Their Mountain Love Read online

  “You’re sure about this job? It doesn’t sound all that exciting to me,” Gail said for the hundredth time.

  “I’m sure. It’s going to be perfect for me. I enjoyed keeping my parents’ house when I was growing up, and now I’ll get to do it all again, but with the added distraction of two insanely good-looking men.”

  “Are you sure they’re a couple? Maybe they’re just living together, and one of them will be interested in you,” Gail suggested, waggling her eyebrows.

  “I just can’t see two men building a house if one of them might move out at some point. I don’t know, but regardless, I can’t hook up with one of them when they’re my bosses. It’s a rule, right?”

  Gail rolled her eyes. “I don’t think it matters when you’re working for two men instead of a company.”

  “I don’t want to lose the job before I even have it, girlfriend. I think I better concentrate on work and leave the men to themselves,” Lacy said.

  “Maybe you’ll catch them kissing or fooling around. That would be so hot,” Gail said, clapping her hands.

  “Really? You went there?” Lacy asked, shaking her head.

  “It’s a possibility. I’m all about possibilities,” her friend said.

  “Shut up and help me get the rest of my things. I swear I don’t remember buying half this crap. Are you sure you aren’t foisting some of your stuff off on me?” Lacy asked.

  “No. I have just as much junk as you do. Mike has already complained that we need a third bedroom just for my stuff.”

  It took another twenty minutes before Lacy was ready to leave. Her meager furniture was in the U-Haul she was pulling behind her car and the rest of her things were stuffed into every little crevice in the back seat of her car.

  She and Gail hugged, and Lacy climbed in her car and drove off. A little over an hour later, she was pulling up outside her new apartment and exhausted from the drive. Pulling a trailer behind her had been more work than she’d expected. Before she started unloading her things, she needed to unwind. To do that, she grabbed her purse and a box of things for the kitchen out of the back. She unlocked her new home and walked inside, already envisioning where everything would go.

  Lacy set the box on the counter in the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of wine and one of her glasses. She unscrewed the cap and poured a glass to toast her new place.

  “To many happy years full of promise and hope.” She sipped her wine and smiled.

  This was going to be a great new start. Sure, she already missed Gail, but her friend was well on her way to getting married. Mike wanting her to move in meant that he was testing the waters, so to speak. It wouldn’t be long before she’d be a matron of honor at her best friend’s wedding.

  After finishing the glass of wine, Lacy felt sufficiently relaxed to begin unloading the U-Haul. She put the wine in the fridge and got to work.

  It took her nearly an hour to unload her bed and put it together. The mattress had been the hardest part to move. It kept trying to bend while she pulled it into the apartment. Finally, she had the bed put together minus sheets and covers. Next, she unloaded her favorite reading chair followed by her side table and bedside tables. Since she wouldn’t need them, Gail had offered the two bar stools to Lacy. All that remained after that was the boxes of kitchen supplies and her clothes.

  It was nearly dark by the time she’d turned in the U-Haul trailer to the little service station on the edge of town. She climbed out of the car and looked around the street with a broad smile splitting her face. This was it. The first night of the rest of her life. Her apartment building only held four apartments, two downstairs and two upstairs. She had the bottom left one. There were houses up and down the road with another small apartment building on the opposite end of the road.

  No one had come out to welcome her or ask if she’d needed help, but then she really hadn’t expected them to. These days, people weren’t as open until they got to know you. She’d make friends eventually. For now, she had a home to unpack and a new job to get used to. She didn’t need distractions.

  Thinking of distractions brought the two men she’d be working for to mind. How was she going to keep from staring at them every chance she got? They were sexy, hot, and so off-limits. She already had a crush on them, and she didn’t know the first thing about them other than they owned a house and worked a lot. She had no idea what they did for a living that they could do from home.

  Face it. I’m going to be sappy over them inside a week. Unless they’re rude and obnoxious, I’m so going to lust after them.

