Chapter 5
Chapter Five
L ucy put four scoops in the filter and filled the water tank, going through the process of preparing her morning coffee before turning it on. She needed it today because last night hadn’t been the least bit restful.
If anyone were to walk into her bedroom and see her tangled, twisted sheets and her duvet kicked to the floor, they’d think she’d been attacked. She had tossed and turned and tried to beat her pillow into submission until the wee hours of the morning.
Sleep, when it did come, hadn’t been deep. Instead, it was as if she’d been awake with her eyes closed, driving her dreams, which had been epic and vivid and strongly featured two men. She was in uncharted territory here because she’d never felt this kind of instant attraction to any man.
And now?
Fuck her.
She was completely attracted to both cohosts of ManPower .
Who wouldn’t be?
Joey Moretti was sex-on-a-stick hot with olive skin, a strong jawline, prominent cheekbones, and those soulful brown eyes that screamed of his Italian heritage. She was a sucker for a beard, and his called to her like a Siren’s song, making her long to stroke it. It had felt rough against her mouth as they’d kissed, and she’d spotted the tiniest bit of beard burn last night when she’d been brushing her teeth before bed. That kiss had contributed greatly to her lost sleep as she imagined him doing it again and again.
And then there was Miles, with his dark skin, close-cropped hair, clean-cut face, those eyes that were such a deep, rich brown they sometimes looked black in different light, and that sexy smile she saw all too infrequently. When he flashed it her way, it made her girlie bits wake up and take notice because it was just— sigh —perfection.
It was the kiss he hadn’t given her that had accounted for the rest of her sleepless night.
God, she muttered to herself.
Her attraction to the two men was the height of madness. For one thing, they were leaving in a couple of days. And secondly, she wasn’t limiting this newfound obsession to just one cohost, but both.
So yeah…insanity.
She needed to be smart, to move forward with an eye toward self-preservation because she couldn’t let herself get carried away with dreams of something that simply couldn’t be. Joey had asked for more time to get to know her. She’d been excited by the prospect last night, especially after that kiss, but the cold harshness of morning had a way of shining a different light on things.
Joey and Miles were going to continue traveling around the country filming, and she was going to remain here on the farm. She wasn’t exactly sure how Joey intended to move things forward, but he didn’t strike her as the pen pal type, content with exchanging love letters like they were some star-crossed nineteenth century couple. And while phone calls and FaceTime and texts were fine, they weren’t the same thing as spending time with a person. Eventually, she could see the calls dwindling, the texts becoming less personal, and then…nothing.
Lucy popped out of the kitchen when she heard a knock at the door, grinning when she saw Miles through the glass pane, standing on the porch. The butterflies in her stomach arrived every time Joey or Miles made their appearance, though she knew enough to know that these particular flutters had nothing to do with nerves and everything to do with hormones.
Taking a deep, calming breath—and kicking herself for not running a brush through her hair to tame her wild bedhead before coming downstairs—she opened the door.
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully.
Miles lifted his hand to reveal a ring of keys. “Came to return your truck. Wasn’t sure if you needed it. I’ve learned since arriving, you country folk rise early.”
She laughed when he said the last in a truly terrible southern accent. “Your timing is perfect, but only for me. My family tends to give me shit for sleeping in.”
Miles glanced at his watch. “It’s only eight o’clock.” Considering she was dressed, it was obvious she’d been awake, and he hadn’t pulled her from her bed. His response also told her she wasn’t the only one who preferred a later start to the day.
She gestured for him to come in, and she was happy when he did so, following her to the kitchen.
“Levi insists I’ve wasted half my day not bothering to rise until eight.”
“The man is a lunatic,” Miles joked.
“If that’s true, then I’m the only sane person on the farm. All three of my sisters are already up and out, their days starting much earlier than mine. I like to keep banker’s hours, heading to the brewhouse around nine. Sam takes the early shift. Coffee?”
Miles nodded. “I’d love some. Joey made a pot this morning before he left at the ass crack of dawn, but then the bastard filled a thermos with it. Didn’t leave me more than half a cup.”
Lucy poured them both a cup, gesturing to the cream and sugar. Miles added a dollop of milk, crinkling his nose when he saw how much sugar she added to hers.
“He’ll need the coffee if he hopes to keep up with Remi. She could ride those trails for hours and never get tired. She was excited to show him the views from even higher up on the mountain,” she said.
“Joey will be fine. He’s tireless himself. Besides, he’ll have to cry uncle soon. We have a meeting with the director in a couple hours to discuss what we still need to film.”
