Will cracked a thin smile. “I’m not angry, Jules. We already had decided he’d be the first to bed you.”
Julie frowned and glanced back at Forrest, who looked at Will like he wanted to strangle him. “Then why…” She paused and took a quick breath before plunging ahead. “I mean, y-you just seem upset.”
“M’not,” Will replied smoothly. He stood, letting the chair fall back onto all four legs with a thud. “I’m not upset.”
Forrest snorted, coming to stand close to Julie, but he said nothing else. He just put his hand on her waist and gave her a gentle squeeze.
“Are you sure?” Julie asked.
“Did you enjoy it?” Will asked her. He walked forward, the lines of his body softening as he came to stand in front of her, his gray eyes searching hers.
Julie swallowed hard and nodded, glancing over her shoulder at Forrest. “It was perfect.”
Will nodded. “Good. Perfect is what you deserve.”
Julie blushed at his words and reached out to take his hand. “Having you there would have made it far more perfect. I didn't think when I tempted him. We—I should have waited for you to come home.”
Will turned his hand up to take hers. “No, Jules. It’s better there was only one of us. We didn’t want to overwhelm you your first time.”
“But I want you,” Julie said, emboldened by her earlier admission to Forrest during their lovemaking. "I want the both of you."
Will’s fingers tightened against hers at her words, his gray eyes darkened.
“Be careful, Jules,” Will said, his voice low. He raised his other hand to cup her cheek. “I already want to take you right back upstairs for the rest of the night. You talk like that, and I’m not going to be able to keep myself from it. From you.”
“Maybe, well...maybe you shouldn’t stop yourself,” Julie said, doing her best to give him what she hoped was an enticing look. If she had gotten Forrest to crack, then surely there was a way to elicit the same response from Will.
Or maybe not, she thought with a frown as Will shook his head and let go of her hand.
“You don’t want that. Not with me,” he said, taking another step back.
“Why not?” Julie asked, moving forward, trying to close the space that Will was rapidly putting between them. Will cleared his throat, turned, and snatched up the plate he had been eating from before moving toward the sink with a jerk.
“I'm not like Forrest. Not gentle in bed, darlin’. Don't have it in me anymore."
“I won't mind,” Julie said, voice soft.
“I will,” Will bit out.
Julie stepped forward and put a hand on Will’s arm. The muscles beneath her hand were rock hard from how hard he was squeezing the sink. “Will?”
His jaw clenched. “What?”
“You’ll be gentle enough with me. I know it,” Julie said, placing her other hand on his arm so that she was holding onto him. “And if you aren’t, I won’t break.”
Will’s eyes cut to her, and she almost took a step back from the glare on his face. “You don’t know that. I could hurt you.”
“I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Julie frowned. “You’re my husband.”
He barked out a dry laugh and nodded. “Still don’t know how that happened. Not fair to you, tying yourself to someone like me.”
“Stop it,” Forrest said. He stepped up behind them, a hand going to the back of Will’s neck. “You aren’t going to talk like that. I won’t allow it.”
Will’s eyes closed at Forrest’s touch, and he let out a sigh, his body relaxing, the muscles under Julie’s hand gradually loosening as he unclenched his fist.
“What we have is good,” Forrest said, rubbing Will’s neck as he spoke. “You need to accept that.”
“Oh, I do?” Will asked, but his tone wasn’t tense any longer. The corner of his lips pulled up in a half smile. Forrest slipped his arm around Julie’s waist and leaned his chin against Will’s shoulder.
“Yes. And that’s final. No pushing us away or acting like you’re not jealous when I know how badly you want our sweet little wife. And let me tell you, she is sweet.”
Will let out a strangled moan and opened his gray eyes to look down at her. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m sorry too.” Julie slipped her arms around Will’s waist and smiled when he relaxed against her. It was a gift to feel the tenseness in his muscles dissolve beneath her hands. “You should have been there, Will.” She turned her face, pressing her cheek against his chest.
