by Morgan Henry
Zander wouldn’t look at her.
“I think we’ll watch a movie for a bit. Don’t wait up for us. We’ll sleep in our own rooms on the second floor.” Allan wouldn’t look at her either.
Karen’s mouth dropped open so far she thought her face was going to fall off. Sleep in their own bedrooms? Not with her?
So this was it. They had decided to take the job and leave.
In her private blanket of fresh pain, Karen forgot about Mary.
She went upstairs alone and crawled into the big bed. It seemed bigger now, and very, very lonely. Karen had thought she had shed enough tears lately, but she was wrong. The pain of breaking her finger had nothing on this. The knowledge that they were really leaving and that it was her fault killed any bit of happiness she had gathered up today.
She curled up in the center of the bed, hurting. And hurt turned to anger. She should have told them sooner how she really felt. Keeping it inside was stupid. In the end she had to own that part of it. But she was angry that they didn’t talk to her first, tell her the truth about what was going on. They said they loved her, but they didn’t love her enough to involve her in a huge, life-altering decision like moving away.
Jerks.
She would survive. It would be awful for a while. Until her memories of them became foggy and she mostly forgot how good it was to leave the store and go to a real home, with real, loving men who cared for her. She would go back to her life of work and friends, and at least now she had her sister close-by, too. She would tell herself to be grateful for all these things until she believed it.
Chapter 22
The next morning was awkward. No one really said much to each other at breakfast. Allan and Zander went back to their real job at hydro, while Karen and Mary went back to the store.
The professional cleaning crew came and went, leaving the place truly spotless. An appliance dealer was able to come and fix the ice-cream counter. Fortunately the glass just needed to be replaced and the slight dents were easily repaired. Karen would paint it in her store colors to disguise the scuff marks and it would be better than ever.
The chilled counter with the chocolates was not so easily fixed. In the end she bought a newer, larger model. It had been used as a display at the dealers so they delivered it when they came to fix the ice cream counter. She had to admit, it looked beautiful.
Mary worked at repairing all the little dings in the shelves and repainting them through the day. Interestingly, Logan Murray came by to help with this as well. He also had some excellent designs for new freestanding displays for her store that she loved. He gave her a generous discount for allowing him to promote that the work was his.
Mary and Logan seemed to get along rather well. At least, it seemed that way to Karen watching them talk and laugh together, little touches saying more than anything audible. And since Logan would be back with the displays tomorrow, he would get to flirt with his little apprentice again.
Karen was grateful for their help. It left her free to deal with the repairmen, accept deliveries of equipment, supplies, and ingredients, and deal with the insurance company.
One of the few bright things in the whole mess was that the insurance company was easy to deal with. They gave her a modest preliminary settlement that they would adjust when the final bills and damages were tallied. Her agent assured her the final assessment would be reasonably generous, and with the new security system being installed, her premiums would not go up, and may even fall a little. A miracle.
Hawk and Grumpy, er, Colin and Marcus, were there installing the system for most of the day. They had spent an hour discussing what would be installed and how it would work. Karen got the sense they were rather overprotective. At one point she thought they would try to convince her to install a laser-guided missile defense system, but she managed to talk them into reality.
By the end of the day, she had a clean store, working coolers, some inventory and supplies, and an almost working security system. Not bad for a day’s work. Karen was trying to be grateful for all this goodness, but she still felt like a big ball of crap.
Damn it, but she wanted to be able to go back to the house on the hill and share all this with Allan and Zander. She wanted to be able to laugh with them about the overly intense security guys and be happy about the new chocolate cooler and display stands. She wanted to be able to have them join in teasing Mary about Logan. And she wanted to feel their lips on her skin and the heat of their bodies surrounding her.
Well, no more. She and Mary would collect their stuff and move back into the little apartment tomorrow. The security system would be in and the place more than livable. She shouldn’t have promised Hawk and Grumpy that they wouldn’t spend the night there until it was fully operational.
