Sexual Healing for Three (29 page)

“You guys are bloodthirsty,” she said.

“That’s the pot calling the kettle black.”

“Maybe a little.”

Russ laughed. “You wouldn’t have appreciated it if we pulled our shots and let you win, would you?”

“Bite your tongue.” Donna dug down in the ice before emerging with two Coronas. She handed one longneck to Russ, then twisted the cap off of her own and took a deep swallow.

She found a spot near Angela’s prized lighted fountain, sitting on the edge and admiring the way the waning spring sun reflected off of the surface of the water.

Wordlessly, Russ joined her, leaving barely an inch between them as he took a seat beside her.

They sat for a long moment in silence, not as uncomfortable as Donna expected to be with all that was between them.

She watched Chance corralling the kids for a game of Monkey in the Middle. “He’s good with them,” she said.

“I know. He’s just the right combination of firm and playful.”

Sounded like he was describing himself, Donna thought, tingling inside at the idea of being on the other end of his games, role-playing with him and Chance. She tried to change the subject to something more innocuous than their ménage.

“Kim and Wes are two sweet kids.”

“Most of the time.”

Donna chuckled at his grudging agreement.

“They think you’re pretty cool too.”

“Did they tell you that?”

Russ nodded. “Wes said you’ve got a sweet serve and a mean setup. Kim wants to be like you when she grows up.”

Donna felt her face flush with heat. “Wow, I’ve never had glowing endorsements like that before.”

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“That’s just the beginning.” Russ leaned into her, circling the shell of her ear with his tongue and making her shudder. If he didn’t catch her around the waist when he did, she probably would have plummeted right into the water. “I’m glad you decided to come, Donna.”

“Me too.”

“You’re not out of the doghouse yet, though.”

She pulled back to stare at him. “Doghouse?”

“For coming so late and worrying everyone. That wasn’t a nice thing to do.”

“Worrying everyone?”

“We’re all a little on edge after what happened a couple of weeks ago.”

She hadn’t thought about that. But if they were worried about a measly, anonymous rock-throwing incident, they would be totally freaked out if they knew about this latest episode and how Naomi’s husband, Morgan, had left a little message with his kids for Donna right after he shot Naomi to death in front of them.

“You tell that Safe Haven Vega bitch I’m coming for her next.”

Naomi’s sister had bitterly delivered that piece of information when Donna had called, but it was nothing that she would dare repeat to her own family. They would all want to hire an armed contingent to escort her everywhere. And it was bad enough that an unmarked police car had tailed her all the way to Angela’s house “as a precaution.”

Russ leaned even closer, his mouth on her ear when he murmured,

“So what sort of punishment do you think your flagrant disregard warrants?”

Donna’s heart sped with anticipation, her mouth watering with the idea of being on the other end of Russ’s handling. “Punishment?”

“Discipline is necessary to curb misbehavior.”

Is this what Slany was talking about when she mentioned a scene?

Was this what role-playing was all about? Would she be showing her
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greenness if she asked, or should she just go with her instincts and continue to play along and
negotiate
? “What about Chance?”

“What about him?”

“Will he be there too? When you punish me?”

“He’s going to help me.”

He still hadn’t taken his mouth away from her ear, and Donna didn’t know whether it was his closeness, his words, or the deep timbre of is voice that sent a thrill of electricity shimmering through her limbs until they felt aflame.

She should have been terrified by the prospect of being at the mercy of two men, but she wasn’t, at least not yet. She was horny and soaking wet. But she wasn’t afraid. And maybe this was because she wouldn’t be totally alone with Russ, the idea of Chance being there too simultaneously comforting and disturbing.

Russ slid his free hand up from her waist to just under a breast and had Donna squirming in her seat as she gazed around the backyard to see if anyone was watching them. He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, licking and nibbling before releasing it.

Donna took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of his woodsy aftershave and his underlying, tangy musk, slivers of white fire shooting from her chest straight to her center when he fluttered his fingers over her breast.

“You’re wet, aren’t you?” he murmured.

Dazed, she nodded, wondering if he would try to check, out here with the kids—his kids and her nieces and nephews—running back and forth all over the backyard.

“No one’s looking.”

He was a mind reader, like his brother, had to be. How else did he know her so well, know what she was thinking almost before she thought it? Or was she just that plain obvious, that obviously nervous?

Russ leaned in again to nip her throat, never moving his hand from the underside of her breast, just softly caressing and igniting the 230

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sensitive nerve endings until her nipples rose, taut against her bra, making it look like she was cold or not wearing a bra at all.

She felt so vulnerable and exposed, yet strangely secure in his embrace, like she knew he would never let anything happen to her.

Even when he was punishing her, she knew he would do it with precision and care.

Was she being a total idiot for thinking about trusting this man with her body, more than she had already, trusting him with her admittedly fragile psyche? The prospect of opening up to anyone, especially a man, was scary.

She had been in hiding after her divorce, an emotional exile, licking her wounds the last few years, building a shell around and convincing herself that she didn’t need anyone, particularly not a man.

But this man proved otherwise. She needed him in ways she hadn’t realized she could need a man, needed him in ways she was desperate and hungry to explore.

She would not love him. She would enjoy the sex for what it was, enjoy the experience and the instruction, but she
would not
fall in love. That was the ultimate weakness, and she was not weak, could not afford to be. She had too many people depending on her to keep a clear and focused head.

Today just proved what could happen when a woman let her guard down, how much damage a man could do to a woman who trusted him not to hurt her. Well,
this
woman wasn’t letting her guard down to trust any man.

“There’s more where this came from.”

Donna gasped when he slid his hand between her legs, taking advantage of the waning light and everyone’s distraction. But the distraction wouldn’t last forever, not with her family. Someone would come looking for them soon to drag them into some competition. Her family was notorious for wringing an event for everything it was worth. And that was okay with her, because right now, she needed the
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distraction, too near exploding beneath the weight of an approaching climax to be of any use to anyone.

