STORY EXCERPT

One of the things that Alice liked best about Bailey was her sense of humor. Aunt Bernice greeted them, and Alice looked around. It smelled really good in here, as usual. The place was also very busy today. Bernice led them to a table in the back, a few feet before the archway that formed the entrance to the bookstore.

“I think I’ll head over there for a quick moment, after we eat.” Alice nodded toward the connecting business as she took her seat. Her view was of her sister-in-law and the book stacks. Perfect view.

Bailey looked over her shoulder. “Good idea. I have a lot of books on my e-reader, but I do love to browse through the used books that Nancy and Jacqui get in. I’ve found some real treasures there.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Alice said. “Sometimes an old familiar friend, no longer in circulation, is hiding in those stacks. There are also days that just call for a cup of cocoa, a blanket, and a solid, physical book to hold on to and fall into.”

Bailey grinned. “I totally identify with that entire picture you just painted with your words. I, too, come from the land of winter snowstorms and I also love to read. Sadly, unless there’s a temperature inversion here, the blankets will likely remain stored until winter.”

“Pfft.” Alice shook her head. “If you want something bad enough, there’s always a way to get it. If my craving for the cocoa, blanket, and book soothe-me-some is strong enough, I’ll simply close my bedroom door and lower the temperature on the a/c unit in my room.”

“Now that, right there, cousin, that is exactly what we’ve been talking about!”

Alice didn’t recognize the voice. Neither had she noticed that Aunt Bernice had directed two more diners to the table next to them. She looked to her left and, for one moment, forgot how to breathe. She also forgot her name, and where she was and what planet she inhabited. They have to be Kendalls. There was something about the Kendall male that drew her—a certain je ne sais quoi. It was more than their being handsome, more than their possessing elegance. Those were nice, but only surface qualities. The two men standing beside her embodied a devil-may-care insouciance that put her in mind of pirates—the ones that starred in the bodice rippers she used to read.

Used to? I’m in the middle of one of those on my e-reader right now!

“You’re drooling, sister-in-law.”

Bailey’s words, just above a whisper, teased heat into Alice’s cheeks. She diverted her gaze away from sinful temptation only to encounter Aunt Bernice’s twinkling gaze.

“Allow me to do the honors,” the older woman said. “Bailey, Alice, may I present Ian and Ken Kendall. They’re first cousins to Sean and Noah, totally single, and have just arrived for a very long stay with us here in Lusty. Gentlemen, this is Bailey Benedict, married to my nephews Chance and Logan—and Alice Benedict, who’s their unattached, unmarried sister. Tea, ladies?”

“Yes please,” Bailey said.

“We’ll have a couple of Cokes, please, Aunt Bernice,” Ken said.

Alice noticed the sly look between Bailey and Aunt Bernice, but before she could say a word, Ian reached out as if to shake her hand…and she, of course, being the polite sort, gave it to him.

The hum of something both felt and heard began the very moment Alice’s hand was in Ian’s. I’ve never noticed static electricity in here before. That must be what it was, and it was a weird kind of static, because it completely short-circuited her brain.

“Yours is the kind of thinking we have been searching for. Isn’t it, cousin?”

“Far and wide, cousin. Far and wide and never found. Until now.”

“Ahh. Thank you?”

“No, no, it is we who must thank you. I have a great idea.” Ian looked at Bailey. “Would it be all right if we joined you?”

Alice began to relax because Ian had just released her hand. Ah, that’s better. Now, of course, Bailey is going to say no, and then we can get on with having our lunch.

Two things happened at once. First, Ken Kendall picked up her hand, and brought it to his lips, and kissed it!

And then Bailey said, “That is a great idea! Very efficient of you. We can eat while the three of you begin to get acquainted.”

Alice turned what she knew was her you-did-not-just-say-that face on her formerly sweet, formerly very protective sister-in-law.

“I never saw the aliens do it, but apparently, they whisked the real Bailey James Benedict away and left this poseur in her place. How will I ever break this news to my brothers?”

Bailey had the nerve to laugh in her face! And then she made things even worse. “As soon as Ken releases your hand, scoot over one chair, Alice, and that way you can have one Kendall on one side of you and one on the other.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Alice was put in mind of an old game show, because from the great room there were three archways, leading in three separate directions—left, right, and straight ahead. I’ll take door number three, please. Ian nodded to the corridor heading straight toward the back of the house. “The kitchen, dining room, library, and office are down that way.” He nodded to the right. “That’s the master suite wing.” Then he began to lead her toward the left.

“Guest rooms?”

“The rest of the bedrooms, yes. Three smaller bedrooms and a guest master suite. They anticipated a couple of their cousins, or other friends, who might like to come and visit, who might also be in triads.”