The four ate dinner on the patio, again mostly in silence. Karen didn’t actually eat much. How could she be this torn up about the whole thing? Stupid to allow her heart to circumvent her mind and get so attached to the two jerks. She was not going to think about how nice they had been to her. It was easier to pretend to be angry.
She stared off into the backyard, toying with her wineglass. She would miss this patio. It really was beautiful and relaxing. Maybe she should sit out here for a while since it would be her last time to enjoy it.
Maybe she should yell at the two jerks across from her first. If they were going to hand her lemons, she should at least throw them back at their heads. Or squirt lemon juice in their eyes.
Yeah, yelling would be good. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.
“Oh hell.” Mary stood up, the scrape of her chair loud in the absence of any conversation. “You’re all a bunch of idiots.”
The three of them looked at Mary blankly.
“Yes, all of you.” She pointed at Karen and looked at Allan and Zander. “She thinks you’re going to leave her for big money up north. She thinks that she completely messed everything up and now you think money is more important than love.”
“And they”—she swept her arm at Allan and Zander as she looked at Karen—“think that you’re shutting the store and looking for a job in Toronto ’cause Zander saw your e-mail yesterday afternoon.”
She turned and stared hard at Allan and Zander. “You can’t have a whispered conversation in the mudroom and not expect it to be heard in the kitchen, by the way. These two fools think you now think that money is more important that love.”
She stomped over to the patio door. “You all think you know what the other is thinking, and really, you don’t know shit. I’m going to my room. If you three sleep apart again tonight, you’re all fools.”
The slam of the patio door rattled the windows of the entire house.
The silence following Mary’s pronouncement seemed very long. Karen, heart pounding and wineglass shaking, broke the quiet.
“I wasn’t leaving. I did send out résumés, but I was…hasty. I sent them Tuesday morning when everything looked awful. I heard you two talking about the job the night before. I was mad at you for deciding to leave without talking to me. You said you wanted me, but it seemed like you were willing to make the huge decision to leave without even saying a word to me.” Karen sat straight and faced her men.
“I shouldn’t have looked at your computer. I didn’t read the e-mails, just saw all the titles about job interviews. And you had packed your bag to leave on Monday morning, like we didn’t mean anything to each other. ” Zander’s voice dropped to a whisper. “It, it scared me. And hurt, and kind of made me mad.”
Karen was back to feeling like she stabbed Zander’s puppy again.
She tried to explain. “I had decided to stay before we got to the store on Monday. I left my bag intending to go back. But then the store was trashed, and it was so overwhelming. I didn’t think I could start over again. And you were talking about leaving for the money. And then I thought I should try for better financial security, so I sent out those stupid résumés.”
No one said anything f
or a moment, so Karen kept on talking.
“But then, everyone came to help. And I realized I wasn’t starting from scratch again, just recovering. I realized that everything I wanted was here—my sister, my friends, my store, and most importantly you. I had hoped we could talk and I could tell you how wrong I was not to see that we are good together.”
“We were going to take the job.” Allan’s deep voice was flat. “We decided in the kitchen just now that since you were leaving, there wasn’t much to hold us here, so we may as well pay off the house before we sold it. I was going to call Chad in the morning. I hated the fact that you couldn’t see how much you meant to us and how great we were together. It pissed me off that you were happy and were doing your best to deny it to try to appease the people that don’t love you for who you are.”
Zander chimed in. “We thought it would be too hard to be here without you. Everything would remind us of the good times we had and we, I, couldn’t handle that. At least when I was shipped from family to family, I didn’t have to stay in the same house that I was rejected in.”
“You’re both right. I’m done trying to please my parents. Whether we’re together or not, I’m not leaving. I really want you to stay. I want there to be an us. I decided on Monday that I wanted to try this relationship for real.” Karen’s voice was pleading. She looked into their eyes, but the emotions there were too intense and unreadable, and she had to look away. “Please, will you let us have a future?” she whispered.
