Nice and Easy: Boys of the Big Easy book three

by Erin Nicholas

“I’m in love with you, Caleb,” she told him. “And that you would do this all for me—when I know it’s out of your comfort zone, when I know that you would rather pamper me and take care of me and treat me like a princess…to know that you will trust me and do this for me, it’s really truly…” She sighed. “Everything.”

  His heart squeezed in his chest. And he squeezed her tightly to him.

  “I shouldn’t have told you that I love you in the midst of sex, right?” he asked. He knew that, but he’d been unable to hold it back.

  She grinned up at him. “Telling me that when we were doing what we were doing? You completely letting go and trusting me and realizing I completely trust you and that you can meet every one of my needs? That was the perfect time.”

  God, how did she know just what to say and do? She had no way of knowing how much that meant to him. She didn’t know how much he’d needed to hear that he was fulfilling her needs, that he was taking care of her in a very intimate way, and that he was making her happy.

  “I was thinking that we could use this room for other role-playing,” he said, absently, absorbed in everything about this that seemed absolutely perfect. He’d orchestrated it all and carried it out successfully. He’d given her orgasms, and he’d showed her she was loved.

  “Yeah?” She looked up at him.

  He focused on her. “Yeah. We could get a couch in here. We can keep handcuffs and nipples clamps and toys in the drawers. Get some more costumes. This could be the professor’s office where you have to come and beg for an A.” He squeezed her butt as she wiggled in response to his words. “Or this could be where the billionaire conducts that first interview with his new secretary.”

  Lexi wiggled again, but gave a soft laugh. “How do you know about billionaires and secretaries?”

  “I’ve been reading,” he said smugly.

  “Reading?” She looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I got some erotic romance recommendations from Harper, James’s neighbor. I think I’m getting a feel for all of this.”

  He gave her a slow grin. But she didn’t smile back. She looked…shocked.

  “You’ve been reading erotic romance?”

  Right. He hadn’t intended on telling her that. He wanted her to just think he was good at this naturally. But… “Yeah. I figured it would be good to figure out where some of this was coming from.”

  Her eyes widened and suddenly she was straddling him again and kissing him deeply.

  “That’s amazing,” she said, pulling back after several long delicious moments. “Wow.”

  “Yeah?” He really did fucking love that look in her eyes.

  “Yeah.” She looked around the room. “And you’re going to make us a playroom? Just wow.”

  He laughed. “And here I almost brought you flowers to show you how I feel.”

  She focused on him again. “This is so much better. It will last far longer than flowers. And it’s good for both of us.”

  It really was. “You letting me take that control, make all of this happen for you, is good for both of us,” he told her. He hadn’t understood that before, but now he got it. Completely. “I love being able to push you like that, to make your fantasy come true, to have the hottest sex of my life with you, and to know that you are with me the whole way.”

  “So you totally trust me here?” she asked. “You know that you can really let go, right?”

  “I do.” He rubbed her hip. “Thank you for that.”

  She cupped his face between her hands. “Of course. As much as you love giving me pleasure? I feel the same way about you. And I know that what gives you the most pleasure is being in charge and being everything I need. And you are that, Caleb,” she added softly. “You really are.”

  That grabbed his heart and squeezed hard. He needed to tell her about Shay.

  The brace fitting today had changed everything. It had finally broken through the last of his maybe this will all be okay. It would be okay. The brace didn’t change the amazing little girl Shay was, nor did it affect his pride in her or his love for her one iota. But it truly was the symbol that this was a permanent thing and he was going to have to face it. Literally. They made a mold today and the brace would be in soon. He was going to, obviously, have to tell Lexi. He couldn’t fix it first and then tell her. This wasn’t completely fixable and he was going to have to admit that.

  He opened his mouth, still not sure exactly what he was going to say, when Lexi’s phone started ringing in her purse where she’d dropped it in the foyer.

  She sighed. “I should get that. I asked work to call me about the lady who came in at the end of the shift.”

