“Probably not,” David said. “He was probably one of those large fish in a small pond kind of athletes.”
“Well he certainly never seemed to miss being a jock.”
“And after you got married? What was it like? Your life together?”
Robert had taken over, and Jillian wasn’t surprised. He had no idea how to hide his inner Dom—which, she thought, really wasn’t so inner.
“Routine, I guess. He worked, most of the time. I worked. Brandon was born. He was the center of the universe for both of us. Neil was a pretty good dad, actually.”
“But a lousy husband.”
Jillian shook her head. “I wasn’t happy, but I’d made my peace with my life. As my mother liked to say, I’d made my bed and now I had to lie in it.”
“That expression just pisses me off,” Robert said.
Jillian shrugged. “But it was true. Look, he never hit me. He yelled, of course, but then so did I.”
Both men looked at her with a combination of pity and compassion. Jillian didn’t know why, but that look made her uncomfortable.
She sighed. “I took vows, okay? They meant something to me. Yes, I was unhappy. Deeply unhappy, if you want to know the truth. But I’d settled. I’d made my peace with that.”
“And he didn’t?”
“No. I guess while he did work most of the time and didn’t beat me, or anything, he did cheat. I found out, after our divorce, that he’d cheated on me almost from the beginning.”
“So you divorced him,” David said.
“No, he divorced me because some bimbo with perky boobs and lots of Botox sweet-talked him into leaving me and marrying her.”
Both men were silent for a few moments.
“I’ll bet she’s a ballbuster.” Robert said that quietly.
“Apparently. One of the reasons I was so glad to leave El Paso behind and come to Lusty is that over the last couple of months Neil had begun phoning me. At first he used the excuse of touching base with me about Brandon. But then he started dropping in—first at the clinic where I worked, and then at my home.”
“Let me guess,” David said. “He told you he wasn’t happy with the ho he dumped you for and he wanted you back.”
“Yeah.” Jillian shook her head. “When I moved here, I didn’t leave a forwarding address. Brandon knows where I am, of course. I’ve asked him not to tell his father. I
hated
doing that. I never wanted to ask him to pick sides in our divorce. But I did ask him, and he agreed.”
“And you’re totally mystified by your ex’s behavior, aren’t you, my little sub?”
She noticed that both Robert and David had big smiles on their faces. “Well, duh. I never understood why he wanted me in the first place. I mean, it’s not like our marriage was ever really very good, or anything.”
“I imagine it sure as hell was good for him,” David said. “What man wouldn’t want a woman who puts him ahead of herself, who smoothes the rough spots, and does all those pesky little chores to make his life easier?”
“You probably didn’t even realize you were doing it, Jillian.” Robert reached over and took her hand. “I’d bet my last dollar you treated the man like a king. He never even realized how good he had it until he left you, and he discovered that not every woman has a servant’s heart.”
“Did he say that? When he began to ‘drop by,’ did he tell you that his new wife didn’t treat him as well as you had done?”
Jillian met David’s gaze. His question cut to the heart of her anger over Neil’s efforts to ingratiate himself with her. “He said she didn’t understand him the way I had. I just took that to mean that she caught on to his cheating before I did and threatened to cut off his balls.”
Robert laughed, then brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed it. “All those things you did for him, sweetie, that was your sub nature in action. Yes, infidelity was a sin he committed, but his greater sin was accepting your gift and not giving you one in turn. You took care of his needs, but he never once took care of yours. That is what the D/s relationship is all about. It’s a sharing of power, where you give us what we need, and we absolutely return the favor.”
“Not just between the sheets?” Jillian looked from one to the other of them. “Or in the hot tub? Because I have to tell you, he never made me come, not once. I learned early on how to fake an orgasm, after one particularly brutal time, when he was drunk, and he kept trying and he rubbed me so raw I bled.”
Robert actually winced. David picked up her other hand and rubbed the back of it with his thumb. She had to admit that she really liked having both of her hands held.
“No, sweetie, it’s not just about the sex.” Robert slid closer, and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “One of the things you
need
is to serve and to know that your service
matters
—that is your nature and when we dominate you in the bedroom, you know that you’re not only serving, you’re giving us maximum pleasure.
That’s
why you can climax with us.”
“Well, that, and the fact that we’re both smokin’ hot lovers.”
Jillian laughed, and then sobered as the thought formed. She understood now exactly what these men were talking about, and she certainly understood the appeal of taking these two men as her masters.
It was an exchange not only of power, but of service. She wasn’t being a “needy female” with them, because the truth was that they both had needs too, needs that only she could fulfill.
“You
don’t
think we’re smokin’ hot lovers?” David’s bottom lip pouted out in an exaggerated gesture.
Jillian blinked, because she’d been so deep into her own personal revelation, for a moment she felt disconnected, coming back to the real world.
“That’s not it,” Robert said quietly.
When Jillian turned to look at him, he said, “You finally get it, don’t you?”
The moment felt so huge she couldn’t speak. She could only nod. Because she kept her gaze locked on his, even though the sight of him blurred through her tears, she saw the way he looked at her, and for the first time in her life she felt beautiful, special, and completely okay.
She felt David move closer to her and loved the sensation of being the center of these two men. How could she have gotten so lucky? She felt so incredibly blessed.
She felt totally brand new.
“Teach me, please? Teach me everything you want me to know. Teach me how to behave when we go to that club of yours. I want…no, I
need
to please you.” She needed to honor them.
“You already do please me, Jillian. I love you.” Robert kissed her hand then pulled her into his arms. He kissed her, his lips nearly forceful, his tongue plundering her, tasting her, commanding her to submit.
She opened to him eagerly, giving and taking in equal measure.
