Love Under Two Jessops (20 page)

On the way over here to
Lusty Appetites
Grant said something about getting a remote vibrator. She wasn’t certain what the heck that was, but she could imagine plenty.

Chloe put her attention back on the waitress. “How are you doin’ tonight? Isn’t this a long shift for you, all things considered?”

“No, I started just before you and Rebecca came in for lunch. I’ll be done at eight. That’s not too long.”

“Is something going on?” Andrew asked. “Are you feeling all right?”

Chloe hadn’t realized that her men hadn’t heard the news.

Michelle Grant smiled so wide, Chloe couldn’t imagine a person could hold on to a single sour note, looking at her. “Joe and I are going to have a baby.” She put her hand on her stomach. Chloe had seen her do that this afternoon, too. She guessed to a woman newly pregnant, that was a normal new habit.

Her men showed themselves to be proper gentlemen.

“Hey, congratulations!” Grant’s deep voice rang with surprise.

Andrew got to his feet and gave her a hug. “I bet Joe is excited.”

“That man is on the moon,” Michelle said. “And hovering over me like I’m made of the most precious crystal.”

Chloe thought that Michelle didn’t seem to mind that so much. “When is the baby due?” She realized she had no idea.

“September. Momma was telling Joe that it’s a shame I’ll be pregnant through the hottest part of the summer. He turned right around and started making arrangements to get a swimming pool put in the backyard.”

“Now that will be nice for you,” Chloe said. “I’ve heard that the heat of August does seem a bit more intense to women when they’re carrying.”

“I won’t mind it one bit. I’m just so excited, and so grateful to finally be pregnant!”

Chloe thought Michelle probably wouldn’t complain one bit come August. She remembered a conversation on Christmas Eve at the Big House. Michelle had thought she was pregnant just before she and Joe got married, and had been very disappointed to discover she wasn’t. According to Carrie the couple had been trying—with great persistence—ever since.

“Now, enough about me. You don’t need me jabbering on while y’all are starving to death.”

“We’ve always got time to listen to your jabbering, cousin,” Grant said.

Michelle sent Chloe a wink. “Isn’t he just the sweetest thing?”

Chloe snickered because Grant actually blushed. “He is indeed,” she agreed.

One of the new seasonal dishes that Kelsey was featuring on the menu was chicken and dumplings. The temperature had dropped just a little, and Chloe thought the comfort-food dish sounded heavenly.

“That does sound good,” Andrew said. “I’ll have the same.”

Grant made it unanimous, and they all three opted for sweet tea. “Y’all make my job so easy,” Michelle said. “I’ll be right out with your drinks.”

They were enjoying the early dinner hour, so the restaurant was only about a quarter full. Most folks tended to eat around six thirty or so—several commuted to Waco for work, and by the time they got home, and decided they’d just as soon eat out, it was approaching seven.

Chloe rested her chin on her hand and stared at Andrew who sat across the table from her. Then she switched her gaze to Grant.

He leaned closer and draped his arm across the back of her chair. “How’s your bottom doing, there, Miss Cheeky Pants? ‘I know I’m acting like I got a bur up my butt’?” He shook his head.

“I liked the line about putting a plug in it,” Andrew said.

“Is it okay, baby girl? If you need to go to the ladies’ room and remove it…”

Chloe shook her head. “No, it’s fine. As long as you take it out shortly after we get back to your place.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, as soon as we get you home, we’re gonna take it out and replace it with our cocks.”

“I’m not worried,” she said.

“You seemed pretty happy about Michelle’s news,” Andrew said. He reached out and stroked her hand, his index finger running back and forth over her knuckles. “Do you want babies?”

Chloe blinked and tried to school her reaction to the question. There was a time when she’d dreamed of a fancy wedding, and then having babies. But she hadn’t really let her mind go there for more than fifteen years.

She had thought of getting married—but only in hypothetical terms, and only really since Beck had asked her to marry him.

His proposal had completely shocked her, because even though they had been living together, she simply hadn’t let her mind think about getting married, having a family.

Making a home
.

Andrew’s question just short-circuited her brain completely. “
Now
?”

She wished she understood the look that passed between the brothers. Grant stroked her back. Andrew picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. He placed a tiny kiss on the back of her hand—a first from him—and then shook his head. “No, not now, Chloe-doe. I was thinking someday.”

In that moment she hated herself for the relief that swept through her. This wasn’t the first clue she had that she had some major issues to deal with, but it was the most jolting.

“Sure. Maybe. Someday.” Chloe shrugged because she didn’t really know what else to say on the subject.

She wondered, then, about that flash of emotion she saw in both Grant’s and Andrew’s eyes.

That emotion looked alarmingly like pity.

* * * *

The irony of the situation certainly wasn’t lost on Grant.

All through college and then on, into their careers, he and his brother had met and dated—both individually and together—more than a few women. They weren’t man sluts, of course, but they’d enjoyed women and sex.

Their relationships, though certainly not one-night stands, had been far from serious. Usually, the women they dated had been looking for fun and games—mutual pleasure, with no strings attached.

Inevitably, once or twice, the woman they were seeing would begin to hint at wanting something more long term, or even permanent. That would be the moment when he and Andrew would step back. They’d known in each case that the woman they’d been dating hadn’t been “the one”—just as they’d known within moments of meeting Chloe that she was.

Now here they were making noises about wanting a permanent arrangement, and Chloe was acting skittish and, at least sometimes, seeming to step back.