While Joey and Miles were staying in a cabin on the farm, the rest of their crew had gotten rooms in a hotel about twenty miles away, just off the highway that stretched between Gracemont and Henley Falls. According to Joey, their producer’s idea of “roughing it” was a hotel without room service, so she wasn’t interested in sleeping in a cabin, no matter how nice.
“You didn’t want to join them on their morning ride?” Lucy asked.
Miles feigned a shudder. “Nope. This city boy’s feet are perfectly happy to remain firmly on the ground.”
“Want some breakfast?” she offered. “I was just about to whip up some pancakes.”
Miles rubbed his stomach. “I’ll never say no to pancakes.”
She grinned. “Then grab a seat.”
He plopped down comfortably.
Lucy loved the look of Miles sitting there, legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles. She grabbed a bowl and the ingredients, and it occurred to her that while she’d heard a little bit about Joey’s upbringing in Philadelphia and Baltimore, she knew a hell of a lot less about Miles. “City boy, huh? What city?”
“New York.”
“Wow. I’ve always wanted to go there. It’s in the top five on my list of places to travel.”
Miles tilted his head. “Let me guess. Manhattan? Times Square? Broadway?”
She nodded enthusiastically.
“You realize there are a lot of other amazing places in the city, right?”
Lucy pretended to look shocked. “What? Seriously? There’s more?”
Miles snorted, then tapped on his chest. “I’m from Queens.”
“I don’t detect an accent.”
Miles never missed a beat, responding to that observation in the strongest Queens accent she’d ever heard, the corners of his lips pushed into a pucker. “Took some dead-ass work, but I managed to learn ’ow to talk basic like the rest of ya.”
Lucy laughed. “Oh my God. That sounds horrible.”
Miles waved her off with a smirk. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
This was the most she and Miles had said to each other since he’d arrived, and she didn’t intend to waste a second of this opportunity to get to know him. He was more at ease this morning, and that distance he’d been hell-bent on maintaining had vanished completely.
“So how did you end up hosting ManPower ?” Lucy placed a dollop of butter on the hot griddle, letting it melt.
“By a series of lucky breaks.”
His response was far too short for her. “Not enough details. I’ll pull out the real maple syrup instead of the cheap grocery store shit if you make the story worth my while.”
Miles flashed her one of those amazing smiles, and her pussy literally clenched. “Can’t say no to real maple syrup, can I?”
“No, you can’t.” She pointed the spatula at him to stress her point.
“Fine,” Miles began. “I had a buddy in high school whose dad owned a studio that specialized in voice-over productions. I went through puberty pretty young, so my voice was this deep by the time I was fifteen.”
She didn’t admit it, but Miles’s voice was the sexiest thing about him. While it was Joey’s infectious laugh and strong calloused hands keeping her panties damp, with Miles, it was the low, almost rumbling timbre of his voice.
“I spent the night with my friend one evening, and his dad asked if I’d ever considered acting. I hadn’t. Acting was Rhian—” Miles paused. It was a quick one, but it still captured Lucy’s attention. “My neighbor was the one who’d sworn up and down since we were kids that she was going to be a famous star, but I’d set my sights on a different path.”
“Oh yeah? What path?”
“I was going to play center for the Knicks, of course,” he replied in the most “duh” tone she’d ever heard.
She laughed at his joke. “Right. Of course. How silly of me.”
“Anyway, my buddy’s dad convinced me to come into his studio to lay down some tracks. Just to sort of try it out. I liked it well enough to work on cleaning the Queens accent out of my voice, and once I got the hang of it, I became popular with his clients. At first, I was doing commercials, providing the voice for training videos, educational materials, stuff like that. It became my after-school and weekend gig for spending money, and it beat the hell out of bagging groceries at the local supermarket or working in a fast-food chain.”
“I’ll say. It sounds like a cool job. And you have the perfect voice for it.”
He smiled. “Thanks. I know you’re not looking for another job, but you’d do well in voice-over roles too. I noticed it the other night when I was watching Kiss and Tell . You have a great voice.”
“You watched Kiss and Tell ?”
He nodded, and for a second, she thought he looked almost embarrassed by his confession, though she couldn’t understand why. Joey had mentioned the possibility of promoting Kiss and Tell during the filming, so it made sense they would watch a few episodes beforehand.
“I did,” he admitted. “It’s really good.”
She flipped a pancake. “Thanks,” she said, though she didn’t want to waste this conversation talking about her. “So what was your next lucky break?” Lucy placed a pancake on the plate on the warmer burner, then poured another on the griddle.
