“Then how about I marry Jacob officially and legally, but we know that the three of us will be married as far as we are concerned.” I reached up to cup Jacob’s cheek in my hand.
“Why me?” Jacob asked, his heart in his eyes. “You could marry Kyle legally and I would still be here.”
“I assume you two came to this same decision too, right?” At their nods I continued on, “Kyle is close to his family and they love you, Jacob, and by some miracle they are fine with me too. They will never try to separate you from Kyle if something should happen to him. Yours would, Jacob.
“But if I am your wife they can’t touch you. I will always be there. And I can give you a family. My dad likes you now. Diane loves you. I can give you two brothers that want to ride horses. And you are forgetting the most important reason of all, Jacob.” I pulled him down and whispered against his lips, “I
love
you and I
want
to be your wife!”
Kyle came up to us. “In a perfect world we could do it our way out in the open all nice and legal, Jacob, but we can’t. So we are going to do what we can legally and be sneaky about the rest and dare anybody that wants to look down their noses at us while we say ‘Fuck you’.”
Jacob smiled at me. “I can’t wait to call you wife.” Then he shifted to Kyle. “I have always called you husband in my heart, Ky.”
“Same here, babe. I swear.” Kyle grinned at him.
So there I stood wrapped in the arms of the two men I loved. One I would soon be legally married to, the other I would be married just as much to, if only in my heart. Two men that had already been married in their hearts to each other for years no matter what the law or society said. Somehow, they had made room for me in their hearts and lives to give me a second chance at love. They had sworn to take care of me and they would protect me for the rest our lives. They were so sweet. But I knew what it was like to lose love, so I knew exactly what I would do to anyone who threatened us.
Besides, I’m a damn better shot then they are any day of the week.
Also available from Totally Bound Publishing:
Here for You
T.K. Paige
Excerpt
Chapter One
“James, quick it’s the Tardis! You better run for it!”
I turned and looked at Tosh, my best friend since college, like she had lost her freaking mind. Because apparently she had.
I raised one eyebrow at her, a skill I had and she didn’t—and didn’t she just hate that.
“Don’t look at me like that! The way your eyes were glued to the new guy’s ass I figured that Doctor Who was the only thing that might get your attention. ‘Cause I am not mopping this floor again if you drool all over it!”
I winced. “Saw that, did you?”
“I’m not the only one.” Tosh smirked at me.
I closed my eyes. I really didn’t want to know. “Who else?”
“Jake, Kent”—she paused for dramatic effect—“and Sam.”
I looked at her horrified. “Sam saw! I’m invisible to him, he never sees what I do unless I’m in fire gear at a scene. I could dance naked for his attention and he still wouldn’t see me.”
“He’s afraid that you
are
going to dance naked for his attention and that’s why you’re invisible to him. As if,” she said, her pixie face twisted in disgust. “Even you have better taste in men. Unless you’re even more hard up than I thought.”
I looked at her deadly serious. “If I ever get that desperate, you must kill me. It’s in the Best Friend Ever Handbook. I believe it’s listed right before the rule ‘Never let me dress myself while drunk and horny’. I still can’t believe you let me wear that.”
“Oh give it a rest, James. It was once, and it was over eight fucking years ago!”
“Yes, but it’s the reason we wrote the freaking handbook so it must be mentioned occasionally so we never forget the horror of that night.”
“Point taken.” She grimaced with the memory.
I waited a few minutes, concentrating on organizing my volunteer fire gear in my locker after checking everything over. Checking very carefully. I really hate pain. And burns are the worst. Then I gave in and asked, “I was drooling that badly?”
“If Kent had looked at me like that, I would be pregnant again.”
“I thought you were on birth control pills?” I cocked my eyebrow at her again, just because I could.
She smirked at me. “Yes, and it wouldn’t have made a bit a difference. In fact, your eye fucking was so intense he could be preggers now. You might want to go over and introduce yourself to your baby daddy.”
I rolled my eyes at her.
“Seriously, James, you need to go over and have Kent introduce you two while Sam is cleaning the brush truck. You might be able to make a good impression on him before Sam warns him about your nefarious plot to convert all the good Christian boys to gayness.”
“As if I want Sam’s nasty ass. If I could convert anybody, it would be your brother Kyle. He’s a fellow nerd and he’s pretty hot.” I laughed at her.
She brightened up. “Really? His last break up was so bad he might go for it. Remember when he tried to cheer you up by saying if he went that way he would be all over you?”
“I think that was more of a threat to your mother because she was trying to fix him up again,” I said dryly.
“Yes, and he about choked to death when Mom said that was fine with her, but she thought you were too good for him.”
“God, I love your mother!” And I did. I loved that whole family.
“And you are stalling. Pull up your panties, you cross-dressing freak, and go over there.”
“It was one Halloween, woman, give it a fucking rest!”
“And if you get your ass over there in the next minute, I will swear never to say one word about it to the new guy!”
I wasn’t stupid, it took me less than five seconds to get over to the pump truck.
The guy was talking with Kent about the types of calls our little rural fire department got and about how often it happened. I stood a little ways off from them, politely waiting for Kent to introduce us when they finished up. And if I took the opportunity to covertly look the guy over, who would know?
He was about six feet tall, which made him an inch or two taller than me. He was also a bit broader than me, and it was definitely a bigger bone frame that gave him the size. His white T-shirt was a little tight and wet, clinging to him in such a way it proved beyond a doubt the guy was fit. He wasn’t in any way close to being a freak of nature, or body-builder type of muscle bound. But he was definitely built. I was so glad that today was truck washing day.
