Love Slave for Two

Chapter 8

Saturday morning, Thomas drove the Ridgeline and took Nevvie out to breakfast, then to the dealership. Rollo Smith was an older man, the anti-salesman. Soft-spoken and friendly, he had a laid-back manner and North Carolina drawl that set people at ease.

Before they started, Nevvie had to make a pit stop. Thomas took a moment bringing Rollo up to speed.

“We’ve sort of adopted her, Rollo. She’s special, and we want her in something nice. Tyler and I agree we want her in a safe car, not a little tiny thing. I’ll need your help convincing her to let me spend the money.”

“Why don’t you just buy one?”

“Because we want her in something she’ll like. We want her to feel like it’s her car, not ours.”

“Is it going in her name?”

“No, we’ll do like we did last time, put it in the trust. But as far as we’re concerned it’s hers.”

Of course Nevvie gravitated to the used cars. Thomas put his foot down. “Sugar, if I bought you a used car Tyler would scalp me and I don’t mean my head, you should know that.”

She looked on the verge of tears. “You can’t spend that kind of money on me, Thomas.”

Rollo stepped in. “Actually it’s a better investment. Full warranty, service contract, all that. You won’t get that with a used car.”

“See? Listen to the man. We trust him. We’ve bought five cars from him over the years and he hasn’t screwed us yet.”

She let the men lead her across the lot. She started in the sub-compacts and Thomas took her hands. “Honey, don’t make me call Tyler to chew you out, please?”

Her nerves finally won and she broke down. Rollo stepped away for a few moments while Thomas calmed her.

He looked her in the eye. “Sugar,” he said, “you’re our girl, and we meant it when we said we’re taking care of you. We don’t trade cars every couple of months. We’re working on the presumption that you’ll be living with us for years. Forever, if we get our way. Look at it this way, we’re buying you a quality car that will last you a long time. It needs to be a safe car, one all three of us will be comfortable riding in and driving, and one you’ll be happy with. Can you imagine me and my long legs sitting in the back seat with my kneecaps jammed up to my chin in one of those tiny things?”

She laughed and he helped her dry her eyes. “Nevvie, please, don’t fight us on this. I know this is a lot to take in at once, but just let us do it. Please?” She nodded and he hugged her. “That’s my baby girl.”

He took her hand and they followed Rollo to the larger cars. After test driving a few models she finally settled on a royal blue pearl Acura TL. They completed the paperwork, and an hour later Thomas stood next to her, watching her stare at the car with a shocked look.

“Ready to go home?” he asked.

“Yeah.” He opened the door for her. She got in, still stunned. He knelt beside her.

“Nevvie, this isn’t a dream. You’re not going to wake up in the morning next to Alex. You’re going to learn to love being spoiled.”

That finished her. He knelt there with her, hugging her until she finally composed herself enough to drive home. He followed her in the Ridgeline and called Tyler. He must have been on break because he answered.

“Well?”

“Our girl is now driving a brand new Acura.”

“Fantastic! Does she look good in it?”

“Tyler, she’d look good in anything.”

“Or nothing at all.” Both men laughed. “Seriously, did she give you trouble?”

“Of course, what do you think?”

“How’d you talk her into it?”

“Well, to keep her out of the used ones I threatened to call and have you chew her out.”

Tyler chuckled. “Make me the bad guy. Wonderful.”

“Hey, it worked. Then I flat-out told her the truth, although I’m sure she didn’t know how I meant it. That we want her living with us for forever, and that we wanted her in a good car that would last.”

“See? You’re brilliant. Absolutely marvelous. Couldn’t have done a better job myself.”

“Would have been easier with you here to wrangle her. You’ve got a special touch with her. You know I’m no good at that kind of stuff.”

“Lover, you have the same sweet touch with her as you do me. I’ve got to go, I’m speaking in a few. Give her a hug and kiss for me, I’ll talk to you later.”

Thomas ended the call and watched her as she drove ahead of him. She reached up to her face a lot, probably wiping tears. Hopefully it wouldn’t take long to get her out of her shell, for her to enjoy being treated like a princess. The sooner she did, the easier it would be to show her how perfect she was for them.

At the house, Nevvie parked behind Tyler’s Lexus and realized she had a text message from him on her new BlackBerry.

How does it drive?

She smiled and figured out how to reply.

Wonderful. I’m spoiled.

A moment later, his reply.

I hope so. You deserve it.

They went out a few hours later, Nevvie driving her new car with Thomas as her passenger. The Acura was fantastic. She’d never had a nice used car, much less a new one.