“I got a part doing voice work for a new video game, one that sold like gangbusters after its release. Thanks to that, I was basically discovered and approached by a production company that was starting to work on a new animated cartoon— Judge and Rocky .”
Lucy put the spatula down and turned to face him. “Shut! Up! You were a part of that?”
Judge and Rocky was an adult cartoon along the same lines as The Simpsons and Family Guy . Sadly, it didn’t last as long as those, only airing for two seasons. The show didn’t take off until a year after it was canceled, becoming one of those sleeper hits like Rocky Horror Picture Show and Clerks .
Lucy quickly added, “Remi stumbled onto Judge and Rocky when she was looking for something new to binge on Netflix. She was instantly hooked and since then, she’s made every single person in the family watch it. We’re constantly quoting funny lines from it. Which character were you?”
Miles sighed. “I don’t usually do this, but…” He cleared his throat—and when he spoke again, she could swear she felt the earth tremble beneath her feet. “Hello, lover. Ready to have your world rocked by Rocky?”
The character of Rocky was an absolute manwhore, who was forever propositioning every female on the show with hilariously disastrous results.
“I, I…” Lucy was literally speechless. Because Miles sounded nothing like Rocky. She never in a million years would have guessed he was the voice.
Miles chuckled at her reaction. “Pretty sure that’s exactly what Joey said—or didn’t say—when I did the voice for him.”
“I can’t believe it. I love that show. We all do!”
Miles grimaced good-naturedly. “Yeah, but I believe I heard the word Netflix. They picked it up after it was canceled, which is how it became such a hit after the fact.”
She nodded, then quickly turned back to the stove, scraping the pancake she’d just burned and tossing it into the trash. “Yeah, we found it too late and were super bummed when we realized there weren’t going to be any more seasons. By the way, you can never do that voice in front of Remi, or she’ll demand you talk like Rocky the rest of the time you’re here.”
Miles laughed. “Thanks for the warning.”
Lucy put the last of the pancakes on the serving dish and brought it to the table. She quickly grabbed two plates, forks, and napkins, setting them down.
Miles cleared his throat, raising one eyebrow. “I believe I was promised maple syrup.”
She grinned, grabbing the syrup and butter before joining him at the table.
She held the syrup away from him. “We still haven’t gotten to the ManPower part.”
“I was just getting to it.” He reached for the syrup, the two of them engaging in a playful tug-of-war that ended when Miles’s arm brushed against her breast, and he abruptly reared back as if he’d touched an open flame.
She blinked a couple of times to try to clear the lust, then handed him the bottle.
Miles recovered more quickly than her. “One of the original producers on Judge and Rocky started working on a new cable show, ManPower , and she suggested that I audition. I told her I’d never been in front of a camera before, but she insisted I try out. She said someone with my voice and looks should be heard and seen.”
“Was she flirting with you?”
Miles shook his head. “She’s in her late sixties and has been happily married to her wife for over a decade. They’d dated nearly twenty years before that and were probably the first couple in line to apply for a marriage license the second gay marriage was legalized in California.”
“Obviously you got the part.”
“I did. They’d already chosen Joey, so they were auditioning a bunch of people with him for the cohost position. The second I met him, it was like we’d known each other our entire lives. Joey said he knew within three minutes of me walking into that audition that he wanted me to get the job. Our rapport must have come through because they called to offer me the gig before I even got home from the audition.”
“That’s so awesome. Now, that show I’ve watched from the start. Swear,” Lucy said, crossing her heart. “Sam was watching the trailers on his phone in the brewhouse one day, mentioned we should check it out, and we did. One show in and we were addicted. None of us had a clue that Uncle Rex had written to suggest Stormy Weather Farm for an episode. He said he didn’t want us to be disappointed if nothing came of the request. You could have knocked Levi down with a feather when your producer called to see if we were interested and to set up filming. We celebrated our asses off that night and paid for it the next morning. Even so, no regrets.”
Miles wiped his mouth. “Joey’s family, the Morettis, are big fans of celebrations too.”
“What about your family?”
“Not so much. I mean, we do the biggies—Christmas and Thanksgiving—but the rest…” He shrugged. “Even birthdays when I was growing up were low-key. I usually just got a card, a small gift, and Mom made my favorite dinner. I think I told you my parents were divorced.”
She nodded.
“Money was always tight. Dad gave her as much child support as he could afford, but he struggled to hold down a job due to some issues with depression.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“He and Mom split right after my little sister was born. I was only five, so I don’t remember a whole lot about him living with us. Truth is, when I think back, all I remember about my dad is him yelling. The house was quieter and nicer after he left.”