“How do we know you’re serious?” asked Allan. “You’ve spent this whole time denying we meant anything other than sex to you.”
Allan’s question was more than fair. Karen swallowed her saliva like a bowling ball. She tried again and took a breath.
“I was lying to myself, trying to make it easier for when we were done. I was truly convinced we would end. But I’m done with that, I swear.”
Chapter 23
Things were getting a little too intense for Zander. Now that the fear and hurt were ebbing, he was elated that Karen was staying. That was what they all wanted. Zander knew he was insecure about love and family. But he also knew that Karen wouldn’t lie about something like this. Once she committed to doing something, she gave it her best effort. Like the store, her fundraising for the hospital, even softball. So if she said she wanted to be in this relationship for real, she would give it her all.
He knew Allan would be having a harder time. Allan said that if there was no future with Karen, it made sense to leave. He had tried to convince Zander that she didn’t really care, but Zander knew Allan was trying to convince himself. Just like Karen.
If Allan couldn’t have love, it made it easier to go after the money. He never regretted his family’s financial insecurity because they loved each other. But Allan had made it his mission to have both. Now it would take him a bit to adjust to the fact that his plans were derailed, even when it was a welcome derailment.
Time to lighten things up a little. “Does this mean you’re proposing?” Zander asked in a falsetto voice. “Because if you are, I want you on your knees. And shouldn’t there be flowers? I’ll give you a pass on the candy this time, but there had better be chocolate in our future.”
Allan actually cracked a tiny smile at that. Karen giggled.
“Okay, okay. Does this mean you’re staying, too? And that we can be together?” Karen’s wavering voice betrayed her uncertainty. Her lip trembled a little and she was having a hard time meeting their eyes.
“Yes, sweetness, to all of it.” Zander stood and pulled her into his arms. Allan was only a second behind him.
“Don’t scare us like that again, okay?” Allan whispered into her hair as they sandwiched Karen between them. Allan’s hands were shaking a bit and Zander knew he was having a hard time with this emotional reversal of fortune.
“You realize we owe Mary big time for this?” Zander noted.
“Oh yeah,” said Karen. “She’ll want free ice cream forever from me, I know.”
“We’ll have to find some way to say thank you to her, too. But not right now.” Allan bent Karen’s head back and gave her a carnal kiss that had Zander’s cock standing at attention watching the two.
Zander knew enough about himself to realize that his need for Karen was partly to reassure himself that she was staying and that Karen was still theirs. Hell, Allan would need it, too. Not wanting to give into his desire to take her right there on the patio, he pulled her toward him and twirled her around in a few dance steps.
“As much as it would be fun to play around on the patio, I don’t think Mary wants an eyeful of her sister’s bits in action,” he said lightly.
“Ew. I’m sure she doesn’t.” Karen wrinkled her nose.
Allan bit her lightly on the neck. “Let’s go upstairs then. And you’re all ours now, Karen. All.”
Zander felt Karen shiver at the dark promise in Allan’s voice. There was no way Allan would be able to resist taking her ass now. But looking at her increased breathing and her dilated pupils, Zander knew Karen was on board with that plan. They had played with her enough that she should be able to take their cocks.
They headed upstairs, touching and stealing kisses all the way. Zander couldn’t resist pulling Karen’s shirt off before they got to the second floor.
Unfortunately, Mary poked her head out of her room, presumably to make sure all was well between them, and got an eyeful of Zander sucking a nipple through Karen’s bra.
She quickly slammed the door crying, “Eye bleach! I need eye bleach!”
“Sorry, Mary,” Zander apologized as the three of them laughed.
Allan used Karen’s laughter-induced helplessness to unfasten her shorts. She slipped out of his arms and attempted to escape up the stairs. He pulled the shorts off as she clambered toward the attic, giving both he and Zander a look at her ass.