The future shouldn’t have been an issue. After all, she admitted that she loved them. They’d returned the declaration. A proposal of marriage
should
have been expected and delivered by now.

I should have figured that when it came to winning the woman we love that it wasn’t going to be easy for us.

He understood, and he was pretty certain that Andrew did, too, that Chloe’s issues weren’t with them.

She’d been open with them, discussing the problems that Carrie had suffered as a result of their shared family tragedy, but had said not a single word about her own challenges.

They hadn’t tried discussing them with her yet, but he knew if they did, she would deny having any problems related to the loss of her parents at all.

We’re just going to have to love her until we get her to dismantle that protective wall she’s built around her heart.

Not a bad thing to have to do, really.

All these things Grant thought in the very few minutes it took him to drive home from
Lusty Appetites
.

He turned off the truck and then set his gaze on Chloe. Her skin was flushed, her eyes glittered, and God help him, he could actually smell her arousal.

He didn’t think there was a sweeter perfume on the entire planet.

“Are you ready for us?” It was the same question he’d asked, more or less, before their first time together. Tonight, it had an entirely new meaning.

“Look at me.” Chloe held her hands out. The sight of the slight tremors kicked him equally in the libido and the heart.

“Are you afraid, baby girl?” He turned in his seat and slid his arm around her shoulders. On the other side of her, Andrew picked up her hand and held it between both of his.

“No. Well…maybe a little apprehensive. But mostly I’m…needy. That thing I told you about earlier, before we left my place? That need to be connected to you both at the same time? It’s even stronger now than it was then. I’ll beg you if I have to. I don’t care. All I care about is having you both inside me.” She met his gaze, and then Andrew’s.

Grant stroked her chin with his index finger. “You never have to beg us for anything, Chloe. You have rights where we’re concerned. The most important is the right to ask us for whatever it is you need, period.”

That hit a little too close for her, he could tell by the expression that came and went so quickly in her eyes. Two parts terrified, and one tiny part hopeful, that expression said so much. But the “hopeful,” that was new, and
that
would be his touchstone.

Andrew flicked him a glance that said he was on the same page. “Come inside with us, Chloe-doe. We need you, too.”

Grant easily lifted his woman into his arms. She gasped, as she always did, and then she snuggled in. The feel of her arms slipping around his neck, and the way she cuddled in so close, made him feel ten feet tall.

Chloe Rhodes’s mind might shy away from the concept of home and hearth and happily-ever-after, but her body, heart, and soul belonged to them.

Yep, loving her senseless is a damn good plan.

He loved everything about this woman, but he especially liked the way she responded to his touch, his and Andrew’s. He stopped beside the bed for a moment and simply held her close. Then he adjusted his hold on her, turning her slightly so that he could nudge up her face with his own.

Chloe opened her mouth under his, her tongue dancing with his, a sexy little slide and glide that aroused him. She made tiny little sounds as if the taste of him thrilled her.
Good thing, because I’d rather taste Chloe than the sweetest dessert.

He eased his lips from hers and set her on her feet. He grinned when she blinked at him and seemed to need a moment to be able to stand on her own. “Let’s get you naked.”

“You, too. I want you both naked, too. I need to touch and taste and play.”

“Oh, you betcha.”

Andrew had pulled the blankets to the foot of the bed and lit the candles they’d set out earlier. In the master bath, the sound of the spa gurgling away added to the special music they were about to make together.

His brother helped him undress their woman. Her body was perfect. Here,
here
was something he could say, and needed to say over and over again until she believed him.

“You’re beautiful, Chloe, and so damn perfect for us. Every inch of you is soft and supple and
ours
. Honest to God, I could come just looking at you.”

Andrew drew her into his arms, and lifted her face so she had no choice but to meet his gaze. “Grant speaks nothing but the truth, my Chloe-doe. Your body is a total wet dream.”

Then he kissed her and Grant marveled at the way it was for them—that Andrew could hold and kiss and make love to her and he could watch and enjoy and
feel
joy.

She responded to Andrew with the same intensity, the same generosity, that Grant himself had enjoyed. He wasted no more time thinking. He just pulled his clothes off, and then ducked into the bathroom for the things he’d need.

He set those things on the bed, and when Andrew eased back from Chloe, Grant lifted her once more and held her close. She chuckled, shook her head, and said, “I can’t get over how easily the two of you do that.”

“Holding you in my arms is one of my favorite things, baby girl.” He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “You’re such a neat armful.” He moved his hands so that they splayed against her naked ass. Using a finger from each hand, he pressed against the end of the butt plug. Then he used those fingers to stroke the toy, moving it within her just a little.

“Oh, God. I can’t believe how much that turns me on.”

“We’ve left it inside you long enough.” He moved in for another kiss, his tongue pushing past her lips, sliding into her mouth so that he could taste her thoroughly. When he broke their kiss, he said, “What do you say I take that out of you and replace it with my cock?”

“God, yes, please. Do it.”

Chloe felt the effect her words had on Grant. A fine tremor swept him. He covered her mouth with his. His tongue demanded, commanded, and Chloe could only yield. She never would have imagined being dominated by two such large, virile men would turn her on so much.

“You got it, baby.” He laid her on the bed and then flipped her over onto her stomach. When he urged her onto her hands and knees, she went. She lifted her head to encounter Andrew half kneeling on the bed in front of her, slowly stroking his cock. A tiny drop of pearly fluid glistened on the tip. The sight of that drop of honey made her mouth water.

She leaned forward, and he must have been watching her because he met her halfway. His wonderful hot cock brushed her lips. She opened her mouth and sucked him in.