  Lacy tried to steel her resolve to not think about them in that way, but she hadn’t even started to work yet, and already she was thinking about them every spare minute. What was it going to be like when she was actually around them?

  To take her mind off them, she pulled up her computer and began developing a grocery list that would encompass all the meals she planned to make over the next week. She typed up a menu of sorts and checked off the ingredients against her list to be sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Then she added general snacks and spices that they might not have. She could compare it to what they had in their pantry and cross off what she didn’t need. She printed out the lists and folded them before putting them in her purse for Monday. Tomorrow, she’d make her own list and run to the grocery store to have what she would need for the coming week at home.

  The rest of the evening, Lacy read on her Kindle, then took a nice hot bath to relax her aching muscles before bed. She still had some minor unpacking to do the next day, but for the most part, she was moved in and ready to move forward.

  The last thing she thought about before she fell asleep was how she’d feel if she walked in and found the two men kissing. Yeah, that fueled her dreams for the rest of the night.

  Chapter Four

  Lacy rang the doorbell of her new job bright and early Monday morning. She’d forgotten to ask what time they expected her but felt that if she was going to be making their lunch, she needed to be there by nine to see what was available before she went to the grocery store that afternoon.

  Jet, the tall, dark, and handsome of the two opened the door. He smiled if a little distracted looking. “Thought Tanner gave you a key. I’ll remind him to do that. You don’t have to knock or ring the bell. Just come on in and do what you’re going to do.”

  “Okay. What time do you guys want lunch today?” she asked as she walked into the house. She pulled off her light jacket and hung it on one of the hooks next to the door.

  “Noon is fine. Dinner? Maybe sixish,” he said.

  “Got it. I’ll take it from here. You can leave me to it.” Lacy grinned up at the devilishly handsome man and forced herself to turn away and march toward the kitchen.

  She immediately opened the pantry and started checking off supplies before she pulled out some ingredients to make a pot pie for lunch. She whipped it up and put it in the oven while finishing her grocery list. They actually had more than she would have thought. The industrial-sized fridge was well stocked, but mostly with ingredients for sandwiches and frozen dinners. She was already thinking about what all she could cook for them.

  Lacy gathered all the dirty clothes she could find and made plans to get colored laundry baskets, so she could keep the men’s clothes separate. She didn’t know if they would mind wearing each other’s clothes or not, but a color-coded laundry system would keep that from occurring.

  Next, she inventoried the cleaning supplies and added a few items to the list from that, as well. The house wasn’t filthy by any means, but it could use a good dusting as well as the floors swept and mopped. It was obvious they’d made an attempt to keep it clean but hadn’t really known how to do it.

  She pulled out the potpie and set it on the kitchen table, then added silverware, plates, and glasses. It was five till twelve. She wasn’t sure whether she needed to go get them or wait for them to come out on their own. At straight up noon, she decided they needed prodding and walked around to their office and knocked on the door.

  “Come in.” She had no idea who’d said it, but she opened the door and stuck her head in.

  “Lunch is ready. Don’t let it get cold, guys.”

  Jet looked up and sniffed the air. “Something smells good.”

  “We’ll wash up and be right there,” Tanner said as he stood.

  “What do you guys want to drink?” she asked.

  “Is there any tea left?” Tanner asked.

  “Yes. I made some more when I saw it in the fridge. I’ll pour it over ice for you.” Lacy smiled and retreated to the kitchen. She couldn’t help but smile again as the two men walked into the room with equally wide smiles.

  “Damn, that smells good. What is it?” Jet asked.

  “Homemade chicken potpie. The next one will be better because I’ll have everything I need to make it, but this one should fill you up well enough,” she said.

  “Where’s your plate?” Tanner asked.

  “Oh, I’ll eat later,” she said, waving them over to the table.

  “No, you eat with us. How else are we going to know that you’re not poisoning us?” Tanner said.

  Lacy’s eyes grew wide at the comment. Really?

