Plenty to Believe [Plenty, FL 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Lara Valentine

  “I don’t suppose I could have some coffee. It’s cold out there.”

  She lifted her chin. “You won’t be here long enough to have coffee. So, what did you want to talk about?”

  Linc sat down on the overstuffed sofa, her living room comfortable and inviting, the decor tasteful and not overdone. Just like Leah herself.

  “I don’t really know how to tell you this. I’ve never told anyone else what I’m about to tell you. The only people who know are my parents and brother and sister.”

  “Then why are you telling me now?”

  “Because I care too much about you to hurt you anymore. I’m so sorry you were hurt in the first place. You’re the last person I’d ever want to hurt. I don’t want you to think the reason I’ve pulled away is you. It doesn’t have a damn thing to do with you. It’s all me. I’m not good enough for you.”

  He had her attention. She sat down in the adjacent armchair. “The old, ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ routine? My aunt always said if a man tells you he’s not good enough for you, believe it. He knows himself better than you do.”

  Linc laughed, despite the circumstances. “Your aunt sounds like a wise woman. I’d like to meet her sometime.”

  “You’re running out of time, Linc.”

  He sighed. “When I met you, I was instantly attracted to you. You’re a beautiful woman.”

  Her expression grew stormy and she jumped up from the chair and walked to the window, staring out into the darkness. “Liar. I heard you tell Justin you weren’t attracted to me. Don’t lie now to spare my feelings.”

  He stood up and crossed the room, turning her so he was looking into her brown eyes. They were bright with unshed tears and Linc knew he was the asshole who had put them there. He needed to put things right.

  “You’re a beautiful woman, Leah. Inside and out. You’re funny, and soft-hearted, and damn it all, you’re probably the smartest woman I’ve ever met.”

  She frowned. “You make it sound like a bad thing.”

  He stepped back. He needed to put some space between the two of them or he was going to pull her into his arms and kiss her pink lips. He’d fantasized about it a million times but had never been this close to doing it before.

  “It isn’t a bad thing, of course.” He turned and started pacing. “I never went to college. My grades weren’t good enough to get in. I barely scraped by in school.”

  “Oh. Not going to college is nothing to be ashamed of, Linc. My degree is in history. That makes me qualified to ask someone if they want fries with their hamburger.”

  It was hard to look at her sweet face. He didn’t want to see her expression of horror when he told her.

  “It’s more than not having a college degree. Much more. You’re intelligent. You should have an intelligent man at your side. Not someone like me. Someone who’s stupid.”

  She shook her head. “Justin says you’re the smartest man he knows. You made him a star and, according to him, a yacht-load of money. How can you call yourself stupid? That’s insane.”

  “It was insane falling for a woman who loves books. You love books.”

  She threw up her hands in frustration. “Yes, I love books. Is that a crime? I’ve always loved to read. Don’t you? You come to the bookstore every week.”

  He closed his eyes and gathered every ounce of courage he had inside. “I come to the bookstore every week to see you. I don’t read the books I buy there.”

  She blinked. “You don’t like to read. That’s okay. You don’t have to love books. It’s not a requirement.”

  “It’s not that I don’t like to read.” His fingers tightened on the mantel until the knuckles were white. He’d heard somewhere that the truth would set him free.

  “I can’t read. I’m illiterate.”

  * * * *

  “That’s impossible. Everyone can read.”

  Even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t true. As someone who volunteered to help children learn to read, she knew that literacy was an issue in America. In the orientation class she attended, they had said one in seven adults read below a sixth grade level. It hadn’t really made an impact until this moment.

  “I mean, of course not everyone can read, but you’re a successful businessman. Smart, and respected in your field. You couldn’t have done that if you couldn’t read.”

  Linc’s expression was tortured, his handsome face gray. She reached out and pressed her hand over his. He was gripping the mantel as if his life depended on it. She pried his fingers off and wrapped her hands around his cold one.

  “Obviously I’m not very smart, but I am cunning, Leah. A lifetime of this will make you figure out a million ways to keep people from finding out something like this. God knows, I never wanted you to find out.”

  “But you showed up here tonight and told me.”

  He shook his head, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Her heart ached seeing him this way.

  “I couldn’t let you think there was anything wrong with you. You’re perfect. I’m the one who has something wrong with him. I’m the one who’s deficient.”

  She stood there for a long moment, taking a deep breath, and feeling a wave of anger build. She stepped into his personal space and got into his face.

  “I’m sorry this has tortured you your entire life. I’m sorry you felt you couldn’t trust people with the truth. Carrying something like this around must have been scary and exhausting. But I take exception to how you describe me, Linc. Perfect? How can you think I’m perfect? You must think I’m an incredibly shallow human being. You’ve dated too many airheads.”

  He looked shocked. “You couldn’t be shallow if you tried. You’re amazing.”

  “But not amazing enough, huh? You thought I’d judge you? Think less of you?”

  Her anger was simmering now and she was only getting warmed up. They could have been together and avoided this whole mess if he’d only believed in her.