“No, no.” Will shook his head. “Wanted that to be normal for you. Your first time. Because none of this is normal. Our marriage is—”
He stopped short as both Julie and Forrest pinned him with glares.
"It's what?" they said in unison.
"Unique," Will supplied.
“Doesn’t mean it’s not right,” Forrest muttered.
“Amen,” Julie added in, her voice muffled against the front of Will’s shirt as she laid her head back on his chest. Will chuckled, his fingers carding through her curly hair with a sigh. She smiled, squeezing him tighter before she stepped back and looked up at her husbands.
“I should get dinner started.”
Forrest kissed her. “We should get dinner started.”
Julie nodded at his words, and after another quick hug and kiss to Will’s cheek, she moved past him to the icebox. There was a roast that Forrest had picked up earlier in the week. She glanced out the window and saw that the sun hadn’t yet set, so if she worked quickly then she could have dinner coming out of the oven within the hour.
Though a knowing smirk from Forrest had her accepting his help without protest, and she let him take the roast from her. Will surprised her by working on chopping carrots and potatoes, and she let out a sigh.
“I feel useless,” she said, her hands on her hips.
“Never expected you to be a cook,” Will replied, methodically quartering potatoes.
"Advert said as much." Forrest nodded.
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to give me a hint that there’s a problem with my cooking?”
The men exchanged quick looks but remained silent on the matter.
Julie pursed her lips. “Fine. I’ll put out a notice for a cook tomorrow.” She tried not to notice the relieved sigh from Forrest, and she outright glowered at Will when she picked up the bright yellow towel that had been wrapped around the pie he had been eating. It was apple, and it looked divine, with its flaky golden crust and perfectly set filling.
She was positive it was the same yellow towel that Rosemary had been carrying. There was no mistaking it, and now she knew exactly what the woman had carried.
A pie, of all things.
She frowned, looking at the dessert. It didn’t sit well with her that Rosemary had been coming from the direction of the ranch. It was now abundantly clear that she’d been on her way to give Will the pie.
If it was so innocent, then why hadn’t she told Julie about the pie? And how had he ended up with it even after Rosemary had found him absent from home?
“What’s got you frowning?” Forrest asked, rolling his sleeves up as he got ready to prepare the roast.
“Where did this pie come from?” Julie asked, doing her best for nonchalance, but she knew from the look Will gave her that she had failed.
“Rosemary,” he answered her, looking back down at the vegetables.
“I ran into her just before it started raining. She didn’t tell me she’d gifted you a pie.”
Will shrugged. “Not much to tell about a pie.”
Julie let out a harrumph and took the pie to the walk-in pantry, just to have it out of sight. She didn’t like the other woman’s presence in Will’s life, and her little cutting remarks only added to Julie’s dislike of her. The past week had been rife with the woman, and it was enough to make Julie see red. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that Rosemary hadn’t given up hope on
Will. And that was the true root of Rosemary’s ire toward her.
“Not my fault they didn’t want you,” Julie muttered to herself. “Giving my husband pies and having breakfast with him. The little chit." She may have put the pie down with a little more force than necessary, which amounted to her slamming it down on the pantry shelf, prompting Forrest to call to her.
“You okay in there?” he asked.
“Yes, yes.” Julie walked back out with a bright smile on her face.
“What was that sound?” Will asked her, hitching a hip against the counter and giving her a curious look.
“Slipped,” she blurted out. “Not me, the pie—it slipped. Flew right out of my hands."
“Slipped or slammed?” Forrest asked, stoking the fire in the oven with a barely-concealed grin.
“Slipped,” Julie insisted, pulling an apron on with a determined set to her shoulders. "Strangest thing."
“What are you doing?” Forrest asked her with no small measure of trepidation when he saw her begin to measure out flour and sugar.
“Making,” she said, pulling a large mixing bowl and pie tin out of the cupboard, “a pie.”