“Oh.” She’d had absolutely no idea what to expect as they’d driven her here. She hadn’t particularly cared, as long as there was privacy and a bed. She had hoped not to sleep in another woman’s bed, and thinking she might have to had made her tense.

The bedroom door closed behind them, and most of that tension fled.

Nerves grabbed hold of her belly, but she didn’t mind. There was something about this edgy excitement, this hot anticipation. She closed her eyes and drew that into herself, letting this moment shine, etching it into her memory.

Then Alice took two steps away from them and turned to face them. Creativity failed her in that moment, because both men looked really, really triggered. So she reached back to that day in her brothers’ house, that moment when she knew what she wanted—what she intended to have, and adapted her words to this new reality. “Somebody had better fuck me.”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, we both will,” Ken said.

“And you can bet they’ll both be damn good ones.”

Alice felt pinned by the heat in Ian’s gaze. A deer caught in his headlights, she watched as he and Ken approached her. The press of heated strength against her back as Ken braced her and the slow hardening of her nipples as Ian stopped a bare inch before the front of his body touched hers shot her arousal to new heights. Dampness now caressed her labia, and her inner muscles clenched.

“Did you think we didn’t want you, baby girl?” Ian laid his hands on her shoulders then stroked down her arms. His hands took hers, and he laced their fingers.

She could feel the slight tremor that was his, and she understood that his need for her was nearly as desperate as was hers for them both.

“Did you think we were playing games with you?”

“No. I thought you both were so caught up in your planning for the perfect moment that you forgot that I have a say, too. If this relationship is to be a true relationship, then I have to have a say, too.”

Ian’s gaze gentled. “So you do. I guess you were having your say tonight at Aunt Samantha’s dinner table.”

Alice grinned. “I was discreet.”

“You were. I’m pretty certain that there was at least one person there who had no idea what you were up to.” Then Ian’s gaze changed again.

He’s so mercurial. His mood, his needs are right there in his eyes, right there for me to see.

She needed to say just one more thing. “The only thing I need for this to be the perfect moment is the two of you.”

“Good. We won’t be the least bit discreet, not behind these doors.” Ian bent over and kissed her. His mouth covered hers, a hot, moist, delicious capture that begged her surrender. Alice sank into him, drinking him, using her tongue to caress his.

From behind, arms enfolded her, and then fingers began to release the buttons of her silk blouse.

Cooler air caressed her heating flesh. Ian released her fingers, allowing Ken to slide the garment down her arms and off.

Ian lifted his lips from hers. He met her gaze and then deliberately looked down. Alice felt her bra release just before its straps also slid down her arms and off. Her nipples puckered even tighter, and her pussy clenched again.

“Beautiful.” Ian lowered his head and took her left nipple into his mouth.

“Gorgeous.” Ken cupped her right breast and began to tug on her nipple.

Alice arched her back, the unbelievable heat, the soaring arousal, as potent this time as it had been the last time…the only time.

Her knees gave out, and Ken kept her from falling. Ian lifted his head and stepped back just enough that he could kneel in front of her.

“You’re so damned responsive. You came the last time when all we did was play with your breasts and gently brush your clothing over your pussy. And right now, I think you’re as hot as we are.” He made short work of removing her shoes and socks. Then he stripped her of jeans and panties. He gained his feet and immediately stepped to the bed and yanked the sheet and blanket out of the way.

Ken scooped her up and laid her on the mattress, on her back, and then stood beside his cousin. Both men kept their gazes on her as they each got naked as quickly as possible.

Watching them strip, taking in the sight of their bare chests, corded muscles, and wonderfully erect cocks made her hornier than she’d ever been. Knowing she was playing with fire, she spread her legs, bent her knees, and began to stroke the fingers of her right hand through her very wet folds.

“You’re in a hurry.” Ken came down on the bed on her right side.

“I can’t help it. I need…”

Ken placed a finger on her lips. “We know. I guess there’s only one thing we can do.”

“Yes, please. Now.”

Both men laughed. Ian reached out to the bedside table and pulled out a handful of condoms. He set most of them at the head of the bed, but he handed one to Ken and kept one for himself.

“What my cousin was attempting to say was that the only thing we can do is make you come so much you won’t be able to move—and when we’ve done that, being in a hurry won’t even enter your mind.”

“A challenge.” Alice grinned. Is making love supposed to be funny and fun? She’d think about all she’d missed out on during her one other experience, but later.

For now, she ran her fingers through her pussy one more time and mentally fist-pumped when Ian’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared.

And then he came down between her bent knees. He lifted her fingers from her pussy and gave that hand to Ken.

Ken began to suck her fingers, and she snapped her attention to him.

And gasped when Ian laid his mouth on her cunt and began to plunder.