“Shh…” Teresa gently squeezed Gwen’s shoulder. “It was nice of Mr. Bedford to do that for your family. I have a good feeling about this whole…”
“Shitstorm?” Gwen asked with a smile, feeling calmer. Teresa had the uncanny ability to create calm wherever she went.
Teresa snickered. “It is a bit of a shitstorm, or at least I’m sure it was for you last week.” She turned her warm brown eyes on Gwen. “Not that you’re totally out of the doghouse for leaving us wondering what you were doing or where you were going, mind you.”
“I’ll never live my little ‘walkabout’ down, will I?”
“Eventually. But for now, you’re here. Just see what happens with those two. When I look at the three of you together, it just seems so right. Maybe everything will work out somehow?’
“I don’t see how it can. I’ll be in Colorado. They’ll be here.”
“You don’t think they’d move to Colorado for you?”
“Teresa, their lives are here. Friends, family, friends who are just like family. I can’t ask that of them.”
“Maybe you wouldn’t need to.”
“What do you mean?”
Teresa smiled cryptically and shrugged. “I just have a good feeling about the three of you.” She looked over at the men and placed her hand over her mouth as she giggled softly. She turned her gaze to Gwen, her eyes watering, and said, “If I wasn’t already married, I would be so in love right now. You’re crazy if you don’t snatch that man up and never let him go.”
Gwen looked over at what Teresa was surreptitiously pointing at and bit her lip. Warmth trickled through her torso as a giggle shook her insides. Chris was crawling around on all fours with Eleazar draped over his back. Chris was so huge that Eleazar’s arms and legs were spread-eagled.
Eleazar patted Chris’s shoulder and piped, “Good hossie. I is wounded, so you gotta get us home to Mommy.”
Teresa bit her lip. “He must’ve encountered Indians.”
Chris gave his best neigh and made a slow circuit around the wrapping-paper-strewn floor and then stopped. “What’s this? Oh.” He lifted a toy cell phone from the floor and looked at it, then made a funny ringing sound and handed it back to Eleazar. “It’s for you, dude.”
Eleazar took the phone, sat up on Chris’s back, and then dug his heels into Chris’s ribs and grabbed Chris’s shirt collar as he put the phone to his ear. “Hello.”
Chris cast a grin at Gwen and said, “He’s a slave driver,” as he kept carefully crawling around on the floor while Eleazar jabbered on the phone.
Gwen’s heart pounded as she watched, thinking this was everything she’d been missing about Christmas for more years than she could count. She turned her misty gaze to Teresa and whispered, “Thank you.” Thank you for this little slice of heaven. The hard thing was that she didn’t just want a slice. She wanted to gorge on this moment, soak it all in, and not force herself to look upon it as a nebulous taste of what she couldn’t have in reality.
“You’re welcome. Stop. Just live in this moment, okay?” Teresa got her attention and she looked her in the eye. “You could ruin this, worrying about March.”
Gwen nodded and blotted at her eyes again. “You’re right.” Don’t ruin this perfect, precious moment.
“Okay,” Eleazar said into the toy phone. He held the phone over Chris’s shoulder and said, “Hossie, phone for you.”
Without missing a beat, Chris took the phone from the toddler and said, “Yeah! Gimme two large deep dish pepperoni pizzas. Extra pepperoni.” Gwen and Teresa snickered at his put-on East Coast accent. He hung up the phone and handed it back to Eleazar, who proceeded to kick him up to a trot.
Eleazar giggled as Chris gave him a quick circuit around the room and then gently rolled to his side, so Eleazar fell off on the couch by the crackling fireplace and Chris could tickle him. “Kid, that’s about the most this hossie’s knees can take for now.”
Gwen and Teresa exchanged a glance and Teresa murmured, “That’s a real man, Gwen, in case you were curious. Oh, look.” She gestured at Julián as he spoke softly to Michael who held the remote control device for the Air Hog helicopter Julián had given him. Julián gave him pointers on how to hover and maneuver the toy until it reached near the ceiling, then patiently instructed him in how to get it back down without crashing it into the flagstone floor of the den.
