Brown Siblings - 01 Laid Bare (31 page)

“I fucking hate that she’s scared. God, I wish I could rip this fucker apart with my bare hands.” The way she sometimes winced at loud noises or jumped when someone surprised her broke his heart.

“Get in line. Ben, we’d like it if you’d consider moving in. She’s buying the condo next door to hers and remodeling. Apparently it’s huge. You can have your own space, but we talked about taking the master in the other place and knocking out a wall between it and the adjoining bedroom to make one giant bedroom. For all three of us.” Todd got up when room service brought coffee. Erin emerged from the bathroom, looking ridiculously pretty in a little dress and with her hair pulled back. She wore just a tiny bit of makeup and, as always, Ben was aware of how naturally beautiful she was.

She fell on the coffee, giving Todd a kiss and settling on the couch next to Ben.

“I heard you two as I was getting dressed. We don’t want to pressure you, Ben. But we want you to know we want you with us. We’re going to have an office space for you guys and you can have your own rooms too. I expect we’ll all need that from time to time. Everyone needs space that’s just theirs alone.”

Ben took her hand. “I love you, Erin.”

She blinked back tears and smiled. “What a lovely present. I love you too. I know this is odd and people won’t understand. I’m not sure I do, but I love you.
We
love you. Whatever you decide, you have a key card, so I want you to come and go as you please. I don’t want to pressure you or rush you or whatever. “

“Gorgeous, this last year has been a lot about unexpected happenings. I figured eventually I’d find the woman for me and I’d marry. But the woman for me is married to someone else.

Luckily, I love him too and he’s willing to share. If you two are okay with it, I’d love to move in.

More than love it.” He shrugged, speechless at how fabulous he felt.

She bounced happily and he laughed. “Yay! I have a meeting with the contractor next week so you can come and we can talk about what we’d like to do.”

“I should have known you’d already put this into the works.” Todd smirked.

“I didn’t know you’d be asking me to marry you and carting me off to Vegas! But I hoped we’d be able to live together and didn’t want to pass up the opportunity when the people next door moved out and sold. I’m forward-thinking.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and Ben hugged her, kissing her neck until she laughed and relaxed.

She swung around, straddling him. “I’m not wearing any underwear. Don’t you think you should do something about that?”

In moments he had his pants undone and his cock out.

She leaned in and spoke in his ear, her breath sending shivers down his neck. “I want you in me naked. It’s time. We’ve been careful and tested. Give it to me.” Across from them, he heard Todd groan and get up to walk behind the small couch he and Erin were on.

Ben swallowed hard and, without much finesse, thrust up, into her, and nearly died at how she felt. She made a needful sound, low and deep, and squirmed on him as he banded her waist with his arm and held her so he could control the pace.

“Open up.” Todd spoke from where he stood behind Ben and soon the wet sounds of Erin’s lips wrapped around Todd’s cock began to echo against them. Her fingers dug into his shoulders to hold on and keep her balance.

Ben licked up the side of her neck and loved the soft sound she made in response. She rocked against him, grinding her clit against his pubic bone.

“That’s the way, gorgeous. So wet and hot, you feel better than I could have imagined. And you have to know I’ve imagined a lot.”

She laughed, Todd’s cock still in her mouth. Ben leaned his head back in order to watch the way her mouth worked Todd. Fuck, that was hot. Her eyes were open, locked with Todd’s. One of Todd’s hands cupped her cheek gently, reverently.

Yes, it was complicated. No, Ben had no idea how he’d even begin to describe what they had to anyone other than Cope and maybe a very few others. He didn’t know what they’d do about kids when they came along. But he knew he cherished this with everything he was. He’d protect it with his life, and he’d love Erin until he drew his last breath. What they had was special and wonderful. He knew how lucky he was.

One of Todd’s hands landed on Ben’s shoulder and squeezed as Todd groaned. Ben watched as Erin closed her eyes a long moment before opening up again and turning to Ben.

“Your turn.” Erin waggled her brows at Ben.