  “I’m just kidding, Lacy. But seriously, eat with us. There’s no need to have to wait.” Tanner’s smile was contagious. Even though he’d teased her, she found herself relaxing and grabbed a plate for herself.

  “Have you found everything you needed?” Tanner asked.

  “Yes. I have a grocery list made up. I’ll have to go to the store this afternoon, so I will have what I need to cook for you the rest of the week.”

  “Damn, forgot. I have a checkbook for you to use to keep up with all of that. You’ll need to sign the signature card for me to take to the bank the next time I go. I’ll sign you a couple of checks to get started. Just fill in the amounts in the checkbook register when you get back,” Tanner said.

  “I need a few things from town. Can you pick them up for me?” Jet asked.

  “Of course. Just tell me what you need, and I’ll add it to my to-do list,” she said.

  “We’ll make a list of things. Neither of us has been to town in over a week,” Jet said.

  “I’ll take care of anything you need done in town. Don’t forget I can take the mail for you, as well,” she said.

  Once they’d all finished eating, Lacy gathered up the dishes and after rinsing them, loaded them into the dishwasher. She waited until the men wrote up their list of items they wanted, then headed down to town to shop. So far, she’d thoroughly enjoyed what she was doing. The guys didn’t appear to make a huge mess so the housekeeping part wouldn’t be all that challenging either. Getting to cook was well worth the hassle of folding laundry and sweeping the floor.

  She finished shopping and was back at the house by four. That left her two hours to cook dinner. She’d decided on meatloaf and creamed potatoes. She’d open a can of English peas to go with it. This time when it was ready, she didn’t have to call the men out of their office—they followed their noses.

  “Meatloaf. Can’t wait,” Tanner said.

  “Hope you like it. I never remembered to ask what your likes and dislikes were. We should probably talk about that,” she said.

  “Good idea,” Tanner said as Jet grabbed the tea pitcher from her.

  “Have a seat,” Jet said.

  “We like anything except olives, snails, and any kind of greens like turnip greens and crap. Salads are okay but not as the main meal,” Tanner said.

  “Do you like asparagus?” she asked.

  “That would be okay. We can eat that sometimes,” Jet said.

  What about fish?” she asked.

  “Fish is good.” Tanner nodded.

  “I’ll steer clear of olives, snails, and greens. That leaves a lot to work with. Super,” she said, smiling.

  “I noticed you have a small fridge in your office. Did you want some of the beer in there? I put a dozen bottles in the fridge in here, but there’s a couple of cases in the pantry if you wanted to put it in your office fridge,” she said.

  “Yeah. We’ll take care of that later. How many cases of beer did you get?” Jet asked.

  “You said a couple, but I went ahead and got three to be safe. That will make sure you have plenty over the weekend. You’ll have more time to relax and may want more while you do. I bet you’re both football fans. Nothing like a beer while watching the game,” Lacy said.

  “Thanks for thinking ahead for us,” Tanner said.

  Once they’d finished dinner, Lacy loaded the dishwasher and bid the guys good night. She would return at ten the next morning with her hours being ten till six each day. All in all, the day had gone perfectly. She was excited about the job and couldn’t wait to return the next day.

  When she got home, Lacy called Gail and filled her in on her first day and listened as her friend fussed about work. She was so glad she wasn’t still working there. Hopefully, Gail would find a different job soon. It hadn’t bothered her nearly as much as it had gotten to Lacy, but Gail wasn’t any happier there than she’d been.

  After ending the call with Gail, she called her folks and caught them up on how things were going. They’d been a little leery of her working for two men keeping their house but sounded a little less worried after she told them about her day.

  She had a dream job. She got to cook, she didn’t have to enter boring numbers in a program all day long, and she had two hunks of muscular goodness to stare at over lunch and dinner. What could be better than that?

  * * * *

  “What did you think?” Tanner asked Jet once Lacy had left.

  “She’s an amazing cook. I think you made the right decision. She’s really good,” Jet said.

  “She’s hot as hell, too,” Tanner added.