Lucy rarely talked about her own parents. She’d been young when they passed away, but still old enough to remember the yelling. “My parents were in the process of getting divorced when they died.”
Miles’s eyes widened. “I didn’t realize.”
She grinned sadly. “Yeah, I know. The Storms really are one big happy family…now. But it wasn’t always like that.”
“You said you were ten when they died?” Miles asked.
She was touched he’d remembered that, that he’d listened so closely to her story about her grandparents the other night.
“I was. And just like you, a lot of my memories of them involve fights and yelling.”
“That couldn’t have been easy for you.”
Lucy moved the last few bites of her pancake around on her plate, too full to eat any more. “My mom met Dad by chance. She’d just graduated from college and embarked on a cross-country road trip. She was a photographer. Her car broke down when she was driving through Gracemont. Dad stopped to help her and…she never continued her journey. According to Granddaddy, the two of them had a whirlwind love affair, falling hard and fast, married within three months. Nine months later, I arrived. I was a honeymoon baby,” she confided.
“You’re not kidding about whirlwind.”
“The first six or seven years of my life were idyllic. Growing up on the farm with my sisters and cousins, fishing in the creek, playing hide-and-seek in the vineyard, riding bikes. It was a great childhood.”
“What changed?” Miles asked.
“Mom,” Lucy said simply. “Farm life isn’t for everyone, and I guess she started regretting that she’d never finished that cross-country trip. Once resentment kicked in, things at home were less happy. They would get into these yelling and screaming battles. Dad couldn’t understand why she’d married him and had kids if she was so unhappy. He’d grown up on the mountain, and like the rest of my family, he couldn’t conceive of anywhere else being better than right here. Mom would yell back, tell him there was more to life, that they weren’t tied to the land, that he could get a job anywhere.”
“Where did she want to move to?”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t think she even knew or cared. She just wanted off the mountain. That was part of what frustrated my dad, I think. That she suddenly seemed to hate the place he loved so much. The fighting went on until…”
“Until?”
“She left.”
Miles frowned. “She left?”
Lucy nodded. “I had just turned nine. Woke up one morning, got ready for school, and came downstairs to find Dad sitting at the kitchen table. He was usually out of the house by that time of day. He told me that Mom was taking a vacation. That was what he called it. A vacation.”
“I’m guessing that’s not what it was.”
She shook her head. “Apparently Mom had hit her limit, and she just took off, left us.”
“How long did it take before you realized she wasn’t coming back?”
Lucy grimaced. “I’m nothing if not an optimist. I bought the vacation story for four months before Everett sat down next to me on the bus home from school. We’re close in age, him just a year ahead of me. He told me my mom wasn’t coming back.”
Miles scowled, but Lucy cut him off, raising a hand.
“He didn’t say it to be cruel. He was worried about me because I’d stopped playing, stopped running around the farm, doing kid crap with him, my cousins, my sisters.”
“What were you doing?” Miles asked.
“Hanging out on the front porch, waiting for Mom to come home.”
Miles started to take her hand, but then he hesitated and pulled back. “You said your parents died together.”
Lucy sighed. “She came home after a year away. Not to stay. She wanted a divorce. By that point, I think Dad was all too happy to give it to her. She’d deserted us, left him on his own with four daughters, all of them missing their mom.”
“I’m sorry,” Miles said softly.
“They went to town to see a lawyer. On the way home, they hit some black ice and the car ran off the road, smashed into a tree. My sister, Nora was with them.”
“Jesus.” Miles ran his hand over his head.
“She was seven, and she’d been playing at a friend’s house. Mom and Dad picked her up after their meeting with the lawyer. Because the front of the car took most of the damage, she was actually able to walk away from the accident. But…” Lucy hated this part. Hated saying it, hated thinking about it. “It was several hours before anyone went looking for them. She was trapped in the car with Mom and Dad and…”
This time Miles did take her hand. “They were dead.”
She nodded, even though his words weren’t a question. Lucy looked out the kitchen window, taking a minute to gather herself, and wondering why in the hell she’d just told him all of that.
“Wow.” She forced a smile, dug deep to turn the conversation around. “Talk about bringing the room down. I haven’t talked about any of that in years. Of course, I don’t have to because this is Gracemont. Everyone already knows.”
“No secrets in small towns, huh?”
She gave him a sad smile. “Not many.”
