by Lauren Dane
Jules liked the two of them together. Mike was a man of few words, but he loved his family and he’d always been good to Jules.
“Evening, Ms. Juliet. How are you tonight?” He ignored his wife’s poke about potato chips.
“Not bad. Even better now that I know there’s ice cream.”
Jeanne laughed. “I made pineapple upside-down cake; it’ll go well.”
“Really? It’s my favorite.”
“I know, that’s why I made it.”
“Oh and thank you, Jules, for the cherry walnut bars. They were mighty fine with my hot tea last night.”
She knew it had been a way to hopefully soften the news that their son had gotten himself involved with two other people, but it never hurt to butter people up with something sweet.
“Glad you liked them.”
They all adjourned to the huge back deck where the table had been set for dinner. The evening was warm, especially for late June. It was perfect out. The flowers in bloom in the garden just below scented the air.
“You asked us about our living situation earlier. My granddad asked me the same question today, Mrs. Whaley, I mean Jeanne.” Gideon blushed. “Turns out he’s signed the farm and the farmhouse over to me and he wants me to make myself at home and live in it. With Cal and Jules.”
Wow. Wasn’t that something you said to your girlfriend in private before you announced it to all and sundry at a backyard barbecue?
It was clear Cal already knew of this as well, which only annoyed her more. Of course she wanted to live with them. She loved that old farmhouse, especially the kitchen. But she wanted to be asked, for goodness sake. It felt like they’d done all this planning, patting her on the head and not remembering she liked to know things like that before a decision had been made.
Mary gave her a look that told Jules she wasn’t alone in her thinking.
There was silence for long moments until Cal spoke. “There’s actually a mother-in-law suite on the basement level at the house. It’s a daylight basement with its own entrance, kitchen and all that. Patrick wants to live down there in exchange for all the cherry turnovers Jules can make him.”
Which was a lovely story and all, but when had all these discussions taken place and why was she hearing about them this way?
Gideon turned to look at her and jerked a little when he saw the look on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly as Cal continued to blather on and on about the farmhouse.
“I don’t want to do this here.” She kept a smile pasted on her face while she spoke in an undertone. She didn’t want to ruin the evening with a spat.
“Are you mad?” Gideon asked, as if he was totally clueless.
“Yes.”
Apparently he was. “About what?”
“What part of I don’t want to do this here was confusing? We’ve shared enough with Cal’s family for one day, don’t you think?”
“Hey, have you seen the new water feature?” Mary spoke up, interrupting this little moment between Jules and Gideon.
“Oh!” Jeanne nearly beamed. “I did it all myself. Bought a kit and everything. Cal, go show it to them. I’ll be over here drinking beer and awaiting your compliments.”
“She’s smooth,” Cal said under his breath as they followed him down the steps out into the yard.
“Why do you have that gleam in your eye? You make me nervous when you look that way.” Gideon glanced at her as they took a path to the left.
“Your mother is an amazing gardener. I can never get my roses like this.”
Cal started to speak, stopped himself and then tried again. “It’s the exposure here. Great sun all day. She does this custom mix for the soil too. You should tell her you like them, she’s insanely proud of her roses.”
“I will.”
The water feature was quite lovely. Wide, flat stones rimmed a pool, probably about two feet deep or so. Two little waterfalls made lovely music as well.
Gideon watched her carefully. She was clearly pissed off so he gave her space.
“Spit it out, Juliet.” Cal was clearly less patient. Gideon sighed. No finesse. It never worked to go straight at her like that. It only made her dig her heels in more.
Sweet Juliet Lamprey with her soft fabrics and gourmet coffee could totally be stubborn. She could out-stubborn most anyone else he knew. Even Cal, the second most stubborn person he knew.
And Cal was so intensely focused on her, had such a long history with her that he still spoke to her like he did when they were just friends. But Jules knew the difference and Cal did too when he wasn’t agitated.
