“You probably have more information on the topic than we do, then. Might make for an interesting evening or two, in the future.”
In his experience, a person only knew what they knew. Maybe he’d buy Robert Jessop a beer or two and ask a few questions.
“I think it just might.” Michaela’s cheeks turned the prettiest pink he’d seen in a while.
She picked up her tea and took a drink. “There’s no hardware store in town here,” Michaela said. “We’ll have to go into Gatesville to get that lock for the barn.”
“That shouldn’t take long.” Lewis looked across at Randy. Then he picked up his woman’s right hand and kissed it. “Any suggestions on what you’d like to do with the rest of the day, after we see to that little thing?”
“Yes. Let’s have a full meal now. That way, we shouldn’t have to stop, later, to eat. To hydrate, maybe. But not to eat.”
“Woman, I like the way you think.” Randy grinned at her, and Lewis had to agree.
Michaela Powell had one first-class mind.
* * * *
“Looks like you’ve got a visitor.”
Michaela frowned when she recognized the man standing on her front porch, peering into her living room window. She’d been conjuring images of what all the next few hours would hold and didn’t like tucking those thoughts away to deal with the moment.
“I wouldn’t call him a visitor, exactly. More like a growing pain in my ass.”
“Do you want us to rough him up for you, sweetheart?”
Randy’s question yanked her attention off the porch. The look on his face, having just asked that bizarre question, put her in mind of a kid who was about to be given a gift, something really neat.
“No!” She laughed and really hoped he’d been joking. “His name is Terry Gowan, and he’s been trying to talk me into selling my land. I don’t know why the man cannot take no for an answer.”
“Men who can’t take no for an answer are assholes,” Lewis said.
Rather than parking near the barn, which he’d said they would do so they could install the lock right away, he stopped his truck near the porch.
Of course, Gowan had turned around, likely as soon as he’d heard the vehicle. His gaze was fixed on them as they’d approached. Michaela thought, once he saw it was her, his scowl would disappear. And it did—after that one moment when it looked as if he was seriously pissed.
Maybe that was a trick of the light. There was no reason that she could think of for him to be angry about anything regarding her.
Randy helped her down from the truck. Terry took a few steps toward her. “There you are. I was wondering if I should break down the door. Your car was here, but you weren’t answering the door.”
Michaela blinked. “It’s a good thing you didn’t break down my door. I would have had to call the police.”
The only thing that saved Gowan from the ire she felt simmering in her guys was the fact that he had the sense to look embarrassed.
“Sorry. I was just…concerned. A woman, all alone out here in the countryside…”
“She’s not alone.” Lewis nailed him with his gaze just as surely as her nail gun had done to her hand, and the man actually squirmed.
“Of course not.” He recovered, put a smile on his face, and nodded. “I’m Terry Gowan. I’ve been talking to Michaela about selling her place, here.” As if it excused all sins, Terry handed Lewis his business card.
Lewis gave it a glance then put the card into his pocket. “I believe Miss Powell has told you that she’s not interested in selling.”
“Well, yes, but that was so soon after the death of her father. People sometimes have a visceral, emotional reaction in times such as those. I just thought, now that a couple months have passed, she’d have seen reason. This can be unforgiving ground, I’ve been told. And a woman, all alone, can’t expect to be able to survive.”
“These are not the days of yore, Mr. Gowan. Women can do most anything any man can do.” Lewis didn’t sound friendly at all. He was treating Gowan like a threat. She didn’t think the man was a threat. He was just a bit slow on the uptake. I guess it’s time for me to put my foot down.
“My answer is the same now as it was two weeks ago, Mr. Gowan. I am not going to sell my family’s heritage. Not now, and not anytime in the foreseeable future.”
“I’ll escort you to your car.”
Michaela couldn’t prevent her one eyebrow from going up. Randy—sweet, affable Randy—had sounded every bit the hard-ass as Lewis did on a regular basis. She looked at Lewis and noted his wide grin. He was clearly all for his cousin’s initiative.