Todd laughed and kissed the top of Erin’s head and then Ben’s before moving back to watch the two of them with a lazy smile.

“Should I play with your clit, gorgeous?” Ben whispered into her ear and she nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder.

The cool, slick surface of the barbell met his fingers as he began playing his fingers against her.

The corresponding tightening of her cunt around him told him she was as close as he was.

“I can feel so much more this way,” he managed to get out in a strangled whisper.

“Me too,” she said, nuzzling into his neck and kissing him. He pressed a bit harder and her teeth grasped the meat of his shoulder as she came all around him.

It was too much, her body hugging him like liquid fire. He pushed into her one last time and came for what felt like fifteen minutes.

She kissed his mouth, tasting of herself and of Todd too. He tasted her, taking what she gave like the gift she was.

“Okay, now we have to go eat with everyone. First dibs on the bathroom,” she called as she pulled up and off his cock and ran into the bathroom.

Ben crowded in with her, liking to watch as she touched up her lip gloss and finger-combed her hair again. She was a bundle of contradictions, incredibly feminine but with an edge. Ink on her back, rings in her nipples, funky hair and rock and roll written all over her. Somehow, on her, all those edges and contradictions combined to make the kind of person who drew your attention when she walked into a room.

That she loved him seemed a miracle.

“I know how you feel,” Todd said as they let her out into the hallway first. “Every day, at least five times a day I have the same thought.”

“Am I that obvious?”

Todd shrugged. “With us, yes. But I haven’t seen you slip in public. It may happen one day, but whatever. We’re adults and we can make our own choices. If and when it comes, we deal with it.”

“You boys want to stop whispering and get over here? The elevator is here.”

“As my lady commands,” Todd said and they went to her.

29

“How’s the construction going?” Ella asked when Erin arrived to work.

“The contractors are awesome. Turns out they’re related to Ben and Cope, so the project is ahead of schedule right now. They should be done with the basic stuff by Thanksgiving. They’ve already torn out the wall between the condos and have finished the arching and all that jazz. Now they’re working on the office space for Todd’s and Ben’s apartments. They’ll start on our master bedroom when they’re done with that. It’s all very noisy and dusty, but I can’t wait to see the finished project.”

She began to stir the soup for lunch. A new recipe she’d gotten from Todd’s mom. Pumpkin.

“Who knew pumpkin soup would taste so good?” Ella murmured as she took a spoonful and sighed.

“Lorie Keenan is no slouch in the kitchen, let me tell you. We went over for dinner a few weeks back and she made fresh pasta. Butternut squash ravioli! My parents died when I was twelve, but I remember enough to know my mom never made butternut squash ravioli.” Erin turned and checked on the sandwiches. She had two different kinds of panini, veggie and black forest ham. Panini were a bit time-intensive due to the toasting, but worth it.

“I’ve decided to take the promotion and I was wondering if you’d be willing to go with me to all the trial stuff,” Ella said in one long stream of words.

Erin started to answer, but customers came in and the lunch rush began in earnest. And thank god, because she wasn’t sure what to say. Of course she wanted to support her friend through the process. It was a horrible process for the victim, because she wouldn’t be able to be in the courtroom until after she testified, so all this stuff would be happening and it was about Ella’s life, but she couldn’t be there.

At the same time, Erin’s hands shook at the thought of going through a trial again.

Administrative buildings in general gave her a stomachache for days.

But in the end, Ella needed her; she’d reached out, and there wasn’t any way Erin could say no.

Once the initial rush passed, she leaned back and Ella exhaled. “Wow, I can’t believe you did that alone every day.”

Erin laughed. “I don’t normally do panini, and today is particularly busy for some reason, but yeah, I’m so grateful you’re going to take this promotion. I think Dave will appreciate more hours too, since he’s only working part-time. He and I spoke last week about it and he said he could easily take on another fifteen or so. And that means actual days off for me.” Ella nodded with a grin. “I expect Todd would like that.”