She raised a brow at him.
“If this was in my yard, I’d sit out here with my feet in the water on hot days. Maybe add a margarita to make it perfect.” She looked up at them both. “Just because I don’t like deep water doesn’t mean I can’t dip my toes.”
Cal started to speak again and Gideon reached out to pinch his side and shut him up. Cal glared and Gideon glared right back.
“So when was it you two planned to include me in all this moving-in-together stuff? Patrick knows. Cal’s entire family knows. You two have talked about home office space for Cal and yet no one bothered to run any of this by me.”
Oh. Shit.
Cal sucked in a breath. “Christ. I’m sorry. It wasn’t that we talked about it behind your back. Not together. I went out there yesterday to have him sign the final paperwork. He and I had been discussing it. I didn’t tell you because he’s a client and it was his to share or not. When I went to pick Gideon up just a while ago, Patrick told me he’d discussed things with Gideon. We all chatted a little. That’s all.”
“And I was so excited about it and we’d just talked it over with Granddad so I got excited to share it with Cal’s family, you know to let them know we were serious and it was . . . I’m sorry. We should have talked with you.”
She might be a fury when she was mad, but she never stayed that way long. She shook her head and sighed. “Lordamighty, you two are an awful lot of work. It’s a really lucky thing you’re both so handsome and good in bed. In the future, excited or not, I want you to talk to me first, before you announce big stuff to the world. What if I’d said no?”
Cal, bless his heart, gave a look as if the very concept of such a thing was inconceivable. “Do you want to say no?”
“Probably not. But the point remains, Calvin. Does it not?” She stuck her chin out and Cal’s spine lost its rigidity and he sighed.
“Yes, it does, baby. I promise to try my very hardest.”
“Such a lawyer answer. But it’ll do.”
20
Jules lit her candles and sat quietly, trying to breathe through monster cramps and a lot of general crankiness.
There was a knock on her door and she kept her eyes closed, ignoring it. But then Cal just let himself in and called out.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” He jolted to a stop when he caught sight of her meditating. “I just wanted to see you. It’s been three days.”
She’d been insanely busy this week. Gillian’s wedding was that upcoming weekend. They’d had a dinner the night before and people had begun to filter in from out of town. She’d made two hundred cupcakes for some thing Adrian had hosted and had made a full mock-up of the wedding cake that day, her second. At least that part was something she could control. And it was delicious too.
But she was worn out and had given so much to everyone else that she barely had enough left and she needed some muscle relaxants and time alone.
“Are you getting sick?” Cal put a hand on her forehead.
Normally that would have charmed her, but just then it made her cringe and that made her even crankier because he was just trying to be sweet and she knew that. But she really wanted to be left alone.
“No. Thanks for asking.” She forced herself to remain patient. “I’m just tired and cranky and on my dot.”
He took a step back and she laughed. “Don’t worry, it’s not cat
ching.”
“I hear orgasms are great for cramp relief.”
“I admire your ability to work orgasms into just about any topic.”
“It’s true! Look it up on the Internet.”
“The Internet. Well then, if it’s on the Internet, it must be true.” She knew it was true actually, but it was fun to tease him.
“You do know it only makes me hotter for you when you’re this way? God, you used to torture me when we were younger. You’d lecture me or be condescending and I’d jerk off to you for weeks after.”
“Honestly, no one I know gives compliments like you do. Which is actually a compliment in and of itself. I’m not good company though. Go to Gideon’s. You two give each other orgasms. Think of me and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I want to have orgasms with you.”
“You’re very charming and normally I’d say if you were down with it, let’s go. But you can’t possibly understand just how little I want to be touched right now. I’m bloated, sore and really bitchy. Let me eat too much ice cream and go to bed early with a heating pad. Go have hot gay sex with our man.”
He smiled at her. “There’s really no one like you in the world.”
“Ha. There isn’t, so don’t forget it.”
