Grace and Charity craned their necks, and Charity saw who Lydia was referring to. Presley Ann Woodworth was all wrapped up in the gaze of an extraordinarily sexy but unfamiliar cowboy who was dressed in black. “No, we weren’t talking about Presley Ann, Lydia, but thank you for being willing to protect Justin’s virtue,” Charity said with a snort. “And hey,
private
conversation here. Lower your voices, please. There’s really nothing to talk about.”
Lydia curled her lip and pointed at the couple, who had risen from their seats and were making their way toward the door. “Look at her. I’ll give her this much, she can spot a man with money. Someone should warn that rich cowboy that’s all she wants him for. He probably owns that big, fancy black rig out in the parking lot.”
Rachel patted Lydia’s shoulder and said, “Down, girl. He looks like he can defend himself. She was making him laugh earlier. Maybe he really likes her.”
Lydia growled, “Only if he doesn’t really know her. Sorry. I know I’m being bitchy, but you would, too, if she’d been eyeing your man and his twin brother, not really caring which one she landed. She makes me mad just looking at her in those designer heels and clothes that she doesn’t have to work to pay for.”
“One of these days she’d going to have a wakeup call,” Grace said. “I think inside she’s just a little girl who’s afraid to grow up.”
Lydia scoffed. “Well, I’d like to personally kick her inner child’s ass.”
Rachel and the girls chuckled and then she leveled her dark blue eyes on Charity and raised a brow. “Back to what we were talking about. Come on, Charity. You’re telling me that you wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to be surrounded by all that intensely sexual, long-haired masculinity? Their strong, rough hands stroking you until you can’t breathe anymore? You don’t want all three of their mouths all over you, licking, kissing, and sucking. You don’t want to know what it feels like to be wrapped up in them and touched everywhere all at once?”
Jayne said, “Way to go, writer-girl. Get us all hot and worked up and then send us home horny to our husbands.” She made a disgruntled sound as she looked into her margarita glass and realized it was empty.
The girls all giggled but Rachel still waited expectantly for an answer.
Charity took a deep breath, knowing she was on the precipice of voicing something that couldn’t be. “It doesn’t matter what I want. There are fundamental truths about our men that we don’t ask them to change.”
After sipping from her drink, Rachel said, “Explain.”
Charity leveled her gaze on her friend. “Would Eli share you?”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “Never.”
Charity gave a succinct nod. “Justin doesn’t share and I wouldn’t ever force him to. He’s been too good to me over the years to place him in a position where he’d feel obligated.”
“Obligated? Odd word choice.”
Charity looked at her friends. She knew they could be trusted. “Justin offered to fulfill my ultimate fantasy. If I tell him, he’d feel obligated to give it to me. Do you see? I can’t hurt him like that.”
Grace sat back and took another sip of her ginger ale but Charity saw the smirk she was trying to hide. “Don’t, sis,” she said firmly.
Grace’s blue eyes rounded with nearly convincing innocence. “What?” she asked softly.
“I know that look.”
Jayne chuckled. “I do, too. I remember it from a couple of summers ago when you two invited me to that Fourth of July parade.” She raised her empty glass in a toast to Charity. “Your karma has done come home to roost.”
Charity shushed her cousin and said, “That was Grace’s doing. And you got the man of your dreams as I recall.”
Jayne hugged her glass to her cleavage and giggled dreamily. “Did I
ever
. So…you should just give in. Let Grace work her mojo. And Rachel is right about Val and Ransome. Their eyes are talking dirty to you from across the room even as we speak, cuz.”
“No,” Charity said with a shake of her head, resisting the urge to look over at Val and Ransome. “This is my marriage we’re talking about. I may be a total freak in many aspects of my life but I take our wedding vows seriously.”
Grace frowned and placed her hand over Charity’s on the table. “No one is talking about breaking any vows, sis. Nothing has to be broken in order for you to be truly happy and you know that.”
“What would you have me do, sis?”
