Read Her Heart's Divide Online
Authors: Kathleen Dienne
Her Heart's Divide
Lila was a faithful, loyal wife.
Ryan was her sexy, loving husband.
And so was Jack
…
?
Jack, however, was her boss, not her husband—why was he claiming her as his own? Lila had been passionately happy with Ryan for more than seven years. Yes, there’d been a moment when she’d first been attracted to Jack, but then she’d met his best friend, Ryan. They’d fallen in love and married. Jack claimed that in
his
world, their attraction had led to the altar.
And now she was caught between two men—two
husbands
—in the wildest situation Lila could ever have imagined. But what she wasn’t imagining were the two men touching her, pleasing her, caressing her…
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Kathleen Dienne
To my husband—the only one for me.
I heard the driveway gravel crunching beneath the tires of his pickup truck, so I “accidentally” sprayed myself with the hose. It was an irresistible impulse. It was my day off and I’d been washing my car. My husband and I had been working a lot of overtime lately, with no time for recreation or even chores. And I knew how much he loved seeing me in a wet T-shirt.
The water was cold, and my nipples rose into hard little peaks. The truck’s engine turned off, and I heard him striding closer. I pulled off my ponytail elastic and shook my long, dark hair into what I hoped would look like an auto-show model’s mane. The metal of the car was warm in the midsummer sun, so I turned around and leaned back against the trunk, displaying myself for him. Then I froze.
“My god, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” said Jack. His blue eyes sparkled in his tired face as he looked me up and down. “I had a terrible day and fell asleep at the wheel on my way home. I nearly wrecked the truck. But you always make everything all right, Lila.”
He pulled me into a tight embrace despite my wet shirt and leaned down to kiss my neck. He slipped his hand in between our bodies to tweak my stiff nipple. “I love you, sweet girl. You’re the nicest wife a man could ask for,” he whispered.
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move. The love seemed genuine and his physical reaction was undeniable. The only trouble was that Jack wasn’t my husband. He was my boss. And in my entire life before this afternoon, I’d never so much as kissed the man.
An hour later, he was still in shock. I’d changed into dry clothes, and now I sat at the dining room table, watching him walk in circles around my big all-purpose room that overlooked the river.
“I didn’t buy any of this furniture,” he finally said.
“Of course you didn’t. This isn’t your house,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
He clenched his hands over the top of the futon we—my husband and I—used as a couch. “You and I bought this house five years ago. You said you’d always wanted to live in a little house by the river. Our agent saw the listing, and once you saw it, you wouldn’t look at another house.”
“Ryan and I bought it five years ago because I’d always wanted to live in a little house by the river, and we found it by chance when we were down here kayaking.”
“Since when do you go kayaking?” he demanded.
“Since Ryan asked me to try it on our third date! Seven years ago!”
“Seven years ago you’d been dating me for six months.”
“Jack.” I tried to calm down. “We have never dated. Ever. You’ve been my boss for almost eight years, you’ve been my husband’s best friend since college, and while after this many years you and I are very close, trust me when I say I’m positive we never hooked up. You’re married, for heaven’s sake.”
“I’m what?”
“Married. To Allison. I was at the wedding along with the rest of the team.” There were a dozen of us who worked at Jack’s small truck dealership, and most of us had been there for years. There weren’t a lot of employment options in southwest Virginia, which is like one big small town, and Jack was a good guy and easy to work for. When he wasn’t out of his mind, that is.
“Allison? I’m married to someone who believes in fairies? She’s a nutcase! How the hell did I wind up married to Allison?”
“Why the hell are you yelling at my wife, Jack?”
We turned and saw Ryan leaning against the doorway. He wasn’t angry, but I could see he was ready to take action if that’s what was needed. I ran over to him and flung my arms around his neck. “Jack’s gone crazy. He thinks he’s married to me and lives in this house,” I whispered.
Ryan kept a strong arm around my shoulders as we turned to face our friend and employer. I leaned into my husband, inhaling his marvelous, masculine scent. He was the lead mechanic for the dealership, and I loved the way the oil and the orange hand cleaner combined with his own smell. He was a little shorter than Jack but much more muscular thanks to all the heavy lifting he did during the day. His pectoral muscles were rock hard, and his biceps were as big around as my thigh. Well, the lower part of my thigh, anyway. With thick black hair and deep brown eyes that were always sparkling with humor and fun, he was every woman’s dream and my reality.
At the sight of us, Jack’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t understand what’s going on. I thought maybe this was some kind of joke. I’m not laughing, though.”
“Let’s back up,” Ryan said. “I just got here, so start from the beginning.”