She put her longneck down on the fountain edge before she could drop it, and Russ did the same as if he were preparing for something that would necessitate two hands.

Donna trembled at the idea. Damn, the man was barely touching her, and she was about to come. Outside! At a family barbecue!

“Not yet, baby.” Russ pressed his lips against her ear and gave her slit one parting, caressing swipe that had her squeezing her thighs together in a delayed defensive reaction.

“Later, when I have you all trussed up and ready for your punishment.”

Every time he said that word, it made her hot and tremble with expectation.

It was confirmed. She was an official weirdo despite her discussion with Slany. What person, what grown woman,
wanted
to be punished by her lover?

On the heels of this thought, Chance strolled over. Hands in his jeans pockets, he took a seat on the opposite side of Donna, familiarly sandwiching her between him and his brother.

He slid a hand out of his pocket to rest on her thigh and squeeze, silently conveying his strength and assurance with the small gesture, where before him Russ had been busy tearing apart her sanity and composure with his sexual innuendos and promises.

Balanced between the light and dark sides of her desire, she leaned against Chance, threading her fingers through his, and boldly put her other hand on Russ, delicately stroking the hard ridge of his cock. Her pussy throbbed at the breath that hissed through his teeth when he peered at her with those heated gray eyes.

“That’s going to add to the severity and duration of your punishment.”

A quiver of eagerness scudded through her vitals at his dangerous tone, but Donna didn’t back down, increasing the pressure against his 232

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shaft and panting when he surreptitiously moved his hips to rub himself against her palm.

She was comfortable, way too comfortable, with these two men she felt like she had known forever, so comfortable she just barely removed her hand from Russ’s crotch and sat up from leaning on Chance several seconds before a pretty blonde made her way over with Russ’s daughter and son.

The woman looked like an older version of Kim, her blue eyes lighting the evening as they landed on the three of them seated on the fountain.

“The kids said I’d find you guys out here.” She paused before them and looked at the fountain with admiration. “It’s as beautiful as everyone described it. I can see your handiwork in every stone and line.”

“You always were good for my ego,” Russ said as he took Donna’s hand and stood.

Donna stood beside him and noticed that Chance hung back, but didn’t break contact with her, his hand secretly resting against the small of her back, one finger teasing her spine in small circular motions.

“You must be Donna.” The blonde stuck out her hand. “I’m Suzie, the kids’ mom.”

Donna put her hand in Suzie’s, self-conscious at her moist palm even though it wasn’t the one that had recently cupped Russ. “It’s so nice to meet you, Suzie.”

“Likewise.” Suzie put an arm around each child and hugged them close. “They’ve been singing your praises, especially this one. She says her dad finally hit the jackpot.”

Donna just smiled, speechless as she watched Kim blush. She wondered what the ex-Mrs. Merrick would have to say if she knew the kids’ dad was sharing his new
girlfriend
with the kids’ uncle Chance.

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Sure, Angela and the rest of her sibs didn’t seem to have a problem with the idea of one of their sibs involved in a ménage, but what about the rest of the world at large? What about the rest of her family—her parents and nieces and nephews? What kind of example was she setting for the young ones? It couldn’t be as bad nor damaging an example as Russ’s mother and stepfather had set for him and Chance, or the example Morgan had set for his and Naomi’s kids, could it?

She’d never worried about what other people thought of her before, but suddenly it mattered to her what this woman and her children thought of her.

“Well, I just wanted to introduce myself and see the new lady in Russ’s life before I took the kids home,” Suzie said.

“Ah, Mom, do we have to go now?” Wes and Kim chorused, and Donna laughed. She hadn’t missed how well Kim got along with Emilia’s tweener son, Anthony, or that Wes seemed particularly smitten with Angela’s next-to-last, Danni.

“You guys have to go to school bright and early tomorrow, and you’ve got a long drive back to the city. So quit giving your mother a hard time.”

“Thanks, Russ. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Donna leaned in to give each kid a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you two again on the Fourth, if not sooner, right?”

“Right!” Wes and Kim said.

Donna smiled at their synchronicity, thought that despite their three-year difference in age, and their sex, they seemed like identical twins, finishing each other’s sentences when they weren’t blurting out the same thing at the same time.

She watched as Russ stepped forward, ruffled his son’s hair, and gave his daughter a big hug and kiss. “Go out to the car, and wait for your mom.”

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Wes gave Chance a fist bump, and Kim gave him a tight hug before they darted toward the back of the house to say their good-byes to everyone on their way out to the driveway.

Suzie gave Chance a hug of her own. “It’s nice to finally meet you in the flesh. I feel like I know you already, Russ talks about you so much.”

Chance arched a brow, and Russ shrugged, grinning as he leaned in to give Donna a more-than-chaste kiss on the lips before sliding an arm around Suzie’s shoulders. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to walk them out.”

Donna watched them leave, feeling bereft and confused until she looked at Chance standing just beside her and noticed his solemn expression.

She slid her hand into his, and he squeezed it as if to transmit his strength, reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

It dawned on her that he hadn’t brought up the shooting, and she wondered if he was blocking her thoughts or just being polite in not bringing up what had happened to Naomi.

She turned to face him, but his eyes were guarded, didn’t give her any indication what he was thinking or feeling.

It was a neat trick. She wished she could pull it off, but most of the time with him and Russ, she felt like a big-faced clock with her thoughts and feelings written all over her expression.

“Have you and Russ hammered out what happens next?” Chance asked.

“I should be asking
you
that.”

“We’ve decided that whatever happens between us all now is totally up to you. It’s your choice. You’re the one in control.”