Grace grinned like the Cheshire cat. “I’d have you do what you told me to do. Seize the day, baby!”
“Oh, bite me!”
* * * *
The table across the club erupted in laughter and Ransome flicked a glance at the mirror. Charity’s arms were crossed over her chest and there was a high flush in her cheeks, making them glow. She always got that way when she was put on the spot and it stirred his protective side, or at least that was what he told himself as he stood from his chair at the bar.
“You heading out?” Val asked as he nodded at the bartender when he offered a refill on his beer.
“Not yet. I’m asking Charity to dance.”
Val raised an eyebrow. “You’re playing with fire.”
Ransome pushed the chair in. “It’s just a dance. She won’t say no.”
“That’s not what worries me. It’s the direction your thoughts are taking that concerns me.”
“I’m just dancing with her. Chill.”
As he approached, the ladies at Charity’s table turned their attention to him. Jayne Carter got wide-eyed and then looked away while Rachel arched an eyebrow and elbowed Charity to get her attention.
Rachel said, “Hey, handsome. I heard you and Val are back in town permanently. I’m glad to hear it and I know Eli will be, too.”
“Yeah. We’re thinking we’re going to make it stick here in Divine. How’s the little man?”
Rachel pulled out her phone to show him a picture of two-year-old Levi sitting with his father astride Eli’s Harley. “Growing like a weed.”
He could feel Charity’s gaze on him as he smiled and said, “How’re you ladies doing? Grace, you hanging in there?”
Grace patted her abdomen. “This one’s tiring me out but I’m doing well, thanks. It’s good to hear you’re moving into the area. Have you found a place to stay yet?”
He took the opportunity to gently lay his arm around Charity’s shoulders and felt the tremble that ran through her as a result. “We’re bunking out at Justin and Charity’s for now.”
Grace beamed and said, “I’m sure they’re happy to have you.”
Ransome nodded and then turned his gaze on Charity. She bumped his ribs lightly with her elbow and asked, “You two having a good time?” With just her velvety voice she could make his cock tingle.
“Yeah. Want to dance?”
Charity slid a quick glance Grace’s way before looking up at him and nodding. “I’d love to.”
All the ladies at the table smiled broadly and Ransome felt like a bug under a microscope but was content that she’d accepted his invitation. The vocals and guitar started for the next song and Charity looked up at him, nibbling her lip as “My Kind of Crazy” by Brantley Gilbert played on the sound system.
He wasn’t going to complain if the DJ had picked a slow dance song, and this one seemed just right for Charity. He spotted Val watching them in the mirror but didn’t concern himself with Val’s worry about ruining the status quo. Ransome was listening to his gut this time.
She turned to face him on the dance floor and he thought he glimpsed uncertainty in her eyes. They’d always danced to fast songs before, and he wasn’t sure he’d have gotten away with this if Justin was around. But she smiled and slid her arms around his waist without hesitation. He struggled to keep his breathing steady as the girl—the woman—he’d wanted practically all his life snuggled to him.
He’d never held her close during a slow dance but he’d watched her make love to her husband. Feelings were all jumbled up inside him. Maybe the dance was a mistake, but as they moved together, flowing into a swaying rhythm, he wanted it to last for hours instead of minutes. Her breasts and hips rubbed against him as she moved and she rested her cheek on his chest. His breath left him in a soft shudder as he felt her fingers thread through his long hair, awakening nerve endings all over his body. If she kept up the pleasurable sensation he was going to start tapping his foot against the floor.
To distract himself from the tingling in his groin, hoping to forestall the inevitable reaction to her lush, curvy body, he said the first thing that came to mind. “Grace seems like she’s settled in really well.”
In the time he’d known her, Grace had grown from a shy, rather bookish teen to a happy and fulfilled wife in a ménage. A ménage like the one he wanted with Charity, with men who were devoted to loving her and taking care of her.
“You mean with the second baby coming?”