They were so different from each other, and both so wonderful. Chris was like a big teddy bear, allowing both boys to climb all over him, getting down on their level so that he didn’t accidentally hurt either one of them, getting involved in their play. Julián was more quiet, patiently mentoring Michael in mastering a toy that would be challenging for a boy his age. He’d make a great father some day. They both would.
Teresa looked up at her men with appreciation in her eyes as one of them took the big black trash bag she offered and began picking up all the wrapping paper from the floor.
“Your Christmas mornings must be happy memories for you. This has been wonderful.”
Teresa nodded. “The Christmases I share with my men have eclipsed any holidays I had prior to them coming into my life. I’ve always loved Christmas but I was an only child with a humble upbringing, so Christmases were always low-key affairs. Fairly quiet. We went to Angel and Joaquin’s family Christmas last year in the valley.”
“Was that fun?”
“It was. I got to know Angel and Joaquin’s brothers, Luka and Matthias, a little better, when they were around. They have very active…social lives.”
“Is that your nice way of saying that they’re like two tomcats?”
Teresa broke into laughter. “Their phones never stopped ringing, and they have all the single women and girls in the area warring with each other, all laying claim to them. And Luka and Matthias just smile, schmooze, and charm them all. And you’re warned, if by chance you ever meet them. They’ll take one look at you and attempt to get in your pants.”
“Teresa!” Gwen gasped and covered her giggle.
Teresa grinned and said, “It’s true. I warn all my friends they’re like rutting stags year round.”
Angel squatted down in front of Teresa and she leaned forward to kiss him. “I was just warning Gwen about your wild brothers.”
Angel smirked and turned to Gwen. “I’m sorry to say, it’s true, whatever she told you, Gwen. They’re both Don Juans.”
“I’ve been warned,” Gwen replied as she noticed Julián rise from his spot on the floor as Michael mastered his remote control helicopter with a big grin on his face.
Angel looked into Teresa’s eyes, and as though she understood his unasked question, she murmured, “I feel just fine. I’ll lie down after lunch.” Angel nodded and kissed her again and then carried the bag of trash out of the room.
“I’ll go help set the table,” Gwen offered as she rose from the couch.
Teresa replied, “As much as I don’t like to put guests to work, I’m going to let you, my friend. Angel can show you where everything is.”
Gwen smiled as she watched Joaquin lift Teresa’s feet and place them on the ottoman he’d scooted over in front of the couch. Michael came to her and showed her his new toy. Joaquin glanced up at Chris as he came near, carrying Eleazar across his hip and asked, “Did you bump heads with one of the boys? You’ve got a red mark on your forehead.”
Chris snorted and glanced at Gwen as heat crept up into her cheeks and she said, “I’m the one to blame, Joaquin.”
Joaquin looked at Gwen with surprise on his face and Chris shook his head. “Actually the fault is all mine. Julián warned me to not sneak up on Gwen.”
“Oh, man, you didn’t,” Joaquin said, with a laugh. “Gwen knows—”
Chris nodded. “How to defend herself. Julián warned me but I forgot. Old habits die hard.”
Gwen covered her cheeks with her hands as the men, Teresa, and the boys listened avidly. “He snuck up behind me and tickled my waist, which is really ticklish, and I—”
She hesitated because she still couldn’t believe she’d done it.
“Unleashed the beast on my ass—um, my worthless carcass.”
Eleazar’s eyes became as round as saucers and he crowed, “Chris said ass!”
Looking embarrassed, Chris grimaced and said, “Sorry, Teresa. I didn’t mean to say that. Old habits…I’m shutting up now.”
Teresa waved a hand dismissively at Chris and said, “That’s okay. They hear worse from some of the ranch hands. I want to know what happened.”
Gwen relived the awful moment as Julián supplied the rest of the story. “He snuck up behind her and blew a raspberry on her neck as he tickled her waist. I swear she turned into the Tasmanian Devil. She stomped his instep, rammed her elbow into his solar plexus, jabbed him in the face, missing his nose by a hair. She just barely stopped herself before she hammered his nuts.”
