Through the slit in her eyes she could tell she was in a bedroom. Hmm. The bedroom was decorated in emerald-green and cream, her favorite colors. As she continued to peruse the room, she noticed a man in army fatigues slouched in the chair.
“Steve,” Merry said gently. “Steve,” she said louder and longer.
“Damn, baby,” Steve exclaimed as he bolted out of the chair and rushed to the bedside. He knelt down next to the bed, clasping her hand gently in his. “Thank you, Jesus,” he said as he squeezed her hand.
“Hey,” she said gently. “I didn’t realize you were a praying man.”
“Hell, I prayed to God and I promised my soul to the devil. I thought you were going to die.”
“Was I sick? Where am I? Oh jeez, Steve, where are the girls?”
“First, drink.” Steve put his arm around Merry’s back and gently lifted her from her pillow. He held the glass against her lips as she took a small sip.
“Better?” he asked as he placed the glass on the table next to the bed.
Merry considered the question. Better? Hell no! She felt like crap. “Honestly, I feel like crap. Now, explain.”
“First, the girls are safe. They were heading to your mom’s house in Nowhere, North Dakota. I sent them a message in code hoping they would understand you were with me and you were safe.”
“Safe?”
“Jeez, babe, what do you remember about Antonio DeMarco?”
Merry closed her eyes, trying to remember Antonio DeMarco. She slowly shook her head, moaning in pain.
“Babe, Antonio DeMarco is your husband.”
Merry opened her eyes and looked at Steve. “Do not mess with me. The only person I might have married in the last twenty years is you. And you never asked.”
“Merry, try to remember. You met and married Antonio DeMarco. You were out promoting the company and you came home married and strung out on drugs.”
“Steve, I have never used drugs in my life.” She paused. “I would certainly remember getting married for goodness sake. Drugs or no drugs.”
“Seriously, Merry, I don’t know what happened. You were supposed to be gone for a month, promoting the spring line for Fairweather Cosmetics. You asked me to look out for the girls, otherwise I would have been with you in Las Vegas.” Steve shook his head in complete dismay. “How did you even meet up with DeMarco? He’s a complete asshole. Not only is the bastard trying to run your company into the ground—he’s under investigation by the DEA and the FBI.”
Merry grasped her head as she tried to remember her life with DeMarco. “Steve, I don’t remember anything. He’s under investigation by the FBI? Did I really get married?”
Steve studied Merry’s face intently. “Babe, you got married at the Two Hearts Beat as One Chapel in Las Vegas.”
Merry’s shoulders shook with laughter. I must still be stoned…this is so not funny. “No way, I would never get married at a chapel in Vegas. Were the girls at the wedding?” Merry gasped for breath as she laughed about her alleged Las Vegas wedding. “Two Hearts Beat as One…No way, there is absolutely no way I would wed at a place called Two Hearts Beat as One. I certainly wouldn’t marry a guy who was on the radars of the DEA and FBI.”
Steve stared at her solemnly. Merry stopped laughing.
“You got married in Las Vergas, the girls were not at the wedding, and you married a prick who is wanted by the FBI and the DEA.”
“There is no way I would get married without my girls in attendance.” Steve stared at her intently but did not respond. “Oh my god, I got married without my girls. They will never forgive me.”
The silence was palatable.
“So, I was drugged. Wow. How could someone get me so drugged up that I wouldn’t remember getting married?”
“It’s kind of worse, babe. You gave DeMarco control of the company by default. Which was kind of my fault, but the girls are taking care of it.”
Merry rubbed her temples. No wonder she didn’t want to wake up. What a nightmare.
“Explain,” Merry said, in the voice she used with incompetent workers at Fairweather Cosmetics. A voice she rarely employed because she did not hire incompetent people.
“Do not use that voice with me, babe. I had to get you out of the house or he was going to kill you. I could feel it. Each day he took you out of work and out of society. He separated you from the girls, your partners in the business. He wouldn’t let me see you.”