Miles squeezed her hand, then released it. “I’m sorry all that happened to you and to Nora. We don’t have to talk about it anymore if you don’t want to.”
“Thanks,” she said, touched by his compassion. “So, new subject.”
“Okay. Kiss and Tell ,” he said, grinning.
Lucy groaned playfully. “Oh God. Alright. Hit me with it. What did you think of it? You can be brutally honest.”
“It’s sappy as shit with all that cheesy talk about love and forever,” he said, not cracking a smile until she narrowed her eyes, her spine suddenly ramrod straight as she prepared to defend her show to the death.
Miles quickly held up his hands in surrender. “I’m kidding! I liked it, Lucy. A lot. It’s a really cool show.”
“Asshole. You really got me there,” she said, laughing. Then, unable to resist teasing him back, she said, “Who knows? Maybe one day you’ll be sitting on my couch with your true love, telling me your cheesy story.”
“Don’t get carried away.”
She rose, clearing the plates. Miles stood too, following her, but she didn’t realize that until she turned too quickly and bumped into him. She stumbled a bit, losing her footing.
Miles reached out, gripping her waist to yank her forward, but he overcorrected, and her backward momentum was reversed as she suddenly pitched toward Miles, her hands landing on his chest.
She glanced up just as he lowered his head, their lips inches apart.
She was instantly thrust back to last night on the porch, and Joey’s good-night kiss. To that moment when it ended and the two of them turned to Miles as one.
Lucy had never in her dizziest daydreams considered kissing two guys at the same time, but damn if she hadn’t wanted to desperately. What felt even crazier was the realization that Joey wanted the same thing. She could see it in his eyes.
He was the one who’d suggested Lucy ask Miles to dance, and he’d initiated the kiss knowing his best friend was standing right there. Now that she considered it, it was Joey who’d turned toward Miles first, as if he was directing her attention toward the other man, encouraging her to look at him.
Miles’s breath was warm on her face, and it smelled sweet. Maple syrup. Her mouth watered for a taste.
“Lucy,” he murmured. His grip on her waist tightened as the distance between them shrank. She wasn’t sure if he was tugging her forward or if she was leaning toward him.
Maybe both.
One second, they were looking at each other, and the next, his lips were on hers.
Her hands were pressed against his muscular chest, so she slid them upward, wrapping them around the back of his neck, part of her terrified he’d come to his senses too soon. She didn’t want this kiss to end any more than Joey’s last night.
Dear God. Who taught these men how to kiss?
Not that she had much to compare them to. She’d only dated a couple guys because it wasn’t like there was a large crop to choose from in her tiny neck of the woods.
Neither of her past boyfriends had kissed her with this all-consuming passion. Miles’s hands slid around her back, and he pulled her flush against him, chest to chest, one hand sliding lower, finding her ass. His tongue tangled with hers, stroking inside her mouth before vanishing for a second, then coming back again.
When he lifted one hand to her hair, his fist wrapping around it tightly, tugging slightly, Lucy saw literal stars, her knees going weak, her pussy quivering.
She wasn’t sure how long the kiss might have continued, but they broke apart at the sound of footsteps on the porch. Miles stepped away rapidly, putting some distance between them.
Lucy had to reach behind her to grip the edge of the counter for support because the man had kissed her boneless.
She heard Joey thank Remi and listened as her sister climbed the stairs. Three seconds later, Joey walked into the kitchen.
His dark hair was windblown from his ride, his cheeks red from the chill in the air, his eyes were bright and sparkling and—as always—he was smiling. He started to say something to them, then stopped, his gaze traveling from her to Miles and back.
Lucy felt flames licking her face, partly caused by the arousal Miles’s kiss had awakened and partly from nearly being caught in the act. She cast a quick glance in Miles’s direction, impressed by his far-better poker face. He was giving the perfect impression of boredom. Or he would have, if he’d managed to look Joey in the eye.
Lucy forced herself to face Joey again, clearing her throat, trying to find her voice.
Before she could say anything, Joey’s smile grew even wider.
“Sooo,” he drawled. “What have you two been up to?”
If Lucy didn’t know better, she’d think Joey knew exactly what they’d been doing, and once again, she couldn’t help but wonder if he wanted her to kiss Miles.
In a normal situation, she might think the guy who’d kissed her last night and asked for time to get to know her would feel jealousy or annoyance, but nothing between her, Joey, and Miles felt normal. The look Joey was shooting their direction was completely devoid of both emotions. Instead, he looked…delighted? Pleased? Happy?
“Nothing,” Miles answered, way too quickly.