“I left the dealership early after fighting with shipping manifests all day,” Jack began. “I must have fallen asleep at the wheel, because one minute I was driving home the back way on the old Coller Road, and the next minute there was a loud banging noise that scared the hell out of me. I went off the road and barely got control of the truck. Had to pull over a minute, but I shook it off. I pulled into the driveway, and I saw Lila…” He trailed off.
Ryan glanced from Jack’s odd expression to my fiery red face and began to smile. “Lila was washing her car, eh?”
Jack looked up. “How’d you know?”
Ryan grinned. “I saw the hose and the bucket. She’s a terrific woman who knows how to cheer a man up after a long day at work.”
“Ryan, listen, I thought she was my wife,” Jack stammered.
“I’m standing right here,” I said.
Both men looked at me for a moment.
I started to babble. “So, Jack greeted me with enthusiasm, I shoved him off, I changed clothes and let him come inside after he promised not to come near me again. He swore he knew his way around this house but the furniture was wrong, and that’s basically where you came in, honey.”
Ryan turned to Jack. “You’ve been here often enough, man. You should know your way around the house.”
“The master bathroom’s toilet doesn’t flush very well, so we never let people use it during parties. There’s a slow drip from the hot-water tap out in the laundry-room sink. The left shutter on the east window of the dining room bangs when it’s storming outside. And something in the garbage disposal squeaks,” Jack said.
We stared at him. “You could have known that stuff from me or Ryan complaining,” I said slowly.
Jack sighed and looked at me. “Your nickname as a child was Boodle Boo, and you hate it. You have a tiny Libra symbol tattooed on your hip. You got it when you turned twenty-one, and you put it in a place that would be hidden by a swimsuit so no one would know. And your favorite thing is to be bent over a desk and taken from behind when there’s a chance someone might walk in at any moment.”
The silence that followed that speech was a thick, tangible thing. Jack looked at us and mumbled, “I’m going to go sit by the river for a few minutes. Y’all mind if I snag a beer from the fridge in the garage?”
Ryan waved his hand and Jack left.
“Well, honey, I knew about the nickname and the tattoo, but that last one is news to me,” my husband said.
“It hadn’t occurred to me. You don’t have a desk,” I muttered.
The sliding glass doors to our deck gave us a beautiful view of our property all the way down to the river. We stood with our arms around each other, watching our friend, business partner and employer pick his way down to our dock. He kept looking back at the house, but if he could see us with the afternoon sunlight reflecting against the glass, he didn’t show it.
“What do you think?” said Ryan.
“I think he’s gone crazy. You?”
“I think I’m positive that you married me, not him. What I can’t figure is where he’s coming from. He’s too freaked out to be lying.”
“He knew all that stuff, except for the parts he could have guessed. He’s over here fishing, or cooking out, or whatever almost every weekend,” I said.
“Boodle Boo?”
“Oh, lord knows who all I’ve told that to in the last decade. He’s your best friend—you might have told him.”
Ryan’s face took on a slightly feral expression. “And the desk?”
I tried not to react. “It’s a common female fantasy. He could have read that in one of the waiting room magazines.”
“Really?” He moved behind me and slid his hands over my belly and thighs.
“Really.” He slipped his fingers into the waistband of my low-slung jeans and played with the elastic on my panties. “Honestly, I think I read that in Cosmo just last month.”
One of his hands moved smoothly to my left breast, and the warmth of his palm came through my T-shirt. “Cosmo, huh? Maybe I need to read more Cosmo.”
“A big man like you? I’d love to see that.”
“I can pull it off. No one’s going to call me a sissy in my own shop.” He was kneading my breast gently, flicking his fingertips over the tip in between circles. My nipples were hard, as hard as his cock. I could feel him pushing against me, his stiffness fitting along the crack of my ass.
I tried to laugh. “No, no one’s going to call you a sissy. I’m a sissy, though, and we’re standing right in front of the glass doors. Jack can see us.”
“He’s not looking.”
“But he might.”
“Common female fantasy, Lila. You said it yourself.” His right hand unbuttoned my jeans, and his middle finger ran firmly down the outside of my panties from the top of my mound to my opening.
And I was wet. I’d been wet since Jack described my so-called favorite thing. I was pretty sure my reaction was to what he said, and not to Jack as the man. I admit I’d thought about that particular fantasy, but I’d never gotten around to mentioning it to Ryan. The only person with an office at the dealership was Jack. The rest of us either had desks that fronted onto the showroom floor, or tables back in the open shop.
“Ryan, don’t…He’s right there.”
“He sure is. I think I owe him one for teaching me something I didn’t know about my own wife.” He had one arm around my waist, holding me close to his body. His other hand rubbed and teased until I was flushed and panting.
