Covington, Cara - Love Under Two Benedicts [Lusty, Texas 1] (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) Read online

  “I need to think about this. Obviously, the two of you have been planning…considering…” Kelsey waved her hands in the air almost, Matthew thought, as if she was trying to grasp something to hang on to.

  Matthew stilled her hands with both of his. “No, Kelsey. We’ve been hoping, mostly.” He could have told her that in the last couple of months, as they’d talked from time to time, gotten to know her better, they both understood her resolve not to get involved romantically. She’d turned both him and Steven down when they’d each, in turn, asked her out on a date.

  However, in the last few weeks especially, they’d each noticed a change in her reaction to them.

  “I close up at ten tonight. You can pick me up then. We can go someplace and talk about this.”

  “We can go to the ranch.” Steven exhaled and looked at Matt. “We’ll take you to the ranch.”

  Before either he or his brother could say another word, Kelsey stepped around them and exited the museum.

  Matthew looked at Steven. His brother’s brow furrowed, and he rocked back on his heels.

  “Holy hell,” Steven said, his tone just above a whisper. “She still doesn’t get it.”

  “It took her a few months of living here before she ever became aware of either one of us as men.” Matthew continued to look at the door where Kelsey had just exited. “After what she’s been through, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise either one of us she would think we only want sex.”

  “You’re right. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but that’s okay. She’s the woman we love, so we’ll do what it takes. So now what do we do?” Steven asked.

  Matthew grinned. “She’s so responsive to us both. We’ve both seen it in her eyes when we’ve talked with her. We’ll know when we see her tonight if she’s leaning toward us. If she is then there’s really only one thing we can do. We seduce her into our bed. Then we fuck her brains out and get her body so addicted to ours that her heart has no choice but to join in.”

  “Okay, that sounds like a pretty good plan.”

  Matthew thought it did, too. He just hoped to hell it worked.

  Chapter 2

  Oh my God, I can’t believe I just did that.

  Kelsey kept her pace brisk as she covered the distance between the Lusty Historical Society Museum and her restaurant. She didn’t think the men would follow her, not now when she’d agreed to think about what they apparently wanted.

  She put on her business smile as she entered her domain, nodded to the patrons who looked up and gave her a wave or a howdy, but kept her demeanor all business. She didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. A fine tremor worked its way up from her belly, spreading out to her limbs. She headed straight to her small office, closed and locked the door behind her, then slid, nearly boneless, into her chair.

  “Oh, damn. Oh, damn.” Her face flamed, and she covered it with both hands. Nothing to do but to wait out the shakes and the blush. Inhaling deeply, Kelsey closed her eyes, leaned back in her chair, and focused on relaxing her jittery body.

  Not a panic attack. No, what she felt at the moment wasn’t one of those. Relief washed through her. She’d not had a panic attack in the last year but had experienced them often enough just after the shooting that she’d come to dread them.

  Her eyes opened, and she her gaze roam around her small office. This was her dream come true, a restaurant of her own, and while she didn’t own the building, she owned the business, and the menu, and the essence of it.

  Business had been brisk since opening day. While Kelsey had braced herself for the possibility of failure, three out of five new businesses did that in the first two years, in her heart she knew her business would continue to grow and prosper.

  Her eyes landed on the framed newspaper article on her wall. When the food editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald had contacted her last month, of course she’d said yes to the interview and the feature. What restaurateur wouldn’t? It had never occurred to her the reporter would mention her personal tragedy of years before. She’d cringed, reading that part of it. So far, though, the responses she’d gotten from that article had been positive. Lusty Appetites had experienced an influx of business from the larger city. People, it seemed, didn’t mind driving more than an hour to enjoy her food. She knew they did enjoy it because she’d developed a clientele from Waco and surrounding area. Her business was growing? Hell, at the moment, it was thriving.

  Just as she, personally, had begun to thrive. She’d stopped believing herself capable of personal happiness in the aftermath of the shooting. In those dark first days after watching the horror unfold before her, she’d been tempted to end her own life.

  Only the sure and certain knowledge that act would have disappointed Philip and dishonored Sean held her back. So she’d put away those thoughts and chosen life.

  Not the full blown, all-out, grab-all-the-joy-you-can kind of life some seemed destined for and able to achieve so easily. No, her life would be measured and neat, she would set goals, achieve them, and then do what she could to give back.

  So why the hell had she just told two handsome, buff men that she would seriously consider having sex with them both at the same time?

  “Oh, my God.” Kelsey was still shaking. She held up her hands to watch them tremble as the unwelcome truth settled in her thoughts. She shook, not with embarrassment or dread, but with excitement.

  More than five years had passed since she’d had sex, and while the grief counselor had told her she would eventually heal to the point where she’d seek intimacy again, Kelsey hadn’t believed her.

  Having sex with two men at the same time was not life as Kelsey Madison had mapped it out when she’d decided to move to Lusty, Texas.

  Still, she couldn’t deny the flutters in her belly or that for some time now just thinking about the brothers Benedict made her nipples tight and her pussy wet.