Closing her eyes, Merry’s head pounded. She started to remember…
“What are you doing on the phone, Merry?” Antonio asked as he pulled the phone from her limp grasp. “You already talked to Laurel today. I’m sure she doesn’t want to hear from you again. You aren’t looking at all well, my dear.” Antonio guided her back to her bed. “Peter, bring Mrs. DeMarco another glass of the infused water. She’s a bit parched.”
Peter works for me, not Antonio. Why is Peter assisting him? It’s so confusing.
Merry watched Antonio leave the room. “Peter, please get Holly on the line. I need her expertise on a new fragrance I’m considering.”
Peter handed Merry the water. “Drink this and I will get Holly on the line.”
Merry took a long drink from the glass. It was so good, it was addictive.
“Damn,” Merry exclaimed. “The bastard was either poisoning me or, as you said, feeding me drugs so I would become addicted and incompetent. Sorry I used my bitch-boss voice.”
Steve smiled as he gently stroked Merry’s hair. “I’m kind of okay with the bitch-boss voice. It means I’m getting my Merry back.” He blew out a long breath. “What did you remember?”
“Just a snippet. DeMarco wouldn’t let me talk to Laurel or Holly and he had my assistant, Peter, feeding me some kind of infused water.” Merry smiled wryly. “I’m thinking it was infused with more than lemongrass and cucumber.”
Steve acknowledged her assessment with a lift of his brow.
“Okay, so how did you rescue me and how did I end up here? And, where exactly is here?”
“I used my military training to sneak into your house and get you off the premises.” Steve sighed. “You were so drugged up you didn’t even know I was there. We’ve been, I mean, I’ve been trying to bring you back for several weeks. We thought we were going to lose you.”
“We?” Merry asked.
“Me, babe, I meant me.”
“This place is actually near your mom’s place in Nowhere, North Dakota. Well, as near as anything is out here in Nowhere. It’s predominately used as a military safe house.”
“Wait, so we’re near the girls. Can you bring them here?”
“Listen, babe, we are in the midst of the worst snowstorm in North Dakota history. We won’t be able to get to the girls anytime soon. The girls, however, are in good hands.”
“Wait, wait, wait. I thought you said they were at my mom’s house. Who’s with them?”
“Damn, Merry.” Steve grinned at her as he continued to stroke her hair. “When you’re back you’re back.”
“It’s a mom thing. Anything about the girls, and I’m all ‘game on. ’”
“Okay, so the girls had a minor car accident.” Steve held up his hand, indicating Merry should let him finish his explanation. Merry smiled at his action. Steve had been the girls’ manny for years. He was the only person Merry trusted with the girls when they were younger. The hand up was his signal when the evidence might suggest the girls had done something bad, but the actual telling would exonerate them. Merry was supposed to listen and then ask questions. Merry nodded, giving Steve the floor.
“Laurel was rescued by the Miller brothers. Ivy ended up with Eric Masters and Holly is with the Carmichael cousins. All of them are really impressive men and ironically have a lot in common with your daughters. The Millers do internet security just like Laurel. Masters is a financial wizard like Ivy. The Carmichaels, well, they set up the security system for Holly’s lab at Fairweather.”
“Here.” Steve hande
d Merry an issue of Business Monthly. Merry smiled as she admired her beautiful daughters who were featured on the cover of the magazine. “The men that have the girls are featured in the magazine, too.”
Merry flipped through the magazine and located the men who were protecting her daughters. “Wow, this looks more like an issue of GQ than Business Monthly. These boys are definitely easy on the eyes.” Merry handed the magazine back to Steve.
“To clarify, the girls are safe and they are taking care of the company. I am safe and you are taking care of me. I will be stuck here with you for a couple of weeks because we are caught in a snowstorm.”
“That about sums it up,” Steve agreed.
“Okay, I’m starving and I need to go to the bathroom. I think you may need to help me to my feet.” Merry extended her hand to Steve for support.
“You know what’s really strange?” Merry asked as Steve wrapped his arm around her waist to walk her to the bathroom.