  “Want to tell me about it?” He wanted to hear. He wanted to know all of her stories.

  She smiled as she climbed off his lap and pulled the uniform down over her breasts and smoothed the skirt. “I do, actually.”

  “Great. Are you hungry? I have leftovers.” He started putting himself back together as she headed for her bag. And it hit him. This was completely normal. They’d just acted out a very hot and intense sexual fantasy and now they were going to talk about work and eat leftover chicken.

  He smiled to himself as he got to his feet. This was…how it should be. This is how he wanted it to be. Always.

  11

  “Hi, Bea,” Caleb heard Lexi say into the phone as he crossed the foyer to her.

  That pulled his attention away from the way the tiny skirt barely covered her luscious ass.

  “Of course,” she told Bea, opening the office door and heading out to the living room.

  Caleb followed her and watched as she shrugged out of the skirt, with one hand, which left her bare from the bottom of the uniform top. He was completely distracted at that point, of course. He wanted her again.

  But he wanted her in his bed. Just bare naked, in his sheets, under him, on top of him. He wanted to make love to her. Strangely, at least until it had happened, he wouldn’t have believed that fucking a woman in a cheerleader costume after spanking her could be making love, but it had been. And now he wanted her without the props and pretending. Just them.

  Lexi was struggling to get the top off while staying on the phone. She’d somehow managed to get her panties and scrub pants pulled up, but she couldn’t tie them one-handed and they were hanging very loose around her hips.

  He didn’t know what was going on, but she was getting dressed. He stepped forward and pulled her pants up, tying them in front. She smiled at him gratefully. Then he pulled the phone away from her ear and stripped the cheerleading top up and over her head.

  Again, he got a little sidetracked by her bare breasts and nipples. In fact, he almost leaned in and took one in his mouth. But she pointed at her bra and scrub top.

  “Yes, I know,” she told Bea. “That’s fine. It’s not a problem at all.”

  Caleb grabbed the garments and held the bra up. She put one arm through, switched the phone to her other ear, and stuck the other arm through the strap. Then she turned and he hooked it behind her. He helped her into the top as well. He much preferred undressing her, of course, but there was something really nice and normal and intimate about helping her dress. That and leftover chicken. It was these little things that brought one word to mind over and over. Forever.

  “I’ll see you soon.”

  Lexi pulled her hair out of the back of the scrub top as she turned to face Caleb and disconnected with Bea.

  “Everything okay?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I need to go help Bea. She’s not feeling well and she’s at Commander’s Palace for Taylor’s birthday dinner.”

  Taylor was Bea’s granddaughter and she was turning sixteen. Caleb frowned. “I’ll come with you.”

  “You need to stay with the kids.” She grabbed her purse.

  “But—”

  “It’s nothing serious. This happens sometimes. I’m just going to get them home and settled.” She pulled her bag up onto her shoulder. “She doesn�
��t want to make a big deal out of it with the kids. I’m going to just show up, have dessert with them, and then drive everyone home.”

  “What are the kids going to think about you driving them home when Bea drove them there?”

  Lexi shrugged. “We’re going to get her drunk. Or so they’ll think.”

  “She can’t tell the kids she’s not feeling well?” he asked. He didn’t like this.

  “She doesn’t want to scare them.”

  “Why would they be scared of her having a headache or a stomach bug?” Caleb pressed.

  Lexi blew out a breath. “It’s a little more than that. I’ll fill you in later, okay? I need to go.”

  “This has happened before, though?” he asked, his frown deepening. Bea was another person in his life that he cared a lot about.

  “It has,” Lexi amended. “But don’t worry, I’ve got this.” She pulled the door open and looked up at him.

  He was nearly on top of her and grabbed the edge of the door over her head. He didn’t want her to leave. He wanted to know what was going on with Bea. “Call me if it’s a bigger deal than you think? Or if you need me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Call anyway,” he added as she stepped through the door. “Just let me know how things are.”