  All right, time to regroup. She knew if she wanted to, she could call Matthew or Steven and tell them no. She didn’t have to go through with meeting with them this evening just because she’d said she would. She had choices and options. No was always an option.

  Obviously her body needed some attention of the sexual variety. Her female parts, overflowing with estrogen and with no place to put it, had begun demanding action.

  Kelsey let her thoughts wander back to the museum.

  What the hell would you call that, anyway? Serial menagerie?

  Her giggles erupted as the reality that she’d pretty much decided to have sex with two men at the same time hit her.

  She was a healthy woman with a healthy libido and what she’d always considered an average imagination. There’d been a time or two, before meeting Philip, when she’d brought herself to orgasm thanks to the fantasy of having two cocks all to herself.

  Now here was the opportunity to bring those long ago, lusty fantasies to life.

  Oh, yeah, I get the town’s name now.

  Kelsey’s mind circled back to the loss of her family and those long ago promises to herself. Recalling, too, the predictions of her therapist, she tried to set aside her arousal and think.

  There was intimacy, and then there was intimacy.

  Cut to the chase, Kels.

  Kelsey had always been honest with herself. She wasn’t about to change that trait now. She could have sex with those two rocking studs. It didn’t mean she was going to fall in love with them or that she would marry either of them.

  So why not just go ahead and have sex? They were all three of them unattached adults.

  Despite the reactions of her body, she knew falling in love with anyone ever again was simply out of the question.

  Her heart had shattered as she’d watched a crazed killer gun down her husband and young son five years before.

  There simply was nothing left of that part of her to give to anyone anymore.

  * * * *

  Steven turned to look at his brother. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth when he read the express
ion of satisfaction on Matthew’s face. He hated to play Mr. Obvious, but that was a part of his nature.

  “Just because she said we could pick her up doesn’t mean she’ll come to bed with us.”

  Matthew shook his head, but his smile didn’t diminish. “Yeah, I know. And even if she does come with us, and come with us, it doesn’t mean the campaign to win her heart is over.”

  Steven looked over at his Aunt Anna, who seemed to be reading a magazine as she stood by the information counter. He knew his aunt very well, however. “Let’s go,” he said to his brother.

  Matt got it. They each waved good-bye to their aunt and stepped out into the afternoon sun.

  “No,” he said to Matthew as they headed toward his Jeep, “I don’t imagine winning Kelsey’s heart is going to be easy.”

  “I simply can’t imagine,” Matthew said. “I know what a blow it was for me when I walked in and found Linda in bed with another man.” Matthew pulled his sunglasses out of the V opening of his shirt and jammed them onto his face.

  Steven knew the shades weren’t only because of the bright sunlight.

  “That leveled me, and I didn’t want to get involved with anyone for a long time. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to see a wife and child shot to death in front of me,” Matthew said.

  “No, neither of us can really understand the magnitude of that kind of loss.”

  Matthew rested against the fender of Steven’s Jeep. Steven copied his position so they stood side by side. He nodded, as his brother did, to some of the passersby. One of the things Steven loved best about this small town showed itself now. People could see they were having a serious discussion and left them to it.

  “I think it’s a good sign that she’s begun to notice us,” Matthew said. “That’s why I thought we had to begin our campaign right away. I didn’t want to take the chance that our beautiful butterfly would emerge from her cocoon and fall for someone else.”

  Steven agreed completely with Matt’s assessment. “I also noticed her agreement to think about our offer lacked warmth. What do you want to bet the lady figures she can have sex with us to scratch her various itches, but that’s it?”

  “Not taking that bet because that’s what I think, too. That means there’s only one thing for us to do. You realize that, don’t you?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Steven smiled. When it came to the important things in life, he and his brother had always been on the same page. He loved all his siblings, but it had always been Matthew, older than him by a year, with whom he’d shared the closest connection. He’d never doubted, even in those dark days after his brother had married Linda, that they would also one day share a wife.

  Now, he turned and gave his big brother a wide smile. “You know what else I think? I think we need to give the lady so much love and affection and attention that she becomes addicted to us before she even sees it happening.”

  Matthew straightened from the Jeep and clapped him on the shoulder. “That won’t be a hardship, brother. Well, I have another couple of hours to put in at the office.”

  “I’m heading home to get things ready for tonight.”

  They agreed that Matthew should drive out to the ranch—a 1950s home the family had built a couple of miles outside of town—and then ride back into town with Steven to pick up Kelsey.

  Steven got into the Jeep and sat just a moment more. His thoughts were on Kelsey and the evening ahead. She’d said she was just going to think about letting him and his brother both love her. Even though she hadn’t said yes, Steven wanted to be prepared. That meant condoms. Steven didn’t need any more time to know that Kelsey was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. A part of him wanted desperately to fill the hole in her mother’s heart with their child, either his or Matthew’s. It made no difference, but it was way too soon for that.

  As he started the vehicle and pulled into traffic, he decided he’d better see what he could do about protection. Of course, he’d buy those condoms elsewhere. No need feeding the Lusty gossips any fresh fodder.

