Divine Charity (3 page)

A frown creased her brows and she shook her head. “I don’t want anything to change.”

He smoothed her hair from her glowing face and cupped her cheek in his hand. “Share your ultimate fantasy with me. If there were no limits, no constraints, nothing I wouldn’t do that you asked of me, what would you ask me for?”

She looked up at him, her heart in her eyes and said, “I’d want you, baby. Just you.”

To be the object of her desire was satisfying, but he knew there was a craving buried in her heart. One that she seemed intent on hiding no matter how often it surfaced. He doubted anyone else knew but he could read her face and her eyes. Determined, he pushed her. “I’m ready for a new role-playing scene with you. Something completely different.”

Heat flared in her blue eyes, along with excitement and need. “You are? Tell me.”

She shifted beneath him and he felt it when she went fluid and hot all around him. He smiled, knowing he had her. “Remember late Saturday night at last year’s ROT Rally?”

She bit her lip and nodded. “When we stayed overnight and partied with Dale and Natalie at their RV site?”

He grinned, almost able to hear the gears turning in her head. His dick tingled at the memory. “You and me, out by the pool, while our friends watched.” Most importantly, his cousins Val Teller and Ransome Cross had been there, too. Watching. Almost seeming to stand guard, as if that had been necessary.

She drew in a shaky breath and then looked up at him and giggled. In a wistful tone, she said, “Yeah. I remember…vividly.” She’d climaxed so hard they’d heard her ecstatic wailing on the other side of the rally and she’d needed a nap afterward. Her nipples hardened to tight peaks again and his cock slid easy in the hot, abundant juices her cunt was suddenly flooded with as she squirmed against him.

“Consider that experience a starting point.”

Her eyes widened. “A ‘starting point’? What do you mean?”

“Do you trust me to know what you need?”

“You know I do. You’ve never let me down before.”

“Good. Then be on alert.”

Biting her lips, she quivered and nodded. “Yes, baby. Yes.”

He withdrew his cock and rolled with her so that she was now on top of him, draped over his torso.

She lifted her head from his chest and looked into his eyes. “Grace invited me to go out tomorrow night to the Pony. She’s celebrating getting another book submitted and it’s a girls’ night. Do you mind?”

He shook his head. “No. How’s Grace?”

“Still sick a lot. She insists she’s fine but Jack, Ethan, and Adam are keeping an eye on her.”

“I’m sure she’s used to the overprotective husband treatment times three.”

“They make life a lot easier on her, especially with Rose Marie.”

“Val and Ransome will be back in town soon.”

“Oh yeah?” She lowered her eyelids and rested her cheek against his chest, gaining a smile from him as he stroked her hair.

“Mmm-hmm. Val said they finished their last job and were packing their place up.”

“So they’ll be in Divine full time?”

Justin smiled. “Uh-huh. No more leaving.”

She let out a soft sigh and said, “It’ll be nice to have them around. I’ve missed them.” Her longing tone was faint but unmistakable.

I know, baby. I know.
“I heard they were talking with Jack, Adam, and Ethan about being in a ménage the last time they were here?”

“They were?” She tried to sound nonchalant but with her draped over his body it was hard to miss the way her frame went tense. “I wonder why.”

Justin shrugged, almost feeling evil for leaving her to wonder. “Maybe they’re interested in the lifestyle, too. I wouldn’t blame them. Jack, Ethan, and Adam are obviously happy with Grace.”

She nodded and whispered, “Yeah. And Grace is pretty happy, too.” She cleared her throat and let out another deep sigh before she pressed a kiss to his chest. “I hope they find what they need. They deserve that kind of love if that’s what they want.”

As self-confident and strong as his woman was, she sure was having trouble asking for what she craved. Part of the blame was on him for being so territorial of her before they’d married. But a few important changes had occurred in their lives in the intervening years. The love she felt for him wasn’t in doubt. Being reminded of that hot night at the ROT Rally the year before had turned her on and he was willing to bet that the memory of Val and Ransome being there was a part of that. He wondered how she’d react when she found out that her cravings were closer to being realized than ever before.

Three orgasms that surely rated as seismic events. I should be in a sex-induced coma.

Justin’s heartbeat thumped in Charity’s ear as she rested her head on his lightly furred chest. After nearly twenty-two years of being married to him, she knew when his heart was in his words. If he said he wanted to make her ultimate fantasy a reality, she knew he meant it. How he’d react if she described that fantasy was an entirely different matter. That was the reason she couldn’t breathe a word about it. Revealing her hidden desire would ruin everything. It didn’t matter how much she wanted it. The love in his brown eyes, his sacrifices and hard work in the last two decades for their family, and the vows they’d said together that she took very seriously made that impossible. Justin didn’t share. He’d established that from the beginning.

She’d been friends with Justin, Val, and Ransome since meeting them at Morehead Middle School back when Divine had bussed their junior high students to the nearby town where Justin and his family had lived.

At first, she’d thought they were total punks, but they’d gradually grown on her until she’d counted them as close friends. Then puberty had set in. She’d tried to act like she didn’t notice the way their bodies changed until she’d finally confessed the truth to herself her freshman year of high school. She was in love with three guys. Cousins.
Totally hot
cousins. And she’d kept her mouth shut and hadn’t told a soul, not even Grace. She’d pined secretly for the three of them, a real chore, given how she normally took charge in every other aspect of her life.

She’d waited and waited and hoped…for what, she hadn’t been sure. Then one day she’d been assigned to do a reenactment of the balcony scene from Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet
with Justin during her senior year drama class. They’d had to practice every day for two weeks in the auditorium, while surrounded by all their other classmates involved in similar assignments. To his credit, Justin hadn’t done a dry, bored-sounding-while-being-secretly-embarrassed reading, either. They’d stumbled through it the first few times and then she’d caught him watching her during rehearsals, and later during other classes. They’d gotten an A on their performance and after that he’d sat next to her in all the classes they had together.