Gowan didn’t waste any time starting his car and driving off. Randy walked back toward them. “You saved his sorry ass,” Lewis said.
“I always feel sorry for the intellectually challenged,” Randy said. “Let’s go put that lock on.
Michaela began to wonder about herself when she felt relieved that they weren’t going to be firing up the compressor and using the nail gun. Instead, Lewis plugged in the electric drill to install the hasp set. The lock had a set of two keys with it. They’d taken the time at the hardware store to have a third one cut. Installation done, tools stored, he kept one key for himself and gave one each to her and Randy.
Lewis met her gaze. “When you’re officially cleared by the doc, that’s soon enough to get you back on that nail gun.” He bent and gave her a quick kiss. Then he locked the barn, and together, they headed toward the house.
He really knows me. As Michaela put her new key on her keychain, she tried to decide if that was a good thing, or not. Mostly good, she decided. Once on the porch, she opened the front door then dropped her keys back into her purse.
“I’m just going to leave the truck there for now,” Lewis said. “We’ve already wasted enough time.”
It wasn’t much past three, but Michaela understood his declaration completely.
She grinned as she looked from one lover to the other. “I agree. Let’s get naked.”
“Sweetheart, that is the best idea, ever.” Randy’s smile went straight to her heart—and from there to all her lady bits.
It was such a damn fine idea she couldn’t even find it in herself to complain about missing work.
Chapter Thirteen
Showering with both of her men in what she considered her normal-sized bathroom turned out to be an exercise in contortion. It was also fun, funny, and left Michaela feeling horny as hell.
And totally committed to the idea Lewis had voiced, that she turn this side of the downstairs into her master suite. She’d seen some of the master bathrooms in the family and could only imagine the freedom of space to fully indulge herself in these two sexy men.
Having a Jacuzzi in the enlarged bathroom would certainly be a welcome addition as well.
Drying off, of course, was easier than showering had been. Especially for me. Michaela sighed as Lewis and Randy took very thorough care of the chore for her. Standing with her arms raised, her legs slightly parted, she shivered as their touches, by turn firm and then delicate, got her dry—and then wet in an entirely different way.
“Let’s go have some fun in the bedroom, sweetheart.” Randy, from behind her, kissed her ear then scooped her into his arms.
Michaela put her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. She’d never understood the attraction of being carried before these men stepped into her life. Now, the act made her feel all gooey inside. She loved being carried, and she especially loved feeling her flesh against his.
Michaela hadn’t realized that Lewis had gone ahead, not until Randy carried her into the bedroom and she saw that the duvet and sheet had been pulled down.
Randy laid her on the mattress, his movement and handling of her gentle. His gleaming gaze met hers as he climbed onto the bed after her and then lay down, with his head near her middle.
She looked from Randy to Lewis. That lover was smiling, too. And rather than getting onto the bed to sn
uggle her in, he was standing, arms folded as he leaned against the wall, his gaze fixed on her.
“Will you put on a show for me, baby girl?”
What an odd question. “A show?”
“Mmm hmm. I want to watch you pleasure Randy the way you did me—and vice versa.”
“Lewis wants to watch our sixty-nine. Suck my cock, sweetheart. Suck me while I drink you down.” Randy’s seductive tone was just one more thrill. She instinctively turned her face toward him. The arousing scent of clean man drew her to him.
My first sixty-nine.
Michaela met Randy’s gaze, and then she looked over at Lewis. “Tell me what to do.”
She didn’t think any of it was her imagination, not the heightened lust in Lewis’s gaze nor the approval she saw in Randy’s.
“Get on your side, baby girl, and put your mouth on his cock. Take him to heaven, just like you took me.”
Never had an order aroused her like that or been so easy to obey. As she leaned into Randy, as she inhaled his scent and took his heat, her own her mouth watered, and her nipples drew tight. And her pussy? She was getting wetter by the moment, and when Randy blew a stream of warm air onto her wet folds, she shivered with a new and ever burgeoning arousal.