“You mean stranger than not remembering being married, being fed drugs by your new husband, and ending up in a military safe house in Nowhere, North Dakota? Shoot.”
“Yeah, even stranger than that.” Merry smiled up at Steve. He was her rock. He’d been her rock since they were little kids. “I thought Robby, John, and Ted were here.”
Steve stopped in midstride and looked down at Merry. “They are all dead, babe. They’ve been dead for years.”
“I know. Robby died twenty-six years ago, John died twenty-five years ago and Ted died twenty-four years ago. I can’t explain this very well but it was comforting to hear their voices. Even if the voices were just inside my head. It was like they were here helping me, well, live.”
“Thanks for rescuing me,” Merry whispered as she let go of Steve’s arm and stumbled into the bathroom.
Merry peeked her head around the corner of the bathroom. “For breakfast, lunch, or dinner I would like a grilled sardine sandwich with brown mustard, pesto, and a little Swiss cheese. Thank you, soldier.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Steve gave Merry a formal military salute as he turned to fulfill her request. Luckily the guys had purchased sardines when they knew Merry would be their guest.
Chapter 3
Merry studied her reflection intently. After two weeks of good food, exercise, and normal, not drug-induced, sleep she was feeling fabulous. Her skin was make-up free and glowing, thanks of course to all of the fabulous Fairweather products Steve had so thoughtfully stocked in the bathroom. Using a paddle brush, she styled her dark brown hair, which was no longer a lifeless mass of dank dark locks. Thank God. It was painful for a cosmetic mogul to look like dog doo-doo.
Getting closer to the mirror, she inspected her roots for signs of gray. Not bad for a woman in her forties. Not a smidge of gray…yet. Merry didn’t want gray hair, but she found Steve’s hint of gray incredibly sexy. Hopefully, he would find her sexy, too.
Turning sideways, she studied her naked body. Her breasts were still perky, her waist was narrow, and her tummy was only slightly rounded. She carefully examined her ass. It didn’t look too bad either. Shrugging, she reached for the short green robe Steve had located for her. Tonight she was going to show Steve what he’d been missing. Well, he hadn’t actually missed it because Merry had never studied how to pleasure a man. Thinking back to her past encounters, which were about twenty years ago, the pleasure the guys received was the pleasure from having sex. They were young and it was easy for her to lay back and do relatively nothing.
After reading several articles on the internet regarding erogenous zones for men, she was confident she would be an amazing lover. Steve just needed to get past her having babies out of wedlock and not with him. Merry sighed. Maybe he should know about the girls’ fathers…then again, probably not.
“Hey, babe,” Steve said from the bedroom door. “I thought we could watch a movie and drink some wine.”
“Hot damn,” Steve said as he admired Merry in the short green robe. “God, babe. It is so good to see you looking like your incredibly beautiful self.”
Game on! Merry turned so Steve could see the swell of her breasts. It was going to be a great night.
“Wine and a movie sounds perfect.” Merry clasped Steve’s hand and steered him toward the entertainment room.
A bottle of Malbec and two glasses were on the table accompanied by a plate that included cheese, meat, and crackers. “This is perfect.” Merry sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to her, indicating Steve should take a seat.
Steve grinned as he sat down next to her. “I’ll open and you pour.”
After opening the bottle, Steve handed it to Merry. “My belief, as you know, if the glass never gets empty we’ve only had one glass. And, since we aren’t driving anywhere, who cares?”
Holding up his glass, he said, “To bottomless glasses.”
Merry clinked her glass to Steve’s and sighed with pleasure. “I do love me some Malbec.”
“Is it okay if we just listen to music rather than watching a movie?”
Merry nodded in agreement. “Perfect.”
“I’m all out of love…” played from the small speaker.
“Air Supply? Seriously?”
Steve nodded solemnly in reply.
It’s now or never, sister, bring it. Where in the heck should I start? He’s a Sagittarius. The Love Sign webpage talked about his thighs. His thighs are sensitive. Start with the thighs.