Things had progressed slowly until the spring. The summer heat had come early that year. They’d gone swimming in Divine Creek alone and he’d kissed her. Despite the years, she could still smell the scent of coconut tanning oil and recall the glare of the sun reflecting on the water. He’d wrapped his arms around her and told her he loved her and she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. His hands stroking her waist and back had sent wonderful shivers coursing throughout her body and he’d tugged the string of her bikini top playfully. It hadn’t been his intention but the top came loose and she’d waited breathlessly for his reaction. His hands had shaken a little as he’d reached out to touch her.

Her body had responded to his gentle caresses and one thing had led to another and they’d wound up entwined on her beach towel. He’d made love to her on the creek bank. It was the first time for both of them. He hadn’t fumbled clumsily, as she’d feared. It hadn’t been painless, either, but he’d taken his time, doing his best to make sure she was ready first. That fact alone had made her love him even more. He’d even been prepared with a condom tucked in his wallet, just in case, he’d claimed later. Hours had passed in what felt like minutes and both of their parents had been super pissed when they’d gotten home that evening. She’d lost the rest of her heart to him when he’d snuck out and drove to her house later that night to make sure she was feeling okay.

Once they’d gotten off restriction, they’d agreed to meet at the creek again, and had even invited Val and Ransome to come and hang out with them and do a little swimming since they hadn’t seen as much of them. But they’d wanted a little alone time first. The second the last bell of the school day had rung, she’d sprinted for the student parking lot and had her car running by the time Grace had joined her. After rushing home to do chores, she’d left Grace reading a book on her bed and had been out the door, anxious to cover the miles that would put her in Justin’s arms again.

That second time they’d made love, she could tell he’d done a little research and he’d lit her up like firecrackers on the Fourth of July. He’d been just as gentle and every bit as hot as she’d always imagined in her teenaged fantasies. Her heart raced with the memories, even so many years later.

They hadn’t heard Val and Ransome pull up in Val’s old beat-up truck, arriving a few minutes early. That final kiss, against a cypress tree along the edge of the fast-flowing creek was where the guys had found them. He’d slid his hands over her ass cheeks and his fingers had found their way inside her swimsuit bottom to stroke her still throbbing pussy until she’d heard the gasps come from behind her.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Ransome had blurted out and she’d turned, taken by surprise when she saw the pain in his dark eyes and the hard set of his jaw. Hurting him or Val had never been her intention and she’d been mortified because she hadn’t thought past getting back into Justin’s arms.

Justin hadn’t told his cousins what had happened between them, judging by the way Val had frowned at Justin and then had made eye contact with her, the hurt obvious in his eyes, too. “Charity? What’s going on?”

“Ransome, Val, I…um,” Charity had tried to explain but Justin had stopped her and had placed himself between her and them.

“We’re together now, guys. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I wasn’t sure how.”

Ransome had narrowed his gaze at Justin and taken a step forward with his hands balled into fists at his sides. “You knew how we both felt and you did this?”

Justin had looked down and frowned, his cheeks flushing a little, and then looked up at them. “I wanted her, too, guys.”

“What?” Charity asked, moving out from behind him. She gripped Justin’s hand and looked up them. “What’s going on, Justin? What do they mean?”

Justin turned his gaze on her. “Three guys want you, babe, including me.” Pain lanced her heart when she saw the vulnerability in his eyes. He was afraid she’d leave him after finding that out.

“Three? What—why? Nobody said anything to me. I didn’t…”

Ransome came forward, his dark brown eyes intense as he said, “We didn’t know how to tell you, baby. The three of us talked and
I thought
we were all three going to tell to you together.”

Val gritted his teeth and glowered at Justin. “I thought so, too. This explains why we haven’t seen you. Charity, we wanted you to hear it from the three of us. We didn’t even know if it would work out but I guess it’s too late, judging by what we saw when we walked up.” Nailing Justin with a hard glare, he asked, “Did you hurt her?”

Justin gritted his teeth and scowled in response and said, “Of course not. Not that it’s
your
business.”

Charity put her hands out to stop them from butting chests and said, “No! He didn’t hurt me! He would never hurt me! I still don’t understand.”

Her heart had broken a little as her girlish fantasy was put to death. These three guys could never share. Ménages didn’t happen in real life, only in porn videos and books, but never in real life.

Val had turned as if to stalk back to his truck but caught Justin off guard and swung his fist, nailing Justin right in the mouth. Then he shouted at Justin, “You didn’t even tell her! You didn’t give her the choice. You just took what you wanted.”

Justin had thrown a punch back. One thing had led to another and by the time the dust settled they were all three bloodied and bruised and Justin had made it clear forever that he didn’t share and never would.

Val and Ransome had left, too angry and too hurt to say anything else to her. Justin had apologized to her and explained that the three of them had been attracted to her for a while. Even though they’d had no idea what the outcome would be they’d agreed to approach her together but when the opportunity had come, he’d taken his chance to be with her. He’d said he’d understand if she thought what he’d done was wrong but he wouldn’t say he was sorry. He didn’t regret what had happened between them and never would.

Later, as the shock wore off, she’d knelt beside him on the bank of the creek, applying a wet compress to his split lip. They’d watched the cool water flow past them and she told him that she loved him, no matter what. She’d never told him that she’d also loved Val and Ransome. She hadn’t wanted a repeat of their horrible fist fight.

Vulnerability had shown in his eyes as he’d asked, “What if it was Val or Ransome who you’d been assigned to do that drama scene with? Would it be one of them out here with you right now?” She’d understood then that it was just as hard for him to let down his impervious front as it was for her. He was afraid he’d lost her.