Using her right hand to fist him, and careful to lay her left arm and hand out of the way, she nuzzled Randy’s cock. Suddenly anxious to have his taste in her mouth, she sucked him in.
He tastes different. She couldn’t have said what that difference was, but she imagined that, in time, blindfolded, she’d be able to identify each of these two men by the flavor of their cocks.
The deliciously naughty thought sent a shiver down her back and tickled her clit. Michaela hummed her own pleasure as Randy laid his mouth on her cunt and began to devour her.
Lucid thought fled. There was only this, mouths and hands working magic, one upon the other. Her hips began to undulate, a rhythm that Randy matched as he began to thrust his cock inside her mouth. She lost herself in the pure, raw sexual pleasure of the moment and in drinking down his drops of precum as he lapped up her juices. Time evaporated as heart-heard music wrapped around them, as the heat and the scent and the tactile joy of holding this strong, yet delicate part of her lover in her mouth became her everything and her all. The hot presence, the trust, the scent, and the taste filled her with a kind of satisfaction she knew instinctively was purely feminine and not necessarily only sexual. But tonguing him and tasting him fed her, her heart and her soul. There could be no doubt sucking Randy off fed her sexual self as well.
Arousal grew from embers to flames, and Michaela surrendered to them and to the promise of fulfillment. She spread her fingers to caress his balls as her hand pumped and her mouth followed. Her tongue stroked his shaft, and she felt that shaft grow hotter and harder. The sensation of strong, determined fingers sliding into her and a mouth gently sucking her clit sent waves of electric shocks through her.
Michaela moaned in pleasure then groaned in need as Randy worked her, as he lapped and sucked and stroked. As he growled into her cunt as if claiming it, and her, as his own.
The heat of him, the pulse of his cock in her mouth, and the hardening of his scrota gave her a heartbeat’s warning.
Then she sucked strongly and swallowed down Randy’s first stream of cum as her orgasm erupted and then rolled over, in and through her.
Pulsing and convulsing, drinking, shivering, Michaela took and she gave, connected to both lovers, to the body of one and the soul of the other, who uttered a feral groan as he watched.
Randy eased his hips back just a little, and she released him. Her arm slid up his body to drape around his hip as she lay catching her breath, as her heart rate slowly, ever so slowly, returned to normal.
“So fucking hot to watch. I nearly came myself.”
The bed dipped, and Lewis slid in behind her. His arm wrapped around her, drawing her close to his chest. She sighed, and when Randy moved, when he placed a final kiss on her thigh and then got into place beside her to lay a similar kiss on her lips, Michaela relished the moment.
“Fucking hot to experience,” Randy said.
“Mmm.” Not feeling capable of more than that sound, Michaela closed her eyes, reveling in being sandwiched between these men.
“We’ll rest awhile, baby girl. Then we’ll have round two.”
“’Kay.” She wiggled her butt against Lewis and rubbed her cheek against Randy. The men moved just a tad closer, and she felt completely enveloped in their heat, their scent, and their care.
Best damn happy place, ever.
* * * *
“My turn to make breakfast.” Lewis placed a kiss on Michaela’s lips. She opened her eyes, and that look—sex-sated and sweetly sleepy—caught him straight in the heart.
“Breakfast?” She blinked a couple of times, and Lewis thought he could spend most of the day just looking at the graceful way her eyelashes framed her eyes.
“Yeah, we feasted on each other through the night but neglected to have any supper.”
The sound of her stomach growling just made him smile. It wasn’t the first time the mention of food had elicited that tummy response.
“You’re both spoiling me.”
“Yup.” He kissed her again, thrusting his tongue into her mouth for a short foray. Then he raised his head and grinned at her.
“Spoiling you is not a problem.” Randy moved closer to their woman and spooned her. “We’ll be out before too long, bro.”