  “I think less of me, why shouldn’t you? Fuck, even my parents were disappointed in me. I’ll never forget their faces when I would bring home my report cards or when they had teacher conferences. I never wanted to see that look on your face.”

  Now she was really pissed off. “So this wasn’t about sparing me, this was about sparing you? You hurt me, not once, but twice, because you’re too chickenshit to see a sad look on my face?”

  He hung his head, his eyes sad. “Yes. I didn’t want you to see me as less of a man.”

  She started pacing back and forth, mumbling to herself. Finally, she whirled around and started pointing at him. She knew her face was red with anger, could feel the heat under her skin.

  “First, I don’t see you as less of a man. I have no idea how you’ve managed to become so successful with this issue, but it’s nothing short of miraculous. You should be very proud of yourself.”

  She knew she was shouting but wasn’t in the mood to stop. He started to speak but she wasn’t finished yet.

  “Second, I’m not perfect. Not even close. I’m quiet and shy until I get mad. Then, I have a temper. A bad one. You’re seeing some of it now, although I’m trying to control it because I don’t want you to think any less of me.”

  Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and she didn’t care.

  “Third, I can see I’m going to have to take control of this situation. You cannot be trusted with this any longer. You’ll have to earn back control.”

  She paced again, shooting him dirty looks. “I’m in charge now and what I say goes.” She stopped in front of him and poked him in the chest. “From now on, no more sexy blondes hanging off your arm. I saw those two bimbos on Halloween, you know.”

  He had the grace to look ashamed. “I can explain about them. I didn’t sleep with them, baby. I swear.”

  “Well, they wanted you to. No more. No more blondes, brunettes, redheads, or anything else. From now on, I’m the only woman in your life. Got that? You’re going to toe the line, buddy. You and Justin, both. If some woman comes
on to you, you tell her you’re spoken for.”

  “Fourth.”

  He was smiling now. He didn’t look like a man who was being punished or unhappy about anything she was saying.

  “Fourth, baby? I can’t wait to hear what else I’m going to be doing. So far, I like you taking control.”

  She swallowed hard. “Shit. Fourth…fourth…” She felt lost for a moment. She needed to hear him say it. “Fourth, is there anything you want to say? There’s a few things I’d like to hear.”

  He pulled her into his arms, so solid and warm. “I have a few things to say. I was lying to Justin when I said I wasn’t attracted to you. You’re beautiful inside and out. Sexy as hell, too. You’ve been doing some naughty things in my fantasies, baby.”

  She blushed, thinking of the fantasies she’d had about him. They’d have to compare notes at a later time.

  “And most of all, I’m sorry.” His face was close to hers now, his lips mere inches away. “I’m sorry you got hurt because I was a coward. I’m sorry I didn’t believe in you enough to tell you. I’m just fucking sorry. You’re the first person I’ve ever told.”

  She caressed his jaw. “Justin knows, of course.”

  He shook his head. “No, I’ve never told Justin.”

  Shock rippled through her body, the anger starting to drain away.

  “How could Justin not know? Linc, how have you kept this a secret for so long?”

  He tugged her over to the sofa and pulled her down on his lap. She struggled for a second, but his arms simply tightened around her. She sat still, snuggling close. She really didn’t want to move anyway.

  “As I said, I’m cunning. I’ve found a myriad of ways to cover up my reading problem. When we go to a restaurant, I order whatever the special is or I order what someone else orders. I made sure I always ordered last. If I’m alone, I’ll ask the waiter for a recommendation.”

  His hand stroked her back and she felt tingles shoot through her entire body. She’d only dreamed of being this close to him.

  “If someone hands me something to read, I’ll act busy and ask them if I can get back to them or if they can just summarize it for me. If I can get back to them, I have one of my assistants read it for me. I do all my business verbally, eschewing e-mail or texts. People simply think it’s eccentric. If they want to send me an e-mail, they send it to my attorney, accountant, or an assistant. I made sure always to have an attorney look over contracts. Even if I could read, that was just common sense. In the early days, before Justin became famous, we often did business on a handshake.”

  She was amazed. “But surely Justin must have noticed something?”

  He laid his head back on the sofa cushion. “You would think, wouldn’t you? I’ve found that people see what they want to believe. If he ever noticed anything, his first thought wouldn’t be that I couldn’t read. His first thought would be that I was being a stubborn asshole, and difficult to do business with. By the time I met Justin, I was twenty-one and had been hiding this for years. I was already practiced at it, and have become even more so as the years have passed.”

  Her decision was made in an instant. “I won’t tell him. You trusted me with this and I won’t betray that trust.”

  He smiled. “I believe you. But telling you has changed things. You didn’t judge me. God knows, my own family did. Justin’s a good man. He won’t judge me. I’m going to tell him the truth. I don’t want to ask you to keep secrets from him. It’s not a healthy way to start a relationship. Although, I will keep your secret about your temper. Man, you can really blow your stack. Your face turned three shades of purple. I’ll let him find out for himself.”

  She looked at him through her lashes, her heart beating madly. “Are we in a relationship?”

  “It’s up to you, Leah. Can you forgive me and give me a chance to show you how I feel? I’ll spend as long as it takes making things up to you.”

