With Cherry on Top [Loving in Silver 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (2 page)

Smiling up at him, she patted his broad chest. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

Logan growled, his golden eyes narrowing on her grinning face. She knew how much he detested mushy nicknames from anyone other than Peaches. The corner of his firm mouth twitched. “You’re welcome. Now come on in the house. We’ll find you a comfortable chair to rest your weary bones in. The drive here had to take it out of you.” When Cherry just stared up at him in amazement, he began scowling again. “What?” he growled, stepping back.

Shaking her head, Cherry laughed. “I’ve never heard you say so much at one time.”

Peaches laughed and handed their daughter over to him, saving him from having to utter even more words. Then she was taking their son’s hand in hers, wrapping her free arm around Cherry’s waist. “Come on. I’ve got your room ready. You can wash up and rest before supper, if you like. Ryan and Damien will be home by then.”

“I can’t wait to see them. Is Ryan still a goofball?” Besides being a sexy charmer, Ryan had a sweet, playful nature.

Logan growled. “Except for getting bigger, Ryan hasn’t changed at all since he was twelve.” He took charge of their son, knowing the two women would want to talk about personal matters, things not meant for small ears.

“You love him and you know it,” Cherry stated firmly, “goofiness and all.”

“Yes, I love him. There’s just times when I’d like to…”

“Logan, the children,” Peaches admonished gently, but was grinning from ear to ear.

Ryan was the lighthearted one of the three men. He also seemed to have a death wish, teasing and picking at Logan until the man snapped and retaliated. Though they tangled like two boys on a playground, they never did serious damage to each other. Both seemed to love it, which was always a mystery to any woman who happened to witness it. Men, she thought with a smile. They were so confusing.

Damien, the moderately tempered of the three men, tried to run interference, but didn’t seem to have much success in keeping Ryan from pulling the tiger’s tail. When things came to a head, he knew it and was smart enough to just get the hell out of the way.

Once Cherry was alone in the room with Peaches, she knew what was coming. It was just as well. She wanted to deal with the subject of the Preston brothers and move on.

“Are you going to call them?” Peaches asked as she opened one of the suitcases Logan had brought up for her. She began taking out neatly folded jeans, placing them in a dresser drawer.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea. Why go back? I can’t change things and I certainly am not interested in reliving the pain. Let it go, Peachy.”

“They’re crazy about you.”

Her heart slammed against her ribs. Those were words she didn’t want to hear. She wanted to leave the past in the past. She knew her sister only had her best interests at heart, but she had gone through so much when she let those beautiful men go. They deserved more than a broken and scarred woman. They deserved to have a woman who could help them with their day-to-day lives. They also deserved a woman who could provide children, something she wasn’t certain she was capable of doing. The damage to her body had been so severe. She was getting better, stronger, every day, but she still had a long way to go.

“You know it didn’t end well between us.”

Recalling the angry words they had exchanged the last time they had come to visit her in the hospital was enough to make her cringe in shame. At first they had pleaded with her. They had told her things only men in love could say. Then, as she closed up, building a wall to protect herself, their hurt had turned to anger and frustration.

Cherry couldn’t go through it again. She just couldn’t. She swallowed hard as tears stung her eyes. She would apologize for her harsh, hateful words, ask for forgiveness, but she wouldn’t go back. She couldn’t.

“Cherry, sweetheart…”

“No, Peaches. I can’t do it. Just leave it alone. I’ll be here for two weeks. It should be easy enough to avoid them.” She would have to seek them out to give the apology, but that would be it.

Though she hoped her sister would let it go, she should have known better. Peaches was going to get the final word in, no matter what. “Well, I think you’re making a huge mistake. Those men can make you happy. You need to give them a chance.”