She huffed out an exasperated breath.
Joey chuckled at Miles’s response, then reached for one of the pancakes still sitting on the warming plate. He didn’t bother with syrup or butter, tearing the thing into bite-sized pieces he shoved his mouth.
“Nothing?” Joey reiterated after he’d demolished one pancake and reached for another.
“You can have a plate, you know,” she said, trying to distract him. “And butter and syrup.”
“I’m fine.” Joey leaned against the counter, munching on the second pancake, clearly waiting for an answer to his question.
Miles didn’t offer anything else, though she noticed his stoicism was slipping slightly, guilt starting to color his features as he continued looking around the room to avoid facing Joey.
“We were just chatting about our families,” Lucy said.
It was the truth.
Or at least part of it.
Joey grabbed the last pancake and plopped down on one of the chairs at the kitchen table.
“How was your ride?” Lucy asked, going for distraction.
Joey gestured toward the other chairs at the table, an unspoken invitation for the two of them to join him. They did, and Miles finally seemed to recover enough to revert to his old self.
Unfortunately.
He closed down again, his arms crossed, that scowl back in place.
She instantly missed the engaging and entertaining man she’d just been talking to.
“Great. Not sure I’ve ever learned so much about trees and birds and bug sounds and woodland creatures. To be honest, I didn’t know I wanted to learn about that stuff until Remi started talking. Her facts were fascinating.”
Lucy grinned. “She’s a walking encyclopedia when it comes to subjects that interest her. She was always top of her class in science, just as she was the bottom in math.”
“Sounds like my brother, Luca. His report card was a potpourri of hit or miss. I think it’s safe to say he’ll never be fluent in Spanish,” Joey said.
“That’s alright,” Miles added. “He’s got Conor now. His billionaire boyfriend can translate for him.”
Lucy was confused because the other night at dinner, Joey mentioned his brother Luca was dating former supermodel, Harper Branson. Needless to say, that tidbit had captured the attention of every single one of her cousins, all of them wanting to know if she was as beautiful in person as she was in the magazines and commercials. Joey told them about her restaurant in Philadelphia, promising to take them there if they ever came to visit.
“Conor?” she asked.
“His partner,” Joey quickly responded.
“Oh.” Lucy frowned. “I thought Luca was the brother who was dating Harper Branson?”
Joey stood up, walking across the kitchen to help himself to a cup of coffee. “He is. He’s in a relationship with both of them.”
Aaaaaand that cleared nothing up for Lucy. “I don’t understand.”
“My brother Luca is happily shacked up in a committed throuple with Conor and Harper, the three of them currently living in a bougie-ass penthouse in Philly.”
Lucy blinked a few times, wondering if Joey was going to hit her with a “just kidding.”
Instead, he rejoined them at the table, taking a sip of his coffee. “Harper and Conor recently opened a restaurant together. The one I mentioned at dinner. Luca was their contractor.” When she didn’t respond, Joey reached over and tapped her hand. “No follow-up questions? Because they’re allowed.”
Miles rolled his eyes. “Jesus, man. Stop playing with her. Joey’s siblings have all found their happily ever afters in threesome relationships.”
“Seriously? All of them?” she asked, wondering how in the hell Joey had failed to mention that in all his stories of home.
Joey nodded. “It all started with Layla.”
Suddenly, a light bulb went on. Joey had mentioned being overprotective when it came to his kid sister. When she acted shocked that he’d let a guy date Layla, Joey had casually dropped in that it had been two men. She thought he meant she’d had two different boyfriends, at different times. “Wow, she was the first?”
“Yeah.” Joey put his cup down. “And don’t think that didn’t go over like a lead balloon. Layla was the only one of my siblings upset when the family moved back to Philadelphia from Baltimore when we were kids. So none of us were surprised when she decided to live there as an adult. The shock came when she returned home for a visit with Finn and Miguel in tow. I thought my brother Tony was going to have an aneurysm.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “I bet. My cousins probably would have taken a couple swings.”
“Oh, we thought about it. Until we got to know Finn and Miguel. Hard to stay mad at two stand-up guys who love your sister and basically worship the ground she walks on.”
“As they should,” Lucy added with a giggle.
“Damn right. The three of them have been together for years. Layla legally married Finn, but she and Miguel exchanged vows as well. She’s seven months pregnant with their first child, and I’ve never seen three people more excited to become parents.”
“That’s…” Lucy paused, still trying to digest this new information. “Nice,” she finally added lamely.
