With Cherry on Top [Loving in Silver 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (6 page)

Jake handed him a beer. He grimaced, wiping the wet bottle off on his shirt before twisting the cap off of it. They sat there in silence for several minutes until he brought up the subject of Gracie.

“What did you think about that?”

“Weird. It was almost like she was jealous or something.”

Mick shook his head. “No, I don’t think it was jealousy. She seemed sad, more than anything else.” He paused then said carefully, “You know, before we met Cherry, I had thought Gracie might be a woman we could be interested in.”

There was a stunned silence. Jake turned to look at him. “What’re you saying, Mick? That you want them both?”

The silence hung heavily as he thought about that. He knew of more than one family that was made up of two women with two or more men. The various groups of relationships in and around Silver were many. It seemed to be whatever worked to make those people feel complete. And while he knew they could be perfectly happy with Cherry, he was wondering if it wouldn’t be possible for Gracie to be part of their family, too.

“Yeah, I think I am,” he admitted slowly, waiting for the fallout.

“Well, fuck me sideways.”

Choking on his beer, Mick shook his head. “No thanks. And I really wish you’d quit saying that. It’s just sick.”

Jake laughed and flipped him off, settling back in the thickly cushioned, microfiber-covered chair, his feet up on a footstool. “Okay, I get it. Now back to Gracie. I can see how she would be perfect for us, too. She’s sweet and we know she’s been looking for the right men. Has she been flirting with us and we just missed the signs?”

“Yeah, I think we missed a whole lot there.”

“We could lose Cherry. Are you really willing to risk that?” There was a wealth of pain in Jake’s voice. It was a warning of what they could all feel if they made the wrong choices.

“No. All I’m saying is we should wait and see.”

“It’s not fair to Cherry. I’ll be honest here. She’s sweet and sexy, but I say we forget about Gracie. Even thinking about her makes me feel like I’m cheating.”

“Well, we won’t do anything about it right now. But I hate to think we did something to mislead her. Now she’s got my interest and I don’t know what to do about it.”

If they had grown up anywhere but Silver they probably wouldn’t even consider sharing one woman, let alone two. But they had and there was the fact that they had two mothers and three fathers, so the two-woman thing wasn’t such a farfetched idea at all.

“Do about what?” Cody asked, strolling in and grabbing a beer.

Mick looked at his brother. Where Cody was, Collin would soon be. The two were practically inseparable. Most people thought they were twins they so closely resembled one another. Actually, they only shared a mother and were two years apart in age. He would wait until they were both in the room before he discussed the subject of dating Gracie.

“Mick wants to date Gracie.”

Choking in surprise, Cody spit out the beer in his mouth. He stared at Jake for a moment as if he couldn’t believe what he had heard then frowned as his gaze shifted to Mick. “Are you fucking nuts? Cherry has finally come back to us and you want to fuck it up by bringing in another woman?”

“I’m not bringing in another woman. I’m simply keeping it as a possibility. We’ll see what happens with Cherry. We already know she’s been with women. She might not be averse to the idea. Hell, she might even like it.”

“If you fuck this up, I’ll personally beat the shit out of you.”

Mick glared at Jake. “See what you started?”

Jake shrugged broad shoulders. “Don’t blame me. It’s your dick that’s suddenly kicked into overdrive.”

Collin showed up then and they had to get him up to speed, which didn’t make the conversation smooth out at all. They rarely fought. If they did, it wasn’t major and was usually straightened out quickly.

“I’m with Mick,” Collin said, dropping into a chair and putting his stocking feet up. “Gracie is just the kind of woman I would pick, if Cherry wasn’t a part of my life.”

“Well, Cherry
is
a part of our lives. And we
have
known Gracie for years,” Jake said roughly, clearly getting angry. “Why this sudden interest from you two?”

“Yeah, we’ve known her, but we didn’t have a lot of contact with her for a few years until she started working at the pizzeria. Both of you guys think about how you feel when you see Gracie.”