“You sure I can’t help?”
“Dude, please, don’t manage me right now. I’m telling you, I’m on my period and I want to cut someone. Just begone.”
He got close enough to risk a kiss. “I’m going to have hot gay sex with Gideon and, yes, we’ll think of you. Feel better. I love you, Juliet.”
She let herself be charmed. “I love you too, Calvin.”
He left and she closed her eyes, this time finding her center a little more easily.
Three months she’d been with Gideon. Nearly that long with Cal. Her whole life had changed. Nearly totally for the good. Business was outstanding. She’d hired extra staff so she had two days a week off now for the first time ever. Mary’s catering business was also similarly prospering and Daisy’s gallery had not only provided sales for her but a platform for other artists in the area. She saw less of Gillian now than she had before. And that was natural. Gillian had Adrian, who lived on Bainbridge full time now. Daisy was busy too with Levi. Watching the two of them build a relationship was pretty cool.
She, Cal and Gideon were growing together, learning each other. Gideon was that bridge between Cal’s fiery intensity and Jules’s sometimes uptight reluctance. Ah well, her total bitchiness. Since this was an internal conversation and she was currently nearly doubled over with pain, she could admit it. Sometimes she was just a bitch and she was too old to try not to be. It was good to soften herself for them, with them. But her base personality wasn’t easygoing and sweet.
She and Cal had poked at each other a long time, but things were different now and so when they clashed, Gideon was that space between them. But she didn’t mistake that temperament as him being too soft.
Of the three, it was Gideon who was most dominant. Not that she was complaining. Gideon getting all in charge with Cal was mind-numbingly sexy. Gideon cleaved himself to them both. He was a good man. Protective. Bossy as hell. But usually about things she understood. Good with his hands. He made her feel beautiful and smart and totally capable all while also making her feel precious and cherished. In short, he was pretty much everything a person could wish for.
And Cal, gorgeous, hot-as-sin Cal, who made her laugh. Who knew her so well and loved her anyway. Cal, who seduced her every moment he was with her. Cal, who brought her presents, usually gorgeous and expensive lingerie that she’d find tucked into a drawer so she’d wear it for him later. Intense. He might be looking around at other things, but when he was with her, she was his focus. It made her fluttery and sort of giggly at times. He was also intelligent and knew people better than most. She was one lucky woman. No doubt.
She loved them both. Of this she had no doubt. But moving in together was a huge step and while she was willing to think about it, it scared the hell out of her. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Cal and Gideon, she did. She trusted that they loved her too.
But Cal had been a serial monogamist and Gideon had been married before. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship. Ever. They were better than she was at it by a million times.
And the inescapable truth of it was, she knew she wasn’t easy to live with. She was cranky sometimes. Aside from baking, she was not a patient person. Gideon and Cal were so much more easygoing about the day-to-day stuff than she was.
What if living with her ruined it and they really saw all her flaws and couldn’t stand her? She’d been on her own since she moved out at nineteen. She needed to do stuff for herself and they tended to be very pushy where she was concerned. Which did, on the other hand, make the sex really hot because they liked it when she pushed back. But they took a lot of energy to manage.
Hell, she meditated every night because she was trying to be less bitchy and the god’s honest truth was that she was probably just holding off the more scary side of the bitch spectrum.
What if it was why her relationship with her family was so messed up? What if she was simply incapable of maintaining a long-term romantic relationship?
Would she just move in with them and then fuck everything up? Would it wear off in three years? And if so, what did that mean anyway? Would she rather walk away from them and miss the happiness they could have to avoid the potential of pain?
She pushed out a breath. They just needed to get past the wedding. There was so much going on that they’d decided to shelve the planning and discussion about moving in together until afterward.
But she knew she had to face it and make a choice. Gideon was patient for now, but he wouldn’t always be, and neither man was the type to not get what he wanted.
She just had to figure out if she could do it and make it work. But right then a heating pad and some ice cream waited.