  “Okay. If I have a chance. This really might just be a quick stop over there and I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay.”

  He watched her until her car had pulled out of the driveway and driven off down the street. When he shut the door, he felt stupidly frustrated. In what way was Bea not feeling well? Was she stressed out about one of her grandkids? They were teens and she often shared in class how hard it was on them to have their mom in jail. It was hard on Bea, too, of course.

  But Lexi had said Bea wasn’t feeling well. Maybe it was something physical. Bea was in her late sixties. She didn’t have health issues that Caleb was aware of, but then, why would he be aware?

  Even as he pulled his phone out and dialed the number, he knew he shouldn’t. He should just leave it alone. But he was worried. And, fuck, his day had been a roller coaster. Shay’s appointment on top of pulling the fantasy scene off with Lexi, telling her he loved her, and now Bea?

  “Hey, Logan, is Dana around?” Caleb asked when his friend answered. It was possible the women of the support group had shared information they hadn’t let the whole group in on.

  Lexi was there for Bea, but Bea could be stubborn as hell. It wasn’t impossible to think that Lexi might need some backup.

  “Caleb?” Dana asked a moment later. “What’s up?”

  “Bea and her grandkids are at Commander’s Palace and Bea isn’t feeling well. Lexi just headed over there. Just wondering if it was something we should be concerned about?”

  “She actually wasn’t feeling well last Thursday, either,” Dana said. “She said she was just tired, but I know she and Lexi talked for a little bit during the break. Neither said anything to me, though.”

  Damn. “Lexi didn’t mention it to me, either,” Caleb said.

  “You’re going to head over?” Dana asked.

  “I’m…not sure,” he said honestly.

  “Bea can be stubborn as hell,” Dana said, echoing his earlier thought. “If this has been going on for a few days, it’s something she should get looked at, right?”

  “Lexi will be able to tell her that,” Caleb said. She was, after all, a nurse, and it seemed that Bea had already confided in her.

  Dana laughed. “Sure, Lexi can tell her that. But getting Bea to actually do it is something else. Do you think she called Lexi over to stay with the kids so Bea can go to the ER?”

  The ER. For some reason that word made Caleb’s chest tighten. He dealt with the ER all the time but sending a friend there was something else. Still, if something was going on at this time of night, that was where Bea would need to go.

  “Maybe,” he said. “Or to drive her? The kids are old enough to stay alone for a while.” Bea’s oldest granddaughter, Kendall, was seventeen and often helped sit for kids of other parents in the support group.

  “True,” Dana said slowly. “Bea doesn’t ask for help easily. If she needs someone to drive her, that concerns me.”

  Him, too. “It’s more likely that she thinks she can get over whatever it is with some crackers and tea and having Lexi check her blood pressure or something,” Caleb said.

  “Even if she needs more than that,” Dana agreed. “If she’s hoping Lexi can do something for her and save her a trip to the ER, Lexi might have a hard time convincing her she needs to head in.”

  Damn, he really fucking hated when people he cared about had stuff going on he didn’t know about. He realized it was ridiculous to think that every one of his friends would always tell him everything, but he still hated not knowing.

  “I can send Logan over to hang with your kids if you want to go check things out,” Dana said.

  “Yeah, maybe I should go make sure Bea’s being a good patient.”

  “Lexi could probably use another adult there whether it’s talking Bea into going to the ER or taking a couple of ibuprofen. Bea’s so used to taking care of everyone else that I can’t see her being a good patient.”

  “Yeah, I’ll head over if Logan doesn’t mind coming here.”

  “No, that’s great. Bea’s way more likely to listen to you than Logan. Or me,” Dana said. “It makes sense for you and Lexi to be the ones checking on a health concern. And you’ve got all those firemen carries so you can take Bea to the ER if you have to.”

  He chuckled. “Well, there is that.” He was already heading upstairs to get dressed. “Tell Logan the kids are asleep and they shouldn’t be any trouble.”

