pepper. She glanced at the two of them watching her, then turned to the sink and washed her hands. That done, she came around the island.

  She put her hands on Briggs’s face and kissed him. It was a good one, and when she was done, she opened her eyes, looked into his, and said, “I love you.”

  She did exactly the same thing with Chase.

  By that time, Gio had opened the door. Evvie ran and Gio stepped inside and dropped his overnight bag just in time to catch her as she leapt.

  Then there was a total love fest going on. They had their arms wrapped around each other and kissed like they were starved for it. Gio turned and had Evvie pushed up against the door. Chase could see he was working at his pants, and Evvie obliged by hooking her ankles together behind Gio’s waist. Within about five seconds, they both groaned as—and Chase was merely guessing here, but it was a good guess—Gio sank his cock into her.

  They took a moment to breathe, heads sunk into each other’s shoulder or crook of the neck or whatever. Okay, yeah, so it was sweet, but it was also freaking hot to watch, and Chase’s dick stirred in appreciation. Maybe “stir” was a little too soft a description.

  He was aware of Briggs beside him, shaking his head. “I don’t get it. She must really like the idiot.”

  Chase snorted.

  The love bunnies at the door started to move. That was to say, Gio moved, and Evvie perforce went along with him. Without so much as a by-your-leave, he took her to the stairs. He had one arm behind her back and one supp
orting her ass, humped over just a little to accommodate the way he had her pierced.

  It didn’t slow him down at all, and he was halfway up the stairs before Chase glanced over at Briggs. Briggs was watching the show, too, and having the same reaction to it Chase was, judging by the healthy amount of tenting going on. He looked back at Chase and nodded, and the two of them got up and followed the pair going up the stairs.

  They formed a little let’s-fuck-Evvie parade.

  Gio had gotten distracted along the way by some more kissing, enough that Chase and Briggs had nearly got caught up to them by the time they reached Evvie’s bedroom. And so they were standing right there when the door slammed in their faces.

  Briggs nearly had his nose taken off, which, in other circumstances, could have been damn funny. “Hey, dude,” he said, all aggrieved. “That’s not cool.”

  It was pretty obvious Gio had to get his tongue out of Evvie’s throat before he spoke. “It’s been ten days. Give me an hour.” Something happened, and Chase suspected it was a hard thrust of cock into hot pussy. “Please.”

  Briggs looked at Chase.

  “‘Hey, dude’?” Chase mimicked in a girly tone. “‘That’s not cool’?”

  Briggs shot him a hard look and took some deep breaths—likely trying to convince his cock to stand down, just as Chase was. “We gonna let him do that?”

  “I guess, yeah.”

  “Fuck.”

  That said it all.

  Chase knocked him on the shoulder. At the least, he wasn’t going to stand outside Evvie’s door listening to the soundtrack. He wouldn’t have to strain—Gio wasn’t holding back. “Come on. There’s lunch downstairs.”

  Briggs’s expression let him know what little compensation that was.

  Chapter Eleven

  It wasn’t that much more than an hour before Evvie and Gio came downstairs. They’d showered, so they were both squeaky clean, Gio in his jeans only and Evvie wrapped up in a short silk robe. Chase didn’t want to wonder about what nasty activities had dictated the need for a shower.

  And didn’t have to, since Gio was seldom quiet about anything he did. And was particularly loud, it turned out, when he was shoving his cock into his woman’s ass. Very soon—almost too soon to believe, physiologically speaking—after he’d got done shoving it into her cunt.

  Still, he liked the symbolism behind the shower and that little silk robe.

  Like Evvie’s lovely body was entirely available for her other two lovers. Ready. Waiting. Squeaky clean. He caught a glimpse of her little panties beneath her robe, but her idea of underwear had never kept him from getting to home plate. Or the dugout.

  Chase was aware of the time, though, and knew the big four-way fuck orgy he and, he was sure, Briggs had been anticipating wasn’t going to happen today. There wasn’t much time left before Maisy’s bus.

  And that time was going to be spent in conversation, apparently.

  Gio kept Evvie’s hand in his after he brought her into the living room.

  Chase and Briggs had filled their plates and sat out on the porch while they ate—an ineffective strategy to avoid the upstairs sound effects. They’d lingered there a little too long, being forced to give lame little waves and make a deal of meeting the interested gazes of the two Victory women—Jane and Charlene—who walked by.

  He’d urged them under his breath to keep walking, keep walking, and was exceedingly grateful when they did. Briggs heaved a thankful sigh to match his own, and, without speaking, they both stood and gathered their dishes and hightailed it inside before the women’s curiosity got the better of them.

  So Chase was laid out on the couch reading an online medical journal and Briggs was in an easy chair doing his usual stuff in his head when the two lovebirds came down. Though they both sat up with extreme attention when Gio spoke.

  “I’m done effing around. I want to commit. I want Evvie to marry me—or one of you, if you two are going to fight me for it.” That stopped an objection from both Chase and Briggs. “But I’m in—for good. And I want to meet Maisy.”

  He gave both the other men careful looks. “I’m going to stop flying so much. Evvie doesn’t like it when I’m gone for so long.” He squeezed her hand and gave her this goofy little indulgent look. It was an embarrassment. “Plus, she worries.”