I couldn’t think anymore. Jack had made me wet, but Ryan knew me like no other man ever could. He pushed my panties down a little, just enough to get easy access. He pulled me against his erection and I gasped. He chuckled and used the tips of his fingers to spread the wetness to my clit in smooth, hard strokes.
“Love you, Ryan,” I said, gasping. “You’re the only one I want.”
“I love you, Lila.”
I moaned and tried to push even closer to his strong, lean body. His arm across my chest tightened and he whispered, “I’m going to test this theory of Jack’s out, right now.”
He shoved my underwear and jeans to the floor, and lifted me up. He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the dining room table. With one sweep of his arm, all the placemats went flying. He gave me a gentle shove, and I stumbled to the edge of the table. I heard the sound of his zipper being yanked down and his own jeans hitting the ground.
Then he was entering me, pinning me to the table. I braced my arms. The sudden roughness was making me even wetter.
He pulled out, almost all the way, and I whimpered.
“Yeah? You don’t like me taking it away from you?”
“Give me…”
“Give you what, Lila?”
“Fill me, Ryan. Fill me up.”
He slid in, slowly, tantalizingly, inch by inch. I could feel his cock twitch as he held back his urgency to tease me. Once he was in, he gave me another little shove. “Do you like this?”
“Yes…”
“How much do you like it?” He was pushing back and forth, in short little movements.
I could see out to the river. Jack was finishing his beer. “I like it a lot, Ryan. It’s…so good, babe. It’s…so…good.”
Ryan’s thrusts picked up speed. “What’s going to happen when Jack comes in, Li? Sees you like this, bent over the table?”
“Don’t let him catch us,” I moaned.
“Don’t let him catch me fucking my hot, sexy wife?”
His hands were on my hips now, steering me and controlling my wild movement. Jack was walking up the path, and Ryan was pounding into me, making guttural sounds that made me cry out in return. The head of his cock was hitting a spot deep inside me. With his last hard thrust, I felt the orgasm start on that spot and burst outward.
Against my ass, I felt his balls quiver as he finished pumping into me. His breath was coming in short gasps like mine was, but lack of air didn’t stop the giggles that hit us both.
“Your fantasies are awesome, babe,” he said. He patted my back.
“That was amazing. You’re still insane. Get dressed!” I said in mock horror.
My husband kissed me in between my shoulder blades before he pulled away. “I love you, Lila Crosse.”
We were both scrambling to get our jeans pulled up and fastened when we heard the downstairs door open.
“Li? Ryan? Can I…can I come in?”
“Yeah, man, come on up,” Ryan called out.
Jack appeared on the stairs a second later and stood by the fireplace. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to just walk in.” He paused. “No, actually, I did mean to just walk in. I always come in the back door without knocking.”
“Jack, you do always come in the back door without knocking,” I said, feeling mellow. “That’s why we lock it when we need to slow you down a little.”
“I know this all sounds insane to you, but cut me some slack, guys. Two hours ago I was looking forward to coming home to my wife. My
wife
. Now I’m standing here in my home, and my wife is married to my best friend. And I’m…” Jack turned away.
I didn’t know what he was, but I was feeling terrible for him. His pain and confusion were too raw to be faked.
“Look, Jack,” I said, trying to be gentle. “Why don’t we go down to the E.R., get you checked out? You said you almost wrecked the truck. Maybe you hit your head or something.”
He didn’t turn around. “I didn’t hit my damned head. I wish I had.” The words had a strangled sound, like he was choking.
My husband leaned down and whispered in my ear. “Honey, I’m going to go change, get out of these work clothes.”
“Don’t leave me alone with him!”
“I’d cry if I thought I lost you, but I wouldn’t want anyone to see me crying.”
“Sweet talk about crying gets you nowhere, mister. What am I going to say to him?” I hissed.
Ryan shrugged. “He seems like the same guy except for this weird memory thing, so just talk to him like you always talk to Jack.” He kissed me on the forehead and patted my ass for good measure.
Jack hadn’t moved. I sat down on the futon and sighed. “So.”
“So.”
“All right, let’s say this is real. Your truck is the same. The world’s basically the same, since you didn’t think anything was wrong until I hollered at you. What’s different?”
“Besides the fact that my wife isn’t my wife?”
“Jack.”
“Sorry.” He shook his head and stood up a little straighter. “Do you mind if I sit down next to you?”
“Not at all.” I patted the couch, hoping he didn’t see the awkwardness that I felt. We heard the shower come on in the next room, and Jack relaxed even as I grew more nervous.
He flopped down. “So, how’d you meet Ryan in this world?”
“You introduced us, actually. My first day at work when you gave me the tour.”
“Wait, let me back up. How did you and I meet?”