“Do you know how to make pie?” Will asked.
“Well, not necessarily. But how hard can it be?”
The men exchanged looks again, but they didn’t stop her, not when Julie had as determined a look in her eyes as any general they had followed in the war. It was best to let her go ahead. They nodded to one another in agreement and kept their eyes down as their wife began to mix and beat for all she was worth.
An hour later, Julie had the answer to her flippant question. Turned out making a pie was very difficult. In fact, it was damn near impossible without the proper proportions.
‘Baking is a science unto itself,’ The Lady’s Cooking Compendium informed her when she pulled a still raw in the middle pie out from the oven with a groan. Julie had been so excited to showcase her own baking that she couldn’t quite remember if she’d put baking soda or baking powder in, and had she used salt?
It turned out that she most likely hadn’t, or that if she had, it had been too generously.
“It looks...interesting,” Will offered when she looked ready to burst into tears at the sight of the mess in the pie tin. It wasn’t at all like Rosemary’s apple pie with its golden crust and flawlessly formed filling.
“It’s a disaster,” Julie whispered, dabbing at her eyes with her apron.
“We don’t need pie,” Forrest said, squeezing her shoulder. “We have the other pie.”
“I don’t want that pie,” Julie protested. But her husbands didn't listen, and before long they had cut up and served the pie, and she reluctantly sampled a forkful.
It was delicious. So delicious that it made her want to stamp her foot in frustration. She absolutely could not stand Rosemary. Not her, or her pie.
“It’s good,” Julie had muttered mulishly with a pout. Will and Forrest had kept eating, not understanding why she was upset, and she hadn’t wanted to bring attention to the reason for her consternation, so she had choked down the cursed pie without another word.
“Might ask Rosemary if she’d like to help out here a few days,” Will said while they washed dishes after dinner.
The suggestion had her back stiffening. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Julie said quietly.
“Why not?” Will pressed, earning a warning look from Forrest.
“I’d rather not have her in the house.”
“Julie…”
“She doesn’t like me.” Julie sighed, drying her hands on a towel. “I’ll write her a thank-you note for the pie. I'll make sure to take it to her when I place the advert for a cook tomorrow.”
“That’s not true,” Will told her, crossing his arms over his chest. “She likes you fine.”
“All the same.” Julie took her apron off and hung it up. “I would prefer someone..." She hesitated as she scrambled for a way to explain that the men would understand. "Ah, someone older.”
“Older?” Forrest asked.
“I could learn a lot from an older woman. Someone that I choose myself, if that’s all right with you both,” Julie said, throwing herself into her excuse with as much conviction as she could manage.
Will sighed but nodded along with Forrest, who was still motioning for the other man to back down. “Ah, housekeeping decisions are up to you, Jules.”
“Thank you.” She nodded to the pair of men, already focused on going to the parlor to read her book when Forrest’s arms shot out, catching her around the waist. “What are—”
Forrest kissed her deeply, cutting her off. She blinked up at him when he drew back from her.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked her.
“The parlor?” she whispered, feeling short of breath from the kiss.
"What's so interesting in the parlor?"
"Well, my novel..." Julie breathed out her answer, though a heat had started in her belly and begun spreading through her body to her fingers and toes. The memory of their lovemaking was fresh in her mind, making her breath come quick.
Forrest caught Will’s hand and pulled the other man close. “I can see how the parlor would be interesting, but I think we should stick to the bedroom for the time being.”
"Oh.” She bit her lip, cheeks warming.
Her book was suddenly looking dull.
“Forrest…” Will’s voice held a note of warning, but the blond paid him no mind.
“She wants you,” Forrest told the other man with a nod toward Julie, whose eyes were wide and mouth parted as she struggled to keep her breathing even. “Don’t you, little bird?”
“Yes. Very much,” Julie whispered. She reached a hand out to Will and hesitantly placed her palm on his chest. The man sucked in a short breath at her touch. “I want you inside me.”