“Well, yeah, but I also meant in general. Things must be going smoothly for her with Jack, Ethan, and Adam. At least that’s how it seems…like they take good care of her. They look happy is what I mean.”
Stop talking, dummy.
Charity nodded without lifting her head. “They are. It’s not all fluffy kitten hugs and glittery unicorns but they’re very good to her. She’s good to them. It works. They’re all pretty even-tempered.”
He grunted and then chuckled. “You saying that makes me think of Lucy with Beck and Patrick at the ROT Rally last year.”
Charity drew a sharp breath and giggled. “Yeah, I guess that’s the other extreme, as far as blending temperaments in a ménage. But Lucy can hold her own with the two of them. Jayne was the one who surprised me, though. You remember how she strutted up into Beck’s personal space and told him to calm the fuck down? That was priceless, coming from my demure little cousin, the librarian. But Lucy handled the situation well, too. She’s got a lot of fire in her.”
“You relate to that, don’t you?”
Charity shrugged. “I guess. Beck and Patrick are important to Lucy, but she didn’t have to give up a part of herself in order to be with them.”
He pondered her words for a minute and wondered what was on her mind before he said, “I think those groups work because the right woman in the middle of it all makes it worth it…makes it possible. Did you ever picture a situation like that for your sister, before she met the guys?”
Charity shook her head negatively and looked up at him. “Do you remember her last boyfriend? Owen?”
“I met him once, I think. The little prick, right?”
Charity snorted with laughter. “You hit
that
nail on the head. That’s the one. I was worried that he’d completely subjugated her until the day she surprised me and told me she’d thrown him out. If you’d told me my meek, self-conscious sister would one day be happily married and involved with three strong, loving men, with a toddler and another baby on the way, I’d have told you it’d never happen.”
“But things can change dramatically in a person’s life…if they’re open to possibilities. Right?”
“Yeah,” she murmured with her cheek against his chest again. “I suppose anything is possible.” As she spoke, she loosely wrapped her fingers in his hair, tugging ever so slightly, making it hard to concentrate.
He was formulating his next words when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He wanted to growl at the intruder until he realized it was Val.
His cousin gave him a lopsided grin. “My turn.”
Charity blew a little kiss at Ransome as he allowed her to move toward Val. He reined in the territorial urges that reared up inside him. If he was sincere about sharing with the guys then he’d need to release her to them easily. He’d seen it time and again with the other groups. The men didn’t go Neanderthal when their woman moved from one man to another, giving attention to each in turn.
Jack had told him that was paramount to any successful ménage. Charity’s happiness translated into their happiness, and if she knew they were jealous of each other, it would stop her from showing affection and that sure as fuck wasn’t what he wanted. Time to back up his desires with action.
He winked at her before nodding to Val and leaving the dance floor. Taking his seat at the bar, he nodded when the bartender asked if he wanted another refill. This time he didn’t use the mirror to watch them dancing. He angled his chair so he could see.
She spoke briefly to Val, her cheeks rosy, before laying her head on his chest as the opening bars of Chris Young’s “Who I Am With You” played. He looked around for Ethan Grant, wondering if he was the one orchestrating those slow songs but didn’t see him. That was the kind of thing that guy would do, anticipating and noticing all kinds of things other people didn’t see. Ethan had known right off the bat that Charity was on Ransome’s mind when he’d asked him and Jack and Adam about ménages, surprising him with how insightful Ethan was.
Val whispered in her ear before turning her as they settled into the steps of the dance. Val sank a hand into her golden hair and Ransome saw the contented smile spread across Val’s face.
Touching her hair wasn’t the kind of thing he could do, without being obvious. His cousin took full advantage of the dance, flexing his fingers in the silky golden mass and bringing his other around her back to cup her waist.
She was wearing a skirt and heels with a sexy top that showed off her curvaceous form without being too revealing. Her legs were killer in those high heels and Ransome groaned as memories of last year’s ROT Rally surfaced.