  She pretended to pout. “It might take a long time. You were mean.”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “Mean, huh? I can be mean, baby. You can, too. Fuck, I thought you were going to kick me in the balls a few minutes ago.”

  She giggled. “I was tempted.”

  He pushed her back on the couch so he was looming over her, his body pressed close. “You need to know if you kick me, I’ll be forced to turn you over my knee. And I’ll enjoy every second of it.”

  She was breathless at the thought. “Justin said the same thing. Are both of you bossy and opinionated?”

  Lin chuckled and started nuzzling her ear, making her nipples tighten and her pussy start to drip honey. He smelled delicious and she was dying for him to kiss her.

  “Absolutely. Justin and I like to be in charge.”

  She pressed her hands against his chest to push him away, but instead they started to explore the muscles under her palms. “But I’m in charge. I said so.”

  He nibbled at her earlobe, making her squirm against him. She could feel the hard ridge of his cock and she had to stop herself from reaching down to cup it with her greedy fingers.

  “I’ll tell you what, baby. When we’re all three together, we’ll take a vote. Either you’re in charge, or Justin and I are in charge.”

  “I’ll never win. You’ll always outvote me. On everything.” She was panting as his tongue traced lazy circles on the exposed skin of her shoulders and neck.

  “You’ve got us wrapped around your finger, Leah. I don’t think you’ll have any complaints. Our goal is to make you the happiest woman in Plenty.”

  Whoa. That is damn ambitious.

  She lifted her head and nipped at his bottom lip. “Then you best get to work. I’ve been making love to Justin every night for the last week until tonight. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

  He grinned, the first real genuine smile of delight she’d ever seen from him. He was so beautiful he took her breath away. He levered himself off the couch, and before she knew what was happening, he’d tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman lift and was heading toward her bedroom.

  She squealed when he smacked her bottom. “What was that for?”

  “For being the most perfectly imperfect woman. Let’s get naked. We have a long night ahead of us.”

  Chapter Eight

  She didn’t care.

  She didn’t care whether he could read or not. She didn’t care he’d been lying to everyone his entire life. She did care he’d been a fucking coward but was willing to give him a second chance. He wouldn’t waste it.

  He pressed her slight form into the mattress, his lips and tongue busily licking and kissing any exposed flesh. He had tugged off her terry cloth robe and she was only wearing a nightshirt underneath. His hand wandered up her silky thigh to play with the edge of the elastic on her panties.

  She was wriggling and making sexy sounds in the back of her throat, and it was driving him wild. His cock was hard and pressing against the fly of his jeans, his heart pounding out of control. Only this one tiny woman could get his motor running this fast and this hard. Other women paled in comparison. Hell, there wasn’t even a comparison. Leah blew all of them away easily.

  He lifted up off her and pulled his T-shirt over his head, tossing it away, before tugging at his button fly. She was propped up on her elbows, watching as he slid his jeans off his legs and kicked them aside. She was smiling and he could see her nipples, hard and pointed, through the thin, white cotton of her nightshirt.

  “Like what you see?”

  He couldn’t believe how vulnerable he felt. Woman usually came on to him, not the other way around. He wanted her to like what she was seeing. To his relief she giggled.

  “What I’ve seen so far, very much. Am I going to see any more?”

  So much for the shy, bookish young woman he’d seen in public. In the bedroom, she was teasing and sultry.

  He hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his boxers. “Definitely.” He shoved the material over his erect cock and tossed them away. His dick was
painfully hard and throbbing. He flashed back to seeing Leah on her knees in front of Justin and wondered if he could convince her to do the same for him. It had been an incredibly erotic sight that had tortured him every night since.

  “I saw you that first night.”

  Leah licked her lips as she stared at him. “You saw me when?”

  He stepped closer and she reached out to run her fingers down his cock, wrenching a groan from his lips. Her hand felt like heaven.

  “The first night when you were with Justin. You were on your knees in front of him. You took his cock in your mouth. I wanted it to be me.”

  She shook her head. “It could have been, Linc. I would have welcomed you that night even though you hurt me. I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It must have been you.”

  Her fingers continued exploring him, her palm cupping his balls. His breath was coming in short pants and it was hard to talk.

  “It was me. I was coming to join you.”

  Her hand halted and her expression was sad. “Why didn’t you? It was wonderful, but something was missing without you.”

  “I saw you and you looked so sexy and beautiful. I knew I couldn’t hide my secret from you and it scared me.”

  Leah rose to her knees on the mattress, pressing kisses on his chest and sending lightning straight to his aching cock.

  “You hid your secret from everyone.”

  He pulled her head back and looked deep into her soft brown eyes. “I knew I couldn’t hide it from you. You were too smart, and your eyes saw everything. I knew you would see right through me. Believe me, if I thought I could have hid it from you, I would have tried. I wanted to be with you just as much as Justin did.”

  “You’re with me now. What are you going to do with me?”

  He pressed her back onto the mattress, insinuating himself between her thighs. He started tugging at her tiny panties until they were sliding down her legs.

  “I’m going to eat this pretty, pink pussy. Feel free to scream my name.”