“After that…I don’t know,” Joey said, rubbing his beard. “It was like a door opened, and once my brothers took a peek inside, they decided they liked what they saw.”
“So they’re all in threesomes?” Lucy was having a hard time wrapping her head around this whole conversation.
“It’s not as unheard of as you might think,” Joey added. “I’ve read a few articles lately talking about the rise in polyamory relationships. Given the state of the world, sadly, these days it takes three salaries to buy a home and pay the bills.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Miles added.
“You should plan a trip to Philly to interview some of my siblings and their partners.” Joey reached out and grasped her hand, holding it. Lucy saw Miles’s gaze locked on their linked hands. “Just think, you could explore different kinds of relationships on Kiss and Tell . My brothers all have great stories to tell. The Morettis are masters of romance.”
Miles scoffed, his response causing Joey to frown.
“You’re really not a fan of romance, are you?” Lucy asked, recalling his jest about her show being cheesy.
Miles shook his head. “Romance novels and romcoms are called fiction for a reason. That shit doesn’t happen in real life.”
“That’s Rhiannon blowback,” Joey muttered.
“Rhiannon?” she asked. Miles had started to mention his neighbor’s name before cutting himself off earlier.
“My ex,” Miles replied, shooting Joey a dirty look. “Who we are NOT talking about.”
Joey put his free hand up in surrender, refusing to relinquish his hold on Lucy’s. “How can you say romance isn’t real after spending the last couple of years with my family?”
Miles crossed his arms. “Those relationships are still relatively new. Your family seems to embrace extended honeymoon phases, all hot sex and hearts in their eyes. Let’s table declaring them soul mates and all that shit until they’ve been together twenty years, faced some hard times, raised a few smart-mouthed brats, and waged countless wars over doing the laundry and washing the dishes.”
Joey shook his head but didn’t bother to belabor the point. “Looks like it’s up to us to show Miles the ways of romance, Lucy. Speaking of, what’s the deal with you and the mayor?”
Lucy wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ugh—that sure as hell isn’t romance. There is no deal. And there will never be a deal.”
Joey looked pleased with that response. “Good.” Then he released her hand, glancing at his phone and rising. “Shit, we gotta go, Miles. Our director will be here soon, and I want to get a shower first. Wash the horsey smell off.”
“The plan is to pick up filming after lunch,” Miles reminded her as he stood as well.
“Sam and I will be ready,” she assured him.
“We’ll see you later, honey.” Joey leaned forward, giving her a too quick, too platonic kiss, though she was secretly pleased it was on the lips and not her cheek. When he cupped one side of her face affectionately, she melted. Especially when he stroked it with his thumb, looking at her like she was the most beautiful person in the world.
She gave him a soft smile that morphed to a breathy laugh when he bopped the tip of her nose with his finger.
Lucy expected Joey to leave, so she was shocked when he glanced in Miles’s direction, tilting his head toward her with a grin that was the definition of shit-eating. For a split second, Lucy prayed Miles would take Joey up on his unspoken suggestion.
Unfortunately, Miles just narrowed his eyes at Joey.
“See you later, Lucy.” Miles’s farewell didn’t include a kiss, but the way he reached out and slowly stroked his fingers along her arm was just as hot.
They left together, leaving Lucy reeling in their wake.
Drifting to the sink, she started to fill it with water and dishwashing soap to scrub their breakfast dishes. As she did so, she considered what she’d just learned about Joey’s siblings. She noticed that when he talked about Layla’s relationship opening a door, he didn’t include himself when he said his brothers took a peek inside.
Had Joey?
Was he interested in the same kind of relationship?
What would she do if he asked her to participate in a threesome affair? How the hell did a person even reply to something like that?
It certainly wasn’t a kink she’d ever considered before.
Her curiosity was piqued, though, and there was no denying she was intrigued by it.
Of course, there was a big difference between thinking about something and doing it. Lucy wasn’t a virgin, but she wouldn’t call herself super experienced either. Her two longish relationships were both the same flavor. Vanilla.
Picking up one of the dirty plates, she used a sponge to scrub off the remnants. As she did so, her mind drifted, her fantasies of Miles and Joey thus far had been either/or scenarios, but now, she couldn’t imagine one man without the other…
“That was delicious,” Joey said. “But I’m still hungry.”
“You can’t be,” Lucy said with a laugh. The three of them had just polished off a huge breakfast, gorging themselves on pancakes and bacon.
“I am too,” Miles added.
She dismissed their complaints and started to clear the plates.
“Still starving,” Joey insisted, rising quickly to band his arm around her middle and tug her onto his lap. “Give us another taste?”