His face was turned partially away from me so I couldn’t see his eye color or the exact shape of his face without tipping everyone off to what I was doing. So I just took in the dark brown hair with a little bit of a red tint to it. Cut a little long and shaggy, it looked casual and I liked it. It was a nice length. Just long enough to hold on to while you…
Better stop that train of thought before certain parts of me prove that they still function in spite of the ‘dating drought’
. If I wasn’t careful, I’d end up giving Tosh more ammo for later.
Too late
. My phone gave the message tone assigned to only her texts. I mentally kicked myself for picking that particular one when I was ticked at her the other night.
Kent turned and asked, “Is that a braying donkey?”
I sighed. “Yes.”
“Let me guess. That’s Tosh texting you.” He didn’t say it as a question, just assumed it was his wife.
I nodded.
“You didn’t use the crazy bitch one?”
I sighed and explained for the new guy’s benefit. “I was annoyed, not pissed off this time.”
It looked like it took some effort, but Kent managed to choke down his laughter and turned back to the newbie. Poor guy was looking a little confused at the thought of a volunteer having those ringtones set for the fire chief’s wife.
Kent took pity on him and explained, “This is James Hara. He is my wife’s best friend. Has been since they went to college together. James, this is Mason Sullivan. He just moved to the area and wants to help out.”
While I traded hellos with him, I finally had the chance to look him fully in the face. I just about swallowed my tongue.
He was beautiful. It was the only way I could describe him. Don’t get me wrong. He didn’t look beautiful like a woman does in any way at all. He had a completely masculine face, strong and a bit square. A nicely proportioned nose, a wide mouth with what I consider perfect lips. Not thin, not full, just enough plumpness to catch in my teeth… Umm, okay moving on from that thought.
But my favorite part was his eyes. They were a little large with a hint of an almond shape to them. Now I love the eye color described as laser blue and until this moment, I would have sworn that was my favorite eye color of all time. Not. Any. More.
My favorite color was now what I could only describe as tropical blue. Usually it’s a little more blue than green or more green than blue. Nope, not his eyes. It was a perfect merger of the two in a color so strong and bright I think lead would be needed to keep anything from his view.
With my curly, sandy colored hair and my brown eyes, I had always considered myself decent looking—my nose wasn’t huge in my oval face and no elephant ears, thank God. Unfortunately, it all came together in a boy next door way, not in the gorgeous ‘I have to have you now’ way. But one look at him and I knew the truth. I was a troll. At least the pressure was off because even if had met him in a certain club, I would have known better than to try for him.
Mason gave my hand a nice, firm shake. I breathed a little sigh of relief when my hand let go of his right when I told it to. I had been kind of afraid it would refuse to let go in case it never got another chance at this guy.
“So, Mason, what brings you to Deacon, Oklahoma? Otherwise known as ‘Don’t blink or you’ll walk right through it’?”
“I got tired of where I was from, so I moved.”
“Where was that?” I asked to be polite, since I had a sneaking suspicion from his drawl.
“Fort Worth, Texas.”
“Well, I was going to ask why you would move to an area that is still widely believed to have outhouses for bathrooms, but Texas, huh.” We were required to insult the state ‘that shall not be named’ at every opportunity. And if it was college football season, well, SWAT teams were usually involved. Of course since the SWAT teams were from the same states, that sometimes just made it worse. “I can’t believe it, but you are actually moving up in the world. I suggest that you keep that to yourself. Especially on game day.”
“Just couldn’t resist it, could you?” He laughed at me and when he smiled, I swear to God my heart stopped.
Dimples!
Son. Of. A. Bitch!
This was completely unfair. He was like my idea of the perfect man so far. If he was straight, I was going to go home and cry. If he was gay, well, the surge of lust would probably kill me. Maybe I could live long enough to jump him once.
“Since I was born and raised here, nope, I couldn’t. My grandfather’s ghost would show up armed. Not risking that.” I grinned back at him.
“I happen to agree with you, and that’s why I moved.”
“Okay, I guess we can drop the state feud now.”
“What do you do, James?”
And that’s when Kent jumped back into the conversation. I had completely forgotten he was there and from the smirk on his face, he knew it.
“Ah, James is Deacon’s own version of Donald Trump.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I haven’t declared bankruptcy once. And I don’t have a weird alien life form living on my head, either.”
“Okay, I’ll give you those points.” He looked at Mason. “James here is a local business owner and real estate magnate.”
Mason looked over at me, appearing to be a little surprised. I guess since I was standing there in my rattiest clothes, covered in an inch of dirt and grime, I didn’t appear quite like a successful businessman. Yep, Mason was in the same condition I was in and he looked like some kind of god on a billboard. I, on the other hand, resembled a dirty, stinky pile of road kill.
“I run my dad’s corner gas station and have a couple rental properties. That’s hardly what you’re making it out to be.”
“You make it sound like you work for your dad still. He retired with your mom five years ago and you’ve been the boss ever since. You own fifteen rental houses and the apartment complex here. Face it, James, you are a grown-up now.”
I managed to stop myself from preening. I wanted to make a good impression in case I hit the lottery and Mason was gay, not come off like a conceited asshole.
“Why, Kent, you’re going to make me blush.” I caught Tosh out of the corner of my eye. “Kent, I believe your bossier half is after your attention.”
He glanced over at his wife. “I guess I’d better go see what she needs. Can you fill Mason in on the meeting schedule and get his phone entered into the notification system?”
“Sure.” I played along. Kent knew as well as I did that Tosh just wanted me to have alone time with Mason.