Pleasing
him, she knew. Pleasing him and arousing him and giving him what he needed. When Robert eased his lips from hers, she reached up and stroked his face. “I love you, Robert.”
He released her to his brother. David’s arm slid around her from behind and she turned to him. “I love you, David.” She’d said those words in the past to a man who didn’t understand them, didn’t value them. He couldn’t.
These men treasured not only her words, but her.
“I love you, Jillian. You’re ours.” He laid his mouth on her and drank her, sucking, swirling, licking until she thought her bones were melting. He broke their kiss, and used his thumb to brush over her lips. “Let’s get out and get dried. I want you on your knees.”
His words made her tingle, and Robert’s low chuckle caressed her female bits. It sounded to her as if she really did have two very Alpha masters.
Jillian didn’t waste a moment. She stood, but accepted their help getting out of the tub. They dried her quickly, gently, as the nerves inside her began to jump for joy.
She felt as if her new life was beginning right now, and she could hardly wait.
* * * *
“Boy oh boy, someone sure has been floating all afternoon,” Kelsey Benedict said.
“Humming along to the radio and wiggling her hips, uh-huh.” Tracy Alvarez-Kendall gave a little booty wiggle herself.
Michelle grinned at the gentle teasing. She’d arrived for the dinner shift because Carla had called in sick. So far she’d been kept pretty busy, and there hadn’t been any real time to chat. She’d gotten straight to work, the Tuesday crowd a little heavier than usual.
Michelle didn’t feel bad that there’d been no time to tell her cousins about the change in her relationship status. She wouldn’t have had to say a word, anyway. This was Lusty, Texas, after all, and by now the entire town would know that she’d had two dates with Joe Grant—and that he’d tried to suck her tongue out of her mouth in her parents’ driveway.
She, Michelle Amanda Parker, was actually involved in a relationship! Of course her thrill went far deeper than just that.
Finally she was in love—head over heels in love—and the man she loved, loved her back. He hadn’t actually asked her to marry him, but she knew with a confidence that felt completely foreign even as it went soul deep that it was only a matter of time.
“I’ve just been in an exceptionally good mood today,” Michelle said. It was hard to keep her smile in check, but she did her best.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say our Michelle got laid last night.” Tracy’s very loud whisper turned Michelle’s face beet red. Knowing there was no help for it, and not really very concerned, she turned and faced her cousins.
“Uh-huh.” And she grinned.
“Oh! Oh, Michelle!” Teasing left Tracy’s face and she rushed over and threw her arms around her. Then she pulled back and put her hands on Michelle’s shoulders. “Honey, are you good?” Michelle sputtered and Tracy scowled. “Oh, crap, that didn’t come out right. What I meant is, are you—”
Michelle laughed. “I’m great. I’m pretty good, too, for a novice, or so Joe said. That was probably TMI, but I’m really great. He’s great.
It’s
great.”
“You’re in love with him.” Kelsey looked so happy for her.
“I am. I’m finally in love, and…it’s mutual.”
“I knew that man wasn’t coming around just for my cooking,” Kelsey said. She gave Michelle a hug. The door to the dining room swung open.
“Well, boy, howdy. Don’t tell me I missed the announcement.”
Michelle turned to grin at Ginny. Michelle had never met a woman more accepting, and more positive, in all her life than Ginny Rose, soon-to-be Kendall. Considering all that Ginny had been through, Michelle thought she was likely the best woman she knew—well, not counting Grandma Kate and Aunt Samantha, and her own mother, of course.
“No announcements, not yet. But soon. I know it’s going to be soon.”
Ginny Rose came over and gave her a big hug. “I’m glad. I like Joe. He’s solid and steady. And he’s not hard on the eyes, either.”
“This from the woman who has two very handsome studs of her own,” Kelsey said.
“I may be engaged to be married, and expecting my second child, but there’s nothing wrong with my eyesight.”
Tracy sighed and rested her hands on her stomach. “They’re all gorgeous, aren’t they? Our men?”
“Mmm, yes they are, indeed,” Kelsey said. Then she wagged her finger at Michelle. “You listen here, Missy. There’re already three of us here knocked up. Don’t you be getting any ideas. I’m going to have to hire a couple of people….oh, my. Hmm, maybe my warning comes too late?”
Michelle didn’t know what exactly her boss saw on her face, but she had a pretty good idea. She never had been able to play poker.
She shrugged and blushed and said, “Maybe.”
Of course that brought on a new round of hugs. When it was Kelsey’s turn, the bump under her apron gave Michelle a light kick.
Michelle and Kelsey both laughed. “Don’t you worry, Michelle. You just enjoy being in love,” the owner of
Lusty Appetites
said. “We’ll figure the rest of it all out.”
“I know we will. We’re family.” And wasn’t that a wonderful thing? Michelle let her eyes wander to the clock. Only a quarter of eight, and they had another hour and a half until the restaurant closed for the night. Once Memorial Day had passed, Kelsey had extended business hours to nine thirty. Of course, occasionally there would be a private, impromptu engagement party that would stretch further into the night.
There’d been quite a few of those lately, and Michelle couldn’t stop the skittering of her heart when she realized that there could very well be one for her and Joe—and soon.
She loved working here, loved her boss and her coworkers. She even loved her customers, as they were mostly so familiar to her.
Rarely did she have customers she didn’t know. In the beginning, before Kelsey had become a Benedict, there’d been one she’d thought had been kind of cute. She recalled how excited she’d been when he seemed interested in her. Of course, he’d turned out to be a homicidal piece of shit, and had nearly cost Kelsey her life. That man was behind bars now, and it had taken her a long time to get over that.
Michelle sighed. Knowing that she could make such a serious error in judgment had shaken her self-confidence, a commodity she hadn’t had a lot of to begin with.