Mick and Collin watched the emotions play over their brothers’ faces as they thought of all the times the past year or so that they had talked and lightly flirted with the cute little server. When their expressions started to sour with their inner honesty, admitting to themselves that they were also attracted to Gracie, Mick decided to play dirty.

“You know what I wouldn’t mind seeing? I’d like to see Cherry on top, wearing one of those strap-on dicks, and having a little fun with Gracie.”

Low masculine growls filled the room as the hot image blazed through their minds like a wildfire in front of a hard wind. It didn’t help that none of them had had sex since they had talked with Cherry the first time. Jerking off in the shower didn’t count.

Then Jake had to pop the fantasy bubble. The jerk. “You’re assuming, of course, that Gracie would be good for a little girl-on-girl action.”

Shrugging, Mick said lightly, “Having grown up in Silver, I’m sure the thought has crossed her mind once or twice. For all we know, she would be all for it.”

“We’ll wait and see,” Collin said, grimacing as he shifted in the chair, obviously experiencing some discomfort. “First things first. I don’t want to be scaring Cherry off. She’s more important than some fantasy any of us can come up with. We’re all in love with her. That’s a given.”

Mick had to agree with that. The time for fantasizing was over. They had to concentrate on rebuilding their relationship with Cherry, the woman they
knew
they loved beyond reason.

“Who’s up for shaving?”

* * * *

Jake groaned when he looked at the clock and saw the time. They were running late and it looked as if they weren’t going to get to spend the extra time with Cherry before dinner. Of course, they would stay for a few hours afterward. But that just felt so far away!

Grabbing his keys and his phone, he stuffed them in his pockets then bent down to pull the cuffs of his slacks down over his dress boots. One last glance in the mirror had him grinning. He was such a handsome bastard! Laughing at himself, he shook his head and got himself moving.

Picking up his best felt hat off the bed, he headed out the door. His brothers joined him in the hall. They all but ran out of the house and to the truck. They were going to see Cherry, the woman of their dreams, the woman who held their hearts in her hands.

The bright red crew-cab pickup truck was barreling down the road until it came around a curve and all but ran into a small car parked almost in the ditch, hazard lights flashing. The driver stood beside it, their head jerking up in shock and fear as the truck slid to a stop, its bumper mere inches from the car.

“Shit, it can’t be,” Jake groaned as he drove around and parked the truck. They all jumped out. “What are we going to do?”

“Change the tire for her. Then we’ll get going.” Collin was always the knight in shining armor.

“We’re late,” Cody complained, just short of whining.

“We can’t just leave her here,” Mitch pointed out, irritated by his brothers’ and his own selfish need to get to Cherry. They really had to work on that, especially if Gracie was supposed to be part of their family. None of them wanted to leave her. They were just anxious. They needed to see Cherry again.

They were men who hadn’t gotten laid in over three years.

They walked as one toward Gracie and her car. “You okay?” She nodded, but didn’t speak, her green eyes huge in her pixie face. The light dusting of freckles was adorable.

“That’s not a flat tire,” Collin announced as they stared at the wheel turned at an odd angle. “I’m guessing a broken tie-rod end or ball joint.”

“It’ll have to be towed.”

Gracie finally seemed to find her tongue. She looked at each of them with those huge, shadowed green eyes. “I called my brother. He’s going to bring his tow truck. But he’ll be a while. He has to wait for my sisters-in-law to get home to stay with the kids.”

* * * *

“You can’t stay out here by yourself. Call him. Tell him you’re coming with us,” Mick told her, taking charge. He saw the shiver go through her body and wondered about that. His cock perked up, forcing him to think about something other than tying the small woman to a bed and fucking her senseless. “Tell him you’ll be going to dinner with us at the Little Silver River Ranch. We’ll take you home afterward.”

Okay, so he couldn’t forget about tying Gracie up. Mick liked bed games. All the brothers did. And they knew Cherry had had an adventurous nature at one time. Their long talks had often gone off into sexually explicit dream lists. They had liked that about her. Cherry wasn’t afraid to talk about sex. And she certainly hadn’t been afraid to tell them the things she wanted to try.