“Nuts! Julián said nuts!” Michael squealed as both boys collapsed in a fit of giggles.
Chris put his hands on his hips and tried to look perturbed. “Your hossie couldn’t have given you a ride this morning if I’d been at the emergency room getting my nose set or other…stuff…fixed.”
Michael continued laughing, giving him no sympathy or mercy. Eleazar finally contained himself and patted Chris’s knee. “It’s okay, hossie. You’ll be all right. I bump my noggin all the time.”
Gwen stroked Chris’s thick bicep. “I felt terrible. I shudder when I think how close I came to really hurting you. I may be little but—”
“You pack a mean punch. I know,” Chris murmured as she stroked his brow where the red bump was located. “Julián warned me not to do that. It’s just habit. Or at least it was.”
“It’s from years of fending for myself.”
“I’m glad you know how to defend yourself,” Chris murmured as he smiled down at her. The warmth in his gaze was like a physical caress down her torso.
Teresa said, “Boys, go see if Daddy needs help.” The boys obediently scooted from the room as Joaquin and Teresa followed after them.
Julián and Chris took advantage of that moment to move in close on either side of her.
“Having a Merry Christmas?” Julián asked as he kissed her jaw. His dark, dark eyes promised all sorts of hedonistic delights, and heat simmered inside her as she was held in his gaze.
“Yes. It’s wonderful.” And that was the truth. The pall that usually hung over Christmas day wasn’t nearly as heavy as usual.
He replied, “I wish I had that gift that’s probably sitting in your post office box so you could open it right now.”
Chris chuckled as he stroked her hips. “That would be something, wouldn’t it? I’ll bet she’s gonna love it.”
“Any hints for me?” She turned to look up at Chris. He grinned at her as he bent down, drew her close, and blew a raspberry on her neck, making her giggle as a tickling shiver raced through her whole body. He might have surprised her earlier in the morning, and gotten more than he’d bargained for, but her whole body responded more than willingly to him when he played with her like that.
“No hints. You’ll just have to wait.”
“This has been such a great morning and I wish I had given you something to remember me by after I’m gone.”
Shadows crossed both their gazes, at the reminder, and then tenderness filled Julián’s voice, matching Chris’s eyes, as he said, “You already did, Gwen. Trust me. Trust us. You already did.” She ached for them. There was no way to avoid it.
And her heart would break in March when she left. There was no avoiding that either.
Chapter Eleven
The day after Christmas, Gwen sat on the tailgate of her old truck, waiting while Wilbur Wilson called through her list of references. She hoped everyone she’d listed for him on her resume was available to take a call. Otherwise she was up a creek. From her spot on her tailgate, she looked around at Mr. Wilson’s ranch.
At one hundred acres, it was a nice size, with cross-fenced pastures and a large stock tank a short distance from the barn. There was a nice deck and a floating dock, which led Gwen to believe that Mr. Wilson’s family had spent time down there fishing and swimming. The well-maintained ranch house and outbuildings were located on a hill so the view of the surrounding acreage was fantastic.
According to Mr. Wilson, what remained of his herd had been moved into two of the fenced pastures at the rear of the house, near the barn, to make them easier to feed and care for. He had one horse, which she had yet to see. The ranch was big for one person to handle, but given the reduced size of his herd, she could easily manage it and have time left for working with his horse. She could handle this job.
Before Christmas, this opportunity had seemed like a good thing coming out of something bad. Serendipitous. A solution for what she’d do with herself for the next two months. Now, if she got the job it would be an answer to prayer. She didn’t want to leave Divine just yet.
No. Be honest. You don’t want to leave those two men who have double-teamed your heart.
In response, her heart lurched in her chest at the thought of them. Between Julián’s sweet wooing and Chris’s playful combination of teasing and tenderness, she was their willing lover.
After supper the night before, they’d lit candles in the bathroom and filled their tub with frothy bubbles for her. She’d soaked for a while and then they’d bathed her themselves, arousing her to a fever pitch of wanting in the process. Once he was done drying her, Chris had carried her into the bedroom where she’d discovered they’d also lit candles around the room. Late into the night, they’d loved her, talked, and made love to her some more until they’d all finally fallen asleep curled together.