“Do you like it, Nevvie?” Thomas asked.

“I love it. So where to?”

He gave her directions. Twenty minutes later they pulled into an upscale grocery complex, complete with farmer’s market. “What don’t you like to eat?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t do spicy. I don’t like liver. Other than that I’m willing to try anything once.”

“I’m going to cook you a good old-fashioned southern dinner.” He picked up collard greens, okra, green tomatoes, cornbread mix, and a few other things. On the way home he had her pull onto a rough back road and stop at a restaurant on the HillsboroughRiver. The building looked like little more than a bait shop, but cars filled the dusty shell parking lot. Thomas left Nevvie in the Acura and returned a few minutes later with a brown paper bag.

“What’s that?”

He grinned. “Surprise.”

Back home and with a Chicago CD on the stereo, Thomas showed her how to make real fried okra, not the batter-dipped restaurant fare. Flour, corn meal, salt and pepper, fried in a cast-iron skillet on the stove. Ditto the fried green tomatoes. He cooked the collards with a piece of ham, and the mystery package contained smoked mullet.

She wistfully smiled. “I haven’t had mullet since my dad died. He always brought it home Friday nights.”

“Aw, honey, I had a feeling you were a girl after my own heart. Can you believe Ty will suck down kippers, but he won’t touch smoked mullet?”

She scooped a small handful of fried okra from the bowl on the counter and munched. “Bet he doesn’t like this either, does he?”

“That, baby girl, is what I was raised on. Georgia popcorn, right there. He will rarely refuse anything placed before him, for politeness if nothing else, but it’s not worth cooking up a batch of something he won’t like.”

They ate once the cornbread was ready. She dipped out a bowlful of greens, then looked at the table, frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t even think. You don’t have any vinegar, do you? For the greens?”

His grin spread ear to ear. He practically raced to the fridge and produced a small shaker bottle. “Wait’ll Tyler gets back. He’s outnumbered by Crackers!”

After dinner they cuddled on the couch to watch Silence of the Lambs, one of her favorite movies.

“I know it’s stupid,” she admitted, “but I always laugh when he’s telling her to put the lotion on.”

“Why?”

She shook her head. “Something about the way he says it, the rhyme. It always cracks me up.”

Thomas chuckled, hugging her. “You’re as warped as I am, sugar. You like Monty Python?”

“Who doesn’t?” She looked at him. “Oh, don’t tell me Tyler doesn’t?”

“Some of the movies he does, but he won’t watch the shows with me. Said he saw them growing up and that was enough.”

They laughed and talked late into the evening. When she curled up next to Thomas in his bed after a brief good night call to Tyler, she fell asleep quickly.

Thomas watched her sleep, listening to her slow and easy breathing. How crazy was it that she fit them so well? Truly the perfect woman. He had fun with Tyler and enjoyed being with him, but this was something new and different he didn’t have with his lover, something he’d never missed—until now.

What a nearly perfect day they’d had. He’d never forget the stunned joy on her face when Rollo handed her the keys. He’d do anything to keep her that happy, to keep her with them. He was under no illusions she needed Tyler the same way he needed Tyler, the three of them locked together in a fantastic triad, feeding off each other, shoring up weaknesses and complementing strengths—it was amazing. He knew she filled a need in Tyler he could not.

Perfect.

He hated using that word up till now, but no other word described what he felt.

If only they could convince her how right she was for them.

He closed his eyes and curled around Nevvie, dreaming of her.

Sunday morning she helped him in the yard and around the house. At noon he shooed her to take a shower. “We’re going riding, sugar. Dress appropriately.”

“Any hints?”

“Nope. It’s a surprise.”

The surprise was another shopping trip. They drove across the HowardFranklinBridge to St. Pete and he bought her a dressy pair of riding boots. Then further west to St. Pete Beach for an early dinner on the Gulf. They rode north along the barrier islands, eventually reaching Tarpon Springs before sunset.

They stood on a fishing pier and watched as the sun slipped below the water. He wrapped his arms around her waist, smiling when he felt her hands on his.

Resting his chin on her shoulder, he whispered, “Did you have fun today?”

Nevvie leaned against him. “A lot. Thank you.”

He kissed the side of her neck and didn’t think he imagined she shivered. He’d have to remember she was sensitive there. “Baby girl, nothing’s too good for my biker mama.”

“We’re not going to make Tyler jealous, are we?”

He snorted in amusement. “Do you think he wants me calling him my ‘biker mama?’”