  Briggs was on his feet, and Chase stood, too. “You’ve been flying since you were sixteen. Up until now, I’ve never had to worry about you.”

  “And you don’t now, either.”

  But out of Gio’s line of sight, Evvie nodded her head. Yes, he did. If she had to worry, he had to, also, apparently.

  “I’m going to talk to the brothers, see if I can work some around the farm.”

  Briggs rolled his eyes. “What? You drive a pickup, so you think you know something about farming?”

  Gio lifted a brow. “I can learn. You think there aren’t Diorios growing grapes in Italy?”

  “Good point,” Chase granted. “But not really the main concern here, right? Evvie?” He put out his hand. “Why don’t you come sit down?”

  She came and took his hand, which pleased him. But Gio kept hold of her other hand and came along, too, which—well, was inevitable, he supposed.

  No surprise it was Gio who’d take them to the brink on this.

  They had little more than half an hour in which to make a plan that was, very likely, to affect the rest of their lives. Chase would like to say that Gio’s declaration had forced a commitment from him and Briggs, but it wasn’t true. At least, he knew it wasn’t true for him, and suspected it wasn’t for Briggs, either.

  They both threw caution to the wind and their hats into the ring. Yes, they, too, were willing to commit to a four-way ménage. They, too, wanted marriage and to meet Maisy.

  The marriage thing was the toughest to work out. Gio argued quite correctly, dammit, that he was the first to propose, that Evvie had accepted, and that that ought to count for something. Chase made the relatively weak point that half the Victorys had already met him, which of course caused Briggs to chime in that he’d established his presence on the farm as well. That had Gio pointing out that he planned to work on the farm.

  Things started getting heated when Evvie called a halt to it. It didn’t matter, she said. She was going to belong to all of them and vice versa. To her mind, there didn’t have to be a marriage at all.

  Which just went to show how women thought, Chase mumbled. It wasn’t a thing he could defend when she raised her brow at him. The guys largely ignored her and fought next over the best way to decide by chance. Chase proposed they shoot for it, odds and evens. Briggs said draw straws. Gio, being Gio, wanted to arm wrestle.

  In the end, she tossed all three of them out of the house. Briggs and Chase gave Gio a sour look like it was his fault.

  Stay away, she told them. Giving Chase cause for a little smirk, she had to say it twice to Gio, when he tried to play that I’ve-been-gone-for-ten-days card again.

  She’d meet them at Chase’s home on Saturday, after dropping Maisy off at the sleepover. She’d stay with them through Sunday morning, which was an inspired notion distracting and enticing enough to significantly mollify three male tempers.

  On Sunday, she said, they’d come together to the farm and spend the day with Maisy.

  Done deal.

  * * * *

  By the time she was in the shower with Giovanni, Evangeline was aware that the little bit of cramping she’d noticed that morning really did mean what she thought it might.

  She wasn’t pregnant. She was disappointed but not terribly surprised. Her periods were short and light and easy to live with, but her cycles had never been particularly regular. It had been possible that she was ovulating around the time of that first weekend when she’d run into each of the guys, and, more particularly, had sex with each of them. Or, it might have happened the Monday a week later, when she’d made love with all of them that same day.

  Most likely her fertile tim
e had occurred on those days in between, though she’d hoped that an egg or two might have hung around long enough to make friends with an eager little sperm on that Monday.

  The “or two” was because one of the few things she knew about her mother’s family was that the Charles women seemed to be super ovulators. In a rare moment of disclosure, Fancy had once told Evangeline that she, Fancy, had a twin brother and there was another set of twins three years older. Fancy’s aunt Cindy had two sets of twins also, but had raised the bar by popping out triplets as well. Fancy’s pregnancy with Evangeline had started out as a twin, but there had been an early demise of one.

  In fact, Evangeline had been made to feel a bit inferior when it was revealed during her pregnancy that Maisy was a singleton.

  Anyway, she was committed to three randy guys now. She was pretty sure it wouldn’t be long before she conceived. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t cooperate—with that part of the deal, anyway.

  So it would be another month at least before Chase would feel the need to boss her around about prenatal care and birth plans. It was enough that he was mumbling under his breath about females who thought marriage wasn’t important.

  She’d lost patience with the three of them making such a fuss over a thing that really was simple. She loved them. She wanted to be with them. It didn’t matter if she married one or all or none.

  What did matter, and she wasn’t even sure they’d gotten it, was that she was ready to share Maisy with them. Nothing would signify the commitment she was making to them more than that. A meeting between them would come soon, and it turned out she was less worried about it than she might have anticipated. The guys were sweet, loving men, and Maisy had an open heart. She wasn’t exactly sure how to frame the relationship for Maisy’s young self, but she was confident it would work itself out.

  In the meantime, there was another thing to deal with.

  How did a girl dress for a triple fuck?

  * * * *

  Gio slept late, Briggs wrote, and Chase played a round of golf with two anesthesiologists and a surgeon. Whatever their distraction of choice, it failed each of them by noon. They finished a take-out lunch on Chase’s deck and then had to admit they were doing nothing but waiting for Evvie.