That morning, after realizing in their zeal they’d gotten her a little sore, they hadn’t made love to her again. She’d been partly relieved and partly regretful. They were both wonderful lovers, unique in their approach, and very caring in their own way.
Julián started out tender and thoughtful but she could tell he liked to take charge when he was fucking and she was just fine with that. She loved his intensity, craved it in fact, and knew he would never push her farther than she wanted to go.
He’d gazed into her eyes the night before, lying with her sprawled over him after rolling to his back, their bodies still connected. He’d brushed her messy hair from her face and held her cheeks in gentle hands, just staring at her with his half-lidded dark eyes. Her heart had sped up in its rhythm as he held her silently, speaking volumes with those eyes. Drawing her lips to his, he’d continued communicating to her through his kisses. His kisses asked her to stay. She wanted to say yes but couldn’t.
Chris was a sweet, cautious lover and so careful to never hurt her. She wondered if he’d always hold back. Not that she was complaining about his wariness because she still needed patience taking his big cock inside her. The night before, he’d taken her missionary style with such slow tenderness that she’d thought her heart would explode as she came. Tears had prickled in her eyes afterward but she hadn’t been sure why.
She’d developed a deeper understanding of what Grace and Teresa had meant about Chris being “woobie” material. When he was making love to her, especially in that position, the cares of the world were blocked out. He was a great kisser too, melting her bones, and making her feel like somehow everything would be all right just with the sheer strength of his presence.
A shrill whistle from a distance pierced the air, interrupting her fantasy and drawing her eyes toward the Cook Ranch next door. She grinned when she saw Julián near the barn, waving at her, and she waved back. Chris came out too and blew her a kiss. She cracked up and felt her cheeks heat when he flexed his muscles for her and then did a little jiggling dance and showed her his tight denim-clad butt. She waved again at them as they went back to work and sighed as she looked down at her dusty cowboy boots. She breathed through the ache in her chest as she thought of them both and the things they did to her…for her. She was kidding herself if s
he thought that what they had was just great sex.
To top it off, they never argued or questioned the fact that she had to leave in early March.
“Well, Miss Henderson, looks to me like you’ve got a job for the next two months. You checked out with flying colors. Matter of fact, after I told him what all the job entailed, Caughlin McIntyre said that if I didn’t hire you I was a damned fool. He was a little surprised that you were in Divine though. Said something about you starting a new career at home in Colorado on your family’s ranch there.”
Gwen nodded as she dusted her hands off on her blue jeans and jumped down from the tailgate and shook hands with him, utterly relieved. “I need to call him and Abigail. Our family had a financial setback and I need to help get the ranch back on its feet.”
“Do what you gotta do in tough times, right? I’d be happy to have your help here. Caughlin said you were good with horses and suggested that if I had a horse half-trained for barrel racing that I couldn’t do much better than having you work with her.”
“Joaquin and Angel Martinez mentioned that your daughter had a quarter horse and that she was barrel racing.”
Mr. Wilson nodded. “‘Was’ being the operative word. She competed in 4-H when she was in school until she went to college. She became a nurse and went to South America as a medical missionary a few months ago.”
“They’d mentioned something about that.”
“So now I have her horse to take care of. She won a few ribbons here and there with her, but with her lifestyle now there’s no reason to keep Tutti on. If you could train her I’m sure that would increase her value and bring a better price when I sell her. I’d be happy to pay your going rate.”
They discussed the horse, which turned out to be a gorgeous five-year-old blue roan mare, about fifteen hands high, with a lot of spirit. Wilbur took Tutti from her paddock outside her stall and walked with her on a lead rope to the corral behind the barn. After giving Tutti a once-over and watching how she behaved on the halter and lead rope, Gwen told him what she could do and how much she’d charge, lowballing her quote since he was really helping her out by offering her the job.
Tangled in Divine [Divine Creek Ranch 14] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 15