  “I thought we weren’t going there,” Jet said.

  “Can’t help it. She was pretty in that pantsuit outfit she wore to the interview, but she’s hot as hell in jeans and a tee. Did you see how her ass filled out those pants?”

  “Couldn’t miss it. Still.”

  “Doesn’t hurt to look, man. We haven’t been anywhere to relieve an itch in months. My dick is twitching at just the thought of her.” Tanner wasn’t sure if hiring her was the best decision when all he could think about was fucking her over the end of the couch or his desk.

  “Well, keep your dick in your pants around her. We can’t have a sexual harassment case against us. It will ruin our careers.” Jet frowned at him.

  “I’m not going to jump her bones, man. It doesn’t hurt to look.”

  “Yeah, but looking usually leads to touching. That’s not a good idea.”

  Tanner sighed. He knew his friend was right, but damn Lacy was fine. He couldn’t help being attracted to her. She was sweet and obviously good at the job. Not only did they have two hot meals, but she’d washed their clothes. He couldn’t wait for the weekend when they would be able to just veg in front of the TV or sit outside in the hot tub and enjoy a beer.

  “Just so you know. I’m having a hard enough time on my own keeping my hands to myself. I’ve never been this attracted to a woman in such a short amount of time. Makes me wonder if she could be someone who we could share. The only problem is that you went and hired her to work for us,” Jet said.

  “Well, fuck. I was kind of thinking along the same lines myself. Not only am I attracted to her, but I like her. She’s smart and funny and easy to talk to.” Tanner shook his head.

  “Let’s give it some time and be sure how we feel about her before we go and screw something up. There’s got to be a way we can feel her out without tipping our hand. I don’t want her to feel like we’re trying to take advantage of her and then she quits,” Jet said.

  “Only one day and we both already feel something for her. Maybe it’s just that we’ve been hibernating up here working so hard and need a night out. We’ll go out this weekend and clear our heads. How about that?” Tanner asked.

  “Sounds like a good plan to me.” Jet was up for anything that would help him decide how he felt about their new employee.

  Why was he so attracted to her after only one day?

  Blue balls. That’s what it has to be. I’ve been cooped up working nonstop for months and need a little recreation. That’s all. After this weekend I’ll be clearer-headed about her.

  Well that was what he hoped anyway. If not, he and Tanner would have to figure out what to do about their new employee. Was it fate that they’d hired the one woman for them or just dumb luck?

  Jet adjusted his cock as he stood staring out at the back deck with the stars twinkling overhead. What would it feel like to sit out there with their woman between them, holding hands and looking at the stars? Better yet, the three of them in the hot tub soaking up the beauty of their backyard. Yeah, he could go for that. It wasn’t any surprise to him that the woman he pictured sitting between them was the image of Lacy.

  “Fuck. I’m going to hit the shower and go on to bed. It’s not often we can get in bed before ten. I’m going to take advantage of it tonight,” he told his friend.

  “See you in the morning. I’m going to sit outside for a little while.” Tanner grabbed a jacket and opened the French doors to the deck.

  Once he’d stripped, Jet stepped into the stinging spray of the shower and leaned against the tiles so that the water cascaded over his head and down his back. His fucking cock was hard as a rock, and his balls were screaming for release. He washed up then frowned down at his shaft with disgust. He’d never get to sleep with a hard-on.

  Jet squeezed some liquid soap into his palm and rubbed it over his aching dick with one hand while leaning against the back of the stall with the other. He stroked his cock, making sure to get the soap all over it, then grasped it firmly in one hand and pumped, rubbing his palm over the head with each stroke before squeezing the base again.

  He thought about having Lacy there with him. They’d be out under the stars next to the hot tub with her on her knees in front of his stiff dick. She’d open her mouth as she looked at him from beneath her lashes and slide her tongue all around her lips, waiting for his cock to fill her mouth. Yeah. She’d look beautiful kneeling there with her mouth open.

  -->