  * * * *

  “We like the look of you, Connors. Your résumé is downright impressive.”

  Wesley Connors flushed, the praise coming from someone as influential in the state-wide political scene as Sherman Fremont nearly enough to make his head spin. The exclusive Faraday Club in Austin boasted a membership list of not only frontline celebrities, but the movers and shakers of government, too.

  Connors soaked up the rarified atmosphere like a parched man slurping water from a fountain. He’d worked long and hard over the last four years to contribute to the party and make a difference. He’d put in hundreds of hours as a volunteer with three separate charities, he’d married “up,” and he’d been nominated as business innovator of the year.

  Now all his hard work looked as though it was finally going to pay off.

  “I don’t usually make promises, but I’m going to make an exception in your case.” Fremont leaned forward as though about to impart a secret. “You win the mayoral race with a margin of five percent or better, and you’ll have my personal backing for state senator in two years.”

  State senator! That was several steps forward in his plan at one go. Mindful of his image, Connors lowered his eyes, giving the appearance of humility.

  “Mr. Fremont, I simply don’t know what to say. I had hoped to one day put my hat into the ring for the State House. But in two years? I’m honored, completely honored by your generosity and your confidence in me.”

  “Of course.” Fremont signaled to the waiter who promptly brought the man another bottle of beer.

  “Sir?” The waiter stood ready to get Connors whatever he wanted. Again, mindful of his image, he said, “Just water, please.”

  Fremont grunted, which Connors interpreted as approval. He waited until the waiter had returned with Connor’s glass of ice water.

  “Now, we’re expecting you to slaughter your opponent, Connors. At the same time, we want to see a full-out media blitz. You take your campaign for mayor to the whole of Texas. Name recognition is the name of the game. I expect that by the time you’re sworn in as Mayor, most of Texas will know your name.”

  “Statewide, sir?” Connors tried not to let his shock show. Fortunately, though he failed in that regard, Fremont assumed the reaction had a different cause.

  “Yes, it’s expensive. Don’t worry about that. I’m making arrangements. You’ll have the money you need to pull this off.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’m very grateful.”

  “Damn right you are,” Fremont said. “You just remember that gratitude, and we’re going to get along fine. Real fine.”

  Connors managed to maintain his composure throughout the rest of the meal. He didn’t, in fact, allow himself to get nervous until he pulled into his driveway and watched the garage door open. Cora Lynn, his wife, was not yet home, which was a good thing. It would give him a bit of time to assimilate the good news–bad news revelations of this afternoon and settle his thoughts.

  As he let himself into the house and headed for his office, he knew one thing for certain. Something had to be done.

  He sat behind his desk and opened the locked drawer on the right. Reaching inside, he pulled out two pages he’d printed from the Internet.

  One was a story from five years before, a brash and brazen holdup gone wrong that had shocked and saddened the entire city of Austin. A husband and father along with his young son had been shot to death in a convenience store robbery. Although the shooter had initially gotten away with the help of an accomplice driving a black sedan, he’d later been identified after the local news stations broadcasted the store’s security video.

  That shooter, hopped up on drugs, had died in a shootout with police. His accomplice, the man who’d driven the getaway car, had never been identified.

  The story went on to detail how the crime was even that much more tragic, for the wife and mother of the victims had sat outside the store in the fami
ly car. It was believed she witnessed the shooting and the flight of the gunman.

  Wesley set that article aside and picked up the other. This appeared a much happier piece about a restaurant in a small Texas town that was fast making a name for itself as the place to dine in the area. He’d come upon the article by chance when he’d been searching for information on the convenience store shootings. The article had referenced the crime, for the efficient reporter had made the connection—victim turned entrepreneur.

  Just when Wesley believed he’d atoned for his sins, just when he was about to take the next step into a career that he hoped to bring him to the governor’s office in Texas and maybe, just maybe as one recent Texas governor had done, to the nation’s capital itself.

  He looked down at the face of a pretty brunette. Her hair had been pulled back and out of the way. She used to wear it in a chic cut, just long enough to brush the bottom of her face. In this photograph, taken to accompany the article about her business, her mouth tilted up in a small smile.

  The last time he’d seen her face she’d worn an expression of shock and horror, her wide eyes drilling his from behind the windshield of her car.

  Wesley felt the meal he’d just eaten sour in his stomach. Sherman Fremont wanted a statewide media blitz, which would undoubtedly feature Connor’s smiling face being flashed on the television screens and newspapers from Austin all the way to a small town he’d never heard of before.

  He held up the page he’d printed and looked at the woman for a long time. He couldn’t take the chance she’d see his face and remember him.

  If he wanted the life he’d earned, the life he deserved, then he would have to do something about Kelsey Madison, and he’d have to do it soon.

  Chapter 3

  Kelsey placed her hand on her belly, a simple reaction to the butterflies that wouldn’t settle there. Her last employee had just left. As she did every evening, she walked through the restaurant, seeing that everything had been turned off, closed up, and done.