Will let out a strangled groan and took a quick half step toward her. “Jules, I don’t think we should.”
“Please.” She licked her lips and put her other hand on his chest, fingers pulling at the material of his shirt. “Please, Will.”
His resolve may have held if Forrest hadn’t stepped behind their wife, his hands on her shoulders as he started to work down the neckline of her dress. He kissed her neck and looked at Will.
“She’s so sweet, Will. Feels like heaven, just like the daydreams we talked about in the war. A woman like this between the two of us. Enough to bring you to your knees.”
“Son of—” Will’s hands clenched and unclenched.
“Language,” Forrest admonished him, kissing her bare shoulder. Julie leaned her head back against Forrest’s chest while he kissed her, and she let out a happy gasp when Will moved forward, pressing himself against her front and kissing her as he did so. His fingers joined Forrest’s at her waist, and she trembled while both men worked her dress off.
When they had the fabric pooled around her feet, Will swung her up into his arms and carried her toward the staircase. She continued to kiss him as he walked, her fingers threading through his long hair, which she pulled free from its tie.
“Gonna love you sweet,” he promised her.
She hummed at the words. “I didn’t think you would have any other way.”
“Won’t always be sweet,” Will told her, turning his gray eyes on her. They were at the top of the stairs, and he surprised her when he dropped her legs down and pressed her against the wall of the hallway, one of his hands sliding down to cup her between her legs. “Sometimes, I’ll be rough with you.” He kissed her hard then, teeth nipping at her bottom lip, but when he drew back, Julie surprised him by leaning into him.
“And I’ll like that too," she whispered, kissing him back as fiercely as he had her.
Forrest came up the stairs, chuckling as he did so. “Forgot to tell you. She's taken a liking to the pleasures of the flesh.”
“Good Lord,” Will moaned, picking her up once again, this time with her legs wrapped around his waist. “Pe
rfect.” He kissed her lips again before he lowered his head to nuzzle her cleavage, his tongue painting delicious paths along her skin.
“So perfect for us.”
Julie wiggled her hips, trying to get closer to him. When he put her down on the bed, she let out a keening sound in protest, but Will was back at her side within a heartbeat.
“Shh.” He cupped her face in his hands, shirtless now. “Right here.” He kissed her then, his lips following the trail his fingers mapped out for him.
“Will…” Julie arched her hips the way Forrest had taught her hours before, and when she made contact with his rapidly hardening manhood, she knew Forrest had guided her for a reason. Will grunted and buried his face in her mass of dark curls which now tumbled free from her braid.
"Jules,” he rasped out against her skin while working off her slip. His hands lifted her hips up again to press against him, and she let out a satisfied sigh when he allowed her to undo his belt and unbutton his pants.
The time that had passed from the moment they entered the room slid by in a slow dance of touches, kisses, lips, and cries of pleasure. They came together slowly, Will taking his time with every part of her. It was different than it had been with Forrest but no less lovely, and Julie felt every bit as much love and care under Will's hands as she had with Forrest.
The only difference in her feelings was that in the afterglow of their lovemaking she didn’t utter the words she had with Forrest, nor did her husband make any romantic overtures of his own. He held her close, her back to his chest, stroking her sides and kissing her neck.
She barely stirred when Forrest joined them in bed later that night. And when she fell asleep it was to two pairs of arms cradling her, not one, and that was Julie Wickes-Barnes’s idea of perfect.
Chapter 9
Julie sighed and shifted from foot to foot. Despite her assurances to act quickly, it had been nearly a week since she’d promised to put the advert in the newspaper for a cook. And if left to her own devices Julie might have played for more time, anything but come face-to-face with Rosemary Stanton. She'd successfully avoided the other woman and had congratulated herself on her skills of evasion, learned from her personal collection of novels portraying wily detectives and the criminals they stalked.
Heart and Hand: Gold Sky Series Page 13