What the hell? Steve glanced down and studied the small hand that landed on his thigh. Steve tried not to watch Merry’s hand as she slowly moved her fingertips up and down his inner thigh. He almost fell off the couch when she used two fingers to outline of the crevice of his inner thigh and then started the slow caress again.
Breathe, brother. Steve inhaled deeply, trying not to think about the hand moving up and down on his thigh. His erection was starting to strain against his jeans. Shit. Merry’s hand accidently, or maybe on purpose, slid against his cock.
Taking a big gulp of his wine, Steve tried to focus on drinking rather than the stimulation Merry was providing.
Merry took her other hand and brought it to the side of his neck. “You know,” she said, “I was reading that some guys enjoy having the skin where their earlobe connects to the face touched like this.” Merry caressed the area as she continued the slow assault on his thigh.
“Mmm.” He could not suppress the moan resulting from her touch.
“You know what else I read?”
“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”
“Well, actually I thought I might show you but you’re going to need to remove your clothes.”
“Damn, babe.” Steve stood up quickly, almost knocking over his wine glass and the tray of cheese and crackers. He quickly pulled off his shirt and jeans. He raised a brow to Merry and then glanced down at his boxers. Merry nodded for him to get totally nude.
“Now, I need you to lay facedown on the rug.”
He quickly complied, though lying on his throbbing erection was kind of uncomfortable. Why did I resist this for so long? Why did I resist loving Merry? I know why…John, Robby, and Ted. I felt guilty wanting what they could not have. Well, it had been long enough.
Merry rested her head next to his on the floor. She gently used her teeth to tug on the skin by his earlobe. “I’m going to try some things I’ve never done before. You need to let me know if you’re okay with it.” Merry paused and Steve waited patiently for her to get up the nerve to tell him what she wanted to do.
“You know what?” she whispered. She’d moved from his ear to lightly stroking his neck and collarbone. He shivered in response.
“Know what?”
“Another article said a girl who says, ‘I’ve never tried this’ is probably a slut. I just want you to know that I really have never tried this, though doing four guys on the same night might actually make me a slut.”
“Merry, I don’t think you’re a slut.” He hoped Merry didn’t hear the smile in
his voice. For a fortysomething mother of three she was pretty inexperienced.
“Okay, well, I think you are going to be good with everything except for maybe me sliding a finger into your ass on a quest for your P-spot. It’s like the G-spot for guys or something.”
“Merry, babe, let’s see how it goes. When you think I might be ready for a little P-spot exploration, just ask.”
“Got it,” Merry replied as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Rather than straddling his back, Merry leaned over his back from the side. She started her attack by first kissing his neck and slowly kissing down his back. He almost shot off the floor when he felt gentle kisses on his ass. Next she started to knead his back in an erotic massage. When she reached his sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of his spine, she started to lightly karate chop the area. Damn. It was like an electric current straight to his cock.
She stopped the karate chops and started the light kisses on his butt. Using her fingers, she caressed the crease where the top of his thigh met his ass then her tongue followed her fingers. When she started to lick and nibble his inner thigh while still caressing the crease, he couldn’t suppress his moan of desire. “Damn, babe.”
Merry continued down his thighs with her lips and tongue until she reached the back of his knee. Still keeping one hand near his ass, she used the other to stroke the back of one knee while licking the other. She kissed down each calf and gently rubbed the sole of his foot and then the heel. Her hands roamed up and down his thighs, knees, and calves until she started to kiss her way back up his body.
“Damn.” “What the f…,” Her tongue unexpectedly pressed along the smooth strip of skin between his testicles and anus.
“Roll over,” she demanded.
“Yes, ma’am.” Steve rolled over, eager to see or feel what Merry was going to do next.
Merry lay next to him and started to tease his nipples. First, she gently kissed and licked them. “Harder.” Merry looked up at him and grinned. Her green eyes sparkled with enjoyment and lust. This was turning her on as much as it was turning him on and he hadn’t touched her.
Merry's Men [The Men from Nowhere, North Dakota 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3