• • •
Cal wanted her, damn it. With the wedding coming up so fast, he knew she’d be busy, but it had been three fucking days and he wanted to touch her and fuck her and be with her naked and sweaty. There was something about her, about being with her that filled him just the right way. It was a Jules-shaped spot and no one but her would do.
He should have known when he came in and she was wearing those sweats and that shapeless shirt. But no, he had to poke at her because it thrilled him like a dumbass and then of course she told him to go fuck Gideon and let her eat ice cream.
She wanted to eat ice cream instead of having sex with him. Though she did shoo him toward Gideon, who probably didn’t want to eat ice cream instead of having sex.
He knocked on Gideon’s door and when Gideon opened, once he was sure Patrick wasn’t down visiting, Cal came in, slammed and locked the door behind him and looked Gideon over.
Gideon’s surprise melted into something else. Heat rose between them.
“I was just at Jules’s where she kicked me out and told me to come have hot gay sex with you.”
“She’s in a mood. I tried to coax her to come over tonight too. She told me she was feeling stabbity and to go away. A woman says she’s feeling stabbity or anything related to stabbing and you give her space. As for hot gay sex . . .” He’d been wearing loose pants and he pulled them down, until his cock sprang free, hard. Cal’s mouth watered as Gideon reached down and fisted himself a few times. “Bring it.”
Cal dragged his shirt up and over his head and stepped from his shoes, shoving his pants and shorts down, all before they met at Gideon’s bedroom doorway in a gnash of mouths, a frantic shove and pull as they kissed, falling down onto the bed.
“I want you face-to-face.” Gideon leaned down and grabbed Cal’s bottom lip between his teeth and sucked it into his mouth a moment. Cal could barely think much less speak. Need raced over his skin like fire. He wanted more. More.
Gideon rolled over and riffled through a drawer until he pulled out the lube. He snapped open t
he cap as he raked his teeth over Cal’s nipples. Then he poured some lube over Cal’s dick, letting it run down his balls and to his asshole.
They slid against each other, cock to cock, teasing and stroking as they kissed. Gideon was an amazing kisser. He teased and tormented, tasted and took whatever he wanted. Truly, to be kissed by Gideon was to be kissed senseless.
Gideon got to his knees and rested as he rolled a condom on. “Spread your legs and jerk your cock.”
Cal made a sound and he wasn’t even sure where it came from or how he did it. Gideon moved his thumb back and forth over Cal’s asshole, slowly working it in and stretching him. Cal didn’t fuck men face-to-face. He generally preferred to be the one fucking and to fuck from behind. But Gideon was different and it was so intimate it shook him as Gideon stretched him and then pulled back a little, pushing Cal’s legs up and apart before he began to press inside.
“Yes, god, yes. So tight.” Gideon swallowed hard, sweat dripping off his neck as he kept it slow, not wanting to hurt Cal. “You’re not stroking your cock.”
Cal fisted himself and began to work his cock at the same pace Gideon fucked him.
He gusted out a breath. “You’re so gorgeous there beneath me. I’m a lucky man.”
Cal smiled in his way and as always, it shot straight to Gideon’s cock. “You’re about to get even luckier. Fuck me. I won’t break.”
Gideon pushed all the way in and then pulled out, pressing back. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“A little pain is part of why it’s so good.” Cal groaned, deep and low and Gideon repeated that thrust, brushing the head of his cock against Cal’s sweet spot over and over. Cal had started jerking himself slow and easy, but he’d sped his pace, so Gideon did as well.
“Yes, yes, like that.”
Gideon thrust harder, deeper, over and over. One-handed, Cal stroked his cock, hard and fast just like Gideon fucked him. The other hand was tangled in Gideon’s hair, pulling him close. Those big brown eyes seemed to look straight into him, and Cal gave over to it, letting himself fall totally, giving up that last bit of reserve he’d been keeping.