“Well, I was working at the newspaper, selling space in the special advertising section. I called and asked if you’d be interested in a half-page feature on your new dealership, and you bought a whole page because you said I had a nice voice.” I smiled at the memory. “Then when they cut my job, you said I ought to use that nice voice for someone who’d appreciate it, and you offered me a job as the dealership receptionist.”
“That’s how I remember it, yeah,” he said slowly.
“But we never dated. You were always kind and friendly, but you never flirted with me.”
He snorted. “No. I was terrified of being a stereotype. Besides, you never flirted with me.”
“Well, you were my boss, you know. I wasn’t going to sit on your desk and show you any leg. But I did flirt a little bit back at the beginning.”
“The only flirting I ever noticed was at the company Christmas party.”
Blood rushed to my face. “Oh, damn.”
He stared at me. “What happened at the Christmas party from your point of view?”
“Other than I acted like an idiot?” I jumped up and went into the kitchen.
“You did not,” he called after me.
“Maybe in your world!”
“Everyone was drinking, Lila, not just you.”
“You want anything to drink now?”
“I better stick with water, thanks.”
I came back with two tumblers, the ice clicking against the sides. “I got a little too festive, and you saved me from myself.” I handed him a glass and took my own over by the sliding glass door. I wanted to look at the river, not Jack. I had considered the incident forgotten, but it turned out every face-burning detail was as fresh as it was the Sunday after the party.
Only six months into the job, I’d felt like I’d been at Jack Stevens Chevrolet for my whole life. The team was small and more like a family than a company. Allison, the woman who handled the office stuff, welcomed me. At first it was because the business had grown too much for her to handle everything from the paperwork, to the phone, to greeting customers, and she needed me. Then it was because we’d become friends.
She was a little flaky with some far-out ideas, and she and I often argued over whether there was magic in the world, but the Jack I knew wouldn’t have called her a nutcase. He loved her and called her his sunbeam.
At any rate, it wasn’t just Allison who liked me. The other people at the dealership were all great, from the salespeople to the mechanics. When the Christmas party rolled around, I’d felt at home. I’d been so busy talking to everyone that I’d forgotten to eat. I’d also forgotten to watch how much I’d been drinking.
I remember starting the carol singing and then running off to use the restroom. The one off the main showroom was occupied, so I headed upstairs to the private one across from Jack’s office. When I came out, he’d been standing there. He was looking out the window at the moon, and he turned when he heard my footsteps.
“Oh, hey, Lila. We had the same thought at the same time.”
“We were both admiring your ass?” I had blurted out.
His eyes widened and I clapped my hand over my mouth.
I’d long since noticed that my boss was gorgeous. He was tall and he almost always wore a dark blue tie that accentuated his dark blue eyes. He had thick sandy blond hair that was a little long. And at that point in our friendship, I knew he’d played college football. While he still kept himself in shape, he’d said that he’d assessed his chances of going pro, found them minimal, and started a business with his best friend instead.
I also knew that his best friend was Ryan Crosse, a darkly handsome guy who ran the service department. But at the Christmas party, Ryan wasn’t yet a boyfriend or a lover. He’d been coming by my desk and cracking jokes nearly every day but hadn’t made a serious move.
So I was single, with a happy buzz on, and apparently my subconscious mind had been thinking of my boss as a handsome man, not an employer.
And that man smiled at me. “Why, thank you.”
“Oh, my god, Jack, it just sort of slipped out there. I’m so sorry.” I couldn’t really see his face, with the moonlight at his back shining so brightly.
“Don’t be.”
His voice had sounded very strange. We stood there for a moment, and then I took a step forward. My heel caught on the rug, and I would have hit the ground face-first if Jack hadn’t caught me. His arms were so strong and his skin was warm. His cologne was as rich as the expensive shirt he was wearing. I’d snuggled into his broad, muscular chest. Under his cologne, I could smell him, a delicious mix of soap and something like cinnamon. His steadying grip had turned into an embrace, and then his hands had started moving down my back.
But then he’d paused, with the big strong hands of a former wide receiver snug against my waist. “How much have you had to drink, Lila?”
“Oh, a bit.”
“I think more than a bit, actually. Come on, you. Let’s go get some water. Uh…actually, I still need to hit the bathroom. Hit the lights, will you?”
By the time he’d come out of the bathroom, I’d found the light switch, and in the bright overhead lights I was sobering up rapidly. “Jack, I, uh…”
“Never happened, Lila.”
And we’d gone back to the party. He’d never mentioned it again or been awkward about it, so I assumed it really had been forgotten by Jack, if not by me.
Now I stood in my living room in front of him, and he had clearly not forgotten. “So tell me what happened at the party, Lila.”
I took a few steps closer to him. “I was a little drunk, I blurted out something about your ass in your office, and then I fell on you.”