Once Cherry was alone, she took a moment to look around the room, which was one of two bedrooms connected to a mother-in-law suite on the first floor. It had been added since she had last been there, providing a place for their parents or other family members to stay when they visited. Everything was sleek, with a modern look, but still felt welcoming and comfortable. The walls were a soothing dove gray, the furniture a rich dark brown. Sleek and elegant, the oversized bed was something she would have gladly traded for a twin. When she was in it, she was going to wish the brothers were in it with her.

Just the thought made her nipples peak. The flesh between her legs began to ache and throb. Oh, how she wanted to be loved on by those four big men.

Walking across the plush carpet, she sat on the edge of the bed and took off her shoes. Her clothes were next. What she needed was a nice hot shower. It would help her relax and get some of the kinks out of her body. Too bad a shower couldn’t get rid of the pain in her heart, she thought dismally as she went into the adjoining bathroom. Her brows lifted in surprise.

If she had thought the bedroom soothing, it was nothing compared to the bathroom. It was large, the same gray walls as the bedroom, with three white porcelain, free-standing basins on a slab of black granite. Each had a dark, wooden-framed mirror above it. Brushed-nickel faucets were complemented by matching light bars and fixtures in the large, luxurious tub and a glass-walled shower which could easily hold four people. She particularly liked the shiny, charcoal-gray glass subway tiles on the back wall of the shower, around the tub, and along the back of the sink counter. The only color in the room was to be found in the fluffy turquoise towels hanging on the bars and tucked into cubbyhole shelves. Nice.

Choosing to soak in the huge tub, Cherry turned on the water, and then went to the glass shelf holding decorative bottles filled with liquid. Pulling the stopper on each she chose one that smelled like Lilies of the Valley. Soft and sweet, it was a gentle scent.

Gentleness was something she had craved since the attack. Fast movements often startled her. Loud noises still disturbed her. The slamming of a door, the revving of a car’s engine, the squeal of tires on pavement, all made her jumpy. Even bright light could bring on stress. Basically, she was a walking, talking panic attack waiting to happen. She was a mess.

And it was proven when a small voice asked from behind her, “Can we take a bath with you?”

Cherry spun around to see JJ and Merilee standing in the open doorway. He was so serious, so grown-up in his speech. So like Logan. While her heart calmed in her chest, she reached out for a towel, wrapping it around her trembling body. She frowned, wondering how she was to deal with this.

“You two don’t look dirty.”

“We’re not dirty. We just like to take baths.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Really?”

Her nephew nodded. Merilee looked up then, mimicking the action so hard her curls bounced into her eyes. Cherry smiled down at them. They were both so darn cute. “Well, I suppose it would be okay. But you have to ask your mom first.”

While JJ went running off, leaving Merilee behind, she was exposed to the blatant openness of a child. Her niece was staring at the long scars on her legs.

“Ouchie,” she stated, looking up at Cherry.

Cherry nodded. “Yes, it’s an ouchie. They’re all better now.”

“Fall down?” Merilee asked seriously, her little face scrunching up in a thoughtful frown.

Cherry was way out of her depth here. Though she had plenty of nieces and nephews, she was rarely in a position where she had to answer questions like this. “No, honey, I didn’t fall down. Now, why don’t we get you out of your clothes? Then you can play in the bath.”

Thank god she was easily distracted. Pulling, tugging, and twisting kept Merilee occupied as Cherry helped her get undressed. There was no explanation she could give the child which wouldn’t scare her. She sure didn’t want the kid scared of life. Basically, shit happened. You couldn’t be afraid of it happening. It was something she’d been trying to convince herself of for years.

Merilee was happy in the bathtub, playing with the thick, foamy bubbles floating on the water, so sweet and innocent…

That’s what was called for now. A distraction is what she needed to keep her from fearing every shadow, every noise, and every uncertainty about her future. It was life. It was a mystery. No one knew what was going to happen from one moment to the next.

Though she had no plans, no bucket list where she wanted to go BASE jumping, she would like to be able to do ordinary things without wondering if she was going to get hurt, if something would happen that was completely out of her control.