“A thong?” Zander was astonished. “What happened to your funny panties?”
“Not that we mind,” Allan hastily assured her.
Karen gave a little huff. “I ran out of clean panties. This was all I had left this morning.” She used their temporary paralysis to run upstairs.
Zander grinned at Allan and they followed. Chasing Karen upstairs and watching her leap on their bed made his heart feel free. Free not to worry and just love her for this moment in time.
He and Allan leapt on the bed and Zander kissed her. She tasted like wine and heaven. He plundered her mouth and sucked on her tongue, loving that her body grew soft and pliant against him.
When Allan unfastened her bra, Zander eagerly pulled it from her and tossed it aside. He lowered himself to feast on Karen’s wonderful breasts. He could never get enough of those lovely mounds. He was aware of Karen’s squeak of protest when Allan ripped her thong and tossed it aside.
Zander paused to look up from her boobs. “It’s okay, we love your funny panties. But if you want, we’ll buy you more thongs.”
Karen let out a groan and her head flopped back as Allan slid his hand between her legs. “No talking panties now.”
Zander took a second to pull his own shirt off and went back to her lovely breasts. He could happily die here, he decided. He gently kneaded the soft globes that were paler than the rest of her olive skin. He licked, starting at the sensitive underside and slowly moving to the sweet berry of a nipple. Her nipples were a beautiful brown with a pink tinge. He sucked on one, laving it with his tongue and nipping it. That got him a gasp and groan. It also made the nipple a deeper shade of pink, which was quite beautiful.
So he did it to the other one.
Allan was obviously playing with Karen’s pussy. She was rocking and whimpering as Zander enjoyed her breasts. Zander looked up and realized that at some point Allan had lost his clothes.
“You’re overdressed,” Allan pointed out.
Zander just chuckled and stood to remove his jeans. He watched Allan pull Karen up to a kneeling position. Very nice view, Zander thought. Karen’s skin was flushe
d with arousal, her eyes were glazed with pleasure, and her pussy was glistening with arousal. Her clit was just visible, peeking out of its protective hood for them.
Allan split her lower lips with his fingers, giving Zander an even better view. Karen shifted, trying to get some stimulation on her clit. Allan let go and spanked her.
At Allan’s gesture, he lay back on the bed, a half grin on his face. Allan positioned Karen on her hands and knees. It was nice that she had a smaller splint on her finger and could be in this position without any difficulty. Allan urged her up until her mouth was even with Zander’s cock. Zander did not protest.
“Suck him, Karen. Give him the amazing pleasure of your sweet mouth,” Allan commanded in a deep voice that made Karen shiver.
She gave Zander a grin of her own and bent down to envelop his cock. God, she felt fabulous! He had to concentrate hard on not coming immediately. The little minx had a gleam in her eye that promised she was going to do her best to get him off in record time.
He almost laughed as her eyes widened and she stilled as Allan poked a finger in her anus. Zander suspected she had almost forgotten about him. Zander leaned forward and played with Karen’s breasts while Allan did whatever he was doing to her ass and pussy.
“Don’t neglect Zander now, sweetness.”
Karen moaned, which felt damn good on his cock, and went back to work. Soon she was sucking and whining and writhing. It was damn hard for Zander to keep an eye on what Allan was up to, but somehow, he managed.
* * * *
Allan was grateful Zander was there to keep Karen’s attention only partially focused on what he was doing to her ass. She was such a giving woman in bed that she really was trying to concentrate on giving Zander pleasure. That made it easier for Allan to play with her pussy and open her ass for him.
Karen was back with them and Allan was a complex mixture of joyous, relieved, and afraid. There was a part of him that didn’t entirely believe it. Part of him thought that if she got offered another job, she would bolt. But he knew that was the crap in his head talking, not reality. That used to be his life, not now. Karen was telling the truth. He knew she had protected her heart in the only way she could think of before, but he saw she was laid bare now.