“Enjoy.” It took him only a moment to grab some clothes. He meant the sentiment he’d just voiced to Randy. Lewis didn’t know why he didn’t feel any jealousy when it came to sharing Michaela with Randy. He only knew that not only was that emotion nowhere in sight he also knew that their sharing her was right.
Meant to be.
Lewis realized he was still grinning as he made a pit stop in the bathroom and tugged his clothes on. The smile didn’t diminish one bit as he made his way into the kitchen. He’d smiled and laughed more since he’d been here in Texas than he ever had.
If he’d been asked a year ago if he was happy in life, he’d have waved the question off as a stupid one. He’d not ever dived into his feelings, nor had he thought he ever would. He’d have asserted he had a roof over his head, money enough to do most of what he wanted, and work that didn’t suck too badly. What did he have to be unhappy about?
But this bright and already hot July morning, he would be able to answer that question with a resounding yes. He was indeed a happy man. He was happy, and he was whole, and he was….
He was home. This was his home, and it didn’t have a damned thing to do with the land he stood upon. As long as he had his best friend, and his woman, he would be home.
It was a hell of an epiphany.
All this time I thought I was looking for a piece of real estate, and that wasn’t it at all.
Putting his mind back on the task at hand, which was breakfast, he decided to show his more sensitive side to his woman. He recalled hearing Michaela talking about her preferred breakfast, in one of those general conversations that had been shared at the roadhouse that had literally begun with a discussion of the phrase “soup to nuts.”
They didn’t have fresh fruit or yogurt in order for him to give her a part of her favorite morning meal, but a quick run into Lusty would take care of that.
He took a minute to text his cousin to let him know where he was headed, and then he stepped into his boots and headed out.
This was his first visit to the grocery store in town, and Lewis was impressed with the selection offered. The store seemed bigger inside than it had looked from the outside. It didn’t take him long to get everything he needed. As he passed the dairy case, his eye was drawn to an object he hadn’t expected to see. Canned whipped cream. Lewis grabbed one up and put it in his cart. It wasn’t on the menu for breakfast but would be great to have on hand for an impromptu snack of the sexy Michaela kind.
The older woman at the
checkout worked quickly and then paused as she took a moment to look from his grin to that can of whipped cream. She snickered then entered the price in the register, and Lewis felt his face heat.
Fortunately, she didn’t say anything, and he pretended the moment had never happened.
As he walked back to his truck, he thought about that rather large display of whipped cream, and he snickered, too. One of his Texas cousins had quipped that their great-great grandparents had named the place Lusty and every generation since had been dedicated to earning the name.
I can believe that.
Within minutes he was back at Michaela’s, thinking about her and that whipped cream.
Two steps from the truck, a strong odor slammed into him and stopped him in his tracks. Gasoline, and lots of it. His first instinct was to look at his truck, to see if the ground beneath it was getting wet, and he did. He couldn’t see anything there, and stepping back toward the truck had taken him out of the odor. As far as he was concerned, there were only two other sources for that smell—Michaela’s car or the fuel tank beside the barn.
Lewis stepped into the house long enough to put the groceries he’d bought on the kitchen counter and then headed back out again.
The smell was coming from toward the barn. The closer he got to the structure, the stronger the smell became. His gaze went automatically to the old fuel tank. He recalled seeing a bit of rust on it. He regretted now that he hadn’t taken the time to examine it more closely the day before. Rust near the joints of the tank and the legs could eat away at the metal. Damn thing must have sprung a leak.
“Man, that’s strong. Did the tank start leaking overnight?”
He’d heard the door slam, so his cousin’s presence didn’t surprise him. Likely saw me out the kitchen window.
Randy’s question mirrored his own thoughts. His eyes scanned the tank, seeing nothing amiss at first. But the ground beneath the container was most definitely wet. And now that he was almost upon it, the smell nearly made his eyes water.
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