Cherry jumped again when her nephew ran back in with an armful of bath toys. He dumped them unceremoniously into the soapy water, making his sister squeal with excited pleasure. A moment later he was in the water with her, having lost his clothes at some point between leaving to ask his mother if he could take a bath and returning.

Amused, she smiled at them as she put down the lid on the toilet and sat down. Peaches came in just then, shaking her head as she saw her children playing in the tub.

“Sorry about that. He was supposed to come back to get his sister. I forgot to latch the gate. They got away from me. Just shows you what can happen in two minutes.”

“It’s okay. They must have come straight here.” Cherry looked at the pair. They were so adorable and having a great deal of fun.

“You were supposed to be relaxing. I’m sorry.”

“This is kind of relaxing. Remember when we use to take baths together? They were a lot of fun.”

Peaches laughed, sitting down on the wooden, lath-style bench along the wall. “I remember. More water outside the tub than in it, soap-bubble beards and Mom shrieking every time she saw the mess we made.”

They talked, reliving childhood memories as the pair played in the huge tub. It was easy and gentle, just what Cherry wanted. It didn’t take long for her to realize that Peaches was not going to bring up the subject of the Preston brothers again. Relieved, the tension slowly ebbed, leaving her more relaxed than she had been in a long time.

After twenty minutes of play, Peaches rinsed and wrapped her children. She carried them out as the pair waved and giggled. They were more than a little pleased. Cherry couldn’t blame them. The innocence of childhood was a wonderful thing. It didn’t take much to make a child happy.

Deciding she had lost a lot of time, Cherry took a shower instead of a bath. After drying her body and hair, she rubbed a soothing cream into her skin, making sure she took extra care with the maze of ugly scars covering her body. She would ask Peaches to rub some into the scars on her back before she went to bed. It was something her mother or one of her other sisters normally did for her.

As the day’s activities caught up with her, Cherry slipped between the cool, smooth sheets. Snuggling into the pillow, she forgot her fears, her pain, her struggles, giving in to the pull of exhaustion. She left everything behind but the Preston brothers. They followed her into her dreams.

* * * *

Peaches left the hallway by which the guest suite was connected, walking toward the kitchen. It was nearly eight o’clock at night and Cherry was still sleeping soundly. She was worried about her sister. Their mother had been right to be concerned. Cherry had lost a considerable amount of weight since she had last seen her. There were lines of strain at the corners of her eyes, adding to the drawn, strained appearance. She needed to gain at least fifteen pounds. Twenty, even.

Olivia Malloy, their mother, had told her Cherry got very little sleep. Well, it appeared Cherry was making up for that now. Maybe all she had needed was a new setting, someplace which was far away from the horrible events which had changed her life so drastically.

Whatever the reason for her sister sleeping like the dead, Peaches wasn’t about to wake her. Yes, Cherry needed to eat, but she could do that easily enough in the morning. Smiling, she went to the fridge and began pulling out a selection of fruit, quickly cleaning, peeling, slicing, and chopping. It wasn’t long before she had a pretty and tasty fruit salad prepared. It would be perfect with the oatmeal which was served every morning. The men would add eggs, some kind of meat, and wheat toast on the side, building up their calories before they went out to work the ranch. But the kids enjoyed their oatmeal and fruit, along with an occasional strip of bacon. Merilee was partial to stirring her chocolate milk with it. Kids, she thought, laughing as she popped a blueberry into her mouth.

With the kids in bed, Peaches finished cleaning up the kitchen before she went out on the back porch with her husbands. She saw that Damien was on the swing tonight. Smiling, she sauntered over, noting the men watching her, as she took her place beside him. A strong arm wrapped around her as she snuggled in close. Firm lips pressed a kiss to her hair.

“How was your day, sweetheart?” he asked softly. She often needed softly spoken words after a day listening to very boisterous children. It was nice.