Oh, yeah. He’d tie Cherry and Gracie side by side and have his wicked way with them both. With his cock straining at the zipper of his slacks, Mick helped Gracie up in the truck, again noticing the small tremors that went through her body, and the shapeliness of her small, heart-shaped ass. She was so darn sweet in her little pink dress with the white geometric designs on it. The back of the dress rode up her shapely thighs as she moved across the truck. Did she know she was tempting him?

“Are you going to see her?” Gracie asked softly, not looking at any of them, but looking down at her small white hands as she sat primly between them.

“Her name is Cherry, Cherry Malloy. And, yes, we’re going to see her,” Mick told her, purposely keeping space between them on the back seat. He hugged the door and knew Cody was doing the same. “We’ve waited a long time for her to come home, to come back to us.”

“Oh. You love her a lot.”

“Yes, we do,” Cody said huskily. “She’s a very special woman. But she’s been through hell and that caused some bad decisions. We have to give her time to get to know us again.”

“She’s a lucky woman.”

Delicate fingers were twisting. Mick wasn’t an insensitive bastard. He knew Gracie was hurting. But she had to know the score, as far as their intentions were toward Cherry.

Jake had to be a smart-ass. “Yes, she is. There aren’t too many men like us in the world.”

Gracie giggled despite her obvious misery. “You’re funny.”

Cody and Collin groaned in unison. “Don’t encourage him. It’s bad enough we have to check our beds every night and our boots in the morning.”

Cherry stared at the petite woman standing between her men. She swallowed against the lump in her throat. Oh, yeah, she was jealous. It was a new sensation, one she couldn’t recall feeling since sixth grade, when Johnny Thompson had kissed Rachel Williams instead of her during recess. That had sucked.

This went
way
beyond that.

Hearing her brothers-in-law growl, Cherry decided she needed to do something. She got to her feet and met them halfway across the room, letting each hug and kiss her with more than friendly warmth. The woman, whoever she was, stood back and out of the way, as if she wasn’t going to intrude upon the private moment. Smart woman.

When the men stepped back, Collin reached out to the woman. Hadn’t she seen her the night before at the pizzeria? Yes, the woman was a server there. Had she spent the night with her men? Cherry felt the corner of her right eye twitch.

“Cherry, this is Gracie Harper. Gracie, this is Cherry Malloy. Gracie’s car broke down. Her parents’ farm is a ways past our ranch. We couldn’t leave her sitting by the side of the road.”

“Of course you couldn’t,” Cherry said, feeling like a bitch. Leaving the woman stranded and alone would have been a terrible thing to do. It didn’t matter that it was broad daylight out.

Peaches came forward with a smile. “You’re more than welcome here, Gracie. I hope you’re hungry. We’re just getting ready to sit down to eat. Come join us.”

“Thank you, Mrs. MacMillan,” Gracie said, seeming to relax a little. She even managed a smile in what had to be a terribly uncomfortable moment for her.

“Call me Peaches, please. I believe you know everyone here.” Gracie nodded, glancing behind Peaches to the three men flanking her. They nodded in greeting. She smiled weakly. “Good. Now, why don’t we all go out on the patio? The food is about ready.”

Cherry was grateful to her sister for defusing the tense situation. Logan, Damien, and Ryan all relaxed, though they were still watching Mick, Collin, Cody, and Jake with a wary eye. She could imagine that if they did one thing wrong they would be going home bloodied and bruised.

Instead of turning into a shrieking shrew, Cherry decided to take a wait-and-see attitude. She would follow her sister’s lead, welcoming the other woman, being friendly. What if Gracie’s presence was as innocent as they claimed? A woman alone out in the middle of nowhere with a broken-down car was not a good thing. Though she had no personal knowledge of the crime rate in and around Silver, she knew there were bad people everywhere.