“Yes. He wants to go on trips and stuff and now it’s possible. Can you stay after we close today?

Then you and I can talk about some of the ideas I’ve got for staffing and the future?”

“Definitely.”

“And of course I’ll go through the trial stuff with you.” Erin hoped she sounded more sure than she felt.

Ella hugged her. “Thank you. Really. I know it’s hard for you. My mom will be there and of course my advocate, but I feel totally lost in so many ways. You’re so strong and so calm. I need that.”

Todd walked in and looked at Erin, of course knowing something was up. He had that way about him.

“Hello there, beautiful wife. Take pity and feed me?” She rolled her eyes. “Go sit. I take it Cope will be joining you too?” she asked as she turned and put a panini in the press and began to ladle some soup into a bowl.

“Of course. You know he likes to come in here and flirt enough to make me annoyed.” Ella laughed as she got coffee for some customers.

Cope came in as she was putting the food down. Once she did, he swept her up and kissed her smack-dab on the lips. Erin couldn’t help but grin at him. He did it purely to poke at Todd, like any other little-brother type would.

“Your mother must have a hell of a lot of gray hair from you boys,” she said as she walked away.

“But I’m so cute!”

“He is,” Ella said in an undertone. “Sort of scary with that face he gets sometimes. Ben too. But they’re all so nice to look at.”

“You should see the rest of them. Todd’s brothers and all the assorted fathers, cousins and other cop types who show up at barbecues and stuff. It’s like porn for women.”

“I have noticed more cops in here on a regular basis. I like it.” Ella took a deep breath and Erin understood her. At least Erin’s attacker was in prison. Ella’s was out on bail, which had to be terrifying.

“They take my being Todd’s wife and Dean’s daughter-in-law very seriously. It’s amusing to look out there and see all our funky people mixing it up with the cops.”

“It’s a hotness buffet in there at least three days a week,” Ella agreed.

Closing time came and Erin locked up but didn’t shoo Todd and Cope out. She and Ella cleaned up and then went to a table of their own to spread out a calendar and some new menu ideas Erin had.

She wanted to keep the hours they had; that much made sense. She might make more money with dinner, but really, she didn’t want the hassle and she sure didn’t want to work more. She liked the income from the cafe. It wasn’t a lot, but was enough to keep everyone’s salary paid and to pay for more hours from her employees so she could take time off.

But she wanted to be there less and she wanted weekends off so she could be with Todd and Ben.

That meant not only hiring Ella on full-time, which she’d just done, but bringing Dave on for more hours so Ella could have days off too.

They planned and agreed on hiring a third part-timer to supplement the hours. Ella was smart and organized and had a good business mind, and she wanted to make something of her life. Erin sure couldn’t argue with that goal.

When they finished, Todd was still there but Cope had left. They walked Ella to her car and then Todd turned to Erin, kissing her.

“Tell me.”

“She asked if I’d go through the trial stuff with her. I’m okay, just a bit shaken.”

“I’ll come too. Or Ben. One of us will be there with you both. I don’t like this asshole being out on bail.”

“You don’t have to come, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t appreciate it. As for that asshole being out, me neither. Anyway, I’m going every day until she testifies and then she’ll be able to attend as well. It shouldn’t be a really long trial. They’re not charging him with attempted murder. That fucker. First-degree assault along with unlawful imprisonment because he wouldn’t let her leave when she tried. And there’s this other thing, interfering with reporting of domestic violence, because he yanked her phone from her hand and stomped on it. Then there’s violating the protection order and other random stuff. It seems to me that the prosecutor is gunning for the asshole. Which is nice. King County has good laws. Some other places, not so much.”

“Even if he’s convicted, I don’t know how much time he’ll serve, Erin. It might not be a lot. I want you to be prepared for that.” Todd’s brow furrowed.

“I know. She’s got an advocate from a local domestic violence advocacy organization who’s been working with her for months now, since before the attack. The woman has been really good about walking Ella through the process.”

“I’m driving you home.” Todd got his stubborn face on and she put her hand on his arm.