“No, I guess not.”

Nevvie felt another pang. Here she was enjoying herself with Thomas with poor Tyler out of town. Before this weekend she felt closer to Tyler. Now she could honestly say she was as close to Thomas, but in a different way.

Thomas again invited her to sleep in their bed. Only a moron would refuse that offer. As she closed her eyes and snuggled close beside him, she remembered how his lips felt when they brushed her neck, the smell of his leather bike jacket in the hot sun, his arms around her on the fishing pier as they watched the sunset…

His flesh felt hot, his legs pressed against hers, the entire length of his body hard and taut. Deep within her liquid heat churned and boiled, rising to the surface. Nevvie snuggled tighter with him and felt his cock stiffen, pressing tantalizingly along the cleft in her ass.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

She wiggled her hips, enticing, inviting. His hand slipped under her T-shirt, large fingers cupping first one breast, then the other, teasing her nipples into hard peaks. With his breath ragged in her ear she stretched into him, reaching behind her, tangling her fingers in his hair and pulling his mouth against the nape of her neck. His lips brushing across her flesh ignited a fire deep inside her.

His hand skirted down her belly, slipping inside her sleeping shorts, her breath coming in rapid gasps.

Yes, please. Don’t stop. She was afraid to speak, to break the spell. He continued his agonizingly slow pace across her flesh, his hand coming to rest in the nest of short curls between her legs.

Yessss.

His fingers gently parted and probed her, slowly stroking her clit, his touch hot and achingly sexy.

As he pushed a thick finger inside her, his thumb stroked her swollen nub. She wasn’t far from release and a low, needy moan escaped her. When she climaxed she felt the fireworks start deep in her belly, exploding behind her eyes and she gasped, rolled over—

Alone in the bed. Sunlight streamed through the partially-closed vertical blinds.

Breathing heavy, she looked around, realized it was her own hand buried in her sex.

She closed her eyes as she heard Thomas in the kitchen, preparing their morning coffee. Oh thank God! He hadn’t seen anything.

Immediately upon the heels of her relief followed disappointment that it wasn’t her sweet love god’s hand bringing her pleasure.

She caught her breath and got out of bed. Damn, talk about a wet dream!

“Are you awake, sugar?” he called from the kitchen.

She hunted for and finally found her voice. “Yeah.”

“How’d you sleep?”

“Good.” Well, the last few minutes were apparently fan-damn-tastic. If she had a choice between the nightmares and a dream like that, she’d take the wet dream every time.

Duh.

They rode the bike to work. Maggie spent the entire day with her, explaining things while Nevvie took copious notes. Nevvie started a slow cooker meal before they left. When they returned home a little after seven, Tyler was back and had prepared side dishes to go with it.

Nevvie slipped past the men while they hugged in the kitchen. A moment later she heard a soft tap on her bedroom door.

“Yes?”

One hypnotically blue eye peeked through. “May I come in, love?”

She looked away and nodded. Tyler stepped inside, leaving the door slightly ajar.

“Are you upset with me?” he quietly asked.

“No. Why would you think that?”

“Well, from the other morning, and considering you flew through the kitchen without giving me a look, I thought perhaps I’d done something.”

More guilt. Just dump it in a big, steaming pile. “No, Tyler, I’m not upset with you.” She sighed. “I’m sorry I’m moody. Like you said, it’s a phase.”

He enveloped her in his arms and she hugged him back. He felt sooo good. And he always smelled good, too. Was it weird she could identify either man by his unique scent?

God I’m such a stupid dumbass.

“I’m sorry this is difficult for you, sweetheart.” He met her gaze. “Please believe me,” he whispered. “It’s only been a few weeks. You haven’t even begun to deal with what happened.”

“Let the future happen. Yeah, yeah.”

He kissed her forehead. “Dinner’s ready. Did you fix it?”

She nodded.

“It’s wonderful—you did a fantastic job.”

She waited a moment to catch her breath before following him out to the kitchen. It was stupid, she admitted it, but any time one of the men paid her a compliment it caught her off-guard. It always did even though she knew she should be past that. They didn’t heap false praise on her. They showed her appreciation, something she’d never had from Alex.

Or anyone.

Over dinner, Nevvie’s mood lightened. They were together again, her and her boys. It felt right, there was no denying it. Maybe Tyler had a point and she needed time to get her head on straight. Better to enjoy what she had than mope.

She decided to focus on the present, not the past or the future. Most women would kill to have what she had.

Her boys.

At least she didn’t have to worry about sharing them with other women.