  “No, problem. He just headed out to his truck.”

  It hit Caleb how amazing it was to have all of these people in his life. And Lexi’s. And Shay and Jack’s. Lexi and Caleb might not have their parents right here and both were only children now, but they had a family that they could depend on.

  “I don’t know why I can’t get this right.”

  Lexi gave Bea a smile and squeezed her hand. They were sitting at the table at one of the Garden District’s best restaurants. Commander’s Palace had been a landmark in New Orleans since the late 1800s. The blue and white exterior with the striped awnings were iconic, and ornate interior with the gorgeous chandeliers and white tablecloths made it the perfect spot for special occasions.

  “It’s a big adjustment. It takes time,” Lexi said.

  Bea was still trying to figure out how to manage her new diagnosis of type II diabetes.

  “I guess.” Bea sighed. “Things are just supposed to stay the same. Steady.”

  Lexi shook her head. “Come on. You know better than anyone that doesn’t happen. You mean you want things with you to stay the same. Because everyone around is changing all the time.”

  Bea nodded. “I like being the one who takes care of everyone else. I bail them out. I clean up after them. I tell them that they’re being dumbasses. I don’t like being the dumbass.”

  “You’re not a dumbass,” Lexi said firmly. “You take care of everyone else and you’re just not used to taking care of yourself. It’s not because you’re dumb. But,” she added. “You have to. This is important. And if you get sick, then what are all the people who depend on you going to do?”

  Bea scowled, clearly frustrated and a little angry. “That’s what I’m saying. I don’t have time for this shit. And I can’t be feeling crappy. I’ve got stuff to do.”

  Lexi had declined the waitress’s offer of dessert for Bea’s sake, though turning down the Bananas Foster and the bread pudding soufflé was not only difficult, it was nearly a sin. She did, however, order coffee. They’d sent Bea’s grandkids a few blocks down to La Boulangerie, a bakery where Taylor could have cake or pastries for her birthday, to get them out of the way so Lexi and Bea could talk about how she was feeling and what they needed to do next.

  She’d had a low blo
od sugar episode that had scared her badly. Sweaty and dizzy, she’d called Lexi. Even though she was surrounded by food at the restaurant, it wasn’t the fast-acting simple sugar she needed, and she didn’t know what to ask for. Lexi had coached her to ask for some honey and by the time Lexi got there, she’d eaten it and was feeling a little better.

  “Then you need to take your meds on time and watch what you’re eating,” Lexi said firmly, but gently.

  She understood that Bea was frustrated. She wasn’t used to having any weaknesses. She kept things together for her four grandchildren, for her husband, for the members of the group, and indirectly for her daughter. She truly didn’t have time to be sick. But she was quite capable of figuring out what she needed to do to handle this new diagnosis, and if she did it right, she’d be fine. Completely capable of handling everything she normally handled.

  Bea hated needing help, and the fact that she’d confided to Lexi after she’d been diagnosed with type II diabetes, and then called Lexi for help, meant a lot. She loved that she finally felt like she had something to give to the people who had been supporting her for the past two years. And if Bea needed Lexi to hold her hand through learning all about managing her condition, Lexi would be here every time the other woman called.

  “And you know I’m always here,” Lexi said. “I love being here when you need me.”

  The older woman smiled and squeezed her hand, the frustration in her face replaced by affection. “I know you do, sweetie. I’m so proud of you. You’re so good at all of this.” She paused. “Caleb and I are a lot alike, aren’t we?”

  Lexi lifted a brow. “Yes. Definitely.”

  “So you know that even when he’s prickly and doesn’t want to need you, he still appreciates you and loves you?”

  Lexi felt her heart flip over. “You don’t think he wants to need me?”

  “Of course not,” Bea said matter-of-factly. “Some of us are just used to being in charge, it actually feels like a failure to need someone for something.”

  “But you know that the people who love you want to help you. It needs to be a two-way street. A partnership.”