Lucy felt his thick erection hard against her ass.
“Okay,” she whispered.
Miles moved to stand in front of them. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”
Her cheeks flushed with desire when Miles backed that statement up by reaching for her shirt and pulling it over her head.
“Still too many,” Joey added, as he unfastened her bra and tossed it to the floor.
“Not finished yet.” Miles grasped her hands, tugging her from Joey’s lap, so that he could pull her jeans and panties off before lifting her so that she was sitting on the edge of the kitchen table, her legs outstretched, Miles standing between them.
Joey stood, moving to her side. Once there, he reached out, squeezing one of her breasts before bending over to suck her nipple into his mouth.
“Mmm,” he moaned. “Delicious.”
God, he hadn’t exaggerated about being starving. Lucy gasped at Joey’s rough suction, and suddenly, she was suffering from the same hunger pangs.
Miles grabbed one of the kitchen chairs, positioning it so that he could sit down between her outstretched legs. Placing the back of her thighs over his shoulders, he wasted no time doing a little tasting of his own.
Her back arched until Joey placed a firm hand on her collarbone and pressed her flat against the table. They weren’t holding back their strength, putting her exactly where they wanted with ease.
Joey focused on her breasts, kissing, pinching, and sucking until the peaks were so hot she feared she might have third-degree burns.
Not that Lucy minded. Her hands clenched Joey’s hair, holding him tight to her chest.
“God,” she cried out, their dual attacks driving her out of her mind. Between Joey’s teeth toying with her nipples and Miles’s wicked tongue, she was already on the verge of an orgasm, something that typically took a lot more time and work.
Miles, sweet Jesus, was proving himself to be accomplished at going down on a woman. He held her pussy lips apart with his thumbs, as he sucked her clit into his mouth. Then he teased it, tickling it with his tongue.
“Miles,” she gasped.
Joey lifted his head, curious to see what Miles was doing to make her so crazy. “Fuck, man. That’s hot. Keep going.”
Joey cupped one of her breasts, squeezing it firmly, but he didn’t lower his head again, too fascinated with watching what Miles was doing to her.
Miles raised his head, slowly slipping two fingers inside her, thrusting in and out a few times before withdrawing completely. They were shiny with her arousal when he showed Joey just how wet and ready she was for them.
“Jesus,” she groaned when Joey wrapped his hand around Miles’s wrist, sucking those two fingers into his mouth.
She writhed beneath them, on the verge of spontaneous combustion.
Joey released Miles’s fingers. “You want more, honey?”
She nodded emphatically. Joey chuckled, but mercifully, Miles responded.
Pushing his thick fingers back inside, he kept his pace slow and gentle as he lowered his head, putting his mouth back in the game as he sucked on her clit.
When he curled his fingers, she was all but lost.
“Fuuuuuuuck!” Lucy’s drawn-out curse let them know Miles had found that spot inside that never failed to send her into orbit. The one she’d discovered on her own…with the help of her vibrator.
“I… I…” Her face flushed with heat, her eyes closed tightly.
Joey leaned over until his bearded cheek was next to hers, his lips at her ear. “Come for us, honey. Yell our names and know that you’re ours. Ours.”
Her mind played over that pronoun, aware nothing had ever sounded sweeter.
She decided right then and there she definitely preferred ours to mine.
She wanted to belong to them. To both of them.
“Joey,” she breathed, a split second before Miles stroked her G-spot again. “Miles!” she cried louder. She trembled on the table as Miles pushed her over the edge, slamming a third finger inside.
Her orgasm hit her like a two-ton truck, and her vision went gray. At this rate, she wouldn’t be surprised to come to and discover broken bones. Miles drew out her orgasm, slowing his thrusts but not withdrawing. Joey added more fuel to the fire, pinching one nipple tightly, sucking on the other.
Several aftershocks rumbled through her before her body finally went limp.
She lay on the table, her skin shimmering with perspiration, as Joey brushed damp hair away from her face, both men looking down at her with such awe.
“Ours,” Joey repeated.
Completely exhausted, all she could do was nod.
Lucy’s vision cleared and she realized she’d been scrubbing the same plate for five minutes now. She rinsed it off, placing it in the drainer, not bothering to reach for another.
Instead, she reached up, cupping one of her breasts, her nipple so tight it poked through her shirt. If she slipped her hand into her jeans, she knew her panties would be drenched. She’d never—ever—gotten so turned on from a daydream.
Lucy sighed blissfully.
Ours.
Yeah. She liked the sound of that.